Girl in the Red Hood Read Free Page A

building
that was full to the brim with dried plant pieces in jars, other
plants hanging upside down to dry, a large variety of mixing bowls,
mortar and pestle, and a large pot to boil mixtures in. This house
had only one shelf of jars, and most of them were covered with
dust. The mayor cleared the table so Warin could lay Liesel's
mother on top of it.
    "What-" the healer began to ask, but Izaak
interrupted her.
    "Remember the sleeping sickness I told you
about, Doffy?" The woman stared at him blankly until a look of
nervous recognition came to her face.
    "Oh...oh, yes." She walked over to her shelf
of jars and stared up at them for a moment before pulling four
down. Grabbing the dirty mortar and pestle from another dusty
table, she went to work grinding and mixing the herbs. Liesel
watched intently as she worked, running through the plants and
their uses her head. Her mother had been an expert with herbs.
Although this mixture of herbs the woman had concocted seemed a bit
simple for the kind of illness her mother was suffering, nothing
was too alarming until she pulled out a dried clipping of a dark
green branch with spiky leaves and fluffy orange buds.
    "No!" Everyone jumped when Liesel cried out.
"That's fox heel!" Everyone, even the healer, stared at her as if
she'd spoken another language. Only then did Liesel realize how
rude it must seem for a girl to correct a grown healer. But Liesel
knew all about that plant. She'd nearly eaten it when she was two.
Her mother had looked over just as Liesel had raised it to her
mouth, according to the family story. They kept it in the garden
because it could heal skin wounds, but it was absolutely never to
be eaten. Amala had run so fast she'd dropped and broken a clay
bowl to keep Liesel from touching it to her tongue. When she was
older, Amala had taught Liesel how to safely apply it to a bruise,
but never was it to be eaten or drunk, according to her mother.
    "Crushing the flowers into the herb makes it
poisonous," Liesel explained softly as her father's look of shock
turned into a glare.
    "Liesel, outside. Now." Liesel felt her face
redden with embarrassment as she followed her father out the front
door like a small child. Warin bent down to look her in the eye.
"Just what do you think you're doin'?"
    "I told you," Liesel whispered. "Fox heel is
dangerous."
    "You think their healer doesn't know her own
trade? That a girl of thirteen knows better than she does?" Liesel
felt resentment rise in her throat. Glaring back at her father, she
huffed.
    "They lied about the sickness. There's
obviously been no blight here. They lied about their healer being
from the Far East! Doesn't it seem that they might lie about this,
too?"
    "One more word out of you, girl, and you'll
regret it!" Warin gave his daughter a withering look.
    "I don't care!" Liesel shouted, tired of
watching such foolishness play out. "If you let them give that
rubbish to Mother, she'll die!" She could be just as stubborn as
her father when she wanted to be. Warin stared at her in awe for a
moment before giving her a sneer and stalking back inside. Liesel
took off after him, darting around his large frame, just in time to
see Doffy prepare the mixture for a tea. Without a second thought,
Liesel knocked the spoon out of the woman's hands.
    "I don't know what you think you're doing,
but I'll not let you poison her!" she yelled. Two strong hands
grabbed her from behind, however, and Warin said,
    "I apologize for my daughter's behavior.
She's just upset about her mum being sick. Please, do what you need
to do. She'll see eventually that she needs to trust those who know
better than her." After giving the mayor a nervous glance, the
healer lifted another spoonful of the mixture out to prepare the
tea again. Liesel felt like her heart had stopped beating and
dropped into her stomach as she watched the woman mix the poisonous
orange tinted tea. Tears began to slide down her face as she
realized she was going to watch her mother