Chapter 2: Whispers in the Stone
1095 Words
Theme: Isolation and Hidden Threats
They pushed her into the coldest, topmost part of the fortress. It was simply a small stone cell with a little window which in the dark only revealed jagged mountains. Some small fire was blazing, yet it could not in the least make Threnody warm up.
A quiet knock came at the door. A little serving girl with great, fretful eyes slipped in, with a tray of food in her hands. She could not have been much over fifteen.
Whither shall I lay this, my mistress? Oh, you know, said the girl, shivering.
"Please, just call me Threnody. And at any rate, said Threnody, with a kind smile.
Anya, the girl, dropped the tray, as though that table were hot, and could burn her. She looked about to fly out of the door.
"Thank you, Anya. And nice to be acquainted with a friendly face," Threnody said in a low tone.
Anya bit her lip. The Alpha... no... he does not necessarily intend to be so... She lost her words, being too frightened to complete the sentence.
It is all right, said Threnody, with her soft yet heavy voice. "I understand."
But she didn't. The general rejection was physical pain in her chest, a persistent, persistently aching pain. She was an outcast in an icy desert, and the very man to whom she should have been her shelter had been the first to hurl a rock.
Threnody gazed at the food that was untouched as Anya ran by. He does not imply to be... what? she wanted to know. Cruel? Cold? Or is there something more?
In search of air Threnody paced the winding, high walls of the fortress. The wind blew on her dress, and she scurried her thin shawl even closer. In an inner secret court she heard the raised voices. She went nearer to the edge, keeping to the shadow.
Scowling Beta and Vance, the uncle of Sorin, Kael and Vance. Kael was walking around like a caged animal.
"This is a disgrace, Vance!" With a snarling voice Kael went on the wind. "An alliance with Mosswood? They will be deadly like poison in our pack! They are farmers and doctors, not soldiers! This would never have been permitted by my father.
Vance waited placidly like a model of patience. He put a hand on Kael to console her but she fluttered it away.
"Sorin is the Alpha now, Kael. He has... been feeding his way, you see, Vance, smooth and reasonable, pointed out. The reign of his father was full of pure strength. It is the overture of peace, though offensive, that perhaps Sorin fancies is needed now.
"Peace? He's making us look weak!" Kael argued and his fists rolled.
There are lots of forms of strength, Vance answered, and his gaze was wandering over the courtyard, causing Threnody to recede further. It is sometimes better to wait and see. To see how things... unfold."
Kael growled in frustration and walked away. Vance stood and watched him leave without his composed face ever falling. But Threnody shivered, but it was not the cold. Watch and wait for what?
Threnody was later to be in the fortress library. It was a dusty, neglected room. She was not really reading, she was just concealing herself. The opening of the door startled her.
Vance was standing there, his face breaking into a smile warm and charming, which did not quite reach his eyes.
"Ah, Threnody. I expected to see you here, I said, with a honey voice. I would like to apologize to my nephew about his behavior. And for Kael's... lack of tact."
Threnody only nodded his head without knowing what to say.
Well, dear, you can not mean by Sorin taking after his manner, Vance said as he leaned against a bookshelf. He bears the brunt of the tragedy of his father. The former Alpha was a rough man. Sorin is afraid of any attachment, any weakness, and then the same final result.
He sounded so sincere. It was the first compliment anyone had made to her since she came.
I am hopeful, I, myself, said, gazing critically at her. Hopeful that this marriage may take Ashvale with it into a new dawn. A new era of tranquility and prosperity.
His words were perfect. And this is what she needed to hear. Why then should they make her feel so ill at ease? Why did he not look as kindly, but was he examining a new gun?
"I... I have the same hope," Threnody answered, pouting.
Good, said Vance and he smiled. In this stone citadel, my dear, where dust is white walls, an amiable ear ye mayst not find. My door is always open to you."
He bowed a little and abandoned her to herself. And his offer seemed a lifeline. But a cold doubt came in, as she stood in the silent library. Is he a pleasant ear... or is he only the one who knows how to whisper?
One night Threnody was rudely roused to a waking by a weird sound. The clink of armor and the low voice were the peculiar sound immediately outside her door. She crept quietly out of bed and her ear against the cold wood.
It was a female voice, cutting and commanding. "The guard change is overdue. Keep it off, at least, see that it does not happen again.
Yes, Commander Morwenna, some younger man voice responded.
There was a pause. And you, Morwenna, sounded, but it was an ice-cold voice. "Keep a close watch on her."
Threnody's blood ran cold.
The Mosswood viper might seem harmless, Morwenna went on in her contemptuous voice. She is a fine pretender to the gentle healer. But do not be fooled. Her father is an intruder who sold his own daughter to authority. She is a spy among us until we know otherwise.
Threnody's hand flew to her mouth, stifling a gasp. Her own father...
Morwenna's final words were a deadly whisper. "Do not trust a word she says."
The footsteps faded away. Threnody slid down the door to the cold stone floor, wrapping her arms around herself. The words felt like physical blows. A prisoner. A suspect. A viper.
She was completely trapped, surrounded by walls of stone and walls of suspicion. But as she sat there in the dark, a new, frightening question formed in her mind. If everyone here sees me as a spy and a villain... what will they do when they decide I'm no longer useful?
- Writer
