But what is this that I can't see
With ice cold hands taking hold of me?
When God is gone and the Devil takes hold
Who will have mercy on your soul?
Oh Death—Jen Titus
It's the Strong Man that rides to the farm and tells them what Mo's planning. "He's going to do what," Julianne demands, not quite as shocked as she should be. This is her father they're talking about, he's never met a cause he wouldn't martyr himself for. They really need to find the guy a therapist.
"He's going to summon the White Women and ask for Dustfinger back," the Strong Man repeats dutifully. Julianne lets out a growl and turns to look at her family, throwing her hands out in the international gesture of what the actual fuck. Firefox has slapped his hand against his forehead, Jaime is looking up at the stars like he's looking for divine interference, and Roxane is raising her brows.
"Good to know that you come by your reckless streak naturally," she says. "Firefox, stay here with the boys. Jaime, Juli, and I are going to the graveyard." Firefox doesn't even bother trying to argue, just nods his head and picks Dustin up from the path. "Go on, we'll be right behind you."
"Roxane, you're awesome," Julianne says earnestly. Roxane winks and heads for the stable with Jaime hurrying after her. Julianne climbs onto the back of the Strong Man's horse, holding on tight as he urges it out of the yard and away from Ombra.
Julianne's never been to the graveyard of the strolling players, never had a reason to go since Dustfinger isn't there, but she'll be the first to admit that it's fucking creepy. It's set over an abandoned village, tombstones like crooked teeth overlooking crumbling huts with moldering thatch on what's left of the roofs. It's the perfect setting for a ghost story and Julianne is all too aware of what happens to white people in ghost stories that point out to others what happens in said stories.
If she dies here, she's going to be very upset.
Julianne moves over to Resa, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. Meggie had told her what Resa had done, how she'd begged Orpheus for the words that would bring them back to Auntie's house near the lake and then been cornered by three guards on the way home. Meggie had been so angry that she'd cried, beating her fists against her legs until Julianne had pulled her into a hug.
Unlike her sister, Julianne doesn't have the energy to be angry at Resa. This story has already taken so much from them and she understands why Resa would want to leave it behind. She understands and sympathizes, but she knows that she'd never be able to leave this story now. This is where her son was born, where a vast majority of her family resides in that little farmhouse.
"Are you mad at me, too," Resa whispers, looking past her lashes at Julianne. Her shoulders are hunched and she looks so miserable that Julianne just shakes her head. "Your sister and Mo are. I think they hate me."
"They could never hate you, Resa. Just give them some time." Resa nods, but her eyes shine behind a film of tears and her complexion is sallow. "What's Mo and Orpheus talking about?"
"Fine print, I guess." Orpheus hands Mo a sheet of paper, Mo's head bent over it for a moment before nodding in agreement. He folds it and turns as Resa hurries over to him, tucking the sheet away in her belt. She's saying something, face lined with panic and desperation, making her seem far older than she really is. There's none of that on Mo's face, his expression a mask of seriousness that Julianne's rarely seen. She's not so sure that she likes it.
"Do you really think he can summon the White Women with his voice," Jaime asks, riding up. He's alone on the horse, dismounting with an ease that speaks more of gratefulness than practice. Jaime Wildes is a simple farmer, Fenoglio had written, a humble man with humble roots. His mother had been a dancer with the strolling players and his movements were as graceful as hers, fluid lines painted with blacks and gold like a ballerina on the stage.
"If anyone can, it's Mo," she answers. "Where's Roxane?"
"She couldn't bear the disappointment if the Bluejay failed. She's staying at the farm and I convinced Firefox to stay behind and watch over her." He fixes the reins to the stone wall that surrounds the cemetery, the same pale stone that makes up the houses down in the village. Jaime follows her gaze to the misshapen shadows down the slope, houses that are shrouded in darkness from the trees of the Wayless Wood. "They called it Carandrella."
"Hmm?"
"The village was called Carandrella. People say that there was a great plague here and that's why no one remained, others say there was a feud that either killed or drove out the villagers. Personally, I blame ghosts."
"We're on the same page, Jai." He smiles, showing the barest hint of yellow teeth. "I've never liked cemeteries." She wraps her arms around herself and glances around again, taking in the moss-covered stones with names etched clumsily into them so that the dead will still be remembered. "Places like this are filled with grief and I've had enough of that for a lifetime."
"Grief is better than being numb, I suppose." Julianne doesn't have a reply to that, not when Death feels so close. "Go and see your father, Juli. He looks like he needs some comfort." She nods and shuffles across grass made stiff with hoarfrost, tucking herself against Mo without a sound.
"Are you actually going to do this, Mo?"
"I made an agreement," he says. "What kind of man would I be if I didn't hold up my end?"
"That's right," Orpheus says. He's shifting from foot to foot and Julianne bites back a taunt about him doing the potty dance. "I don't think we should wait any longer. The White Women are said to like it when the moon is shining before it disappears behind the clouds." Julianne pulls away from Mo long enough to send Orpheus her best go to hell look.
"Walk away before I step on you," she growls. Orpheus' bodyguard stares dumbly between his master and Julianne, but he doesn't advance and Orpheus even takes a couple of steps back. She turns back to Mo with a sugar sweet smile and a quick peck on the cheek. "Come back to us or I'll come find you and you're not gonna like me if that happens."
"I'll be there, too," Meggie adds. "I don't care how many White Women try to keep you with them, I've been itching for a fight all week."
"Oh, I have no doubt about that," Mo says with a quiet laugh. "My brave girls. Get somewhere safe and be brave for your mother." He pulls them both against him in a hug that feels too much like a farewell, pressing a hard kiss to their heads. "I love you both so much. Always remember that."
"Always."
"Always," Julianne echoes in a choked whisper. "Be careful."
"Is there a message you'd like me to pass on if I see Dustfinger," he asks. Julianne's fingers tighten in the back of his shirt, trying to keep him grounded and far from the daughters of Death.
"Tell him…. Tell him that dancing and dreaming is all very well, but I'd much rather have his hand to hold." Mo smiles and nods, reluctantly pulling away from his daughters. Meggie and Resa allow themselves to be herded away by the Strong Man, out of reach of grasping fingers and voices filled with longing. Orpheus, his guard, and Farid all keep a respectful distance as well, but Julianne settles down with her back against a grave marker.
"You shouldn't be so close, Juli."
"Suck it up, Mo. I'm not moving." To drive that point home, she crosses her arms over her chest and makes herself comfortable. Jaime settles down beside her, patting her knee with one hand and giving Mo a nod. Mo sighs, resigned, and returns the nod. The Black Prince comes to stand beside Mo, the great bear rumbling his disagreement.
"Show yourselves, daughters of Death!" His voice is calm and Julianne thinks of a night chilled by rain, Mo standing in the doorway and calling to Dustfinger in much the same way.
Dustfinger, he'd called back then, yelling out into the night. Is that you?
"You remember me, don't you? You remember Capricorn's fortress, you remember following me into the cave, and how faintly my heart beat against your white fingers. The Bluejay wants to ask you about a friend. Where are you?" They don't keep him waiting, the first one forming out of a faint mist and reaching out to caress his arm.
The Prince's bear rumbles again, stepping away from its master for the first time in recorded history, scared of those reaching hands and soft whispers. Jaime's fingers tighten on her knee and he's whispering something, but Julianne keeps her gaze on Mo.
The second White Woman appears just as suddenly as her sister had, reaching out to cover his beating heart. More and more of them appear, surrounding the two men until they're only dark outlines in all the mist, like the dark silhouettes that Balbulus sometimes paints. They gather thicker and thicker and Julianne can't tear her gaze away from their beautiful faces, pale as marble with sad, pleading eyes.
When the whispers start and begin to drown out all other nightlife, she tries to stand and put an end to it. Jaime grabs her dress, struggling to keep her beside him but Julianne is far stronger when she's panicking and it doesn't take her very long at all to break free.
"Mo," she calls. "Mo! Mo!" She's just got her feet under her when Jaime plows into her back, toppling them both back to the cold grass. Meggie and Resa sprint into the mist, waving their arms wildly and calling out Mo's name until their voices overshadow even the White Women's. "Mo!"
"Where is he," Meggie's yelling, voice holding such panic that it makes Julianne's chest ache. "Mo? Mo! Where's he gone?" The mist clears just as quickly as it had surrounded them, the White Women dissolving in the moonlight and leaving the Black Prince behind. He's looking around in a daze, his sword grasped loosely in his hand.
Mo's gone.
The world goes unnervingly still for a moment, all noise dying away until it's replaced by someone screaming. The screams are loud and primal and it takes Julianne longer than it should to realize they're coming from her. Her long nails are digging into the hard ground, cracking and bleeding until Jaime gets off her to tend to them.
"I'm sorry," Orpheus says, but there's a smile on his face that he can't quite hide. Farid and Julianne spot it in the same instant and begin to move, Farid grabbing Orpheus by his fine clothes while Julianne leaps onto the enormous bodyguard.
"You filthy liar," Farid yells. He pounds his fists against Orpheus' chest, sobbing all the while. "You double-tongued snake! This is your fault! You never even wanted to ask them anything, you just wanted them to take Silvertongue!" Julianne screams again, her throat raw and sore as she digs her broken nails into the bodyguard's face and draws blood.
"That's enough," Jaime says, pulling at Julianne's shoulders until he's got her cradled against him. "You're going to kill him, Juli. He's not the one you want to hurt." She turns her gaze to Orpheus, back on his feet now and taking great pains to look indigent.
"Don't be so stupid," he says, straightening his ruined waistcoat.
"You wrote two pages," Farid howls, dropping to the earth. "I can't read, but I can count! There were two sheets and your glass man said you read one of them aloud last night!" Julianne lunges forward, but the adrenaline makes her vision blurry and Jaime has learned to tighten his hold.
"How was I supposed to know they would take Mortimer away with them? I didn't have a chance to ask them about Dustfinger. I hope it's clear to all of you here that I'm the one who gets nothing out of this deal!" No one stops him as he rides off, his henchman limping after him.
Meggie screams something at Resa, accusation shining in her eyes as the Strong Man rocks her gently back and forth. He's crying too, fingers pale where they cradle Meggie's head. There's no silence in the graveyard, no respect for anyone, just a deep sorrow that digs and tears at them like a living thing.
"Come on," Jaime says, and his own voice is rasping. "Let's go home. No reason to stay in this place any longer." She clings to his neck as he picks her up, carrying her to the old horse and placing her in front of him in the saddle.
He keeps his arms around her the entire way back to the house, his dark cheeks wet with tears that twinkle in the unforgiving moonlight.
It's three days before Julianne decides to go see her sister and Resa, her and Jaime spending a full day there with the other robbers before they decide it's time to return home. The threat the Piper had made almost two weeks ago is still hanging over their heads, a dark promise to take Jehan away if they don't watch him closely.
Julianne hugs her mother and kisses Meggie's cheek before meeting Jaime by the horse, letting him help her up onto the saddle. He climbs on behind her, a warm presence against her back as he steers the horse in the right direction. They don't talk much on the ride, Jaime content to hum and Julianne content to listen.
When they turn onto the familiar path lined with old farms and olive trees, Julianne can see the faint glow of candlelight. Jaime curses when he sees it, digging his heels into the horse and urging it into a gallop that closes the distance in seconds. The goose starts up when they come into the yard, but quiets once it recognizes Jaime.
There are none of the Milksop's men like Jaime had been worried about, no threats to be found. The figures huddled together in the yard are entirely familiar; Jehan and Firefox standing together on the porch where the candlelight is coming from and Roxane in the middle of the yard with a man's arms wrapped around her.
Julianne is clumsy in her dismount and her legs have trouble supporting her as she takes a couple of stumbling steps forward. The man is little more than a shadow and she thinks again of a night two years ago, of her father shouting into the darkness and an answering voice.
Silvertongue, he'd greeted. How are you?
"Dustfinger…." Her voice is just a faint breath, coming out in pale vapor, but the man hears it all the same. He's just the same as she remembers, the same ginger hair and pale eyes and not-smile. "Dustfinger." A little more volume this time around, and her legs gain enough strength to meet him at a halfway point, falling into his arms. "Oh, Dustfinger!"
"Hello, little bird," he murmurs against the crown of her head. His breath rustles her hair and his spicy-sweet scent fills her head like expensive perfume. "What did I tell you? I'd cross oceans of time to find you." She laughs and pulls back just enough to look at him without leaving the safety of his arms. "Notice anything?" She doesn't at first, but then her fingers brush over his cheek and all she feels beneath the pads are smooth skin and stubble.
"Holy fuck," she gasps, and Dustfinger's laugh fills the quiet night like a symphony. "Your scars are gone!"
"Yes, they are."
"They were never gone in my dreams."
"No, they weren't." She traces the spot they had once occupied, then presses her lips there just because he's here and she can. "Your father said to pass on a message to you since he wouldn't be here." She looks up at him again, pain cinching around her heart. "He says you're entirely too reckless and you should punch people more your own size."
"I'm sure that bastard had it coming." He laughs again and Julianne wants to drape that sound around her forever, wants to live in the warmth of it and his arms. "I've missed you so much, Dusty."
"I've missed you, too." He bends his head to kiss her again, his lips soft against hers, slotting perfectly together like puzzle pieces. She doesn't want this to end, wants to kiss him for the rest of her life and never worry about the real world and all its problems again. Unfortunately, one of the real world obstacles is the little boy on the porch that thinks kissing is disgusting.
"Get a room," Jehan calls to them. It's another laugh that actually interrupts the kiss, their foreheads resting together and their noses brushing. Dustfinger cuts his gaze to the stable and raises his brows, smiling broadly when Julianne shrugs. He takes her hand and they basically sprint to the stable, ignoring the way Jaime groans.
By the next morning, Julianne is pregnant again. Jaime tells Jehan that Julianne and Dustfinger spent the night discussing several things. Jehan frowns, tells his father that he knows what men and women do in the wee hours and goes back to his breakfast.
Firefox laughs so hard that he falls out of his chair.