When the Devil is too busy
And Death's a bit too much
They call on me by name you see,
For my special touch.
When You're Evil—Voltaire
The women of Ombra are waiting just outside the castle gates on Friday evening, all of them watching as the Milksop's retinue are forced to stop in front of them. They're blocking the gates, forcing this rat out of its hole for them to fling questions at. The Milksop is looking down his pointed nose at all of them like they're vermin, the pigeon-chested little toad.
"Why are you counting our children," a woman demands, elbowing her way to the front of the crowd. Julianne has seen her around the castle a time or two since the men were killed, the only servant that Jacopo doesn't pick on. "We want you to stop it!" A woman on horseback points a finger at the speaker, two guards moving towards her with their spears ready.
"You ask why we're counting your children," Piper says, voice echoing out over the crowd. The servant melts back into the crowd, the two guards coming to a halt and looking up. The Piper is standing on the battlements overlooking the square, four guards with crossbows standing with him.
"I'm gonna kill that peacock one day," Julianne mutters. Her blue eyes are bright with fury, fingers curled into claws. Beside her, Jaime is glaring in much the same way, big hands clenched tightly at his sides. He'd tear this whole world apart if it meant his son stays out of the Adder's mines.
"We count everything that's ours! Animals, people, fields, barns, stables, houses! The Adderhead likes to know what he's ruling over." Piper's voice is hoarse and his nose sticks out like a beak, making Julianne think of the long-legged herons she'd seen back in Italy.
"You don't want them for the mines," another woman asks. She's smart enough not to go forward, staying anonymous in the sea of people, but Julianne recognizes it all the same. That's the same voice that used to recite poems with grand gestures and bad accents, the same voice that had sung her lullabies when she couldn't sleep and comforted her after skinning her knees. Resa.
"For the mines? What a delightful idea!" Silence blankets the crowd, the setting sun casting Piper's shadow over them. It's like something out of a horror movie, the despicable villain's shadow growing and distorting until it's as monstrous as the man's heart. "Is that why you think the Adderhead sent me here?" It's so quiet now that Piper doesn't have to raise his voice, speaking in normal tones and completely ignoring the impatient huff of the Milksop.
I hope you fall, Julianne thinks with cold hatred freezing her veins. I hope you topple from the battlements and impale yourself on one of those spears with the dead partridges tied to it. The Piper puts his hands to the cold stone and leans over them, but he doesn't fall.
"I'm here to catch a bird, and you all know the color of its feathers. As soon as the bird has been put in a pretty cage, I'll be only too happy to ride back to the other side of the forest. Isn't that so, Governor?"
"If you say so," the Milksop calls up to him. His back is rigid and his cheeks are flushed, fingers wrapped tightly around his horse's reins. He's pissed that these peasants are surrounding him, pissed that the Piper is keeping the gates closed, and Julianne hopes that he gets just pissed enough to trigger a fatal heart attack.
"I do say so." Piper's smile is condescending, like he's talking to a stubborn child. "On the other hand, if this bird should escape capture once more…." Piper pauses, letting the dramatic effect swell until Julianne feels fit to burst. "If any of those present here should give him shelter and a roof over his head, warn him of our patrols, sing songs of how he pulls the wool over our eyes…." Another pause, this one longer than the last. "Well, I'd have no choice but to take your children in his place. I can't exactly go back to the Castle of Night empty-handed, can I?"
I'll send you back with my foot surgically implanted in your rectum.
"So," he says, clapping his hands together. "It's entirely up to you! Help me catch this bird and you can keep your children! Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to remember that there's always a need for little hands in our silver mines." Julianne tries to start forward, but Jaime wraps his fingers in her cloak and pulls her back. The Piper gestures and the gates are opened, allowing the Milksop and his men inside. They carry dead game past the starving people, leaving a thin trail of blood in the streets to mark their passage. "Why are you still standing there? Disperse or I'll have boiling water poured over you!"
Julianne wants to scream her frustration, but Jaime is already propelling her through the crowd. Their old nag is waiting for them at the road, Jehan holding the reins.
"What did he say," Jehan asks, gazing up with fearful eyes. "Is he sending us to the mines?"
"You'll never see those mines," Jaime says, lifting him up. Jehan is a gangly boy, but he wraps those long legs around his father's waist and clings to him like a limpet. "Let's get back home, little man. I'm sure Dustin is missing his uncle." Jehan's laugh is wet, but it's genuine and that has Julianne's muscles relaxing. "Has your mother returned?"
"Not when I left." They'd asked Jehan to stay behind when they departed that morning for the castle, but neither truly expected him to stay on the farm with Dustin and Firefox. Jehan, above everything else, is a stubborn boy. "Do you think she'll stay at the camp?"
"It would probably be best." It's getting dark earlier and earlier now, the night draping over the world like a blanket. There's no comfort in the dark, just a cold moon that's little more than a scythe above their heads.
Firefox is waiting on the porch when they return, a mug of water in his hand and a line of snot on the shoulder of his tunic, a silver smear against navy blue. He glances up when he hears them, his shoulders hunched and his gaze wary. "Well," he asks.
"The Piper's setting a trap for the Bluejay," Julianne says. "He told the mothers that they can either turn him over or their children will be forfeit." It's a clever plan. What mother wouldn't sacrifice a stranger for the safety of their babies? "I'd love to make him eat that silver nose."
"I'll help you," Jaime says, dropping down on the porch. He and Firefox have grown close these past few months, an old friendship starting to heal. Sometimes Julianne is jealous of how these two and Roxane fall into old roles so easily. Julianne would give her right foot to have a friend here that's known her since childhood. "Jehan, would you get us some bread? I'm starved."
"Okay, Daddy," Jehan says. He scurries into the house, light enough on his feet that Dustin doesn't wake up. Julianne eases herself down onto the dirt path that leads to the gate and the road beyond that. The loose dirt is cool and she digs her toes into it.
"Those women would gladly turn the Bluejay in." Jaime heaves a sigh that comes from deep in his chest, running his fingers over his shorn hair. He'd cut it three days after Dustfinger died and Jehan had cried so hard that Jaime had immediately swore to grow it out again. "We can't let that happen, but we can't have those kids working in a mine either."
"I'll head to the camp tomorrow," Firefox says. "I'm sure we could find a hiding space if we need to." The thought of traipsing through endless woods and mountains to find a space to hide an entire kingdom's worth of kids sounds exhausting and Julianne really isn't looking forward to it.
Jehan brings out bread and honey, settling on Jaime's knees and resting his head on his shoulder. Julianne used to do that when she was little, curl up in Mo's lap and listen to his even breaths until she fell sound asleep. She always had the best dreams wrapped up in his arms.
"Resa was in the crowd," Julianne says, the words drifting out on a tired sigh. "She'll tell Mo and Mo will tell our dear Prince." She takes a bit of bread and honey from Jaime, letting out a quiet moan as the sweetness bursts across her tongue like fireworks. If she could meet the bees that made this honey, she'd kiss each and every one of them. "Honey is better than se— Uh, several…. Things." She casts a guilty look at Jehan, but he's already asleep.
"You must not be having those several things right," Jaime says. Firefox snorts. Julianne scowls up at the both of them. "What? I'm perfectly happy with the several things Roxane and I share."
"Not all of us have a Roxane."
"I've offered," Firefox says, shrugging. "No need for both of us to be pent up when we could be relaxed."
"I don't like the whole no-strings-attached thing."
"Ah, so young and wholesome." If food weren't so scarce, she'd throw her bread at his fat head. "Remember when we were so innocent, Jai?" Jaime laughs outright, tilting his head back. Jehan snuffles and the trio go dead silent, but he stays asleep.
"I don't think we were ever so innocent," Jaime muses. "Remember that one night when we were fifteen? You snuck me into Capricorn's fortress and we completely ruined that desk in his study." The men laugh again, full-bellied and loud. It's a nice sound, a reassuring sound that none of them have heard in a long time.
"He was so mad when he found it the next morning. I think he ended up blaming Piper for it and they didn't speak for three days." Julianne manages a laugh at that, leaning her shoulder against one of Jaime's long legs. She can't picture Capricorn as a young man, let alone one that punishes his men by giving them the cold shoulder. By the time she met him, he was more prone to shooting disobedient henchmen.
"Good gods, Capricorn was petty." Jaime and Firefox gaze at each other for a long moment, tender and soft and all the things they both share with Roxane. She misses looking at someone that way, wishes she'd done it more often when Dustfinger was still here. "Is it true what Dustfinger told us? How Capricorn died?"
"You both know what Mo and Meggie's voices are capable of, right," she checks. The men nod in unison. "Capricorn kidnapped me and Mo with some help from Dustfinger and, naturally, Meggie and my auntie came storming into the village to rescue us…." That's how they pass the rest of the night, Julianne telling them the same story her children and grandchildren will grow up hearing about.
Meanwhile, in an opulent house within the walls of Ombra, Resa is pleading for the words to take her family home again.