The Book of Trials || ONC 2019

Chapter Twelve

The little girl stood, now, at the foot of three graves: two large ones and a small headstone between them. She wore a plain black dress and stood in a group of similarly dressed people with downcast gazes, but though she was surrounded by mourners, it was quite clear the girl was standing by herself in that yard.

Her curly hair blew around her shoulders and across her dampened cheeks, her small hands clutching the only possession she dared keep from the loved ones she'd lost. She read the graves to herself long after the group around her had dispersed.

Here lies the fair and noble souls of Anya Tei and Belleth Gerdo Phelde, and the young maiden Juna Ane Phelde. May they forever rest in peace.

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"Mama, something's wrong! She's crying!"

A little girl stood in front of me, her toffee hair blurry between my heavy lids and her bright round eyes sending a pang through my chest.

"Juna..." The name stuck in my throat.

"Tabie, go grab a pitcher of water. Quick," a matronly voice ordered, and the girl's footsteps pattered off.

Someone patted a cloth to my forehead and fussed over the multiple layers of blankets draped over me. What part of me wasn't numb felt like a roaring, stinging fire and a groan bubbled up my throat.

"Are you awake, dear?" Hands cupped my cheeks and I tried to push away from the unfamiliar voice with a nonexistent effort from my body. "Can you open your eyes for me?"

Her words were muffled and far-off as if she were speaking from the opposite end of a cave, and the echo made my head throb something awful. It wasn't long before my body gave out and I returned to the world of darkness and peace.

+++

Three loud knocks rang in my ears, followed by hurried footsteps and the creak of an old wooden door.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but have you seen a dark-skinned, curly-haired girl around my age and about this tall?" a charming male voice spoke from somewhere distant. A small gasp followed.

"Do you know her?" the same female voice from earlier inquired, a hint of excitement in her voice. "I think I know who you're talking about—please, do come in."

I opened my eyes. Petite wooden walls with petite off-white windows surrounded me on all sides and a red and pink quilt hung on the wall right above my head. I laid on what appeared to be a bed and was covered from head to toe in heavy wools and cottons.

My body burned with a thousand pins and needles as if I'd been frozen and thawed like poultry meat. I winced, my head spinning, and closed my eyes once again just as light poured through the doorway and several people entered the room.

There was a sharp intake of breath when I opened my eyes again and before I could breathe, Lefeli was kneeling next to me with a childish worry in her eyes.

"Veia!" She sniffled and embraced me in a hug over awkward angles and multiple layers of blankets. "We thought you'd been sold to those evil men, and then you didn't turn up in Kalahkat and Evyne came back alone and I thought you'd died!" She wailed loudly and hugged me harder. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

I glanced past Lefeli to the other figures in the room and my eyes were immediately drawn to the gray scarf and annoyingly perfect complexion of Atlas. I couldn't recognize the look on his face, but somehow he was different than before. Perhaps I was delirious.

"You look horrible."

This comment came from Evyne, the other familiar face in the room, but she stood with her weight on one leg and her arms folded in front of her almost as if she were impressed I could look this bad.