Ravenwood

by Nathan Lowell

  It was a most amusing view and she looked about her with interest, now that the men were riding out of sight. She raised her eyes to the horizon and saw the earth spinning below her and felt the wind lift her suddenly skyward. She cawed in delight.

  Tanyth’s eyes flew open, the cawing of a crow still echoing in her ears. Not a crow. A raven. She knew it as certainly as she sat at the table in her hut, but a sudden doubt battered at her mind. She threw herself out of the chair and clawed the door open to look outside at the normal looking afternoon beyond.

  Amber approached and started to raise a hand in greeting, but something in Tanyth’s face stopped her smile half-formed and the hand made it no higher than her waist, before falling back to her side and the younger woman increased her stride to cross the intervening space more quickly. At the door she crouched down to peer in. “Mum? What is it? Are you alright?”

  Tanyth blinked herself back from the edge of madness and with a shuddering breath offered a smile in return. “Yes. Yes, my dear. Of course. I had an odd dream. It set me off for a moment, that’s all.” Tanyth didn’t know what to say. She felt disoriented and groggy.

  Amber nodded, offering a tentative smile before glancing nervously down at the road. “Now if William would just come home. I’d feel much better.”

  Tanyth looked in that direction as well but her mind was on the view from above. “He’ll be along, my dear. They’d have no way of knowing that he was one of ours and he’s probably off the road gathering wood.”

  The younger woman shrugged in half-hearted agreement. “It’s one thing to know. but another to let go of the worryin’.” She smiled at the older woman apologetically.

  Tanyth nodded her head in sympathy

  Amber sighed and straightened. "Well, I just wanted to thank you, mum. You let us know if there’s anything you need, alright?"

  Tanyth smiled up at the young woman. "Of course, my dear. Right now, I think I want a cup of tea."

  Amber grinned and gave a little wave before turning back toward her own hut.

  Tanyth left the door open for the light and returned to the teapot on the table to fortify herself with a hot cup of tea before she looked into finding something for lunch.

  Chapter 11

  Foundations

  The crunch of wheels on the road drew Tanyth from her hut just before sundown. She stepped out in time to see Amber fly down the path and launch herself into William’s arms. The ox stopped when William did and seemed placidly unaware of the sobbing woman. William did his best to try to figure out what was going on, and Tanyth could see him looking about for clues as he tried to calm his wife enough to speak around the sobs.

  Tanyth could hear her sobbing in the still quiet of the gathering dusk. “I was so afraid they’d killed you.”

  He responsed with a low rumble that she couldn’t make out but it sounded soothing.

  Frank came down the path from the barn and stopped at the bend, waiting for the homecoming to subside. He saw Tanyth standing in front of her hut and nodded once.

  When William managed to untangle himself, he clucked to the ox and started his way toward the barn, holding Amber around the waist and looking curiously from her, to Frank, to Tanyth and back.

  As they approached the top of the bend, Tanyth fell in and walked along behind.

  William spoke to Frank. “Evening. Big doin’s while I was out?”

  Frank gave a kind of sideways bob to his head. “Bit of excitement around midday. Riders came and started to make trouble.”

  William looked at Amber. “And you thought they’d found me on the road and killed me?”

  Amber snuffled a little. “We didn’t know. That was the worst part.” She hugged him around the waist as they walked, almost knocking him down.

  He raised his eyebrows at that. “So, you’d rather known that I was dead than just late?”

  It caught them all funny, and helped to break the tension. She reached back and slugged him in the shoulder. “Don’t you make fun of me, you beast.” She hugged him again. “You know what I mean.”

  Frank stepped out of the path to walk alongside and the strange parade continued on to the barn.

  William looked at Frank over the ox’s back. “Anybody hurt?”

  Thomas’s voice came out of the gathering gloom. “None of us.” He stepped out from behind one of the huts and fell in beside Tanyth at the rear.

  “I can see I need to get this story in order. Let’s get Bester here settled with a feedbag and see if I can find a cuppa tea and you can tell me from the beginning.”

  They walked about three more paces before the not-knowing got to him and he turned to Thomas. “Did you get into a scuffle with ’em?”

  Thomas shook his head. “Mother Fairport did.”

  Tanyth started to object to the honorific, but the stricken glance that William shot over his shoulder stopped her.

  “You?” William’s eyes were round in surprise and Tanyth saw him measuring her anew with his eyes.

  She gave a little shrug. “It was mostly by accident.”

  William stared hard, not knowing if he should believe her, or not. In the end he twitched his stick against the cart’s tongue and picked up the pace. “Hup, there, Bester. We’re almost home.”

  William refrained from asking any more questions. He backed the ox cart around to the wood shed and dumped the load into the growing pile there, ready for cutting and splitting for winter. The cart went under the shed roof, and Bester waited patiently while William released the harness and let him into the box stall at the front of the barn. With the ox fed and watered, William turned to the small audience gathered in the entry to the barn.

  “So? What happened?”

  Frank started. “Four riders came in just about midmornin’. Wanted water for their horses. The boss kept Amber busy by the house while the others tended to waterin’ but they were countin’ noses, and houses all the while.”

  “How long’d they stay?”

  “Better part of an hour. Puttering and fetching. Long time for four horses, even allowin’ for Riley and me havin’ to fetch it from the pump.” He paused. “About the time I figured something would break open, Mother Fairport here marches down from the quarry trail big, as you please, and plants herself next to Amber. The boss man wasn’t too pleased with that so he rounded up his boyos and they headed on down the Pike.”

  William pursed his lips in thought for a moment. “Then what happened?”

  Frank nodded at Amber and Tanyth. “We called the boys down from the quarry when it started looking dicey, but they got here just about the time the riders headed down the Pike. These two figgered they’d be back. I did, too, but Jakey figgered we were gettin’ panicky over nothing. He wouldn’t listen to me. Even Amber had a go, but he shrugged it off and went back up the hill.”

  William pursed his lips and looked at his wife. “They wouldn’t listen to you?”

  Amber shook her head. “No, I talked to Jakey and Karl both, but they just said there was nothin’ they could do and day light was burnin’. They went back up to the quarry.”

  William pondered that. “Can’t say as I blame ’em from what it mighta looked like at the time.” He sighed. “Then what?”

  Frank described how they’d rounded up the kids, women and horses and taken the whole lot up to the quarry.

  William turned to Tanyth. “But you stayed behind, mum?”

  Tanyth shrugged and rested her weight on her staff. “Amber and I were the last ones up the trail. We wanted to make sure we got everybody out before they came back. We almost made it, but they came back too fast and surprised us. Their leader started threatenin’ and wouldn’t leave us alone. One of ’em rushed me and he ran onto the end of my staff. It winded him pretty good. After that, the leader was pretty mad and he sent the other two bullyboys to round me up. They were almost on me when Thomas here convinced them they couldn’t outrun a broadhead.”

  Amber looked up at William. “Is it over, d�
�ya think?”

  William shrugged. “You seem to have done right by this group. I don’t think they’ll be back to trouble us.”

  Amber shook her head. “Ya, but are we safe?”

  Tanyth spoke up from where she was standing in the back of the group. “No.”

  They turned to look at her.

  “This bunch has gone, at least for now, but what about the next?”

  William shook his head. “We’ve been here four–going on five–winters now and this is the first time we’ve had any problems at all.”

  Frank grimaced and turned to William. “If it hadn’t been for her, it mighta been the last and we’d all be raven food.”

  William frowned but he listened. “What do we do about it?”

  Thomas scuffed a foot on the packed ground. “We’ve too much invested to move lock, stock and barrel, but might make sense to build a cache up at the quarry. We’d have been fine if we’d just all run up to there, but the stores are all here.”

  Frank nodded. “The end of the track is a logical defense point and the quarry itself is just that much further along. Anybody moving up the track would have a hard time of it.”

  Thomas looked to Tanyth. “Do you have any ideas, mum? What can we do to make the village safer?”

  She leaned on her staff and thought. “A bolt hole at the quarry is good, but that’d take time and it won’t be long before winter’s on us.” She thought for a few moments. “Havin’ a bell would be a start.”

  William frowned in consternation. “Where would we get a bell way out here, mum?”

  “Just hang a piece of iron on a rope so you can bang it. Sound would carry up to the quarry and you won’t have to wait for a runner to go up and come back. Won’t be pretty but it’d be loud enough.”

  Frank grinned “And having an alarm ringin’ like that would give anybody thinkin’ of trouble somethin’ else to think about.”

  Amber grinned and nodded her agreement. “That’d be a help.”

  William gazed at Tanyth. “A start, mum? What else, d’ya think?”

  “An inn. Someplace where travelers could stop and not look at the houses and get ideas.”

  William tilted his head quizzically. “An inn, mum? With food and rented rooms?”

  Frank perked up a bit, too. “And beer?”

  She smiled. “Well, perhaps a bit of beer.” She paused before adding, “To those who can pay for it.”

  William looked troubled. “That’s a lot of work, mum, running an inn.”

  “Start small. A common room, kitchen, hearth and rent out space by the fire for a few coppers a night,” Tanyth said. “The Mother knows I’ve spent more’n enough nights on a floor like that myself over these last twenty winters.”

  William still didn’t look convinced. “How’s that help keep us safe, mum?”

  She looked around their faces. “It gives the village something other than bein’ a collection of huts in a wide spot in the road. People react to that. And having a big solid buildin’ where people can gather? And defend? That’s different than having a bunch of small buildin’s that newcomers can get the wrong idea about. Besides, once you have an inn, then people might wanna come live here and work in it. It’ll be somethin’ that’d tide you over until spring, too, when you can’t quarry.”

  Amber nodded her agreement but added an obstacle of her own. “That’s well and good, mum, but who’s gonna run this establishment?”

  Nobody answered directly but they all looked at her.

  “What?” Amber looked around in alarm. “You’re not thinking that I can run an inn.”

  Nobody answered.

  “Are you?”

  Tanyth nodded. “I think you’d make the perfect innkeeper, Amber.”

  “That’s crazy. What do I know about running an inn?” Amber shook her head in exasperation and turned. “I’ve hungry kids to feed. You are all welcome to come along but this is foolish.” She turned and stalked out of the barn.

  William looked at Tanyth with an “I told you so” look but Frank was eying the older woman wth a gleam in his eye. “What else, do you you think, mum?”

  She thought for only a heartbeat. “You better name this place before somebody names it for you.”

  William looked startled but Frank nodded. “I’ve been sayin’ that for the last two winters.” He turned to look at the younger man. “Why haven’t we picked a name, William?”

  William frowned. “I don’t like the names people picked out for us.” He said it in a low grumble. “Come on! Let’s go get some supper.” He followed Amber’s path out of the workroom without looking to see if anybody were following him.

  Tanyth watched him go with some amusement before falling in behind. She turned to Thomas who walked beside her. “What names have they offered?”

  Thomas smirked. “Clayton was one, but that’s not the favorite.”

  “What’s the favorite?”

  Frank spoke from behind. “Mapleton.”

  She looked over her shoulder. “Mapleton? Named after him?”

  Frank chuckled. “Yes’m. He hates the idea, but most folks like it. He just won’t stand fer it.”

  Tanyth looked at Thomas. “Do they really like it because it’s the right name? Or are they just twittin’ him about having a town named for him?”

  Thomas shrugged. “Dunno. But it’s been a running argument here for the last two winters.”

  They trouped along in William’s wake and took advantage of Amber’s hospitality by lounging about her hearth and feasting on fresh tomatoes, hot bread, and strong cheese. William seemed lost in thought but Amber had already apparently forgotten the conversation about being the innkeeper even as she proved her skill at hospitality by feeding them all, along with her own kids and a couple of the other children. Sadie provided the bread and their mood was festive in spite the darkness that had swept across them during the day. Or perhaps because of it.

  As the meal wound down, the extra children trundled off and the rest curled into snug beds and were soon asleep. The conversation lagged for a bit before Sadie, bird bright and looking for an answer, moved on to the next subject. “What’s this about an inn, then?”

  She looked back and forth between William and Tanyth, waiting for an explanation, but it was Frank who spoke up. “We were talkin’ about ways to cut down the risk of unpleasantness like today. Mother Fairport here says she thinks we oughta have an inn.”

  Sadie looked at Tanyth with a wide eyed smile. “That’s a wonderful idea, mum. Why do you think that’ll keep us safe?”

  Tanyth shrugged. “Harder to ignore an inn, but also if the place has an inn, then it’s harder to figure nobody’ll notice if you get up to mischief.” She indicated the houses around with a nod of her head. “This village is like any other of a hundred others in wide spots all up and down the road. Easy to think nobody’ll notice if there’s trouble, and you’d probably be right.”

  Sadie turned to William and Amber. “You don’t like the idea, Amber?”

  “They want me to be the innkeeper.” Amber sounded aghast by the idea.

  Sadie shrugged, unfazed. “Sounds about right. You do all the greetin’ in the door yard now. Might as well have an inn to go with it. What do you think of this, William?”

  He shrugged. “I think she’s got the right of it. We’ll be safer if we’re bigger and having an inn would at least make us look bigger.”

  Sadie looked at Thomas and Frank. “What about you two?”

  Thomas shrugged. “I think it’s a good idea.”

  “I think so, too,” Frank said. “Mother Fairport thinks it might get more people to come live here and it’ll give us a bit of income that’s not dependent on clay.”

  “Ok, so what’s the problem?” Sadie looked pointedly at William.

  He saw her looking from the corner of his eye but didn’t look up from the bowl in front of him. “It’ll take time and money we don’t have.”

  Frank spoke up. “It might if y
ou’re thinking about something like one of the inns in Kleesport, Will, but you’ve seen the inn at Mossport, and I know you’ve traveled enough to have slept on taproom floors yourself.”

  William gave a grudging nod. “True. And we could probably build something better than that poor excuse for an inn in Mossport, but where do we get the materials and labor?”

  Frank shook his head. “That’s the least of our problem. We’ve got enough good timber right here to build another building as big as the barn without clearing more than we’d need for next spring’s garden as it is.”

  William sighed. “We really need a smith out here if we’re gonna do this.”

  Thomas cast a disgusted look at him. “Now you’re just finding rocks in the sand. We don’t need a smith. We need a barrel of nails and some hinges for another door or two.”

  “If we could make them it would be better,” William insisted.

  Frank snorted. “Better, but not needed. And we’ll have Jakey’s crew layin’ about until spring in another few weeks. We only have one more trip this season and then we won’t quarry any more until spring. There’s still plenty of time to settle a frame and put up a roof. Once that’s in place we can work on it even after snow flies, if need be, but I bet we’d have it done before the Solstice.”

  “What about the kiln? We were gonna build a kiln this winter so we could start firing our own bricks.” William looked around the table, the challenge on his face.

  Amber cleared her throat delicately and all eyes turned to her. “I’ve been thinking about that.”

  William cocked his head. “Really?”

  She nodded. “It was an interesting idea, but you’ve seen the brickworks outside Kleesport.”

  William shrugged. “Yes. Of course. That’s what gave me the idea.”