At last the second chapter. It took a while, but now it's here :)
Thank you those who have commented and followed!
Chapter 2. The Midnight Show
(Disclaimer: I own no one except for Eva. Every other character belongs to Cornelia Funke)
8 months later:
The Italian evening was mild, warm. As Eva longingly looked out of the window of Capricorn's house, she saw a red sky and a full moon. Before her life here in Capricorn's village, whenever she'd been away from home, she had always looked at the moon and taken comfort in the fact that her family looked at the same moon, but now that they were dead, she was no longer granted such a comfort.
The worst pain was over, but the fire of it still scorched her mind. She understood that it would never really go away.
Reluctantly she turned from the window and continued to sort laundry.
It wasn't as if she would simply accept the fact that they had been murdered. Absolutely not. There was a part of her – a darker, more bloodthirsty part – that hungered for vengeance. Capricorn and his men had to pay for this deed. They would pay.
Once she was done with the laundry, she headed out of the house and quickly changed to a scarlet dress in the maid chambers. Capricorn loved the color red. Maybe because it was to cover his own lack of color. She hated him most of all, hated him with a strength that could cause pavement to crack and waves to rise out of the sea. He was so cruel and cold that she at times wondered if his blood was ice, too.
The sun had gone down, leaving place for an eerie darkness, when she finally arrived at the church. She passed the red statue without blinking – it didn't bother her anymore. What bothered her was the scene she had to observe in front of her.
Capricorn's men were all gathered around the table with Capricorn and Mortola at the head of it. Capricorn's red shirt fitted perfectly into the pattern that the dresses of the maids created. Eva also saw Dustfinger, who sat subdued and absentminded as usual, and Basta, who she noticed was stroking his knife tenderly. His shirt was the only white thing in the church, rebelling against the black coats of Capricorn's men and the red dresses of the maid.
Capricorn sat and stared at everyone for a moment, probably absorbing the fear and helplessness everyone except himself felt. Then, as he rang a golden bell, Eva and the other maids had to serve the food. It was possibly the most degrading task one could have in Capricorn's village. Nearly all the men jeered at her and gave her dirty looks as she passed out the bread. The only thing stopping her from expressing her fury was the thought that soon she would get her revenge.
Dustfinger gave her a small smile as she passed him, and she nearly smiled back. At least there was one soul in this whole village who was kindhearted. People like him stopped the world from turning completely dark.
When she handed Basta a piece of bread, she saw that he was etching patterns into the table with his knife. He had changed pretty much the past three months. At first he had been Capricorn's pet, trying to do everything that Capricorn asked of him. As of lately though, he had become almost as subdued as Dustfinger, keeping to himself and acting very hostile.
When the food had been served, the maids all took a step behind and watched as the men and Mortola dined. Sometimes Eva wondered if some of the men even knew what a fork and a spoon was.
Capricorn looked at his food without delight or sign of hunger, as usual. Quite suddenly he turned to Basta – who wasn't eating either – and narrowed his eyes maliciously. "Say, Basta, don't you think it's quite dark in here?"
All the men stopped their chatter to listen. No one wanted to miss out on Capricorn taunting Basta.
Basta winced, pulled his knife out of the table, and mumbled: "Yeah, maybe, I don't know…"
"So can't you light a couple of candles or something?" Capricorn asked slyly, a smirk already playing on his lips. Eva could see how he enjoyed to see the sudden spark of fear in Basta. He was a like a leech, feeding on other people's misery.
Basta absentmindedly rubbed his forearms, as if remembering the night fire scorched his skin. He looked more than hesitant to simply light a couple of candles, he looked scared. Eva almost, but only almost, felt sorry for him. He wasn't exactly Mr. Popular in the village. And even though the death of her parents had made her colder, there was still a part of her that pitied outcasts like Basta.
For some reason she glanced at Dustfinger. He was smiling. All she felt was disappointment. Maybe she was wrong about there being a kind a soul in this village.
Capricorn waited for a couple of minutes, but when Basta made no notion to grab the lighter that lay in front of him, he scowled and turned to Dustfinger instead. "Clearly you are useless, Basta, just as I thought. Dustfinger, light the candles."
Basta let this remark pass without any reply. Eva knew that he knew that it was useless to defy Capricorn openly. It would only bring harm to him.
The rest of the dinner passed in usual manner. Eva felt relieved when she was finally let out into the night.
It was dark and warm, and since it was May the air was filled with the scent of cherry blossom. The village looked hauntingly like a ghost town in the moonlight, it was beautiful somehow. It would be even more beautiful without Capricorn's men. Eva grimaced. That would soon be arranged.
In her room Eva hurried to her window. She was not tired enough to sleep anyway, despite the long day of chores. Besides, there was something she had to watch before she went to sleep.
Every night Dustfinger went out into courtyard beneath Eva's window when he was sure the village lay in slumber.
She watched him now, his silhouette in the dark. He reached for his bag, brought out a bottle of alcohol fuel and filled his mouth with it. Then he lit a torch… and breathed.
The fine mist of fuel suddenly turned to flames that seemed to burn up the night sky. Despite having seen this many, many times, Eva was entranced and forgot about Dustfinger's mean behavior at dinner.
Breathing fire never ceased to be beautiful.
But suddenly everything turned upside-down.
"Showing off, are you?" a voice wandered out of the darkness.
Both Dustfinger and Eva turned to stare at the shape that stepped out of the shadows.
It was Basta.
Comments, both praise and criticism, are always welcome!
I hope to update as soon as I can.
/CheeseSwiss
