Ironbark Read Free Page B

the ends of the earth. I will find Gem and lie in his arms!’ She turned to Patronella. ‘While you will never see your son’s face again!’
    The crowd sucked in its collective breath when Patronella pointed her finger at Keziah.
    â€˜Abandon your people and I will riddle your body with my curses. You will bury the child of your heart. Gem will spit on you. Even before the death of summer, when the moon’s eclipse falls in your sign, you will earn money on your back!’
    The crowd drew back in horror. Keziah stumbled away, barely registering the stones that Patronella threw at her. The physical pain was nothing compared to the inner torment that flooded her as the Romaniwords of Patronella’s ultimate curse rang in her ears. ‘The Devil be in your bowels!’
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    Keziah walked down a lonely country road deeply rutted by generations of farmers’ carts. Her eyes were bathed by the vivid green beauty around her, the wildflowers and herbs growing at random, flights of birds swooping against soft banks of clouds. As always, she trusted the power of the natural world to heal the wounds caused by human cruelty.
    She prided herself that she would cross the ocean to Gem with money she earned honestly by her hands and her wits. She would not let the fear of Patronella’s curses overwhelm her.
    From the age of six Keziah had been aware she possessed the Gift. Through her eyes day and night were not measured by the mechanical progression of clocks; time flowed like a river where past, present and future were tributaries linked by a continuous current. She travelled along this current at will, but at other times she was transported in dreams and visions. Now, to comfort herself, she summoned up a vivid fragment of the past – Gem’s beloved face on that autumn day in 1831 when he turned fourteen.
    Gem’s gold earring glinted in the sunlight as he swung her up behind him to ride bareback on his piebald horse. His voice caressed her.
    â€˜What do you say, little Keziah? I’m your Rom if you want me.’
    â€˜Oh yes, Gem, please!’ she whispered.
    Sure of her then, he twisted her hair around his fist and pulled her face within an inch of his lips. ‘I have loved your shadow since the first day I saw you.’
    â€˜But I was only five!’
    He told her he had waited long enough, then teased her by avoiding her parted lips.
    â€˜Now you’re eleven – almost a woman. It is time we were promised to each other.’
    That same night as Keziah lay with her grandmother in their vardo, they overheard Patronella condemn Keziah’s gaujo mother.
    â€˜You women talk of history!’ Gem shouted. ‘But I am a man! I do not take history to my bed! You will offer Keziah’s family a fine bride price for the sake of her pride.’
    Patronella wailed that she would rather die first.
    Gem was unmoved. ‘Then you die without grandchildren! I swear on Grandfather’s grave if Keziah Stanley will not have me as her Rom, I’ll wash my own shirt for the rest of my life!’
    Keziah gasped at Gem’s threat of lifelong independence and celibacy.
    Despite Patronella’s moans it was clear Gem had won. Keziah leapt into her Puri Dai’s arms and covered her wrinkled face with a flood of little kisses.
    â€˜So you want him as much as that, do you?’ Her grandmother chuckled. ‘Listen, I will strike a hard bargain. Your father has no head for such things. He’d prefer to drink their wine and play his violin.’
    Keziah was so nervous her grandmother was quick to reassure her. ‘I’m old, not stupid. I’ll raise the price but not high enough to send them packing. I’ll get Gem for your Rom, see if I don’t!’
    Her grandmother’s magic worked and soon everyone knew Keziah was promised to Gem. He teased her with his lover’s games until she would have given him anything he