Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier Read Free Book Online Page B

closing in, and many days’ walking over rocky hillside and untracked forest ahead of me, I simply could not do without them.

    I remembered the settlement of Silverwater clearly. It lay on the shore of the freshwater loch, a collection of mud-and-wattle buildings with roofs of thatch, all surrounded by a dry-stone wall. The most substantial building was fashioned of shaped stones and had a small tower. It was the home of the district chieftain, Dunchan. A long time ago the folk of his household had given Father and me two nights’ shelter. We’d earned our keep by shovelling cow dung the first day and cleaning out a privy the second. Father had done most of the work; back then, he’d been a strong, fit man, though given to bouts of melancholy. In that household the meals had been good and few questions had been asked. We’d done the work we were given, kept ourselves to ourselves and, on the third day, moved on.
    I could reach that place by tonight. The loch was in sight, and if my memory served me well, the settlement was about a half-day’s walk along it. Maybe I should change my plan. If I told a convincing story, perhaps Dunchan’s folk would give me work over the cold season, and I could move on north in springtime when there would be good foraging in the woods. That made sense, provided they believed I was no threat.
    I glanced down at my shoes with their fey mending. Walk into Silverwater wearing those and I’d be handed straight to the authorities. Even a tolerant household like Dunchan’s could not afford to ignore such plain evidence. And what about the Cull? I had no idea which way those Enforcers were headed after they’d worked their evil in Darkwater. The path of the Cull was different every year; the order in which settlements and farms were visited was never the same. Some escaped altogether, though nobody could ever be sure that would happen. The element of surprise let Keldec cast his net more effectively. Folk never knew when the Enforcers were coming. To seek shelter at Silverwater might be to bring down disaster on that household.
    Before the sun was at its peak I reached the loch shore. I did not walk on the path by the water, for it was busy. Cull or no Cull, life had to go on. I saw men fishing, boys with geese, a girl with a small herd of goats. And from time to time I saw folk scrambling to the side of the track when drumming hoof beats announced the arrival of a group of black-cloaked Enforcers riding their big dark horses. They went in pairs, harnesses jingling with silver, leather-helmed heads high, round shields blazoned with the Stag of Alban: the king’s emblem. Mostly they were travelling eastward, as if returning to Summerfort, where Keldec’s household spent the warmer part of the year. A shiver went through me. The king might still be in residence there now. My journey would take me right by that place, close enough to be almost sure of meeting Enforcers on the way. I would not hasten the day when that might happen. I kept to the precipitous slopes of the forest, letting the trees shield me.
    I made good progress along the shore, and before dusk I saw, framed by beeches, the settlement of Silverwater down the hill below me. There was the cluster of cottages, there the long wall, there the chieftain’s house with its modest tower. And in the yard, between barns and outbuildings and stock pens, something out of place. I halted in the shadow of the trees.
    A small crowd was gathered in that open space: men, women and children, the chieftain’s whole household, and perhaps the villagers as well. They stood in complete silence, faces ashen. Stationed around them were Enforcers with weapons drawn. No running. No screaming. No burning. But where a lovely oak grew in the very centre of the open ground, an oak I remembered well from my brief stay here, for its shade had been enjoyed by chickens and dogs and children alike, a dark matter was unfolding. A glance showed me the rope