EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (54 page)

I was interrupted by a hissing noise coming from the kitchen. Something had boiled over. Klawdia cursed in her native language, stood, and stomped towards the chaos. She banged some pots, then plunked a large bowl of fresh potato and rabbit stew on the table in front of me. My stomach rumbled, and I realised I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

‘Eat. Skinny bodies are weak bodies,’ she said. She sat back in her chair, poured herself a mug of liquid, slurped noisily, swallowed, and set the cup back down. ‘I was fifteen years old when I ran away from home.’

‘You were with child at fifteen?’

‘Yes. It is not uncommon in Ruxdor. But I had not been promised to the father of my child, and my family would have killed my son. I stole a boat and travelled south along the Ruxdor coastline. I landed at the Death Peaks, which lead over to the border of Ruxdor and Northern Senya. Autumn turned to winter, and still I crossed the mountains. I walked and climbed for many months until I had to stop. I protected a cave with animal carcasses, wood, leaves, and packed snow, but still the cold seeped in. Nallael’s birth was too early and he struggled to survive. I almost died too. But our Ruxdor blood is strong. We lived.’

It was difficult to picture such a rough, independent woman as a nurturing, loving mother. In Senya, women depended on their husbands to make a living. Women could not rent houses or own land. They did only if they were widows or holders of the title.

Her tone softened as she continued. ‘He was weak and small, like the runt in a litter of puppies. His spirit fought for four years, but one winter, he grew sick. With no money, no help, I had to take him to Meligna. My only other choice was to kill him.’

‘So that’s how you ended up in the healer city?’

‘Yes. When you go there for healing, you must become a citizen or pay large amounts of gold. I gave them my life so my son could live. An administrator became curious about my origins. You cannot see me, Adenine, but if you could, you would be startled by my red hair, pale blue eyes, and snow-white skin.’

‘What kind of red? Like fire or blood?’

‘Like a ripe tomato. I stand out amongst you dark-haired Senyans. I hide my hair with a cloak and hood like the men who attacked you earlier.’ She took another sip of her drink and tapped her fingers on the table. ‘As I was saying, I went before the royal Meligna magistrate.’

‘What’s a magistrate?’ I asked, giving attention to my bowl of stew, testing the temperature before shovelling an overflowing spoonful into my mouth. It was delicious, and my body warmed as I swallowed.

‘Magistrates are the second highest judge after the Queens.’

My mouth was stuffed with potato, so I nodded instead of speaking.

‘The patterned scars on my shoulders told them exactly who I was. Ruxdorians burn, with hot irons, our triumphs into our skin. I was three years old when my father gave me my first mark—the snow bear, the mark of my family’s tribe. There was a ceremony at midnight. It hurt. I screamed. My father beat me. It was because of this mark that the Queens had Nalleal healed so quickly, and knowing I was a traitor, they blackmailed me into their dirtiest jobs.’

I put down my spoon and scooted back into my chair. ‘Are these dirty jobs the horrible things you spoke of before? What are they?’

Klawdia sighed. ‘Stealing children from their families. Healer girls.’

‘Healer girls?’ I gasped. ‘From where?’

‘Senya. King Erageo made a deal with the Meligna Healers many years ago. Any healer girl born outside of Meligna must go to Meligna at age fourteen. Before then, though, the girls must register, and at age three, go to live in Juxon City, where they are protected. You see, the healers are despised by Senyans. They are seen as evil because they turned on their country during the Death Plague times. They betrayed the king. Regardless of whether he was wicked, it was considered disloyal and the action of traitors. They continue their crimes by maintaining hold over Meligna and using their gifts to control others. Due to the lack of respect for healers by your people, healer girls not on the register are in danger.’

‘From what?’

‘A while back, when the anger over the healers’ betrayal of the Senyan people was still fresh, healer women were drowned, stoned, burned, and even ravished. ’

I covered my hand with my mouth. ‘I-I can’t believe it.’

‘That’s when the king brought in the register and made it more difficult for people to hurt the girls. Anyway, my job was to find those families that hid their girls and steal those children from their beds and take them to Meligna without having them put on the register. The reason being that the girls weren’t safe in Senya.’

‘But… but that’s horrible.’

‘I know,’ Klawdia said.

‘No, not about you taking the children—although that’s bad too—but I mean King Erageo has had to make families give up their children at such a young age. And then to use their lives as a bargaining point for the prevention of war. It seems wrong. King Erageo is supposed to be a good king.’

‘The king claims he is keeping Senyans safe. He says it’s the only thing stopping the Meligna healers’ army from marching south to Juxon City, which is true. If they attacked now, South Senya would fall to the Queens and the Ruxdorians. My people would raze your town. The people of Senya would either flee or die.’

An uneasy feeling came over me to think that the peace between North and South Senya was so fragile.

‘So the girls you took were young? They weren’t fourteen?’ I was trying not to form a poor opinion of Klawdia. If the girls were of legal age—well, legal according to King Erageo—then at least she wasn’t breaking the law.

Klawdia sighed and took another sip of her drink. ‘Of course not. Think, Adenine. Even if they weren’t fourteen, what would the king do about it?’

The Queens had most of the power, and no one seemed to realise it. Or maybe they did and misplaced their blame to the healers instead. That seemed more likely. I couldn’t help noticing a thought that kept jumping up to get my attention. Healer Euka wanted me to live in Meligna. She wanted to protect me almost as if she thought…

My stomach flipped. My heart beat against my ribs. I felt myself sliding back; my lungs squeezed as I struggled to breath. I was floating, adrift in a state of panic that brought back the horrible memories or the blood: my uncle, dead; my father, hanged.

‘Klawdia! Am I a healer?’

She took a moment before responding. ‘Yes.’

Everything froze. It was as if a carefully crafted key had unlocked the door that held all of my answers. Everything slid into place. I
was
one of those healer witches. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to think.

‘So what does that mean?’ So many thoughts sounded in my head at once that I couldn’t make sense of them. ‘How do you know I’m one of them?’

Klawdia sighed. ‘Your hair is turning golden. It would have started soon after you got your female blood.’

‘Is that all?’

‘It’s an indicator of your gifts. Some say that it is when the girls come into maturity and can heal men, but we know that healer girls can heal long before they get their female blood. The other sign is your eyes.’

My skin crawled with fear. ‘My eyes?’ I had to remember to breathe.

‘Yes. Healer girls are born with golden eyes. Like two suns shining out to tell the world that they can fix life. You can bring someone back from the edge of death.’

I swallowed. Even doctors couldn’t do that.

‘Touch your eyes, Adenine. Don’t you feel the bumps, the thread? The blindfold is to protect you from revealing their strangeness. A blind person’s eyes can open, and if the lids are shut, there is no thread keeping them so.’

Then I realised that the blindfold wasn’t to hide my ugly eyes, but to keep others from knowing what I was. ‘Is this what Mama meant by my sickness?’

‘Your mother has done much to keep this a secret. She told you that you were sick to make you stay inside. Back then, when your eyes were open, people could easily see that they are gold and would have known you are a healer.’

Mrs. Moferbury must have known. Uncle Garrad must have known. Father must have known. But no one had ever talked about my eyes, and anything I’d learned about the healers had been lacking in detail. Even at school I’d heard them use the term
golden whore
, but I never knew that they’d actually meant a golden woman. I was a golden whore.

My fingers trembled as I brought them to my face. I felt underneath my blindfold. The bumps were there: tiny, coarse, reminding me of the first day I couldn’t see. ‘Will I ever have sight again?’

‘It is likely. Sight or no sight, you are gifted with curing the sicknesses of men. Healer Euka did not lie to you. Anyone with a small, sharp hook can cut the thread that keeps your eyelids fastened together.’

‘Mama said I burned them, though.’

‘Capacia has been through much suffering. She would have felt much guilt. So she would have tried to give you hope, to make you focus on a happier future. Think. Remember. What did she tell you?’

I thought back to the morning when I had woken to darkness, the morning after Uncle Garrad’s death. Mother had rocked me back and forward soothing me.

One day you will see again
, she’d said.

‘Yes. She gave me hope, but my uncle had just died. I thought she was trying to make me feel better.’

‘She was, but she took great risks to protect you. If anyone knew, you would have been taken to Juxon City immediately. She would have paid for keeping you from the king. You are the king’s property. We all are.’

‘Mayor Vawdon suspects. Why hasn’t he reported me yet? Healer Euka knows, also. Why hasn’t she said anything to the mayor?’

Klawdia sighed. ‘I threatened Healer Euka to get her to stay away from you. On a trip here, I had her attacked. Her horses were taken, and her men captured. She was able to return to Meligna, but it didn’t keep her away for good. I needed to buy time until I could protect you. If not for my threats, you would already be gone.’

‘I guess I should say thank you.’ I reached down to play with the edge of my dress. ‘Why hasn’t the mayor done anything?’

‘While your hair is dark and your eyes unable to be seen, Mayor Vawdon has no evidence. But the dye will not work forever. Soon your hair will be so light in colour it will cease to hold the colour.’

‘So then the thread in my eyes doesn’t have to be there?’

‘No. Those bumps on your eyelids. They’re individual stitches.’

‘Like in sewing?’

‘Yes. Such things should not be performed on children. I’ve only heard of it happening once before, and I’ve known many healer girls and women. If it’s done too young, the eyes don’t grow properly. The vision can be lost forever, despite your healer blood. Varago is a gifted doctor, and you were already ten, so your sight will be better than most.’

‘Varago,’ I said, ‘of course.’

‘Capacia is rich
and
decent. Those are two traits not usually found in the one person. She employed the best doctor money could buy.’

Heavy, chaotic thoughts stampeded in my head. Mother had requested I be made blind. It was her idea to tell me that I was a carrier of the Death Plague. I had spent so many years worrying that I might cause the death of others. But it had all been lies. Why hadn’t she trusted me? I could have pretended to be blind. No one would have suspected that I could see, and I would have been normal.

Then I realized no one would ever see me as normal. Everyone in South Senya believed that healers were witches that stole children from their beds, blackmailed their enemies, and took every single coin from the poor in return for healings. And the townspeople were right to be angry. Life should not come at any cost; it should be free.

My legs shook. ‘My uncle attacked me after he…’ My throat closed up. My words were dry, uninterpretable squeaks. It was too much. I had spent so long in the blotchy red colour, the only colour I could see, the same colour as my uncle’s blood.

Klawdia poured more drink, but slid the cup to me. I grabbed it, gulping down the contents. My throat burned, and the wetness allowed me to swallow. The warmth in my gut was followed by the full expansion of my lungs, and my shoulders relaxed. When the cup was empty, I held it in the air, wanting more.

‘It is strong wine,’ she said, taking the cup.

‘Did he attack me because he wanted a healing?’

‘I cannot answer that. But it seems that way.’

‘He was so sick. He even apologised before he…’ I didn’t finish my sentence. I couldn’t say it out loud. Uncle Garrad hadn’t attacked me because I’d done something wrong. He’d wanted a healing. And then I realised I didn’t even know how the healers healed people. ‘How is a healing done?’

‘That is a question for Capacia. I know you’re in shock right now. But there’s more to my story. Listen, and then we will take you home and speak to your mother. I thought my father’s passing would put an end to the alliance between the Queens and Ruxdor.’

‘He’s dead?’

‘Yes. He died not long ago.’ Her voice didn’t quiver or waver. There wasn’t even a tiny hint of sorrow in it. Was she just a good performer? Maybe not. Maybe she really didn’t feel sad that her father had died. Ruxdor people seemed callous, and I assumed they would be disgusted by grieving for too long.

‘I hope someone noble and just replaced him,’ I said.

Klawdia snickered. ‘There is no one worthy in Ruxdor anymore. The Queens have poisoned the Ruxdorian’s minds with talk of riches and land and war against Senya. We may be the people of the snow, but we dream of green summers and fertile plains. And Senya is that dream.’

‘Everyone is against us,’ I said sadly. ‘Do you steal children anymore?’ I asked timidly.

‘No. Thanks to your mother.’

‘Mama? What did she do?’

‘Your mother declared you dead at birth. And your doctor, Varago, confirmed it.’

‘But I’m alive.’

Klawdia snorted. ‘Yes, you are definitely alive. Capacia was a well-travelled merchant. She knew the Meligna healers hired thieves and criminals to take healer girls from their homes. The healers pay one hundred gold for each healer child. No poor man, or even a wealthy merchant, could resist that amount.’