The Bone Roots by Gabriela Houston

Author:Gabriela Houston [Houston, Gabriela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781915202635
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2023-09-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 39

The trees swayed, whispering to each other with the crackling of the bark and the susurration of the leaves.

“Thank you all for coming.” Artek Lelechek stood in front of the crowd. “I’m humbled by the love and the concern you all feel for my son. With your help, I hope we can bring him home.” His words choked in his throat, and he paused before turning to Kada. “Our own Vedma Kada is here to lead us, to show us where to look, better than any hounds can. To help us succeed, she has promised to use her magic, to call upon one of the spirits who serve her.”

“No pressure then,” Gorcay whispered to her, barely moving his lips. He looked at her and winked. “The stage is yours, Kada.”

She nodded at him and took a step forward. The forest seemed dark to her, darker than usual, though the sun shone, with no clouds in sight. She was trespassing, she knew that. She could feel it in the way the air twisted around her, and how the very blades of grass beneath her feet bent away from her.

Kada could feel the eyes of the townsfolk on her back, the crowd unnaturally quiet, waiting for her to do something, to show them something beyond their own world, a window into something more. That was why they were there, most of them. Not for Botrik Lelechek, certainly, the stupid, vain and brutal son of an unpopular man. Botrik was known in the town for his drinking and his gambling, and for darker things; rumours circled in half whispers, the way crimes of the powerful often are.

And yet here they all were, the good people of Torlow, come to see their vedma’s miracles. And more than them, the guests of Gorcay’s household had joined in, for the lack of proper entertainment, she thought. A little bit of a vedma show to brighten up the lazy rhythm of their days. And among them stood Sladyana, beside the perpetually grinning Makail. It was Lady Goroncheva’s eyes Kada felt on her neck most of all, a shiver of tension which hung on the air. Sladyana wanted to see this miracle, to see Kada’s power once more for herself, to keep her hopes alive.

And so Kada had to agree to this. And yet a shiver of revulsion travelled down her spine as she opened the sack she brought with her. A bright-combed rooster struggled inside, its eyes swivelling wildly as it tried to see the one who had trapped it. The bird shrieked and flapped its wings, the blades of its talons tearing at the sack.

A pinch of a bluish powder was blown towards the rooster’s head, and it went limp, the fight for its life over before it began. Kada took the rooster out gently, tenderly almost. The rooster opened its beak, a protest of the helpless. Its eye met Kada’s. It was a young bird, the comb on its head barely having filled with colour.

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