Page 21 of The Knucker King

She pushed herself up from the cushion of Trewoofe’s scales. Avice flushed with embarrassment at the sight of the drool she had left there and quickly wiped it away.

Avice! Bramble barked.

“Yes, yes!” she snapped back, irritable and still sleepy. “What is it?”

Why are you nestled with the King of the Well? he huffed irritably.

Her cheeks reddened. “I —”

This is why I do not like it when you tell me to stay behind, who knows what trouble you will get into!

“Bramble! I am perfectly fine with the Lord.”

Trewoofe lifted his head from where it rested near Avice’s legs. He gave a wide yawn, fangs glinting in the rapidly dimming light.

“What is this noise?” he grumbled. “Familiar?

Bramble lowered his head, his nose touching the moss at his paws. King Trewoofe, forgive the disturbance, but Avice is needed by a patient.

Fully snapping from her drowsiness, Avice leapt to her feet. “Who?”

She raked her mind over all her expectant mothers and patients she had visited earlier that day. No one was due imminently, and most had survived the Winter so far with the normal number of sore throats and blocked noses.

William the Farmer came to the cottage looking for you. His wife is expecting a pup, is she not? Bramble ventured, cocking his head.

Avice’s stomach clenched. “She is not that far into her quickening. If she has gone into labour… it is too soon!” She swooped to gather her things. She went to lift the water bags and remembered they were empty. No! She turned her gaze upwards; the sky was rapidly darkening. “God’s blood!”

She knew that, even with Bramble guiding her, it would take her too long to reach the outskirts of the village in the gloom, and she would not be able to make the journey before night fell. Avice realised she also did not have her medical satchel with her. She clenched and unclenched her fists, frozen with indecision at what to do next.

“I can help,” Trewoofe offered.

Avice’s face brightened. “You can?”

He lowered his head, so the bottom of his jaw was flush against flowers. “Get on.”

“What?” Avice asked, wringing her hands.

“Sit behind my horns, at the back of my head, and hold onto them to stay in place.”

Avice swallowed her nerves. She gave the Knucker a firm nod, and with the basket and water bags on the hook of her elbow, she scrambled up the side of his neck. She seated herself firmly there and clutched on to the tallest pair of his horns. She noticed the folded scaly skin beneath her thighs, bright pink and purple, reminding her of Spring flowers.

“Alright,” she said tentatively. “I think I am secure.”

“Well done, little witch.”

Trewoofe smoothly rose his head. Despite the urgency of the situation, Avice felt her heart flutter with delight. She had never been so high up before. She could see over the Knucker’s garden and the plummet of his hill.

Then, the view.

She saw the woods: bare, barren, and brown from the longest Winter Avice could remember, the odd burst of evergreen amongst the ghostly branches.

Beyond that, the coast. The sea was stained purple by the twilight. The midwife inhaled, catching traces of the clean, crisp scent of the ocean. She knew she was too far away, but she fancied that she could hear the crash of White Horses on the sandy shore. She gasped, her cloudy breath puffing from her chilled lips.

“Trewoofe— Lord, I mean,” she corrected herself. “This view… it is…”

“Something, is it not?” Trewoofe rumbled, sending a vibration up her spine, making her toes curl in boots. “We must be off.”

Follow me! To the cottage first. Bramble barked, before slipping into the space between light, only the blur of his red eyes giving a hint of his location.