Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning, Rona startled me when she woke me at dawn. "Mistress Nyett wondered if you'd care to have breakfast with her," she said. "She's waiting in her private chamber."

I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus. I was used to starting the morning off with a cup of kieve, an herb tea that both energized and fortified. Right now, my mind was still a giant fluffball, cloudy with lots of haze.

"I…thank you. Let me wash up?—"

"The Mistress says for you to come right away, that you can use the washroom inside." Rona started to turn, then paused. "Oh, she asks you to bring the bride-dress as well."

Startled—Nyett was already married—I merely nodded and pushed back the quilt, shivering as the morning air hit me. I'd slept in my clothes, and as I followed Rona out of the stables, the box with the bride-dress under my arm, I saw that it was raining.

The drops were coming down, icy fat droplets spattering on the cobblestones around us. I pulled up my hood and we dashed across the distance separating the stables from the inn.

As Rona held the door for me, I hurried in, my gaze going automatically toward the central fireplace. The dining room was empty, save for the servants I recognized from the restaurant. Jet was there, and a couple of the cleaning women, as well as two guards that Nyett had hired for protection against wayward visitors. They were eating, and the smell of breakfast lingered in the air.

"Follow me," Rona said, leading me toward the back. Apparently, Nyett's suite of rooms was on the main floor.

I followed her through a long hall to the end, where she tapped on the door. Nyett's voice echoed out, and Rona opened the door, leading me in.

"Asajia, you're here. Good," Nyett said. "Breakfast, Rona, for two."

Rona curtsied and vanished back down the hall.

I turned to Nyett. "Morning. You wanted to see me?"

"You brought the bride-dress? Oh, wonderful. I'd like to see it, please." She settled in an arm chair and motioned to my package. I set the package on the table, but Nyett shook her head. "Breakfast will be here any moment. Please, if you would sit on the divan, and open the box?"

I followed directions. I really had no idea what she wanted. I shook the dress out and held it up. The dress was a fall of gauzy tiers, over a heavier linen sheath. It was ivory, in color, dyed from the best tea in the land, and the weaving still looked perfect to me. Light blue beads, carved from gemstones, dappled the dress. It must have taken months to make this. The dress shimmied with soft sounds as I moved it, the beads gently kissing one another.

"Oh, that's lovely," Nyett said. "My daughter's getting married, and unfortunately, my sister got my mother's bride-dress. I wore an every day outfit, and I want something more for my daughter. This…this is beautiful, and it looks like it would fit her. I promised I'd find her a dress and I can easily custom this to her before the spring wedding."

My heart leapt. I knew I needed to sell the dress, but I also wanted it to go to someone who would love it. "You think she'd like this?"

Nyett nodded. "I can add some pale green beads to compliment the blue. Yes, I think she'll love it. How much are you asking?"

That stalled me. I needed thirty-six more gold coins to make the tithe, more if I were to have anything left over. But I didn't have a clue how much bride-dresses went for.

Nyett must have seen the confusion on my face because she said, "I would pay fifty gold for a new one. How about, since this is already made and not new, thirty gold?"

I worried my lip. "Do you happen to need any meat, as well?" If I couldn't get full price, I'd have to check elsewhere first. Yet, I didn't want to chance losing a sale.

"You need money," Nyett said. It was a statement, not a question.

I nodded. "Yes, I didn't want anyone to know how desperately I need coin, but you're right. I need at least thirty-six gold, or I'll be in trouble. I have to pay off debts my mother left."

"I think I can manage forty coins," Nyett said. "And yes, I also need meat. How much do you have?"

"Come look," I said, handing her the dress. I knew she wouldn't stiff me. She was a shrewd business woman, but she was honest.

She followed me out to the stables, where I showed her the packages of aged meat. "Most of it's venison, two turkeys and bacon from a wild pig I met in the woods." There was probably a good seventy pounds of meat on the sledge.

"I'll give you an extra twenty coins for the meat."

It was worth more, but I wasn't going to argue. That would give me twenty-four coins above what I needed, and that was a good start on next year's tithe.

"Deal. Thank you." I followed her back inside, after she bade Jet to unload the sledge and take the meat into the pantry cellar.

As she counted out the coins, wrapping them in a soft cloth, I ate my breakfast. Rona had brought in porridge and fruit and cheese. Nyett didn't ask me what debts I was facing, and I didn't offer an explanation. Instead, we chatted about her daughter's upcoming wedding, about my mother's death, and life in general.

Coin in hand—or rather, stuffed into my bodice where nobody would notice it—I started for home early in the morning. I had expected to take all day trying to sell my goods, and now that I had the money in hand, I was anxious to return and pay the tithe as soon as I could. The day was rainy, though, and traveling was harder. Yaran didn't like the thunder that echoed around us, and although I did my best to shelter beneath my hooded cloak, even water resistant leather with a coating of duck fat still ended up soaking wet.

Finally, shortly after sunset, I arrived back in town and, as soon as I settled Yaran in his stall, I headed for my house. As I approached the door, I saw what looked like a Lien Notice plastered on the door.

"Crap! Why couldn't he wait just one more day," I muttered, ripping the paper off the wall. I unlocked the door and let myself in, stopping to light the lantern near the front door. I carried it through the house, making sure nobody had broken in, then built a fire and settled in the rocking chair next to the hearth. Then, and only then, did I take a deep breath and examine the paper.

Asajia Wildwalker:

Dated: Day 12 of the Ice Moon, Year 10, Cycle of the Dragon. Delivered by rights of the Magistrate of Renmark, People of the Snow. I, Sheriff Lief Garimorn, am authorized to summon you to stand trial for failure to pay your annual tithes. You are summoned to the Tribunal Court tomorrow (Day 13), at midday. If you do not appear, you will be arrested for non-payment of tithes.

I stared at the notice. I had thought it was a lien, which would stand till I paid the tithes, but this was a summons. It went a step beyond a lien. With a groan, I glanced out the window. It was dark, and Sanya was most likely asleep. I desperately needed to talk, but I didn't want to mess up her schedule.

"Surely, if I'm able to pay the tithe, they'll excuse this," I whispered, trying to reassure myself. There wasn't much I could do until noon tomorrow, so I finally stripped, washed up, then dressed in a comfortable nightgown and ate dinner. I had the coins to pay the tithe, plus more. But something told me to hide the extra.

Without knowing why, other than paranoia, I began to stitch the extra coins, along with the ones hidden beneath the floorboards, into the lining of my cloak. I could always remove them, but this way, they were hidden and the sheriff couldn't steal them as an extra punishment.

Weary and my stomach fluttering with butterflies, I finally crawled in bed, but it was difficult to sleep and my dreams were filled with fire and ice.

Morning came with a thin layer of snow on the ground. I dressed as nice as I could, wearing one of my mother's dresses and my blue cloak with the coins sewn inside. I brushed my hair back. Long and coppery red, my locks fell to my lower back. I couldn't wear my hair in braids. Those were reserved for married women, at least in our village. So, I tried to tame the cascade of curls with a ponytail. I slicked balm on my lips to keep them from chapping, and—carrying a purse with my coins for the tithe inside—I shut the door firmly behind me and walked the distance to the Council House.

The Council House was in the center of the village, with cobblestone steps leading up to the landing. Here, the Magistrate and sheriff spent their days. Most of the guards spread out through the town to keep the peace, except for those left to personally watch over the Magistrate.

The building was made of stone, built to last and built to weather the harsh winters. It was three stories high. Below the ground floor was the dungeon where prisoners were held. Two guards stood next to the entrance, patting down everyone who entered the building. One of them was female, she attended to the women. The other was a massive man, whose chest was as broad as a barrel. I couldn't imagine any man except a warrior standing up to him.

I held out my arms, letting the female guard pat me down, though I prayed she wouldn't find the coins I'd sewn into my hem. But she did a perfunctory job and, bored, waved me through.

As I entered the Council House and walked over to the woman behind a desk, I handed her my summons paper and she glanced at it. "You can go into Room 4. It's up the stairs over there, first door on the right." She motioned to a side staircase, barely registering my face. At least I didn't feel like I was on their most wanted list. Nobody had jumped forward to arrest me on my immediate appearance.

"Thank you," I murmured, then headed for the stairs. As I rested my hand on the polished banister, my dread grew with each step. While I was relieved that, so far, nobody seemed too concerned with my presence, the unknown had played too long at my feet the past few years. It was always scary to face an authority figure. Especially one who could strip every dime you had from you.

Room 4 was a small room, with a mahogany table at the back of the room, and several benches facing the table. There were two other people there, each sitting on a bench. One was a man, the other an older woman. I wondered what their crimes were, or if they were plaintiffs, here to bring a complaint against someone else. I wasn't sure who either was, though I thought I had seen the man around town. I settled myself on the furthermost back bench, closest to the door, to wait.

We didn't have to wait long. Within moments, a door near the desk opened and Sheriff Leif Garimorn entered the room, a guard by his side. The guard motioned for the three of us to stand, and, without a word, we obeyed.

Garimorn wasn't tall, but he walked with authority. I cringed, wanting to hide. He was a gaunt man, harsh in his thinness, but wiry with muscle tone, and his blonde hair streamed over his shoulders, while his narrow nose ridged like a mountain down his face.

He watched the world through sharp blue eyes, dark and seething like the sea, and though he maintained himself with an aloof stature, I could see the pent up hunger in his gaze and it made me want to hide. Leif was known around town for abusing his servant women and forcing his wife to accept that he bedded them at will.

As he settled himself behind the table and the guard nodded for the three of us to sit, one of the Tribunal recorders entered the room and she sat to his right.

I immediately lowered myself to the bench, wishing that I'd thought of selling my mother's bride-dress before the tithe was due, rather than after.

"Tribunal is now in session. Record that this is the thirteenth day of the Ice Moon, Year 10, Cycle of the Dragon."

The recorder obediently wrote down the notes in a massive leatherbound book. "Done."

Leif Garimorn stared at the three of us, his gaze falling on me. "We'll start with her," he said, pointing at me. The guard motioned for me to approach the desk.

Reluctantly, I crossed to the front of the room, standing squarely in front of the sheriff. I handed him the piece of paper. He took it, then looked me over, from head to toe. I shivered. Something was off. I could feel it.

"What do you have to say for yourself? Your tithe is late. Not only that, but your mother didn't pay the tithe for your household last year. So you owe us for two years." His eyes narrowed. "You're father was Bjorn Wildwalker, wasn't he?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir. He died, and then my mother died a few months ago. That's why the tithe is late."

"She wasn't dead last year, was she?" His voice cut like a razor.

I felt like he'd slapped me in the face, but I wasn't going to let him see me squirm. "No, sir. But we were adjusting to my father's death and trying to figure out what to do." I hesitated, then said, "I have the coin necessary to pay both last year's tithe, and this year's."

His eyes glistened at the mention of money, but then he paused, holding my gaze again. "Stand back a few steps."

Swallowing, I obeyed. This wasn't going the way I wanted it to. "Yes, sir." The sir was important. Always show respect to the authorities. It was one of the first things I had been taught as a child.

The sheriff stood, walking around the desk. He circled me, still staring, his gaze fastened on my breasts. I wished to hell that I'd dressed in a shapeless bag now, or a loose tunic and trousers. But I did my best to stand straight, facing forward, and not react.

Finally, he returned to his seat and, without looking up, he said, "I'm going to make an example of you…for the village. You had ample opportunity to pay your debt over the past year. While I can forgive the lateness on this year's payment due to your mother's death, I simply can't absolve you of letting an entire year go by without fulfilling your obligation."

At that, I panicked. I didn't want to end up in the dungeon. "But I have the coin?—"

"Oh, you'll pay the coin, but I sentence you to work in my employ. You'll live in my household and take care of the needs of my wife for the next five years. Your lease is forfeit, everything in your house is forfeit except for your clothing and personal items, and you're to report to my house tomorrow morning." He sounded so smug I wanted to smack him. "If you aren't on my doorstep tomorrow morning at sunrise, the guards will hunt you down and drag you back in shackles. You may return home to pack your personals."

He turned to the recorder. "Noted?"

She nodded, a blank look on her face. "Noted, milord."

He turned back to me. "Pay the coin on your way out and report to my house tomorrow."

Sick to my stomach, I approached the recorder and handed her the coin. She wrote out a receipt and marked my account as paid in the ledger. As I turned to go, she caught my gaze and gave me a sympathetic look. She knew what I was in for.

As soon as I was outside the building, I began to panic. But I caught myself before I spiraled. I needed a plan, and I needed it now.

If I did as ordered, I'd be at Leif's mercy, and the way he had looked at me, I had no doubt that he was going to push his way into my bed, and by the time my servitude would be over, I'd be out on the streets with a broken spirit, and if I was unlucky, a child or two. I couldn't stay in the village, that was a fact.

"I have to talk to Sanya," I muttered, hurrying through the streets to the bakery. Everybody knew I was friends with Sanya, so it wouldn't seem strange if Garimorn's spies saw me.

Renmark was busy at this time of day. Early afternoon was the time when housewives shopped for the family and when business was done. I ignored those who gave me the side-eye, who still remembered my father and the bear.

I darted out of the way of a horse pulling a cart, its hooves clattering along the cobblestone square, and then, a light flutter landed on my eyelashes and I looked up to see tiny snowflakes floating down. The sky was shining with a silverish hue, and I could smell a stronger storm on the horizon.

As I pushed through the bakery doors, the warm, crusty smell hit me and my stomach rumbled. Even panic couldn't stop my belly from protesting.

Sanya's husband Ren was behind the counter. He took one look at me and called for Sanya to come out from the kitchen. I glanced around the room. Thank heavens I was the only one here. As Sanya appeared, I hurried over to her, the panic growing.

"I need help. First, is there anybody else here?" I wasn't sure if there was anyone else in back.

She locked the door and led me to one of the three small tables in the shop. "Sit down. We're alone. What's the matter? What happened? Did you fetch enough for the fines?"

I folded my arms, rocking back and forth. "I went in to the Tribunal today. I had the payment, but the asshole sheriff not only took the money, but he ordered me to join his household for five years as a servant. You know what that means."

Sanya drew a sharp breath. She, like every woman in the village, knew what Leif Garimorn was like. "What are you going to do?"

"I can't hide in the village. He'd find me and then any punishment would be worse," I said, my voice strained. I stared at the floor. "There's nothing else to do. I have to leave. I can't stay here. I can't stand the thought of him touching me and you know I won't make it through without his hands on me. The thought makes me sick. I'd probably try to stab him and then I'd be hung out on the gallows."

Sanya was silent for a moment. She also knew that there was no going back. Once the sheriff pronounced sentence, there was no chance it would be changed. We lived in a harsh land, and both Garimorn and the Magistrate were harsh men.

"Where will you go?" she asked.

"I suppose into the woods. I can hunt, I can fend for myself. I don't have much time to find good shelter for the winter, but maybe I can make my way down below the Leanderial line. It's still rough in winter, but if I can head south far enough, I might be able to find work and make a new life. Become one of the People of the Sun, I guess."

The whole idea of leaving the place I'd spent my life in for the unknown was terrifying, but the thought of being Leif Garimorn's bed-slave was even worse. And that's what would happen. Luckily for me, he thought I'd be too scared to do anything else. The stakes were life-and-death if anyone left the village to strike out on their own, especially at this time of year.

"I guess I need to figure out how to get out of here without him knowing," I said. "I'll have to move fast, but I can't leave until dark."

"I can come over and help you pack," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "We'd hide you, if we could."

"Given my sentence is for five years, nobody could hide me for that long and be safe. No, I need to leave tonight, or I'll miss my chance. It's easier to run away before he brands me than after." That was another thing Garimorn was known for. He branded his indentured servants like cattle. And they were scarred for life with the claim of his ownership.

I stood, forcing the tears back. I'd have time enough for crying once I was on the road. "I don't think he'll expect me to run—it's a dangerous time of year for anybody to challenge the forests. The snows have started and will only get worse from here on."

"How much food can you carry?" Ren asked. He'd been listening in the corner.

"I can carry only what Yaran and I can manage. I don't dare take the sledge. I hate to ask it, but if you have cheese and bread? They're good staples for the road. I have a water flask at home, several actually. They belonged to my father. I'll only be taking a couple outfits. My mother left me a couple baubles. They aren't worth much but I'd hate for Leif to get his grimy paws on them. I want you to take them and sell them next time you're down south of the Leanderial line. It will give you some payback for your help," I said. "If you can come over tonight…maybe mention in front of the guards that you're going to help me get ready for tomorrow?" It wasn't much, but it might give me a little leeway.

"I'll be over shortly. Meanwhile, here, take a small basket of bread and cheese, so it won't look like you're stocking up. I'll bring more when I come." Sanya fixed a basket with a loaf of bread, a small round of cheese, and several sweets, handing it to me at the door. "You had the coin," she whispered, looking frightened.

"He said he's making an example of me. He doesn't want anybody to question his authority." With that, I gave them both a hug and headed for home, trying to shake the feeling that someone was watching me.