Annis let few people, if any, intimidate her, regardless of their size or manner. Her chin shot up and she took a quick step toward the woman. “I want to know the directions you gave Nolan.”
The woman, not intimidated herself, took a step toward Annis. “I know no Nolan.”
Annis set her one hand on her hip while keeping her other hand near her dagger. “The gray-haired, skinny man who woke here passed out from drink.”
The woman laughed. “That’s most men.”
“The one you sent to the witch,” Annis said.
The woman’s laughter ceased, and her eyes narrowed. “You accuse me of being in cahoots with a witch?”
“What’s going on, Una?” a man, with similar girth to the woman, approached, his gait relaxed.
“This one here,” Una jabbed a finger toward Annis, “is accusing me of conspiring with a witch.”
The man turned a troubled expression on Annis. “We have nothing to do with the witch, if she exists at all. This is our home, small as it may be, and we bother no one and we prefer no one bother us.”
“You heard, now begone,” Una ordered and shooed Annis off with a wave of her hands.
“Tell me the direction you sent the man and I’ll leave you in peace,” Annis said, keeping an obstinate stance.
“Where the cursed lords should go—to hell,” Una said.
“Una, hold your tongue,” the man scolded softly. “We want no visits from them.”
“And I have no wont to say a word to them,” Annis assured the man. “I am only interested in what direction you sent Nolan, the wiry, gray-haired man who unexpectedly found himself here after a drunken stupor.”
The man eyed her suspiciously. “You know the cursed lords?”
Annis saw no reason to lie. “My sister Bliss was forced to wed Lord Rannick. I search for the witch to save her.”
Una’s hand flew to her chest. “The poor soul.”
The man shook his head. “I grieve for you.”
Annis’s stomach knotted, his words making it seem that she was already too late to help her sister.
A chilly wind suddenly swept around them, a far too cold wind for the harvest season, causing them all to shudder.
“Una, fix us all a hot brew if you will before we send the lass on her way with what we know,” the man said.
“Aye, Da,” Una said and turned and headed to the closest dwelling.
He pointed to a bench and Annis followed him over to it.
“Sit,” he offered in a gentle tone. “I am Iver.”
“Annis,” she said and spotted the tiredness on the man’s face, not from lack of sleep, but from years of endless toil and hardship. The curse had taken its toll on more than the three cursed lords.
“Our village thrived at one time.” He waved his hand around after joining her on the bench. “There were many more dwellings. Then the curse was cast and over time everything changed. I will tell you what I tell everyone, including the cursed lords who came searching for the witch. It is a tale that was started when someone spotted an old woman who once lived by the hills.” He gave a nod in the distance.
Annis turned but could see nothing because of a mist that hung there, and she thought of the mist Nolan had told her about.
“You can see the hills when the mist clears, though it lingers most times, which only adds to the tale of the witch in the hills. The tale grew in preposterous proportions until it became a myth more than a tale. The more it was recited, the more people believed it. It was no wonder the cursed lords came in search of the woman, and I could not blame them. Part of me wanted it to be true, wanted the curse to end.” Iver shook his head. “But the old woman was never found.”
Una joined them, handing her da a tankard before handing the other one to Annis.
Annis was happy to take a drink, a chill running through her, and the heat settling in her hands from the tankard promised warmth. However, the hot brew held barely a taste, but then the small group obviously possessed little and still they shared with her.
“Thank you, Una, the brew is pleasing and warms me,” Annis said.
She smiled and Annis was struck by how a smile could transform someone. Una was more than pretty when she smiled.
“You don’t believe the witch exists?” Annis asked, looking to Iver.
“Nay, in all my years living here I have never come across the witch,” he said.
“Then what of Nolan’s tale?” Annis asked.
“He left still feeling his drink. It could be nothing more than a dream or to him a nightmare,” Iver said.
Annis continued to question him, not ready to even consider defeat before she barely had gotten started, especially with Nolan delivering her the message from the witch, if it was true. “You said the cursed lords came looking for the witch. Did the three come together?”