Redfork Menace

The Blackwood Account

Shanda was up long before the sun rose. She'd hardly slept a wink. Her thoughts were racing too fast to allow her heart to ever settle into an even pace. Instead she had done what she did best as of late, pacing. Dinner was a tense awkward affair for everyone involved. Except maybe Elmo Tully who had a good laugh the entire time.

"He's a sane one for sure." Alysanne had said after the latest cackle sounded down the hall.

"The riverlands are cursed." Shanda had replied. "Neither the old gods or the new hear our pleas."

How much blood had they split in the face of this feud? Maybe the gods were right to turn away from them.

"It's not as bad as all that." She snorted. "Tis not a grievous sin to kiss a man."

Shanda looked at her with a bored expression. The Blackwoods didn't hold anything sacred that was clear enough. So Shanda understood the lady could not understand the duress she was under. The weight of her crimes against her house were suffocating her. What had she managed to do for her house since getting caught? Nothing besides turning them against her. She hadn't even gained any useful information about the enemy. So her mind had spiraled all night punishing her before the shame of the trial could try to do the same.
Now she paced in front of her window waiting for dawn to break. Life was cruel but never crueler than for a young woman. Shanda was smart and capable but the shadow of children she'd never met were the face of her past, present and future. She lived in the prison of small minds. She might've been a great bowman or a decent swordsman if she hadn't had to learn under the pressure of secrecy. She put her hands on the window, feeling the cold glass as she looked out. She remembered what it felt like to roam the borderlands alone before dawn, the smell of river water and Meadowsweet in the air.

A knock sounds and draws her attention towards the door. Sighing, she moved to open it.

"Wanna grab some air?" Alysanne smiled at her and Shanda was relieved to hear her.

"You read my mind."

The both of them slip down the deserted halls, noting the odd stationed guard here and there. Alysanne walked with confidence as if she'd made this trek often, weaving them down halls and up stairs. Until at last they stepped outside, standing on top of a tower. The sun was just beginning to rise. There was a slight chill in the air and it wasn't raining for once.

"How are you holding up?" Alysanne asked her after a while.

Shanda shrugged. How could she put all of her worries into one emotion? "As well as can be expected."

She didn't want to see Benjicot. If he had set fire to Stone Hedge, she couldn't stand to look at him. Worse though was that she didn't want to see him because she felt so betrayed. How could she explain to Martyn that the enemy setting fire to their home was making her heart hurt? Royce would never understand and her father might die on the spot.

"I really tried," Alysanne sighed. "to get you out of this but Benji does everything big." She shook her head, face pinched.

Shanda couldn't help but to laugh at her grim expression despite her own fears. "Well, I made the mess, and it's time for me to clean it up."
***
Shanda made the executive decision not to attend breakfast. She parted from Alysanne and asked one of the guards to escort her when it was time for the trial. Then she waited. Her anxiety was raging out of control and it didn't take long before she was pacing again. This time no knock sounded when her door opened.

"Why are you in here?"

"This is my room." She turned to face the heir, arms crossed.

"You shouldn't skip meals." His voice was disapproving.