The Warded Man

Stefny blanched, and turned to her husband and the Tender. “Stay out of this!” she called.

“The Core I will!” Smitt cried. He grabbed Bruna’s staff and pulled it off of his wife. “See here, woman,” he told Bruna. “Herb Gatherer or no, you can’t just go around hitting whomever you please!”

“Oh, but your wife can go around condemning whomever she pleases?” Bruna snapped. She yanked her staff from his hands and clonked him on the head with it.

Smitt staggered back, rubbing his head. “All right,” he said, “I tried being nice.”

Usually, Smitt said that just before rolling up his sleeves and hurling someone bodily from his tavern. He wasn’t a tall man, but his squat frame was powerful, and he’d had plenty of experience in dealing with drunken cutters over the years.

Bruna was no thick-muscled cutter, but she didn’t appear the least bit intimidated. She stood her ground as Smitt stormed toward her.

“Fine!” she cried. “Throw me out! Mix the herbs yourself! You and Stefny heal the ones that vomit blood and catch demon fever! Deliver your own babies while you’re at it! Brew your own cures! Make your own flamesticks! What do you need to put up with the hag for?”

“What, indeed?” Darsy asked. Everyone stared at her as she strode up to Smitt.

“I can mix herbs and deliver babies as well as she can,” Darsy said.

“Hah!” Bruna said. Even Smitt looked at her doubtfully.

Darsy ignored her. “I say it’s time for a change,” she said. “I may not have a hundred years of experience like Bruna, but I won’t go around bullying everyone, either.”

Smitt scratched his chin, and glanced over to Bruna, who cackled.

“Go on,” she dared. “I could use the rest. But don’t come begging to my hut when the sow stitches what she should have cut, and cuts what she should have stitched.”

“Perhaps Darsy deserves a chance,” Smitt said.

“Settled, then!” Bruna said, thumping her staff on the floor. “Be sure to tell the rest of the town who to go to for their cures. I’ll thank you for the peace at my hut!”

She turned to Leesha. “Come, girl, help an old crone walk home.” She took Leesha’s arm, and the two of them turned for the door.

As they passed Stefny, though, Bruna stopped, pointing her staff at her and whispering for only the three women to hear. “You say one more word against this girl, or suffer others to, and the whole town will know your shame.”

Stefny’s look of terror stayed with Leesha the whole way back to Bruna’s hut. Once they were inside, Bruna whirled on her.

“Well, girl? Is it true?” she asked.

“No!” Leesha cried. “I mean, we almost … but I told him to stop and he did!”

It sounded lame and implausible, and she knew it. Terror gripped her. Bruna was the only one who stood up for her. She thought she would die if the old woman thought her a liar, too.

“You … you can check me, if you want,” she said, her cheeks coloring. She looked at the floor, and squinted back tears.

Bruna grunted, and shook her head. “I believe you, girl.”

“Why?” Leesha asked, almost pleading. “Why would Gared lie like that?”

“Because boys get praise for the same things that get girls run out of town,” Bruna said. “Because men are ruled by what others think of their dangling worms. Because he’s a petty, hurtful little wood-brained shit with no concept of what he had.”

Leesha started to cry again. She felt like she’d been crying forever. Surely a body could not hold so many tears.

Bruna opened her arms, and Leesha fell into them. “There, there, girl,” she said. “Get it all out, and then we’ll figure out what to do.”

There was silence in Bruna’s hut while Leesha made tea. It was still early in the day, but she felt utterly drained. How could she hope to live the rest of her life in Cutter’s Hollow?

Fort Rizon is only a week away, she thought. Thousands of people. No one would hear of Gared’s lies there. I could find Klarissa and …

And what? She knew it was just a fantasy. Even if she could find a Messenger to take her, the thought of a week and more on the open road made her blood run cold, and the Rizonans were farmers, with little use for letters or papermaking. She could find a new husband, perhaps, but the thought of tying her fate to another man gave little comfort.

She brought Bruna her tea, hoping the old woman had an answer, but the Herb Gatherer said nothing, sipping quietly as Leesha knelt beside her chair.

“What am I going to do?” she asked. “I can’t hide here forever.”

“You could,” Bruna said. “Whatever Darsy boasts, she hasn’t retained a fraction of what I’ve taught her, and I haven’t taught her a fraction of what I know. The folk’ll be back soon enough, begging my help. Stay, and a year from now the people of Cutter’s Hollow won’t know how they ever got along without you.”

“My mother will never allow that,” Leesha said. “She’s still set on me marrying Gared.”

Bruna nodded. “She would be. She’s never forgiven herself for not bearing Steave’s sons. She’s determined that you correct her mistakes.”

“I won’t do it,” Leesha said. “I’ll give myself to the night before I let Gared touch me.” She was shocked to realize that she meant every word.

“That’s very brave of you, dearie,” Bruna said, but there was disdain in her tone. “So brave to throw your life away over a boy’s lie and fear of your mother.”

“I am not afraid of her!” Leesha said.

“Just of telling her you won’t marry the boy who destroyed your reputation?”

Leesha was quiet a long time before nodding. “You’re right,” she said. Bruna grunted.

Leesha stood. “I suppose I had best get it over with,” she said. Bruna said nothing.

At the door, Leesha stopped, and looked back.

“Bruna?” she asked. The old woman grunted again. “What was Stefny’s sin?”

Bruna sipped her tea. “Smitt has three beautiful children,” she said.

“Four,” Leesha corrected.

Bruna shook her head. “Stefny has four,” she said. “Smitt has three.”

Leesha’s eyes widened. “But how could that be?” she asked. “Stefny never leaves the tavern, but to go to the Holy …” She gasped.

“Even Holy Men are men,” Bruna said.

Leesha walked home slowly, trying to choose words, but in the end she knew that phrasing was meaningless. All that mattered was that she would not marry Gared, and her mother’s reaction. It was late in the day when she walked into the house. Gared and Steave would be back from the woods soon. She needed the confrontation over with before they arrived.

“Well, you’ve really made a mess of things now,” her mother said acidly as she walked in. “My daughter, the town tramp.”

“I’m not a tramp,” Leesha said. “Gared has been spreading lies.”

“Don’t you dare blame him because you couldn’t keep your legs closed!” Elona said.

“I didn’t sleep with him,” Leesha said.

“Hah!” Elona barked. “Don’t take me for a fool, Leesha. I was young once, too.”

“You’ve been ‘young’ every night this week,” Leesha said, “and Gared is still a liar.”

Elona slapped her, knocking her to the floor. “Don’t you dare speak to me like that, you little whore!” she screeched.

Leesha lay still, knowing that if she moved, her mother would hit her again. Her cheek felt like it was on fire.

Seeing her daughter humbled, Elona took a deep breath, and seemed to calm. “It’s no matter,” she said. “I’ve always thought you needed a knocking from the pedestal your idiot father put you on. You’ll marry Gared soon enough, and folk will tire of whispering eventually.”

Leesha steeled herself. “I’m not marrying him,” she said. “He’s a liar, and I won’t do it.”

“Oh, yes you will,” Elona said.

“I won’t,” Leesha said, the words giving her strength as she rose to her feet. “I won’t say the words, and there’s nothing you can do to make me.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Elona said, snatching off her belt. It was a thick leather strap with a metal buckle that she always wore loosely around her waist. Leesha thought she wore it just to have it at hand to beat her.

She came at Leesha, who shrieked and retreated into the kitchen before realizing it was the last place she should have gone. There was only one way in or out.

She screamed as the buckle cut through her dress and into her back. Elona swung again, and Leesha threw herself at her mother in desperation. As they tumbled to the floor, she heard the door open, and Steave’s voice. At the same time, there was a questioning call from the shop.

Elona made good use of the distraction, punching her daughter full in the face. She was on her feet in an instant, whipping the belt into Leesha, drawing another scream from her lips.

“What in the Core is going on?” came a cry from the doorway. Leesha looked up to see her father struggling to get into the kitchen, blocked by Steave’s meaty arm.

“Get out of my way!” Erny cried.

“This is between them,” Steave said with a grin.

“This is my home you’re a guest in!” Erny cried. “Get out of the way!”

When Steave did not budge, Erny punched him.