by Kel Kade
Mr. Greenly turned his azure gaze toward Aaslo. “What’s that? I didn’t quite catch it.”
Aaslo glanced at Mathias with a frown, perturbed by having been heard. He raised his voice. “I said the forest takes care of those who care for it.”
Mr. Greenly nodded and smiled. “Quite so and said like a true forester. This town would have died long ago if not for you kind wood folk. My grandpappy told me of a time before the foresters. The trees disappeared, and whole villages died out. People had to pick up and leave their homes, their friends—all because they’d go and chop the whole forest down without thinking it through.” The man squinted, his gaze turning toward the treetops. “Seems like there’s so many. Couldn’t imagine they’d run out, you know.” The bookkeeper turned back to the forester. “You know we all appreciate your sacrifice, we do. It can’t be easy spending your life away from everyone, planting trees and caring for them—just so we can chop them down again.”
Aaslo shifted his pack and ducked his head noncommittally, but Mr. Greenly seemed satisfied with the acknowledgment. Mathias knew that Aaslo felt it was a greater sacrifice each time he left the forest.
Mathias cleared his throat to get Mr. Greenly’s attention. And then cleared it again. The older man continued to stare at the forester, and Mathias could tell that Aaslo wasn’t enjoying the scrutiny. Mathias raised his voice and said, “Sorry, Mr. Greenly, but we need to get going. Captain Cromley is expecting us. It was good see you.”
Mr. Greenly blinked several times, as if awakening from a daze. “What’s that? Oh, yes, of course, Mathias. Please tell your grandmother that Eleanor and I would love to have you two over for dinner soon.” He turned to Aaslo and said, “You and your father are welcome, too, of course, Sir Forester.”
Aaslo nodded and with practiced civility said, “Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Greenly, but I must respectfully decline.”
Mr. Greenly nodded knowingly, then stepped back into his office, clearing the way for them to finish the short walk to Mathias’s home.
“How many times do we have to hear about the time before the foresters?” Aaslo grumbled.
Mathias glanced back at his friend with a grin as he stepped from the boardwalk to cut across the square. “Every time.”
When they reached the paving stones that surrounded the fountain, Mathias paused. The wind brushed across his ears, muffling the sound, but he was nearly certain that it carried his name. He caught a flash of color from the corner of his eye just as Aaslo groaned.
“Mathias!”
This time, the voice was clear and feminine. Mathias’s grin returned as he slapped Aaslo on the back. “Now’s your chance, brother. Your fair lady approaches.”
Reyla, Jessi, and Mirana advanced in their direction with a gaggle of girls in their wake. Mathias imagined that, had they been in a larger town, the women wouldn’t have accepted the younger girls into their company; but companions were scarce in Goldenwood, especially when so many of their peers were already with child or busy caring for infants of their own.
“Hello, Reyla,” said Aaslo.
Reyla glanced at Aaslo and smiled sweetly as she pulled a lock of wind-whipped hair from her face. “Hi, Aaslo. How was the forest?”
“Would have been better with you there. I visited our tree. It’s already grown to nearly twice my height—a good sign.”
Mathias noticed Reyla’s smile tighten and the light in her eyes retreat. It wasn’t the first time he had seen the reaction, but Aaslo never seemed to notice.
She said, “That’s nice.” Then she turned to Mathias. She tilted her head as she twisted an errant lock around one finger. “So, Mathias, have you decided who you’ll ask to the dance?”
Mathias glanced at Jessi and Mirana and feigned confusion. Opening his palms to the sky, he said, “What dance? I, ah, have to get home. Grams’ll be roiling if I’m late.” He turned to Aaslo, pointed to where the path reentered the forest on the other side of the square, and said, “I’ll wait for you there while you speak with Reyla.”
Jessi and Mirana exchanged a mischievous glance.
“We’ll come with you,” said Jessi.
Mirana added, “We should give Reyla and Forester Aaslo some privacy.”
Both women grinned at Reyla, who seemed less than pleased when she returned the courtesy, saying, “Thank you. You’re both such dears.”
Mathias returned Aaslo’s smirk with a proud nod as Jessi and Mirana pulled him across the square, each clinging to an arm.
* * *
Aaslo gazed at Reyla while she stared after her friends. Her long, slender neck and alabaster skin were reminiscent of the aspens that peacefully dotted the mountain. The mahogany mane that draped over her shoulders had the soft appearance of a willow swaying in the breeze. She turned to him, her eyes grey like the sky after a storm, and her pert lips pink as the petals of the cherry blossom. She smiled and looked at him expectantly, although it seemed she already knew what would be said. As she should, he thought. Mathias was being an idiot for suggesting this.
Aaslo cleared his throat and forced himself to say the words that needn’t be said. “Reyla, will you go to the dance with me?”
Her smile fell. “I—um—thought you weren’t going to ask me this time.”
“I wasn’t,” Aaslo grumbled. “Needless words for an obvious outcome. We always go together—but Mathias thought you might want me to ask anyway. He says it’s romantic.”
Pleasure teased at her lips, but she didn’t smile. “Well, as you say, we always go together. I was thinking of going with someone else this time.”
Aaslo’s stomach sank like a rock. “Someone else? Why?”
Reyla reached up to gather her hair and twisted it into a rope over one shoulder. When it was under control, she said, “It’s fun. Everyone else goes with different people—except the married couples, of course.”
“Exactly,” Aaslo said, glad to hear some sense at last. “Our house will be finished soon. If we are to be married, there’s no point in going with anyone else.”
“Um … about that,” Reyla said with a glance toward her friends.
Aaslo looked as well. Mirana and Jessi were shamelessly competing for Mathias’s attention while the younger girls gawked and giggled. As a forester, Aaslo had received his fair share of attention, but he had made it clear that he only wanted Reyla. He turned back to her and said, “About what?”
She looked at him, but her gaze did not venture above his chest. She said, “You’ve been talking about marriage for a while, I know, but we’ve never really agreed on anything—”
“What are you talking about?” Aaslo said as his heart attempted to tear its way out of his chest, and his blood heated beyond comfort. He looked around to see if the world was staring. They received no more than a passing glance as people ducked into shops and homes to escape the howling wind. He knew that even if the whole town had gathered to watch his world crumble, the words would not have reached their ears. Turning back to her, he said, “You approved of the house plans. You said you like the location.”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, but you only asked for my opinion. I do like it—for you.”
“You knew what we were talking about,” he said.
Shaking her head, she said, “No, I couldn’t have known what you were thinking.”
Aaslo gave her a disparaging look filled with the protests he wouldn’t voice. He knew by her expression that she understood.
“Okay, that’s not true,” she conceded, “but you never asked. I thought you would ask, and then I could tell you how I really felt.”
“Tell me what? You don’t want to marry me?” A gust rushed past, and it felt as though the words had been snatched from his lips only to smack him in the face.
She laid her fingers on his chest and finally met his gaze. “It’s not that, Aaslo. You’re great—wonderful even. It’s just that—I want to marry someone else.”
“But I can give you everything you need,” he said. “You’re
special, Reyla. You deserve to be given the respect of a forester’s wife. It’s an honor.”
Reyla shook her head vigorously. “You and the other foresters are worthy of that honor, but I’m not prepared to make the sacrifice.”
Collecting her shaking hands, he caught her gaze. “It’s not a sacrifice, Reyla. The forest is a blessing, and we foresters are honored to live in her embrace and contribute to her glory.”
She pulled her hands away and occupied them with reclaiming her hair from the relentless currents. “I don’t want to live in the forest. I’m afraid of the wild, and I don’t want to be so far from my friends and family.”
“You were never afraid before—during all those walks and picnics.”
“That’s because you were with me. I trust you. I knew you would keep me safe.”
“As I would my wife.”
“If I were your wife, you would not always be there. You would be off in the forest, and I would be trapped in the house too afraid to leave.”
Aaslo pulled his hood over his head. Feelings he hadn’t considered since his youth welled within him, threatening to drip from his eyes. “You know my mother felt the same. At least you realized it before we married.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “You’ve waited this long. Most of our peers are already married or betrothed. If not me, then who?”
Reyla glanced toward her friends, but Aaslo knew what truly held her attention. His overheated blood froze, as though all the life within his body had been extinguished in an instant. She looked back to him with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Aaslo. I’ve already asked my father to approach Ms. Brelle with a proposal. Don’t look at me like that. I know what you’re thinking. Of all people, why him? I swear, if not for him, it would be you.” She said it as if to make him feel better and then went on to make it worse. “But he’s Mathias. He’s handsome and smart and romantic. He’ll be mayor someday. Everyone knows it. Mayor’s wife is a position better suited to my tastes. I might even get to travel with him to see Fernvalle or Dempsy. Can you imagine?”
“I’d rather not imagine it,” Aaslo muttered. “I’d rather not imagine any of it. My best friend—my brother—with the woman I was to marry. Are you so cruel as to wish that upon my imagination?”
“Oh, Aaslo, I didn’t mean—”
“No,” Aaslo said, “I apologize. I said too much.” His was an echo of his father’s voice battering against his heart. “Words erupted of emotional turmoil will be tumultuous at best. Tremulous gales break boughs and topple timbers, but peace and serenity encourage growth.”
Reyla blinked at him, then wiped the moisture from her eyes. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s a forester’s wisdom—one that I’ve too often failed to appreciate. I’ll heed it now for both our sakes.”
Reyla started to speak, but he held up a hand. He had heard something. Beneath the howling gale, beyond the thump of loose shutters and cracking of distant limbs, a pulse thundered through the ground. He reached for Reyla just as Mathias crashed into him. Drawing her tight against his chest, Aaslo pulled Reyla to the ground with him, bracing himself so as not to crush her in the fall. He stared at her as she blinked up at him in startlement; then he was yanked from the ground by his collar. Aaslo stumbled over his feet as Mathias practically dragged him across the square yelling something unintelligible. He gained his footing and was finally able to focus.
“Come on, Aaslo!” Mathias called. “We have to stop them!”
Aaslo finally saw what had caused the stir as Mathias released his shirt. A rampaging horse had streaked into town, nearly trampling Reyla and the oblivious forester. They came to an abrupt halt, causing him to collide with Mathias. When the horse reached the fountain at the center of the square, it reared and rounded on them, flinging the unconscious rider around its legs to be trampled beneath it. The man’s foot was trapped in the stirrup, and by the look of him, he had been dragged for some time.
Mathias pushed Aaslo to one side. “You come in from the left, I’ll go to the right. Slowly now. We don’t want to spook her.”
The furious mare stomped and huffed deep, wheezing breaths as blood sprayed from her nose with every exhale. Her eyes rolled wildly, and she turned and trampled the rider with every step.
“Easy now,” Aaslo calmly said as he took a few careful steps closer. “Easy. We’re not going to hurt you.”
He could see now that the mare had arrows sticking from her neck and haunch, and the rider bore what remained of at least two through his back. Aaslo reached out as he got close enough to grab one of the dangling reins, snagging it just as Mathias grabbed the other. The horse shrieked and tried to back away, but Aaslo and Mathias stayed with her, offering pats and coos until she calmed. Mathias held the horse’s bridle while Aaslo worked to free the rider’s leg from the stirrup.
“What’s going on here?” called a husky voice.
The townspeople, overcome with curiosity, had begun gathering in the square. They parted to admit Captain Cromley of the village militia.
“They’ve been shot,” said Mathias, “and the rider’s been trampled.”
Aaslo pulled the mangled leg free but noted that the boot was far too small. As Mathias led the horse away, Aaslo turned the rider over, and his suspicions were confirmed.
“It’s a woman,” he said, kneeling beside her.
Captain Cromley stood over him as Aaslo wiped blood-soaked hair and dirt from her face. The woman suddenly gasped, and her eyes popped open. Blood burbled from her lips as she struggled for air, and she grabbed Aaslo’s shirt with broken hands. Her teeth were chipped and her face smashed to barely human. Beyond the gore, she stared at him with a brilliant mossy-green gaze. Then her eyes began to glaze, and just before she lost consciousness, two words escaped.
“The light—”
CHAPTER 2
“What did she say?” Mathias said as the town doctor shooed Aaslo away.
“I’m not sure,” Aaslo said. “It was hard to understand. I think she said, ‘the light,’ but I don’t think that was the whole message.”
Captain Cromley pointed their way. “Mathias, you take the horse to your stable. I need to look into this. There won’t be any practice this afternoon.”
“Yes, sir,” Mathias said. “Do you think we need to be worried? Someone shot her. What if they’re coming here?”
“Probably highwaymen. They’re more likely to prey on lone riders, and they don’t usually come out this way.”
“How do you know she was alone?” Mathias said. “It’s unusual for a young woman to be traveling by herself.”
Cromley nodded. “Yes, and that’s one thing I’ll be looking into. We’ll have to send out a search party to see if anyone’s left behind on the road.”
Mathias’s muscles twitched in anticipation. With a thrill, he said, “Can we go?”
“I’ve got people to do that,” said Cromley. “You get home to your grandmother. You know she’ll be furious if I send you out there without her permission.”
“I’m twenty-six,” exclaimed Mathias. “I don’t need Grams’s permission.”
Cromley gave him a knowing look. “You settle that with your grandmother. Now, you two get on with yourselves.” He pointed to Reyla and the other young women, waving them toward the crowd. “You all get home and stay there until we find out what’s happened. Go on! Clear out!”
With the horse’s reins in hand, Mathias yanked Aaslo toward the path but only got a few steps before he was forced to a halt. Aaslo stepped forward to intercept Reyla, but she took no notice and slipped around him.
“Thank you, Mathias,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You saved me. That horse would’ve run me over.”
Mathias gently pulled her arms away, easing a distance between them. “Of course I did,” he said with a wink. “That’s why they call me the Hero of Goldenwood.”
“No one calls you that,” Aaslo mutte
red as he grabbed his pack and tromped toward the path out of town.
Mathias nodded toward Reyla, then stooped to collect his bag. With the reins in hand, he led the injured mare toward his grandmother’s home. After a few minutes, when the town was behind them, he caught up with the forester. “Hey, Aaslo. What’s wrong? Is it because we couldn’t go with Cromley? That would have been exciting. I hate that he still treats me like a child, but I do understand his reticence toward inciting Grams’s wrath.”
Aaslo said nothing, and this time, Mathias wasn’t sure if the forester was brooding or being his usual quiet self.
“Maybe we can convince Grams to let us go. I guess you could go without me. No one is stopping you—”
“You saved me,” Aaslo said.
Mathias paused. “Yeah, I guess I did. You should be showering me with praise.”
“No,” Aaslo said. “You saved me. I saved Reyla.”
Mathias glanced up at the trees tossing about overhead but wasn’t really seeing them. He grinned with satisfaction and said, “Well, if I hadn’t saved you, then you couldn’t have saved Reyla, so technically I saved you both.”
“You didn’t even come close to her. If I hadn’t reached for her, she would’ve been trampled.”
Realizing that Aaslo was taking things too seriously, Mathias dropped the humor and said, “You’re upset. I know you love her, and I realize you probably would have preferred that I save her instead of you—but, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to save her. It’s just that, well, you were closer, and I didn’t really think about it. The horse was rushing right toward you. Truthfully, there wasn’t anything to consider. You’re my brother, Aaslo.”
“That’s not the point,” Aaslo grumbled.
“What is the point?” Mathias said in exasperation.
Aaslo huffed but said nothing. Mathias knew better than to press him for more before he was ready to talk. Once the forester had gathered his thoughts and reconsidered them a hundred times, he might broach the subject again.
The quaint country cottage came into view as they emerged from the patch of woods that loomed between it and the town. The home was nestled within the shade of the trees. A garden lent color and life to the front yard, which was delimited by a short, crumbling wall of stones. The familiar scent of herbs mingled with the sweet aroma of wildflowers, and flecks of white and yellow pollen danced on the breeze like fabled pixies.