by T R Tells
“Orders will be given to me, when it is time, for now, you may do as your Mundane sister told you to do: Survive. If you do not survive, there is little chance that you will make it out alive, and then I will have no choice but to leave you for you aren’t what we are looking for.”
Thea decided that it was a fine opportunity to ask what she had been thinking about since Hel first came to me.
“What do you mean by orders? When I first met you, you’ve always spoken with purpose, like, I’m supposed to help you achieve something. What am I supposed to do?”
There wasn’t any silence and Thea assumed that Hel had left her presence - she usually did at times - but she didn’t feel a pressure in the back of her mind to insinuate that Hel was coming and going.
There is a greater scheme in the mix, it is a way to make prosperity in the world. It is no point talking about it now, but when the time comes you will know.
“But. . . I want to know now,” Thea begged. “Why can’t you tell me?”
A tightened grip squeezed around Thea’s throat and her eyes bugged out of their sockets. She gripped onto her neck and quickly sat up. Her other arm flailed in the air as she tried breathing, but no air entered into her lungs.
I told you to leave well enough alone. You do not need to know, is that understood?
Thea’s face started to turn red and her vision was starting to blur as she started to lose consciousness.
She nodded in reply to what Hel and the tightness on her throat disappeared, she gasped deeply and leaned on her knees as spit hung from her mouth.
Do not question me again, Thea, and for that, you will be left alone.
The heavy pressure in the back of Thea’s mind tingled and she felt a shiver run up her spine as she continued to gasp and heave, trying to regain oxygen back into her lungs. The reddish-brown of her skin slowly returned to her cheeks.
Thea sniffed as the tears welled in her eyes. She didn’t understand anything that was going on. She didn’t understand what Hel wanted from her or even how to survive as Dominya wanted.
Drops of tears fell down onto the beads of grass and she stared at the droplet of water collecting from her tears.
“I c-can survive. . . I c-can. . . k-keep moving f-forward,” she cried.
The tears finally dried after a few minutes and Thea wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her arm. She sniffed and slept in the fetal position that night.
She shivered as the cold wind blew across her body. Thea’s teeth chattered and she wrapped her arms around herself. Thea hummed to herself—it was a tune that Dominya had sung to her once. Yet, she had sung it to herself during her three months alone and she was surprised she still remembered the lyrics.
...I will survive. Today and surely tomorrow, I will survive, don't you worry. I will survive…
***
On the third day, she saw Kingsland in the distance.
While she couldn’t walk to the front gates, getting into Kingsland had been easy. Thea stowed away underneath a tradesman carriage that had stopped one night when it had come in from the Northern waters. She arrived inside Kingsland’s walls, in the early morning’s hours, and looked out the peephole from one of the barrels she had been hiding in.
She couldn’t help but be in awe of the kingdom’s large exterior and beautiful landscape.
The massive gilded thick ashen limestone wall stretched around the kingdom and was several meters high and bricks several meters wide. There were three outer walls that surrounded and protected Kingsland, there were four towers on the main outer walls, but the walkways connected the entire structure. Behind the walls structure, it was boarded and connected to a gigantic mountain that stretched out for miles, giving Kingsland the necessary coverage from invaders. Inside the kingdom’s walls was an entirely different story. The entire country of Kingsland held over four million people, the largest city in all of Middilgard. From the buildings to the structures, every house looked alike, and they clustered together in a tight formation. Most of the clustered buildings were made on a flat incline, while other structures were settled upon a hill that led directly to the castle itself.
Those who traveled thousands of miles did not only come for the festivities, the landscape, or the beautiful wares but to see the kingdom on the water. Despite the high demand to see the kingdom on the water, there was no entry if one did not receive an invitation from one of the seven nobles of The Perfect Confederacy or the King himself.
Thea’s stomach grumbled. She couldn’t feel Hel’s presence, as Hel often came and went, so once the carriage stopped moving.
Thea hopped out from her hiding area.
She landed her feet on the dusty brick road of Kingsland and decided to make her way through the crowded streets of the Kingsland market.
The marketplace was noisy. The sellers shouted their goods at the top of their lungs and haggled with buyers who quarreled over quality and quantity with equal vigor. The people clustered together. Their yells, filled with both happiness and anger, were almost deafening, and entirely different from the subtle sounds of Twinleaf. Some stands sold vegetables, meats, and baked goods that wafted up Thea’s nose when she passed their colorful, clothed tables and beautifully woven baskets that held their commodities.
She was rather grateful she did not look like an eyesore for she had packed a clean smock and pants before leaving.
She noticed a fruit stand that wasn’t too populated and didn’t have too many customers around, she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. So, she idly walked over to it and pretended to gawk at the items as she mimicked a woman beside her, who rubbed her chin as she “oohed” and “aahed” at the fruit.
Thea furrowed her brows and nodded, looking as if she was deciding on what to buy. While Thea reached for an apple and stowed it into the folds of her handbag, she continued to fake interest in the food, until she heard two men talking off to the side. What she heard interested her, pulling her away from her original plan, and she leaned closer to them, in hopes of hearing over the loud commotion of the bustling city.
"... No. My wife hasn't even looked at me these last few months," one gentleman said. The man had curly, dark brown cropped hair. His mustache reminded Thea of a caterpillar and she had a stifle a giggle.
"Aye, I know a man's sister who had just given birth to a newborn child. They took them both without question," the man's friend said. Thea could not see his face but saw that his hair was rather short and grayish.
"I should have listened to her! She knew that the king was full of it," the caterpillar mustache man angrily grumbled. He had slammed his fists down on the table, which startled Thea. "I should have known that The Gathering wasn't going to unite Mundane and Magi. Now, I'll never see my daughters again."
Thea furrowed her brows at this. The Gathering? Are they talking about when the Kingsland Guards rounded up the Magi and burned my village?
"Keep it down, Ivar," his friend whispered to him, he turned to look at Thea, who didn’t look at him and then back to looking around, most likely to see if anyone had heard the man's outburst. No one's attention was on the two men as they were more occupied trying to get through the crowded streets of people, animals, and carriages.
"You don't want the Kingsland’s Guards to hear you. They'll gut you like an animal, and they might burn your home while they’re at it. You heard about the Twinleaf village. Then your wife and sons will have no one and no home. I know how you feel, but it's best no one brings this up.”
“If you really want to do something.” Thea had to raise her voice slightly for the men to hear her over the buzzing conversations that filled the marketplace. The two men looked down at her with curious glances, as Thea turned to look at them with a grim expression on her face, as Hel taught her to do. “You should rally together, take down the king, or something. He’s just one man, right? And if you can take out the Guards, you might have a chance.”
What are you doing? I told you not to talk to anyo
ne. Hel’s sharp tone intruded into her mind, the pressure this time was like a hard smack, instead of the usual sensation. She, however, ignored it.
“What the hell are you talking about, boy?” the man with the caterpillar mustache asked. He had a deep frown on his face, and his arms crossed over his chest.
“I mean what I say, sirs,” Thea told him. “I, myself, took out eight whole Guards - course, it wasn’t entirely by myself, but if there’s more of you guys, you’ll be able to do it; I’m sure of it.”
Ivar scratched his chin. “Where’s your mommy and daddy? Ain’t they tell you to stay out of grown folks’ business?”
Thea frowned, insulted.
“Aye mind your own business. Will ya?” the other man said, shoving Thea. The two men walked away from her and continued their conversation in hushed whispers.
Thea brushed off her shirt, offended by the man’s aggression.
"Eavesdropping never gets you anywhere. You’re lucky they didn’t do anything else to you."
The deep voice of a male spoke behind Thea, she jerked around and it caused the loose satchel to spill out several apples she had stolen.
"Oh my, and a thief? The younger these children get, the craftier they are."
Thea's eyes enlarged as she saw a man with pale white skin and a full head of snowy gray hair. His eyebrows and mustache were white, thick, and bushy. He wore a brown, tattered apron.
"I-I... I can explain!" Thea exclaimed. The man's brow rose, and he cocked his head to the side. He darted his beady eyes around the busy crowd and then back to Thea. He leaned down and whispered, "What's your name?"
Thea gulped and licked her lips. She twisted the strap of the handbag, preparing to run. "T-Theo, sir . . . I'm sorry about the apples. I didn't . . . I mean, they had-"
The man shook his head and made a tsking sound with his teeth and tongue.
"If anyone else were to catch you, they'd cut off your hand. If Kingsland soldiers caught you, they would throw you in their prison. What would make it worse, however, is that you're a girl and the law doesn’t fit well for a woman. . .”
"I'm not a girl!" Thea shouted. Her body instantly was hot. She could see from the corner of her eye, that three people who were near her turned to look at her. She felt her heart pound at the thought of being exposed.
The man stared at Thea for a few seconds before he started to chuckle to himself. She furrowed her brows, wanting to know what was so funny.
"Sure, you are, it’s mainly in your shoulders, your body, and you are a bit scrawny in the arms,” he said. Thea crossed her arms over her chest and a light shade of red crossed her face. “But I’d not worry about anyone noticing you. The ones who aren’t paying attention to you are too preoccupied with their shit or other’s shit. I don't know who helped you kid, but if you're going to survive, you're going to need to do it right. Otherwise, you won't make it out here."
"I've been surviving for three months, thank you very much,” Thea replied, crossing her arms. She had forgotten about fleeing.
The man leaned back and let out a guttural laugh that sounded like he was laughing from his throat and nose.
"You're a spunky one, I'll give you that. But you won't survive the Bifrost . . ." He looked down at the apples that were still on the ground. "You know, those were some pretty good apples you wasted. They cost one bronze each, pretty expensive, especially since taxes have been raised.”
Thea's brow raised in curiosity.
"You work for me and pay off those apples. In return, I'll make you my apprentice and teach you some things to survive in this world on your own."
"What if I run? I don't trust you. I don't trust anyone."
The man slowly nodded with a look of understanding on his face. "And you shouldn't. There's a lot of fucked up individuals in this world, but there are also good folks. I don't know your whole backstory, but I can tell you’re lost. I can guarantee that whether you trust me or not, you won't have to be alone at least for a while. So, why not bygones be bygones. I am Jiran."
***
Thea stared at the man, his hand out waiting for her to shake. The man had a certain aura about him that made her feel like she was back home again. He could have been a grandfather or someone's father at one point. She couldn't deny the fact that the first month she was alone she cried herself to sleep every night; and when she wasn’t crying, she was tired of always holding onto aggression. Thea put on a brave face. She hid the sadness that welled up inside of her and the hatred that boiled in her veins. She felt lonely.
She didn’t know where the feeling had come from, but it was as if she didn’t feel Hel lurking inside her. She only felt this man’s urgent need to care for and guide her.
She opened her mouth, prepared to answer him, to tell him that he was right. She was lonely, all she wanted to do was lay in a warm bed and eat a warm meal instead of stolen or rotten goods.
She had grown too used to the feeling of being alone, despite the depression lurking within her. Thea looked around, to find an opening in the crowd.
Jiran studied her and waited for a response, he narrowed his eyes at her and followed the direction of her eyes. He knew she would run, and this only made him curious about the horrors she witnessed. It made him want to care for this child who had seen all manner of Hell.
Before he could sway her, Thea spun on her heels and broke through the crowd and bum-rushed into passerby’s, who shouted in anger at her abruptness.
She didn't stop to turn around or take a breath until she was a reasonable distance from the old man and his table. She hid behind a pale yellow house. Thea leaned her head out and peeked back the way she’d come from, spying on him. He stood by his table and picked up the apples from the ground.
As if he knew she was looking at him, he looked up from the ground and stared right back at her, despite the distance that separated them. Thea's eyes widened and she quickly retreated, pressing against the wall. Her heart hammered in her chest as she prayed that he wouldn't come looking for her or tell the Kingsland Guards.
As she was standing there, she heard a low growling. She winced and grabbed onto her stomach. In her haste, she had forgotten to take the apples from the ground.
There was a tingling pressure in the back of Thea’s head.
Stupid. Foolish, Hel’s voice slithered back in her head. Be mindful to stay away from him, from everyone, is that understood? We don’t need you corrupted.
Thea ignored Hel’s intrusion, feeling too down to argue or to push her out.
She slid against the wall until her butt met the soft ground. She gently hit the back of her head against the wall, hoping the minor pain would distract her from her hunger.
***
The bright morning sun shone down on Thea’s face making her squint from the brightness and put her arm up to block the sun’s rays. Thea slowly sat up from where she had been lying. There was a tightness in her arms, and she stretched them before taking in her surroundings.
Thea was surprised how well she’d slept and how warm she had been. She rose from the ground and brushed her dirt off attire, glad that the brown was not feces. The sound of someone yelling echoed down the tight corridor, followed by the sound of childlike laughter.
Thea frowned. She didn’t expect someone to come around the corner and collide with her.
Thea crashed to the ground, the air momentarily left her lungs, and her head hit the ground. Someone had fallen on top of her. It was a girl, her age, with long reddish-brown hair that covered part of her face, and hazel eyes that stared back at her.
“Hey, come back here you damn brats!” a deep male voice shouted. Thea looked away from the girl, and down the narrow path, she’d come from but saw nothing.
“Maggie!” a voice called, Thea and the girl turned their heads. It was a boy with Ash blonde hair and soiled clothes who yelled, “Come on!”
Maggie quickly nodded and sat up from where she had fallen on Thea, but she didn’t run as the boy sugg
ested; instead, she looked down at where Thea still sat.
“What about him?” Maggie questioned and pointed at Thea. The Ash blonde-haired boy looked behind him and to where they had come from, to see if the man was coming from either side. “We can’t just leave him, Eddie.”
“We need to get our asses out of here now. Come on!” Eddie ordered. Having no choice, Maggie poked out her lips and mumbled sorry before scurrying away with Eddie as they disappeared around the next corner.
Thea blinked a few times until she noticed there was something in her lap: a lengthy sized bread. Thea’s eyes grew wide, just as she heard the man’s angry voice again. A tall figure in the distance ran straight toward her.
“Crap.”
Thea scrambled to her feet while stuffing the bread into her handbag and made a run for it in the same direction as the other two children.
Unlike yesterday, the market area was not as crowded, leaving it manageable for Thea to run through the narrowed streets. She ducked underneath a table and crawled on her hands and knees; Thea rushed through the skirts of a woman who was standing close to her entrance.
The woman screamed and grabbed her skirts, she pointed in the direction Thea ran in, making her an easier target for anyone to chase after her if they saw her running.
Thea ran directly toward a vegetable stand and leaned against the side of the table, hoping to catch her breath and blend in better. Unfortunately, several people noticed her right away and looked at the street urchin with disgust; there weren’t many children roaming the streets.
“Hey, what are you doing there?” a voice above her said. Thea looked up to see a chubby man with two chins and long, wiry hairs coming from his nose. “You trying to steal from me, boy?”
“N-No. I wasn’t—” she didn’t have a chance to say anything further because the man grabbed her by the arm and yanked her from the ground. She yelped and tried to wrench her arm free, but his grip was far too tight.
