“This is foolish,” Rueben almost shouted, “heading into the very town that these maids were running from and the very town that holds Lord Oprend, the man that has ordered our deaths.”
Jareth’s eyebrows furrowed in anger, Arabella felt it keenly, anger that Rueben was questioning him, questioning Griffin. “Yes I see that Rueben, do you think I am blind to the situation? Do not belittle me, I know what I am asking of you but it is only you two that have the skills, in the other towns, the other places, stealth and quick hands did not matter so much but we are in the heart of Inlo now, under the lion’s nose. You and Arabella can do this.”
Jareth’s words cut through the silence and Arabella was glad that Griffin had sent him in his place. Griffin was a brilliant leader and inspired them every day, but Jareth had the patience of wise man and dealt with Rueben with tolerance. Griffin would send a well placed smack to the back of Rueben’s head for the way he spoke, not that Arabella minded, sometimes a thump here and there was the only way to keep these men in line, but for now she needed Rueben to co-operate.
“This is still foolish,” Rueben mumbled again, digging his shoe into the crystals of ice on the muddy ground. Jareth rolled his eyes at Arabella and she could not hide the smirk that grew upon her face.
“Yes, you may be right,” he sighed, “but it is this or we starve, it will be quick, take Arabella with you and she will protect you.”
Rueben raised his eyebrow, he doubted he needed Arabella’s help, but did not comment, knowing it was a fight he would not win. Arabella’s lip curled at Rueben’s sarcastic expression and she gritted her teeth whilst she waited for Rueben to concede to their plan. Sighing he eventually nodded and together they walked towards the edge of the forest leaving Jareth to keep a watch of the town and act as a messenger between the two groups.
Arabella took a deep breath, the cold night air sharp in her chest. She felt its caress on her face and bare skin, so cold it was impossible to feel tired. This was what she was good at, these trips into towns to steal supplies had become routine to her, for months she had made the journeys and never had any trouble. It did not matter where they were or what they were stealing, but now they were in Woodstone, the heart of Inlo and the most dangerous place to try their luck at stealing supplies. It was the first time they had attempted it and she did not know how to feel about the new addition of Rueben. He had accompanied her only once before, many months ago in a quiet town. He had been obedient then, and grateful for life. It would be nice to not to have to worry about approaching soldiers whilst breaking into the houses, Arabella conceded to herself, but she only knew of Rueben what she felt from him. His urges and emotions, and so far this night and in the last few months they had been nothing but arrogant. She felt his presence next to her, standing silently as he scoped the sleeping town.
She cast a quick glance at him, his mop of blonde hair fell messily around his face and he blew it out of his eyes every so often, his face was that of a young man, the childish roundness gone from his features. He was handsome; deceptively so, but Arabella knew he was weak willed. He had been warned countless times of what her kind did to men who were weak, and still she could sense his misguided interest in her as keenly as if it were her own. It was faint, the same intensity that all men had when they viewed her. She considered her beauty a weapon and was not vain, she knew by the standards of men and the tired women they saw everyday she was beautiful, it was something that came hand in hand with her Gypsy heritage, uncontrollable. Rueben’s interest would have to be monitored. Scowling at the night sky and deciding the addition to the trip was an unwelcome one, Arabella quickly darted from shadow to shadow down the long winding path, not bothering to check if Rueben was following her, until she reached the first cottage.
It was on the very outer ridge of the town; behind it stretched the fields for growing crops, and marked the beginning of the winding streets. Leaning against the wall, ear pressed to the stone, Arabella listened intently for movement, using the emotions that radiated from inside to determine if the people were asleep. Rueben joined her a few minutes later, trying discreetly to regain his breath after racing after her. For a moment there was no sound until she shook her head and they moved on to the next house, their footsteps echoing around the night. Rueben did not know how Arabella knew if someone was moving inside each cottage, but it was clear to anyone that Arabella was something more, her Gypsy heritage obvious in the way she walked, ran, the way she skulked from shadow to shadow, silently as the wind. He followed behind her obediently, waiting to strike. The moonlight bathed the cobbles, pointing a silvery, snaking path.
This was the second raid Rueben had helped in, the first a small town to the west of Inlo, he had proven to them the night they found him that he was uncannily skilled with his hands. He had unlocked the door of a tavern and stolen a keg of mead, all without being seen or caught. As they ran from cottage to cottage, Arabella unhappy with each one, he thought of that night and chuckled softly to himself. Thievery was something he had detested at first, his parents had abhorred it and throughout his childhood scolded his quick fingers, but after their death the years passed and stealing saved his life on many occasion. It had also gotten him into trouble; it was a beating from a disgruntled tavern owner that had left him dying on the side of the road, to be found by the travellers... now it was time for him to prove himself again. Arabella was present to dispose of any soldiers or unintentional passersby, something he never had in his past, he did not know how he felt about being protected by a woman.
Arabella ignored the flux of emotions and urges from Rueben, they were uninteresting to her and only showed he was not committed to this trip, he knew it was his chance to prove himself but only wished to for the glory that success would bring. She had to bite her lip to ignore his last thought about being protected by a woman, he was distracting to her and she disliked his presence on such a dangerous trip, she felt exposed without the cover of the forest and Rueben’s childish internal ramblings did not help. Arabella’s fingers danced over the hilt of her daggers she kept in her belt. She focused back on the cottages, the endless sea of stone walls.
“Here.” Arabella said bluntly after what seemed like a lifetime of silence. Rueben looked at the cottage, noting nothing different aesthetically. Arabella lifted a dagger from her belt and threw it in the air, catching it offhandedly as she waited for Rueben to extract his tools; she did not do it to impress, though of course she was aware that the action had had that exact effect on Rueben. She smiled slyly to herself as Rueben cleared his throat and focused on digging in his pocket for a thin piece of metal that would be needed to break the meagre lock on the door. He found it quickly and pulled it from his pocket, taking the chance to study Arabella, now they were close enough to touch. She was ethereally beautiful, and from what he had gleaned from her in the time he had been in the travellers she was reluctant to get close to anyone. Coldness ran through her like a river of ice.
“What are you waiting for?” Arabella snapped, irritated by the wasted time and the thoughts and emotions she could feel and hear from Rueben. Rueben jumped at the sound of her voice, dropping the metal to the ground. He bent and picked it up, taking a few minutes longer than needed to gather his courage.
As he stood he took a deep breath and asked, “Tell me about your past?”
Arabella scowled and Rueben’s heart leapt into his mouth. She will not even entertain my interests, Rueben thought sadly, let alone reciprocate them.
Arabella threw her hands in the air exasperatedly, as he knew she would, hissing, “Rueben this is not the time!”
He stared at her, unable to speak; it felt as though someone had grabbed his heart and forced it to beat to their tune. He could not think coherently, under the silver moonlight Arabella’s black hair shimmered, and her tanned skin looked dangerously inviting, only her eyes, brown pools against the white were angry, and forced him to try and breathe. He knew this sudden attraction was unnatural; it was on
ly a few minutes ago that he had been debating Arabella’s usefulness in this trip, and her skills to defend him, and yet now he felt utterly bewitched.
Arabella sighed as she heard and felt all that Rueben was thinking, knowing her fears had been totally justified, he was weak willed and her Gypsy lure, something she had no control over, had pulled him under. But here was not the place to have this argument.
“My parents were murdered, I was sent to live with my grandmother in Kingly. We argued a few years ago, and I came here. She taught me everything I know,” Arabella eventually answered, knowing Rueben would not continue on without an answer to his question.
“And what you know is... magic?”
“Yes, magic,” Arabella agreed weakly.
The silence crept between them and in that silence Rueben’s mind was racing. He now saw a different side to Arabella, a forbidden side. He had seen her use magic before, and now she used it to find out if it was safe to enter a house, but now that she had confirmed it was real, she seemed even more unreachable. It scared him and attracted him in equal measures. With a sly smile that he could not control he turned around to the door and picked the lock with ease, entering silently, the door slightly ajar behind him. Arabella took a deep, shaking breath, when he had gone and leant against the wall, her eyes searching for any movement. I shall need to be vigilant with him, she decided, as her fingers twitched over her daggers, his attraction needs to be stamped out before he gets hurt.
Forcing Rueben’s foolish feelings for her out of her mind she allowed the silence of the night to calm her. Control now was firmly in her hands. She scoped the sleeping town, noting the blackness of the windows. She knew that five more corners would lead to the square and the tavern. The cottages were all identical, each made by the hands of the villagers. The walls were of stone, the gaps filled with mud which hardened the wall, stopped the elements from entering, and held the stone in place.
The army had taken over most of the cottages. Families and friends often lived together in one small house, often as many as thirteen to a room, as there was no other option. Any building or repair work was permitted by Lord Oprend, and he rarely granted it. Anger bubbled in Arabella’s stomach as she thought of how much she and everyone else had suffered at the hands of the army. If she could, she would kill each and every soldier while they slept. The idea formed itself in her head and she felt her rage built until she unsheathed her daggers with a slicing sound. She held them, her hands shaking, until her knuckles were white and her hands became numb. The numbness allowed herself to calm down and take a deep breath. She would never be able to kill them all in one night, there were too many for that. The thought flitted away as she promised herself that she would get her revenge soon enough.
Rueben emerged then, holding three loaves of bread and a large lump of cheese, hardly enough to feed two people for a week. He had taken as much as he could without sentencing the inhabitants to death, and yet Arabella could not help eyeing it sadly. The small takings meant they would be going hungry again. Rueben handed one of the loaves to her and they slowly walked back up the trail to the group, leaving the sleeping, frost covered town behind them.
***
Braelyn sat cross legged on the hard ground, cooking a small rabbit that she had caught whilst hunting with Jareth and Theodore. They used a primitive form of hunting, stunning the rabbit with a rock and cutting its throat before it had a chance to awaken, as they did not have access to bows and arrows. In reality she knew the catch was more down to luck than any instinctive hunting skill, but Jareth and Theodore had been so impressed she did not argue when they praised her. She turned the stick, which the meat was impaled on, over so the meat was cooked thoroughly. Beside her Theodore was slicing the bread and cheese they had stolen from the town with a small pocket knife. Arabella and Rueben were scoping the town again to see if they could steal more supplies; Wynn and Griffin were fetching more firewood.
Braelyn stoked the fire, content just to watch the dried leaves drift into the air from the heat, spiralling off into the night. Jareth watched her with fascination, she wasn’t classically beautiful; her eyes were wide and her cheeks always rosy, too often he had seen beautiful girls forced into the whorehouses, used and admired in equal measures purely for their beauty. They broke in those conditions, but he could tell instantly that Braelyn would never break.
A loud crash interrupted the silence; they looked up, then down at the pile of logs had been thrown in front of them. Wynn was dusting her hands as Griffin threw more logs onto the fire.
“Rabbit?” Griffin asked happily, the smell wafting pleasantly around the camp. Braelyn nodded as she stoked the fire and felt comforted by Griffin’s warm and thankful smile. The silence stretched comfortably between them as they waited for the meat to cook. Each had their own thoughts to deal with...
A small distance away Arabella stopped by the stream that flowed by their camp. They had found only a few more loaves of bread and Arabella had been loathed to search further and spend any more time with Rueben. She had tried to send him back but he insisted on accompanying her and now as she washed her face slowly in the stream he watched her. The cold water was both pleasant and uncomfortable against her skin, and she splashed it onto her face ambivalently. She was free to bathe and relax, or relax as much as she could with Rueben insisting on following her. Rueben could not help but stare at her, Arabella listened to his thoughts angrily, he thought she looked like a dream, kneeling over a glistening stream with the moonlight dancing on her face from the reflection of the water. The trees surrounding them seemed to cut them from the world. Rueben’s heart beat faster once more and it was as though his mind was not his own.
Arabella allowed her hair to fall over her face, separating her from Rueben. His thoughts had grown increasingly alarming and she knew now was the time to talk to him, she opened her mouth to speak when Rueben interrupted her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
Arabella stood up and turned her head to look at him; her brown eyes searching his face. He let her search; he would have sacrificed himself for one more moment in her eyes.
Arabella smiled weakly and walked over to him, “Rueben, I must... remind you again that a weak willed man is most susceptible to me. I thank you for the compliment, and I am deeply flattered but you must understand that my heart will never belong to another. You need to fight these feelings of ‘love’ for they are nothing but magic.”
“You do not understand –”
“I understand perfectly well Rueben, I hear everything you think and feel everything you feel, what you are experiencing is not love, it is a mockery of the emotion. It is a defence that Gypsy women have, that moment of weakness in a man is all we need to defend ourselves, you have fallen for it and you need to fight it. We can never be.”
Rueben faltered, unsure how to react. He knelt down to wash his face and felt tears prickle uncontrollably at the rejection. The world seemed to stop; nothing existed save his desire for Arabella. He could not quite see how far his feelings for her had changed. It had been a gradual thing, noticing her beauty day to day, but the raid had opened his eyes to exactly how exotic, mystical and completely unattainable she really was. He swallowed past a lump in his throat; he had opened his heart and she had stabbed it.
“Let’s go back,” Arabella said quickly, hearing Rueben thoughts and feeling his desire for her. Rueben followed her obediently, his head swimming with the rejection and the need to love Arabella. Arabella was silent as they walked, but her face changed swiftly from pity to anger as she sensed and felt Rueben’s changing emotions.
The group looked up when Arabella and Rueben returned, Wynn kept her eyes lowered and focused on feeding the fire. Arabella sat next to Griffin. Rueben sat slowly down opposite her watching her every move. She sat silently, her arm innocently brushing Griffin’s as she helped stoke the fire. Rueben picked up a twig and snapped it in anger. Why was Griffin near Arabella? Rueben fed the fire wit
h a few more logs to fill the silence and try to ebb his anger.
“Arabella I just wanted to...” Wynn began, turning to face her.
“Save your breath,” Arabella interrupted, ending the conversation. Wynn sighed and watched as Braelyn took the meat from the fire and began cutting it with Theodore’s pocket knife. The silence stretched painfully between them as they ate. Wynn could not help ponder how different they all were, and yet they were stuck here, hiding in the forest, refugees, wanted by the kingdom. If they were caught all would feel the force of the army. The females would most likely be forced into a brothel, and the men murdered.
Griffin finished his meal and threw the plate down indifferently onto the leaves, followed by Jareth and Theodore. Rueben ate his meal slowly, watching Arabella, anger clawed his stomach and his heart ached.
“Griffin,” Arabella said softly, her eyes flickering from Rueben to the fire, “Can you come with me while I search for some more firewood, we can talk?”
Rueben’s mind clouded and his anger turned into hatred. He could not control himself; his world was confusing and painful, “Why are you talking to him!?” He yelled suddenly, throwing his plate down, it smashed dramatically on the stones beneath him.
Arabella raised her eyebrows, and turned back to Griffin. Rueben clenched his fists, “Well, you dirty witch?” He screamed, demanding an answer.
Arabella sighed, “I told you I didn’t feel the same way Rueben, my heart is mine and mine alone.”
Shade of Destiny (The Foreseeing) Page 13