by Drea Damara
Sarah cast a sympathetic look at the old man. “I’m so sorry, Dergus. I truly didn’t know things were so bad.”
“Ah, don’t you worry. We’ve done all right here, but it’s just Netta and me now. All the help scattered during the war, so it’s just us and those two oafs Vasimus sends to watch the place so Ranthrop’s men don’t burn it down.”
Sarah stopped in her tracks and gaped at Dergus. A single candle burned in a holder by the doorway and flickered shadows about them. “Ranthrop?”
Dergus squeezed her arm. “They’ve been at war ever since the summer Deronda and you—well, you know what I mean.” He patted her hand and continued through the doorway they approached.
Ricky looked at his aunt. She looked pale. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m…fine.” Sarah smoothed her hands over her dress and followed after Dergus.
Ricky felt an inviting heat permeating from somewhere within the room as he entered. Its stone walls were more illuminated than the great room. Sarah stopped just inside the doorway, causing him to nearly slam into her. He stepped around her and saw a stone fire pit along the far wall. It had an iron grate overtop of its burning embers. A counter-height table ran the length of the room, and above it hung wooden bowls and rudimentary black pots from hooks. There were wooden shelves on the wall extending out above the fire pit. Much of the shelf space was empty, though some held brown sacks that slumped in different directions from their contents.
“Netta, where’s the beetleburry?” Dergus called and strode past a little white-haired woman, his motions more fluid now that he’d been moving for a while.
Ricky heard Sarah gasp as she stared at the old woman who sat at the table. Her long white hair was pulled back into a bun at the base of her head; several strands hung down in front of her wrinkled, age-spotted face. She sat hunched over, elbows on the table, peeling a brown hull off some type of vegetable that was bright green once the peel was removed. Her knobby-knuckled hands shook with each graze of the paring knife.
“Now you stay away from that, Dergus! Unless you start scouring the woods for the berries, I’m not making it anymore at the rate you drink it!” The old woman’s crackly high-pitched voice chirped after Dergus as he continued past her into a back room.
“Netta?” Sarah whispered.
Ricky looked at his aunt. Her eyes watered against the flickering candlelight, and he wondered who this woman was to her.
The old woman looked up slowly at the doorway where Dergus had disappeared. She turned her head in the opposite direction, as though she were searching for a sound she thought she’d heard. Upon seeing Sarah, the woman brought her posture more erect and narrowed her eyes, the wrinkled skin at their corners constricting even further. Sarah started around the table in small steps over to where she sat. As Netta stared at Sarah, the knife in her hand fell into the metal bowl with a clatter. She gasped and held her hand to her heart. “Sarah?”
“Oh, Netta!” Sarah cried and wrapped her arms around the woman’s bony shoulders.
“Oh! Sarah? Am I dreaming?” Netta’s pale blue eyes peered up at Sarah in shock.
Sarah bent down so she was eye level with her. Ricky watched in wonder. The two women seemed beside themselves in joy. Netta brought her hands up, cupping Sarah’s face.
“It’s me! It’s me, Netta. I’m so sorry I didn’t come back.”
“Dergus! Dergus!” Netta squealed. “It’s Sarah! You didn’t tell me Sarah had come!” She hugged Sarah’s neck.
Ricky heard Dergus grumble and a rattling noise in the back room. The weathered man then appeared with a bulb-shaped bottle in each hand and a confounded expression on his face. “What did you think I wanted the beetleburry for?”
“Tsk!” Netta shook her head at his words, still taking in the sight of the woman before her. Sarah laughed through her tears as the women continued their embrace.
Dergus lumbered up to the other side of the table and pulled out a stool. He looked over at Ricky and shook his head. “I’m gone for a minute and they’re crying. Come on, son. Sit down and let’s get started on this.” Dergus slid a bottle to his side in front of another stool.
Ricky obeyed and took a seat next to him. He inspected the dark glass bottle and pulled the cork out, mimicking Dergus. This better not be like that tea, he thought.
He watched Dergus take a long pull from the bottle and then eye it lovingly with a satisfied sound. He raised the bottle and clanked it against Ricky’s. “Welcome to Allister Hall.”
“Thanks,” Ricky said and watched the old man slurp another long draw from the bottle. Ricky sniffed the liquor, and his senses perked at the hint of watermelon. Hopefully, it tasted as good as it smelled. His eyebrows perked up at the refreshing flavors of lime, watermelon, and something else he’d never tasted before, as they tingled in his mouth and down his throat.
“Good stuff, huh?” Dergus winked at him.
“Oh, you! Get a goblet! Give me that!” Netta snapped and grabbed the bottle away from Dergus, who looked utterly depressed at the robbery.
Sarah settled down onto the stool beside Netta and introduced her to Ricky. He felt awkward as she stared at him and made references to how he looked like his father. As the four laughed and smiled over their exchange of greetings, the mood soon turned somber, and he learned he knew even less about his father than he'd thought.
“Your father and I both fell in love that summer, Ricky,” Sarah said, telling him about the last time she’d been to Farwin Wood.
“Those were happy days,” Netta said and smiled at him with her hands wrapped around her drink. “For a while,” she added, and her smile began to fade.
Sarah continued when he looked at her for clarification. “They were a brother and sister we used to play with when we would visit as children. They’re sort of the ruling noble family in Northern Farwin Wood, the Daundecorts—Vasimus and Deronda. Deronda, however, was engaged to be married to Ranthrop Groslivo, the ruler in the South, but I didn’t learn this until later on that summer. She must have fallen for your father right away after seeing him again, and I suppose the same happened to him.”
“She was the most beautiful girl in the land,” Dergus stated as he stared into his goblet.
Ricky watched them and sipped his beetleburry. He suspected it was alcoholic and hoped it would help jolt him out of this dream.
Sarah looked down at the table in silence with a perplexed face. Netta glanced over at her and then back to him as he waited anxiously to hear what had happened. “Your aunt came upon them in the woods one day. Your father had said he was going hunting.” Netta shook her head with a sour chuckle. “That foolish scamp. You see, they had been meeting in secret while Sarah was…” Sarah looked away in shame. Netta patted her hand. “Sarah was engaged to Vasimus, and we thought your father was just giving them room to flourish.”
“How did you know we were engaged, Netta?”
“Sarah, darling…” Netta’s wrinkled eyes creased and she smiled. She flicked at the ring on Sarah’s bracelet. “I was old then too, but not blind. Besides, Vasimus made it known just what had been taken from him after you were…gone.”
Sarah turned her eyes away, looking like she would cry again. Ricky didn’t like the eerie silence that fell over the room. “So, what happened?”
With the women visibly shaken, Dergus took a turn. “We found out later that someone had seen Deronda and your father together, so Ranthrop sent his men out to look for Richard. They found him with her in the woods, and the arrow meant for your father—well, it didn’t hit who it was intended for.” Dergus forced a hard gulp down his throat. “I wish he had come to me, Sarah. I wish he would have told me. We could have gone to Lord Clennon.”
“Tsk.” Netta clucked her tongue as though his suggestion was a lost cause.
“Someone tried to kill my father because he was chasing after someone else’s girl?” Ricky interrupted while he had the chance.
“Yes,” Sarah
finally said.
“And then she was killed because of him?”
“She was killed because Ranthrop Groslivo is a jealous, greedy, coldhearted fool!” Netta declared and pounded a fist on the table.
“Yes,” Sarah added firmly. “It was an accident, but it happened because they didn’t stay away from each other.”
“What does all of this have to do with Shelby? Is this going to cause problems finding her? I mean, can we show our faces around here? They’re mad at my father, not you, right?” He felt himself speaking rapidly from the numbing sensation the beetleburry was giving him.
“Who’s Shelby?” Netta looked at him.
“She—” He looked at Sarah, not knowing what the people from the book knew about the book, if they knew about the book at all.
“She’s a girl from our land, from Blinney. She’s…part of my court, and she got lost. We think she ventured into Farwin Wood. As good as it is to see the both of you, I’ve come to get her out of here…after all that’s happened, I hope you can understand,” Sarah said carefully to Netta and Dergus.
Dergus raised a hand. “No offense taken. I wouldn’t come here now if I didn’t have to.”
Netta tapped the table in front of him to capture his attention. “What was that business about the girl yesterday and the Wortwart brothers?”
“You mean that young girl they found in the woods?”
Ricky locked eyes with his aunt. They both shifted their attention to Dergus.
“Shelby’s sixteen. She’s blonde and she would have been wearing clothes strange to Farwin Wood. She looks a lot like Deronda actually,” Sarah said.
Dergus absorbed the description like it wasn’t good news. He turned like he was avoiding Sarah’s gaze, but was met with an equally anticipatory look from Netta. He let out a ragged breath. “Sarah, they’ve taken her to Ranthrop from what I heard.”
“What? Why?” Sarah said.
“Sarah, after Vasimus thought you died, he blamed Ranthrop for your and Deronda’s fate. They’ve been fighting ever since. Ranthrop would kill any of Vasimus’s men or Northern villagers that came to the Southern swamplands and vice versa. They’d ride into the villages that bordered the North, not just Daundecort property but also villages friendly to the Daundecorts, and burn and raid everything. We’ve only managed to keep Allister Hall standing because of the high wall, constantly repairing what we can, and fighting them off between me and the two guards Vasimus continually keeps stationed here,” Dergus explained.
Sarah looked horrified by what she heard. “My God. But, but Dergus, why would the Wortwarts take Shelby to Ranthrop? They were friends to my brother.”
“I’m afraid no one was a friend to your brother after he disappeared and left us with these two men who’ve grown to hate each other so much,” Dergus said in a delicate tone. “The villagers weren’t able to hold off Ranthrop’s men as well as we have here at the hall. We harbored some of the women and children here at times, but we couldn’t protect the whole village. Being a border town between the North and South, the villagers do what they have to now just to get by. The Wortwarts were boasting that they’d found a match to Ranthrop’s long-lost bride and would bring her to him in the hope of securing some peace here.”
“What? This sleazeball has my girl?” Ricky blurted out followed by a hiccup.
Netta gave him a look, indicating she understood his sentiment toward Shelby. She looked at Sarah like the information worried her.
“I couldn’t leave him behind. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have brought him here,” his aunt said.
“What’s a sleazeball?” Dergus queried, pouring himself and Ricky another glass.
Ricky casually tilted his goblet for the pour, starting to feel relaxed. He rested his chin on his other hand. “Wait, why would this Vaso-max guy think my aunt died?”
“Ranthrop found Sarah when she was trying to hide your father from the search parties that were sent out looking for him. They never found your father. Ranthrop was so enraged that he took your aunt with him to get Richard to show himself, but he never did,” Dergus explained.
“Your father had already gone back to Blinney. I made him,” Sarah interjected. ”Ranthrop didn’t know this though and held me captive in his stronghold. The only thing it did was send Vasimus after me with his men and even his father, Lord Clennon.”
“He thought very highly of you and your family. You were like a daughter to him, Sarah,” Netta said. “Rest his poor soul. Things wouldn’t be this way if he still lived.”
“Lord Clennon died? When? How?”
Netta gripped her goblet tighter. “After Ranthrop forced you into the River Duke and you…well, disappeared, they say Vasimus ran in after you. When he couldn’t find you, he went after Ranthrop and they fought.” Netta turned to Ricky. “You see, Ranthrop felt he’d been slighted because he loved Deronda; though he didn’t seem an openly affectionate man, he must have hidden his true feelings for her. When he never found your father, he thought he’d not only lost his love but his chance to avenge her death. Lord Clennon, so distraught at losing his daughter, and then Sarah, and seeing how it destroyed Vasimus, screamed to them from the shore to stop their quarrel. He suffered an attack and fell from his mount.”
Sarah looked at Netta like she was waiting to hear more, but the old woman was done in. She turned to Dergus, who picked up where she'd left off. “Lord Clennon lived but three years after that, weakened by his distress. Vasimus then blamed Ranthrop for the deaths of you, his sister, and his father. There were some troubles in those first years, but not many. Vasimus had sworn to his father he would keep the peace. After Lord Clennon died, though, he publicly denounced Ranthrop and…well, it was all vengeance on both sides then.”
Ricky blinked, trying to focus on his aunt. He let out with a slur, “So, what happened to you? In the river?”
Netta and Dergus appeared equally interested in an answer. Why didn’t they know?
“I…I woke up far away, not remembering until later what had happened. Then I went home to make sure your father had made it there safely and to assure our parents that I was all right.”
“Yeah, but you could have come back and seen your boyfriend, right? I mean then maybe he wouldn’t have been so pissed off and, who knows, maybe nobody’d be fighting anymore.” Ricky scratched at his temple.
“I thought Vasimus and his family had been through enough pain, Ricky. I…I didn’t think there was a way to make up for,” she glanced at Netta and Dergus, “for what Richard had done. Things wouldn’t have been the same between us after Richard’s part in Deronda’s death. If I knew then what I know now, however, I would have come back. I’m so sorry to you all.”
Ricky shook his head. “This is the most depressing story I’ve ever heard.” He extended his empty goblet to Dergus, but Sarah reached over to stop him.
“No. I think he’s had enough. We should get some sleep. From the look of things, I don’t think it would be wise of me to wander into the swamp tonight. I’ll go at first light.”
“Well, I’m going with you,” Dergus said and slammed the bottle down. Ricky stared stupidly at his empty glass and frowned.
“No, Dergus. I won’t put you at risk, not after all that’s happened already because of my family and me. I need you to stay here and make sure Ricky isn’t seen by anyone. He looks too much like Richard, and after what you’ve told me, I don’t think it would be wise for him to venture outside of Allister Hall.”
“Good point,” Dergus said. “Well, we have one stroomphblutel in the barn. He’s the pup of yours and Richard’s old rides. He doesn’t get out much, but he can take a saddle. Just be careful and stay off the roads or you’ll be robbed and walking in no time. Best take a cloak and cover up that face of yours in case anyone recognizes it. You’re worth more than troogies to anyone in these parts now.”
DERGUS’S WORDS made Sarah shudder. She watched as her now incoherent nephew tilted his head back and let the last d
rops from his glass drip into his mouth.
“Well, I’ll go as long as there’s no wickrits out there,” he slurred.
“Come on, Ricky. I’ll help you upstairs,” she said, helping him up when she saw that his legs had grown limp from over imbibing in beetleburry.
She shoved open the door to Richard’s old room and saw that Netta still kept the beds made. Twenty years of making beds for people who’d more or less abandoned her. That was devotion. She steered Ricky over to the bed and let him flop down on the blankets.
Ricky winced as his sword jabbed into his side. He started to unfasten it clumsily, but she placed a hand on his wrist.
“Ricky, no. Best you leave it on.”
“What? Don’t tell me something’s going to attack me in my sleep now,” he said, groaning.
“No, but you have to leave Farwin Wood with exactly what you brought with you. You can’t leave anything behind or the book will pull you back in. Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah.” Ricky yawned and let his head hit the pillow.
“I mean it. Don’t lose anything. Not a lace, not a thread. Nothing, or you’ll end up right back here once we get home.”
“And how exactly do we get back home? Is there another book here?” Ricky gazed up at her with his glazed eyes.
“We drown ourselves.”
“What? You’re kidding me, right? I’m not freaking drowning myself! Now you’ve completely lost it! Either that or you drank more bug juice than I did.”
“I’ll do it for you.” She sneered, tucking him in. “I just wanted you to know in case I don’t come back with Shelby.” She started for the door but stopped when she heard Ricky mumble.
“I should be the one to go after her. I’m the reason she ended up here. What if they hurt her? Would this Ranthrow guy hurt her?” He lifted his head up like it weighed a ton.
“It’s Ranthrop, and I don’t think there would be any benefit for him in that. Ricky, don’t try to follow me. You have to stay here and wait for me. I need you here when I come back with Shelby so you can get home and get the book to the hospital. I’ve never known the book not to be next to someone when they woke up from Farwin Wood, and I don’t want to take any chances. Besides, it’s not safe for you out there. You do look too much like your father. You can’t be the one to go to Ranthrop’s.”