by Howell, Rob
“A doll?”
Why do officials in every culture enjoy snickering at the people around them?
“Yes, a doll. For the sake of the Monster’s Father, it’s not that funny.”
“We’re just envisioning you playing with dolls. You’d look so cute.”
I sighed. “Whatever you say, Zvono. Can we just get to work on the next body so I can get the damned doll and give it back to Honker’s daughter?”
They nodded with a few final snickers and pushed through the trees.
I noticed something I had missed before and held up a hand, halting all of them.
“Wait… the doll…”
“It’s very pretty, Sevener.”
“No, I’m serious, Zvono. Look at how it’s sitting.”
They turned, shifting their focus from a child’s doll to a murdered man’s burial site.
“The doll is placed, not dropped,” muttered Kapric.
“With a caring hand to help the body,” added Zvono. “The daughter saw the body. She wanted to help it. We’ll need to talk to her.”
I sighed. “Honker’s not going to like that, but you’re right.”
“Don’t worry, Sevener, we won’t laugh at her. She’s supposed to play with dolls.”
This time the chuckle stayed on the surface as all four of them focused their wills.
“There are many tendrils of fear and sadness around the body,” muttered the one Zvono had called Miroslav. “I would guess they probably came from the young lady. Those have the effect of obscuring other emotions, and I can’t see much else.”
The other magician followed Miroslav. “I don’t see much either. The life threads ended recently, probably yesterday, but I don’t see anything else. Once the body is exhumed, I might be able to tell you more, though I’m not optimistic.”
“Honker brought his family here yesterday for lunch.”
“Presumably, then, the murder happened in the morning and they buried him just before or as they picnicked.”
A sudden fear spiked in my mind. I pushed through the branches and raced for Deor, whistling to get his attention.
“Sevener!”
I jumped on Deor and turned back to Zvono who had followed me out. “Meet me at the Faerie when you can.”
Not listening for an answer, I turned Deor’s head. “All the speed you’ve got my friend. Every bit.”
I have had many great friends in my life, but none so great as Deor. He helped save my soul and served by me for years. This day he proved that friendship yet again.
We bullied our way through the gate, helped by Vojin’s quick understanding of my need. We pushed our way as fast as we could along the Trade Road and the Square of Legends, both clogged with their normal heavy traffic, and raced up Medusa’s Way and the Fourth Serpent to the Faerie.
I burst in.
“Ragnar, where’s Honker?”
“Well, I’ve not to be bein…”
“Bedamned with your accent, where is he?”
“His work, I suppose.”
“Go there. Take your sword. Bring him here. Would his daughter be home?”
“Probably.”
“Where do they live?”
“On the Fifth Serpent towards the end. Them as live there can show you exactly.”
I ran out, and Deor and I followed Ragnar’s directions, clattering into a small courtyard. I slid my hand into my shield’s boss as I slipped off of Deor. I then started pounding on doors.
“Where does Honker live?” I yelled.
Finally, a person poked his head out a second story window. “And who the hell are you?”
“I’m Edward, a Sevener staying at the Frank Faerie. I need to find Honker’s daughter, I think she’s in trouble.”
“And how the hell do we know you’re not the trouble?”
“You don’t. Make sure she’s safe and get all you can to guard her. Let me know she’s safe.”
I heard an argument in the window.
“Quickly, you suspicious damned Southerners. I’m but one man.”
Men, and not a few women, each with something solid in their hands, came into the courtyard, gathering in front of one door. That door finally creaked open, and small woman covered in flour peeked out.
“I found your daughter’s doll, but also something else. Is she safe in there?”
A second small face by her leg peeked out shyly, much to my relief.
“Excellent.” I finally took a full breath. “Now, I want to get you and your daughter to the Faerie. Ragnar is getting Honker. There I think we can protect you all best.”
She stared and nodded slowly.
“Is your son in there?”
She shook her head.
“Is he at work?”
She nodded.
“Any others?”
She nodded.
“Bring them, too.”
I turned and called to the crowd. “I need someone to get a message to Honker’s son as quickly as possible. He might be in danger and he needs to get to the Faerie.”
One of the men snapped a name I did not hear, and a boy about Eirik’s age went running off.
I turned to the rest of the people in the street.
“Can you all help me escort the rest of Honker’s family to the Faerie? You stay around them, and I’ll lead the way.”
They muttered with indecision but finally encircled Honker’s wife, the younger daughter, and a second, older, daughter I had not known he had.
We moved off slower than I hoped but fast enough.
When we arrived at the Faerie, I let them all enter before following them in. Ragnar and Honker had returned first.
“Where’s your son, Honker?”
“He’s a-comin’ with his forgemates.”
I sighed with relief. “Excellent, that should be safe enough to get here.”
I turned to Ragnar. “Give all of these people what they want. I’ll pay. Then come over and join us. Honker, bring your family over and sit at my table too, please.”
As the immediate surge of excitement, passed the neighbors settled in to mugs of Ragnar’s ale, lakewater, and wine.
Honker and his family sat with me at my table. Melia jumped on the table and made the rounds demanding petting from each member of Honker’s family. Her purring allowed us all to relax and catch our breath. Honker finally leaned forward.
“What’s to have happened, Master Edward?”
I held up a finger and turned to his daughter. “Hello, my name’s Edward, what’s yours?”
She turned her face shyly into her mother’s dress, getting flour on her cheek.
“I’m a friend of your father’s.”
Honker turned to her. “Aye, that he is, my little rose.”
“You don’t have as big of a nose as your da, do you?”
That prompted a small chuckle from Harald and his wife and snicker from the older daughter, who also displayed a nose of normal size. The younger daughter shook her head slowly, though her face held the hint of a small smile.
“Tell him your name, dear,” added her mother.
She lifted her face a little and whispered, “Ludmilja.”
“That’s a pretty name.”
She nodded shyly and turned back to her mother’s dress.
“Did you enjoy the picnic yesterday?”
She nodded and looked up to her father, who encouraged her to continue.
“Until Nadja left me,” she sniffled.
“Why did she leave you?”
“Well, she was helping and didn’t want to go.”
“Helping?”
“Yes, she wanted to help the sick man.”
“She sounds like a nice person.”
“Oh, she’s so sweet, have you ever met her?”
“I think I have. She’s still helping, but she’ll come back when she’s done with some friends of mine.”
Her eyes brightened and she clapped.
“Why did she need to help?”
“Well, this man held out his hand in his sleep.”
“I saw that. When I left, she was still holding his hand.”
“She does that to me when I’m sad, too.”
“How did you know he was sad?”
“I never saw anyone sleep under the dirt before, I just thought that meant he was sad and wanted a hidey-hole.”
Ludmilja’s mother gasped.
“Of course, I should have thought of that myself. You’re a smart girl.”
“When will Nadja come home?”
“Soon. Nadja wants to make sure she’s done helping all she can.”
Ludmilja smiled again and let go of her mother’s skirt, now looking around the Faerie at all of the new things around her. Melia jumped in her lap and started purring.
Chapter 4
Late Afternoon, 30 Gersmoanne, 1712 MG
Many of the women had gone into Zoe’s kitchen when we had arrived, and now they started bringing out an early dinner.
Ludmilja was too excited to eat, so she clutched Melia to her chest and roamed around the room. Melia plaintively mewed for help in escaping, but Ludmilja was too cute for anyone to step in.
As the rest of us ate, Honker’s son entered the Faerie with several burly friends in fire-scarred leather aprons. I waved him over and started explaining why I had brought Honker and his family here.
“I found Nadja and, as you some of you already heard, she was helping. Ludmilja had explored under the pines in that copse and found a body buried there with his hand sticking out. The man had been killed yesterday morning, and since you picnicked midday, I am worried that whoever buried the body might have seen you and your daughter and want to eliminate you all. Certainly, they attacked me when I investigated.”
Honker looked shocked. “But we weren’t seein’ anythin’.”
“I’d be surprised if you had. They snuck back into the copse to bury the body. But they might have seen Ludmilja come out of the trees. After seeing me go in there, I believe they at least suspect she saw something.”
I took a drink from the mug Karah had placed before me some time ago.
“So, we wait here until Kapric and Zvono come and have you all tell your stories.”
Honker nodded and I continued. “We’ll still want to watch you, as they might want to hurt you as a warning to others, but at least they’ll know they can’t prevent you from telling the quaesitors what you know. Hopefully they’ll just leave you alone, since they can’t stop you.”
They looked frightened.
“Don’t worry. I have just the man in mind to help you all.”
Ragnar, having distributed drinks to all of the guests, finally came over. I explained everything again and then let the conversation turn to less serious topics while we ate dinner.
Apparently this was not the first time that Zoe had needed to prepare extra food for an emergency, because she and her impromptu assistants had whipped out plenty for all of us. Most of the meal consisted of something they called kacamak, solid pieces of gruel fried in olive oil. They served it two ways, once with paprika alongside small chunks of lamb and again as a dessert covered in honey. After adjusting to the strange texture, I enjoyed it. Though the kacamak itself was bland, it meshed well with the other flavors.
As we were mopping the last bits of honey from our plates, Kapric and Zvono joined us. Ragnar would never like them, but at least now he tolerated their presence with a curt nod.
“I suppose it’s welcome I’m to be sayin’ and I’m to be gettin’ you two some plates and I’m to be takin’ it somewhat kindly if you’ll be bein’ nice to me friend Honker and his family.”
Soon plates of the same lamb and kacamak appeared before the quaesitors. As they finished, I turned back to business.
“Before we start, can you get word to your brother?”
“Sebastijan?” growled Kapric.
“Yes, that one.”
“I suppose I can.” His angry eyes asked why I needed him.
“Let Honker and his family tell you their story. However, I don’t want them without protection until we’ve figured this out.”
“Until we’ve figured this out? Sevener, you’ve already involved yourself in our business once. You need to leave this to us.”
“No, I can’t.”
“You’re in my town.”
“I know, and I’m not that happy about it either. How many people are going to attack me here, anyway?”
“How many people are you going to meet? You seem to have this way about yourself.”
By this point, our voices had risen so much that the entire taproom of the Faerie had stopped talking and started watching us.
“Damn herd bulls.” Zvono chuckled.
Both of us glared at her.
“Let him be, boss, he’s not going to let it rest.”
She turned to me. “You damn well know what not to do by this point.”
I nodded.
“Fine. Now let’s hear what this family of proper Achridans has to say.”
Kapric and I shrugged rueful apologies at each other and took deep breaths.
“Honker, tell the quaesitors about your afternoon yesterday.”
“Well, masters, we were celebratin’ my boy’s victory. Little Harald went and won hisself a pile of dinars usin’ some of the tricks I’d been teachin’ him and we was proud, see?”
I did, but not Kapric and Zvono. “Honker’s son”—I nodded at the hulking young man with a nose worthy of his da—“won a wrestling match, oh, what was it, ten days or so ago?”
Honker nodded.
“I know because they were drinking off the proceeds in the Faerie that afternoon.”
I nodded for Harald to continue as Kapric and Zvono shrugged.
“Anyways, that was as good a reason for us to enjoy the coming of summer, as we oftens does at the springs. Me lass here makes us special treats and we sits in the grass and drinks the water. Lots of people do that…” He trailed off nervously.
“Sounds like a great day, Honk.”
Zvono prompted him, “So what did you see, Harald?”
He looked down and hesitated.
“You can answer Zvono. You can trust her.”
Honker looked at me and shrugged.
“Well, I’m not to rememberin’ anythin’ really special, good masters. I mean, we seen other people there but everyone likes the springs.”
“The Mrnjavcevics have a family party there every year, Goodman Harald, I enjoy it myself.”
Zvono’s words brought a smile, and Ludmilja’s mother spoke up.
“Me Harald’s the right of it. There were others, but we weren’t really paying attention to them. I had made the plum tarts that me wee boy loves and we were just enjoying ourselves.”
The hulking wee boy sat looming over the table remembering the tarts happily.
“Did you see any group that wasn’t a family?”
Honker and his wife looked at each other, and then their two older children. All shrugged.
“Not that we’re rememberin’, mistress.”
“Did you see any horses that someone might have ridden there?”
They all shrugged again.
“Did you notice any boats tied to the pier at the stream?”
“Well, I’m sure that there were some…”
They all nodded at that.
“But you didn’t see any that seemed different?”
They shook their heads.
Zvono rephrased these and asked a number of other questions, but received only the same shrugs for answers.
“Now, we need to ask Ludmilja some questions.”
Honker and his wife looked nervous at the prospect.
“Don’t be scarin’ me girl, masters.”
“We won’t, goodman. We’ll just call her over here with us. You can stop me if you think I’m scaring her.”
Honker looked doubtful at the thought of telling Zvono what to do but slowly nodded.
“We’l
l let her brag about how Nadja helped someone.” I smiled as they all looked at me curiously, so I explained.
“Speaking of which…” Zvono grinned and reached into her satchel.
Ludmilja noticed almost immediately when Zvono pulled Nadja out.
“Nadja!” she squealed as she charged over from the other table.
“Nadja told me that she’s your friend,” said Zvono as she handed the doll over.
Neither Kapric nor I smiled the least bit at the sweet little-girl tone that came out of Zvono’s mouth. Not at all. Kapric did raise an eyebrow, though, and I coughed into my mug. But not a hint of a smile.
Zvono ignored us and continued.
“Edward here says that Nadja helped a man out yesterday.”
Ludmilja hugged her. “That’s why she had to stay out all night.”
She looked down and hugged the doll tighter. “I wanted to stay, but I was scared. Nadja’s so brave.”
“Yes, she is. Why were you scared?”
“The trees seem so nice until you crawl inside, but then they want to eat you.” She turned to her mother.
“But you got out, and Nadja faced them down.”
She nodded happily again.
“Did you or Nadja see anything else?”
“The sad man. Nadja held his hand.”
“She was still holding his hand when we met her.”
Ludmilja nodded and Zvono continued.
“Did you hear anything? Did the trees talk to you?”
“Nadja said that was just ghosts.” Ludmilja shivered.
“Well, we don’t want ghosts around the springs, do we? What did they say? Maybe we can make sure they don’t come back again.”
Ludmilja held Nadja so she could look into her eyes. After they communed, she answered, “We didn’t really understand. They talked funny, not like him”—she pointed at me—“but different funny. And they laughed wrong.”
“Laughed wrong?”
“Me da laughs and it’s pretty. They didn’t laugh pretty.”
“Ah, so they laughed like bad ghosts.”
“There are good ghosts?”
“Oh, yes, dear, ghosts are just people who don’t want to go when they die. Some good, some bad.”
“Oh.” She looked at Nadja. “We didn’t know. But Nadja says they were bad bad ghosts.”
“Sounds like Nadja’s smart as well as kind.”