A Proper Lady (The Complete Opposite Of)

Chapter 5 (the rest of it)

Every one got was mounted up and the whole troop had set off by the time the sun was half way above the freakish forest. Most of the caravan was full of groans as many people drank too much the previous night and the whole group was moving slowly until Ester stopped the group.

 "HALT!" every cab and animal stopped at Ester's voice. A bubbling murmur filled the travellers. "Where are we going," there was a slight pause that no one dared to fill, "do you want to know where we are going? Right now, we are going NOWHERE!" Ester roared and the grown men of the camp wanted to curl up in a ball in a dark cave so no one could see their tears and fear of this mere wisp of a woman at twenty years old. "Do you know whose fault it is that you are tired and have a hangover? It's your's- all yours. We need to in Southampton by tonight or we or we'll end up breaking a deal with the mother caravan. Who remembers what happened when we last broke a deal with the mother caravan?" another silence fell over the stopped travellers, "it's a genuine question and I expect a show of hands- who remembers what happened last time we broke a deal with the mother caravan?" Ester's tone was dangerous, daring anyone to challenge her. Tentatively, Jack rose his hand in the air, as did Johnny and the doctor- even the doctor was terrified of Ester. "Look around at those with their hands up- look at them. We broke a deal with the mother caravan and lost a member of our caravan. It was our whole caravan, but we were the ones who paid the price. You may be here to seek refuge from the demands of life outside of this group and in the towns, but we are here to rectify our mistakes. I don't care if you have a headache that could open up the depths of Earth, I don't care if you could sleep through that- we are picking up the pace of this thing and we are going to like it!" Ester was truly terrifying to behold. She had hold of a branch with a white knuckle hold, "See this branch? In half and hour, I will set it alight," she tossed it on the ground, "if I can see it when it does, the next item will be the slowest person's possessions, continue." They did so in silence. They pace did pick up, and with her new speed, Laura rode up to Jack, in a pair in trousers and shirt this morning.

 "Jack," Laura whispered, "how is Ester planning to set that log on fire if she's half an hour away?" Jack looked at Laura as if she'd grown another head or developed another form of abnormality.

 "You really have no idea? I mean, did you not wonder why I ask if Ester had turned you into stone?" Laura had wondered, but not much and not for long, "she has freakish voodoo powers," Laura's eye's widened, "well, not quite. She uses herbs and stuff to make potions and the like, so I'm assuming that she's made a fire potion and small container that will set it alight in 30 minutes. She's clever, Ester is, a brilliant leader, too. Just not a people person." Laura raised an eyebrow- she asked about how she can set a log on fire, not a full personality profile. It wasn't unappreciated, but it seemed that Jack was thinking about more than just witchcraft and the lack of such.

 "You were thinking about her, weren't you? Just before I came up." By now the rest of the noise level in the caravan had risen so Jack and Laura were talking in normal voices.

 "Yeah," jack replied, sounding defeated, "she's lovely but she reminds me this other girl. Lovely girl but I think that if I told her that I have other intentions than, you know just friends, she would freak and run off like a frightened horse. It doesn't help that I seldom see her." Laura was surprised at this- Jack seemed like the type to stay single forever and never marry, continuing on as a roaming traveller until the day he died.

 "Does she have a name?" Laura had honestly never been in this situation before, so she asked what she thought seemed to be the most obvious route.

 "Emily," Laura quirked her row (an expression that seemed to frequent her face when she was around Jack) in an unvoiced question, "yes, your Emily. I know she's too young for me, well, by your standards-"

 "By my standards? My parents wanted to marry me to a man over 40 when I was 15- how old are you?"

 "19, twenty in a couple months and Emily's, what, 12 years old?"

 "14." Jack's face lit up at Laura's words.

 "Really? Blimey!" His face fell again, "but she wouldn't want me."

 "Want you? Why wouldn't Emily want you?" 

 "Well I've done some things," he looked down, "some very bad things, I still do. At first, it was for the money, but now it's for the thrill of-" he cut himself off, puzzling Laura further- Jack seemed to have more than just the two faces of the coin.

 "If you stopped doing these," Laura paused, overcome by the sheer complexity of this one man, "things, would she then like you?" Jack tilted his head to look at Laura,

 "I don't know if I can stop, though. I guess if they are the price of Emily, then maybe, but it would mean not doing anything. Do you how hard it is to sit still when you could take the opportunity of a life time and do something unforgettable? It's too hard."

 "I honestly can't comment- I've never had the opportunity of a lifetime come my way to pass me by."

 "You're here, aren't you? If you let this pass you by, you'd die today- think about that. Now, would you sit there and fight your case in a court set against you? You wouldn't be doing the fighting- other people would as you wouldn't be allowed to speak. Could you let someone else fight your battles for you? The Laura that Benjamin Ellis loved would have, but you're not the girl that rich fool loved and he's dead. You don't need to try to be her- fight your own battles Ruby, or you're gonna end up like me." Laura wanted to question him but a shout from the side of the road drew everyone's attention away from their conversations and towards it. A figure leapt out screaming one word- "ATTACK!"

~~~~~~~

Small ask to those of you actually reading this- care to share your thought's on the things that Jack does? (Please, I have two people definately reading it, one who knows and one who can't guess for the life on them and I really need to see if he's just really stupid)

Thanks :)