Silver Secrets

Chapter 9: Bree

I'm walking at the back of the group, because Angaret is in a really bad mood and I don't want to get too close to her in case she thinks I'm doing something wrong and yells at me for it. We left Moon Bay a lot later than she wanted to, because she and River had to go out and find a map with Highhold on it because it wasn't on any of ours. When they did find one it was pretty expensive so we couldn't afford to hire any horses. Angaret said we'll find some on the way, but I think we're going to have to go most of the way on foot. She isn't happy about that either, because Melanthe and Rowan Bedauri will probably have horses so now they'll be faster than us, as well as leaving earlier. And she's mad at River, who spent a whole three silvers on a ring for Angaret. It's got a silver spike in it that pops up when you press a button. I guess it might be useful if Angaret got to slap Rowan Bedauri, maybe.

Angaret hates it when things slow us down, so she doesn't let us sleep for very long. It feels like I've only just crawled into my sleeping sack when Eddie starts shaking my shoulder to get me up.

It's still dark when we take down our tents after our first night on Tarstmoor, and there's still lots of stars out. I walk close between Eddie and Clay, because if the Tarstmoor Terror comes then Eddie can shoot it or Clay can cut its head off with his axe. I have a bow too, but I'm not half so good a shot as Eddie. River says the Tarstmoor Terror isn't real and only stupid people believe in it, but I'm sure I heard something howling last night before I went to sleep. Maybe it was just Rowan Bedauri and we're closer than I thought, though that doesn't really make me feel any better. I wonder how close I'll have to be to Melanthe before she can get into my head?

"Hey," Eddie says after a long time of silent walking. "There's a cottage in the distance."

Angaret stops, so everyone else does too. "Are you sure?"

Eddie nods. His eyes aren't very useful up close, but he can see things good if they're far away. It's one reason why he never learned to read, because he had to stand on the other side of the room to see the words. I know that if Eddie says he sees something in the distance, he has to be right.

"There's a lot of farms on the map," says River. "Though you wouldn't know it for all the people we haven't seen."

"Let's go. They might be able to sell us some horses." Angaret shifts her pack around on her back, even though it's Clay doing most of the carrying.

By the time we reach the cottage it's nearly sunrise, and the sky is turning grey in what must be the east. River knocks on the door because Angaret says she's the least intimidating, even though that should really be me. Instead I stay at the back with Clay. Before she knocks, though River turns around and jerks her head at me to make me come closer. I don't want to, but Eddie pushes me forward with his hand on my back so I do it anyway.

"I'm going to tell them we're sisters," says River. "Don't fuck it up. Don't say anything, actually. Let me do the talking." Then she knocks on the door, right next to the nail stuck in the wood. A dog starts to bark somewhere inside the cottage.

I think this plan is stupid because nobody will believe we're sisters when most people don't even know I'm a girl at first, but then the door opens and a man in a nightshirt glares out at us. It takes me a minute to realise he's got a knife in the hand not holding a candle, but River can't see it from where she's standing and she starts her lie about us being sisters and needing a safe place to rest.

I put my hand on River's wrist, not taking my eyes off the knife. The man's hand is shaking from gripping it so hard, but he looks ready to swing it anyway.

River stutters a little and glares down at me. Now that she's stopped talking, the old man looks at her closer. His mouth twists like he's just eaten something bad. He leans in really close to us, so close that River screws up her nose at his bad breath.

"You're a water elemental, ain't you?" He brings the knife out in front of him so River finally notices it.

She looks at it for a moment and then her eyes go really wide. She bares her teeth and backs away, and I almost expect her to start hissing like an angry cat. I can't move, though, even when the old man takes a step towards us.  My feet feel like they're stuck to the ground. It's only when Eddie grabs my arms and pulls me away that I snap out of it.

Angaret pushes between us, her own sword drawn. Hers is big and old and rusty. Eddie says that if the blade doesn't kill you then the cut will, because all the rust will get into your blood. Not like the man's knife, which is so sharp and clean the light from the candle slides over it as smooth as an oily rag.

"Put the knife down," she orders quietly.

The old man looks her up and down. "You a human?"

"I am. So are they." She tilts her head towards me and Eddie.

"But they're not." His eyes flick towards River and Clay warily.

"No. Put the knife down."

The old man makes the right decision and lowers the blade. I let go of a sigh of relief, and my breath steams in front of my face.

Angaret lowers her own sword, too, but doesn't put it back in its scabbard. "That blade is silver, isn't it?"

The old man squints at her in the darkness. "How can you tell?"

"Experience." Her and River glance at each other. River smiles in that sharky way she has. "We'll give you ten gold pieces for it."

His mouth hangs open. "Ten golds?"

I want to gasp too, but I make sure I don't, because I know we don't have ten golds. We don't even have one gold piece between us.

Angaret nods. "Not right now, of course. But give us that knife—and any other silver weapons you might have—and we'll make sure you're rewarded."

He looks down at the sword in his bony hands. I bet he's wondering what it would feel like to hold ten gold pieces. Then he closes his mouth and shakes his head.

"We were given this stuff for a reason. I can't sell it."

"What reason?" I wonder if I'm the only one who's noticed that Angaret's hand has tightened on her own sword.

"You know about the Tarstmoor Terror?" The shepherd peers out into the darkness as if he expects to see it come running at the sound of its name, like a dog.

Angaret sighs through her nose like she does when she's really, really annoyed. "That's just a story to make children behave. Silver won't protect you from fear of a legend."

"You might say that if you've never spent a night out on the moor," he says, wagging a shaky finger at us. "But there's other shepherds gone out in the morning and found their sheep with their guts strewed everywhere, so my buyer made sure I'll never be one of 'em!"

"Hm. And I'm sure if you wake up and find the beast in your sheep pen, you'll chase him right off," Angaret smirks.

"I'll have you know there was a werewolf and a girl come knocking last night, and I saw them both off with this."

Angaret and River look at each other again. "And which way did they go after you gave them such an awful fright?" River asks sweetly.

"They carried on up the road," the shepherd says, pointing to the dark side of the sky. "Now, was there anything you really needed, or am I going to have to chase you off like I did them?"

Suddenly the smile is gone from Angaret's face. She raises her sword and presses it against the man's chickeny neck. His eyes boggle out, never leaving the blade. "We've already told you what we want," she says, her voice as flat and hard as slate. "As it happens, we've got our own beast to hunt. You'll give us that sword and any other silver you have, and we'll pay you in gold or in your own blood. Your choice."

The man swallows. I step back, covering my eyes, but through a gap in my fingers I see him throw his silver blade down at Angaret's feet. He steps back out of the doorway. "You'd better come inside."