Ginger princess's Arc

Chapter 7 of 7

The horses ate through the night and slept sound. The ginger princess did not. She stood on the cabin porch and watched the ridge. The ward burned green and rose above the valley, brighter than the moon. She could see the shape of the far trees inside its light. Anyone within a day's ride could see it too. "It's a beacon," she said when Thomas came out with two cups. "We might as well have lit a fire on the roof." Thomas handed her a cup. "Then let it burn. Any man who crosses it drops before he reaches the gate." "You're sure of that." "I built it that way. Bad intent hits the ward and the ward hits back. Fever. Weak legs. They turn around or they crawl." Fancy Pants stepped out behind them, barefoot on the boards. She had heard enough. "Someone's already coming," she said. The ginger princess looked where Fancy Pants looked. Two lanterns on the ridge. Then a third. Then six, spread wide, moving down the slope toward the barrier. Thomas set his cup on the rail. "Stay here." "No," the ginger princess said. "If the ward works, we watch it work. If it doesn't, you'll need us." They walked down past the old open stable, past the hitching post, out to the edge of the grain plot. The lanterns came on. The ginger princess counted them again. Eight now. The first man reached the ward line and stopped. He swayed. The lantern dropped from his hand and went out in the grass. He sat down hard and did not get up. A second man pushed past him and made three steps inside the light. He fell to his knees and vomited. A third turned back before he touched it and ran. But one kept walking. A thin figure, no lantern, hands empty. He crossed the ward line and did not slow. The rose-green light washed over him and he kept his feet. Thomas drew his sword. "Wait," Fancy Pants said. The man came into the plot's edge and stopped a spear's length from them. He was young. His face was wet. He looked at the ginger princess and not at the blade. "I heard the horses," he said. "I walked from the mill. My sister sent me. She said you'd take a boy who knew how to muck a stall." The ginger princess felt her knees try to soften. She kept them. The ward had sorted him from the others. True-hearted, Thomas had said. The ward had said it too. "You can stay," she said. The bunkhouse is furnished. Be up early there’s much work to do to earn your keep