Chapter 14: Exploration

Unable to live with their stepmother who didn’t want them around, a brother and sister ventured into the woods to make a new life for themselves. They set off towards one of the neighboring towns. Somewhere along the way, however, they got lost. In their joy, they’d become careless.

Thrown off of the path, they tried to make their way back via the crumbs that had fallen from their bread,, but it was to no avail. Birds had pecked the crumbs away. The brother and sister had no way nor hope of reaching their destination. Unprepared for the night, they huddled together, their teeth chattering from the cold and fear.

Their prayers were answered when a woman stepped before them, wearing a shawl and fur clothing. She explained that she had a house not too far from where they were. It was a house much too big for her. They could stay there for the night.

Although the siblings were apprehensive at first, they realized they couldn’t deny a warm and safe place to sleep, especially not from a woman so kind-seeming. On the way there, she offered them hard candy. Having already eaten through their rations, the siblings were too hungry to resist the stranger’s gift.

They never made it to the woman’s house. Laced with a valerian off-shoot, the candy acted as a sedative powerful enough to make them lose consciousness. It may have been for the best that the drug had more of an effect on the sister than it did her brother. She missed the worst parts of his torture, only catching the end of his life through a half-awake haze.

Chained up and surrounded by a circle of woods dwellers, she watched them spit roast her brother’s limbs over a fire. Wild-eyed, they leered at her. The woman from earlier directed the whole affair, telling her compatriots when to turn the charring flesh for optimal taste.

The woods dwellers had a worse fate in store for the sister. She became their slave, to be used however they wished. Pulled deeper into the woods, the only possible rescue she had was death, and they made sure she wouldn’t have it. She was much too useful for them to discard her like that.

That was the story that swirled around in Zinnia Trotter’s mind as she followed closely behind her friend. Ellie’s adherence to the dirt path had kept Zinnia from voicing her concerns—she was actually surprised at Ellie wasn’t wandering all over the place—but the leeway she’d been given her had worn out.

“What is it that you do here exactly?” Zinnia asked her. Ellie stopped and turned around, hatchet in hand and a smile on her face.

“I don’t know. Wander, look for stuff?”

“...Why are you saying that like you’re not sure?”

“What I do changes every time I’m here,” Ellie said, “but basically I like looking for flowers and plants I can’t find in Stockbrunn. It’s fun.”

“You look for plants with a hatchet and lockpicking supplies?”

Ellie lifted the hatchet. “Yeah! I might need to chop something or defend us. Um, not that we’re going anywhere dangerous. You just never know,” she said. “And about the lockpicking stuff...well, you’re smart, you can figure out why.”

“I’m not helping you break into someone’s house. We can turn around right now if that’s what you’re planning on doing.”

“What? I wouldn’t mess with any places that aren’t abandoned.”

“You shouldn’t mess with any places at all,” Zinnia said. “You don’t know who they belong to.”

“They don’t belong to anybody. They’re old houses nobody lives in anymore.”

“What happens if someone is? Something bad could happen to you…” She couldn’t stomach the thought. The possible tragedies were endless. “Is this what you’ve been doing whenever you sneak off here?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “You’re getting way too caught up on my gear. All I do is walk around and look for things.”

Zinnia couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something Ellie was hiding from her, but that wasn’t new. Ellie was more tight-lipped than she let on. “Okay.”

“I’m serious! I’ve got this botany guidebook. You’ve heard of leven-tinte flowers, right?”

Even though flowers weren’t her thing, she decided to play along. “Yeah.”

“They grow around where Ianes’ Wall is. They’re special because the direction they face can point you towards a rarer kind of flower, one that’s even harder to find than leven-tinte flowers.”

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“Is that where we’re going?” Zinnia narrowed her eyes. Ianes’ Wall marked the border between human and wolven territory.

“Yep! We don’t have too much longer to go until we get there, so let’s get to stepping.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“You’re full of questions today,” Ellie said with a soft sigh.

“You want to go to Ianes’ Wall to look at flowers. Sorry if I’m confused.”

“Why’d you come in the first place if you’re just going to fight me on everything I want to do?”

“I came because I wanted a break from Stockbrunn,” Zinnia said. “I’m sorry for assuming that all we were going to do was walk and talk. I didn’t think you’d want to do something like go to Ianes’ Wall.”

“We can walk and talk in town. We should do something different, like—”

“Put our lives at risk?”

“You put your life at risk all the time with that Arse End stuff.”

“It’s Arntzen. Stop calling it that. And I’m not putting my life at risk. I’m in control of what’s going on with that. You don’t have any control over what happens here.”

“You can’t control people,” Ellie argued. “Anyone could snap and do something to you. Imagine if they didn’t like your prices and decided to hurt you and take all of your stuff. That’s something that could happen!”

“You act like I’m dealing with madmen. They’re normal people. You, on the other hand, are gambling with your life,” Zinnia said. “Your scenario you made up for me can happen to you, too. No one you meet in the woods will care that you’re Stockbrunn’s heiress. Your title won’t save you here.”

“It doesn’t have to. I can save myself just fine without it,” she snapped. “I killed a bear the last time I was here. I know how to handle myself.”

“I don’t think it counts if you killed one with your family.” The Navarretes, Ellie’s paternal family, were known for their hunting prowess. It didn’t surprise Zinnia in the least bit that Ellie may have assisted them in taking down a bear.

“It wasn’t with my family. I was with Marietta and Sunflower. You want to know the real reason why Sunflower’s foot was messed up? She fell in a hole,” Ellie said. On a roll, she continued, “and you know what? Marietta’s not bad. She helped us and didn’t abandon us, so you can stop thinking the worst of her.”

Zinnia should’ve seen it coming. This was a classic Ellie move. Whenever she got cornered, she’d spout lie after lie. “Alright, you killed a bear.”

“Yeah, I did. It was huge.”

“It must’ve been,” Zinnia said. Ellie’s imagination wouldn’t let the bear be anything but monstrous.

“So you’ll shut up and come to Ianes’ Wall with me?”

“Ellie…”

“This is your chance to see something you’ve never seen before. Haven’t you always wondered about it? It’s not the same as reading about it or looking at paintings of it. You have to see it.”

“It’s a wall,” Zinnia said. Of all things Ellie could entice her with...

“An actual wall, one that’s different from the ones that are keeping us in Stockbrunn. The way I see it, you and me are in the same boat. We’ve got all sorts of people making us stuck in Stockbrunn. Your parents. Mine. So why are we forcing ourselves to stay, too? Aren’t we owed a little escape time? And it’s a tiny escape, a really small one, just a little sightseeing in the woods. This is as much of the outside world as we’re allowed to see, Zinnia. A small glimpse. I think you’re doing yourself a huge disservice by refusing to go.”

“I get what you’re saying, really I do, but I’m saying no because I don’t want us to get killed.”

“You’ve come this far. What’s a little bit longer?”

Zinnia had to admit that the offer was compelling. They didn’t have to linger at the wall or anything like that. They could walk over, check it out, and then they could go right home. The adventure was limited to checking out the landmark. When she phrased it like that, it sounded so simple and easy.

It had been a long while since Zinnia had done something that she didn’t have to do, besides her secondary studies.

Even though she knew the potential risk involved, she agreed to it. She said, “okay.”

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A/N: Voting is still happening for the latest chapter (Chapter 25) on the main website. Voting for that chapter will end Tuesday at 11:59 PM EST.

The next update on RRL will be Chapter 14.2.