uickly from the attack. They moved on the next day. Next Chapter: Chapter 12

Chapter 21  As she drove the Lowlandian women out of Maddie’s tent Brandyn, momentarily stunned by Dani’s inexplicable outburst, recovered his wits and body slammed her to the floor. They crashed into a brassier and knocked it over spilling cold ash and chunks of charcoal over furniture, cushions, carpet, and both of them. Brandyn wrestled with her while she screamed and screamed her wordless rage. She escaped Brandyn’s hold twice. The first time he grabbed one leg and pulled sharply on it, dropping her body hard but then she rolled over and kicked free landing her bare heel on his chin. He scrambled after her as she pulled her body up using cushions and furniture to give her something solid to lean on while she got her feet under her, but he stopped her, scooping her into another body hug and knocking her to the floor again. He pushed her face down into the carpet, got a hold of her arms and yanked them to the small of her back, where he planted his knee with force and with one hand pressed her head to the peapod littered floor.He shouted for a medic.Whatever for? The rational part of Dani’s brain wondered even as she shrieked with rage and contorted her body in order to escape, but Brandyn was having none of that. His full body weight held her down but she was too far gone to feel the physical discomfort to her arms, her face, her back. She could not stop screaming. Theo wanted to leave her. He wanted to be rid of her. He wanted to be free. Free of everything and her heart just about exploded with the pain of that rejection. She wanted nothing more than to march over there and slap him around until he came to his senses. Did he not understand that she would go mad without him? He had to know she would go mad.“What goes on here?” Maddie was behind them. At the same time a medic appeared and knelt beside Dani, the same medic who had several days ago agreed affably with his fellow medic that soon, very soon Theo would be dead so why bother treating him well? Even in the midst of her rage Dani wondered how she could know that? Of course, she thought, a lingering memory from her recent psychic connection to Theo.“She woke up and went berserk.” Brandyn answered Maddie even as he decreased the pressure on Dani’s head to give the medic access. As soon as the medic’s hand was within range she lunged and bit it. Latching on she refused to let go. For the moment her screams cut off. But now the medic screamed and impulsively yanked his hand, to no avail. His meaty palm tore and blood filled her mouth.She would teach him. The bastard! Yes, she would teach him to threaten her In Between. Above the commotion she was causing, Maddie, Brandyn and the medic struggled to get her to release the medic’s hand, while she twisted her body and kicked her feet hoping to break free, but to no avail.“Danielle,” Maddie’s tight voice came from behind her and ordered her to release the man’s hand. Dani refused to comply in fact she sank her teeth in further. The medic shrieked in agony. Maddie’s hand came down on her forehead and smoothed her hair away from her sweaty face. She forcibly calmed her voice, tried but failed to produce a facsimile to Theo’s skill. “Danielle, calm down before you hurt yourself.”It did not work. But Dani spat the man’s hand out of her mouth and her voice came out course and wretched, panting. Immediately Brandyn’s hand forcibly slapped her head against the rug.“I told you not to call me that. Get Theo. I want my Theo right now.” Only Theo could calm her down. She could feel him in his tent not far away struggling to come to her aide, but of course his shackles would not let himThe medic scrabbled back on his butt cradling his hand against his chest until his back came up against the divan. He reached into his pouch with his uninjured hand and withdrew something Dani could not see. His expression was pain filled but grim.“I am sorry, Little Sister.” Maddie said in a tight voice. She held her hand out and the medic slapped whatever it was into Maddie’s palm. “This ends here and now.”She juggled whatever it was in her hand and with surprising swiftness slapped her open palm against the side of Dani’s exposed neck. She felt a pinch as more rage boiled up this time directed at Maddie and then suddenly her body went limp and an instant later she felt nothing.Several hours later Dani woke feeling depleted and wretched. She could do no more than lay in her weakened state and stare at the layers of fabric that served as wall to the bedroom shift lazily and gleam in the light from the nearest brazier. She wondered what was happening between her and Theo. Was this foul, wretched flow of thoughts and memories the bond? Why did there have to be a bond? From the moment she had put the sapphire necklace around her neck she had unconsciously felt it changing her inexorably, had felt its power and its connection to something exceedingly unpleasant. When it had gone missing she had not been all too broken up about it because truth be told she hated it. She hated that it represented her connection to the King and she hated the way it made her feel: uncertain, unclean, and unjustified. Her sole concern was that the medallion was the key to her returning home. Now she wondered how she would ever get back home when getting home involved putting that thing around her neck.Did she regret putting it around Theo’s neck? No. If it caused him even one tenth of the pain it had caused her in the brief minutes it hung around her neck, then good. GOOD! She wanted him to suffer. He had lied to her. He had stolen her key to get home and let her believe it was lost for good. If anyone deserved to suffer it was Theo. Now because of it she had firsthand knowledge of Theo’s crime in all its folly, its implications about who he was and his own self recriminations. Anger, sorrow and satisfaction churned inside her in one confusing mass. Be careful what you wish for. That age old warning circled round and round in her head. She had wanted to know.She longed to see Theo. She wished she never had to see him again. She hated him. She loved him. He was her friend, he was her enemy, and he was her In Between. She needed him but he needed her more. The Keeper had approved him, despite Maddie’s belief that it would not, and now what was Dani supposed to do? She had to keep him from getting away from her. She had to save him from his own sordid past, from his own desperate desire to get it all over with, to finish what he had started so long ago. She had no idea what time it was, only that it was late. Brandyn stood at attention outside the curtain barrier. Maddie was reclined on her cot staring at Dani with a pensive expression. Without a word Maddie poured water from a ceramic pitcher into a matching cup and, squating at the side of Dani’s bed, forced the cup of water down her throat, which Dani was happy to drink. The cool water soothed her tortured throat, and it made the headache receded a little. A second and then a third cup all but eliminated the headache.“I am here now, Little Sister.” Maddie soothed Dani’s unruly curls away from her forehead. “Everything is going to be fine.”Dani scowled at her and shook her head to get Maddie’s hand off. “I hate you.” It came out before she could stop it, not that she wanted to stop it.Maddie remained unaffected by her sentiment. She spent the next several minutes explaining to Dani what lay ahead. In just hours the King and Queen and the victim Ruby were due to arrive and the trial was scheduled to start after midday and by this time tomorrow Theo’s fate would be sealed. Nothing could stop it. The plan was set. They were all determined to separate Dani from Theo permanently and Maddie spent an hour telling Dani to save herself and take the Medallion back from Theo. Whether Dani took the stone back or not, when the trial was over she would return to King’s mountain with Mama and the King. Ready or not like it or not. She would receive the excellent care of their Prime physician and with time she would heal from the separation with Theo. Maddie made no bones about it. Taking the necklace back from Theo would hurt but with training and a better choice for her bond she would recover and would eventually learn to view these horrible first weeks in Haven as a tragic misstep. Dani could not escape the bond with Theo so easily. The idea that the Keeper had approved Theo captured her imagination even as it made her feel trapped, angry and confused. That she had no idea who or what the Keeper was only accentuated her confusion and heightened her curiosity.What about Theo? No one cared that the separation would cause him pain. He had, Maddie admitted at Dani’s violent insistence, tried to escape and get to her during her fit. But, Maddie warned, he was acting on behest of the Keeper of the Stone and his behavior did not in any way suggest that he had any feeling for Dani outside the already expected usefulness she was to him in saving him from his fate. The more Maddie said against Theo the more deeply Dani hated her. How hard had he struggled? Dani asked. After several minutes of argument, Maddie relented and finally admitted he had injured his feet attempting to free himself of his shackles. He too had been sedated which in Maddie parlance meant they had whacked him a good one upside the head. One more knot on his skull; who cared? Dani, that’s who. How could she? Why did she still care? Theo had dragged a girl from her home in the dead of night he had taken her into the forest and raped her.Dani could not stop thinking about that, nor could she reconcile Theo’s gruesome memory of returning the battered girl to her people, knowing full well if captured the Lowlandians would think her wretched condition had been his doing. That had to count in his favor.“You have to let me speak on Theo’s behalf.” Dani was as stunned by what she said as Maddie was upon hearing it, judging by the incredulous look on the woman’s face.“To what end? You cannot know anything about Theo’s crimes, Sister, you were not there.”“You have him convicted already.” Dani spat.“We have eyewitnesses. We have proof.”“You do not have proof of everything. Who will defend Theo? Who will represent him in court; see that all the facts are considered?”“He will have his opportunity to speak on his own behalf; the King will be in attendance to insure that the criminal is given every chance to defend himself.”“What about what he did to protect Ruby? Who will tell the court about that?” Dani knew Theo had no desire to do it.“Protect Ruby? He may have told you some warped version of what happened to get you to rise to his defense, but I can assure you that if such a thing had happened, Rubie will speak to the truth of it. His fate is out of your hands, Sister, the sooner you accept it the better off you will be.”Maddie did not want to hear that Rubie’s battered condition was not Theo’s doing or that he had tried to save Ruby from her ultimate fate – he had failed, but the point was he had tried. No one cared. They were out for blood. Ruby, the unknown quotient, could say anything and they would believe her. Why would she speak in a manner that would benefit Theo? She could accuse Theo of things he had not done and no one would question her. The worst part of all was Theo himself. He wanted to be punished. He wanted to die. Death would be a sure way to disconnect from his remorse and ultimately the surest way to disconnect from Dani.The very idea made her seethe.She could not afford to get herself worked up into another fit and for some reason her ability to slip into denial would not work. Her thoughts cycled around and around the prairie dress dream; Theo’s memory; Maddie’s hate; Ruby the marionette and Ruby the unknown threat; Theo willing to die to escape the bond and Dani helpless to stop it; and the king and queen to take her home tomorrow into an unknown future. But it would not be her home. It would not be Ethan and Aunt Angie or Barb she would return to but a strange unknown kingdom where the king and queen dwelt.When she was alone she took up her mother’s journal in desperation and sank into it, reading the words at first without comprehension but using it to connect with its references to earthy things and habits, the context alone reminding Dani of all the things about home she missed the most, all the things that gave her comfort and took her mind at least temporarily away from this Godforsaken planet and this wilderness of trouble. At the moment there was nothing she could do about Theo’s past and nothing she could do for him. How could she stop the juggernaut of Lowlandian justice? Dani’s sank into the familiar voice of Mama’s childish English, to earth and another time and another place to her home that was so very far awayThere were entries about mama’s first dates with Walter, all about being met after school and riding around in his truck at breakneck speeds on the back roads – both thrilling and nauseating -- like riding the Cyclone at Riverside Amusement Park. There were movies and make out sessions, fast food, bowling and more rides ending in make out sessions in his truck in remote wooded locations like Maple Hill Cemetery where he tried to scare her with tales of the Maple Hill Ghost. She admitted she liked him even more because her mom disapproved so much, because Angie insisted she could do better – was that jealousy? Her dad complained that Walter would not walk to the door but honked his horn and made Sara run down to the street to meet him. Her brothers were another story. She thought if they encountered Walter in a back alley, they would probably beat him to within an inch just because. They all treated her like a baby. She would show them she was capable of making her own life decisions. There had been a three page break from her Walter narrative – and by then Dani was ready for a break; she had come so close to throwing the journal into the nearby brazier – to tell Grammy about a breakthrough in building the frame work of the story they had begun together. She had made contact with the main character, Prince Ryan. I was in study hall, writing questions, ideas and making observations, all the while thinking about the prince when all at once he was there. It was just like you said it would be, and when I closed my eyes I could picture him, clear as a bell, sitting next to me, watching me writing my notes. He was twelve or thirteen – they call it the Thrithing Year – and he was wearing the Thrithing Stone. He was a very mature thirteen, Grammy, intelligent and sharp. He seemed curious about me but answered all my questions, listened to my observations and corrected the errors!! I was writing everything down furiously fast, I can barely decipher my own notes I was that afraid I’d forget something important. When the final bell rang I just invited him along and we walked home together and when Walter came and honked I just couldn’t move. I was afraid to lose the moment but of course the spell was broken and Prince Ryan was gone. So I waited for Walter to come to the door because I still had so much I had to get down before I forgot it. And I wrote 100 pages Grammy, 100 pages of narrative, dialogue, character sketches a thin plot and questions I want to ask when I see him again. And other characters just came to life: Evan, Gage, the Duke and Duchess, and Ryan’s sister, Thera!Included was a vivid full page description of Prince Ryan, including the information that his family was at the summer palace and that he had just come from the pool where he had been swimming with the dolphins. She had also observed that his hand often wandered to the amulet and that seeming innocuous habit had triggered an idea that had fleshed out enough to show motive, conflict and even the ultimate denouement of the book. On one page she had sketched the image of the Thrithing Stone -- the gold version of Dani’s silver amulet -- at the bottom of the page with her script wrapped around the image. On another page was a sketch of, Dani supposed, his family’s Crest. In spite of herself, Dani felt drawn in, she wondered again, what was the reason for her failure to read Mama’s trilogy?There followed another several entries about Walter interspersed with fights with her friends over the time she spent with Walter; a note about final exams; a rare F-1 tornado that touched down in North Bennington, and her anticipation of the approaching Fourth of July celebration – her first Independence Day without Grammy. Walter had finally agreed to meet her at the lake and put in an appearance because it was the only way the family would let her go to the fireworks alone with him, but he had his own family obligations to fulfill first so she expected him to be late.Dani fell asleep with the journal open upside down on her chest and dreamed about the family Fourth of July Picnic held at the state park and doubled as their yearly family reunion where every Allen and McHugh that had ever existed showed up and drove the wild geese and the park rangers crazy, filled the lake with paddle boats, rowboats and canoes, took up the whole of the green and stayed under their choice pavilion until that last ember died in the grates while the children roasted marshmallows and the adults told tall tales, leaving with just enough time to make it to Grandmother Allen’s clapboard Farmhouse on the hill overlooking Willow park where they watched the fireworks and drank themselves silly while setting off cherry bombs and waving sparklers and cheering the limpid grand finally. It must have taken some fancy cajoling on Mama’s part to get the family to agree to let her leave the family on Holy Reunion Day in order to watch fireworks with Walter Knapp.Dani woke up and started reading again.There was no entry describing July Fourth.The next entry was dated simply 8/15/85: I’m pregnant. Three lines down, 9/30/85: Married today.A final three lines down, April 2, 1986: Danielle Evelyn Knapp was born today. ty�}3��+: Next Chapter: Chapter 22

e a rendezvous with Jordon might lead and her ich barometer kicked in with a vengeance and her brief infatuation with him came to an abrupt end, saving her reputation and their friendship from an inglorious end.Dani was not ever going to think of Theo in intimate terms, but she was sure if she did the ich factor would not let her down.Maddie’s tent was not far. Dani pushed her way through the front layers of the entrance and stopped, momentarily overcome by blindness. Her pupils, contracted from the bright midday light, took a few moments to dilate. Maddie followed. Her eyes adjusted more quickly than Dani’s. Captain Brandyn followed Maddie and stood to one side his feet planted apart and his arms crossed over his chest. He was tall, lean and had the slanted eyes of an Asian – they were green –and the same tawny skin color as everyone, but on the lighter side. His long course black hair was braided multiple times with a bunch of feathers jutting (including one Gillie Hawk wing feather). By his expression he was as angry as Maddie about something.Maddie took Dani by the arm and walked her to the center of the parlor.Dani shook her off.“Let go.”“What did you mean by going over there? ““Not that it’s any of your business, but I needed Theo’s advice.”“Sister, you can come to me for advice.”“I needed Theo’s advice.” Dani repeated. She turned to make for the privacy of the bed chamber but Maddie held her arm in such a tight grip she came up short. Wrenching her arm did no good.“Needed or wanted?”Dani shucked her shirt, pulling it over her head one handed and pushing it to puddle over Maddie’s hand. She was so hot. She unbuttoned her jeans – again one handed. At least she could wriggle out of the heavy fabric and use her legs to kick them all the way off. She did not want to strip in front of Brandyn, but she had no choice and there was her cobalt blue second skin to save her modesty. Again she tried to free her arm to no avail. “Answer me.” Maddie fairly shook her.“What is the difference?”Maddie took Dani’s chin in hand and turned her face for a closer look. When Dani tried to free herself, Maddie’s grip tightened. Her attention seemed to be focused on Dani’s mouth.Dani grabbed Maddie’s wrist. “Let me go.”“Did he touch you?” The anger in Maddie’s voice was pronounced.“That is none of your business.”“It is my business. You are under my protection until the King and Queen arrive and it is up to me to keep you safe from whatever manipulations that scoundrel would use in order to secure his own release.”Dani let out a wordless cry of outrage and frustration. “How dare you!”She gave Maddie a two handed shove that only made the Amazon sway back a little. “Never speak ill of him again.”“When will you see him for what he is?”“I am very clear about who Theo is. And maybe, just maybe, if someone on this insufferable planet would tell me what he has done I might be able to formulate an opinion about what he is.”“He is a villain, Danielle. Make no mistake, he is a dangerous man and you risk everything trusting him.”“What concern is that of yours?”“My concern is for you, Little Sister, can you not see that?”“What I see is the woman who promised me that Theo would be treated well, that he would be left alone. What? Did you let Georg have at him? Your promises are worth nothing.”Maddie paused and took a slow calming breath before she pulled Dani to the divan and forced her to sit down. “Please calm down.”A cup was pushed into her hand; it was filled with cold water. Where had it come from? A flicker of movement revealed Brandyn who had accompanied them into the tent. Why was he here? Instead of drinking the water, Dani drained the small bit of water down the front of her second skin; the coolness spread out across her chest. Maddie grabbed the cup and handed it to the man and he returned shortly with another cup.“Drink slowly.” Maddie said, tipping the cup to Dani’s lips. “Help me out here, Little Sister. Give me your faith. If he has your heart, he will expect you to beg the King and Queen for leniency and on your behalf, who knows, they may consider it.”“With every word you reveal how little you know of Theo.”“And you, Little Sister, will have a new view of things very soon.“You must prepare yourself, because this time tomorrow he will feel the wrath of the Hill People. When you are free of his influence you will see that your faith in him is as indecent as the acts of which he is accused.”“I will not hear another word against him.”“Very well,” Maddie said. “You disobeyed us and fraternized with the criminal. In order to carry out this undisciplined behavior you attacked and injured two Royal guards without provocation. As a result of your actions you will be placed under house arrest and will remain confined to this tent through the duration of tomorrow’s trial and execution of punishment on the criminal, after which you will be consigned to the King’s custody to face his discipline.”Maddie leaned in close, bending at the waist so that they were nose to nose. “Believe me, Little Sister, your peculiar circumstances and your relationship to the Queen will not soften the King’s discipline.”Dani got the distinct impression that Maddie spoke from experience. She left Captain Brandyn in charge and departed.Dani remained recalcitrant. Without permission she lifted the rug that covered the hatch (a wooden trap door) in the ground that led to the stairs that led belowground to winter quarters and the privy. The stairs let out into an arched passage lit at intervals with wall torches that had stained the ceiling black. She passed several doors and two side passages, passed the narrow passage that led directly to the privy and went directly to the shower room. She was still super-heated and had to cool down. Brandyn followed and watched her every move. The shower room was a wide circular chamber with a slightly concave tiled floor with a grate at the center. Spaced at regular intervals, at about six feet above the floor, ceramic pipes protruded from the wall. Dani chose one and pulled on the lever releasing water from the pipe. Delicious cold water poured over her head and soaked her second skin until the sponge-like fibers could no longer suck in more moisture and still she allowed the water to gush over her.When she was chilled through Dani released the lever and swept her hair back with her hands pressing out the excess water. Her hair was getting shaggy. She backed up to the cool stone wall and slid down until she was seated on the cool tiles, her arms braced loosely across her knee caps. There were no towels so she sat and stared at Brandyn while she waited for the excess water to drain away and her thoughts drifted back to those last few moments with Theo.Dani had to admit she cared for Theo deeply and no matter what he had done, even in spite of his lies and his theft of her sapphire, she wanted him to come out of this alive. She could not bear to think of losing him. She had left her life behind in search of her mother, but what she had found was friendship with a man who made her feel safe and terrified by turns, a man of faith who stood accused of unspeakable things, who had not once -- in spite of Maddie’s assertions that he was a villain -- attempted to excuse his own guilt. He had in fact submitted to the brute abuse of the Lowlandians without complaint. Sure, Maddie would only say that meekness was all part of his grand plan to manipulate Dani and position himself to receive some boon from the King on her behalf, but Dani did not believe it was humanly possible to feign that level of humility. She thought the greater the transgression, the stronger the desire to excuse oneself. Yet Theo had confessed nothing to her but guilt.She wished she could get inside Theo’s head for just one moment, just long enough to see once and for all the villainy of which he was accused and so far had not denied.Cooled by the shower, Dani slept deeply. Two Lowlandians woke her on the cusp of afternoon with two bushel baskets filled with black pea pods – at least they looked like pea pods -- and instructed her to shell them and delivered a wide shallow basket in which to keep the shelled peas. Unfortunately, no sooner had Dani wakened from another repeat of that relentless prairie dress dream when another memory slammed into her. She barely noticed the two Lowlandians, nor did she comprehend their instructions concerning the heavy bushels of peapods. The thrum-thrum-thrum of her heart pressed at the base of her throat. She pressed her fingertips to the spot, so hard she felt the too quick pulse leap against her fingertips right through the silver medal bearing Mary’s image while she tried in vain to repress the memory – this one Theo’s memory, as sharp a memory as any of her own – but the effort was useless.He ran through the forest with speed and silence the destination not far now, just a little further and they would overtake the native trail that snaked around three Fughari to the south and at the western perimeter of the Lowlandian outpost. Near enough. He held Ruby’s limp body high against his chest. The bottom half of the right broken leg bumped rhythmically into his hip, the broken left arm had slipped free of the cloak and spun in a lazy circle. The girl was as weightless and lifeless as a gangly flesh and bone marionette. Theo’s mind was frozen. He had no feeling for anything. His body moved on automatic, his brain had long passed the boundary of human kindness, of hate and fear leaving only the resultant shock of the night’s doings to pierce his heart with cold empty dread.The only thing left was to put Ruby back, or as near as he dared take her without risking capture, and leave the body where her people would find it. It was the only thing he could think to do to make it up. With another few strides he found the best location, about a foot from the path where the grass was lightly trampled but where brush screened the path from view.Theo went down on one knee and lowered Ruby’s body to the ground unwinding the cloak. He did not like to leave her naked body exposed, but Theo needed the cloak; his survival depended on it and Ruby was beyond such basic needs. The black night of Anress running new saved Theo a detailed view of Ruby’s mangled body and her bloodied, disfigured face or the gaping wound across the curve of her throat. Just the same he averted his eyes. He waited for guilt to manifest, for shame, remorse or any emotion that might indicate his soul still harbored a spark of decency, but nothing. It did not seem right to leave Ruby and not say something…”Goodbye”… “I am sorry”…. Nothing could be said without feeling and inside Theo there was only cold nothing, but still he lingered until finally, full of uncertainty, he brought his hand to rest on the crown of Ruby’s head and smoothed his thumb over her crushed brow. A second later he was up and running, his cloak wadded up under his arm determined to return to Anthony before first light and be gone.The only thing left that mattered was their survival; survival and nothing else. If it had been Theo alone, he would have delivered the girl to the compound, returned her to her family and submitted to whatever punishment they chose to mete out, but he was not alone. Another life hung in the balance and he had to think of that, as much as he wanted his long ordeal to be finished, he had to think of Anthony.The whole thing happened in a flash while the Lowlandian women instructed Dani on what Maddie expected her to accomplish in two hours’ time. Before they could finish Dani scooped up one bushel and heaved it at the women and repeated the same with the second basket screaming at them to get out amidst a shower of peapods and wicker baskets crumbling under the force of her outburst. Emotion flooded through her in response to that cold hearted drive to survive.She was hardly aware of her actions, yet she was acutely aware of Theo standing stock still in the center of his prison facing in her direction with his fingers curved around the medallion while tears streamed down his cheeks. Her tears. Maddie was in his face cursing him for thinking he would garner her sympathy with tears. Without looking at Maddie Theo spoke forcefully.“Danielle!”When Maddie failed to respond he turned and shouted in her face.“Danielle!”Maddie leaned back her tirade instantly silenced. Her head snapped around. Shouts outside the tent called for Maddie to come quickly and she disappeared from Theo’s line of sight. A moment later Dani slammed a mental door but to no avail, they were meshed together in their thoughts. She could feel Theo struggling to dispossess her, tried again unsuccessfully to close a mental curtain between them aware that her thoughts were getting through and his were impeding on her giving her the answers she had so longed for, answers she suddenly did not care to address, did not want to know. Answers that made her heart break.Let me go, Danielle. Let me go.The connection severed with a burst of white static and left Dani alone again. Next Chapter: Chapter 21 new Inkshares.BrowseBar(); Leaving

e a rendezvous with Jordon might lead and her ich barometer kicked in with a vengeance and her brief infatuation with him came to an abrupt end, saving her reputation and their friendship from an inglorious end.Dani was not ever going to think of Theo in intimate terms, but she was sure if she did the ich factor would not let her down.Maddie’s tent was not far. Dani pushed her way through the front layers of the entrance and stopped, momentarily overcome by blindness. Her pupils, contracted from the bright midday light, took a few moments to dilate. Maddie followed. Her eyes adjusted more quickly than Dani’s. Captain Brandyn followed Maddie and stood to one side his feet planted apart and his arms crossed over his chest. He was tall, lean and had the slanted eyes of an Asian – they were green –and the same tawny skin color as everyone, but on the lighter side. His long course black hair was braided multiple times with a bunch of feathers jutting (including one Gillie Hawk wing feather). By his expression he was as angry as Maddie about something.Maddie took Dani by the arm and walked her to the center of the parlor.Dani shook her off.“Let go.”“What did you mean by going over there? ““Not that it’s any of your business, but I needed Theo’s advice.”“Sister, you can come to me for advice.”“I needed Theo’s advice.” Dani repeated. She turned to make for the privacy of the bed chamber but Maddie held her arm in such a tight grip she came up short. Wrenching her arm did no good.“Needed or wanted?”Dani shucked her shirt, pulling it over her head one handed and pushing it to puddle over Maddie’s hand. She was so hot. She unbuttoned her jeans – again one handed. At least she could wriggle out of the heavy fabric and use her legs to kick them all the way off. She did not want to strip in front of Brandyn, but she had no choice and there was her cobalt blue second skin to save her modesty. Again she tried to free her arm to no avail. “Answer me.” Maddie fairly shook her.“What is the difference?”Maddie took Dani’s chin in hand and turned her face for a closer look. When Dani tried to free herself, Maddie’s grip tightened. Her attention seemed to be focused on Dani’s mouth.Dani grabbed Maddie’s wrist. “Let me go.”“Did he touch you?” The anger in Maddie’s voice was pronounced.“That is none of your business.”“It is my business. You are under my protection until the King and Queen arrive and it is up to me to keep you safe from whatever manipulations that scoundrel would use in order to secure his own release.”Dani let out a wordless cry of outrage and frustration. “How dare you!”She gave Maddie a two handed shove that only made the Amazon sway back a little. “Never speak ill of him again.”“When will you see him for what he is?”“I am very clear about who Theo is. And maybe, just maybe, if someone on this insufferable planet would tell me what he has done I might be able to formulate an opinion about what he is.”“He is a villain, Danielle. Make no mistake, he is a dangerous man and you risk everything trusting him.”“What concern is that of yours?”“My concern is for you, Little Sister, can you not see that?”“What I see is the woman who promised me that Theo would be treated well, that he would be left alone. What? Did you let Georg have at him? Your promises are worth nothing.”Maddie paused and took a slow calming breath before she pulled Dani to the divan and forced her to sit down. “Please calm down.”A cup was pushed into her hand; it was filled with cold water. Where had it come from? A flicker of movement revealed Brandyn who had accompanied them into the tent. Why was he here? Instead of drinking the water, Dani drained the small bit of water down the front of her second skin; the coolness spread out across her chest. Maddie grabbed the cup and handed it to the man and he returned shortly with another cup.“Drink slowly.” Maddie said, tipping the cup to Dani’s lips. “Help me out here, Little Sister. Give me your faith. If he has your heart, he will expect you to beg the King and Queen for leniency and on your behalf, who knows, they may consider it.”“With every word you reveal how little you know of Theo.”“And you, Little Sister, will have a new view of things very soon.“You must prepare yourself, because this time tomorrow he will feel the wrath of the Hill People. When you are free of his influence you will see that your faith in him is as indecent as the acts of which he is accused.”“I will not hear another word against him.”“Very well,” Maddie said. “You disobeyed us and fraternized with the criminal. In order to carry out this undisciplined behavior you attacked and injured two Royal guards without provocation. As a result of your actions you will be placed under house arrest and will remain confined to this tent through the duration of tomorrow’s trial and execution of punishment on the criminal, after which you will be consigned to the King’s custody to face his discipline.”Maddie leaned in close, bending at the waist so that they were nose to nose. “Believe me, Little Sister, your peculiar circumstances and your relationship to the Queen will not soften the King’s discipline.”Dani got the distinct impression that Maddie spoke from experience. She left Captain Brandyn in charge and departed.Dani remained recalcitrant. Without permission she lifted the rug that covered the hatch (a wooden trap door) in the ground that led to the stairs that led belowground to winter quarters and the privy. The stairs let out into an arched passage lit at intervals with wall torches that had stained the ceiling black. She passed several doors and two side passages, passed the narrow passage that led directly to the privy and went directly to the shower room. She was still super-heated and had to cool down. Brandyn followed and watched her every move. The shower room was a wide circular chamber with a slightly concave tiled floor with a grate at the center. Spaced at regular intervals, at about six feet above the floor, ceramic pipes protruded from the wall. Dani chose one and pulled on the lever releasing water from the pipe. Delicious cold water poured over her head and soaked her second skin until the sponge-like fibers could no longer suck in more moisture and still she allowed the water to gush over her.When she was chilled through Dani released the lever and swept her hair back with her hands pressing out the excess water. Her hair was getting shaggy. She backed up to the cool stone wall and slid down until she was seated on the cool tiles, her arms braced loosely across her knee caps. There were no towels so she sat and stared at Brandyn while she waited for the excess water to drain away and her thoughts drifted back to those last few moments with Theo.Dani had to admit she cared for Theo deeply and no matter what he had done, even in spite of his lies and his theft of her sapphire, she wanted him to come out of this alive. She could not bear to think of losing him. She had left her life behind in search of her mother, but what she had found was friendship with a man who made her feel safe and terrified by turns, a man of faith who stood accused of unspeakable things, who had not once -- in spite of Maddie’s assertions that he was a villain -- attempted to excuse his own guilt. He had in fact submitted to the brute abuse of the Lowlandians without complaint. Sure, Maddie would only say that meekness was all part of his grand plan to manipulate Dani and position himself to receive some boon from the King on her behalf, but Dani did not believe it was humanly possible to feign that level of humility. She thought the greater the transgression, the stronger the desire to excuse oneself. Yet Theo had confessed nothing to her but guilt.She wished she could get inside Theo’s head for just one moment, just long enough to see once and for all the villainy of which he was accused and so far had not denied.Cooled by the shower, Dani slept deeply. Two Lowlandians woke her on the cusp of afternoon with two bushel baskets filled with black pea pods – at least they looked like pea pods -- and instructed her to shell them and delivered a wide shallow basket in which to keep the shelled peas. Unfortunately, no sooner had Dani wakened from another repeat of that relentless prairie dress dream when another memory slammed into her. She barely noticed the two Lowlandians, nor did she comprehend their instructions concerning the heavy bushels of peapods. The thrum-thrum-thrum of her heart pressed at the base of her throat. She pressed her fingertips to the spot, so hard she felt the too quick pulse leap against her fingertips right through the silver medal bearing Mary’s image while she tried in vain to repress the memory – this one Theo’s memory, as sharp a memory as any of her own – but the effort was useless.He ran through the forest with speed and silence the destination not far now, just a little further and they would overtake the native trail that snaked around three Fughari to the south and at the western perimeter of the Lowlandian outpost. Near enough. He held Ruby’s limp body high against his chest. The bottom half of the right broken leg bumped rhythmically into his hip, the broken left arm had slipped free of the cloak and spun in a lazy circle. The girl was as weightless and lifeless as a gangly flesh and bone marionette. Theo’s mind was frozen. He had no feeling for anything. His body moved on automatic, his brain had long passed the boundary of human kindness, of hate and fear leaving only the resultant shock of the night’s doings to pierce his heart with cold empty dread.The only thing left was to put Ruby back, or as near as he dared take her without risking capture, and leave the body where her people would find it. It was the only thing he could think to do to make it up. With another few strides he found the best location, about a foot from the path where the grass was lightly trampled but where brush screened the path from view.Theo went down on one knee and lowered Ruby’s body to the ground unwinding the cloak. He did not like to leave her naked body exposed, but Theo needed the cloak; his survival depended on it and Ruby was beyond such basic needs. The black night of Anress running new saved Theo a detailed view of Ruby’s mangled body and her bloodied, disfigured face or the gaping wound across the curve of her throat. Just the same he averted his eyes. He waited for guilt to manifest, for shame, remorse or any emotion that might indicate his soul still harbored a spark of decency, but nothing. It did not seem right to leave Ruby and not say something…”Goodbye”… “I am sorry”…. Nothing could be said without feeling and inside Theo there was only cold nothing, but still he lingered until finally, full of uncertainty, he brought his hand to rest on the crown of Ruby’s head and smoothed his thumb over her crushed brow. A second later he was up and running, his cloak wadded up under his arm determined to return to Anthony before first light and be gone.The only thing left that mattered was their survival; survival and nothing else. If it had been Theo alone, he would have delivered the girl to the compound, returned her to her family and submitted to whatever punishment they chose to mete out, but he was not alone. Another life hung in the balance and he had to think of that, as much as he wanted his long ordeal to be finished, he had to think of Anthony.The whole thing happened in a flash while the Lowlandian women instructed Dani on what Maddie expected her to accomplish in two hours’ time. Before they could finish Dani scooped up one bushel and heaved it at the women and repeated the same with the second basket screaming at them to get out amidst a shower of peapods and wicker baskets crumbling under the force of her outburst. Emotion flooded through her in response to that cold hearted drive to survive.She was hardly aware of her actions, yet she was acutely aware of Theo standing stock still in the center of his prison facing in her direction with his fingers curved around the medallion while tears streamed down his cheeks. Her tears. Maddie was in his face cursing him for thinking he would garner her sympathy with tears. Without looking at Maddie Theo spoke forcefully.“Danielle!”When Maddie failed to respond he turned and shouted in her face.“Danielle!”Maddie leaned back her tirade instantly silenced. Her head snapped around. Shouts outside the tent called for Maddie to come quickly and she disappeared from Theo’s line of sight. A moment later Dani slammed a mental door but to no avail, they were meshed together in their thoughts. She could feel Theo struggling to dispossess her, tried again unsuccessfully to close a mental curtain between them aware that her thoughts were getting through and his were impeding on her giving her the answers she had so longed for, answers she suddenly did not care to address, did not want to know. Answers that made her heart break.Let me go, Danielle. Let me go.The connection severed with a burst of white static and left Dani alone again. Next Chapter: Chapter 21 new Inkshares.BrowseBar(); Leaving

er the story of her parents Maddie had gone right to the heart of what ailed Dani. Her mother had abandoned her for the King.Did she want to understand, Dani wondered with bitterness? She slept with Mama’s unopened journal pressed to her chest under both hands.In the wee hours of the morning a low growl outside Maddie’s bed chamber startled Dani awake. The flames in the brassier had died down to hot coals. Naked Maddie sprang from her bed, wrapped herself in the large maroon fur and paused to lean over Dani. Her eyes were lively. “Go back to sleep. I will see you in the morning.” She pressed a warm, firm kiss on Dani’s forehead, turned and was gone.Just outside the tent voices mingled, an alto and tenor lover’s duet and their footsteps hurried away into silence.

f the Hill People Maddie seemed to realize Dani was exhausted and gave her freedom to come and go as she pleased – so long as she stayed away from the prison tent. Dani was more than happy to comply. Maddie’s tent was of modest size, sandwiched between a low rambling house with shallow slanted roof and three chimney’s that turned out to be the Matriarch’s residence and a longhouse that cast a long shadow over the tent, keeping the interior fairly cool, even in the heat of midday. The interior was light and airy, an open space divided into four quarters: a parlor of sorts complete with stuffed chairs and a matching love seat -- Maddie called it a divan -- a bedchamber at the back of the parlor separated by layers of light drapes of silk and sheer fabrics Dani was unable to identify that sparkled with gold and silver sheen; a unfurnished reception area at the entrance and a spacious dining area complete with table and chairs of dark carved wood. The hard packed earth was buffered throughout with woven tapestries that depicted Hill People engaged in various activities, but especially hunting and battle scenes; thick rush mats in the dining area; and a variety of fur rugs in the bedroom. There were bronze braziers throughout to provide light and heat at night. There was a privy below ground, accessible through a trap door in the parlor, hidden by a rug.Dani took it in with some fascination; the scenes described into the carpets and wondering about the fleur de li symbol emblazoned on the herald that hung from a frame that separated the entry from the dining area. The symbol made her feel like she had been whisked backward in time instead of forward or to an alternative earth where the Hill People were Mediev al Normans. As was the case with Theo she discovered a disconcerting mix of primitive and manufactured items: buckskin trousers and detailed leather jerkins; course linen sheets and silk shirts; a machine made cloth draped across the dining room table set with silverware beside wooden dinnerware stained with geometric designs and glass stemware. There were no baubles, no trophies that Dani could tell only low tables designed to hold tools, clothes and three extra pairs of boots. Dani’s pack was off to one side in the parlor braced against a support post. Beside it were Theo’s two packs, his half finished spear and his boots. As her In Between, Maddie explained, his belongings belonged to her until his fate was decided.In the evening of the first day, before supper Maddie and the Matriarch paid her a visit with a doctor in tow, and she endured a lengthy physical examination to satisfy them that she was in good health. It was determined that she was adapting well; her lungs were nearly at 100 percent but her heart rate was elevated.The Matriarch and Maddie shared a concerned look.“Like her mother.” Maddie said in a matter of fact but cryptic tone that made Dani wonder aloud what it meant. But as seemed to be a habit among the people of Haven they offered no explanation. Maddie shook her head at her and Dani fell silent, not wishing to press her luck further with the Matriarch.Dani slept for a little but was awakened by a disturbing dream where she lay stretched out comfortably on a field of tall grass wearing a white prairie dress of all things. The dress had eyelet lace and was trimmed with red ribbon at the wrists and on the high collar. A wide red sash was tied around her waist. The linen chemise beneath the dress was also bordered with wide scalloped eyelet lace at the hem and underneath her white pristine pantaloons she wore black knit stockings and on her feet tight black button up shoes. She knew every last detail of her outfit without looking, as if she had selected the garments that morning with intent, right down to the red beribboned garters that kept her stockings from falling down.Theo was on top of her his body cradled between her legs. His large hands enveloped her hands linking their fingers on each side of her head. He stared at something behind Dani, not paying attention to her at all, and she craned her neck to see what he saw, and got a view of what sight made him look so extremely put upon. An upside down army was gathered on a nearby upside down grassy hill. The sun glinted off metal helmets and breastplates and pencil thin spears that made a row of upside down tiny fencelike pikes across the upside down horizon. The army seemed poised on the verge of attack. “Orces, yes precious.” She said in a creepy sing song Gollum/Schmeagol voice that scared her awake, choking back a scream. Surrounded by cushions and lightweight blankets, her body trembling, Dani caught herself thinking about the night Jordan died, she, who had not thought of Jordan in a long time except in the most benign terms, remembering only the emotionally neutral events of their longtime friendship. Now she remembered the sight of his brother’s blue late model mustang crumpled around a sugar maple on the passenger side where Jordan had been sitting mere moments before, remembered the high rate of speed at which his brother had been driving and the black ice that had sent the mustang skidding and the car she had been in with Ethan driving into a tail spin as well, except Ethan had corrected the slide and the car skidded to a stop on the lawn on the opposite side of the road. She was out of the car so fast, her heart in her throat her nose filled with the smell of gasoline and hot metal and burnt rubber and heard the tick and hiss of the ruptured engine, just before she started to scream Jordan’s name.The dream with the prairie dress and the Orc army returned frequently without variation and she always wakened to one memory or another, memories of Ethan, Walter, Angie, Barb, even the old ladies who had cared for her in the nursery Sunday mornings at the Baptist Church. Each memory either made her homesick or left her reeling from shock, but few made her feel as terrible as the first. Maddie put Dani to work at once allowing her permission to be dismissed when she tired and needed sleep. She often just quietly wandered away in the middle of instruction or a job to return to Maddie’s tent where she dropped down on her deeply cushioned bed and slept. The recurring dream and the sudden inexplicable stampede of long forgotten memories made sleep undesirable, so at times she wandered the streets of Admyndral et Pelbradyn or climbed slowly to the top of the Peldyn and stood at the perimeter of the area where the Crucifixion Tree stood on the exact opposite spot the Pavilion held at the Peldyn’s south end.The tree was singular, unlike any she had seen and unlike any in the surrounding environs. It was similar to a full grown Sycamore covered with tattered mauve bark. Its gnarled white branches reached up and outward, broken, barren and stark save one. That one protruded from the trunk at a right angle low to the ground, but still a good twelve to fifteen feet up. Spreading out from its trunk to the furthest skeletal reach of the tree’s branches was a circular field of undisturbed grass flush with more flower varieties than Dani could count, displaying every color of the rainbow and many shades in between. The ground all over the top of the Peldyn was beaten down and criss-crossed with well used paths, but no evidence of such foot traffic marred the sanctity of the ground surrounding the Crucifixion Tree. When her energy lagged but she wanted to avoid sleep, Dani sat quietly on the verge of the blooming field and stared at the Crucifixion tree with wonder. Something about it teased her. Something tugged to get her attention, but what that something was eluded her.The people continued to defer to her, but wherever she went there was someone nearby who watched her, as if they expected her to cause trouble. The last thing Dani wanted was to be anywhere near Theo. It was bad enough she suffered that creepy dream daily but when her thoughts drifted toward the subject of Theo and the sapphire she pushed both out of her mind. What use worrying now? The only thing that mattered was the profound relief she felt now that she knew where the sapphire was, that it was safe and at her disposal when she was ready to go home. Dani applied herself to whatever task she was given when she had the strength to do it. She mended winter shorts, tended the public garden, prepared stew using fresh or dried fish, the tasty blue-skinned tuber and a tender lavender bulb that looked like garlic but smelled and tasted like onion. She studied weaving, cooking, fletching arrows, and other skills to which she felt ill-suited. She received a tsk, tsk, from a fair share of the men and women she worked with until one fellow wondered aloud whether or not she was skilled at anything. She was skilled at language. What would they know of language when they spoke only one language, though she had quickly picked up on the broad Hill People accent that defined their tribal culture, when compared to Theo’s well articulated formal speech. Overall the language was a gregarious mix of several evolved earth languages – as evidenced in the wide variety of names (Maddie, Georg, Silliandra, Bradyn and Januise) -- spun together with an element so foreign to Dani as to intrigue her with its complexities. Perhaps it was of alien influence. Her journal was filling up fast with words and phrases.As for the specifics of the coming trial or the crimes Theo had committed conversations remained speculative at best because the sisters were the only two eye witnesses of Theo’s crime: Sillie (the peripheral witness) and Ruby (the sole survivor). Technically it was forbidden to discuss the details before the trial, though there was little else anyone wanted to discuss. When Dani asked for clarification they only told her detailed accounts of the unsavory habits of Dreyden and his band of ruffians.When Dani’s thoughts drifted to Theo at all she wondered was he being treated well? Maddie assured her that Theo was under guard in the prison tent and no one harassed him. Dani accepted Mddie’s word and made no attempt to check the veracity of her claim. It made her stomach cramp to think Maddie had been right about Theo. Had he manipulated her from the start, stealing the jewel and keeping it hidden because he needed her to gain some advantage with the King in order to avoid punishment?One afternoon after Dani returned from a two hour class in the forest on how to identify mushrooms, an impromptu game broke out atop the Peldyn. It took only moments to understand the game and to see that the main challenge was to take possession of the ball, and move it as near the hallowed ground under the Crucifixion Tree as possible while keeping the ball from entering the flowered field. It was not a team sport, but a game of every man for himself. Dani took immediate interest and wanted to participate -- but she soon discovered that young women watched while the young men, stripped to the waist, played. “With the men there is too much unnecessary roughness.” The dowdy mid-thirtyish mushroom instructor explained when Dani expressed her desire to participate. She nodded sagely and as if to prove her point a fierce argument erupted between two players that turned into a small riot, with every man and boy in easy distance running in to join the fray. The display of testosterone fueled aggression was disturbing and exhilarating at the same time. Young women gathered in small groups to cheer or jeer their favorite or their favorite’s attacker; some just stared at the half naked men with flushed cheeks. After the fighting came to an abrupt end the game disbanded. It was as if the whole purpose of the game was to provide the young men an opportunity to release pent up energy and at the same time to display their virility for the benefit of the young woman. A primitive mating ritual, Dani thought. That evening Maddie returned and found Dani as she so often found her, sitting cross legged on her cushioned cot with her fingers curled around the binding of her mother’s journal staring off into space. Dani waited until Maddie disrobed, keeping her eyes averted. The Amazon had a fine slender body with minimal scarring and like everyone else showed no concern for her own nudity. She wore no second skin. “Cover up.” Dani grumbled. “Wear a second skin, can’t you?”“Sissy pants for insiders.” She said dismissively. “You are disgusting.”“You have seen Theo naked.” Her voice was full of censure, but Maddie quirked one eyebrow as if hoping Dani would divulge the nature of their relationship. Had anything intimate happened between them, had Theo acted in any way inappropriately toward her, the quirked eyebrow asked?“He is as bad as you are.” Dani would not elaborate.Maddie did not push for information but picked up a wide comb. It was made of white wood with long close set teeth and jewels in the handle arranged in a vine pattern with five tiny mother of pearl fleur de li. She ran it through hair while Dani stared at Mama’s journal and repeatedly dragged her thumb over the book’s leaf.“Are you ever going to read your mother’s book?” Maddie asked.“Eventually, I suppose.”“What is the problem?”“Some things are best left alone.”Maddie studied her for a few minutes in silence. “My mother’s history is the history of our people, so there is little about her history we do not know. My mother and father met when they were a bit younger than you are now. He was Outside fulfilling some duty related to his position and for a period of time he fell in with our clan. They were drawn together by their looks, you see, the so-called Aryan curse, and he was, in a way her equal: she the daughter of the great renegade leader, Bradyn, he a son of the Ruling Arm. She was Bradyn’s youngest child and only daughter, the child of his third wife and was already promised to the son of an ally, a betrothal that fretted her much. "On the other hand the King tells the story from another perspective. He had never met anyone like her, you see. She was strong willed but she was also a free spirit. She taught him how to use a bow and sling. She taught him how to spear fish. She taught him the wood lore of the Hill People. Most of all he saw in her a reflection of his own life, constrained by family loyalty and trapped by the demands of their respective positions in society. "Their time together was short, a matter of weeks, and they were cut off from one another when our people came under attack from the Insiders, The Last Great Purge. My father escaped. My Grandfather, the founder of our great clan, Bradyn, died in that battle on the Peldyn and our clan was horribly decimated. Mother’s brothers had been either captured or killed and she alone was left to lead. "In the aftermath she struggled for control against men once loyal to Bradyn who thought they were better suited to leadership than she because she was female, barely eighteen and pregnant with me. A few thought if they slipped into her tent and forced a conjugal treaty, she would have to relinquish control to them, but she had young men loyal to her and on her orders they dragged these men to the crucifixion tree and left them to die alone and their bodies to rot as a warning against anyone else who might presume to steal her birthright. “Several years later Father, cast out of the Insiders and now a renegade leader to be reckoned with, heard rumors about Mother and her crucifixions and sought her out. Until then he did not even know if she had survived that day. He prevailed upon her to rethink her policy of crucifying her enemies and helped her re-established the clan’s former rule of law. By then Mother had convinced everyone that mattered that she was capable of leadership and no one dared to thwart her."Dani did not know what to say. What could she say after a narrative like that? “Your mother’s history is your history.” Maddie lifted the end of her maroon fur over her body as the chill of deep night infiltrated the curtained bed chamber. “You cannot avoid that truth whether you know the pertinent details or not. Consider it a gift that she has invited you in to discover the woman she came to be in the aftermath of whatever war she endured. It may help you understand why she decided to come here, to Haven, with my father, though it meant abandoning you.”By telling her the story of her parents Maddie had gone right to the heart of what ailed Dani. Her mother had abandoned her for the King.Did she want to understand, Dani wondered with bitterness? She slept with Mama’s unopened journal pressed to her chest under both hands.In the wee hours of the morning a low growl outside Maddie’s bed chamber startled Dani awake. The flames in the brassier had died down to hot coals. Naked Maddie sprang from her bed, wrapped herself in the large maroon fur and paused to lean over Dani. Her eyes were lively. “Go back to sleep. I will see you in the morning.” She pressed a warm, firm kiss on Dani’s forehead, turned and was gone.Just outside the tent voices mingled, an alto and tenor lover’s duet and their footsteps hurried away into silence. Next Chapter: Chapter 18 new Inkshares.BrowseBar(); Leaving

f the Hill People Maddie seemed to realize Dani was exhausted and gave her freedom to come and go as she pleased – so long as she stayed away from the prison tent. Dani was more than happy to comply. Maddie’s tent was of modest size, sandwiched between a low rambling house with shallow slanted roof and three chimney’s that turned out to be the Matriarch’s residence and a longhouse that cast a long shadow over the tent, keeping the interior fairly cool, even in the heat of midday. The interior was light and airy, an open space divided into four quarters: a parlor of sorts complete with stuffed chairs and a matching love seat -- Maddie called it a divan -- a bedchamber at the back of the parlor separated by layers of light drapes of silk and sheer fabrics Dani was unable to identify that sparkled with gold and silver sheen; a unfurnished reception area at the entrance and a spacious dining area complete with table and chairs of dark carved wood. The hard packed earth was buffered throughout with woven tapestries that depicted Hill People engaged in various activities, but especially hunting and battle scenes; thick rush mats in the dining area; and a variety of fur rugs in the bedroom. There were bronze braziers throughout to provide light and heat at night. There was a privy below ground, accessible through a trap door in the parlor, hidden by a rug.Dani took it in with some fascination; the scenes described into the carpets and wondering about the fleur de li symbol emblazoned on the herald that hung from a frame that separated the entry from the dining area. The symbol made her feel like she had been whisked backward in time instead of forward or to an alternative earth where the Hill People were Mediev al Normans. As was the case with Theo she discovered a disconcerting mix of primitive and manufactured items: buckskin trousers and detailed leather jerkins; course linen sheets and silk shirts; a machine made cloth draped across the dining room table set with silverware beside wooden dinnerware stained with geometric designs and glass stemware. There were no baubles, no trophies that Dani could tell only low tables designed to hold tools, clothes and three extra pairs of boots. Dani’s pack was off to one side in the parlor braced against a support post. Beside it were Theo’s two packs, his half finished spear and his boots. As her In Between, Maddie explained, his belongings belonged to her until his fate was decided.In the evening of the first day, before supper Maddie and the Matriarch paid her a visit with a doctor in tow, and she endured a lengthy physical examination to satisfy them that she was in good health. It was determined that she was adapting well; her lungs were nearly at 100 percent but her heart rate was elevated.The Matriarch and Maddie shared a concerned look.“Like her mother.” Maddie said in a matter of fact but cryptic tone that made Dani wonder aloud what it meant. But as seemed to be a habit among the people of Haven they offered no explanation. Maddie shook her head at her and Dani fell silent, not wishing to press her luck further with the Matriarch.Dani slept for a little but was awakened by a disturbing dream where she lay stretched out comfortably on a field of tall grass wearing a white prairie dress of all things. The dress had eyelet lace and was trimmed with red ribbon at the wrists and on the high collar. A wide red sash was tied around her waist. The linen chemise beneath the dress was also bordered with wide scalloped eyelet lace at the hem and underneath her white pristine pantaloons she wore black knit stockings and on her feet tight black button up shoes. She knew every last detail of her outfit without looking, as if she had selected the garments that morning with intent, right down to the red beribboned garters that kept her stockings from falling down.Theo was on top of her his body cradled between her legs. His large hands enveloped her hands linking their fingers on each side of her head. He stared at something behind Dani, not paying attention to her at all, and she craned her neck to see what he saw, and got a view of what sight made him look so extremely put upon. An upside down army was gathered on a nearby upside down grassy hill. The sun glinted off metal helmets and breastplates and pencil thin spears that made a row of upside down tiny fencelike pikes across the upside down horizon. The army seemed poised on the verge of attack. “Orces, yes precious.” She said in a creepy sing song Gollum/Schmeagol voice that scared her awake, choking back a scream. Surrounded by cushions and lightweight blankets, her body trembling, Dani caught herself thinking about the night Jordan died, she, who had not thought of Jordan in a long time except in the most benign terms, remembering only the emotionally neutral events of their longtime friendship. Now she remembered the sight of his brother’s blue late model mustang crumpled around a sugar maple on the passenger side where Jordan had been sitting mere moments before, remembered the high rate of speed at which his brother had been driving and the black ice that had sent the mustang skidding and the car she had been in with Ethan driving into a tail spin as well, except Ethan had corrected the slide and the car skidded to a stop on the lawn on the opposite side of the road. She was out of the car so fast, her heart in her throat her nose filled with the smell of gasoline and hot metal and burnt rubber and heard the tick and hiss of the ruptured engine, just before she started to scream Jordan’s name.The dream with the prairie dress and the Orc army returned frequently without variation and she always wakened to one memory or another, memories of Ethan, Walter, Angie, Barb, even the old ladies who had cared for her in the nursery Sunday mornings at the Baptist Church. Each memory either made her homesick or left her reeling from shock, but few made her feel as terrible as the first. Maddie put Dani to work at once allowing her permission to be dismissed when she tired and needed sleep. She often just quietly wandered away in the middle of instruction or a job to return to Maddie’s tent where she dropped down on her deeply cushioned bed and slept. The recurring dream and the sudden inexplicable stampede of long forgotten memories made sleep undesirable, so at times she wandered the streets of Admyndral et Pelbradyn or climbed slowly to the top of the Peldyn and stood at the perimeter of the area where the Crucifixion Tree stood on the exact opposite spot the Pavilion held at the Peldyn’s south end.The tree was singular, unlike any she had seen and unlike any in the surrounding environs. It was similar to a full grown Sycamore covered with tattered mauve bark. Its gnarled white branches reached up and outward, broken, barren and stark save one. That one protruded from the trunk at a right angle low to the ground, but still a good twelve to fifteen feet up. Spreading out from its trunk to the furthest skeletal reach of the tree’s branches was a circular field of undisturbed grass flush with more flower varieties than Dani could count, displaying every color of the rainbow and many shades in between. The ground all over the top of the Peldyn was beaten down and criss-crossed with well used paths, but no evidence of such foot traffic marred the sanctity of the ground surrounding the Crucifixion Tree. When her energy lagged but she wanted to avoid sleep, Dani sat quietly on the verge of the blooming field and stared at the Crucifixion tree with wonder. Something about it teased her. Something tugged to get her attention, but what that something was eluded her.The people continued to defer to her, but wherever she went there was someone nearby who watched her, as if they expected her to cause trouble. The last thing Dani wanted was to be anywhere near Theo. It was bad enough she suffered that creepy dream daily but when her thoughts drifted toward the subject of Theo and the sapphire she pushed both out of her mind. What use worrying now? The only thing that mattered was the profound relief she felt now that she knew where the sapphire was, that it was safe and at her disposal when she was ready to go home. Dani applied herself to whatever task she was given when she had the strength to do it. She mended winter shorts, tended the public garden, prepared stew using fresh or dried fish, the tasty blue-skinned tuber and a tender lavender bulb that looked like garlic but smelled and tasted like onion. She studied weaving, cooking, fletching arrows, and other skills to which she felt ill-suited. She received a tsk, tsk, from a fair share of the men and women she worked with until one fellow wondered aloud whether or not she was skilled at anything. She was skilled at language. What would they know of language when they spoke only one language, though she had quickly picked up on the broad Hill People accent that defined their tribal culture, when compared to Theo’s well articulated formal speech. Overall the language was a gregarious mix of several evolved earth languages – as evidenced in the wide variety of names (Maddie, Georg, Silliandra, Bradyn and Januise) -- spun together with an element so foreign to Dani as to intrigue her with its complexities. Perhaps it was of alien influence. Her journal was filling up fast with words and phrases.As for the specifics of the coming trial or the crimes Theo had committed conversations remained speculative at best because the sisters were the only two eye witnesses of Theo’s crime: Sillie (the peripheral witness) and Ruby (the sole survivor). Technically it was forbidden to discuss the details before the trial, though there was little else anyone wanted to discuss. When Dani asked for clarification they only told her detailed accounts of the unsavory habits of Dreyden and his band of ruffians.When Dani’s thoughts drifted to Theo at all she wondered was he being treated well? Maddie assured her that Theo was under guard in the prison tent and no one harassed him. Dani accepted Mddie’s word and made no attempt to check the veracity of her claim. It made her stomach cramp to think Maddie had been right about Theo. Had he manipulated her from the start, stealing the jewel and keeping it hidden because he needed her to gain some advantage with the King in order to avoid punishment?One afternoon after Dani returned from a two hour class in the forest on how to identify mushrooms, an impromptu game broke out atop the Peldyn. It took only moments to understand the game and to see that the main challenge was to take possession of the ball, and move it as near the hallowed ground under the Crucifixion Tree as possible while keeping the ball from entering the flowered field. It was not a team sport, but a game of every man for himself. Dani took immediate interest and wanted to participate -- but she soon discovered that young women watched while the young men, stripped to the waist, played. “With the men there is too much unnecessary roughness.” The dowdy mid-thirtyish mushroom instructor explained when Dani expressed her desire to participate. She nodded sagely and as if to prove her point a fierce argument erupted between two players that turned into a small riot, with every man and boy in easy distance running in to join the fray. The display of testosterone fueled aggression was disturbing and exhilarating at the same time. Young women gathered in small groups to cheer or jeer their favorite or their favorite’s attacker; some just stared at the half naked men with flushed cheeks. After the fighting came to an abrupt end the game disbanded. It was as if the whole purpose of the game was to provide the young men an opportunity to release pent up energy and at the same time to display their virility for the benefit of the young woman. A primitive mating ritual, Dani thought. That evening Maddie returned and found Dani as she so often found her, sitting cross legged on her cushioned cot with her fingers curled around the binding of her mother’s journal staring off into space. Dani waited until Maddie disrobed, keeping her eyes averted. The Amazon had a fine slender body with minimal scarring and like everyone else showed no concern for her own nudity. She wore no second skin. “Cover up.” Dani grumbled. “Wear a second skin, can’t you?”“Sissy pants for insiders.” She said dismissively. “You are disgusting.”“You have seen Theo naked.” Her voice was full of censure, but Maddie quirked one eyebrow as if hoping Dani would divulge the nature of their relationship. Had anything intimate happened between them, had Theo acted in any way inappropriately toward her, the quirked eyebrow asked?“He is as bad as you are.” Dani would not elaborate.Maddie did not push for information but picked up a wide comb. It was made of white wood with long close set teeth and jewels in the handle arranged in a vine pattern with five tiny mother of pearl fleur de li. She ran it through hair while Dani stared at Mama’s journal and repeatedly dragged her thumb over the book’s leaf.“Are you ever going to read your mother’s book?” Maddie asked.“Eventually, I suppose.”“What is the problem?”“Some things are best left alone.”Maddie studied her for a few minutes in silence. “My mother’s history is the history of our people, so there is little about her history we do not know. My mother and father met when they were a bit younger than you are now. He was Outside fulfilling some duty related to his position and for a period of time he fell in with our clan. They were drawn together by their looks, you see, the so-called Aryan curse, and he was, in a way her equal: she the daughter of the great renegade leader, Bradyn, he a son of the Ruling Arm. She was Bradyn’s youngest child and only daughter, the child of his third wife and was already promised to the son of an ally, a betrothal that fretted her much. "On the other hand the King tells the story from another perspective. He had never met anyone like her, you see. She was strong willed but she was also a free spirit. She taught him how to use a bow and sling. She taught him how to spear fish. She taught him the wood lore of the Hill People. Most of all he saw in her a reflection of his own life, constrained by family loyalty and trapped by the demands of their respective positions in society. "Their time together was short, a matter of weeks, and they were cut off from one another when our people came under attack from the Insiders, The Last Great Purge. My father escaped. My Grandfather, the founder of our great clan, Bradyn, died in that battle on the Peldyn and our clan was horribly decimated. Mother’s brothers had been either captured or killed and she alone was left to lead. "In the aftermath she struggled for control against men once loyal to Bradyn who thought they were better suited to leadership than she because she was female, barely eighteen and pregnant with me. A few thought if they slipped into her tent and forced a conjugal treaty, she would have to relinquish control to them, but she had young men loyal to her and on her orders they dragged these men to the crucifixion tree and left them to die alone and their bodies to rot as a warning against anyone else who might presume to steal her birthright. “Several years later Father, cast out of the Insiders and now a renegade leader to be reckoned with, heard rumors about Mother and her crucifixions and sought her out. Until then he did not even know if she had survived that day. He prevailed upon her to rethink her policy of crucifying her enemies and helped her re-established the clan’s former rule of law. By then Mother had convinced everyone that mattered that she was capable of leadership and no one dared to thwart her."Dani did not know what to say. What could she say after a narrative like that? “Your mother’s history is your history.” Maddie lifted the end of her maroon fur over her body as the chill of deep night infiltrated the curtained bed chamber. “You cannot avoid that truth whether you know the pertinent details or not. Consider it a gift that she has invited you in to discover the woman she came to be in the aftermath of whatever war she endured. It may help you understand why she decided to come here, to Haven, with my father, though it meant abandoning you.”By telling her the story of her parents Maddie had gone right to the heart of what ailed Dani. Her mother had abandoned her for the King.Did she want to understand, Dani wondered with bitterness? She slept with Mama’s unopened journal pressed to her chest under both hands.In the wee hours of the morning a low growl outside Maddie’s bed chamber startled Dani awake. The flames in the brassier had died down to hot coals. Naked Maddie sprang from her bed, wrapped herself in the large maroon fur and paused to lean over Dani. Her eyes were lively. “Go back to sleep. I will see you in the morning.” She pressed a warm, firm kiss on Dani’s forehead, turned and was gone.Just outside the tent voices mingled, an alto and tenor lover’s duet and their footsteps hurried away into silence. Next Chapter: Chapter 18 new Inkshares.BrowseBar(); Leaving

A friend and confidante, Barb would listen to Dani, she would say all the right things, soothe Dani’s hurt feelings and with heartfelt sympathy – with honest heartfelt love. It would be so easy to call her but Dani had to be strong. Barb was happy in Texas, at work on a nursing degree from Texas Baptist College. The last thing she needed was Dani’s cloud of despair raining misery on her head.

A friend and confidante, Barb would listen to Dani, she would say all the right things, soothe Dani’s hurt feelings and with heartfelt sympathy – with honest heartfelt love. It would be so easy to call her but Dani had to be strong. Barb was happy in Texas, at work on a nursing degree from Texas Baptist College. The last thing she needed was Dani’s cloud of despair raining misery on her head.

Barb being straight and all. A friend and confidante, Barb would listen to Dani, she would say all the right things, soothe Dani’s hurt feelings and with heartfelt sympathy – with honest heartfelt love. It would be so easy to call her but Dani had to be strong. Barb was happy in Texas, at work on a nursing degree from Texas Baptist College. The last thing she needed was Dani’s c