Of all the places he wished could be, Arborfell didn’t even make the list.
The village, though really one wouldn’t consider it more than a glorified collection of farms, held little in the way of entertainment after the Godwin family purchased its entirety several years ago. Many of the villagers abandoned it after the monsters Wulfsige commanded moved in. If they didn't die in the initial slaughter, that is.
And thus, Gideon Godwin found himself working to remain busy. With very little acceptable equipment, he worked as best he could under lamplight to replenish the stock of medicines that his brothers were rapidly depleting.
As the pot of boiling stems became fragrant he removed them from the heat and separated the liquid from the mass. Then, carefully, he piped out a dropper’s worth and transferred it a small vial of waiting carrier oil.
The door to the study burst open, rattling the Gideon’s work table and toppling the vial. He swore.
“Wulfsige, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful when you open doors?”
The boy standing in the doorway, Wulfsige Godwin, tilted his head.
“But I did? See, it’s not broken,” he grinned, showing teeth suited more for a wolf than a human.
Gideon sighed.
“Oleander, do you have a hanker-chief?” He turned to ask his other brother who had been reading in the corner, but Oleander Godwin had already crossed the room with the kerchief in hand.
Gideon took the fabric and wiped up the spilled contents. He glanced over his shoulder at Wulfsige
“So? Do you finally have news?”
“Yes! The village has a catacomb!” Wulfsige declared.
“Aaand?”
“And it’s not there!” He grinned his toothy grin again.
Gideon and Oleander sighed.
“Just how many towns has it been so far?” Oleander rubbed his chin. “We’re searching and re-searching every town we’ve acquired. Either the tombs are always empty, or they were robbed before we reached them. Surely there’s a better way. Does he even know how tedious this is?”
“You know as well as I not to question our Lord Brother,” Gideon replied. He piped more of the boiled tincture and filled the previously spilled vial. “He’s the only one who understands the nature of our curse. Besides…” His expression twisted. “Questioning him only makes him angry.”
“Well, he’s not here to get angry is-“ Oleander froze mid-sentence then turned to look out the west facing window. His eyes, usually blue with a stripe of silver in his left eye, flared fully silver.
His face turned pale.
Wulsige and Gideon Godwin watched him closely under the flickering lamplight.
Oleander blinked and his eyes returned to their usual blue.
“That’s odd.”
“What is?” Gideon gestured for him to elaborate.
“Lately, I thought I’ve been feeling our sister’s power.”
Gideon’s eyes widened and he half rose from his chair. “Since when?”
“Since we started operations here in the West March,” Oleander admitted.
“But it was always so faint I couldn’t be certain. Nor could I tell where it was coming from. But just now…” He tapped his chin with his fingers. “I’m almost certain.”
He cast a wary gaze to Gideon.
“Should we tell him?”
Gideon shook his head and turned back to his desk to fill more vials.
“Not yet. He’ll drop everything in the capital to come out here and burn wherever she’s hiding to the ground. Hell, he’ll kill everyone in the town for good measure just for harboring her.”
“True…” Oleander’s gaze fell to his feet. Guilt squeezed his heart.
“I’d rather we confirm it ourselves,” Gideon said. “If we can find her, we might even convince her to come back before anyone gets hurt.”
“How will we do that? Last time didn’t go so well…”
“I still have news!” Wulfsige said, still standing by the door. The other two Godwin brothers looked to their youngest sibling.
Gideon raised his eyebrow.
“I thought you said the catacomb was empty.”
“I said IT wasn’t there,” Wulfsige replied. “But I found something else, and I could probably use it to get Sister out of hiding.”
“Well, what was it?” Oleander snapped. “Quit playing games.”
Wulfsige’s chuckle gave Oleander goosebumps.
“A Lindwurm.”
Oleander and Gideon exchanged glances. Gideon nodded to Wulfsige who hopped with glee. The boy spun on his heel, and bounded down the hall to his room. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Oleander sighed.
“Strong as a beast like that may be, the West March is full of powerful monster slayers. It might not be enough to find her. I’ll reach out to some contacts we have. If they have any projects around, we can use them as spies.”
“I’ll speak with the Library when we come upon a branch,” Gideon added. “I have no doubt Evalyn used them to cover her tracks. One of them may be willing to sell information eventually.”
He placed the stopper on his final vial and sealed it.
“It’s time we made our family whole.”
_____
“You don’t need to do all this, you know.”
Alice was still naked, still sprawled out on the bed while Evalyn meticulously spread a thick ointment over the many marks she left.
Hickeys, teeth marks, and hand shaped bruises decorated Alice’s tan skin and Evalyn flushed at the amount. An oily hand slapped Alice’s skin lightly as Evalyn looked away.
Alice laughed.
“This ointment is my brother’s recipe. The bruises will be gone by tomorrow if I use this. The bite marks might take a few days…”
“So it’s a healing ointment? I thought you were just giving me a message after the torture you put me through.”
“That wasn’t torture,” Evalyn mumbled.
Her lowered head and the sudden gravity of the air around her stirred Alice’s heart. She sat up and wrapped her arms around Evalyn’s neck.
“You’re right, it wasn’t. It felt good.” She said.
Alice took the ointment and scooped a bit onto her fingers, which she rubbed onto Evalyn’s neck.
Evalyn’s ears turned red.
“Next time…”
“Hmm?” Alice tilted her head so that she could see Evalyn’s face.
“Next time… I’ll take my clothes off too,” Evalyn said.
“Why did you not want to this time?” Alice asked.
Evalyn took the ointment back and crossed the room to put it away.
“I didn’t want to scare you and kill the mood,” she said while staring at her desk. “It’s… not easy to look at me.”
With a deep breath, she unbuttoned the front of her shirt and let the fabric fall over her shoulders to just half-way down her back.
Alice gasped.
From what she could see, it seemed that Evalyn’s torso save for her hands, neck, and face, was disfigured with multiple layers of scars.
“My legs are like this too,” she said, still staring at the desk. She hugged the loose fabric around herself.
“I ran away from my home too, like you. When this -when the torture- became too much.”
The sheets on the bed rustled, and Alice’s bare feet softly tapped the floor as she stepped closer.
Evalyn’s hands clenched and she shut her eyes.
Warm arms slid over Evalyn’s shoulders as Alice pulled her into a hug. The wide expanse of Alice’s chest covered the exposed skin of Evalyn’s back. Alice’s arms crossed over Evalyn’s front, covering the scars on her chest before Alice’s eyes ever saw them.
“How could anyone do this to you?” she whispered and kissed the top of Evalyn’s head.
“It was over ten years ago…” Evalyn muttered.
“Then you were just a kid…” Alice’s embrace grew tighter.
“I’m so sorry you went through that. It’s amazing you’re still here. I knew you were strong.”
Evalyn’s breath hitched as tears streamed from her eyes. They stood like that for a long time; Evalyn sobbed while Alice held her from behind.
Was she strong? All this time all she thought about was running away. Hiding. Covering herself with camouflage until she disappeared completely…
Root Hollow was an idyllic place to die.
That was what Evalyn had intended.
If she passed a few years peacefully, doing what she could to correct her past by helping others and building up the Adventurers Guild… Then one day she could take her own life without any regrets.
Before that man could find her again. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
That was still her plan… but the warmth on her back and the arms around her shoulders complicated things.
Two and a half weeks changed everything.
A giant woman appeared from another world and cast sunlight on Evalyn’s overcast world. She was bold and charming. She shined too bright to stare at for too long.
And yet, Evalyn longed to go blind.
She spoke about things that made no sense. She got excited over the most mundane things as if everything in this world was new.
She was beautiful. A stranger Evalyn felt like she had always known.
Someone she wished had stayed gone. Someone she missed so terribly…
Someone whose soul she ached for even now.
The intensity of her desire scared her more than anything.
Now that they’d found each other, how could she possibly be able to hold onto that resolve to die?
Eventually Alice let go, retrieved Evalyn’s nightgown, and slipped it over her head for her. She removed Evalyn’s outing skirt without looking at her legs, then swept the small woman into her arms.
Evalyn weighed practically nothing as Alice carried her to bed. Once she was tucked in, Alice slid into the bed next to her.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” Evalyn said in a small voice.
Alice stroked her pale cheek and smiled softly.
“You didn’t. I want to know more about you. I know it won’t all be good things.”
“What if none of it’s good?”
“I highly doubt that,” Alice said, and pulled Evalyn into her arms so that Evalyn’s head was resting on her chest. “But if there are things that are hard to talk about, you can tell me the lighter stuff instead.”
“Like what?” Evalyn’s voice was muffled against Alice’s chest. What was she, if not her secrets and her scars? What did she have to share?
“Like…How old are you? I don’t think we ever said. I’m thirty-two,” Alice replied.
“I’m... twenty-eight,” Evalyn said after some quick mental math.
“Wow. I never would have guessed. You feel older to me. I thought we were the same age.”
They held each other in silence for a bit, when Evalyn tilted her head to look up at Alice’s face. The other worlder holding her looked down at her face with such gentleness. Evalyn feared she might feel the racing of her heart as their chests pressed together. So sunny... even in the middle of the night.
“I like sunflowers,” she said. “Yellow is my favorite color, and I like how sunflowers always turn their heads to look at the sun. I used to grow sunflowers as a kid, to bring that sun inside…”
When my world was naught but unending darkness...
She fidgeted with the edge of the blanket. “What about you?”
God she’s so cute, Alice thought with a smile. She ran a hand over the back of Evalyn’s nightgown.
“Lavender,” Alice replied. “I grew it on the balcony of my apartment in East Village. It’s pretty and it’s soothing.”
Kinda like you.
Evalyn asked what she meant by "East Village" when she originally claimed to be from a city called "New York". Alice tried to explain but eventually Evalyn shook her head. She couldn't wrap her mind around it.
“So…do you like purple?” She asked instead.
“Yeah.” Alice replied.
Her cheeks flushed again. Alice enjoyed how easily she turned red now that some kind of barrier had been broken between them.
Evalyn looked away from Alice’s face.
“Even if Orbahn and the others take over teaching you, you can still come see me. If you want to.”
“I do want to,” Alice replied. “I’ll bother you as long as you’re not busy.”
Evalyn shook her head. “I’ll make time for you.”
“Yeah? Promise?”
“Mhmm,” Evalyn muttered as her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
End of Season 1