Willow Witch

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

THE BANDITS had been arguing all day.

From the back of her big black horse, Johanna could make out only disjointed parts of their conversation, which was slow and drawn-out, because often the forest was so thick that the twenty or so horses had to ride in single file.

She thought the argument involved directions or orders given to the group by some boss or landowner. A few of the bandits wanted to go to a town, while the main group said that their orders were to go elsewhere, to a place called Hunter’s Rest.

None of it meant anything to her. The only town in this area that she was aware of was Florisheim, but she didn’t think they were that far upriver yet. Maybe they were in Gelre, maybe still in Estland, she wasn’t sure.

The bandits’ strong eastern accent didn’t help matters. The only one Johanna could hear clearly enough to mostly understand was her “own” bandit. He was a warm presence behind her on the horse and his beard tickled in her neck. His hands were big, with dirty-nailed, hairy fingers that strayed often or “accidentally” grabbed her in places where a man’s hand had no business being. He would pull her against him so that she could feel the greasy touch of his leather jerkin and would be enveloped in its stench of smoke and sweat.

His name was Ludo, or something similar, and he had a rough voice and shaggy long hair like the two bears that bounded tirelessly between the horses and around the main group. She figured that he argued in favour of following orders and getting paid, but there seemed to be some sort of disagreement about whose orders were the most lucrative and who was most likely to pay.

Sometimes there was a lull in the argument, when one or two of the arguing parties got frustrated and urged their horses to the other side of the group or to the front, out of earshot of the main group. When that happened, the main group went sullen and broody. In these quiet moments, Ludo said soft words to her under his breath. Things like flower of beauty, and who gets to taste the fruit of a maiden’s sin and other suggestive things. Johanna kept trying to shift forward on the rough saddle just as much as he continued trying to sneak his hands to her chest. Because I can’t allow you to fall he’d say, even though the horse moved at walking pace and had a steady and even gait.

Then, fortunately, some of the arguing bandits would come back before anything worse happened. The most important of these was a man called Sylvan, who looked like he was both the fiercest and the youngest in the group. He rode alone on a magnificent horse that was strong and tall with a magnificent glossy black mane and long fetlocks. Sylvan was a scrawny fellow, with an ugly scar across his face from an injury that had just missed his mouth, but had pulled one corner of it permanently upwards. His cheeks, forehead and arms bore tattoos of unfamiliar symbols. His hair was done up in plaits, which swung about his head when he tossed it back as an expression of frustration, which he did a lot. Sometimes he would pull his horse’s reins so that it would rear on its hind legs, and speed off into the forest. For a horse that size, this came with a frightening thunder of hooves that made the regular horses skitter.

Then he would wait by the side of the forest path for the rest of the party to catch up. Usually both bears and one or two of the hounds went with him. The dogs would bark, and someone in the party, usually the bald leader, whose name appeared to be Sigvald, would yell at them to shut up, and he would hurl sharp comments at Sylvan.

Johanna listened and tried to interpret what the men said, and most importantly, where they were going, but she understood only shards of their dialect. The idea of being taken somewhere unfamiliar for money frightened her. Men who did things for money had a reputation of being ruthless. What if they decided to split up the group of prisoners, or kill the most troublesome and worthless of them?

Since starting out, she had been unable to talk to any of the others, not even during the short breaks when the bandits rested their horses.

The bandit who rode before her shared his horse with Roald. Johanna could see only part of the prince’s legs, since the bandit was taller and broader than the prince. Roald had screamed a few times when they were first captured, but had been quiet since. Too quiet, Johanna thought. She worried about what the bandit said to him. A single word might upset him enough to do something unexpected and silly, like screaming uncontrollably or banging his head. Even in Saarland, most folk from outside the towns feared halfwits and didn’t want anything to do with them. There were stories about people living their lives locked in tiny rooms, or being branded witches and killed. The bandits had to know that he wasn’t normal. It wasn’t obvious in his looks, but his behaviour would have informed them soon enough.

Nellie and Loesie were somewhere behind her, but since Loesie couldn’t speak, and Nellie seemed to have gone paralysed with fear, Johanna had no idea how far behind. With the creep and his questing hands at her back, she didn’t want to look over her shoulder and give him the idea that she was curious about him.

So she listened out for Nellie’s voice, but heard nothing except the men’s drawl in their rough eastern dialects and the clop clop clop of horses’ hooves on the ground.

The forest was endless. Johanna could make out no clear path. Sometimes they rode between the massive trunks of beech trees, where it was dark underneath and the ground was covered in dead leaves. The only sunlight that made it down to the forest floor came in thin shafts that penetrated the canopy, or patches of brightness in places where a large tree had fallen. The hazy air made the sunlight show up as brilliant rays of light.

Even animals seemed to have fled this place and its pressing silence. Every breath of wind made leaves rustle. Their lilting and whispering voices formed an eerie background to the arguing from the bandits.

Occasionally they would come to a patch of birch trees that, with their black and white mottled trunks, looked like ghosts. At those places there would be short shrubs on the ground with filaments of spider web between them.

The ground also grew hillier. Sometimes they’d come to the top of a hill and there would be a view between trees, always showing more trees and the occasional patch of bracken. No paths, no sign of habitation.

Yet the bandits seemed to know where they were going. The only thing Johanna could say was southeast, judging by the direction of the sunlight.

Their day-long argument dragged on, and with each confrontation came a sharp exchange of words, a moment of Sylvan’s posturing where he would pull up his horse so that it stood in the way of the others, and Sigvald would shout at him until he moved. Each time Johanna thought that the two would come to a fight.

If that happened, she guessed each of the bandits would take sides. They would watch the fight and it would be a good time to try to escape. She distracted herself from worrying about Ludo’s questing hands by making plans for what she would do. Some of the bags tied to the backs of the five packhorses looked like they contained tents and blankets. They would have to take those horses.

She didn’t know much about horses herself, but Roald could ride, she thought. Nellie could be prodded to do so, but Loesie . . . She had no idea what was going on with Loesie. Coming from a farm, she should be able to ride, but Loesie was not well. Even before they were captured, she had barely tried to communicate for days. Johanna had assumed that was because Loesie’s task had been to look after the ship, but there had been no warmth or any kind of emotion in Loesie’s expression for a long time. Since the burning of Saardam, Johanna thought.

Loesie seemed to have drawn into herself, and Johanna was no longer sure that she listened to what people around her said. If they had the opportunity to escape and had to make a run for it, would Loesie be able to follow simple instructions? What was going on inside her friend’s head?

By the time the light turned golden and Sigvald called the party to a halt, there had been no fight and no opportunity to escape.

The horses stopped, blowing gusts of air out of their nostrils, tossing great black-maned heads. Ears twitched and great eyes roved.

Now that the rear of the group caught up with the front, Johanna could see the others. Roald sat as stiff as he had when Johanna had last seen his face. That was just after they had been captured. The bandits had tied his arms, which caused him a lot of distress. He’d been wailing and Johanna had protested to the bandits that he was little danger to anyone, because he was simple. She wasn’t sure how much of it the bandits understood, but they had untied his arms and let him ride. The last time she met his eyes, she had told him to sit up in the saddle and be proud. To her surprise he was still following that order, although the rawness in her own backside had caused her to slump ages ago.

It made her feel guilty.

The bandit riding with Loesie had used a rope to lash her to the saddle so she didn’t fall off. She sat slumped, her head forward. Johanna thought for a moment that she was asleep, but then she slowly raised her head. Her mouth hung open. Her chin and front of her dress were wet from drool and eyes were unfocused.

Definitely getting worse.

Johanna tried to catch her attention, but she just stared into nothingness. It was as if Loesie had not only lost her voice, but had now also lost the ability to communicate in other ways. She hadn’t been like that when Johanna had met her in the markets. It was as if the spell was still eating away at her.

The bandit behind Loesie on the horse was a grizzled, older man with a long and straggly beard and several missing teeth. Johanna met his eyes over Loesie’s shoulder. His irises were cloudy white.

Johanna’s heart jumped. She hadn’t noticed those eyes before. She knew that sometimes older people’s eyes went like that, and then they’d see poorly. It was a coincidence, right? She hadn’t really affected him with her magic, right?

Your friend is already dead, said a voice inside her head that sounded like Reverend Romulus.

“Johanna, did you even hear what I said?” Nellie’s face was scrunched up as if she was about to burst into tears.

“I didn’t. I was . . .” wondering if Loesie’s condition is infectious. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said I don’t think I can walk anymore, I’m so sore,” Nellie said.

“You can walk just fine.”

“But it hurts!” Her lip quivered.

“Come on, Nellie,” Johanna said under her breath.

She hurt, too. That was what happened if you weren’t used to riding, even if the horses only moved at a slow pace. The shifting of weight, trying to stay in the saddle and trying to move away from Ludo had made her backside raw.

Sigvald gave the reins of his horse to another bandit and made his way out of the group. To the right was a slight rise in the beech forest, a broad mound with trees growing at its sides. Sigvald climbed the mossy flank, where exposed tree roots had made uneven natural steps.

He stopped at the top of the hill and peered in all directions. Obviously liking what he saw or didn’t see, he gestured for the others to come. Most of the bandits got off their mounts and led their horses by the reins, but Sylvan rode. Ludo rode, too. The horse made small steps so as not to trip over tree roots that had become exposed on the sloping ground.

The little hill had a flat top. The hounds already stood there, making excited squeaking noises and wagging their tails.

From the top of the hill Johanna could see why Sigvald had stopped here. A creek ran through the valley on the other side of the hill, and on the far bank was a little glade with the first grass and meadow plants she had seen since leaving the orchard where they had been captured.

The bandits all dismounted and took off their horses’ saddles and packs. One of the younger bandits took two horses down to the glade to graze.

Ludo let himself drop from the saddle and offered to lift Johanna down.

She glared at him. “Keep your hands to yourself, you creep.”

He must have gotten the message, because he went to Nellie. Johanna swung her leg over the side of the horse and peeked at the ground and then wished she hadn’t looked. Oh boy, it was a long way down. This horse was a giant, much bigger than the coach horses in Saardam. The younger bandit was already coming back up the hill to take the next two horses to the glade. Not wanting anyone else offer her “assistance” dismounting, Johanna let herself slip feet first from the saddle.

She half-fell and landed hard in the leaves. Ouch.

Ludo had convinced Nellie to let him help her. He first supported her legs and then took her by the waist to set her down on the ground.

Johanna was about to warn Nellie, when she exclaimed, “Hey, keep your hands off me!” She yanked herself out of Ludo’s grip and took a swipe at him. “What do you think I am, some cheap woman?” Her hand missed Ludo’s face.

Most of the bandits had been rolling out sleeping mats and looked around. One or two laughed. Johanna couldn’t see the old guy with the cloudy eyes anymore.

Sylvan glared at his companions, his gaze stopping at Ludo. He sat with his ankles crossed, leaning against a tree trunk. He made a sharp comment. Johanna caught something about making a fire before it got dark. Ludo stomped off after muttering something about slaves, either about being a slave or that they had slaves who should do the work instead.

“Oh, Mistress Johanna, I’m so tired,” Nellie cried. “You know I work all day and should be used to it, but this . . .” Her voice wavered.

“You don’t need to tell me that. I’m tired, too.” It was ages since Johanna had ridden a horse and she certainly hadn’t done it for very long back then.

Loesie sat on a tree root, her arms looped around her knees. Her eyes had clouded over again.

“I thought it was a nice ride, wasn’t it?” Roald said.

“No, it wasn’t! We’re prisoners and that smelly man behind me kept rasping his throat and spitting. Disgusting.”

“Shh, Nellie.” Johanna said.

Nellie raged on, “I don’t want to be quiet about it. Where are these filthy bandits taking us?”

“Be quiet. Some of them will be able to understand you.”

“I don’t care.” Nellie’s voice cracked. “What now? They expect us to sleep on the ground here? With all these men? We can’t even understand any of them. All their words sound like ghghghghgh.” She made a harsh noise in her throat.

Loesie gave a low hiss, but Johanna wasn’t sure if it was directed at Nellie.

Calm down, she mouthed at Loesie, but the reaction chilled her. Whatever lived inside Loesie was taking over her mind.

“Hey, you . . . water!” Sigvald yelled. He threw a bucket in Johanna’s direction. It was a battered farm bucket, stolen likely.

Johanna couldn’t help thinking about the burnt farm where they had found their supplies. The burnt kitchen, the dead bodies. And the Lady Sara still waiting for them at the riverside. She hoped the sea cows had enough to eat, or that someone would release them from their harnesses before the animals starved. Then another scary thought: someone might take off with the Lady Sara, and it was all she had left from her comfortable life in Saardam. Her father would need the ship if he was to keep running the company.

“Water!” Sigvald repeated with the sharp wave of a hand.

“Yeah, I’m going.” Johanna picked up the bucket. “Keep an eye on Loesie,” she whispered to Nellie. “And Roald, too.”

Nellie nodded, her mouth set in a grim line.

Slowly Johanna picked her way down the side of the hill, between the gnarled tree roots.

Sigvald yelled behind her to hurry up, and added some words that made the other bandits burst out in laughter.

Last thing she heard was Nellie’s voice, saying something about, Do you call that bread?

The bread the bandits had given their prisoners at midday was heavy, grainy and almost black. Johanna had seen the type before on her trip to Lurezia, where her father’s colleagues had shared this type of bread with wine and rich cheeses. On its own, and stale, it had proven a little less easy to swallow.

Now Nellie was asking about beds, speaking loudly and slowly.

Johanna cringed. She had better get the water before Nellie got into too much trouble. She had never expected a demure maid like Nellie to become so doggedly stubborn about their treatment. It was almost frightening.

A carpet of leaves covered the hillside. They were wet and slippery and once Johanna almost lost her footing. This brought forth another burst of laughter from the young man who was walking down another set of horses, without packs or saddles. He splashed through the stream and led his charges up the other bank and into the glade on the far side, where four horses were already grazing.

Upstream from the place where the horses had crossed, the water collected in a clear pond. Small ripples indicated where water creatures swam underneath. The ground was so soft here that her clogs sank in the mud.

Johanna reached as far as she could and splashed the bucket in, but it was too shallow and all she got was a small amount of water and a lot of mud and leaves. Well, stuff that. The glare from the grassy glade across the creek made it hard to see how deep the water was.

Johanna stared at the horses, wishing that she could join them and lie in the grass. No, she wanted to escape from these bandits and that horrible Ludo with his groping hands. Her legs itched to run, but there was no point. She couldn’t leave Nellie with that creep. They’d kill Loesie, or Roald, or maybe both. Why had these men kidnapped such an odd group anyway?

Because some of us look like we have money? Roald’s fine hands, for example. And Nellie’s lace bonnet.

But if the bandits were really interested in money, they would have killed the four of them and taken off with the Lady Sara.

Even if she tried to run off alone, she wouldn’t get far with all the bandits watching her and the horse boy bringing another two horses to the glade. They knew this forest; she did not. They trusted the forest; she heard voices in the whispering of the wind.

“Water!” Sigvald yelled.

“Yeah, I’m not your slave,” she muttered under her breath.

A bit further, a tree branch had fallen across the creek. Maybe she could reach a deeper spot from there. The creek banks were steeper here, so the fallen tree trunk was harder to reach.

But in one spot on the slope stood a small sapling.

Johanna carefully climbed back up the mossy bank and let herself slide down feet first until she caught the sapling. Then she used the trunk of the sapling to lower herself—

As soon as her hand touched the trunk, the forest changed into a scene of chaos and darkness. Men on horses, rearing and screaming. A couple of peasants huddled together. An older man, and a grey-haired grandmother. Children crying in their mother’s skirts.

Men with burning sticks.

Slashing swords. A burning house.

The next morning. Blue-grey light of dawn. Trails of smoke over the grass.

So much blood in the creek.

The cloying scent of it enveloped her, and made her feel sick.

With difficulty, Johanna yanked her hand away from the trunk of the sapling. The golden light of the afternoon returned.

Her heart thudded.

These horrible things had happened in this place not so long ago. She peered at the far end of the glade, in the shade of the trees, and now noticed what she hadn’t seen before: the glade was not a natural field at all. The creek looped back around the glade. In the shelter of the trees stood the remains of a house. Next to it, a water mill, its magnificent wheel ruined and useless.

The bandits chose to camp here, in a scene of murder and plunder?

If they considered this a safe place for the night, they would have to know who killed the farmer and his family. Maybe they were even the ones who had done it.

And then: why had she seen these things? This was a beech sapling, not a willow tree.