CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Winter

C omrade died and Beauty cried for days. It was winter and bitterly cold, and she awoke in the night knowing that he was almost gone. She ran out of the cottage to be with him in his last moments, as the dull light spread over the hills. Owaine found her later, sobbing with Comrade’s large, dark head cradled in her lap.

“Oh, Beauty,” he whispered, stroking her shoulder.

But she would not be consoled and continued to weep.

“She’s fit for nothing,” Isole complained. “Ain’t no chores getting done unless I do them myself with her sniveling. That horse were a drain on us and we couldn’t afford it anyways.”

“It were her friend,” said Owaine, but his daughter was not listening.

Snow came, coating the hills in a thick slather of white and hardening the waterfalls into icy fingers. Though it was the first time that she had ever seen snow, Beauty was not interested in what winter had to bring.

“The other children be playing in the snow, Beauty,” said Owaine. “Do yur want to go out and play too?”

She was seated in front of the fire, sewing badly. She now stoutly refused to wear the Hilland dress and instead was endeavoring to make her own clothes.

“I wish to stay in here,” she said quietly.

“Yur sure?”

“Yes.”

Beauty’s first Hilland winter was long and cold. She awoke with frost upon her pillow each dark morning and spent the day shivering despite the heavy furs she fastened over her uneven homemade dresses. Trudging through snow, she would collect firewood and then argue with Isole over the chores to be done in the cottage.

They would sweep, scrub, and clean, muttering curses at each other all the while, and Beauty’s fingers would ache. Her hands were calloused and blistered now—her knuckles split and peeling. She did not much mind the appearance of them, for she was not vain, but they throbbed incessantly. She dared not mention it to Isole who would delight in the fact, and so she suffered silently all day long until Owaine came home and she could stop her work for dinner.

Hally had appointed Owaine the first Imwane horse trainer. Owiane had been worried that they would send him to work the fields in the next valley or to herd livestock on the hillside, but it was decided that his skills honed from his seasons in Sago were to be put to good use instead. He could no longer hunt and catch wild mares and stallions, but he could breed the right sire and dame to make the perfect filly and turn a skittish colt into a dignified riding horse in a matter of moon-cycles. The villagers were hopeful that he could bring much needed prosperity to Imwane, for among all the Hill villages, they were one of the poorest.

Finally, the Hilland winter came to an end and the snow melted and the rivers flowed freely once more. Beauty had forgotten what it was like to be warm, but flashes of sunshine began to fall on the hills between bouts of rain, and the villagers grew more cheerful with each passing day.

Beauty was still regarded as an oddity by the people of Imwane, but after the incident at the temple, they were wary not to treat her too unkindly. They were suspicious but obedient folk, and if the preacher felt that Beauty was to be trusted, they would not go against him. There were still whispers and frowns wherever she went, so mostly Beauty preferred to be alone.

Beauty still mourned the loss of her friend. Owaine had burned Comrade’s body on a hillside, as was the Hilland custom, and she walked to the spot daily to sit on the ground and murmur to him. He had taught her to ride, helped her forage a friendship with Owaine, carried her from Sago—and she missed him dearly.

One afternoon, as he rode Sable back from a day spent training a young mare, Owaine found her on the hillside.

“Beauty, would yur ride home with me?”

She was in the middle of telling Comrade how Isole had given her the hardest house chores again today. She did not want to be disturbed, but Owaine’s expression was pleading, so she let him hoist her into the saddle and they trotted to the cottage.

“Why don’t yur ever play with the other village children, Beauty?”

“They have all been told not to speak to me.”

Owaine grunted. If he were not so aware of how precarious their position was in the hierarchy of Imwane, he would have taken the village to task for their treatment of Beauty long ago.

“It is all right. I do not want to play with them either.”

“I feel . . . I feel that yur ain’t happy here, Beauty.”

She bowed her head but could not find a suitable reply.

The coming of spring altered the daily routine in Imwane. Villagers left their doors open in order to step out into the sunshine between chores. The penned animals were moved outside the homes. Families ate their dinners on grassy banks, and cottages were turned inside out as they were aired after the long winter.

“We’re washing at the river today,” said Isole one bright morning.

Washing clothes was normally a difficult affair that involved future planning and a whole day heating water and hanging wet garments over the fire, but in the spring and summer, the Hilland women met regularly to wash together at the river.

“Carry this.” Isole shoved a huge basket of clothes into Beauty’s arms and they trudged to the river together. The water gushed on the far side of the valley, and as they reached it, Beauty was surprised to see so many women lined on its bank.

“Isole!” cried Duna, motioning to a spot that she had saved next to her.

Beauty carried the basket over, but Isole pushed her back.

“That’s my place! Yur’ll be at the end of the line.”

Beauty stumbled downstream, where the youngest Hill girls were working. When they saw her approach, they moved over, leaving a large gap, and she knelt down, pretending not to notice.

The water there was soapy and difficult to wash out of the garments. Fumbling with clothes, Beauty looked upstream, past the row of white anths to the top of the river, where Isole was sitting at Duna’s side, surrounded by the older, respected Hill women. They spoke loudly enough for all to hear.

“How yur finding things now, Isole?” asked Duna. “Are yur settled? Hally and I misses yur much. Yur were our last young one.”

“It ain’t been easy, Auntie.”

A glare was shot downstream.

“My papa were gone so many seasons. He’s almost a stranger and we’ve not a lot of sticks for he spent much on his journey.”

A few of the older Hill women flinched. Beauty had noticed that Hillanders did not like to speak of sticks. They found it distasteful, unlike in Sago where it would be a common topic to discuss over syrupy tea.

“If yur needs anything, my child, yur come to me and Hally. Yurs a daughter to us.”

Isole beamed. “My apron is almost worn through. I spent so much time making our dress for that thing. Did I tell yur she ruined it? Completely tore it to shreds.”

“Yur said, my child. It were a nasty, evil thing for it to do to yur.”

This was said loudly, in case Beauty was not aware that they were speaking of her.

“Of course Papa won’t say a word against her.”

“He’s probably scared of it, my child.”

“She’s completely spoiled!”

Beauty stood and picked up her basket.

“I told yur that yur have to stay down there,” said Isole as Beauty approached her.

Beauty slammed the basket down in front of her.

“What do yur think yur doing?”

“Giving you washing to do,” she replied. “I am not going to do it listening to you speak of me so. Do it yourself.”

Isole gasped. “Did yur hear that? I swear she never helps me, Duna. I’ve gotta keep that cottage all on my own.”

“Don’t yur fret, my child,” Duna soothed, before turning to Beauty. “Yur go and do that washing!”

Beauty bent close to her face. “No.”

Duna made the sign of the gods and Beauty marched away.

“Yur bad creature!” she shouted after her. “Yur bad, bad creature!”

At first, Beauty thought that she might go to Comrade and tell him the whole sorry tale, but instead she turned in the opposite direction. Climbing up the hillside, she headed for the next valley, where the men were tending the crops. Owaine, too, would be working nearby, training horses to be sold in town.

“What yur doing, Beauty?” he panted as he spotted her approaching.

The men in the fields caught sight of her and watched, open-mouthed.

“I thought yur were washing today? Yur should go back. This ain’t the place for women and girls.”

She stopped beside him and he saw her sad, pale expression.

“I cannot spend my days with Isole,” she whispered.

“Things are hard between yur, ain’t they?”

Beauty nodded.

“Owaine! Owaine!” shouted Hally, jogging over. “Things all right here?” He pushed his crushed leather hat back from his eyes.

The men in the fields behind him were still watching.

“Cousin, I wish to ask yur another favor, though yur’ve done enough for me.”

Hally glanced at Beauty. “We’re happy to have yur back and for the work yur have done. What’s it to be?”

“I’d like Beauty to help me in my work.”

“Owaine—”

“She’s good with horses.”

“Hill women don’t get—”

“She ain’t a Hill girl, as everyone keeps reminding her.”

Hally tugged his beard. “They won’t like it, Owaine.”

“She’ll stay by my side always, yur’ll see. And with her helping me, we’ll have double the horses to take to town come autumn.”

“Double?”

“Double.”

Hally counted the mares running loose in a field behind him.

“I count three wild horses. Yur tamed one since yur got here and yur did a good job. If yur can tame all them three, plus three more before autumn, and make ’em good riding horses, then she can help yur if yur so please.”

Owaine ducked his head. “I thank yur, Cousin. We can do that and more.”

Hally sighed before striding away.

“I can really help you train the horses?” Beauty asked quietly.

“Yur can, yes. But we better keep that wager. Hally’s my cousin, but he’s Imwane’s Head Man and can’t give me too much special treatment.”

Beauty looked over at the wild horses, bucking and cantering in the field nearby.

“How did he get to be Head Man?”

“The villagers voted him in after the last one left.”

“Who was the last Head Man?”

“Me.”