A number of naked bodies hung on ropes from the massive limbs of the trees. They were criminals. Of course, Sleth would never hang here. Sleth were dealt with in an entirely different manner.

“I want to ask you something,” said Nettle. “And I want a straight answer.”

Talen looked at his cousin.

“When that hatchling girl kissed you, did you feel anything odd?”

“Besides being panicked out of my mind?”

“I’ve heard the lovemaking of Sleth is feral.”

“Goh,” said Talen. “We weren’t lovemaking. You need to get out more. Forget your parents’ ban. Slip out and kiss a girl now and again. You have enough who are willing.”

“Are you joking? My father would skin me. Especially after the incident with the fuller’s maid. You’d think I’ve got a life of cake and pie. But my parents have got me so hemmed in and roped down I’m going crazy.”

“The bailiff was right outside,” said Talen. “You think we had time for sport?”

“But you said she put her tongue in your mouth. That’s going a bit far for playacting, isn’t it? And I’m not interested so much about the lovemaking anyway. What I’m wondering is if she did something to you.”

She’d done nothing to him. Nothing he could feel. But Nettle wanted a story and it was clear he wouldn’t be put off. Talen gave him an earnest look. “You won’t tell anybody?”

Nettle’s face lit with curiosity. He raised his hand in oath. “Silent as a mole.”

Talen took a deep breath. “I was helpless.”

“Helpless?”

“Yes, she took my arms and pressed them down so I couldn’t do a thing. You wouldn’t think a slip of a girl could do that. I wanted to tell her to get back, but the words wouldn’t form. I was helpless before her. You cannot imagine what it felt like when she pressed in close to me.”

Talen paused for effect and waited. He could almost feel the silence drawing Nettle’s curiosity like a bow.

“So she pressed in?”

“Oh, snug as a glove. It wasn’t proper. And that’s the troubling thing. Despite all logic, despite my fears, I cannot deny the desire that rose in me.”

“I see.”

They were almost upon Gallow’s Grove, and the stench of those twisting in the breeze made Talen bring his tunic up over his nose.

These trees could hold a prodigious number of bodies. After last year’s battles with the Bone Faces, a horde of prisoners had been executed. They’d hung along these limbs thick as candles on dipping rods. But those had been cut down. These here were criminals. The rumors of their deeds and hangings had spread quickly. Such news was always part of the talk in the houses of the alewives.

Talen motioned at the bloated and decayed bodies. “Look at that one. I bet he’s that cattle thief from the Sinks.” The man in question had obviously been dragged behind a horse. His flesh was torn and open. He had no eyes. He had no hands for that matter. Those had been cut off. Wasps mixed with the flies in a cloud, all of them buzzing in to get their tiny bites.

Nettle pulled his tunic over his nose.

Some of the bodies here had been hanging for weeks. The first was withered, but it was clear he’d been emasculated. When they rode close to the second, a hawk that had been tugging at the flesh of the man’s face rose and flapped away, revealing a half-eaten, gruesome smile.

They passed another. Talen stopped the wagon by the fourth and fifth, a man and a woman. The man was hung with a thick rope punched through the skin and threaded through his ribs. The woman’s dark hair hung over her ruined face. She tilted slightly, twisting gently in the evening breeze, one arm sticking out as if she were reaching for them. Both had been in the trees long enough for the maggots to hatch.

“Killed her mother-in-law,” said Talen. “They said she struggled and bucked for the better part of an hour.”

“I don’t need a history,” said Nettle. “Move it along.”

But Talen didn’t want to move it along. He looked up at the bodies hanging about him. If anyone found out about the girl and boy at his house, this is where his life would end.

Why would Da risk something like that?

Talen started Iron Boy again. When he put enough distance between them and the grove to erase the stink, he pulled his tunic from his nose.

Nettle did the same.

They were both quiet for a time, then Nettle produced another half loaf of bread pudding. Where he’d been hiding it, Talen had no idea.

Nettle took a big bite. When he’d gulped it down, he said, “So?”

“So what?”

“So, what did she do after she slid in?”

Good old Nettle, Talen thought. Not even death hanging about in the trees could sway him from girls or his gut.

“I was fearing for my soul,” said Talen. “But not minding it either. The hunters were outside, and yet I could not think of them. Only the creature on my lap.” Talen shook his head. “She took my hand and pressed it to her.”

“Her side?”

“Oh, no,” said Talen. And he gave Nettle a look that said she’d done nothing as innocent as that.

Nettle’s eyebrows rose and Talen fought to suppress his smile.

“You mean?” said Nettle.

Talen nodded. “I tell you, I was paralyzed; my brain was cider muzzy. Her with a wicked gleam in her eyes, and me thinking to myself that she’s done this before, these are experienced hands. I am only thankful she exposed herself when armsmen were about. Who knows what she would have forced me to do. As it is, I fear I’ve been touched.”

“It is said that they make sounds.”

“Sounds?”

“The beast in their natures takes over.”

“There was no sound,” said Talen. “But she did indeed bite.”

Nettle narrowed his eyes. Talen could see he’d pushed the tale a bit too far.

“You’re such a bad liar,” said Nettle.

Talen pulled his collar down to show Nettle his neck. “Look for yourself.”

“I don’t see anything. Why I ever listen to you, I’ll never know.”

“Look,” Talen said and pointed.

Nettle leaned in close. “There’s nothing here.”

Talen clopped him on the side of the head. “Of course, there isn’t. No glamour, no petting, no grunts, or lustful moans. No wicked babies conceived. I told you. It was like kissing the wall.” Except that wasn’t entirely true.

“Look,” said Talen. “If she’s there when we get back, you can have a go. Tell her to not forget the tongue.”

“She wasn’t that bad-looking,” said Nettle, as if considering the idea. “Better than most.”

“Who cares?” said Talen. “She’s a hatchling.”

“You yourself said nothing happened.”

Nettle was considering it. “You can’t be serious,” said Talen.

“Gotcha,” said Nettle and grinned.

Talen pointed at him. “You can’t fool me. You were actually thinking of kissing her.”

“If if makes you happy to think that, go right ahead and think it.”

Talen refused to rise to his bait, instead he fetched one of the last of his ginger cookies and plopped it in his mouth.

They had just entered the trees on the hill that lay beyond Gallow’s Grove, and Talen wanted to see if there was any sign of pursuit. He stopped the wagon, hopped out, and went back to the tree line. Nettle followed.

About a mile back, well before Gallow’s Grove, a group of mounted men followed the road. He watched them disappear behind a small hill. Talen groaned “You think they’re looking for us?”

“I think we’d better act as if they are,” said Nettle.

They scrambled back to the road and got into the wagon. Talen urged Iron Boy on, knowing there was no way two boys in a wagon could outrun mounted men.