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Chapter Four. Sleeping Beauty
(Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except Eva, the rest are property of Cornelia Funke)
It was 6 AM in the morning and Eva was out doing laundry.
It was cold and the sky was lifeless and gray and she could think of endless many places she would rather be than by the river doing laundry.
Her hands were red and scabbed because of the combination of ice-cold water, detergent and soap and the pulsing pain reminded her of why she had to bring down Capricorn, his men and Mortola. She refused to live like this forever. It was time that somebody did something, and if no one else would step up and rebel, she would. Besides, she wanted her revenge.
Born in November in the sign of the scorpion, she had always been a stubborn person and even in the bleakest moments after the murder of her parents she had found reasons to cling on to life, to fight. She had no idea what she'd do once this all was over, but she believed that anything, anything was better than this. She'd probably go to the nearest airport and board a plane which would take her to faraway exotic lands where nobody knew her name and where maybe she'd be able to build up a life, even without her family.
But alas, she was still stuck here in Capricorn's village and for the moment, there was nothing she could do about it.
As she was done with the laundry, before going back to village and getting new orders from Mortola, she sat down by the river bank and looked over the gentle dark-grey water. Judging by the gathered clouds above her, it'd rain soon, there would maybe even be thunder and lightning. She wished she could sit here all day long, but Mortola was prone to slap the maids who were late and she didn't want to walk around the rest of the day with half her face burning red.
So, reluctantly, she got up and headed back towards the village.
It was evening as Basta came to have his bandages changed.
The sky looked ablaze, the clouds a deep pomegranate-red shade.
Eva was exhausted after the day's work, her back ached, her feet and hands felt sore and she had to support herself on various items to prevent herself from not falling down. The only thing keeping her going was the thought that she couldn't give up at the hands of Capricorn and Mortola. They didn't deserve it.
But even in the state she was in, she was very careful for some reason as she peeled off the old bandages off Basta's arm. He was quiet as usual but he had his knife out which he opened and closed continuously and he seemed very nervous.
Just as Eva was about to secure the gauze bandage with a piece of adhesive plaster, Basta surprised her by asking: "Is there really no way for me to avoid scarring?"
Eva froze with her fingers inches away from his arm. She felt like she was disappointing him, and she didn't like that. "There is. Laser surgery can partially remove scars, but it's expensive and it has to be done by professionals. You'd have to leave this village and visit a city clinic."
More to himself than to Eva, Basta muttered: "Capricorn would never allow that."
"Maybe it doesn't matter if he allows it or not?" Eva said and finally secured the adhesive plaster over the gauze bandages.
Basta frowned and flinched away from her. "You don't understand anything. What the hell are you anyway, just another of Capricorn's maids." He grabbed his jacket and rushed out of the room before she could do anything, say anything.
She threw away the old bandages and stuffed all the medicines back into their beloning shelves and decided not to think more about this incident, it was pointless and she was tired enough anyway.
With very much effort, she dragged herself up the stairs to her room, changed into her formal dinner dress and then had to climb down all the stairs again.
Outside, she had to run to not get soaked by the streaming rain, but as she dove into the shelter of the church, she realized it had been futile as she had been soaked anyway. Her hair dripped to the floor, her dress was now dark red because of the water and she was so cold, she was beyond freezing. And though inside the church it was stifling warm, she hated to be there and started counting down the minutes until she could leave.
Excited by the thunderstorm, Capricorn's men were especially loud tonight and Eva had a difficult time serving them.
She was relieved when she was allowed a break to breathe and gather her strength before she had to go out and serve again. In the far corner of the church, she leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window. She felt disoriented, nauseous, and dizzy. And it wasn't because she was tired. She had the feeling it was because of something else... something familiar. It was something in the air... she tried to put her finger on it, in vain.
She tried to think of something else and looked out of the window again. The sky was still on fire, the sun slowly rolling down the horizon.
She froze. That couldn't be right. Sunset had passed over an hour again. She ran to exit and pulled open the heavy doors and rushed outside, looked around.
It wasn't the sky that was on fire.
It was the village.
There you go. I hope you aren't left too confused. If there are any questions, feel free to ask, I promise I won't bite.
Comments, both praise and criticism, are always welcome!
I hope to update as soon as I can.
/CheeseSwiss