Chapter 1 - Dead

Thud! Whap! Whoosh! Snap! The thick branch sliced the air, connected with its target and shattered. Thirteen-year-old Laehry Midwood eyed the straw-filled dummy with pity. Poor fellow. His ragged head hung by a string and a dismembered leg lay across the barn atop the plow, a gruesome reminder that spring planting was just around the corner. Laehry crossed to retrieve it and had just settled the dummy and herself at the workbench for some repairs when hooves clattered on the cobblestone in the yard. She flung her work down and scampered to the door of the barn.

"Papa! Come see what I did to the dummy!" she hollered. She squinted as the March daylight flooded her eyes. Focusing, she saw that the horse was not her father's and that its rider had already dismounted and was sweeping into the kitchen in a swirl of cape and boots. Laehry bolted across the courtyard and yanked open the sturdy wooden back door.

Laehry's mother, Bati, slumped on the scrubbed kitchen floor clutching the plain oak table leg. Her faded blue skirt flowed out from under her, giving the impression of a wilted flower.

"They grabbed him. No one had time to do anything except run. There were too many." The man's white hand gripped the back of the chair as he stared down at her mother. "Giorgio is organizing a party of men to go after him. I have to get back or they will leave without me." He stroked his straw-colored beard as he turned to leave. "We'll find him, Bati." As he swept past Laehry she heard him mutter, "Or what's left of him."

"Mama! Mama!" Laehry ran to her mother. "What was Mr. Silasi talking about? Find who?"

"I always knew this would happen someday," Bati's eyes searched the floor before coming to rest on the daughter who knelt in front of her. "Your father was kidnapped from the pub by a gang of Snaugs. They took him into woods south of town an hour ago." Bati's tear-filled eyes met her daughter's. "Help me up, I'll go get Auntie Elly to come over and help with dinner." Wiping away the tears with the edge of her skirt, Bati hugged her daughter tight. "Don't worry, Lili, the men will bring him home to us. Now, you go up and put a fresh diaper on the baby and bring her down." She held Laehry now at arm's length and forced a smile. "Let's get dinner ready before your brother comes home."

Laehry turned in a daze and climbed the steps to the room she shared with her brother, Benti, and their baby sister, Graci. Graci had just recently learned to pull herself up in the crib and was standing now, soggy diaper limp around her waist. At the sight of her big sister, she grinned a wide baby-grin, revealing two stubby bottom teeth.

Laehry thought about her father as she put a dry diaper and fresh dress on Graci. Snaugs. She had heard kids in the village talk about them. Joby, the huge bully in her class at school, claimed that Snaugs stole an entire flock of sheep from his family two summers ago while his brother the sheep herder was asleep under the tree. Laehry thought it more likely that the sheep had been stolen by the Turners from over at the Bluff. No one really thought that Snaugs existed. But now the whole tavern had seen a gang of them yank her father from his barstool and drag him into the woods.

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The next morning, Laehry was milking the goats and worrying about her father. Benti came into the barn, steam rising from his mouth in the early morning cold as he pulled the heavy, brown, wool sweater over his head and rubbed his eyes. Milking was usually her father's job, but last night before tucking her children into bed, Bati had told them they would be getting up extra early to do her father's chores. Bati herself was already forking hay out of the horses stalls while they grazed on the frosty grass in the paddock. Only baby Graci was still bundled up in her bed.

Together they finished the morning chores and trudged back to the kitchen for breakfast. Laehry stared at the lumpy oatmeal on her spoon, trying to will in down her throat and into her stomach. She wasn't hungry. Glancing around the table, she saw that her brother was likewise staring at his spoon. Her mother had given up on eating and frowned as she nursed the baby. Horse hooves rang out in the cobblestone courtyard. Abruptly, Bati stood up, still clutching the baby as she opened the door.

The courtyard was filled with horses and ragged-looking men from the village. Hiram Silasi approached her with a bundle in his arms.

"We found these, Bati," he mumbled, thrusting the bundle at her. Close up, Bati could see it was a pile of clothing. Fort's clothing. She lost her grip on the bundle and it fell on the kitchen doorstep, revealing heavy blood-stains on the front of the shirt and pants. Bati gasped and froze in the doorway.

"Mama!" Laehry and Benti both ran to their mother. Peering around her skirt, they saw what she saw.

"We don't have much hope that he's still alive. It's an awful lot of blood to lose. I'm sorry, Bati." Silasi stood staring at the side of the house with his hat in his hand. "My wife is feedin' our own wee ones. As soon as she's finished, I'll send her over to see if you're needin' anything." He turned to go and then stopped, "I'm real sorry, ma'am. Your husband was a good, honest man. We all thought so." Nods and murmurs of agreement moved through the crowd of me in the courtyard.

"Thank you all for looking for him," Bati found her voice and addressed the search party. "Your efforts are a great comfort to me." With that, the men remounted and nudged their horses out of the courtyard and onto the road, each one heading for his house and bed.