Riley led her friends to her bedroom rather than the bath chamber. She opened the heavy door, kicking some boots out of her way. Riley swept the clothes off the narrow bed onto the other side. Something hard hit the wall.
Lissie moved behind her and began untying her corset. Riley shrugged her off and grabbed her hunting knife from her nightstand. She pulled the cord of the tie away from her and cut it. The knot stayed tied. She had only cut the bow. Her shoulders slumped and she sat on her bed. “Fine, untie it.”
Lissie sat down next to her. She began working on the knot. “I might as well cut it out now.” Riley handed her the knife.
Cora pleaded, “Am I a prisoner now?” She collapsed onto a stool. “Just like that?”
Riley looked at her beautiful friend, bedraggled and teary-eyed. She replied, “We are all her prisoners!” The corset fell away, and she pulled it off. The blouse underneath was clinging and stained.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of your father,” Lissie started softly, “but I have heard of that sickness too.” Riley turned to her. Lissie sat on the bed.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Cora asked. She moved from the stool to Riley’s other side and began pulling sticks out of her hair.
“Lord Llanarth has always been so kind to me. Kind to everyone. I didn’t want to bring up my grandparents—and the war—in front of your mother.”
Riley’s stomach knotted. “Lissie, you know we love you. Your family—It was so long ago.” As soon as she said it, she knew twenty-five years really wasn’t.
Lissie gave her a consoling look, “It’s not something I would talk about with you. Here. But my grandmother, she insisted I learn the stories. I thought they were just tales, ways for her to remember the Plains. It made me so happy to see her remember.” Her eyes softened, and Riley could see the love in them.
“This isn’t easy, because she spoke the language of the Wind. It’s forbidden here, but you wouldn’t understand it anyway. I have to translate. Not everything has a translation. The first part isn’t really related, but every story she told me began with it.” Lissie’s voice was somber. She stood up, looking ancient as she spoke.
“The wind is high
She knows, she knows
The sun is death
He sees, he sees
The earth is still
She bears, she bears
Praise to the wind
We sing, we sing
Nothing to the sun
We run, we run
Water to the earth
We bleed, we bleed”
The words pierced Riley, it sounded like a place far away and long ago. Cora was silent. She stared without blinking.
“She that touches the sun
Poppies bloom
Upon her
She that sings the sun
Will burn
Within her
She that waters the sun
Will weep
Forever
The voice of the wind
Will be lost
From within her
The still of the earth
Will fall dead
Into her”
As Riley heard the words, they became overlaid with the symptoms the old woman had, the ones she had described. The rash, the fever, the crying, the madness. It was poetic, and in that way, so much more true. Lissie’s voice grew softer and softer as she finished the chant.
“Fear you not, witches
Seek, you women of dust
Delve the depths
Eat of the fruit of her womb
Where the wind has no voice
But your own”
Lissie sat on the bed again and looked straight ahead. “That was all of it. She said it was a curse, just like your father did, but she gave the way to find the cure. The women of dust, the witches.”
Cora’s voice sounded rhythmic, rote. “The first part is obviously describing the symptoms.” Riley smiled, thinking of the time they had shared under tutors together. Her friend always sounded like this in lecture. “The last part, I think it’s saying that we shouldn’t fear the witches. What witches?”
Lissie pursed her lips. “There are women—I mean, I shouldn’t tell you. But, there are women who live on the Plains who are said to be able to do all sorts of things. They are leaders of the tribes, but they don’t live with them. You can’t tell anyone. None of them were captured during the war, like my family was.” Riley’s stomach knotted again, she hated that her best friend’s family had been stolen. Captured and imprisoned all those years ago. They had been released after the war ended, but like so many, they had chosen to remain.
Cora said, “That must be it. It’s a disease that’s known to these witches. They can give us information. They may even know of a cure. They will also know more about how it’s spread.”
Riley jumped from the bed. She whipped around and faced her friends. “No one else will believe us. No one else knows what we know.” Her heart raced. She started tearing at her cupboards and closets, throwing her most durable clothes on the bed. “My mother is crazy if she thinks she can keep me here. I’ll ride west. I’ll find these women. There has to be someone who knows where they are.”
Cora looked shocked. “You’re really going to leave? Your mother’s going to lock you in a dungeon!”
Riley bared her teeth. “She’ll have to catch me first. If we leave right now, we can get ahead of her.”
Lissie bit her lip. “I want to go with you. It’s not safe to go alone into the Plains. You don’t speak the language. I want to see it.” She looked into Riley’s eyes. “I need to see it.”
Riley threw her arms around Lissie’s small, hard frame. “Of course you can come. I’d take you with me anywhere.”
Cora’s breath caught. “You would leave me here alone?”
Riley smiled and her eyes filled with tears. “No, never. You’ll have to come too.” She grabbed her and pulled her into the hug.
Lissie was the first to pull away and said, “I’ll get us supplies from the kitchen. I don’t think anyone will notice after what happened at dinner. Everyone’s scavenging for scraps. I can get food that will keep. Some cookware.”
Riley felt dizzy, thinking of all that had to be done. She needed a weapon that wasn’t dulled. “Cora, can you finish packing for me? Get clothes for yourself and Lissie too?”
Cora looked at the pile of riding leathers on the bed and nodded. “What are you going to be doing?”
Riley raised an eyebrow, “I’m going to sneak into the armory. Meet me in the stables when you’re done.” She looked at both of them when she said that. Her friends nodded.