Assassin's Curse (11 page)

Mave left the southern gate of Constantine dressed as a farmer.
 
His journey south should not attract any attention, as most of the farmland in the Kingdom of Tavia lay in that direction.
 
He began a slow, loping trot that would eat up the miles he had to travel.
 
At this time of day, there was not much traffic on the road and he would look like a man rushing home late for dinner.
 
It was a safe bet that Jeda would be travelling as far and fast as he could away from the city.

He’ll run to the southern edge of the kingdom, no doubt,
Mave thought as he ran.

There were many small hamlets that peppered the border between the kingdom and the wildlands to the south, and they would be the best chance that Jeda had for disappearing with the twins.
 
It would also make Mave’s job harder if he did not find them before they reached the southern stretches.
    

If Jeda had been by himself then Mave’s task would be infinitely harder, but there were only so many places he could travel safely with two babies.
 
Mave figured that Jeda would not risk cutting cross-country because of the unknown elements and dangers, so his next stop would be the first village along the trail.
 
A man with two infant children should not be hard to find.

I’ll pick up his trail when he stops for supplies.
 
Even if he tries to blend in, he will be noticeable with two babies in tow
.
 

Once he was close enough, Mave planned on setting an ambush to capture the wayward assassin and bring him and the children back to the guild.
 
If Jeda made the unfortunate choice of fighting, then Mave would simply have to kill him and drag back his dead body.

Either way, you little prick, I’ll be done with you and I will finally achieve the rank of Master.

Achieving the rank of master was the only thing he cared about, the only thing that drove him on.
 
He was a man of infinite patience and had waited years for this promotion, so a few more days on the road would make little difference in his grand scheme of things.

With those thoughts swirling in his mind, Mave quickened his pace to the next village.
   

***

It was early evening by the time Clara and her passengers rolled into the village.
 
Jeda scanned the sleepy, little village, but found nothing disturbing or threatening about the place.
 
If anything, it was quieter than he had expected.
 
Most of the villagers had gone to their homes and had barred their doors and shuttered the windows against the coming night.
 
Looking around, Jeda easily spotted the healer’s hut.
 
The outside was festooned with herbs and plants of all varieties, many of which he recognized.
 
The training of a guild assassin included the study of all varieties of plants and herbs that both cured and caused many ills.
 
Although he was an expert in horticulture, there were still a few that he did not recognize.
 
He may have been trained in the use of herbs and plants, but that did not compare with the training that a witch healer would receive within a coven.

The witches with an inclination toward unity magic were the students of the healing arts.
 
The healing witches that lived within the rural communities did not refer to themselves as witches, preferring the term
healer
. This distinction made them infinitely more acceptable and approachable to the local populace.
 
The vast majority of healers in the country were coven-trained, but a few of the smaller hamlets could not attract the services of one of their ilk and usually relied on the services of a local midwife.

Clara pulled the wagon up to the front of the healer’s hut and stopped to let Jeda and the girls get down.

“I will be over at the village elder’s house.
 
It is the biggest house at the far side of the village.
 
His wife rents me a room in the back for the time I’m in town.
 
Come and find me if you need any help with the girls or in getting around.”

“Thank you for all your help,” Jeda replied, tossing her a copper penny for her troubles.

Clara deftly caught the coin and smiled down at him while pocketing the coin and clicking Jed into movement.
 
“Ain’t necessary, but it’s much appreciated.”

Jeda nodded and watched as she drove her wagon to the far end of the village, finally stopping before one of the larger huts.
 
Turning around, he walked up to the door and knocked lightly to announce his arrival.
 
He remembered the last encounter with the old healer and wanted to be sure his arrival would not be too intrusive.
 
A quiet approach seemed the best way to introduce himself.

After a moment or two, the door opened and a young woman stood before him with a questioning smile.
 
“May I help you?” she asked.

She seemed a bit young to be a village healer but many said the same of Jeda when he first started his profession.
 
“Are you the healer for this village?”

The woman brightened noticeably when she answered.
 
“Yes, I am.
 
My name is Emilie.”

Jeda scrutinized her as she smiled at him and gestured him inside.
 
He took one last look around the village square and then entered the healer’s hut.
 

“Please, have a seat here at the table,” Emilie said.
 
“I just put on a pot for tea.
 
Would you care for some?”

“Yes, that would be nice.
 
It’s been a long day,” he replied, doing his best to sound pleasant.

Emilie excused herself to go make the tea for them.
 
Jeda studied her as she walked away, looking for anything out of place or wrong about her.
 
He felt no telltale feelings of danger, but something was off.
 
She was definitely younger than Miriam had been and Jeda began to wonder how the two might have known each other.
 
He was sure that this was the village that Miriam told him to come to, but he seriously doubted he would find the help he needed here, especially from a girl who looked barely capable of helping herself.
 

Why would an experienced witch like Miriam send me to a fledging for help?

While Emilie was getting the tea, Jeda occupied himself with cleaning, dressing, and feeding the twins.
 
The tea was ready long before he was finished.
 

Emilie set the cups down.
 
“May I help you with the girls?”

“Yes, thank you.”
 

After a few moments, both girls were content and drinking their milk in a crib the healer used for the newborns she helped birth.

“Now, what I can do for you?” Emilie asked.
 

“Pardon my curiosity, but aren’t you a little young for this job?” Jeda asked.

“I look younger than my seventeen years,” Emilie replied.
 
“But, I can assure you I am a fully trained healer.
 
Gelda oversaw my final training and settling into this job before she left.
 
She also made sure that I met everyone in the village and hereabouts and that they were all comfortable with me.
 
I have been the healer here for the last few weeks now, but I don’t recognize you or your children.
 
Are you new in the village?”

“Yes, we’ve recently arrived,”
Jeda
said.
 
“Who is this Gelda you mentioned?”

“Gelda was the village healer who practiced here for years.
 
She moved to the next village to oversee the training of a new apprentice there.”
   

“When we she be back?”

“I’m not sure she’ll be coming back, but really, I can help you with any ailment that you or your children may have.”

“Do you happen to know a witch named Miriam?”

“I’ve heard Gelda mention that name once or twice, but I don’t know her personally.”

“That’s unfortunate, because Miriam sent me to find Gelda.”

Emilie’s pouty face revealed how crestfallen she was at Jeda’s announcement.
 
It seemed that young healers, coven-trained or not, did not get as much business as the older, more-experienced ones did.
 
For some reason, people had trouble confiding in such a young and attractive woman.
 
Jeda and the girls would have been her first patients in a stretch of long, boring days.
 

“If you absolutely must find her, then you’ll have to go Willows Peak, the next village down the road.
 
It is not terribly far, but you’d make better time starting in the morning.
 
The roads are not all that good moving south.”

Jeda looked out the window at the darkness covering the small village.
 
He was used to the sights and sounds of the city, but this far out from that bustle, there were no streetlights glowing or taverns pushing back the gloom.
 
Out here in the country, the quiet of the night was
all-pervasive
.
       

“Can you recommend a place for us to stay the night?”

Emilie looked at Jeda for a moment before turning to look at the two infant girls staring back at her.
 
It was against her better judgment, but after seeing the gold tint to their eyes, she could not turn them out.

“Healers always have space for other healers and witches,” she replied.
 
“I can see by looking at your girls that they will be practitioners when they grow up, so you can all sleep here tonight.
 
The girls can stay in the crib there and I have an extra cot you can use.
 
You can set it up right here and sleep beside them if you like.”

“I would like that very much.
 
Thank you,” Jeda replied, reflecting on the generosity of this woman he’d met only minutes ago.
 
He was finding it most unusual and perplexing that some people would so readily open their homes and their hearts to perfect strangers.

“I have coin and I can pay you for the accommodations,” Jeda offered.

“Don’t be silly,” she replied, fetching some clean bedding for his sleeping pallet.
 
“Let’s just hope that we have no emergencies tonight that will wake the little darlings.”

It was mid-afternoon when Mave arrived at the first village.
 
He slowed his pace to a shuffle when he entered the village and affected a slouched-shoulder stance to better look the part of a hard-working farmer.
 
The villagers were going about their daily chores and paid little attention to him when he began asking questions about ‘his brother and two nieces.’
 
Though he might look the part of a local, he was still a stranger in this small community and was getting no useful information from the tight-lipped villagers.
 
The last insult was when the local healer slammed her door in his face.

“Madam, I am sorry to disturb you, but I need your help.
 
I’m looking for my brother….”

“Go away,” the old healer yelled.
 
“This is a house of healing, not some brothel to look after
your needs
.
 
I ain’t got time to be looking out for any strangers and their get.”

Mave stood staring at the door, taken back by the woman’s behavior.
 
Though the old crone had been exceedingly rude, she had let slip that another stranger had come through with “their get.”
 
Mave had said nothing about the twins when he asked about his brother.
 
The old crone gave Mave exactly what he was looking for: confirmation that Jeda had come through the village.
 
It meant that he had guessed correctly when he had left Constantine.
 
He was on the right track and decided to change his tack.
 
He would concoct a tale to elicit both distaste and sympathy for his search.
 

His story had some elements of truth to it and, with a little embellishment, was easily believable to farmer and wife alike.
 
His tale of two brothers heading to the big city in search of work and coin was common enough, but it was his disgrace at spending their earnings on wine, women, and song that had overcome the villagers’ natural suspicion of strangers.
 
Everyone loved a good tale filled with revelry, lust and betrayal, especially when it happened to someone else.
 
His repentant nature and need to ‘make things right’ satisfied the sense of justice the country folk held dear and finally garnered the answers he was looking for.

People are so gullible,
Mave mused to himself.

“Yeah, I saw your brother and the young-uns in the square the other day,” one of the villagers admitted.
 
“Didn’t pay them
no
never-mind ‘cause Clara was helping them out.”