A/N: So...time for sad Elizabet backstory stuff...you've been warned.
010: Silence
Calvin grumbled as he rode towards his sister's farmstead on the second Sunday of the month, as promised. He loved visiting Lyla. She'd serve up healthy portions of fried chicken breaded in flour, potatoes mashed with milk and butter, beans from her garden, and a pie filled with whatever treat her children gathered from the woods nearby. Once a month she fixed an elaborate spread for her family. The rest of the time they'd make do with simple bread and fruit for most meals, maybe occasionally a boiled egg for the children. She'd chosen a simple life on a farm.
Not that farm life was anything to be ashamed of. Calvin himself respected those who toiled long hours under the sun for a living. Lyla's business savvy and willingness to work alongside her husband during the busy harvest season enabled them to yield some of the best crops around. Lyla could make a little go a long way and smile while she did it. In addition to all that she was pleasant to be around. Such qualities made her the catch of the town in her courtship days.
Calvin, being the older protective brother, now regretted how picky he'd been for his sister. He'd chased off the mayor's son, a butcher's apprentice, and not one but three brothers that ran a traveling apothecary Calvin now saw could have been good husbands for his sister. But no, he chased suitor after suitor away until Lyla, with her heart of gold, took bread to the prisoners at Claymound Jail.
She'd taken table scraps and extras she came across to the prisoners before. Calvin had been working as a Deputy a few years then and felt bad for the prisoners himself. A jail wasn't meant to serve good food, but enough food was quite the different story. The sleepy town jail saw mostly drunks and people who were so desperate for scraps they stole for them. He'd actually encouraged Lyla taking a basket around when she could, knowing just how unpleasant the drunks could be if morning came and they barely had coffee to pass them, let alone bread.
There Lyla had met Trenton. Trenton had belonged to a group of thugs every sleepy town in the county dealt with. The men went from tavern to tavern drinking the place dry and then bullying others into paying the bill, if it went paid at all. They terrorized the poor serving girls and bullied farmers out of honest wages. Every so often Calvin would hear rumors of a mysterious death or disappearance in the wake of the thugs but could never prove it. Farmers tended to put a lot of distance between themselves and other people, making tracking crime almost impossible. Calvin heard that in Araluen, a group called the Ranger Corps intervened in such cases. He wondered when King Sean would set up something similar in Hibernia. Or Queen Kineta, whom Calvin often found himself questioning. Stories of her time serving as a soldier under King Sean grew more elaborate every year. Sean often wondered how a woman could come to do such things. More though, he wondered how King Sean could come to wed a woman so fierce.
In jail, Trenton became adamant about changing. He'd been there several times before, so many that Calvin actually called him by his first name. Calvin hadn't believed him for a moment. Lyla had. Lyla had begun visiting him personally and encouraging him. She'd gone out of her way to show him kindness and, when he was released, helped him get back on his feet.
Of course, Calvin hadn't approved of the relationship then. He didn't approve of the wedding, though he'd attended as a favor to his sister. He'd promised her she could come to him when Trenton relapsed. She'd tried to correct him, saying 'if' he relapsed. Calvin insisted on 'when'.
Somehow, things were lasting far longer than Calvin predicted. Lyla's dowry had been enough to buy a field on which the young couple lived in a makeshift lean-to through the spring and summer. Just as the temperature begun to drop, they sold the bulk of their remaining crop and Trenton wasted no time building them a small house. Calvin had gone to help not because he wanted Trenton to have a warm place to sleep, but because he wanted his sister to. As they worked Lyla went to the woods to gather food and supplies to make whatever she could sell. Lyla's efforts allowed them to purchase a bull, which they struggled to feed through the winter. The bull ate more often than the couple did but when the time came to breed Trenton hired out their animal and turned a high profit.
The couple struggled to make ends meet despite their successful farm. Calvin knew all about Trenton's debts to his old contacts. He knew why his sister sold eggs to two inns wearing patched dresses and stopped bringing food to the jail though they had high yields from their field. He knew exactly why their roof constantly needed patching though they now had three cows to produce calves in addition to the sired bull and why Lyla only cooked a healthy spread once a month. Trenton's debts had to be paid or the family would pay the price.
Calvin could respect Trenton's new leaf, but not at the expense of his sister. He'd come close to blows with his brother-in-law when Lyla announced her first pregnancy. He'd been furious at Trenton for tying Lyla down, as though the healthy baby boy she delivered sealed the promise she'd made when he gave her a ring. Calvin regretted the stress he'd put on Lyla back then when she hid the second one so long he had no idea she was expecting until nine weeks before she delivered. The girl had been more difficult. After her birth it was Trenton who came to Calvin ready to fight, accusing him of scaring Lyla when he should have been comforting her.
After Elizabet's birth, Calvin made greater efforts to be civil towards Trenton. Lyla, Jackson, and Elizabet deserved it. In his pack he carried The Adventurous Tales of Flynn Masque Vol. 2 by Lyndon Jacobes. Lyndon Jacobes had been his and Lyla's grandfather. Daideo Jacobes had been a great author and illustrator. He'd lived in a large house in the heart of Dun Kilty where he kept maids, a butler, and a cook employed. Daideo Jacobes had spoiled his grandchildren by sending each of his children collectors' copies of his work. Calvin's father gave Lyla Volume 1 of the Flynn Masque stories because she was first to have children. Calvin, though he was older, received Volume 2 upon their father's death shortly after Jackson's birth.
Calvin had finally decided Lyla should have both volumes. He'd become Constable in recent months, sealing his fate as one of the most respected and hated men in town. His apartment above the jail was too tiny for Lyla's children to visit and even if it was bigger, he didn't want his young nephew and niece at the jail. He planned to hand it over to Lyla privately after dinner.
Calvin emerged through the trees just as the sun began to set. He'd sleep in Lyla's barn that night and leave bright and early the next morning before his sister could waste food on his breakfast. For her and her children's sake he'd brought some food from town with him. It wasn't much but it'd be enough for a meal later that week, maybe two with Lyla's resourcefulness. He also had a pair of old boots tucked away in his rucksack he planned to give to Jackson. His nephew would have to stuff them with cloth for a year or two but by Lyla's letters he was growing so fast anything would be appreciated. Calvin wished he'd been able to find something for Elizabet but had no idea what little girls on farms needed. Dresses were easier to alter than shirts and trousers, and Lyla purposely sewed Elizabet's so she could let a little out of the seams for years to come.
Calvin came over the hill. He reined in his horse as he stared at the scene in front of him. The house he and Trenton had worked so hard to finish before first snow wasn't there. The door Calvin had carefully measured as to not waste wood, the roof he'd thatched for Lyla when Trenton rode to pay an installment of his debt, the window facing the kitchen Lyla drove her family in…it was all gone. In its place was a charred shadow of what once stood. Calvin heeled his horse forward.
He dismounted at what was supposed to be the door and knelt down to touch the bits of burnt wood. It was cold, meaning this monstrosity had happened days if not weeks ago. Calvin's heart raced.
"No," he muttered as he searched the debris. He'd received mediocre training of how to search through burned buildings during his years as Deputy. He frantically rotated through the space clockwise. Lyla's fireplace remained intact. Calvin's heart stopped. He knelt down, carefully reaching down into the ash. A ring had survived. Actually, two rings survived. They were near each other, as though their owners had been holding hands when the unthinkable happened.
Calvin left the rings and continued his search. Two children. During his career he'd been forced to search for bodies before. Unfortunately, some had been children. But those were different. The children had belonged to other people. They tended to turn up drowned after jumping into shallow water or runaways or, occasionally, kidnapped by a parent. Never had Calvin had to search for his own nephew and niece in debris before. The more he searched the more his Constable mind mapped out the scene. The entire house had been taken. The fire had spread quickly. It wasn't like Lyla to be so careless in her kitchen, where the only fireplace was. Trenton and Lyla couldn't afford the ridiculous bed warmers that seemed to be all the rage in town, that the town healer spent many an hour treating burns from when their straw mattresses caught flame.
Not far from his parents, Calvin found Jackson. Calvin swallowed and moved away. He wanted to flee and never look back but knew that wasn't an option. He needed to find Elizabet first.
Calvin went to the area that had once been Trenton and Lyla's bedroom. The loft Jackson and Elizabet shared had collapsed over it. Calvin shifted the charred debris trying to find anything that could be his young niece. That's when he uncovered something unusual.
Lyla's dowry trunk. The trunk she'd been given when she was young to start filling with things she'd eventually need when she married. After marriage women used them to store things like wedding dresses and their children's birth certificates. It was made of wood, same as everything else in the house, but not burned. There were char marks and a layer of ash, but the trunk itself remained intact.
Curious, Calvin lifted away the rest of the debris and unhooked the latches. He opened the lid and, to his relief, found Elizabet under the stench that rushed into the air. Her usually fair skin was red from the heat she likely endured and her blonde curls were sticky with dried sweat. Her dress stuck to her small frame and her tiny chapped lips were open just slightly. Her chest rose and fell weakly.
Calvin took his canteen and let the cool water splash over her lips. Elizabet's eyes fluttered open. It took her several moments before she recognized him. Calvin held the water to her mouth and let her have just a sip. She made a face and coughed, but he coaxed her to swallow just a little.
"Easy," he whispered to her. Once she had a sip he leaned over the chest and splashed the water over her hair and arms. Clearly she had a fever. He pulled her forward and let the rest of his water run down the back of her dress. Elizabet didn't respond at all to the chill. She opened her mouth to speak but only dry cracks came out. "Easy," he whispered to her again. He had more water on his saddle but she needed to be taken to the river. It was a short enough ride. Calvin looked over his shoulder to where he'd found his sister's ring. He turned back to Elizabet, stroking her hair. "I'm going to take you away from here," he promised. "We're going to the river. I'm going to cover your eyes so you don't see, okay? It's…it's just a game. No reason to be afraid, alright?"
Elizabet nodded weakly. Calvin reached around her in the chest for an empty cloth sack and tugged it gently over Elizabet's head. He lifted Elizabet out and held her tightly to his chest. He leaned over the trunk again, inspecting it for keepsakes Elizabet may want. He knew once he left nothing could make him return to such horrors. An empty bowl and pitcher had been pushed into the far corner, not that it was big enough to have a 'far' corner, while a dirty blanket that had been picked to shreds was crumbled along the wall. Calvin recognized the first Flynn Masque book and the toy rabbit he'd given Elizabet when she was born. He scooped both up in one hand and ran back to his horse. He tucked her book and rabbit into his saddlebags and then mounted while still holding her to his chest.
Calvin took the sack off her head and threw it into the field the moment they were over the hill. Elizabet needed fresh air. He took her directly to the river he'd fetched water from when visiting his sister and set her by the bank. He peeled her dress off and removed his own boots. Elizabet, having inherited her mother's modesty, tried to shy away from him but was too weak to properly do so. Calvin pulled his extra shirt out of his bag and buttoned it up for her. He used his knife to remove the sleeves and then picked her up again. He waded into the river until it became deep up for him to sit with her in his lap. The faced upstream, Calvin gently using the cutoff sleeve to wipe away the layer of grime that covered his niece. He got her to dunk her head so he could scrub her scalp. He left her in the river to fetch his bar of soap and returned to bathe her properly. Once she was clean, he sat her on a rock and gave her a piece of jerky to nibble on while he did a full inspection of her injuries.
She was dehydrated, that was clear. Her fever went down after the cool bath and with the proper herbs he could easily keep it down. There were patches of red all over her from burns, but they'd heal. He'd have to wrap them with treated cloth when they made it back to town to prevent scarring. The jail cook, Berta, could do that. Perhaps with Berta, her being a woman, would have a better grasp of how to handle Elizabet.
Calvin lifted Elizabet back onto his horse and mounted behind her. She was more alert now that she was clean and had some food in her. Calvin wondered if she knew what became of her family. She didn't cry, she didn't wail…she didn't even ask about them. She simply stared ahead as they rode on in silence.
