Obernewtyn

  She gathered him in a bone-crushing embrace and led him to one of the cupboards. She took a tin out and gave it to him.

  "Why, Andra, thank you." Ariel's voice was muffled and amused as he looked inside the tin. He sounded pleased and I wondered what she had given him. I wondered why the cook treated him with such favor. He did not seem a commanding creature. Surely he was only a Misfit, but perhaps he was favored, or an informer. Yet he seemed too arrogant for the latter. Most informers were clinging and contemptible.

  The girl with the knife giggled violently, the blade pressed across her plump cheek as though she fought to stifle her laughter by thrusting her fist down her neck. The knife flashed its silver light, and obscurely, I was reminded of the strange dream I had experienced in the carriage on the way to Obernewtyn. The girl exploded with laughter again and the older woman glared ferociously at her.

  "Ye born noddy-headed thing. Shut yer carrying on an' get back to work." The girl's giggles ceased abruptly and she looked sullenly at me as if I were to blame. Again I noticed the similarity in the features and thought they must surely be mother and daughter.

  "Now, Andra," Ariel was saying. "You recall how I promised you some extra help? Well, you know your Ariel does not lie. Anything I tell you will come to pass," he added with a vaguely fanatical gleam in his eyes. "Well, I have brought you a new helper," he announced, pointing unnecessarily to me. Responding with enthusiasm, the cook launched herself at him with much lip-smacking. I thought with suppressed glee that it served him right. He looked over her shoulder and caught the amusement on my face. He disentangled himself, and with a vicious parting smile, ordered the cook to make sure I worked hard as I was assuredly lazy and insolent. Andra promised to work my fingers to the bone. "An' ye come again to see me, lovey," she cooed as he departed with a look of spiteful satisfaction.

  Immediately the door closed, the daughter leaped toward me, brandishing her knife. "Misfit pig? What sort of help will she be? Ye can see she don't have a brain in her," she sneered venomously, menacing me with the knife. The syrupy smile dropped from the cook's face. She crossed the floor in two steps and dealt her daughter a resounding blow with the wooden spoon.

  "If she has no brains then she'll be a good match for thee, fool that ye are, Lila. Ninny of a girl. If Ariel gives us th' gift of a fool, then ye mun show pleasure," the cook snarled. "Oh th' trials of my life. Yer no good father gives me a fool fer a daughter, then disappears. I have to come to th' end of th' land so ye won't be declared defective. I find a nice powerful boy to bond ye an' yer so stupid I got to do th' charmin' fer ye. Lud knows ye've little enough to offer without gollerin' an' gigglin' like a regular loon," she added succinctly.

  With some amusement, I realized that the cook desired to bond her daughter to Ariel. But why did she say he was powerful? What sort of power could such a young boy possess?

  With a final look of disgust at her daughter, the cook turned to me. "As fer you, no doubt ye are a fool at that. An' work ye hard I will, if that's what Ariel wants. Ye've angered him somehow an' ye mun pay. He'll see ye do. He ain't one to let petty angers gan away. Ye'll learn," she prophesied,

  Turning to the sink, she explained that I was to wash the mountain of dishes and then scour the pots. I looked in dismay at the work ahead. In the orphan homes there had been a great many of us and a share in duties was always light. I nodded, my face dull. She pushed me toward the sink.

  Lila watched this interchange with a sneering expression and I knew I would have trouble with her before long.

  I had been working for hours when the cook announced that the easy work was over since it was nearly time for midmeal. I felt like weeping. Already I was exhausted, but I channeled my despair into fueling a growing hatred of Ariel, whom I regarded as the initiator of my woes. I was hungry, having missed breakfast, but I dared not complain. Lila moaned endlessly and received endless slaps for her pains. I judged it wiser to hold my tongue. Whenever Andra turned to the stove as we set the tables, Lila would torment me with sly pinches and slaps. By noon I loathed her thoroughly and at that moment my sole pleasure lay in devising the sort of tortures I could imagine inflicting on her.

  Presently the cook began to ring a bell. Young people of varying ages came in through the double doors until all the tables were full. Lila and I proceeded to serve them. They did not look at us at all but ate with steady concentration. The meal consisted of chunks of freshly baked bread spread with toasted slabs of cheese, and a bowl of stew.

  The food smells made me feel dizzy. In town, food had seldom been this good or this fresh, but we had never had to work so hard. Here it seemed everybody was expected to work and none of those eating lingered to talk once they had finished. When they rose, their place was taken by another who sat with a hand in the air until they were served. I wondered what they all did.

  After a time, the people who came to eat were of a different sort. None of them put their hands up and they looked around them curiously. I judged them to be new to Obernewtyn like me and I wished bitterly that I could be with them instead of in the kitchen.

  Throughout the long meal, Misfits would arrive and be given trays and pots and pies to take away. I supposed these must serve the favored Misfits, outside helpers and-guardians, not to mention the Doctor and Madam Vega.

  "Ye gan eat now," the cook said suddenly and thrust a plate into my hand. My stomach growled in appreciation. I sat in the nearest seat and devoured my food with relish. Only when I had finished the last morsel did I look up.

  "Hello," said a voice at my elbow. I turned to look at the small girl alongside me. She smiled and I was astonished that anyone would ever want to condemn her. Even her ungainly clothes could not hide the delicacy of her features and her slender bones. Her hair was like cream silk. She looked about twelve and endured my examination without embarrassment. I looked away from her clear, naive gaze as I realized I was staring.

  "I am Cameo," she whispered. I looked at her again and it was difficult not to respond to her smile, but Lila, seated at another table, was leering at me. Cameo did not seem aware of the attention she had focused on us.

  "Really," I said in a repressive voice. I had not meant to hurt her and when the brightness of her face dimmed I wished I had not been so sharp. Obviously the girl was simple. Her simile was crooked, understanding and somehow accepting my rebuff without offense. She bent to finish her meal.

  A sharp cuff on the side of my head signaled that my short respite was over. Stiffly I rose and began to clear plates. The afternoon was taken up with washing all the midmeal dishes and scrubbing the hard, jagged kitchen floor.

  The nightmeal consisted of the remnants of the stew, some crumbled biscuits rather than the bread, and more milk. I was too tired to be hungry.

  Every bone ached and when I was taken by Ariel to my permanent bed, I was too exhausted to care that I was not alone. At that moment the Master of Obernewtyn could have been my roommate and met as little response.

  X

  My initial exhaustion wore off as I became accustomed to the hard physical labor, but that was replaced by a terrible mental despair. I could not endure the thought of going on in such a way forever, and yet there seemed no opportunity of finding Enoch's friend who might be able to help me move to the farms to work.

  I had expected to be taken to the head keeper but apparently Madam Vega had not come back yet from her tour of the Lowlands. It would be some time before she returned.

  I discovered the cook's temper was as precarious as her cooking. If she was in a bad mood, both lila and I suffered from her weighty slaps and sharp tongue. I might have pitied Lila if I had not disliked her so much. She was not even a Misfit yet she had to work as hard as I did. Whenever the cook was not watching, she would be at me. It was terrible until I realized she was even more afraid of her mother than I. After that I gave as good as I got.

  My sole hope was pinned on a conversation I had overheard at midmeal one day implying most of the house workers
went down to work on the farms to prepare for the long wintertime. I prayed that I was right, and that I would be sent to work on the farms. There I might be able to contact Enoch's friend. But I had arrived at Obernewtyn in the spring and my calculations told me no extra workers would be required until at least the beginning of summer.

  I shared my sleeping chamber with four other girls, including the strange disturbed girl I had seen on my first morning, Selmar, who now ignored me. Remembering the mess inside her mind, it would not be surprising if she had forgotten our meeting.

  Sometimes Selmar would appear dazed and she was, I noticed, permitted to wander more freely than the rest of us. Quite often she did not come to her bed at all. Once I caught her watching me with a sly, speculative gaze that would have made me think she was an informer if I had not seen her mind.

  There were surprisingly few guardians at all at Obernewtyn. Most responsibility seemed to be taken by senior and favored Misfits, though none was so favored as Ariel, who turned out to be a Misfit after all.

  Altogether, life at Obernewtyn was a matter of grim endurance rather than terror. I had seen nothing of the mysterious master and had heard nothing of the "treatments," It seemed the rumors were, after all, just that.

  I thought a good deal about Jes. I had imagined myself a loner, never needing anyone, but now I saw that I had never really experienced loneliness. In Rangorn there had always been my parents, and in the homes, there had been Jes and later Maruman. Before, I had discounted Jes, but now I often found myself longing to talk to him, even if we spoke of nothing important. I had mocked and sneered at him; perhaps I had driven him to the Herders. At least they did not laugh at him. The more I thought of it, the greater the wrong I felt I had done him. And I had even suspected him of plotting to kill me or denounce me. I hated the shallowness I now saw in myself. I only hoped he would find what he wanted in life.

  One day, Ariel came to the kitchen to tell me I would be taken on a tour of the farms with some other Misfits. I was ecstatic and even Ariel did not mar the joy that met that day. I had not been outside for so long. All at once I wanted desperately to see the sky and feel the wind.

  After the noon meal, Ariel had instructed me to go to the entrance hall. When I arrived, a boy took me down several halls and outside to a large courtyard. Three girls and a young boy stood waiting when I arrived, all of whom I recognized. The pretty girl who had spoken to me at my first meal smiled at me tentatively., but despite my growing loneliness, I did not smile in return. Beside her was a girl called Helga. Another was a girl I knew only vaguely as a face from the meal table. The last was one of my roommates, a lethargic girl of hulking proportions with a distinct lisp.

  The boy who had brought me returned minutes later with twins, two big fair-haired Norselanders. I stared, wondering what was wrong with them. I could not sense any particular flaw in them, only that they each lacked a hand. My neck prickled and turning, I saw the slight, dark-haired boy was watching me closely. Frowning, I remembered that on the other occasions I had seen him in the kitchen, he had been watching me too. Then I had been too tired and depressed to see any significance in his stare, but now, noting the gleam of intelligence in his dark brown eyes, I wondered. He was very thin but there seemed to be nothing very much wrong with him. As most of Obernewtyn's inmates were Misfits, it was not easy to find out exactly what was wrong with a person.

  Presently Ariel arrived with two more Misfits, and with rising astonishment, I felt the hatred rise from our party directed exclusively at him. I had no reason to like him, but there was something akin to fear in their hatred. Oddly, I noticed that Cameo did not show any fear. Instead she smiled and, to my surprise, he smiled in return, though I thought it rather an unpleasant smile.

  Briefly, he told us we were being taken on this tour in preparation for the harvest, when we would all be working there. Like the kitchen courtyard, this was roofed, but we went through a gate into another courtyard that was open to the air. The sun was shining brightly and I felt mesmerized by it I breamed in the warm mountain air and tasted the coming summer days. I had expected a wan, sickly sunlight but had forgotten this season in Ran-gorn had been hot and bright, though briefer than on the coast

  Three sides of the courtyard were formed by the several-story-high walls of Obernewtyn. Windows pitted the gray expanse like hooded eyes. Above them the roof sloped steeply so that in wintertime the snow would slide off. Again I wondered what had led to the construction of Obernewtyn, so far from anywhere.

  Ariel led us to the fourth wall, beyond which showed the tops of trees. There was no mortar between the bricks of the arch; rather, it was held up by perfect balance of positioning. Certainly someone had possessed an eye for beauty, remembering the carved front-door panels.

  I thought the door would open right onto the farms, but it led into a dim shrubbery. Directly inside, a small grassy path led to the left and right of the gate. In front of us was a thick impenetrable wall of greenthorn. Peer as I might I could not tell what lay beyond it. Ariel steered us to the left and we followed the path a short way until it turned sharply to the right. We walked a few steps and came to a fork. Both ways looked exactly alike, bordered on either side by the towering greenthorn hedge. By now the powerful exotic odor of the greenthorn and the sameness had completely confused my sense of direction and I realized the shrubbery was actually a maze.

  I had heard of mazes but had never seen one before. I could not even use my powers because they were befuddled by the heavy scent in the air. Crushed, the thorn provided a painkiller, but in such concentration, die scent alone seemed to have a numbing effect. If Arrel had left at that moment, I doubt whether we would have found our way out at all.

  It was with some relief we came around a corner and back to the stone wall with its small arched door. But until we emerged from the maze, half-blinded by the strength of the sun after the diffused green light in the maze, we did not see that we had come right through the maze to the other side.

  My eyes were dazzled by the brightness and I looked at the land around in amazement. Neat fields extended for leagues in all three directions and there were barns and fences and livestock everywhere. Dozens of Misfits were working, repairing fences or building them, herding and raking. To the far left was an orchard and there was the unmistakable scent of apples and plums. Ariel led us along one of the many dirt paths leading from the maze toward a group of buildings.

  "The maze door is always locked and there are few at Obernewtyn who know the way through. To stray from the path means death," Ariel said as we walked. The-thought that anyone would want to enter the fragrant green maze made me shudder. Ariel explained that the buildings we approached were where the animals were kept during the wintertime, and beyond them enormous storage silos.

  "As far as you can see in all directions and much farther belongs to Obernewtyn," Ariel said. "We are almost completely self-sufficient here, as indeed we must be, for in wintertime we are completely blocked off from the Lowlands by snow. During that season, everyone will work in the house, spinning and weaving and preparing goods for trading when the spring comes. This enables us to purchase what we cannot produce. Before the wintertime all the food in those silos must be transported to the main house."

  We passed a massive shed, which smelled strongly of animals. Ariel wrinkled his nose delicately but I breathed in deeply because it reminded me of Rangorn,

  "Those are the livestock storage houses. The grain and grasses in those must be enough to feed all the animals throughout the wintertime. One Misfit will remain down here and take care of them until spring. Some of the cows and poultry are transferred to the house courtyards for meat and eggs and milk."

  There was no doubt that it was a highly efficient concern; and the surplus sold must more than cover the few things Obernewtyn wanted. I wondered what happened to the rest of the profits. No doubt some of it was used in purchasing more Misfits.

  Far to the west, beyond the distant line of the wall
around Obernewtyn, was a savage line of mountains. There were more mountains to the east. Busy with my own thoughts, I did not notice Ariel watching me.

  "I see you are interested in the mountains beyond our borders," he sneered. "Look all you please, for you will never see them at less than a distance. Those mountains mean freedom and death for those who attempt to reach them."

  A raucous squealing from behind us broke the tension. We followed Ariel toward a small shed, but before we reached it a man came out carrying a small pig. As he approached, it squealed lustily and I could see that he was not a full-grown man at all but a well-built youth of about nineteen. He set the pig down in a small pen and wiped his hands on his trousers before turning to us. His greeting to Ariel was amicable, yet there was a watchfulness in his manner that puzzled me. I was about to probe him when a Strange thing happened.

  He was telling Ariel about the pig he had just delivered when he broke off midsentence to stare at me with jade-green eyes. Some instinct of danger made me fear I had betrayed myself. I expected him to denounce me, but he seemed suddenly aware that he in turn was watched. He then let his eyes rove over our entire group, but I felt sure he did this only to cover the attention he had paid me.

  Ariel's eyes passed from me to the youth thoughtfully. "This is Rushton," he said. "He is our farm overseer."

  Startled, I realized this was Enoch's friend. The dark youth did not have the air of a Misfit, but Ariel did not choose to tell us his exact status. The overseer gave us a brief description of the farms and crops and the animals thereon, before leaving us to Ariel. His eyes flickered at me with some message too swift to comprehend as he departed.

  That night my dreams were full of shadowed, green eyes conveying messages I could not understand. When I woke the following morning, Selmar and one of the~ other girls eyed me oddly and I knew I had talked in my sleep, though I could hardly have said much to incriminate myself.