Author's Note: This one is for MercWanderer, for reasons she understands.
Late
By
K'Arthur
"Where are we going?" the little girl asked.
The question was simple enough, yet the answer seemed so unattainable. She'd asked five different people—three servants, a strange man who arrived earlier in the day, and even her own brother—and none gave more than a shake of their head in response.
Sitting on her bed in her room, she held a stuffed cat to her chest. Named Reggie, in his earlier years, he had been a rich chocolate brown. Now, faded by time and the sun, his color was more of a beige. She clutched him to her chest as she watched one of the servants put her clothes into a large trunk. She tried asking again. "Where are we going?"
"Lady Odessa," the woman started. "You needn't worry about that."
"Are you coming, Lindsay?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Lindsay looked up from her task and brushed her graying hair from her face. "It is not necessary. You will be well cared for."
"But—"
"No buts, Lady Odessa."
She bit her lip and gripped Reggie tight. "Did I do something bad? Is that why Mother and Father are sending me away?"
"Oh no," Lindsay said, dropping the last of the clothes into the trunk. With a sigh, she lowered herself onto the bed next to the little girl. She had a kind face, one that Odessa had grown used to looking at in times of trouble. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's not your fault, and they're not sending you away."
"Is Mathiu going?" she asked with a sigh.
Lindsay put gentle hand on her back. "Yes, of course."
A man came in the room. He was big, and had horrible, burly eyebrows that probably caught moths in the summer. Odessa hadn't liked him since the moment he had arrived earlier in the day and started bossing people around. "Is the girl ready yet?" he asked. His voice made Odessa pull her legs under her pink dress—it sounded like a tiger's growl.
"Master Leon," Lindsay said, gripping the girl's hand. "Just a few more minutes."
"Hurry up," he demanded before striding away, the boots of his heels clicking impatiently on the wooden floor.
When he was gone, Odessa looked at Lindsay. "I have to go with him, don't I?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"I don't know," Lindsay said sadly. "He has a number of different houses."
"I don't like him," she said, lifting up her toy cat. "And neither does Reggie."
"Well, you'll have to like him. Or at least tolerate him."
Odessa frowned. "Are you sure you can't come, Lindsay?"
"I'm sure. I have to stay with the house."
"Oh," Odessa said. "Can I stay with the house?"
Lindsay gave a tired chuckle, the lines around her hazel eyes pulling into a myriad of trails. "No, sweetie. You and Lord Mathiu will have to leave—for your own good."
Odessa's little face contorted in thought. She turned to face the woman. "Well some day I'll come back. You'll be here, right?"
Lindsay gave a faint sigh and pulled a length of blue ribbon out of her silver hair, dropping the tresses down from their neat plait. She tied it around Reggie's neck.
"What's that?"
"A good luck charm," she said with a waning smile. "Keep it safe."
"I will!"
"Odessa?" A voice called from the hallway. It sounded sad and tired, just like everyone else in the house but she knew that it belonged to her brother, Mathiu. He walked into the room and gave a nod to Lindsay. He was a tall fellow with auburn hair and gentle dark eyes. In his mid-teens, he was lanky, awkward, and still hadn't grown into his shoulders.
She rushed to him and hugged as much of him as she could reach. "Lindsay gave me a good luck charm! So everything will be fine!"
He just nodded to her. He seemed different today. He wasn't smiling. He always smiled.
"She's ready, milord," Lindsay said. "I'll have some of the men load the trunk for you."
"Thank you," he said as if his voice was coming from somewhere far away.
Odessa was still holding onto Mathiu's legs. "So we're going now?"
"Yes," he replied, gently kicking her away. "Go get Reggie. We can't come back for him."
Bounding over to the bed, the little girl retrieved her prized possession.
Lindsay gave a bow to Mathiu and whispered something to him as she passed into the hall. All Odessa heard was: "…doesn't….understand…explain…to her…"
He just closed his eyes and nodded. Turning to Odessa he said, "Go downstairs and get in the carriage."
Odessa climbed up upon the leather seat of the carriage. Her legs were too short to reach the floor and she was barely tall enough to look out over the half-door. Lifting herself up on her hands to peel her bare skinned legs from the smooth seat, she craned her neck to see the bustling people outside.
They had been at the house all day, those people. Many of them wore the same clothing and they carried swords. She had asked her brother why they were there but he had told her not to worry about it.
The leather seat of the carriage was cold against her skin. She kicked her feet lazily in an effort to distract herself from the discomfort. She created a pleasant rhythm with her feet as she sat there, prim and proper, the little buckles on her shoes catching the light from the dying sun in the purple sky. One shoe up, one shoe down. Both shoes up, both shoes down.
Repeating the pattern twice, thrice and finally a fourth time, she smiled at Reggie. "We're going on an adventure, it seems."
He just stared at her with button eyes.
"And Mathiu's coming, too!"
Reggie didn't seem impressed.
"Don't be a sour puss! I'll still talk to you—even if Math is more interesting." She laughed as the doll's head lolled. Lifting the blue ribbon from his neck to his forehead, she giggled. "See, now you're a warrior! You can protect us!"
She nearly jumped from her seat as something crashed on the roof of the carriage. Straining to look out again, she saw two of the uniformed men lifting her trunk. She guessed the one on top already was Mathiu's.
A moment later, her brother climbed up into the carriage and sat across from her. A whip cracked and the horses moved. The cobblestones underneath the wheels caused her to bounce on the seat and giggle.
Her brother stared out the window. He seemed very upset. She smiled at him, but he wouldn't even look at her.
She held up Reggie. "He's a warrior now. He's going to protect us!"
"Shut up," Mathiu said sharply, his teeth grit.
"Math…why are you mad?" she asked, wounded. "They're not sending us away because we were bad. Lindsay told me that."
"They? They don't exist any more!" he snapped.
She tilted her head in curiosity. "Huh?"
"Never mind," he muttered miserably.
Between the darkness and the noise from the wheels, she couldn't be sure, but she thought that he was crying.
When dawn broke, Odessa awakened inside the carriage. They were still moving and both she and Mathiu had fallen asleep. She didn't stir him, though. She just put Reggie on his shoulder so that he would be safe while he slept.
She looked out the window. The road was dirt instead of stone and meadows instead of buildings. She saw a cow, chewing on grass and swatting flies with its tail. It made her giggle. She'd never seen a cow in the city—except in books. She almost wanted to wake her brother and show him. There were now lots of cows! But she decided against it.
After awhile of watching field after field of animals, the horses pulling the carriage slowed down. Mathiu woke up, but didn't move from his prone position on the bench. He plucked Reggie from his shoulder and tossed him back to Odessa. "Yours, I believe."
"He wanted to cuddle!"
"Whatever," he snorted.
Determined to make him smile, she said: "You missed cows!"
His tone was still angry and flat. "Wonderful."
"You're so mean today, Mathiu. Go back to sleep and wake up again!"
He muttered something under his breath, sat up and stretched.
The horses stopped. The two of them looked out the window to see a huge house, slapped down right in the middle of the country. There was a fence running all around it and a big garden in the front yard. The house itself was brick and had many windows. Far too the side was a well-kept barn full of animals. Odessa whispered, "We're gonna live here?"
"I guess," Mathiu muttered. "It's as good as any place at this point."
"It's pretty! Look at all the flowers! I bet there's a huge backyard and a forest to explore!"
"I'm sure."
The door opened then, and the ugly man with the eyebrows was standing there. He called them out by name. When they were standing in front of him he said, "This is my country estate. Your late parents would have wanted you to stay here."
He turned and left. Just like that.
Odessa whispered, "Who is he?"
Mathiu suddenly looked rather sad. "Our Uncle Leon."
"Uncle?"
"He and Father are brothers," he said kicking at a stone in the grass.
"Oh," she said, realizing the two men did look a bit like. "He doesn't seem very nice. Not like Father."
Mathiu shrugged. "It doesn't really matter."
She watched as two servants pulled the trunks from the top of the carriage. "Even though Mother and Father will be late, I guess we'll still have dinner tonight, right?"
He covered his face with his hand. "Go find your room and unpack."
Reggie wasn't cooperating. Every time Odessa set him on her new bed, he sunk forward at his waist and nearly toppled over. She scolded him, but it did no good. Annoyed with him and his refusal to sit properly, she decided to take him for a walk.
Down the stairs they went, out through the parlor, the foyer, and into the front gardens. A woman in a maid's outfit who was working in the yard smiled at her and waved. After returning the greeting, Odessa made a game of chasing her long afternoon shadow around the lawn. When that diversion was exhausted, she wandered around the garden and made her way towards the rose bushes. Holding Reggie up so he could smell a rose, she talked to him. "Math is being so mean. You know he's not normally like that. Maybe he needs a girlfriend. Remember when the butler found a girlfriend? He smiled a lot more."
Reggie was treated to another rose to sniff as she continued talking. "You're going to be my best friend now. At least until Math gets a girlfriend and stops being so nasty."
Walking towards the gate she whispered. "Mother and Father should be here soon. Let's wait for them! It'll be a surprise!"
She took a seat on the ground and held Reggie in her lap.
And she waited.
Night fell and Odessa was still waiting. She'd chased the fireflies until Reggie got tired of it. Sitting down on the cool grass, she picked at some of the blades. With a glance to the sky, she saw a sliver of moon balancing itself between the stars. It seems to smile at her, so she and Reggie waved to it.
Footsteps behind her caused her to turn around. Standing there, with one hand in his pocket was Mathiu. "You need to come inside. You'll catch your death of cold out here."
"Reggie thinks it's getting closer," she said, pointing at the moon. "Do moons fall?"
"No," he said before sitting next to her. Taking a breath and pulling at some of the grass he whispered, "I have to tell you something, Odessa."
She looked at him eagerly as she placed Reggie on her lap.
"Odessa…"
She giggled. "That's my name, silly!"
He closed his eyes, the odd shadows from the minimal light giving the illusion that he was much older than his meager fifteen years. "I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to say it. Our parents aren't coming here. They aren't coming back."
"Nonsense. Uncle Leon said they'd be late."
"No," he shook his head sadly. "What he said was that they were late. When you say it like that it means that they are dead."
"Dead?" she gasped.
He nodded.
"Quit playing Mathiu!" she shouted, her lower lip quivering.
"I'm not," he said, pulling her into an embrace. "It's true. They're dead."
Her tears fell then. She knew what dead was. Her kitten had died in the spring. Death makes people go away. It makes people sad. She cried into Mathiu's shirt until there was a big wet spot running down it. She felt him petting her hair. He didn't say anything though. When she finally exhausted herself, she glanced up at him. There were shiny trails of tears on his cheeks.
He kissed her forehead. "It'll be all right, though, Odessa. I promise."
"We have to live here," she whimpered. "With that man."
"I know, but he's going to teach me. He's going to teach me so I can avenge our parents' deaths."
Sitting up on his lap and pulling Reggie closer, she tried out the new word. "Avenge?"
"Yes," Mathiu said as he stared out into the distance. "See, our parents were supporters of the Emperor. They were killed by his rivals."
She gave him a puzzled look.
He held her tight against his chest. "Uncle Leon is going to teach me how to be a military strategist. Then I can help the Emperor and fight against those people who killed our parents." His voice sounded like it was strangling him. "Maybe I can even kill them."
"Oh," she said, wiping her tears. "You better be careful, then."
"Huh?"
"Last spring when my kitten died, I wanted to kill the snake that hurt him. But Mother said that I shouldn't. She said that if I was going to kill someone, I should dig two graves."
"Two graves?" Mathiu asked, absently brushing his hair back from his face.
"Yes," she said quietly. "One for the snake and one for me. It doesn't make any sense, but if Mother said it--"
He stood up and he suddenly looked taller to her. "This is different than your kitten, Odessa."
She nodded.
"But I'll promise you something," he said, offering her his hand. "I promise I'll always look out for you."
Standing up, she wrapped her arms around his legs. "I know you will, Math."
Holding her hand, he led her back towards the manor, the darkness obscuring their path.