Chapter Six

Noah

 

The sun was nearing its peak when Noah got to the Bayou, a small town built on marshlands. The clouds moved fast, pushed by a strong northern wind"the Gods’ Wrath, inland people called it. Noah found he didn’t mind the scarf after all.

He slowed Shadow to a walk as they approached low-eaved houses raised on stilts. Some of the houses had an abandoned air, vines and wild grass taking over, with sometimes a broken wagon left behind on the front yard.

 A family in fleece coats stood by a heavily loaded ox-cart, everything covered up in roped canvas, ready to take their leave, staring back at him and his stallion with guarded looks.

Plodding along in silence, he soon reached what could be called the town center, which included a squared building bigger and baring fresher paint than the others"the temple"and a few shops.

Noah halted and dismounted, having found what he had come for"the herbalist’s shop. But something seemed off.

The sign clung to only one nail and banged loudly against the door in the wind. Noah approached to take a closer look, grimacing as his boots sank in mud, but he couldn’t see much through the dirt-stained windows.

Master Arthur, a member of his cult, was the owner of this shop. Noah had never been here before. Everything he knew of this town and its people, he knew from old Arthur.

He knocked at the door, and got no answer.

Noah had hoped to visit the old man"one more tiny detour couldn’t hurt"and maybe purchase some herbs or potions. Mostly he wanted to help out. He knew Arthur struggled and he happened to have some gold he could spare.

He pushed the door, wincing as it creaked loudly, and peered inside. The shop had been ransacked. The shelves were empty, and whatever was left had been thrown to the floor; jars and glass canisters broken in shards among dried-up puddles of what had surely been Arthur’s potions. Atop a little desk were a long-stemmed pipe with spilled tobacco, a velvet hat, and an open book gathering dust.

“Anyone in here?” Noah tried.

He was about to try his luck inside when he heard a little girl’s voice.

“The wizard is gone.”

Noah turned, suddenly facing a blonde girl of about ten years. Her hair was tangled by the wind, her fleece coat too big for her and her little boots muddier than Noah’s. She held a yellow oak leaf in her hand.

“The wizard?” Noah asked.

She nodded, big blue eyes staring from Noah to his horse in wonder.

“That’s what my father calls him. But he’s gone now. I liked him,” she said, her eyes still going to Shadow.

“You can pet him if you want.”

Carefully Noah led her closer to the stallion, guiding her hand to pat his shoulder, as far up as she could reach. Shadow tolerated it, as long as Noah stayed close. She smiled.

“What’s his name?”

“Shadow. I’m Noah. What’s yours?”

“Fey.”

“That’s a pretty name. So, Fey, do you know what happened to Arthur? To the wizard?” he clarified when she gave him a puzzled look.

“They took him,” she said, whirling the oak leaf by twisting its stem between her delicate fingers.

Noah’s smile faded. “Do you know who took him?”

Before she could answer, a sturdy man perhaps thirty years old strode across the yard calling for her.

“Fey what are you still doing out here?”

“Noah this is my dad Alik. Dad, meet Shadow and Noah,” she beamed.

It was clear her father did not share her excitement.

“I’m just looking for this shop’s owner,” Noah explained. “He’s a friend of mine.”

Alik’s stare softened, as he scratched his blonde beard, a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“The queen’s men took him. On suspicion of black magic practice. To be honest, most of us knew. But we didn’t mind. He was a good man, Arthur. A bit,” he waved a hand, “eccentric, I s’ppose. But he paid his taxes like everyone else. And he had some very good ointments my wife liked.”

“Starting to dislike this queen,” Noah muttered. No matter how pretty she is.

~ Again with that. ~

Kili, not now.

That got Fey’s father all worked up. “You won’t find a lot of fans of hers around here, that’s for sure. Arthur’s not the only one they took. You’ve heard about Mattias Dawnson?”

Noah frowned. “The name sounds familiar.”

He wasn’t immune to gossip; wasn’t that the unfairly imprisoned war hero? Slayed a hundred Azurians to himself in Treon, people said.  

People liked to embellish.

“Well they took his family. The widow Dawnson and her daughter Moira.”

“Moira braided my hair and read me stories,” Fey said.

“They were our neighbors,” Alik added. “We’ve asked the priest to send a letter to the queen but no one ever wrote us back. We don’t even know what happened to them.” He eyed Shadow. “That’s a nice horse you have. Do you come from Veicira? Bring any news?”

“I’m sorry,” Noah shook his head, “I don’t know anything.”

“Can Noah stay with us for lunch?” Fey asked her father. “I like him, he’s handsome like the knights in Moira’s stories.”

Noah gave a soft laugh.

“Thank you, Fey, you’re sweet. But I’ve got to go. I wasted too much time already. Oh, here,” he took out his coin purse and produced two gold marks, “for your trouble.”

He gave the gold to Alik, who stared up at Noah in astonishment.

“I can’t accept this.”

Noah said, “Yes you can.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Noah climbed in the saddle.

“Be careful,” Alik said, “a lone man carrying that kind of coin… Some bad people out there on the roads ‘specially up north. Winter’s on the way and it was a bad year for the crops.”

“Thanks for the advice. Nice meeting you both.”

“Gods be with ya,” Alik said lastly, pocketing the gold marks.

Noah was aware of the father and daughter watching him as he pushed Shadow to a trot, towards the road branching north-west.

~ Who needs the gods when you have me? ~

Amused, Noah replied. He doesn’t know that, does he?

~ What are you going to do about Arthur? ~

His stomach tightened. I don’t know.