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CHAPTER 1

FARWIN WOOD

A warrior with nothing to do is a troubled warrior."

This was the response Varmeer gave to Lord Vasimus Daundecort when asked why Ranthrop Groslivo, Lord of the Southlands, continued to train so intensely even though peace now reigned in the land.

"That explains nothing, Varmeer. I consider myself a warrior, and I have plenty to do as should Ranthrop," Lord Vasimus groused as they sat on a bench in the training area that abutted Daundecort Hall.

Varmeer touched his bloodied lower lip, wincing. Ranthrop had taken turns jousting with them until they had been forced to forfeit. Waiting on the sidelines, they watched as Ranthrop clambered mighty blows against the sword and shield of one of Lord Vasimus's men. Angry growls and grunts escaped the sandy-haired giant with each bash and thrust. As the opponent slumped to his knees, Varmeer's hope fizzled, wondering if Ranthrop would call for a new opponent. "Lord Vasimus, not all men are as easily satisfied with their daily obligations as you, I fear."

Vasimus snorted, standing with evident rigidity that wasn't his norm. His swollen fingers rubbed a knot on his knee, a gift from his joust. "All men? Or just our friend Ranthrop here?"

Varmeer thumped his head against the wall and closed his tired eyes. A visit, that's what Ranthrop had told him when they'd ventured from Groslivo Stronghold three days ago. He listened as Vasimus strode over to congratulate Ranthrop on yet another win and that the pummeling of his men was over for today. Thank the stars!

The clank of metal shin guards and squeak of rustling leather grew closer. He could sense Ranthrop's imposing presence before he heard the familiar gruff voice.

"Am I boring you, old man?" Ranthrop asked with exuberance. Varmeer took comfort in the sound of heavy breathing between the man's words.

Varmeer cracked a lazy eye open as Ranthrop gave his foot a swift kick. "What's to bore when you so gracelessly bash each man in such a uniquely different way, my lord?"

Ranthrop threw his head back and laughed. He brought his fist down and mock punched Varmeer in the lip. "Graceless, was I? Sounds more like you are a graceless loser!"

The three men rallied and walked down the patio that wrapped around Daundecort Hall. The men hobbled, casting their torsos in different angles; a motley crew of disheveled warriors — two in red Southland tunics, one in Northland blue. Past the thick shale stones of the lofty fortress walls, they trudged through a side entrance, leg and arm bracers squeaking over their strained muscles.

Vasimus led them to a thick wooden table at the end of his great room where a pitcher and goblets awaited. The men let their swords clatter to the floor, discarded, and each collapsed into a seat.

Ranthrop held out his cup to Vasimus who poured a lime-green colored liquid from the pitcher. He waited for the other two men to have their goblets filled and then raised his for an expectant toast.

"To peace in the land," Vasimus declared.

"We can't drink to peace every time," Ranthrop stated. Vasimus cast him a bland look as though he were awaiting an alternate suggestion. "To Farwin Wood," Ranthrop finally added. The two lords looked at Ranthrop's trusty guard for his contribution.

"To no longer dueling," Varmeer said wearily.

"Almost like peace ... I'll drink to that." Vasimus clanked his goblet against Varmeer's, leaving Ranthrop to stare at them dumbfounded with his own glass held out like a neglected friend.

"What's the matter with you two? You sound like old women!"

Vasimus wiped his brow with his sleeve. "And thanks to you, Lord Ranthrop, me and half my personal guard have felt like old women these past few days. If I didn't know better, I'd think you merely paid me a visit just to use us as jousting dummies. What say you, Varmeer? Is the guard at Groslivo Stronghold as battered as mine?"

Varmeer glanced at Ranthrop who scowled at both of them. "I cannot lie. There has been a lot of unnecessary training these past few weeks."

"Ah, I see." Vasimus pinned his light blue eyes on Ranthrop. "Are you sure you're not planning to go to war with me again?"

Ranthrop sucked in a sharp breath, nostrils flaring. "I am restless, not stupid."

Vasimus leaned forward and clasped his goblet, his wavy black hair settling just above the silver-floral cloak clasps on his shoulders. "What have you to be restless about? There is much to be done. Why, there isn't a day that goes by I don't find something on my lands that needs repair or someone who needs assistance."

Ranthrop slumped back in his chair. His head hit the high back with a thump, legs sprawling lazily out before him. Taking long gulps of beetleburry ale with unkempt slurps, he frowned. "I have repaired nearly everything I can throw a stone at."

"Sire, there is much to be done in Naublock Village. The stable at the stronghold needs a new roof and the barracks are still in need of repairs," Varmeer reminded him.

"We are not at war any longer, Varmeer," Ranthrop complained, pointing a finger toward Vasimus. "There's no need to give him a report."

Vasimus gawked at Ranthrop, and then shifted his eyes to Varmeer. "My word, how long has he been like this?"

Varmeer sighed. "Weeks."

Ranthrop sucked down another chug of ale. He slammed his goblet down and glared at it, his mouth twisting in a sour line. When he realized it had grown quiet, he looked up and found both men watching him. He could no longer escape their scrutiny or make excuses. "I have ... grown bored."

Vasimus splayed open his free hand as though he were pleading. "But you wanted peace! You confided to me afterward that you had grown tired of our war and wanted life to get back to normal."

"I did! I still do, but something ... is not right within me. I cannot help but feel something is missing."

Vasimus and Varmeer caught each other's astonishment. "Perhaps you are ready for a wife?" Vasimus asked.

Ranthrop's face flashed from somber to disgust. "Did I hit you in the head out there? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You said something is missing. Maybe what you're craving is companionship. It might do you good to settle down."

"Feel free to clip your own wings, Vasimus, but I have no desire to chain myself down just yet," Ranthrop snapped and refilled his goblet to the brim.

Varmeer didn't miss the look that Vasimus gave him as his lord pouted like an overgrown child. He had lost count of how many times he had already tried to assuage Ranthrop's restlessness over the past few weeks. He dug down deep to muster more patience and enthusiasm. "If not settled then, my lord, why not seek out some new wenches while we're here in the north? Perhaps a pretty new face will do the trick?"

Ranthrop resumed his dejected pose and stared at his feet. "I've grown tired of wenches."

Vasimus and Varmeer snapped their eyes to each other. They turned in unison and stared at the unhappy man.

"Ranthrop, are you feeling unwell?" Varmeer spoke so hastily he didn't even think to add the man's title, although he could get away with it. He had served him for the last twenty years. Their relationship was closer to friendship than one of lord and personal guard.

Ranthrop's wide chest heaved. The golden embroidered crest on his tunic bulged. "Don't worry yourself, Varmeer. I've not gone mad. I simply cannot seem to find joy in anything anymore. Nothing excites me. I have this craving ... for adventure."

"Adventure?" Vasimus asked. He eyed the man strangely as he brought his goblet to his lips. "Be careful what you wish for."

BLINNEY LANE, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

No matter how much you are willing to give or accept, love can be a downright selfish bastard. There was no denying it, Franci Doltman acknowledged, as fat tears streamed down her porcelain face. Famed film actress Lorna DuClaire graced the screen of her television set as she watched one of Lorna's classic romance movies for the fourth time in a week.

The tissue flapped as she blew her nose violently. She sat curled up on her floral sofa under the reassuring comfort of one of her mother's old afghans. She watched as Lorna strutted in a silky gown. The actress's shapely legs took each step like she was born to wear the strappy high heels fastened around her trim ankles. Lorna stopped at a garden railing and gazed out into the distance, a forlorn look on her face and tears in her eyes.

The handsome Archie Hamlin with his combed-back black hair looked dapper in his black suit as he inched up behind Lorna and grasped her shoulders. Franci held her breath, waiting for the words she knew he would speak.

"What do you want me to say, Melody?" Archie leaned in and whispered by Lorna's ear, his chin grazing the side of her cheek. "That I've loved you from the moment I met you? That I would have waited on you hand and foot until the day I died if I knew there was a chance you could have ever been mine?" "Ricardo, don't! Don't do this ... not after all that's happened. It's too much!" Lorna said as her voice caught in her throat.

Franci clenched the wadded tissue in her hand closer to her chest. Her lower lip trembled as she watched, holding back the urge to sob.

"No! I have to say it." Archie jerked Lorna around and into his arms. "I loved you then, and I love you now. I've loved you so much it hurt in ways I didn't know were possible!"

"Ricardo, no! Don't make me hear anymore."

"I won't." Archie traced Lorna's jaw with his thumb as she turned her head away. "That's why I've come to say good-bye. I knew you could never be mine; now you finally know it too."

Franci let out an anguished wail and sobbed just as Lorna did on the screen. She hated this part. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why she continually watched it. Melody, Lorna's character in The Lady and the Doorman, had scorned Ricardo when he was her butler. Now, nearly destitute, Melody runs into Ricardo years later and finds the tables have turned. Ricardo, polished from head to toe, is now a wealthy business owner ... and married.

"Don't cry," Archie whispered to Lorna. Franci sniffled to silence as though he commanded her as well. "I'm a married man. We can't change that, but kiss me good-bye ... as old friends."

"We were never even friends, were we? I treated you terribly," Lorna warbled, and Franci tearfully mouthed the words along with her.

"Then kiss me like the friends we could have been. Kiss me like the lover I wanted to be, like the man you want now, like the woman I can't have. Kiss me good-bye, Melody. It's the only thing I've ever asked of you. Just kiss me, damn it!"

Franci let out a wistful breath as she watched Archie embrace Lorna. She blew her nose, dabbed at her eyes, and then clicked the remote to silence her pain. She got up and grabbed the wadded tissues that tumbled from her lap. Collecting her teacup, she went into the kitchen and made her way to the window.

The hole in her heart intensified each day since her mother had passed away two weeks ago. She'd closed her store the week after the funeral but reopened once her friends began to worry about her. She hadn't told them that she'd spent each night watching her favorite sappy love movies, dreaming of a different life.

With her mother gone, no one helped to occupy her days or nights. Without her mother to wait on, she realized she wasn't happy with herself. Since that revelation, she hadn't been able to break free from her emotional slump.

I'm too old to find someone now, she thought as she stared at the soft glow of light from her greenhouse below. I don't have any children. No one will be here for me like I was for Mother. I'm going to die alone.

All was quiet tonight from her view through the apartment window above her shop. The expanse of yard between the back of the shops and the stretch of houses, inhabited by some of the other Blinney shopkeepers, was void of life.

This space had been unanimously combined by the residents to serve as a community courtyard. There were benches and picnic tables on a patio in the center of the strip where the shop owners had their weekly cookouts. Pumpkins and corn shocks encircled four gaslights at its corners for the upcoming Halloween holiday. The sight of the dormant common area only made her feel more alone. She stirred her tea and walked the length of her kitchen to the front of her apartment, hoping for a more promising view.

From the window that overlooked Blinney Lane, she noticed a light on in Sarah Allister's apartment above the bookstore. When Henry Teager passed by one of the windows she let out a wistful breath. At least Sarah was no longer alone.

Sarah had been dating Henry, Blinney Lane's deliveryman, ever since he rescued her from a misadventure into one of the cursed "weeping books." How Franci would love to venture into one of those books. Maybe there, no one would care that she was a bit eccentric or plain in appearance.

Raised on Blinney Lane, she didn't find it unusual to dress in old-fashioned clothing. The scars of the Agatha Blinney curse appeared upon her neck when she was seventeen. The high-collared dresses she wore to hide the ugly marks had been a saving grace. Looking out the window at Sarah's newfound happiness, she wondered if dressing more modern like Sarah would have helped her in the "love department."

Franci had never put much stock in her appearance. She was a romantic. She had always assumed that "Mr. Right" would find her like he did the heroines in the old movies she watched. Lorna DuClaire certainly wouldn't have had to worry about tempting a man into falling for her. No, when Lorna waltzed into a room, heads turned.

She looked down at her dated furry house robe. "I'm no Lorna DuClaire. I need to stop feeling sorry myself."

Turning away from the window, an idea bloomed. She would take advantage of the Halloween season by exploring what it felt like to be someone else.

Her spirits lifted as she returned to the living room and put on another Lorna DuClaire movie, The Singer and the Suit, featuring Lorna in one of her feistiest, most glamorous roles. It had the added bonus of Franci's favorite leading man, Archie Hamlin! Nothing would be better motivation. After all, Lorna and Archie had been married in real life. Maybe Franci would finally meet her own Archie.

When the movie started, Franci sat down to her laptop at the living room table and searched the internet for Lorna DuClaire costumes. The shop owners on Blinney Lane always dressed up in costume for the entire two weeks prior to Halloween. She'd already missed a few days due to her sulking. Her friends usually dressed like a different character each day, but she didn't care. This year ... she was going to be Lorna DuClaire every day of the Halloween season.

Lorna had starred in enough roles that technically Franci could be a different character each day. She knew all of Lorna's parts by heart. It was Halloween, and no one would bat an eye if she tried on different personalities. By the end of the week, maybe she would feel like a different person. And then she could transform into the woman she knew lurked within her.

She found a site with a few costumes that replicated some outfits Lorna had worn in her films but wasn't satisfied with the selection. She picked up her phone and called Genie Mathers's who ran a dress shop at the end of the street. Genie actually had one Lorna DuClaire costume she'd made several years ago that a customer had never picked up. Sold!

After that, Franci went through her old dresses to see what she could alter herself. She gave up scouring through her wardrobe and went into her mother's old room. In the back of her mother's closet, she found some long vintage slips and a few elegant mid-century gowns. With a few adjustments and creativity, she could turn them into Lorna DuClaire costumes. The thought made her giddy and the nostalgia of wearing some of her mother's clothes warmed her heart.

Franci sat down at her mother's sewing machine and began the alterations. She thought about Genie's warning not to wear the costume more than once, which made her want to laugh. She knew about the power of the clothing Genie made well-enough already.

The costumes made in Genie's shop, particularly ones that were modeled after people who had actually existed, could cause the wearer to act like that person if they donned them for too long. Luckily, the effect wasn't strong on outsiders, especially if they wore the costume elsewhere than Blinney Lane.

Franci didn't care if she did get a little boost of charisma from the "Lorna costume." After all, she didn't need trick costumes with the loot she'd just discovered in the closet.

Franci reached for a new spool of thread, her seasoned fingers threading the spool without a glance. If she had looked, she would have noticed the label on the bottom that read: Handmade. Mathers's Dress Shop, Blinney Lane, Salem, MA.

Franci hummed as she looked at her progress on the dress. "Look out, Archie! Here comes Lorna."

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Excerpted from "Beyond Farwin Wood"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Drea Damara.
Excerpted by permission of BHC Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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