The Forgotten Wife

Flee!

The day had passed by quickly, Lorna had completed all of her chores with the help of Isabel and Furlan. They had even prepared dinner together which was very rare, Isabel had rolled out some pastry for the apple tarts and Furlan had been chopping vegetables. Lorna was in charge of the stew as always, they had managed to get a hold of some rabbit meat from one of the local poachers from The Underground City. He had been hunting on the surface, he had told them he had been to a village called Dauper District. Isabel had many questions for him, she wanted to know about what kind of animals they had up there. 

Isabel loved animals, she sometimes fed the stray cats and dogs of the city. But this time she wanted to know everything about this village the poacher had visited, she wanted to know about the people and if there were Titans roaming beyond the giant stone walls. The poacher told her all he knew about the village, but he hadn't seen any Titans. Furlan had to end up carrying Isabel over his shoulder on their way home, she had been pestering the poacher for too long. Lorna dusted some flour away from Isabel's shoulder, she had made a mess with the apple tart dough. Furlan teased Isabel and threw some carrot peal at her, but Isabel threw a handful of flour at him. Lorna tried to hold her laughter in but Furlan's expression was priceless, his face was covered with flour. It wasn't long until the stew was ready and the apple tarts were cooling down on a rack in the kitchen, they settled around the dinner table. But someone was missing, Levi had been out since this morning. He had told them he had a few loose ends to sort out before the day was over, but it was getting late now. Furlan had offered to go and find him, but Lorna told him to stay put in case Levi returned while he was out.

They spoke together and laughed while they ate their dinner, Isabel was chatting about the rabbit stew. She was really passionate about food, Lorna sometimes thought that Isabel must dream about food with the amount of drool stains she saw on Isabel's pillowcase. When they were done they tidied up the kitchen and made sure there was a place set at the table for Levi before he returned home, it would save them cleaning up before they retired for the night. Furlan had lit a fire in the fireplace, he was sitting at the table with a bottle of wine. He always had a drink after dinner, his legs were stretched out and his boots were placed by the chair. He was warming his feet by the fireplace, it was getting chilly in the house. Lorna was sitting with Isabel on the bench, she ran her fingers through Isabel's hair while she rested her head on Lorna's lap. Isabel had a full stomach for a change, she had ate most of the apple tarts and she had also been drinking some of Furlan's wine.

" I wonder where big Brother is?" Isabel asked.

" Levi will be back soon, he's got some business to sort out." Furlan replied, he took a swig from his wine bottle. " He as been asking around about that murder that happened in the alleyway yesterday."

" What about it?" Lorna asked.

" There's been rumours floating around about Kenny The Ripper, apparently he's returned to The Underground City." Furlan replied while he looked over at Lorna. " I've heard his name mentioned a few times over the years in the local taverns, he wasn't the nicest of people. I heard he worked for the Military Police in secret, he would double cross merchants and hunt down fugitives for them. The amount of people he's murdered over the years is common knowledge to some, but he disappeared over a decade ago. "

" I think I met him once when I was young, he may have been the one who got my parents arrested by the Military Police." Lorna said.

" You did?!" Isabel gasped and got onto her knees. " How?! Where?!"

" I'm not sure if it was him, but when I first met Levi he was working for a man called Kenny Ackerman." Lorna replied.

" Oh big Brother, how could you?!" Isabel dramatically said while she grabbed hold of Lorna's arm. " Did this Kenny hurt you?!"