Iylaine is told about her cat
Alwy entered the house with a heavy heart, but he put aside the thoughts that had been troubling him—and hid what he was carrying behind his back—when he saw Gunnilda seated at the kitchen table, pale and wan, and with no work before her.
“Oh, Alwy, leave that door open for a bit. That cold air feels real good.”
“Are you hot, Gunnie?”
“I guess I got too hot from cleaning the floor.”
“Don’t you tell me you was cleaning this floor, Gunnie. Aelfie is supposed to do that and she’ll be here in just a while.”
“She was supposed to do that two days ago and she never did, so I just got tired of waiting and walking around on a dirty floor.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just have a talk with her. You don’t need to be doing this sort of work, least of all on your poor knees.”
“Oh, Alwy,” she sighed. “I did this sort of work all the time I had my other babies.”
“Well, I guess you don’t need to no more. And what else? You look real tired. I guess you should sit or lie down today, and let Aelfie do the rest of your work since she wouldn’t do the floor for you.”
Gunnilda laughed faintly. “You’ve turned into a real tyrant, Alwy Hogge, that’s what!”
“What’s a tryant?”
“A tyrant. It means you tell everyone what to do.”
“Well, I guess I am a man. I guess I know what’s best for you, since you seem to think that scrubbing this floor on your poor knees is the thing for you.”
She only laughed again. “You’re so funny when you’re mad. Just like a shaggy puppy what just got popped on the nose and don’t know whether to bark or bite or beg my pardon.”
“Well, I guess I’m not mad, Gunnie. I guess I just don’t want you to get tired, is all.”
“Now you look more like a mother hen. Come here, you, and show me what you got behind your back. Is it a present for me?” she cackled.
“I don’t got nothing,” he lied.
“You do so. Come here and show me if you don’t want me to get up and chase you and tire myself out.”
“Well, I guess it’s just Egelric’s knife,” he said as he set it on the table where it had lain some months before.
“Egelric’s knife!” she cried. “And it’s got blood on it! Oh, Alwy!”
“Don’t get upset, Gunnie! Oh, please! It’s not person blood. It’s just cat blood. Don’t get upset! No person got killed last night. I just been up to the keep to ask.”
“Cat blood?”
“Well, I guess it’s Baby’s cat’s blood. Somebody killed Baby’s cat, and they—” He froze, just in time. He would not tell her how the cat had been found pinned to Egelric’s front door with the knife.
“Oh!” Gunnilda wailed, her hands to her mouth and her eyes wide.
“Please don’t get upset, Gunnie!” Alwy pleaded, kneeling by her chair. “It’s just a cat.”
“But the knife!” she whispered. “It was that elf what took the knife!”
Alwy had already thought of that, and walking home from Egelric’s farm he had had the time to ponder its significance. But he had also had the time to remember that the elf had not been carrying the knife when they locked him up in the box, and so… “But he didn’t have that knife when we shut him up, Gunnie, and so that knife was outside. And I guess if it was outside then someone else could have found it. So that don’t mean nothing. Don’t you get upset. He’s still in there. I asked the Duke.”
“But then who would do such a thing? Who would kill Baby’s poor cat with Egelric’s own knife?”
“Well, I guess I don’t know, Gunnie. That poor cat never hurt no one. It couldn’t even hunt, ’cause it was blind. I don’t know why anybody would want to hurt that cat.”
“Oh, Alwy,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t you understand? Whoever did this wanted to hurt Egelric or Baby, not the cat.”
“Why would anyone want to hurt Egelric or Baby?” Alwy asked softly, bewildered.
“Oh, Alwy…” Gunnilda wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to pull her to her feet. “You can’t even imagine what it is to want to hurt other people, can you?”
“I guess I can. I guess I wanted to hurt that elf when he was looking in at you through your window, and I thought he was just a man. But I guess Egelric never did nothing like that.”
“No, I guess not.”
“That’s my Da’s knife!” Iylaine cried.
“Oh, Baby! I never saw you there!” Gunnilda said.
“I guess I better tell her,” Alwy whispered. “You go lie down, Gunnie.”
“You don’t want me to tell her?”
“No, I guess you better go lie down,” Alwy said, and his voice did not admit argument.
“Tell me what?” Iylaine asked warily.
“Baby, I got to tell you something you won’t like,” Alwy said as Gunnilda went wearily back into her bedroom.
“What?”
“Well, Baby, I guess someone killed your poor white cat last night.”
Iylaine clenched her fists and glared at him, but her mouth trembled.
“I’m real sorry, Baby. I know you did love that cat an awful lot.”
“This is your fault!” she said, and her voice was high and thin from her tears. “If you would have let me get my cat last night, it would not have got killed!”
“I’m real sorry, Baby. I wish I did go get it last night. I didn’t know.”
“I hate you!” she hissed. “I hate you! You’re not sorry! You don’t care! You don’t care about me at all! All you care about is Gunnie and that baby! You didn’t want to get my cat ’cause all you wanted was to stay home and play with Gunnie! That’s what! I hate you and I hate Gunnie and I hate that baby most of all!”
“Baby!” Alwy was aghast. He had never seen such an outburst from one of his own children.
Iylaine pushed past him and turned her back to him—a back that shook with her sobs.
“Now, then, Baby,” Alwy murmured, kneeling beside her. “I guess you’re just real sad about your cat. You love me and Gunnie, don’t you?”
“I hate you! You don’t care about me! Only my Da cares about me. I want my Da!”
“I do so care about you, Baby. I’m not your Da, but I guess you’re my girl too, aren’t you?”
Iylaine only choked on a sob.
“Yes, you are,” he soothed, stroking her hair and kissing her cheek. “Why don’t you go lie down a while with your doll, and I’ll come in a while and tell you a story.”
“I don’t want to lie down! You always say ‘lie down, lie down’ to Gunnie. Well, I guess I’m not going to have a baby so I don’t have to lie down if I don’t want to. I never will, neither! I hate babies! I just want my cat! And my Da!”
She squirmed away from him and went sobbing down the hall to Wynna’s room and slammed the door.
Alwy stood and sighed. He had never seen anything quite like that before, and he didn’t like it. He would just wash and put away that knife, and then he would go and ask Gunnie.
