To Wish Upon a Champion

Chapter 2

  Chapter 2

        Canfield Castle, England

“Thalia” shouted a breathless voice in the distance. Putting her favourite novel down on her lap, Lady Thalia Herbert turned in the direction of the voice. Coming slowly up the hill was her maid of twenty three years Mary. Mary was the closest thing she had to a mother and a friend. Never knowing her mother or having any friends, Mary was always there trying to protect her from her father’s fists and the cruel things said about her. But as Mary grew older and less able to protect her, the beatings were more frequent. The Earl was Canfield was said to have once been a nice man, who treated others with respect and never laid a hand let alone a fist on the opposite sex. That was until that tragic Autumn night when his beloved wife died shortly after giving birth to Thalia and any humanity he had died along with her, replaced by hatred, grief and bitterness. Thalia knew her father never loved her for he held her solely responsible for the death of his wife. Since she could remember her father never held her or even said a kind word to her. Til the age of fifteen Thalia tried very hard to make her father love her but when the Earl brought a new wife and her daughter to the castle Thalia knew it was a hopeless dream. She remembered being excited to finally have a mother and a sister. She thought that a new mother meant the beatings would end and that she would find a friend and a confidant in her new stepsister. However, her new stepmother and stepsister were vain and very vindictive creatures treating Thalia more like a servant than a member of the family. Few years after coming to live in the castle her stepmother fell of her horse and snapped her neck. Thalia did not shed a tear for the mother who with the help of her mean spirited daughter turned the whole castle against her, spreading cruel and untruthful things about her.

At one point Thalia’s life was reasonably good, though there were still the frequent beatings from her father; the servants didn’t avoid her or treat her like a curse and she even had an actual friend her age. Henry Lockhart was the son of the cook who was the splitting image of his Irish mother with red hair, brown eyes and freckles. He was loved among the castle; he was his mother’s pride and joy. When the old cook died and Henry’s mother took up the position as the new cook, Henry and Thalia became fast friends; they did everything together besides sleep in the same bed. They were in separate able and even made a pack to marry when Henry was old enough to support them. Henry was her childhood best friend and her champion for he stood up for her whenever a mean thing was said or whispered about her and was the one besides Mary who wiped her tears and applied salve on her back for the injuries she received from the beatings. Life for a brief moment was bearable until one beautiful Spring day Henry promised Thalia he would teach her to swim and out of excitement and eagerness to get to the river didn’t pay attention where she was running and ended up falling into the bailey. Seeing her fall and knowing that she did not know how to swim Henry jumped in after her. Thalia survived but Henry did not. The whole castle mourned for weeks and Thalia had nightmares for years after that, wishing every day that it was her that died and not her sweet best friend. No one blamed her until her stepmother and stepsister fed ferocious lies proclaiming her a witch for first she killed her mother and now Henry. How strange that Thalia who did not know how to swim yet survived while Henry who was a known strong swimmer did not. One by one the servants started believing the lies and one by one they started avoiding her and treating her for the witch they believed her to be. Henry’s mother even threw holy water on her on occasions whenever she walked pass. At first Thalia was hurt and tried to explain herself but as the years went by and no one listened Thalia learnt to turn a blind ear to the gossip acting as if she did not care what was said about her. Little did they know most nights she would cry herself to sleep. Mary knew the truth but kept her mouth closed as she knew Thalia did not want to upset her if she knew that the vicious words of people around her still affected her.