UNGLOVED

Chapter Eight (revised)

A prickly vine swung in Liriel's face, startling her as she popped in to her intended destination in her private garden. She had selected the secluded location behind a screen of leaves in case someone was posted to guard her rooms should she happen to return. The trip, though brief, had drained her significantly, but she wasn't completely out of maru yet.

She glanced around the ivy-covered brick walls. The place was closed in, only accessible from inside her apartment or through the one small gate where gardeners came through to work. No one was about. She crept close to the wall adjoining her bedroom, placing her ungloved hand on the rough bricks. She reached out, her mind drifting along the surface and through the pores of baked clay to view the interior. It wasn't a skill she had perfected, more in line with her brother's talents, but she could figure it out.

Mentally casing the interior, she found no one inside her apartment either. She relaxed a little at the thought. There might still be someone posted outside the front door. She would have to check.

Stepping around the vines that hid her, she crouched low, so that no one would see her head. She wasn't tall, but perhaps she might be visible from a window or balcony in an adjacent building. She pulled the tattered rags of her veil over her face and crept along until she reached the apartment entrance. She opened the door a crack, just wide enough to squeeze through, and entered her bedroom. 

Everything appeared normal here. Her closets were full of clean clothes, and Liriel desperately wanted to clean up and change, but she must first check if anyone was outside her door.

She crept into the living room which was undisturbed since her departure. She leaned beside the door leading outside to the front of her building. This unit held four apartments, each facing a different direction for increased privacy. Each apartment had its own entrance and garden. 

She placed her hand again on the wall next to the door and pushed her awareness through to the other side. She always seemed to figure out how to do something when she needed to, as she had when she transported Lorenzo away from the soldiers who were beating him. Drawing maru from plants was another thing that she had, by chance and need, learned to do without instruction. 

There was someone standing outside her door, but she could sense his sleepy mind drifting from his task. She glimpsed her sister, Selana, approaching the door and ordering the guard to stand aside.

Liriel slipped into a closet where her cloaks and warm things were stored. It smelled of wool and fur which tickled her nose. She held her breath until the feeling passed and kept the door open a crack to watch.

"Selana!" Liriel kept her voice low so as not to surprise her sister. If she cried out, the guard outside would be alerted.

Selana whirled around. "Liriel!"

"Hush!" Liriel stepped out into the room and waved her hands downward. "You'll alert the guard."

It looked as if Selana hadn't slept in days. Her amber hair was dull and unkempt, and her taupe robes badly creased. Liriel felt a pang of guilt for troubling her sister. 

Selana crossed her arms. "I should indeed. You've done an awful thing, freeing that criminal."

Stepping across the space between them, Liriel touched her sister lightly on the arm, and Selana dropped her pose to take Liriel into her arms, holding her for a long while. 

Stepping back a little, Liriel stood while Selana examined her face. Her sister stroked her hair back with her finely-gloved hand. Selana never removed her gloves except for her work searching for gemstones in the ground or when cutting them to perfection.

"You're filthy, where have you been?"

Liriel sighed. "It's a long story. I need to clean up. It's been days." 

"Val is livid, and Father won't even speak about it." She shook her head in dismay. "Did you really free that horrible villain? How did you manage to get him away with an entire unit surrounding you?" She began to pace the room as she spoke. She froze, turning back to Liriel. "I don't know how you are going to keep from being locked up, or worse!"

"I know, Selana, and I'm really sorry I made you worry so much. I don't even know what to say. I saw Val's men beating their prisoners so badly. I thought they were going to kill them." 

"It would be more than they deserved, filthy Mundatar!"

It wasn't going to be easy making Selana understand. Most people thought the same way. She remembered those moments when she had taken Lorenzo away, and what had gone through her mind. "I know you will find this hard to understand, but when I saw him, he was...bleeding...dying. I couldn't watch or just walk away. I'm a healer, a Marulan. I don't even know how I did it, but took him away using maru. We ended up on the other side of the river in the woods." 

For a long time, Selana just stared at her. Liriel wouldn't have believed what she'd done either, before now. Then a flicker of annoyance crossed Selana's face. "You always had more talent than both Val and I combined." 

Liriel hugged her sister. There is was. It had always been a sore spot between her and her siblings. "I need to talk to Father."

"He's furious with you. He's been raging and pacing for days." Selana shook her head. "I'm not sure he'll talk to you at all. He's likely to throw you in a cell and leave you there for a very long time."

Liriel looked up into her taller sister's face. Her pinched expression was so typical. "That's why I was hoping to find you here. You can calm him down enough so that he'll listen to me. You always know how to pave my way."

Selana looked away at this. A sharp vertical line surfaced on her brow. "I'm tired of fixing up your mess. I wish you'd just behave yourself instead of always getting into trouble."

Dropping her arms from Selana's waist, Liriel turned away for a moment. "What would you have me do? They were going to beat their prisoners to death. If Valran were captured, would you want to him treated that way at the hands of his enemies?"

"You have a point, I suppose, Liri." Selana raised her brows and nodded. "I just wish you had found a way to save the day without breaking the law. What you did could be seen as treason, and by rights Father could even order your death."

The thought chilled Liriel. She had been impulsive, she knew that, but she still felt she had done the right thing. "You know I wouldn't do anything to compromise Kalad in this war. I hate the fighting, the death, everything it represents, but even trying to stop it couldn't be seen as treason, could it?"

Selana rolled her eyes and raised her arms in the air. "Why must you always try to change the world? Can't you simply do your job and heal people and deliver babies?"

"I'm sorry, Sela. I'll try harder, but it's just not in my nature."

Selana laughed. "I supposed it isn't." 

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I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Ungloved. If you did, please consider voting so that it has a chance to receive some more attention by rising up the ranks in the (rather large) Fantasy category. I also enjoy comments, so please feel free to let me know what you thought.

Cheers!

Rebecca