The Forgotten Wife

New Friends

Lorna had done all of her set chores for the day, she stood in the kitchen and sliced some vegetables for the stew she was preparing for dinner. Levi and Furlan hadn't returned from the tavern yet, they had been gone for over three hours now. She threw all of her ingredients into her cooking pot and left it to boil, in the mean time she made herself a pot of tea. She decided to make herself some tea and read another book from the bookcase, the stew wouldn't be ready for an hour yet. Sitting down on the leather bench Lorna opened up the book and tucked her legs beneath herself, the book she had chosen to read was about combat. She was sometimes surprised about the selection of books that Levi owned, he had once told her that the books belonged to the previous owner of his home. But then it brought up the question about what happened to the previous tenant, was the person dead or just missing? She knew down here in The Underground City if someone died then anyone can claim their house, the housing system was kind of rotten down here.

Lorna picked her teacup up from the side table and took a sip of it while she turned a page in the book. There were many drawings in this book, it amazed her how much detail went into these pictures of combat positions. The hand positions and the movements were all detail to perfection, they even gave tips on footwork. She looked over at the door when she heard it open, she gave Furlan a smile as he entered the house with four of his gang members following behind him. She didn't really know their names, but she knew one of them. His name was Yan, he always said hello to her and he once helped her carry buckets of water down the steps outside of the house for her.

Yan began to get sick a few months ago, his legs were poorly and he struggled to pay for the treatment for his legs. The prices of medicine were expensive down here, most herbal remedies couldn't be made because the lack of ingredients. Furlan always chose Yan to assist him with jobs, he wanted to help him because his Mother died from the same condition as Yan when he was a child. Levi entered the house last and closed the door behind him, he looked concerned about something. He glanced at Lorna while he walked passed her, he sat down at the table and took his knife from his knife's leg holster. He took a rag from his pocket and began to clean his knife's blade. She turned her full attention to Furlan when he sat down next to her on the bench, he took a wad of notes from his pocket and showed them to her with a big smile on his face.

" Hey Lorna, is dinner ready yet?" Furlan asked. 

" It will be done soon." Lorna replied, she closed the book and got up from the bench. " How did your job go? By the looks on your faces I'm guessing it went pretty well, what did your job attend of this time?"

" You know I can't tell you that, but let's say we did good!" Furlan replied.

" I can see that with my own two eyes, I'll get you some tea." Lorna said.

" Do we have any wine?" Furlan asked.

" You drank it all last night, don't you remember?" Lorna asked. 

" Tea it is then." Furlan sighed. 

Lorna asked Yan and the other gang members if they wanted some tea before she left, but they said no. She placed the book down on the bench, she then made her way to the kitchen. The pot of tea she had left in the kitchen was still hot, she poured Levi and Furlan a cup of tea while she listened to them talking amongst themselves. She tried not to listen into all of their conversation, but the words medicine and three dimensional maneuver gear soon caught her attention. She was still questioning where Levi and Furlan had gotten the three dimensional gear from because her parents had been arrested over holding that kind of gear for those merchants which turned out to be the Military Police in disguise, she was worried in case they got caught too. They could get arrested over having them in their possession, even worse since they had them on display most of the time in the house. 

Furlan paid the gang members for helping them out with the job, they then left the house. Lorna then heard Levi asking Furlan about why one of the gang members share of money had increased more than the others. Furlan went onto explain to Levi that Yan's leg had gotten worse and that medicine had gotten expensive down here, Furlan truly had heart of gold when it came to his friends. At first when Lorna had met Furlan she thought he was just a drunk, but over time she had found out that her was actually a descend man. Lorna picked the two teacups up from the side and walked towards the table, she placed one of the teacups down in front of Levi. She held the other teacup towards Furlan, he went to take it from her hand but his attention was soon drawn towards the main door of the house. It sounded like someone was trying to get into the house, the door handle rattled and someone began to bang on the door. She could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door, but one of the voices stood out to her. It sounded like a girl's voice, she was screaming and using fowl language. 

" Are you expecting some visitors?" Lorna asked.

" Not that I'm aware of..." Furlan replied.

Lorna stepped away from the table when Furlan hurried towards the door, he pulled a knife from his boot. Levi got up from his chair and threw the rag he had been using to clean knife onto the table, he held his knife by his side. Something didn't feel right, Lorna began to feel nervous. She looked over at Furlan and saw him with his back against the wall near the door with his knife in his hand, he was ready to strike if needed.

" Lorna, go and hide in the pantry.!" She heard Levi say. " Don't come out until I tell you, do you understand?!"

" What's going on?!." Lorna asked. 

" Just do it!" Levi replied.

Lorna grabbed a candle from the kitchen's side while she hurried towards the pantry, she opened the pantry's door and quickly closed it behind her. She turned the wooden bucket upside down and sat down on it, she was beginning to wonder who was at the door. She listened to Levi talking with Furlan while she placed the candle down on a wooden crate, but then she heard a thud come from the other room. 

There was a girl's voice yelling something about not being not a kid, she took a sip of tea and continued to listen to them talking. It felt like she had been sitting in the pantry for over an hour now, she placed the teacup down on the floor and got to her feet. Slowly opening the door she peered into the kitchen, but she quickly closed the door when she heard a man scream out in pain. She sat back down on the bucket, she picked the teacup up from the floor and took another sip of the tea while she stared at the door. Whatever was going on out there didn't sound good, then again trouble seemed to turn up on their own doorstep unannounced sometimes. It wasn't long until Lorna saw the pantry's door handle turn, the door soon opened and she was greeted Levi standing in the doorway. He was cleaning his knife with his rag while he stared at her, Lorna's gaze was soon fixed on his knife. She noticed some blood stains on his rag, she dared not asked what had happened in the living room. But in her mind she already knew that she would be cleaning bloodstains this evening from the floor, it seemed to happen now and again.

" Is everything okay out there?" Lorna asked, she got up from the bucket. " No one as been hurt, right?"

" No one of importance..." Levi replied.

Lorna could hear voices coming from the other room, she recognized Furlan's voice but she had no idea who the other voice belonged to. The voice was female, she sound quite young and lively. Lorna walked out of the pantry and placed the teacup on the counter while she looked into the other room, she could see a red haired girl speaking with Furlan. The girl made eye contact with her, she looked dirty and partly starved.

" Who's the girl talking with Furlan?" Lorna asked. 

" A new tenant, she will be staying with us until further notice." Levi replied while he took hold of her arm and spoke quietly to her. " Lorna, I've got a job for you..."