A Blaze in the Dark (A New Dawn #1)

Chapter 3 - Alex

My warriors rode with Diligence in their wake. The pests that dwelled around Doe Hill have been chased back to the mountains without a drop of blood spilt.

Alex grabbed Ben by the strap of his overalls, snatching him away from the open flame above which the hare sat on an iron skewer, the meat's colour close to a nicely looking gold-brown colour. "Don't keep your nose so close to the fire, Muttonhead. You're gonna get yourself burned."

"But I wanna smell it so I can already taste it in my mouth." Ben tried to push her away, but it had little effect.

She laughed. "Taste in your mouth? Do you know of other ways to taste food?" She blew air through her nose, mocking her little brother's foolishness. At nine, Ben wasn't so little anymore. The day he would beat her in a fight coming closer. That wasn't allowed to happen; he and Charlie would have to be her baby brothers forever.

Ben cocked his head, revealing the puzzled look in his dark brown eyes. As he finally uttered his stammering reply, most of it got muffled by a gut-wrenching cry coming from the stables.

"What was that?" he asked. "Is Master James strangling someone again?"

"I'm gonna have a look," Alex said.

There was never a dull moment, living so close to the stable. She loved the clamour and the clatter: the banging of Master Harald applying new horseshoes, the horses neighing before feeding time; even Master James shouting at the stable boys when they got covered in horse dung.

But this was different. That anxious shrieking accompanied by wailing—she recognised Fox's hysterical voice anywhere. He may be a puddingbrain and the biggest coward known to men, but it sounded like he was in real trouble.

She was not going to let that happen. With large strides, she marched to the back of the room to get her bow and quiver. "Mother, if I'm not back in time for dinner, you can give my portion to Charlie and Ben."

"Honey, Ben's right. It's one of the stable boys." Mother stood strategically between her bed and the wall, blocking Alex's way out. As if that would stop her. "The potatoes are boiling. The hare is almost ready. We'll have dinner in no time."

"But I have to go."

"After dinner," Mother said sternly.

"You don't understand—you never do." She swung the quiver onto her back, drawing one arrow out in case she needed to attack. "Father would have. He would have even joined me."

"I loved your father, but he could be very impulsive. Don't be like him, honey. I don't want you..." Mother didn't finish her sentence. She didn't have to. Back in the day, Lord Brandon only had to shoot him one glance, and off they went to embark on a new adventure. No questions asked.

She knew the tattle and whispers that went round in Laneby but believed none of it. Father's death had not been a punishment from the God of Pride. He had simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time when that stupid bear had woken up from its hibernation.

"I know what I'm doing." Alex slipped between her mother and the wall, ramming her shoulder into Father's painting. The Jade Islandic ship plummeted to the ground, splinters of its wooden frame flying as far as the old rug underneath Charlie's high chair. 

She bolted off.

"Alexandra, get back here!" Mother always used her full name when she was cross, but if she thought those few extra letters would help, she would be wrong again. "I can always tie you to a chair. I mean it. One more step and—"

As she hit the door handle, little Charlie put on his waterworks. "No, Benny, my doll."

"But it will be so much prettier without a head, Charlie," Ben said.