Adessa relaxed. She should have expected this would happen once she killed Maxim. The Farrier family lived in this cottage in the forested hills above the river town. Apparently, the kindly people had welcomed the wizard commander and offered him shelter, but when they tried to flee, he had turned them all into statues. Now that the wizard commander was dead, his petrification spell had worn off.
Their skin softened and flushed with color again. In the minds of these terrified people, they had been running into the night, terrorized by Maxim, when their existence had suddenly stopped. Now, like a snapped string, it was a different night sometime in the future, and everything had changed. They didn’t even know how many days had passed or what had happened in the world.
And there was a bloody woman standing before them with a severed head in her hand.
The little girl screamed. The disoriented mother grabbed her youngest children. The father stood next to his older son, ready to defend his family.
Adessa realized that she must look a horrific sight, a muscular woman clad only in black leather, her skin covered with branded runes. She lowered the head and spoke in raspy words: “You no longer need to fear the wizard commander. He is dead.” She looked down at the head she clutched in her left hand. “You are safe now.”
The family stared at her with wide eyes, then looked at the headless body sprawled on the ground among the dry spruce needles.
She said, “I am Adessa, the morazeth leader from Ildakar. I was sent to kill Maxim, and I succeeded in my task.”
The parents and children clung together, afraid to move, though they clearly wanted to run like skittish deer. Adessa made no threatening gestures. “I am no danger to you. The wizard commander can no longer hurt you.” She turned to the little girl, saw the fearful face soften into fascination as she fixated on the dripping head. “I need to take my trophy back to Ildakar.”
Though the father was still wary, his shoulders relaxed. He put his arm around his wife. “If you killed that awful man, then you saved us.”
“What happened to us?” the wife asked. Her face was lined with wrinkles, though she seemed rather young. “We slipped out of the house at night, hoping to get our children to safety while Maxim was sleeping. We were going to run to the river town and beg for help.”
“He turned you to stone,” Adessa said. “You had no chance against his spell.”
The eleven-year-old boy said, “I remember running. I turned around and saw him come out of the cottage. I tried to shout a warning, but—” He swallowed hard.
“We were statues?” the father asked. “Just stone figures standing out here under the trees?”
“And now you are whole again,” Adessa said. “You can live your normal lives.”
Unceremoniously, she kicked the headless body at her feet. “I tracked him here. I set a trap.” She turned to look at the heavy tree trunk still dangling on ropes; it had swung down like a murderous pendulum to smash him in the chest. “I used a bent sapling, that fallen log, some rope. He focused on me because he thought I alone was the threat.…” Her stiff face fostered a grim smile. “Now you are safe.”
The Farrier family moved uncertainly around the headless body, running back to their cottage. The father hurried his children ahead of him. The mother said, “We should thank you. Is there anything we can do for you?”
Adessa stood with her feet planted in place. “I have a long journey back to Ildakar so that I can deliver the trophy, as I promised.”
Standing at the cottage doorway, the husband said, “Come in and eat with us. We’ll provide a meal so you will be strong for the journey.”
The mother said in a harsh whisper to her husband, “Your naive heart and hospitality caused us enough trouble already!”
“It’ll be fine,” he whispered back. “She killed the bad man.”
Adessa just wanted to be on her way, but she realized she was in no hurry now. Maxim was dead. Suddenly she felt weary. Hunting the wizard commander had given her a clear purpose, and she had endured so many hardships to achieve that goal. Now her guiding light had winked out. But her mission wasn’t finished until she delivered his head to the sovrena. She would be foolish to refuse the offer of sustenance, which would help her run farther and faster. “Yes, I accept your food.”
Still carrying the repugnant head, she followed the family into the cottage.
“Must you bring that inside?” asked the mother, horrified.
“Yes. I must.”
While the children looked uneasily at Adessa, the father lit candles and built a fire in the stone-lined hearth. Soon, the interior was bathed in warm, comforting light.
The younger children ran to their beds, huddling together. The older brother stood uncertainly beside his father, while the mother moved about the kitchen, opening the larder to see what they had left to eat. She sighed in dismay. “That man ate most of our supplies. I have part of a ham, smoked catfish, and some cheese.” She scrutinized a rock-hard heel of bread. “This is old and stale.”
“I will eat it,” Adessa said. “I don’t know how long Wizard Commander Maxim lived here alone, but he would never deign to bake his own bread.”
“I might find a chicken in the yard, wring its neck,” the father suggested. “We’ll have a proper feast, if you’re willing to wait.”
Adessa considered, but shook her head. “I need to be on my way.”
Though he had felt obligated to make the offer, the man seemed relieved when she declined.
The mother set out whatever food she could scrounge and called the children from their beds to the wooden table. Adessa set the severed head on the corner next to where she would eat.
The father regarded her awkwardly. “I have water from the cistern. You can wash before you eat. You have … blood on you.”
Adessa looked at her bare skin, at the scarred designs that had been burned by hot irons as she earned each rune of protection. Maxim’s blood covered her arms and abdomen, and rusty red flecks caked the black leather band around her chest. The speckles made mysterious patterns, drying to form a meaning, a message that she couldn’t understand. “The blood of my victim is a mark of honor. Why would I wash it off?”
The mother quickly sliced the ham, fish, and cheese, and they shared cups of water, though the conversation was awkward. Adessa ate ravenously, paying little attention to the taste as she absorbed the nourishment she required. Now that the wizard commander was dead, she tried to feel the remnants of the blood magic inside her, but she had used it all. Her unborn child had given her the magical strength she needed to kill a powerful wizard, and now she was back to her normal self—and her normal self was powerful indeed.
The family ate in nervous silence, unable to look away from the gruesome head resting on the corner of their table. The neck stump left a rusty stain on the wood. From now on, whenever they looked at the mark, the Farrier family would remember her.
“You can bury his body out in the yard,” she said after finishing the stale lump of bread she had promised to eat.
The father stared at her, then nodded. “We will get rid of it.”
The younger children whimpered.
Adessa wolfed down her food. “I must be moving now.” She gulped the last of the water in her cup. “I have many miles to travel upriver.”
“We’ll help you be on your way,” the father blurted out a little too quickly, though it was still many hours before dawn. “Can we give you supplies? What do you need for your journey?”