April 17, 1180
No less than ten minutes over the fire and the mixture had yet to spew forth a single bubble. Had she done something wrong? She must have. Too high a concentration of solid ingredient, perhaps, or too low a storage temperature--of course, the latter could be blamed on the weather, but the thought stung nonetheless.And it only served as further proof to Laveria that this day did not in the least promise to be a good one.
She'd retired late, as she'd refused to turn in before she'd heard from her family. Severin had guards, as did most of his children, but Aerina and her family were vulnerable, as were Raia and Vera. It wasn't until Rifden had shown up to confirm that Aerina and the kids were settled at Sir Searle's castle, then Falidor for his family at Lonriad's, and Isidro for Vera's at his and Riona's, that Laveria even thought about going to bed, and once she actually did, sleep was a much more considerable feat than simply resting her head against a pillow. Add that to having run out of bread and a batch of her merchandise expiring and the troubling lack of any messenger bearing good news...
The mixture still hadn't boiled by the time the knock at the door finally came, and it wasn't the right knock. Not that she would have recognized any guard Severin sent--partly why she'd refused his offer of posting a few here, as she knew better than to trust just anyone--but there was something about it, some intrinsic tone in the sound or some variation in pressure that told her that whoever it was, they were not here to reassure her. Whoever it was, she would be, in the short-term, better off not answering.
And yet, there was some other sense--a tug at her heart, the faces of loved ones dancing in front of her--that said whoever it was had not come without some cosmic purpose. Whoever it was, she would answer. Whoever it was, she was meant to open the door.
Even if it was the last door she ever opened. "Figures that you're mad enough to come here even with the whole shire on the watch for you."
"Maybe." He crossed the threshold of her shop and kicked the door shut behind him. "But the fact remains that they still haven't found me."NEXT CHAPTER:
5 comments:
A post at a reasonable hour? Blasphemy.
Anyway, the character profiles have a new home:
http://citizensofnaroni.proboards.com/index.cgi
Feel free to register if you like; only the admin (a.k.a. moi) can add profiles, but members can comment (point out typos/character inconsistencies/dead links/wrong CC, or just comment on the post content, or even just chat if you want). There is also a members only area for making suggestions and addressing issues. Members have to be approved by me, but as long as I recognize you from somewhere, this shouldn't be a problem.
Dun dun dunnn! Severin made a mistake keeping him around, methinks.
Hey, that was fast. Congrats on getting the profiles up and running!
Yeaaaah, might have worked out better just to smite the guy :S
Thanks! I'm still not very happy about the whole situation, though. *shakes fist at Blogger*
Holy shnikes!! *hides under the bed* He's on the loose!!
At least Laveria's got him, right? I put my money on Laveria over Remiel any day of the week. Laveria is a tough old lady, and those are hard to kill. Remiel? Remiel's just alive because Severin wanted answers before he wanted Remiel's heart on a plate.
*gulps* At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself ...
Indeed, he is. Hence why I never confirmed nor denied any speculation about the issue being Searle :S
Laveria is indeed a tough old lady. One of the toughest. That said, the fact that Remiel managed to escape means he must have a few tricks up his sleeves...
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