To Lure a Dragon
Chapter 12
In the next few weeks, Alys became surprisingly proficient with a knife. She moved up the ranks during the hour or so the boys were taught how to utilize the weapon efficiently until she graduated to sword-fighting. She stayed at the bottom wrung there, not able hold the wooden practice sword or move it without leaving herself wide open to attack. Gorge would shake his head ruefully every time she was knocked on her back by a smaller child, and wonder where his promising little knife-wielder went. Conrad simply yelled and pushed her until she was in tears and soaked from the cover of wet snow on the ground. The same could be said for her skill with a bow and arrow. She could knock it, aim, but when it came to releasing the arrow it never went where she wanted it to. The highlight of these lessons was when she very narrowly missed hitting Conrad's foot. She thought Gorge may have smothered a grin along with her, but she had been far too busy making sure no one else noticed it had been her to shoot the projectile.
Time at home with Lora became the only thing that kept her sane. She had gotten soft lounging around in that cave for a month, and the tasks she did in the span of a day slowly made up for the sin of sloth. It became quickly obvious to her that the tinsmith business Conrad ran was actually Lora, and the other woman was in no condition to make even the smallest button. Alys was filled with hatred and loathing towards her surrogate father for neglecting everything but his own ideal of a town of warriors and still expecting life to flourish around him.
She woke up some mornings to Lora sobbing by the fire, having crawled out of her conjugal bed so as not to disturb her volatile husband from his precious sleep. On these mornings, Alys herself sometimes woke from her nightmares to find that they were still happening. She wished to the point of fervent denial that she could just wake up from this bad dream and find everything back to the way it had been, only she didn't know which when she wanted back. Upon figuring out that she'd rather Selendrile back than her father, she was the one who awoke far before dawn to cry over her act of betrayal.
Life settled into a routine of work, soldier play, helping Lora and avoiding Conrad the best she could.
"We could just leave," Alys exclaimed one morning after Conrad had snarled about there not being enough food on the table and that 'the lad' was ruining his sex life. Of course, he hadn't quite worded it as politely as that. Lora had asked what he expected after the baby was born, and he had pushed her back against a table for her insolence. Lora looked at Alys, surprise at the suggestion evident in her face, but not the way Alys had expected it to be. A woman did not think of leaving her husband, as he was the breadwinner, provider, protector, and she was obligated to honour and obey him. For not the first time, Alys noticed how liberal Lora's thoughts were, as the other woman had looked startled at only Alys voicing the suggestion and not for the idea itself.
"No, I couldn't," Lora said quietly. "My life is here." She touched the expanding sign of her pregnancy tenderly, staring vacantly beyond Alys and into the fire. "I made a promise to someone," she explained looking into the fire with a faraway look in her eyes. "I'm not talking about my marriage vows either."
"Then what?" Alys asked, immediately curious. Lora seemed to be an enigma to her. She thought differently than the carbon copies of other woman Alys knew and grew up with, and it made her feel as if she were still learning a bit from the progressive-thinking of Selendrile. The longer she was away from him, the more she noticed what he had taught her and how different she was from everyone else now, as if blinders had been removed from her eyes in a breath of dragon-fire. Also, the more she resided in this house, the better her relationship with him seemed, as well as the more she noticed strange little things about the woman who took her on as a temporary daughter. It started with Lora's casual awareness that Alys was a girl, and just seemed to continue every day.
Lora became quiet with Alys question, or maybe she hadn't heard her at all, eyes still staring into the fire as if she could conjure her heart's desire from the flames if she just concentrated hard enough.
"Conrad is a strong man," she said at last.
Alys thought that was the nicest thing which could be said about him. Personally, she thought of him as a sort of villain. She reflected on this all through kneading bread and chopping last harvest's vegetables for yet another stew. There really was nothing different about Conrad than other men. The problem was either her own perception, or maybe the opposite figure he was to Lora or Selendrile. Alys didn't know, and really, she didn't care, but thinking of someone else's problems helped her from dwelling on her own fate. She had moved on from being angry at Selendrile to being saddened by his disappearance from her life, and more than a little resigned to the fact she had pushed him away and would never see him again. It scared her how much that mattered and made her heart constrict in pain akin to how it felt when she thought of her father.
"Are you ok?" Alys asked Lora as she put on her woolen sweater. The pregnant woman was more listless today that usual, and Alys worried about her constantly. One of the mysteries surrounding Lora was the sense of heartbreak surrounding every move she made. Alys may not have been able to identify the signs, but she also had experienced her share of that within the past couple of months. Lora nodded, and Alys grabbed one of the tin mugs and made her drink some water before she left to play warrior. Alys arrived late to the combat field and was lucky that Gorge was the only one who noticed she hadn't arrived yet.
Practice went the same as usual, and like always she trudged back to the house with more bruises, some loss of pride, very little newly acquired skill, and a resentment towards Conrad for no particular reason other than he was the one in charge of the activities. She didn't know what made her look down, but she noticed the strange set of footprints heading into the house just seconds before Lora's surprisingly strong voice carried through the wooden panels.
"They aren't for sale," she said, sounding agitated and firm at the same time. Alys crept around the side of the building and crouched beneath the window. "The answer this time is the same as last."
"But dear, you know me husband loaned yer husband some finesses. We'll accept them as full payment. If not, then gimme the full two gold."
"I know Conrad borrowed finances," Lora replied, stressing the word the other woman had mispronounced. Alys grinned a bit at her audacity and stifled to urge to glance through the window. "However, the agreement was payment in increments at the end of every month. Therefore, I do not have to give you a thing for another two weeks."
Alys figured Lora picked up her vocabulary just to confuse the stranger.
"I'll give you 'til tomorrow to decided. Then all yer things belongs to my husband if you don't pay up."
Alys heard the movements of people standing within the house and quickly edged her way back to the front of the building. She crouched behind a pile of firewood, waiting for the visitor to leave the house. She expected a tall stern woman with a disapproving frown and pursed lips, or maybe a short stout one with an ugly sneer, what she didn't expect was a small girl so plain looking she could have been a boy if not for the long hair and dress displaying minimal bosom. In short, this forward-speaking, not-too-bright woman would have made a better Ellis than Alys did.
Quickly, after the demanding interloper left, Alys hurried into the house to find Lora sitting at the kitchen table sobbing. "Who was she?" Alys asked quickly. "I heard the conversation and she shouldn't be able to just waltz into your house like she owns it already and order you around." Alys's words were harsh and almost shrill as she burned with ire at the injustice of it all.
"She's Odo's wife."
"Odo?" Alys asked, not familiar with the name. Even though she had been living here for what seemed like years of stifled emotions and tense situations, she still wasn't familiar with most of the people in the town.
"He's the one who wanted you to live with him at first. He's the richest man in town now."
Alys knew enough to be able to fill in 'now that my father has died' to the end of Lora's sentence. Lora didn't like to talk about the past, which only served to heighten the mystery surrounding her, but it had always been clear that she came from wealthier stalk than what Conrad forced her to live in now. Alys could see that just by looking at the former opulence of the tinsmith shop that life hadn't always been like this for Lora. She had heard rumours about the girl once living in a larger manor on the outskirts of town. Now that she had a little more information, she wondered if this Odo now owned that. Despite these thoughts circling around her head, Alys smiled and said "that would explain why she looked like a little boy."
Lora looked taken back for a moment, then she grinned. "So you noticed too. I've been wondering over your reaction that night in Farmer Garzo's house."
"That man gave me the creeps. He felt… wrong, almost evil."
Lora nodded, looking far less pale and on the verge of collapsing out of grief than she had a few moments ago. Alys congratulated herself for bringing enough normality to the conversation to allow Lora to remove herself a bit from the mental strain the conversation with Mrs. Odo had put her in. "He is evil," she whispered quietly, getting up from her seat and shuffling over to the fireplace in the middle of the shop. "I'd like to show you something."
Alys watched, barely able to conceal her curiosity and then awe as Lora removed a brick in the middle of the hearth and removed a small metal box. The box itself was breathtaking, engraved with such gorgeous designs, Alys had never seen an equal in all her time with her father or with Selendrile. It simply took her breath away to think that a person could be talented enough to create something so fine and delicate.
"My father was not only a tinsmith. He didn't enjoy working with menial objects you would find in a common household, but tended to make beautiful objects out of even the crudest material. He moved from tin to silver and then into gold. Even the king owns a pair of candlesticks he made with a running vine of roses crawling up the base."
"He was very talented," Alys agreed, almost fervently gazing at the box Lora gently laid on the table in front of her. She could make out the L of Lora's initial, plus a butterfly with wings which reminded her of the fairy she had once met.
"He was," Lora said with a sad smile, trailing a finger over the corner of the box fondly. Her voice took on the saddened grief of losing a loved one that Alys recognized very well, and she knew it was one of the main things they had in common. "You mustn't tell Conrad, as he doesn't realize there is anything left." Lora said quickly. "I was able to save this, and was stupid enough to wear the earrings inside to my wedding." She paused for a moment, before continuing in a stronger voice, one used to a harsh world and dealing with grief, one tinged with bitterness. "I was still vain then."
Alys felt it then - just how far this girl had fallen, or had been dragged down. It churned her stomach and made her want to cry all at once. Then Lora opened the box, and all thoughts of retribution or pity fled Alys's mind. Alys had thought the box was a pinnacle of workmanship. Nestled in black velvet sat a pair of earrings. Alys had only ever seen earrings once before, and then they had been large and gaudy, looking like something which would be painful to have dangling from your ears. These were tiny, little golden roses with chains, each miniscule link perfectly symmetrical, running down to the shoulder. Each earring had five gathered chains draping from it. They weren't what drew the eye, however. Nestled within each rose was a blood-red ruby.
"Oh my God," Alys breathed, not able to form rhetoric of compliments through the overwhelming wonder she felt. The earrings were perfect, magical even, and she was her father's daughter enough to appreciate just how impossible almost every piece of it was. "Your father made these?" She finally managed to ask.
Lora hesitated for a moment before affirming Alys's question.
"You can't use them as payment," Alys suddenly snapped out of her trance and looked sharply at Lora. She didn't feel as if her opinion was simply because she was a girl, and the earrings were pretty. There was something deeper there, maybe in the way Lora eyed them as if they were the only thing keeping her alive at the moment, and just sharing them like this was making her edgy.
"I know, but what else can I do?"
"What if you had the gold pieces?"
"I don't." Lora was resigned.
"If you did," Alys urged. She would give Lora the money Selendrile left her. It was worth it if the earrings stayed in Lora's possession.
Lora stared at Alys for a second, wondering at the situation as if she knew what was being offered. "It would be strange if I somehow came up with the money my husband was desperate enough to borrow in the first place. It would raise far too many problems."
"How clos…"
"Lad!" Conrad's voice bellowed seconds before the door blew open, letting a blast of freezing air into the snug room. Both of the women jumped guiltily and Lora's eyes took on a desperately frightened gleam. Alys stood, shielding the tiny box with her body. She used the sound of the chair scraping against the floor to cover the snap of the little lid closing beneath her fingers. She palmed Lora's treasure, sliding the beautiful artwork into her sleeve as she turned.
"Yes?" She asked, trying not to frown as Conrad swayed drunkenly and lurched into the room.
"You's sleeeeping in Goohrsh's barn chewnight." He stumbled over to his wife, large hand pawing through her long black hair. Lora barely flinched to Alys's perception, but her eyes lost the living light they had taken on when she had taken out the earrings. She looked like she'd rather be dead.
"No!" Alys refused, standing solidly as she confronted the man letting her live in his house. Yes, he was larger and stronger than she was, and yes, he was very skilled in the art of warfare, but he was drunk and she was small and agile. If it came right down to it, she might live through a beating. She would do that for Lora, and then she would leave and hopefully bring the other girl with her.
"Ellis," Lora warned. "Please just go." Her voice was hollow.
"That's right," Conrad crooned, his hand stroking down his wife's face.
Alys's stomach revolted, and she almost lost the little bit of bread she had eaten for lunch. She was torn, not knowing whether she should leave or stand her ground. Lora was asking her to leave, but Alys recognized resignation and sacrifice when she saw it. She thought about it for a moment, various scenarios running through her head in the blink of an eye. If she jumped on Conrad and tried to pull him off Lora, she'd likely lose and he would just take it out on his wife. If she just refused to go anywhere, it would harm Lora's pride by making another person witness her degradation. If she left, she'd be turning her back – she didn't think she could live with herself for doing that. It was an impossible situation. Finally, she turned her back and walked out the door, realizing Lora had been dealing with this for a lot longer than she had been on the scene.
Alys trudged through the space between the houses, her feet weighted down by the snow and her own inadequacies. Once she reached Gorges's barn, which was what she was assuming Conrad's slur meant, she hunkered down in a mound of hay and wept amid the putrid smell of animal waste. The entire time, the edges of Lora's box were digging into the flesh of her arm, but it was a long time before she was able to actually feel it. It calmed her down enough so all she felt was a burning hatred for everyone who made her friend's life what it was, and Alys vowed to do what she could to rectify that. Once she had a goal, the feeling of uselessness lifted and she was finally able to breath.
Looking around the barn, she noticed it had once been a real workshop, similar to the one her father had used. Lora's father seemed to have left a trail behind, rungs of the ladder he had climbed to wealth, and she was starting to be able to see it. This workshop was crude and crumbling, probably the first one he had used. The family would have lived in the cramped quarters. Later, he used the entire old house as his place of work and built the family a new house, which Lora was currently living in. Later, when his talent brought his position in society even higher, he probably moved his family into the country, used the new house as a new workshop and sold the old one to Gorge as a barn. Alys could see the progression as if it was mapped in front of her, and she wished she could unravel the other mysteries of this family as easily. There was something there – some tragedy everyone knew about but no one spoke of – and she would uncover it before she left.
Climbing to her feet out of the hay, Alys brushed her pants off and went to work brushing out the hearth. Gorge kept wood stacked beside it, probably for emergency fires on extremely cold nights where animals were even in danger of dying from the cold. She uncovered an old anvil and tools from a cupboard. Next, she pulled out Lora's earrings and her own precious treasures from where they were hidden on various parts of her body and laid them out so she could see them. The skeletons of a plan were slowly building in her mind.
First, she melted down the gold coins. Quickly, she shaped the liquid metal into unsophisticated blossoms, trying to mimic the earrings as much as possible. It had been a long time since she had worked with metal, and even then it had never been anything as precious or soft as gold, as intricate as forming a flower, nor with such a perfect model to emulate. Heck, she had barely been able to make a button round. She had to improvise most of the time, pulling strands of silk from the tattered remains of the robe, covering them with gold and using them as the chains and connecting tiny hooks she had found in Gorge's fruitful cupboards to the back of the roses as a replacement to the clips on the original. The hardest part was finding something to replace the rubies.
Alys glanced around the barn. Up to that point, she had been able to find solutions to the problems within seconds and a little bit of scrounging. Now, she was at a loss. Gorge's horse was neighing and snorting, and the sky was beginning to lighten like it did right before dawn. A dog with matted silver hair watched her from a dark corner, sleepy eyes blinking at her. Alys, in the middle of a creative spurt, barely felt her own exhaustion beating down on her until she finished working with the gold, leaving only the stones. Now, she felt the effects of the energy she had burned crying, and her eyes burned from straining them to see. Alys looked out the window, dreading the rising sun as she had learned to with Selendrile. The glass reflected back a shadow of her own image. It was strange for a barn to have glass windows, another hint that this definitely used to be a house.
And then, she knew what she had to do. With a quick apology to Gorge, she walked deliberately over to the window and slammed her fist through the glass. The sharp shards sliced through her skin, and she grabbed two small fragments and hurried them over to the table she had been working at. Grabbing a file, she quickly shaped the shards into circles and then rolled them through the bloodied gashes in her skin until the glass was covered in blood. She had lost a lot of the deep red liquid as she had worked at making the glass into spheres, and it dripped from her woolen shirt and onto the hard dirt of the floor. In the corner, the dog whimpered at the smell of food, but made no movement towards her. A little too late to really help, Alys pressed her free hand against the wound to stanch the flow of blood. By the time the wound had congealed, the glass was dry. With the last of the gold, she affixed the make-shift jewels to the earrings and stood back to compare her handiwork.
It was sloppy and inadequate, but she hadn't expected anything else. Next to the real earrings, there was no comparison, but on their own they could pass for what Lora had worn from her ears, so long as Mrs. Odo hadn't really seen them close up. Alys scooped the real earrings into the bag with her dragon silk and the remainder of Seledrile's coinage, she put the fruit of her labours into Lora's box. Quietly, she crept back into the house to find Lora in her normal place by the fire, tear streaks already dried on her face and her husband long gone.
"Lora?" Alys asked tentatively. The pregnant woman looked to have gotten about as much sleep as Alys had, and she couldn't imagine how much worse her night had been. Lora looked up at her, not really seeing.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she whispered, hand clutching at the baby in her stomach. "He was supposed to come back for me."
"Who?" Alys asked gently.
Lora ignored the question, as she wasn't really talking to anyone. "Now I'm afraid he'll deliberately leave me here in my ruin."
"He won't," Alys answered firmly, giving a promise to Lora despite the fact she didn't know what it entailed. Lora's eyes came into focus, and she looked at Alys crouching before her. Alys offered a smile, which was no more than a friendly grimace. Lora returned it. "I have a present for you," Alys said, handing over the tiny silver box.
Lora opened it, taking in the jewelry lying in the velvet with a confused sneer on her face as she took in the sight of uneven, sloppy workmanship. "They're hideous," she said with a disdainful curl of her lips.
Alys laughed. "Yes, they are. And as far as Mrs. I-Look-Like-A-Boy knows, they're the exact ones you wore to your wedding."
"Yes," Lora replied with what might have been a laugh, once upon a time. "They're starting to look familiar."
Alys wasn't home when Lora presented the earrings to Mrs. Odo, but she was later told that the woman hadn't even noticed a discrepancy. For the first time, Alys shot an arrow which hit the target. The next day, she managed to jar the wooden playsword out of her opponent's hand. She had motivation now, and a plan. She just needed to get stronger so the blood being spilled was not her own.
It was during this time that the feeling of being watched returned, but the feeling of unseen eyes following her was a source of comfort, just as her nightmares morphing into dreams of vengeance helped her sleep through the night.
©RelenaFanel.Aug14.2006
Sorry this is late everyone. I guess I jinxed myself by bragging that I was on time with the last chapter. I'm not sure this chapter is everything I wanted it to be, but you all know how fickle inspiration is. For those of you who want Selendrile, he is everywhere and nowhere. Actually, he is there if you look for him. Plus, isn't it obvious that Alys can't go a day without thinking of him half a million times?
The action should pick up again next week. And here is cute little potty-mouth Steven bringing you the Mulan-esque song and dance routine for those who wanted it:
Steven: I am a man .:puffs out scrawny chest:.
I have a sword .:flourishes wooden sword and beams Ellis in the crotch with it:.
Alys: .:As everyone looks expectant:. Oh, right. Owowww
Corus: He has a swoooord.
.:Fat kid dances sideways across stage:.