Chapter 6

E velyn found Archie waiting for her at the crossroads, and they passed through the city gate together and set about searching for a new place to stay. Now that she'd seen the effects of the blight on the farmland, she was even more determined to get to work. There was much she needed to learn, but she could only begin once she'd gotten a bit more settled.

Fortunately, word about a strange witch lurking in town hadn't yet reached the establishments nearest the docks, or if it had, the proprietors did not mind. Evelyn took a room at a quaint seaside establishment. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean and warm, and from the small, paned window, she could see a bit of the water lapping gently at the jetty.

"I guess this is home for a little while," Evelyn told Archie as she settled some of her belongings in the simple chest of drawers. It felt good to unpack and stretch out somewhat after so many nights living out of her bag.

"If you insist," the owl said as he picked his way along the windowsill. He stopped and peered down at an oblong spot of hardened candle wax, crusted to the wooden casing. He pecked at it with his beak, then scratched with one taloned foot for good measure. "Could use a scrubbing, if you ask me."

Evelyn sighed happily and closed the drawer. She didn't care about dust or odd bits of old candle wax. The film of grime on the window mattered far less than what lay beyond it—a chance at a new beginning. At freedom.

"It's not forever," she reminded her feathered friend.

"No, just long enough for you to cure some blight you know next to nothing about."

Evelyn threw her satchel onto the bed, ignoring the puff of dust that rose from the coverlet, pluming into a cloud that danced in the shaft of sunlight streaming from the window. "Would you rather be back at Crownvale? At least this place has a solid roof. And look, you can see the sea from here!"

"I didn't say that," Archie replied, his round face pinched into a scowl as he clacked his beak. "But with all that coin in your purse, I'd think we could stay someplace where the bed linens come without holes." He paused his admonition to hop delicately over the hardened glob of wax.

Evelyn glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. Even still, she could hear footsteps in the hall and voices murmuring from the room next to hers. "Keep your voice down," she reminded the owl. "I don't want the innkeeper hearing you complain about the room. Honestly, Archie. We've already been thrown out of one place."

Evelyn plucked a piece of worn parchment from the small writing desk under the window and considered the scrawled menu, displaying a list of items she could order to her room. "Ah, here, this ought to satisfy you. Look—" She tapped a rounded nail against the parchment.

The owl twisted his head away from the window. "Oh, just tell me what it says, Evelyn. You know I cannot read!"

"They have marmalade," she said, already reaching for her coin purse. "I'm ordering fried eggs and toasted bread. Oh, and perhaps one of these berry tarts. Though I doubt they'll hold a candle to the ones Eimear sells at the Night Market."

A pang of homesickness washed over her, thinking of the last winter solstice, when she'd surprised Tansy with a whole basket stuffed with the delicate tarts. The gnome-witch's favorite.

She quickly swept the memory aside and got to her feet. "I'll be right back."

The innkeeper was happy to oblige, and promptly came to Evelyn's room carrying a wooden tray laden with eggs, toast, a crock of butter, and the orange marmalade. The eggs had been cooked in butter, and salted to perfection .

The pair ate their meal by the window, basking in the noonday sun that streamed through the window, and the distant cry of gulls. The roadway between the inn and the harbor led directly to the docks and was quite busy, judging by the amount of people and carts and carriages passing by.

Evelyn delighted in the simple meal. The tart, as it turned out, was quite delicious, despite not being one of Eimear's. She thought she might tell Tansy about it in her first letter back to the capital, once she was settled. As they ate, Evelyn told Archie about the encounter at the market, and her promise to visit the woman's farm the next day.

She left out the part involving Coren and his gruff warning, although she wasn't sure why.

"So, now you're the town healer?" Archie asked when she'd finished.

"No."

He leveled her with a golden-eyed stare. "But you're making more potions and delivering them like some kind of courier?"

Evelyn sighed. "I enjoy helping people, Archie. And besides, they might be able to help me figure out the key to undoing the blight. After all, who knows the land better than the farmers? You weren't complaining last night, at least not after I received the reward money."

Archie considered this, then pecked at the crumbs of Evelyn's toast, hoping to find a taste of the sticky sweet preserves.

Evelyn smiled, taking his silence as a triumph.

"Do you think Lady Kilgour will honor her promise?" Archie asked.

Evelyn's smile vanished. "What do you mean?"

"It just seems rather suspicious to me. Why set you free? Why not the others? Why offer it at all? She could have simply commanded you to go, and you would have had little choice but to obey. So why extend such an extravagant offer?"

In truth, Evelyn had already asked herself those questions and more in the quiet hours of the nights spent on the road. She couldn't say for sure, but she'd come to a conclusion that made the most sense to her.

"I suppose she figured I might see to the task with more urgency if I had a reward waiting to be claimed. The faster I work, the faster the king will get his glory—should there be any—and that seems of the utmost importance, all things considered. There are countless stories of Ivor winning over supporters, even from the king's own army. Many believe his claim, and want to put him on the throne."

"I suppose that's true," Archie replied, abandoning his search for lingering bits of the preserves. "Besides, it's not like they can't send a messenger to Rona and demand she and the other leaders pick your replacement a year early."

The suggestion made Evelyn's stomach twist. She didn't want another witch to have to take her place. There were plenty of witches from Everspring Glade who saw it as an honor to be sent to Crownvale, but in such times, she couldn't imagine they would fare much better than she had when it came to the king's demands. She wondered if she should write to the main leader of the coven, Rona, and warn her, but that thought didn't sit well, either. The two women had not parted on good terms.

Archie hopped from foot to foot, as was his custom when both his mind and belly were full.

"We can discuss this later," Evelyn said, getting to her feet.

She placed her dirty dishes out in the hall, as she'd been instructed to do by the cheerful innkeeper, then closed her door once more and considered her options for the rest of the day.

"I need to gather more information about the blight," she told the owl, though she was largely thinking out loud. "Did you notice how it seems to cut through the farmland in patches, leaving areas that seem unaffected by it entirely? I've never seen anything like it."

"Not that you have a lot of experience with these sorts of things," Archie reminded her as he preened his feathers, which had been covered with the sticky-sweet preserves when he'd stuck his head too far inside the small jar.

"No," Evelyn agreed with an irritated quirk of her lips. "I suppose not."

The farmlands in Benenfar, nearest the castle, were lush and well-tended, as everyone worked to ensure the king and his court of nobles remained well supplied with anything their hearts fancied. Whatever could not be grown in the fields was grown inside large glass greenhouses that were kept warm even through the winter, allowing all manner of produce to grow, even some of the more exotic fruits and nuts from other lands.

Evelyn always enjoyed wandering through the greenhouses with Odessa, and seeing the array and variety of the food grown within them. Odessa was allowed access due to her role as the head of the royal kitchens. Her magic revolved around food, specifically the ability to detect even a single drop of poison. She had started as the king's royal taster, but quickly moved up within the kitchen's ranks as her cooking prowess became apparent.

Likewise, the farms in and around Evelyn's homeland, the Everspring Glade, were bountiful, in part due to Caele's blessing on the land itself. Evelyn wasn't sure a blight was even possible, with the goddess's own footsteps still a memory in the soil.

"I may not have experience," Evelyn conceded to her familiar. "But I have the next best thing." She gestured to the small bedside table where she'd stacked multiple leather-bound tomes on top of each other. "Books!"

Archie ceased his preening. "You're going to stay in bed and read all day?"

Evelyn glanced outside where a gentle rain began to fall. She hitched one shoulder. "Seems like a good idea to me."

The owl was less than thrilled by the prospect. "Well, count me out. I want to get a better look around, and see where the best hunting spots are."

Evelyn nodded absently as she arranged the pillows and coverlet to make a comfortable seat for herself beside the waiting stack of books. "I saw a few cats at the dock today. There might be rats or mice coming off the ships or near the granaries."

"I won't be reduced to competing with cats for a mouthful of vermin," Archie retorted, puffing out his feathered chest. "I intend to go hunting in the woods, as a proper owl should. And those mangy dock cats should be glad for it, as they could only hope to match a hunter like me!"

Evelyn bit back a laugh. "I'm sure."

Archie clacked his beak.

"Well, keep an eye out and see if you can get a better look at how far the blight has spread. The more information I have, the sooner I'll be able to find a solution."

"Yes, yes," Archie replied impatiently. Then, with a pointed look, he flapped one wing. "Ahem. The window, please."

Evelyn stopped her arranging long enough to crack the window, allowing the owl out onto the sill. He bristled at the rain, and for a moment she thought he might change his mind altogether, but he shook his wings and flew out into the early afternoon, heading toward the docks, leaving Evelyn to comb through her books for any information about blights.

And hopefully, some answers.