The Art of the Corset (2017)

Chapter Five- The Danger of Black Skies

Furthering her distance from the door, she picked up the clay bowl that had been thrown on the ground due to one of the men's anger, before then raising it over her head. Coming closer to the man, she could smell the stench of strong alcohol and sweat. Closing her eyes, she brought her hands down and the bowl crashed into a zillion pieces around the trio-falling mainly around Marth and the intruder.

Finding him to only be stunned, she turned with fear collecting in her eyes before the man was then knocked completely unconscious by Marth-who used a log to deliver the final blow. Wiping sweat from his lip, Marth moved towards her and analyzed her for injuries.

"I was worried they had found you...The things those horrid men would do to you." He gave a look insinuating something alongside rape or even death before then showing his attention to his father.

The older man was laying in the fetal position, motionless. Marth tried to ease him onto his lap, but found that the left side of his face-that had been resting on the floor, showed signs of deep trauma. Along with bruising and bleeding, his teeth were stained with his own blood.

"We need to seek him aid, and swiftly!' He spoke in a panic before hearing a crackling sound outside the house. Before they could investigate, a window nearby broke as there had been a torch thrown into the wooden structure. Instantly catching fire, Marth moved to exit towards the back before fire was then thrown in through his father's bedroom window-causing the hall to catch fire. Looking around frantically as his father moaned at his feet, he looked to Evelyn with great dismay. Everything around him became engrossed in flames-causing them to find it difficult to breathe. Finding the time to grow more and more thin and their chances of survival to be escaping with the last bits of air, he realized he could make an exit himself.

Stepping back just enough distance, he leaned over a fallen beam and saw how it made a small lift to a broken part of the window. Motioning to her, he motioned for her to give him her hand as she then accepted. Pulling her almost effortlessly, he wasted no time in breaking the window fully and setting her on the pane of it. "Move to the barn...hide in the loft." Before he could instruct further, he was turning his way back inside just as Evelyn noticed a low hanging slab of wood that was certain to impale anything in its path. Fearing this, she pulled on Marth until he fell beside her outside the house, just in time to save his own life.

Standing up in attempts to find a way inside, he found it impossible. Everything was either filled with too many flames or too much smoke-making it difficult to see, as well as breathe. Hearing footsteps around the corner, Marth pulled Evelyn towards the barn and quickly jerked her inside before keeping the door seemingly untouched.

"There." He instructed before taking a pitchfork from a nearby holder and following after her, up a ladder. Just as he made it to the top, the barn door slid open and the sounds of enemy steps echoed in the nearly empty barn. Holding the pitchfork close to his arm, he had it positioned towards the ladder as Evelyn listened closely to the sounds they had been making-where they were located and what their mission being here was.

"He has to be here somewhere!"

"Perhaps the fire got him."

"The only one inside was the old man."

The confirmation of his father's demise placed Marth in a state of guilt. Just as the men left, he blinked as a tear fell down his far cheek. Wiping it away before Evelyn could be sure what it was, he turned to her.

"We should find some place else to stay...There is an ally of mine in a nearby town..."

"Marth..." Setting her soft touch on his hand, she could feel him shaking. His gaze moved up to her before she gave him a look of great condolence.

"Thank you for saving my life. You are valiant and strong. Whatever they seek from you, they will never take that away."

"There is something odd about this..."

She gave him a look of concern.

"He was not even my father."

Her look deepened from concern to confusion. "He thought I was his son and I took him in...cared for him. He told me stories of battles and the women he encountered. He deserved something better than that." He spoke as he averted his gaze and threw the pitchfork on the ground beside him. "He deserved a hero's death."

Feeling guilty, she raised from the loft and moved towards the ladder.

"Is something upsetting you?"

"I have caused far too much damage. You have lost so much in just me being present." He then gave her a look of confusion.

"Those men had nothing to do with you."

"Oh?"

"They were...my wife's brothers."

The four letter word froze her heart as he spoke it with an obvious sadness.

"Your wife?" Repeating the word while still in shock, he gave a small explanation as he moved them both from the loft, to the barn floor.

"I was married when I was quite young-and fell in love with a girl who sold flowers. She was lively and naive. She was a wicked woman with a swift mind and dark heart."

"You do not have to tell me, if it is painful for you."

"I suppose it should be, but how can you mourn something that you never had?"

"What it is that you mean?"

"She was my wife, by law-I was bound to her, and her to me. To the world, she was everyone's. She exploited herself not because of means of survival-but for pleasure. She spoke of the men of the world as if had been a journal of some kind and not her husband. So many instances, she would return with marks of being with another-the scent of another man."

"That would be dreadful to ordeal..."

Just as they lingered near the barn door, he peeked out before turning back to her.

"Those men think I killed her, when it was her own wicked lust that did it."

"She died of a-"

"Feminine disease...it is without a name-but feared by all women of the night."

Evelyn looked intensely towards him as she knew of the topic of his conversation quite well. Lucille and the other girls referred to it as the infection of one's irresponsibility. Having been working girls with lustful intentions, she then realized his wife had been one of them.

"Can I speak something very personal?" He asked, withdrawing herself from her own thoughts. She nodded with an approved response before he collected the correct words before speaking them aloud, "How is it that life can be so cruel and so beautiful?"

"I can guess that everything is that way. How can you have the stars without the darkness? Or the rainbows without rain?"

He gave an impressed expression before moving quietly towards her. "That woman who I was bound to...she was cold and manipulative...the part of the darkness. But I see now that the stars are more beautiful than the luring darkness. The beautiful, bright, desirable star." Giving his full attention to her lips, he quickly withdrew before clearing his throat and venturing near the back of the barn towards the woods-with Evelyn following close behind.

"I am sorry about your pain, Marth." Ceasing for just a moment between low hanging branches, he turned to supply his attention.

"You have no reason to be sorry, Evelyn. For if I would have have experienced that darkness, I wouldn't know to appreciate the star."

*HEY GUYS. I'M SO IN LOVE WITH WRITING THIS STORY! JUST SO YA KNOW, I WILL BE GOING ON VACATION FOR 10 DAYS BUT WILL TRY TO UPDATE ANY CHANCE I GET. UNTIL THEN, PLEASE STAY PATIENT. I PROMISE THESE CHAPTERS WILL BE WORTH IT! xoxoxoxo