The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbøl

Author:Lene Kaaberbøl [Lene Kaaberbøl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782692263
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2019-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

The Widow

Nico held up a dented metal mirror and invited me to look.

“Well?” he said. “What do you think?”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say. My hair may be as coarse as a horse’s, but at least it had been thick and long, almost long enough for me to sit on. Now, there was not a hair on my head longer than a hand’s span. Being so thick, it stuck out like the leaves on a bush, making me look like… I wasn’t quite sure what I looked like. A troll? Some wild, fey creature raised by wolves? Not a girl, at any rate. Particularly not now that I had exchanged my dress for one of Master Maunus’s woolen shirts; it reached almost to my knees, and we had had to cut off part of the sleeves; Maunus had lent me a leather belt to secure it with, making it a bit less tentlike. Luckily, I had been wearing long linen drawers, and with my calves wrapped in rags and leather thongs, they were a reasonable imitation of a boy’s trousers. If no one looked too closely, I might be taken for one of the many errand boys constantly in and out through the castle gates—poor town children earning a penny or two by carrying firewood and water and suchlike for those who had the means to pay for their services.

“Call every male ‘sir’ and everything female ‘good lady,’ no matter what rank they have. And don’t look anyone in the eyes,” admonished Master Maunus.

“As long as I don’t get lost,” I said nervously. “This is not exactly my backyard.”

“Let me hear it one more time,” said the alchemist.

“Through the door and turn left. Down the first staircase I come to. Into the Arsenal Court. Down alongside the East Wing to the smithy. Through the narrow gate into Carriage Barn Alley. Across Armorer’s Court and into the Stable Alley. Left through Basegate—that is, if the guards will let me. And all that is just to get out of the castle!” A bit different from home, where we could step through our front door and be on the road already.

“Once you reach the town it will be easier for you to ask directions without arousing suspicion. But if you remember my directions, you’ll find the Widow’s house without any trouble.”

“I don’t like it,” Nico grumbled. “What if one of the guards recognizes her?”

“In that getup? Not very likely.” Master Maunus straightened my belt for me and inspected me with the sort of satisfied look a farmer gives a prize cow ready for the market.

“It’s wrong to send a child to do a man’s job,” Nico muttered darkly. “You can’t say it isn’t wrong!”

“I’m nearly eleven!” I objected.

Master Maunus gave Nico his don’t-be-stupid snort. “And how far would you get before the watch caught you? How far would I get? Answer me that, Master Dunce. It is exactly because she is a child that she has a chance.”

“They’re looking for her too!”

“They’re looking for the Shamer’s daughter.

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