Peter Brett - The Skull Throne

Advice on the contract, Rojer thought. Meaning she can dicker the dower, but the marriage is happening.

“And if she tells me it’s a bad match?” Rojer said.

“It is a sister’s right to raise such concerns.” Amanvah gave Rojer a cold look. “But she had best have good reason, not some greenland prudishness.”

Rojer swallowed, but he nodded. He closed the door and stepped away as Amanvah rang her bell and the driver took off for Shamavah’s restaurant.

Gatherers were filing away to their own coaches or heading down the road in groups, chatting animatedly and clutching the books Leesha was handing out as they left.

“I’m too old to be an apprentice again,” one hag was saying as he approached. She smelled like incense and tea, dry and stale.

“Nonsense,” Leesha said.

“Not as fit as I used to be,” the woman continued as if Leesha had not spoken. “Can’t be coming all the way out here all the time.”

“I’ll arrange lessons in your own barony,” Leesha said. “I have apprentices who can teach you the basics of warding, and help train your own.”

“Corespawned if I’m going to take lessons from some girl that ent reddened her wadding yet,” the woman snapped. “Ent had an apprentice in a dozen years. I was retired before the Krasians came.”

Leesha’s eyes grew hard. “Times are dark for everyone, Gatherer, but you’ll take your lessons, and apprentices, too. Hollow County won’t lose a single life because you’re too stubborn to change your ways.”

The woman’s eyes widened, but she wisely did not argue further. Leesha saw Rojer waiting and turned to him, dismissing her as expertly as the Duchess Mum.

“Not going back with your wives?” Leesha asked.

“Need to talk to you,” Rojer said. He, too, had a trained voice, and his tone made clear the seriousness of the matter.

Leesha drew a deep breath, ending in a faint shudder. “Need to talk to you, too, Rojer. Mum’s got my head in a spin.”

Rojer smiled. “Creator, what are the odds? That only happens on days when the sun comes up.”

Leesha barked a nervous laugh at that, and Rojer wondered what could rattle her so. She signaled Darsy and Wonda to hand out books and make farewells. She and Rojer made their way into her cottage.

Only to find Renna Bales waiting for them.

“’Bout time,” Renna said. “Startin’ to think I’d be waitin’ all night for you to finish up.”

Leesha put her hands on her hips. She tired easily now, and arguing with every stubborn woman in the Hollow at once had left her drained of energy and patience. The only thing not feeling drained was her bladder, which was fit to burst. She was in no mood for Renna and her superior attitude.

“Perhaps if you’d let me know you were coming instead of sneaking into my home, Renna Bales, I might have accommodated you.” She put just a touch of emphasis on might .

“’Pologies for disrespectin’ your wards,” Renna said. “Din’t want folk seein’ me.”

“And why not?” Leesha demanded. “You were the only thing giving them hope when Arlen disappeared, and then you up and vanished for weeks on end. Where in the Core have you been?”

Renna crossed her arms. “Busy.”

Leesha gave her a moment to elaborate, but Renna just stared at her, daring her to press.

“All right,” Rojer said stepping between them. “Everyone’s got big paps. Can we stop comparing them and sit down?” He reached into his multicolored bag of marvels, pulling out a tiny clay flask. “I’ve got couzi to take the edge off.”

“Night, that’s all we need.” Leesha had made some of the worst decisions of her life when she drank. “Please, have a seat. I’ll put on tea.”

Renna had already taken the flask and tipped it back hard. Leesha thought she would have spat fire after a gulp like that, but Renna gave only a slight cough, handing the bottle back to Rojer. “Creator, did I need that.”

Leesha’s head throbbed as she put the kettle on and set a tray of cups and saucers on the counter, but it was nothing compared to the pressure down below. She glanced at the privy, but could not bear to miss a word. Renna, like Arlen, had a tendency to vanish if one took their eye off her for even a moment.

“Glad you’re all right,” Rojer was saying as she joined them in the sitting room. “When new moon came with no sign of you, we all feared the worst. It’s a miracle we survived without you.”

“Minds weren’t coming to the Hollow last Waning,” Renna said. “They had other business.”

“What business?” Leesha demanded. “Enough vagaries. Where were you? Where is Arlen?”

“Don’t expect to see either of us again after tonight,” Renna said. “Hollow needs to stand on its own. We were the reason the mind demons came. We draw them.”

Leesha looked at her a long time. That would certainly explain Arlen’s disappearance. If he was drawing the minds’ attention to the Hollow, he would put himself as far away as possible. “Why?”

“Mind demons take this Deliverer business seriously as Tenders,” Renna said. “Scared as piss about it. Unifiers, they call us. Ones who get so strong they draw followings. Wern’t gonna rest till we were dealt with, and you ent ready for that kind of demon attention. Need time to fill the Hollow.”

“So Arlen killed Ahmann and went into hiding?” Leesha demanded. “What’s to stop them going after Thamos, next?”

Renna waved a hand so dismissively Leesha was offended on her lover’s behalf. “’Less he learns to shoot lightning from his arse, count’s beneath the minds’ notice.”

She looked at them pointedly. “You two, on the other hand, need to step careful. Minds know who you are. Strike at you, they get the chance.”

Leesha felt her face go cold. Rojer looked like he might slosh up. “How can you know that?”

Renna opened her mouth, but Rojer answered for her. “She’s right. Saw it myself at new moon. Stepped beyond the wards, and every demon on the field turned to me at once. Felt like I had a flaming bullseye on my chest.”

Leesha saw it in her mind’s eye, imagining hundreds of cold coreling eyes turned upon her and the vulnerable life she carried within. The child would barely be bigger than her curled little finger, but she could have sworn it kicked. Her bladder cried out to empty, but she clenched her thighs and ignored it.

“So you’re going to leave the Hollow at the mercy of the demons while you go off and … what? Take your honeymoon without a care?”

“Corelings ent got any mercy, Gatherer,” Renna said. “You of all people should know that. Don’t tell me I don’t care. Hollowers been good to me like no others. Just because I ent here don’t mean I ent fighting for ’em every corespawned night.”

“Then why’d you come back?” Rojer said. “Just to tell us you ent coming back?”

“Ay,” Renna said. “Owed you that much. Need to know help ent coming.”

“You could’ve just left a note,” Leesha said.

“Can’t write,” Renna said. “Not everyone grows up with a rich da and time to spend learnin’ letters. Expect you’ve got questions, so make ’em quick.”

Leesha closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Renna had a way of infuriating her past her ability to think. She might ask directly if Arlen was alive, but there was little point. She didn’t believe for one moment the woman would be so calm if he wasn’t.

“Just tell me one thing,” Leesha said.

Renna crossed her arms, but she waited on the question.

“Did Arlen kill Ahmann?” Leesha asked. Her hand went to her belly as if to shield the child from the answer.

“He ent comin’ back, either,” was all Renna said. “Hollowers ent the only ones need to stand on their own.”