Red Spell

Chapter Four

Hey guys!  Here's chapter four!  Sorry it's a little shorter, but I hope you enjoy it!  Don't forget to vote or comment if you like it! :D 

I listened to the voices from my loft as people began to arrive and Marta giggled and laughed, welcoming people into a home that wasn't even hers yet. She was especially bubbly when Da came in and I heard her step briskly to the pot of stew even though it didn't need to be stirred again. I stayed up safely out of sight for as long as I could before I inched down the ladder to join the gathering. I saw Amora and the other girls sitting on the rugs near the other fireplace. I didn't even know why we had two except for nights like this when not everyone could crowd around the kitchen hearth. I hurried away from them to the kitchen where they couldn't see me around the corner. Marta was still stirring and trying not to look at Da. He looked almost happy and a few times I thought I saw the familiar twinkle in his eye though not as bright as it had been with Mam.

I felt prickles in my stomach when Merric and his father stepped in. I found myself crouching lower out of sight, but wanting to stretch up so he'd see me. Amora called him over before he'd even taken his muddy boots off and I scowled.

"Selene, what's the matter?" Marta passed with two bowls of stew in her hands and glanced at me.

"Nothing," I said. Otherwise I might have said 'you'. She didn't look convinced, but she was busy so she passed on without pressing me. I managed to serve myself some stew and grab a few bites from food the villagers brought before slipping back out of the way to eat. Some of the men argued about the wolf. Others about the price of wool. Da and Marta stuck close together and Merric sat with Amora and the others by the other fireplace. Several other boys looked on at them in jealousy, but they mostly kept to themselves. They didn't really stand a chance against Merric anyway and they knew it. They probably just wished he would pick a girl so the he'd be off the market and the other girls might notice them.

Finally, the moment I'd been dreading came and Da stepped up on one of the chairs.

"Attention! I have an announcement to make!" He took Marta's hand as she stood giggling and smiling beside him. She'd managed to braid an expensive silk ribbon into her hair during the meal and seemed to revel in the envy of the other women and girls.

"It's about time!" one of the grandmother's laughed. "You two've been moonin' over each other for months. We've all been waitin' on this." Laughter and congratulations followed and I noticed that I wasn't even mentioned or noticed while Da and Marta shook hands, laughed and continued to 'moon' over each other. I wiped my nose as my throat constricted, but I didn't dare get up or make any kind of noticeable movement. If they'd wanted to talk to me they would've. I glanced around to make sure no one saw the extra glitter of tears in my eyes as I tried to retract them and I found Merric looking at me. I could have been drooling and I wouldn't have known it until he looked away. He smiled and then gave a barely perceptible nod toward Amora and lifted his eyes in the slightest roll. I think one corner of my mouth moved, but that was all and he glanced away again. I wanted to catch his gaze again, but Brog pulled up a chair to the kitchen table blocking him out. Other men joined him until the other hearth and half of the house was completely hidden from me as they commenced their meeting. Da stood in the midst of them.

"We can't just sit here anymore," one of the men said. Brog growled at him.

"Well what do you suggest? Should we go into the forest? I'm sure the wood clan wouldn't mind."

"We haven't seen any of them nearly a lifetime. We don't know if they're even still there!"

I looked steadily at Da. Would he correct them? I remembered vividly the boy Mam had caught in our woodshed about a year before the wolf attack. I had been with her and I had fully intended to raise the alarm that there was a thief and barbarian in our midst, but Mam had clapped her hand over my mouth.