Two.
I had not thought, as I drifted off to sleep, that my prayer was all that bad. And, at cock’s crow when I clump downstairs to the kitchen to start breakfast, there is every sign that Stonemane remains our guest regardless of my secret wishes. So I set about the business of breakfast without any dark premonitions, starting the dough to rise and then going out to the henhouse to collect eggs.
As I make my way back, six lovely, warm eggs nestled in the pouch I make of my apron, I glance over the low kitchen wall to the road expecting to see our stable hands walking in from their homes. Instead, a mob of townspeople march down the road, hardly a stone’s throw from our house. They are all of them men, their faces grim and, if I am not mistaken, angry, and on their shoulders ride the tools of their respective trades: hoes and axes and smooth wooden staffs.
I drop the eggs and run as fast as my turned foot will take me, barreling through the kitchen and down the short hall to the front door. I shove the bolt home just in time. On the other side of the door, a fist hammers against the wood and a chorus of voices rise up, shouting for my father. I turn back to see Stonemane at the top of the steps.
“I must close the back door,” I tell him. “Please fetch my father.” Thankfully, he does not argue but turns back towards the rooms. I return to the kitchen, barring the back door and closing up the shutters as well. The rest of the windows on the ground level remain barred from the night; we will be safe now till Baba can calm the villagers.
As I reach the hallway again, I hear Baba and Stonemane descending the stairs.
“If it is me they want, I will be happy to show them what a Faerie is,” Stonemane says, his voice amused.
“I’ll not have it,” Baba says, his deep baritone gruff with anger. “No guest of mine will be threatened—certainly not by my own neighbors!”
As Baba takes the final steps he spots me. “Rae, my dear, you’re all right?” I nod. He looks back towards the door, which rattles beneath a hammering fist. “Would you accompany Lord Stonemane to the business room upstairs?”
I glance at the faerie, astonished. A lord?
His eyes flash with annoyance. “I see no need to hide. I am not afraid of these fellows with their sticks.”
“Some of them carry iron,” Baba points out. The battering on the door has increased, and now I hear voices coming from further along the wall as a group of men begin to make their way around, pounding on the shutters. Suppose they break in? We cannot stand about arguing in the hallway until they do.
“Please, my lord,” I say, taking a step forward. “If the townspeople see you, they will know we shelter magic here.” When we should not. I leave the last words unspoken, but he knows them as well as I, and knows that I speak of Niya. Only let me have judged his intentions last night correctly.
Baba stares at me, and then Stonemane nods. “I understand,” he says quietly, and turns back up the stairs. I hurry after him. The moment we are out of sight, Baba throws the door open.
“What is the meaning of this outrage?” he roars, his voice reverberating through the walls. A deafening silence follows. I try not to smile, knowing it’s too soon to judge whether Baba has actually cowed the men. Silently, I push open the door to Baba’s business room, ushering in the faerie.
“You’ll be able to see from the window,” I tell him. He goes to peer down through the deep-set window, staying in the shadow of the wall. I watch from across the room, my back against the door. I can hear my father’s voice again, berating the men for their rudeness.
