Disclaimer: Same as ever. I wouldn't post this on a fanfiction site if I owned any of these awesome places/people and not Garth Nix, would I?
Lianne stood behind the first roll of rusted barbed wire and stared at the broken and tumbling wall that lay between her and her unlikely destination. It was old and crumbled and posed no physical barrier, but something about it implied that it had once been a fearsome barrier between Ancelstierre Proper and North Ancelstierre.
Lianne remembered hearing stories about when Northern Ancelstierre had once been another country, but it had been annexed more than fifty years by the time she was born. Most of what she remembered about the stories were that odd things happened up north, and practically no one lived there.
I'm odd, she thought bitterly to herself. Maybe that is where I am meant to be. And indeed, her journey north proved she wasn't the only one who found this place strange.
She had left three days before, not really knowing where she was headed. Lianne had enough money to buy a bus ticket, and the cheapest route headed towards some place called Edge, a little town past the wall that stood before her. The bus, however, did not go to the wall, or even too close to it. Apparently, electronics broke down with an alarming frequency in that area, and beyond the wall. So, it dropped her off in a tiny little hamlet that had never really seen better days, and from there she got directions to Edge, which was about half a days walk away. Her plan was to pass herself off as old enough to work, since she was tall for her age, an... well, she hadn't thought much further. She hoped that, this far north, no one would be interested in checking to see if that was her real age.
Lianne sighed and checked her dwindling money. It should be enough, supposing she could follow through on her plan. She shouldered her backpack and approached the wall.
When she reached it, Lianne stopped to examine the crumbled stone and mortar. To her surprise, the surface swam with faint, gold marks. They never bumped into each other and never touched, but somehow gave the appearance of a great chain. The girl lifted her hand to touch it, and got very close, but an inch from the stone she realized that it was giving off heat and snatched her hand away. Lianne kept walking, dismissing it as a trick of the light.
It was a little past noon when Lianne reached Edge, and unusually cold. She had already put on the heavier clothes she'd brought, thinking vaguely that winter might set in early up north, but this kind of weather in the spring was ridiculous, and windy. The air within the town was only marginally stiller, and the attitude towards her was plenty cold.
Lianne soon realized that there were two groups of very different people in Edge. The first was made up of people not unlike the ones from Ancelstierre Proper, albeit warier looking. The second group was much smaller, and Lianne noted with some surprise that these men and women openly carried weapons. But not guns, swords, and knives. That made the girl look around a little more at the buildings. Present, horses, carts, gas lamps. Not present, cars or anything mechanical. The bus driver had said the buses broke down, he didn't say anything about them not working. Did nothing electronic work here? Impossible. Lianne put it out of here mind.
The girl explored the town leisurely, pausing occasionally to read 'help wanted' signs posted in store windows. None of the jobs available would work, they would make it obvious that she was just a tall thirteen. She may have seen more signs, but when she noticed that someone was staring at her, she hurried on. It was one of the second group, a man with a pale face and two wicked swords. She didn't want to bother him. Finally, ready to give up, another sign caught her eye.
Lianne almost didn't see it, the window was so grubby. It advertised a full-time job in a grocery store, with mediocre pay and food and board included. Seeing no other options, Lianne entered.
The cram-packed shelves were dusty, and everything, she noticed, was packed by hand and the kind of stuff that would keep well. No soda can or toilet paper here. There gas lights cast an eerie glow over the entire store, making the shadows on the enormously fat man in the corners face dance. He was snoring loudly, his enormous paunch rising and falling with each sawing bellow. Lianne used a feather duster on the nearest shelf to poke him.
"Hello? I'm here about the job..." but the man, now wide awake, interrupted.
"What are you doin'? Didn't I say I weren't selling to you bloody savages? Get out!"
"I'm here about the job!" Lianne insisted. The man suddenly relaxed.
"'scuse me, yea just looked like one 'o them locals. Nasty lot, don't get tied up with them. How old are yea?"
Lianne had been rehearsing this ever since she left home.
"Fifteen, but my birthdays is in two weeks."
The store owner's eyes narrowed, he looked her over suspiciously. Finally, he nodded.
"Yea got it. No bloody people in this town, we never get any new employees. We're closed now, so you start in the morning. Come back later and I'll introduce you to me sisters. I'm Avlick, by the way."
Lianne left, a little surprised at her good luck. Avlick was fat and dirty and the grocery store was in need of dusting and organization, but he didn't seem too bad. The girl turned the street corner into an alley, barely aware of where she was going. At the end of the narrow street, she suddenly stopped, having heard voices.
"-not from Clovencrest, and no place south of there she could have come from, but obviously not Ancelstierren." She realized that the speaker was the man she had caught staring at her earlier, and the audience two equally watchful people with weapons. Lianne stepped from the alley, her curiosity piqued.
When they saw her, all three gave a start, like naughty children caught at something they shouldn't be doing. But their inquisitive expression changed to blankness the minute she opened her mouth.
"Er, excuse me, but was it me you were talking about?"
The man shook his head. He seemed disappointed. Without another word, he and the three people walked away.
"Not Ancelstierren indeed," muttered Gwyr as they walked away from the strange girl. "Did you hear her accent? As thin-blooded as the shiftiest-eyed laziest Southerner you could find."
"Shut up," retorted Berenice. "She looked the part, didn't she? Spitting image of every portrait I've ever seen of Li-"
Nisien cut her off before she could finish. "Keep your mouth shut. And she fooled you to, Gwyr. She must have caught me looking at her and tried to investigate. Never mind though. The Clayr will be expecting us back soon. We will have to tell them we have failed."
"Why bother? They didn't foresee us succeeding, did they?" demanded Berenice. "This is probably just another possible future that would have happened if so-and-so's brother had married that crazy Northerner. Don't sweat it too much."
"It isn't a possible future," growled Gwyr. "They've been having the same damn vision for one hundred years. How can it be wrong?"
But Nisien couldn't help but doubt that the Bloodlines in any child could possible run strong enough to produce another Abhorsen, not now, after a century and no one eligible. However, if the Clayr thought that the Old Kingdom could be restored, it was his duty as a Royal Guard to obey them in the absence of a king or queen. Nisien hurried to keep up with his friends as they walked away from the strange girl that looked so like the last Abhorsen.
