The Rhymer's Daughter by Phill Featherstone

Author:Phill Featherstone [Featherstone , Phill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781739350710
Published: 2023-05-07T16:00:00+00:00

19

Yalka steadied herself on the wall and waited for her spinning head to slow down. The smell of her vomit was making her need to retch again and her stomach spasmed. She stayed in the doorway until the convulsions eased and she was sure the men had gone, and then she moved out into the road. She had to get home.

The taste in her mouth was frightful. There was a drinking trough across the road. It was for animals but it would have to do. She walked unsteadily to it and dipped her cupped hands. She splashed her face and neck and drank. The water was cold and she felt it sobering her. Somehow she had split her lip. She bathed it, dabbing it dry on her shawl. Then she sat beside the trough and inhaled deeply, taking in lungfuls of the salty air.

Her heart was slowing but she was still trembling. She looked down at her hands. For a long time she had bitten her nails, but with encouragement from Eylese she was trying to stop and she’d been proud of how she was growing them; now one was torn and she felt a pang of dismay. She sobbed. What was happening to her? She was a good fighter and she’d always taken pride in being able to look after herself. If anyone had behaved like that towards her in the River Settlements she would have sent them away clutching their damaged privates. Her reputation had been such that no one in the River Settlements would have tried that with her anyway. Yet here she was: drunk, unable to stop stupid boys from groping her, getting excited about fancy clothes and tearful over a broken nail. What had they called her? The whore from the inn. Was she tagged by the mark on her face? Is that what her attackers had thought?

She took a deep breath. No more of this nonsense. She would go home. She was very tired, and although she still felt woozy she was better after throwing up and dousing herself with cold water. The walk would do her good.

She trudged out of the town and climbed to the shoulder of the hill where the road turned away from the sea and cut inland. It would all be downhill from there. She paused for a moment to regain her breath. She wished the thumping in her head would stop.

Suddenly she had a strange feeling. Did she hear something? Was she being followed? She looked back sharply. Was there a movement in the bushes beside the road? She looked hard but she could see nothing in the dim light. She told herself she was imagining things. What had happened before couldn’t be happening again. It was an animal – a rabbit, a fox, a dog, a rat. She hurried on more quickly but the feeling of dread intensified. She was sure now that somebody, something, was behind her. She thought she could hear footsteps, but every time she stopped they did too.

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