The woodland betrayed the tightness in her breast. Spring's delicate beauty carpeted the landscape with shoots of pale green, and miniature wildflowers dancing in dappled sunlight. The scene was one of joy, hope, and life. But the huntress' gut felt sickeningly knotted as she strode the old path to the cottage.
A brown paper sack bounced heavily against her right shoulder with each step. She paused to adjust her hold on it, just as the ramshackle little house peeked into view between the moss-laced trees ahead. There was no smoke from the chimney. A small, high voice was echoing through the lofty canopy, and her sharp eyes caught the flitting movement of a child.
She huffed out a quick sigh, and licked her lips. Then she arranged her countenance into something she hoped was at least akin to a neutral expression, before going forward.
"Miss Narys!" the small voice shrieked, and for a moment at least, the huntress' face took on a smile that was not constructed with effort. A girl of no more than seven summers hurtled down the path with arms pumping at her sides until she was about to collide with her target, and then her arms flew out straight to grasp onto the visitor.
"Well, now, Miss Nettie," said Narys, stroking the girl's mud-brown hair with her free hand. Her fingertips brushed over the threadbare, colorless linen shift that the girl wore. "That's a proper welcome! Come, I've got something for you and your Ma."
The child detached herself, but only to slip her tiny hand into Narys' so they could walk together towards the cottage. The big, paper sack was quickly spied. "Oooh, what's that?"
"S'a haunch of venison," the huntress replied. "If you take care of it, it'll last a while."
"I was gonna go huntin' for mushrooms today," said Nettie proudly.
"You were gonna? Why didn't you?" asked Narys.
"Will you go with me?"
"Nettie! Tell me you didn't sit here waiting for me to show up, instead of going out to get something you and your Ma really need."
Nettie's only answer was to stick a fingernail in between her teeth and avoid the eyes of the woman above her.
They had reached the steps leading up to the cottage door. Narys stopped walking, held fast to the child's hand, and crouched down in front of her. "Nettie, listen to me. Your Ma doesn't have anyone but you. You need to help all you can. You can't be scared to go out by yourself."
"But there's wolves n' robbers in the forest," Nettie mumbled around her finger.
Narys removed her hand from the child's grasp, and reached up to gently pull the nibbled finger away from Nettie's lips. "Nettie, there will be wolves and robbers whether you go out looking for mushrooms or not. You want your Ma to go hungry because you're afraid of things?"
Nettie shook her head mutely, brown, flat strands of hair swinging side to side.
Narys squeezed the girl's hand. Her voice, so often sharp and bold, had taken on a softer tone. "You have to be brave. You don't have to go too far from home to find mushrooms and berries and things. Right? Listen! I can hear the creek from here. It's real close. You go down there when the sun is up high and look for things to bring home, aye? Don't go at night, or even when the sun is going down. Only when the sun is up and bright. Ya hear?"
"What do I do if I see a wolf?" Nettie squeaked.
"You won't be seeing wolves at noon," Narys replied, trying to keep any traces of amusement out of her voice. "They hide from people if they can. They don't go looking for brave girls to gobble up."
This elicited a tiny giggle from the child, and Narys smiled more freely, then leaned in and kissed the crown of Nettie's head. "Come. I'll help you get the fire going so we can cook some of this meat. I'll bring you another surprise when I come back. It's time you learned how to protect yourself and your Ma proper."
"What surprise?" Nettie chirped, bounding up the steps and flinging the rickety door open. "Cakes?"
"You can protect yourself with cakes?" Narys snickered, putting her fist on her hip and giving the little girl an affectionately stern "glare". "How? Throwing them at people?"
Nettie giggled again, though she looked a bit crestfallen that Narys wouldn't be returning with heaps of sweets. "I'd throw them at Mister Bones if I could. But he's so mean, he'd probably just catch them and eat them in front of me!"
The huntress paused as she climbed to the stoop, and her freckled brow puckered. "...who the fe...who's Mister Bones?"
Nettie wasn't smiling now. She pressed her little spine against the doorframe and seemed to shrink. "That man what comes here and tells Ma we have to pay him coin or get out of the house. Ma never has any coin. He said it's to keep the Blackwolds away, and if we don't pay him, he can't keep them away from us."
The air seemed to go out of the world for a moment. Narys' throat clenched. There it was again, that knotted sensation in her gut. "I thought he'd stopped coming," she murmured, glancing into the dim room beyond the cottage door. The child's mother was nowhere in sight.
"He started coming again," Nettie said quietly, looking down at her bare, dirty toes while she scuffed a foot back and forth over the wooden door-frame.
"...why are you calling him Mister Bones now?" Narys asked.
"Because he's so bony and tall. His face looks like...you know...one of those bony faces."
Narys nodded slowly. She would not utter the word "skull" to Nettie, but she understood. She knew what this man looked like well enough. Tall. Thin. Pale.
Without realizing it, a full minute passed, while the huntress stood still and silent, her turquoise eyes gazing at the cracked boards of the porch, but seeing things far beyond.
"Miss Narys? Are you all righ'?" Nettie's little voice broke through.
The young woman blinked and stirred back to the present. She forced a smile onto her lips. "Aye. I'm just fine. Come, let's get this meat onto the fire, so you and your Ma can have a proper supper."
"Will you stay for supper?"
"Aye, that I will."
