A/N: Sorry for the late update! School is a little crazy right now. Enjoy, and thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. It's really encouraging!
Chapter Seven: Lira
Sophie stood where Jaden had left her, absently running the little card through her fingers. Part of her wanted to hurl the thing as far away as she could. But such a gesture wouldn't really accomplish anything, and Sophie knew that this was no time for blind emotion.
All at once, she wished with fierce intensity that her mother was still alive. She desperately needed advice, and she was horribly out of her depth. But there was no one.
Sophie clenched her jaw and forced herself to tuck the card away. Nothing would be gained by self-pity, she knew. She took a deep breath. One step at a time. She should get back to the shop now…
"Lend a hand, won't you?"
Sophie whirled around. The speaker was the woman she had noticed earlier, the one with the deck of cards, and she was in the process of folding the linen cloth that draped over her stall. Sophie hesitated. The cloth was far too cumbersome for the woman to easily fold alone, and she saw no polite way to refuse.
Slowly, she walked over and took up an end of the cloth. The folding was done in a moment, and the woman turned to set the fabric in a low wooden trunk. With some bemusement, Sophie realized that the entire fair was packing up for the night. All across the common she could see vendors lighting lanterns and stowing their wares. When had it gotten so late?
Sophie noticed that the woman's deck of cards was lying on the wooden table, and impulsively she picked it up. They were not ordinary playing cards, she saw now. They were intricately painted, each with a different theme and a message in tiny print. There was no trace of hearts or diamonds, and Sophie was thankful; she didn't need another reminder of Londer's gambling just now.
She looked closer, intrigued. She had heard of gypsies who told fortunes with strange cards, but had always assumed it was a myth. She took up a card picturing high cliffs and a tumultuous sea. 'Clear clouds a sign of contentment. Dark clouds announce trouble.' Sophie stifled her laughter. That was informative indeed!
"Interested in cartomancy, are you?"
The woman had turned from her trunk and was staring at Sophie curiously. Sophie jumped and set the cards down quickly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
The other woman waved dismissively.
"Pretty, aren't they? I'm Lira, by the way. My thanks for the help."
Looking at the other woman full-on, Sophie saw that she was young; she guessed that they were probably of an age. She noticed that the stranger was also very pretty. Lira had wide-set brown eyes and thick black curls piled in an intricate knot atop her head. Her dress of green wool was serviceable, but it somehow looked too fine to belong to a travelling gypsy. Or was she a gypsy at all? The woman also wore a strange ring, a tiny crystal sphere mounted on three prongs. The crystal was cloudy and tiny, spider-web cracks ran through it.
Lira must have noticed her gaze, for she dropped her hand to her skirts.
"You've a handsome young man."
Sophie blinked at Lira for a moment before realizing that she must have seen Jaden.
"I—he's not my anything."
Sophie realized that the answer sounded unduly harsh. She had no cause to take out her troubles on a stranger. In a more friendly tone she added,
"My name is Sophie. The man is…a friend."
"Ah."
Lira's arched eyebrow was eloquent. The other woman paused as if deciding something, then said suddenly,
"Would you like me to tell your fortune?"
Sophie stared.
"I—what?"
"Your fortune. I'm a fortune-teller; that's what the cards are for."
"I haven't any money—"
Lira shrugged.
"You needn't pay me. I've no wish to go to the pub, and I'm not tired. It would be…nice, to have some company for once." She paused, as if sensing Sophie's reticence, then smiled. "It's bad luck to turn down a fortune, you know."
Despite herself, Sophie gave an answering smile. The woman's good humor was infectious, and she dreaded going back to the shop, with her too-cheerful uncle and his terrible secret. Londer wouldn't miss her. He would assume that she was still out enjoying the fair. And if she were being completely honest, Sophie was also more than a little curious about the fanciful cards.
Lira beckoned, and with only a moment's hesitation Sophie followed the other woman into the little tent behind the stall. It was barely large enough for two, with a thin straw mattress, a few pillows and various bundles in the corners. Lira took up a taper and lit a small lamp, then tossed Sophie a pillow.
"Sit down, won't you?"
Lira settled herself on a pillow across from Sophie, and the two regarded each other for a moment. Feeling as if she should try to make conversation, Sophie finally ventured,
"What's it like? Travelling with the fair, I mean."
She was genuinely curious. Lira's life was not a usual one. Even in the more outlying kingdoms, it was considered highly improper for a young woman to travel alone. An unmarried woman with her own fair stall was beyond the pale, and it was assumed that she likely sold more than her wares on the road. But Sophie had never been enamored of her land's social pretensions. Admittedly, living in tiny Ell, she had been generally insulated from contact with the 'undesirables' who filled the larger cities. Yet she considered herself a fair judge of people, and Lira didn't strike her as a woman of loose morals.
Lira ran an absent hand around the rim of the tin plate. She appeared to be carefully considering her answer. Finally she said,
"The fair is…tiring. A new town every fortnight, country folk expecting miracles and booing when the cards don't favor them. Half the people think I'm some sorceress come to curse their sheep and take their children." She clearly wasn't looking for pity, but Sophie felt a twinge of it anyway. "I never intended to tell fortunes for hire. But…it's difficult, to find a job at a shop."
Sophie nodded. It was a common enough tale. Shopkeepers would sometimes hire unmarried women, but they usually hired upon reference only, and a travelling fortune-teller was not likely to collect many of those. Tentatively she said,
"You could use your magic. Craftsmen would pay dearly for someone who could work even basic warding spells." Theft was still common, especially in the cities. Even one well-set spell could save hundreds of coppers. But Lira shook her head and said sharply,
"You think magic is the answer to everything, don't you? It brings nothing but misery."
Sophie was completely taken aback. What on earth had happened, to make her hate magic so? She wondered, but before she could ask, Lira stood up decisively.
"Right. I promised you a fortune, didn't I?"
Lira clearly wanted to avoid any more talk of magic, but Sophie couldn't bring herself to be offended. She knew, better than many, the power of secrets. She couldn't rightly condemn the other woman for deciding to keep her own, especially when they were still little more than strangers.
As Sophie watched, Lira moved to a corner of the tent and picked up a small, square wooden box.
"Don't you need the card deck? From the stall?"
Lira shook her head.
"Oh, no. That deck wouldn't be at all right for you."
She rifled through the box, then removed what was clearly another card deck. She sat back down on her pillow and set the closed box on the hard-packed dirt floor between them. As Sophie watched, Lira shuffled the deck with an expert hand. With a twinge of unease, Sophie noticed that these were not at all the same cards as in the stall outside. She could see fairies and demons and princes whirling between Lira's hands, painted in colors so bright that they hurt the eye. Somehow, she knew that the messages on these cards would not be trite slogans.
"Lira, where did you find these?"
"These…are from another life. One I left behind long ago."
"But you kept the cards."
Lira shrugged.
"They have their uses, and there was no cause to throw them away."
Lira finally finished, and handed the deck to Sophie.
"Shuffle them, then put the deck face-down on top of the box."
Sophie knew her shuffling was slow and clumsy, but she managed. She set the deck down and waited. Despite herself, she couldn't help but be excited, and more than a little nervous. It wasn't every day that a provincial shop-girl had her fortune told. Lira must have noticed because she smiled and said,
"Relax. It's a fortune, not an interrogation."
Sophie laughed a little and forced herself to settle down. Lira nodded at her.
"Good; now take the top card off the deck and lay it face-up on the box."
Sophie followed instruction, then went very still. Perhaps, she thought a bit hysterically, she had underestimated Lira after all.
….
The card showed a lord, slumped at a table with a wine goblet in his hand and a pile of gambling markers before him. The details were amazing. Sophie could make out the fine lines on the lord's face and the numbers on the markers. Below the picture, a message was written in tiny, sharp script. "Vice brings ruin upon guilty and innocent alike. The maiden will pay for his crimes."
It was a coincidence, Sophie told herself firmly. It had to be.
"Are you all right? You went pale."
Sophie shook her head, annoyed at herself.
"I'm fine. Please—go on."
Lira looked skeptical, but she didn't press.
"Shuffle the deck again, then, and draw the next card."
Sophie did so. When she set the second card down beside the first, the painting was so vivid that she started in surprise. It was a girl in a red dress, lying prone on a field of snow with her wild curls fanned out behind her. Her fine-boned face showed terror, and a despair that was wrenching to look upon. With a twist of fear, Sophie saw that a small, square box rested in one of her extended hands. Unable to tear her eyes away, Sophie read the message. "The maiden sleeps but cannot dream. Beware the dark prince."
Sophie rose shakily, not sure whether to compose herself or to simply run from the tent. Lira didn't know, she thought. She had no idea about Jaden or the fortunes or the gambling. But these cards were no coincidence; they couldn't be. Was Lira some kind of sorceress after all? There was magic at work here, and Sophie knew that she should leave and never come back. Strange magic was nothing to trifle with. Older town-folk told stories of people found vacant-eyed and helpless in the woods beyond the village, their souls eaten away by creatures with no name.
But Sophie also desperately wanted to see the third card. The first two had seemed to tell of the past, and the present. She knew instinctively that the third would tell the future. Was Jaden the dark prince? What should she beware? With her own future so completely uncertain, the possibility of a hint, however slight, was seductive. And if she walked away, she might leave behind the only thing that could help her.
In the end Sophie decided to wait. They were just cards, after all. They hadn't hurt her yet, and she had no time for cowardice if she was to save her uncle. She passed a too-warm hand over her forehead and slowly sat back down.
"I'm sorry. I'm ready now."
Lira reached out a hand toward the box.
"No; you had better not. I've upset you."
The other woman looked genuinely distressed. Seeing the concern in her eyes, Sophie was more than tempted to throw her resolve to the wind. She clenched her hand so hard that her nails bit into her palm, and hoped that she sounded suitably unaffected.
"It..it was just a shock. I'm well, really. And we may as well finish the fortune."
Lira was silent for a moment, and then nodded reluctantly.
"If that is what you wish."
With a hand that only trembled a little, Sophie turned over the third card.
"Oh!"
Her exclamation was involuntary, torn out of a throat that suddenly felt dry and hot. A woman and a man stood framed in a window atop a high, dark tower, with a castle obviously crumbling beneath them. The woman's back rested against the man's chest, her head cast down and her hair flying about her in an invisible wind. The man's arm was locked around her waist, but he clearly wasn't hurting her. The expression on his face was so intimate, and so anguished, that it made Sophie blush. Behind the pair, the sky swirled with unnatural light and strange shadows. It looked, Sophie thought, like the end of the world.
'The prince's passion will break him. The lady must find her courage before the end.'
Very slowly, Sophie reached out and turned the card over, so that only the white back was showing. Across from her, Lira seemed nearly as shaken as she. The fortune teller's eyes were wide and her face was like chalk. Whatever else she might have done, she clearly hadn't expected this.
"I…it doesn't mean anything. These cards don't tell the future. They can't."
Lira didn't look as if she believed herself, and Sophie felt even more terrified. Sharply she said,
"You should get rid of that deck."
Lira nodded.
"I will." She paused. "Sophie, I am sorry. I only wanted company, and I—I didn't intend for anything like this to happen."
So she knew what the cards meant, Sophie thought, or at least had an idea. She couldn't quite bring herself to ask how. Lira held out a hand and Sophie instinctively backed away.
"I need to go now. My uncle will be waiting." She knew she should thank Lira for the fortune, but the words stuck in her throat. She settled for a half-mumbled 'good evening', then unceremoniously turned and nearly ran out of the tent.
