The Bone Weaver's Orchard by Read Sarah

Author:Read, Sarah [Read, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: JournalStone - Trepidatio Publishing
Published: 2019-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

The morning bell rang, much quieter on the first floor than up near the tower in the dormitories.

Charley rubbed his eyes. The spider’s web was complete, a mastery of interlocking strands arched across the tall window, catching the red morning sunlight in its fibers.

The matron moved quietly at the front of the room, as if she’d never left, the freshness of her stiff apron the only clue that she’d ever retired. Steam poured from the spout of the kettle on the burner.

Charley sat up. Matron Grace looked to him and smiled, then turned and poured the water into cups, bringing one to the stand at his bedside.

“You’d best go to your classes today. If I write you off again, they’ll be coming by to confirm a grave illness.”

Charley smiled and sipped his tea. The rim of his cup was chipped, and it snagged at his dry lips.

“I’ll speak to the housekeeper first thing, at breakfast,” she said. “Come by this afternoon and I’ll let you know what I’ve learned.”

“Thank you, Matron,” Charley said, his voice rough with sleep.

He walked back to his room, the damp cold of morning soaking his bones as he went.

“In the infirmary again, our dear little invalid?” Malcolm asked.

Charley nodded, pulling pieces of uniform from his trunk.

“Did you get Sean sick on purpose, then? I hope he kept you up with his coughing.”

Charley pulled on a sock. “I haven’t seen him. Is he not well?”

Malcolm frowned. “You’d know better than I,” he said. “He went to the infirmary just half after one this morning. Face burning like a coal.”

Charley stared, sock half-drawn, hanging from his toes. “He never came to the infirmary,” he said.

“He said he was. I saw him go.” The other boys looked on. Some nodded. Malcolm hurried from the room, his face creased with worry. The boys stared at Charley, watched him finish dressing.

* * *

Charley fidgeted on the coarse wooden bench. He felt the splinters of it sticking to the wool of his trousers. The chaplain’s voice jumped off the stone walls and tall windows, getting lost somewhere in the shadows of the high ceilings. Charley stared up past the thick beams and imagined he could see through the blanket of darkness to the arched stone buttresses and layers of wood, through the fine lattice structure of the ceiling as it became the floor of the next story. Through worn planks and threadbare carpets, through classrooms and rooftops and up into the sky.

He started as bodies shifted around him, all rising to sing. Charley hadn’t heard what song had been chosen, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t know any of these songs, with their moaning organs and fluted voices. There was no power in a song without drums, though the priest clearly disagreed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t feel it.

The boys had left a space open for Sean a few rows ahead. It gaped now, like a missing tooth in a crooked grin.

Missing teeth . There were hundreds of them, just below their feet.

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