Sword of Mist

by Tara Brown

  “Husbands aside, Wen doesn’t know how to run the farm. I will be inconvenienced instructing him on every aspect of day-to-day life that goes on around here. I need Lenny,” he snapped and shut it down, “That’s final!”

  “Yes, dear,” she growled and walked back to the rooms over Lenny’s head again. Her quiet footsteps were much scarier than the noisy ones.

  Lenny should have felt relief but she didn’t. Something picked at her.

  She had won, hadn’t she?

  Chapter 11

  “Got your way, I see.” Wilfred nudged his younger sister as they watched the carriage be loaded next to the farmhouse.

  “It was silly to think I’d want to traipse about a castle in a frock, kissing up to entitled and snobby royals.”

  “Suppose it was, but I suspect she had other goals for you, beyond kissing up to the royals.” He tilted his head to the right just slightly, toward Lord Ivor who was dismounting, having just arrived.

  Lenny’s cheeks flushed as she glanced down.

  “Good morning, Miss Lenny. Are you not readying your horse?”

  “I won’t be joining you, I’m afraid.”

  “Not joining us?” His voice lowered and he appeared shocked. He cleared his throat and nodded. “That is disappointing.” He tipped his hat. “Lord Ivor Lindley Evadarc, at your service.” He bowed to Wilfred.

  “Wilfred Ailling, Lenny’s brother and keeper,” he joked.

  “What a task that must be,” Lord Ivor said with a grin.

  “It’s honest work, though the pay is terrible and the price on my soul unforgiving.”

  Lenny groaned, “Surely, you two must have something more important to do than harass me.”

  “I’m quite free actually,” Wilfred said with a shrug.

  “As am I,” Lord Ivor beamed at her, yet she caught a hint of something in his eyes.

  “Well then, I suppose it is I who must find something to do.” She turned to Lord Ivor and curtseyed which seemed strange in her breeches. “It was lovely to have made your acquaintance and perhaps we will see you this way again.”

  “I think it more likely it is I who will see you in the city. Quite soon.” His eyes stared into hers unforgivingly.

  “I wouldn’t recommend holding your breath on that.” She winked.

  “I wouldn’t take your recommendation on breath holding in regard to anything. Now that I know you’re half fish.” He and Wilfred laughed.

  “It’s a pity I’m not half shark,” she joked and walked away, listening to the two men continue to discuss her.

  “Is she always that charming?” Ivor asked.

  “Always.” Wilfred laughed. “In fact, that may have been good behavior.”

  The cool of the barn would’ve been the perfect place to hide until the carriage was loaded, except Amaya was there snuggling Sir Kitty and dressed for the trip in a riding dress, although she wouldn’t be riding. “Don’t forget his cream and he needs plenty of snuggles. He’s grown accustomed to my constant affection. And I’ve been sneaking him into my room at night. He sleeps with me and Tubby. Don’t let him get eaten by anything, please, Lenny,” she pleaded.

  “I won’t. I promise,” Lenny swore and meant it.

  “Do you think Hilde will come home with us after the engagement is official?”

  “No,” Lenny spoke truthfully as it dawned on her how this would work. “I guess she will remain there until her wedding day as a type of courtship, and we will all have to go back for the wedding. Which I imagine will be in the spring, as the important ones usually are. At least that is what Mother said.”

  “Spring,” Amaya said with a crack in her voice. “That’s almost a whole year from now. Weddings are always a fortnight after the engagement.”

  “Yes, but I think royal weddings are different.” Lenny winced and realized she would miss Hilde. What had she done? By not going with them, she would miss saying goodbye to Hilde properly.

  Just as she regretted everything and was about to change her mind on not going with them, Hilde burst into the barn. “You are so spoiled! I can’t believe you would convince Father to let you stay!”

  Lenny parted her lips to defend herself.

  But Hilde spoke first, “I’m not going to see you until the wedding, Lenny. Did you even consider that? Nearly a whole year apart, and you can’t sacrifice a single month for me?” Tears sprung to Hilde’s eyes. “We’ve never been apart before, and you don’t care to say goodbye to me properly?”

  Guilt settled in Lenny’s stomach as it struck her that she hadn’t considered Hilde’s feelings on the matter. “I’m sorry, Hilde.”

  “I’m never going to forgive you for this!” Hilde glared at Lenny for a moment longer then spun on her heels and stormed from the barn.

  Amaya winced, still hugging the kitten. “She didn’t mean that.”

  “I know,” Lenny whispered. “I’m the worst sister in the world.”

  “You are not.” Amaya wrapped an arm around Lenny, forcing her to hug the kitten too. “You’re just stubborn and selfish. Not the worst flaws a girl can have.” She pressed her lips into Lenny’s cheek and then kissed Sir Kitty once more before handing him to her. “Try to behave, Lenny, and I’ll talk some sense into Hilde,” Amaya said with a disappointed tone and left Lenny in the barn.

  She hugged the kitten as Ollie and Scar traipsed in, both intrigued by the ball of fluff in her hands. Ollie sniffed Sir Kitty until he hissed. Lenny was frozen, she didn’t know what to do.

  “You selfish girl!” Her mother entered the barn dressed to leave. “You are ruining your sister’s engagement. How do you stand to be such a thoughtless child?”

  “Mother, I’m —”

  “I don’t want to hear it, Ilenia. I am disappointed yet again. You have manipulated your father, as you always do, and gotten your way. You are spoiled and one day, when you’re old and alone, you will realize those sisters were all you had. Don’t bother coming to say goodbye, I don’t want to see your face. Perhaps the month’s absence will be good for us both. Don’t be a burden to your father,” she said cruelly and turned, leaving as abruptly as she had come.

  Tears flooded Lenny’s eyes as she realized how right her mother and sisters were.

  She was selfish. She had been so obsessed with her own dreams and goals and life, she hadn’t noticed they were growing up and everything was changing. Hilde wasn’t merely becoming engaged, she would be staying there in the city.

  She clung to the kitten and went to sit on the bale of hay. Her hounds came to her instantly, both nudging her arms and face, sensing her distress.

  Silently, Lenny cried, listening to the sounds of people speaking and horses being fitted. She cried harder when the carriage rode away, but she dared not show her face.

  “There you are,” Wilf said as he entered the barn. “I’ve looked all over for you. I didn’t think anyone was still in here.” He recoiled when she lifted her head and she met his gaze. “Why are you crying?”

  “I’m a fool and a terrible sister.” She sniffled.

  “Ah, so Mother visited you before she left?” He sat next to her on the hay, sinking it down a little more.

  “Hilde, she said she would never forgive me for not coming.”

  “That’s nerves talking, not Hilde. She’s worried about the trip and meeting Prince Landon. She told me so. And yes, you should have gone, it was the sisterly thing to do.” He glanced down at Lenny. “You have never been sisterly or affectionate the way they are. They’re two peas in a pod and if they really think on it, a month on the road and staying in a strange place with you would’ve made them crazy. Surely, you would’ve only been in the way.” He grinned and hoped his sister would laugh at his joke, or least stop crying.

  Lenny stared up at him, horrified. Unsisterly? Lacking affection? He had basically called her cold. Was she? All this time, she had been standoffish and rude to even her own sisters? Was that how Wilfred felt, although she believed them closer than any two p
eople in the world?

  Lenny sucked back the tears she wanted so badly to bawl and nodded slowly. She could at least agree she would be in the way. She clenched her jaw tight and pressed her lips together. The tears stopped while the pain in her chest increased as the pressure built up.

  “You’ll feel better by tomorrow. I promise,” Wilf said.

  But he was wrong. And Lenny knew he would be.

  The triplets had been away from their father, their brother, and even their mother from time to time. But they’d never been apart from one another.

  And by the next day, Lenny was certain there was a hole in her heart.

  It didn’t help that Wilf and their father were both packing their boats to leave for fishing again and Lenny would be alone.

  Chapter 12

  Lenny waved, as she had for eighteen years, standing on the end of the dock, watching as her father’s boat, the Alymis, and Wilfred’s boat, the Vagabond, sailed out of the harbor. Her father waved back but Wilf was busy calling out orders to his crew.

  “The weeks feel like an eternity every time he goes out,” Bethel Ailling, her sister-in-law, said softly, rubbing the belly which to Lenny seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

  “I agree,” Lenny lamented.

  “If you need anything, Lenny, my door is your door.” Bethel placed a hand on Lenny’s arm for a moment, then turned and walked away. It was an odd gesture for Bethel. She normally wasn’t inviting nor welcoming to any of Wilfred’s family. But Lenny appreciated the offer and the kindness. She turned back and fixed her eyes on her family.

  Lenny, Scar, and Ollie stayed until the boats were completely out of sight. Then she walked home feeling something she had never felt before, loneliness.

  And it was her own doing.

  Even when she arrived home to Wen in the kitchen making dinner, a roast with all the fixings, she couldn’t pull herself from the funk she had slipped into.

  “They’re both gone then?” Wen asked as Lenny set the table for two.

  “Yeah,” she muttered.

  “They’ll be home before you know it. A month is nothing.” He carried over the sliced roast on her mother’s tray. The smell of the herbs and meat should have made her mouth water, but she hadn’t had an appetite since her sisters left. Since she broke Hilde’s heart.

  “You don’t understand. I ruined her engagement.” Lenny sat.

  “You ruined her day. By the time she gets all the way to Waterly City, she won’t remember she said any of it.” He served her plate of food. “And I do understand because Amaya is gone now for thirty days, at least.”

  “Of course, I’m sorry for being so selfish.” There she was again, worrying only of her feelings. “This looks delicious,” she offered, trying to change the subject entirely.

  Wen was an amazing cook, something he’d learned out of need. One of the local ladies, a kindhearted women named Mrs. Nelson, traded him cooking lessons for help with her yard work. She had gardens galore and always found strays to feed.

  “Lenny, you aren’t selfish. Your sisters have gone with your mother and now your brother and father have left to work. This is the first time you’ve been alone. I know this pain. It’s awful. And to make matters worse, you fought with them before they went. It’s rotten luck and of course you’re preoccupied with it.”

  “I’ve never hurt Hilde before. It’s plaguing me. I feel physically ill with the effects of this.”

  “Then go to her. Get on Asher and ride as hard as you can and catch up. I will take care of the farm, leave me a list. Leave me the dogs. We’ll be fine. I promise you that.”

  Lenny’s eyes drifted to the dogs who were both sleeping. “They’ll hate me if I leave them.”

  “Don’t stay the full month, ride to Hilde, travel then stay with them in the city for a few days. The initial engagement party will be held almost immediately, before word gets out. Then ride home.”

  “You don’t think my father would be angry if I left like that?”

  “Not if you hurry. You’ll catch your family quickly.” Wen made it sound as if it were simple, but Lenny wasn’t certain of that. She worried her father might become angry if she traveled the King’s Road alone.

  Unless, he didn’t find out until she was already back home, safe in Blockley. He would be gone for two weeks at the very least, if not the month he planned, and she could ride hard. She’d heard of people making the trip to Waterly City in four days, but they rode nearly nonstop and not at the pace of a carriage. Certainly, she could do it with Asher who was one of the fastest horses she’d ridden.

  Her appetite returned as she plotted.

  “No matter what, take care of those dogs,” she said as she lifted her fork and knife and began cutting into the tender roast.

  “Of course.” Wen scoffed. “As if I would have any other choice. We both know Mildred will be here every day checking in on me.” He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t understand how Alek does it, how he tolerates that witch.”

  “Nor I,” Lenny agreed and lifted the gravy-covered meat to her lips. She moaned as she ate, closing her eyes and letting the flavor overwhelm her.

  “Good, right?” Wen asked, or rather stated. He knew he was a good cook.

  “It’s delicious,” she spoke with a mouthful.

  “It’s my mum’s favorite. Sunday dinner just like she used to have in the city.”

  “Mrs. Nelson has taught you well.” Lenny scooped some potatoes onto her fork and slid them across into the gravy to add more to the bite. She moaned a second time. She hadn’t had roast this good in ages. Even her gran didn’t cook as well as Mrs. Nelson. “You’ll check in on Gran too, eh? Mum normally does it every second day or so.”

  “I check in on your grandmother all the time.” He winked.

  “What?” Lenny asked, taking another bite but this time adding some meat to the potatoes and gravy. “Why? What do you mean?” she asked struggling to speak as she ate.

  “I’m the one who delivers her order from Knights every week, which she likes to receive on Wednesdays with her groceries. When I’m there she tells me to come by on Friday for whatever she is planning on baking with her new groceries. Of course I oblige.” He waggled his eyebrows wickedly. “And then on Mondays, I help Mr. Newbrook deliver the newspapers that come from the city, and she always gets one. Which means I have to stay and help her read it, since her eyesight is getting so poor.”

  “How did I not know this?” Lenny asked, putting her fork down.

  “Because you’re always here working or on the dock working. You see your grandmother every Sunday like normal grandchildren. Do Hilde and Amaya see her apart from Sundays?”

  “No, just dinner. It’s tradition. Family dinner at Gran’s.” Lenny’s guilt crept back in.

  “And Hilde and Amaya don’t have jobs. You at least have an excuse. They spend their days doing needlepoint. I’m fairly confident it could be done in the company of your grandmother.” He pointed his fork at her. “Stop—whatever you’re thinking, stop it. Your gran and Mrs. Nelson were the grandmothers I never had. And my relationship with them has nothing to do with yours. You don’t need to add more shame to your plate, it’s full.”

  She nodded but wondered what else Wen got up to while she was working the farm and the docks. She realized she hadn’t been spending much time with anyone since she started doing both. “When I get back from Waterly, I’d love for us to visit Gran together. If that’s all right?”

  “So you are going?”

  “I think—so,” she said slowly, still pondering it. “It feels like the right choice.”

  It was all she thought about all night, and by the time she fell asleep, she hadn’t decided if it was brilliant or insane.

  She worried it was both.

  Chapter 13

  “Check on Bethel too!” she said the next morning and added it to the list that was nearly as long as her forearm. “Being pregnant makes her feel things more I think. She’s been kind and sensit
ive lately.”

  “No wonder Wilf is spending the entire summer at sea,” Wen joked.

  “You aren’t funny.” Lenny shook her head and continued writing. “And that pig—the fatter one, Marvo—he’s mean. Do not get into the pen with him. Just pour the slop over the fence into the trough. He’s knocked me on my arse a few times.”

  “Lenny, this is getting ridiculous. Some of these are common sense. Of course, I won’t climb into the pigpen.”

  “And if anything goes wrong and you aren’t one-hundred-percent certain of what to do, get Uncle Alek. He lived on this land when he was a boy. The farm hasn’t changed that much in the last hundred years.” She disregarded the face he gave her. “And that kitten of Amaya’s, Sir Kitty, he has to be coddled. He and Tubby will have to sleep with you. She’s spoiled him rotten. It’s cream and nothing else.”

  “I was there when she said that was how she was fattening them. And I slept with them both last night,” he said with a drawn-out sigh.

  “And the dogs—”

  “Lenny! If you don’t get on that horse and leave, I am not going to be responsible for what I do!” Wen shouted, which didn’t happen often.

  Lenny froze, placing the quill down and lifting her hand in the air. “All right, fine.” She was buzzing with nerves, excitement, and fear, but she managed to smile at Wen’s wide-eyed stare. “Take care of yourself too.” She rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him and hugging tightly. “And thank you for doing this.”

  “You better hurry.” He hugged back and steered them toward the door. “It looks like it might rain. And you’ll want to outride it if you can.”

  Her ears perked up. “Rain?” She turned to the right and saw it. With the rising sun, there was a mist, a pink mist. The clouds in the distance were darker, ominous. She abandoned the plan and Wen and ran for her horse. Scar and Ollie were hot on her heels as she bounced out of the farmhouse and leapt onto Asher’s back. He wasn’t saddled yet, but he preferred it this way. She rode toward town gripping his mane.