Crack the Stone by Golus Emily

Author:Golus, Emily
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

19

THE MISERY POLICIES

A knock came at the boat’s wooden door. “Am I too late?”

Etsuko rose quickly, tripping over her own feet. “Oh, Mareso! Please, come in.”

A young Dembeyan man entered. His robe was a bright goldenrod, emblazoned with large red triangles and squares, the fabric noticeably bright and crisp against his rich black skin. He sat down on the floor, and placed a large sack of vegetables beside the other gifts. “For tomorrow’s soup, Asuka-san.”

The matronly woman smiled. “It’s almost gone. Eat up, quickly.”

Etsuko’s eyes followed the young Dembeyan as he sat down with his bowl, but he didn’t look her way again.

Etsuko tapped me on the shoulder. “Mareso is the one you should ask.”

“Ask me what?” Mareso asked.

I roused Makozi, who had started to doze beside me. “I’m Makozi Ibenwo,” he said sleepily.

“You know hims family?”

The young man stroked his chin. He had just a small shadow of black hair on his face, close against his skin, and the hair on his scalp was not much longer. I wondered why this man’s hair came in so short while Makozi had been born with hair so long and tangled.

“Can’t say I recognize the family name Makozi,” he said.

“Ibenwo,” I corrected. “Hims family Ibenwo.”

Mareso laughed. “I’m afraid you have that backwards, my little green friend. We Dembeyans put the family name before the personal one. This child is named Ibenwo.”

I shot Makozi a look. Had he really let me call him the wrong name this whole time? “Kozi, why you not say so?”

He yawned and leaned into my shoulder. “I like when you call me Kozi.”

I sighed and turned back to Mareso. “You know the family Makozi then?”

“No one immediately comes to mind,” Mareso said. “But there are hundreds of families in B’jeme. It’s a city of nearly eight thousand people.”

My mouth opened. How many people lived behind those walls?

“Is he a citizen?” Mareso asked.

“He say hims from B’jeme. I finded him in the woods and bringed him back here.”

“What was he doing in the woods?”

I paused for a moment, waiting for Makozi’s breathing to become deep and regular. When I was certain he was asleep, I spoke quietly.

“I finded him in Wood Shed. Hims not with mama. The shining mans have him in ring, hold him with strong magic. I got in and buyed him and bring him back here.”

The small group of humans stared at me. Even the Nomad brothers were quiet for a moment.

“You—you entered a fairy ring?” Etsuko asked, breathless. “How? You can't pass through the charmed border unless you know something's there.”

I shrugged. "I want to see why air have burning magic smell."

Hair-Face laughed. “You can smell magic?” He elbowed his brother. “Oh, that’s too good. It would take a hundred men a hundred years to locate a fairy court, and she just sniffs it out on one try.”

His comment didn’t sit well with me. Was that the reason Makozi’s mother didn’t come back for him—because she couldn’t find him?

Asuka stacked up her guests’ empty bowls. “Magma-san,” she said with a careful tone, “did you see his mother?”

“I not finded her.

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