“Come with me.”
I barely had the strength to look up as something hovered over me. The effort to care was simply dwindling away.
“You are to come with me now.” The rough voice was female, her words crackling as if she seldom had use for them. It was not warm or kind or comforting. The voice did not bring me hope. I cried out as her fingers coiled around my arm, tight enough to bruise. Long fingernails raked at my aching skin and left trails of blood beneath her hands.
“No...” I protested weakly as I tried to pull my arm back, but I was unable to dislodge her hold on me.
She knelt down beside me, allowing sunlight to fall upon her papery skin, and I could see that once...a long time ago, she had been lovely. Eternity had not been kind, and had taken any trace of beauty with its passing years leaving her haggard and broken. Her eyes were a filmy blue, and no longer sparkled, though I guessed that men had fallen at her feet when they had shone. Matted hair hung unwashed over her shoulders, lying in knotted clumps that were tangled through with brambles, leaves and dead things.
“No, no, child!” she snapped, as I tried in vain to pull away. Her fingers tightened, and with her other hand she slapped me hard around the face. My head rocked back, and the world flipped and flipped back...and for a moment there was nothing but pain and darkness.
“Leave me alone!” I begged. “I've done nothing to you!”
She smiled then, cracked lips splitting to reveal a mouthful of broken teeth. A waft of old breath brushed against my face and I felt my stomach roll again.
“You freed my picksies!” she hissed, spraying me with a glob of spit. “Two moons it has taken me to catch those little foul demons. I finally have enough to leave to wither in the sunlight and then you happen by and set them free! Do you know what Slimy Soo could have got for their dried husks? The juices from their eyeballs?” Her horrible smile broadened. “The poison from their little mouths?”
I shook my head, my panic rising like my nausea.
“No, you don't!” Slimy Soo snarled. “A damn fortune, little bird, that's what you've cost me! Now I’m taking you instead, fair’s fair, don't you think? You really couldn't expect me to work for so long and go empty handed, could you?”
I had thought the question was rhetoric so said nothing, but she slapped me again, demanding that I answered her.
“No,” I mumbled, only because it was the smallest word that I could push from my mouth.
“Good girl,” Slimy Soo replied as she tugged at my arm and dragged me to my feet. “Now come with me.”
It was only short walk to Slimy Soo's crooked little cottage, but my legs screamed at me with every step I took, and my head pounded. My body burned, chilled, ached...and I just wanted to curl up and die, but the hag wouldn't let me. She didn't let go of my arm as she hauled me through the forest and said nothing as she pushed me through the door of her house and onto the dusty floor.
The cottage was made up of one large room. A cooking stove and basin stood in one corner, with a creaky looking bed in the other. A fire burned in the grate by the far wall, warming a pot filled with steaming liquid that trickled up over the top and spilled down the tarnished surface to hiss in the flames. A skinny tabby cat stretched itself in front of the glowing embers, kneading the rug as six hungry kittens fed from her. I pushed myself to my feet, dragging the sweaty hair from my face and nodded towards the cat. "Isn't she meant to be black?"
Slimy Soo just smiled and slammed the door behind us as I watched while she turned the key in the lock, placing it in her pocket. She made no attempt at hiding where she put the key...we both knew that I lacked the strength to fight for it.
“What do you want with me?”
“Oh, you'll see my dear,” she grinned. “Now let's get you cleaned up.”
I watched with growing dread as she picked up a wooden bucket that sat near the fire, bracing myself for what was coming next. I still screeched as the water hit me, and I had to wonder how cold it would have been if it were not for the fire. I trembled with the sudden cold, Slimy Soo grabbed at my hair and yanked a comb through it, ignoring my yelps as she wrenched the teeth through the knots and tangles. When she was finished, she shoved me to my knees, and I simply lacked the will to fight her as she scrubbed my arms raw with a lump of harsh soap.
“For the life of me I can't seem to wash the stink off you!” she snarled.
“Have you no children to snack on?” I hissed back, wrapping my arms around myself.
“What do you think is boiling away in my pot, little bird?” Slimy Soo smiled as she tossed a bundle of damp smelling cloth at me. “Now get dressed.”
With the old hag watching, I stripped off my ruined black dress, and pulled on the rough woven smock she had given me. Its hemline floated down below my knees, and the neckline was too high and itched. I picked at the faded red fabric, my fingers trailing the broken blue stitches that had once held the seams together. It was filthy; the grime had actually sunk deep into the material and had blended with the weave. It was the only thing keeping the thing together.
“It will do.” Slimy Soo huffed. “Shame you're not much of a looker, I could have got a lot more for you.”
“You're going to sell me.” It wasn't a question, just a realisation that hit me as unexpectedly as the water from the bucket. I wasn't sure what I thought she was going to do with me...but whoring me out hadn't crossed my mind. Nothing much had crossed my mind except the fear that I was going to throw up on her red dress, and that I didn't think I could live through another icy bath.
“For scraps, little bird,” she said, “Nothing more.”
“Please...”
“Don't you 'please' me, girl! I'll get some coin for you if I must gut you and bleed you myself, understand me? Now be good and get some rest, we'll be leaving for the Midnight Market in a few hours. Try not to waste my time and die in your sleep.”
She pointed to a dark corner of her house, watching as I settled myself onto a blanket on the floor. She turned to her stew and ladled some in a bowl for herself, slopping some on the floor for her cat. I was unsure if there really were children simmering in her dinner or not, but I could only be thankful that for the time being at least, it was not me.
I pulled the blanket tight and tried to ignore the stink that had bound itself to the coarse fabric. I cried out in pain just once as my legs cramped, and then my arms before everything from my neck down slowly grew numb. I should have been terrified, but for just a moment, I could only feel relief that the pain had gone.
I burned that night. Sweated...shook...convulsed and dreamt of things so nightmarish I would never forget them. I shivered...trembled...wept...dreamt and burned again. I had no one to tell me that I wasn't dying, no one to comfort or soothe or fetch painkillers. I only had an old hag in the corner, telling me I hadn't better die, which wasn't the same thing at all.
Chapter Seven
Sometime during the night, the skinny cat abandoned her brood, and had curled up with me, seeming to enjoy the feverish heat I was giving off. Her scrawny body vibrated with purrs, and she kneaded her claws against me painfully, though I just didn't have the heart to push her away. We both jumped as the hag woke up, snorting from the creaking bed in the corner. The cat’s fur spiked, her ears lying flat against her head before she darted back to the fireplace. The hungry mouths waiting for her latched on the moment she lay down with them.
“You!” Slimy Soo barked, pointing a finger in my direction unnecessarily, for it was obvious she was speaking to me. “Get up.”
I groaned quietly as I stood, bracing myself against the wall as I swayed. The restless sleep I had been granted had done nothing to dull the ache or fever, which left me wondering how much worse I could possibly feel. I wondered how long it was going to take me to die.
I didn’t want to die, not alone. With a desperate glance around the cottage, I searched for a way out, knowing the door was locked. The windows were barred, the panes nailed shut. Slimy S
oo turned to where I looked, grinning at me with a mouthful of yellow teeth.
“The last girl who tried to flee out of the window had her hands chopped off,” she hissed, kicking me so sharply I fell to my knees. “Brush your hair, little bird and wash your filthy face. We are leaving soon.”
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, panic flooding my body, causing my head to spin. “What are you going to do?”
Slimy Soo just smiled, her crooked teeth poking out from beneath her lips. “You'll see. Now ready yourself, or I'll shave off your pretty red locks and wear them myself.”
I fumbled in my bag for my hairbrush, and did my best to remove the tangles from my hair, leaving it to hang limp and greasy over my shoulders. I splashed my face with cold water from a bucket, washing away some of the sweat and grime that clung to my skin.
“Wear this, it's chilly out.”
My hands reacted too slowly to catch the bundle of red fabric that was thrown at me, so it landed on the floor with a soft thump. I bent low and groaned as I unfolded the filthy scarlet cloak.
“Did you murder Red Riding Hood?”
Slimy Soo grinned at me, placing a finger to her lips with a wink, as if we were sharing some daring little secret. I shuddered as I wrapped the cloak around my shoulders, not wanting my thoughts to linger on what unlucky girl had worn the clothes before me.
“Now, what am I forgetting?” Slimy Soo mused, glancing around her dingy cottage before counting off tasks with her bony fingers. “Windows closed, fire out, cat fed...”
“Broomstick?” I offered, getting a sharp clip around my head for my cheek.
“Ah, that's it...that's it. Here we are, little bird, we don't want you running off and getting lost now.”
I watched in despair as she pulled out a length of thick rope from a drawer, I shook my head, and forced my hands beneath my cloak, knowing how futile an attempt it was to avoid being tied up.
“Give me your hands, or I will hack them off.”
“Where do you think I would go? I can barely walk, let alone run off.” I argued, but I held out my hands because I didn't want to have them forcibly removed.
“I'm not taking any chances losing you. You will pay off your debt to me.”
“With my life?”
Slimy Soo shrugged, knotting the rope tight around my hands so it pinched my skin. “If it comes to that, little bird. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
How true.
The old hag chuckled to herself as she pulled the key from her pocket and unlocked the door. She kept a tight grip on my leash as she gestured for me to step outside into the moonlight, and without a word, she turned the lock on her miserable cottage. It was a small blessing to find the cart behind the hag’s home, which she had bundled all her wares upon. Boxes of glass jars and bottles were packed neatly in wooden crates; all labelled with jagged writing to reveal what was in them. Ground fingernails. Basilisk poison. Semen of centaur. Saliva of goat (Distilled in alcohol). Infants first laugh, both girl and boy. Virgin soul. Baby teeth...
I stopped reading after finding the jar filled with bloodied teeth, and settled silently beside the crates as Slimy Soo hitched up an old knackered looking donkey to take us to market. The rocking movement of the cart played havoc with my delicate stomach, and surrounded by the hag’s gruesome collection it was all I could do not to throw up.
“The midnight market is a sight to behold, little bird!” Slimy Soo called from the seat of the cart. “You're in for such a surprise. Everyone likes surprises.”
“Does anyone actually like your surprises?”
Slimy Soo laughed. A light, almost musical note softened the edge of her cackle. It was the sound of a spoiled youth, of wasted beauty. Of lost love. I smiled back, hoping her blackened heart pumped in ruins beneath her withered chest.
It turned out the Midnight Market was a sight to behold. Slimy Soo was right about that. The cart slowed down at the edge of a great slope, the lush moonlit grass giving way to rock that had been smoothed over by countless feet over countless years. The effect was almost bowl-like, with the imposing edge of a cliff looming over the far side. Within the silvery grey rock, crystals glistened beneath the moonlight. Blues, reds and golds all twinkled like stars, priceless and perfect and ignored by the traders that crowded every inch of the ground below. Looking down, I could only see a patchwork of brightly coloured canopies that sheltered the people beneath them, but I could hear the cries and shouts and bargaining of hundreds and hundreds of faeries.
With a click of her tongue, Slimy Soo ordered the donkey on. The poor creature gave a weary snort of discontent before dragging the cart downwards, and I had to cling on for dear life as it pulled us down the sharp incline. We joined the bustling market seamlessly, with Slimy Soo knowing exactly where she wanted to go, and able to get there without losing her way amongst the labyrinth of carts, tables, banners and people. I quickly lost track of where we were going, and had no hope of finding my way out again on my own.
When we finally stopped, Slimy Soo pulled out a folding table from the back of the cart and began to set out her trinkets. Thankfully, she didn't expect me to help, but instead dragged me out by my bound hands and tied me to the table leg. I tried to make myself as small and inconspicuous as possible, hoping that if no one could see me amongst the noise and chaos...then perhaps I could just curl up and die in peace.
On either side of me were carts brimming with things to sell. On the right, a tall pointed looking man sold wonderful smelling fruit and sugared sweets. To my left, a pretty man sold jars of fat little creatures with no faces. It seemed that everything was for sale at the Midnight Market, from the seemingly impossible to the utterly macabre. You could quite literally sell your soul for anything.
I watched as the fey wandered by. Beautiful creatures that barely glanced down at me glided past in silks and finery. Some clutched at the dainty hands of children, whose glittering eyes shone with a cruelty no human child could ever possess. One small girl crouched beside me, her pink eyes twinkling with an almost innocent glee. Her lips curved into a small smile that widened when she caught sight of the bruises over my arms.
“Mama!” she called. “I want this one.”
The elfin child poked me, prodded me and grinned as I winced as she jabbed at my arm. I suddenly pictured myself as one of those poor tortured Barbie dolls that you found with bored toddlers and I shuddered. The child ran her cold finger over my face, and without much forethought, I jerked my head up and bit her hard. The girl screeched, and her mother slapped me.
“Wretched thing!” snarled the woman, turning to Slimy Soo. “If she has caught anything, you darkling hag, I'll have your head!”
“Now, now my lady,” Slimy Soo said quickly. “My sincere apologies to you and your child, have mercy, the girl will not go unpunished, I promise you.”
The fey woman glanced from her daughter to me, her own pink eyes burning with fury. Her next words were quiet, though there was no mistaking the malice in her soft, haunting voice.
“See to it that she is. Leave her out to rot.”
Slimy Soo nodded, and eager to appease the woman she pulled a shiny marble from behind her ear and held it out for the little girl.
“A gift for your beautiful daughter, madam,” she said, holding it out for the child to snatch away. “Wish for something nice.”
The woman had barely disappeared into the crowd before the old hag turned on me, clouting me sharply around the head.
“Don't you ever do that again!” she hissed, raising her hand and smacking me again. My head snapped back with the force of her blow and pounded sharply on the cart behind me. “I will sell you for scraps...so help me.”
“Better that, than that little monster’s plaything,” I snapped back.
“Do you think?” she whispered, crouching low to face me. “Is it better to be harvested bit by bit by creatures you have never even read about? To watch as they reap your soul and bottle it for the rich. To
spend eternity behind glass, gathering dust as you lie forgotten? Sometimes they like to watch you die, see how long they can draw it out, days...weeks...years.”
I didn't even wince as she placed her wrinkled hands on my face, using her fingertips to catch the tears I no longer had the strength to hold in.
“Leave me alone.”
Slimy Soo chuckled as she turned her back on me, and returned to her table to sell a jar of floating heads to a gentleman with huge black wings. He looked down at me, his dark eyes narrowing as he took in my sickly appearance. He murmured something to the witch, pointing a bone white finger in my direction. I recoiled in horror as Slimy Soo mentioned a price, but mercifully he shook his head and walked away.
“Damn you!” she seethed. “You'll be dead before I get anything for you.”
“Won't you be reprimanded for selling faulty goods?”
“Just keep quiet. I will hear no other words from you, lost bird, understand? I will not be taking you home with me. If you are still bothering me come sunrise, I'll boil your bones where you lie and have you for tea.”
“There you go,” I spat. “Now you sound more like a witch.”
I sat in silence and watched as faeries came and went, thankful that no one seemed to want to purchase me. It was with a cold and hopeless realisation that I acknowledged that I would never go home again. I wouldn't find Niven, I wouldn't bring her home and my mother would have lost what was left of her family.
Darling, There Are Wolves in the Woods Page 5