Friends (2013) - Adams, Robert

“I sure will. You don’t think they’ll come out this way, do you?”

“Nope. Ifn I did, I wouldn’t be goin’ into town. We’re ten good miles from the river. No pirate’s goin’ to go that far when there’s better pickin’s right on the river.”

The whole house almost visibly relaxed with the news of Peetuh’s departure. It might give them all time to come to terms with everything that had been said in the bam. Behtee smiled for the first time in a week.

* * *

The next morning, his father was gone even before Djoh was out of bed. The kitchen seemed almost lively, compared with its usual solemnity. Djoh guiltily wondered how it might be if his father didn’t come back from a brush with the pirates. Lame leg aside, he wasn’t as strong or as fast as his father, but he’d learned all the carpentry Peetuh could teach him. Times would be lean for a while, but they would survive.

After breakfast his mother asked him to stay, then chased out his sisters.

“Djoh, I guess you have a right to know the truth about some of what was said in the bam.”

Djoh felt his skin crawling. He was curious, but he wasn’t really sure he wanted that curiosity satisfied.

“Jo”—that was her pet name for him—-“I wasn’t always as ugly as 1 am today.”

“You’re not ugly now, not to me,” said Djoh, almost reflexively. In fact, there was a good deal of truth in his mother’s words. Eighteen years of hard labor had taken their toll. Her hair was limp and streaked with gray, her face blanched and prematurely lined. Yet her neat features and fine bones spoke of a past beauty that had known only a short, fleeting springtime.

“Thank you, Jo. My mirror tells me a grimmer story. But it wasn’t always so. When 1 was Marthuh’s age, I had just as many suitors, if not more, including both your father and Oskah.

“Does that surprise you? That’s one of the reasons your father did so little work for Oskah until lately. Oskah was as unpleasant as a young man as he is now. In spite of his father’s wealth, I’ve always believed I made the right choice, even if I didn’t make it quite freely.

“The tales are true, Djoh. There was someone else. An older man, a bard and storyteller who most likely still wanders these plains. His name was Willee. He rode into Blue Springs on the most beautiful horse anyone in these parts had ever seen. He was a handsome man and he set all the hearts aflutter, whether they’d been spoken for or not!

“It was I who captured his heart. Yes, I say I captured it, because he was a great gentleman. He would not take anything that wasn’t freely given.”

Djoh felt himself blushing. This was the first time he’d talked with his mother as one adult to another.

“After the first time we lay together—no, don’t stop me. It’s about time you knew the truth. Anyway, after that first time he decided to spend the summer in Blue Springs. He was a smith as well as a bard, so Old Garth gladly put him to work.

“That summer was the best time of my life, for all that it’s cost me since. Willee was loving, kind, wise—he told marvelous stories, even though you knew half of them couldn’t be true. I remember particularly the ones he told about an immortal warrior named Milo. Sometimes he even tried to make me believe the horse was a gift from Milo.

“But Willee was restless, and he had your gift—the mindspeak. He showed me that it was a good gift, not the curse we are taught to think it is. That was his undoing.

“You see, my other suitors—particularly your father and Oskah—weren’t happy at my spending all my time with an outlander. Now, 1 believe they suspected what we were doing on all those long trips into the country. But I was young and in love, and none of this was clear to me at the time.

“Willee, on the other hand—he was worried. He knew what I was risking and tried to tell me. Yet he found something in me that made him want to linger on, far past the time when he should have left.

“Then I discovered 1 was with child—you. Of course, it was Willee’s son, but I didn’t want to use you to tie him down here with me. So I never told him. One summer night when it was particularly chilly, I asked him if he would take me with him when he left.

“He explained that he couldn’t, that his life was not one I could face. He sounded sorry, and 1 think he was. After that, he stopped seeing me so often and I knew that it would be wrong to use you to force him to stay.

“Willee’s horse was very intelligent. Some people began to think he was too intelligent. Oskah spread these rumors, and claimed he’d seen Willee speaking in tongues to the horse. He accused Willee of witchmagic.

“When I heard of this from my father, I ran and told Willee that it was time for him to leave. That night we slept together for the last time. In the morning he was gone. Part of

his heart and his son have stayed with me all these years. Sometimes 1 think that’s all that’s made them bearable.” “You mean, Bard Willee is my real father?”

“Yes.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?”

“Do you think it would have made living with Peetuh any easier, knowing that?”

“No—no. 1 guess you’re right. I’d have hated him, maybe even enough to throw it in his face.”

“Yes, and he doesn’t deserve either. Deep inside, he is a good man. Hard, but always just. He deserves your love and respect. Hasn’t he always treated you like his own son?” “Yes, but why did you marry him?”

“You know how the town fathers feel about women with— who give birth out of wedlock. They and their families are disgraced. My father was all alone and sick. I couldn’t do that to him.

“Oskah—I knew he’d never accept a child he had any doubts about. So I told your father. He was hurt, and for a while he was angry.

“But he got over it, then asked me to marry him so that the child would have a name. He has never used it against me or treated you other than as his own.”

“I know, Mother. You would have been proud of the way he took care of Oskah at the farm. I—I think I’ve wronged him.”

“Then tell him. He can be hurt too, for all that he tried to hide it. People like your father can be hurt the worst of all, maybe. And I wronged him too, even though 1 was trying to protect you, my one son, the son of my one true love.”

His mother’s voice became brisk again. “Oskah has never forgiven me. After your birth there was more talk, which he has never forgotten. He is a man who nurses on pain as if he were a suckling child. 1 don’t think he’s finished with us yet. Watch your steps, Djoh, and be careful.”

On the way to see Iron Claw that afternoon, Djoh began to have the feeling that he was being followed. But he was unable to spot anyone, and there was no mindtrace. Maybe he’d been hearing too many stories about pirates. Certainly there was no treasure in the forest that would attract any pirate’s interest.

Iron Claw actually came to meet him at the edge of the forest. The big prairiecat was beginning to fill, and Djoh began to realize just how huge his friend was when not half starved.

“Good hunting, Little Brother. Today I will follow you.” “Good, Iron Claw.”

Djoh actually welcomed the company. They found the markings of a herd of wild pigs and followed them for two miles. Iron Claw easily kept up, then finished off a big sow Djoh had only wounded.

“This is good, Little Brother! To hunt again, instead of being fed like a just-weaned kitten!” Then Iron Claw was too busy eating to talk.

On the way back to the den, with the pig’s hindquarters resting on Djoh’s mare, he brought up the subject of pirates. “With my father gone, I won’t be able to hunt for you except during the afternoons.”

“That does no harm, Little Brother. My leg is healing quickly now. This fine sow should satisfy my hunger for three or four days. Soon I shall have to leave, although I shall miss my two-legs brother.”

“And I shall miss you, oh hungry one. But let us not think of unpleasant things until we must. I will return in three days and we will hunt together again.”

“Farewell, Little Brother.”

As he approached the house, Djoh sensed many mindtraces, filled with anger and fear. Had the pirates actually come this far inland? Or had something happened to his father? He kicked the old mare into a trot toward the barn. There he was met by half a dozen grim-faced farmers and townsmen. “What’s wrong? Is it the pirates? Where is Peetuh?”

“In jail, for now,” said the marshal. “He couldn’t accept that his own son or whatever the hell you are was a slime-suckin’ weasel.”

Djoh would have fallen off his horse in surprise if the men had given him a chance. Four pairs of hands roughly yanked him to the ground and had him bound and hog-tied in a minute, while the marshal covered him with a crossbow. “What—-what am I supposed to have done?” he stammered. “As if he don’t know!” sneered one of the farmers. “Somebody ’round here’s been tellin’ the pirates about when boats are leavin’ and when they’re supposed to return,” said the marshal. “An’ it’s all come back to you, Witchboy.” Djoh felt his stomach sink into his boots. Oskah! Who else besides his family and a few trusted friends knew about his mindspeak, or even thought they did? What chance did his word have against one of the Town Fathers?

“How could I know that information, Marsha! Nehil? I haven’t been to town all month. 1 haven’t been near the wharf since last summer!”

“That’s true enough, Marshal,” said one of the townsmen who owned a waterfront warehouse.

“Don’t need to be there, Witchboy, from what 1 hear. Besides, it ain’t up to us to decide. You’ll have your trial fit and proper, at the Shrine. It’s up to us to get you to jail.” Oh sure, thought Djoh. Nobody could complain about that; the Sacred Caterpillars were fair-minded men. They were also either business partners or friends of Oskah. The trial would be a farce, for the entertainment of Blue Springs and with only one possible end.

Djoh had the feeling that his luck had run out. He and Iron Claw would both be leaving Blue Springs soon, but for very different destinations.

Peetuh was released on oath to “not interfere with the judgment of the Sacred Caterpillars,” so Djoh was alone in the town jail from his first night there. That night he tried to mindspeak Iron Claw. The cat was going to be on his own sooner than he’d expected, so the sooner he knew about it the better.

Djoh was the only mindspeak adept in Blue Springs. It was as easy as ever to pass through the town’s tangle of thoughts, like a hand brushing away a cat’s cradle of spiderwebs. Some of the farm animals, horses in particular, had a rudimentary mindspeak, but none compared with the prairiecat.