Free Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey

meet.
    "Was it the dragon killed her?" I
asked.
    "There were dragon signs there. Aye, the
beast had come to Witch's Hollow, but this killing was not his. He ate the
coppersmith instead or haven't you heard?"
    "I knew it," I said.
    Bram picked up a stone and flung it toward
the castle.
    "How do I know you speak the truth about
Tess?"
    "Ah." He nodded. "I saw the
corpse myself not half an hour ago as I was
coming through the woods to town. Sheriff William's men tugged me away
but not before I saw the pool of blood on the grass. Stabbed three times, she
was. The last time in the heart," he said, licking his lips. " Aye, and it was gruesome sure. More blood than I ever saw at
a pig killing. Much more."
    Bram rubbed his hands together. "She
must have put up a fight. I was close enough to see the scratches on her face
and arms, and there was dried blood under her fingernails. But the witch knife did the trick, and she was left to
bleed to death whilst Demetra flew back to her cottage."
    "How do you know it was Demetra did
it?"
    Bram clicked his
tongue. "Ah, well," he said, his brown teeth showing too much as he smiled.
    "Tell me!"
    "The hag has come to town once too
often. Didn't you see the cat at the fair?"
    "Aye, Kit and I both saw it."

"'Twas Demetra's
kith-beast creeping hither and thither," he said, wiggling his filthy
fingers, "frightening the wee ones, and spelling the dogs till they
frothed at the mouth."
    Kit grabbed my arm and I felt her cold hand
through my sleeve.
    "Ah, that wasn't
the cat." I laughed, showing my ease to dis pel Kit's fears. "The dogs frothed from lapping up spilled
beer."
    "Spilled beer, was it?" Bram gave a
guilty look, for he'd lapped it up himself. "Never you
think so."
    "A stray cat proves
nothing of Demetra's part in this murder."
    "No? All signs
point to Demetra. Didn't she fly back to Tess's cottage?"
    Bram's logic had begun
to vex me. "How do you know this? Did
you see her?"
    "Myself?" said
Bram, offended. "I do my best to stay clear of witches. I have pigs to look after. But I'm told she
left the mark of the witch along the
chandler's walls. Written in blood, it was."
    Kit and I crossed ourselves three times.
    "Too, she stole some coins, and magic
stones, and a scroll."
    "Scroll?" I said through a strangled throat.
    "Aye, something she'd given Tess to
guard. Her husband knew where Tess hid those things, and he told the sheriff it
was missing."
    "How do you know this, pigboy?"
    "Didn't I follow the sheriff back to the
chandler's cottage so I could hear him break the bad news to the chandler? Oh,
and I could hear both men well enough through the window."

The sky was growing a deeper purple, and
there was the smell of roses and lavender in the air. But my skin was cold. I
wrapped my arms about my chest and leaned against the tree.
    Could this be Demetra's
scroll on which my secret curse was writ?
If this were true, why would Demetra kill Tess and steal it back? There was a roll of vellum burning in
Mothers hearth. Fear rose up my throat but I swallowed it back down. It
couldn't have been the same scroll. Mother fell from her horse on her way home.
She had the bruises and scratches to prove it.
    "The villagers will be after Demetra
now," said Bram, chewing on a blade of grass. "Death by
hanging," he mused. "Or by cleansing fire, if
they've a mind to."
    "No," I said to calm Kit,
"they'll let the sheriff chain up Demetra and bring her into town for
trial."
    The pigboy rolled back his head and laughed.
"Oh, aye, they'll stand aside like docile lambs whilst the sheriff sees
justice is done."
    "Get away from me, pigbrat," I
shouted. He left, but not in the direction
of the castle. Bram was running fast to meet the vil lagers gathering on
the road.
    I stepped away from the tree and took Kit's
hand. We watched the crowd marching up the road leading to the mountain path.
    Kit's grip tightened and her
eyes
sparked. Her mother was in Demetra's cave, and who was to say Ali wouldn't be
seen as just another