"Don't make me beat ya then. Ee'llie was always making me beat her. Come on."
"Who's Ee'llie?
He didn't answer her, just continued dragging her back to the inn where the fat Cloud woman was waiting for them.
"She buried then?" Without waiting for an answer she said to Ja'Nil, "Ya'll work for your keep. We don't abide beggars here."
"I'm not a beggar," Ja'Nil protested. "I don't want a job." She tried to pull her hand free from the innkeeper's grip. "Let go of me."
He shoved her through the doorway into the kitchen before releasing her. "Ya wants to eat don't ya?"
* * *
She was put to work scrubbing out the dirty pots and kettles. "Ya do a good job with the pots and I'll teach ya the innkeeping business. Who knows, if ya does good, someday this could all be yours," the Cloud woman practically cooed to her. "Keep an eye on her," she said in an entirely different tone to the cook. "It's going to be a busy night."
The cook just grunted, but made a point of keeping Ja'Nil well away from the door.
She was not the only girl working in the kitchen. Jaz, a few years older than Ja'Nil, was kept busy sweeping the stone floor and scrubbing out the soot-covered brick ovens. There was something horribly wrong with Jaz's face. The top of her mouth was split right up to her nose. When she spoke, it was almost impossible to understand her. That was why it took several minutes before what she was saying sunk in.
"Ya stay, I guts ya."
"What did you say?"
" Ya stay, I kills ya," hissed the girl.
Ja'Nil stared at her in horror. What was wrong with the world? Suddenly there was danger everywhere she turned. Her hands started trembling. She wanted to burst into tears, lie down on the floor, kick, scream, and have a full-blown tantrum until someone put the world right.
"Why do you want to kill me?" she asked in a voice that trembled.
"This inn gonna be mine. I'll gets me a real healer. Fix me up fine." The girl raised the handle of her broom threateningly. Dust, dirt, and cobwebs showered down on Ja'Nil.
"I'm not going to stay," Ja'Nil assured her. "I just want to go home."
"Me don't care wheres ya go, just go."
"Jaz," yelled the cook. "Get away from her. Do your work."
Jaz flinched as if she had been struck. "Yez, yez," she told the cook, but before she turned away she leaned into Ja'Nil, her eyes intensely mad. Ja'Nil couldn't bear to be so close to that crazy, damaged face. "Don't yas forget," the girl hissed at Ja'Nil, "I gonna guts ya."
The cook, a bulky woman who smelled of sweat and burned onions, thrust herself between Jaz and Ja'Nil. "Ya finished with them pots?" she asked Ja'Nil. "Here, eat this." She put half a loaf of coarse bread and a cup of brownish liquid into Ja'Nil's hands.
The bread was smeared with some sort of grease instead of mare's butter. Ja'Nil retreated to a stool in the corner where she could keep an eye on everyone.
"The cloud person lady, who is she?" Ja'Nil asked the cook.
"Innkeeper's wife."
"His wife!"
"Bossy she is. Keeps a tight eye on everything that goes on, especially on K'epper."
"K'epper?"
"Innkeeper.
"But she's a Clouder and he's an Earther. I thought people could only marry their own race? The cook shrugged her massive shoulders. "Ya can marry anyone ya wants. Just can't have brats, is all." She gave a nasty laugh. "Just as well, don't need any little K'eppers running around."
Despite the disgusting nature of the meal, Ja'Nil gulped the bread and washed it down with the brownish colored water. Only, it wasn't water. Whatever it was, it burned going down, hitting her stomach like a hot stone, making her gasp, cough and breathe through her mouth. "What was that?" she asked when she finally quit coughing.
The cook laughed, "Moon madder, it's called."
Whack! She brought down a heavy butcher knife on a slab of meat, sending half of it sliding off the cutting bock to land on the floor. She picked it up, brushed indifferently at the dust and other bits of dirt attached to the meat and slammed it back on the cutting block. "Jaz, ya worthless piece of rubbish, this here floor, she's filthy."
As she raised her butcher knife to whack off another piece from the slab of meat, Ja'Nil asked, "Who's E'llie?"
"Who told ya about Ee'llie?"
"The innkeeper."
The cook shrugged. "She used to work here. Run off she did."
Jaz cackled crazily, and when she was sure Ja'Nil was looking at her, shook her head madly, and pantomimed stabbing herself in the belly and ripping her guts out. Ja'Nil dropped the cup she had been holding.
Ja'Nil could hear the roars of laughter and yells of drunken men in the main parlor where T'eem and another man passed out mugs of booze as fast as they could pour them.
The innkeeper came into the kitchen, rubbing his hands and smiling his reptilian smile. "Busy night." He stood over her rocking back and forth, smiling indulgently at her. "Ya see how much business we gets? Ya do good and maybe someday," he gestured extravagantly, "all this could be yours."
Ja'Nil blinked dazedly up at him. There seemed to be two of him. Then one of him melted into one, no, two hims. Now all she could see of him was his stubby brown teeth as he smiled.
"What about Jaz?" Ja'Nil heard herself saying. Her voice sounded as if it were coming from a long way away. She stood up slowly, supporting herself by resting her hand on the crumbly wall. "She's supposed to get it all." Ja'Nil spread her arms wide in a perfect imitation of the innkeepers gesture. For some reason the extravagant movement didn't work out. One of her hands smacked hard into the wall, the other almost struck K'epper in the face.
"What the Seven Hells ya talking about?
"She wants a healer," said Ja'Nil, "she said so."
The innkeeper turned a scowling face on the cringing Jaz. "Ya waits ya turn, girl." He reached out and grabbed the terrified Jaz by her hair. "Ya ain't gonna give me no trouble, is ya?"
"No, K'epper, no trouble," Jaz whined. She did not attempt to break free of his hold, just stood passively waiting for whatever he dealt out.
Ja'Nil watched with a strange disconnect. Would he hit the girl?
Just then the Cloud woman came bustling in. "K'epper get outs there," she ordered. Her face was bright green with agitation and damp with sweat. "Ya can'ts take your eyes off T'eem for a second. That dumb ox will give the place away."
K'epper shoved Jaz away from him. "Jadẵ. Jadẵ,"he said.
His wife gave him a poke. "I'll take care of the new one," she said, grabbing hold of Ja'Nil's arm. "Just get in there. There's more beggars than ever there was. Starvin' they say they are."
As her husband disappeared into the other room she turned to the cook. "Did ya give her the Moon Madder, like I told ya?"
Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Ja'Nil by the wrist, "Ya comes wit me." and pulled her along like a fish on a trotline. She pulled her up a narrow, dimly lit staircase. Ja'Nil stumbled after the woman her mind a jumble of half formed images and plans; she would hit the Cloud woman over the head and escape. What would she hit her with? She would punch her in her fat stomach, and escape. What if that didn't work? She'd be mad as all the hells that ever were. Before Ja'Nil could settle on a plan, they arrived at a child-sized door. It screeched loudly as the innkeeper's wife using both hands, opened it..
As soon as the woman let go of her, Ja'Nil turned to run, but the sudden movement caused her head to spin. The cloud woman grabbed her, spun her around and shoved her through the tiny door. Ja'Nil's head scraped against the lintel as she was pushed through. The door slammed shut behind her.
Ja'Nil landed on her knees, her head spinning, her stomach threatening to give up the bread she had recently eaten. Behind her, she could hear a bar being slammed down across the door.
After a moment her stomach settled. Her head no longer felt as if it were spinning like a Daisy Top, now it seemed to be floating off somewhere on its own, light as a feather, while the rest
of her body moved with the slow motions of an underwater swimmer. What was in that drink the cook had given her?
She had landed on her knees. Her head was down, her eyes closed. Finally, she raised up and looked around. She was in some sort of storage place, an attic, filled with strange shapes, odd pieces of wood, dust and spider webs and creepy-crawly sounds. At least there was enough light to see things. She saw two large dormer windows, both open at the top for ventilation. A magical purple light came through the windows, making everything it touched look otherworldly, and in the case of the attic, both shabby and dangerous. The purple light! She had forgotten it was the six-month rise of Purple Moon. No wonder the inn was so busy.
Many people believed the moon had healing powers. There were always celebrations and ceremonies on this night. It was said that perfectly healthy people would dance naked in its light in the hopes of living forever. Ja'Nil had never actually seen anyone do that, but she had heard about it. How would the Purple Moon affect the innkeeper and his Clouder wife? She shuddered at the thought.
I have to get out of here.
The ceiling was too low for her to stand so she scrambled on her hands and knees to one of the windows. It overlooked a courtyard filled with men who were either drinking, fighting, cheering on the fighters or just baying at the moon; definitely not a means of egress.
The other window overlooked the stables and the hill where her aunt was buried. There was no one in sight.
Two problems faced her; she was three floors up and the window, although slightly open at the top, absolutely refused to open from the bottom.
Well, she thought, either I wait here for K'epper and his wife to come for me or I can… She picked up a slab of wood that was lying on the floor, swung with all her might and smashed out the bottom windowpane. Shattered glass flew everywhere. Ja'Nil continued smashing until the frame was as free of glass as she could make it. All that smashing felt so good she considered attacking the top window, too. But as much as she enjoyed it, smashing windows was not the point.
She poked her head out. Still no one around. Still three floors up. Ja'Nil sat down and took her shoes off. She tossed them out the window, then climbed as carefully as she could through the broken window. The walls of the inn were in terrible shape. She felt carefully with her toes for notches and irregularities, and started down.
Aside from two small cuts from the broken glass in the window, she did pretty well until she was about six feet above ground. A brick under her feet crumbled, her fingers slipped and slithered across the rough wall, and down she fell. She landed on her rear, rolled unto her stomach then staggered to her feet. Ouch! Her hip. She took a few careful steps; it hurt, but she could definitely walk.
Sitting on the grass, she was putting her shoes back on when T'eem, carrying a barrel over one shoulder, came around the corner. He stopped as soon as he saw her.
"How'd ya gets out here?"
She pointed up at the broken attic window. His eyes followed her pointing finger. When he registered the broken window his mouth dropped open, then he grinned. "K'epper gonna be mad enough to blow his eyeballs outta his head."
"Don't tell," she pleaded.
He studied her. "K'epper said I coulds marry ya, maybe ."
"Marry me?"
"Ya told K'epper ya likes me."
She stared at him wide-eyed. "I do, but… but I have to go home now."
He looked away from her. "Ya don't really likes me, do ya?"
She hesitated. "T'eem, I have to go now. Please don't tell."
Still looking away from her, he nodded, hoisted the barrel back onto his shoulder and walked off.
"Thank you," she called after him.
He didn't look back.
Now, to get as far away from the No Where Inn and K'epper as possible, as quickly as possible. Despite the ache in her hip, and the weird, disconnected feeling in her head, she limped off.
CHAPTER 6
As she traveled, the moon poured down its purple light, covering the world with beauty. Even the air seemed to smell different, like sweet wine that soaked into her very soul. She felt as light as a jinni puffball able to drift on the purple breeze all the way home to safety. Nothing could hurt her. Smiling to herself, Ja'Nil wandered into the nearby trees. She could hear a brook off somewhere, singing in the wilderness. She followed the sound. Around her, small insects played their joyful concert. What a wonderful night.
"Beautiful purple woods," she sang to herself as she wandered farther and farther from the inn and deeper and deeper into the forest. At times she danced clumsily in a circle, pointing her toes and giving little jumps. "I'm just a pretty puffball in the woods," she sang. She imagined herself a graceful, curvaceous creature, admired by all the wood-folk. Perhaps when she returned to her village she would make her living as a dancer. And a singer! "Why not," she sang to no known tune. "Alas and alack, just a poor little dancer am I."
She reached for a high note on alas and alack, but it came out more as a screech. Screechy enough to make one of the wood-folk, in this case a large, buck-toothed rabbit, bathed in the last of the magical purple light, leap with fright and bound off. Ja'Nil blinked in surprise and slowly looked around her.
The moon was setting, the purple deepening into darkness. All around her dark shadows swayed and moved with the wind that had sprung up. She wrapped her arms around herself and planted her feet more firmly on the ground. Her head was no longer floating as light as a feather. Instead it had settled with painful vengeance into a headache. Her stomach roiled. With a gasp, she leaned over and was thoroughly sick upon the ground where she had just been dancing. Ugh!
Still on her knees, she spat and spat, trying to clear her mouth of the horrible taste. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move, and spun around. Bad idea. Empty stomach or no, she gagged again. There was something out there! Something with glowing eyes.
She staggered to her feet, grabbed up a fallen branch, and turned to face whatever it was. Had she really seen something? She was dizzy again. She stumbled away into the forest. The branch that she held was rotted through and it broke into pieces as it banged against trees. A line of a song that a traveling Player had once sung kept repeating itself in her head. "Something wondrous, this way comes. Something wondrously wicked."
Was it just her imagination, or was she really being followed? Overhead a large shadowy figure glided past. The air, disturbed by its passing, brushed against her skin. She ducked. Behind her, she heard an animal scream as flying death caught it up.
"It's just an owl," she told herself. "Nothing is following you. Get a grip." That's what her mother always used to say to her father, 'get a grip'. But her mother always laughed when she said it, and Daddy always winked back at her.
Ja'Nil couldn't find anything laughable about her situation. She plunged farther into the forest.
It wasn't bravery that finally stopped her flight. Purple Moon was down. Every step she took was a step into pure darkness. Trees banged into her, vines caught at her, holes tripped her. For all she knew she was traveling in circles. Maybe she was even returning to the inn.
Exhausted, she sank down cross-legged and leaned against the rough bark of a tree to await First Sun's rise.
Still leaning against the tree, she straightened her legs and turned on her side, slowly slipping down until she was stretched out full length on the thin grass. Making a mumbling irritated sound, she swept away some pebbles that lay under her cheek. With a sigh, she turned halfway onto her stomach, cradled her head on her hands, and slept.
***
White Moon rose. It shed its pale light down through the trees onto the gap in which Ja'Nil slept. Into the clearing walked a great wolf.
His coloring was silvered, and disguised by the moonlight, but and his eyes were a piercing yellow. Carefully, he moved within an arm's length of the sleeping human and studied her intently. The two cuts she had sustained climbing out of the window still seeped blood.
Invol
untarily, he licked his lips. Saliva dripped from his jaws. He moved closer. His paws were bigger than both her hands. He opened his mouth wide and stretched his long body from his tail to his head, closing his mouth with a wolfish grin. His nose almost touched her face. He sniffed her sweat-dried hair, the dusty attic smell on her torn tunic, the dew soaked leather of her worn boots, the child-woman odor of her.
Of a sudden came the sound of crunching leaves. The wolf whirled, his lips drawing back in a silent snarl. Without another look at the sleeping Ja'Nil, he melted back into the forest.
CHAPTER 7
Unaware of the wolf, Ja'Nil slept on, her mind back on her father's boat again.
She finally reaches her little brother, Yonny. He clings to her sobbing, terrified of the unforgiving waves that break over the rails and bury him under their breath-stealing weight. She lifts him into the dingy and ties his harness to an imbedded ring. Between sobs he tries to talk to her, but the storm snatches his words out of his mouth and whirls them away.
She shakes her head at him. "I can't hear you," she screams. He screams back at her, but this time there is a sudden lull in the roar of the storm and his words are as clear as the village chimes calling people to prayer.
"Daddy, I want Daddy!" His little face is pinched with cold, his eyes almost rolling with hysteria.
"Stay here," Ja'Nil says and turns to make her way back to their father. Before she can reach him, another wave crashes into the boat, throws her against what's left of the bridge and smashes her head unto the deck, cracking a rib. Her left arm snaps like a twig. The world spins away.
Moments pass. She opens her eyes. She lies on the deck: dazed, soaked, cold and disoriented. Her left arm is bent at an impossible angle; blood seeps from a cut on her head. She turns her head slowly and looks over at Yonny. He has slipped out of his harness and is crawling towards her. "No," she screams. "Stay there, stay in the dingy."
* * *
"You're dreaming," said a voice. A real voice. She sat up quickly.
A man sat cross-legged about five feet away from her. He had built a small campfire and he was busy munching on a roasted Gundi bird leg.
Before Ja'Nil even had time to be afraid, the smell of the cooked meat reached her. Her stomach cramped with hunger.