There was no time now. She had to return with the doll of Manals house and report to me. Just before she left, she saw something floating in the river. It floated into the quiet little bay at her feet.
It was the Evil doll she had made and left buried in leaves at the summer meadow.
The worm in her stomach twisted again. A spider in her head tickled her brain. How did the Evil doll come here? Did one of the sheepdogs pick it up and drop it into the river? Her arms were stiff as sticks as she watched it bobbing in the water. Finally, she reached down and picked it up.
She carried the doll of Manal’s house and the Evil doll into the tame parts of the valley.
She buried the Evil doll in Fatbarley’s field.
Then she went to Manal’s house and set about improving upon the doll of it. She did not see Manal watching her, stopping his work to look at her. She was trying to forget the drowned face of the Evil doll by working hard. She built the chimney strong and safe, and the floors without creaks. She made the doors solid against the winter winds, and stone walls cool against the summer heat. I tell you that she tried to build a place for her soul to hide.
It did not work.
Renoa came to her as twilight was coming on.
“I have almost finished my contest doll,” she said. “And you?”
“I have not begun yet,” Annakey said. “First light, I will begin.”
“Are you sure this is not your attempt?” Renoa asked.
In her hands was the Evil doll.
“How did you—?”
“A pig dug it up in Fatbarley’s field and deposited at the door of his house. He took it as an omen. I know you made it. Who else could make such a monstrosity? I am going to show Dollmage.”
“No, Renoa, please.”
“When Dollmage and the villagers see this, there will no longer be any need for a contest.”
Annakey put her hands on either side of her head.The spider in her head was making her imagine pushing Renoa.
Manal approached the girls, sweating from his work.
“Look what Annakey has done,” Renoa said to him. “Are you sure you want her making your house?”
Annakey stood. She could not look at Manal for fear that there would be disappointment in his eyes.
“The doll is you, Renoa,” Manal said. “I see a resemblance.”
Renoa glared and grabbed Annakey’s arm. “We are going to see Dollmage.”
“I can explain,” Annakey said, pulling back.
“Explain to Dollmage,” she said.
They both came to my house, but I was asleep.
“Stay here the night,” Renoa said to Annakey. “At first light we must show Dollmage what you have done.”
When Renoa was asleep, Annakey took the doll to the village bakery oven. She threw the doll into the bottom of the oven below the grills, and closed the door.
In the morning there came a desperate knocking at my door, waking me. It was Deen Highchimney.
“Come to my house, Dollmage. My wife is hysterical.”
Prim Highchimney had been on the verge of hysteria ever since she had finally become pregnant after five years of marriage. Every tiny thing made her weep. I was still too sleepy to wonder why Annakey was in my kitchen peeling rutabagas. Renoa was still asleep. I nodded to Annakey. “Go. See what Prim weeps over this time. If it is a great thing, come for me and I will deal with it. I suspect she needs comforting only.”
Annakey went.
At the Highchimneys’ door, Prim stood trembling. In her hands was a large loaf of bread, broken open. In the bread was the Evil doll.
“I was going into the mountain today to pray for my child that has not been born,” she said. “As I prepared a meal to bring, I found this. God is telling me I am going to have an ugly baby, a monster child.”
Annakey snatched up the Evil doll.The Evil doll was more hideous even than before. The fire had burned into the face what could be taken as eyes and a mouth.
“No, Prim, do not be sad. This has nothing to do with you.” She lowered her voice. “Would you like me to make a pregnancy doll for you, Prim? I will make it the most beautiful baby. Only you must say nothing of this thing you found in your bread.”
Prim smiled wanly “I asked Dollmage to make a pregnancy doll for me, but she said she was too old and her powers too weak. She said to wait until the contest decided things and then Renoa would make one for me. Will you make it today?”
Annakey swallowed. If she made it today, when would she make her contest doll?
“I will make it today,” she said.
She looked at the Evil doll as she walked away, and almost called it “Renoa.” Renoa was the source of all her trouble and her unhappiness. She threw the doll into the river, watched it float downstream, and returned to my house.
Renoa was still sleeping when Annakey returned to the house. When she awoke she looked for the Evil doll, but it was gone. She tried to explain to me that Annakey had made a monster doll, but when I asked Annakey about it, she told me she had thrown it in the river. “It was a mistake,” she said. I was too busy to press her further and so I dropped it, but I could see Renoa haunting her all day about it.
All morning, Annakey worked on a doll. She was secretive. She would not let me see it. Toward noon, she disappeared with it.
“In the morning,” I called after her.“In the morning, I will see your contest doll anyway.”
At the Highchimneys’ house, only Deen was there.
“I have the pregnancy doll finished,” Annakey said.
Deen looked at it and smiled and nodded. “It is just like her,” he said.
“Where is she?”
“She has gone to the mountain to pray that her child will not be ugly.”
“Deen! Alone?”
“Alone.”
“But the robber people ... Did not Dollmage go to Weepers Stump to tell the people not to go out of the village alone?”
Deen frowned. “Dollmage has not stood on Weepers Stump since last spring.”
“But the robber people ... Could you not realize of yourself how dangerous it would be to let her go alone?”
Deen’s frown turned to fear. “I told her not to go, but she would not listen to me. I wanted to go with her, but she refused, said it was womens worship.”
Annakey ran outside and stood looking into the near mountain, the pregnancy doll hanging from her hand.
“When did she say she would return?” Annakey demanded.
Deen shook his head. He was almost crying now. “She said she would be back in time to make my dinner, and now it is almost suppertime.”
Annakey dropped the pregnancy doll and ran to my house.
Of course I called together all the men of the village and we began to search for her. I saw the accusation in Annakey’s eyes when she told me that Prim was late coming home from her pilgrimage. She had told me to warn the villagers at Weeper’s Stump and I had not. Was it my fault that a villager could be so stupid? No, it was God’s Fault, capital F.
We searched until the sunlight failed and then we searched in the twilight. It was Annakey that saw Prim running along a narrow path cut into the cliffside of the mountain face opposite us. She called out. Prim saw us, stopped, and then, with a glance behind her, continued running as fast as her pregnant body would let her. Only then did we see two robber men pursuing her.
The men of the search party screamed threats at the robber men. When they were almost upon her, Prim lost her footing and fell.
She did not die. Some feet below her was a gravel shelf, and there she lay, out of reach of the robber men. They turned back, and were gone by the time we came to her.