Audrey of Farmerton Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Danj and the Lion

  1 - ‡ Impossible ‡

  2 - ‡ Saxloc ‡

  3 - ‡ Caravan ‡

  4 - ‡ Mansion ‡

  5 - ‡ Almera ‡

  6 - ‡ Parents ‡

  7 - ‡ Draymund ‡

  8 - ‡ Changes ‡

  9 - ‡ City ‡

  10 - ‡ Money ‡

  11 - ‡ Grasapa ‡

  12 - ‡ Clerics ‡

  13 - ‡ Students ‡

  14 - ‡ History ‡

  15 - ‡ Plan ‡

  16 - ‡ Determination ‡

  17 - ‡ Injury ‡

  18 - ‡ Decisions ‡

  19 - ‡ Desire ‡

  20 - ‡ Cinda ‡

  21 - ‡ Choice ‡

  22 - ‡ Conversation ‡

  23 - ‡ Birthday ‡

  24 - ‡ Ready ‡

  25 - ‡ Rohoville ‡

  26 - ‡ Attack ‡

  27 - ‡ Farmerton ‡

  28 - ‡ Snow ‡

  29 - ‡ Temple ‡

  30 - ‡ Together ‡

  31 - ‡ Repartee ‡

  32 - ‡ Stories ‡

  33 - ‡ Simmering ‡

  34 - ‡ Boiling ‡

  35 - ‡ Fracture ‡

  36 - ‡ Recovery ‡

  37 - ‡ Return ‡

  38 - ‡ Concerns ‡

  39 - ‡ Mission ‡

  40 - ‡ Glasston ‡

  41 - ‡ Morton ‡

  42 - ‡ Shopping ‡

  43 - ‡ Celebration ‡

  44 - ‡ Honesty ‡

  45 - ‡ Home ‡

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Audrey of Farmerton

  ‡ BOOK ONE OF ANDORAN'S REALM ‡

  M. Gregg Roe

  Text Copyright © 2017 M. Gregg Roe

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition — August 2016

  Revised — April 2017

  — For my father —

  Danj and the Lion

  Mighty sword in hand he willed

  Yonder lion must be killed

  Danj set to with fearsome blade

  Teeth and claws would soon be paid

  Danj’s life was nearly lost

  Fighting like there was no cost

  The lion fell to bloody death

  Its mate was surely left bereft

  Stories many were a’told

  Making Danj sound ever bold

  I have heard them countless times

  And so have made these silly rhymes

  — Siljan av Sabrina, Self-Appointed Royal Poet

  1

  ‡ Impossible ‡

  Audrey’s first thought was, There’s no pain. That means I’m dead. And there really is an afterlife! But it felt to her like she was in her own bed. She opened her eyes and it certainly looked like her room. There was a wood vase with fresh water lilies on the nightstand to her right and it looked to be about mid-morning, judging by the sunlight that slanted through the shutters of the one small window. Audrey could even hear the muted sounds of her mother singing to herself, which she often did while cooking.

  But it had to be the afterlife. She could feel that she still had both her legs, although the left one did feel odd. And there was no pain! After she was attacked, it had been nothing but pain. Her entire world revolved around pain. None of the remedies that the villagers gave her helped at all. The slightest movement of her left leg was agony. She couldn’t sleep. She could barely think. Her only rest had been when the pain became so bad that she actually blacked out.

  Her last memories were of searing pain and a leg sickly colored and swollen with infection. Her parents were frantic. She knew that the villagers would soon cut off her leg to try to save her. She would either die in the process or survive with only one leg. Her mother had fed her fermented cider until she finally lost consciousness.

  Audrey threw back the blanket covering her and sat up. She reached down and pulled up the hem of her faded blue flannel nightgown and then stared at her left leg in disbelief. Below the knee, it was disfigured by several ugly twisting scars, but the wounds were completely healed. Her leg didn’t even look swollen. It’s impossible.

  She ran her fingers gently over the scars. They felt strange, and they were sensitive to the touch as if fairly recent. She swung her legs off the bed and cautiously stood. There was still no pain, although she could feel the scar tissue pulling as she moved her left leg. She walked back and forth in her small bedroom. Aside from the pulling sensation, her leg felt perfectly normal. She wasn’t even limping.

  “Impossible,” she said aloud. “It’s impossible.”

  Audrey sat back down on her bed and thought. Even if she had somehow recovered from the horrible infection that had spread throughout her entire left leg, it would have taken months for the wounds to look like this. It made no sense to her. She clearly hadn’t spent months in bed healing.

  Still feeling confused, Audrey retrieved her gray flannel robe from her wardrobe and put it on over her nightgown. She opened the door and walked through the short hallway, automatically avoiding the squeaky board just outside her room. Her mother was in the kitchen chopping vegetables for soup, and Audrey suddenly felt hungry.

  “Audrey!” exclaimed her mother with a pleased look. She put down the knife and gave her a quick hug. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  Audrey’s mother Marilee was somewhat plump, with short blond hair, brown eyes, and a round face that was still attractive despite several lines and wrinkles. Audrey loved her mother, but it bothered her that she seemed to have no ambitions beyond her role as mother and wife.

  “I’m fine, Mother,” she replied as she seated herself at their simple wooden dining table. “That’s what I don’t understand. How can I be fine? Wasn’t I dying?”

  Marilee smiled broadly, making her look quite pretty. “It was magic! You were dying, but we had these visitors and one used magic to heal you. He was an elf!”

  “An elf healed me?” Audrey had only the vaguest idea of what an elf was. She really didn’t know anything about magic either. “Why?”

  “They were good people, Audrey, that’s why. They killed the crocodiles and wouldn’t accept any payment for doing it. They used magic for that too, I’m told.”

  More magic? She frowned and asked, “How long was I in bed?”

  “You’ve been asleep for about a day and a half. I’ll bet you’re hungry.”

  Audrey nodded emphatically. “Yes, I really am.”

  Marilee busied herself setting out food, and Audrey quickly began to eat. The food was good, and her appetite seemed endless. She was desperate to know more about what had happened and began to question her mother as she ate. Marilee was only too happy to tell what she knew.

  Four travelers had arrived in the late afternoon two days earlier. Three were male and one female, and they all looked to be in their late teens—about the same age as Audrey. They all wore some type of armor and had swords on their belts. One of the males was short and had pointed ears.

  “That’s because he was an elf,” assured Marilee. “They were asking if we knew anything about a missing boat, but we didn’t. Mayor Johan told them about the crocodiles and about you being in a bad way. The elf came here and used magic on your leg. The wounds just closed up and the swelling started to go right down. It was really something!”

  “What was his name? And did they say where they were from?”

  “He called himself Saxloc, and he said he was from the Witch’s City. His clothes were really fancy and he had armor and a big sword. He must b
e really rich. They all looked rich.”

  Audrey could hear the envy in her mother’s voice and it bothered her. Saxloc sounded like an odd name, and she wondered if it was an elf name. The Witch's City was supposed to be somewhere far to the south and east, and it was said to be both large and formidable.

  The seeds of a plan began to form in Audrey’s mind. She had no intention of marrying one of the young men in the village and ending up as a mere farmer’s wife. She wanted more, both for herself and any children she might bear. That meant leaving the village because there weren’t any other options for her there. She had seriously considered running off to Fisherton, but that would simply be trading farming for fishing. But the Witch’s City! It sounded so mysterious. Audrey wasn’t sure what a witch was, but they must be powerful if they had their own city. A big city would be perfect for the kind of life she had always dreamed of.

  “Are they coming back?” she asked eagerly. “Which way did they go?”

  “They went north. I’m pretty sure they were heading to Fisherton. Probably still looking for that lost boat of theirs.”

  That was good news since they would likely come back through Farmerton on their way home. All she had to do was to persuade them to take her with them to the Witch’s City. Once there, she would make a new life for herself. A better life.

  Audrey stopped eating because she was feeling somewhat queasy. She stood and glanced at her legs. Something occurred to her and she asked, “Was anyone else hurt? Did they help anyone else?”

  Marilee pursed her lips as tears formed in her eyes. “You were the only one who was still alive. I guess I really should be the one to tell you. Quentin and Janny was both killed.”

  Audrey was horrified. Quentin was an older man, but Janny was only four-years-old! And Audrey had really liked Quentin. Everyone liked Quentin. She closed her eyes briefly as she tried to suppress her grief. She looked at her mother sadly and said, “Thank you for telling me. I know it was hard.”

  Marilee nodded and managed a small smile. “Someone had to tell you. I’m going to go take your father lunch and tell him you’re awake. He’ll be really happy to hear it.”

  “I’m sure he will. I’m going to lie down. I think I ate too much.”

  Audrey went back to her room and laid down. She had miraculously survived, but two people she had cared about were dead. She just didn’t know how to feel. Grief eventually won out, and she cried herself to sleep.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  When Audrey awoke, it was late in the afternoon. She dressed herself in her usual work clothing: shirt and pants of faded brown linen, wool socks, and soft leather boots. Her mother was already busy cooking dinner, and Audrey told her that she was going out for a while.

  She found her father Anton in the barn adjoining their pigpen. He was stocky and plain, with dark brown hair and brown eyes that matched her own. (Audrey had often wished that she had taken after her mother as far as hair color and looks were concerned.) He wasn’t as fat as his wife, but like Audrey herself, he was a bit on the heavy side.

  Her father heard her enter. He rushed up and hugged her before saying, “Audrey! Your mother told me you’d woke up. How are you feeling?”

  “Well enough,” she replied. “I ate too much earlier, but my leg feels fine. Do you need help with anything?”

  He smiled and replied, “No, Audrey. You can go back and rest some more if you like. We need to make sure you look all pretty when those four return. The one that healed you looked really rich. You should have seen the clothes he wore when he wasn’t dressed to travel!”

  Audrey could hear the greed in her father’s voice. It disgusted her, but she was careful not to let it show on her face, smiling instead. “I’d really like to meet him and thank him personally,” she told him. “I owe him my life. I think I’ll take a walk and ask the others about them.”

  “Good idea! Find out all you can. Maybe you can snare this Saxloc boy when they return. He’d make a fine son-in-law, what with him being from such a rich family.”

  Audrey maintained her smile as she walked out of the barn. She was indeed planning to snare Saxloc, but not for the benefit of her father. And not for wealth. She simply needed to persuade him to take her back with him to the Witch’s City.

  She decided to first go visit her Aunt Berna. As she worked her way back to the area where the village’s houses were tightly clustered, she heard a familiar voice.

  “Audrey! Audrey!” yelled Mayor Johan’s young daughter as she ran down the path with her long pigtails flying. Romee was always running everywhere, and Audrey was unsurprised to see her looking as though she had been rolling around in dirt.

  Romee barely managed to stop before colliding with her, and instantly began to ask questions. “Are you all better? Can I see your leg? Can I? Can I? Please?” She looked so earnest that Audrey couldn’t help smiling.

  Audrey bent down and rolled up the left leg of her pants as far as the knee. Romee squatted down and moved her head around rapidly, as if trying to get a view from every possible angle.

  “I thought it’d be all better,” she said in a disappointed voice as she sprang back to her feet. “Those scars are icky!”

  “Yes,” agreed Audrey with a laugh. “They are icky. But at least I still have two legs.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” said Romee with a startled look. “You’re smart, Audrey. I’ll go tell everyone that you’re up!” She took off running back the way she had come.

  Audrey rolled her pants leg back down and walked to her aunt’s house. Berna was a younger and thinner version of her sister Marilee, with a rather meek personality. Her twin daughters, Ilona and Iris, had run rampant over her ever since their father Niels died of the flux two years ago. Berna was an excellent seamstress, and she earned her keep by making and repairing clothing and linens for the other villagers. Audrey had learned a great deal from her, and she had become a fair seamstress herself.

  She knocked on the front door and it was soon opened by Ilona and Iris, standing side-by-side and dressed identically as always. Audrey had always prided herself on being able to distinguish between the two of them, but now everyone could—Iris broke her nose the previous year and it hadn’t healed straight. They looked nothing like their mother, with short dark hair and brown eyes, and they had recently turned seven.

  Audrey smiled at them and said, “Hello, Ilona. Hello, Iris.”

  “Hello,” said Ilona, “Audrey,” finished Iris.

  Audrey frowned at the girls. The two of them often did that, but it was always while smiling. Now they looked almost somber. She suddenly remembered what her mother had told her about Janny. The twins were very close with Janny and her older sister Josette. She realized they must be mourning their friend.

  “I’m very sorry about your friend Janny,” she told them. “I need to talk with your mother.”

  “Thank you,” said Ilona. “We miss her,” said Iris. The two stepped back and Audrey entered and closed the door. “She’s sewing,” said Ilona. Audrey waited for Iris to say something, but instead, the two of them sat down on the rug and began to listlessly play with some wood blocks.

  Audrey entered her aunt’s sewing room without knocking and closed the door behind her. She could see that Berna was using a variety of cloth scraps to make a quilt. Her aunt stood up without saying a word and hugged her tightly.

  “I’m pleased to see you up, Audrey,” she said in a soft voice. “I stopped over yesterday, and you were sleeping peacefully. Your mother showed me your leg. It’s like a miracle.”

  “Yes, it does seem like that, but my mother said someone no older than me did it using magic.”

  “That’s true,” she agreed. “I didn’t see you being healed, Audrey, but I did see them using magic to heal some of the others. Both the elf and the girl used magic to cure people’s cuts and bruises and such. I’d never seen real magic before; I don’t think anyone here has. It was amazing.”

  “I’m sure it was. Berna,
will you tell me about what happened to Quentin and Janny?”

  Berna closed her eyes with a pained expression. “All right. I’ll tell you.”

  Her aunt began to speak, and what she told Audrey was both surprising and unpleasant. Quentin had heard Audrey’s screams as she desperately tried to escape the crocodile that had already mauled her and was now following her away from the shore. He distracted it, using a tree branch as his only weapon, but it attacked him viciously. By the time the other villagers drove it off with torches and farm implements, Quentin was quite dead.

  Audrey closed her eyes and said a silent prayer to the goddess Lasrina, asking her to watch over Quentin in the afterlife. She wished she could repay Quentin in some fashion, but he was a widower, and his two daughters had married people from other villages and moved away some time ago.

  What had happened to Janny was far worse. She and her sister Josette had been playing by the shore of the lake, as they so often did. A crocodile took Janny by the leg and dragged her into the water. Josette then watched as two crocodiles tore her sister apart as they ate her. Now Josette didn’t remember what had happened, and she couldn’t seem to understand that her sister was dead.

  Audrey felt physically ill, and she and her aunt were both crying. She realized that she would have certainly died if not for Quentin, but she had no memory of him coming to her rescue. It bothered her that she couldn’t remember.

  “Thank you for telling me, Berna. Thank the gods that Iris and Ilona weren’t playing with their friends that day.”

  “Yes, I am very thankful. Our family has been very fortunate in all this.”

  “Yes, they have. I’m not feeling very good. I’m going back home.”

  “Be well, Audrey,” said Berna as Audrey left the room. The twins barely glanced at her as she left the house. When she arrived back home, she nodded to her mother and then went to her room to lie down. For the second time that day, Audrey cried herself to sleep.

  ♦ ♦ ♦