Marek (Buried Lore Book 1) Read Free Page A

the goings on in the town: which wife had run off with which
husband, who had eloped, difficult births, who had
lost all their coin to drink and gambling. However, the gossip was very
different this night. Something very strange had happened and she whispered as
if it might have been bad luck to say it out loud, or worse, someone might have
overheard her. But what I noticed most of all about her news was the fact she
was directing it at me and not my father, her eyes never leaving mine.
    ‘You
know, very rarely do we get visitors but our latest has caused much concern.
The fishermen in the cold dead of night found a woman, a sea hag they are
calling her, just off shore floating on a raft. They caught her just as the
waves did. She near drowned but the fishermen are regretting their find. They say they wished she’d sunk.’
    ‘Why
is that?’ my father asked but Silvia continued to answer to me.
    ‘Well,
she is near dead anyway and covered in disease. She keeps whispering things to
the air around her as if she is talking to unseen people. They say it is eerie
speak. No-one wants to be near her, not even the
apothecary to whose house she was taken. He wants to get rid of her though
no-one quite knows what to do.’
    I
hated the injustice of such talk. ‘But surely she is just an old woman who has
lost her way or lost her mind. What harm can she do? Everyone has a right to be
treated and cured.’
    ‘I
would expect you to say as such for you are too young to understand that not
all share your own good intent. The men and their wives say that she talks
witch speech.’
    My
father laughed but I could see through it. He wanted this conversation over
with.
    ‘Tell
me more Silvia,’ I urged. For the subject of witches seemed to dominate my
thoughts since I saw the book.
    ‘They
say she should be dead. She has travelled far from the north with Gildoroso in her sights. She planned to come here.’
    ‘Does
she have a name?’
    ‘You’re
an inquisitive boy,’ she said jovially, and with much affection, viewing me
curiously over her beaky nose.
    ‘He’s
not a boy anymore,’ said Ricco interrupting the
conversation and keen to turn the subject. ‘Why, look how tall he is getting!’
    ‘Yes,’
said Silvia kindly. ‘He is a man-child but still a boy to me. See how he
reddens with such attention.’
    I
was embarrassed but I could not let their words distract the main story here.
‘So can we see the woman?’
    Silvia
frowned and shook her head. She looked almost regretful and I witnessed a
worried glance between her and my father. We finished our peppered fish pie,
and Silvia laid out small honey cakes. I wolfed down several, which were hot
and buttery and burst in my mouth.
    As
we headed back home, Silvia called Ricco back. I was
told to head on home and felt offended by this gesture. If I was a man and
could enter the osteria , then why was I still
being sent away from certain grown-up discussions?
    Later
that night I asked my father what was said. He grunted for it was clear he did
not want to discuss anything.
    ‘Am
I a witch, Father?’ I asked, expecting a slap across the ear. But the response
was even worse than I imagined. I was met with only silence.
    I
went to bed restless and dreamed of my mother. She was grabbing my arm and
pleading with me. However, it was moments before I realised that it was not a dream but my father who was pulling at my arm to wake me. The
hearth had burnt down to just a glow, illuminating the room in flickering
shades of orange.
    He
was reluctant to speak at first as he stared at the light, his eyes rimmed with
red, and watery.
    ‘It
is the woman. The one they found in the water?’ From the way Ricco pulled at his short beard anxiously, it was clear he
was tormented of mind and unsure whether to voice his thoughts.
    ‘I
thought she was talking gibberish.’
    ‘Yes,
she does, except she keeps repeating a name.’
    My
stomach tightened for I feared that it would be something I did not