Ravenwood (12 page)

She followed the swale to the quarry path and soon found herself swinging along the track toward the village, her bag not full as she might have expected but her mind raced with the possibilities that the surrounding landscape held. As she came around the last turn on the track, the small collection of huts was buzzing. Children and some of the women stood behind the huts and peeped around the corners at whatever was happening on the road side. Tanyth’s belly turned to ice. She increased her pace to walk up behind the nearest hut where she found Megan with a small boy in hand.

“Megan?” Tanyth spoke softly, but the younger woman’s attention was focused forward and she jumped.

“Oh, Mother, mum, you scared me.” The younger woman flattened her back against the wall of the hut, pressing a hand to her chest.

“What’s happening out there, Megan?”

“Riders, mum. They came from the Pike looking for water for their horses.”

Tanyth leaned out to get a look at the entry track. Four men at arms stood in the track holding their mounts by the reins. Her eyes narrowed. “Not King’s Own then?” She looked at Megan.

Megan shook her head. “Not as they’ve said.”

“How long have they been here?”

Megan peeped around the corner again, staying low so she wouldn’t block Tanyth’s view. “About an hour, mum.”

Amber stood in front of her hut and spoke to one of the riders–a thick set man dressed almost foppishly with plumed hat, lace cravat, and a red satin lining in his riding coat. Riley and Frank circulated with buckets of water, giving each horse a small drink before pulling the bucket away and going on to the next. The horses appeared to be well trained and obedient to the careful watering.

While the one man talked to Amber and her attention was focused on him, Tanyth didn’t like the way the other three measured the hamlet with their eyes. One of them looked in her direction and she thought she could see his lips moving as he counted the buildings. She knew from experience that they couldn’t see the barn from where they stood so the hamlet looked like nothing more than a half dozen huts in somewhat better condition than hovels, but still nothing to attract attention.

Tanyth knew that for some men, treasure was not measured as gold or silver. The attention that the leader pad to Amber made Tanyth uncomfortable.

“Has somebody sent to the quarry?” She asked Megan. “They should know about this.”

“Yes, Sadie went up the trail about half an hour ago. They should be back any second now.”

Tanyth glanced at the sun and calculated. She must have just missed Sadie on the path and the men should be on their way back down to the village even now. She leaned out to look once more. The horses seemed to be all watered but the men made no move to ride on.

“Take the children and head for the quarry. You should meet the men coming down. Where are the other women?”

“Charlotte and Becky should be in the barn. Beth is over there behind the hut.” Megan pointed at a dark haired woman hiding behind the next hut.

The woman waved, her movements hidden from the road by intervening houses.

“Take Beth with you to help with the kids. Get as many of them as you can gather quickly but go now.” Her voice was a low mutter against the late morning breeze and Megan motioned the other woman to follow them up to the trail toward the quarry. Tanyth watched the men at the front of the village as the women and children scampered up the trail. The men must have spotted them between the huts because Tanyth saw one of the riders turn his head in that direction and say something to his companion who also looked. Frank, with his bucket empty, stepped deliberately into the man’s line of sight.

By then the conversation that Amber was having with the leader should have been breaking off. The man continued to stand there talking to her, tying up her attention and smiling in a way that he might have thought to be charming, but which Tanyth found to be somewhat less flattering than an open leer. With a glance behind her to make sure the small party was out of sight, she settled her hat and with a jaunty spring in her step, walked around the corner of the hut and directly toward Amber and the man talking to her.

At the sudden movement, two of the men-at-arms dropped hands to hilts but didn’t draw when they saw it was just an old woman with a floppy hat. She marched over to Amber and stepped up beside her, claiming the man’s attention with her eyes and interrupting whatever he was saying. Amber half turned and gave her a grateful glance.

Tanyth spoke clearly. “Good day, traveler.”

His manner was brusque, as if not used to being interrupted, but offered a grudging nod. “Good day, mum.” His eyes took in her gleaner’s bag and the hat before turning back to Amber. “Many thanks for the water for our horses.” He looked behind him to see that all of them had been watered before turning to leer at Amber again, “And for the most enjoyable conversation.”

“You’re welcome to the water, sir. Good luck in your travels.” Amber was obviously hoping to dismiss the man by not giving him any more conversational ground.

He turned and vaulted to his saddle, smoothly taking rein and edging his horse around with his legs. He didn’t seem terribly happy at being interrupted, but he signaled his men who followed him into the saddle. With a nod and wave to Amber, he led his small band back out onto the Pike and they rode off to the south.

As the sound of the horses’ hooves faded into the distance, a half dozen men looking grimy and winded boiled around the huts from the direction of the quarry with Sadie pelting along behind. They all skidded to a halt when they saw no danger. Frank crossed to the leader of the quarry team and Amber reached over to take Tanyth’s arm, leaning heavily on it but remaining upright. She turned her terrified eyes to the older woman.

Tanyth spoke quietly. “Let’s go inside, Amber. Make some tea. You did fine, but the others are watching.”

The younger woman took a short deep breath while her eyes flicked to the small knot of men standing with Frank.

“Of course.” She turned and slipped into the hut, Tanyth on her heels, while Frank explained to the quarry workers what had transpired.

Inside Amber collapsed on a cushion while Tanyth filled the tea kettle and placed it on the fire to heat.

“My knees were shaking so bad, I didn’t think I could stand up.” Amber’s voice was soft and quavery.

“Mine, too.” Tanyth took off her hat and smiled at Amber.

Amber took a deep breath and blew it out, before scrubbing her face with her hands. “At least they’re gone now.”

Tanyth looked at her with a frown. “They’ll be back.”

Amber froze, looking sharply at Tanyth. “You sound sure.”

The older woman nodded. “While the leader was keeping you busy, the other three were taking stock–counting the huts and taking note that you’re protected by an old man and a boy too young to draw a bow.”

“What can they want? They saw we have nothing worth taking.”

Tanyth shook her head. “They saw women, apparently alone and poorly protected. What do you think they want?”

Amber blinked in astonishment. “That’s preposterous.”

Tanyth arched an eyebrow. “Where’s William and when will Thomas be back?”

Amber blanched. “William is out cutting wood like always. Thomas usually comes home at sunset.”

Tanyth eyed the position of the sun and sighed. “I hope that’s soon enough.”

Chapter 10
A Wing and a Prayer

Frank knocked on the door. “You ladies ok in there?”

Tanyth opened to look up at him. “So far so good, but do you think they’re gone?”

Frank shook his head. “I doubt it. They rode off making a lot of noise, but it died out awful fast. That one guy was counting houses and kept looking to see who else was around.”

Tanyth sighed. “That’s what I thought, too.” She pointed to the men heading back to the quarry. “Why’re they leaving?”

Frank scrubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Because they don’t believe there’s any danger and William’s not here to tell ’em to stop work for the day.”

“What?” Tanyth was shocked.

Frank just shrugged.

Amber roused herself and climbed the short steps out the door. “Lemme try to talk to them.” She scampered across the grass and shouted to get the men’s attention. They stopped and waited for her to catch up.

They talked for a few moments but the burly foreman just shrugged and pointed at the sun with his thumb.

“They don’t think there’s a problem, do they.” Tanyth said.

Amber waved her hands in the direction of the Pike and Tanyth could hear her voice, even if she couldn’t make out the words.

“They didn’t see it. So they don’t know. First time we’ve had this kind of problem here, so I don’t know that I blame them.”

She looked up at him. “You think they’ll be back, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “Yes, mum. I truly do.”

“What do we do?”

Frank scrubbed the back of his neck again. “Well, the plan was for the women and children to take to the woods and hide. Ain’t nothin’ in the houses or barns worth losing a person over.”

“How long d’ya think before they come back?”

Frank turned to look at the Pike and then glanced up at the sun. “I’d give ’em about an hour to let things calm down here and then they’ll come back fast.”

“Think they’ll knock on the front door next time?”

Frank shook his head. “Depends on what they think is here.”

Most of the quarrymen looked on in amusement as Amber continued her argument with Jakey. Jakey, for his part, merely stood his ground and shook his head, a truculent frown on his face.

“Do they know about the team do you think?”

Frank sighed. “If they don’t, they’ll find it soon as they look in the barn.”

“What else is valuable here?”

“Food. Tools. Shelter.” Frank ticked them off. “This would make a handy bandit camp.”

“Rather exposed for a bandit camp, isn’t it?”

“Depends on where they do their banditin’.” Frank paused. “But prob’ly so.”

Amber lost her argument with the quarry men, and Jakey waved his crew back up the trail to the quarry.

Frank spit neatly in the grass beside the house.

Amber returned, fury written on her face in scarlet hues. “They said we should all just calm down and stop seeing boggles under the beds.” She turned to Frank. “Can you get the horses and take them up to the quarry? I’ll round up whoever’s left here and we’ll all go up there, too. If they follow us up, then at least those lunk heads won’t be able to argue about the threat.”

Frank nodded and headed for the barn at a brisk walk.

Amber turned to Tanyth. “Can you help me gather everybody up, mum? You knock on the doors on that side? I’ll get these. Have everybody meet up a the lane to the quarry and we’ll scoot.”

Tanyth nodded and started around. There weren’t that many houses and in a matter of a few minutes the women and children were heading up the path following Frank and the horses. Tanyth and Amber stood at the end of the lane, watching the small party heading up into the woods, Amber counting them off as they went.

“That’s all of them.” She spoke quietly. “’Cept for Thomas and William.”

Neither woman speculated on where the two men might be. Thomas was off in the forest somewhere tending his snares and hunting small game to augment the village larder. They both knew that William chopped wood somewhere in the forest just off the Pike where the men-at-arms might come across him. Neither of them wanted to think too much about that.

As the noise of the women and children receded into the forest, Amber turned to Tanyth. “Do you remember the other morning, mum? You said a prayer to the All-Mother?” She spoke softly, tentatively.

“Yes. I remember.”

“Do you think you could say one now? Askin’ for her protection here?”

Tanyth cocked her head to one side. “Do you really think it’ll help?”

Amber sighed. “I don’t know, mum, but it can’t hurt.”

The pleading in her eyes was more than Tanyth could bear. “I’m not a witch, my dear. I’ve no special powers, you know.”

“That’s as might be, mum. But there was something in the air the other morning. Maybe it was just a storm comin’ but maybe there’s somthin’ out there listenin’ and it heard you.” She paused, a worried frown on her face. “I’m not too proud to ask for help right now.”

Tanyth smiled. “Me, either.” She nodded up the trail. “Go up there a ways and give me some room to think.”

Amber scampered a few yards up the track and took shelter on the verge, leaving Tanyth standing in the path where it emptied into the back of the village.

Tanyth planted the heel of her staff and leaned on it. She closed her eyes to focus on the area around her–the earth, the sky, the fire of the sun, and the water coursing in the hidden rivers in the ground. A sense of calm filled her and the strength of the earth itself seemed to flow up the length of her body, through the soles of her boots and along the path of her staff.

She opened her eyes and raised her arms as she had the day before, facing the north she started with the earth. “I call upon the Guardian of the North, Keeper of Earth, Bones of the World to guard this passage against those who wish us harm and ask that they do not pass.” She turned to face out over the village, arms upraised and the heat of her belly pulsed in time with her heart. “I call upon the Guardian of the East, Keeper of the Air, Breath of the World to guard this passage against those who wish us harm and ask that they do not pass.” She turned to face the woods to the south. “I call upon the Guardian of the South, Keeper of Fire, Life of the World to guard this passage against those who wish us harm and ask that they do not pass.” With each repetition, while her voice was no stronger, it seemed to echo louder in the air around her. She turned to the west, looking up the path and repeated one last time. “I call upon the Guardian of the West, Keeper of Water, Blood of the World to guard this passage against those who would do us harm and ask that they do not pass.” She competed the circle by facing north once more. “I ask in the name of the All-Mother. I ask in the name of the All-Father. Guard us from our enemies. They will not pass.” She stabbed her staff into the ground and leaned on it as the emotions washed through her and left her weakened, all but panting in exertion.