Read Online Strands of Starlight by Gael Baudino - Free Book Online

that she could deny that also.
    “So?” said Mika after they had started to eat.
    Absently, Miriam put food into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “I'm stupid, I actually started to care about you, Mika. You and your ladies and your babies. When I saw you broken down about Petronella's girl, I couldn't bring myself to stand by and watch it happen again. That's all. I didn't want you to cry again, because I'd feel bad. Selfish as usual. So I helped. So I'll have to leave now. It'll look better for you, too: you can say you put me out when you found out I was a demon . . . or a witch . . . or whatever it is I'm supposed to be. God knows, I can't possibly be human.”
    “Don't talk that way.”
    “All right. I won't.”
    The wind was still blowing strongly. Mika rose, went to the window, and fiddled with the shutter fastening as though envisioning a small, frail healer traveling alone and in such weather. “Where will you go?” she said at last.
    “I don't know. I don't particularly care. Certainly not to Hypprux.”
    Mika was silent for a time. “What about the Free Towns?”
    “Good as anything, I suppose.” Miriam chewed listlessly at a piece of bread. The safety was gone. The drowsy afternoons on Mika's bench were gone. So were the quiet evenings by the fire. The women would not be bringing food anymore, nor the men bowing. It was over.
    “I'm serious,” said Mika. “There are . . . stories . . . about the Free Towns.”
    “Stories. Of course. The Elves turned a priest into a pig. The mayor of Saint Blaise goes out and dances with Immortals. The village of Saint Brigid floats in the air every Lammas Eve. Sure.”
    “Have you ever looked at that cloak you've been wearing?”
    Miriam glanced at it. The blazons of the Free Towns and Saint Blaise glistened in the firelight.
    “You healed that man in Hypprux,” Mika continued, “and he helped you. He helped you. He didn't run away.”
    “Up until I healed him, he couldn't. He had a broken ankle.” Still, Miriam was considering. Elves were said to visit Saint Brigid with regularity. She did not know whether or not to believe the stories, but something was going on down in the Free Towns, or else the stories would not have started up.
    Her gifts might be tolerated there. Surely the Free Towns could not be any worse than the rest of Adria.
    'Let it be the Free Towns, then,” she said. “I'll see if Saint Brigid is interested in burning a healer.”
    Mika looked stricken. “Please . . .” Her voice broke. “Please don't say things like that.”
    Lifting her head, Miriam saw the tears in the older woman's eyes, realized how deeply Mika would miss her. Her vision blurred and she buried her face in her hands, and Mika came to her and folded her in her arms.
    ***
    She spent the next week preparing to leave. Her legs still ached, but they were essentially healed; and the last scabs had fallen off her hands a week before. Mika sewed an extra gown for her and packaged enough food for several days on the road. Miriam looked at the bundle. “It's a little large for me to carry.”
    “Don't worry about the size. You'll be taking Esau.”
    “Esau?” The shaggy red pony lived in a small stable at one side of Mika's house, his only task being to draw the cart when it was needed. “I can't take Esau.”
    “You need a mount, and I can always prevail upon Baron Paul to supply another horse.” Mika met her eyes. “I can give very little to you. Please take what I can give.”
    In the end, Miriam took the pony, and Mika saw her off just at dawn. The bells of Furze were ringing prime, and the weather was clear and cold.
    “Follow the road,” said the midwife. “It's in fairly good repair. You might pass a house or two before you get to Saint Brigid, but if you have any problems, mention my name. They all know me. Even the bandits.”
    Miriam nodded. She unfastened the green cloak. “I'd better leave this with you. The emblems might cause trouble. They're too easily