Beneath the Ever Trees: The Divided World, #0.5

By Raf Morgan

There's magic in the world, but none for Malenie…

It's been 119 days since everything fell apart.

 

Since her friendship with Nes imploded.

 

Since Nes's siblings were taken by slavers.

 

Since Malenie lost Nes's protection.

 

And the bullies are closing in.

 

A short prequel to The Desert Wall, Raf Morgan's "Beneath the Ever Trees" is the story of what really happened between Malenie and Nes before the events that took Malenie out of her small town and into the wider world of secrets, magic and betrayals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raf Morgan
• Release date: Jul 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781948516099

Book preview

Beneath the Ever Trees

Beneath the Ever Trees

Raf Morgan

Contents

Newsletter

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Epilogue 1

Epilogue 2

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

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Chapter 1

Malenie swung on the gate to her yard, idly watching a dust devil spin down the dirt road and waiting for the girl who used to be her best friend. After a few moments she was rewarded; Nes came out of her house with all the sibs she had left, after that terrible day four moons ago.

One hundred and nineteen days since their friendship fell apart.

Nes! Malenie called. She didn’t think Nes would answer, but that wasn’t going to stop Malenie from trying. Nes needed a friend. Malenie was that friend, even if Nes wasn’t talking to her. After all, Nes wasn’t talking to anyone much these days. "Steph’s sow had fourteen piglets! Do you want to go see with me?" Nothing much happened in Trader Town, so even an overlarge litter was interesting. No one’s sow had had so many that she could remember.

Nes’s younger sister said something, pointing to Malenie, and Nes looked up, catching Malenie’s eyes. Malenie held her breath, hoping her Papa was right, and this time Nes would be ready to speak to her again. That her grief would give her room to let some words out.

Nes looked bad. Her hair was done up right, in the little knots she wore all over her head, but it looked dull, and the brown skin on her cheeks and her lips was chapped. She’d grown too, stretched out to adult height but without making up any weight so she was all thin, ropy muscle.

Nes turned away without saying anything and Malenie felt it like a slap. Her cheeks burned, and her eyes. She bent her head, letting her long, loose black hair hide her face while she sniffed back tears. The rough wood of the gate seemed to bite the palms of her hands. Suddenly, swinging on a gate felt stupid and childish. She still wanted to see those piglets, though, with or without Nes.

She jumped down, made sure the gate was latched and hurried around to the back of the little adobe house she lived in with her Papa. Because he was a physician, the only one in Trader Town, they had their own well. Everyone else had go to the pools in the market place and carry theirs back in buckets. When she uncovered the well, it breathed cool, wet-smelling air at her. First she made sure the chickens had enough water and then checked the herbs Papa grew for his medicines. The dirt was so dry around the heartcure, bloodstrong, numb-root and purgewort, it had cracked open. The herbs weren’t drooping yet, but they would be soon. She should have watered them in the morning, before the desert sun started burning everything, but she could give them a little now and then water them for real at the end of the day.

Inside, Papa was bent over a mortar and pestle, releasing a bright green scent into the air. His white turban was still slightly askew from that morning’s emergency. All he’d say about it was that one of Gravin’s men had had a heart attack but would live. Papa didn’t approve of Gravin, and he didn’t approve of Malenie’s interest in Gravin’s caravans, so he didn’t talk much about the merchant who was also probably a bandit. Gravin employed half the men and women in Trader Town, so it was kind of hard not to talk about him.

Malenie was interested in Gravin’s caravans. Trader Town was a tiny little place, and the caravans brought in pieces of the rest of the world: horses with shiny coats, camels that really had crossed the desert, and all sorts of trade goods. Spell stones better than Trader Town’s one shaper could make, spices that smelled of mystery and faraway places with lots of water, and fabrics that Malenie was never going to get to wear.

She took the shiny black and red water pitcher from its special shelf and poured herself a mug and then one for Papa. A traveling shaper had given it to them in payment for Papa’s healing. Its magic kept water fresh and cool. Malenie suspected it did more than that, because water from it always tasted better, without the dirt taste their well water sometimes had.

Papa? Have you had anything to eat or drink? She stood where