Anna's Book ( Prologue to A Dangerous Destiny)

Dawn Breaks Again

Brent

Private Brent Carper was surprised the next morning when the little girl did not appear at the gate. Being a gate guardian on the Asha border was not a particularly glamorous job. The residents of the district were sullen and depressing. Their tired sunken eyes disturbed him, and he dreamed of the day when he might be stationed elsewhere. The little girl was the one thing he looked forward to in his day.

Her name was Anna. Her grandmother was a healer in the district. She had saved his life once, fixing up his arm when he'd caught an infection from a nasty wound. Ever since then he had paid extra attention to her granddaughter. Anna was about the same age as his sister back home. She had the same soft brown eyes, the same shy little smile. Brent didn't get to see his sister much.

But today, something was strange. Anna always came around dawn, and now it was half past ten, the sun high in the sky. He certainly hoped she wasn't sick. It was hard to imagine another reason she would miss work. He knew the family needed the money. Brent's hand went to his pocket, fingering the candies he'd bought for her.

"I wonder where she is," he mused. His friend John overheard him.

"What are you mumbelin' about then?" he asked.

"Sorry there. Didn't realize I was talkin' out loud," Brent said. "I was just wonderin' what mighta happened to that little girl."

John's expression was blank.

"You know, old lady Cassis's girl Anna. She's always here in the mornining to go pick up mending over in Cavenborough."

John shrugged.

"Didn't you hear?"

Brent was surprised by another voice. He turned to see Jack Miggins approaching them. Jack was not his favorite comrade in arms, and never one to avoid butting in on a conversation.

"Didn't I hear what?" Brent asked.

"There was a raid last night. Wasn't just the night patrol neither, it was the King's Reserve."

"And?"

"Well, you know what those sorts are looking for don't ya? They uncovered three Senmin homes. Every one of them with signs of their devil worship I reckon. And guess where they found a copy of 'The Book'?"

Brent felt a strange churning in his stomach.

"That's right," Jack said, "That old witch Cassis had it."

"What book?" John asked.

"You stupid or somethin'. Everyone knows that the Senmin have a magic book. It's kinda like the sacred text of Kanjar only they don't use theirs to pray. They use it to call up devils and evil things and the like."

"Where did you hear that?" Brent asked.

"About the book? Oh everyone knows that."

"No, how'd you know about the raid?" Brent did not particularly like this conversation. It made him uncomfortable. He had known some Senmin once. His old neighbors. They had always been kind to his family.

"I came on duty just as they were leaving," Jack said. "There was this kid, some new recruit I guess. Told me he saw the whole thing. 'Lieutenant Kern found the book,' he said, 'and now the citizens of Asha have nothing to fear.'"

"What happened to the people they arrested?"

Jack shrugged. "Killed em I should think. Those King's Reserve men, they're brutal I hear. Not that those villains didn't deserve it eh. I mean who knows what sorts of horrible stuff old Cassis was cookin up with that book."

"Yeah but her little granddaughter..."

"They get em young Brent," Jack said with a shake of his head. "That little girl could probably call on all sorts of devils already."

Brent thought of Anna's smiling eyes. She looked so much like his sister. He couldn't quite imagine that such a sweet kid could be capable of anything half as sinister as devils and the like. Brent found his hand in his pocket again, fiddling with the candy.

"Hey Brent," John said," didn't Cassis fix up your arm awhile back?"

Brent paled a bit. " Yeah, but that was ages ago," he said shakily. "Besides she just put some salve or something on it. It was no big deal."

John and Jack exchanged glances.

"If I were you," Jack said,"I'd go to a priest as soon as possible and have him say a prayer over you. Get him to exorcise any demons she mighta put inside you."

"Ah come off it fellas. She just fixed my arm is all." Brent tried to sound confident but he found himself rubbing the scar on his left arm self-consciously.

"That's what I would do," Jack said. "That's all I'm sayin."

John went to pat Brent's shoulder but stopped short, as he seemed to change his mind, instead bringing his extended hand behind his head to scratch his neck. Brent knew he was thinking about the contagious evil spirits.

"It couldn't hurt Brent," his friend said.

Brent shuffled his feet on the ground. "Yeah, guess you fellas are right," he said. "I'll go after my shift."

Later, Private Brent Carper went to the large Kanjin Church in the center of the middle district. He wasn't sure if he believed any of what Jack had said, but his friend had a big mouth, and their Captain was a very superstitious man. Brent couldn't have it look like he wasn't faithful.

A priest at the church examined his arm thoroughly, said some prayers, and pronounced the limb free of all spirits. "You were lucky my boy," he said, "You must be more careful of the evil that can be spread by witches and their devil crafts." Brent paid him a hefty sum for easing his mind.

He couldn't help it though. He couldn't help but think about them, the old woman and her granddaughter. They had saved his life after all. On the way out of the Church, he stopped for a moment and uttered a prayer to the God for the souls of Old Cassis and Anna.

He didn't know if he believed in the God or if God might be angry that he would pray for Senmin in a church of Kanjar, but he hoped that the prayer and their evil deeds would even out somehow. Maybe then that little girl wouldn't be dammed for all eternity. 

As he stepped outside he took the candies from his pocket and threw them on the ground, pressing them into the dirt with the heel of his boot until the bright colored paper wrappers nearly disappeared. He vowed that he would never again try to get close with any of the members of the Asha community. Not worth the risk, he thought to himself. Brent went home to write a letter to his sister.