Faithful Pebble
Part Seventy-Three
"A boy," Pebble replied. "A boy is what happened next."
"The boy was in love, had been in love since the birth of the girl whom eventually stole his heart," that is what the Headsman had said. He preached it really from the dragon etched podium looming like a vulture over the crowd. They were gathered below his feet smiling back at him with eager ears. His smile warmed. He twitched his mustache, swayed his stove pipe hat. He knew the story. They all did. "His sister was his exact opposite. She was younger than him by many years. He was dark in color, his hair, his eyes, his demeanor in general while she was fair in general in hair, in eyes and demeanor. You would never know that they were siblings. Being from two different mothers, that happenstance is understandable. Only one thing betrayed their relationship, their siblinghood, their close unnatural friendship. That one thing was…"
"Their love," Pebble said softly. Once more she led the way, guiding the wanderer through woods that rivaled the darkness of her well. "He loved her and she loved him although they weren't completely related, although at times she was slow of wit and restless of attention, although she coughed more than the other children he never paid attention to."
"She was very sick, chronically so. A doctor was needed." Solemnly, the headsmen's voice carried over the village square—like always. He shook his head—like always—his smile not quite vanishing from his teetering lips. His gaze sparkled amongst the crowd avoiding the stare that watched him adamantly at his feet. Like always, he was not familiar with that stare, but like always, he'd been expecting it, been expecting it for quite some time. "She needed a doctor his widowed step-mother could not afford. And so, being the dutiful and caring and loving step-son he was, instead of going to school, the boy endeavored to find work. In order to bring his mother peace of mind, in order to save his sister and return life's gleaming glow to shine once more in her eyes, he found work, honest work, dangerous work at that. He was, in a word, desperate."
"He made his decision the night before and in the morning, instead of trailing his friends to the village school house, his feet meandered to the forest line, to its entrance where many of the village men gathered. It was an unremarkable day, they say, like the day when Princess Snow found the hut and her seven guardians, or the day that the witch wrapped her pale innocent fingers around that fateful apple, or the day when that one prominent member of our little village found its tree and the entrance to the seven's forgotten diamond mine, that well filled with unknown treasures." Pebble looked down at her feet, watched the earth rush past her booted toes. Those toes were cared for by an unforgotten woodcutter and an unknown little boy following her steps secretly through that same dark wood. "That well made that prominent member wealthier than anyone else in the village. It made the village wealthier than any other in the kingdom apart from the capital. Many years later, the village's livelihood depended solely on that mine and the harvesting of its wares. Because of this, the prominent member was made the village's headsman and his name was passed down from generation after generation like a title. A Baron always ruled and a Baron would still be ruling if it wasn't for that unremarkable day many years ago, the day when the boy, not yet a fully grown man, went into the cave to save his sister."
- Calla