The Painted Man

Bruna snorted. ‘Midwife a village and tell me that,’ she said.

‘It wouldn’t even matter if I was flowered,’ Leesha said. ‘Then Gared and I could marry, and I could do for him as a wife should.’

‘Eager for that, are you?’ Bruna said with a wicked grin. ‘It’s no sad affair, I’ll admit. Men have more uses than swinging axes and carrying heavy things.’

‘What’s taking so long?’ Leesha asked. ‘Saira and Mairy reddened their sheets in their twelfth summers, and this will be my thirteenth! What could be wrong?’

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ Bruna said. ‘Each girl bleeds in her own time. It may be you have a year yet, or more.’

‘A year!’ Leesha exclaimed.

‘Don’t be so quick to leave childhood behind, girl,’ Bruna said. ‘You’ll find you miss it when it’s gone. There’s more to the world than lying under a man and making his babies.’

‘But what else could compare?’ Leesha asked.

Bruna gestured to her shelf. ‘Choose a book,’ she said. ‘Any book. Bring it here, and I’ll show you what else the world can offer.’

5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Crowded Home 319 AR (#litres_trial_promo)

Leesha woke with a start as Bruna’s old rooster crowed to mark the dawn. She rubbed her face, feeling the imprint of the book on her cheek. Gared and Bruna were still fast asleep. The Herb Gatherer had passed out early, but despite her own fatigue, Leesha kept on reading late into the night. She had thought Herb Gathering was just setting bones and birthing babes, but there was so much more. Herb Gatherers studied the entire natural world, finding ways to combine the Creator’s many gifts for the benefit of His children.

Leesha took the ribbon that held back her dark hair and laid it across the page, closing the book as reverently as she did the Canon. She rose and stretched, laying fresh wood on the fire and stirring the embers into a flame. She put the kettle on, and then went over to shake Gared.

‘Wake up, lazybones,’ she said, keeping her voice low. Gared only groaned. Whatever Bruna had given him, it was strong. She shook harder, and he swatted at her, eyes still closed.

‘Get up or there’ll be no breakfast for you,’ Leesha laughed, kicking him.

Gared groaned again, and his eyes cracked. When Leesha drew her foot back a second time, he reached out and grabbed her leg, pulling her down on top of him with a yelp.

He rolled on top of her, encircling her in his burly arms, and Leesha giggled at his kisses.

‘Stop it,’ she said, swatting at him half-heartedly, ‘you’ll wake Bruna.’

‘So what if I do?’ Gared asked. ‘The old hag is a hundred years old and blind as a bat.’

‘The hag’s ears are still sharp,’ Bruna said, cracking open one of her milky white eyes.

Gared yelped and practically flew to his feet, distancing himself from Leesha and Bruna both.

‘You keep your hands to yourself in my home, boy, or I’ll brew a potion to keep your manhood slack for a year,’ Bruna said. Leesha saw the colour drain from Gared’s face, and bit her lip to keep from laughing. For some reason, Bruna no longer frightened her, but she loved watching the old woman intimidate everyone else.

‘We understand one another?’ Bruna asked.

‘Yes’m,’ Gared said immediately.

‘Good,’ Bruna said. ‘Now put those burly shoulders to work and split some wood for the firebox.’ Gared was out the door before she finished. Leesha laughed as the door slammed.

‘Liked that, did you?’ Bruna asked.

‘I’ve never seen anyone send Gared scurrying like that,’ Leesha said.

‘Come closer, so I can see you,’ Bruna said. When Leesha did, she went on, ‘Being village healer is more than brewing potions. A strong dose of fear is good for the biggest boy in the village. Maybe help him think twice before hurting someone.’

‘Gared would never hurt anyone,’ Leesha said.

‘As you say,’ Bruna said, but she didn’t sound at all convinced.

‘Could you really have made a potion to take his manhood away?’ Leesha asked.

Bruna cackled. ‘Not for a year,’ she said. ‘Not with one dose, anyway. But a few days, or even a week? As easily as I dosed his tea.’

Leesha looked thoughtful.

‘What is it, girl?’ Bruna asked. ‘Having doubts your boy will leave you unplucked before your wedding?’

‘I was thinking more on Steave,’ Leesha said.

Bruna nodded. ‘And well you should,’ she advised. ‘But have a care. Your mother is wise to the trick. She came to me often when she was young, needing Gatherer’s tricks to stem her flow and keep her from getting with child while she had her fun. I didn’t see her for what she was, then, and I’m sad to say I taught her more than I should have.’

‘Mum wasn’t a virgin when Da carried her across his wards?’ Leesha asked in shock.

Bruna snorted. ‘Half the town had a roll with her before Steave drove the others away.’

Leesha’s jaw dropped. ‘Mum condemned Klarissa when she got with child,’ she said.

Bruna spat on the floor. ‘Everyone turned on that poor girl. Hypocrites, all! Smitt talks of family, but he didn’t lift a finger when his wife led the town after that girl like a pack of flame demons. Half those women pointing at her and crying ‘Sin!’ were guilty of the same deed, they were just lucky enough to marry fast, or smart enough to take precautions.’

‘Precautions?’ Leesha asked.

Bruna shook her head. ‘Elona’s so eager to have a grandson she’s kept you in the dark about everything, eh?’ she asked. ‘Tell me, girl, how are babies made?’

Leesha blushed. ‘The man, I mean, your husband … He …’

‘Out with it, girl,’ Bruna snapped, ‘I’m too old to wait for the red to leave your face.’

‘He spends his seed in you,’ Leesha said, her face reddening further.

Bruna cackled. ‘You can treat burns and demon wounds, but blush at how life is made?’

Leesha opened her mouth to reply, but Bruna cut her off.

‘Make your boy spend his seed on your belly, and you can lie with him to your heart’s content,’ Bruna said. ‘But boys can’t be trusted to pull from you in time, as Klarissa learned. The smarter ones come to me for tea.’

‘Tea?’ Leesha asked, leaning on every word.

‘Pomm leaves, leached in the right dose with some other herbs, create a tea that will keep a man’s seed from taking root.’