A Whisper in the Woods (Fated Folktales #1)

2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Leena

M y shoulder was surprisingly better in the morning. Grandmother had come in before bed and wrapped it with a poultice and ointment she’d made after Vasska left for the Meade Room. I could even stir the pot of porridge without hearing popping sounds. The liquid burbled, and my gut churned at the thought of what was happening to the food that had been in it from the beginning. We’d added scraps of everything we could each day for almost two weeks. It was a miracle none of us vomited more than once a week.

Fortunately, today, we’d get tiny slivers of bread to go with it. Karina had sold scarves she’d knitted, and though she didn’t get much for them, she was able to get the baker’s oldest loaf, so we didn’t have to dine on porridge alone. The bread would be stale, but it was still bread.

Vasska had already left the house before I woke up, and Karina and Grandmother left soon after, likely to join the other ladies in town for their daily sewing circle. Having the house to myself was always a welcome surprise, but the peace didn’t last long. A ruckus quickly formed outside, intensifying by the minute. All I heard was shouting, but it was clear as day that at least half, if not more, of the village had gathered. Our hut, like most of the others in the village, was flimsy and thin. We’d settled here mere weeks ago because we’d been driven out of our last location due to lack of food and contention with another nearby town. Something about them overcharging for something. I wasn’t sure. I figured it was probably more to do with the competition for food and resources.

Our houses were made from the bones of older homes we’d found upon our trek, fixed up with the aid of everyone in town. The flimsy boards did nothing but shield us from the wind, but at least we managed to create crude rooms and roofs before any beasts or storms came along. Until whatever had been lurking around showed up. No one had seen it, though, and no one knew what it was.

I set the spoon on the counter and left, following the voices of the crowd, trying to make out at least one conversation. When I couldn’t, I leaned close to a man and woman talking in hushed voices. “Excuse me, but can you tell me what’s going on?” I asked. The woman turned to look at me, and from the fear on her face, my stomach dropped.

“Another child has gone missing.”

My blood turned cold.

“Two children,” the man beside her corrected.

“What? Who? ”

“The Wenzell twins. Bogdan and Vesna.”

The crowd was a hiss of whispers and cries until a man I knew as the town baker, Mr. Morrison, shouted from atop a crate by the general store. “This will not end until we do something!”

Someone in the crowd yelled, “Like what?”

“That’s what we need to figure out,” he said.

The noise of the crowd amplified as he got off the crate. My head spun from the countless conversations and suggestions flooding the makeshift street. My mind was reeling from yet another misfortune occurring in such a short span of time. Things like this never happened before we moved into these woods.

“It’s the Leshy, isn’t it?” a teenage boy cried. All at once, the crowd was silent.

“It is.” The whispered answer came from behind me, and I was pretty sure only I heard. I turned to face my grandmother, whose grave expression was enough to convince me that the legends could be true.

“Of course not! He’s a myth!” someone replied, but their voice was small, as if unconvinced.

“We don’t know that,” Mr. Morrison said.

“The boy is right.” An old man’s voice tore through the crowd, and all eyes landed on one of the elders of the village. The weathered man staggered forward, crooked crane in hand, his form just as bent with age. “Everyone needs to go home. Ms. Tomlin and I will come up with a solution to this. Go about your business.”

“How can we go about our business when a monster is out there?” the teenage boy cried out. His mother hushed him, but his sister spoke too.

“We could be next!”

The murmurs of the crowd resumed, only silencing when the village elder smacked his cane against the hard crate and spoke louder than I thought he could. “Do not speak such things. Go home or about your business at once.” His command was enough to finally break up the gathered group.

I turned to Grandmother, tucking my cloak around me as if that offered any semblance of protection. It gave me comfort, at least. “Do you really think it’s him? The Leshy?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so, dear. I really do think so.”

“I thought he was a legend, a folktale to scare the children into obeying and not wandering into the woods.”

Grandmother looked around before taking my hand and leading me back to the hut. She was silent until we got inside. “Leena.” She placed her hands on my shoulders. “I’ve seen more horrible things in this life than you can imagine. Your mother…” She shifted her weight uncomfortably. “I think she saw things too. It’s why she was so adamant about hunting. That curiosity got the better of her in the end.”

“She had to hunt. Our village needed it.”

“They had more than enough hunters at the time. She wouldn’t listen. She…” her voice broke, and her chin quivered. Wh en the color drained from her face, I decided it was best to change the topic back to the issue at hand.

“What can we do?” I asked. “There has to be something.”

“I don’t know, Leena, but please stay out of this. I can’t bear to lose you too.” Her eyes bore into mine. The intensity was stifling. “You don’t need to get to the bottom of this. Go into the woods only when you must hunt. Then come home. And please …if you ever hear or witness anything unnatural or threatening, come straight home. No matter what.”

A hiss from the pot made me jump. I rushed over and covered it, thankful something broke the tension and allowed me to escape without giving her a reply or a promise. When I took the pot off the fire, I noticed my fingers were shivering.

“I don’t know what I can do,” I whispered, still staring at the pot. My fingers curled over the handles.

“You’re just like your mother.” She let out a long sigh, and I wondered if she’d heard me. “Leena, please promise me you won’t get involved. I have lived long enough and heard enough stories to know what might happen if you do.”

My hands slid from the pot as I turned to face her. “Is there something I can do then?”

She threw her hands up. “You are so stubborn! And I wouldn’t tell you if there was something. Please don’t be like this, Leena. This problem will be solved in time. Let the town matriarch worry about it and leave it be. Please.” Her voice cracked. I couldn’t bear to look at her.

“What if you get hurt? What if we run out of food? ”

“I’m done talking about this.” Her voice was firm, and when she shoved my hunting sack into my arms, she added, “Now go fetch some game. If you come back empty-handed again, Vasska won’t be as generous as he was last night. But remember: come back if anything doesn’t feel right.”

We stared at each other for a long time. I contemplated whether or not I should argue about the fact that Vasska could get off his lazy ass and help us hunt, but I knew it would be no use. She always reprimanded me for standing up to him, even if it was to protect her.

Begrudgingly, I did as I was told and went into the woods, knowing it would go as it always did and I would pay for it.

Despite the unseasonably cold weather, I stayed there as long as I could. Each day in this strange place was like a race through time. It was even colder than it was yesterday. The wind’s bite was sharp against my fingers as I plucked whatever edible fruit I could find. A lot of it had already gone bad from the premature frost and whatever the monster of these woods was doing to it. What hadn’t gone bad had either been nibbled at or stripped from the bushes.

When I got home, my fingers were numb, but I had a sack full of berries. Vasska would take the substitute with scorn, but he’d take it all the same. When Grandmother saw my bloodless arrow, the bow strapped to my back, and the sack full of berries in my arms, fear twisted her features. Anxious dread remained splashed across her face as she returned to setting the table. It seemed like that was all she did. Set the table, sew, and clean .

“Where’s Vasska?” I asked, looking around the cabin. Karina was in her usual spot, knitting by the tiny fire.

“Right here,” he said behind me. I jumped, swiveling around so fast that a good chunk of my spoils rolled onto the floor.

“Oh, I, Vasska, I wasn’t able to get any game, but I—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, closing the door and shrugging off his coat.

My eyebrows shot up. Even Grandmother and Karina turned to stare at him, Karina’s expression more uneasy than Grandmother’s.

“What?” I blinked. He nodded, chewing on something before spitting it out in the sink.

“I’ve secured a new job for you,” he said, pouring water into the basin he’d just spat in.

“New job?” I kept my voice steady. The wrong intonation could set him off, and I was curious. I needed to know about this. New opportunities were hard to come by.

He poured the basin out the open window above the pot of stomach-churning supper. Grandmother made sure he wasn’t looking before turning to me with wide eyes and a quick shake of her head. She mouthed the word “no” just before he turned back around.

“Ms. Tomlin is looking for ladies around your age for a special task. Everyone else has declined so far, or their families have on their behalf. I wanted to secure your spot before they changed their minds. ”

“The village matriarch? What for?” My stomach instantly dropped. A job that no other woman in the village would take? Food was getting scarcer by the day, money even scantier than that. No one was passing up opportunities, and they certainly wouldn’t pass up a good one by the town’s wealthy matriarch.

His lips peeled back, revealing his broken yellow teeth, thick with film and the stench from whatever he’d been chewing. “You’ll learn the details soon enough, but it’s about our town’s predicament.”

Run. Every ounce of common sense, every bone in my body, screamed at me to run. But I couldn’t. Not when Grandmother was here. Not when I could do something that could save more children from getting hurt. Whatever it was, I had to do it.

He stared me down with that wicked grin and grabbed me roughly by the arm. “The deal is done. It was either you or Karina. I obviously wouldn’t give up my wife, and you’re not as scrawny. He might like you more.”

My blood chilled, my stomach as tight and small as the gravel beneath my feet.

“He?”

Vasska didn’t respond, which made everything worse.

“Leena, no!” Grandmother gasped.

“If you want to help our people and feed Grandmother, you’ll do as you’re told and take this job.”

“Leena, what did I tell you?” Her voice was almost a cry. Vasska growled and shook the table on his way over to her .

I jumped between them. “Stop! I’ll do it! Don’t hurt her. Please. I’ll do it, whatever it is.”

“Good,” he said, “I’ll take you there in the morning. Now let’s eat.” He clearly wasn’t surprised. As far as he was concerned, I didn’t have a choice. And he was right.

Everyone but Vasska was solemn at supper, even Karina. The only interactions I had were the looks of disapproval occasionally shot at me by my grandmother. She dealt them to me all evening until I was getting ready for bed. With a knock at the board I used as my door, she let herself in.

“Leena, don’t do this.” She closed the door softly. Vasska was snoring so loud from the other room that it shook the shoddy walls.

“I don’t even know what it is. It could be safe. It could be nothing.”

“It will be dangerous.”

“Grandmother, I can’t say no to this. Vasska is getting more violent by the day without food coming in, and he could kill you. If we get a job from the matriarch, we could get enough food to buy us time until this problem is under control.”

“Don’t be stupid, Leena! This is about the Leshy. Do you really think any other task would be turned down by every woman in town? Vasska even said ‘he’ and that he would like you more. What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know! But it doesn’t matter! I have to do this.” The room went quiet. Grandmother straightened with another shake of her head .

“You’re going to leave me with nothing, and you’ll be ending your own precious life, as your mother did.” Tears glistened in her eyes, which only made them brim in mine, too.

“I won’t be as reckless as she was. We don’t have another choice. I told you this morning. Anything I can do, I’ll do it.”

“Taking on a monster is the most reckless thing you could possibly do.”

“If I can help you and the children of our village, then it isn’t reckless curiosity or anything that I will regret.” I took her hands in mine and tried giving her a reassuring smile, but she turned away. “I’m twenty-six years old and don’t have a family of my own. The other women my age already have a brood of children. It makes sense that a job requiring a woman would be turned down by everyone but me.”

“Your life is worth just as much as theirs, Leena.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“I think you do believe that, and you’re breaking my heart offering yourself up to whatever so-called job this is.”

“I’m not going to change my mind.” My voice was firm, resolute. Contention filled the space between us like a thick brick wall, but a pang of guilt shot through my chest. She gave me one last look, somehow both an icy glare and a look so somber I thought my heart might shatter.

“I need to rest. I’ll see you in the morning.” The moment she turned around, I knew I wouldn’t see her in the morning.