I rubbed my finger over the smooth skin that had been an open wound a while ago. Trying to think of how she accomplished it didn’t distract me well enough from wanting to drag my ankle across the roughest surface I could find.
The potions Ian had poured over my burn had caused it to itch far worse than sting—as it should have.
“Whoever made this didn’t use enough honey,” I said while using all my self-control to keep my leg still. “It’s not viscous enough and”—I leaned in and sniffed—“why does it smell like flowers?”
Ian looked at me out of the corner of his eye as he wound a roll of fabric around the area. “I followed the recipe perfectly and there's perfume in it to hide the smell of aloe vera.”
“That’s dumb.”
“Well, deal with it. It's all I packed and I’m not using this shoddy equipment to make you a custom order. You wouldn’t be able to afford my rates anyway.”
“What about the spell that fixed this?” I said and pointed at my forehead.
He looked at me like I was asking a strange question. “There are no spells to heal burns.”
“Huh. I can finish that if you want to talk with all of them,” I said and glanced over at the other four who were having a ‘debriefing.’ When I looked at some of their faces the seething anger I was keeping contained threatened to bubble up to the surface. I was trying to distract myself by talking with Ian, so I didn't give in to moving the ground beneath their feet.
“No need, I’m done. And much to my father’s disappointment I’m an alchemist, not a knight.”
“I thought alchemy was for witches.”
There were apothecaries in the town and while Mother didn’t differentiate between that and what she did, I thought only witches brewed anything other than medicinal supplies.
“As much as my colleagues would hate to admit it, witches were the pioneers of alchemy and apothecary. They even taught mages before it all went to shit.”
The rest of our conversation was cut off as we looked towards Annalise shouting. “Five or six times? You can’t remember?”
I kept my eyes on the back of her head. Looking at Barick and Alisa made me want to scream, or throw up. They were the first people since my freedom who had made me feel tiny and meek. Daral I could handle, out of everything I had hurt him more than he had me.
I’d thrown everything I had at Barick back at the mayor’s house, but it didn’t feel like enough. I was waiting for the retaliation after Annalise stopped watching him. He had looked at me the same way Mother sometimes did. The first, and only time, I had shown bitterness towards her was not an experience I wanted to live through again.
They’d ruined everything…or had I?
Looking back, trying to talk to them hadn’t occurred to me. I just wanted the doll and taking it seemed like my only option.
Annalise walked back and looked quite exasperated with her three charges. Ian had moved away to scrunch his face up at the alchemy equipment. My mind was taking turns reminding me how itchy my leg was and thinking about Trissa.
I kept reliving the blurry vision I’d had of her defending me from the balcony. If that had only been a dream, I didn’t want to find out.
“Valeria, I understand you were living with the Hastings before this?”
“I am living with them,” I said, defensively. “I’m going to say sorry and do anything they want and they'll understand I’m not a witch. They'll let me carry on staying with them.”
Annalise gave me a sad smile. “They seemed like good people and I’m sure they would let you, but…it’s not a good idea. People can be fanatical about witches and it’s already out that you’re involved with one. It’s not safe for you, or them, if you stay.”
I fell back onto the tarp. “Why do people hate witches that much?”
“You’re asking that as someone who was abducted and ripped away from your family?”
Panic replaced my sorrow. That was a bad choice of words. “I have reason to dislike them, they don’t. Most of the stuff she made and gave out were medicinal or benign. You can read the book to check.”
“Well, she also placed a curse on all those people. A group of them got together and did something truly heinous with curses to a city full of people, and the king. We’re still dealing with the consequences of it, so people are constantly reminded what witches are capable of and could do again. We know they did it on behalf of others, but that doesn’t change much. People hate them, and will so in this case because of those curses.”
Cities were supposed to be a lot bigger than the town, so I could understand why people didn’t like them then. Mother wasn’t the nicest person sometimes either, but I hadn’t thought that was because she was a witch.
I started thinking of a response before breathing out a sigh. I didn’t want to talk to these people anymore tonight. I was tired.
“I know it’s unfair, but it really is in your best interest to stay with us for now, we can also compensate you for helping out with my father,” Annalise said, as I stood and tested my ankle.
“Not leaving, going to sleep.” The apprentices were setting up a fire, but I wasn't hungry—or invited.
I climbed up the visible ladder after being shocked by it for the second time. I fell into my hammock, keeping my boots hanging off as I untied them.
I thought about taking the doll from the chest and away from them. They didn’t need it to force me to do what they wanted and they still wanted me to give them information on the curse. So, as long as they thought being nice to me could get them better results than force, I’d be fine.
That put a scowl on my face as I curled up to sleep.
…
My morning was ruined before I opened my eyes. With Mother, I had to be really good at waking up and getting moving without the sun to alert me. The previous week had taught me the bliss of sleeping in, on a comfortable and warm bed.
Unwanted sunlight was supposed to be streaming into the room. Trissa should have been stumbling to the lavatory. I could be speaking with Cragar if I had worked up the courage. I wanted to be worrying about seeing everyone at school, and not if I would ever get to see them again.
Instead, I was swaying on a hammock inside a dingy cottage.
I knew I was being greedy, last week I had appreciated having this place to myself and the week before I had appreciated being sent to work away from it. Now, what I had felt empty compared to what Trissa had given me.
Trissa’s sister’s clothes were more messed up than I had thought: singed, bloody, and torn. I changed into the set I had left behind when I had gone to dinner all that time ago.
While I had gotten the worst of the dirt and bloody clumps off I didn’t feel very clean. Ignoring my boots I climbed down the ladder and into the clearing. The morning air was still chilly and the sun hadn’t managed to rise above the trees to warm the dew covered ground.
Five small tents had been set up around the tarp. They were made up of a similar, but thinner, material with white light shining from inside two of them. My next step faltered as I noticed Barick sitting near the remnants of a firepit. The coals were still glowing and he was poking a stick into them.
I took a winder path to avoid him. I didn’t want another burnt ankle, or lightning bolt being flung at me, so I made it obvious I was moving about. His head didn’t move despite the snapping sticks and I supposed I had made enough noise coming down the ladder.
“You know, as a citizen of this duchy and kingdom, it’s your duty to help us save the duke,” he said.
I turned to look at him. He was still poking the ashes without looking at me. The tone sounded familiar and I stared at him while I tried to think why.
“You broke the law, I don’t owe you an apology for trying to do my duty as a future knight.”
A chill ran up my back when I figured it out. He sounded just like the treant parent.
Again, I was being told who I owed myself to for simply existing in their presence. The treant was wrong.
Pilim would never have thought about treating Trissa like my mother treated me. I didn’t like Jaqalin, but she wouldn’t have treated Greyson with anything but care. All the other parents I had seen in town adored their children even when they screamed down the market, or mucked around in the mud.
The treant was wrong for thinking I was rotten for not bending to the will of someone who wanted nothing but servitude from me.
And, so was Barick.
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The forest around me became just a little bit more clear. The bird song didn’t make me want to scream at them to shut up. My hunched shoulders dropped. I turned on my heel to walk calmly back to the cottage, I’d forgotten the soaps.
I even remembered to uproot some of the parsnips in the garden on my way back out.
Barick didn’t bother me again as I walked past. My ankle didn’t hinder me at all as I traversed the forest floor and jumped over foliage.
I missed Trissa—and not only because my hair was back to looking like a ‘bird's nest.’ It didn’t, I'd seen plenty of bird nests and they did not look alike.
I missed her because…well, I wasn’t sure exactly, but I knew I wanted to be around her more than anyone else.
The horses were moseying about with perked up ears turned my way. I thought with a name like Potato he’d eat anything, except he didn’t care for me or my parsnips. The one that liked apples turned her nose up at their lack of sweetness, the other two didn’t accept food from strangers out of cowardice and loyalty. Missy, my target, whinnied and threw her head about as she trotted over to me.
I had washed off the muddy vegetables and gingerly held it out for her. The giant teeth bit down right before my fingertips. I held out the rest with magic for her to chomp through. She let me reach up and stroke her long neck, directing me to more important areas she wanted to be scratched.
I was then pointed to the satchel compartment that held her brush and began combing her mane.
While not interested in parsnips, Apple, wanted me to get her brush as well, but I moved away from them before I got myself into grooming all of them.
I hung my clothes over a nearby branch and dipped my toes into the stream. It was freezing. I slowly moved forward till it was deep enough to submerge myself in. It took a while for me to get over the sudden chill surrounding my body before I relaxed.
The horses unanimously agreed that the lavender in the soap smelt great.
At the end of it, the water felt warmer than the air, so I huddled down with my nose barely above. I started to keep the same volume of water close to me to warm up even more.
A whisper on the wind had my head turning around to see what animal it was. The words felt more structured than the usual feelings I got from even the horses. If I had to guess it felt like a formal greeting or rather an announcement of a greeting.
I turned back to where the cottage was.
Her mana was weird and I couldn’t sense it from as far away as the others, but I still noticed Annalise approaching. I don’t think she would have noticed me if the horses weren’t gathered around the shore while we talked about their riders.
Missy broke off from the group to go nuzzle her rider and complained when Annalise wouldn’t lift her scratches up a hair.
I raised my mouth above the water line. “Lift your hand up slightly.”
Annalise looked at me weirdly and complied. She was rewarded with a toss of the head and a whinny from Missy
“You’re good with horses?”
I shrugged under the water. “I’m good with animals.”
“I’d imagine, growing up in a forest and all.”
The other horses tried their luck for attention once Missy had enough. Apple didn’t even bother after I told them there were no apples.
“Mind if I join you? I don’t think I’ve had a chance to use more than a cleaning spell this past week.”
I shrugged again. Other people seemed to care a lot about being naked around others. I didn’t like it, but wasn’t overly bothered. I think not having that extra layer of comfort clothes provided concerned me more.
Annalise went through the same shock from the chilly water and moved into the stream continuously muttering how cold it was. I wanted to be cruel and not give her the soaps, but I felt bad and pulled them off the shore for her. I’d had to hide them in the tree with my clothes to make sure the horses didn’t get to it.
She was significantly taller than me with the water only coming up to her chest unless she leaned back.
I carried on playing with the water around me until another set of mana started to approach us. I was getting used to picking them out. Annalise also watched where they were coming from and shouted when they got closer. “Not another step, Daral. Alisa, you can come.”
I felt them both stop and tried to guess who was who. I got it wrong as the one I chose as Alisa walked back.
The woman appeared from behind a tree biting into a nectarine. Apple immediately went over to her and she had to keep shifting her arm around to keep it out of reach.
That’s not an apple, I thought to the excited animal who now looked disappointed.
“What did you do?” Annalise asked.
“Nothing, she knows she can’t have nectarines,” Alisa said.
“She noticed it wasn’t an apple.”
Alisa looked startled. “I hate not being able to sense you…and how did you know she likes apples?”
“All horses like apples,” Annalise said. “Do you want to join us, Alisa?”
“Ah…no thanks. Cleaning spells are fine for me.”
I decided I’d had enough, so I stood and dragged my legs through the water to get to shore. The water fell off me and into the stream as I swung my arms out towards it. The bandage around my ankle was dry again but I started to unwrap it, the skin still looked raw, but there were no blisters, so I left it off.
“I didn’t think Ian’s potions were that good,” Alisa said while watching me.
“They’re not…” Annalise said, also getting out. She used a spell that created a torrent of warm air around us to dry off and gave me a smug smile as the hair I had just patted down flew everywhere.
I wanted to be changing back into something more warm and fitting, yet all I had were my usual clothes. It was strange how a week of comfort had made me so ungrateful, maybe Mother wasn’t all wrong.
Alisa was busy tending to Apple and I made to go back to the cottage when Annalise held my hand.
“I’m glad your ankle looks better. Does it still hurt?”
“Feels a bit weird, but no it doesn’t.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I said it doesn’t hurt."
“Okay…what can you tell me about the curses that were placed on my father?”
I wanted to be bitter and tell her I didn’t care about her father, but I did care because I knew what kind of pain it caused. “Is what you said last night true? Is Trissa and her family better off without me there?”
“I…did not mean it like that, more so you’re better off not being in that town. Most people won’t care, but there will be a few who would make your life difficult at the least.”
“Why? You said I couldn’t be a witch and they heard you.”
Annalise hemmed and hawed a bit before answering. “The apprentices, those three not Ian, have had a formal education that includes identifying witchcraft and they still…uh…messed up. The average person doesn’t have that and once someone tells them you were even accused of being a witch, their fear won’t let them go back. Especially if other people around them also believe it. Most people will simply ignore you and shun you, but there have been cases in the past where individuals feel it’s their duty to act and kill potential witches.”
“And they’ll also make Trissa’s life difficult since I’m staying with them.”
“Sadly, yes.”
I worked through her argument. I already knew I was a burden to them from what Jaqalin had said about me. Her family was already being picked on for housing an orphan, and an orphan that everyone thought had helped a witch would be far worse.
“The curse isn’t fatal for a long time,” I said with a sigh. “I assume your father has random bouts of intense pain near his stomach and chest? Sometimes faints or gets really dizzy?”
Annalise nodded slowly. “That’s right, the healers thought it was poison, but it kept getting worse no matter the spell and cure. Healing made the pain go away, yet it kept coming back. They only started thinking it could be a curse when the news of the witch came over the telegram from Barron Graham”
I didn’t know what most of that meant so I carried on with what I wanted to say. “The curse is supposed to make someone regret, not kill them. I know someone can go at least twenty-seven days under its effects, even without all this healing he has.”
“That's good…that’s good to hear. We have time then. Is there a cure?”
I hesitated. There would be no point in sharing the information and giving her hope without revealing I was the witch’s daughter and making myself a target for them. “Since the curse was taken on willingly the cure also has to be provided willingly. Blood of the person who cursed them.”
Annalise’s hope visibly rose and crashed at my words. “Their ashes are already spread across some field...even if they were alive I doubt they would have handed it over willingly.”
“Was the witch executed traditionally and where?” she asked after a while.
“With an axe, I think?”
“If there was still blood on the axe or floor could that work? How important is the 'willing' portion of the cure?”
Mother had said it needed to be willingly given and I didn’t think there was much reason to lie to me. I had an idea of how it worked but wasn't completely sure.
She’d pushed me out of the cottage for days when I had accidentally cured myself after sucking on a cut from cooking. I had been glad her curiosity about why that had worked had outweighed her anger at me for ruining her experiment. Bile rose up my throat as I found myself still feeling bad for it.
She concluded that I shared at least fifty percent of her blood and that was enough to satisfy the curse. Another round of experiments started after that and led to the development of the curses placed on the doll.
“Quite important…and wouldn't it be cleaned?”
Annalise sunk down to sit on the grass with her head in her hands. “I know. I'll send Ian out to check.”
I could tell her it was okay, that I could help her. I didn’t think her finding out I was the daughter of a witch would change much for my situation. Finding out I was the key to the duke’s survival, her father's survival would change everything.
Mayors were treated very well, barons sounded like they were highly respected, or feared. I didn’t want to find out what someone would do for a duke, I had already seen what Barick thought was necessary.
I stood around for a while, not knowing where to go. Missy came back over to her rider, concerned about why she seemed upset. Annalise patted the nosey animal and got back to her feet.
“Thank you for your help despite how things started. If you’d like I can get you a job at the stables of the palace, or really any position you want considering what happened. If it sounds like I’m trying to buy your silence, well…I am. It would be better for you and us if no one finds out. I’d also like you to accompany us on the way back so you can translate any journals that might be useful to our healers and provide any insight into other potential cures.”
My toes dug into the wet ground while I thought. “What if I say no?”
“I can offer you more, how much coin would it take?”
“If I said none?”
Annalise took my hands before I could pull them away. “Please…he’s my father. You don’t have to care about saving the duke, but please save my Papa.”
I knew my idiotic mouth was about to agree to help, but before it could. “I want ten gold coins.”
“Done, you can have double, triple that if we cure him.”
I was starting to think I miscalculated how rich a duke was if that was an easy choice.
The same announcement of greeting washed over me in more solid words and I was surprised when Annalise turned in the same direction as me.
“There shouldn’t be any other units up here?”