“A wise and unexpected answer from one so young, but wrong. I cast a spell to make the conditions conducive to the owl. The owl wants to go where there are mates, and I’m sure there are many where he is going. I set up the circumstances that allowed the owl to make the decision I wanted.”
Hannah shook her head. “You’re playing with words.”
“Ha!” the sorceress spat, and then she chuckled. “You want to know all the answers in one short lesson, but it will not happen that way.”
“So, there is more?”
“Much more, young lady. But if you understand half of what I explained today, you are better at learning sorcery than almost all.”
Hannah let her words ring a bell in her mind. The Old Mage had told her a similar thing about making fire with her finger. He said some mages never learn. Could she be both a special mage and sorceress? “What if the sorceress, where the owl lands, tells them where I am?”
“The message does not say you are here.”
“What if a hunter kills the owl and reads the message?” Hannah asked.
The sorceress was busy mixing more ingredients but paused to look at Hannah. “Another perceptive question. Instead of answering directly, you tell me. What would you do to protect the message?”
Hannah shrugged but looked around the workshop and at the writing table. “Disappearing ink would hide it but then the sorceress where the owl flies cannot read it.”
“Very good. What if I told you a simple spell would bring back all you wrote?”
Hannah’s eye opened wide in surprise. “You can do that?”
“No, but I like your idea, and with a little work, I think I can make it happen. In this case, I simply wrote it in red ink, and that says there is danger within the words. The note said that there had been several sightings of you near where she lives and to tell everyone she knows about them. But the red ink will warn her of danger, and she will be careful in the telling.”
“Oh, so simple.”
Evelyn said, “Do not be disappointed. The simplest ways are often the best. Now, why don’t you sit down on that stool by the writing table and finish your story while I work on another spell, one that will help you learning to read.”
The day had turned into the late afternoon by the time she finished, and Evelyn had asked a hundred questions. The Sorceress waved her arms, mumbled a few words, and patiently waited. The crow returned a short while later and landed on the dowel that seemed to exist for birds who spoke. After feeding the bird a nut as a reward, she sprinkled the blue powder over the bird’s head, then pale yellow sprinkles as fine as ground salt.
The sorceress lifted the small scroll she’d brought with her and said, “Are you sure you are only eleven, almost twelve? You are closer to ten in some ways, thirty in others if you ask me. These are your lessons for a few days. The letters you have been learning, but the crow will return when you unroll the scroll because he’s bound to it for a few days.”
“Why?” Hannah asked. I don’t want that stupid bird around here.
“Because it now knows how to speak the sounds of each letter and what they look like. Many have two sounds, and the crow knows both. You will write and say aloud the name and the sounds of the letters. When you know one, the crow will fly off until you unroll the scroll for the next letter.”
“So I’m to spend part of my days making letters. I can do that. But I already know some, and my mother was teaching me before she died, so a few are familiar.”
The sorceress stood before shaking her head. “It will come back in a hurry. But no, you are not to spend part of each day learning them, you will spend nearly all of every day learning them. It is your most important task if you are to learn to be a sorceress.”
“Why is it so important?”
“Imagine misreading an ingredient as you mix a spell. Your mistake may create an anger potent when you wanted one for love. You will print the letters, say them, memorize them, and practice until you know each instantly.”
“That’ll take days,” Hannah wailed.
Evelyn met her protest with a stern expression. “Days! It usually takes a year or two. Listen to me, girl. Never have so many searched for one person. If you are to live to be twelve, you will do as I say. Study. Learn. It is your only hope.”
Hannah felt the tears welling and her vision blurring.
“Cry, if you must,” Evelyn snapped. “Do it and get it over with. This is not like I’m holding a hot poker against your skin. All ladies read and write. If you have any hope of returning to the King’s Palace and avenging the deaths of your three fathers, you will study as if your life depends on learning. I cannot return for at least four more days, maybe longer.”
“How many of them would you wish me to know when you return?”
“I would wish for all of them, but that is unreasonable. Do your best.”
“Can’t you cast a learning spell over me?”
“Spells wear out over time. This is something you must learn for yourself. I must leave. I’ve already been here too long and don’t wish to start the tongues in my village wagging.”
Hannah wanted to ask more questions, but the woman was already walking away, her stride long and quick, her arms swinging at her sides. Hannah turned to the crow. “You had better stay close and eat when you can because you’re going to be very busy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Hannah used the flame on her finger to ignite the wicks on two candles at the writing desk. While darkness had not yet fallen, the light grew dim. The crow hopped from one end of the perch to the other until she unrolled the scroll and wrote A.
“A” the bird squawked, then continued, “A, ah.”
Hannah repeated the sounds. She wrote one of the new letters, N.
“N.” The bird paused, then said, “Enn. Neh.”
“Okay, this an N and it sounds like neh. And the other is an A, ah. This isn’t going to be so hard.” She selected an unknown letter, the next in the series, and printed B. When she reached D she paused and tested herself, finding she had forgotten part of B. Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy after all.
She started over and woke chilly and in the dark. The stubs of the candles had burned themselves out. Hannah remembered putting her head down to rest her eyes for a minute, but it felt like the middle of the night. She crawled into her cot and instantly went back to sleep.
After eating and working on her letters all morning, Hannah went to the pool of water to bath and relax. She still felt bits of sand and grit in her hair, despite how short the haircut. She pulled the green dress over her head and eased into the cool water The harsh soap reddened her skin, and when she washed her hair, the soap foam turned dirty gray from the ink. She washed and let the water flow over her as she rested her eyes from the intense writing.
Hannah heard a man whisper. Another answered. Hannah’s eyes flashed open and found two men had entered the far side of the clearing, maybe fifty steps from her. The goblin sized rocks of the pool would make her head look like one of them. The rim of the pool hid most of her head, and her body was below the water. Only the green dress lay in plain sight, but it was green on a meadow of grass.
The men were dressed in green colors, too. Darker, but green. In a forest of trees with leaves, they would be hard to see. Neither carried a bow or weapon, yet they were hunting. Their footsteps were careful and slow, their eyes watching all directions, but especially the ground where they looked for footprints or tracks.