by Kim Fedyk
“Faster!” Arleth screamed, “They are following us”
“Arleth! Flora!” yelled Neve, materializing in the hall before them. In a few steps she covered the distance between them
“Get behind me and run! Just ahead is the kitchen, you don’t have time to go anywhere else, go hide in the storage room. I’ll slow them down here.”
Arleth and Flora hesitated, they didn’t want to leave Neve. The creatures had just turned into their hall and were making their way directly towards them.
“GO!” Screamed Neve.
Neve turned from them and faced the Dread Mage and his creatures. She held up her hands and a brilliant red light shot from her hands into the nearest winged beast. With a cry of agony, it burst into flames and disintegrated. The Dread Mage roared in fury.
Arleth and Flora turned and ran. Neve was a sorceress? Arleth couldn’t believe it. But she had little time for shock. From behind her came otherworldly death cries as Neve killed more of the Dread Mage’s creatures. Arleth and Flora reached the kitchen door and ran inside. They heard a female voice cry out and a deep roar of laughter. Neve! Thought Arleth. Please don’t die!
“Where’s the storage room?” Screamed Flora in blind panic. Arleth hurriedly looked around the room and saw the door, slightly open at the far side of the kitchen.
“There!” Arleth pointed and sprinted to the door with Flora close behind her. Arleth reached the door and pushed it farther open so they could squeeze through. Once inside, Arleth turned around and saw Flora coming in, only seconds behind her. A faint smile was on Flora’s tear-streaked face.
“We made it! We will be safe n..” But her sentence was never finished. At that instant a spear of green light flashed through her chest. Arleth had an instant to see the look of horrified shock on Flora’s face and then a pair of green hands grabbed on to Flora and threw her out the door.
“FLORA!” Arleth yelled. Her legs felt numb and she felt herself collapse on the floor. A shadow fell across the door and she looked up into the terrifying face of the Dread Mage. Arleth screamed and tried to back her way further into the room, but her legs were not responding. It was going to end here she thought, she was going to die, just like Canille and Ms. Witrany and Flora. The Dread Mage gleamed at her with his read eyes and she saw a shadow of a smile from inside his hood. He lifted his hand, ready to destroy her with his green fire. Not knowing what else to do, Arleth, with tears streaming down her face, hugged herself and looked down at the ground. She didn’t want to see the fire that would kill her. She stared at the ground and braced herself for the attack.
But instead of the searing pain she expected, she heard the Dread Mage make an angry strangled cry. Arleth looked up and saw that the Dread Mage, had been trapped in a pulsating red light that had woven its way around him like a net. With a cry of fury, the Dread Mage was flown across the room. Neve’s head poked in the door, briefly checked that Arleth was still alive and closed the door behind her with herself on the outside. Arleth heard screams and red and green lights flashes were visible from the crack under the door.
Arleth sank into the ground, trembling with heart pounding. Flora was dead! She almost couldn’t believe it. All she could see was the image of Flora’s face, mouth open in a small “O” of shock, with the saber of light thrust from her chest. She didn’t think it was possible, but she cried even harder and rocked back and forth.
Arleth heard the door to the storage room open. Was it the Dread Mage, come to finish her off? Arleth held her breath and looked up. With a sigh of relief she saw Neve’s face looking at her. Arleth stumbled up and ran into Neve’s arms. She felt Neve wince and Arleth pulled away. She looked at Neve and cried out. Neve was covered in blood. The entire right side of her body had been burned and her clothes were hanging in tatters. Her left arm was hanging awkwardly and it looked like her shoulder had been dislocated.
“Oh Neve!” Arleth cried. Neve gave a faint smile.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said weakly, ‘Run Arleth, get away from here as fast as you can. The Dread Mage is not dead yet.” As if in response Arleth felt a stirring behind Neve’s shoulder and saw the Dread Mage, slumped on the ground, hood flung back, stirring back into consciousness.
“But what about you?” Cried Arleth.
“It’s okay Arleth. He will wake up soon. This might be your only chance to escape. Run Arleth, don’t look back.” Choking on her tears, Arleth nodded
“I love you Neve” She cried.
“I love you too Arleth. Now run.”
And Arleth did, she ran out of the kitchen, through the orphanage, hardly noticing the dozens of dead bodies she passed. Tears streaming down her face she burst out of the orphanage door and with one last glance at the building, she turned and ran as fast and as far as she could until she collapsed, exhausted, miles away.
Chapter 2
Arleth sat on an over-turned bucket with her long legs outstretched before her. The sunlight shone through the open door, casting a band of light across her chest. It was still morning but even in the shade of the stable, the heat was sweltering and Arleth could feel a bead of sweat trickle down her back. She looked down at her dirty, brown bag-like dress that had faded in the sun and harsh climate. Futilely she tried to brush a particularly dirty patch off the bottom of her dress, but she just succeeded in getting the dirt and grime on her fingers and spreading it even farther along her dress. It had been seven years since that horrific day and Arleth thought about how much had changed since then. She was no longer the optimistic, carefree child that had encountered the Dread Mage. She was fully aware of how harsh and unforgiving her world could be and of how utterly alone she was. Arleth felt the tears form at the corner of her eyes. For what must have been the thousandth time she wished that day had not happened and that she could still be playing games with Flora and having Neve sneak pastries to her. The tears rolled down her cheeks, making streaks down her dusty face and neck. Angrily Arleth tried to wipe the tears away. She was ashamed at letting herself cry like a little child.
No matter how many times she had wanted, Arleth had not let herself cry for a long time. Full of self-pity and heartbreak, Arleth had cried non-stop for months after the incident. Countless times she had wished that she could have died too so she wouldn’t have to be so alone. Every day had been a struggle. Then one day she realized that all her crying had not brought Flora, Neve or anyone else back to life. With a burst of maturity that only comes to those who lose everything, she decided that she needed to stop feeling sorry for herself. For whatever reason she had lived when everyone else had died. She had to live so the memory of Flora and Neve would continue. Dying would solve nothing. She needed to survive because she carried them in her heart and as long as she was alive, she felt that in some small way, Flora and Neve were also alive.
She quickly tried to brush her tears away.
TWHAP
A wooden rod came crashing down on her head. Arleth, stunned for a split second looked up into the familiar face of her tormentor. Deep in thought she had not heard him approach. She was now even angrier at herself for crying; she definitely did not want him to see her cry.
“Hahahahaha, crying are we?” The rotund boy said with malice, clearly loving that he had caught Arleth in her misery. Maybe I should tell my mother that you need more work to do, since you seem to have lots of time to sit here and do nothing.”
With a barely repressed sigh, Arleth came to her feet. She had learned long ago that although she could hurl insults better than he, it was not wise to do so. The boy standing in front of her was Kiran Sneel, the teenage son of her owner Bella.
After the attack of the Dread Mage, Arleth had kept running, stopping only when she collapsed. The orphanage had been deep in the Magir Hills. The nearest town was Bridon, 25 miles away, but Arleth had known the general direction. When she had been eight, Arleth, hungry for adventure had begged Neve to be taken with her when the woman went into the town to pick up some supplies. At tha
t time, Arleth had not understood why the orphanage had been so secluded and why they were never allowed to go outside the boundaries. She had found it stiflingly boring. But now she understood; the forests surrounding the Magir hills were home to bands of slave traders who sold their “merchandise” at Bridon. Bridon itself was the center of the slave-trading market and wealthy people from all over Tocarra went there to buy slaves.
By pure luck, Arleth had managed to avoid the slavers in the forests, but she had been snatched up almost as soon as she entered Bridon’s city limits. She had been auctioned off in the center market square the next day and bought by Bella Sneel, a wealthy merchant who lived across the Heat Band, deep in the Chaz Desert. It had taken them almost two months to reach Bella’s home just outside of Sonahan. They had stopped at every major town on the way so Bella could trade the valuable lynstones that could only be obtained in the Chaz desert. It had been slow going with the horses laden down with silks, spices, wood, barrels of water, and the useless trinkets that Bella or Kiran had coveted. On top of that, Bella insisted that her carriage not be bumped or jolted because she might gasp or frown or even worse, hit the side, and thus ruin her perfect complexion.
Bella was a cruel but frivolous and empty-minded woman. Although Bella was convinced she was the most beautiful woman in Tocarra, Arleth thought she was the ugliest woman she had ever seen. Just like her son, Bella was short and rotund, having the appearance of a ball. She had unnaturally short limbs so her pudgy hands and feet stuck out like they were an afterthought, added by a comic painter to make a sphere into a human. She covered her face in thick white powder, convinced that it made her look like an angel. She had a large mole on her cheek that she liked to describe as a beauty mark. She painted her mole black so that it could be seen under her white powder. Her features were completely disproportionate with a large pointed nose and small eyes that were an unremarkable shade of gray and were set too close together. Her hair was so blonde it was almost white and, although she was only 40, it was starting to thin and in some places she had gone bald. In short, Arleth thought that Bella’s complexion should be the last of her worries.
She had been married 20 years ago and the union had produced Kiran, but it had not lasted long. Apparently her husband had taken a routine trip through the Heat Band to the border towns to trade. The story was that he had been ambushed and killed by thieves. Arleth thought it was much more likely that he couldn’t stand to look at his wife any longer and had taken the excuse to run away.
Looking at Bella’s sneering son standing in front of her, she thought of the many suitors that had come to ask for Bella’s hand in marriage. The results were always the same; messengers were sent to the far corners of Tocarra with news of Bella’s beauty, virtue and wealth. All that came would take one look at her, make some transparent excuse and run away leaving a trail of dust behind them. The last one had come just a few nights ago Arleth recalled. He had been a lord or something from the town of Trosh. Arleth had led him into Bella’s sitting room and had taken her place by the door. It had given her the perfect vantage point. Bella came in wearing a ridiculous yellow dress, batting her eyelashes in what she thought was a seductive way, but really just made her look like she had something in her eye. Her suitor had paled, looked around her (a large feat in itself Arleth noted with amusement) hoping that she was hiding a prettier Bella behind her. Realizing that the chalky rhinoceros in front of him was indeed Bella, he emitted some small gagging noises in his throat, made some excuse that the desert heat was too much for him and he couldn’t hope to live in such a climate and ran out the door so fast that Arleth barely had time to open it for him.
A smile had involuntarily come to Arleth’s face when she thought of this. Realizing that Kiran was watching her, she tried to hold it back and was only partially successful. She succeeded in making her face into a half grimace/sneer. Kiran mistook her expression for pain, thinking he had hurt her with his blow earlier. With a smile of undisguised pleasure, Kiran hit her a few more times with the rod and for good measure, kicked the back of her legs as she walked past him.
Although the blows were far from light, Arleth barely felt them. She was still picturing the suitor’s expression when he raced out the door. She smiled again and this time she couldn’t suppress it. It didn’t matter though, Kiran, almost as large as his mother had given up following her, winded from his exertion. He had satisfied himself by waving his arms up and down and hurling insults at her. Arleth smiled larger and even permitted herself a small chuckle. She needed to take advantage of what small joys there were in her life and Bella’s exploits usually provided this pleasure. But, she realized with alarm, she couldn’t stay lost in such thoughts for very long. She had been in the stable a long time and she had to hurry back to the mansion.
By this time, Bella would be just finishing off her bath. As one of Bella’s personal servants it was her duty to stand outside the chamber to wait for the woman to bathe. No one was allowed to actually be inside the room with Bella because she did not think a lowly servant should have the honour of seeing her perfect, angelic body. Although Arleth was supposed to be waiting outside for the instant Bella would emerge, she knew that the grotesque woman would languish in the bath for hours. This gave Arleth at least an hour to leave and safely be back before Bella noticed her absence.
Today Arleth had gone to the stables near the back of the estate’s grounds. But, lost in thought, she had spent too much time there. She knew that Kiran would tell his mother that he had caught Arleth there, and that she would be punished. However, if she could be back before Bella emerged from the bath at least she could avoid being punished twice.
She reached the mansion and saw that Chuck, the head cook had opened the kitchen’s back door. He was outside, emptying a pot of scraps into the garbage.
Great! Arleth thought to herself, the bath chamber was located at the back of the house, near the kitchen. If she cut through the kitchen she could reach it in a lot less time than if she was forced to go from the front. She might just make it!
Chuck looked up and smiled at her as she dashed past him and into the kitchen. Luckily there was no one else there. She could trust Chuck not to tell anyone that she had been out, but most of the other servants would jump at the chance to rat her out to Bella. On Bella’s orders, any servant who informed on another servant was given half a day off. It led to hostile living conditions and bitter animosity between the servants.
She peeped outside the kitchen door and seeing no one, crept along the hall to the bathing quarters. As she neared the room, she saw that the huge oak door was still closed.
Great! Bella was still in her bath. As quietly as she could, she ran the rest of the way and took her post outside the door. Almost immediately, the door opened and Bella wobbled out. On instinct, Arleth lowered her head in a bow as Bella walked past her. Eyes on the floor, Arleth heard Bella make a small grunt and saw a large shadow coming her way. She quickly looked up and had a split second to grasp what was happening before a pile of Bella’s wet towels and dirty clothes landed on Arleth’s head.
Disgusting! Arleth thought to herself. It was probably a good thing that the pile of laundry was on her head because Arleth knew that she was making a face. With caution, she backed up a bit until she felt the weight of the wall behind her. Leaning against the wall, she lifted her left knee up and balanced shakily on one foot. Arleth pushed the pile down against her raised knee and shoved her head through the top of the pile. With a small gasp of air, she put her arms under the pile and her chin on the top and hurried down the hall after Bella.
When she caught up to Bella, she was breathing heavily under the weight of the laundry. Bella made an exasperated grunt.
“Shut up! You are so loud, can’t you be quiet? You are disrupting my thoughts.”
Arleth wanted to say what thoughts? But she held back and instead said “Sorry Ms. Bella it won’t happen again.”
Arleth struggled to calm her breathing and
unleashed a tirade of insults at Bella in her mind. Arleth sighed to herself; Bella had reached the door to her bed chamber and was tapping her foot impatiently.
“Are you going to make me wait all day you lazy swine?”
Arleth hurried in front of Bella and struggling, shifted the laundry to one arm and with effort managed to open the door for Bella to walk through. But the woman was angry from having to wait. As she walked by, she kicked Arleth in the shins. With a gasp of pain, Arleth cried out and dropped the laundry. The kick had been hard and her shins felt like they were on fire. Arleth quickly bent down to retrieve the fallen articles and was hit on the back of the head by Bella’s meaty hand. Arleth wobbled a bit, momentarily dazed.
“How can you be so clumsy? You are the most useless girl that ever existed. All you have to do is carry my clothes and you manage to drop them.”
Arleth looked up and started to say sorry but she was interrupted by a slap in her face.
“Shut up, your voice is irritating me. And don’t you dare look at my face, you don’t deserve the privilege. Go get me some honey wine and pick up my clothes!”
Arleth lowered her head and quickly picked up the laundry. She exited the room as quickly as she could. Her shins were burning and she knew that bruises were forming. Her lip had split from a ring on Bella’s finger when she had slapped her and there was a thin line of blood running down her chin. As she deposited the laundry down the chute and went to the kitchen to pour Bella’s honey wine, Arleth thought about all the things she would like to do to Bella. As she re-entered Bella’s bed chamber, carrying the wine, she was picturing pushing Bella out a top-story window to see if she would bounce. With this joyous thought, her shins and cheek almost didn’t hurt as much.
