Oh, and I can make funny shapes out of turyn that no one can see, he reminded himself. He knew the runes of power, but he hadn’t the faintest idea how to use them. He couldn’t even create a light. I’m just another mouth to feed.
He couldn’t justify leaving them based on that, though. He needed to do something, and joining the army seemed to be the only way he could do anyone any good. But he couldn’t leave unless he knew they would be safe.
His thoughts twisted back and forth along those paths for a long time before he finally gave in to sleep, but even his dreams were troubled.
Chapter 31
Will woke just as the sun was beginning to crest the horizon and went out to see if he might get lucky and find an egg. The hens hadn’t produced many over the past week, but there was always the chance that they might lay one more before they closed up shop for the winter. He stopped when he stepped onto the porch, taking in a view that was unexpected for more than one reason.
The first snow had come, blanketing the world in a sheet of white—a blanket that was stained with crimson streaks. On the ground in front of the house was a large doe, a very dead doe. Arrogan would have been thrilled, was the first thought that came to him when he got over the shock.
There were claw marks along the doe’s flanks, but that hadn’t been what killed her. Something had bitten through the back of her neck, close to her skull, killing her almost instantly. Will jumped three feet backward when something brushed up against his leg.
It was the goddamn cat, his paws and muzzle stained dark with drying blood. Will stared at the feline with undisguised horror. “Did you do this?” he asked aloud.
There’s no way this cat could have done this, he told himself silently.
The goddamn cat coughed and began to retch. After a moment he coughed up what Will thought might be a hairball, but on closer inspection turned out to be a piece of bone. The cat looked up at Will and bared his teeth in what might have been a smile, or a warning. Either way, with the blood all over his face the expression was terrifying. Then the cat walked around him, rubbing against his leg once more before walking over to sit beside the deer carcass.
“Is this for us?” asked Will. I’ve gone mad, he thought immediately after. Now I’m talking to the cat too.
The grey tom stared at him for a long moment, then blinked slowly before walking away, heading back into the wilderness. “This is unbelievable,” Will muttered to himself before turning to the door and yelling, “Mom!”
Erisa took the news more pragmatically than he expected. Rather than ask questions, she instructed him to gut the beast quickly and then showed him how to hang it so she could bleed the body. “She’s still warm,” said his mother. “We want to do it before the meat freezes.”
Will had never cleaned anything larger than a rabbit or chicken, but his mother had apparently had some experience and she walked him through the process. The gutting was essentially the same, but skinning the animal afterward was considerably more work. It turned out that hanging the deer was essential for that as well.
“When did you learn to do this?” he asked his mother when they were almost done.
Erisa smiled, as though remembering something pleasant. “When I was young. My father, your grandfather, loved to hunt. Mom wasn’t very fond of cleaning game, so my father always had to do it. When I was old enough, he let me help him.”
It didn’t sound like a very pleasant memory, but he could tell from the look in her eye that she felt differently. He wondered how many more things there were about her past that he didn’t know. People were full of mysteries. That thought brought him around to Arrogan, and he realized the old man had had hundreds of years’ worth of experiences he knew nothing about—that he would never know about. Once again, he was almost overwhelmed by the sense of how much he had lost.
He was brought back from his reverie when he realized his mother had asked a question. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you knew what killed the doe,” said Erisa.
Will couldn’t begin to come up with a lie big enough to cover this, so he simply answered, “I think it was the cat.”
She laughed. “I could almost believe it of that strange cat, but the claw marks on the hind quarters were too big.”
He held her eyes with his. “I’m pretty sure it was the cat.”
She frowned. “You’re suggesting it can transform or some such?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know what the goddamn cat can do, but he’s no ordinary cat,” he told her. “I’m just glad he seems to be on our side. Aislinn said the fae won’t come near the house because of him.”
Erisa looked worried. “That would’ve suited your grandfather just fine, but how can we be sure it’s safe?”
Will shrugged. “It’s just a feeling, but I think he’ll protect this place. Between him, and Aislinn hiding the house from the soldiers, I doubt there’s a safer place in the entire kingdom.”
His mother nodded. “I suppose there was a reason Arrogan chose to stay here for so long.”
The next few days passed quietly as they settled into a simple, yet boring routine. With snow on the ground there was nothing to do but cook and sleep. Will continued his math and reading practice even though he had pretty much mastered the material he had. He also spent some time drilling with the runes. He knew them all by heart now, but it was recent knowledge. He worried he would begin to forget them if he didn’t go over them every once in a while. Not that it matters, he thought sourly. I can’t do anything with them.
“You will have many teachers,” Aislinn had told him, and he believed her. Perhaps someday he would have an opportunity to learn enough to use them.
Such thoughts did nothing to cure him of his desperate desire to do something now. Aside from cooking, he had little to offer Sammy and his mother, and even that was becoming a topic of contention. His mother seemed to think the best way to cook anything, including venison, was simply to stew it. While that was fine now and then, he preferred to have a little variety, and his effort to teach his mother seemed to set her teeth on edge.
And they had only been cooped up together for four days. How bad would it be in a month?
If I’m going to join the army I need to leave soon, he thought. The western pass that led to Branscombe was easier, and wouldn’t close as soon as the eastern pass to Darrow, but it would become impassable if he waited too long.
But he couldn’t imagine telling his mother that he planned to go. She wouldn’t accept it. Even if they had an army of soldiers and retainers to protect the house and see to their every need, it wouldn’t have mattered. It wasn’t her safety she was concerned with, it was his, and joining the army was too dangerous.
The next night, after his mother and Sammy went to bed, he rose quietly and began packing his meager belongings. There wasn’t much, since he only had two sets of clothes. He added Arrogan’s winter cloak to them and wrapped up enough food to last him three days. He didn’t have any portable pans so he wouldn’t have many options when it came to cooking the meat, but he could simply roast it he decided. The carrots he could eat raw.
Before he left, he got out his writing materials and penned a short note: