The Art of the Corset (2017)

Chapter Twenty Six- War

Evelyn found herself going mad after three days with no word from the battlefield. Fearing the worst, she spent most of her time in her window, desperate to see the sight of Marth or the sound of galloping horses, but there was nothing of the kind. Growing impatient, she went to the library in hopes of finding some way of passing time quickly and began scanning books from top to bottom-pulling the most interesting titles to view before skimming the first page. If it was not to her liking, she would place it back in its place before moving on to the next one. Having done this for the better portion of an hour, she eventually grew bored and then found her way outside where she could see several servants all marked by their day's work, brushing horses and feeding them as many of the other stables had been empty due to the knight's using those horses for battle. Moving passed each stable, she found how they were all carved with names deep inside of the wood just inside of eye shot. Bringing her fingers to the letters, she read the names aloud before coming to Marth's. To her surprise, his brothers had been beside him, with a horse sleeping upon the ground. Out of curiosity, she made her way inside and saw how the horse was the oldest of them all. Having been exhausted from his strenuous life, he did not budge as she moved, but his soft breaths could be heard on the floor in front of him. Loosing her step while trying to avoid excrement of the horse, she fell on a nearby pile of hay. Almost immediately, something jabbed deep into her back as she pulled it to sight. Bound in a beautiful leather exterior, the initials upon the front had been unmistakable. It belonged to Marth's brother.

Carrying the book underneath her arm until she was able to make it back into her room, she anxiously passed by servants and wished them a good day until finally making it to her own chambers. Placing herself upon her windowsill, she opened the binding and found a beautiful red rose pressed between the pages to fall onto her lap. Picking it up, she was accidentally pricked by one of the thorns and sucked on her finger as she read the first page.

For the rest of three days, Evelyn did not set the book down for a moment. She learned so much of Marth's childhood due to the words of his brother. How cruel their father had been and how they never knew their birth mother as she died at a younger age than either of them can remember her well enough. He also spoke of Marth's consistent need to protect his brother and how he would often sacrifice what he would want so his brother did not have to go without it. Picturing a younger Marth made her smile before the pain of not knowing his current status began to tear at her. Setting her head back against the windowsill for a moment while her feet were pressed against her chest in front of her, she took a deep breath before hearing a distant thudding in the distance. Remaining still for a moment, she then heard the sound approaching closer and recognized it to be that of racing horses. Throwing the book underneath her bed to be unseen by those who may come looking for answers of her, she ran down the corridors before finding the front courtyard to be filled of knights and soldiers. Some had not returned as only their horses were being guided back to the castle. Passing by all of the soldiers, she anxiously searched for Marth, but found no sign of him. Finally seeing the King himself, she quickly moved towards him.

"Your majesty, where is Marth?"

"I would guess the infirmary...after what had happened, he was quite the hero."

"What was it that happened?"

Not giving the king a chance to explain, she darted towards a room that was located on a shed separate from the castle. Renovated as a comfortable cabin, it held several cots and multiple chests for storage spaces. Phials of all shapes and sizes sat on shelves that were organized from the floor to the ceiling and accessible via a ladder that was just beside the door. Seeing a man badly injured with blood covering his face, her heart began to race. Finding it to be the same clothes she recalled Marth being in, she sat beside him and gently caressed his face before tears swelled in her eyes.