through.
Behind us, where the torches burned in the forest, a new commotion broke out. “There! No, there! What in God’s name was
“Jena,” said Sorrow gravely, “I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Silence and I have seen little of love and kindness in our lives. I did not know what happiness was until I met Tatiana. I did not understand the nature of true friendship until I encountered her family. We owe you everything.” He smiled. It was the first time he had ever opened his mouth properly in my presence. As he stepped back and the rocks seemed to swallow him and Tati up in a kind of shadow, I saw that his teeth were indeed irregular: not the pointed fangs of the Night People, but a very crooked set of quite ordinary ones. In an instant, his smile turned him from coolly handsome to charmingly plain.
“Goodbye,” I whispered.
“Goodbye,” murmured Paula, but they were already gone.
A shimmer of darkness remained against the rock, a place where the fabric of our world was interrupted.
“Wait for me!” someone shrieked. We sprang aside as the white fox came pelting down the hill, its rider kicking her little boots against its flanks to urge it on. Dr?agu?ta’s long hair streamed out behind her, a silver streak in the moonlight. Her face wore a savage grin—Paula sucked in her breath at the sight of those rows of little pointed teeth. The creature skidded to a 395
halt beside us, and the witch turned her baleful eyes straight on my sister.
“I saw that, young lady!” Dr?agu?ta’s voice was sharp as a boning knife.
“It was the only thing I could think of.” Paula squared her shoulders, meeting the witch’s gaze directly. My sister did not lack courage.
“Showed great presence of mind,” said Dr?agu?ta, grinning still more widely. She appeared oblivious to the rapidly approaching men, the barking of dogs. There was a glint of gold threaded through her silver hair. I stared. It looked terribly familiar. Was that a little medallion in the shape of a hunting horn?
“What the queen doesn’t know,” Dr?agu?ta said, “I won’t tell her. Tati’s safe—Sorrow, too. Silence will sing again. I’m the one who stirs the pot! Ileana just keeps the fire going.” Her voice rose to a sudden shriek.
There was a shifting and a settling and the stones came back to themselves.
“Interesting,” observed Paula shakily.
The hunt approached at full tilt: boots crashing through the undergrowth, hounds slavering and straining on leashes. In the middle of it was Costi, busily talking. “A man in a black coat?
That looked more like a fox to me. Or maybe a small wolf.”
They reached us and halted, staring suspiciously. It was an odd time for the daughters of Piscul Dracului to be out walking in the forest. I opened my mouth, still unsure which excuse would be the least implausible, but Costi got in first.
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“Did you see anything, Jena?” Then, before I could reply, he said to the other men, “I should be getting on; I was just walking the young ladies home from a visit.”
“It went past too quickly for us to get a proper look,” said Paula. “Then it just vanished. It was as if the earth swallowed it up.”
“A fox, no doubt of it.” Costi nodded sagely. “Gone to ground. I think you fellows should follow my lead and head for home. You’re not likely to flush out the quarry tonight.”
There was a chorus of protest.
“But it was right here—”
“Plenty of light, Full Moon and all, we should—”
“Cezar would have—”
Costi cleared his throat, and the noise subsided to angry mutterings. “I’ve discussed the issue of Night People with Judge Rinaldo and the village elders,” he said. “You’ve played your part bravely, all of you. But spring’s coming: we all have work to attend to. In time we’ll hold a village council and develop a new strategy together. For now, you need a good night’s sleep, or you’ll be unfit for anything in the morning. I appreciate your efforts to keep the valley safe. They won’t go un-rewarded. Come up to Varful cu Negur?a tomorrow, and I’ll have two silver pieces for each one of you in recognition of your efforts. Just understand that from now on, we’ll be approaching the problem differently.”
“But—” ventured one man.
“Thank you, Master Costin.”
“We’ll be off home, then.”
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They dipped their heads, shouldered their weapons, and left. No matter that Costi was only twenty years old and, in a manner of speaking, new to the valley. He had stepped into his father’s shoes with a natural authority. Folk knew a born leader when they saw one.
In the moonlit forest the three of us stood silent awhile, the weight of what had just happened holding us immobile. I thought of asking the others whether they had noticed that the witch was wearing Cezar’s medallion, but decided I wouldn’t.
Paula put up a hand to dash tears from her cheeks. I started to shiver again and found I couldn’t stop. Costi put one arm around me and the other around my sister. He said, “Shall we go home now?”
That was not quite the end of our story. We put it about that Tati had gone on an extended trip to see distant relatives in the east. Later she would conveniently marry in those parts, too far away for easy visits. We told Aunt Bogdana the truth, and she accepted it with lifted brows and little comment. After all that had happened, she was,
