Read Online From Across the Clouded Range by H. Nathan Wilcox - Free Book Online

mouth pursed, her
breath quickened noticeably. “I have two things to tell you,” Milne
finally said, “but I’m afraid if I tell you one of them you won’t
stay to hear the other, so I’m not sure where to start.”
    “ Just tell me, Milne. Is
it Ipid? Has something happened to him?”
    Milne coughed, a deep, racking spasm.
She caught it with a red handkerchief so that no one would see the
blood flecked across it. “Ipid is fine,” she rasped when the spell
had passed, “but he sent a letter.”
    Teth’s look of concern over the cough
turned to wariness over the letter. Milne longed to be that young
again, to have the luxury of being obsessed with herself. She held
Ipid’s letter out to Teth. She already knew what it would say, knew
the reaction it was likely to solicit. Teth approached and took it
with a caution typically reserved for vipers. She slowly opened it,
unfolded the paper, took a deep breath, and began reading. Her
first reaction was to snort at Ipid’s overly sentimental greeting.
Then she grew quiet. Milne watched her fingers curl around the
paper, crumpling its edges. Her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared,
her teeth clenched. The explosion was coming.
    And Teth did not disappoint. In a
flash of motion, she transformed the letter to scraps. “I won’t!”
she screamed. “He can’t make me. And to Dasen, of all people, that
sniveling bookworm. He wouldn’t last one day in the forest,
probably doesn’t even remember what a tree is. He’s no better than
some pathetic counselor.” She looked directly at Counselor Torpy as
she said the last, clearly meant the insult for him as well. “I
won’t be joined, and I, by the Order, won’t live in a city. He can
take his money and go to the Maelstrom.”
    “ Teth, please,” Milne
tried to interrupt.
    “ No, I won’t listen,
Milne. He can’t do this. I won’t let him.”
    “ He certainly can,”
Counselor Torpy interrupted. “He controls your paternal custody. It
is within his rights under the Order to find your
match.”
    “ I don’t give an Order’s
damn what his rights are! I won’t be joined to some sniveling boy,
who never makes it out of his library. I won’t spend my life
trapped in a stinking city, having tea with a bunch of worthless
stuffed dresses, acting like some vapid, pointless piece of
furniture. By the Order, I won’t be joined at all until I’m good
and ready. And when I am, it will be to someone who has earned the
right.” She advanced on the counselor, and he retreated into his
chair as if seeking to hide in it. Teth’s temper and
unpredictability were renowned. Counselor Torpy had seen and handed
out punishment for the results many times.
    “ I’m leaving,” Teth
continued. “I can’t stay here. Send him a letter telling him no.
Tell him if he shows up here with his brat son, they’ll never find
me. None of you will ever see me again.” She turned and ran toward
the stairs. Milne could tell by her shaking hands that she was
barely restraining her emotions. So she
already knew , Milne thought. Deep down, she knew this was coming. That, at
least, will make my task easier .
    “ I’m dying!” Milne yelled
after her.
    Teth stopped. Her hand rested on the
polished banister. A long time seemed to pass. Silence gripped the
room, even the small fire seemed not to crackle. Milne watched as
the powerful girl deflated: her broad shoulders slumped, her axe
handle spine softened, her taught muscles sagged. Finally, she took
a deep breath. “What are you talking about, Milne?” she asked, but
the question lacked conviction. “You can’t know that. You have that
cough, but no one dies of a cough.”
    “ You’ve known it for a
long time, Teth,” Milne stated. “I’ve taught you everything I know
as a healer. You know that this is not a normal cough. Why else
would you keep bringing me bristleweed roots? Do you think I don’t
know how hard they are to find and dig?”
    “ I . . . I just,” Teth
tried to speak