He scanned the note briefly, then gave us a small smile.
“There is a traveling merchant who just passed through the Water. He heard I might have some books I no longer need and offered a fair price if I bring them to Konrall today. He must continue through Konrall south before nightfall.”
He quickly ate his last few bites and pushed away from the table.
“I will cancel my teaching for today and return shortly. The merchant also expressed an interest in meeting my daughters. You will accompany me.” His tone allowed no argument, though I could see distaste in my sisters’ eyes.
Thoughts whirled. My heart ached that Father had to give up even a single book to feed us. After being ill for so long and not working, there would be no pay for several days yet. Most scholars would count themselves lucky to still have a position to return to after an extended illness. And a merchant wanting to meet us could only mean he’d heard of Father’s desire to marry one of us off. One less mouth would relieve some of the burden.
Bryn tossed the dishes in the dry sink and hurried after Blye into their room. I ran my fingers through my hair before tugging it into a semblance of a braid, as usual. After Father returned, my sisters emerged from their room, looking fresh and well-groomed. Despite her illness, Bryn did not look as thin as the rest of us and still managed a healthy glow.
“Benella, can you carry these in your bag?” Father asked, plucking seven thin volumes from his shelves. Two were regarding the rudimentary teachings of mathematics, which I doubted Father even referenced anymore given his familiarity of the material due to repetitive teaching. Three regarded beginning reading and writing. The other two were rare pieces pertaining to flora and fauna. I didn’t want to see them go.
“Did you procure a wagon?” Bryn asked, smoothing her dress.
Father gave her a flat look, and she dropped her gaze. The twit. We were selling his books because we had no coin. How exactly could he afford to pay for a wagon?
Ahead, I spotted a familiar curve in the road clogged with a thick, unnatural fog. We were close to the place where I’d cut through the woods to go to the estate when I’d still traded with the beast. How long had it been now? Almost two weeks?
“Father,” I began anxiously. “Doesn’t it seem a bit too warm for patches of fog?”
“It depends,” he said absently, his breathing slightly labored. Typically a sedentary man, the long walk after just recovering from illness taxed him. “There may be cooler water hidden under the trees causing it.”
The fog loomed closer, and I blinked at it, trying to determine if we were walking faster or if the fog crept toward us. Still several feet away, I caught a slight movement within the mist. Before I could call out a warning, hundreds of vines shot out, wrapping around us.
The thick fog consumed us, hiding us from one another. I heard my sisters cry out, and my father call our names. I was unable to answer as a vine wrapped itself firmly, but gently around my mouth, effectively gagging me. I bit down on the vine to chew through it, but the acrid sap that ran into my mouth worried me, so I spat out what I could and remained mute.
The vines tugged us through the trees, up into the canopy, ever closer to the estate while the mist continued to keep us isolated. I heard the growing concern in Father’s voice when I did not answer his calls.
Fear bloomed in my chest. Could I still try to claim refuge and would it work to protect all of us? How angry had my last departure made the beast? I felt the vines start to lower me and, soon, the mist retreated enough that we could see each other.
We all hung a few feet from the ground, tangled in vines. Bryn and Blye’s eyes grew wide, and they began to struggle against their bindings when they saw we dangled inside the gate of the estate. Father calmly scanned the area, probably remembering his last harmless excursion behind the walls. The vines still binding my mouth worried me. I felt we would not leave this time without meeting the beast, and for a reason I couldn’t guess, he didn’t want me to speak.
The mist stopped retreating several yards away and then started to darken. Both my sisters began to cry. The pathetic mewling sounds had me pitying them and their fear. No one deserved to be tormented as the beast currently did to them. My eyes narrowed on the gloom, and I tried to speak around the vines, but it just sounded garbled.
“It would seem I have trespassers,” the beast growled.
I snorted.
Father’s face visibly paled, and he appeared to have lost his voice in the face of such menace.
“As the eldest, you shall take the punishment for the trespass, unless...”
I shook my head and attempted to speak past the gag, trying to tell the beast to stop his madness.