Freedom's Horizon (WLW)

Part One: Chapter Fourteen

"I already explained." She knelt down and held her hand out toward Aimee who took it very hesitantly. "We had a wise woman who taught us--"

"Your wise woman..." She got up to her feet letting Margaret hoist her on shaky legs and glanced over Esme's desk where that framed drawing always lay. Feeling a tap at her side, she turned to find Margaret raising her pullover and she let her put it on her torso in a trance. Aimee thought for a moment, then remembered Margaret saying the wise woman was dead and she felt certain of her identity. "She...She was Taria...wasn't she...?"

"How...?" Margaret got nose and nose with her and her breath sped up as she trapped Aimee in place with her hands on either side of her along the desk. "You heard her name at your pledging, but you never heard more than that from me. Certainly not from Esme after you did what you did. So, how the bloody hell do you know she was the woman of which I spoke?"

Shivering at the chill in Margaret's eyes, Aimee leaned back against the desk as she braced her hand along her pulsing neck, but she followed. "Felipe told me about her. And that she is gone now. If you could bring me back, why not her? If you can bring him and Gally back, why not Taria?"

Margaret's face shown pain and she took a step away. "She was dead for over a week. The only reason Esme even agreed to do what she did was because she thought they could get more herbs sooner. They thought they had enough already in our storage here, but--"

"Wait..." Aimee put a hand on her wrist in fear that she may retreat before she got all her answers, as the crew always seemed to do. "What did Esme agree to do?"

Margaret stared at her blankly, then unsuccessfully tried yanking her hand away and scowled. "Kill her. Esme killed her. You..." Margaret stepped back and shook her head. "You did not know that part, did you?"

"No..." Aimee let her go and stared down at the floor. The way Felipe described it, Taria was like family to Esme. The idea of her willingly hurting her family beyond that of upholding the articles was unfathomable, previously, but after seeing her attack Felipe...perhaps... No, she was bewitched, remember? Aimee shook her head as the idea just wouldn't sink in. Esme struggled enough as it was to uphold the articles, visibly falling apart each time. She was most alive when defending them. Aimee glanced upward toward Margaret once more, nibbling her bottom lip and absentmindedly running her thumb along her wrist as she racked her brain for any semblance of a rational explanation, and then stammered, "How... How could she have done that? She and Felipe were her--"

"Family?" Margaret walked to the door, lulling her along with herself, and took hold of its handle. "Yes, she was. Actually, she and Taria..." She shook her head and her face grew red as she stared back toward Aimee. "That's not important right now. She and Taria knew it would come down to it in the end and she flogged her to death in order to get away from Francisco."

At the name, Aimee recoiled her hand and took a step back. "Francisco?"

"Yes. He did not just hurt Esme once. He has hurt her twice. Thrice actually, and in the deepest of ways possible." Margaret looked back at her over her shoulder with the most saddened expression Aimee had witnessed, but her eyes remained fierce like the morning sun creeping up the eastern horizon, reminding them it was alive. "I was there when it happened. Not even Genny took it well and I cannot understand her actions today, but I know Esme only left to keep us safe from her. Genny... She is an even more complicated woman than I thought.

"She is the only member of the crew that I can safely say I would never trust no matter what she did to earn it. I have felt that way for months, but before, she was just Genny. Quiet and always watching everything from a distance unless one of us was in danger. This just is not like her and she has not been herself for some time now, but this...this is worse than I ever expected. I still do not understand it all myself. I am not sure that I can."