Redfork Menace

The Bracken Account

Shanda lay on her bed staring up at the canopy above her. She was thinking of the guilty look Alysanne had shot her across the dining room at dinner. Rolling over to face the wall, she hoped the lady was drowning in guilt. After the Blackwoods were done slandering her name as much as could be done, Benjicot had requested a private word with Lord Elmo. Shanda figured it was to suggest his own solution to the borderlands conflict. Which she knew now was marriage. Not a particularly shocking goal considering the heir's view regarding women. Still it annoyed her. He was arguably the most eligible bachelor she'd had come calling. Young, handsome, set to inherit a great castle. But then he was slippery, conniving, moraless.
She had spent a lot of the night praying. Maybe the gods would take pity on her specifically. It wasn't her fault she had been born into a stupid feud. Then she had fallen into a fitful sleep where she dreamed her teeth fell out. Laying there in her bed, she hoped her fathers case made her look better. As much as she loved her brother Martyn for making his own argument, she did not have much faith in the strength of his case. She knew it had been wrong to sneak out and spy on the Blackwoods. That's what made it interesting. Just like she knew it was wrong to want the heir to push her against walls. And she did it anyway, knowing the consequences would not be good for her.
She eventually dragged herself out of bed as the sun was rising, the sky painted a brilliant orange. She had missed seeing the sun. She was dressed just in time to be escorted to breakfast, this time luckily by a guard. The halls were quiet as they walked on to the main hall. The occasional maid would pass them by looking harrowed. When the last one came sprinting by them she began to worry. Picking up her pace she burst into the great hall.

"And what would a Blackwood know of honor?" Gerolt spat. He had a hold of some Blackwood Shanda did not recognize.

She did not hear what the man said to her brother but she heard the sickening crunch of the man's nose when her brother broke it. Men were on their feet all around them, fists flying. Shanda didn't bother to try and break it up. Just watched as the guards began dragging men away, presumably to make good on lord Tully's threat of locking them up. She frowned, Gerolt should not have hit him. No matter what he said, it made the Brackens look bad. It would mar their testimony before they even started.
When she caught sight of Benjicot's grinning face sitting down at a table behind the commotion she groaned. What were the odds he had prompted whatever started that fight? She was betting pretty high. She did not confront him however, just looked for Martyn. He was seated on the opposite side of the room and she could tell he hadn't slept much. That was the worst part of this entire ordeal, the toll it was taking on her family.
***
Lord Elmo Tully sat on the raised dais with his head in his hands. He'd been sitting that way for a full five minutes at least. The room was silent around him, waiting to hear what he would say. But when he finally looked up, he did not speak. Just let his eyes rove over the room, looking at them all. His hands steepled in front of him as he did so.

"If you lost members of your house this morning to the petty fight that broke out, we will not be recalling them for testimony."

Shanda huffed at that, not surprised but angry at her brother.

"Let us proceed with the Bracken account."

Shanda watched as her father stood and approached the floor. He seemed to be moving impossibly slow to her eyes but her heart was pounding so hard it was difficult to focus on anything else.

"Girls are different, as any father knows. I had twelve sons before she came along."

And ruined it all, Shanda thought bitterly.

"I tried to follow along with the accepted ways of rearing. But Brackens are stubborn and her no less just because she's a woman. I didn't know she was sneaking out, my son was knowingly sneaking her out. Who can say really what motivated her to leave? Foolish fancies surely. But we know what made her keep going back."