EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (57 page)

‘Leave town.’

‘To Phrest?’

As Emala was the mayor’s daughter, I though it best not to tell her where I was going. I nodded, agreeing with her to throw her off my track. If her father thought I was in Phrest, then he’d leave Mother and everyone else alone.

Emala hugged me tightly. ‘I’m so sorry. Go home. Father will be here soon. I don’t want him to find you here.’

Was she ashamed of me? Did she want to avoid getting into trouble, or was she a real friend and trying to protect me? ‘Wait.’ I lifted my blindfold.

She put a hand on my shoulder. Her breath came steady, in and out through her nose. Then it quickened. ‘Your eyes. B-But… I…’ she stuttered.

I could tell that she thought my eyes were hideous.

‘Adenine your eyes aren’t open. The lids, you can see that someone sewed them shut. Why? Was that to hide the colour?’

I nodded.

‘That’s horrible.’ She placed her hands on the tops of my arms. ‘I believe you. Did your mother in Phrest do that? Because I know all healer girls go to Juxon City once they are on the register.’

‘Yes.’

‘So she was just trying to protect you and stop you from being taken from her?’

‘Yes.’ My eyes began to sting with the threat of tears. ‘I’m having the thread removed.’

‘You mean taken out? Will you be able to see?’

‘I think so. I hope so.’

She gasped. ‘That will be wonderful! Oh, Adenine, imagine being able to see again. I bet you’re relieved that your sight can be cured.’

Voices drifted up from downstairs.

Emala gasped. ‘Father. He’s here.’

‘Stay calm,’ I said.

Before long, there were footsteps on the stairs. Emala pushed past me and went out into the hallway.

‘Good evening, Father,’ she said in her sweetest voice.

‘Evening, Emala. Adenine.’ He said my name as if he were suppressing a curse. He cleared his throat. ‘What brings you to our home?’

‘We have homework together,’ Emala piped in.

‘I see.’ Mayor Vawdon took a step forward. ‘I think it’s time you went home, Adenine.’

I shuffled around Emala and her father, pressing my hands against the wall to find my way. I could feel him watching me. Fingers brushed my hair, and a small breeze tickled the hairs on my neck.

‘Father, don’t!’ Emala said.

I moved faster, and when the wall gave out, I found the stair rail. I’d forgotten my walking stick.
Emala can keep it,
I decided.

‘That was a quick visit, Adenine,’ Mrs. Vawdon said as she strode across the room to take my arm. ‘Would you and Jemely like some cherry pie? We don’t get many young guests.’

‘No thanks, Mrs. Vawdon. Goodnight.’

Jemely put her hands on my shoulders and guided me out into the night air. It was a relief to be outside. The open space made me feel safe again.

‘Adenine…’ Jemely started.

‘Take me home.’

‘What happened?’

‘He knows.’

‘Who? The mayor?’

‘Yes.’ Tiny pricks of cold touched my skin. I raised my face to the night sky, allowing the snowflakes to land on my cheeks and lips. The first snow of winter.

Chapter XXIII

M
YSTORIA
WAS
AS
QUIET
AS
the lifeless hours before dawn. Upstairs, there was muffled movement and the light murmur of voices. One was Mother’s, and the other belonged to Varago.

‘That horrible mayor knows,’ Jemely said when we reached the living room.

I sighed. ‘Couldn’t keep it in, could you?’

Jemely huffed. ‘Nope. And why should I?’

Mother said, ‘Knows? How could he know anything?’

‘He tried to take off my blindfold. I think Healer Euka told him. She saw that my eyes were stitched together, and she seemed to recognise the smell of my hair. Mama, what are you using to dye my hair?’

‘It’s a mixture I make from plants. Older women use it on their silver hairs. But I suppose it would be strange for a girl your age to use it. I guess we can assume that Healer Euka has little reason to doubt you are a healer now.’

‘So what do we do?’ Varago asked.

‘There’s nothing we
can
do,’ Klawdia said. I hadn’t known she was there. ‘Under my protection here, Healer Euka won’t act illegally. And Mayor Vawdon works for King Erageo. He’ll simply try to get Capacia, being her immediate guardian, to sign the healer register.’

‘No,’ Mother said. ‘I’ll not sign that thing and neither will Adenine. I’ll not have her taken to Juxon City or to Meligna or anywhere.’

‘Maybe it’s the best way,’ Klawdia said.

‘We do have to consider it,’ Varago added.

‘Why?’ Jemely asked. ‘Who knows what they’d do with her?’

‘The register is there to protect the girls. While she may go to Meligna, the register means that they cannot be sold as slaves, and no harm can come to them. It means they can choose to return to Senya when they are eighteen. You must protect Adenine.’ Klawdia had a good point. If I was forced to go, I wanted to know I could return one day and that I’d be looked after. I didn’t want to become a slave.

‘You know what happens in Meligna,’ Mother spat. ‘I’ll not allow her to sign any register. She’s not going to Juxon City, and she’s not going to Meligna. And that’s final.’

‘What does happen in Meligna?’ I asked.

There was a sudden silence in the room, and I knew I wouldn’t like the answer.

‘By your fifteenth birthday, you’ll be healing men,’ Klawdia answered.

‘Appalling,’ Varago said, sniffing.

‘You mean,
laying
with them?’

Mother sighed. ‘I guess you got that information from Vawdon’s girl? Now can you see why I’ve done so much to protect you?’

Klawdia said, ‘I do not think Adenine would deal well with what the healer girls must do in Meligna. Given her… past, that is.’

I knew Klawdia meant given that Uncle Garrad had so obviously tried to lay with me. Thanks to Emala, I understood why he had held me down and why he’d tried to lay with me. But I was so young, and even though he’d caused me a lot of pain, he could have done even more damage had he succeeded. But he’d made me terrified of being touched by adults, especially men.

‘It’s what Uncle Garrad tried to do, isn’t it?’

And then Mother’s arms were around me. ‘And he was wrong to do so. You know that, don’t you?’ Her hands stroked my hair against the sides of my face.

I nodded. I suddenly felt very heavy and my shoulders drooped.

‘She tires,’ Varago said.

‘Yes, perhaps it’s time we all get some sleep,’ Mother said.

But I had more to say. ‘Emala told me that Healer Euka gave Mayor Vawdon a hundred gold.’

Klawdia gasped. ‘It’s already done.’

‘He’s already sold her!’ Mother cried. ‘I can’t believe this. He’s supposed to protect our town, the people in it. How could he accept such dirty money?’

‘He is a mayor. Perhaps he has debts,’ Klawdia replied, but her tone was grave. ‘It doesn’t matter anyway. She is destined for Meligna.’

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I knew it was Klawdia’s. It was her way of comforting me.

‘I’m not going to let that healer woman take her,’ Mother asserted.

‘Forget all that,’ I said. ‘Varago, I want you to fix my eyes.’

‘Adenine—’ he began.

I stomped my foot. ‘No. No more arguments. I’ll be better off if I can see. I can hide, I can know who’s near me, and if I have to run for any reason, I’ll have more chance of getting away. Please. I need to be able to see if I’m to stand a chance against Healer Euka and Mayor Vawdon.’

Mother whimpered. ‘Varago, just do it. And Klawdia, when Varago is done, I want you to take her away and hide her,’

Klawdia snorted. ‘There’s something strange here. There were four months when I was away. If the mayor had already taken the money, why didn’t he take her then? Maybe Mayor Vawdon isn’t siding with Healer Euka at all. And if they are certain, then why haven’t they already come to take you away?’

‘Maybe Healer Euka wasn’t trying to take me that day. Healer Euka only wanted to see my eyes. If she had wanted to force me, she could have. She wouldn’t have bothered to try to convince me to go with her.’

‘But if Healer Euka is acting according to King Erageo’s wishes, then why offer the mayor gold?’ Varago asked.

‘Maybe he needed more proof,’ Klawdia said. ‘You’ve done a good job on her hair,’ she said to Mother.

‘Women of certain ages know these tricks,’ Mother replied.

Varago and Klawdia chuckled.

‘What if the mayor and Healer Euka are waiting until she’s fourteen?’ Jemely asked. ‘That way, if they’re discovered, they can claim that Adenine is meant to be with the healers anyway and that Mayor Vawdon simply forgot to get her to sign the register. That makes the mayor less liable, don’t it?’

‘Perhaps, and it’s better for Healer Euka if Adenine doesn’t sign the register. I know the Queens trade their healer girls for power and land,’ Klawdia said.

‘Can’t you tell King Erageo what’s going on here?’ Mother asked.

‘The king and I have not spoken for many years. It would be Healer Euka’s and Mayor Vawdon’s words against mine. Since we are in the wrong here, I don’t advise we go to the king just yet. What does seem clear is that it is no longer safe for Adenine and I to remain in Borrelia.’

‘Winter is almost here. There’s nowhere for you two to go that ain’t around people,’ Jemely added. ‘You’ll need a house in the harsh weather.’

‘Adenine’s body is resistant to sickness, and I am sturdy. We may survive a week or two in a cave or covered space. But you’re right, Jemely. We could head south where it’s warmer. But if we are noticed leaving, Mayor Vawdon might send soldiers after us. He’ll also inform the king, who’ll request a warrant for our arrest. There’ll be nowhere to hide then. This is not the only thing that concerns me. If Mayor Vawdon is working with Healer Euka, then we’re not the only ones in danger. Varago, Capacia, and Jemely, all of you are linked to Adenine.’

‘If it comes to that, we’ll find a way to carry on,’ Varago said.

‘Then that settles it. Varago, please, my eyes,’ I reminded him.

He sighed. ‘I can do it here. I will be back with my doctor’s bag.’ And he left.

‘Adenine, what happened at the mayor’s house?’ Klawdia asked.

I slumped to the floor, crossed my legs, and rubbed my hands through my hair. I removed my blindfold. I was sick of wearing it, so I threw it to the side. ‘I told Emala I’m a healer. She said Mayor Vawdon had already been talking to Healer Euka about me.’

‘How could you, Adenine?’ Mother asked. ‘What if Emala tells her father?’

‘Mama, not everyone is as bad as you think they are. Emala would never do that; she’s my friend.’

‘A stupid risk,’ Klawdia said.

‘They’re going to get her. I know it,’ Mother said. ‘If I sign the register, Adenine will be forced to live in Meligna. If I don’t sign the register, then she might go to Meligna, but she won’t be under the king’s protection. Either way, I can’t win.’

‘What if I hide at Garrad’s hill shack?’ I suggested. ‘You can say I’ve gone back to Phrest to live with my
real
mother. That’s where I told Emala that I was from. They don’t know I’m your daughter. The mayor hasn’t given us any instructions yet. We haven’t been told to stay in town or sign a register. We have to act now.’

While living at the hill shack was better than becoming a healer, the idea of living in my uncle’s home still made me uneasy. To be close to the man who had betrayed me hurt more than words could express. It would be a nightmare.

‘No. The mayor knows Garrad is your father. He would look there first,’ Klawdia said.

‘What if we sell the property?’

‘Selling the shack would mean the mayor wouldn’t suspect you both of living there. You could hide there through winter and use the money from the sale for when you have to move again. They won’t find an occupant for the hill shack now; it’s too late in autumn,’ Mother said.

‘It’s worth a try.’

‘I’ll organise the sale. Whatever keeps you near me.’ Mother placed a hand on my leg.

My heart warmed. She wanted me in her life. It was a simple wish from a loving mother. I wanted to trust her again so we could be close. I hoped she kept no more secrets from me.

Chapter XXIV

‘A
DENINE
?’ V
ARAGO
SHOOK
MY
SHOULDER
.

I adjusted my head to hear him better.

‘Adenine, wake up.’

‘I am.’

‘It’s done,’ he said.

I tried to wade through the grogginess in my head. I smelled Varago’s sleeping concoction.
It’s done.
I replayed Varago’s words in my mind, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
It’s done
.
The thread is gone!
I sat up in my bed. The movement brought a wave of sickness to my stomach.

‘Amazing. You’ve got an impressive recovery rate and an iron stomach that would shame the toughest of men. Be slow with your movements, though.’

I lifted my hands to my face.

Varago grasped my hands and pulled them down to my lap. ‘Not yet. Your hands are dirty, and your wounds still fresh.’

The insides of my eyelids glowed red, letting me know he’d moved a lantern close.

‘Astounding!’ he exclaimed.

‘What?’

‘Initially, when I pulled out the thread, there were holes. It’s hardly been… what, a quarter of an hour? And yet they’re completely healed.’ He tilted my head to examine me from all sides. Then, he took the lantern and moved away. ‘I remember all those months ago when your mother was stuck in her bed. You cut your foot badly then. Let’s see if there’s a scar now.’

He ripped back my bedclothes. I jerked upright and crawled to the opposite side of the bed. Images of my uncle pushing me onto my back in the tub flashed in my mind.

‘Don’t be scared. I’ve no intention of harm. You know me now, right? I’ll not hurt you.’ He grasped my ankle. I tried not to kick or flinch. He twisted it about in his wrinkled hands. ‘See? No scratch there either. You’re a rare one to carry no signs of broken skin. Well, perhaps this will mean your eyes will already be working too, eh? Wouldn’t that be a miracle? I expect it’ll be several days for them to work properly, if indeed they work at all.’