Touching Rune (2 page)

Rune turned the corner and held her breath as she pressed her back against the cold brick and mortar building. Walter Randolph and his men were looking for her. She cursed under her breath. Ruby had warned her as she gathered the last of her flowers that had not sold for the day. Ruby, who sold scented soap beside her, had told her that she would take care of everything and have her brother drop it off at the orphanage later that evening.

Rune had barely had time to whisper her thanks before one of Randolph’s men spotted her. Hiking her long skirt up, she had run as fast as she could. She heard Randolph yell out behind her but she wasn’t about to wait.

He’s probably mad about the black eye I gave him yesterday,
Rune thought as she dodged between two horse-drawn wagons filled with barrels of fresh fish from the docks.
I’ll give him another one today if he tries to touch me again.

She groaned when another one of Randolph’s men spotted her. She was two blocks from the orphanage. She knew the horrid man wouldn’t try anything there. She was fed up with him and his demands. She had to vary her times and the spots where she sold her flowers three times in the last two weeks because of him.

Rune pushed off the wall as the man started down the alley toward her. She turned the corner and ran headfirst into a tall, lanky form. Hard hands grabbed her arms to keep her from falling. With a silent moan, she looked up into the twinkling eyes of Officer Olson Myers.

“Why, Miss August,” he said in his cheerful, deep voice. “Where is the fire?”

Rune pushed her long hair back behind her ear and smiled nervously up at the officer who often came by to see the children. Sister Mary and Sister Helen like to hint that he really came by to see Rune but Rune refused to rise to their baiting. She knew better than to encourage the young officer to believe there could ever be more than friendship between them.

“I was just on my way back to the orphanage,” Rune replied, glancing behind her. She turned back with a smile and touched Officer Myers arm. “Would you be so kind as to escort me? I know the children would love to see you.”

Olson grinned down at Rune, his thin mustache curving upwards. “I would be honored, Miss August. How are you doing on this fine evening? Did you sell all of your lovely flowers today?”

Rune mumbled an answer. She knew that they were being followed as they walked slowly back to the orphanage. She fought the urge to just turn and yell at the man to tell Randolph to leave her and the Sisters alone. She didn’t, though. Walter Randolph might be a slimy weasel but he was a very wealthy and powerful one.

It took almost an hour before Rune was able to peel herself away from the friendly officer once they reached the orphanage. Sister Helen had to offer him a cup of tea. Sister Mary had to give him a piece of cake. Mother Magdalene asked him how his day was and if he was courting anyone.

Rune had rolled her eyes at that obvious attempt to feel out his intentions. She had finally taken pity on the poor, blushing man and exclaimed that it was time to get the children ready for their nightly bedtime ritual. She grimaced as the Sisters all stood up and looked expectantly at her.

“Let me get your hat for you,” Rune grunted out.

Rune led Olson out of the sitting room and into the small foyer. The soft giggles coming from the stairwell had her raising her eyes in warning to the line of children looking down at them. She winked at two of the youngest ones, pulling more muffled giggles from her audience.

“Yes, well, it was very nice of you to have me for tea and refreshments,” Olson said, nervously rotating his hat in his hands. “I was wondering if perhaps, after church this Sunday…”

“I don’t attend church, Mr. Myers,” Rune said shortly.

“You don’t… but you live…,” Olson said confused, looking around at the home filled with religious artifacts.

“No, I don’t and yes, I do,” Rune said firmly as she opened the door. “I hope you have a very pleasant evening. Please be careful of the last step. It has a slight dip in the center and can be slippery.”

Rune stood in the door as Olson gave his stammered goodbyes. She knew she had taken him by surprise with her comment but she didn’t care. She didn’t answer to anyone… not anymore. She had made her decision long ago and she accepted the consequences. She didn’t feel like she had to explain or answer to anyone why she felt the way she did. They would never understand anyway.

How did you explain that you had lived and died a hundred times to someone who believed that you went to heaven or hell after you died?
She thought as she watched him hurry down the road.

Her eyes narrowed on a dark shadow across the street. The figure stepped out into the dim light of the lamppost. The scarred face of the man who had followed her earlier stared back at her.

Rune lifted her chin and gave the man a cold smile. She had met men like him many times before. She had fought with a man just like him the first time she had died. She had sworn as she lay dying on the cold, muddy ground centuries before that she would never bow to a tyrant.

She closed the door and leaned back against it. Her eyes went to the single pair of eyes staring down in silence at her. Eyes so much like… Rune forced her mind to close on the distant memory that haunted her still. She smiled and walked over to the stairs leading to the children’s dorm. She didn’t say a word as she held out her hand to the small boy who stood up as she approached. Together, they walked in silence down the long corridor.

*.*.*

“The local lawman left just a few minutes ago,” the scarred-faced man said as he spit on the pitted dirt road next to the carriage that pulled up next to him. “I wasn’t sure he was ever going to leave.”

“And the young woman?” The dark figure sitting in the back of the carriage asked. “She is still inside?”

“Yes. She looked right at me,” the man replied shifting from one foot to the other in unease. “She didn’t look like she was scared either.”

A chilling silence met his response. “Did you get the items I asked for?” The man in the carriage finally asked.

“Yes,” the man replied. “But I don’t feel good about burning down a holy place. I can kill a man or that young woman if you want, but burning down some Sisters and a bunch of kids just don’t sit right with me.”

Walter Randolph sat forward in the carriage just enough for the man to see the cold brutality glittering in his eyes. He didn’t care how the man felt. It wouldn’t matter. Sam Weston was nothing more than a cutthroat he had hired down at the docks. His body would be found in the burnt remains of the building. Weston would be blamed for an arson gone wrong.

Randolph only needed the man to gather the items that were to be used and to be there. He would kill him after Weston and he used those items to set fire to the orphanage. But first… first he had a certain female that he wanted removed. Rune August had been a thorn in his side for the last two years. She had petitioned the mayor and several wealthy philanthropists to support the orphanage. His arguments that the property was too valuable to be wasted on a bunch of indigent children had fallen on deaf ears. He soon discovered that the more vocal he became, the cooler his reception among his peers had become thanks to her interference.

He had come to the conclusion that he needed to take care of the situation himself. Time after time, his meetings with the stubborn but beautiful Miss August had led to nothing but frustration, both physically and financially. She had rebuffed his attentions just as she had refused to take his money.

“You are not being paid to feel things, Mr. Weston,” Randolph said coolly. “Have the items in the back alley behind the orphanage after midnight. I want to personally oversee this… task.”

“Yes, Mr. Randolph,” Sam muttered before he stepped back. “I’ll be there.”

“You’d better be, Mr. Weston,” Randolph said before he tapped on the roof of the carriage. “You’d better be.”

Randolph looked out the window of the carriage as it pulled away from the curb. His eyes rose to the figure silhouetted in the upper window. A cruel smile formed as he saw the figure disappear as the light inside was blown out. Tonight he would not only make the property available for his future plans but he would have the beautiful Miss August under his control.

*.*.*

“Rune, where are you going?” Timmy asked.

Rune turned and pulled her dressing gown closed. Timmy had come to the orphanage a couple of months before. He was a soft-spoken boy of eight whose eyes held too much sorrow. His father had died when he was just a babe and his mother of tuberculosis two months ago.

“You should be asleep,” Rune whispered sternly. “What are you doing up?”

Timmy looked down at his hands and didn’t reply at first. Rune sighed and knelt down in front of him. She gently tilted his trembling chin up so he could see she wasn’t mad.

“How about some warm milk and a small piece of cake?” She asked softly. “It always helps me when I have a sad dream.”

Timmy looked into her eyes with a serious expression. “Do you have sad dreams too?” He asked, raising his hand to touch her cheek as she nodded. “I dreamed about my mom. She was coughing again and couldn’t stop.”

“It is hard when someone we love dies,” Rune said sadly. “Just remember, as long as you keep them in your heart they are never really gone.”

“Do you keep your family in your heart?” Timmy asked innocently.

Rune schooled her face not to show the pain she still felt at times. She often wondered if anything would ever heal the grief she kept locked away deep inside her. Being around the children and watching them grow helped.

“Yes, Timmy,” Rune replied as she stood up. “I keep them locked inside my heart so I never forget them. Come on. Let’s go see if Mother Magdalene saved us any of Sister Mary’s pound cake. You know she loves it.”

Timmy giggled and slipped his hand into Rune’s. They snuck down the stairs and through the corridor. Rune decided to cut through the garden. She loved going into the garden on a clear night.

Timmy giggled again when Rune teased him about being quiet as a mouse. She was about to remark that maybe they should be stealing some bread and cheese when a movement on the other side of the garden caught her attention. There was a flash and brilliant orange flames flared up; silhouetting a form that Rune was only too familiar with along with the scarred face of the man who had been watching her earlier.

“Timmy, wake the others,” Rune said, pushing the boy behind her. “Run! Tell them fire! Wake the others now!”

Timmy’s eyes were huge as he briefly looked over his shoulder at the two men. One stared back at them in surprise while the other glared at them in fury. He stumbled as he turned, his hand searching desperately for the handle to the door.

“Get him!” The man with the furious expression ordered. “Don’t let him alert the others.”

“Run, Timmy,” Rune ordered as she moved to stand in front of the door. “Save them, Timmy. It is up to you now.”

*.*.*

Rune knew deep down that her time here had come to an end. She never understood how she knew, she just did. Fury built deep inside her as the pain of losing her new family swept through her. She had sworn that she would protect the children and the Sisters with every fiber of her being and she would do so.

She heard the door slam behind her as Timmy finally raced inside. She could hear his frightened voice rising as he ran back to the dorms and the rooms belonging to the Sisters and Mother Magdalene. She ignored it as the scarred-face man ran toward her.

Hoping to surprise him, she raced forward and grabbed his arm. She let her slender weight hit him head-on. He grunted and stumbled sideways when she refused to let go of his arm.

“Get the boy!” Randolph growled out harshly as he wrapped his arm around Rune’s waist and ripped her away from the scarred-faced man. “Kill him.”

“No!” Rune screamed.

Fury unlike anything she had ever felt swept through her. She slammed her head back into Randolph’s face, breaking his nose from the sound of the crunch. She turned as his arm fell away from around her and swung her fist.

“You bitch!” Randolph snarled out as he slapped Rune across the face, knocking her down. “You’ve ruined everything.”

Flames were crawling up the wall behind them as the wooden frame of the kitchen area caught. Rune’s eyes moved from the flames back to the man standing over her. She waited until he bent to grab her again before she threw the dirt that she had gathered in her hand into his eyes.

Randolph cursed loudly and stumbled backwards. Rune’s eyes narrowed in determination when she realized he was in front of the burning door. Pushing up off the ground, she charged him wrapping her arms around his waist and pushing him through the flames. They both landed on the floor of the kitchen as it gave way. Randolph lost his balance and fell on his back with Rune on top of him.

Rune gasped as he rolled so that she was trapped under him. She barely had time to raise her hands to protect her face when he raised his hand to strike her again. He cursed in frustration and rolled off her, coughing as the smoke thickened the air.

Rune rolled away from him and crawled onto her hands and knees. She looked at him with watery eyes. Flames were beginning to roll along the ceiling of the kitchen now and the wall where the door leading to the garden was engulfed. She pulled herself up using the table. Seeing the knife that they had used earlier to cut the pound cake, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around it.