A.N: Oh no! another author's note in the beginning of the chapter? what is the world coming to??
Well I just wanted to take a moment to say that I'm glad people are happy with how often I update (I try to update every night so its up by the next morning). But there is NO need for you to thank me. I should be thanking YOU. Your reviews give me the motivation to type my story. Because that's all that there is left. Typing my story. I know how this story is going to continue, I know how it's going to end (I predict it'll end somewhere between chapters 21 to 25). My readers and reviewers give me the motivation to get in front of the computer and type up the story that has already formed in my mind.
So I just wanted to take this moment (I hope you guys don't mind too much, I know you wanted to know what happens in the next chapter), but I'd just like to say, "THANKS!" for reviewing and responding to my fic. Every single one (from ones with grammatical aid to ones with 'Asianna is EVIL') has been a lot of fun to read.
This has been a great first fic experience. Thanks a lot guys.
Now, shall we get on with the next chapter?
~Krizsta
P.S. - Sandman, I'm glad to be a help to another fellow writer. Good luck with your own writing.
P.P.S. - ThePenMage, I'm not quite sure how I manage to update quite so often. But when I write, I try to keep myself ahead of the chapter that I'm posting, so even as your reading this, I'm working on my chapter 19. I try to write as much as I can during the weekend so that I could stay ahead by a couple chapters (and then I post one each day), but even then I find that I don't have enough time. Even at the moment, I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up with my daily updating toward the end of the story. *crosses fingers*
15. The Helpless
Pieces of mashed watermelon flew through the air and hit her shoulder. Some of it also got tangled in her hair and splattered on her neck.
This was the second village that Torhte and Asianna had walked her through. The plan was that while the other bandits remained at camp. Asianna and Torhte would bring her to Corus to offer to the king. However, Asianna and Torhte found it very beneficial to them to stop at other villages and towns along the way.
They had spent the whole day yesterday at the first one. Asianna and Torhte were showered with praise and flattery for the bringing in of a wanted criminal. They were offered the best rooms of the village to stay in for the night. They were given great gifts of thanks. How ironic, since they were also criminals themselves!
And while they had been fawned over, the villagers had cursed and leered at Thorn, whom Torhte and Asianna had tied to a stake in the middle of the village.
The curses had been soon followed by pieces of rotten fruit, spoiled meat. Sometimes they also threw more harder things, like egg at her. And occasionally, a bold pack of boys pelted her with horse's dung.
They left her tied onto the stake throughout the night. Thorn had found it very difficult to fall asleep, when every once in a while, someone would interrupt her uncomfortable rest to bombard her with food. The bugs that were attracted to the food and smells that emanated from her were also an added nuisance.
In the morning, Asianna had pinched her nose at the smell and overturned several buckets of cold water over Thorn as an effort to clean her off. A wasted effort, since there were still patches of dried food and dung clinging to her wet skin and dress after Asianna was finished.
"Witch!" Thorn distantly heard someone cry. Then a fresh apple hit her on the side of her face. The impact caused Thorn's head to jerk slightly to the side, but she did not give any other sign of recognizing what was going on around her. Which only made the rest of the crowd angrier.
Thorn felt a questioning presence press against her mind, and Thorn immediately pushed it away. She didn't want to talk to anyone or anything, not the trees, not the flowers, not her staff. Torhte had brought her staff with them, but left it in the wagon. He was too afraid to stay near it for too long.
The crows cheered and whooped as Torhte finished telling his story. He and Asianna had concocted some wildly exaggerated story about how they had captured Thorn, and the villagers loved hearing the story almost as much as Asianna and Torhte loved telling it.
Thorn felt Torhte jerk the end of a rope that he held in his hand. The rope burned the tender skin around her neck since her neck was on the other end of the rope that Torhte held. Torhte jerked the rope again, almost causing Thorn to stumble to the ground. The villagers laughed unkindly as they watched her ordeal.
But Thorn didn't hear it. And she didn't feel an egg getting thrown at her head. And she didn't feel the egg yolk slide down her brown hair.
She was far beyond bodily pain. Nothing that these people could do and did could hurt her. At least, not as much as Asianna's words had.
It was like she was separate from herself. It was as if she was some spirit floating around and watching the cruel villagers pelt the silent girl with unwanted food.
Occasionally, she did feel pain. But she did not try to resist. Did not try to use her powers to escape.
I deserve this, she thought to herself. I deserve everything that these people throw at me. I'm a horrible sister, a horrible person.
And so, she stood as straight as she could. And took it all.
Because it didn't matter. It didn't matter what happened to her now.
And she no longer cared anyway.
She felt the rope that Torhte had tied around her neck tense, and she glanced up.
The crowds of villagers had suddenly increased. Where had all these new villagers come from? She asked herself, confused.
No, she thought to herself as a glint of silver caught her eye. These weren't villagers. These were…knights and Riders?
"What are they doing here?" she murmured dazedly to herself.
Asianna turned to scowl at Thorn. "Be quiet." she ordered.
Thorn turned slowly back to return Asianna's cold gaze. And when Asianna gave her a hateful look before turning away, Thorn turned her gaze to the dirt.
"Well, what goes here?" Thorn heard a female voice say from far away.
Thorn turned herself away from the conversation, shutting everything out, and closed her eyes. She barely heard Torhte mumble some words of explanation.
It was always you, Thorn. You were always the smarter one. The better one. The one with the special gift. The one that everyone wanted! I was always the victim, the back up, the emergency fill in. I was the one hiding in the background! People only cared about you! You were always more important!
Asianna's words rang repeatedly in her head. Special gift? Why, there were times that she hated her supposed gift. Hadn't it gotten them into this position? Why couldn't she have been normal? There were days when Thorn wished she was as insignificant as the dirt that she stood on. Today was one of those days.
She glanced up to gaze at her sister for a moment. She stood tall and firm, no longer wearing a cloak to hide her rounded form. Staring at Asianna right now, it would have been difficult to think that it was possible for people to shove her to the background.
But that's what she had said. She had been forced to stay in the background while Thorn had been in the 'spotlight'. And what a bitter place that had turned out to be.
Torhte suddenly gave the rope a rough jerk and Thorn was pulled to her knees because of the unexpectedness of it. Her neck felt sore where the rope rubbed against it and her egg laden hair stuck to her cheek. As Thorn exhaustedly got back on to her feet, she heard someone speak.
"You didn't actually think that we wouldn't recognize you, did you Torhte? You didn't actually think that your plan of selling Thorn for the money would succeed, did you?"
"Stand back." Thorn heard Asianna order. "We have men waiting in the edge of the forest. They will attack if we give them a signal to."
Someone laughed. "We've already checked the woods. There is nobody there."
"Stand back." Torhte said. "This will be your last warning."
"And once again, we tell you that there are no men waiting in the woods."
There seemed to be a moment of pause. Then utter chaos broke loose.
"Arrows!" Someone shouted. "Run!"
Villagers screamed and ran. People pushed her roughly aside in their hurry for cover.
Thorn glanced up toward the sky and stared at the flying arrows which came from the direction of the forest. She stared at them with unexplainable fascination. The screams of villagers faded away, so did the rough voices of knights giving orders. She didn't even feel the rope around her neck go slack as Torhte released her to run.
Well, I've been hit on the head with a rock and squashed by the body of a horse. I wonder what it'll be like to be pierced by an arrow, she thought dreamily to herself.
"No! Thorn!"
Thorn's reverie was broken as she found herself tackled to the ground.
"Evin! What in the name of the Goddess!" A frustrated voice protested.
It took awhile for Thorn to realize that Evin's body lay over hers, shielding her from arrows. But then around them, a sparkling purple dome appeared.
Thorn watched, enthralled, as arrows fell against the dome which sparkled around her and Evin and then merely bounced off.
It seemed as if the arrows would fall forever, but then they finally stopped and the amethyst dome faded away. As Evin pulled himself away from her, she gaze up in confusion.
"Evin?" Her voice seemed rusty from disuse. "What are you doing here?" she asked, still a bit unfocused.
Evin let himself smile but then frowned anxiously. "I'm here to rescue you, of course."
Her eyes widened as the world slowly shone with crystal clarity around her. Then she suddenly burst into mad laughter.
"Thorn?" Evin asked slowly with concern.
"Funny." Thorn gasped out. "That's exactly what I said to my sister…before she hit me over the head with a rock."
Thorn suddenly found that streams of tears were running down her face. She glared at Evin, uncontrollably angry.
"Why did you do that, Evin? Why did you save me! Why didn't you just let me die!"
She saw Evin wince, and in that moment realized that she had been pounding her fists into his chest. She pulled her hands away, still sobbing.
"Why didn't you just let me die! Why didn't you just --" she buried her face in her hands when she found that her voice shook too much for her to speak clearly. She suddenly realized that she was sobbing like a child in the middle of the village, and that everyone was staring at her. And she just ended up sobbing even harder than before whenever she tried to stop the tears.
"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods." she was murmuring as she let Evin pull her into his arms. But then she pulled away, noticing that the food on her was starting to get all over him.
"You don't want to hold me." She mumbled as soon as she got her tears down to a more controllable level. "I'm absolutely filthy." She hiccupped.
Evin ignored her protests as he picked her up from the ground and cradled her in his arms. "I'd want to hold you even if you were covered in the most disgusting pig slop that we could find." he said to her quietly.
Thorn closed her eyes, too tired to protest any more, and buried her head against her chest, not wanting to see the watchers stare at her.
Evin stared down at Thorn's dirt-smudged face, wondering what he should do. There was work to be done in the village. The village would have to be cleaned up, the villagers consoled, the forest around the village investigated again.
He stared gently down into Thorn's face. "Thorn?"
But Thorn didn't reply. She had fallen asleep.
