EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (51 page)

‘At home.’

She grabbed my arm, pulled me inside, and slammed the door behind me. ‘You should be at school. Not here.’ I noted the irritation in her tone.

For a moment, I was too afraid to speak. ‘I want to learn from you.’

‘I can tell you nothing. Go back to school,’ she said. I noticed that the more annoyed she was, the thicker her accent became.

‘I… well… you know things. I need to know what you know.’ I felt around with my walking stick for a chair. I sat down, determined to get answers, yet wanting to leave at the same time. Butter pawed at my leg, wanting to sit on my lap. I pushed him away with my boot, so he leaned against my leg instead, thumping his tail on the floor. I could smell hay and bitter salves and oils. They were used for maintaining her armour or weaponry; Father had kept similar stuffs at home.

‘A girl of twelve.’

‘Thirteen,’ I corrected.

‘Thirteen,’ she amended in a strained voice. ‘You’re thirteen? Hm,’ she murmured.

Next, I heard the banging of a pot, and a flow of urgent words that I figured was her cursing in Ruxdorian, the language of Ruxdor.

‘You are older than I expected. I understand why your aunt is so worried. And why she lied to me.’ She spoke the last words in a bitter tone. If Klawdia knew Mother well, then surely she knew Capacia was my mother.

I thought then was a good time to produce the bag full of money. I allowed it to jingle. ‘Tell me,’ I said.

‘I-I’m sorry, Adenine. I made a promise to Capacia.’

‘Everyone promises her. No one tells me anything. I want to know why you came to our house last night. I want to know why you are going back to Ruxdor. I want to know how you know Capacia. I want to know what’s going on!’

Klawdia knew the things Mother did, and I was sure I could get her to tell me. My chest ached, my head throbbed, and I was tired, exhausted of thinking and worrying and living under the watchful eyes of overprotective friends and family when I didn’t even know what they were protecting me from.

‘When do you turn fourteen?’ she asked.

‘In seven months, early June.’

‘Good. I’ll be back before then.’

‘What happens when I turn fourteen?’

Klawdia didn’t answer my question, but instead said, ‘My father is a sort of king in Ruxdor. We call them chieftains.’

I gasped. ‘You’re a princess?’

Klawdia laughed. ‘No one would call me that, but in a way, I am. I can’t let him die without my seeing him. When I was younger, I ran away. I had disgraced my father and stayed away. I have not seen him since. If my father would have accepted Nallael, I would be leader now until my son came of age. In my absence, another tribe leader will take my place. I want to make sure the transfer of power is… seamless. It’s my responsibility.’

If Klawdia’s father was a chieftain, that made her the daughter of a man who allowed slavery, an enemy of Senya and the ally of the Meligna Queens. Klawdia scraped something against metal, and the smell of raw meat lingered in the air. Butter’s tail began to thump harder and he tried to pull away from me. A plate banged against the floor at my feet, and I heard Butter slurping, chewing, and gulping.

‘Thank you,’ I said on Butter’s behalf.

‘He needs more food. Remember to feed him twice daily.’

‘Klawdia, why are you allowed to live in Senya?’

She sighed and walked across the room. Liquid glugged out of a jug, and I heard a slurp that was even louder than Butter’s. ‘I betrayed the Meligna Queens.’

‘What? Where do they come into it?’

‘It’s too long of a story. But I did it to protect innocent people, people like you.’

People like me? It was something to do with my sickness. I knew that much. I was getting tired of asking questions and finding no answers. ‘How do you know Capacia?’

‘Adenine, I know Capacia is your mother. In fact, I remember when you were a babe.’

I sat forward in my seat, ‘H-How?’

‘Another long story. Your mother is a true mother. She would do anything to keep you safe.’

Butter pushed his empty dish about the floor. But I was distracted from the noise with thoughts of the times I’d upset Mother or been angry at her for whatever reason. ‘I know,’ I said, struggling to keep the sadness from my voice.

‘I’ll take you home now.’

‘Wait. I want to know more about training Butter. I know you can teach me more.’

‘We don’t have enough time.’

‘Please. I’ll remember. I… you said dogs could be used to help blind people. I want him to be able to scare away anyone who might hurt me.’ I told her how the men in the forest had attacked me, and I knew that if Butter was scarier, or better trained, I wouldn’t have been attacked, and maybe he could have helped me find my way home somehow. I had a feeling that if Butter knew what I wanted, he could help me more.

‘You want a dog to be like a human. This cannot happen in a short time.’

‘But dogs are always used as guards or for hunting. How can I teach Butter that?’ I didn’t want to be afraid anymore.

‘If Butter is loyal to you, he will protect you. But Capacia does not want him trained. Your mother is your master in a way, and I must defer to her wishes.’

‘I don’t care what she thinks.’ That wasn’t true, but I would say anything to persuade Klawdia to help me.

Klawdia laughed. ‘I see you are as stubborn as she is, but with your father’s bold manner.’

Hearing her talk about Father revived my longing for him. She’d known him as if he were a regular everyday person, someone who walked around town and lived his life in Borrelia. ‘Please, tell me what no one else will. Tell me how to protect myself.’

‘A day will come when you will have everything you want Adenine. Don’t wish it to come earlier than need be.’

‘I saw my father kill my uncle. My father was hanged by the people of this town, and then, for a reason no one seems to accept, including me, I became blind. How do you expect me to live with so much unknown?’ I was hesitant to mention that I had once carried the plague inside of me. I didn’t know how Klawdia would react to that.

Butter whined, so I reached down and reassured him. He pushed his nose into the cup of my palm. The leftover food that covered his snout stuck to my hand, and I wiped it on my dress.

‘Be patient. I will return soon. Look for me before your fourteenth birthday.’

‘Please. Help me.’ I allowed tears to fall from my eyes.

‘Stop. There are tears on your cheeks. Do not show anyone your heart. Your heart is your weakness. It is the first thing people will abuse. Your compassion is like a house built on sand. It makes you unsteady, unreliable. You must get control over it.’

‘Why do people want to hurt me? What did I do?’ I put my head into my hands and wished everything to be different. But soon Klawdia would leave, and I would still be in the dark with no one to turn to and no one to help me or give me answers.

‘Birth is your crime. You were born.’

‘That’s not fair,’ I said through gritted teeth.

‘No. Neither is the world you live in. We are all here together, forced to live in this world. We understand you, Adenine. None of us find it easy.’ Klawdia knelt in front of me and put one hand on my knee. ‘There is one trick you can teach Butter while I am gone. You tell him “with me,” in a strong commanding voice. When you say this, you pull his rope. It will teach him to walk beside you. And when he obeys, what do you do?’

‘Feed him some meat.’

‘Yes. You reward him with praise and food. Eventually, Butter will cease to need a rope. He will obey you every time, and you will have complete control. Understand?’

I nodded.

‘Also, stay away from healers. Stay away from the mayor.’

‘The mayor?’

‘Yes. You must go straight home from school. You can have friends, but never trust them. Only trust Capacia and whoever else has proven themselves. You know who they are.’

I listed the people off in my head that I trusted—Capacia, Varago, Jemely.

‘Adenine, you are worth a thousand gold and more. Do you understand?’

Worth gold? Was I a slave that could be bought? I didn’t understand.

‘The blind girl who got lost in the forest. You are already too renowned.’

I could tell from her tone that, for me, being renowned was not a good thing.

‘I will take you back now.’

Klawdia escorted me to the first buildings that surrounded the town square and left me to find my own way home saying, ‘We should not be seen together.’ She had also reminded me to be good to Mother. She told me to go to school and learn as much as possible. She told me to ask lots of questions, but only to those that were kind and helped me.

I was more afraid than ever, but my paranoia felt justified. She had given me a reason to be scared, to not trust anyone, and for a moment, I wanted to lock myself in my attic again and shut out the world. Could I trust Klawdia?

Chapter XIX

A 
MONTH
HAD
GONE
BY
since Klawdia left for Ruxdor. Mother became more protective of me. In summer, she began washing my hair with a strange substance, saying that my scalp was flaking. Soon I developed my female blood, a sign that I was becoming a woman. When I questioned mother about it, she simply said the blood was the result of the body cleaning itself.

Mother made Jemely take me to and from school every day. And every afternoon, she questioned Jemely about my movements. Mayor Vawdon made a point of visiting us once a week and returned if I was not present. His discussions with Mother were always brief and light, but every time he set her on edge. I was banned from speaking to Emala. When Mayor Vawdon’s visits increased to every two days, Mother made Jemely spy on me at school. I grew to resent Jemely, as I was never left alone.

Jemely knew how I felt, and every day, she said, ‘Sorry, I have to.’

Four months passed. Mother said the flaking was worse, and she began to wash my hair once a day. Some days, she said it was so bad I had to wear a bonnet. I didn’t mind except she wrapped my hair in a piece of cloth before tying the lace on my hat. It was awfully hot in summer, but became bearable as autumn set in.

Mayor Vawdon asked to see my hair once. Mother happily removed my bonnet, allowing my long locks to fall across my shoulders. Mayor Vawdon seemed satisfied, yet still suspicious of me.

I was moved into classes with Emala and Frooby. As I was banned from speaking to Emala, we only talked in class, where Jemely couldn’t see us. At lunch time, I talked to Frooby, and we became friends, although he often left to go inside due to his many coughing fits. Jark constantly teased me about my blindfold and my bonnets because wearing a bonnet was something only older women did.

Everyone had forgotten that I got lost in the forest, and I became known and accepted as myself: Adenine. I grew tougher and stronger as Mother’s paranoia about my safety grew.

Mother reduced my school attendance to twice a week. I didn’t like that, and once, we fought so loudly that a guard knocked on our door and ordered us to keep our noise down.

‘You can’t keep her locked up. She’s not a little girl anymore,’ Varago said one night. ‘You can’t be sure the mayor knows anyway.’

‘He suspects, and I’ll do what I please if I think it’ll keep her from harm.’

‘Overbearing mothering only seeks to push children away. Adenine is old enough to make her own decisions.’

‘Don’t tell me how to raise my daughter,’ she snapped.

‘Maybe it would be better if she went to Juxon City. Save all this worry and bother.’

Juxon City! Why would I go there? While I didn’t want to leave Mother, things had become so tense in our house that I would leave just to feel the relief of not being under her ever-watching eyes. I didn’t know whether I was more scared of her or of whatever it was she feared, which I’d worked out to be something involving Healer Euka, Mayor Vawdon, and the illness I’d had when I was younger.

Varago left in a huff. Mother stopped moving around, and I could feel her eyes on me.

I ignored her by focusing on my schoolwork. Homework occupied my evenings, and I listened intently to my teachers as Klawdia had said I should. I asked questions. I could not read or write, but I could do arithmetic with stones and memorized every little detail I learned about history, geography, and the natural world. My reputation at school was not helped by my eagerness to learn, and that only gave Jark more fuel.

‘What?’ Jark would say. ‘Emala not good enough for you now, huh? Is she too dumb to keep up with you now, Miss Scholar?’ That hurt, but Emala would always yell at Jark as she seemed to understand my situation and wouldn’t speak to me to avoid getting me in trouble. In lessons though, we would always sit together and talk. Many a time, that fetched us punishment with a cane. But somehow, I liked the pain. It quieted my mind and made me value my friendship with Emala more.

On the days Butter was with me when Jemely and I would walk home from school, I carried dried bits of pork in my pockets. Despite not knowing exactly how to train Butter, I’d unintentionally taught him a new command—crawl. Jemely and I would hold a stick close to the ground, and he would crawl underneath. Butter had also learned the way to school and to Jemely’s house.

As he got older, I had a leather collar with a metal hoop made for him, along with a stronger rope made from denser leather, and I used it to lead Butter around. I knew it looked strange, because on occasion, people laughed and made comments as we passed. But Butter knew where he was walking and what was in front of us, behind, and to the sides. We’d learned to read each other. We had become so intertwined that I depended on Butter to tell me of the things I could not see. Unintentionally, he’d become the companion I’d always wanted him to be.

In late autumn, a courier man galloped through town and almost rode me down. Butter had seen the man coming and pulled hard on the rope, dragging me out of the way. I patted him and scratched him silly, telling him he was a good boy. I then bought an entire leg of lamb from the butcher, and we sat under a tree while Butter ate it. His teeth scraped against bone, and tendons snapped as he munched happily. The sound made me satisfied. Butter deserved every morsel.