the pot.”
“Be still,” River commanded.
Talen looked at the girl for a while, waiting for her to spring. “Playing us like a cat? Is that your pleasure?”
“Sugar,” River said. “I need you to fill the mule’s watering trough. We’re going to need to lay Talen in it. Have Nettle help you drag it in here.”
Sugar looked at the two of them, a storm brooding on her face. Talen thought she was going to say something, but she must have decided against it, for she strode across the room and out the door.
“Now’s the time,” said Talen.
“Will you shut up,” said River. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. This isn’t her doing. It’s Da’s.”
That made no sense, no sense at all. But River wouldn’t listen to him. She brought a candle near to get a good look at his eyes and mouth. Then she began peppering him with questions: when did the thirst start, how many cookies did he eat, what did Da do when he tied the charm on his arm, had he been hearing a ringing in his ears? Talen struggled to answer them all. Twice she had to repeat a question.
Finally, he held up his hand. “My leg. It’s sucking the life out of my leg.”
Then he saw something at the window.
The shutters had not been closed tightly and pale twigs seemed to shoot in over the sill. From his position on the floor, he couldn’t make any sense of them, but there they were. Tree roots on the window. Then a twisted head appeared, followed by a long body. Another fright, smaller than the one about his leg. It pulled itself up onto the sill.
“There’s another,” he said.
“Another what?”
“Nasty little thing,” he said and motioned at the window. “It’s got cold fingers.”
River looked up and followed his gaze. “There’s nothing there.”
“There is,” said Talen. “And there’s another wrapped about my leg. Right there by your hand.”
The creature about his leg didn’t move. It just sat and watched them.
River put her hand on Talen’s leg, partially covering the thin fingers of the fright. Her hands felt warm.
“How many are here, Talen?”
“Two,” he said.
She cursed, then she calmly picked up Talen’s godsweed charm, took it to the hearth, and thrust it into the fire. “And thus a portion of my life goes up in smoke,” she said. Which made no sense to Talen. She picked up a bowl and put the smoking weed in it. Then she took a pair of tongs and removed three hot coals from the fire and put them in the bowl as well. The weeds smoked.
“Where are they now?” she asked.
“The little one’s at the window. The bigger one is right here.” Talen moved his leg.
River approached, blowing on the smoking braid. She blew it on his face. Then she blew it on his leg.
“Don’t worry,” said Talen. “Nettle says it’s just the come-backs.”
“Be gone!” said River. She blew again on the smoke. Godsweed was not a sweet herb and Talen did not like the taste of its smoke.
The knobby creature on his leg eyed her.
“It’s not afraid of you,” said Talen.
River blew again and waved the smoking bowl around him.
The creature turned as if trying to avoid the smoke. But River blew again and the thing released Talen’s leg and jumped to the floor.
“There it goes,” Talen said. The thing only shuffled a few steps then stopped. But the little one at the window was gone.
River followed Talen’s gaze. She waved the smoking bowl around in the air. Blew more smoke. Then the fright that had been attached to his leg scuttled up the wall and out the window. However, River kept moving about as if it were still there.
“You got it,” said Talen. “It’s off to torment the chickens.” Then Talen wondered why it would do that. Was this the reason Da’s last batch of hens died off? It seemed reasonable. “They’re the ones killing the chickens,” he said.
“You’re babbling,” said River. She went to the window and waved the smoking bowl there. Then she closed up the shutters and brought the bowl back and placed it in the middle of the room on the floor. There was no fire to it anymore. Just coals and smoke.
Nettle and Sugar opened the door and bumped their way through with the empty trough. They set it close to the hearth.
“Stand over that bowl,” she said. “Smoke yourselves.”
“Goh,” Nettle said. “Are you kidding? A real fright?”
“Just do it.”
When Nettle and Sugar finished, River said,