Chapter 11
“What?”
Rowan stared at her mother in horrified disbelief.
She must have misheard. Or she’d lost her mind. Maybe she’d been injured hunting that doe and the last few days had all been a fever dream as she slowly bled out. Surely her mother hadn’t just suggested she accompany the witch hunter into the Black Woods.
“It makes sense,” her mother said, taking a sip of tea. She looked as calm and composed as she always did. There was no sign of the insanity that had clearly taken hold of her.
“It does not make sense, Mother,” Rowan said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t make any sense at all. He shouldn’t be going into the woods, and you want me to go with him?”
“Mistress Yahl,” the witch hunter said, clearly appalled. “What you’re suggesting is out of the question.”
“I don’t see why.” Her mother set her empty cup on the table. “You need to find your men and the people of Toam need to be rid of the witch. Rowan is the only one here who knows the way through the woods.”
“She can draw me a map,” the captain said. “She doesn’t need to go into the woods. In fact, everyone should stay out of the woods until the rot is cleared.”
Her mother shook her head with a smile. “I know how my daughter gives directions, Captain. It’s all turn left at the big white tree and right at the rock that looks like a bear. She’s awful at it.”
“Hey,” she said indignantly. “I’ve never had to give you directions. Why would I give you directions? You’re blind.”
Her mother actually laughed at her. “I’ve heard you give directions, and I know I wouldn’t trust them. But I do trust you to find your way.”
Her mother placed a special weight on that statement and Rowan understood what she was saying even though she was shocked that she would mention it even so covertly.
Her mother had spent her entire life telling her to deny her abilities.
Ignore the trees. Don’t tell anyone what she could do.
Hide. Now she was telling her to use magic to save a bunch of witch hunters?
They would kill her if they knew what she could do.
“You want me to risk my life to help him.” She gestured at the witch hunter. “The man’s already ruined our lives once.”
The witch hunter flinched, but he didn’t deny the charge.
“He didn’t ruin our lives,” her mother said calmly. “I’m not ruined and neither are you.”
“I will be ruined if you send me into a witch-cursed woods that’s already swallowed his men and spit him out half-chewed. Are you mad?”
“I’m not mad.” Her mother shook her head. “I don’t want you to have to go into the woods, Rowan. I don’t want the captain to have to go in there either. But surely this is the right thing to do.”
“The right thing to do…” She slammed her knife into the table and climbed to her feet. “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”
She paced across the room, heading for the back door, but then stopped. She couldn’t run from this conversation. It was nearly impossible to turn her mother from a course once she was set on it. Maybe there was still time to change her mind.
She turned back to watch as the witch hunter crossed the room to her mother.
He crouched before her and took her hands.
Something twisted in Rowan’s chest at the sight of him cradling her mother’s small hands in his large ones.
His expression was gentle, like he actually cared.
She hated that he was even in the same room as her mother. He shouldn’t be touching her.
How could her mother allow it?
Her mother did allow it though, her hands tightening on his larger ones like he was a beloved son.
She was going to be sick.
“Mistress Yahl,” the witch hunter said softly. “This is foolishness. I will not take your daughter away from you.”
Her mother smiled. “She doesn’t belong to me. She belongs to God. And she could help you if you allow it. We were brought together again for a reason. What if this is it?”
“Perhaps God brought me here so that I might make amends to you.”
Rowan rolled her eyes. They were ridiculous.
“God didn’t gut you in the woods,” she muttered, annoyed at them both.
They ignored her.
“You can make amends by paying Rowan to act as your guide,” her mother said.
“I’ll pay you for what you’ve done already. There’s no need to do more.”
“I would ask for a promise then. This village is no place for a young woman, and I can’t get her out of here on my own. She deserves a better life than this.”
“Mother…” She felt her skin heat. “Do not beg him for help.”
They didn’t need the money that badly.
They would never need the money that badly.
She took a step in their direction, then stopped, glaring at them both. What was she going to do? It wasn’t like she could physically throw the witch hunter out of the house. He was too big, and her mother would never forgive her.
“Rowan will guide you to the fort,” her mother was saying.
“She’ll help you find your men, and when you return, you can use your influence to secure her a place in the Academy.
She’s already a good healer. You’ve seen that for yourself.
I’ve taught her all that I know. She only needs the formal mark to make it official. ”
The captain frowned, clearly not liking the idea.
Good.
She didn’t like it either. Let her mother be angry with him for rejecting it.
He shook his head. “Rowan would be more hindrance than help to me. She doesn’t know anything about witches. She’s too weak to fight. She’s afraid of the fort.”
Ignorant.
Weak.
Scared.
Well, she supposed it was good to know how he felt about her.
She glared at the side of his head. “I’m standing right here.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Tell her you’re not going.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
He turned back to her mother. “She won’t listen to my commands.”
She might, if his commands weren’t so stupid.
“Tell me the truth,” her mother pressed. “If it were someone else offering to serve as your guide, someone adept at woodcraft and tracking and familiar with the area, a trained healer who might help your men should they be injured, would you turn them away?”
Rowan regarded the witch hunter with grim amusement.
His blue eyes flicked to her and away. A grimace twisted his handsome mouth. You could almost see his sense of guilt fighting with his sense of duty. He felt some responsibility for their situation.
He should.
He didn’t want to bring them more harm, which was good she supposed. But his men were missing, likely in danger, and he needed to find them quickly.
She wondered which would win out—guilt or duty? His sense of responsibility for his men or his desire to keep innocent people out of the witch’s path?
If it were any other circumstance, she’d enjoy watching him squirm.
“I would ask her for help,” he said finally, heavily. “I would pay her handsomely for her time and the risk.”
He’d answered her mother’s question, but he stared back at her, searching her expression for some sign that she was willing. She scowled at him, and he turned his face away.
Her mother smiled, tasting victory. “Then this is why God has sent you to us, Captain. We can both help each other to do His work. It’s an answered prayer.”
Rowan laughed. She could almost believe that.
She took a step closer. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I’m not risking my life to help him.”
The witch hunter bowed his head like she’d struck him. She would not feel guilty for that. She would not feel guilty for any of this.
They’d both lost their ever-loving minds.
The witch hunter should stay here and recover from his injuries until the reinforcements arrived.
Her mother should worry about herself for a change.
To most of the people in the kingdom there was no difference between a branded witch and a demon-ridden one.
Lots of people thought the brandings should end, not out of mercy, but because they believed every woman accused of witchcraft should simply be killed.
Signing up for a witch hunt was the last thing she wanted to do.
Her mother finally turned to her, her blind eyes finding her in that unsettling way she had, looking through her, inside her, to the seething mix of hurt and anger and the annoying sense of right and wrong that she’d never been completely able to snuff out.
“You wouldn’t only be helping him,” her mother said.
“He’s trying to save nine men. Not all of them were at Jarn.
Nine men lost in the woods that you could help.
You’re the only one left here who knows the way to the fort.
No one in Sulen is willing to help him. No one here is able. There is only you.”
Damn it.
The witch hunter had pulled away from her mother to sit on the stool beside her. He watched Rowan with an unreadable expression.
“It’s dangerous,” she said.
Her mother nodded. “It will be dangerous, but the witch hunter has the training and experience to deal with that danger. He’ll keep you safe. And God will protect you. I know He will.”
She did think that, Rowan knew. Her mother had always believed that God would protect them, see them through their exile to a brighter future, set their feet upon the path of deliverance.
“That’s not what...” She shook her head. “What if something happens to me? What will you do then?”
Even if she wanted to go, she couldn’t leave her mother alone. If she died out there, her mother would never survive on her own.
“I’ll be fine,” her mother said calmly, folding her hands in her lap. “Tilly will help me while you’re gone.”
Rowan just stared at her mother. The shadows from the fire were not kind.
She looked older than she was. Her hair was turning gray and there were lines on her face that hadn’t been there even last winter.
Her cheeks were still hollow. She’d never gained her weight back from that last awful cold.
Rowan was worried she wouldn’t survive another winter.
Not out here where she couldn’t find enough food or even keep the wind from coming through the walls. And that was before the woods went bad.
She’d told the witch hunter they didn’t need his money, but that was a lie. They did need it. They needed it so very badly.
They couldn’t leave Toam without help.
They couldn’t stay if there was a witch in the woods.
She turned to the witch hunter. “How much?”
He hesitated, but only for a moment. “I can offer you two hundred cord.”
She let out a slow breath at the sum. She felt a little dizzy at the thought of it. It was more money than she’d ever hoped to see in her life. She steadied herself against the table.
“I would only need you to track my men as far as you are able and guide me to the ruins,” the witch hunter continued. “I’ll pay you a bonus of two hundred cord if you’re able to locate my men or their remains. You wouldn’t be expected to fight the witch.”
“And if you die in there? Then we get nothing?”
“I’ll write a will. There must be someone in this town able to witness it.
That will ensure you are paid no matter what happens to me.
” He nodded toward her mother. “I’ll name your mother in case neither of us returns.
It will be enough to get her out of here.
Enough to buy a cottage in a town closer to the capital where the priests are kind and the people less superstitious.
A new life for you both.” He leaned forward, his expression troubled.
“For the sake of my men, I’m honor-bound to offer the deal.
But I urge you not accept it. It won’t be safe. ”
“You’re going to go anyway,” she said. “Even if you have to go in alone. Even though it’s not safe.”
It wasn’t a question. She’d thought he was a dead man just a day ago. Even now, the healer in her said he needed at least another week to recover. But the idiot man was going to march into the woods on his own if she didn’t help him.
She didn’t want to go back into the woods with him, but she didn’t want him to die either, even if he was a bastard.
She didn’t want his men to die when she could do something about it.
Her mother was right about that. There was no one else in the village who knew the woods as well as she did.
There wasn’t anyone else stupid enough to take his offer.
Not stupid. Desperate.
Two hundred cord…more if she found his men.
A new life for her mother.
The witch gone.
Her woods back to normal.
She nodded slowly, forcing herself to accept the offer against her better judgment.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll help you find your witch.”