“That’s a bonnie name.” His smile made me wish it were actually mine.
“So…” I cast about for a way to turn the conversation to any subject but me. “Have you been a huntsman long?”
“Not as long as all that. I’ve been with Jack since the beginning, though.”
“The beginning?” My forehead wrinkled. “The beginning of what?”
“That, I’m afraid, is a rather long story.”
“Is it a good story?”
“It’s filled with mystery, magic, adventure, and danger,” Sam assuredme.
“The kind where every word is proclaimed or avowed?”
“Exactly.”
“Sounds intriguing,” I said. “And we have all night, it seems.”
I made myself as comfortable as I could on a hard rock in a damp forest on a chilly autumn evening. Exhaustion dragged at my eyelids, but I wasn’t likely to get much sleep in those conditions. And if I was going to spend the night wide awake, wearing torn and bloody clothing, surrounded by strangers, and lying my head off, there was no need for me to be bored as well.
“Once upon a time…” Sam began.
Chapter Seven
The Tale of How Two Became Six
Once upon a time, when the world was younger and the leaves were a little greener, there lived a fellow we shall call Jack. Jack was not his name, precisely, but it was close enough as makes no never mind, so Jack is what we shall call him.
Jack had been disappointed in love, for his betrothed had spurned him for another. But Jack was not the sort who would collapse in despair and let fate toy with him however it wished. So he conceived of a brilliant plan.
“As step one of this brilliant plan, I shall search every hill and vale in the country of Ecossia,” he pledged, “until I find eleven others who appear exactly identical to me in face, figure, and size.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “He did what? Eleven people exactly identical to—What possible purpose could that serve? What was he trying to do? Discredit his rival? Win back his love? How were eleven other Jacks supposed to help with that?”
“I’ve barely begun,” Sam said. “Perhaps your questions will be answered later on.”
I gestured for him to proceed.
“I shall search every hill and vale,” he pledged, “until I find eleven others who are identical to me in face, figure, and size.”
With that in mind, the first person he approached, sensibly enough, was his twin brother.
Jack found his brother in the forest, where that mighty fellow had just finished plucking up six trees as easily as if they were blades of grass.
“What in the world are you doing?” Jack questioned his twin.
His brother tied one of the trees in a pretty bow around the other five. “I’m gathering some of these twigs for our dear old dad. The winter will be cold and damp, and he might need the wood for his fire.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “You’re such a fucking show-off, Sam.”
“Oh, you’re Jack’s brother?”
“I am, aye. And it isn’t the first time I’ve been dragged into a ridiculous scheme like this one because of it. You’re yawning. Should I let you sleep?”
“No, no. I’m not going to be able to sleep in the middle of a forest, anyway. What exactly, by the way, is the ridiculous scheme you’ve been dragged into?”
He ignored my question and wenton.
