Daughter of the Rebellion

Chapter 15

Time passed more quickly than I expected and before I knew it, we were beginning to pack everything up so that we could leave.

The weather was beginning to turn cold, and so I was glad for that reason, to be heading to an actual house. But I couldn't help feeling that in leaving this place, I would be leaving behind the last link to my home.

Traveling here had taken hours, so it wasn't really my home, but without the soldiers and tents, it wasn't so different either.

My village was a small rural area. I don't know how many people lived there, but it couldn't have been more than a few hundred. Families were spread apart, so wide open forest areas and valleys weren't unusual. Sometimes when I was at the river, I could pretend I was only a few minutes from home.

I also knew that my village wasn't so far away that the idea of going back there was completely unreasonable.

But when we left and moved north, none of that would be true. The journey was going to be long, and every mile that I traveled would put more and more distance between my family and myself. I might never see any of them again.

I'd been trying to work up the courage to ask Richard to take me back, just so that I could make sure they were alright. I'd been putting it off, afraid that he'd say no, but I couldn't delay much longer. We were supposed to be leaving in a few days.

Figuring that I might have a better chance at a positive answer, I'd decided to pack everything we didn't absolutely need in the coming days, so that it would be less for him to worry about.

I kept the book that I was reading out so that I'd have something to do, but having just finished it, I decided to swap it with the only one left that I hadn't read yet.

All of our things were stored in crates, stacked three high, near the door. Of course the book was in the bottom one.

Maneuvering the top two out of the way, I quickly switched the books before allowing the crates to fall back into place. Apparently not quick enough, I caught my finger, barely managing not to cry out and make Jeremiah believe that something was wrong.

Tears pricked my eyes as I stuck the throbbing finger into my mouth. A minute later, the pain dulled and I shook my hand out before examining it. At least I didn't break the skin, I thought with a sigh.

Bending down, I reached for the book which lay open on the ground, but paused when I noticed that there was something between the pages. I picked it up and saw that it was a ribbon that the previous owner must have been using as a bookmark. The name Emily was embroidered on the ribbon and there were other frills and embellishments.

Why would a girl leave such a pretty, personal thing in a book she got rid of? And why would she get rid of a book that she hadn't finished reading?

After a minute the answer occurred to me and made me feel sick. That girl hadn't intended to get rid of this book at all. It must have been taken from her the way so many things were taken from so many people in the abominable raids.

And it had been given to me.

Disgusted, I threw the book and the ribbon on the table and backed away from them.

Had Richard taken them? I'd asked him for books and he'd given them to me. I never thought about where they would come from. How many of my things had been stolen from someone else?

I thought about that first box Jeremiah brought, remembering how I could tell that the things in it weren't new. I remembered the chip in the hairbrush and having to fix and alter the dresses. They had all been stolen from people who already lost so much. People like my family.