The Iron Princess

by Niall Teasdale

‘Perhaps. I’m not sure I should take that risk.’

  ~~~

  ‘What is it we’re looking for precisely?’ Suyin asked as she trooped into the village with Ayah and Nareel.

  ‘A reason why this place is a mausoleum,’ Ayah replied, ‘and a shop selling herbs. Taravel makes me want to find out how high a fat man can bounce, but Rathven is one of our people and maybe if I can make him better… Well, I’m not actually sure what the benefit is, but I’m going to try anyway.’

  It was Sky Day and Loffton was taking its day of rest. Not that that made it look too much different from any other day. There did seem to be a few more people on the streets, almost all of them women or children. Nareel was dressed in her blue tunic and pants since it was earlier in the day and she did not need to be in her bodice until much later. She paused beside a middle-aged woman watching over a pair of children. ‘Excuse me, but could you tell us where to find a healer or a herb shop?’

  The woman gave a slight shrug. ‘Nothing like that in Loffton. We had a healer, but she left after her daughter… died. Her place was over on the other side of the square, but it’s shut up now.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Nareel said, adding a polite smile. Then she turned and lifted an eyebrow.

  ‘We’ll go take a look,’ Ayah said and set off.

  ‘If it’s shut up…’ Suyin began.

  ‘She may have grown what I need. If we’re lucky, her garden may still be worth looking at.’

  ‘Isn’t that like stealing?’

  ‘Any healer worth the name wouldn’t begrudge a sick person a few herbs. If it’s shut up, it means no one else is living there.’

  ‘That’s… logical, I guess.’

  There was still a sign over the door of the healer’s house. Athelynn had never felt the need for one – everyone in Avrilatha knew who and where she was – but it was a standard sign used by healers: a circle of five coloured discs indicating the generative cycle of the elements. The paint was largely gone from the discs, but it was just about possible to make it out. Once again, the door was boarded over, but there was a gate at the side of the house and Ayah made straight for it. Putting her hand through a hole in the wood, she lifted the latch and was about to open the gate when she heard a voice.

  ‘Hey! Wait up.’ It was Jun, in tunic and trousers and with his sword belted around his waist. Ayah watched as he jogged closer. ‘I heard what happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.’

  ‘I’m not,’ Ayah replied. ‘This time I got to point out his error personally.’

  ‘Right. Uh, what are you doing?’

  ‘Trying to find some herbs to help him. Please don’t ask me why. I guess I’m just stupid.’ Ayah pushed open the gate and began marching toward the back of the healer’s cottage.

  ‘I’d have said “compassionate,”’ Jun called after her. Then he hurried to follow as Nareel and Suyin set off after Ayah.

  The garden at the back of the cottage was a mess. Ayah sighed heavily as she surveyed the damage several years of neglect could do to what she suspected had been quite a good herb garden. Her mother had never bothered with growing herbs, aside from a few common ones she used a lot: there had always been Avrilatha Wood. This healer clearly had a need to grow more of her herbs, but now… Climbers had invaded many of the beds as well as almost enveloping the back wall of the house. There were almost more weeds than herbs in the places where the climbers had not strangled everything else to death.

  Ayah’s shoulders sagged. ‘I’d need to spend two days in here just to discover whether there was anything worth salvaging, never mind finding what I’d need.’

  ‘So, you can’t help him?’ Nareel asked.

  ‘I can, probably, but it would mean touching him and right now I don’t think either of us wants that.’

  ‘He doesn’t,’ Jun put in. ‘He’s still saying you’re a witch. Did you really knee him in the, um…’

  ‘He grabbed my shoulders. I’d imagine he assumed I would beat uselessly against his chest with my fists. Really, he has the worst technique. How does he ever win any of his matches?’

  Jun gave a shrug. ‘Brute force. He’s bigger than most of the people he fights. Herra Taravel’s been trying to train him, but Rathven’s not the kind of man to listen to instruction.’

  Ayah took one more look around the ruined garden and started for the gate. ‘How good is Taravel?’

  ‘He’s a master of Earth Form. I think he was in the Garia City Army at one time too.’

  ‘He has a bad back,’ Nareel said, ‘and he eats too much.’

  ‘Overeating needn’t be a problem with Earth Form,’ Ayah said, ‘but the bad back would be. Okay, let’s go to the inn. The innkeeper said Loffton isn’t a happy place. Maybe he’d be willing to explain why.’

  ‘I guess it’s worth a try,’ Suyin said, but she did not sound especially enthusiastic about it.

  ~~~

  Suyin’s assessment of their chances proved accurate. The innkeeper clammed up as soon as he was asked directly about the village’s problems and none of the shopkeepers they tried were any better. Someone they had spoken to had been sufficiently alarmed by their questions, however, that they had passed on the information to someone else and it was as they were heading back out to the gate and the circus that the eventual recipient of the news made himself known.

  He was a large man, tall and broad in the chest, but he walked with his shoulders sagging as though he was carrying a great weight. His hair was dark but starting to grey and he would likely have been quite handsome were it not for the bags under his eyes and the general air of weariness about his person. He did manage to convey suppressed anger quite well, except that when he spoke it came out more as spite.

  ‘What are you doing wandering around disturbing my people?’ he snapped, aiming the bulk of his anger at Ayah. She noticed the slight emphasis he put on the word ‘my’ and found it interesting. ‘I’ll not have outsiders disturbing our peace.’

  Ayah looked at him for a second and decided that dissembling was the best option. ‘Pardon me, laoshi, but we were not aware that we were disturbing anyone. One of our people has been afflicted by some form of illness which appears to also afflict many of the men in your village.’

  ‘There is no sickness in Loffton. You’ll not suggest there is and you’ll not take that tone with me.’ Apparently, this was a man used to getting what he wanted and who expected women to be thoroughly subservient.

  Ayah bowed her head. ‘Apologies, laoshi, I meant no disrespect. We will return to our camp.’

  ‘Good. Stay there. I don’t want to see you inside our walls again.’

  ‘Who do you think he was?’ Jun asked when they were well past the offensive man.

  ‘A pompous windbag with something to hide,’ Ayah replied. ‘He’s been affected by whatever happened to Rathven too, but he doesn’t want anyone to know what’s going on. If no one will tell us anything, we’ll have to try to treat the symptoms and hope we don’t need more than that to heal him. It’s never the best way, but it’s what we have.’

  The woman with the children was standing outside her home even though the children were now nowhere in sight. She was looking indecisive, but when Ayah nodded politely to her, she waved them over, looking around quickly. ‘Gratham was trying to stop you finding out about the spirit, wasn’t he?’

  Ayah raised an eyebrow. ‘If that man was Gratham and the spirit is what’s causing your village’s problems, then yes.’

  The woman gave a nod. ‘It started about two Great Years ago. Naira, the daughter of our healer, hanged herself because of… something that happened. Poor Mainara was distraught and she left to go to her sister in Istollam soon after. Three, maybe four, months later, the men started to get sick. It’s Naira’s spirit, see? She comes in the night. She’s been seen a couple of times. I saw her once, when she came to take my husband.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Oh, he’s not dead. He might as well be, but he’s not d
ead. I went to see your fortune teller hoping… hoping there was some chance he’d be a man again. She told me that it might happen if I trusted a stranger, so here I am, trusting you.’

  Ayah frowned. ‘I’m not sure that I can fix this, laoshi.’

  ‘I don’t think you can either, taitai, but someone has to try and no one in Loffton will.’

  Ayah gave the woman a bow. ‘Thank you. If I can do something, I will.’

  ~~~

  They got back to camp just in time to grab some lunch and then set to their afternoon tasks. Ayah had no specific afternoon tasks but what she wanted to do was talk to Avoona and that was going to be difficult. Once again, Avoona had a queue outside her tent, almost all of them women, and Ayah could not interrupt the fortune teller when she was one of the few people in the circus making real money.

  Eventually, Avoona put up a little sign saying ‘Back in 5 minutes,’ and emerged from her tent with the bridge of her nose gripped between her fingers. Ayah interrupted her walk with a flagon of cider which was Avoona’s favourite drink when she was busy.

  ‘And what is it you want for your largesse?’ Avoona asked.

  Ayah thought about denying that she wanted something, but Avoona would never buy it and Ayah did want something. ‘The village is being plagued by a spirit, the ghost of a girl who hanged herself. I think it attacked Rathven last night and I doubt it’ll stop there. I need to know who’s next.’

  ‘You don’t ask much, do you?’

  ‘You’ve already helped. I wouldn’t know about the spirit if you hadn’t told someone to trust a stranger. She decided I was the stranger to trust. Her husband… is one of the men who isn’t being a husband.’

  ‘That doesn’t narrow it down much, Ayah, but I think I know the one you mean.’ Avoona gave a slight shrug. ‘I cast the coins and tell them what I see. I told someone else yesterday that a stranger would bring him ruin.’

  ‘Him? That one was a man?’

  ‘Big man. Very self-important.’

  Ayah sagged a little. ‘Okay, I am going to let you off for that one because the woman was a good call. Can you find out who the spirit will visit next?’

  Avoona lifted her flagon, took a pull on the golden liquid within, and then nodded. ‘I’ll see what I can do when I next get a lull.’

  ~~~

  Possibly the only healthy-looking man in Loffton was in the audience for the first Fire Dance of the evening. Ayah spotted him as she walked in behind Yaena, handing off her cloak to one of the drummers. That was mostly because this man sat up straighter when the girls walked in; none of the others seemed that interested. A sudden insight hit Ayah as she realised that all the men except for that lone healthy one were with a woman: the women of Loffton were bringing their men to see scantily clad women dance in the hope that it might just provoke something. If the night before’s performances were anything to go by, that ploy was not going to work.

  There was something about the man that made Ayah think she should know him. He was big, barrel-chested, and he had an air of arrogance about him. His hair and eyes were dark and he looked fairly good. Except that there was something about his brown eyes, something cold and uncaring. And then she realised she was looking at the son of the man who had accosted her in the village. That seemed odd: his father had seemed pretty inimical to the circus and here was his son, watching the fire dancers.

  His reasons were obvious enough, but they became more so when the dance ended and he developed the kind of stupid grin men got when they thought they had a sure thing coming their way. He was wrong, because the first person he tried was Yaena.

  ‘I’m sorry, laoshi,’ Yaena said – the honorific was much more than he deserved. ‘I don’t do that. Ask Sona or Merinda.’

  ‘But I want you,’ Gratham’s son replied, his grin broadening.

  Ayah stepped up beside Yaena, looping an arm around her friend’s waist. ‘Yaena’s not available. Sona’s a blonde and she’d be happy to entertain you.’

  ‘I want her.’ He said it slowly and loomed over the two of them as he did so.

  Ayah looked into his eyes. ‘The last person who wouldn’t take no for an answer around here is still recovering from his beating. Sona will see to your needs.’ He seemed to think she might be serious. Certainly, he looked around and spotted Sona about to put her cloak back on and, with a grunt, he started after her. ‘He doesn’t have his father’s willpower. We might want to keep an eye on Sona tonight.’

  ‘I’ll take care of that,’ Yaena replied. ‘And I owe you a drink. I don’t think he’d have gone that quietly if you hadn’t stepped in.’

  ‘You could have handled him.’

  ‘I’m not sure I have your knack for kneeing men in the balls.’ Turning her head, Yaena gave Ayah a kiss on the lips and then slipped away. ‘I’d best get after Sona and make sure that brute plays nice.’

  Ayah was fairly sure he would not, but there were degrees of nice. Still catching the clasp of her cloak at her throat, she stepped out of the enclosure and found Avoona waiting for her.

  ‘I did a casting,’ the fortune teller said. ‘The next person to be attacked will be Jun.’

  ‘Jun? I’d assumed there was some reasoning behind this, but that seems… random.’

  Avoona shrugged. ‘Fate is like that. We don’t always know why it works the way it does. All we can do is go with the flow or try to fight it. The last option is usually a bad idea.’

  ‘I don’t really believe in fate.’

  ‘Call it luck then. Bad luck, perhaps, but luck all the same.’

  ‘Thanks. Alright, let’s see if I can’t catch myself a ghost.’

  ~~~

  ‘Me? It’s going to attack me?’ It was about the third time Jun had asked the same question with slightly varying words.

  ‘Should I get a cloth to wash out your ears?’ Ayah asked.

  ‘What? No! Why?’

  ‘Because you appear to be having some trouble hearing me. Avoona says you’re the next to be attacked and, frankly, I don’t have anything else to work with.’

  ‘So, you’re just going to sit here all night and wait for me to be attacked?’

  ‘Spirits, Jun, quit arguing.’ The speaker was Torren. He shared the tent with Jun. ‘If Ayah wants to spend the night in our tent, let her.’ Torren was not quite as tall or as attractive as Jun, but he was a nice enough man. He was a redhead, a proper coppery redhead, and had the pale, somewhat freckled skin to go with it. Ayah rolled her eyes at him and got a smirk in return.

  ‘That’s basically the plan though,’ Ayah said. ‘It comes in to attack you and I try to talk it into letting me help. Or at least leaving us alone. I’ve talked to spirits before. They listen. Mostly.’

  ‘I guess I can always hope Avoona’s wrong this time,’ Jun said, pulling off his tunic.

  Ayah stepped over to the tent flap and made sure her back was turned as Jun continued to undress. ‘We can hope so, sure.’

  24th Day, First Nahad.

  Ayah sat cross-legged on the floor of Jun and Torren’s tent and listened to the night. When she had been on the road with Xian, there had been night birds calling and the sound of the wind in trees or the grass. No birds called near Loffton and even the wind seemed to avoid the place. The only noticeable sound was some distant snoring: Ayah suspected Taravel since fat men could be very loud snorers. It really was a cursed village if nature kept away from it.

  Thankfully, neither Jun nor Torren snored. Or they had not done so thus far. They muttered in their sleep a little, turning under their blankets. Each time it happened, Ayah looked around but there was never anything to see and they would settle almost immediately. It was, she knew, well after midnight and so far there had been no sign of an attack by the spirit.

  She pulled her cloak about her more tightly and checked her sword. The sword was still beside her in its scabbard. Maybe, just maybe, she should have changed into some different clothes before taking up her watch. Jun had been a little surprise
d when she turned up in her dancing costume and cloak with her sword in her hand. She grinned at the thought: he was a well-brought-up young man and, even though he had been with the circus for a while, he still seemed to find the outfit a little brief. It was not exactly warm either, but the cloak did double service, masking the outfit outside the enclosure and providing some warmth. And Ayah had the warming trick she had learned from Xian. She grinned again. Jun really had liked the view, even if he attempted to hide it.

  Jun gave a soft moan in his sleep and turned onto his back. Apparently, he really had enjoyed the view. There was a distinct tenting of his blanket over his groin. Well, maybe he was dreaming of someone else, but Ayah’s cheeks flushed. He seemed to be enjoying himself. It would be really embarrassing if he–

  His breathing changed, becoming shallow and sounding a little desperate, and the sounds he was making shifted to something more like panicked gasps. Ayah frowned and looked closer. He was trembling. His muscles seemed to shift as though he was trying to move, but nothing came of it.

  Ayah lifted to her feet and waved a hand over Jun’s body. There was nothing there… but there was something there. ‘Stop,’ Ayah said. ‘Naira, stop this. Please.’ Jun kept up his twitching, his breathing shallow and rapid. It was as though he were pinned to the cot and being slowly smothered. Ayah could see his eyes darting behind his eyelids but he did not wake. ‘Naira, I know someone harmed you, but Jun was not responsible. Stop!’ In desperation, she pulled her sword from its scabbard and swung it blindly out over Jun’s body.

  A shriek of pain pierced the night, followed immediately by Jun drawing in a huge breath. Ayah cast about, looking for any sign of what had happened to the ghost and then, sitting in a heap on the floor beside Jun’s cot, a girl appeared. She was small and slim but endowed with moderately large, shapely breasts. Since she was naked, that much was obvious. In life, Ayah suspected that she had been quite beautiful, but now her eyes were a haunted black and her long black hair was lank and lifeless. There were dark bruises all around her throat. Her left arm hung limp at her side and there was a long gash in it. Ayah frowned: her sword had cut a ghost?