The Beacon: The Corner (4)
Episode 13: "Orphans"
Thinking about the next four days of wearying travel, none of Adon’s crew wanted to leave The Corner Inn that morning. Mistress Stennis had outdone herself with their breakfast, crafting delicate cakes over which she had ladled berries and clotted cream. These were besides the regular breakfast fare they had enjoyed the previous morning. Adon noted her meals had contributed to his developing paunch.
However, the king’s command overrode their reluctance to leave, so well before mid-morning, they said their goodbyes to the innkeeper and his family and mounted their eager horses and uncomfortable wagons. Rushing out, Sannah handed a basket to Artema, asking her to give it to the orphans when they stopped by. Mayor Dolphus and his wife strolled over to wish them safe travels and attempted to entice them back for a hunting trip in the fall. Sorely tempted, Bandrick said he could not plan that far in advance since they traveled at the king’s whim. Under his breath, Mast grumbled that he would never travel so far just to track and kill an elk.
The morning sunshine promised another warm day, but clouds building from the west warned of possible afternoon rain. Bandrick led them out, following the road until he came to a barely discernible track veering slightly south from the main road at a place Mayor Dolphus had described. Within a quarter-mile of the turnoff, the trail narrowed to wind through thick hickory, oak, and elm woods. The crew parked the wagons and unhitched the horses, continuing on horseback.
A mile later, the trail ended in an expansive clearing where a crop of vegetables and grains matured in the summer sun. Beyond it, a thin plume of smoke rose from a dwelling to disperse in the canopy of the surrounding trees. Circling the field to their right, they found a slender creek flowing northeast, gurgling over rocks scattered to create a shallow ford between the field and the shadowed house under the trees.
Crossing the stream, they walked into the still and silent yard and dismounted. Handing his reins to Ren, Adon was about to step up to the house’s porch to knock on the door when an arrow sped past him from behind and buried itself in the top step with a loud thunk, quivering. He and his crew wheeled around, drawing their weapons and scanning for the bowman.
Bandrick saw him first. A dark-haired youth stood on a platform high in a massive oak tree, another arrow already nocked and ready to fire. Dressed in a worn cotton shirt of indeterminate color and patched brown pants held up by homemade suspenders, he appeared barely out of boyhood, slender, and not yet at his full height. He stared down at them sternly, an expression strangely out of place on his face.
“Stay where you are!” he shouted at them in a clear, commanding voice. “I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but we don’t trust strangers out here in the woods! Who are you?”
Adon sheathed the long dagger he had drawn and raised his hands, whispering to the others to stand down. “We mean you and your sister no harm,” he called up to the young man. “I am Adonis Santinetta, here by the king’s order to ask some questions about the strange wave that came through here about a month ago. These others are my crew. We just want to talk. Mayor Dolphus and the Stennises sent us down here to speak with you.”
“And we brought you a basket from Mistress Stennis at the inn in town,” Artema said, holding it up so he could see. “I am Artema Paxon, and this is my husband Ren.” She gestured to him. “Adon is my father. These other two are Mast and Bandrick.” Both waved up at him as she mentioned their names.
The young man gently eased the tension on his bowstring as he considered what to do. Without expression, he looked at each of them in turn. After a full minute, he lowered his bow and returned the arrow to the quiver strapped across his back. “You seem to be telling the truth,” he finally said, making up his mind. “I’m coming down.” He disappeared behind the bole of the tree and, in a few seconds, reappeared on the ground, approaching the group cautiously. “Put the basket on the porch, please.”
After Artema did so and stepped away, the young man circled warily around them and flipped the cloth back from the basket, inspecting the contents. He nodded once. “That’s Mistress Stennis’ food all right. That part of your story is true.”
“The other parts are true, too,” Adon said calmly, thumbs hooked behind his belt. “The king sent us to ask about the strange phenomenon, and you’re the last two we need to talk to. All we need is your account of what happened that day, and then we’ll be off.” He dug in a pocket and produced the king’s warrant, holding it out to him.
The youth approached more confidently and, wiping his hands on his sweat-stained shirt, carefully took the parchment warrant. He read it thoroughly twice, looking closely at the seal, and returned it almost reverently to Adon. He nodded again. “That part of your story is also true. Thank you.” He looked up to his left and shouted, “You can come down now, Mia!”
Following his gaze, the others saw a young woman, nearly her brother’s age, lowered her bow and begin her descent from another platform resting on an elm’s spreading branches thirty feet above the ground. Her attire matched her brother’s, even to her bare feet. Like him, she was undersized in height and weight and had dark-brown hair, though she had tied hers back in a long ponytail. As she approached, they could not help but notice her striking green eyes in contrast with her brother’s serious gray ones.
Without his caution, she approached with a smile. “I’m Miandra Oldham,” she said, shaking everyone’s hand. “My rude and overly protective brother is Mattan, but no one calls him that. Mother did, but all the rest of us call him Mat.” She noticed the arrow in the step and scowled. “Take that out now, Mat! We must be kind to our guests!”
Mat hurried over and worked the arrow out, bowing sheepishly toward Adon. “I’m sorry for shooting past you, sir. I would never have hit you.”
“He’s right,” Mia interjected before Adon could reply. “He’s an excellent shot. When we need meat, he sits up in one of his blinds and skewers a deer in no time! Mat the Mighty Hunter!” She laughed.
“Apology accepted then,” Adon said, also smiling in response to her infectious laugh. “I’m glad we’ve become friends—or at least trustworthy acquaintances.”
“I would like to be friends,” she said with a nod. “You look like interesting people.” She opened the door and waved them inside. “Mat, take them through to the back porch. It’s more comfortable back there. I’ll get water from the well.”
Inside, it was dim and cool but neat and comfortable. Their parents had left them a solid, roomy house with three bedrooms, a combined living and dining room, a small kitchen, and what appeared to be a study or a parlor that had been turned into a study. When they crossed the living room, a hollow sound hinted at a basement or root cellar below.
“The Corner again surprises!” Adon said. “I never expected such a well-built house in these woods.”
Mat nodded. “My father was a carpenter and built this house for Mother before we were born. He died before he taught me much, but we manage to keep it in good repair. Please make yourselves comfortable while I wash up.”
His sister returned a few minutes later with an earthenware jug and filled matching mugs with water. She brought Mistress Stennis’ basket to a knee-high table among the benches and chairs that lined the back porch. “Help yourselves if you’re hungry. Better not to let it go to waste.” She disappeared inside.
Mast grinned, shaking his head. “They went from suspicious to trusting in half a minute. You’ve got to admire their lack of guile.”
“They just don’t have much experience with people, I’d say,” Ren posed, and Artema agreed.
“They haven’t been over the road like we have,” Bandrick said. “I like their innocence.”
“Did you notice how carefully Mat evaluated us?” Adon asked. “I almost felt he could read us somehow the way he looked at each of us so intently and then decided to trust us. I once had a crewman who would stare at the sky for a few minutes and then tell me what the next day’s weather would be. He was rarely wrong. Mat gave me that feeling.”
Mast shrugged. “They’re canny in the ways of the frontier. The wild teaches children to grow up quick. That maturity probably impressed the townspeople enough to let them stay on their parents’ farm instead of making them live in town.” He stood and stepped over to the table. “I’m going to sample some more of Mistress Stennis’ cooking.” Rummaging around, he found a muffin and returned to his seat. The others joined him, choosing their own snacks.
A clean Mat, hair wet and combed back, rejoined them several minutes later. He had put on a red-and-black checked shirt and a pair of new-looking pants over brown boots. Finding an apple in the basket, he leaned against a rail and began eating, making short work of the fruit and setting the seeds aside to plant later. After pouring himself a mug of water, he waited in silence for Mia to return.
He did not have to wait long. Mia had dressed similarly to her brother, though her shirt was pink. “This is the best I can do without a bath,” she said, blushing. “Mistress Stennis lets us use her bathtubs at the inn when we go into town. It’s wonderful.”
“I took a bath there last night,” Artema said. “It was wonderful!” They both giggled.
Adon smiled. “Bath or not, you are quite presentable, Miss Oldham.” He cleared his throat as she reddened again. “But we should not take too much of your time. We just need you to tell us what happened that afternoon when the strange wave came through your property. Then, we’ll be on our way.”
Mat and Mia exchanged a glance. “I’ll tell them,” she said, eyes downcast, and relief crossed his face. “Mat can add whatever I forget.”
She poured herself some water and settled on a stool. She took a deep breath and began: “That afternoon, we went to visit our parents’ graves. They are buried on the hillside overlooking the creek, a really pretty spot. The trees open up a bit there, so you can see a fair way to the north and the east. So, we saw the thing coming right for us, just following the lay of the land.
“I saw it first ’cause Mat was pulling weeds and arranging some flowers we brought. I told him to look, and neither of us knew what it was. I guess a wave is as good a way to describe it as any. But it was so big and close that we couldn’t run from it. So, we got behind a couple of big trees, peeking around the sides and jerking back when it passed over us. It didn’t feel like it did anything. I expected pain or sickness or something bad like that, but nothing changed.
“Well, only for less than a minute. I suddenly started to cry, then wail, and then beat the trunk of the tree. I screamed and ran back to my parents’ graves and began tearing at the ground as if trying to dig them up! I know it sounds crazy, but I had this urge to see them again, even if it was just their bones! It was like I went mad for a few minutes. Mat ran after me and pulled me away and hugged me, calming me and telling me everything would be fine.
“When the madness passed, the backside of the wave rolled through toward town. For me, it felt like waking up from a bad dream. Mat was on his knees beside me, trying to stop a nosebleed. We sat there for a long time without saying anything. I was embarrassed for losing control, and Mat was feeling sick. So, after a while, we got up and walked slowly back home. Mat went to bed, saying he was exhausted. He fell asleep right away. I went and soaked in the pool downstream for a while, then came back here and went to bed.
“Mat was sick for a few days, but one morning, he got up and did his chores like always. He’s been fine ever since. I haven’t had even one mad spell since then. I don’t know what came over me except that wave thing, whatever it was.”
Adon and his crew looked at each other. The captain cleared his throat, sitting straighter. “Mat, do you have anything to add?”
The young man shook his head. “Mia left nothing out.”
“What did you feel when the wave passed into you?” Artema asked.
Mat shrugged. “I didn’t feel anything.”
“But you didn’t react like your sister,” Adon noted.
The youth shrugged again. “Should I have? Does this thing make everyone go mad?”
Adon shook his head. “It affects everyone differently, but from all the reports sent to the king about it, the thing takes away people’s self-control. They do things they would never do otherwise. It seems to reach into people and bring out the evils buried in their hearts.”
Mat’s eyes widened. “Like drawn to like,” he said in a near-whisper.
Mast leaned forward. “What’s that, son? I didn’t catch what you said.”
“Like is drawn to like,” he repeated, eyes boring into Adon’s. “I said I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t—not in my body. But I did sense a presence or an intention. It was pure evil, and it made me sick. All I knew was that I had to save my sister from the evil in that wave. Now I think I understand. I sensed an evil that stirs up the evil in us.”
A note:
The Oldham orphans were not so far from The Corner that they lacked interaction with or oversight by their neighbors. One or both of them walked into town regularly to sell their produce at the small farmer’s market or to Mistress Stennis directly. Others among the townspeople were very generous and did their best to meet their needs. While most of their clothes were hand-me-downs, they were never in danger of being without. Besides, both Mat and Mia were beginning to fit into their parents’ clothes, giving them a larger wardrobe than most farmers’ children. With the coin they made from selling their produce, they purchased necessary items they could not make themselves. They had even saved a little money should they need it. So, they were quite content to live by themselves on their parents’ property.
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