A flash of annoyance passed over Kate’s face, but it couldn’t last in the afterglow
of youthful excitement. She laughed instead, “I should have known she’d be spying
on us.”
The ground seemed to shift underneath Daniel
,
and his stomach twisted. The world flashed with the same odd sensations of being
able to see things that his eyes couldn’t possibly see. A wave of nausea rose from
his stomach, threatening to make him lose his breakfast.
“I’d better go,” he told Kate hurriedly.
She frowned, “You don’t have to go yet. I don’t think Mother will be mad, she’s just
nosy.” She reached out to put her hand on his arm.
The ground rolled again as Daniel stood, making the world swim. “I forgot something.
I need to get home.” He pulled away and started down the porch steps.
“Surely it can wait a few more minutes?”
He was already jogging, “I’m sorry. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She watched him in confusion. Glancing back she realized the cittern was still sitting
on the bench where he had left it, the empty case on the ground nearby. She turned
and shouted, “You forgot your instrument!” but he was already out of sight.
Her mother stepped out onto the porch a moment later. “Where’s Daniel?” she asked.
“He just left,” said her daughter in a puzzled voice.
“He forgot his mother’s yarn,” said Brenda.
“And the cittern,” noted Kate sadly.
Brenda Sayer patted her daughter’s back comfortingly. “Don’t worry, sweetie. That
just means he’ll have good reason to come back soon.”
Daniel made it almost a hundred yards before he threw up in the bushes to one side
of the trail. The world seemed to spin around him
,
and now and then he would experience new flashes of hyperawareness.
What’s wrong with me?
He had been sick before, but he’d never felt anything like this. Kneeling in the
underbrush
,
he retched until his stomach was utterly empty. Once it finally relaxed
,
he moved a few feet away before rolling over to lie in the grass. Things seemed
normal now. His heart was no longer pounding
,
and the flashes
,
or hallucinations
, or
whatever it had been
,
seemed to have stopped.
Daniel waited another five or ten minutes before rising to his feet again. He considered
returning for his cittern but he worried that he’d have to explain his odd behavior.
Admitting that his first reaction after kissing her had been to vomit—he couldn’t
see any way in which that could be construed positively.
Remembering the kiss made his heart speed up again, but this time it was simple excitement.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the result of his visiting the Sayers
being something like this.
She kissed me back!
The memory of her lips sent shivers through him
,
and he had to force his thoughts back to more ordinary paths.
When he got home
,
his mother wasted no time interrogating him. “You came back awfully soon.”
“You only sent me to get yarn,” he said defensively.
“And where is it?” she asked.
“Uhh…”
“You left the cittern too
,
didn’t you?” she commented. “Were you in that big a hurry to get back to your chores?”
“I think I’m coming down sick,” he told her. “I got nauseous shortly after I got
there. That’s why I came back so suddenly.”
“Did you throw up?”
Daniel nodded.
Helen put her hand on his forehead. “You don’t feel feverish. Did she make you that
nervous?”
“No! Mom, I’ve known Kate since we were kids,” protested Daniel somewhat dishonestly.
“Go lay down then,” she told him.
“I already feel better,” he said unsteadily. “I promised Dad I’d clean out the barn
when I got home.”
“Lay down,” she commanded. “There’ll be time for that later.
***
Two days later and Daniel was still in bed. He had developed a fever not long after
taking his mother’s advice. It had broken now, but he was left feeling washed out
and exhausted. The only bright side to the whole thing was that his mother always
made chicken soup when he was ill.
It’s a shame I have to be sick to get it, though. It would probably taste even better
if I was well,
he thought.
Voices in the other room alerted him to the presence of an extra person in the house.
Seconds later his mother ducked her head in, giving him a knowing smile. “You have
a visitor, Daniel.”
She was gone before he could ask who it was
,
but shortly afterward the door opened again and Kate entered, carrying a tray with
more of his mother’s soup. “I came to bring back your cittern,” she announced, “but
your mother told me you haven’t been well.”
Daniel would rather not have had her see him in his current condition. He could well
imagine what his appearance must be like. “It came on suddenly,” he said, making
a futile attempt to comb his hair with one hand.
“It isn’t your fault,” she reassured him. “Did you hear the news?”
He shook his head.
“The day you came to visit—that afternoon a warden appeared in Colne,” she spoke in
hushed tones, as though the very topic might summon a warden to their location.
“Appeared?”
“Well, he rode through the village. They say he stopped every so often and just stared
around him, like he
was
looking for something,” she elaborated.
“Someone,” observed Daniel. “It’s always a ‘somebody’ they’re looking for.”
“He didn’t take anyone though,” she added. “According to Alice Hayes
,
he stayed for close to an hour, riding up and down the streets, but then he just
left.”
“What did he look like?” asked Daniel. It had been years since one of the wardens
had even entered Colne and many of the younger people had never seen one.
Kate handed him the soup and a spoon while she warmed to her subject. “I wasn’t there
of course, but Alice told Momma that he had brown hair and eyes. He was dressed in
heavy leathers, sort of like hunting clothes
,
but they were cut differently.”
She went on to describe the strange designs tooled in the leather and the obvious
craftsmanship that had gone into its stitching. “The seams were hard to spot, she
said, and what’s more his sword was brown.”
“Brown?”
“Alice’s husband, Tom, actually went out to address the rider, but when he approached
him the man drew his sword. That’s when she saw it,” explained Kate. “She
said it didn’t even look metal;
if anything
,
it appeared to be a dark brown wood, polished and sanded to a blade-like form.”
“Bizarre,” commented Daniel. “Was Mr. Hayes hurt?”
“No, he backed away immediately
,
and the warden put his sword away. The warden never said a word,” she concluded.
Daniel wondered idly if they could have been looking for him. He was young after
all, as most of those they took were. He had also definitely thought some sinful
thoughts that morning. His cheeks flushed as he remembered their kiss. He looked
away then, worried she might somehow read his mind if he looked into those green eyes
again.
They talked some more before she finally stood to leave. “I’d better get home.”
He was sad to see her go, but he couldn’t think of the right words to express himself.
“Alright,” was his best reply.
She stopped, “The other day, when you left…”
“It wasn’t you,” he responded immediately. “I mean, it wasn’t
that.
I just didn’t want you to see me getting ill.”
Kate let out her breath suddenly, as if she had been holding it, “I’m relieved. So
it wasn’t—bad?”
“No!” he blurted out with a bit too much emphasis. “That was wonderful!” His face
flushed again.
“Thank you,” she said calmly
,
and bending over
,
she deposited a quick kiss on his forehead before leaving.
He stared at the door for a long time after she left, smiling and lost in thought.
Daniel was able to resume his normal work the next day
,
and just two days after that his mother suggested he make another trip to visit the
Sayers. He was beginning to suspect she had an ulterior motive. She had made no
secret of her approval of Catherine in general.
“Mom, I know what you’re trying to do here,” he told her.
“I still need the yarn, Daniel, don’t try to blame me if you were distracted,” she
countered.
He raised one eyebrow and stared back boldly, “I’m sure that’s your real reason.”
“Do you not want to go?” she asked suddenly. “I’m sure your father wouldn’t mind
having you around today. You did so well cleaning out the barn yesterday.”
He surrendered the debate immediately.
Best not to
complain of my good fortune
,
he thought.
***
The trail up from the river to Kate’s house was on a gradual incline. The ground
was rocky
,
and either side of the path was covered with a thick
,
scrubby underbrush,
and
small trees competing with intermittent bushes.
Daniel was so caught in his thoughts, considering what he would say to Kate when he
saw her again, that he almost missed the sound of shifting soil and moving branches
behind him. Stopping suddenly
,
he looked back to see a man staring at him from the back of a tall horse.
Daniel froze.
He didn’t recognize the man at all
,
and his strange clothing pegged him as a warden, although Daniel had never seen one
before.
He struggled with his instincts;
his fear was urging him to run. In the thick brush a runner should have an advantage
over a man on horseback, but something told Daniel that it would be a bad idea.
“Don’t move,” said the stranger, riding closer.
He spoke!
Daniel’s terror only increased as the man drew near
,
and when he went so far as to actually dismount
,
he knew that his life was over.
The warden stared at him intently, as if his eyes could see through to bare Daniel’s
soul, and then he circled him, slowly. After a minute he sighed, “I guess it wasn’t
you.”
Daniel let his breath out in quiet relief. His heart felt as if it might leap from
his chest
,
and his legs were weak from unused adrenaline.
“Are there more farms that way?” asked the warden, pointing to the west, in the direction
of Daniel’s home.
“Yessir,” Daniel responded immediately, though he felt a sudden shame.
What if he’s looking for Mom or Dad, or Seth?
Seth’s family lived that direction too.
The warden remounted and turned back, pointing his horse in that direction. Without
a goodbye or thanks, he rode away leaving Daniel staring after him. He didn’t move
until the rider was gone from sight
,
and then he began running.
He considered running home, but that was the direction the rider had gone
,
and he didn’t want to encounter the dangerous outsider again. Instead he ran for
the Sayer house, one thought foremost in his mind.
Kate!
He arrived at their door panting and out of breath. Brenda Sayer opened at his third
knock.
“Oh, Daniel! What a pleasant surprise,” she said before seeing the look on his face.
“What’s wrong? Come inside.”
She guided him by the arm and shut the door after him.
“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost, Daniel.”
He nodded, struggling to find the words. “A warden,” he said finally, and then the
story came tumbling out in a rush. The aftereffects of his fear were evident as he
talked
,
and he felt a strong urge to sit down on the floor, but they were still standing
in the hallway.
As he finished
,
she stepped forward and put her arms around him. “You must have been terrified.
I can’t imagine what that was like.”
He felt awkward at first, unused to being hugged by anyone other than his parents,
but Brenda’s warmth and concern comforted him
,
and after a moment he relaxed and returned the gesture. The smell of her hair was
soothing.
After a long minute she was still holding him, and he began to wonder when she’d let
go. He lifted his head from her shoulder
,
but she squeezed him tighter. “It’s alright, Daniel. It’s just a hug. Sometimes
people need the touch of another human being. Don’t be ashamed. You’ve just had
a terrible shock.”
Something rang false in her words
,
but he couldn’t deny that he liked the embrace. His shoulders loosened and he put
his head back on her shoulder. She felt warm against him
,
and as his mind wandered
,
he became more aware of the soft feel of her body. She was roughly the same height
as her daughter
,
and her figure was more fully developed.
Fool! She’s Kate’s mother! Don’t think about that.
Despite his best effort he began to develop a reaction common among fifteen year old
males. Fearful that she would notice he tried again to pull away from her
,
but Brenda held him closely. It almost seemed as if she was deliberately pressing
against him.
She’s going to notice.
His heart was pounding in his ears now
,
and he knew that his life would be over.
She’ll never let me court her daughter if she feels that…
He pushed her away, more forcefully this time. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Sayer. I really
need to get that yarn and get home. Dad’s waiting for me today.” The last part was
a lie, but he felt as though he needed to give a reason for his desire to escape quickly.
She nodded, letting him go. “That’s fine, Daniel. I’ll fetch the yarn for you.”
Stepping away she looked back for a second, “You really have grown.” Her eyes drifted
down as she said it
,
and then she was gone.
Was she looking at—no!
That wasn’t possible. He had known Kate’s mother for just as long as he’d known Kate.
She was practically a second mother to him.
“Daniel, look at this for a second. I’m not sure which your mother would prefer,”
Brenda’s voice echoed down the hallway, coming from her bedroom.
Without a second thought he walked down the hall and into her room. She closed the
door behind him.
He turned to face her, suspicious now. “Where’s the yarn?”
She was giving him a strange look, as though she were hungry. “Hold me one more time.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he responded nervously.
“I know what you must think,” she said, her eyes pleading. “I’m just lonely, though.
It’s been years since Brian was here.” She was even closer now. “You’ve gotten so
tall. Just hold me a moment, let me pretend. There’s no harm in it.”
The sadness in her eyes surprised him
,
and he felt sorry for her somehow. The previous hug hadn’t been unpleasant, just
embarrassing. He let her put her arms around him and he returned the embrace lightly,
hoping he could avoid the same reaction he had had before.
The more he tried to avoid the thought, the worse his condition became.
He was startled when he felt her
release
a deep breath against his neck, the air sending a tingle along his spine. One of
her arms was sliding around the back of his waist. Somehow her hand had gotten under
the bottom of his tunic
,
and her fingers were on his skin, sliding along the edge of his trousers. He started
to pull away again
,
but she tightened her arms.
“Be still, Daniel. Just a minute, then if you wish, I’ll let you go.”
He stood transfixed. Her hand had reached a place it should never have been. Paralyzed
he knew he should run, he should escape. She was kneeling in front of him now.
What is she doing?!
Minutes passed while shame and lust warred within him, but he remained utterly still.
The world became hazy
,
and a new sensation grew, until it felt as though the world would explode. Then
it did.
Even as his rational mind began to return, the world pulsed with light
,
and he again experienced a feeling of hyperawareness, as if he could see beyond the
walls of the Sayer house. The earth seemed unsteady
,
and he found himself sitting down on the bed, trying to clear his head.
“Something’s wrong with me,” he said, hoping she would understand. “I don’t feel
well.” He needed to get away, but the world kept swaying
,
and he felt dizzy.
Brenda smiled at him, “That’s perfectly natural.” She pushed him back into a reclining
position.
“No,” he protested. “I have to go. I can’t—this isn’t right.” Even as he spoke
,
he could see that something had changed. His vision was different. There was a
faint glow around Brenda Sayer, as well as most of the objects in the room, although
it was brighte
st
around her, especially her head. He could also
feel
the shape of things behind him, even beyond the walls.
“Don’t be silly. You’re fifteen, you’re far from finished,” using one hand she guided
his
hand
to her bosom. “Feel that…” He could see a change in her aura as she pressed his
hand against her breast.
“But Kate…”
“…won’t be home for hours,” she finished for him.