Esther's Innocence

by Benjamin Boswell

  Esther had known months ago, when she and he friends had decided to dance at the festival, that departing completely from the formalistic northern dances would not be possible, even though she found them to be less attractive and quite boring, so she had tried to get the group to accept a melding of Northern, Western, and Southern dancing. There was no way to incorporate the wild dancing of the East without breaking down the cohesiveness of the dance altogether, so she hadn’t even tried. She was quite happy with the result as it stretched the group’s abilities to move quickly—similar to the southern style—while incorporating the grace and fluidity of the West into the more commonly structured dances of the North. Any Northerner would recognize the over-arching dance moves, but within each move, Esther had added multiple variations so that, to the observer, the dancers were in constant motion. Esther had given herself the most challenging dance moves, and while the other girls were performing their own routines, she would be weaving in and out and around in a way that, hopefully, made the whole thing seem effortless.

  “This would be sooooo much better if we were wearing our festival dresses!” said Charity, practically skipping along with excitement.

  “Yeah,” said Marigold, stepping through the barn’s yawning doorway, her feet creating a hollow sound on the floorboards, “but there’s no way that Esther’s mom or Mrs. Charlotte are going to let us practice in those tonight.” Esther and her other friends nodded in agreement. “I wish they’d have let me design and sew them, though.”

  Tanya turned to Marigold. “It’s been a hot summer, but not hot enough to wear anything that you would design,” she said, slapping her friend heartily on the back. “I prefer more cloth than skin.” Tanya turned and looked at the rest of them. “Alright, should we get started?”

  Tanya usually took charge when they all got together. Esther didn’t mind, nor did any of the others. It was comfortable to have someone fill that role. Their personalities varied wildly, but that was perhaps what made them such great friends.

  “Marigold and I were able to practice together last week,” Tanya continued, “but it’s been over a month since we’ve all been together. Esther, you choreographed it all, so you probably don’t need as much practice, but Charity, have you had a chance to practice?”

  “Esther and I got together last week,” she said. “I had forgotten a few of the routines, but Esther caught me up and I’ve been practicing every day since.”

  “Great. Alright, let’s line up then,” said Tanya. Esther stepped forward and took her place on the left side as they faced the audience—or where the audience would be anyway. Tanya looked over at her. “Esther, do you want to start us off?”

  Esther nodded. “Alright, here we go. One, two, three, four…” Esther stepped to the left, just as the first step in the dance routine dictated. However, Charity had started a beat too early and bumped into Tanya. Tanya was tall, and large boned. She wasn’t easily moved. Charity simply bounced off her firm friend and was sent rebounding back towards Esther. Esther tried to dodge, but was caught off guard. Charity collided with her and they both went sprawling to the ground.

  Esther looked up to see horrified expressions on Tanya and Marigold’s faces as they stared down at Esther and Charity. Their expressions quickly turned to grins, however and they all burst out laughing. Several minutes later, they finally got their giggles under control. Tanya held out a hand and Esther grabbed it, pulling herself to her feet. Marigold did the same for Charity.

  “Well, that was…interesting,” said Tanya.

  “Sorry about that,” said Charity, looking down at the ground.

  “That’s all right,” said Tanya, clapping Charity on the back, “We have tonight and plenty of time tomorrow morning to practice. Don’t worry. Alright, let’s line up and try that again, shall we?”

  Two of Esther’s brothers walked in as they were lining up again. They each carried half a dozen lanterns that they hung around the area, brightening up the interior of the increasingly gloomy old barn. Esther looked over her shoulder at the sun as it began to dip below the horizon. After sundown, the adults would normally gather at the Rosebud to drink a pint of ale and get the latest news, but with the festival packing so many families with children into the Rosebud, and the chaos that would cause, the venue would be changed to the Town Hall and Master Schmidt, the Rosebud’s Innkeeper, would have barrels of ale carted over there. She and her friends didn’t have much more time to practice if she wanted to get over there and hear the news that Merchant McKinney brought. Esther stepped into line and clenched her jaw, determined to push herself as hard as she could in the time they had left.

  CHAPTER 3

  Trouble

  Who knew Merchant McKinney’s arrival would herald something far more disturbing that would change our lives forever?

  Esther stood outside the Town Hall in the deepening gloom after the sun had set, breathless from the exertion of dance practice and the run to get over here. She stared at the two-story, thatch roofed building, its second story windows bright with light from inside, wondering how she was going to get in. She had been in the building many times before and knew the layout well. Two small rooms stood just inside and served as offices with storage space above them. A large, high roofed meeting area took up the remainder of the building. A sizable fire place was inset into the far wall of the meeting area, against the back of the building. Pigeons in the rafters were a constant problem and the Mayor was always complaining about them. Youth caught in delinquent behavior were often assigned to clean the bird droppings off the floor of the general assembly area. It wasn’t a large building and tonight its capacity was strained given all who had come for the festival tomorrow. It seemed that every head of household in the area was there to talk with the Mayor and hear the news that Merchant McKinney brought. Getting inside was going to be impossible, Esther though.

  Gary Porter’s oldest son Matthew was at the door shooing away anyone younger than seventeen, even though he was barely seventeen himself. There weren’t any windows on the ground floor, except the ones for the offices in the front. Esther would have to find some other means to gain access or listen in. She could push herself up against the outside wall and try and eavesdrop under one of the second story windows, but with the noise level from the crowd, she doubted she would catch one word in ten. She’d have to try and find another way.

  Esther walked around the back of the building and noted that two of the second story windows flanked either side of the Chimney on this end. The chimney was wide at the bottom, then canted into a narrow bottleneck halfway up the wall. From there it ran the rest of the way up the wall and rose a few feet above the roof. If she could get up onto the canting, she could perch there and watch through the window. That would put her almost directly behind where the Mayor usually sat. Climbing up to that point was going to be the tricky part. Fortunately, the fireplace and chimney were large and the canting should be big enough to climb up onto, if she could just get up to it.

  Esther walked toward the side of the building, away from the chimney, then turned back and started running straight towards the side of the chimney where it jutted out from the wall. Her heart started pounding as adrenaline poured into her bloodstream from both exertion and nervousness at what she was about to attempt and she jumped into the air at the last moment, placing her foot against the side of the chimney and hopping up and to the right towards the wall of the building. She pushed off the wall with her other foot and back to the left towards the chimney again, throwing her arms up to grasp the edge of the chimney as her torso landed on top of the sloped area of the canting where it slanted in towards the chimney itself. She grunted with the impact, scrambling to get a purchase for her feet. Finally, breathing hard, she was able to pull herself up. She turned and sat on the slanted area, placing her back against the chimney’s bottleneck. Letting out a long breath, she smiled at her success. Then she looked down at her dress, now covered in grayish dirt and soot and the smile f
aded. Her mother was not going to be happy. Well, there wasn’t anything she could do for that now. She shook her head and took another long breath, then reached over and grabbed the edge of the window frame, leaning to peer into the room.

  She could see the Mayor and Merchant McKinney sitting just in front of the dormant fireplace behind a large wooden desk that was used during the infrequent court proceedings. Surrounding them were townsfolk and others from the surrounding area. Most were sipping mugs of ale that Esther could see were being distributed at the entrance to the town hall. However, the general background noise level in the room and the thick glass window panes kept her from hearing anything but a dull murmur, and she couldn’t lean far enough over to press her ear to the window or she’d fall from her somewhat precarious perch.

  She looked around again to see if she could find any other way to hear what was going on. Looking up, she noticed that there was a space between two beams supporting the thatched roof where birds had picked the mudding away. Before winter, someone would probably go up and repair all such breaches, but for now, Esther might be able to wriggle through it—if she sucked in her breath.

  Esther stood—sliding her back up against the chimney to help stabilize herself on the slanted canting—and raised her hands up into the air to try and reach one of the beams. She wasn’t quite able to reach it. She’d have to jump, grasp a beam jutting out from the wall that supported the thatched roof, shove her hands between the beam and the thatch, then lever herself up into the gap. Feet first would make it easier to get through the gap, but not knowing exactly what was on the other side—with the likelihood of being discovered and thrown out if anyone noticed her—made that method impractical. While holding onto the beam, she’d have to flip upside down, wedge her legs between the thatch and the beam, then grab the neighboring beam and pull herself around and through the gap head first. That would allow her to see what was on the other side. She might have to be content to simply poke her head through and hope to catch some of the conversation, depending on what she found. The canted slope on which she stood was too precarious to rely on if she fell. She’d have only one chance at this. Fortunately, it was dark outside and no one was on this side of the building because when she flipped upside down, her dress wasn’t going to stay down and it would be quite embarrassing to be seen in that awkward position, with her undergarments revealed for the whole world to see. It didn’t take her long to consider the risks involved and decide to go for it. If she did this right, she should be able to make it in one fluid motion.

  The familiar flood of adrenaline started flowing again as she jumped and grabbed the beam, the thick thatch scratching the tops of her hands. She flipped upside down and shoved her legs over the beam between it and the thatch, getting more scrapes on her legs in the process, though not as bad as her hands because the leggings from her shift protected her somewhat, then swung and grabbed the neighboring beam, twisting her body until she was able to slide her head through the gap to see what was on the other side of the wall.

  The two story building had one big, long wooden beam running down its length supporting ‘V’ shaped rafters spaced evenly along the beam, extending up to support the roof. Three of the rafters had another joist that rose straight up the center of the ‘V’ to another long beam in the roof directly overhead. Luckily for Esther, narrow platforms sat against the length of the wall at either end of the building. Workers probably used them to patch up gaps like the one Esther’s head was poking through. The platform would catch any debris that she would scrape off the wall coming in and she should be able to squeeze through and kneel down on the platform to eavesdrop properly.

  Pulling her head out, she twisted again, putting her arms in first and grabbing another roof support on the inside. She sucked in—now thankful for her smaller hips and curves—and pulled herself through the gap, scraping dry mud, straw, and small rocks to drop with a dull pattering sound on the narrow platform. Fortunately, the noise level in the room was loud enough to drown out any sound from her entrance as she pulled her legs through and eased herself quietly onto the platform.

  She looked down at herself to make sure that nothing other than the minor scrapes on her hands and legs were amiss, brushing off some of the larger pieces of the wall and straw that had clung to her dress and hair when she came through the hole in the wall so that they wouldn’t come loose and fall on someone below at an inopportune moment, then she inched up to the platform edge.

  She was above and a little behind the Mayor and Merchant McKinney. She wanted a better angle to be able to see their faces and hear them better, so she stood and slowly stepped off the platform out onto the long beam that ran the length of the hall. She inched her way down the beam past the first two ‘V’ shaped rafters until she reached the third which had the extra joist extending up to the central beam in the roof above. Grasping the joist, she turned and squatted down, staying in the shadows as much as possible. Esther looked down at the crowd to see if she could spy her father. He stood toward the back of the room in a corner, talking with Mr. Nichols.

  “….-at’s what I’ve been telling ya!” she heard Mr. Hankerson, one of the region’s outlying farmers say loudly, “my first crop ain’t going to be ready for another week! You’re here two weeks early and we ain’t ready fer ya!”

  A general assent of approval rose up from the crowd at Mr. Hankerson’s comments.

  “Now let’s all just calm down,” the Mayor said, “As I’ve said, Mr. McKinney and I have already discussed the reason behind his early arrival and the updated timetable. We’ve come up with some options that will hopefully work for most—”

  “And by most you mean those who are already rich!” shouted Hankerson again.

  The Mayor stood with an affronted expression, “Now Mr. Hankerson, that’s uncalled for! The town council and I have never been respecters of person’s and you know it! Now if everyone will just calm down and wait for a moment, Councilman Beale and Councilwoman Rowntree will be returning shortly with representatives from Southwick and Maypar and we can discuss the details.”

  “Why don’t ye all come back and refill yer ale mugs until the Council members return!” hollered Master Schmidt at the rear of the hall in an attempt to distract the crowd.

  Esther thought about what the Mayor had said. Southwick and Maypar were much smaller villages to the west. They used Tewksbury as a hub for their trade goods, and so she understood why the Mayor had sent Eric Beale and Felicity Rowntree to each village. Merchant McKinney’s timetable would affect delivery of their trade goods as well. He must have sent for them almost as soon as McKinney had arrived if he expected them to return soon.

  After fifteen minutes, Felicity Rowntree entered the building and the crowd parted as she made her way towards the Mayor, followed by an older fat woman and a young thin man. Given the similarity between their facial features, Esther guessed that the young man was the older woman’s son. Not two minutes later, Eric Beale stepped through the door with the representative from Southwick—a tall, brooding man with a beard.

  “Alright folks, quiet down please!” said the Mayor finally. He waited for the noise level to die down, then continued, “As you all know, Merchant McKinney has arrived a full two weeks ahead of schedule. I’ll let Mr. McKinney tell you all why, then he and I will discuss how this is going to affect the timetable for our deliveries, and what we can do about it.”

  McKinney was a former Navy Captain and now a merchant marine entrepreneur who owned and operated his own airship. He was a hard man with a dark, thick beard and well-muscled, though he had developed quite a beer gut over the years since he got out of the Navy. Most of the people in town liked him well-enough though, and many had developed a friendship with the merchantman over the years.

  “Well folks, truth is, I was running my usual route along the coast. I was headed to Port Hastings where I was scheduled to on-load fish and other goods to haul north. When I got there, though, everybody was in a hissy. One o
f our merchant ships that makes the run between Port Hastings and Port Kashmir on Madraus had come in just a few hours previously. He’d been chased halfway across the sea by a Madrausan ship before they gave up the pursuit. He’d caught word that a large contingent of troops aboard airships were inbound to Kashmir, so he’d decided to pull out. The local Madrausan’s didn’t want anyone leaving, but his ship got through before they could complete a blockade.”

  Esther thought about that. Port Hastings was southeast of Tewksbury and was a moderate sized town. Given that there wasn’t as much trade traffic with the barbarian kingdoms of Madraus, it wasn’t nearly the size of Port Meijer to the southwest, or some of the other notable port cities around Ardmorr. That made it fertile ground for smaller merchants like McKinney.

  The Mayor spoke up, drawing Esther’s attention back to the people in the room below. “Now, no one knows what those ships are doing and there’s no need to panic, but obviously this is going to disrupt our timetable. This is also news that the Admiralty in Lancaster is going to need to hear, so we have to put our own needs aside at the moment and think of the good of the Kingdom.” The Mayor let the news sink in for a moment before continuing, “Now Mr. McKinney has agreed—”

  The Mayor was interrupted by sudden shouts and yelling coming from outside the town hall. A woman screamed, then Esther heard a loud crack followed by a distant boom. At first, it sounded like loud claps of thunder. The town’s warning bell started to ring, but then cut off abruptly. Below her, shock and bewilderment kept everyone frozen momentarily, but only for a second or two and then a wave of noise rose from the crowd as they surged toward the doorway.

  Sudden fear clutched at her and she stood up quickly, almost hitting her head on a piece of wood extending from one of the rafters. Hearing more yelling outside, Esther didn’t wait to see what else was happening down below. She ran along the center beam to the platform grabbing a roof support overhead, and hefted herself up and through the gap in the wall, feet first this time, twisting like a cork screw until she was facedown and supporting herself with one arm on the inside of the wall, her feet dangling in the air on the outside. She pulled her head and other arm out through the gap, scraping the side of her head in her haste—drawing blood she was sure—and grabbed one of the beams above her that she had used to help her get in earlier. She pulled her other arm out as she heard more yelling and screaming coming from the south edge of town. She was on the north side of the town hall, away from the center of town, and couldn’t see what was going on. Heart pounding, she dropped onto the Chimney’s canting, not even attempting to balance on the slope before hopping down to the ground, bending her knees and dropping to all fours to absorb the impact. She jumped up and stumbled into a run around the corner of the town hall.