CHAPTER II
A Fork in the Road
It was two days past Maddentide, and the first flakes of snow were drifting from the starry sky onto the city of Ceunon.
Essie didn’t notice. She stomped down the cobblestone alley behind the Yarstead house, her mouth set in a hard line and her cheeks burning as she struggled not to cry. She hated stupid, mean Hjordis, with her fake smile and her pretty bows and all her nasty little insults. Hated her.
And then there was poor Carth. Essie couldn’t stop thinking about his reaction. He had looked so betrayed when she’d pushed him into the trough. He hadn’t even said anything, just sat where he had fallen and gaped at her while his eyes went big and round.
Her dress sleeve was still wet from where the muddy water had splashed her.
The familiar sound of waves slapping against the underside of the wharves grew louder as she approached the docks. She kept to the alleys—kept to the narrow ways that the adults rarely used. Overhead, a rook with fluffed-out feathers sat perched on the eaves of the Sorting House. It cocked its head and opened its beak to utter a mournful cry.
Essie shivered, though not from the cold, and pulled her shawl closer around her shoulders. A dog had howled during the night, the candle on the little shelf where they left offerings of milk and bread for the Svartlings had gone out, and now a lone rook had called. Bad omens all. Was there more ill fortune coming her way? She didn’t think she could bear anything worse….
She slipped between the smelly drying racks by the edge of the fish market and came into the street. Ahead of her, music and conversation sounded, and warm light spilled out of the front of the Fulsome Feast. The windows of the inn were crystal, specially made by the dwarves, and they gleamed like diamond in the flickering light. It was a point of pride for Essie every time she saw the windows, even now. No other building on the street had anything so pretty.
Inside, the common room was as loud and busy as ever. Essie ignored the guests and went to the bar. Papa was there pouring beer, washing out mugs, and serving dishes of smoked herring. He glanced at her as she ducked under the half door at the end of the bar.
“You’re late,” he said.
“Sorry, Papa.” Essie got a plate and loaded it with a heel of bread, a wedge of hard Sartos cheese, and a half-dried apple—all taken from the shelf under the bar. She was still too small to help with the serving, but she would help with the cleaning up later.
And then later still, once everyone had gone to bed, she would sneak down to the cellar, gather the supplies she needed….
She carried the plate to an empty chair in front of the great stone fireplace. Next to the chair was a small table, and on the other side of it, a second chair—this one with a man sitting in it. He was lean and dark-eyed, with a neat beard and a long black travel cloak bunched around him. A plate balanced on his knee, and he was slowly eating a serving of Mama’s roasted turnips and mutton, stabbing at the pieces with one of the inn’s iron forks.
Essie didn’t care. He was just another traveler, like so many who came to the Fulsome Feast.
She plopped down in the free chair and tore off part of the heel of bread, imagining that it was Hjordis’s head she was tearing off….She continued to rip at the food with her fingers and teeth, and she chewed with a ferocity that was oddly satisfying.
She still felt as if she was about to cry, which just made her more angry. Crying was for little children. Crying was for weaklings who got pushed around and told what to do. That wasn’t her!
She made a noise of frustration as she bit into the apple and the stem got stuck in the gap between her front teeth.
“You seem upset,” the man next to her said in a mild tone.
Essie scowled. She plucked the stem from between her teeth and flung it into the fireplace. “It’s all Hjordis’s fault!” Papa didn’t like her talking to the guests too much, but she had never minded him. The visitors always had interesting stories, and many of them would ruffle her hair and comment on how adorable she was and give her candied nuts or syrup twists (in the winter, at least).
“Oh?” said the man. He put down his fork and turned in his seat to better look at her. “And who is this Hjordis?”
“She’s the daughter of Jarek. He’s the earl’s chief mason,” said Essie, sullen.
“I see. Does that make her important?”
Essie shook her head. “It makes her think she’s important.”
“What did she do to upset you, then?”
“Everything!” Essie took a savage bite out of the apple and chewed so hard and quick she bit the inside of her mouth. She winced and swallowed, trying to ignore the pain.
The man drank from the mug by his hand. “Most interesting,” he said, and used a napkin to dab a fleck of foam off his mustache. “Well then, is it a tale you feel like telling? Perhaps talking about it will make you feel better.”
Essie looked at him, slightly suspicious. He had an open face, but there was an intensity to his dark eyes, and a slight hardness too, that she wasn’t sure about. “Papa wouldn’t want me to bother you.”
“I have some time,” said the man easily. “I’m just waiting for a certain associate of mine who, alas, happens to be habitually late. If you wish to share your tale of woe, then please, consider me your devoted audience.”
He used a lot of big words, and his accent wasn’t one Essie was familiar with. It seemed overly careful, as if he were sculpting the air with his tongue. Despite that, and despite the hardness of his eyes, she decided he seemed like a nice person.
She bounced her feet off the legs of the chair. “Well…I’d like to tell you, but I can’t possibly unless we’re friends.”
“Is that so? And how do we become friends?”
“You have to tell me your name! Silly.”
The man smiled. He had pretty teeth. “Of course. How foolish of me. In that case, my name is Tornac.” And he held out his hand. His fingers were long and pale, but strong-looking. His nails were trimmed square.
“Essie Siglingsdaughter.” She could feel a row of calluses on his palm as they shook hands.
“Very nice to meet you, Essie. Now then, what seems to be bothering you?”
Essie stared at the partially eaten apple in her hand. She sighed and put it back on the plate. “It’s all Hjordis’s fault.”
“So you said.”
“She’s always being mean to me and making her friends tease me.”
Tornac’s expression grew serious. “That’s not good at all.”
Encouraged, Essie shook her head, allowing her outrage to shine forth. “No! I mean…sometimes they tease me anyway, but, um, Hjordis—when she’s there, it gets really bad.”
“Is that what happened today?”
“Yes. Sort of.” She broke off a piece of cheese and nibbled on it while she thought back over the past few weeks. Tornac waited patiently. She liked that about him. He reminded her of a cat. Finally, she gathered the courage to say, “Before harvest, Hjordis started being nicer to me. I thought—I thought maybe things were going to be better. She even invited me to her house.” Essie glanced at Tornac. “It’s right by the castle.”
“Impressive.”
Essie nodded, glad he understood. “She gave me one of her ribbons, a yellow one, and said that I could come to her Maddentide party.”
“And did you?”
Another bob of her head. “It—it was today.” Hot tears filled her eyes, and she blinked furiously, disappointed with herself.
“Here now,” said Tornac, looking concerned. He held out a square of soft white cloth.
At first Essie was reluctant to accept. The cloth was so clean! But then the tears started running down her cheeks, and she grabbed the kerchief and wiped her eyes. “Thank you, mister.”
Another small smile appeared on the man’s face. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been called mister, but you’re very welcome. I take it the party didn’t go well?”
Essie scowled and pushed the kerchief back toward him. She wasn’t going to cry anymore. Not her. “The party was fine. It was Hjordis. She got mean again, after, and…and”—Essie took a deep breath, as if to fill her stomach with courage—“and she said that if I didn’t do what she wanted, she would tell her father not to use our inn during the solstice celebration.” She peered at Tornac, wondering if he knew why that was so important. “All the masons come here to drink and”—she hiccupped, despite herself—“they drink a lot, and it means they spend stacks and stacks of coppers.”
Tornac put his plate on the table and leaned toward her. His cloak rustled like wind in the thatching. His face was very serious. “What did she want you to do?”
Ashamed, Essie stared at her muddy shoes. “She wanted me to push Carth into a horse trough,” she said, tripping over the words in her rush to get them out.
“Carth is a friend of yours?”
Essie nodded, miserable. They’d known each other since she was three. “He lives on the docks. His father is a fisher.”
“So he wouldn’t get invited to a party like this.”
“No, but Hjordis sent her handmaid to bring him to the house and…” Essie stared at Tornac, her expression fierce. “I didn’t have no choice! If I hadn’t pushed him, then she would have told her father not to come to the Fulsome Feast.”
“I understand,” said Tornac in a soothing tone. “So you pushed your friend. Were you able to apologize to him?”
“No,” Essie said, feeling even worse. “I—I ran. But everyone saw. He won’t want to be friends with me anymore. No one will. Hjordis just meant to trick me, and I hate her.” Essie grabbed the apple and took another quick bite. Her teeth clacked together.
Tornac opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Papa came by on his way to deliver a pair of mugs to a table by the wall. He gave her a disapproving look. “My daughter isn’t making a nuisance of herself, is she, Master Tornac? She has a bad habit of pestering guests when they’re trying to eat.”
“Not at all,” said Tornac, smiling. “I’ve been on the road for far too long with nothing but the sun and the moon for company. A bit of conversation is exactly what I need. In fact—” His fingers dipped under his belt, and Essie saw a flash of silver as he reached out to her father. “Perhaps you can see to it that the tables next to us remain clear. I’m expecting an associate of mine, and we have some, ah, business to discuss.”
The coins disappeared into his apron, and Papa bobbed his head. “Of course, Master Tornac.” He glanced at her again, his expression slightly concerned, and then continued on his way.
Essie felt a sudden pang of remorse. Papa was going to be so sad when she was gone. But there was no other choice. She had to leave.
“Now then,” said Tornac, stretching his long legs out toward the fire. “You were telling me your tale of woe, Essie Siglingsdaughter. Was that the full accounting?”
“That was it,” Essie said in a small voice.
Tornac picked up the fork from his plate and began to twirl it between his fingers. She found the sight vaguely entrancing. “Things can’t be as bad as you think. I’m sure if you explain to your friend—”
“No,” she said, firm. She knew Carth. He wouldn’t forgive her for what she’d done. None of her friends along the docks would. They’d think she’d turned against them to join Hjordis and the other children by the castle. And in a way, she had. “He won’t understand. He won’t trust me again. They’ll hate me for it.”
A cutting edge entered Tornac’s voice. “Then maybe they weren’t really your friends.”
Essie couldn’t bear the thought. “They were. You don’t understand!” And she brought her fist down on the arm of the chair in an impatient stamp. “Carth is…He’s really nice. Everyone likes him, and now they won’t like me. You wouldn’t know. You’re all big and…and old.”
Tornac’s eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. “You might be surprised what I know. So they won’t like you. What are you going to do about it?”
Essie didn’t mean to say, but the words slipped out of her before she thought better of it: “I’m going to run away.” The moment she realized what she’d done, she gave Tornac a panicked look. “Don’t tell Papa, please!”
Tornac took another sip from his mug and then smoothed his beard. He didn’t seem upset by her plan, not the way Essie knew Papa would be. Rather, he seemed to be taking her seriously, which Essie liked.
“And where would you go?” he asked.
Essie had already been thinking about that. “South, where it’s warm. There’s a caravan leaving tomorrow. The foreman comes here. He’s nice. I can sneak out, and then ride with them to Gil’ead.”
Tornac picked at his fork with the tip of a fingernail. “And then?”
After that, things got a bit hazy in Essie’s mind, but she knew what her ultimate goal would be. “I want to visit the Beor Mountains and see the dwarves!” she said. The thought excited her. “They made our windows. Aren’t they pretty?” She pointed.
“They certainly are,” said Tornac.
“Have you ever visited the Beor Mountains?”
“I have,” said Tornac. “Once, long ago.”
Impressed, Essie looked at him with renewed interest. “Really? Are they as tall as everyone says?”
“So tall the peaks aren’t even visible.”
She leaned back in her chair as she tried to picture that. The effort made her dizzy. “How wonderful.”
A snort escaped Tornac. “If you don’t count being shot at with arrows, then yes….You do realize, Essie Siglingsdaughter, that running away won’t solve your problems here.”
“Of course not,” she said. His statement seemed very obvious to her. “But if I leave, then Hjordis can’t bother me anymore.” Essie made a face.
Tornac almost looked as if he were going to laugh, but then he took another sip from his mug, and afterward he seemed more solemn. “Or, and this is just a suggestion, you could try to fix the problem instead of running away.”
“It can’t be fixed,” she said, stubborn.
“What about your parents? I’m sure they would miss you terribly. Do you really want to make them suffer like that?”
Essie crossed her arms. This wasn’t going the way she wanted. Tornac had been agreeable so far. Why was he arguing with her now? “They have my brother and my sister and Olfa. He’s only two.” She pouted. “They wouldn’t miss me.”
“I very much doubt that,” said Tornac. “Besides, think what you did with Hjordis. You helped protect the Fulsome Feast. If your parents understood the sacrifice you made, I’m sure they would be very proud.”
“Uh-huh,” said Essie, unconvinced. “There wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t for me. I’m the problem. If I go away, everything will be all right.” Feeling determined, she picked up the apple core and threw it into the great fireplace.
A whirl of sparks flew up the chimney, and she heard the sizzle of water exploding into steam.
In an overly casual tone, Tornac said, “What is that?”
“What?” she said.
“There, on your arm.”
Essie looked down and saw her sleeve had ridden up, exposing the twisted red scar on her left wrist. Ashamed, she tugged the cuff down. “Nothing,” she mumbled.
“May I?” said Tornac, and held out his hand toward her. At first Essie hesitated, but he seemed so polite and so assured that at last she relented and let him take her arm.
As gently as her mother would, Tornac pulled back the cuff of her sleeve. Essie turned her head away. She didn’t need to see the scar again—didn’t need to look to know how it crawled up her forearm all the way to her elbow.
She hoped no one else in the common room would notice.
After a moment, she felt Tornac pull her sleeve back down, and he said, “That…is a very impressive scar. You should be proud of it.”
Confused, she looked back at him. “Why? It’s ugly, and I hate it.”
A faint smile played around the corners of his lips. “Because a scar means you survived. It means you’re tough and hard to kill. It means you lived. A scar is something to admire.”
“You’re wrong,” said Essie. She pointed at the pot with the painted bluebells on the mantel—the one Auntie Helna had given them last winter, the one Essie had knocked onto the floor a few moons back. A long crack ran from the lip of the pot to the base. “It just means you’re broken.”
“Ah,” said Tornac in a soft voice. “But sometimes, if you work very hard, you can mend a break so that it’s stronger than before.”
Essie wasn’t liking their conversation as much as she had earlier. She crossed her arms, tucking her left hand into her armpit. “Hjordis and the others always make fun of me for it,” she mumbled. “They say my arm is as red as a snapper, and that I’ll never get a husband because of it.”
“And what do your parents say?”
Essie made a face. “That it doesn’t matter. But that’s not true, is it?”
Tornac inclined his head. “No. I suppose it isn’t. Your parents are doing their best to protect you, though.”
“Well, they can’t,” she said, and huffed. She glanced at him; the darkness had returned to his face, but it didn’t seem to be directed at her. “Do you have any scars?” she asked.
A humorless laugh escaped him. “Oh yes.” He pointed at a small white mark on his chin. “This one is only a few months old. A friend of mine gave it to me by accident while we were playing around, the big oaf.” A hint of affection lightened Tornac’s expression. Then he said, “What happened to your arm?”
It took Essie a while to answer. All she could see in her head was the inn’s kitchen that morning three years ago, and all she could hear were Mama’s frantic cries….“It was an accident,” she mumbled. “A pot with hot water fell onto my arm.”
Tornac’s eyes narrowed. “It just fell on you?”
Essie nodded. She didn’t want to mention that it had been Papa who bumped her. But it hadn’t been his fault! She’d been running around the kitchen, and he hadn’t seen her, and Essie knew he felt terrible about what had happened.
“Mmm.” Tornac was staring at the fire, the sparks and embers reflecting in his eyes.
Essie looked at him, curious. “Where are you from?” she asked.
“A long, long way from here.”
“In the south?”
“Yes, in the south.”
She kicked her feet against the chair. “What’s it like there?” If she was going to run away, she ought to know what to expect.
Tornac inhaled slowly and tilted his head back so he was gazing at the ceiling. “It depends where you go. There are hot places and cold places, and places where the wind never stops blowing. Forests seemingly without end. Caves that burrow into the deepest parts of the earth, and plains full of vast herds of red deer.”
“Are there monsters?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, returning his gaze to her. “There are always monsters. Some of them even look like humans….I ran away from home myself, you know.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “I was older than you, but yes. I ran, but I didn’t escape what I was running from….Listen to me, Essie. I know you think leaving will make everything better, but—”
“There you are, Tornac of the Road,” said a sly, slithering voice that made the hair on the back of Essie’s neck prickle. A man stepped forward between the tables. He was thin and stooped, with a patched cloak draped over his shoulders and ragged clothes underneath. Rings glittered on his fingers.
Essie took an instant dislike to the man. He smelled of wet fur, and something about the way he moved and looked gave her a warning feeling in her gut.
“Sarros,” said Tornac, a flicker of distaste on his face. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“The reaches are dangerous these days,” said Sarros. He picked up an empty chair and placed it between Essie and Tornac, and then sat facing both of them.
Essie noticed several more men had entered the common room from the street. Six of them. They were rough-looking, but not like the fishermen; they wore furs and leathers and had a wild appearance similar to the trappers who came in during spring. Papa often had to throw them out because they made too much trouble.
Over by the bar, Papa watched the newcomers, wary. He pulled out his leather-wrapped truncheon and laid it next to his washcloth as a silent warning. The sight comforted Essie; she had seen him settle even the meanest drunks with a few well-placed blows.
Sarros pointed at her with one long, grimy forefinger. “We have business to discuss. Send the youngling away.”
“I have nothing to hide,” said Tornac smoothly. “She can stay.” He glanced at her. “If you’re interested. You might learn something useful of the world by it.”
Essie shrank back in her seat, but she didn’t leave. Tornac’s words tickled her curiosity. Also, for some reason, she couldn’t help but remember the bad omens from earlier, and she felt that if she did leave, something horrible would happen to Tornac.
A long hiss sounded between Sarros’s teeth as he shook his head. “Foolish, Wanderer. Do as you wish, then. I’ll not argue, even if you put your foot crosswise.”
A glint of steel appeared in Tornac’s gaze. “No, you won’t. Tell me, then, what have you found? It’s been three months, and—”
Sarros waved a hand. “Yes, yes. Three months. I told you; the reaches are dangerous. But I found word of what you seek. Better than word, I found this—” From the leather wallet on his belt, he produced a fist-sized chunk of black something that he thumped down on the table.
Essie leaned forward, as did Tornac.
The something was a piece of rock, but there was a deep shine to it unlike any rock Essie had seen, as if a smoldering coal were buried in the center. She sniffed and then wrinkled her nose. Yuck! It smelled as bad as a rotten egg.
Tornac looked at the rock as if he wasn’t sure he believed it existed. “What exactly is that?”
Sarros lifted his shoulders, shrugging like the herons along the docks. “Suspicions of shadows are all I have, but you sought the unusual, the out-of-place, and that there doesn’t fit in the normal frame.”
“Were there more, or…?”
Sarros nodded. “I am told. A whole field scattered with stones.”
“Black and burnt?”
“As if seared by fire, but with no sign of flame or smoke.”
Essie said, “Where is it from?”
Sarros smiled unpleasantly. His teeth, she noticed, had been sharpened to points. The sight disgusted her more than it frightened her. “Well now, that there is the nub of it, youngling. Yes indeed.”
Tornac reached for the rock, and Sarros dropped a hand over the shiny chunk, caging it behind his fingers. “No,” he said. “Coin first, Wanderer.”
Tornac pressed his lips together and then produced a small leather pouch from under his heavy cloak. The clink of metal sounded as he put it on the table.
Sarros’s smile widened. He tugged loose the pouch’s drawstring, and Essie glimpsed a yellow gleam inside. She took a sharp breath. Gold! She’d never even seen a whole crown before.
“Half now,” said Tornac. “And the rest when you tell me where you found that.” He poked the rock with the tip of a finger.
A strange choking sound came from Sarros. It took Essie a second to realize that the man was laughing. Then he said, “Oh no, Wanderer. No indeed. I think instead you should give us the rest of your coin, and perhaps then we’ll let you keep your head.”
Across the common room, the fur-clad men slipped hands under their cloaks, and Essie saw the hilts of swords, half hidden beneath.
She stiffened and, panicked, looked to her father. A guest had distracted him: one of the laborers from the docks stood leaning against the bar, chattering away. She opened her mouth and was about to cry out a warning when Sarros drew a thin-bladed knife and pressed it against her throat.
“Ah-ah,” he said. “Not a peep from you, youngling, or I’ll open your throat from stem to stern.”
Fear froze Essie in place. She could barely breathe, she was so scared of the razor edge touching her skin, cold and deadly. Suddenly all of her previous worries didn’t seem important in the slightest. Papa could save her—she felt sure he could—but only if he knew she was in trouble. She kept glancing toward the bar, hoping Papa would somehow sense her thoughts.
The hardness in Tornac’s eyes grew even more flinty, but otherwise he remained as calm as ever. “Why the turn of face, Sarros? I’m paying you good money.”
“Yesss. That’s the point.” Sarros leaned in closer, lips pulled wide. His breath stank of rotting meat. “If you are willing to pay thiswise-much for hints and rumors, then you must have more coin than sense. Much more coin.”
Essie considered kicking him in the shin, but she was too scared of the knife to try.
A frown formed on Tornac’s brow, and she heard him mutter a bad word under his breath. Then he said, “This isn’t a fight you want. Tell me the location, take the gold you’re owed, and no one has to get hurt.”
“What fight?” said Sarros, and cackled. “You have no sword on you. We are six, and you are one. The coin is ours whether you wish it or not.” Essie stiffened as the steel bit into her neck, a bright little slice of pain. “See?” said Sarros. “I make the choice easy for you, Wanderer. Hand over the rest of your gold, or the youngling here will pay with blood.”
Essie held her breath as she watched Tornac. Part of her expected him to pull out a hidden dagger and do something dangerous and heroic. He seemed like that kind of person. Part of her hoped he would rescue her.
Instead, all Tornac did was utter a sentence of strange words.
The air in front of him seemed to shiver, but nothing else happened. Essie didn’t know what he was trying to do, but it wasn’t helping.
Sarros chuckled again. “Foolish. Very foolish.” With his free hand, he pulled out a bird-skull amulet from under his jerkin. “Do you see this, Wanderer? The witch-woman Bachel charmed a necklace for each of us. Your weirding ways won’t help you now. We’re protected against all evilness.”
“Is that so?” said Tornac. And then he spoke a Word, and such a word it was. It rang like a bell, and in the sound, Essie thought she heard all possible meanings, and yet when she tried to recall the Word itself, no memory of it remained.
A dull silence followed. Everyone in the common room looked at Tornac, many of the guests with a dazed expression, as if they’d just woken from a dream.
Magic! Essie stared wide-eyed, so amazed she nearly forgot her fear. No one was supposed to use magic these days, not unless they had the approval of the queen’s spellcasters, the Du Vrangr Gata. But Essie had always wanted to see the sort of magic the old stories talked about.
Despite the ringing Word, Sarros appeared unharmed, and for the first time, Tornac seemed perturbed.
“Essie!” said Papa. He grabbed his truncheon and sprang over the bar. “You let her go now!” Before he could take more than a step, two of the fur-clad men charged him and knocked him to the floor. A dull thunk sounded as one of them struck Papa on the head with the pommel of a sword.
He moaned and dropped the truncheon.
No one else dared move.
“Papa!” Essie cried. If not for the knife at her throat, she would have rushed to his side. She’d never seen her father lose a fight before, and the sight of him on the floor removed any last sense of safety.
Again, Sarros chuckled, louder than before. “Your tricks will not help you, Wanderer. No enchantments are as strong as Bachel’s. No magic is deeper.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” said Tornac. He seemed calm again, which Essie couldn’t understand. He picked up the fork and began to fiddle with it. “Well then. It appears I have no choice in the matter.”
“None whatsoever,” said Sarros, smug.
Mama appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “What is all this—” she started to say, and then saw Sarros holding the knife and Papa lying on the floor, and her face went pale.
“Don’t cause no trouble, or your man gets stuck,” said one of the fur-clad ruffians, pointing his blade at Papa.
While everyone else was distracted by Mama, Essie saw Tornac’s lips twitch as he spoke without voice, and a flame-like ripple ran the length of the fork.
If she’d blinked, she would have missed it.
Sarros slapped the table. “Enough with the yapping. Your coin, now.”
Tornac tipped his head and—with his left hand—again reached under his cloak. One moment he was sitting, seemingly relaxed. Then he moved faster than Essie could follow. His cloak swung through the air, sending a rush of wind into her face, and his fork flashed across the table, and she heard a ting! as it knocked the knife free of Sarros’s grip and sent the weapon flying into the log wall.
Tornac sat with his arm extended, holding the tines of the fork against the underside of Sarros’s chin, tickling him with the points. The sharp-toothed man swallowed. A sheen of sweat had broken out on his face.
Essie still didn’t dare move; Sarros’s hand was next to her neck, fingers spread wide as if to tear out her throat.
“Then again,” said Tornac, “there’s nothing in your charm to stop me from using magic on something else. Like this fork, for example.” A feral gleam appeared in his eyes as he pressed the tines deeper into Sarros’s flesh. “Do you really think I need a sword to defeat you, you tumorous sack of filth?”
Sarros hissed. Then he shoved Essie into Tornac’s lap and sprang backward, knocking his chair over.
Essie fell to the floor. Terrified, she scrambled on hands and feet between the tables until she reached Mama’s side. Around her, the common room erupted into a commotion, with shouts and crashes and breaking mugs.
Her mother didn’t say anything, just pulled Essie behind her skirts and grabbed a chair, which she held out in front of them, like a weapon or a shield.
The room had become a sea of thrashing bodies as the guests struggled to escape. The six fur-clad men had drawn their blades and were attempting to box in Tornac by the fireplace, but Tornac was having none of that. He had thrown off his cloak and was moving about the room, like a prowling cat. Sarros had retreated to a corner and was shouting, “Slice him crosswise! Kill him! Cut open his belly and spill his guts.”
The nearest swordsman charged Tornac, swinging his blade. Tornac knocked the blow aside with his fork, and then he darted forward and buried the fork in the man’s chest.
Essie had seen plenty end-of-harvest brawls, but this was nothing like a drunken fight between laborers. It was far worse: sober men trying to kill each other in open combat, and it frightened her many times more because of it.
She looked for her father and spotted him crawling toward the cover of the bar, blood dripping from a cut on his temple. “Papa!” she cried, but he didn’t hear.
Three more of Sarros’s men attacked Tornac. All three jabbed and slashed with their swords, not waiting for the others to take their turn.
Tornac grabbed a chair and, one-handed, smashed it over the man to his left. At the same time, he used the fork to parry the attacks from the other two brutes. He matched each of their blows, fencing with amazing skill as they tried to get past his guard. The men had the advantage of reach with their swords, but Tornac sidestepped their blades and slipped into striking range. His hand was a blur as he stabbed with the fork: one, two, three, four hard impacts that dropped the men to the floor, where they lay groaning.
Across the room, Papa reached the bar and pulled himself to his feet. He still held the truncheon in his hand, but the leather-wrapped stick seemed useless compared to the flashing swords.
“Essie,” said Mama, her voice tight. “Olfa is in the kitchen. I want you to go—”
Before she could finish, one of Sarros’s guards ran up to them. In his off hand, he held a mace, which he swung at the chair Mama was holding.
The impact knocked the chair out of Mama’s hands, breaking it.
Essie had never felt so small or helpless as she did in that moment. Papa was too far away to help, and there was nothing Mama could do to stop the fur-clad man as he drew back the sword in his other hand—
Thud.
The man’s eyes rolled until they showed white, and then he collapsed, and Essie saw the fork sticking out from the back of his head.
Tornac had thrown it from across the common room.
Sarros and his last remaining companion attempted to flank the now-weaponless Tornac. Before they could get close, Tornac kicked a table into the swordsman’s stomach and—when he stumbled—jumped on him and knocked his head against the floor.
Sarros cursed and fled toward the door. As he turned, he threw a handful of glittering crystals at Tornac.
Again, Tornac spoke a Word, and at his command, the crystals swerved in midair and flew into the flames of the fire. A series of loud pops! sounded, and a fountain of embers sprayed the stone hearth.
Before Sarros could reach the door, Tornac caught up with him. He grabbed the back of Sarros’s jerkin and—in a stunning display of strength—lifted Sarros off the floor and over his head, and then slammed him back down onto the wooden boards.
Sarros let out a bellow of pain and clutched at his left elbow, which was bent at an unnatural angle.
“Essie,” said Mama. “Stay behind me.”
Essie had no intention of doing otherwise.
The few remaining guests edged away from Tornac as he planted a foot on Sarros’s chest. “Now then, you bastard,” he growled. “Where did you find that stone?”
Papa left the bar and staggered across the room to where Mama and Essie stood. They didn’t say anything, but Mama put an arm around Papa, and he did the same to her.
A burbling laugh escaped Sarros. There was a wild note to his voice that reminded Essie of Waeric, the madman who lived under the bridge by the mill. Sarros licked his sharpened teeth and said, “You do not know what you seek, Wanderer. You’re moon-addled and nose-blind. The sleeper stirs, and you and me—we’re all ants waiting to be crushed.”
“The stone,” said Tornac between clenched teeth. “Where?”
Sarros’s voice grew even higher, a mad shriek that pierced the night air. “You don’t understand. The Dreamers! The Dreamers! They get inside your head, and they twist your thoughts. Ahh! They twist them all out of joint.” He started to thrash, drumming his heels against the floor. Yellow foam bubbled at the corners of his mouth. “They’ll come for you, Wanderer, and then you’ll see. They’ll…” His voice trailed off into a hoarse croak, and then with one final jerk, he fell still.
For a moment, no one in the common room stirred.
All eyes remained on Tornac as he yanked the amulet off Sarros’s neck, retrieved his cloak, and walked back to the table by the fire. He pocketed the stone with the inner shine, picked up his pouch of coins, and then paused, considering.
Bouncing the pouch in his hand, he came over to where Papa and Mama stood shielding Essie.
“Please…,” said Papa. Essie had never heard him sound so desperate, and it gave her a sickening ache in her stomach. More than anything, his fear made her realize that the world was far scarier than she had originally thought. Their home had always felt like a safe place to Essie, but no longer. Neither her father nor her mother could protect her, not in the face of swords, and certainly not against magic.
“My apologies for the trouble,” said Tornac. He stank of sweat, and the front of his linen shirt was splattered with blood. Nevertheless, he seemed calm again. “Here, this should make up for the mess.” He held out the pouch, and after a moment’s hesitation, Papa accepted it.
Papa licked his lips. “The Watch will be here any minute. If you leave out the back…you can make it to the gate before they see you.”
Tornac nodded. Then he knelt and yanked the fork out of the head of the ruffian lying on the nearby boards. Essie shrank back as Tornac looked straight at her. “Sometimes,” he said, “you have to stand and fight. Sometimes running away isn’t an option. Now do you understand?”
“Yes,” Essie whispered.
Tornac shifted his attention to her parents. “One last question: Do you need the patronage of the masons’ guild to keep this inn open?”
Confusion furrowed Papa’s brow. “No, not if it came to such. Why?”
“That’s what I thought,” said Tornac. Then he presented Essie with the fork. It looked perfectly clean, without so much as a drop of blood on it. “I’m giving this to you. It has a spell on it to keep it from breaking. If Hjordis bothers you again, give her a good poke, and she’ll leave you alone.”
“Essie,” Mama said in a low, warning voice.
But Essie had already made her decision. Tornac was right: running away wasn’t always an option. That wasn’t her only reason either. While their home might be safer than elsewhere, she couldn’t count on her parents to ward off danger. The fight in the common room had proven that. Her only real choice was to learn how to defend herself and her family.
She took the fork. “Thank you,” she said, solemn.
“All good weapons deserve a name,” said Tornac. “Especially magical ones. What would you call this one?”
Essie thought for a second and then said, “Mister Stabby!”
A broad smile spread across Tornac’s face, and all hints of shadow vanished from his expression. He laughed, a loud, hearty laugh. “Mister Stabby. I like it. Very apt. May Mister Stabby always bring you good fortune.”
And Essie smiled as well. The world was big and scary, but now she had a magical weapon. Now she had Mister Stabby! Maybe if she did poke Hjordis, Carth would forgive her. Essie could just see the expression of outrage on Hjordis’s face….
Then Mama said, “Who…who are you, really?”
“Just another person looking for answers,” said Tornac. Essie thought he was going to leave then, but instead he surprised her by putting a hand on her arm. He spoke words she didn’t understand, and she felt them deep inside herself, as if he had plucked a string attached to her bones.
“Leave her be!” said Papa, and pulled her away, but Tornac was already moving past them, his cloak spreading like a dark wing behind him. As his footsteps faded out the back, both Mama and Papa ran their hands over her head and arms, checking for injuries. “Are you hurt?” said Mama. “What did he do to you? Are—”
“I’m okay,” Essie said, although she wasn’t sure at all. “I, ah!” A burning, tingling feeling swept through her left arm, and she cried out with pain. It felt like hundreds of ants were biting her.
She tore at the cuff of her sleeve, pulled it back, and saw—
—the top of her forearm crawling with a life of its own as the long, puckered scar smoothed over and began to fade into normal, healthy skin. The scar shrank and shrank, until only a small red S-shape was left. But it didn’t vanish entirely: a remembrance of past pain. Of survival.
Essie stared, hardly able to believe. She touched the new skin, and then looked at her parents. This time, she made no effort to stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
“Oh, Essie,” Papa said, his voice thick with emotion, and he and Mama folded her into a warm embrace.
Outside the Fulsome Feast, Murtagh lifted his head and took a deep breath of the night air. Soft petals of snow fell around him, and the whole city felt still and quiet, muffled beneath a low layer of clouds.
His heart was pounding; it had yet to slow after the fight in the tavern. Stupid. He should have realized that spending so much gold might cause a problem. It wasn’t a mistake he would make again.
How long had it been since he’d last killed a man? Over a year. A pair of bandits had jumped him as he was heading back to camp one evening—foolish, uneducated louts who hadn’t the slightest chance of taking him down. He’d fought back out of reflex, and by the time he knew what was happening, the two unfortunates were already lying on the ground. He still remembered the whimpers the one kid had made as he died….
Murtagh grimaced. Some people went their whole lives without killing. He wondered what that was like.
A drop of blood—not his own—trickled down the back of his hand. Disgusted, Murtagh scraped it off against the side of the building. The splinters bothered him less than the gore.
Even though he hadn’t gotten a location from Sarros, at least he now knew that the place he was looking for existed. The knowledge left him feeling uneasy. He would have far preferred disappointment. Whatever truth lay hidden beneath the field of blackened earth, he doubted it would herald anything good or pleasant. Life was never so simple. And who were the Dreamers Sarros had mentioned? Always more mysteries…
A questioning thought reached him from outside Ceunon: Thorn worried for his safety.
I’m fine, Murtagh told him. Just a bit of trouble.
Do I need to come?
I don’t think so, but stand by in any case.
Always.
Thorn subsided with a sense of cautious watchfulness, but Murtagh felt the ever-present thread of connection that joined them: a comforting closeness that had become the one unchanging reality in their lives.
He started through the alley. Time to go. It wouldn’t be long before the city Watch arrived to investigate the disturbance in the tavern, and he’d lingered long enough.
A flicker of motion high above caught his attention.
Murtagh stopped to look. At first he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.
Sailing down from the underside of the firelit clouds was a small ship of grass, no more than a hand or two in length. The hull and sail were made of woven blades, and the mast and spars built from lengths of stem.
No crew—if however diminutive—was to be seen; the ship moved of its own accord, driven and sustained by an invisible force. It circled him twice, and he saw a tiny pennant fluttering above the equally tiny crow’s nest.
Then the ship turned westward and vanished within the veil of descending snow, leaving behind no trace of its existence.
Murtagh smiled. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t know who had made the ship or what it signified, but the fact that something so whimsical, so singular, could exist filled him with an unaccustomed sense of joy.
He thought back to what he’d told the girl, Essie. Perhaps he should take his own advice. Perhaps it was time to stop running and return to old friends.
The prospect filled Murtagh with a mess of conflicting emotions. Wherever he’d gone, he had heard the venom in people’s voices when they spoke his name. No matter how vigorously Eragon or Nasuada might defend him in public, few there were who would trust him after his actions in service to Galbatorix. It was a bitter, unfair truth—one that circumstances had long ago forced him to accept.
Because of it, he had hidden his face, changed his name, and kept to the fringes of settled land, never walking where others might know him. And while the time alone had done both him and Thorn good, it was no way to live the rest of their lives. So again he wondered if perhaps the time had come to turn and face his past.
But first…Murtagh looked down at the object he was holding: the bird-skull amulet he’d taken off Sarros’s neck.
What sort of enchantment had been placed on it that could withstand the Name of Names? Magic without words was a wild, dangerous thing, and rare was the spellcaster brave or foolish enough to tamper with it. He had not even dared use it himself in the Fulsome Feast, not with so many innocent bystanders nearby.
No, before anything else, Murtagh decided he would like to find the witch-woman Bachel and ask her a few questions. The answers, he suspected, would be most interesting.