The Wild Dead (The Bannerless Saga 2)

An Unknown Burden

Enid had to do some cajoling, but she got Erik and Jess to help her and Teeg carry the body out of the marsh after Anna returned with a bundle of canvas. One of them on each corner of a makeshift stretcher would make the gruesome task easier.

Bonavista, close to the wetlands as it was, had a house and outbuildings built on pylons, almost as tall as she was, to keep them above the flooding. Enid thought they could temporarily store the body under one of the work houses. Juni, Jess, and their folk wouldn’t be happy about it. But this was exactly the sort of situation for which Enid needed the authority of the uniform. They couldn’t very well argue with her; it was clear she had jurisdiction over the situation. Somebody had to.

“Oh,” Erik breathed, when he saw the dead woman and the gaping wound. Couldn’t avoid seeing it. Jess gagged and looked away, hand over his mouth.

“Best if you keep your eyes on the sheet,” Enid suggested. “Sorry to put you through this. But I do have to ask—do you recognize her? Even a little?” If she came from somewhere nearby, Enid would prefer to deliver her back to her household.

Unlike Jess, Erik couldn’t seem to look away from her. Slowly, he shook his head. “No,” he murmured. “No.”

At least this would head off the gossip: the young woman had most definitely not drowned.

Jess asked, “Where could she have come from?”

Teeg said, “We’ll do our best to find out.”

A body with multiple mysteries. Enid didn’t like this at all. “All right. Let’s get her out of the mud, yeah?”

The gulls wheeled angrily and scattered, crying, as Enid and Teeg lifted the body onto the spread-out tarp. The body flopped as they moved it, neck twisting awkwardly—far past rigor mortis. The bloodless wound gaped wide. The rank smell might have belonged to the corpse, or might have been t

he odors of the marsh around them. Enid focused on the task, to avoid thinking too much about who this woman had been a few days ago.

Erik and Jess looked like they wanted to flee, but Enid’s authority carried them forward. When Enid gave commands, folk listened. So, on the count of three, the four of them—one at each corner, twisting the canvas in their fists—lifted the body. It sagged in the middle of the fabric, but they were able to keep it taut enough to carry. Teeg tucked his staff under his arm.

The hike back to Bonavista household was a long one, silent and—appropriately, Enid supposed—funereal. A somber procession, as they focused on not dropping the burden. The body wasn’t very big, but it pulled at Enid’s arms and seemed to grow heavier as they went. Dead bodies were awkward things.

When they arrived at the work house at Bonavista, they settled their load onto the ground, with relief. Erik and Jess backed away quickly, brushing their hands, avoiding looking at what they had just carried. Enid took a moment to straighten the body’s limbs, smooth back the hair. She made sure the face and wound were exposed, visible, so there’d be no question what had happened when the rest of the Estuary’s residents came to try to identify her.

A few of the crowd found the courage, or maybe the overwhelming curiosity, to follow the impromptu procession up to the work house. Juni was at the front, wringing her hands.

“Juni,” Enid called. “You see everyone who comes by on this road. You know most everyone, yeah? Can you come and take a look?”

At the invitation, Juni stepped forward, and the others pressed up behind her. They were curious; they wanted to see. Enid stepped back and let them. Next to her, Teeg gripped his staff and frowned. Being official and intimidating.

One of the women covered her mouth and turned away, eyes closed. There was murmuring. Enid was sure they’d all seen death; you didn’t live life in a village like this and avoid it. But they might not have seen violence. Enid didn’t have to explain the wound—they saw it, and understood.

“Juni?” Enid prompted. The woman stared at the body, studying its face.

“No, no. I don’t know her,” Juni said, her hand lingering at her own throat.

“No one knows her?” Enid asked.

No one did. At least, they didn’t say they did.

Enid studied those gathered, took note of who was here, which households they came from. Wondered if she’d be able to get all of them down here to look before the body got too decayed to keep. At the same time, though, she wondered if it even mattered: if this group, the ones who most paid attention and who were always at the front when there was something to see, if they didn’t know who the girl was, would anyone?

Enid was starting to think that this might be as far as they were going to get at this stage of the investigation. She and Teeg might have to go to Everlast and the surrounding villages to learn where this woman came from. The next question, then. How had this happened? Answering that would mean tracking down the weapon that had inflicted such a wound . . . and finding the person who had wielded it.

“Who would do such a thing?” Jess asked softly.

“Good question,” Enid said. “Any ideas on that? Anyone around here with a bad temper?”

“What? No!” he said, shocked. But then he seemed to consider for a moment. He shook his head. “I can’t imagine a temper bad as that,” he said.

Of them all, only Juni hadn’t turned away from the body. She asked, wavering, “What are you going to do?”

“Find who did this. We may have to stay at Bonavista a few days. We’ll get supplies and credits up here to compensate.”