[Shadowed Path 01] - A Woman Worth Ten Coppers
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Authors: Morgan Howell
Morgan Howell
CONTENTS
PRAISE FOR THE QUEEN OF THE ORCS: KING’S PROPERTY BY MORGAN HOWELL
This book is dedicated to
Kaaren Anderson
and
Scott Tayler,
who serve as Bearers
in the everyday world.
Oh Goddess, cup your hands about me!
Tumult fills this world,
and I am but a candle in the storm.
—
The Scroll of Karm
ONE
T
HE WAGON
resembled a tiny house on wheels. Pots and other wares dangled from its eaves and clanked against the rig’s wooden sides as it slowly ascended the mountain road. By dusk, the driver reached his destination, a lonely hut perched near the edge of a cliff. A circle of half-buried stones surrounded the structure, marking it as a Wise Woman’s home. After halting the horses, the driver remained seated and chanted under his breath. The verses were supposed to bring tranquillity. They failed, for the man was convinced that the hut didn’t mark the end of a long and arduous journey, but rather the beginning of a far more perilous one.
The man stopped chanting when he heard a door close and footsteps on the frozen ground. He turned to see a white-haired woman approach. She halted and scrutinized him. “The wagon looks right,” she said at last, “but you don’t look the peddler.”
The man bowed his head respectfully. “I’m a Seer, Mother.”
“Aye, you have that temple softness to you.” The woman sighed. “So, no skill with arms?”
“None at all. The goddess will protect her.”
The woman shook her head. “Nothing’s certain. As a Seer, you should know that better than I.”
“I’ll do my utmost,” said the Seer. “I was told I’m to play her father.”
“Aye, so show her no deference. That could betray her. And you should leave the morrow. When spring comes, the roads will turn to mud.”
“Where shall I take her?”
“South.”
“Toward trouble?”
“Aye, indeed. But that’s what’s been revealed.”
“And nothing more?”
“Not yet. Until then, best you pick the road. When she makes choices, her heart sways her overmuch.”
The man turned his gaze southward before descending from his seat. The ground dropped just a few paces away, and from his perch, the ridges of the highlands looked like crumpled garments cast from the peaks above. Below, a small village nestled in one fold, its homes already shuttered for the night. The plains beyond were obscured as the world turned dark.
The hut’s door opened, spilling light and catching the man’s attention. Someone peered from the doorway. “Is that her?” he whispered.
“Aye,” replied the Wise Woman. She raised her voice. “Yim! Come here.”
The Seer studied the advancing figure.
She’s only a girl!
he thought, judging her age as eighteen winters. He feared her appearance would draw attention, for she was lithe and comely, with large dark eyes and flowing hair. She wore a shift of gray wool, a matching cloak, and sturdy boots. In peddler fashion, her cloak was festooned with ribbons, each lightly stitched in place to permit quick removal and sale. They fluttered as she walked.
“Yim, tend the horses,” said the Wise Woman. “This man will show you how.” Then the elderly woman sought the warmth of the hut, leaving the two alone.
“Have you ever fed a horse?” asked the Seer.
“Only goats and sheep,” replied Yim, regarding the animals warily.
“I’ll show you what to do. Follow me.” The Seer walked to the back of the wagon, opened its door, and retrieved two cloth sacks with straps attached. “These are nose bags,” he said. “They fit on the horses’ heads so they can feed in harness.” He uncovered a large barrel affixed to the wagon’s rear. It contained oats and a scoop. “Put two full scoops in each bag.”
After Yim did that, the Seer demonstrated how to attach a bag. Then he observed Yim carefully as she affixed the other one. While she appeared intimidated by the horse, she didn’t shrink from it. That was all he could observe, despite his heightened powers of perception. Realizing that Yim’s inner qualities were veiled against his gaze, he sought to probe her through conversation. “Your guardian said we should leave tomorrow. Are you familiar with the roads?”
“I’ve never been more than a day’s journey from here.” Yim turned her eyes toward the plains, which were black beneath the fading sky. Her gaze lingered there as though she saw something within the shadows. The Seer noticed that Yim froze as a fawn does at the scent of wolves. After a moment, she stirred and said, “So, you spoke with my guardian. What did she say about me?”
“Very little.”
“Did she tell you I lack sense?”
“No.”
A wry smile passed over Yim’s lips. “She will, ere we depart.”
They headed out at first light after receiving a terse farewell from the Wise Woman, who retreated to the hut before the wagon reached the road. The Seer drove the team from the broad seat at the wagon’s front. Yim sat next to him, bundled against the cold in her cloak and gazing at familiar scenery that she would never see again. It was a long while before she spoke.
“I know that I must call you ‘Father,’ but is your true name Theodus?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“That name was revealed to me. I’m supposed to follow his footsteps. Since you’re my guide, I thought my vision referred to you.”
“The goddess is your guide. I merely drive the wagon.”
“My guardian said you’re a Seer. Doesn’t Karm speak to you?”
“I find children for service in the temple. I’ve never had a vision.”
“So how do you know where to take me?”
“I don’t. Karm will tell you what path to take.”
“But my vision only said to head southward. I thought that you would…” Yim’s face reddened. “If you don’t know where to take me, why did you bother to come?”
“The Wise Woman sent for me. She said you were ready.”
“Well I’m not, if I’m supposed to know the way. You’re a Seer. Why didn’t you foresee that?”
“The future’s not ordained. The most a Seer can hope to foretell is what’s likely. I can’t even do that.”
Yim sighed. “Then what’s likely is that we’ll wander for moons. I haven’t had a vision since autumn, and my visions often make little sense. Sometimes I’m shown things I don’t understand. Even when Karm appears to me or I hear her voice, her guidance isn’t always useful. How can I follow Theodus if I’ve never met him?”
“Time often reveals a vision’s meaning,” replied the Seer. “Time and contemplation.”
“That’s not much use nigh sunset when the road forks and you must choose which way to take.”
Yim resumed gazing at the landscape. Though it remained in winter’s grip, patches of bare earth had appeared beneath the barren trees. The palette of gray, brown, and dirty white matched Yim’s pessimistic mood, and it was a while before she made another attempt at conversation. Turning to the Seer, she asked. “Have you done this often?”
“What?”
“Delivered girls to their destinies.”
“There have been no other girls. There will be no others.”
“But the Wise Woman said I’m no one special.”
“You’re Karm’s servant, as are we all, and humility befits a servant,” replied the Seer. “Yet the goddess chose you alone for this task. You mustn’t fail.”
“If the goddess wants me to succeed, how can I fail?”
“Karm’s benevolent, but the world is not. If men are to be free, then they must be free to choose evil, and many have. It’s always a struggle to fulfill the goddess’s will.”
Yim sighed. “I’ve heard that talk all my life. I thought I was leaving it behind.”
The Seer gave Yim a sympathetic look. “Was it hard living with the Wise Woman?”
“Hard enough.”
Yim’s thoughts turned to her upbringing. It had been not only hard, but also unusual. She knew the name and virtue of every herb, where each grew, and when to harvest it, but she had never played a game or had a single friend. Yim had been a small child when she was given to the Wise Woman, and for a long while, she had believed her life was normal. True, she had never known her mother, and her father vanished after the Wise Woman took charge, but being young and living in isolation, she took her circumstances for the way of things. Thus she thought all girls were taught to read and learned secret arts that they must never mention. She even assumed that everyone had visions.
Over time, Yim shed those illusions. As she grew older, Yim accompanied her guardian not only when she gathered herbs, but also when she practiced healing or midwifery. Through those excursions to nearby farms and to the village, Yim made contact with girls her age. They had some things in common: Like them, Yim had been taught to cook, mend clothes, and tend animals. She also knew how to make cheese, a common accomplishment in the highlands. However, none of the girls could read, and Yim doubted they had late-night lessons in even more arcane arts. But the girls differed most from Yim in that they would spend their lives in the highlands and Yim knew that wasn’t to be her fate.