“That is beyond my power, or I can assure you I would have sent your ‘pupil’ out to you first!” My mother spat back.
“Zuhra?” Inara’s voice was small, my name a plea. I stretched my hand out to her and she hurried forward to take it. Her fear was a palpable thing; her fingers clenched over mine as her gaze darted toward Mother, Halvor, and the hedge that trapped him here—with us. With her.
“Then you leave me no choice.” Master Barloc’s ominous threat was followed by the sound of steel scraping against hardened leather. Was he carrying a sword? What kind of a scholar was he?
“Sir, I wouldn’t—”
Mother was cut off by the sound of his sword hacking into the hedge, followed immediately by his yowl of pain. For, as I assumed she had been attempting to warn him, this was no ordinary hedge, and when attacked, it attacked back. Viciously.
“Witch!” Master Barloc screeched, the low thud of his sword falling to the earth a punctuation to his accusation. “Paladin witch!”
“I am no such thing,” Mother hissed. If she’d been a snake, she would have been coiled as tightly as possible, ready to strike. I’d seen one once as a girl; curled up, tail quivering, making that unnerving rattling noise. Mother had been with me, luckily, and yanked me back before it could bite either of us. Louie the cat had appeared in the courtyard the very next day, as if the hedge had been aware of the danger I’d encountered, and I’d been given a very long lecture on the agonizing death that came from a snake bite. A death that it would seem my mother wished to inflict on Master Barloc now, if only she had the capability.
“She did nothing, Master,” Halvor added again. I didn’t miss the brief glance over his shoulder, toward where Inara and I stood. Did he think Inara was responsible?
“Some scholar you are, if you weren’t even aware of the capabilities of this hedge,” my mother scoffed. “Surely the stories of others’ failed attempts to break through had to have reached you at some point on your pointless quest?”
Rather than responding, the older man merely howled, “What did you do to me?” from the other side of the hedge.
“You did this to yourself. Go to the village, they will help you.” Mother finally released Halvor.
He rubbed at the spot on his arm where her fingers had dug into his flesh. “We heard rumors about a hedge as big as a wall. But we didn’t know it was dangerous. Or capable of … ah, movement.” Another furtive glance at Inara.
“It burns,” Master Barloc moaned.
“Ask for Gina at the inn, she can help you. But you must hurry if you wish to stop the poison in time.”
“It’s poisonous?” Halvor had inched forward, as though he wished to assist his master somehow, but abruptly stopped, staring at the hedge with newfound fear, and instead took a step backward toward the citadel.
Inara’s grip on my hand grew tighter and tighter throughout their exchange and she’d begun to shake her head and murmur. “It’s … it’s coming … no, no. Five. Four. Three … Three, two … no, please…”
I squeezed back, only half-aware of Master Barloc’s continued threats, as my focus was pulled to my sister. “Fight it, Nara. Stay with me.”
The whites of her eyes were visible all around her blue-fire irises.
“Stay with me,” I whispered, even as she pulled her hand from mine and backed up.
“No … no, no, no…” Inara grabbed at her hair, her fists clenched against her temples.
“What’s happening? Is she all right?” Halvor turned from the hedge to us, his gaze immediately drawn to Inara.
“Ssh,” I murmured, ignoring his baffled questions as I gently touched her forearms, trying to keep her from hurting herself. “It’s okay, Nara. It’s all right.”
But it wasn’t all right.
Because when she finally let me pull her arms down, removing her hands from her hair and face, she was gone again.
And Halvor wasn’t.
FIVE
The four of us stood in the courtyard, the massive hedge towering over us, staring at one another. Well, three of us were. Inara had retreated into herself, into the world of roaring and noise that stole her from me—from us—and was murmuring to herself, her burning gaze darting around, seeing, absorbing, but not truly. She’d tried to explain it to me more than once, in the winter when we had more time, how she could see and hear us, but how hard it was to focus, to make sense of what she saw, or what we said to her, over the cacophony in her head. The roar that consumed all her sense and made it practically impossible for her to function.
Halvor glanced at my sister. “Is she—”
“It’s nearly sundown.” Mother stepped forward, her hands clasped together at her waist. “You may spend the night in a guest suite, but tomorrow you must go.”
“You’re going to let him stay?” The words were out before I’d even realized I’d thought them. I quickly clamped my mouth shut at the sharp look Mother gave me.
“What choice do we have? He’s trapped here, same as us.”
“Trapped?” Halvor echoed. “What does she mean? I thought you said this was your home? Please, let me go to my Master—let me help him. If he’s poisoned…”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Mother snapped.
Halvor flinched, but didn’t argue.
“In the morning, perhaps things will be different.” Mother turned on her heel and strode back toward the citadel. Our home—our prison. “Come along, boy.”
Halvor stood still for a moment, uncertain.
“You better go,” I urged him, gently taking Inara’s arm. She jerked at my touch, turning my direction, but her gaze went right through me. “I’ll see you at supper.”
He finally did as I bid, throwing one last glance over his shoulder at the gate that was still obscured by the hedge. Master Barloc’s howls and whining had grown fainter by the minute, indicating he’d finally taken Mother’s advice to seek help from Gina—a wise choice, as the thorns were indeed poisonous and depending on the amount of punctures and length of time given for it to spread, could even be fatal, as one unlucky villager had discovered years ago. I’d been too young to remember the details of what happened, but the shouts of the mob that gathered after the man’s death outside the hedge still haunted my nightmares.
Only once Halvor had followed Mother through the door and disappeared into the citadel did I breathe slightly easier. Now to find a way to keep Inara occupied and away from Halvor until tomorrow. When Mother somehow intended to … what? Hope the hedge would change its mind and let him out?
The sun indeed had sunk below the green wall that was our living captor; shadows reached toward us with spectral fingers, stretching closer and closer as the light disappeared. I shook my head and gave Inara’s arm a coaxing tug. “Let’s go back to your garden. I think we’ll have strawberries for dessert tonight.”
I couldn’t make sense of her garbled response, but she let me pull her forward, so I pretended she understood me. We headed to her garden, while I tried to put the idea of Halvor Roskery staying at the citadel out of my mind for as long as possible.