“In fact,” he leaned forward conspiratorially, “we’ve done so well that I feel quite generous. Generous enough to offer you anything you’d like. Anything at all. Ask and it is yours.” He leaned closer and said in a stage whisper, “I want you to know this is a blatant attempt to bribe you into staying on with us. We would make a thick purse off that lovely voice of yours.”
“Not to mention the songs he could teach us,” Gaskin chimed in.
Alleg gave a mock snarl. “Don’t help him bargain, boy. I have the feeling this is going to be hard enough as it is.”
I gave it a little thought. “I suppose I could stay....” I let myself trail off uncertainly.
Alleg gave a knowing smile. “But...”
“But I would ask for three things.”
“Hmmmm, three things.” He looked me up and down. “Just like in one of the stories.”
“It only seems right,” I urged.
He gave a hesitant nod. “I suppose it does. And how long would you travel with us?”
“Until no one objects to my leaving.”
“Does anyone have any problem with this?” Alleg looked around.
“What if he asks for one of the wagons?” Tim asked. His voice startled me, harsh and rasping like two bricks grating together.
“It won’t matter, as he’ll be traveling with us,” Alleg argued. “They belong to all of us anyway. And since he can’t leave unless we say so...”
There were no objections. Alleg and I shook hands and there was a small cheer.
Kete held up her mug. “To Kvothe and his songs!” she said. “I have a feeling he’ll be worth whatever he costs us.”
Everyone drank, and I held up my own glass. “I swear on my mother’s milk, none of you will ever make a better deal than the one you made with me tonight.” This evoked a more enthusiastic cheer and everyone drank again.
Wiping his mouth, Alleg looked me in the eye. “So, what is the first thing you want from us?”
I lowered my head. “It’s a little thing really. I don’t have a tent of my own. If I’m going to be traveling with my family...”
“Say no more!” Alleg waved his wooden mug like a king granting a boon. “You’ll have my own tent, piled with furs and blankets a foot deep!” He made a gesture over the fire to where Fren and Josh sat. “Go set it up for him.”
“That’s all right,” I protested. “I can manage it myself.”
“Hush, it’s good for them. Makes them feel useful. Speaking of which...” He made another gesture at Tim. “Bring them out, would you?”
Tim stood and pressed a hand to his stomach, “I’ll do it in a quick minute. I’ll be right back.” He turned to walk off into the woods. “I don’t feel very good.”
“That’s what you get for eatin’ like you’re at a trough!” Otto called after him. He turned back to the rest of us. “Someday he’ll realize he can’t eat more’n me and not feel sick afterward.”
“Since Tim’s busy painting a tree, I’ll go get them,” Laren said with thinly veiled eagerness.
“I’m on guard tonight,” Otto said. “I’ll do it.”
“I’ll get them,” Kete said, exasperated. She stared the other two back into their seats and walked behind the wagon on my left.
Josh and Fren came out of the other wagon with a tent, ropes, and stakes. “Where do you want it?” Josh asked.
“That’s not a question you usually have to ask a man, is it, Josh?” Fren joked, nudging his friend with an elbow.
“I tend to snore,” I warned them. “You’ll probably want me a little away from everyone else.” I pointed. “Over between those two trees would be fine.”
“I mean, with a man, you normally know where they want it, don’t you, Josh?” Fren continued as they wandered off and began to string up the tent.
Kete returned a minute later, leading a pair of lovely young girls. One had a lean body and face, with straight, black hair cut short like a boy’s. The other was more generously rounded, with curling golden hair. Both wore hopeless expressions and looked to be about sixteen.
“Meet Krin and Ellie,” Kete said, gesturing to the girls.
Alleg smiled. “They are one of the ways in which Levinshir was generous to us. Tonight, one of them will be keeping you warm. My gift to you, as the new member in our family.” He made a show of looking them over. “Which one would you like?”
I looked from one to the other. “That’s a hard choice. Let me think on it a little while.”
Kete sat them near the edge of the fire and put a bowl of stew in each of their hands. The girl with the golden hair, Ellie, ate woodenly for a few bites, then slowed to a stop like a toy winding down. Her eyes looked almost blind, as if she were watching something none of us could see. Krin’s eyes, on the other hand, were focused fiercely into the fire. She sat stiffly with her bowl in her lap.
“Girls,” Alleg chided. “Don’t you know that things will get better as soon as you start cooperating?” Ellie took another slow bite, then stopped. Krin stared into the fire, her back stiff, her expression hard.
From where she sat by the fire, Anne prodded at them with her wooden spoon. “Eat!” The response was the same as before. One slow bite. One tense rebellion. Scowling, Anne leaned closer and gripped the dark-haired girl firmly by the chin, her other hand reaching for the bowl of stew.
“Don’t,” I urged. “They’ll eat when they get hungry enough.” Alleg looked up at me curiously. “I know what I’m talking about. Give them something to drink instead.”
The old woman looked for a moment as if she might continue anyway, then shrugged and let go of Krin’s jaw. “Fine. I’m sick of force-feeding this one anyway. She’s been nothing but trouble.”
Kete sniffed in agreement. “Little bitch came at me when I untied her for her bath,” she said, brushing her hair away from the side of her face to reveal scratch marks. “Almost took out my damn eye.”
“Did a runner, too,” Anne said, still scowling. “I’ve had to start doping her at night.” She made a disgusted gesture. “Let her starve if she wants.”
Laren came back to the fire with two mugs, setting them in the girls’ unresisting hands.
“Water?” I asked.
“Ale,” she said. “It’ll be better for them if they aren’t eating.”
I stifled my protest. Ellie drank in the same vacant manner in which she had eaten. Krin moved her eyes from the fire, to the cup, to me. I felt an almost physical shock at her resemblance to Denna. Still looking at me, she drank. Her hard eyes gave away nothing of what was happening inside her head.
“Bring them over to sit by me,” I said. “It might help me to make up my mind.”
Kete brought them over. Ellie was docile. Krin was stiff.
“Be careful with this one,” Kete said, nodding to the dark-haired girl. “She’s a scratcher.”
Tim came back looking a little pale. He sat by the fire where Otto nudged him with an elbow. “Want some more stew?” he asked maliciously.
“Sod off,” Tim rasped weakly.
“A little ale might settle your stomach,” I advised.
He nodded, seeming eager for anything that might help him. Kete fetched him a fresh mugful.
By this time the girls were sitting on either side of me, facing the fire. Closer, I saw things I had missed before. There was a dark bruise on the back of Krin’s neck. The blonde girl’s wrists were merely chafed from being tied, but Krin’s were raw and scabbed. For all that, they smelled clean. Their hair was brushed and their clothes had been washed recently. Kete had been tending to them.
They were also much more lovely up close. I reached out to touch their shoulders. Krin flinched, then stiffened. Ellie didn’t react at all.
From off in the direction of the trees Fren called out. “It’s done. Do you want us to light a lamp for you?”
“Yes, please,” I called back. I looked from one girl to the other and then to Alleg. “I cannot decide between the two,” I told h
im honestly. “So I will have both.”
Alleg laughed incredulously. Then, seeing I was serious, he protested, “Oh come now. That’s hardly fair to the rest of us. Besides, you can’t possibly....”
I gave him a frank look.
“Well,” he hedged, “Even if you can. It...”
“This is the second thing I ask for,” I said formally. “Both of them.”
Otto made a cry of protest that was echoed in the expressions of Gaskin and Laren.
I smiled reassuringly at them. “Only for tonight.”
Fren and Josh came back from setting up my tent. “Be thankful he didn’t ask for you, Otto,” Fren said to the big man. “That’s what Josh would have asked for, isn’t it, Josh?”
“Shut your hole, Fren,” Otto said in an exasperated tone, “Now I feel ill.”
I stood and slung my lute over one shoulder. Then I led both lovely girls, one golden and one dark, toward my tent.
Chapter 2: Black by Moonlight
Fren and Josh had done a good job with the tent. It was tall enough to stand in the center, but still crowded with me and both girls standing. I gave the golden haired one, Ellie, a gentle push toward the bed of thick blankets. “Sit down,” I said gently.
When she didn’t respond, I took her by the shoulders and eased her into a sitting position. She let herself be moved, but her blue eyes were wide and vacant. I checked her head for any signs of a wound. Not finding any, I guessed she was in deep shock.
I took a moment and dug through my travel sack, then shook some powdered leaf into my traveling cup and added some water from my waterskin. I set the cup into Ellie’s hands, and she took hold of it absently. “Drink it,” I encouraged, trying to capture the tone of voice Felurian had used to gain my thoughtless compliance from time to time.
It may have worked, or perhaps she was just thirsty. Whatever the reason, Ellie drained the cup to the bottom. Her eyes still held the same faraway look they had before.
I shook another measure of the powdered leaf into the cup, refilled it with water, and held it out for the dark-haired girl to drink.
We stayed there for several minutes, my arm outstretched, her arms motionless at her sides. Finally she blinked, her eyes focusing on me. “What did you give her?” she asked.
“Crushed velia,” I said gently. “It’s a counter-toxin. There was poison in the stew.”
Her eyes told me she didn’t believe me. “I didn’t eat any of the stew.”
“It was in the ale too. I saw you drink that.”
“Good,” she said. “I want to die.”
I gave a deep sigh. “It won’t kill you. It’ll just make you miserable. You’ll throw up and be weak with muscle cramps for a day or two.” I raised the cup, offering it to her.
“Why do you care if they kill me?” she asked tonelessly. “If they don’t do it now they’ll do it later. I’d rather die....” She clenched her teeth before she finished the sentence.
“They didn’t poison you. I poisoned them and you happened to get some of it. I’m sorry, but this will help you over the worst of it.”
Krin’s gaze wavered for a second, then became iron hard again. She looked at the cup, then fixed her gaze on me. “If it’s harmless, you drink it.”
“I can’t,” I explained. “It would put me to sleep, and I have things to do tonight.”
Krin’s eyes darted to the bed of furs laid out on the floor of the tent.
I smiled my gentlest, saddest smile. “Not those sorts of things.”
She still didn’t move. We stood there for a long while. I heard a muted retching sound from off in the woods. I sighed and lowered the cup. Looking down, I saw Ellie had already curled up and gone to sleep. Her face looked almost peaceful.
I took a deep breath and looked back up at Krin. “You don’t have any reason to trust me,” I said, looking straight into her eyes. “Not after what has happened to you. But I hope you will.” I held out the cup again.
She met my eyes without blinking, then reached for the cup. She drank it off in one swallow, choked a little, and sat down. Her eyes stayed hard as marble as she stared at the wall of the tent. I sat down, slightly apart from her.
In fifteen minutes she was asleep. I covered the two of them with a blanket and watched their faces. In sleep they were even more beautiful than before. I reached out to brush a strand of hair from Krin’s cheek. To my surprise, she opened her eyes and stared at me. Not the marble stare she had given me before, she looked at me with the dark eyes of a young Denna.
I froze with my hand on her cheek. We watched each other for a second. Then her eyes drew closed again. I couldn’t tell if it was the drug pulling her under, or her own will surrendering to sleep.
I settled myself at the entrance of the tent and lay Caesura across my knees. I felt rage like a fire inside me, and the sight of the two sleeping girls was like a wind fanning the coals. I set my teeth and forced myself to think of what had happened here, letting the fire burn fiercely, letting the heat of it fill me. I drew deep breaths, tempering myself for what was to come.
I waited for three hours, listening to the sounds of the camp. Muted conversation drifted toward me, shapes of sentences with no individual words. They faded, mixing with cursing and sounds of people being ill. I took long, slow breaths as Vashet had shown me, relaxing my body, slowly counting my exhalations.
Then, opening my eyes, I looked at the stars and judged the time to be right. I slowly unfolded myself from my sitting position and made a long, slow stretch. There was a solid crescent of moon hanging in the sky, and everything seemed very bright.
I approached the campfire slowly. It had fallen to sullen coals that did little to light the space between the two wagons. Otto was there, his huge body slumped against one of the wheels. I smelled vomit. “Is that you, Kvothe?” he asked blurrily.
“Yes.” I continued my slow walk toward him.
“That bitch Anne didn’t let the lamb cook through,” he moaned. “I swear to holy God I’ve never been this sick before.” He looked up at me. “Are you all right?”
Caesura leapt, caught the moonlight briefly on her blade, and tore his throat. He staggered to one knee, then toppled to his side, his hands staining black as they clutched his neck. I left him bleeding darkly in the moonlight, unable to cry out, dying but not dead.
I tossed a piece of brittle iron into the coals of the fire and headed toward the other tents.
Laren startled me as I came around the wagon. He made a surprised noise as he saw me walk around the corner with my naked sword. But the poison had made him sluggish, and he had barely managed to raise his hands before Caesura took him in the chest. He choked a scream as he fell backward, writhing on the ground.
None of them had been sleeping soundly due to the poison, so Laren’s cry set them pouring from the wagons and tents, staggering and looking around wildly. Two indistinct shapes that I knew must be Josh and Fren leapt from the open back of the wagon closest to me. I struck one in the eye before he hit the ground and tore the belly from the other.
Everyone saw, and now there were screams in earnest. Most of them began to run drunkenly into the trees, some falling as they went. But the tall shape of Tim hurled itself at me. The heavy sword he had been sharpening all evening glinted silver in the moonlight.
But I was ready. I slid a second long, brittle piece of sword-iron into my hand and muttered a binding. Then, just as he came close enough to strike I snapped the iron sharply between my fingers. His sword shattered with the sound of a broken bell, and the pieces tumbled and disappeared in the dark grass.
Tim was more experienced than me, stronger, and with longer reach. Even poisoned and with half a sword he made a good showing of himself. It took me nearly half a minute before I snuck past his guard with Lover Out the Window and severed his hand at the wrist.
He fell to his knees, letting out a raspy howl and clutching at the stump. I struck him high in the chest and headed for the trees. The fight
hadn’t taken long, but every second was vital, as the others were already scattering into the woods.
I hurried in the direction I’d seen one of the dark shapes stagger. I was careless, so when Alleg threw himself on me from the shadow of a tree he caught me unaware. He didn’t have a sword, only a small knife flashing in the moonlight as he dove for me. But a knife is enough to kill a man. He stabbed me in the stomach as we rolled to the ground. I struck the side of my head against a root and tasted blood.
I fought my way to my feet before he did and cut the hamstring on his leg. Then I stabbed him in the stomach and left him cursing on the ground as I went to hunt the others. I held one hand tight across my stomach. I knew the pain would hit me soon, and after that I might not have long to live.
It was a long night, and I will not trouble you with any further details. I found all the rest of them as they made their way through the forest. Anne had broken her leg in her reckless flight, and Tim made it nearly half a mile despite the loss of his hand and the wound in his chest. They shouted and cursed and begged for mercy as I stalked them through the forest, but nothing they said could appease me.
It was a terrible night, but I found them all. There was no honor to it, no glory. But there was justice of a sort, and blood, and in the end I brought their bodies back.
I came back to my tent as the sky was beginning to color to a familiar blue. A sharp, hot line of pain burned a few inches below my navel, and I could tell from the unpleasant tugging when I moved that dried blood had matted my shirt to the wound. I ignored the feeling as best I could, knowing I could do nothing for myself with my hands shaking and no decent light to see by. I’d have to wait for dawn to see how badly I was hurt.
I tried not to dwell on what I knew from my work in the Medica. Any deep wound to the gut promises a long, painful trip to the grave. A skilled physicker with the right equipment could make a difference, but I couldn’t be farther from civilization. I might as well wish for a piece of the moon.
I wiped my sword, sat in the wet grass in front of the tent, and began to think.
Epic: Legends of Fantasy Page 28