Chapter 55: Night Terrors

Chapter 55: Night Terrors

The scratching started first, out at the village wall, the sounds hard to catch except that they were already listening for them. Nails testing, wood splintering, the greater cracks as boards gave.

The sound of little hammers followed. The Good Neighbors had taken up their work.

Inside the longhouse, the villagers had gathered in the common room near the front door, with its fireplace crackling against the chilly spring night and the darkness theyd boarded out. Weapons were at hand. Bows were pre-strung. Voices were low. Some had laid their sleeping mats out in preparation for a long night theyd rather not spend alone; others were sitting and chatting. Of how the late planting would affect watering needs, of whether they should just let the land lay fallow, or perhaps bring in some sheep. If humans stopped chatting just because the world was throwing something else at them, they really would be dead.

Overhead, talons scraped the rooftop. Tested the tiles. They broke, now and then, with a snap. It wasnt so different from the pops of the fire. Aaron lay next to it, his furry hide well roasted, his tail thumping against Rose now and then. She was trying not to jump at each new sound, her hands tight in her lap. Something else scraped near the door, but it sounded small enough. Hed seen the Deaths that had gathered outside. This was going to go poorly, but not for the militia.

And then the beasties up on the roof shoved the first pile of leaves down the chimney, and the fire flared with a thousand little flying sparks over floors and clothes and wolf fur. The villagers rushed to tamp down those that looked to keep burning, while Rose tamped him down. Aaron re-evaluated his assumptions for this evening.

A few more leaves fluttered down, as the foxs people worked on repacking the top.

Put that fire out, Captain Liu ordered. Aaron couldnt imagine what cause she had to sound so annoyed; she didnt have soot-spots all over.

You neednt sulk, Rose said, still patting him down. Or perhaps just petting him. At least she wasnt jumping at sounds any longer.

They doused the fire with a bucket from the drinking barrel, leaving the room in lamplight. The room would have grown cold, given time.

But then more leaves were shoved down, and twigs, like some birds very bad attempt at a nest. Aaron deliberately planted his fine self on the opposite side of the room, with Rose next to him. The bottom leaves grew soggy, but provided a dry enough base for those above. The very last thing to fall down, with a little poof into the soft bed of tinder the beasties had dropped before, was a still-smoldering stick from the girls pyre.

Woosh, the fireplace said, with renewed vigor.

Oh, those little said a villager, who had a bit more to say besides.

Guess were taking the fight outside, the captain said, more annoyed than afraid.

I hope the Gentry are having better luck with the scurriers, one villager muttered. I dont need voles up my pants.

Some of them were still stomping down on the last of the embers. Most were gathering near the door, as the captain moved to open it. It didnt. Open, that was.

Theyve wedged it, someone said.

A bit stronger language was used, at that.

Thought they were supposed to be getting dumber, said another. This isnt dumber.

More leaves were shoved down. More embers, more smoke stinging acrid in the back of his nose.

Rather more smoke than a doused fire and a few leaves should be putting off. He didnt think it was a thing human noses could pick up on yet, given that no one else seemed concerned beyond taking turns to throw their weight at the jammed door. Aaron took a step down the common hall, towards the darkened family rooms. The rooms that should be dark.

Oh, Rose said, at the firelight flickers under a closed door. Under more than one.

That explained why the foxs people had been tearing at the roof. It hadnt just been the chimney theyd dropped coals down.

Captain Liu, the princess said, with all due formality, the longhouse is on fire.

The captain paused to look their way once. No one, Aaron was relieved, was stupid enough to go open one of those fire-flicker doors.

Whos got an ax, Captain Liu said, as the smoke grew from an irritating burr in his lungs to a proper coughing hazard.

They took an axe to the door. Above them, the animals kept up their own work with tooth and beak and talon, tearing open holes over the common room. Holes they could be seen through. There was little point to this, if they couldnt be seen. Their eyes reflected lamplight as they stared in. The holes were big enough to escape from, for anyone who chose to be small enough. All a human had to do was want it.

One set of eyes disappeared for a moment. The next it was back; a little owl stuck its head inside, its gaze unblinking as it opened one taloned foot, and dropped a burning stick on their floor.

Rose stepped forward, and she should have seemed ridiculous with her dirt-stained knees and knife-torn dress and smoke-wild hair, but she opened her mouth, and she wasnt.

You can talk, she said, tone commanding as her father, when hed faced down the four tails. So we willtalk.

There is nothing left to say, the mountain lion said, its forked tail lashing.

Are you stupid already? the princess snapped. Which was, perhaps, not the most politic approach. You dont want to lose yourselves? We only want the same. You werent doppels before. You dont need us.

The cat stood. Aaron stood too, right at Roses side, in case it got any ideas of pouncing.

You killed our fox. Youve killed us all. I cannot keep it in my head, what I was. I remember thoughts, but not how to think them. I do not know if our youngest can even think.

Getting yourselves killed is hardly the way to fix that, the princess said, like she was scolding her brother. And not the older one. Neither is becoming doppelgngers. You dont want to be human; you want to be as you were.

It paced tight lines over the gate. The animals around rustled wings and claws, looking to it for some sign. A newly ascended kaibyou was no great power, but it was still the clear leader among them. And they were used to looking to a leader, the foxs people were. They still remembered that.

Youre too young to be a greater beast, arent you, Rose said. It wasnt a question. Thats why you cant hold them. So thats what you need to find: a greater beast, one strong enough to make you remember. Take your people to the leshys forest. The Lord of Seasons is older than the fox ever was.

You would have us leave our home, the cat said.

You would attack us in ours, Captain Liu said. She was bristling as much as the cat. But like the cats own people, she was looking to someone else for her lead.

We will not make it in time, the cat said.

You may not, Rose said. But your people are yours. And you are quite done hurting mine.

The villagers were at her back, weapons ready, their home burning behind them. If one looked too closely at things they shouldnt, they might see the shadows of the little fey off in the darkness, too, with tools that would work just as well as weapons, if they didnt care for the source of their offerings to be further disturbed. And Aaron was at her side, with hackles raised, and the taste of smoke and blood on his tongue.

The mountain lion yowled. And leapt down, to the far side of the gate. It reminded him again of the foxs attack on the castle. The animals had all left at the word of their leader then, too. A village wall was no grand reenactment, a newly ascended cat spirit no Four Tails, and Rose no crown. But it felt rather the same, regardless.

Hed stood next to a mountain lion that night, one that had dismissed him with a flick of its tail and an intelligence that it had still been able to take for granted. This might have been the same cat; he would never know.

Aaron trotted over to the gates now, ears perked and nose up, listening to them leave.

What do I call you? the captain asked Rose, as the last of the animals disappeared into the night. It was as close as one could safely come to requesting a feys name. It balanced the line between offense and respect; offense that a human would dare presume to ask, and respect, because it was worth asking, despite the risk.

Im not a fey. I am Rose OShea, and I am your princess.

There was a stunned moment. Then the kneeling began.

Well that shouldnt have happened, a little songbirds Death sang to another.

No, a hawks Death agreed, it shouldnt have.

* * *

Dawn found Second Lieutenant Lochlann pounding at their gates. It was quite unnecessarily dramatic, and both Rose and Aaron gave him precisely the looks he deserved once shed graciously allowed him to be let inside.

I dont recall requesting you, she said. There was soot all over her, and sweat, from a night of bucket chains. The longhouse was as much a bed of coals as the pyre, but theyd kept anything else from catching. Your presence was not required.

You cant just leave like that, he said. And added, with belated and somewhat exasperated respect: Your Highness.

You cant keep me in, the fey-marked princess said.

This, Aaron trusted, was a point they had demonstrated adequately.