WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE (27 page)

The next few days
passed quickly, nothing extraordinary happening except an article on the front
page of the local newspaper.
 
Somehow a
large tree stump had crashed through the roof of Mr. Richard DeGuire’s house in
Vestavia, destroying two rooms completely.
 
Fortunately no one had been injured.

That afternoon,
Sarah walked into the room she and Raven shared to find the redhead laughing
and clutching her crystal.

“Oh you should’ve
seen it, Sis.”
 
Bekah’s voice bubbled
with laughter.
 
“Politicians were tramping
all over the castle, demanding that we had something to do with it.”
 

Sarah guessed at
the topic of conversation as she lay down on the bed behind Raven.
 
Bekah’s image smiled at her and asked if Sis
was behaving.

“We’ve been to far
away to get into any trouble.”
 
Sarah
reported with all seriousness, “I mean we have to be two hundred miles from
Vestavia at least.”
 
Raven and Bekah snorted.

Finally Bekah left,
but only after making Sarah promise to punch Sis at least once a day to keep
her from getting soft.

When she put down
the crystal, Bekah found Daniel watching her.
 
He put up his hands defensively as she jumped up.

“How much did you
hear?”
 
She snarled; already bands of
energy swirled around her hands as she prepared to attack.
 
As much as she liked Daniel she couldn’t let
him ruin everything.

“Calm down,
Bekah.”
 
The startled doctor spoke as
calmly as he could, “I know Raven wasn’t the traitor.
 
She couldn’t be.”

Bekah leaned close
to him, her nostrils flaring.
 
“How do
you know that?
 
Maybe you’re the traitor
we’re looking for then?”

Daniel put his
arms down and relaxed, “Don’t be stupid.
 
I know Raven isn’t the traitor because you two do everything together
and you’re not involved.
 
I just wanted
to know how Sarah was.”

After another untrusting
glare at the handsome man, Bekah nodded.
 
“She’s doing fine and says to tell you not to worry.”

Elsewhere in the
castle, things weren’t so calm.
 
Elspeth
looked in exasperation at the piles of letters on her desk.
 
That little snot might be gone but she was
still causing problems.
 
She ran her
fingers through her brown hair and asked if there was any word on the traitors
yet.

Stephen sat in a
chair in front of the desk and shook his head.
 
“We know that they were heading towards Vestavia but stopped in the mountains.
 
After that we lost track.”

Elspeth
nodded.
 
She knew all this because their
own spies were working hard to find them.
 
“How did she get rid of that mark on the blacksmith?”
 
She wondered, more to herself than anyone.

Stephen was
curious about the same thing and shrugged.
 
“She’s stronger than we thought.
 
There’s no other way to explain it.”

The leaders of
Valentria shared worried looks, knowing that with a weapon like Branwyen
joining them, there was no way to beat the Protectorate if war came.

A week after they
showed up at the Brownings, Mr. Browning needed the two girls help him go
around gather up the animals because there was going to be a bad storm later
that evening.
 
It sounded like fun at
first but the animals refusing to cooperate soon changed their attitudes.
 
Both were exhausted and covered in dust by
the time Mr. Browning locked the barn door.

“Well, we’re
off.
 
Are you girls sure you’re going to
be alright by yourselves?”
 
Mrs. Browning
asked after making sure every conceivable emergency had been properly covered.
 
Tonight was the Brownings 30
^th
anniversary and they had been planning to just go into town for a nice
dinner.
 
Raven insisted on them spending
the night in a fancy hotel which she paid for as a gift.

“We’ll be
fine.”
 
Sarah promised as she shut the battered
truck door behind Mrs. Browning.

“Enjoy being
newlyweds!”
 
Raven laughed over the sound
of the engine roaring to life.
 

Following a quick
supper, Raven worked on inscribing her new sword.
 
She was experimenting with a new way to inscribe
objects and wasn’t about to let a little thing like being declared a traitor
stop her from working on them.
 
Ever
since her first lesson in runes, she had been fascinated by the
possibilities.
 
Though most of her
experiments ended in painful failures, this one seemed a success.

Sarah tried
reading a book but wasn’t very interested.
 
She kept stealing quick glimpses at Raven, who was bent over the table,
working on the glittering blade.
 
Scattered around were the tools of her trade.
 
Sarah hadn’t really thought about it until
now but realized Raven must have known her other sword would be taken during
the arrest.
 
That was why she asked Sarah
to make her another one, and now worked so hard to get it inscribed.
 
The sword had taken nearly a week to finish,
working on it in fits and stops.
 
Raven
had been very clear from the beginning what she wanted, and what she asked
proved very challenging.
 
It was exactly
the same weight and balance as Raven’s original sword, but instead of having
ravens on the guard, a pair of wings sprouted from the sides and curled back
towards the blade.
 
The handle itself was
a raven’s head with emeralds for the eyes.
 
Raven insisted on giving Sarah 5,000 gullions for it, which is roughly
what she would’ve charged a normal customer.

“Are you
okay?”
 
Sarah hadn’t read anything in an
hour and this was a conversation they needed.

“Huh?”
 
Raven laid her tools down.
 
The sword was done but she’d need to test it
soon.

Sarah tried again.
 
“Are you okay with all of this?
 
We haven’t talked since we got here and I
know you miss Bekah.”
 
The book she was
reading floated into the air and bopped her gently on the head.
 
She could see Raven’s finger moving and the
book hit her again.

“I miss Sis all
the time.
 
Last time we fought she dodged
three of my spells.
 
She’s proving quite
adept at ducking.”
 
Raven laughed as
Sarah grabbed the book.

Trying to be
serious with Raven was an uphill battle Sarah knew.
 
“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”
 

Raven was trying
to turn the talk into a game.
 
Sarah
recognized the signs so she would have to be persistent.
 
“Why do you always have to put on that
front?
 
You’re in danger.
 
People you care about are in danger.
 
I know how worried you are because you’ve
never worked as hard as you have on inscribing that sword.”

Pushing back from
the table, the cheerful veneer dropping from her face, Raven sighed.
 
“I’m not worried about the people I care for
because I’ll protect all of you.
 
I’m not
worried about me because.”

“Because why?
 
Because you’re some great and powerful
sorceress?”
 
A vague wave was the only
answer coming so Sarah walked to the table and sat down.
 
She took Raven’s hands in hers.

“You never
answered me.
 
Why do you never let
anybody see what you’re really feeling?”

“I don’t want to
burden everyone with my problems.
 
It’s
more fun for me to see people having a good time.”
 
Sarah knew the veil was pierced when Raven
wouldn’t look her in the eyes.
 
“I want
everyone to smile when they remember me.”

Sarah watched for
another moment as Raven turned back to her sword.
 
The sorceress was, in the blacksmith’s
opinion, the craziest person she had ever met.
 
With Raven around, things had a tendency to explode unexpectedly.
 
Wild animals were let loose in a crowded
place of business.
 
The redhead was
constantly coming up with new and increasingly creative excuses to avoid anything
she considered boring.
 
But Sarah recognized
early on that Raven never failed to follow through on a promise.
 
There was an iron core that grounded those
flights of whimsy.
 
If Raven said
something would be done, it would be done no matter what stood in the way.

It wasn’t Raven’s
personality that troubled Sarah.
 
The
problem was Raven never considered what her actions meant to others.
 
Less than a year ago, Sarah had been a simple
blacksmith.
 
Now she was on the run,
branded a traitor by people she considered friends.
 
Hell, she almost died not to long ago.
 
She could leave, but something in her heart
wouldn’t allow it.
 
Something she
couldn’t explain kept her by Raven’s side, when every instinct screamed for her
to flee.
 
When Raven flashed a quick grin,
eyebrows still scrunched in concentration, Sarah figured out what it was.

Well damn, I’m in
love with her.

“I’ve always liked
storms.”
 
Sarah snuggled closer after a
distant peal of thunder reverberated through the air.
 
The wind howled like a demon outside.

“I know what you
mean.
 
I love the moment’s right before
they hit.
 
The build up, the expectations
and then they explode.”

Sarah rested her
head on Raven’s shoulder, sharing their bodies warmth as the temperature
dropped.
 
Outside, small patters of rain
drummed a staccato against the window panes and a brilliant flash of lightening
set off a jarring rumble that shook the house.

“They are a little
scary though.”
 
Sarah muttered as the
sound faded.

Raven squeezed
Sarah’s hand.
 
“You don’t have to be
scared of anything, Lil’bit.
 
I’ll
protect you.”

Sarah’s heart
jumped slightly as her shaved metal gray eyes stared into Raven’s.
 
Expectation hung in the air.
 
Electricity danced.
 
Butterflies flew around her stomach as she
reached up to stroke an alabaster cheek.
 
The rain was coming down harder now, beating steadily against the house.

“You
promise?”
 
Her voice was throaty and
hoarse.

Raven whispered
huskily.
 
“I promise.”

As their lips met
the storm broke overhead.
 

It was almost
terrifying in its intensity.
 
Lighting
licked softly rolling hills.
 
Winds
roared through the night sky twisting and bending trees.
  
Thunder roared, the voice of a storm demanding
to be heard.
 
The earth gave herself over
to passion as the maelstrom raged, opening herself willingly.
 
Rain fell in sheets, saturating the world
with a glistening sheen.
 
The nearby
river rose, swollen with the torrential downpour, at first kissing, then
overflowing, its boundaries.
 

           
The
storm abated, hours later, and the world fell into a peaceful slumber.
 
The threats of distant thunder no cause for
concern.

CHAPTER
24: NEVER AFTER

She stared silently at the portrait over the
fireplace.
 
It was larger now than any
other in the room.
 
Unlike other pictures
which were only visible thanks to the light from the three remaining windows,
this one seemed to shine with a radiance of its own; a warm, gentle light she could
feel caressing her skin.
 
The young girl
ran fingers trembling with sorrow against the name plate under it.

           
“Sorry, Lil’bit.” was all she said.

           
The shadow stayed in the back,
watching.
 
It could feel its time coming soon.

Sarah awoke
feeling refreshed and chipper, Raven’s smell still lingering like a sweet
memory in her nose.
 
She dressed quickly
and hurried outside to find her lover busy in the yard, clearing the debris of
last night’s storm.
 
The mud sucked at
her boots as she wrapped Raven in a happy hug.

“Finally woke up,
huh?”
 
Raven didn’t bother turning
around.
 

Feeling a slight
chill, Sarah asked what was wrong.

“Nothing.”
 
The curt reply stung Sarah more than the
crisp morning air, “We need to clean this up before the Brownings get home.”

Sarah nodded and got
to work.
 
Throughout the morning she made
several attempts to start up a conversation but the normally overly gregarious
Raven rebuked every one.

Around noon the
yard was finished.
 
Sarah managed to fix
the door on the chicken coop which the winds had nearly torn off its hinges,
and she tried a different approach.

Standing a few
feet away from Raven, who was still making a pointed effort to ignore her,
Sarah got straight to the point.

“Are you angry
about what happened between us last night?”
 
She folded her arms crossly.

“Last night was a
mistake.”
 
Raven’s twisted her head
slightly so she could look at Sarah over her shoulder.
 
“Let’s forget it ever happened.”

Blonde tresses
shook in annoyance, bordering on anger.
 
“Forget
that we made love?
 
Forget everything you
said to me?”
 
The mud made soft
squelching noises as it tried to suck her boots off.
 
Sarah stomped forward and grabbed Raven by
the shoulder, spinning her around.
 
Raven
stared at the earth trying not to look into Sarah’s eyes.
 
“How is it a mistake for two people who care
about each other to be with each other?”

A sickening
thought struck Sarah and her hand dropped.
 
“You do care about me, don’t you?”

“Of course,” Raven
answered as she jerked roughly away, “which is why it’s best to forget the
entire thing.”

After a moment of baffled
hesitation, Sarah followed.
 
Raven
reached for the door to the house and pulled it half way open before Sarah
slammed it with a resounding crash.
 
Something
fell in the house but Sarah wasn’t concerned about that now.

“I deserve a
better answer than that, Branwyen.”

“You need to drop
this right now, Sarah.
 
I’m warning you.”

Sarah laughed with
no humor.
 
“You’re threatening me
now?
 
After everything I’ve seen and
done, you think I’m going to be scared?
 
I’m in lo--“

“SHUT UP!”
 
Raven wheeled around, jabbing a finger at Sarah.
 
“Do not say that.
 
There is no future for us.”
 
Their eyes locked for the first time all
morning, noses within inches of each other.
 
The redhead’s voice was low and guttural.
 
“Stay with Daniel.”

“Who do you think
you are, Lady Branwyen Chandlish?”
 
Sarah
snapped back, anger flushing her cheeks.
 
“You do not tell me what to do.
 
Not now, not ever.
 
If I do decide
to stay with Daniel it will be my choice because at least he’s honest.”

“Honest?
 
You want honest?
 
Fine.
 
Exactly how do you think this is going to end?”
 
Raven growled, but Sarah saw the tears held
back by fear.
 
“This isn’t a fairy tale,
Sarah.
 
I don’t get an ever-after,
happily or otherwise.”
 

Raven’s lower lip quivered.
 
“One day, in a year or two, my sister is going
to lock me in that chamber.
 
Malleus will
take over and that’s the end of Lady Branwyen Chandlish.
 
I care too much about you to put you through
that so please, let’s just forget about whatever this is between us.”

A small muscle
pulsed in Sarah’s cheek as her teeth clenched.
 
She wanted to say something, anything, but Raven was right.
 
Eventually, for the sake of the world, they
would have to lock her away forever.
 
The
two stared at each other for a moment, searching the other’s face for signs of
comfort until, finding none, Raven stormed into the house leaving Sarah alone.

The Brownings made
it home late in the afternoon.
 
Mr.
Browning informed the girls that Valentria guards were scouring the nearby
towns.
 
Mrs. Browning thanked them for
cleaning the yard by baking another delicious meal with Boysenberry pie for
dessert.
 
Raven and Sarah acted like
nothing out of the ordinary had happened and went to sleep.
 
This night though Raven slept in the
uncomfortable chair and Sarah made no move to invite her to bed.

The next day was
clear and very chilly.
 
Mr. Browning and
the girls wore thick jackets while fixing a fence a tree had fallen on.
 
The work was much easier thanks to Bryson,
but Sarah made him promise not to drop this tree on anybody’s house.
 
Waiting until Mr. Browning left to get some
tools, Sarah spoke the words she’d been practicing in her head all morning.

Sure they were
alone, Sarah said, in a very calm manner considering who she was talking to,
“You’re a coward.”

“Excuse me?”
 
Raven stood up from the tree she had been
resting against and cocked her head to one side, certain that she had misheard.

“You heard
me.
 
You’re a coward.”
 
Sarah repeated herself in the tone of a
parent explaining things to a small child.

Raven
chuckled.
 
She knew Sarah would be angry
and expected another argument.
 
Years of
living with Sis taught her that the last word belonged to whoever was conscious
at the end of a fight.
 
She had not,
however, expected to be called a coward.

“You think I’m
joking?”
 
Sarah fought to keep her voice
calm and even.

           
“I
think you’re angry and you haven’t had much practice at arguing.”
 
Raven laughed, “I’ve been in more fights than
you’ve dreamed of.
 
I’ve fought when the
odds were 10-to-1 against me.
 
I’ve
jumped off of moving zeppelins.
 
I am,
most assuredly, not a coward.”

           
“Those
things just prove I’m right.
 
You’re a
coward.”
 

Sarah’s composed
demeanor, not to mention the repeated use of the word coward, was starting to irk
Raven and she felt the anger building.
 
“How exactly does my putting my life on the line make me a coward?”

“Because you’re
running away.”

Her voice lowering
to a dangerous level, Raven was near livid.
 
She marched up to Sarah and stood chest to chest with the blonde.
 
“Explain to me, very carefully, how I am
running away.”

Sarah coolly gazed
into Raven’s eyes, showing no signs of trepidation.
 
“If you die, Bekah won’t have to lock you in
the chamber.
 
If you stop whatever is
between us, you won’t have to lose me.
 
So, you’re running away.”

Raven took long,
deep breaths through her nose.
 
The pale
green eyes were ablaze with conflicting emotions.
 
Then Raven turned and sat back down under the
tree.

Sarah wasn’t
finished, however, and continued as if Raven wasn’t trying to ignore her.
 
“I didn’t know what to expect when I left
Vestavia to set up shop with you.
 
I
never expected this.
 
My life has been in
danger more than once and sometimes I’m so scared I want to cry.
 
I don’t know what will happen tomorrow but I
do know that I want to spend as much time as possible with the people I care
about.”
 
With those parting words, Sarah
turned and went to help Mr. Browning bring back the tools.

They didn’t speak
for the rest of the day and that night Raven again slept in the chair.