[An Epic Fantasy 01.0] Skip

by Perrin Briar

  “Gregory, pleasure to meet you.”

  Gregory didn’t return the compliment. Craig bowed and left.

  Kali and Gregory continued to walk down the pavement, albeit at a slower pace, and in a less ecstatic mood than before. Kali’s expression was distracted and concerned, though she put a brave face on it.

  Richard pulled Jera toward a foreign items stall. The owner of the stall was a short pot-bellied man with a thick bushy moustache and fine hair that had no semblance of style at all. He stood in the centre of his wares, the tables square around him. On two of the tables was traditional jewellery made of reeds, leaves and bright beads. On the other two tables, a collection of traditional weapons.

  “From the ancient Goleuni tribes in the Rumble Jungle,” the rotund stallholder said. “Genuine articles.”

  “Jera, try on one of these,” Richard said.

  The necklace consisted of braided vines wound tight, and a series of long hard white objects that looked very much like bone. The necklace was hauntingly beautiful.

  “Try it on,” Richard said.

  Jera pulled up her hair and turned her back to Richard. He put the necklace on around her neck and fastened the clasps. Jera looked at herself in a mirror.

  “How do I look?” she said.

  “Very… native. Let me buy it for you.”

  “There’s really no need.”

  “I insist. You did win our game earlier.”

  Richard took out his wallet and handed over five copper coins. As the owner took the money and bowed his thanks, a man appeared from the crowd and grabbed a handful of the items on the table and beat a hasty retreat.

  The stall owner, in no particular rush, sighed, picked up a random blow dart, loaded it with an object about the length of his little finger, turned, aimed, took a lungful of air, and blew into it, all in one smooth movement.

  There was a faint blur of green, and a whistling sound like something furry flying through the air. There was no sound when the dart struck. The thief took a few more strides before he hit the ground. He clutched his left leg, where a small clutch of green feathers protruded from it. He rolled onto his back and fell unconscious. The shoppers around the dart stall turned, breath held in shocked awe, and fell upon the dart stallholder, handing money over fist and purchasing the blowdarts for themselves.

  “Well, that was exciting,” Jera said.

  A small crowd had gathered around the thief. Jera and Richard pressed in close to him.

  “We never used to have thieves in Time,” Jera said. “Not out in public like this, anyway. Why do you suppose he tried to steal it? It couldn’t have been worth much.”

  Richard pulled up the ratty sleeve of the thief’s arm with the tip of his cane. There were puncture holes in the crook of his arm.

  “That’s awful,” Jera said. “It’s that compound everyone is talking about, isn’t it? Gap. The moment someone takes it, they’re hooked and can’t live without it.”

  “It has even made its way into the sleepy town of Time,” Richard said, shaking his head. “Nowhere is safe.”

  A pair of men in white uniforms arrived. They saluted to Gregory and Richard, a movement where they raised a flat hand just above one eye.

  “Take this thief to the station,” Gregory said.

  “Yes, sir,” the constables said.

  They carried the thief away. Richard turned to Jera and placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. “It’s infiltrated the Capital too. No matter the precautions we take, it still gets through.”

  “I suppose if the drug gets a stronger hold on the town we’ll be seeing a lot more like this,” Jera said.

  “Indeed we will, my dear. Indeed we will.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jera and Kali dumped their bags on the floor and collapsed on Jera’s bed. Sunlight filtered in through the rusty brown drapes and cast crosshatch patterns across the floor. The fabric whispered like they were sharing secrets.

  “You and Richard seemed to be getting on well today,” Kali said.

  “Yes,” Jera said. “We were, rather.”

  “Are you less worried about getting married now?”

  Jera took in a deep breath and let it out.

  “No, not really,” she said. “I’m still worried.”

  “About what? The preparations are being made as we speak. And Richard’s smart, handsome and he’s got a great career ahead of him.”

  “I know. And maybe you’re right. Maybe one day I will come to accept him as my husband. I may even grow to love him. But he is still a man I did not choose for myself.”

  “We’re women. We don’t get to make choices.”

  Jera turned her head to look at the portrait on the wall.

  “Aunt Tessa did,” she said.

  “And look where that got her,” Kali said. “Maybe women weren’t made to make decisions.”

  “I wish I could fast forward ten years and see how things turn out.”

  “Yes, well, you can’t. You have to follow the laws of time along with the rest of us.”

  Kali sat up and stretched. She moved to the full length mirror and appraised herself.

  “Do you think men will look at us differently when we’re married?” she said.

  “Probably. Why?”

  “No reason.”

  Kali adjusted her dress.

  “I need to go get changed,” she said.

  “Get changed?” Jera said, pushing herself up onto her elbows. “Where are you off to now?”

  “I have an appointment.”

  “With Gregory again? I swear, if you hang out with him more you’ll become one person.”

  “No, not with Gregory.”

  Jera tilted her head to the side.

  “Then with who?” she said.

  “Just a friend.”

  “Who was that man at the market today?”

  Kali glanced at Jera and then looked away.

  “Just a friend,” she said.

  Jera knew her sister too well to be side tracked by that remark.

  “What was his name? Craig? He didn’t look like just a friend to me. If I didn’t know any better I would have said he was jealous.”

  Kali sighed.

  “Is there ever any use in trying to keep something from you?” she said.

  “We’re twins. We have a mystical bond.”

  “All right, so yes, I was seeing him for a while.”

  “For how long?”

  “Just a few months.”

  “And then you stopped?”

  “Not so much ‘stopped’ as ‘paused’ for a while,” she said.

  “‘Paused’? But you’re betrothed!”

  “Betrothed for a very long time! Or, a few months at least. I have needs.”

  “You needed to be honest and faithful.”

  “That’s why I’m going to meet Craig today.”

  “To break it off?”

  “Yes. Men can be funny if you don’t make things clear to them from the start.”

  “You’re unbelievable. And you’re telling me I can’t go travel and do the things I want when you’re out doing all the things you want!”

  “Yes, yes. All right, all right. But it’s over now. Tonight will be the very last time I ever see Craig.”

  “It had better be,” Jera said. “If I have to give up my dreams, so do you.”

  “Gregory,” Kali said with a smile. “I’ll be honest and faithful to him till the day I die. After tonight.”

  Kali left, leaving Jera by herself. Her bedroom suddenly felt empty. She picked out a book from her bookshelf and took a seat in an armchair beside the window. A cool breeze tickled her face and stroked a vagrant page. She looked out the window at the lawn outside. She turned back to the book, but again became distracted. She put the book down and left her bedroom.

  Chapter Nine

  A gardener knelt in a well-manicured flower patch. He wore a wide-brimmed straw
hat that covered his head and both shoulders. He grabbed a thick weed in one gloved hand and worked it free with the fork. He smiled and waved at Jera as she passed.

  The flowers made great spiral patterns of pink Azaleas, bluebells, daffodils and snap dragons. Jera walked to the bottom of the lawn, letting her feet guide her.

  The ground had been pound hard as stone by constant passers-by’s feet, and then loosened and dirtied Jera’s shoes as the luscious green grass gave way to a thick wood at the back of the property. She headed into it. A shrub shook, and a pheasuck clucked and sailed past, the air hissing between its feathers.

  Jera came to a large tree, bark green with lichen. Jera grabbed a rectangular block of wood that protruded from the trunk and pulled herself up. Her feet slipped on the wet wood. One step had split and she had to turn her foot sideways to stand on it. Her arms shook under her own weight, and she pulled herself onto a set of floor boards. She was fifteen feet up. She shook her head, out of breath.

  “I remember that being a lot easier,” she said out loud.

  Jera took a step, and the boards creaked beneath her feet. The floor was slimy, wet and green with damp. A tree branch had woven under the floor and pushed up one corner. Piles of last autumn’s leaves lay scattered in damp clumps. A pair of children’s chairs faced the tree trunk, flowers painted on the backrests.

  Jera sat on one of the chairs and looked out at the woods. Green leaves hung over her like it was the roof of the world, and the breeze ran through the trees like water in a tranquil stream. She saw something written on the tree trunk, poking out from behind a large stained sheet of paper. When she pulled the sheet back it slipped off the tree and sailed to the ground twenty feet below.

  A smile creased Jera’s lips at what she saw. Jera ran her fingers over the letters carved into the bark in an unpracticed hand that was still legible. At the top was written:

  THINGS I WILL DO BEFORE I GROW UP:

  CLIMB DREARY MOUNTAINS

  SAIL DOWN THE ICE RIVER

  TRAVERSE RUMBLE JUNGLE

  LIVE WITH NATIVES ON GREAT PLAINS

  VISIT EARTH’S END

  FALL IN LOVE

  SIGNED JERA WYTHNOS

  Jera traced the word ‘LOVE’ with her finger, her thoughts lost to the act.

  “You always were adventurous.”

  The voice caused Jera to leap to her feet, knocking her chair over. The floorboards creaked.

  “Mother?” Jera said. “You scared me!”

  “Maybe I didn’t do that enough when I raised you. The other noble families rule their children with an iron fist. I never wanted that for you because I know how that felt. But at least then you would listen to your parents when they told you to do something that was so obviously good for you.”

  Lady Wythnos tucked an errant strand of hair that hung over her forehead behind her ear.

  “You’re not the only one with an adventurous spirit, you know,” she said.

  “How did you get up here?” Jera said.

  “I had our staff form a staircase for me to climb up.”

  Jera peered over the edge down at the ground. Her mother rolled her eyes.

  “I climbed, of course,” she said.

  “You climbed?”

  “No need to sound so surprised. Stranger things have been known to happen. Sometimes people are capable of things we never thought they were. It’s nice sometimes when we’re proven wrong, don’t you think?”

  “How did you know I would be here?”

  “You weren’t in your room and you always used to run here when you were upset as a child. It was your fairy tale home away from the rest of the world.”

  Lady Wythnos stepped across the floor, the boards creaking beneath her. She grimaced with each step, but crossed to Jera and took her in her arms.

  “I’m so proud of you for today,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “For going to the market. I don’t know what Richard must have said to you to get you to go, but I’m pleased you went.”

  “I’ve been to the market a hundred times.”

  “But not with Richard.”

  “You’re giving him a chance. That’s all I ever asked of you.”

  Lady Wythnos took a seat in one of the children’s chairs. She had to balance on one buttock.

  “So, how did it go?” she said.

  Jera couldn’t keep herself from smiling.

  “It went well,” she said.

  “Do you like him?”

  “Mother…” she said in an embarrassed tone.

  “Can’t a mother be interested?”

  “She can, but not overly so.”

  “Come sit. Tell me about him.”

  Jera sat down in the other chair.

  “Well, he seems nice,” she said. “He’s travelled a lot.”

  “Do you think he might be the one?”

  Jera took a moment before she answered. She gestured to the wall covered in writing.

  “Do you see this list, Mother?” she said. “I wrote this, or rather carved it, when I was twelve. Travelling and going on adventures has always been my dream.”

  “Marriage is an adventure. Every day with your father is an adventure. Taking care of your home, raising children, these are your adventures. Leave these other things to men of questionable means.”

  Her mother sighed and shook her head.

  “Sometimes I forget you and your sister aren’t children anymore,” she said. “Well, not with Kali, anyway. She’s always been a bit of a child. But you… You’ve always seemed older and more mature. You need to be mature again now. We’re just worried about you, that’s all. With each year that slips by, it’s another candle adding to the flames that keep men at bay.”

  “That’s a bit theatrical, don’t you think?”

  “But true, nonetheless. I wasn’t always a mother. I was an actress, once.”

  “For the National Theatre in the Capital, I know. You got to live your dreams, so why can’t I get to live mine?”

  “The world has changed. It’s a dangerous place now, full of dangerous people with dangerous habits. It’s not safe.”

  “It was always like that, Mother. You just remember it differently.”

  “Maybe I do,” her mother said, removing a leaf from Jera’s ear. “But I had no one to protect me like you do.”

  “But I need to live my own life.”

  Jera got up and walked to the edge of the floorboards. She hugged herself.

  “Don’t you ever wish you could see your own future?” she said. “Just a glimpse, so you could see what was coming? And then you could make the best decision you could.”

  “That would be nice, I admit,” her mother said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the way the world works.”

  “I’m already at the age when I should marry and I feel like I haven’t done anything yet.”

  Lady Wythnos stood, her head swam and she had to place her hand on the tree trunk.

  “We all have to give up on our dreams sometime or another,” she said with a sad smile. “Eventually we have to face the truth: that we can’t just do everything we want.

  “I wasn’t born into this world. I was from a minor noble family. I was meant to marry a local businessman, or a man of moderate means. But, I had a talent. I could act, and the theatres cried out for me. I was successful and approached by many suitors, some obscenely rich and some related to royalty, but I chose your father.

  “Do you know why? Because he was a good man. He was from a successful family, but I knew I could be happy with him. And I am.”

  Lady Wythnos reached out for Jera to take her hand.

  “You marry the man, not the name,” she said. “Richard is a good man. And he will treat you well. If you have another suitor in your pocket, then by all means present him to us. But this match with Richard, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You get the best of both worlds. I’m here advising you now not as your mother, but as a woman of the world. Marry Rich
ard.”

  “Father made the decision who I should marry. These marriages are good for both families, but what about me? Am I cattle?”

  “You’re a daughter. This was what it was always going to come down to. A privileged life comes with a restriction of other privileges. A man like Richard does not come along every day.”

  “You marry him, then. He might be a good man, but I don’t I love him.”

  “Do you like him?”

  Jera hesitated.

  “Yes,” she said.

  Her mother smiled.

  “Then that’s all you need,” she said. “Love will come with time, or even if it doesn’t, you’ll still like him. Do you know how far ahead of everyone else you will be?”

  Jera nodded. She was silent a moment.

  “Richard said I could travel,” she said.

  “Well, there you are then!”

  “But to none of the places I want to go. He will let me see the mountains, but not climb them. He will let me see the oceans, but not swim in them… It’s meeting halfway on something I should not negotiate with. Aunt Tessa-”

  “Tessa had her chance, but she turned down every suitor that came to her.”

  “But she had a dream: she wanted to travel. She wanted to see the world. Maybe if I wait for someone else-”

  “There is no one else, Jera. There is Richard, or there is no one. He is your last chance for a happy married life. Don’t you see that?”

  “If you would just let me travel-”

  “We would never see you again. I saw the same thing happen to my sister. Our parents relented and she went off around the world, swearing that once she had seen everything she wanted, she would return. But she never came back, not until it was too late for her to marry, in any case. By then you and your sister were already born. She didn’t even come to my wedding.”

  Jera looked away.

  “I didn’t know that,” she said.

  “It’s true. Listen to me, Jera. Let this list go. It belongs in another life, in another time. Maybe it was never in your life. You’ve got so much to look forward to other than this. You’ve got parties and balls and children. So many things to look forward to.”

  Jera looked down at the ground below her. It would be so easy just to fall…