Fearsome Dreamer Read Free

it’s brew making, and I’ve to get back to her as soon as possible. She’ll fade fast if not.’
    Rue shuffled. ‘That’s silly,’ she said at last. ‘You can’t treat someone when you’re exhausted.’
    â€˜This is the craft, Rue,’ said Fernie, massaging her craggy cheeks. ‘It gets real hard sometimes and you just need to get through it. Who else’ll do it? Who else can? You must learn this as soon as you’re able.’
    Rue poured herself a tea silently. She was hungry and herbing was dull. She sighed.
    â€˜We’ll take some bread with us, to chew on while we go,’ said Fernie kindly. ‘And if you come across any berries, they’re yours. Pick some to keep if you want, and we’ll make some jam.’
    Rue felt a familiar guilt stealing over her. Fernie could be very generous and fair when she had no call to be. It was annoying.
    * * *
    Rue ran her hands through the trailing leaves of a plant, peering at the dusty soil underneath to see if any blood herbs were hiding there. Fernie had said that particular family of herbs usually enjoyed keeping close to aurers, so it was best to scan across the wood floor for the telltale glimmer of golden petals and then have a look at the ground nearby.
    Something flashed out of the corner of her gaze. She turned her head to see a squirrel clinging to a tree trunk near where she squatted. Its tiny claws dug into the bark, black eyes gazing at her. Then it was gone, the plump body disappearing upwards into the foliage.
    â€˜If only Tro would turn me into a squirrel,’ Rue murmured as Fernie approached, her feet crackling over dry twigs and leaves.
    â€˜Tro knows you wouldn’t last a day. You’re far too silly a creature,’ said Fernie, basket stuffed with plant matter.
    â€˜Squirrels ain’t exactly the most sensible either,’ protested Rue, as they made their way along the path. ‘They’re all nervy.’
    â€˜So you’d be if you were a squirrel.’
    They tramped in silence for a moment. Bird calls pinwheeled across the dense canopy.
    â€˜Fern.’
    â€˜Yes, dear.’
    â€˜Have you ever lived outside this village? I mean, gone to other places in Angle Tar, like one of the cities?’
    â€˜Cities are full of idiots with big ideas. Big ideas get you little in return.’
    â€˜They learn things, though. They do them mind studies. It sounds interesting.’
    â€˜Rue, my chicklet. You have to have money to do such idle stuff. Only rich people live in cities and learn. Us folk mind our own business out here, and they mind theirs in the cities, and everyone gets along fine. No good stirring things up, it always leads to trouble. Why you asking me such? Don’t want to be a hedgewitch any more, is it?’
    â€˜No,’ said Rue. ‘I love hedgewitching, you know it. I just wonder about other places sometimes, is all. You know them dreams I get. I just wonder what they’re about. Are there other countries out in the world with weird people and everything’s different?’
    â€˜You’ve no call to be thinking about that,’ said Fernie briskly. ‘Angle Tar’s the only place with a civilised bone in its body. The world out there is nothing more than a load of places with people in ’em. And the people out there are neither more interesting, nor better, nor lower, than us here in Angle Tar. It’s humans, Rue. We’re the same wherever you go, no matter what we surround ourselves with.’
    Rue sighed. They always went the same way, these conversations. But she couldn’t quite believe the cynical version of the world that Fernie gave her. Not after the things she’d dreamed of. One day, she had long ago promised herself, she’d see the world with her own eyes.
    She would have the truth of it.

CHAPTER 2
WORLD
    White
    He woke to freezing, draining cold.
    Out of everything that had been done to