Penny felt a bit daunted. “Yeah, what about it?”
“He was a ranger who protected this town, but a few weeks before he left home he fell ill with a terrible headache. I was there to tend to him. When I came to give him his medicine one day, I found he had left home the previous night. Cassandra told me he proclaimed he had an illness that only Nestor could cure. Mind you, these were the days before Nestor had disappeared, so it wasn’t unnatural to go on a pilgrimage to ask the Angel for a boon. But soon after, her husband stopped contacting her and nothing had been heard of him since,” Armonie told Penny, looking melancholy, and Penny’s brow furrowed.
“I still don’t understand what you had to tell Cassandra.”
“Penny, her husband’s name was Cyrus,” Armonie said, and everything snapped grimly into place. Armonie took a deep breath and looked at the canopy of trees. “She has a right to know what became of him. A right to know that her Angel has betrayed her…that he betrayed us all.”
“I’m sorry, Armonie,” Penny said, feeling for her friend.
“I do not think I can ever forgive Nestor for what he has done to me and everyone else. I have since renounced the worship of him, or any other God or Angel for that matter. I have come to believe that we are the masters of our own destinies. I do not need a code of laws to guide me in being a good person. I feel as if I must share this feeling, this urge to spread love and empathy without having to be told to do so. I’ve been thinking of a way to do it, but nothing has come to me yet. I have been, erm, distracted.” Armonie’s passionate speech faltered, and she blushed.
“Is that distraction named Gavin?” Penny asked wryly, and Armonie’s face reddened even more.
“Oh Penny, do not tease!”
“Go on, tell me about it. What happened when you went to see him that night?” Penny nudged, and Armonie blushed.
“We only talked.” She shrugged her shoulders, averting her eyes. This answer did not satisfy Penny, and Armonie clicked her tongue, flustered. “Oh, all right. He Declared to me—and I accepted, of course. Now, I’m not telling you any more than that, so do not smile in such a way!” She ducked from sight, and Penny smiled as she left the stable, only to encounter the source of all Armonie’s embarrassment.
“Armonie, what’ll you have me do with this junk I found? Shall I throw it out? Ah, Penny! You’re awake. How’re you feeling? Do you need me to get anything for you? It’s no trouble at all, just let me know what you’d like.” Gavin set the pile of things down on a crate beside the door as Penny assured him over and over that she needed nothing.
“Just leave it there for now, please. I’ll take care of it later,” Armonie said, and Penny grew distracted by the items Gavin had carried over.
No…not that. Penny’s heart sunk as she recognized the sword sticking out of the pile. She stared at it as her heart was consumed by a spiral of horror. With shivering hands she dislodged the sword from the pile and studied the sheathed rapier. It was the sword she had stolen from Deimos―the sword that had killed Maddie.
Penny gripped the scabbard as tears stung at her eyes again, doubling over as if someone had punched her in the stomach. A wave of heavy revulsion swept over her at first and she wanted nothing more than to destroy the blade―to burn the sheath and break the blade into hundreds of shards. Penny slowly slid the sword out of its housing and held it up to her eyes. It was light, perfectly balanced and as beautiful as it was sharp.
The image of the very same blade piercing Maddie’s throat was too much for her. Determined to throw the atrocious weapon away in some deep pit, Penny walked blindly in the direction her feet took her. Her feet kicked up dust as she went, and all the time she felt she was running from another encroaching storm of grief. When her head cleared enough to see where she was, the sight of gravestones that Hector had once traversed at midnight to save her life made her knees go weak.
Just don’t think about it. Hide it away. Run. I’ve got to run from it, Penny thought, and picked her pace up again. The pathways lined with polished onyx and alabaster headstones seemed to grow taller and more foreboding. When Penny got to the center of the graveyard, the sight of a large willow tree with swaying branches halted her. She entered its shade and staggered, putting her hand to its trunk.
No…no more running. I promised I wouldn’t run ever again.
Penny allowed the storm to overtake her and her body fell at the base of the willow tree, where she clung to the sword as she began to cry.
It’s too absolute, it’s too permanent. I have to live the rest of my life knowing I’ll never see them again.
As Penny cried, she thought of her mother’s body swallowed by the tree. Would Paulina get a grave of her own? A tiny piece of the earth that would remind people that she had been alive once? Would there be place for Penny to go and sit when she mourned for her and Maddie?
Penny looked up through her tear-misted eyes at the tree before her, deciding that they deserved that, at the very least. She unsheathed the sword and cut at the wood on the trunk of the tree. The rapier was a difficult tool to work with, but Penny was determined and did not stop even when it nicked her hands or fell from her grasp.
There was so much I needed to say to you, Mom, Penny thought as she carved her mother’s name. Why did I never tell you how grateful I was? You suffered for me, so that I could live. You chose me over the rest of your family; you worked tirelessly so that I could be happy, you waited for me all alone when I left you for this place, and as if that wasn’t enough…you… She paused in her work to wipe the tears pouring down her face. I’ll never forget what you did for me, you know I won’t. I’ll carry the memory of you with me every moment.
Penny carved Paulina’s name deeply into the wood so that she would be sure it would never fade, even with years of weather, and then tirelessly started on the next.
Maddie, you had so much to live for, so much to hope for, and he took it all from you. You deserved so much more than that. I’ll try to live for you; I’ll live with as much joy as you did, so you’ll never be far from me, either.
When it was complete, Penny sank to her knees and began to dig at the soil base of the tree. When the hole was deep enough, Penny undid the rune pendant around her neck, which she had not removed since the day her mother had given it back. She laid the necklace in the hole, and took a moment to store the image in her mind. As she covered it with soil, Penny resolved to keep the sword that lay beside her. Before the arbor grave, Penny silently pledged to turn her pain into a spirit that would not cringe in the presence of her enemies, and to scale the final moment Adrielle had spoken of without fear in her heart.
The sun was sinking below the horizon as Penny whispered her farewell. She looked around, desperate now to be anywhere but where she stood, and set off in the direction of a steep hillside. She cut through the scattered woods around the Sanctuary, exiting onto the grassy meadow that lay before the hill.
The climb up the hill was steep and covered with heather and shrubs. The steepness only seemed to increase, but some part of Penny enjoyed the exertion, craved the struggle. She scaled rocks and scraped her knees until she reached the windy plateau at the top. The sun had almost set during her climb, and bathed the hills in a pale yellow light. The cold evening air whipped her hair around, and Penny felt some of the heaviness in her soul blowing away with it.
She sat down on the black rocks, feeling somewhat at peace with the terrible pain for the first time since her loved ones had fallen. The world was far below her now, and she felt relief at the disconnection, at being distanced from her troubles and responsibilities.
This sense rippled and shook, however, when a scraping and puffing sound was heard over the wind, and Penny looked over her shoulder to see Hector wiping the sweat off his brow.
“What are you doing here?” she inquired, half disappointed that her solitude had been disturbed and half overjoyed to see him. He took a moment to catch his breath, then sat down next to her.
“Following you around,” he panted, and Penny could not tell if he was serious or joking. She offered a smile, and the two of them sat close together in silence, looking out over the world that had become so small.
At long last, Hector broke the quiet. “I once felt as you feel now, Penny. I remember how I wanted to escape from that, to run away. I wanted to disappear from the new world I was in and let the obligations of my life go forgotten,” he said softly. She looked up at him, her gaze steady in the glaring light of the setting sun as it bathed them in a warm golden light.
“However, no matter how we may wish to ignore the coming tempests, come they will. I do know that it will be different for you, Penny, since you will not have to suffer alone. Each one of us will stand beside you—of that I’m certain,” Hector told her with such earnest affection that Penny’s face broke into a smile and a feeling of love gripped her so strongly that she let her head rest on Hector’s shoulder. They stayed that way until the sun’s light nearly faded and the wind took on a chill.
“Shall we go down now?” Hector offered.
Penny considered it for a moment, then shook her head. “Let’s stay a little while longer, if it’s all the same to you.”
A.R. Meyering is a graduate in English from the University of California Santa Barbara with a specialization in Victorian/Neo-Victorian Literature. She is the author of the steampunk-fantasy series The Dawn Mirror Chronicles. She is also the author of the dark fantasy Unreal City, which won quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and garnered a positive review from Publisher’s Weekly.
Her heart pounds for the horrifying, the sublime, the delicate, the elegant, and the fascinating. She is a life-long fan of fairy-tales, gothic horror-shows, clever mysteries, children’s stories that aren’t quite for children, steam-powered wonders, and sweeping fantasies. She is a dedicated geek and gamer, an educator, and pug enthusiast.
Visit the author at:
Websites:
www.armeyering.com &
www.bhcauthors.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/AlexandraMeyering
Twitter:
@ARMeyering
Cover, interior book design,
and eBook design
by Blue Harvest Creative
www.blueharvestcreative.com
Edited by
Bailey Karfelt
Table of Contents
About The Book
Title Page
Copyright Information
Other Books By A.R. Meyering
Dedication
01 - Blossom Day
02 - Crest To Trough
03 - Lullabies On The Lake
04 - The Cardinal’s Warning
05 - Fire And Flight
06 - The Son Of The House Of Gray
07 - The Truth
08 - Away To Aulbaine
09 - The Crown Jewel
10 - The Declaration
11 - Tharn And Irunie
12 - Whispers At Midnight
13 - Tea With The Empress
14 - Fallen Pines
15 - Hideaway
16 - The Drowning Of The Bell Song
17 - The Law Of Heaven
18 - In The Shadow Of The Castle
19 - Irro’s Emporium
20 - Goodbye, Ace Of Hearts
21 - The Valley Of Suns
22 - The Call
23 - At Dawn
24 - The Road To The Cathedral
25 - The Tallest Tower
26 - Fireflies In A Jar
27 - Home
28 - The Chapel
29 - Familiar Halls
30 - Lost In The Snowfall
31 - The Spider And The Stare
32 - Into Eden
33 - Simon’s Stand
34 - Silence
35 - The Angel Answers
36 - The Arbor Grave
About The Author
Visit The Author
Meet The Creative Team
Eden Undone (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 2) Page 39