Free Darkwater by V. J. Banis Page A

help thinking them.
    Suddenly the path she had been following widened and she came into a clearing. Here the trees did not meet overhead. She could see the sky, blue and deep, and the hot sunlight fell in a golden cascade. A dragonfly darted past her face, gleaming green and silver.
    She paused for a moment, and was surprised to discover she was not alone. Since entering the swamp she had seen no one nor even heard the sound of a voice, so it was something of a shock to see a woman standing not far away. She was withered and very old looking and barefoot, her toes with their long, yellowed nails looking like the talons of some bird of prey. Her gray hair was tied up in a bandanna, the way the blacks used to do at home and her dress was little more than a rag.
    At the moment she was bent over with her back to Jennifer, gathering some sort of herb from beneath a spreading tree. She had not yet become aware of Jennifer’s presence. Had she been able to, Jennifer would have gone on without intruding, but the path went directly by where the old crone was kneeling.
    â€œGood morning,” Jennifer said to be polite.
    The reaction to her simple greeting was swift and startling. The woman leapt about with amazing agility for one so obviously old. It was plain that the unexpected sound of a voice had alarmed her, but what was especially surprising to Jennifer was that the woman seemed angered as well. The look she gave Jennifer was threatening.
    â€œWho are you?” she demanded, her eyes gleaming with a dark light. “What are you doing here?”
    â€œWhy, I....” Jennifer was so astonished by this unfriendly behavior that for a moment she could not think what to say. “I am Jennifer Hale. I am from Darkwater, and I was just taking a walk....”
    â€œYou were spying on me,” the old woman said in a savage whisper. “You were trying to see what herbs I pick for my potion.”
    â€œNo.” Jennifer was not only bewildered but actually frightened by the woman’s wild manner. “I was quite surprised to see you here, in fact. I thought I was alone, you see, and then when I saw you....”
    â€œI’ve warned everyone.” She came closer with a threatening look on her face. “Warned them and warned them. My secrets are my own. No one can steal them from me. I’ll kill anyone who tries to steal them.”
    â€œI have not tried to steal your secrets, whatever they are,” Jennifer said, indignation momentarily overcoming her fear. “I have no interest in them, or in you.”’
    â€œLiar.” The woman suddenly raised her large walking stick as if she would strike Jennifer with it.
    Alarmed, Jennifer tried to step backward but her foot caught on a vine and to her horror she went sprawling into the mud and the tall grass alongside the path. Her hand came down in the greenish-black water of the swamp.
    â€œSneaking around, spying on me, I’ll teach you,” the crone shouted, striking out at Jennifer with her stick. Her blow was wild and the stick struck the ground instead, an inch or two from Jennifer’s face. Jennifer screamed in terror.
    â€œDon’t,” she cried, but the woman raised the stick to strike at her again.
    â€œThink you’re so clever, sneaking around, sneaking up on people....”
    Desperately Jennifer kicked out with her foot. Her skirts prevented her from kicking with any real force, but it was enough to trip her attacker. The crone stumbled too and fell into the muddy grass alongside Jennifer.
    Jennifer was young and agile and in a moment she had managed to scramble to her feet. She ran away before the old woman had recovered herself, along the path and back the way she had come, holding her skirts high. She sobbed and gasped as she ran. She had never suffered such a senseless attack before, not even in the heat of the war.
    She came around a turning in the path and gave a little cry of alarm as she saw there