Elsa Crane's Arc

Chapter 8 of 66

The hut filled fast. Villagers pressed against the driftwood walls, boots wet, faces raw with cold. Elsa took her seat at the woven table near the hearth. Ripe berries hung from its vines. Bottles of tincture and bundled herbs sat between her hands. Brynn set the basket down beside them and stood at Elsa's right shoulder, cardigan still buttoned to the throat, smile still in place. The wolf lay across Elsa's feet. Elsa spoke first. She told them a search was underway. She told them the baker had gone missing too and might be part of it. She did not tell them what she had sent into the tunnels. Brynn passed berries to the mother of the taken boy and held her hand while she cried. The room quieted. Elsa watched Brynn's fingers close over the woman's knuckles. The grip was steady. The smile did not move. When the crowd thinned, Elsa asked Brynn to stay. Nora shut the door and stood against it. "You didn't ask me what I sent after Jonas," Elsa said. "You'll tell me if I need to know." "You didn't ask about the boy either." "You're bringing him home." Brynn selected a berry from the vine table and set it on a saucer. "Elder. You brought me here because we're the same. Say what you want to say." Elsa pulled a small bottle from the herbs and set it between them. Sleeping draught. Nora had brewed it that morning. "Drink this, and sleep in the back room until the boy is found. Or refuse, and walk out with Nora behind you." Brynn's smile held. "A test." "A choice. I need to know if you'll follow an elder or replace one." Brynn looked at the wolf. The wolf looked back. She picked up the bottle. "The neighbors I disliked went quiet on their own, Elsa. I never lifted a hand. I only stopped bringing berries." She pulled the cork. "But you did lift a hand. Today. I heard it in how you said Jonas's name." She drank it down. Set the bottle on the table. Sat in the chair by the hearth and closed her eyes. In under a minute her breathing slowed. Elsa exhaled. Not a rival. Not yet. A woman who would take the cup and wait. "Watch her," she told Nora. "If she wakes before I say, use the shovel." Nora nodded and sat by the hearth. Elsa stood. Her knees ached. She had her successor asleep in a chair, chosen but not yet crowned. The village believed the elder was acting. The boy was still underground. The horned one had not returned. She looked at the wolf. "Passage," she said. The wolf rose. She would go down herself now. Whatever came back up the stairs of the old house, she needed to be the one who met it first.