Near Faenella, Eganene

When he got back to Charlie’s house, the girl was happy. She'd taken to the name Veri. Her hair was short, the tight ringlets close against her face. He came out of the woods and she was waiting, a new doll clutched in her hand and a new jacket covering her new dress. The sun was out, for once, and the homecoming was sweet. Carl was glad to see the girl. If he was honest with himself, more than glad.

“Child!” he called as she ran to him. He picked her up in his arms, remembering how she weighed nearly nothing and swung her about. Her giggles and girlish screams filled the air. He couldn’t help smiling.

“Uncle Carl,” Lie exclaimed, coming around from the back of the house. The last few buttons of his shirt were open and his chest hair spilled out over the collar. After she greeted Carl, Veri jumped up in the big man’s arms and grabbed a fistful. His friend didn’t seem to notice. He smiled down into her face, whispered something in her ear and set her running.

“Where’s she going?” Carl asked.

“To tell Melody you’ve come for dinner. You do realize we need twice the food when you’re about.”

Carl waved him off, “Come on, I don’t eat that much!” His stomach rumbled dramatically, in counterpoint to his assertions.

Charlie laughed. It was a good sound, the echo bouncing off the mountainsides that boarded their small valley. “Carl. Sometimes you eat more than I do. If you’re staying the night and I assume you are, then we’ll need some extra. It’s nothing to get worked up about.”

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Carl explained. “I know asking you to watch Veri is enough…”

Charlie punched him on the shoulder, punched him hard. “I don’t want you to bring it up again. Melody’s happier than I’ve ever seen her and it’s because of your little girl there. I understand, truly I do. If you find her kin, she’ll need to go. But until then, Carl, we want her as our own.”

Seating himself on a log, Carl regarded his friend, “I only asked that you take her for some time.”

Lie nodded, rubbing at his beard. Carl noticed there were streaks of grey between the red. He didn’t remember that from his last visit.

“Lie, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but you understand, I didn’t intend for her to stay here forever.”

Charlie grunted, his face impassive. Leaning on the maul, he said, “You knew it was a possibility.” Sweat dripped from his brow and dark half-moons colored the area beneath his arms. The winter air blew snow across the field, but Lie didn’t shiver, heat radiated off him in waves.

Carl conceded the point. “You’re right, I did. But what I didn’t expect was you and Melody to latch on to her quite so quickly.”

Lie smiled. It was a special smile, something warmer and more complete than he’d seen before. “She’s a child, Carl, and an adorable one. And Melody’s happy.”

“But…”

“But nothing. If you can’t find her kin, I won’t complain. I’m happy the kid is here. She belongs here. I can’t tell you what she has done to Melody, but it’s amazing. It’s like she just came alive. She was meant to be a mother.”

Carl shook his head, “But Lie…”

His friend waved him off, his big, meaty hand all but eclipsing the sun. “Don’t worry about it, Carl. If you find her kin, we will do what’s right. But until then, we’ll pretend that little treasure is ours and be the happier for it.” Gripping his friend’s shoulder, Charlie pulled him towards the house.

“I am glad it’s working out for you, Lie. And I don’t have any word on the child’s kin, but I found something…”

“What happened?” Lie asked, concern blossoming in his eyes.

“It’s a long story. Let’s get Veri to bed and I’ll tell you everything.” He looked across the meadow, noting the lengthening shadows and dwindling sunlight. “It’s got to be about her bedtime, right?”

Laughing, Lie led him into the house and directed him to leave his boots at the door. Gesturing to the table, the bigger man disappeared into the bedroom to help his wife with bath time. Carl was about to offer his assistance in preparing dinner, but the aroma from the fireplace stopped him. Casting a quick look in the direction of the bedroom door, he approached the fire with spoon in hand.

An iron pot hung above the bed of coals and the stew was bubbling. Carl took a good-sized spoonful, blew on it enough times to be sure it was cool and stuck it in his mouth.

Delicious, he thought, eyes closed to savor the taste. He knew all the ingredients-- venison, carrots, onions, potatoes, squash and nuts. They were his regular fare during his days in the forest, but they never tasted like this. He licked the spoon.

After dinner, they put the little girl to bed. She required kisses from each of them, several times. When she was content, they all collected at the kitchen table. Looking out of the enormous window, Carl watched the darkness, his thoughts jumbled.

Once he told Charlie what happened, he’d need to go straight to Jamison. If half of what Jasper had told him were true and if any of what Jeremy guessed was accurate, the Resistance was in big trouble. And so were the people around Faenella.

Charlie brought a few beers up from his cellar and poured them all a thick, heady glass. Carl took a long sip and smiled, “How much you got down there, Lie? Seems like whenever I’m around, you’ve got some to give me.”

“True enough,” his friend smiled. “I never took you down there?”

“No.”

“I’ll have to show it to you sometime,” Charlie explained. “Melody’s father had me dig the darn foundation so long and wide that it ended up almost twice the size of the building.”

“Oh, come now, Lie,” Melody started. “It wasn’t as bad as all that.”

“It was, too! I had to dig the thing before he’d agree to let you marry me. Woman, I was out here for months on end, just digging and digging and digging. And your Pa, stubborn man, wouldn’t come see what I had done for a whole summer gone. I was so afraid he’d think I hadn’t done enough that I spent every waking moment working on this place.”

“And it paid off,” Melody smiled, her green eyes flashing. “He gave you my hand, didn’t he?”

“Sure, he did. And I also have the largest cold cellar of any man you’ll ever meet.”

Carl laughed, feeling normal for the first time in weeks. It was good to be with his friends. “So what all do you keep down there?”

“All sorts of produce, of course. Dry good, potatoes, pumpkins and all the squash for the winter. My beer and any casks we get from the Inn.” Glancing at Melody, he said, “although the wife, there, usually keeps that to a minimum.”

“Anything else?” Carl asked. “I can’t believe you take up all that space with winter goods.”

Charlie grinned, “No, you’re right. We’ve got a little labyrinth down there. Passages weave in and out. I never got around to clearing the whole space, just picked a route and made time with my shovel. Melody’s Pa was impressed anyway.”

“So the passages don’t lead anywhere special?”

“No, some do. But I’ve got a lot of them that are dead ends, too. Melody knows most of them, but I’m probably the only man alive that can take you through them all. I’ve got two that lead out of the house. One of them heads towards the lake and the other to the mountain. They come out at the forest line.”

“How come you made them?”

“I can’t tell you how awful it is to dig trenches for three months straight. Sometimes I’d forget what I was doing and I would just go, digging and digging until dark.”

Melody put her hand on her husband’s neck, gently petting his hair, “But it was worth it, right?”

“Of course!” her husband agreed. “I’d have dug for a year if that was what it took to convince your Pa that my intentions were good.”

Carl smiled. Arms resting on his stomach, he closed his eyes, rocking his chair back towards the fire. The heat felt good and he wanted to give his friends a moment of privacy. He was a solitary man by nature and believed kissing and petting ought to be done without an audience. But they were his friends and this was their house, so he just closed his eyes and felt the heat on the back of his neck.

“What did you find up north?” Charlie asked, breaking the peace.

Carl regarded his friends, “Nothing good, I’m afraid. I ran into two men, one of them Family.”

Charlie gritted his teeth as Carl continued, “He was setting traps. For people.”

“What?” Melody asked, confused. “Why would they be trapping people? Even the Family wouldn’t…”

“They would. They’ve got some kind of facility up in the mountains. The man told me that most of the women and children they ‘processed’ would end up heading south down the Black road.”

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“But why?” she asked.

Carl worked at his braid, slowly untangling his hair. He did not meet Melody’s eyes. “They’re taking them to Orlenia,” he said softly, “to be sold.”

“But…they can’t be,” Melody cried, turning to her husband. “Lie, they can’t be. They wouldn’t do that. People would…”

Charlie shook his head, his freshly washed hair falling over his eyes, “They do as they please. There’s no one to stop them.”

“The people will rise up!” She said it with so much conviction that Carl didn’t have it in him to tell her different. Her husband would have to explain it to her later. To his credit, Charlie didn’t hesitate.

Putting a heavy hand on his wife’s leg, his friend asked, “If they’re taking ‘most’ of the women and children south, Carl, what are they doing with the rest?”

“I’m not sure and neither was the man I spoke with. We’ll have to go back and find out for ourselves.”

Charlie nodded, his face grim, “I got us a few more swords-- Ned, Malachi and the brothers, Richard and Anthony.”

“Good. I’ll head back to Faenella tomorrow and let Jamison know what happened. I’m sure he’ll want to come along. He probably has a few friends in the Bounty office that’d be interested in helping. Plus, there’s Smitty and Tobius. Maybe Sam.”

“Will they be enough?” Melody asked.

Carl shrugged. “No way to know. I took the directions. We’ll be able to find it easily enough. I’ll do some scouting before we go in and make sure it is as safe as I can.”

“I’ll pack you both supplies,” she said, heading into the basement and leaving the two friends alone.

“There’s something else,” Carl added. “One of the men spoke about the Oridan Insurrection.”

“West, right?

“Yes. He said the Family squashed their rebellion easily. Because they used ‘Travelers’.”

“Gods be damned,” Charlie swore. “So they are using majic.” He pounded his fist on his leg. “Those lying monsters! How could they? After killing all those poor people? After the searches and the murders? How could they use majic? It’s against everything they stand for!”

“And no one knows,” Carl replied. “Not outside the Company, anyway. I haven’t heard a whisper of it. Not even a rumor.”

“But they used majic! It doesn’t make a sense. How can there be Family with the Power? Wouldn’t the others turn on them once they knew?”

Carl shrugged, “I don’t know. But the man didn’t seem concerned that they had the ability. He spoke like it was normal.”

“But then why the Purge?”

“I don’t know, friend,” Carl said, taking a deep drink. “Maybe their Managers decided it was useful after all.”

Charlie rubbed his eyes and dropped his heavy head into his palms. He looked like an enormous child overwhelmed by life’s mysteries, “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Carl watched the fire for a few minutes, letting him absorb the news. Charlie was right, it didn’t make sense. The Family’s first act after seizing power had been to purge Eganene of majic. They went from town to town, village to village, marching into every city and rounding up any man, woman or child known to use majic. And then they killed them. No pardons, no forgiveness, no mercy, they killed them all.

People were still hunted for using majic. So, how was it their army had Travelers? Those men and women should have been killed sixteen years ago in the Purge. If they had been born after the bloodshed, the Family’s Dogs would have sniffed them out. There were thousands of Dogs now, troops employed to find and kill anyone who had the slightest ability.

Mothers and fathers lived in fear that their children would manifest and be taken from their arms. There was no trial, no judge or jury, just death. Carl took pains to hunt down any the Dogs he found in his woods. He knew the loss of a few men probably didn’t even register to the Family, but he did it anyway. He had to do something. He believed Jamison was of a similar mind.

“So they killed the Oridans with majic?” Charlie asked. His eyes were haunted.

“No, they Traveled inside their gates and killed their commander. Then, the fortress was attacked by Bodin and the Family helped fight them off.”

“To save their skins!”

“I know, I know, but they saved the Oridans, too. The way he told it, the battle raged on and on. The Family lost men, although far fewer then the Oridans. But, they fought off the Bodin.”

“The worst part,” Carl breathed, “was that their royals were so grateful to the Family that they pledged fealty then and there.”

“Creare save us,” his friend prayed.

“I’m sorry,” Carl said, finishing his beer. “I know this is all bad news.”

Charlie tipped his head back, finishing his own beer and slamming it on the table. The sound was too loud in the quiet of the little cottage, and Carl glanced at the bedroom door.

“Girl sleeps through everything,” his friend supplied, some of the fury disappearing from his face. “This is truly terrible. I’ll send word to my friends tomorrow. They need to know what you’ve learned.”

“Will this change your plans to go south in the spring? It may not be safe for Melody and Veri here.”

The big man’s eyebrows drew together, “No. It’s more important than ever that we go.” Carl heard the plural, but didn’t respond. He wanted to help his friend, but maybe Orlenia wasn’t the way. He might be able to do more here, in the woods around Faenella, then down south.

He’d never been far from these mountains and the thought of leaving for some sparkling city didn’t sit right. Once he was done with this business, this Northern Facility or whatever Jeremy had called it, he could focus on the Black road, disrupt the caravan and kill Family there.

Charlie wasn’t going to let him get away without a discussion. “Yes, we, Carl. You are in this the same as I am. You know you are.”

“I agree with you. I’m just not sure my talents are best for a city fight. If I stay here, I can spend time gutting the monsters bringing the girls south. I know these woods, I can be everywhere.”

His friend shrugged, his thick shoulders rolling beneath his shirt. “I don’t know, Carl. We could really use your help. You’re better with a sword than most. A lot better. You could train the others.”

“I’m not a teacher. I hardly speak with people as it is.”

“You’re speaking to me, now aren’t you?”

“That’s different and you know it.”

Melody returned, putting a fresh bottle in front of each of them and dropping their packed sacks by the door. She opened her own beer and fixed her husband with a heavy stare. “And?”

“Carl is concerned for your safety when we leave to go south.”

“That’s easy to fix,” Melody replied. “I’ll stay with my father for a few months. He won’t mind.”

Charlie winced, “Are you sure? He’ll disapprove of what I’m about.”

“What we are about,” his wife corrected. “I’m part of this, the same as you, husband. And my father will have too much to do playing with Veri. He won’t have time to worry. You know he always wanted grandchildren.”

The big man winced again. “You don’t think staying with friends in Faenella would be a better idea?”

Melody took a long pull from her bottle. “For a few months? I think, not.”

Carl took the Dog’s gun from his hip and put it on the table. “You can keep this, Melody, if it will help you sleep.”

“A gun?” she murmured, drawing back in surprise.

Carl watched her collect herself. She met his eyes. “I don’t even know how to use one. You took it from the men you killed?”

He nodded. He didn’t want to admit that he hadn’t actually killed Jeremy. “I can show you how to use it.”

“Do it,” Charlie agreed. “I would feel better about leaving tomorrow if I knew she had some protection.” The big man shook his head, wrapping an enormous arm around his wife’s shoulders. Carl thought she looked like a tiny doll in his embrace.

Melody was a quick study. The weapon was unloaded, so Carl showed her how to pull back the hammer, aim and fire. Over the next hour, while they talked, she aimed at one pot or pan after another, destroying them in her mind. If circumstances hadn’t been as dire as they were, Carl would have thought it was cute.

“Everything is arranged for the trip south,” Charlie told him, laying out his plans. “The Resistance has several contacts inside and outside Orlenia.”

“Who?” Carl asked. “Anyone I know?”

“You remember Jasmin? Andre’s mother?”

Carl shook his head. The name wasn’t familiar.

“She’s from Faenella. Her son, Andre, manifested his power while Family was in town. It didn’t end well.”

Melody shook her head, her long brown hair dropping over her shoulder. “How terrible for her.”

Her husband agreed. “Yes. She left town soon after, couldn’t bear in to be in her home anymore or around all the things that had been her son’s. Anyway, she’s in the Resistance down near Orlenia. A few years ago, she made the trip back here looking for support.”

“Poor woman,” Melody murmured again, her eyes on the bedroom door.

“The Resistance is holed up inside the city gates, gathering arms and waiting. I’m not sure where, although she mentioned a market. She said they have other groups hidden just outside the city. If you don’t want to fight inside the city,” his friend said, “then you can help from there.”

“What are they doing?”

“Training, mostly. They bring in food and weapons, smuggle things inside. They make things as difficult as they can for the Family. Road obstructions, collapsed bridges, you name it, they have tried it. They were trying to make the Black roads impassable. They kill any Family they can.”

“Then they have to know,” Melody added. “They would have seen them passing into the city.”

Carl nodded, “I agree. When was the last time you heard from this woman?”

“She was here last fall.”

“Then the plan could have changed.”

Charlie scratched his beard, “I suppose, but we’ve had messengers, too, people who stay for a night and leave us with news. That’s where the arms shipment information came from.”

“That’s why you sent me to meet Austin on the ship?”

“Yes. I know they are sending someone to Smitty, too. I don’t know when.”

Melody put the gun down and took a sip of beer. “He will need to be home to meet them. Are you sure he’ll come with you?”

“He needs to,” Charlie replied. “We don’t have numbers to start with and he’s at least as good as Carl is.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“One day to Faenella,” Carl answered. “We’ll leave from there. It’ll probably take us three days to get to the Facility and another day to do what we can, maybe two. Then we’ll head back.”

She sighed and put a hand on her husband’s cheek, “I’ll miss you.”

He smiled and kissed her as Carl looked away. His friends were good people, but you would think they could find another time for that nonsense. It was like that every time he was here. They were like school children, always sneaking a moment together, their fingers intertwining, always touching, his arm around Melody’s shoulder or her hand on his knee. Carl didn’t understand it, but maybe that was why he spent most of his time in the woods.

Once they were done, Carl showed Melody how to load the gun, putting the bullets into the wheel. He showed her how to make sure the hammer wasn’t back. She was hesitant at first, unsure of what was expected and the small metal parts within the gun, but not for long. Carl admired her resolve and the willingness with which she took to learning something new.

It was good to know she could protect herself and Veri. While she practiced loading and unloading, Carl went to find the rest of the bullets. He had taken a considerable amount from the Dog and Melody should have them. Hopefully, she wouldn’t need them, but he wasn’t going to be at Market anytime soon. He guided her through a few more lessons and when she was done, she left the gun loaded and put it far out of reach of the child, high on a shelf in the kitchen.

“How is she?” Carl asked just before they turned in.

Melody smiled, “Good, Carl. Better than could be expected. She hasn’t had any more nightmares and she seems happy here, truly she does.”

“You have my thanks.”

She shook her head and a smile lit her green eyes, “You don’t have to thank me.”

“What about anything else? No strangeness?”

“No,” his friend’s wife murmured. The smile never left her lips. “No strangeness. Maybe she only cures hangovers.”

Carl nodded, his eyes flicking up to the gun on the cabinet, “I’m happy you have that. And I’m not sure that Lie should…”

“Shh, now,” Melody hushed him. “Lie and I agree on this, Carl. I appreciate your concern for me, but this needs to be done. We built our house out here for a reason. We were scared and we didn’t want to be around others. It felt as if being in town would call the Family down on us.”

She sighed, “I love it out here, but I miss my father and my brothers. And we aren’t safe. There are enough Dogs in these woods to bother us whenever they please.”

“That’s true enough.”

“People shouldn’t have to live like this,” she said. “None of us should.”

“Of course, but…”

“No,” Melody interrupted. “Don’t qualify it. If people don’t stand up, people who can fight, then none of us have any chance.” She grimaced, “What are they doing with those women? Why are they bringing them there?”

“I don’t know.”

“If the lucky ones are being sold…I can’t even imagine.”

“We will find out,” Carl promised.

She nodded, fire flashing in her eyes, “And then?”

“Then we’ll do what needs to be done.”

She smiled and Carl tried his best to smile back.