The first rays of sunlight had not quite touched the Whitlock house when Amera quietly rose from her bed. She padded over to the hook where her frock hung, careful not to wake her younger sisters. She had pulled the soft, thick cotton material over her head and was fastening her leather belt when she heard a noise from Mae’s little bed.
"Amera?" Mae whispered.
"Go back to sleep, Mae."
"Why are you going hunting again?"
Amera sighed and walked over to the bed. "I go hunting every morning, you know that."
"But you used to go only once a week."
"Well," Amera lied, "You, Abby, and Ben are getting stronger and bigger, so I have to get more meat for you guys. Now go back to sleep, silly girl." The truth was money had been a bit tight lately, with her father out at sea and her mother unable to find work. Without a boy in the house to hunt (other than Ben, who was only five), Amera had taken on the responsibility. When she was eleven, she hunted mostly for fun and to get practice with her dagger. Two years later, if she didn’t get a rabbit or some nuts and berries, her family went without dinner.
Dawn had officially reached the forest when Amera spotted the third hare, sitting near a tangle of thorns, shivering in the early morning air. Amera crept closer. The light wind rustled her emerald, green cloak, revealing for the slightest moment a dagger glinting its small silver pommel in the filtered sunlight. Amera slowly pulled her weapon out, aimed carefully, pulled her hand back—CRASH! A deer bounded through the woods not five cubits away, frightening the poor hare from the bush.
"Shoot." Amera said under her breath. She wasn’t too concerned about the rabbit, as she had three on her belt already. It was the doe. She had seen it roaming around her part of the forest for weeks but never had a chance to make the kill. Amera knew that much meat would feed her brothers and sisters for a month at least, and Mr. Cullen at the tannery would pay good money for a pretty deer hide. But her dagger, however accurately thrown, would never be big enough to give a quick death. Any other weapon would be unacceptable for a young lady like herself, according to her mother.
As Amera followed the path back home, she heard more crashing sounds behind her. She turned, wondering if it was the deer again. But instead, she was met by a man sprinting through the woods. He halted to a stop beside her, quite out of breath.
"Do you happen… to have some… water… miss?" He panted.
"Uh, yes, I have a small canteen here-" Amera had hardly finished her sentence before he seized it from her hand and chugged the water to the last drop.
"Thank you. My name is Pete Buffkaw. I am forever grateful to you. I haven’t had a drink since the river Blux. But now I must go. I have to Fetch two little girls, and I’m in a hurry to do it." The man began to run off, but Amera called him back, her hand on her dagger.
"Wait! My canteen. Sir."
“Ah! Yes, sorry about that.”
"You just said you’re a Fetcher. Why are you running on foot?" Amera asked him before he could leave.
Pete raised his eyebrows. “You’re a smart one. My carriage broke down by the river so the driver and the others are fixing it while I go ahead for the presentation.”
“Oh. Well, wait, I have one more question. Have you ever been to sea?”
Pete paused for a moment, and for a moment it looked like he was going to brush her off and leave. But something changed his mind, and he said, "No, ma’am, but my buddy Sam has been there plenty of times. Why do you ask?"
"My father is the captain of the Magnolia, and he’s been gone for a long time, so I was just wondering if... you, uh… know when he’ll be… back. " Amera trailed off, realizing Fetchers were actually very scary. Who wouldn’t be afraid of someone whose job it was to round up the nastiest criminals in the country?
Pete didn’t seem to notice. “Sam mentioned the Magnolia a couple days ago. I believe he said they had lost some money and wouldn’t be back until summer. Now I’m very sorry, but I really must go. Farewell!" He sprinted into the distance, the sheathed sword at his side clanging as he went.
"Thank you! Farewell!" Amera called after him. She sighed. Of course, her father wouldn’t make it for Christmas. If it was September first now, he wouldn’t be back for—Amera tallied on her fingers as she walked—ten months. Ten months! What about the winter? Last year, they still had some smoked meat and canned vegetables to make it through, but those were all long gone. Now she just had to get a bow and arrow.
Amera was pondering how best to ask her mother for a bigger weapon when she opened the door to her house and was quite startled to find a flurry of activity. Usually, Ben was just waking up at this hour, but now he was singing loudly as Abby buttoned up his best jacket. Mae was rushing around, looking for one of Amera’s old pink ribbons, while Mother was washing dishes with one hand and brushing her hair with the other.
"Amera! Thank goodness you’re here,” Her mother exclaimed over an off-key rendition of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, “Go look through my dresses and find a pretty one that fits. Stop sprinting around like a madwoman, Mae, and look under the quilt."
"What’s the rush to get ready?" Amera asked.
"Lord Bancroft is making a public announcement with a Fetcher. They’re going to call the names of two traitors of the kingdom. Catherine came early this morning to tell me all about it. Now go get dressed." Mother finished with her hair and gave the brush to Amera, shooing her into her room.
Amera thought it was silly you had to dress up for such horrible news. But the town of Penrith was starved of excuses to dress up, so Lord Bancroft and a Fetcher were more than enough reason to pull out their nicest clothes. After digging through the trunk for a few minutes, Amera finally found the perfect dress, a dark green one with little puffed sleeves. She began to pull her dagger out of her boot, but after a moment's thought slipped it back in. Penrith crooks never amounted to more than a few poachers and petty thieves, certainly not crimes a Fetcher would travel for. She tried to think who it could be, but no one came to mind who even had motivation for treason. Amera had never witnessed a Fetching but announcing the traitors instead of catching them seemed strange. Did the traitors not know what they had done?
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