“A group of disreputable individuals quickly surrounded Melody and I. There were six armed with wicked looking swords,” she said while cutting the lamb chops on her plate. Sheela watched carefully and tried to do the same. “No dear, like this.” Lady Pallon demonstrated the proper way to hold the fork and knife. “I’ve given up trying to get Frath to eat like a proper young man should.” Frath blushed and slowed down when he realized he had been shoving food in his mouth as quickly as possible, the normal way of eating in the guard.
“As I was saying, Melody and I were in mortal danger. Our bodyguard at the time had been sick and I thought we would be just fine going out on our own.” Sheela began eating as she listened in interest. Frath continued to look anywhere else. “Young Frath saw us in trouble and threw a rock at the leader of the men, knocking him out with an amazing shot to the head. Two of the others turned on him with their swords while three kept an eye on us.”
Sheela looked at Frath with new admiration. He shrugged while focusing intently on his plate. Lady Pallon continued, “I was worried for the boy against the rough swordsmen, but to my surprise he immediately disarmed one man, retrieved the sword and killed both with it. The other three took him seriously at that point, but Frath never seemed to be where they expected him to be. He tumbled and spun between the three of them and before we knew it, there were six bodies lying on the ground around us.”
“Really?” Sheela asked in awe. “I know he’s strong and brave, but that’s amazing.” Frath ignored them both and took another bite of his food.
“It was also very disturbing. Have you seen a dead body before, child?” Lady Pallon asked. Sheela paled, but didn’t answer. Frath couldn’t tell if she had or not. Lady Pallon nodded. “It’s a terrible sight and the young man was very messy about the whole thing. He had blood all over his clothes and looked quite fierce. For a moment I was just as afraid of him as I had been of the villains.” Her laughter was light and airy as she remembered the moment. Frath wished he could forget it.
“I thanked him for rescuing us and asked him what reward he would have. Do you know what he requested?” Lady Pallon asked Sheela, leaning in.
Sheela shook her head. “I have no idea. Tell me, please.”
“He only asked that we not tell the Guard.” She sat back and took a bite of her food. Sheela looked at Frath in puzzlement, but he just shrugged again. When she was finished chewing the bite, Lady Pallon leaned forward and put an elbow on the corner of the table in a very unladylike gesture. “He wasn’t allowed to get into a fight on his own and he also wasn’t supposed to be out after dark.”
“If anyone had found out, I would have been kicked out of the program and sent to jail,” Frath admitted quietly. “I just couldn’t let those men . . .”
“And I am forever grateful, my friend,” Lady Pallon said earnestly. “In any case, Melody and I brought him home to clean up and gave him a safe place to sleep. We haven’t told anyone about the incident although I don’t think he’d get in trouble for it anymore.” She looked at Frath for verification.
He shook his head. “No. I made it through the program and I’m an official Guardsman now. Every guard’s past is completely forgiven once they take their final oath. That said, I still don’t want to make a big deal out of it.” Frath felt uncomfortable with everything that had happened that night, but finally entered into the conversation. “The way you’ve treated me and given me a safe place to go to since then has meant everything to me, Milady.”
“But of course! Not only did you save us that night, but I like you, Frath.” She smiled blissfully. “You remind me of my husband, as I’ve told you before. You have the same ideals as he did, rest his soul. This is always a safe place for you and yours.” Lady Pallon gestured to Sheela to include her in the statement.
“Thank you, Milady. This has become as close to a home as I’ve ever had,” Frath told her sincerely. “If anything ever happens to me, would you look after Sheela for me?”
“No!” Sheela exclaimed.
“Of course, but nothing’s going to happen to you. I insist,” Lady Pallon said at the exact same time and stuck out her tongue.
“Frath, nothing’s allowed to happen to you!” Sheela insisted vehemently. Then she burst into tears. “I don’t think I could live anymore if something happened to you.”
He put his arms around her, feeling guilty for upsetting her. Lady Pallon stared at him through narrowed eyes to let him know that she wasn’t thrilled with him either at that moment.
After a minute, Sheela wiped her eyes and sat normally. She took a bite of her food in silence, refusing to look at him. Frath sighed and finished his plate.
Mary came into the dining room. “Will you be having dessert, Milady?”
“We’ll take it in the conservatory with tea, Mary.” Lady Pallon stood as Mary departed for the kitchen. Sheela and Frath also stood, and then followed her out of the room, into a hallway and toward the back of the house.
The conservatory was a large room made primarily out of greenish glass panels. Sheela looked around in awe. Even though Frath had been in the room before, he still felt overwhelmed by it. Glass was rare, owned by those who were well off. Only the wealthy built conservatories as large as Lady Pallon’s. Plants were everywhere, many with beautiful flowers in contrast to winter moisture outside.
She led them to a sitting area at the far end of the room where they could look outside. There was another pond in the vast back yard in addition to more willows, rosebushes and other large trees. Frath knew there were other buildings, of which only one was visible from where they sat. He also knew a couple of them led underground to some of the secret areas of the city, but had never shared that information with anyone.
“So tell us about you, dear,” Lady Pallon said to Sheela after sitting. There was a small wrought iron table in the middle with a glass top. The chair Lady Pallon sat in was wrought iron with a plush cushion. Frath was happy that there was a double seat across from the chair for him and Sheela to sit on. He unhooked his sword and set it on a side table in order to sit comfortably.
Sheela paled and began wringing her hands in her lap. Frath held her a little tighter. Lady Pallon became concerned. “I can see how upset you are, child. Sometimes talking about the things that upset you helps. You’re with friends.”
Frath leaned in to look Sheela in the eyes, she returned the look reluctantly and he could see that tears were already welling there. “I love you and there’s nothing you can tell me that will stop my love.”
The tears broke through and she buried her face in his chest again. After just a moment, she leaned back. “Do you ever take that thing off?” she asked, tugging on the chain shirt peaking under his collar.
“Only when I’m in the barracks. Outside of them, I’m required to wear it at all times.” He took one of her hands in his free one.
“It’s uncomfortable to rest my head against.” When neither he nor Lady Pallon responded, Sheela sighed deeply. “I ran away from home.”
“I remember you telling me that. What happened?” Frath asked encouragingly.
“I . . . I . . .” Her jaw clenched and she gripped his hand tightly.
“Start from the beginning if you can,” Lady Pallon suggested. “Where were you raised?”
Sheela nodded. “I was raised on a small farm a few week’s walk to the southeast of here. I never went anywhere until the day my mother lost the farm.” She took a deep breath to strengthen her resolve. “My father left my mother when I was five. There were three of us daughters, both sons died in childbirth. He didn’t want daughters and life was hard on the farm, so he just left. My mother struggled to care for us, spending most of her time in the fields and the rest working on the household chores, which she wasn’t very good at. At night she would collapse, exhausted.”
Mary brought tea and pastries made with apples. Sheela poked at the pastry with her fork while talking. “My younger sister died when she was only a few years old.
My older sister thought it was her fault and killed herself a year later while my mother was out in the fields.” Sheela’s voice gradually became hollow as she told of the horrifying hardships she had experienced. She set the fork down and put her hands back in her lap.
Frath rubbed her shoulder and arm in an attempt to flow strength and support to her. Lady Pallon smiled supportively. “Go on, you’re doing wonderfully. Tell us what happened, it will help heal your heart.”
“My mother spent the next few years in her bed while I did just enough to care for us. The tax collectors took everything we had before kicking us out of our house.” Sheela stopped, gulping deeply and wringing her hands more furiously. They waited for her to gather the fortitude to continue.
“My mother and I walked for days, sleeping in fields when we thought the farmers wouldn’t notice. Then we were caught. The man lived alone and offered us his home if my mother . . .” she trailed off, staring blankly outside.
“A mother does what she has to in order to take care of her child,” Lady Pallon said in understanding.
Sheela shook her head slowly. “She just shrugged and went with him. It wasn’t to take care of me, she had stopped doing that long before. He took us into his house and she just lay down in the bed. He didn’t even sleep with her, going out to work the fields instead.” Sheela took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I made the food and took care of things inside. When we ate that evening, he stared at me . . .”
Frath felt anger rising in his chest. He understood why she didn’t want to kiss him originally and why she had frozen. Then he felt his cheeks burn in shame at how forward he had been in his advances. Sheela pushed in closer to him for strength, causing him to set aside his own musings in the realization that she needed him right then.
“That night, I bolted the door to my room. He knocked quite a few times through the night. I hid in the corner, terrified he would break it down.” She took another deep breath, her dessert forgotten. None of them wanted anything else to eat at that moment. “The next day, I got up after he left for the fields. I took care of my mother, but she just continued to lie in bed. The clothes she had worn before were just as they were. The man hadn’t touched her.”
“Do you know the name of the man?” Lady Pallon asked.
Sheela shook her head. “No. He never said, nor did he ask ours. That afternoon, I was collecting eggs from the chicken coop when he suddenly appeared behind me. I dropped the eggs when he put his hands on my arms. He was so quiet and I was so busy trying to think of what to do that I didn’t hear him.”
Frath felt his vision growing red and his heart beating against his chest as though it was going to leap out and hunt the man down on its own. “Frath. Not now,” Lady Pallon told him. He saw her warning look and took a deep breath to calm his anger. Sheela looked at him worriedly.
When Sheela knew he was listening again, she continued. “I pulled away from his hands and ran out of the coop toward the barn. It was closer than the house and I didn’t know what else to do. He followed me in and cornered me. I was so terrified. A part of me wanted to fight or continue to run away, but I couldn’t seem to move as he walked toward me.”
“That is perfectly understandable, dear,” Lady Pallon reassured her. “You’re very brave for telling us this. Go on.”
Frath wasn’t certain he wanted to hear more. The image of a rough, brutal man with evil eyes stalking his love like a hunched over wolf was the only image in his mind and it was taking all his willpower not to give into fury and hunt the man down.
“He took my arms again and pushed me into a pile of hay in the corner of the barn. I remember he smelled so bad.” Sheela thought deeply, no longer crying. Frath knew this was the first time she had had a chance to tell anyone what happened to her. “He lay on top of me and forced kisses on me and I remember he tasted as bad as he smelled. I began to struggle, but he was strong. He hit me in the face twice. I think it was to get me to stop struggling, but it just made me mad.”
Frath held her hands as gently as he could manage, setting his own feelings aside with extraordinary effort because he knew she just needed him to listen at that point. Lady Pallon came over, squeezing next to her on the other side of the seat to lend even more support.
Sheela briefly smiled in gratitude. “I went still, desperately trying to think of what to do. He stood up to take off his clothes. I knew I had to escape then. When he knelt down over me again, I brought my leg up and drove my foot into that thing between his legs. I think men have those. It’s different than girls.” She looked questioningly at them and they both nodded silently. Frath felt his blush go from anger to embarrassment.
“He yelled in pain, so I think it hurt a lot,” Sheela said. Frath nodded a little more briskly. “I got up, but he caught my dress and tore it. I reached back and scratched him in the face and he yelled again. I tried running, but he knocked me down. I kicked him and got up. When he did too, I picked up a spade next to me and hit him in the face with it twice.”
She stopped speaking. They sat there silently for a moment until Lady Pallon handed her a cup of tea. Sheela took a drink, held the cup and saucer in her lap and continued in a lower voice. “He curled up in a ball and started crying. I think he was in pain. The spade fell out of my hands. I couldn’t seem to hold it anymore. It was like all my strength fell to the ground in a puddle with it. I was so scared.”
Frath felt her trembling. He wanted to hold her and never let go, but chose to sit silently so she would be able to finish. Lady Pallon took the shaking cup of tea out of her hands and rubbed her back encouragingly. “Go on, dear.”
“I ran. I ran out the barn door and toward the road.” Sheela frowned while remembering the events. “I ran down the road and didn’t stop. The sky was completely clear and there was no one around. Everything was silent except for the buzzing of insects. It was like I was all alone in a different world.”
Sheela picked up the tea and took another sip. Her expression was far away as though she were alone in that other world once more. “I just walked and walked. At night I would sleep in haystacks or anywhere else I could find where I thought no one would see me. I stole food wherever I could, but never tasted it. I thought about my mother once . . .” She took another sip of tea. “I wonder . . .”
The tears broke in a great flood, ripping through all the pain, sorrow and suffering the young woman had experienced. The cup spilled to the floor and was quickly picked up by Lady Pallon. Frath pulled Sheela into his lap and clutched her as heaving sobs wracked her body.
Lady Pallon sat quietly next to them, softly running her fingers through Sheela’s hair. In a little while, the tears lessened. Then a new round of sobbing began. A few more cycles of crying, where she would get quiet and then begin a new round, occured over the next half hour. Finally, she fell into an exhausted sleep. Frath held her the entire time, rocking slowly back and forth.
***
Sheela woke up a few hours later still in Frath’s arms. He woke up as soon as she did. Lady Pallon wasn’t around, so they stood and stretched out the kinks. Snow was still falling outside, which didn’t surprise Frath. When it snowed in Dralin, it tended to do so steadily for days. He felt Sheela duck under his arm, lifting it around her shoulders. She looked up at him questioningly and he smiled at her as he drew her in close.
“Ahh, you’re awake,” Lady Pallon said from behind them. “I know it probably seems like you just ate, but you slept for hours and it’s dinner time. Come eat what you will.” She held her arms out to them and they accepted the warm hug she gave.
The meal was hot and delicious, tickling the nose with delight as well as satisfying the tongue. Sheela smiled easily and seemed lighter after having shared her burden. Her eyes shimmered with cheerfulness whenever she looked at Frath.
Frath enjoyed the light conversation about what the weather would be like that winter and the details that Lady Fallon shared with Sheela about the roses and trees in the yard. He didn’
t participate very much because he was reconsidering his other plan for the day, especially since it would soon be night.
Chapter 5
Lady Pallon saw them to the door. “It will be dark soon, Frath. You should get her home,” she admonished.
“I will, Milady,” Frath assured her. “Thank you for having us today.”
“Yes, thank you so very much, Lady Pallon,” Sheela agreed. “It was great to meet you.”
“But of course. You are both welcome back any time.” Lady Pallon stood at the door for a moment while they walked down the path to the gate. Then she disappeared inside.
Sheela wrapped her new cloak around her shoulders and ran her hands up and down it happily. “Thank you for taking me there. She’s so wonderful.”
“I really wanted you to meet her. There are only a few people I consider true friends and she’s one. You can go there if you ever get in trouble or need anyone.”
“Nothing’s allowed to happen to you,” Sheela warned, her eyes flashing anger at his earlier statements.
“I know,” he replied simply, not willing to get into an argument he wouldn’t win.
She narrowed her eyes, looking for any sign to chastise him more. He didn’t give her any. The squirrel came to the end of the branch and opened the gate without any need for explanation. As they walked through and the squirrel scampered up the branch, Sheela asked eagerly, “So what is the last place you’re taking me to?”
“Back to the inn,” he answered, already having decided it would be the best choice.
A few people moved along the street, but it wasn’t as busy as it had been earlier. Sheela stopped and folded her arms stubbornly. “I don’t want to go back. I want to stay with you and do the other dangerous thing.” When Frath didn’t respond, she put her hands on his. “Please let me stay with you tonight. I’ll go back first thing in the morning in time for work.”
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