yeeeeeeeeeer... chapter 4... it was gunnu be longer... but then i thought... noooo
i'll stop here
4: Tears
Loud rapping sounded at the short wooden door to a farmhouse, the family inside jumping at the strong sound before the man of the house strode to the door and opened it sharply due to the rather urgent pace of the knocking. He squinted suspiciously threw the downpour of rain at the group of figures and if it hadn't been for the man's wife lurking behind him curiously then he wouldn't have noticed the smaller framed person at the fount of the group as someone he knew.
"Hafwen!" The woman gasped, ducking under her husband's arm that was blocking the slightly open door way and opening her arms to the barely recognisable woman, shivering under the protective arm around her shoulders, her dark hair was soaked and clinging to her scalp, half soiled with mud on one side of her head, the straggled ends sticking to her paled face while her blue tinted lips quivered with her short raspy breathing.
The man supporting her guided her towards the other woman's waiting arms with out a word, trying to get the poor woman out of the rain as soon as possible and in doing so saving the older woman from stepping out into the torrential rain fall.
Brac pulled the door open wide as he stepped to the side letting the two women he knew in before flicking his head back to face the small group of men, three all together, two of the men stood further behind the one that had been holding his nice, both keeping a hold on the horses.
"Please come in!" He urged waving them in.
"Boys!" Brac instantly barked flashing his eye's to his three sons that were all been stood around the table from where they had previously jumped up from their seats in alert.
"Howell, Dewey tend to the horses! Evan, finding something dry for these men!" He ordered his son's, the two elders bowing their head and ducking out into the rain, while the youngest darted upstairs to root around in the linen closet.
Brac held a welcoming arm out as if reaching for the men as he waited for them to pass threw the door frame, the first man having stepped in with a gracious bow of his head while the other two men soon followed after allowing the two boys to take control of their horses and pull the animals off in a hasty trot toward the barn.
None of the strange men felt now was a time to say anything, they all could see the family was clearly shocked but they knew questions would be asked in time, when the air had calmed.
"My goodness girl!" Enid grasped as she pulled the unfamiliar cloak from around the younger woman's shoulders, leaving her shivering niece back in her soaked dress as she set the item over the back of the chair, not wanting to be disrespectful to the item's owner even in such a situation.
Hafwen clutched herself in an attempted to hug the little warmth she had, stopping it from leaving, but he rain drenched mud heavy dress did less than help, even stood in front of the fire place as she was.
Enid soon darted back to her niece and turned the woman sharply to face the flames as she started to un tie the back of her dress, blatantly ignoring the fact that three strange men now stood within their home.
"Enid!" Brac called with a frown before his poor niece was stripped in front of the men, but the men where gracious and all bowed their heads, turning their eyes else where in the room.
"She has to get out of these soaking clothes!" The elder woman snapped, peeling the frozen woman from the dark green dress, leaving her in the white under dress that turned slightly transparent as the wet fabric clung to her skin, showing patches of peachy skin when where it suck to her body.
"It's a good thing you were too worried to take the bath today!" The dark haired woman then huffed steering her still shivering niece off into the back room where the unwanted bath lay, already filled with water ready for Brac after his usual hard time of work, but tonight he was far to restless after Hafwen had darted off.
Once the door closed the white under dress was yanked up over her head and Hafwen was shoved into the bath, her Aunt determined to scrub her clean and wash the head back into her skin.
000
The three men stood in their places, not awkward just simply not knowing where to place them selves, that was until a panicked young boy came pounding down the wooden stairs, his small arms piled with various things for the men to dry them selves and keep warm, the odd few items having dropped from his hold and left a trail down the stairs. This gave the men something to do, each slowly moving forwards to help the young boy.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable, I will find you all something dry to change into," Brac nodded and made a move towards the stairs.
"Thank you," The seeming leader of the group that had guided Hafwen to them spoke, the other men soon giving there thanks whole heartily, after all the men had nothing but the clothes on their backs and the weapons that had been laid by their sides, the horses they had managed to pick off from a conman that had been rousing trouble in the first village they had come across. They hadn't a need to pick up anything materialistic on their travels, they just needed to reach Marburg.
The three men bustled quietly as they shred layers of their wet clothing, folding and piling each item to save from making a mess, before wrapping the dry, warm linen around them as the fresh, dry clothing was then handed to them allowing them to change quickly.
The door to the back room then gave a small bang as it closed, the dark haired woman striding into the room regardless of the fact not all of the strangers had managed to change fully.
"Enid!" Her husband quickly jumped as if to save his wife's delicate eyes.
"Oh! It's nothing I haven't seen! I have you and three sons, I see enough male figures daily!" She simply waved off, tottering of to a shelved unit and grabbing three bowls and placing them on a small tray before she headed towards the still brewing broth over the fire, dishing some of the hot stew into each bowl before heading to the long wooden table and setting the bowls out.
"Eat up! Bread is already on the table!" She ordered, far too motherly for her own good as she then grabbed a basket and balanced it on one hip as she zipped around the three men collecting up their wet, dirty clothing to be washed.
"The horses are settled," Howell spoke as he shuffled in with his younger brother, their hair damp and clothes only lightly speckled with the rain but trouser legs where splattered with mud.
"Gaius was following too!" Dewey bowed his head to the dog slinking into the room, soaked and muddy.
"Boys change! Dog out!" Enid pointed and directed to each as she poke and like the dog, they all bowed their heads and slunk off quickly and with a pleased nod Enid turned on her heels and strode off with the basket, back to check on Hafwen leaving the three strangers of the house to pass odd glances between each other before the eldest with greying hair gave a shrug.
000
After a small amount of time the three sons had soon come back into the room and loitered around while the men sat gingerly at the table, eating the food that had been given, or more ordered to them.
"I'm sorry, my wife is over bearing at times," Brac sighed.
"I'm Brac and my wife is Enid," He nodded, to the men, hand shakes not needed for this was no formal meeting but before any of the men could reply with their names, be them real of fake, the woman they had found earlier was shoved back into the room in a night gown, her skin flushed with a bit more colour and hair damp but clean yet her lips still quivered and even though the colour brightened on her face, her eyes remained dull and lost.
"Sit down girl!" Enid scolded, shoving her down in a seat at the head of the table and instantly draping a blanket around her shoulders before deciding she needed a second one, she then pulled Hafwen's dark hair out from under the blankets and laid it on top so it would dry easier and wouldn't cause a chill on the back of her neck.
"Honestly what where you thinking!" The woman then frowned while Hafwen looked at the table top.
"You could have been killed! You know that right!" Enid burst in the start of a hysterical rant.
"They are not nice men and could have done away with you!" She threw an arm in the air.
"Enid!" Brac barked up with authority, frowning at his wife.
"Here you go Wen!" the youngest of the son's mumbled quietly, lifting a bowl of stew to the table and pushing it in front of his cousin.
"Thank you Evan," She whispered softly in reply.
"…What happened?" All eye's suddenly shot to Howell, the eldest, who instantly shrivelled up at all the different looks, scowls from his parents, a raised brow from the eldest stranger, a slight gawp from the younger one with dark hair and a rather indifferent look from the last stranger that quickly turned to unimpressed as he turned his eyes away from the boy and towards the young woman, her pretty features now clearer to see with out the mud.
"I failed, isn't that obvious," Her voice was soft, lost even but the moment her eyes flashed up to take in her cousin the fire could be seen with in them.
"I'll set you gentlemen up a room to stay and I'll have your clothes back to you once they have been washed.
"There is no need for that, we'll get out of your way," Behmen started to stand.
"Nonsense! You all went out of your way and brought our niece back!" Enid frowned, placing a hand on his shoulder and pushing him back down into his seat, much to his surprise, his old friend's amusement and their newest friend's shock.
"Hafwen we'll set up a cot next to the fire for you, you need the heat," The woman then headed off to do as she said and set up a room for the men.
With a sigh Hafwen looked off to the side, her eye's finding the fire as she slowly reached a hand up to prod a tender spot on her head, only for her face to twist lightly in a small wince.
With a small frown Behmen watched her and slowly rose from his seat once again, stepping in front of the young woman and surprising her lightly as he blocked the light from the fire and even more so when he moved her hand from her head and inspected the tender part of her head himself.
"You where hit with a blunt object, probably the hilt of a sword," Behmen stated, as his old friend nodded.
"Explains why you were laying face down in the mud unconscious," He shrugged before tearing a piece of bread in half and taking a bite while his friend turned from the young woman to give him a raised brow.
"It feels that way," Hafwen mumbled weakly, turning away from the man and taking no notice to the other man's words as she reached a trembling hand up to clutch at the blankets and bring them tighter around her.
"Right! Get in front of the fire!" Enid's voice barked, the woman having appeared with more blankets and sheets, and the middle aged son awkwardly dragging a mattress, having at one point been dragged into helping.
"And Howell! Go clean the dog off!" The woman then sent her eldest son off with a sigh.
"Enid, please calm down," Brac gave a tired sigh, he didn't even know the names of the men that had helped his niece and were now held captive in his farmhouse by his controlling wife.
"We never got you gentlemen's names?" Brac then tried to start casually, while Enid busied her self with placing a blanket down on the stone floor to take the cold harshness away before getting Dewey to lay the mattress on top of the blanket.
Hafwen watch blankly as her aunt tottered around the small make shift bed in front of the fire laying down sheets and blankets.
"I'm Behmen," The tall stranger still stood nodded.
"Felson," His older friend gave a nod from where he sat.
"My name is Debelzaq," The darker haired man added.
With a small frown tugging at her brows, Hafwen watch as her Aunt's actions came to a slow dwindle before she looked up at her husband, Hafwen's eyes turning to watch her uncle also, the man sat as if he was mulling over a taste in his mouth before he gave a slow nod and smile.
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you all," He stated.
"Hafwen!" The odd atmosphere was broken once again by Enid as she waved the young woman over, and when she didn't move fast enough the aunt was pulling the poor frozen woman up and leading her to the mattress by the fire place. Had Hafwen been in her normal state of health her Aunt would have had a hard time even trying to push the young woman around but now that she was physically and mentally drained, she just allowed it.
Once sat on the mattress Hafwen simply tucked her legs to her side and brought the blankets back around her whole form as the fire warmed at her back and dried her damp hair.
She sat listening to the murmur of exchanged words but not hearing what was said, her eyes turned down to the stitch of the fabric hiding her lap, the odd shadows dancing across it from the fire's flames. She had noticed the odd exchanges of looks her aunt and uncle gave but she didn't understand what they were for, they came just after the men's names but that still made no sense to her, these men where strangers but as she thought more on the matter she knew her aunt was prone to hearsay and would drum what ever she had heard or learnt into Brac, so the names spoken could simply hold some odd gossip Enid had probably heard and believed, notorious bandits, smugglers, conmen, ghosts what ever the story, Enid would know and believe.
It wasn't long till all thoughts had gone from Hafwen's mind and she sat simply numb, hearing the crackle of the fire behind her sent an odd chill over her and when she pinched her eyes shut she could see her burning home, her poor father trapped inside, screams came to her ears along with the roaring flames eating away her home, the image and sounds so clear she jolted her self out of the vision with a whispery gasp and teary eyes.
She kept her distress quiet, slowly lifting the back of her hand to her lips to hide their quivering as she then bowed her head, her dark hair sliding off her shoulders and creating drapes at the sides of her face as she closed her watery eyes, only letting a tear fall away from one eye before a second followed shortly after from her other eye.
She tried desperately to control herself, forcing a slow breath in and blowing it out just as slowly, if a little shaky, as her hand shook where it was positioned hiding her mouth, she didn't want to draw attention to herself because she didn't want anyone coming to her, she didn't want the awkward hugs and fake words and speeches that people can only muster when they have nothing they can possible say to make it better. Hugs to fill the space and words to fill the silence, but Hafwen couldn't deal with that, she couldn't open her arms for a hug and cry on someone's shoulder when upset, she could only keep to herself and want to be alone, so turning to the lumpy pillow thrown down on the mattress she lay down, curled in a protective ball under the two blankets her aunt had given her, she kept her emotional self to her self, as usual.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaay for pushy overbaring aunties! ... or is it just me on that one... the buggers...
and waahaay for keeping your emotions and inner turmoil bottled up inside of you! Eatting away slowly at your heart and soul!
...it saves the awkward moment of bursting out into tears infront of strangers...whom can't comfort you with out seeming weird!
see a silver lining to the keeping the inner turmoil to your self! YOU SAVE EVERYONE FROM THE AWKWARD 'THE HELL DO I DO' MOMENT!
