Narky came from a long, distinguished line of cowards. As far as six generations back, neither his father nor any of his forefathers had ever been to war, at least as far as anyone knew. The Parakese crossbow that was kept ready by the door had never been used in battle. It had been purchased by Narky’s father before he moved from Tarphae’s seaside capital farther into the island. He had bought it in case of wolves, many of which did make themselves known out near the forest, but he kept his sheep in such fortress-like conditions that the wolves never bothered with them. Other people’s livestock were much easier to poach.
There weren’t even so many sheep to begin with. Narky’s Pa was not a rich man, only a conscientious one. His farm stood on the edge of the forest that covered much of the island of Tarphae, a three-day walk from the port capital of Karsanye. He claimed the sea air was not good for his health, but it was widely suspected that Narky’s father was simply afraid of the sea and its potential for storms, flooding, and other everyday problems that normal people took as a matter of course.
So Pa had sought high ground, and built himself a safe haven from all his little terrors. The sheep, at least, benefited from his protective zealotry. The fence in which they were enclosed was a veritable palisade, whose posts extended several feet below ground to keep out burrowers. The neighbors were rather contemptuous of the farmer and son whose livestock were kept behind such high fences. Narky’s mother had been equally contemptuous, and so she had run off with a traveling ironmonger when Narky was eight, leaving him and his father bitter and alone. People joked that Narky was an only child because his Pa had only had the courage to approach his wife for sexual relations once over the course of their nine years together.
Narky’s least favorite part of the week was when Pa sent him on the three-mile trip into town to sell wool or milk, and to pick up supplies. Walking along the little cow path with his barrow was no trouble, but his interactions with the townsfolk were always strained. At the age of sixteen, Narky had had much longer conversations with his father’s sheep than he had ever had with another human being. Which is why he was especially dumbfounded when one day, out of nowhere, Eramia the baker’s daughter spoke to him.
He was in town buying nails when the young woman walked confidently up to him and began a conversation. “Hi,” she said. “You’re the coward’s son, right? What’s it like, living in that house?”
Narky did not know what to say. Frankly, he had no idea why she had decided to speak to him. “What do you mean, what’s it like? I haven’t got much to compare it to.”
Eramia laughed a fetching laugh and folded her arms across her chest. She was an attractive girl, narrow of waist and wide of hip, with big dimples in her cheeks and a subtle one in her chin. She was named after a minor continental love goddess, and though Narky did not know much of theology, he was suddenly certain that Eramia the baker’s daughter was an excellent representative for her namesake.
“You don’t spend much time in town, do you?”
“Do you?” It was a stupid question. Of course she spent time in town – she was a baker’s daughter, for Karassa’s sake! Stupid, stupid, stupid. He had no idea how to talk to women.
Eramia laughed again, for some reason not put off by his foolishness. “Yes, I live here. Maybe I’ll see you next time you’re in town?”
“I guess so.”
That night, he replayed the exchange over and over in his head, trying to divine its meaning. ‘Maybe’ was such an uncertain word, but he knew he wanted to see her again, the sooner the better. He imagined her kissing him – he knew he would never have the courage to initiate something like that on his own – and he vowed to himself that he would see her again soon, and that this time he would make a better impression.
He had an opportunity a few days later, when his father sent him back to town for the week’s bread. Narky was so nervous that he mumbled his order and had to repeat himself twice to Eramia’s father, to the latter’s growing impatience. As Narky was putting the loaves into a burlap sack, someone touched his shoulder and he startled, letting the sack fall and trying desperately to catch the two loaves that seemed to be conspiring to outflank his hands. He caught one; Eramia caught the other.
“You’re back in town already!” she exclaimed, chuckling, “And on my doorstep, no less.”
Narky did not know what to make of this, so he just nodded his head. Eramia lifted the sack off the ground and helped him put the rest of the bread in.
“Better put your loaf away fast, before the rats take a nibble.”
She smiled as if this was some sort of joke, but Narky was not sure he understood it. He muttered a thank you and slouched away, his cheeks burning.
“See you later!” the girl called after him.
Embarrassed, Narky kept his head down and had not walked three paces before he collided with someone. The young man into whom he had bumped caught him by the shoulders.
“Where are you going, coward’s son?”
Narky looked up and recognized the young man as the blacksmith’s apprentice, Tank. Tank’s full name was Tan-karass, but even his father called him Tank. His father was a cowherd whose lands abutted those of Narky’s father, and who was well known and well liked as the best talker in town. The son had arms as thick as Narky’s head, but he was no more violent than his sire, though just as talkative.
Narky had not yet managed to find an answer, but Tank didn’t wait for it. “She’s not for you,” he said in a soft voice, pulling Narky closer.
“I’m sorry?” Narky said, dumbfounded.
“Eramia, she’s not for you. She’s Ketch’s girl.” Tank put an arm around Narky’s shoulder. The half-smile on his face was supposed to be kind, Narky thought.
“She’s not really his though,” Narky said. “I mean, they’re not married.”
Tank squeezed him a little, probably a little harder than he meant to. “No, but they will be just as soon as Ketch plants a kid in her. Might have done it already, you never know.” He winked, hideously.
Narky fled home and did not go to town any more that week, or for much of the next. He thought about what Tank had said, and his stomach churned. How could Eramia soil herself with a lout like Ketch? Tank must be mistaken. Rumors were dangerous things, Father always said. If she was really… Ketch’s girl, as Tank put it, then why did she talk to Narky or smile at him so, and make his heart pound the way it did? Did she realize how he loved her?
Eventually, Narky’s father grew frustrated with his son’s evasiveness when asked to run chores in town. He was a good man, but he was not sensitive enough to realize that Narky’s reluctance was not due to laziness on his part, but to the natural moping tendencies of lovesick youth. As it was, after ten days of tolerating his son’s excuses, Narky’s Pa finally caught the poor boy by the arm and threw him out of the house with a wheelbarrow full of wool and sheep’s milk, and instructions on what to buy after he had sold them. It was the heat of the day, when most of the villagers took their afternoon nap, and the waves of hot air rippled off the ground. Narky walked as slowly as he dared down the cow path to town, stopping frequently to shake imaginary rocks from his sandals, or to admire the placidity of Tank’s father’s cows. Did those cows know of love and its heartaches? Surely not. Happy, happy cows.
Narky was only on the very outskirts of town when he spotted a large group of village youths, lying about in the sparse shade of a few tukka trees. The dry season had parched the grass, and the bent, gnarly trees looked like a congregation of skeletal crones having a meeting out in the fields. Narky gulped when he saw that Eramia was among those spread out under the trees, and that both Tank and Ketch were there with her. Ketch looked up as Narky approached, grinned, and got to his feet.
“Narky Coward’s Son!” he called out, extending a hand. “We have a lot to discuss.”
Narky stared down at Ketch’s hand, but made no move to take it. “What do you want to talk about, Ketch?”
“Well, for one thing, I hear you’ve been eyeing Eramia, making her uncomfortable. And that makes me uncomfortable.”
Narky snorted. “I guess you take great care of her.”
He had thought even a dumb lout like Ketch couldn’t have missed the sarcasm in his voice, but Ketch just smiled.
“I do, Coward’s Son, I do. Look, I know you’re just a rude little guy, but you should really shake my hand when I offer it. You think you’re impressing someone by being disrespectful?”
Narky looked down at Eramia, following Ketch’s gesture. What would she think if he refused to shake Ketch’s hand? He reluctantly reached out his own hand, much though it pained him to do so. Immediately, Ketch caught Narky’s hand and twisted it painfully behind his back. Narky cried out as Ketch bent him over and spanked him mercilessly. Tears sprang into his eyes as he struggled and could not break free from the larger boy’s hold, and his pride hurt far more than his buttocks as Ketch kept relentlessly at it, to the laughter of the group.
“You have eyes on my girl?” Ketch spat in his ear. “You rude little turd. You have eyes on my girl? Answer me, coward.”
“No.”
“What’s that, Coward’s Son? I can’t hear you.”
“No! No, I don’t! I never did.”
Ketch laid off the spanking and bore Narky further into the ground. “Why not, Coward’s Son? Don’t you think she’s pretty?”
“Hey!” Tank’s voice cut through Narky’s sobs. “Ketch, that’s enough.”
Ketch let go as the ironworker’s apprentice pulled him away.
“The kid didn’t do anything,” Tank said. “Besides, we all like Eramia. You’re a lucky man.”
Ketch laughed. “Damn right I am!”
Narky rose to his feet, wiping his eyes as best he could. Eramia held a hand over her mouth – was she shocked, or trying to hide a smile? Either way, he did not wait to hear what she had to say. Instead, Narky ran home as fast as he could. His father was asleep when he arrived, still holding back sobs and rubbing his eyes furiously on his sleeve. He wanted to hide under his bed and never come out, but Pa would be angry when he found that Narky had left a barrow full of wares out on the road, unsold and unguarded.
There was only one way Narky would be able to face Ketch, or Tank, or any of those horrible people without breaking into tears of utter worthlessness. He took his father’s crossbow and quiver of bolts from their place by the door and stepped back out into the sun. Maybe if he came armed for war, no one would dare bother him.
The barrow was still there when he got back, though half the sheep’s milk had been drunk or spilt by the louts who had laughed at his humiliation. The teens themselves were absent by now, so Narky put the crossbow in his barrow and went about his business. He sold his wool to the carder, and did his best to consolidate the milk into a few presentable skins, which he sold at a slight discount. Then he stopped by the well to wash out the remaining skins and have a drink. He filled the skins while he was at it, hoping that his prudence would save him from having to make a trip to town tomorrow, with a bucket. Then he sighed and headed homeward.
Past the tukka trees, Ketch was waiting for him. He was leaning against a fencepost with a languid expression, and roused himself with a studied nonchalance as Narky approached.
“Hey, Coward’s Son,” he said. “Hope I didn’t hurt you too much. Just don’t disrespect me like that in front of my friends again, all right?”
Narky pulled the crossbow from his wheelbarrow. “Don’t come any closer, Ketch. You’re a bastard, and you don’t deserve her.”
Ketch laughed. “Put that bow away. You want another spanking?”
Narky just stood there, shaking. With anger, he told himself.
“Hey, did you hear me?” Ketch jerked forward as if to charge, but then stopped with a smile. He’d been faking it.
Narky shot him. The threat was clearly over by the time Narky released the catch, but somehow the signal did not reach his fingers in time. Narky watched, horrified, as the bolt sprung from the bow and buried itself deep in Ketch’s chest. Ketch reeled back, his smile remaining on his face as if he did not really believe what had just happened. Then he fell.
Narky stood there for a moment, just staring. Ketch did not move. O Karassa, what have I done? Narky wanted to drop the crossbow, but for some reason his fingers would not open. I’m going to be stoned, he thought. They’re going to come for me, and they’re going to stone me. He could just imagine the rage on the townspeople’s faces as they tore him from his father’s house, each trying to take a piece out of him on the way. No. No. There had to be another way.
They would know it was him. They knew what Ketch had done to him, and they knew his father owned a crossbow. Nobody would listen to his side of the story, besides which, what was his side of the story?
Narky took up the quiver and slung it onto his back. Then he took the water skins and tied them around himself with a piece of extra rope he found at the bottom of the wheelbarrow. He hung the pocket that held his money around his neck, and began to walk away. After a few steps, he broke into a run. He was glad that nobody seemed to be around to notice him as he tore down the road that led to Karsanye and the sea. Justice would follow him soon. If he wanted to survive, he had to get off the island.