Richard DeGuire smiled at the multi-faceted jewel. “So you’re telling me that Branwyen and her little friend were able to slip past all the guards in the castle and escape?”
The figure in the crystal nodded and apologized. Richard chuckled. “It wasn’t your fault.” He said, “I’m just amazed at how resourceful the girl is.”
“You aren’t angry?” The voice could barely be heard, as if it were whispering.
Another chuckle from the leader of the Protectorates, “Of course I’m not. With her running around, Valentria will be to busy trying to catch a wanted fugitive to pay attention to our plan. This works in our favor.”
“It wouldn’t be wise to underestimate her, My Lord.”, said Brian, “We discovered that she used a key hidden in the cell to escape. There is no telling how long Raven has been planning this.
“Just remember to keep me informed.” Richard said with a wry grin.
The figure nodded once more and the crystal went dark.
“Who were you talking to?” Bekah asked as she opened the door. Brian held a Congreve crystal in his hands and looked up quickly.
“I was talking to Mandy.” He lied.
Bekah smiled at her brother-in-law. They were so cute, using their crystals to talk even though Mandy was running around somewhere in the castle.
“Have they found Raven? Mandy’s worried about her.” Brian stuffed the crystal in his pocket.
“Not yet, but we’ll keep looking.” Bekah started to leave but turned back with a smile. “But tell Mandy that she gets second dibs on hitting her once we do.”
Brian laughed as Bekah closed the door.
“Where exactly are we going?” Sarah’s teeth chattered incessantly. After nearly two hours of flight beneath the frigid moon, the heavy jacket she wore wasn’t doing a whole lot of good.
“To Jimmy’s parent’s farm. Sis sent word by him that we would be staying for a while.”
Sarah mumbled something indistinct.
“What was that?” Raven asked.
“I said, ‘Aren’t you two tired of getting his family involved?’”.
Raven nodded, “Yeah, but this was the only option. Since the farm is outside of Valentria’s borders, they won’t be breaking any laws. Besides, nobody will think to look for us there.”
Sarah figured that the idea of Raven on a farm was to far-fetched to even be considered. She almost asked if they would get there soon when Bryson angled downwards, towards a small rectangle of light in the darkness.
They landed in front of a large, two story farm house with shingled, tapered roofs. The warm light from the window’s made Sarah jealous. She had been freezing from the time they had left the castle, over twelve hours ago. She wanted to be warm.
Raven, who never seemed to feel the cold, walked up to the heavy oak door and knocked sharply. A heavy set woman with graying hair opened it wide.
“What kept you Lady Branwyen?” She welcomed with a smile
“Sure glad we found the right spot or this was gonna be a tad awkward. The icicle is Sarah.” Raven jerked her head towards the other girl, who rushed into the house and over to the fire to warm her frozen hands not really caring if she was being rude or not.
The man sitting at a wooden table stood and bowed his head. “Lady Branwyen, Ms. Petty, my wife and I welcome you to our home. I apologize that it’s not as nice as what you’re used to.”
“Please, call me Raven, Mr. Browning, and it is we who should apologize for imposing upon you; you are doing us, and all of Valentria, a great service.”
Sarah smiled at the fire, her back to the room. Raven’s multiple personalities were a never-ending source of amazement to her. The redhead seemed to flip through them almost at random, but Sarah knew how to tell which was which. This Raven was closest to the real Branwyen Chandlish, the same one that had made friends with a little brown haired commoner.
After introductions were complete, and Sarah checked herself for signs of frostbite, the four settled down to dinner. Mrs. Browning ladled out large bowls of a thick, meaty stew then put out a loaf of fresh baked bread and a jar of butter on the table.
Sarah’s stomach gave an excited skip as delicious aromas tickled her nose. There had been food offered back in the jail but she had been too frightened to eat. Both she and Raven barely remembered to thank their host before diving in hungrily. Nobody said a word except to ask for butter and the comfortable sounds of a home-cooked meal filled the kitchen.
After second helpings were portioned out, conversations sprung up. Mr. Browning and Sarah discussed blacksmithing while Mrs. Browning and Raven giggled and gossiped over the latest society scandals. When the second bowls were drained, Mrs. Browning hoped everyone saved room for dessert.
“None for me thanks. I couldn’t eat another bite.” Sarah felt rather full and content.
“That’s a shame.” Mrs. Browning said, carrying the dishes to the sink, “I don’t know if this Boysenberry cobbler will wait over night.”
Sarah laughed out loud. No sooner had the words boysenberry and cobbler been mentioned than she saw Raven’s ears actually perk up. Knowing the gleam in her friend’s eye all to well, Sarah suggested that everybody get what they wanted and just tossing the rest of the cobbler in the general direction of the ginger haired vacuum.
Mrs. Browning, following Sarah’s instructions, cut three pieces and poured cups of coffee before depositing the rest of the dessert in front of Raven, who grinned and proceeded to finish it off with great gusto.
Pushing the platter away, having refrained from licking it clean only due to Sarah’s warning stare, Raven asked why they didn’t just have the cobbler in the first place.
“Because Lady Rebekah told me to hide it until after you finished dinner. She was quite insistent on that point.”
Raven sat upright, wondering when her Sis had been by.
“Oh, she hasn’t come by in person. It was in the letter that Jimmy brought. I’m supposed to give this to you as well.” Mrs. Browning passed Raven a sealed envelope.
Tearing it open with a puzzled look, Raven read the contents out loud. “Dear Sis, do not do anything to embarrass me. Sarah, you’re in charge of her until you return. Sis, tell Mrs. Browning she has my permission to beat you if you get out of line. Love always, Sis.”
Nothing builds friendships faster than a good laugh after an excellent meal so Raven and Sarah felt quite at home as Mrs. Browning showed them to their room. It was much smaller than they were used to but a crackling fire and thick comforter gave it a very cozy feeling. Sarah crawled under the sheets, enjoying the chill of the blankets against her skin. Raven settled down in the single wooden chair in the corner.
“Why are you sleeping over there?” Sarah asked.
“I’ve put you through a lot today so you get the bed.”
“Nonsense, there’s plenty of room for both of us so come over here and get some sleep. You’re going to need it if we’re going to help tomorrow.”
Raven needed no further urging and climbed in, her foot brushing gently over Sarah’s silky calf. A momentary spark ignited but was ignored. Sleep might have been what they needed but it did not come easily that night. Both girls lay with their backs to each other, alone in their thoughts.
Dawn broke too early, as it always seems to on cold mornings. Sarah awoke to find herself snuggled comfortably against Raven and lay there for a few moments before sliding out from under the covers, waking Raven in the process. Neither had been on a farm before, and were not interested in starting at such an unreasonable hour but sleep was impossible. Raven stretched and yawned while Sarah stamped into her boots. The smell of cooking bacon wafted through the cracks in the door so they headed into the kitchen to find the Brownings already having breakfast.
As they sat down to a hearty meal of eggs, bacon, gravy and a particularly aromatic brand of coffee Sarah really enjoyed, Mrs. Browning asked the girls what their plans were for the day.
“We’re going to help around
the farm, of course.” Raven shoveled a large bite of eggs into her mouth, thinking that should’ve been obvious to everyone.
Mr. Browning shook his head, “Don’t be silly. You two are our guest here so you don’t have to lift a finger.”
Before Raven could swallow the mouthful, Sarah spoke for them both. “Thank you, Mr. Browning, but my father always told me that a guest stays for one night. It would be rude of us not to help since we don’t know how long we’ll be here.”
“Well,” the older gentleman rubbed his chin, “I suppose you two can help me dig up this stump that I’ve been meaning to get to. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll get started.”
Raven slurped down another cup of coffee before moving away from the table, saying she might not be moving back to Valentria if Mrs. Browning kept cooking such wonderful meals. Then they walked outside and into an entirely different world for Lady Branwyen Chandlish.
Sarah had long ago grown accustomed to manual labor and thoroughly enjoyed working in the fall air. Raven, who spent years training her body for magic and fighting found the going much, much worse. By the time the sun struck its highest point of the day, she was sore, dirty and using words that would’ve earned at least a stern rebuke if Elspeth or Stephen heard them. Sarah and Mr. Browning found the spectacle quite entertaining but Raven’s nerves were frayed well beyond the point of laughing at anything.
They settled down for a quick lunch Mrs. Browning brought out to them. Afterwards, Sarah and Mr. Browning picked up their axes, but Raven had a better idea.. Only about a quarter of the roots had been cut, and to her that was time wasted. With a quick word and gesture from the sorceress, Bryson strolled into the pasture, giving the Brownings quite a fright. Raven whispered into the dragon’s ear and the two of them shared a chuckle before Bryson gripped the stump in his mighty claws and wrenched it from the ground. Taking flight, the enormous chunk of tree still dropping bits of earth from its roots, the dragon flew westward and was soon lost in the afternoon sun.
“I’m going to take an extremely long and extremely hot bath.” Raven exclaimed as she stomped towards the house. Sarah could only laugh, quite proud that it took Raven this long to resort to magic. The Brownings stood there, gaping in awe after the flying lizard.
The next few days passed quickly, nothing extraordinary happening except an article on the front page of the local newspaper. Somehow a large tree stump had crashed through the roof of Mr. Richard DeGuire’s house in Vestavia, destroying two rooms completely. Fortunately no one had been injured.
That afternoon, Sarah walked into the room she and Raven shared to find the redhead laughing and clutching her crystal.
“Oh you should’ve seen it, Sis.” Bekah’s voice bubbled with laughter. “Politicians were tramping all over the castle, demanding that we had something to do with it.”
Sarah guessed at the topic of conversation as she lay down on the bed behind Raven. Bekah’s image smiled at her and asked if Sis was behaving.
“We’ve been to far away to get into any trouble.” Sarah reported with all seriousness, “I mean we have to be two hundred miles from Vestavia at least.” Raven and Bekah snorted.
Finally Bekah left, but only after making Sarah promise to punch Sis at least once a day to keep her from getting soft.
When she put down the crystal, Bekah found Daniel watching her. He put up his hands defensively as she jumped up.
“How much did you hear?” She snarled; already bands of energy swirled around her hands as she prepared to attack. As much as she liked Daniel she couldn’t let him ruin everything.
“Calm down, Bekah.” The startled doctor spoke as calmly as he could, “I know Raven wasn’t the traitor. She couldn’t be.”
Bekah leaned close to him, her nostrils flaring. “How do you know that? Maybe you’re the traitor we’re looking for then?”
Daniel put his arms down and relaxed, “Don’t be stupid. I know Raven isn’t the traitor because you two do everything together and you’re not involved. I just wanted to know how Sarah was.”
After another untrusting glare at the handsome man, Bekah nodded. “She’s doing fine and says to tell you not to worry.”
Elsewhere in the castle, things weren’t so calm. Elspeth looked in exasperation at the piles of letters on her desk. That little snot might be gone but she was still causing problems. She ran her fingers through her brown hair and asked if there was any word on the traitors yet.
Stephen sat in a chair in front of the desk and shook his head. “We know that they were heading towards Vestavia but stopped in the mountains. After that we lost track.”
Elspeth nodded. She knew all this because their own spies were working hard to find them. “How did she get rid of that mark on the blacksmith?” She wondered, more to herself than anyone.
Stephen was curious about the same thing and shrugged. “She’s stronger than we thought. There’s no other way to explain it.”
The leaders of Valentria shared worried looks, knowing that with a weapon like Branwyen joining them, there was no way to beat the Protectorate if war came.
A week after they showed up at the Brownings, Mr. Browning needed the two girls help him go around gather up the animals because there was going to be a bad storm later that evening. It sounded like fun at first but the animals refusing to cooperate soon changed their attitudes. Both were exhausted and covered in dust by the time Mr. Browning locked the barn door.
“Well, we’re off. Are you girls sure you’re going to be alright by yourselves?” Mrs. Browning asked after making sure every conceivable emergency had been properly covered. Tonight was the Brownings 30th anniversary and they had been planning to just go into town for a nice dinner. Raven insisted on them spending the night in a fancy hotel which she paid for as a gift.
“We’ll be fine.” Sarah promised as she shut the battered truck door behind Mrs. Browning.
“Enjoy being newlyweds!” Raven laughed over the sound of the engine roaring to life.
Following a quick supper, Raven worked on inscribing her new sword. She was experimenting with a new way to inscribe objects and wasn’t about to let a little thing like being declared a traitor stop her from working on them. Ever since her first lesson in runes, she had been fascinated by the possibilities. Though most of her experiments ended in painful failures, this one seemed a success.
Sarah tried reading a book but wasn’t very interested. She kept stealing quick glimpses at Raven, who was bent over the table, working on the glittering blade. Scattered around were the tools of her trade. Sarah hadn’t really thought about it until now but realized Raven must have known her other sword would be taken during the arrest. That was why she asked Sarah to make her another one, and now worked so hard to get it inscribed. The sword had taken nearly a week to finish, working on it in fits and stops. Raven had been very clear from the beginning what she wanted, and what she asked proved very challenging. It was exactly the same weight and balance as Raven’s original sword, but instead of having ravens on the guard, a pair of wings sprouted from the sides and curled back towards the blade. The handle itself was a raven’s head with emeralds for the eyes. Raven insisted on giving Sarah 5,000 gullions for it, which is roughly what she would’ve charged a normal customer.
“Are you okay?” Sarah hadn’t read anything in an hour and this was a conversation they needed.
“Huh?” Raven laid her tools down. The sword was done but she’d need to test it soon.
Sarah tried again. “Are you okay with all of this? We haven’t talked since we got here and I know you miss Bekah.” The book she was reading floated into the air and bopped her gently on the head. She could see Raven’s finger moving and the book hit her again.
“I miss Sis all the time. Last time we fought she dodged three of my spells. She’s proving quite adept at ducking.” Raven laughed as Sarah grabbed the book.
Trying to be serious with Raven was an uphill battle Sarah knew. “Why do you do that?”
�
��Do what?”
Raven was trying to turn the talk into a game. Sarah recognized the signs so she would have to be persistent. “Why do you always have to put on that front? You’re in danger. People you care about are in danger. I know how worried you are because you’ve never worked as hard as you have on inscribing that sword.”
Pushing back from the table, the cheerful veneer dropping from her face, Raven sighed. “I’m not worried about the people I care for because I’ll protect all of you. I’m not worried about me because.”
“Because why? Because you’re some great and powerful sorceress?” A vague wave was the only answer coming so Sarah walked to the table and sat down. She took Raven’s hands in hers.
“You never answered me. Why do you never let anybody see what you’re really feeling?”
“I don’t want to burden everyone with my problems. It’s more fun for me to see people having a good time.” Sarah knew the veil was pierced when Raven wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “I want everyone to smile when they remember me.”
Sarah watched for another moment as Raven turned back to her sword. The sorceress was, in the blacksmith’s opinion, the craziest person she had ever met. With Raven around, things had a tendency to explode unexpectedly. Wild animals were let loose in a crowded place of business. The redhead was constantly coming up with new and increasingly creative excuses to avoid anything she considered boring. But Sarah recognized early on that Raven never failed to follow through on a promise. There was an iron core that grounded those flights of whimsy. If Raven said something would be done, it would be done no matter what stood in the way.
It wasn’t Raven’s personality that troubled Sarah. The problem was Raven never considered what her actions meant to others. Less than a year ago, Sarah had been a simple blacksmith. Now she was on the run, branded a traitor by people she considered friends. Hell, she almost died not to long ago. She could leave, but something in her heart wouldn’t allow it. Something she couldn’t explain kept her by Raven’s side, when every instinct screamed for her to flee. When Raven flashed a quick grin, eyebrows still scrunched in concentration, Sarah figured out what it was.
WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE Page 24
