by Drea Damara
His aunt still was silent, but he felt her grip on him tighten. A muffled horse-like sputter and then a grunting noise sounded from within the dark woods ahead of them. Sarah gasped and pulled on his arm as she backed away.
“It’s a wickrit,” she whispered in alarm. “Come on.”
Ricky followed her into the woods away from the stream. He heard the sound of more wood breaking behind them and looked back.
“A what?”
He stopped and stared at the brush between the trees where the noise had sounded. Something moved. Something big. The tree branches shifted as he squinted through the fading daylight.
“Ricky! Let’s go!” His aunt’s harsh whisper cut through the chilly air, but he remained fixed in his place, waiting to see what emerged.
Another grunt, louder than the first, came through the darkness. Ricky watched a long, horse-like leg step out from the woods and into the dim light that branched down through the treetops. Four sharp curved claws jutted out from the hoof, their pointy ends sinking into the ground. A massive horn on a slimy snout shoved past a leafy branch as the creature stepped with gradual force toward the stream. The beast’s back was at least six feet high with a muscular girth to its dark brown body and leathery skin.
“What the?” Ricky gasped.
Sarah tugged on his arm as she tiptoed backward. “Ricky, move! Now!”
Ricky watched as the animal jerked its enormous head up into the air. Its skull was wider than his body, its eyes red. Two clouds of steam burst out of its large nostrils with each powerful breath. Grunting, it swung its head, its crimson eyes scanning the woods.
“Holy shit,” Ricky muttered. “It’s a—”
The beast snapped its head and eyes forward, the red orbs fixing on him. It snorted, inflating its chest, which made it appear even larger. Its leathery lips parted, revealing a row of jagged yellow teeth with two longer fangs on each side of its jaw. Rearing up on its hind legs, it let out a piercing snarl.
“Wickriiiiiit!” Ricky screamed. He spun around and moved his legs toward his aunt. Her eyes were large as she held her hand outstretched behind her and motioned for him to follow her. A loud splash came from behind him and he knew it was the wickrit racing through the stream.
“Run, Ricky! Run!” Sarah called as she darted through the woods. She ran wildly, zigzagging through the trees, jumping over dead ones. He followed, heart pounding, pressing his sword against his leg so as not to snag it on anything.
The wickrit charged ferociously. He could hear it, butting branches with its skull. He looked back and saw it hook its horn under a thick log and then heave it effortlessly into the air. It let out a snarl like it was furious and locked eyes with him.
Ricky’s shoulder smacked against a tree, and he caught himself from falling. Grasping his throbbing shoulder, he zipped through the forest, his eyes on the light gray flash of his aunt’s dress ahead of him. She was fast for an old person!
“Here!” Sarah yelled and pointed to a tangle of vines that stretched between the trees ahead of them. She squeezed through a place between the mass and a wide-trunked tree. She turned and pulled a vine up for him to crawl under. “Come on! Come on!”
“I’m coming!” he yelled and scurried under the vine.
Sarah helped him up, and they dashed farther into the woods, hand in hand. Over the sound of his panicked breathing, Ricky heard a crash behind them. Another snarling growl came from the beast. He turned back and saw it thrashing on its hind legs, its front legs caught within the maze of vines.
“Ha! Take that, asshole!” Ricky called, slowing for a moment.
“Ricky!” Sarah ran back and jerked his arm forward.
He snapped his head back and forth in anticipation of other predators. “Was that thing real?” He called, gasping as their feet pounded the mucky ground.
“What do you think?” Sarah wheezed sourly. The snarls behind them slowly died down and eventually came to a halt. Sarah slowed her running to a fast walk and gasped for air.
“All right,” she said, wheezing, “we’re close now.” She brought a hand up to her hip and took deep breaths.
Ricky came up beside her and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. He didn’t want to let it go after seeing the wickrit. He panted and squinted through the fading light. Up ahead the forest thinned, and in the distance he could see buildings. Light from their windows illuminated places on an open dirt road between them.
“Close to what?” He decided whispering like his aunt might be a good idea after all.
“To Oedher Village and to Allister Hall.”
He balked at her and then back in the direction where they’d encountered the wickrit. He didn’t want to believe it, but the wickrit had looked just as his aunt had described to him when she’d told him stories of Farwin Wood. He followed her as they stepped through the woods to the forest’s edge. She stopped at the tree line and hesitated, a look of worry on her face.
“If this is Farwin Wood like you said, why do you look anxious? I mean, you described it as a happy place and,” he looked around at the dead and gloomy surroundings, “a lush, green world. I don’t get it.”
“It’s not the Farwin Wood I remember.” She looked at him with fear in her eyes. “Something has happened since the last time I was here.”
“Well, when was that?”
Sarah pursed her lips and stepped out onto the road. “Almost twenty years ago.” She led them past a decrepit village sign that hung down to the ground by one hinge. “Your father and I came here for summer vacation after I graduated high school and he graduated college. He wanted us to have one last adventure before he went off to New York.”
As difficult as all this was to believe, Ricky was starting to accept a little of it after waking up in the woods and seeing the wickrit. Imagining his father believed in this sort of thing, however, still seemed unfathomable.
“Well, do you remember anything that might have happened to change things? I mean, how did this place get so creepy looking?”
“I remember everything, Ricky. And yes, something happened. Something horrible.”
FARWIN WOOD
18 YEARS EARLIER
SARAH WAITED on eggshells for Vasimus to come to her room. They had spent the last two nights together and it was nothing short of heaven. She and Richard were due to return to Allister Hall in the morning, so she needed plenty of time to say goodbye to him.
She heard a tapping on the door and then he crept in and shut the door behind him. He looked worried and she instantly wanted to go to him, but he swiftly approached. Stopping in front of her, he knelt on one knee. He pulled out a small golden ring with tiny daphne flower imprints from his waist belt and held it up to her.
“Sarah, you have honored me with your choice, and I want to honor you with mine. I would like for you to join my family, to join my life, my future—a future we can share together.”
Sarah felt herself swallow as she looked down at the candlelight glinting off the little ring. There was a large part of her that wanted to throw her arms around his neck and resound a loud “yes.” However, a small part of her thought on the reality of going back home to Blinney Lane and made her hesitate. She stared at the ring but couldn’t bring herself to speak, realizing how complicated and impossible the future was if she accepted it.
“Forgive me. I thought you had chosen me. Have I spoken too soon?” Vasimus’s voice softened as he stared up at her. He grasped one of her hands gently. “I know we have only come to know each other well these past few weeks, but I have never felt such steadfast conviction in a belief as I do in my feelings for you, which are so great that I know they will not change.”
“You do not speak hastily, in my opinion. It is only that I worry for our—” She paused. “We live so far apart, and I would not always be able to be here.”
“I will come to Blinney with you. I can leave Farwin Wood from time to time,” Vasimus said, assuring her.
“No. I—it’s jus
t that I don’t think I could take you away from here…for as long as it takes to get to Blinney. I mean, since you are to lead Daundecort one day. Your people need you here.”
“Sarah, my people will survive without me a few months of the year if they must.” Vasimus stood, still holding the ring between his thumb and index finger.
“Vasimus—” Sarah looked down and tried to look past the ring so that it couldn’t tempt her into making a promise she couldn’t keep. “Blinney is very different from Farwin Wood. I don’t think that you would like it, but I must return there often.”
“Are you afraid I would not let you go? Sarah, do not look at this ring as a sign that I would be master over your decisions. I only meant that I would go wherever you must for as often as I can. I will like Blinney as long as you are there beside me.” With his hand, he urged her chin up to look at him.
“I don’t know how to say this, but you cannot go to Blinney.” Sarah swallowed at his confused look. She couldn’t possibly tell him the truth, yet she didn’t want to lie to him. “Outsiders are not allowed in Blinney. It’s always been this way and will remain so forever, I fear.” God, she hated lying to him.
“Would I still be an outsider if we were to marry?” Vasimus’s expression was quite quizzical.
“Yes. That’s why it hurts me to tell you this.” She cast her eyes down again and then looked away, so she wouldn’t have to see the token of a dream she could not have.
Vasimus exhaled in disappointment. He turned the ring over between his thumb and finger, staring at it in thought. “Sarah? Is this your only objection? That you would protest because I cannot come to Blinney?”
She looked back at him with teary eyes. “Yes, I suppose. And that I would have to leave you for a part of the year.” She swallowed at the thought of how she could make that possible. Perhaps when she had to take over the store she could hire someone. Maybe someone else on Blinney Lane had a relative who wouldn’t mind filling in for a few months each year.
“Then worry not. I can accept this objection. It would only serve our love more for the anticipation our happy reunions will bring,” he said thoughtfully. “I promise to wait eagerly by when you must go. And when you return to your other home of Daundecort Hall, I will be here. Always.”
“You could live like that?”
“I do not think living without you could be easily done now that I have come to know you. Let this ring serve as a reminder that I am always with you, no matter how far away you must go.” Vasimus held the ring up a little higher.
She wanted to cry, realizing that a thought she’d only pondered over the last several weeks and shrewdly pushed aside had now become a reality. In spite of what she told Vasimus about a woman choosing, her situation was more complex than that. At the end of the summer, she would have to speak to her parents about how often and how long she could be allowed to leave her responsibilities in the store and return to Farwin Wood. If everyone else were not sleeping at the present moment in Daundecort Hall, she would have yelled her response.
“Yes! Oh, thank you!” She clasped her hands around his and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Vasimus clasped his arms around her waist and spun her around. Laughing, he asked, “Why do you thank me? It is you who came back to Farwin Wood and changed my world forever. And to think, we will have two weddings now.”
“Two weddings?”
“Yes. My sister and Lord Ranthrop of the Southlands.”
“What?” The joy nearly drained out of her. What was he talking about?
“I would have thought she’d told you. They are to be married in the spring. It is all anyone can talk about. You will be here for the ceremony, won’t you?”
“Oh, of course.” The words came out without thinking. Her head felt like it was spinning. Had she been the only one to notice the attraction between her brother and Deronda? Why hadn’t Deronda told her that she was engaged? Something must be wrong. She mustn’t love the man. And Richard—did he know? It wasn’t a good situation whether he did or didn’t.
How deep were their affections already? It had only taken several weeks for her and Vasimus to come to the current situation. What would happen should Vasimus and Lord Clennon find out about the two of them? Sarah’s mind began to reel with all of the negative possibilities.
Vasimus set her down and grasped her hand. “Here, let me,” he said and began to place the ring on her finger.
Sarah's breath caught at the thought of Richard and Deronda seeing the ring on her finger. She didn’t want to look like a hypocrite to her brother or cause Deronda any more perplexed thoughts about her impending marriage than she probably already had.
“No, wait.” Sarah gently tugged her hand back. “Will it be all right if I don’t wear it just yet?” Vasimus looked at her with confusion. “I’d rather speak to my parents before my brother knows. It would be the proper thing to do. You know how Richard can’t hold anything back.”
Vasimus seemed satisfied with her explanation. He smiled reassuringly and clasped his hand over hers. “I think that would be best since I may not go inform them myself.” She sighed with relief.
“However, you will keep it until then, won’t you?”
“Yes, of course.” She wouldn’t let it out of her sight. She smiled and carefully took the ring, knowing it was a token of his love. She spotted her bracelet as she did and got an idea. “Perhaps I can put it on this bracelet someone made for me,” she said, smiling at him.
WHEN SARAH and Richard returned to Allister Hall the next day, she tried to inquire about his interest in Deronda. He insisted that what he felt for Vasimus’s sister was not a mere fancy, but rather earnest love. To her surprise, he knew about Deronda’s engagement and had for some time. He said they had ended their affair just days before and assured her that he wouldn’t continue to pursue Deronda. His huffy manner concerned her though. Is that what it looked like to be heartbroken?
Back in Oedher Village, they spent the next few days visiting villagers and the Wortwart brothers, who seemed to lighten Richard’s mood. In the evenings, they invited Netta and Dergus to dine with them.
At the end of the week, Vasimus arrived after Sarah replied to his message, accepting his request to come visit them again. Richard appeared grateful for the extra company but still seemed distracted. Sarah felt guilty for having Vasimus there after she’d scolded Richard to stay away from Deronda. She had a moment to speak with Richard privately on the second day of Vasimus’s visit, after breakfast as he prepared to go out riding alone.
“Richard, you can go out riding with us if you’d like. I promise not to act silly around him and make you uncomfortable. I don’t want to be a hypocrite since I know you can’t see—” She didn’t want to say her friend’s name.
“No, I know. Don’t worry. I discovered the next village over and have plans to take some archery lessons from a hunter there.” Richard donned his vest and slung a bow over his shoulder as he walked to mount his stroomphblutel.
“Are you mad at me?”
“Sarah, come on. Are you going to make me say it? I know you’re right this time, okay?”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She accepted that his anger wasn’t directed at her but rather his circumstance. She felt awful for him. How was Deronda taking all this? “I’m sorry. I really wanted us both to have a good summer.”
Richard smiled down at her. “Oh, I’ll still have a good summer. Don’t you worry about me. Now leave me be and go entertain your guest, will you?”
Sarah smiled in spite of herself at the rub about Vasimus being her guest. Mostly, it was good to hear him be a cocky smartass again. It meant he was on the mend and back to being his old self. Perhaps, Richard didn’t really know what love was, if he could get over Deronda that quickly.
The two weeks Vasimus spent at Allister Hall went by too fast. He and Sarah spent each day and night together, and every one left her feeling more and more content, loved, and blissfully happy
. She began to worry less about how they would make it work because, so far, it was working wonderfully.
Richard went out each day and returned in time for dinner each evening. His mood improved with each passing day, which made her glad that he was finding a way to enjoy his time while she was distracted with Vasimus.
On Vasimus’s last day at Allister Hall before returning to his home, he sat by the fire with her and Richard, playing Knick Knack and drinking Netta’s special recipe of beetleburry ale.
Richard yawned and got up to leave them after three or four hands. “Happy travels, Vasimus. We’ll see you again, I presume.” They shook hands.
“Oh, Richard you don’t have to go just yet,” she pleaded. She didn’t want him to think she needed more privacy than what she’d already had during the last two weeks. “I’ve seen so little of you lately.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m headed out tomorrow to test my new archery skills. I’ve rallied the Wortwart brothers to go with me in case I’m not as adept with the bow as I hope to be.” He raised his glass once more and finished the last swallow.
“Your brother’s becoming quite the woodsman,” Vasimus said.
“Yes, he is.” Sarah shot a surprised look at Richard before he headed upstairs.
Vasimus left in the morning, expressing his hope that she would return to Daundecort Hall for another stay the week following. Sarah's breath caught as Netta walked through the room and saw them embracing in a kiss by the door. The old woman just smiled and continued to the kitchen. Sarah should have expected Netta to have figured out that she and Vasimus had feelings for each other. Nothing eluded her mother’s dear old friend.
She watched Vasimus ride away until Dergus closed the gate. With Richard gone again for the day, and after the two lazy weeks she’d just spent with Vasimus, she felt like doing something productive. During previous visits, she used to embroider fabric with her mother. Her mother would sell their handiwork to a dressmaker in Oedher Village, adding to the household funds of troogies. What extra milk they got from their three muckas they kept in the barn behind the hall, was either sold or made into a cheese-like substance that would fetch a higher price. Since her mother wouldn’t return anymore, she should carry on the responsibility of providing some income for Dergus and Netta.