The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

Miranda could marry an outlander,” a stout woman added. She wore a clumsy braid that looked as if it had not been washed or combed in a month.
    Two-plaits looked pointedly at red-haired Jaranda.
    “I don’t suppose you know my name, ladies?”
    “A name that’s too good for you, if you ask me,” two-plaits replied and moved as far into the bow as she could, away from them all.
    “Somehow, I didn’t expect you to say that.”

    “Stargods, they make a lot of demands for ghosts!” Yeenos, Vareena’s older brother protested. “Bad enough we have to feed two more of them with no respite from the last one. Now they want special herbs and minerals, crystals, and our soap-making cauldrons. I say no. We feed them because the Stargods decree we must. But no more!” He swung his shepherd’s crook in a wide circle before slamming the crook against a watering trough.
    “Yeenos, calm down.” Vareena ducked the staff, well used to her brother’s temper. She had seen Marcus do the same thing with his staff. Robb seemed to have better control of his temper and treated his staff more gently. “These new ghosts claim that another ghost, a true ghost of a man who has died, haunts the monastery and causes live men to become trapped there, halfway between here and their next existence.”
    “What else is a ghost?” Yeenos sneered, then he whistled for his dog to run the sheep farther uphill from the farm-house.
    “I don’t know. But they refuse to believe they are true ghosts, and they need these things to work a spell that will lay the other ghost to rest and free them from the trap.” Vareena rubbed her hands together nervously. She’d have gone to Uustass for help, but he had led a dozen men to the river this morning with scythes. The village needed fresh grass and reeds to repair the thatch on several dwellings and byres.
    Jeeremy Baker had gone with them, his burns heavily bandaged but no longer in pain.
    “I agree with Yeenos,” Vareena’s father Ceddell said, coming over to them from the byre. “We owe the ghosts food. That was the curse laid on this village three hundred years ago for refusing hospitality to a benighted traveler. S’murghin’ magician.” He crossed his wrists and flapped his hands as he spat onto the ground. “But we owe them nothing more. I’ll not be spending our resources to find these odd ingredients for a useless bit of magic.” He kicked the water trough and called his dog to his heels, away from the flock Yeenos worked with his own dogs.
    “But, Papa, if we can end this curse once and for all . . .”
    “We’ve had priests and magicians alike trying to end the curse with no luck.”
    “But these ghosts are magicians trapped by the curse, not magicians working outside of it. They might have a chance . . .”
    “You’ve gone and fallen in love with one of them, haven’t you!” Ceddell raised his voice and his hand in anger.
    Vareena stepped back but did not duck. She faced her father, refusing to submit to his violence. She might be as trapped here as the ghosts, but she refused to lessen herself by accepting any man’s abuse.
    “Your mother did the same thing, before I showed her the wrong of it.”
    “Showed her with your fists, no doubt.” Vareena schooled her voice and features to betray none of her fear or her disgust.
    “I’ll find you a husband this night. Then you’ll give up this nonsense.”
    “No man in this village wants me. I’ll have none you bribe or coerce into the act.”
    “You’ll marry the man I choose for you. The law of the land and the laws of the Stargods decree that you must obey your father.” Ceddell raised his clenched fist once more.
    Vareena stood her ground. “Touch me, and I move into the monastery permanently. The villagers will have to bring food, clothing, and bedding to me there. They will have to come to me for healing. How far will your authority stretch, Ceddell, once the Ghost Woman removes herself and her witch healing from your household?”
    “Enough!” Yeenos nearly screamed at them. His nostrils pinched white and his mouth pursed to a thin lipless line. “This village has borne the burden of this curse too long.”
    Both Vareena and her father stared at the young man as if he had lost his reason.
    “You say these new ghosts are magicians, Vareena?”
    “So they claim. I have seen no evidence of their talent other than lighting a fire from a distance. But I can do that.”
    “Lord Laislac sent around a