A Tale of Shadows - THE OUTDATED VERSION

Chapter 11 - Clandestine

The sun was setting down while Maria was walking through the forest where Patrick last fought. The leaves and the grass and the trees were all affected by the orange gleam that was coming from above. She was glad that it wasn't required of her to arrive at the place earlier, or else she would have felt the day's heat with everything inside of her. Nothing could bother her, for there wasn't even a single sound that she wasn't making. Time was her worst enemy at the moment. She didn't know how long she would have been forced to wait, and she didn't know what to do during her waiting either. She could only think of the things she didn't yearn to think of. As minutes passed, she gazed everywhere around herself, hoping that Patrick would soon appear, that her presence there would mean something. And it did. He walked over to her after getting out of a portal that vanished into thin air almost immediately with a firm facial expression. It seemed as if he hadn't forgiven her for what she did the last time. 

"Welcome, Patrick. It's nice to meet you again," she chirped.

"I wish I could say the same," he told her with a sigh.

"Alright, but why did you invite me here?" 

"You know why I invited you, so don't pretend that you don't. "

"Again, I'm sorry about the previous meeting-"

"It doesn't matter that much to me. I just wish to end this as quickly as possible. What do you propose?"

"Why can't you release Melinda from her captivity?"

"Maybe it will mean nothing before you can blink."

She stood there in silence for what looked like an eternity, trying to decipher the meaning behind his explanation. He said a little more than ten words, which she didn't view as enough to provide even the briefest of decent explanations. Could she even call such a vague statement an explanation? Perhaps a better word would have been a riddle, but she didn't desire to consider it a riddle, thanks to her unwillingness to start an argument. She remembered all too well what happened on the former occasion she did it, and she couldn't risk anything. 

"Do you have other questions to ask me?" 

She scowled at him. "Yes, of course. Why do you think I'm here?"

"For someone who's a very impatient person, you don't seem to understand when you're causing other people to feel impatient at all."

"I apologize for that. Anyway, what are you going to give me out of all that my heart covets?"

"I don't see this as a sincere apology."

Maria rolled her eyes. "I don't care. Also, you shouldn't be so serious about everything. Just get to the point."

"Would you be satisfied as my second in command?"

"Of course I would. I find this suggestion of yours quite thoughtful."

He smiled at her. "I'm pleased to hear that. However, you'll have to wait a little."

"I don't mind that at all. I have to go."

Before he could say a word to her, he went away. Her heart beat within her chest with more life than she could have imagined in her entire existence. She was aware that he would be suspicious, even if merely an infinitesimal bit, so she would anticipate the exact right moment to do it. Once he conquered her state and let her become his second in command, she would kill him and take what she believed to be rightfully hers. She could visualise the blood that would spray from his chest, spread all over his skin and bones, prove his turning into an insignificant corpse. She would clean the mess with a grin, engulfed by happiness so vast that she could never have fully foreseen it. She would announce the matter to her new citizens and then her reign would spread. With the right planning, nothing could stop her. 

***

"Woman, where have you been?" her husband whispered over the snoring of their two small children.

"Kevin, you don't have to worry about this as much as you think you do."

"If I don't have to do it, why didn't you tell me where you were planning to go?"

She shrugged. "I don't have to spell out each of my activities to you."

"I was sure that something had happened to you. You know that I wouldn't be able to bear the shame and guilt if that were true. Why didn't you inform me? I still have no idea where you have been."

"I went for a walk in the woods. I believed that you wouldn't mind it. I should have known better, for it was me who married you all those years ago."

"I feel like I know you even less than you know me," he murmured, hoping that she wouldn't hear him, or that she would at least not pay attention to it, but she did.

"We are husband and wife. We have no secrets that we keep from each other," she announced while on the verge of laughing.

"Did you unironically say that?" he told her, trying to restrain himself from shouting.

"I went for a walk. That's it. I'm not hiding anything from you," she strived to reassure him, pursing her lips.

The conversation would have lasted longer if Maria didn't stomp her foot and storm out of the room, leaving Kevin to kneel on the floor before his children all alone, imagining everything that could have truly happened while he was waiting around for her like a fool, still believing that she wouldn't have been so secretive if she had just gone for a stroll, knowing that his notions were likely pretty ridiculous, sympathizing with the crying of their daughter and son that had just started at the moment as she was pondering something that she wouldn't give him access to, something which was presumably forbidden. 

***

Maria began writing a letter in the comfort of her room. The door was closed and locked and there wasn't a single source of light but a candle on the end of her desk that was facing the wall. Outside light didn't count because she shut all the windows and drew the black curtains, thus engulfing herself in as much darkness as possible. Her eyes were fixated on the empty page, her hands carefully holding a quill that had its tip filled with ink. Her mind commenced conjuring potential words she could share with Patrick on the matter. She was scowling about how their meetings always went. Although he wasn't a very trustworthy person, she expected him to give her at least some more clues concerning the whole situation. When the things her brain was preoccupied with turned themselves into acceptable sentences, she wrote them down with no hesitation whatsoever, pressing the quill as if her life depended on it, hastily doing the task she assigned herself with.

What are you planning on doing while you're away?

I'm serious. I'm not angry with you for daring to have some privacy in your life, but you have to tell me more for this thing to work out well for both of us. You have lost so much, and I don't have the full knowledge on how exactly are you going to repair it all. I must admit that I have a certain sort of respect for you. I didn't expect you to go this far in life, and here you are, standing as a worthy adversary of mine. A person who could be easily scared by the likes of me would never do such a thing, of course, but you have gone above and beyond what an average person would expect, and you haven't done so in hurry or foolishness. You have prepared well for a reason. You truly believe in what you're doing, no matter what anyone tells you. But how much power am I going to have as your second in command? But what are your plans for the future? But how are you going to keep fulfilling your desires? I could go on like this all day, which would be fruitless since you already understand the point I'm trying to make. Answer as soon as possible, yet pick your words with care still, and avoid nothing in the letter you'll write to me.

Be happy with the life you've chosen.

She didn't need to write any of their names. She didn't need an envelope either, for it would have been a waste of paper if she put the letter in one. She drew a rectangle in the air after causing the shadow coming from the letter to turn purple, which sent it to Patrick's current location, which she didn't even know the address of. She smiled at the convenience of the spell she used, then her worries returned as she remembered the feelings of her husband. Once she saw that no one was near her, she came out of the room.