Ch 4 : Escapade

One night Irina found Heldia while she washes herself in cold water, hands shaking.

"Did they?" Irina whispered, horror dawning.

Heldia did not look up. "Do not look, Irina."

"Did they hurt you again?" Erina asked, tears running.

Heldia finally looked at them, her red eyes calm and terrible.

"Listen to me both of you," she said, voice low and iron hard. "They come to me so they do not come to you. That is the bargain I made. If you ever let them take you without fighting, I will never forgive you. Do you understand? You fight with teeth if you have to. Scream. Bite. I will handle the rest."

"But sister," Erina cried, "it is not fair."

"Fair?" Heldia laughed, a short, broken sound. "Fair died in Rachen ten years ago with Mother and Father. Now there is only what we can protect. I let them do what they want to my body in order to protect you both. That is my choice. Do not take my choice away by being noble."

Irina clenched her fists, tears furious. "One day I will kill them."

"Good," Heldia said. "Remember that feeling. We will need it."

Fortunately in this world, a woman could not get pregnant other than with her spouse under marriage and blessed by the Fertility Church. That law saved her from a crueler fate.

She had planned the escape plan, a little bit extreme. She wanted to stir chaos by killing the viscount. She seduced him and then laced her hairpin with the resin of the Erax tree, known for its potent paralytic effects in medical field. She got that by bribing the errand boy, with a price she does not speak of.

after Rooga had gone, Irina confronted her.

"Why do you let him talk to you like that?" Irina demanded, voice low, furious, scrubbing a pot so hard it squeaked. "Why do you say yes young master like a dog?"

Heldia kept scrubbing beside her. "Because if I say no, he hits me. If I say no twice, he hits you."

"I can take a hit," Irina snapped. "I am not a kid anymore."

"I know you are not a kid," Heldia said quietly. "That is why I take it. You are sixteen and you are pretty and he has not noticed yet. Let us keep it that way."

Erina, sitting on floor sorting herbs, looked up with soft eyes. "Sister, are we ever going home? To Rachen?"

Rachen was ash, but Heldia did not say that.

"If there is a home left, we will find it," Heldia said. "If not, we will make one. Do you remember what Father used to say about swords?"

"What?" Erina asked.

"He said a sword is just a piece of metal until someone decides it will not break," Heldia said. "We will not break."

"Do you remember brother Agamund?" Irina asked suddenly. "His hair?"

Heldia smiled despite herself. "Short red hair, neatly combed to the left. Mother combed it. He hated it. He said it made him look like a clerk."

"He was bright," Erina said. "He taught me letters."

"He taught me how to steal honey cakes," Irina said, and for a moment she laughed, real laugh, small and rusted from disuse.

"Do you think he is alive?" Erina whispered. "Somewhere?"

Heldia looked at her sisters, at their faces thin but alive, at their hands that still knew how to find white rocks.

"I think missing is not dead," Heldia said. "And as long as missing is not dead, I will keep looking. Agamund von Agilrach was bright guy. Bright guys find a way to survive. Like us."

Irina nodded, eyes fierce. "If he is alive, he is twenty four now. He would be a knight. He would come for us."

"And if he does not come, we will go to him," Heldia said. "But first we must leave this place. I have a plan."

"What plan?" Irina asked, leaning close.

Heldia glanced at door, then whispered, "The Erax tree. Its resin. I can get it."

"How?" Erina asked, frowning. "That is locked in infirmary."

"I know someone," Heldia said, and did not say more. She did not tell them about the errand boy, or seven nights. Some prices should not be shared.

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meanwhile in the Wine Cellar.

*Whack!!*

the door barged open by Heldia.

there she could hear a clapping sounds, further inside.

She looked at Leckner, with his pants pulled down, head facing the ceiling, one hand rubbing at his Sword, the other leaned towards the wall.

"Didn't you hear the loud noise i made while barged in here??" she said.

"Guh-- Haaa Fuck it.." he said while letting go a splurt of white resin towards the wall.

"Can't let go of me, can you?" she giggles.

"Yeah.. one more time plea--"

*whack*

"Aarrghh!!" he shouted

Heldia throws an axe kick at his head, flashing her sweet white undie for a split second.

"You brought it?" she asked

He held out clay jar, hands shaking. "You are crazy, you know that? If Jerren finds this, he will burn me."

"He will not find it," Heldia said, taking the jar, tucking it into apron. "And you will not speak of this again. Ever. If you speak, I will tell head maid you stole wine and sold it. And I will tell Rooga you touched me without paying. and also there are other options more painful for you. Which do you prefer more?"

He paled. "You would not."

"The fuck I wouldn't," she said while kicking his crutch with her left foot

*thwack*

"Gahh-- you cunt" he curses

"Seven nights are paid. We are done. Do not come near me or my sisters again." she said

He ran.

Heldia stood alone in yard, holding jar of dark amber paste that smelled pine and rot, and for first time in ten years she felt something like power, small and bitter and hers.

She whispered to empty air, "For Rachen. For Mother. For Father."

And the wind that carried ash even after ten years seemed to answer.

It is the fated day for the escape plan. Will it go well?

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to be continued..

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