Thornwyn Mossbrook's Arc

Chapter 6 of 38

Thornwyn slept badly. She woke thinking of the elf's hands around the apple. A man could hold a fruit like that from hunger or from grief. She could not tell which. If she guessed wrong, she risked the girl. If she guessed cruel and he was kind, she risked something else — the girl had a father, and Thornwyn had no right to close that door without looking through it first. She fed the girl porridge and watched her eat. The girl held the spoon with both hands. She had not spoken in the four days she had lived here. She flinched at the door latch and settled when Thornwyn sat close. "I have to walk out for an hour," Thornwyn said. "The deer will stay with you. The ward will hold. I'll be back before the shadow reaches the step." The girl's face went tight. Thornwyn took her hand. "There's a man in the woods," she said. "I need to know who he is. I won't bring him here." The girl studied her. Then she nodded once and let go. Thornwyn set the piebald deer at the doorstep. Its long tail flicked against the boards. It turned its patchwork flank to the yard and lowered its head to graze where it could still see the girl through the window. "Anything crosses the line, you come find me," Thornwyn told it. She took the ridge path with her staff. She found him where the deer had found him before, under the same birch. He was peeling bark from a stick with a small knife. He did not have the satchel today. He had a folded piece of cloth on his knee. A child's shirt. Small. Grey wool. Thornwyn stepped out from the pines. He stood fast. The knife stayed low at his side. His face did the thing the girl's face did when startled — the same pull at the mouth. "I'm not here for a fight," he said. His voice was hoarse, like a man who had not used it in a while. "I heard a woman took her from the home. I wanted to see her walking." "You left her there a year," Thornwyn said. "I was in a cell a year." He held up the shirt. "This was hers. I kept it." Thornwyn's chest went hot, then cold. She believed him. She hated that she believed him. "Come to the ward at noon tomorrow," she said. "Stand outside it. I'll bring her to the window. She decides if she wants to see your face. If she turns away, you leave this forest." He swallowed. "And if she doesn't turn away?" "Then we talk." He folded the shirt with both hands and nodded. Thornwyn walked home. The deer lifted its head at her step. The girl was at the window, waiting. Thornwyn had chosen. Tomorrow the girl would choose too.