The Starry Sky - A Darkling/General Kirigan Prequel

2

Anna was sleeping on the ground, a flat pillow beneath her head and a thin cotton blanket hung over her slight frame. Before her, a fire was crackling, heating her face to the point of redness. She was aware that she was in one of the bedrooms - probably one of the nicer ones if it had such a large fire - but was too delirious from either sleep or the cold to properly comprehend why she was there. Her mind was dragging her back, back to somewhere she could rest and the incessant buzzing in her ears would stop, but she stayed firmly on the wooden floor.

In the distance people were talking, someone was picking her up, carrying her away from the warmth. A soft moan danced on her lips, a plea to put her back, but they kept moving. Eventually, the biting cold of winter that sat rudely in the halls of the inn began to nip at her skin. Someone was still talking. Anna couldn't hear.

Her skin felt bare and light, somehow. It might be the cold, or the darkness claiming her body as its own, she didn't care. Another blanket fell on top of her body, and she snuggled down, not before hearing the unmistakable voice of Olga,

"You can sleep until twelve bells. No longer." and then a door shut, sealing Anna in her tomb.

***

Twelve bells seemingly arrived in minutes. Olga's son, Dima, was a small, ominous figure in the doorway of Anna's room, light embraced her, and, weak as it was, it kissed her skin.

"Mama says you need to get up." He dropped something soft onto the foot of the cot, and then stood, waiting for Anna to rise, "Mama says you're too poor to be buried, if you're dead we'll have to burn your body." Anna gave a small laugh and brought up a hand to wave the boy away,

"I'll get up if you go and get me some water to wash my face." She spoke with the lilt of a songbird, but her lungs ached with each breath, as if she'd inhaled ice, or screamed herself raw. The boy disappeared down the hall, leaving Anna to pull the bundle of clothes he'd brought to her onto her lap. Her room was at the end of the hallway, so there was little risk in somebody walking by as she got dressed; regardless she pulled her dress on over her nightclothes, then unbuttoned the dress beneath, pulling it away. She'd learned to do this months ago, when her bed was in a shared room, and middle-aged men ogled at the sight of a young woman in partial undress. Her shawl was fraying, but she wrapped it around her shoulders and stumbled in the dark until she found a pin to hold it together at her front. Despite this being all the clothes she had, she was still holding a thin strip of fabric. Even in the partial darkness she could see the deep colour of it, could feel the embroidered 'E', and to her complete and utter shock, she had her hair tie back.

Dima appeared back in the hallways, holding a samovar with both hands, he shook his head urgently, motioning at a little bowl on the floor beside Anna's bed. Anna brought the copper bowl up towards Dima, who poured hot water into it with shaking hands.

"Thank you, Dima." Anna smiled, twisting her hair into a braid and tying the cloth around her head, knotting it at the nape of her pale neck. The relief that he hadn't spilled anything was visible on the boy's face, he turned to leave, but not before Anna grabbed his wrist, "Do you know how this got back here?" She questioned, tapping at the tie around her hair.

Dima nodded, "The man in black gave it to mama, she told me to give it back to you." Confusion arose at Dima's words.

"Who's the man in black?" Anna asked.

"He arrived last night, with the carriages, there's a lot of them - not a bed spare - and he was wearing a black coat. He's scary, Anna."

Once more panic rose like bile in Anna's stomach, why would a troop of people come here, stay, and bring back a lost head tie? She knew something bad was happening, she was sure of it. The second she went downstairs they'd attack. What if Olga and Dima were in on it? Baiting her to her death, all because of a couple of mistakes she made in a couple of countries. A metallic tang blossomed in her mouth and Anna let a startled gasp out when she realised she'd bitten down on her lip and drawn blood. She dipped a washcloth into the bowl and dabbed at her lip.