When We Start Anew Book One: Spring

“Son of a dwarf-rat.” The quiet swear came as the wagon bearing Aedraline and her companions bounced over a particularly large bump in the road, jostling them against each other and, in Darcia’s case, onto the floor. “Apologies ladies,” said their driver. “These roads haven’t seen a maintenance crew in many years.” “Why are we not surprised?” Darcia grumbled as she climbed back onto her seat. “What was that?” Their driver asked. “Nothing,” Mareeda replied. Across from her Carnellie flushed with a quiet shame. The state of these roads were just one of many signs of the corruption and theft that had been perpetuated by not only the royal family, but most of the nobility as well. All roads, no matter how little they were traveled or how far away they were from the capital and major cities, were to be kept up in repairs and fit for travel. The funds for this came from the citizens, handed over in the form of taxes. But the money had gone to keep up the roads only in areas frequented by the nobility and mid class. Or into the pockets of the lords and ladies in charge of the projects. Carnellie Valelanna’s father had been in charge of the roads in the district they were now traveling. “Sorry Nells,” Darcia whispered in apology. “I did not mean to poke at a sore point.” “Well,” the driver said, “maybe with this new leadership we’ll finally get what we’re owed out here. O’course that remains to be seen as anyone can make promises just to make theyselves look like a better future. And do I hope they live up to their promises.” He sighed and slumped forward in his seat. “I’m tired of the fighting. I don’t think I’d be able to stick around for another war.” Aedraline and her friends looked at each other in shared sadness. “Neither do we,” she told him. She, Mareeda, Darcia, and Carnellie all reached forward and clasped hands. Whatever the future brought, be it peace or another grueling civil war, they would face it together. As they had done all their lives. *** It took another three days of travel for them to reach their destination. Arbiter, a village so far in the outer reaches of the former kingdom it had been forgotten and was only on the oldest of maps. The idea had been Carnellie’s. She had spent long hours scouring every map and chart in her father’s archives during the months they had spent preparing to leave. Nobody would look in a place they did not even know existed. Aedraline, Darcia, and Mareeda had been pressured into evacuating by their parents. During the war it had leaked to the upper crust of society that the rebels had plans to execute, imprison, or simply strip the titles from nobles. The sentence would fit the crime. What would happen to the remaining family of those executed and imprisoned no one knew. And Dukes Wardhaven and Stareleigh and Earl Mayfest would take no chances with their daughters, and their daughters would take no chance with their friend. For months they had planned and plotted. Aedraline had been put under the tutelage of the family cook, the gardener, the housekeeper, and steward to learn as much as she could about caring for herself before being bundled up in an unmarked carriage with jewels she had been given by her parents stitched into hidden pockets on the commoner’s clothes given to her by her maids and the best of her dresses unmade into scraps of fabric hidden away in bag she carried; objects she could sell and use as bribes. Mareeda and Darcia had undergone similar preparations. Carnellie had been, in the perspective of her father, abducted. His daughter’s opinion was that she had been rescued. Viscount Barrhem had been one of the nobles named for execution should the rebels succeed in their insurrection. And if he had his way his entire family would go down with him. Carnellie had discovered false evidence of corruption he had been ready to plant to implicate her, her mother, her two younger brothers, and several close cousins as coconspirators in every foul deed he himself had committed. She had taken it upon herself to warn her loved ones and help them disappear. When Barrhem had awoken one morning ten weeks ago to find all but his three eldest sons and servants gone without a trace, and all his false evidence up in smoke, he had thrown a fit and gone straight to the House of Law to report them all missing. But with the kingdom at war with itself and many sons and daughters, and even some heads of houses themselves vanishing, the Law could spare no time or effort to find them. “Here we are,” the driver called back to them as he came to a stop in front of the inn. It was small and quaint, and, to be honest, in much better shape than Aedraline had expected. She had had an eye opening during the journey out here, and after seeing so many run down villages, roads, and way stations she had been ready for Arbiter to be the worse for wear. She clambered down from the back of the wagon, her now nearly empty sack in her hands. Her companions followed suit, their own possessions stark and minimal. The driver met them as they came around the side of the wagon, removing his hat. “I’ll take you inside to meet the innkeeper. She’ll know of any place available for you to settle in.” Aedraline smiled gratefully. “Thank you Jayson. You’ve been a wonderful escort to us.” Jayson flushed. “Tis nothing to me,” he said. He cleared his throat. “This way now. Sasha will know what to do with yah.” He turned and started up the stairs to the inn, Aedraline and the others trailing behind him, all of them trying to ignore the staring of villagers passing by, some of them stopping in their tracks entirely. Inside the inn Jayson directed them to a table then plodded over to the bar. There were a handful of patrons inside, and they stared too. “You would think they have never seen a quartette of women before,” Darcia said, slipping onto one of the benches. Of the four of them it had been hardest for her to drop the formal speech used by the nobility, and the mannerisms learned over twenty-five years of being raised as the daughter of a Duke. “Can you blame them?” Carnellie asked. She sat next to her friend while Aedraline and Mareeda took the bench opposite them. “I doubt they get many travelers way out here. Four at once has to be a new record.” Darcia slitted her eyes. “Yes I can blame them. Manners are manners.” She sighed dramatically. “I will make myself feel better by pretending they are so stunned by my beauty they just cannot help themselves.” The others laughed at her faux vanity. Mareeda put her elbows on the table and propped her head on her hands. “It will be so wonderful to stop moving,” she murmured quietly. “Pardon my privilege but another day on the road might have been the end of me.” “Well then we may have a problem,” came a hard feminine voice. The four women jumped and turned to face the speaker. She was older than them by several decades, and regarded them with a cool stare. “We’ve no place for you here.”