She hadn’t even considered it, her concern lying with the timing itself. “Surely they can’t expect business owners to close up shop for a glorified birthday party?”
Connall raised an eyebrow as if to say,you know better.
“Pa, this isn’t fair. And since when are we calling Magnus the Shield Against Darkness? What in the gods was that all about?”
Connall chuckled. “I can’t answer that. I suppose he fancies himself savior of the realm, what with banishing everything he disagrees with and calling it “darkness”.Ah, well. At least we have a little time to prepare. I will ask around and if needed, I will have someone pen a letter to the King’s handlers for me and see if we can’t figure it out.” He eyed her knowingly, because they both knew she would be the one to write it.
As the overworked son of a farmhand, Connall hadn’t received much of an education. Life plucked him from one field and dropped him straight into another: the battlefield.
“Don’t worry, love. Everything will work out.”
Everyone was so gods-damned positive but her, which reminded her why she had raced over to catch up with her father.
“Pa, there’s something else. I was hoping to talk to you before you made it into town, but…” her voice faded when she looked into his blue eyes, where she found but fatherly love. Not an ounce of concern.
“Yes, love, I know. I’ve already heard.” He was calm; his face revealed nothing.
“You have?”
“Of course. And I’ve talked to a few folks who had concerns, snuffed out a few rumors—I think. We’ll just have to wait and see what the coming days bring.”
“Has there been any word?”
He sighed, shaking his head. “None. But now that you’re here, I wonder if I might step away for a little while, see if I can’t find that drunk bastard myself.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Hazel rubbed her arms nervously.
“Why not? Hazel, dear, it’s not like I’m going to kill the man. And besides, if I did, then I’d just be confirming those rumors, eh?”Joking. Her father was making jokes about this whole ordeal.
And, as always, he was right. Regardless of the outcome, at least no one could say he didn’t try. “Sure,” she said. “I can handle things here.”
“That’s my girl!” He grabbed the parchment from her hands. “We will worry about this later,” he said, bopping her on the forehead with the parchment lovingly. “For now, let’s just stay focused, eh? We’re running low on a few things in the kitchen. Mind running to the market?”
Though she loved the marketplace, the thought of being surrounded by more people made her want to crawl into a hole.But she wouldn’t complain. “Sure thing, Pa. No problem. By the way,” she added, fetching the sachets of tea leaves and herbs from her bag, “I stopped by to see Agnes this morning. Got the stuff you needed, and she sent me back with extra herbs.” She thought about what happenedafterher visit, but it was a topic she wasn’t ready to discuss.
“I knew I could count on you.” He smiled, taking the sachets from her and sending her away with a nod before turning back to press the parchment back onto the signpost by creating a new hole.
After stepping back and rubbing his hands together in satisfaction, Connall Callahan grabbed his handaxe from its usual hiding place and strode off in the direction Jonas Gray had last stumbled off in.
MARKET MISHAP
Hazel trod down the dusty earthen path, thinking over everything she and Pa had discussed. It wasn’t right for someone like him—someone who would give everything just to help another—to be in this situation. But maybe Zeke and Pa and everyone else were right. Maybe she was making something out of nothing, as she so often did.
The marketplace was bursting at the seams with townsfolk. More than any Hazel had seen gathered in one place for as long as she could remember, and soon it was clear why. A man stood upon a rickety pyramid of stacked wooden crates, dressed in obnoxious, frilly garb, announcing something and waving his hands dramatically. As she drew closer, Hazel understood what she was witnessing.
A herald from Ravenhold had arrived to relay a message. A message, she guessed, was likely the same one they’d found nailed to the sign board outside of the inn.
As folks were murmuring and shifting nervously, she was sure the consensus was the same. She was quickly reminded they were not, however, upset over the timing in relation to the Solstice. It was not in their nature to care about such things,especially since most, if not all, magic practitioners had moved on.
The herald wrapped up his speech with the usual call and response as dictated by the High Priests of the Wind. “We can do all of this because of the gods who make it so. The Anemoi provide all we need.”
“And the Winds guide us,” most of the gathered crowd chanted back. Hazel never returned the call when it was delivered. She wasn’t sure what she believed in, and how could she return the call with words she didn’t believe to be true?
According to what she’d been told, Aeos was a much happier, more prosperous kingdom when people celebrated the gods equally. When no one dictated which gods to worship. But when the rest of the Elemental gods disappeared, everything and everyone suffered. Hazel heard plenty of stories growing up; the landscape of their small part of the kingdom slowly died off, starved of magic and the gods who sustained life. The rest of the kingdom followed.
Famine led to disease among the animals, many succumbing to illness. As they were unfit to eat, farmers had to dispose of them in the only way they could: by burning them. Greasy, black smoke choked the sky for days on end, leaving nothing but bits of charred bone behind. It was something she was thankful she hadn’t witnessed firsthand.
Hazel’s attention was snared by the scent of smoked meats drifting over on the breeze. It was a wonder anyone could still enjoy the delicacy of meat, seeing as nothing had improved in her lifetime for the townspeople or the animals. In fact, they had less food and water each year. More famine, more thirst, more disease…and the High King sat in his castle worrying over whom or what his subjectsprayedto.What an obtuse prick, she thought.How can someone so detached from his people rule over them, and for so long?
