Shift

Chapter 3

3

Sofi was sleeping in bed, like she should be. Her bleach-blonde curls fanned out over her pillow and her peaceful expression concealed the truth about her health. She had practically translucent skin, she had grown increasingly thin and her face had become colourless with sickness.

The room was comfortable and dark, a large plush rug covered the wooden floor and there was a large antique wardrobe against one wall. The small iron-framed bed was pushed against another wall and the remaining wall was taken up by a shelf containing everything from toys to books to pencils and pretty rocks.

Vera moved quietly to the mortar and pestle on the table in the corner of the room. She deftly mixed from the jars already there before adding the troublesome herb. She sunk quietly into her own thoughts while she worked and time passed.

Thinking back on the events of the past few hours she realised who her pursuer was. A forsaken. That could only mean that the ‘He’ the man referred to was… Valdor. She shuddered to think of it. He should be dead, yet today’s events showed that history was reaching out to wrap its gnarled fingers around the Houses and their families. As she made the final mix Sofi stirred.

“Vera?” She asked meekly. Vera turned to answer and Sofi gasped.

“What happened?” She pushed away her blankets and moved to stand but Vera firmly sat her back down.

“Nothing.” She grabbed the bowl off the table and brought it to Sofi.

“You got the herb, is … that from me?” She pointed at the blood and ruined tunic, realising the connection. “Vera…” she said softly.

“Hey I’m fine, look, see?” She lifted her tunic and showed off the scar. Not a smart idea.

“That’s a sword wound!” Sofi bolted up.

“Again, nothing!” Vera protested. “Just drink up okay?” she gave Sofi a stern look.

“Only if you get someone to bandage that,” Sofi stared at the scar.

“Deal” Vera padded out of the room after she administered the cure to her sister, and Sofi lay down to sleep again.

***

She was in trouble. Forget she’d saved her baby sister’s life; she’d gone outside-alone- to do it.

Bandaged and wearing clean clothes she stood in the meeting chamber. Banners with the crest of each House adorned the walls. The room was cold due to its size and the stone floor. The only furniture was a long pine table that ran down the centre of the room. It was full of disapproving Elders.

They whispered and discussed. Vera hated standing up on her own being judged like this when her actions were perfectly justified. Besides, there was a larger problem here.

Her sensitive ears could hear most of their words and she tried not to scowl. They wanted to execute the Forsaken man, and not that he didn’t deserve it, but that couldn’t happen. She flashed to Markus and the other guard’s fatal stand and felt a stab of hatred.

She stood still, but impatient, at the head of the room. This was a waste of time.

 “Excuse me, but doesn’t anyone care about the fact that Valdor is still alive out there and he wants our pendants, and an extinct disease from birds has resurfaced inside these walls, and a member of the Forsaken clan is locked in the cells?” Vera interrupted. The silence was instant.

“How do you know that name?” A woman demanded.

“The Forsaken are dead!” A man said.

“The pendants are perfectly safe.”

“What disease?” A woman asked worriedly.

“This infection isn’t from birds!” Someone else insisted.

“What of the Forsaken?”

“How reliable is this information?” A man sneered.

“Come Now!”

The chamber echoed with voices breaking into argument. Vera sighed. When she spoke everyone quieted again.

“The history books aren’t exactly locked up! Anyone simply has to find it!” Vera replied. The arguments resumed, louder and more vigorous than before. Vera caught the words no, birds, and misbehaved brat. Sighing Vera walked out of the chamber. She knew what it would look like to the Elders, but she was returning anyway, so what did it matter?

She walked down to the end of the carpeted hall and pushed open a heavy wooden door.

In the library she pulled two large books off the selves and returned to the chamber. She might as well have been a leper to deserve those stares.

“Here. See for yourselves.” She wacked the volumes down. “And if you don’t believe me you could ask that thing in the cells rather than executing him-which, by the way, in these circumstances is a really stupid idea as he’s the only one who can give you important information about the outside.” She paused for breath.

“But don’t listen to me. I’m just a misbehaving brat.” She said deceptively calmly. And with that, bowed and walked out.