The Amber Owl (Heartwood #1)

Chapter 15 Stasya

15

Stasya

The chamber was large, grand, shadowy. A long table dominated the space and the ceiling was high. Stasya glanced up, wondering if bats or owls ever made their way in; there were many good roosting places. Aleksis had made her leave Flip outside with Pavel, and she had not argued the point. He’d said stay calm . Arguing with any instruction he gave her did not seem wise. Perhaps the Ruler didn’t like dogs in her audience chamber, or whatever this echoing place was. The black-clad guard had followed them in and now stood by the door, silent and watchful. It was easy to imagine him as a creature of dark intent masquerading as a man. Even with her back to him, she could feel his gaze.

At one end of the chamber there was a hearth, and on it burned a cheerful fire. Set close to this was an elaborately carved chair with red cushions embroidered in gold thread, and beside it stood a woman who could only be Lady Elisabeta. She was not dressed in fine silks or festooned with jewels, nor did she wear her hair in an elaborate style, as Stasya had imagined fine ladies might do. But her authority could be seen in every inch of her, from the upright carriage to the tilt of her chin, from the elegant plain lines of her dark plum-coloured gown to the sleek tidiness of her wheaten-fair hair, braided up on top of her head with never a wisp astray. A small table by her side held a neat pile of documents; perhaps she had been studying them. She must be able to read. In Heartwood that skill was limited to the numbers and signs used by folk to aid in buying and selling stock or produce. There was a scribe in Vita’s Hope who wrote letters for a small fee on the rare occasions that this was needed, but nobody closer to home could do so. This was another world.

Apart from the grand chair, the only seating nearby was a bench of fine oak wood. She and Aleksis stopped beside it, a good six paces from the Ruler. Lady Elisabeta neither smiled nor gestured in welcome. Instead she scrutinised Stasya from head to toe. Perhaps she should have gone back to the servants’ quarters and changed into one of the gowns Laima had given her.

Aleksis bowed briefly. ‘My lady, this is Stasya from Heartwood settlement,’ he said.

Was she meant to curtsy? She copied Aleksis’s bow, feeling her face flush with the awkwardness of it. Why couldn’t these folk just say: Come in, sit down, how about a cup of tea before we get started? Why couldn’t they meet out of doors instead of using this forbidding chamber? It was such a lovely day out there, and if they wanted privacy there was no shortage of guards to keep folk away.

‘So I see.’ The Ruler’s tone revealed nothing at all. ‘Be seated.’

Aleksis motioned toward the bench; they both sat down. Although they were an arm’s length apart, she could feel the tension in his body, and it surprised her. Wasn’t this his home ground? Or was he just waiting for her to make some blunder, as she surely would?

‘I will be blunt with you, Stasya. As Ruler, I deal with matters of great importance to the Northlands. I make decisions that will shape the future for generations of people. Now, I have some simple questions to put to you, and you are to answer honestly.’ Lady Elisabeta fixed Stasya with her gaze; the scrutiny made her belly churn. Should she say some thing? Aleksis had said, Answer only the questions she asks . And she had not asked a question yet.

‘I’ll proceed, then,’ said the Ruler. Her tone was just a little chillier; Stasya wished she had Flip with her now. ‘I have seen your trinket. The quality is good. Surprisingly good. Tell me where you found the raw material for it.’

Stasya glanced at Aleksis, confused. ‘You mean the amber owl? I told that story in Heartwood. To the Commander, when he took my owl from me. Aleksis was there.’

‘That’s Master Aleksis to you,’ Lady Elisabeta said. ‘Show some respect. I was not present to hear this story from your own lips. I want it now.’

Stasya knew, somehow, that the tale of a nameless boy and girl on a walk through the great forest was not what this woman wanted. But it felt wrong to share such a precious memory without wrapping it in the protection of a story. ‘My friend and I found the amber beside a small lake in the forest, my lady. A place we call Clearwater.’ The words were good enough, she thought. A pity she couldn’t keep her voice steady. ‘We brought it back and my friend carved the owl. He’s good with a knife.’

Another cold silence as the Ruler stared at her. ‘And?’ she said.

‘That is all, my lady.’

Lady Elisabeta sighed. ‘I see I must guide you through this step by step, girl. The friend you speak of – that is the goatherd, the young man who travelled here with you?’

‘Lukas. Yes.’ The friend you will not let me see, even though he’s hurt and sad. Even though I could help him. Even though what happened to him was done under your orders. It was hard to hold back the words.

‘Have you and your friend found amber in that place before? Or elsewhere in Heartwood forest?’

That one was easy. ‘No, my lady.’ The scraps they sometimes discovered beside forest ponds, the ones that had caught up fragments of earth or stone or dead leaves before they hardened, were not what this woman meant by amber. It was not truly a lie.

‘How did you reach the lake you speak of, when I’m told none of the local folk venture far into this forest? Is there a track nobody else knows of?’

‘There are no tracks, my lady. Only those of bear and badger, wolf and hedgehog. A mission to take a party of men through the forest with carts and horses was …’ She sensed a warning from Aleksis, though he did not so much as twitch an eyelid. ‘It was always unlikely to succeed, for that reason. The terrain is steep in places; it’s almost like climbing a cliff. The trees are tall and they grow close. It can feel like night underneath, even when the sun is up.’

Another piercing stare from Lady Elisabeta. ‘While your demeanour is somewhat unusual, young woman, I can see clearly that you are neither badger nor bear, wolf nor hedgehog. How did you and your friend reach this lake?’

‘Climbing. Walking. Staying watchful, looking for signs that animals had passed a certain way. It took a while to get there.’

‘How long?’

‘A day, there and back. A very long day.’ The memory of it was still clear: setting out just after dawn, the hard climb, the twisting, tricky paths through the forest, the wondrous discovery of Clearwater. Finding the amber. Lukas’s laugh of sheer delight. A meal shared on the rocks by the water’s edge. A long way back; reaching her cottage at dusk and bidding him farewell. It had not been until the next day that she’d learned how displeased his parents were about his lengthy absence in her company.

Lady Elisabeta seemed to consider this for a while. ‘A day only,’ she murmured eventually. ‘Not so very far. Perhaps there are other lakes and waterways where amber might be found.’

As this was not a question, Stasya remained silent.

‘Yes?’ The Ruler’s tone was sharp.

‘Heartwood Forest spreads over many hills and valleys, my lady. I know there are other streams; one of them runs down into our settlement and provides our water. About amber, I don’t know. We did not search for it; we just found it.’ As if it had been waiting for us, she thought but did not say.

‘Other folk in your village must know of this discovery of yours. Have others not attempted to find more? Amber of such quality could be sold for a high price, even in its natural state.’

Stasya struggled to put together a courteous answer. ‘The forest is a dangerous place. It’s not only the animals that live there and the difficult terrain. There are many tales of danger higher up, old stories of malign spirits and other guardians.’

‘Guardians? What do you mean?’

‘The stories, some of them, tell of uncanny beings. Different tales say different things about them. Nobody really knows. Nobody has travelled far enough to see them. If they are there.’ But she had seen something. Something she had not told Lukas in case it worried him. Under the trees, up by Clearwater, there had been signs. White stones set in a pattern. Knotted grasses. A posy of tiny wildflowers laid by the water’s edge. Whether those signs had been for her, there was no knowing. Seeing them, she had thought of Mother in the painting, the benign presence she had imagined sitting by that same lake, communing with her creatures.

‘Foolish nonsense. Tales for children, to scare them out of wandering. Or tales told by old folk half out of their wits. I wonder that anyone gives them credence.’

There seemed no point at all in explaining that since people had told the same tales, or variations of them, since the time of the oldest ancestors, there must surely be some wisdom in them. In a place like Heartwood, where the forest wrapped itself around the settlement and was part of everyone’s life, it would be foolish indeed to disregard those tales. Somewhere, deep down, they must hold truth. ‘In the old stories,’ Stasya said, ‘never once does a person reach the Hermit and come safely home again. They vanish, or they’re found dead, or they go out of their wits.’ She did not mention the tales in which a person came home to find that a hundred years had passed and their loved ones were all gone.

‘Are there other ways into the forest?’ the lady asked. Had she not heard what Stasya had said? ‘Ways that you and your friend have taken, starting from your village? Hard paths, easy paths, any path a strong man could walk or climb or thread a way through? I cannot believe this is the only one. As you said, it is a very large area.’

‘Why do you want to know that?’ Oh. She’d broken the rule, she could see it on the Ruler’s face and in Aleksis’s slight movement. Answer only the questions she asks. Which meant, She asks the questions, you don’t. But she would not apologise.

‘My reasons are none of your concern, girl. Are there other ways?’

‘Lukas and I have gone no further than Clearwater.’ She had trodden many paths, some with Lukas, some alone save for Flip. But she had always turned back in time to be home by nightfall. ‘As I told you, the people of Heartwood do not venture far into the forest.’ Her heart began to race. Her hands clenched themselves into fists. She made herself breathe in a pattern, in, two, three, four, and pause; out, two, three, four. Let this be over soon.

‘But you walk in the forest often, do you not? I believe you have something of an affinity with creatures, perhaps even wild creatures.’

Stasya could not help glancing at Aleksis. He looked down at his linked hands, avoiding her eye.

‘I … yes, I live quite near the forest’s edge. I do … I do sometimes feed the birds or set food out for small wild things.’ That was no lie. It was the merest sliver of the truth, but she would not tell more.

‘You seem reluctant to speak of this. Master Aleksis, remind this young woman what happened on the day you reached Heartwood. The horse.’

Aleksis looked up. ‘Soon after we reached the village, and before we unloaded the carts, there was a mishap with a distressed horse, still in harness. It all happened very quickly. The cart was half off the track and a man was trapped underneath. The horse would not let anyone near. Stasya gentled the animal, showing no fear as she came close enough to touch. It turned out that a wasp had flown up the horse’s nostril and was trapped there. Stasya kept the creature calm and after a time the wasp flew free. Under her direction, others helped the horse to safety and the trapped man was rescued.’ A pause. ‘I learned later that the local folk know Stasya to be a person with exceptional skill in such situations. They say she can calm the most agitated of animals, where even a farmer of many years’ experience cannot.’

There was a longer silence then. Let this be over soon , Stasya thought. Aleksis had said the Ruler already knew about the horse. Why make him tell the story again? Could she actually think Stasya would have forgotten such a thing? Reaching the wasp, feeling its panic, helping it to freedom had been a challenge, yes; but also full of wonder.

Lady Elisabeta toyed with the papers on her little table. She turned one of her rings around and around on her finger. ‘Such a skill,’ she mused, not looking at either of the others, ‘might be useful, might it not, if one were passing across territory inhabited by wild animals such as bears and wolves? A person with this skill would be invaluable to a group wishing to do so. On the other hand, folk might look at the demonstration of such an unusual ability and label it dark magic.’ Suddenly her gaze was back on Stasya. ‘Or even witchcraft.’

The woman was using threats now. A pox on this! The most frightening thing about what she’d just said was how close it came to the truth. How did the Ruler know this about her? What exactly had Aleksis told her? Stasya cleared her throat. ‘There is no magic in what I do. It is … just a matter of staying calm, and trusting the animal, and taking time.’ What could she say about wild animals? She lacked the ability to lie. But she would not tell Lady Elisabeta about the time when she helped a wolf with a thorn in its foot, or the time when she tended to an owl with a broken claw. Or the bear. She could not mention the bear. She would not even tell the tale of the magpie hanging from the fence. ‘As for helping people to go through the forest, I would not do that if their venture would lead to its destruction. If their presence there was a threat to the trees or to the animals and birds, I would refuse to guide them. The Commander came to Heartwood under your orders, my lady. He laid waste to the forest edge; he cast a shadow on the settlement and its people, he destroyed lives and livelihoods—’

‘Stasya.’

Aleksis’s quiet voice, his hand on her arm. She was standing. She’d been almost shouting. She’d forgotten herself. But she would not say sorry. She glared across the chamber at the Ruler. ‘I could never help anyone who had any part in that,’ she said.

‘How very unfortunate,’ said Lady Elisabeta. ‘Just how much help you might have to offer is still unclear to me. I should perhaps remind you that you and your companions have been escorted all the way here; you have been provided with excellent accommodation in Dragon’s Keep, and your young man is receiving attention for his injuries. I have even tolerated the presence of your dog. You complain about what has occurred in your home settlement; you are all too ready to blame others for that, while it seems to me the failure of the local folk to cooperate most definitely contributed to the situation. Coming here has served you well. You need not fend for yourself any longer; this household is supplying all your needs and those of your friends. For now. And all I ask in return is civil answers to my questions.’

Imagine if this woman knew the true extent of her gift. Imagine if she applied the same thinking to that. Stasya wished she had not lost her temper, but she could not regret her words of truth. What had happened in Heartwood was an abomination. She would never, ever be a willing part of any expedition the Ruler or her underlings wanted. They had no respect for the ancient forest. They had no understanding of its importance. It was time to stop talking, lest she say something in anger that would later prove perilous. ‘I can’t answer any more questions.’

‘I doubt you realise the implications of such a statement. You are obviously capable of speaking. Perhaps you do not mean I can’t , but rather I won’t?’

Stasya held her silence. It was Aleksis who spoke, rising to his feet. ‘By your leave, my lady. Stasya is still weary from the long journey and the events that preceded it. She is not used to the customs and formalities of court, nor to living amongst so many folk. As I said earlier, this needs more time—’

The Ruler fixed him with a gaze as cold and sharp as an icicle. ‘I reiterate, there is no time. I need answers. The girl will speak. Ah, not today perhaps’—she raised her hand as Aleksis made to interrupt—‘but very soon indeed. This cannot wait.’

‘I will speak with Stasya further,’ he said.

‘As it happens, you will not.’ There was an odd look in Lady Elisabeta’s eye, as if she were readying herself for a challenge. ‘A message came in earlier from Bishop Petras. Some kind of unrest has broken out at Raven’s Watch, and he has requested your assistance. He does not want armed men, only expert advice. I cannot trust anyone else to deal with it. You’ll need to ride out today, as soon as you can be ready. Take Matiss with you, and another guard for security.’

Aleksis simply stared at her. It seemed some conversation was happening between them in complete silence. Then he gave a curt bow. ‘My lady.’

‘Stanislav!’ The Ruler looked at the black-clad man. ‘Have the other guard escort the girl back to her quarters.’ And to Stasya, ‘Young woman, apply your mind to your situation. Next time I speak to you, I expect common sense. You will be ready with answers.’

By answers, the Ruler meant answers that suit me . She was playing a cruel game, and Stasya would take no more part in it. ‘My lady,’ she forced herself to say. Her bow was less than courteous.

With Stanislav by her side, ushering her out, there was no chance to speak to Aleksis again and he left without so much as a glance. Pavel walked her back to the servants’ quarters, choosing a route that did not take them through the garden. He was about to leave her when Stasya halted him. ‘Thank you for looking after Flip. Pavel – how long would it take to ride to Raven’s Watch?’

‘Ah. You heard about that? With good horses, a day there, a day back at least. And however long it takes to deal with the matter, of course. They won’t get there by nightfall, so they’ll likely be gone for several days even if all goes well.’

‘Oh.’ As she watched him walk away, Stasya’s mind filled with questions of her own. Was the Ruler sending Aleksis off on this mission so she could interrogate Stasya in his absence? Surely not; whether or not she talked further could hardly be of so much importance in this world of power and strategy. Besides, wasn’t Aleksis the Ruler’s trusted personal adviser? Maybe the two of them were playing a game, and she would be thrown from one to the other like a child’s ball until she gave in. But what would be the point of telling them anything more? Yes, she could lead folk along paths they would not find for themselves. She could use her gift to help people stay safe. But she would never help them get to the Hermit, even supposing she could actually reach that far-off, mysterious place. Such a quest could mean nothing good for the forest or for its inhabitants. She would not break her solemn vow to keep Heartwood safe. Forever and always, Stasya, Grandmother had said. Through the generations.

It was odd. At times, Aleksis had seemed almost friendly, though not like Matiss. At the farm, she had felt safe with Matiss. But Aleksis had some understanding of her; it showed in the way he spoke of her to others. He knew she was worried about Lukas and about Irina. And those good, honest people at the farm had treated him like an old friend. That should mean something. On the other hand, Aleksis had reached a high position in the Ruler’s court when he was still young. Perhaps he was the real master of this game. Stasya shivered. She might not trust the man, but she wished he wasn’t leaving and taking Matiss with him. She must keep her head down, obey rules, do her best to be invisible. With luck, the Ruler would soon lose interest in her. And then … she did not really know what might come next. Make a plan? She had no idea where to start.

‘You could escape,’ she whispered to Flip, showing her a mind-picture: the dog becoming a bird and flying out from one of those narrow windows into a blue sky. ‘You can if you want. I won’t stop you. You could fly all the way to Heartwood.’ Home. Her longing for it was an ache deep inside her. But the Commander and his men were still in the settlement; who knew what would have become of it, and of the forest nearby, since Aleksis had uprooted her and brought her to Dragon’s Keep? ‘If I could be a bird, I would go.’ She showed Flip the image: a brambling flying over the forest, and with it a skylark singing a joyful song. Flip responded with her own version of this picture: the brambling soaring gracefully, the lark flapping about as if unsure what its wings were for. The message was clear: You wouldn’t know how to be a bird. Stasya smiled at the joke. But her heart was far from glad. Lukas. That was the first step. She must find Lukas.