Elspeth Starkenburg's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

Roslyn found Elspeth at the barn door the next morning. Apple sat in the hay, watching them both. Roslyn crouched beside the girl and spoke plainly. "The man who owns this barn wants the cat gone. She scares his hens off their nests." Elspeth felt her stomach drop. Apple had a name now. Apple had rubbed against her ankle. And a stranger could drive her off before she ever slept on the pillow. Elspeth did not cry. She thought about her father, who liked people who fed him without being asked. He said you got what you wanted by showing up and being useful. So she went to the cottage and pulled Amalia's sleeve. "Please. Help me talk to the farmer. Both of you." Amalia rubbed her tired eyes. She did not reach for the flask on her belt. "Talking's not my strong suit," she said. "But I can stand behind you and look mean. Come on." Roslyn wiped her hands on her leather apron and nodded. "I know Heinrich. He drinks my brandy. Let's go." They found the old farmer by the hen house. He wore a straw hat and a scowl. He held a bucket of feed and glared at the barn. "That white beast circles my hens like a wolf," he said. "She goes. Today." His voice was rough as gravel. Elspeth stepped forward before Amalia could speak. Her hands shook, but she kept talking. "She's not hunting your hens, sir. She's hunting mice. Mice steal your feed. Look." She pointed at the gnaw marks along the bucket's rim. Heinrich looked down. He frowned harder, but he looked. Roslyn spoke next, plain and sure. "A barn without a mouser loses more grain than any hen's worth. My grandfather kept two cats. He never lost a sack." Heinrich grunted. He turned the bucket in his hands and studied the chewed edge. "The hens are jumpy," he said. "That's real." Amalia crossed her arms. "Then the cat leaves the barn at night and sleeps at the cottage. Off your land after dark. Hens rest. Mice still die." She said it flat, like a soldier reporting. Heinrich squinted at her scar, then at the small girl beside her. The old man was quiet a long moment. He pushed his hat back. "She keeps the mice down, she can stay in the daytime," he said. "But I want her out of my barn come dusk. Every night. That's the deal." Elspeth's heart pounded. "Every night," she repeated. "She comes to the cottage every night." That was exactly what she wanted. She almost laughed. Heinrich waved them off and went back to his hens. Roslyn squeezed Elspeth's shoulder. Amalia said nothing, but the corner of her mouth twitched. Elspeth looked back at the barn. Apple watched from the hay. The farmer would not drive her off now. But keeping her was Elspeth's job now. She had to make Apple choose the cottage over the barn, every single dusk, on her own.