Windswept by Kaitlin Bellamy

Author:Kaitlin Bellamy [Bellamy, Kaitlin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Deep Winter

The people of Doff were very welcoming to Fox when they discovered he was Topper’s friend. The little urchin was very beloved in this cozy hamlet. And when the story of Fox’s rescuing Topper back in Whitethorn began to circulate, Fox was treated like a local hero. He was welcomed eagerly into homes and shops, where he was able to trade the small but valuable pelts he’d brought with him. He found himself helping to skin the day’s catches from the eborill nests, and was happy to share some of his trapper’s knowledge on the subject. But his best trades came from the traps.

He’d always been good with traps. Most of Father’s most accurate snares were Fox’s design, and Fox could make them almost unnaturally quickly. And while the Doffians were incredibly skilled fire merchants and miners, their hunting craft was rather lacking in some respects. As Fox began to make more and more business acquaintances in the village, he started taking special orders for traps. The owner of the pub wanted rabbit traps, as he said rabbit was a rare but popular delicacy. For just two simple snares, Fox was given enough credit to eat for free at the public house for the rest of his trip.

And others were just as eager to barter with him. Miner’s wives who did much of their own trapping; they wanted better fishing nets to help them get all they could from the tricky mountain rivers. The rocky gardens were outfitted with snares to catch scavenging little creatures who might try and steal the growing herbs. Even the candlemakers sought his help. He helped them bring in turtles, as their shells were very useful molds for pouring wax.

When he wasn’t at work, Fox was learning. He was allowed down into the mines on his sixth day, someplace he’d never been in his own valley. With an ancient but unexpectedly spry old miner as their guide, he and Topper were welcomed down, into the very heart of the village.

As they traveled down a long series of wooden ramps and carved stone stairways, Topper leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially, “Mum Kaldora says I might be able to work here someday. She says I’m well on my way to becoming a Master Fire Merchant!” And then he giggled slightly, as if the thought was so ridiculously wonderful he simply couldn’t hold it in.

“What’s that mean?” asked Fox, just as quietly.

“Means I’m specialized in everything! Some folks just are candlemakers or wick weavers, and some folks only work in the mines. Masters can do it all! It’s the highest honor in the whole of Doff! The Grand Master is the head of the entire village, and Mum Kaldora hopes to get there someday.”

If anybody could do it, thought Fox, that woman could. And then he shuddered, but it was not from the mere cold of being under the mountain. It was her. While he’d been welcomed into her home, Kaldora made him nervous. And it hadn’t taken him long to figure out why.

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