Gold Rush

Chapter 2 - The Lady of The Wall 2/2

'Silvia?' a tender voice said behind her.

Lady Deduras turned around from the wet fabric of the divan and saw Lady Gia Deduras, Toma's mother, the woman who had raised Silvia after her parents had died, approaching.

'Why are you crying?'

'Oh, Gia,' she cried. 'I'm so worried. I'm worried that we will lose everything we have gained.'

Gia frowned. 'Please, Silvia. Call me Vita – I do not like these new noble names they have given us. Out there in their society, you can call yourself Lady Renui Deduras, but in here, our home, please remember that you are Silvia from the wall, born – like all of us from the wall – without a family name.'

'B-but – how will I manage to keep us away from the desert, Vita? How will I keep us safe if I do not learn how to be like them?' Lady Deduras – or was Vita right? Was she Silvia? – said.

'Look around, my sweet,' Vita said. She pointed to the marble floors, the olive wood chairs, the harp in the corner, the servant waiting by the water jug and the grapes, the splendid curtains billowing in the fresh breeze, the balcony with the view of the city from the top of the hill that served as the noble quarter. It was splendid indeed. 'We are not only safe. We are well. See that this is so.'

Silvia sniffed. Vita was not wrong. She nodded and looked at Vita with wide open eyes, hoping for more reassurance.

'I understand your fears, Silvia. I often wake wondering if I have lost my mind, or if I have accidentally stolen myself into someone else's manse. It is normal for us to feel afraid, to feel like thieves. But this is ours.' Vita caressed Silvia's cheek, pushing back her long thick curls to softly pinch her ear. 'People will of course try to steal what we have – they think we should be working the land. But it is not as a noble that you will protect us – only as the cunning girl from the wall, the young woman who tried so many times to escape, to find a better life. It is she who must remain to keep us from returning to the desert.'

Silvia saw that Vita was right. Noblewomen did not know how to earn wealth – they were born with it. Only a girl who had known destitution and hunger like Silvia would have the cunning to fight and win.

'Remember when you dressed like a boy soldier one year so that you could trick one of the local horse warriors into following your orders?' Vita laughed.

Silvia had almost forgotten. She giggled. 'They only caught me because my cousin Fio called my name!'

'Yes, and they would have killed you if you hadn't run and hidden in the laundry well.' Vita laughed again.

'That was the year after Toma left to become a soldier,' Silvia sighed.

Vita nodded in silence. Vita was unrecognisable now. Where she had once been covered in sand and dirt, wearing only brown rough spun rags, now she only dressed in yellow and green silks, her neck and ears adorned with gemstones. But no matter how much she changed, the pain of losing her son would forever be etched in her eyes.

It had been a whole year since they had left the desert. In that time, Silvia had learned how to almost convincingly play the noble and she had learned much about how to live in the city with paper gold and servants. But she had still made no advance in turning around her shrinking wealth, no advance in taking control of the company that she had inherited from Toma. And she had not yet had a chance to search for answers to Toma's sudden death. He had apparently died heroically in battle – but she had never heard any stories, nor seen any evidence of his triumphs and losses. There was a strange emptiness in her chest that told her that things weren't exactly as they had been described to her.

Silvia suddenly got up. It was all so clear now.

'What are you doing, my sweet?' Vita asked, surprised by her sudden movements.

'You've given me an idea, Ma,' Silvia said. 'I know how I'll keep us from losing Toma's fortune.'

Vita's story about her childhood mischiefs had sparked an idea. She had been wasting all this time arguing with the attendants of her company, afraid of confronting high merchants and nobles. But young Silvia wouldn't have done that – young Silvia would have simply marched up to the noble and pretended that she had more power than she did. So, that is what she would do. She would simply march up to the Deduras Erosi Trading Company office, and no matter who tried to stop her, she would find Sir Avidela and demand an explanation for her disappearing money.

She knew she was not Lady Renui Deduras. She was Silvia from the wall of the western ruins in the middle of the desert. But if she remembered that Lady Deduras was an invention, a fantasy, then Silvia could make her into whatever person she wished, she could create a fantasy that could charm and influence those she met. She had allowed herself to be controlled by the vision of others, the judgement of the old lazy nobility; but to know this meant that she now understood she was playing a character. She could write her own story and make Lady Deduras into anyone she wished. After a year of feeling like a helpless outsider, Silvia finally she felt like she might begin to take control.

End of Chapter 2

Dear readers, I hope you enjoyed this part of the chapter.

Please do vote for this chapter and any previous chapters that you have not yet voted for in this novel. It really helps me stay high in the rankings and reach more people - the more people I reach, the closer I get to finding the success I need to finish this entire series. I will never forget my readers who supported me in these early days - so thank you from the bottom of my heart for voting and engaging. :)

What did you think of this chapter? Do you think Silvia is right to try and simply demand what she needs or do you think she might be taking risks when she would do better to stay quiet? Do you think Vita is right in counselling her to stay as her old self rather than playing the noble?

Lots of love, L.K.