Black Kath's Daughter

by Richard Parks

  *

  Marta closed the door leading to the back of the wagon and climbed up onto the driver's bench beside Treedle. She didn’t know his real name. She knew that he had been a human man once, and when his debt was paid he might be one again. As it was, her mother had found the shape he currently held, that of a creature no more than four feet tall yet extremely quick and strong, with brown skin, pointed ears and elongated face, to be most useful to her. Marta felt her breath turn to steam in the cold air and she pulled her cloak tighter. The hob didn't look at her. "How is your mother?" he asked.

  "Just tired, I think," Marta said. "She's sleeping."

  "Best thing for her, then. We'll be at Karsan soon and she'll have work to do. Bone Tapper's gone ahead to tell them we're coming, and to scout the road."

  Marta blinked. "Scout? For what?"

  "Anything. It's always a good idea," Treedle said. "There are those who do not wish your mother well."

  "Why? What has she done to them?"

  "Usually what they asked her to do."

  "That doesn't make any sense," Marta said.

  "You're right."

  Marta looked at Treedle, then looked back at the road to Karsan. The White Mountains rose in the near distance to the north; Marta was so used to seeing them there that she barely noticed them now. The road itself was wide and well maintained for a cart path. Closer to her home it was little more than two ruts through the snow. Still, there were trees on either side of it, deep and dark enough for anyone to hide in despite the bare limbs and snow. Marta looked at the world around her with more suspicion. "Lately I feel as if I'm seeing everything for the first time again. I'm not sure I like it."

  "Hmmm," said Treedle.

  "Is that all you have to say?"

  "What do you want me to say, Mistress?"

  She frowned. "My name is Marta, as you well know."

  Treedle nodded affably. "I do. Just as I know our relationship is that you are mistress and I am servant. If you want me to call you by your first name I will, but there was no insult in addressing you by your proper title."

  Marta just stared at Treedle for several long moments as the forest passed by on both sides. "Treedle, I thought you were my friend."

  "Does one normally own one's friends?"

  "But I don't...I mean we don't..." Marta stopped. It occurred to her that she'd never really understood what it meant to have a bond-servant. As long as she could remember, Treedle and Bone Tapper just were. A part of the household no different than her mother or herself. Yet there was a difference, one she had never really seen before now. It was just one more thing that was different, since her birthday three days before. Marta felt the Arrow Path pendant heavy against her skin. Perhaps the change had something to do with growing up, but Marta didn't think that was all of it. She reached under her cloak, touched the pendant for a moment. "You owe my mother debt service because you did not have the price of the magic you needed, yes?"

  "Yes," Treedle said.

  "So it was your choice," Marta said.

  "And I would make the same choice today, if it was mine to make again. The one doesn't change the other."

  "But...owing service to someone is not the same as being property. You're not a slave!"

  "A matter of perspective. My life is not my own, so it amounts to the same thing in my view."

  Marta didn't argue the point. "Do you hate me, Treedle?"

  He laughed then. "Never. Nor your mother, either. As I said: my choice. You chose to follow your mother's road. No blame to you for that, and I will serve you well when the time comes as I have served your mother. But I cannot be your friend, Marta. Perhaps I was once, when you were smaller and needed one more than you knew, but it's too much to ask that of me now."

  Marta considered this. "What...what if Mother forgave your debt? I could speak to her."

  Treedle smiled, but it was a sad smile. "Marta, I know you mean well, but what makes you think Black Kath controls the rules of the Debt? I will be free when my debt is paid. Not before."

  "When will that be?"

  Treedle turned the wagon away from a treetop that had fallen onto the edge of the road. "I don't know," he said, looking very serious. "I'll know when it happens."

  Marta shook her head. "I don't understand this. You mean Mother wouldn't tell you?"

  The hob shrugged. "I think she’ll know when I do. I suspect that the price of a service in gold does not equal the price of the service in time. You'll have to ask your mother about that if you want to know. I don't, since it wouldn't change anything."

  "It doesn't sound fair. Yet I'm told the Arrow Path isn't about being fair."

  Treedle sighed. "You'll forgive me if I'd rather not talk about it. The Arrow Path has crossed my road once already. If it never does hereafter I'll count myself fortunate."

  "Oh," Marta said, turning a little red. She didn't say anything else until they arrived on the outskirts of Karsan.

  It had been five years or more since Marta had been to Karsan. She knew it wasn't a large town; the largest structures in it were the king's castle at the north edge and the various taverns and inns that served the pilgrim trade to the Shrine to Amaet on Mount Karsanmon just beyond. Still, all she had to compare Karsan to was an isolated village or two near her mother's solitary holding and by that measure it was like a beehive. So many people coming and going at once made Marta both nervous and excited. Most of the folk going about their business paid her mother's brightly painted cart little attention, but Marta did note that there were some who either averted their eyes and hurried away, or stopped whatever they were doing to watch intently as they went by.

  Marta frowned. "What are they staring at?"

  Treedle grunted. "What the others choose not to look at. Us. You. The promise of your mother's presence."

  "Why should anyone care about that?"

  Treedle stared at her. "Mistress, surely you're aware that Arrow Path magicians—or any other kind—aren't exactly thick on the ground? For a kingdom the size of Lythos to have one in residence is a source of pride to some. For others it is a worry they would gladly do without."

  "But why should they worry?"

  "Suppose they have need of her services and can't afford the fee?"

  "Then they should weigh that need against the cost," Marta said primly. "No one forces them to seek her out."

  Treedle just shrugged. "Need often trumps sense, and some people can resist all save temptation. If your mother had to be sought in some distant land like Wylandia or Morushe... Yet she is here, and her power is here, and the thought of what that power could do for them is never far away with some folk."

  "No matter how we turn the knife lately, the edge always seems to be pointed at us," Marta said, looking disgusted.

  Treedle smiled then. "Wasn't it you who said something about the Arrow Path not being fair? Yet I think in this case it is completely fair. If a blade with two edges can be said to be fair, that is."

  Marta started to say something, thought better of it.

  "Almost there?"

  Kath stood in the open doorway behind the driver's bench.

  "Yes, Mistress," Treedle said. "Shall we stop by the Apple Branch first?"

  Kath shook her head. "I charged Bone Tapper with letting Master Lokan know we were coming; our beds will be ready tonight. We'll go to the castle first; one common trait of kings is that they don't like waiting."

  "Won't you need Bone Tapper?" Marta asked.

  "I'd prefer to have him handy, but I don't think taking him to the castle is a good idea."

  Marta frowned. "Why not?"

  "For the queen's sake. If you were in your sickbed, would you want a carrion raven staring at you?"

  "I didn't think of that," Marta said, then quickly changed the subject. "I hope the queen will recover; I'm sure the king is worried about her."

  "What makes you think so?"

  Marta frowned. She had met King Alian once. It was on her previous trip to K
arsan five years before. It seemed a very long time to Marta; surely the king was a very old man by now. "The Queen is much younger than he is, I understand, and very pretty besides. I've heard he dotes on her."

  "Her or the need for an heir?" Kath said dryly. "He already has a wife, and if need be could get another. What he lacks is a son."

  "That seems rather unfeeling," Marta said.

  Her mother smiled, suppressing a yawn. "Well, perhaps. But I did want you to consider possibilities other than the first one that occurs to you. When we get to the castle you can read the king's face and tell me which one you think is true."

  *

  King Alian was worried, that much was certain, though Marta couldn't tell much more than that. Kath and Marta had gone directly to the Queen's side upon their arrival, though of course King Alian had been notified. He came into the queen's bedchamber soon after, unannounced and unescorted, as Marta could imagine any expectant father might have done. He didn't look quite as old as Marta imagined he would. Oh, she knew he was about forty, and there was gray here and there in his beard and hair, but his step was firm and his manner vigorous.

  "How is my Lady?" he asked.

  The king rose a bit in Marta's estimation with that. Perhaps it wasn't his real question, but it was the one he'd asked. Kath straightened from where she had been examining the young queen along with Mistress Thornap, the midwife.

  "As well as may be expected, Your Majesty. I need more time to be sure of what that means," Kath said. "I'll bring word to you as soon as I know more."

  Kath then allowed Mistress Thornap to politely but firmly shoo the anxious man out of the chamber so they could get back to the matter at hand. Marta felt very sorry for the young queen. She didn't look very regal. Rather she looked small and pale and frightened, almost lost in the huge canopied bed, but then Marta guessed she had reason to be frightened.

  Kath smiled at her. "The pain comes and goes, Majesty?"

  The girl nodded, for she was little more than a girl. Perhaps Marta's age or even less; Marta wasn't sure. She was a dark-haired princess from Junland on the southwestern coast. Not so far from home, but more than far enough from family and friends. She'd brought only two attendants upon her marriage, one being her old nurse who had since died. The other, Lady Dolwyn, was a plain, brown haired, stolid woman who watched Kath and Mistress Thornap alike with equal suspicion.

  Marta had liked Mistress Thornap almost instantly upon their first meeting; she was a round, happy sort of person. Or rather she looked as if being happy was her normal state; her face was made for smiling, Marta thought, though in truth Mistress Thornap wasn't smiling now. She conversed in low tones with Marta's mother, with the Lady-in-Waiting hovering on the edge as if a stray word might escape her. Marta tried to pay attention, but despite her best efforts she was getting bored. There was nothing for her to do, and no reason for her to be there so far as Marta could see.

  Marta's gaze went to the open window in the round tower that held the Queen's bedchamber. Beyond that she could see Karsan spread out before them, and to the right the road leading through the town and up into the mountain pass that held the Karsanmon Shrine. Marta had been there just once before, but remembered the wonder of being in the mountains, the giddy feeling of looking down on the world. She'd like to do that again; perhaps if there was time on this visit —

  "Marta, come here."

  Marta looked up. Both her mother and Mistress Thornap were looking at her. There was a twinkle in Mistress Thornap's eye but Black Kath was almost glaring.

  "Please pay attention, Daughter, though I know the view is lovely. And close the shutters; we don't want the Queen catching a chill."

  "I'm sorry," Marta said, blushing. She hurried to obey and then went over to the bed. "Yes?"

  Kath had the bed coverings pulled down; the Queen lay in her shift, shivering slightly, though Marta didn't think it was very cold in the room at all; there was a fire in the grate and the other windows were shut tight. If anything, Marta thought the room was a little warm.

  "Forgive me, Majesty, but there's something I want my daughter to examine."

  "As you see fit," the Queen said, and tried to smile. Marta smiled too, though guiltily. Examine? Why? Marta had no skills of magic or even the more common but useful knowledge that Mistress Thornap boasted...not that Mistress Thornap ever did any such thing. Marta felt her confusion growing, but tried to keep it from showing on her face. She walked calmly to the beside as if she did this sort of thing every day.

  Kath took her daughter's hand and guided until it rested lightly on the queen's very slightly swollen belly, just above her thin hips. Marta didn't claim to know much of the ways of the world, but she was pretty sure that any birth such hips could manage would not be an easy one.

  "I want you to keep your hand there for a moment...yes, just there. A light touch as you are doing now. Don't move until I tell you."

  Marta nodded, but didn't understand what the point was. She glanced at the queen, who in turn looked curious. Still, Marta think she preferred the queen's curiosity to her fear, and she knew her mother seldom did anything without a reason. Marta took deep, slow breaths. She wanted to at least look as if she knew what she was about, for the queen's sake if nothing else.

  "Do you feel that?" Kath asked.

  Marta almost panicked. Feel what? She didn't feel anything except... "Oh," she said aloud. She spread her fingers slowly, then moved her hand from side to side over the queen's belly despite her mother's instructions to stay still, but if Kath noticed or minded she didn't say.

  Her mother leaned close and whispered to her. "You may not understand what just happened, but that's not important. Keep silent for now."

  Marta just nodded. Kath did not ask her what she had felt, or why she was sure it was something other than her own imagination. Marta knew it was not imagination, but a very clear and precise feeling. There was something wrong with the queen. Something...broken. That was the image and word that came to Marta, even though she didn't know just what might be broken or how to mend it. If it could be mended. Even as Marta knew her impression was accurate, she also realized that it was incomplete. Something was broken. Something was missing, as well. Marta had the sinking feeling that she knew what that something was.

  "Majesty, you're going to be fine," Kath said.

  The Queen looked at her for a moment then turned to her Lady in Waiting. "Lady Dolwyn, help me sit up, please."

  Lady Dolwyn pushed past Mistress Thornap and Marta's mother to gently raise the queen to a sitting position, carefully placing the pillows behind her back to support her. The queen winced, once, but kept her expression blank otherwise.

  "Thank you," she said, then, "Would you and Mistress Thornap leave me alone for a moment?"

  "Majesty, you need your rest..." Lady Dolwyn began, but the queen stopped her.

  "Thank you for your concern; I will rest soon, I promise. Please wait outside."

  Reluctantly, Lady Dolwyn obeyed. Mistress Thornap followed looking, to Marta's eyes, oddly relieved. Marta started to follow but the queen shook her head. "Lady... I'm sorry, Marta? You may stay as well. I think you know something of what we must discuss."

  Marta knew something, but not much. Still, she just bowed slightly to the girl in the bed and kept her mouth shut. The queen turned to Marta's mother.

  "Mistress Kath, you know what is wrong. Please tell me."

  It wasn't a question, but it wasn't a command, either. To Marta, it sounded almost like a plea. A plea to make things other than they were.

  "I think you know as well, Majesty," Kath said. "I said you will recover your health and I believe that to be true. I am seldom wrong."

  The queen just looked at her. There were tears in her eyes, whether from the pain or something else, Marta wasn't sure. "My baby?"

  Kath nodded. "The child is dead, Majesty, and even I cannot change that. What I do from this point on I do for you alone. I am truly sorry."

  The q
ueen closed her eyes, and her small hands balled into fists. "I hoped...I hoped I was wrong. Well then, I've failed. Better I had died." Now she was sobbing openly. Marta wanted to go to her, but her mother was there first. She took the queen's hands in hers and held them there until the queen looked at her.

  "Majesty, first quickenings often go awry. There will be others."

  The queen managed a weak smile, but quickly turned away. "Thank you. Please leave me now."

  Black Kath nodded and, without another word, left the chamber with Marta close behind. Mistress Thornap was nowhere to be seen but Lady Dolwyn, waiting impatiently in the corridor beyond, hurried back in and quickly and firmly shut the heavy chamber door. Marta frowned when she heard the bolt being slid behind them.

  "What did she do that for?" Marta whispered.

  Kath looked distracted. "Hmm? Oh, that. Lady Dolwyn is just doing what she should be doing now, and that's protecting the queen's privacy. Her Majesty is handling it better than I expected, but still best the king doesn't see her until she's had time to grieve a bit. Alian won't be any use to her in any event until he's had some time to come to his senses again."

  Kath was already several steps down the stone corridor and Marta had to hurry to catch up. "Come to his senses? But he doesn't even know yet!" Marta whispered.

  "Which is why we’re going to tell him. You don't think Mistress Thornap asked him to send for me to heal a dead child, do you?"

  Marta just stared at her mother for a moment, and it was clearly all Kath could do to keep from laughing. "No, she's not a magician, if that's what you think, but she has a talent in these matters. She knew, or at least suspected, and arranged it so she wouldn't have to tell the king herself. Since King Alian is the one who sent for me, the cost will fall on him alone. Quite clever, really."

  Marta was thoroughly disgusted. "And to think that I liked her! That sweet, smiling face... Damn, I didn't know she was so devious."

  "Don't swear, daughter, at least not with so little reason. And don't think too badly of Mistress Thornap. There isn't a bone of harm in her, but she's kept her position at this court for a long time, and in a backwater kingdom like Lythos that's especially hard. Unlike places like Morushe or Wylandia, few positions here besides the higher nobility are hereditary."