Light Fingers 5 - No Choice

[aearwen]

When all seems darkest, Ivoreth has only one option left to her.

 

“Be careful, Dar!”  Ivoreth’s warning was in an intense hiss.  The sun had yet to shine her light over the top of the wall, and so the orphanage trash heap was still covered in shadow.  This didn’t mean that others might not also have risen early – and be able to see the two of them poking through the smoking mess.  The sooner they were away from this place, the better!

 

“I will,” Daren smiled widely at her and then turned to begin digging where he stood.

 

Ivoreth bent as well, determined to find herself something better to wear than a thin gown from the Healing Houses as quickly as possible and get back to the cistern.  There had been no choice but to leave the coins behind with Raini – although she doubted many would be willing to look through the baby’s napkin for anything of value.  She sighed.  That was something else she’d have to do that day.  Raini only had three pieces of cloth, and all of them now were at the very least smelly and wet.

 

“Ivo – over here!”  Daren called to his sister in a soft voice.  When Ivoreth turned, she saw him holding up a thoroughly ragged pair of trousers.

 

She hurried over and took the garment from him.  Why they had been tossed was obvious – the back seam was almost completely split open, and what remained was dangerously worn.  But they would have to do.  She would keep some of the length of the gown and wear it like an undergarment – but only until she could find something in better shape.  She sat down in the clearest spot and slipped the trousers on.  They were loose on her – the extra padding of gown beneath them would help keep them on her, and perhaps tearing a strip from the bottom of the gown would make for enough of a belt to prevent accidents.

 

“These will do for now,” she nodded at her little brother, smiling back as she saw how much the idea that he’d found something first had pleased him.  She sat back down and pulled the trousers down to get at the bottom hem of the sleeping gown, which tore easily.  She stuffed the gown down inside the trousers carefully and pulled them back up again, using the narrow strip of linen to pull the loose material tight to her waist.

 

“Here.”  Daren came up to her again, this time with a threadbare tunic in hand.  “Try this too.  Somebody must have got some new clothes.”

 

It was perfect – the tunic was long enough to cover the gape in the back of the trousers and dingy enough to hide the white of the linen beneath.  She carefully pulled her sore arm from the wrapping and put the tunic on, then put the bandage back and slipped her arm back into the comfortable cradle.

 

“Come on – let’s get away from here.”  Ivoreth held out her good hand to her little brother.  He was far too good at sorting through trash heaps, and not at all mindful of things going on around him.  Being this close to an orphanage was a scary thing; and besides, the apothecary shop would open soon.  She wanted that medicine back.

 

It was time to seek the shadows and get back to Raini, who had awakened that morning with a rasping sound in her breathing and cheeks blushing with fever.  The little girl had finally eaten the rest of the soft part of the bread after a great deal of begging and pleading from Daren as well as Ivoreth, but had refused to do more than suck on the last piece of fruit – and finally dropped off to sleep again.  Ivoreth had left her sitting up against the wall instead of curled down on the ledge like always because the coughing and rasping got worse when she was flat. 

 

“Ivo?” Daren asked more loudly than the hour would find proper.

 

“Shhhh!”  Ivoreth had the two of them backed into the darkness just outside the orphanage boundaries, waiting for a pair of servants from another residence nearby to leave so that they could head toward the outskirts of the City.  “What is it?”

 

“Balil wants to take me out – teach me how to…”

 

“No!”  Ivoreth whirled and shook a finger at her brother.  “I don’t want you going out with Balil.  He takes too many chances.”

 

“But he’s good at it,” Daren complained.  “And he always has food – fresh food, that he got with the coin made in trade for what he finds.”

 

“And if the Guards ever catch him breaking into rooms at the inns or people’s homes, he’ll hang.  No.”  Ivoreth shook her head.  “Some day, I’m going to have the coin to buy you a real position as a helper in an inn or stable.  They don’t take them what has been pegged as thieves.”

 

“You do it,” Daren stuck his chin out stubbornly.  “You go to the inns sometimes…”

 

“I do it because I have to, Dar, not because I enjoy it.”  Ivoreth sighed, flattened her back into the shadow behind a set of crates and then turned to look down into a slightly angry and frustrated face. 

 

How could she tell him that being forced to actually steal from an inn was even more dangerous than the little things she did on market day – that those caught in hired rooms going through other people’s things were hung practically the day after they were caught. 

 

“I do it now so that you and Raini don’t have to later on – and I only do it when I have to.  One day, when you have a real position somewhere that brings in regular coin, things will change and none of us will ever have to steal or snitch or cut pouch strings again.”  Her face folded into a scowl.  “But that Balil – he likes the danger too much and takes chances he doesn’t need to.  One day, he’ll make a mistake and get caught – and I don’t want you anywhere close by at the time.”

 

“I’d be more careful – honest!”

 

“No, Daren.  If you want to help, then learn to watch what goes on around you.  I can’t even take you to market day because you forget to keep an eye on the Guards.”  Ivoreth shook her head. 

 

“I’m learning…”

 

“Forget it - you’re not going out with Balil.”  Ivoreth saw the quick scowl of rebellion.  “I tell you what, though…  I’ll take you with me to next market day, and you can show me how careful you can be.  If you can prove you know how to keep out of sight, I’ll start letting you help a little – maybe snitch for us from the day-old rack outside Garlain’s – fair enough?”

 

Daren scuffed the toe of his sandal in the dust between cobblestones.  “I just want to help.”

 

The wistful tone always managed to make Ivoreth catch her breath.  “I know you do, Dar.  It’s just…”  She crouched down in front of him.  “I have to take care of you – keep you safe.  Da and Nan would have wanted me to, and I can’t do that if you’re out with Balil.”  She let her worry paint her face with a frown.  “What would I do if I lost you too?”  Her breath caught.  “I already lost Evi…”

 

Daren threw his arms around his big sister’s neck.  “You won’t lose me, Ivo.  I promise.”

 

Ivoreth held her little brother close.  “No, I won’t Dar.”

 

I can’t. 

 

oOoOo

 

“Promise me you’ll stay close to the drain.  I don’t want you to try anything.  Remember – I’ve promised to take you to market day.  But only if you don’t do anything between now and then.”

 

“I will, Ivo – I just want to be warm in the sun for a while.”  Daren’s face was open and smiling.  It wasn’t often that his big sister would let him play in the mouth of the drain with some of the other boys his age.  One of them had taken rotten cloth from one of the many trash heaps and tied it all together into a small ball that they would stand in a small circle and use ankles and knees to keep in the air. 

 

Ivoreth patted her little brother on the head.  He’d done well – he deserved a little time to be a child.  “Remember, stay close to the drain and don’t go anywhere else.”  She watched him trot off to join his friends.  As she watched, they settled in a relatively quiet corner of the street near the Gate, where masons had not long before rebuilt a wall and began their game – and their laughter.

 

He deserves some happy times.  I wish I could give him more.

 

She walked through the storm drain rubbing her sore shoulder, which had been aching for the better part of the morning. 

 

It probably wasn’t a great idea to take it out of the bandage to put the tunic on.

 

The moment she entered the cistern, however, she knew something was wrong.  There was a low moaning from the heights, and several in the opening moved aside as if to avoid contact with her. 

 

That’s funny – they usually just shove me aside.

 

With hope in her step, she began climbing the stairs to the ledge.  All she had to do was get the coins and buy more medicine for Raini.  Then she’d figure out how to get some boiling water to put it in.  She reached the ledge and turned right to head to her little sister, and then stopped cold in utter shock.  She turned and looked at the faces of the people on either side of the niche that had been their home in the cistern.  None could meet her gaze.

 

Who would have done such a thing?

 

With a cry of dismay, she hurried over and hastily pulled off the bandage from her arm and wrapped it around the nude body of her little sister.  Raini shivered violently and moaned before letting loose with a horrid, grinding cough and then leaning into her big sister’s warmth.  Ivoreth looked all over the narrow space that she and her brother and sister had laid claim to, but the blanket had vanished too – and there was no sign of who had taken it.  Even the sad pile of soggy napkins was scattered. 

 

Who would have guessed the coins were there? Who knew there even were coins?

 

Again Ivoreth looked around her at the others who shared the ledge with her, holding her little sister tightly to her.  Several couldn’t look her in the eye, and turned away to their own business the moment they noticed her looking at them in horror and confusion.  Her mind spun wildly with the enormity of her loss and what looked to be sure to follow.  There would be no medicine for Raini.  And her little sister was worse – much worse. 

 

Ivoreth knew in her heart that she had once more failed, and this time, her sister’s death would be all her fault.

 

oOoOo

 

She’d lost track of time, sitting on the cold ledge slowly rocking her little sister back and forth and holding her close when she coughed.  She’d cried until she had no more tears left, and then settled back against the cold stone to be with her sister for whatever time she had left.  Raini lay limply against her shoulder now, her grinding breaths coming slower and with more effort – and the heat from her fever poured through the thin wrapping of bandaging, making Ivoreth’s skin sweat under the tunic.

 

Filled with a hopelessness that had taken almost every bit of energy from her, Ivoreth finally raised her head to look around.  The sky above the cistern had darkened, and only what little light from the moon high overhead poured through the well opening.  Around her, she could hear the rustling and coughing of the others who were settling in for the evening.  And then it hit her:

 

Where’s Daren?

 

Her mind suddenly slipped into sharp focus.  Her little brother, who had gone out to play ball with other cistern boys, hadn’t returned to the ledge.  He wasn’t sitting huddled into her side the way he normally would during the nights, hiding from the deep darkness of night that he feared so much. 

 

“Daren?” she called quietly, hearing the echo of her call return to her from across the water.

 

“He’s taken, Ivo.”

 

Wide-eyed, Ivoreth turned to look at Jarem, who had appeared at the edge of the ledge in front of her.  “What?” she asked, her mind not accepting what it had heard.

 

He shuffled his feet.  “The way I hear it, Garlain complained to the Guard about losing so much of his day-old bread – and then pointed out Bran, Samul, Davit and Daren as the most likely thieves.”  Jarem looked as if he’d been weeping himself.  He had only had the one brother, and Samul was only six years old – a year younger than Daren. 

 

“Taken?  Where?”  Ivoreth whispered, not really wanting to hear the answer.

 

Jarem shrugged in the dim reflected moonlight.  “Those who were there said that Garith told the Guard they were orphans – so they’re probably sent off to one of those places.  Or prison – it really doesn’t matter, does it?”

 

Oh, Daren!  Not you too!

 

“What are we going to do?”  She stared at the older boy, for once wanting to hear someone else make a decision for her.

 

Jarem just shrugged again and sighed deeply.  “What can we do?  The Guards have them – they’re gone.”  He brushed aside a tear angrily, and then turned away from her.  “Take care of Raini, Ivo.  She sounds real bad.”  He shuffled away toward his own space halfway around the cistern from the stairs.

 

This isn’t real.  This is a bad dream – and all I have to do is wake up!  Please!

 

But she didn’t awaken.  This wasn’t a dream - it was a waking nightmare.

 

She numbly rocked Raini through another long coughing spell, her entire world – what little of it had been left her – in tatters about her.  She’d thought she’d cried all her tears.  She’d been wrong.

 

Daren taken.  Evien dead.  Raini dying.  I can’t do this anymore…

 

Slowly she got to her feet.  There was nothing left for her to do – nothing except take the very small chance that someone could help Raini.  But not here.  The only ones who might help were up on Sixth Circle, in the Healing Houses that Da said weren’t for folk like her.  Up where grand folk like Lord Elladan asked for trust on the one hand and then tried to have her tossed into an orphanage on the other.

 

I have no choice anymore.  I don’t want Raini to die.  They can take me away – I don’t care what happens to me anymore – but Raini deserves a chance to live.

 

Her steps were slow.  She knew she was walking right into the same kind of trap that had reached out and claimed her little brother.  But it didn’t matter anymore.  All that mattered was getting Raini to someone who could help her live.  Surely they wouldn’t turn their backs on a sick baby, or force a sick three-year-old to be a slave.

 

They wouldn’t be that cruel, would they?

 

It was a long walk back up the sloping streets to Sixth Circle – long and dangerous.  She heard the curfew bell from the Citadel ring just after passing through the gate to the Third Circle.  The streets were empty now, except for patrolling Guards and deep shadows.  Habit and two years of experience kept her carefully hidden until the way was clear for her to move forward, and then she would move as quickly as she could. 

 

At the Sixth Circle gate, she had to wait until a fight broke out in the inn before the Guards would move from their posts.  She had noticed little during her climb except that the higher she went in the city, the more alert and watchful the Guards seemed.  She worried about her little sister giving away their position with her coughing, but by the Fifth Circle, however, Raini wasn’t coughing anymore.  Ivoreth was both very grateful and terrified.  Her little sister was dead weight against her, her little head lying lifelessly on her shoulder. 

 

What if she dies before I can get her to the Healing Houses?

 

All too many times, the pain in her sore arm had grown back into a stabbing agony, and Ivoreth had felt as if she were about to drop her sister.  At that point, she would have to find a friendly shadow in which to crouch down and rest her arms for a few minutes before putting Raini back up on the hip and shoulder and starting up the hill again , biting her lip to keep from crying out herself.  But with all the handling and moving about, Raini hadn’t roused at all – or even whimpered. 

 

Once finally inside the Sixth Circle, Ivoreth looked at the darkened shadows that were the houses along the way with confusion and worry. 

 

How do I tell which House is the Healing House? They all look the same!

 

She struggled to remember just how far she had had to come before going through the Sixth Gate when she’d run away from the Healing Houses – but all she could remember was that she’d come down some distance before arriving at the gate.  The gate to the garden outside the Healing Houses had been wooden and overgrown with vines.  Ivoreth ducked into the shadow of a gate to wait while the Sixth Circle patrol walked slowly past her, her heart beginning to pound painfully.  Her progress from that point on was slow.

 

I don’t know what to do – which House to go to!  If I choose wrong, Raini will die!

 

The scent of flowers from beyond the gate she stood in front of now gently caught her attention, and she took a long, deep breath.  Was this the same, sweet smell that had surrounded her while she’d been in the garden, looking for the gate?  Was this the House she wanted?  Nearing the point of exhaustion, and her arm only barely wanting to support any weight at all, she squatted to renew her hold on her sister, and then straightened again.  Raini was barely breathing.

 

I have no choice – and no time. 

 

She felt the edges of the gate until she found the hole and the chain that dangled through it – and pulled.  The gate opened on nearly silent hinges, and Ivoreth stepped through and closed it behind her with a foot.  There was a door in the house that stood open to the garden, and the inside was lit with the warm light from a candle.  As Ivoreth looked, she could see that several of the windows that looked out over the gardens had lights softly glowing from somewhere within. 

 

Ivoreth closed her eyes for a moment.

 

All-Father, let me have made the right choice!

 

Taking a deep breath and very deliberately not letting herself think of anything other than getting help for her sister, Ivoreth walked toward the door – and then through it into an open hallway.  Confused and uncertain which way to go, she froze for a moment and listened.

 

Not far away she could hear the sound of men’s voices – and with her heart pounding so hard in her chest that she thought it might burst, she aimed her steps in that direction down a hallway lined with closed doors except for one.  As she neared the open door, she knew fear again, for one of the voices was very familiar.  Ivoreth peeked around the corner and had her fears confirmed – for the one standing and working at a bandage around the chest of another seated man had very long, black hair braided back on either side of his face and beautiful grey-blue eyes. 

 

He was smiling.

 

He said something in a teasing tone in a beautiful, musical language as he finished the final knot to the man with his back to the door.  The man replied in the same tongue with a low chuckle as he reached out for his shirt, draped over a nearby chair.

 

Ivoreth took a step into the room and called forth all her courage.

 

I can do this – for Raini.

 

“Lord Elladan?” she said in a very small voice.

 

Grey-blue eyes glanced up and over at the door, and then down to discover who had called – and then turned intense with concern.  “Merciful Estë!”

 

The other man turned and stared – and Ivoreth stared back. 

 

Is this the King?  Was he hurt? No – this man doesn’t have any silver hair…

 

The grand one she remembered so clearly strode over to Ivoreth with steps so swift and powerful that she flinched back hard and had to steel herself to keep herself from turning and running back the way she’d come.  Instead, she looked up into those beautiful grey-blue eyes as bravely as she dared.  “Help her – please?”

 

Ivoreth watched with astonishment as he sank to his knees next to her and very carefully took Raini from her arms, frowning at what he saw and felt.  The little girl heaved a noisy breath at being handled and then begin coughing in a way that Ivoreth was sure was tearing her insides apart.  He looked back at her, his gaze intense.  “She’s very sick, little one.”

 

I know that.

 

“Can you help her?”  It was the only question that mattered.

 

Without answering, he rose to his full height and spoke briskly in the musical language to the man he’d been bandaging, and then whirled toward the door.  “Follow me,” he told her and swept from the room.  Ivoreth blinked and then followed at a run – there was no way she was going to let him disappear with her little sister, even if he was a Lord and spent time with the King himself!  He wasn’t to be trusted – except perhaps as a healer.

 

He had called out several times as he’d strode down the hallway, and Ivoreth saw one woman wearing the grey gowns of the healers start toward them while another rushed away in the other direction.  He didn’t go far before he pushed open another of the closed doors and walked in.  Ivoreth followed him in, and then pushed herself into a nearby corner as the healer followed her in.  She folded her arms about herself defensively, but kept her eyes fixed on her sister.

 

He already had Raini lying on a high bed and was unwrapping her.  The moment the little girl was naked, she began a high-pitched cry that was completely different from any sound Raini normally made.   The Lord hushed at Raini in that gentle, musical language of his, and then took one of the fluffy cloths offered to him by the healer and wrapped her up again.  He bent and listened to her chest, his face stern and worried.

 

While the first healer bent to build a fire in the small hearth, a second healer came in bearing a basin of steaming water.  The Lord took a smaller, fluffy cloth and dipped it in the warm water and washed Raini’s face very tenderly.  The sight brought tears to Ivoreth’s eyes, for she could remember her Da doing that long ago.  Raini roused slightly, and then whimpered at the sight of strangers.  But her energy to complain ran out quickly, and her eyes drooped and then closed again.

 

He snapped an order at the first healer, who immediately straightened and left the room – only to return a few moments later with a steaming mug that smelled of a bitter tea. 

 

Is that the medicine the apothecary gave me before?

 

“How long has she been like this?” he asked in a gentle tone as he poured a little of the tea from the mug into a flat dish and blew on it to cool it before using a spoon to try to give it to Raini.

 

“She started coughing a few days ago – but she’s had a little fever for over a week.  She got worse today.”  Ivoreth began to shiver with the realization that Raini was going to get the help she needed.  “Will she be all right?”

 

“She has the lung fever, little one – and is very sick, as I told you.”  The intense grey-blue gaze sought out Ivoreth in her misery.  “I cannot promise anything yet, but I have summoned one who is a much better healer than I.  He should be here soon.”

 

Ivoreth nodded her understanding and bit her lip.  She looked around the room nervously.

 

When will the Guards get here?  Has he not called them yet?

 

Knowing that her time was short, she decided to ask the next most important thing.  “Promise me…”  The grey-blue gaze came up to meet hers immediately, and Ivoreth’s courage failed for a moment before she could summon it up again.  “Promise me she won’t be sold as a slave?”

 

His face softened into confusion.  “A slave?  Why would you think such a thing?”

 

Ivoreth closed her eyes, accepting her fate.  “I don’t care what happens to me – I know I’m a thief and will go to prison and die – but Raini’s just a baby.  She’s not done anything wrong, and she deserves a chance…”

 

“Little one…” the gentle, musical voice began in a tone of complaint, and then halted when another sound invaded the House.

 

Clanking metal told Ivoreth that her time was indeed almost up.  They were coming for her.  Her arms tightened around herself in an attempt to stop the hard shuddering from showing. 

 

I knew what would happen when I brought her here.  All that matters is that Raini get better.  One of us has to live!

 

She swallowed hard when the clanking stopped just outside the doorway – and then into the room swept a new person, one whose very face made Ivoreth’s mouth drop open in surprise and shock.

 

It was the King – the real King this time, complete with fine circlet, silver hair mixed into the dark and fancy robes.

 

What’s he doing here?