Rafe tested the left side of her mouth where it pulled upward. The jaw worked fine, but she could feel the corner of her mouth starting to ooze around the stitches. She pressed her back against the heat soaked wall of her sister\u2019s house, closed her eyes and started knitting. Her shoulders felt the strain of holding the needles and trying to draw breath against the binding that kept her ribs together. She felt a shadow cross her face. <\/p>\n
\u201cGood to see you home.\u201d <\/p>\n
The voice was deep and came from somewhere a foot and a bit above her head. Rafe opened her eyes and, tilting her head as far back as she could, was just able to see a bit of hair poking out over the shirt lacing. The waist and knees started to collapse and there was a good looking man, about forty, in front of her, one knee in the dust and the other propping his elbow. He had a wide easy smile, a gap between his top front teeth, and no mustache. <\/p>\n
\u201cMarlon!\u201d Rafe said. Her croaking voice barely carried the excitement she felt. \u201cI\u2019d know that gap anywhere. You\u2019ve aged.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI daresay I\u2019ve kept in better shape than you. Jenna said this was your first day out. I\u2019d thought I come over and check out the damage. Which appears considerable.\u201d He scrutinized her face, turning her jaw, with one finger, to the right. \u201cAll in all I\u2019d say you were lucky. You kept your hearing and sight both.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the first time.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like they were trying to slit your throat.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNot the first time for that either.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSinging not to their liking?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou might say.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got to wonder, though,\u201d Marlon continued, \u201cif you\u2019ll put the same fear of the gods into those recruits now that you\u2019ve got a permanent smile.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rafe\u2019s eyebrow raised and her eyes squinted. \u201cI suspect I will manage.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhoa! It\u2019ll be worse for them, if anything. Who stitched you? They did a nice job.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBoyl did it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think that was Jenna\u2019s work. She doesn\u2019t like doing fiddly things on short notice. And I don\u2019t suspect you gave her much notice from what I heard.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSo how are you, Marlon? Married? Family? How are your parents?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOkay. We\u2019ll change the subject, then. I married Joan, you might remember her. She was a bit younger than us, but didn\u2019t quite run with Jenna\u2019s mob, or Ducky\u2019s.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rafe laughed, then shook her head. \u201cIt\u2019s funny to hear you call a group of kids a \u2018mob\u2019 as if all it took to make a mob was three of four with a single purpose. Where I\u2019ve been a mob is upwards of a hundred people all packed into a space the size of the commons. And they\u2019re angry.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been away, as well you know,\u201d Marlon smiled. \u201cI know what a mob is, out in the world. But local rules apply. I speak like a common man, a child of the town, Miss High and Mighty, never come for a visit until you were dumped in your sister\u2019s dooryard.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you\u2019re right. Home is a place I\u2019ve never been before. So, you married Joan. And is she nice, good to you?\u201d <\/p>\n
Marlon nodded and smiled. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd children?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThree. The oldest is away for the moment, gone to apprentice in Calmer\u2019s Reach, to learn fine metal work. He\u2019ll be back, before too long, to set up shop. The second one is apprenticed with Barton Stubbs, the one who married your Auntie Finn. He\u2019ll come and go and manage the family\u2019s trade goods.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the last?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe last \u2026 she is something of a minx.\u201d Marlon paused. Then he slid himself onto the bench next to Rafe. \u201cAhhh. There\u2019s nothing like a good warm wall in the early spring, is there.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s something of a minx, and \u2026Your daughter. The light of your life.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, the light of somebody\u2019s life at any rate. She\u2019s not talented the way you were.\u201d Marlon rubbed his neck suggestively. \u201cBut there is a certain kindred spirit there. A certain expediency. Not that Jenna and Joan both aren\u2019t expedient. Get the job done and damn the fallout. But they still keep an eye on what might need to be patched up later. They know they\u2019ll be the ones to do the patching, so they take a little care.\u201d He looked at her new scar, and the others. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou saying I\u2019m reckless?\u201d Rafe might have smiled at that thought, if her mouth had worked. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo. But I\u2019m thinking you expect others to handle the patching up. You always fixed the big things, but not the details. I remember when you brought down that tree between me and the bear. I was grateful, but I was picking out splinters for days.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what I hear, you\u2019re a fixer, too, Marlon.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI am. And I fashion new things. Thing people never thought of before.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou may be interested in these, then. Jenna just made them for me after a design I saw, campaigning in the west.\u201d She passed him her knitting needles. The business end looked like normal needles, pointed and smooth, burnished to a shine, but through the stout end, there was a tiny hole fashioned.. A silk thread had been strung through this, looped and knotted. The knot fit into a little dent at the stout end. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis would certainly keep you from losing one of your needles. Handy.\u201d Marlon looked up and saw Rafe smiling at him. At least her eyes were smiling. \u201cThat\u2019s not all, is it?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cNope.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marlon tugged at the silk thread. It stayed put. He slid the stitches back and forth along the thread, to the ends of the needles and back. There was no snagging. He could see that it would make a tidy package in a knitter\u2019s lap. He saw you could make things round, more easily, knitting one continuous row all the way to the top. He stretched the needles as far apart as they could go. The silk held, but that was the nature of silk. He looked at Rafe again. \u201cI give. What is it?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cA garrote.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re kidding!\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to fix it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean? It looks fine. And deadly.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI need to be able to detach the thread quickly. And I don\u2019t want to cut it. I want to be able to leave it intact. I don\u2019t want to have to build it again each time I use it for its \u2026 alternate purpose. But I can\u2019t be found with something so clearly garrote-like when someone\u2019s ended up strangled.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marlon was clearly intrigued. \u201cHmmm. A channel cut into the metal here. Loop around.\u201d He started drawing in the dirt. \u201cI can fit a bezel on the end so it would look like a normal needle, but locked in place with a little switch. Does it have to be metal, or can I use wood? A hard wood, like ironbore.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMetal. It cleans easier.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cCan I take these? Did Jenna make you another set? I\u2019d like to go talk with Boyl. This is more like his line of work than Jenna\u2019s If my son were here, I\u2019d work with him, because this is really the sort of thing he does.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBe my guest. She made more for trade at the market. I\u2019ll use one of those. Just leave the knitting.\u201d She pulled the needles from of the stitches and laid the half finished scarf carefully in the basket with the wool. <\/p>\n
Marlon looked at what she had done. \u201cIf the thread were removable, you could just use the same points to mend, or even start something new, without having to drag a half finished sweater along with you. These would be great!\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there is that, too.\u201d Rafe brought the other corner of her mouth up. \u201cLet\u2019s just say that\u2019s why you\u2019re doing this. Being frugal is always good. Strangling people, not so much.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marlon pocketed the needles and silk. \u201cIt\u2019s just like you were never gone, suggesting mayhem and me buying into it. I\u2019m glad you\u2019re back, Rafe.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re one of the few that called me that back then.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAll our mob called you Rafe. There just weren\u2019t that many of us.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marlon saluted her and headed off for the forge where Boyl would be working along side Jenna. Rafe pulled another set of needles out of her pocket and stared to thread on the dropped stitches from the scarf. Marlon would never tell their real purpose, but he could describe to Boyl what was wanted and Boyl would guess. She had always liked that about Marlon, that he could solve a problem without being to tender about what someone intended to do with what he fashioned. His daughter hadn\u2019t really fallen far from the tree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rafe tested the left side of her mouth where it pulled upward. The jaw worked fine, but she could feel the corner of her mouth starting to ooze around the stitches. She pressed her back against the heat soaked wall … Continue reading