I am Reborn through Revenge

Henchman speaks

Henchman's voice sounded younger than what Marie had expected. Maybe she was expecting a cracky weak voice from the old man but she was thrown a rock-solid voice. More solid than most young men.

“Yes. Bring it here.”

“Oh-oh.” She snortled. Without even wasting time, she rushed and brought the scroll to him.

“Sit!” he commanded.

She brought a chair and kept it right in front of him with the table standing in between both of them.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “I didn’t know you could talk. I thought you were dumb or perhaps worst off.” She giggled.

But he didn’t laugh. He maintained a straight face. “You are new, I suppose?” he asked, his face void of any emotion.

“Yes sir!”

“Since when?”

“Came in a few days ago.”

“Do you know the content of what you are carrying?”

“No Sir!” she scowled. The questions might not have been something she had expected from him.

Henchman shook his head repeatedly like he was disgusted by her presence. “In my line of work, having been here for more than thirty years, I usually don’t encounter young men in this place let alone young girls. If I would give you my honest opinion… my sincere opinion, then I would tell you that you are not supposed to be doing this work. You are not qualified for this. You aren’t just capable” he said.

Marie's weariness grew stronger.

“So?”

“What?”

“Why do you think that I am not capable of doing this?” she asked.

“I wish I could tell you that,” he said softly and stood up. He took the scroll.

She rammed her hands on the table. “Wait! We are not done here sir?” she snarled. She stood on her feet. “I spent my entire life thinking that I could do anything. I mean anything that was out of the ordinary but I didn’t get the chance to achieve that. Then, maybe out of my luck, I was employed to work in the palace and for one reason or the other, I was given a special duty by the Queen herself. And then someone finally emerged to lecture me on capabilities” she paused and took a deep breath. “Only if you knew what I had endured being here, what I have passed through then maybe I don’t think you would have mentioned the word “capable”.”

Henchman gave her a look with his squinted eyes. She almost cried mentioning those last few words. She was right. She passed through different levels of what she never really understood just to get her ready for the job. She had also wobbled into sessions and a series of arguments with Madam Alice on the same matter. And now that she had succeeded, someone out of the blue came and told her she wasn’t capable of the job and you expect her to take it in good faith?

“Follow me, let me show you something,” he said.

She shuddered at his request but yet, he got her attention. She followed him immediately without questions. Henchman got to the right side of the room, just opposite what seemed to be an empty heavy shelf. The height of the shelf was at Marie's shoulders. Two empty buckets were on top of the shelf. He brought them down.

He grabbed the shelf at one edge as if he wanted to lift it. “I should be doing this alone but I am getting old already. Give me a hand if you would” he said.

Marie hurriedly walked to the other end and held the shelf by a small handle. They both dragged it to a corner. The space afforded Marie a chance to see what seemed like a mural painting done on the wall surface. There were other carvings done on the wall on what seemed to be a pattern or code to something. There was also a small cylindrical metallic wheel hanging on the wall, well-greased. What could be there? She queried herself.

The bricks on the surfaces we’re looped and interwoven in a finely divided space. She didn’t even notice that the bricks in that spot were removable until Henchman removed one compartment and punched his hands deeper inside the space he created by removing the brick. He quickly shifted one hand to the metallic wheel and he drove it anti-clockwise. He stood up.

“Step back a little” he commanded.

Marie did exactly as she was told. She stepped back and stood behind him. Then she raised her head to look past Henchman's back that obstructed her view (Henchman was taller so of course, she had to)

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Watch!”

A while longer, there was this screeching sound coming out from the edges of the wall. The wall separated into two and opened inwardly to an inner darkroom. Marie's jaw dropped seeing this happened. She had never seen anything like that before.

“Follow me!” he demanded. He took the scroll and a candlestick and lit it with fire. Marie on the other hand hesitated for a while. She wondered what she could be walking into. This was not part of the lecture that was given to her. When she saw that he was walking in without waiting for her, she hurried and followed him. They climbed down a step and another room emerged out of the dark. Henchman used his candle to lit every other candle hanging on the wall. Though the light thrown in the room wasn’t as bright as the one she saw when she entered inside the bookstore—above the surface where they were. Here she found what she had been looking for—books, lots of them.

There were so many bookshelves in the room. They were lined opposite each other close the walls while a walk space-separated all of them. Spiders built some good webs on some shelves which made some books appear rusty. The room looked stuffy, void of humid surfaces. Except for the red mat that covered every walkway, nothing else in the room looked new. Henchman drew open a wall and inserted the scroll inside the space and closed it.

“What is this place?” she asked, surprised.

His grey eyebrows aligned. “What’s your name again?” He asked.

“Uhh?”

“Sorry. My memories, I guess they are getting shady and old. Please, this one more time, and I promise not to forget it again.”

“My name is Marie.”

“Okay, Marie. Do you know why I brought you down here?” he asked.

She hesitated for a while. “No, I have no idea.”

“Good. Now listen. People that do what you do are called the messenger.”

“Messenger?”

“Yes. I started working here when Arthur Dracula's father, the current king of Zahrin was still alive. And here, I have met a quite few messengers of which all of them were men. Not just ordinary men but old men. Some are titled men too.”

“What's your point sir?” she asked, flickering her brows.

He dragged a long stool closer and sagged onto it. “What I have not seen is a young girl who was made a messenger.” He continued. “Most of these messengers at a point couldn’t come back here again.”

“Then what happened to them?” she asked. Her brows were steadied and her eyes widened.

“Many of them ended up dead.”

Dead? Marie released a deep snort.

“Why did they die?” she asked, inquiringly.

“The work of a messenger is very tedious and dangerous. What you are required to handle are things of utmost importance. Some of the contents of these letters or books might contain secrets that are very important for our kingdom's progress. Therefore, anyone handling this position that meddles in a conspiracy or happens to read the books that he or she isn’t supposed to read might one day earn themselves a rope on their necks. Sometimes an oath of secrecy is sworn and you are to abide by it by all means. Failure to do so will earn you stupid surprises.”

Her lights twinkled. She was enchanted by the words he spoke. She literally took the assignment for a joke but now she realized that her life was hanging on rough terrain. She began to think about what she did to earn such a position for herself. If men before her were mostly titled men who swore an oath of secrecy because of the things involved then why would a maiden girl, an illiterate… Wait, an illiterate?

Does this have to do with being illiterate or being a maiden girl? She asked herself. But other girls came along to the palace so why weren’t any of them taken?

She eyed him, studying him through a narrowed gaze. “Why do you think I was chosen then if I am not capable like you said?” she asked.

Henchman was in penguin attire. His crisp upper apparel was tucked into his dark plain trouser. He rubbed his hand on his trouser repeatedly like he wanted to get them warm. “I wish I could answer that but the truth is, I don’t know. The reason why I am telling you this is, I have reasons to believe that the Queen or whoever it was that made you do this have had you marked.”

“Marked? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You are like a prey a lion's paw. I just want you to know that one day, maybe one day when you decide to quit or perhaps learn something you are not supposed to know then I am sorry. You may not leave to tell the story, Marie.”

There was a jolt down Marie's spine. She was beginning to understand the position where she stands.

“Sir!” she said, keeping her voice as blitheful as possible. “May I know why you are telling me this?” she asked.

He closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling a deep breath. “When I saw you, you reminded me of something I never had,” he said. He closed his eyes, inhaled a deep breath, and exhaled. “I never had a daughter nor a son nor a wife either. I will understand if some of these old titled men are killed for being a messenger but you are way too young to have your life end up this way. I saw in you a daughter, a young, and cheerful loving person. I can’t watch you die when I know I can prevent it” he said. Marie looked at his face, she could swear that he meant every word that he said.

“So what am I supposed to do sir?” she asked.

“Look, I have never and ever brought anybody down here. The knowledge of this ground we are standing on is known to few people in Zahrin. And if words get out that you were here, you might be replaced. You know what I mean by that. So, if I were you, I will run. Far, far away from here.”

Replaced? That would mean murder.

“Then what if running is not an option sir?”

He chortled in glee and shook his head repeatedly. “All these sounds funny to you? Well if running is not an option then I guess fate is,” he said. “You don’t want to leave?” He asked.

She sighed and remained silent for a while. “No sir. I am staying. I have come a long way. I can’t afford to quit now.”

“I admire your stupid perseverance young girl. So, if anything comes up, you will be able to handle it?”

The question triggered her. She knows exactly that she won’t be able to handle anything when it comes up.

“I am not sure but I will give my best shot.”

“Then I will give you an advice,” he said and adjusted his stool closer to her. “Stay away from these books. They will easily get you killed.”

Marie chuckled. She perhaps didn’t understand why a book could get her killed. “That would not be a problem, Sir. I think I would need to go now. I have overstayed here.”

He smiled and nodded.

“Okay. See you around.”

Maybe only if he knew that she couldn’t read or she pretended that she couldn’t read. Only if he knew that she had lied about herself to the Queen then his perception about her may not be the same. But she can’t afford to reveal her secret to him or anyone else and even if by chance someone finds out, it shouldn’t be that early, she thought.