‘The man I loved died,’ she said. ‘You know that.’
‘Aye, he died. But it was you who chose to shrivel up inside and turn into a harridan.’
Maev Ring swung away from the shelf and moved swiftly across the room. Her hand lashed out. Jaim made no attempt to block the slap and her hand cracked against his face.
‘Well, at least there’s still some fire in you, lass,’ he said. Then he turned and walked from the room.
CHAPTER THREE
ARLEBAN ACHBAIN SAT BY HIS MOTHER’S BEDSIDE. WHAT HE SAW frightened him. Shula’s eyes were sunken, her cheeks hollow. She was scarcely breathing. A large bruise had formed on the right side of her jaw, and her lips were split. Banny could not understand why Morain and the women in Eldacre had beaten up his mother, but then he had never understood why both clan and Varlish youngsters used to torment and set upon him. It was not that he did not know why. He had been told often enough. It was understanding he lacked. His mother had fallen in love with a highlander. A union between Varlish and Pannone, though not illegal, was highly unusual and both had suffered as a result. The clan turned its back on his father, while the townsfolk, most of them Varlish, shunned his mother. Even so, their love had endured for some years. But it had been worn down and eroded, season by season, by the relentless hatred washing against it. Banny was seven when his father left home, never to return. He had gone north to find employment in an area where none would know of his wife’s tainted blood. He would send for her and the boy, he promised, when he had found a place to settle. They never heard from him again.
From then on Banny and his mother barely scraped a living. In the growing seasons they gathered mountain herbs for the Old Hills apothecary, Ramus. Every week she would collect the few coppers she earned, buy food at the store, and carry it home to their dugout. She always saved a farthing from every payment. This would help to feed both her and Banny through the harsh winter months. Last year’s summer had been poor, and the herbs were not so plentiful. Their money had run out weeks ago.
Shula’s mouth was open, and Banny saw that she had lost two teeth on the upper right side. Banny’s own teeth were loose. He could move them with his tongue. Outside the sun was shining, and, for the first time in months, there was genuine warmth in its rays. Banny wanted to walk out in the sunshine, and feel the heat upon his skin. But he was too weary, and there was no strength in his legs.
He heard a movement and looked round. Kaelin’s aunt was coming into the room. She was an imposing woman, tall and fierce-eyed. Banny was a little frightened of her. Back in the summer, when he and Kaelin had come running into the house, she had grabbed him by the shoulder and marched him outside. ‘You will play out here,’ she told him. ‘I’ll have no fleas on my furnishings, if you please!’ It had been a shaming experience.
As Maev leaned over the bed and laid her hand on Shula’s brow Banny turned his gaze back to his mother. She would not die, he decided. It would be too unfair. A trembling began in his stomach and he felt his throat tighten. Tears spilled from his eyes. Fighting for control Banny sat very still, making no sound. He squeezed his eyes shut to prevent more tears from shaming him. Then he felt Aunt Maev’s hand upon his shoulder. ‘Sleep is good. Sleep is healing,’ she told him. ‘Now you come with me. You need to eat again – and then to bathe. You have both lice and fleas and there is no room for either in my house. Come now.’
Banny rose on trembling legs and followed her into the kitchen. It seemed like a palace to the twelve-year-old. He sat down at the pine table and stared at the golden sheen upon the wood. Aunt Maev placed a deep bowl of beef gravy soup before him and a hunk of bread.