Rise (4 page)

When Victoria arrived back at the sick area, the big nun was still trying to calm down the terror-stricken woman. "Ah, yes. Thank you." She said, and she whisked the bowl out of Victoria's hand and slowly began pouring some down the woman's throat. "Sssh. It's okay. Just get some rest. Think of soothing things." Victoria watched as the woman's shoulders sagged, slowly, and she sank back into her cot. The big nun wiped her forehead with a ratty handkerchief, and sank back into a chair. "Well, go on. Sit down." Victoria obeyed, and sat down across from her. Finally able to get a good look, Victoria realized that the nun was younger than she sounded. She was big-boned, but gentle. Her face was broad, and her skin was weathered. She was probably around thirty, which was young, at least when compared to Sister Katherine. "Want to congratulate you on your ritual last night. Good to be a sister now, eh?" Admittedly, Victoria was a little shocked, which must have registered on her face because the big nun started to laugh. "Don't be so shocked, dear. We all have our reasons for being in the other sisterhood. You'll find yours soon enough."

"Hopefully." Victoria said, although it came out slightly more bitter than she would have liked. "Of course you will, you're still young. But, I love the traditional sisterhood too. I wouldn't have it any other way. Especially not that way." The big nun pointed far out towards the horizon line, where Victoria could just faintly see the hazy outline of the nearby city. She heard a car honking its horn, and suddenly became irritated. "Gets me too" the big nun spoke, her voice jolting Victoria from her thoughts. "It's hard to believe how people can live that way. But sometimes I wonder how I manage to live this way." Victoria and the big nun sat together for a few more minutes, until a small child with one crutch hobbled over. "Ah, got to get back to work. You are welcome to join though, whenever you like. Just call me Grace."

Grace returned to the cot area, and began to wrap the child's leg. Victoria lifted herself from her chair and looked around, warily, for Sister Katherine. She was nowhere to be found, and Victoria didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. She hoped she wasn’t planning something for her, as Raela’s comments were still ringing in Victoria’s ears. She glanced over to the cot where Grace was still wrapping the child's leg. Although she had been invited over, it didn't look like Grace really needed any help. Victoria's eyes wandered over to Raela and her friends, who were serving slop. Or rather, they were supposed to be serving slop. Instead, it looked like they were throwing at each other. Victoria scowled. If she had been the one throwing slop, Sister Katherine would have been all over her, and she would have been given kitchen duty. Victoria shivered. No one wanted kitchen duty, and for good reason.

She scanned the convent and its surroundings another time. Unfortunately, the most interesting thing going on was Raela. Victoria made the slow trek towards the meal tables, hoping Raela would just keep her mouth shut for once. She talked so much; Victoria often wondered how the other sisterhood could really even be a secret, since Raela was a member.
"Took a stroll in the woods today. Guess what I saw?" Raela's friends gathered around. Victoria rolled her eyes, positive that this was probably the third time she had told this story that day. "I saw that farmer's boy. Liam, I think it was. He was chopping wood." Raela's voice got very low. "Shirtless." All her friends squealed. Victoria sighed audibly, which, unfortunately caused Raela to notice her presence. "Oh Victoria, you'll never understand." Raela waved her arm and returned to her whispering.
Although momentarily irked at Raela's "pity", Victoria figured that if ignoring her meant that Raela would stop talking, then she was all for it. She fell in line, and begin serving slop. As the children filed in, Victoria was painfully reminded of Wes. She wondered what happened to him, if he went home, or if he even had a home to go to. Victoria remembered the rags he was dressed in, and the thick layer of dirt she had scrubbed off his body. In that case, he probably didn't.

Victoria handed another bowl to a dirty child, who spouted an eager "Thank you", and ran off to find a spot at the already overcrowded table. As she continued to serve slop, her mind wandered. She looked down at her watch, one of the few modern items allowed at the convent. Only 2:30 PM. At least another six hours before she could even begin to get excited about nighttime. She filled another bowl of slop, and placed it into another pair of grubby hands. She looked at her watch again. 2:31 pm. Victoria groaned.

From behind her, she heard Raela and her friends erupt into another fit of giggles. “So, as I said, he was chopping wood.” Victoria stared. Raela was still telling that stupid story. How many times was she going to tell it? Until the whole convent knew of her less than holy deeds? Victoria inched closer to Raela, instinctively. Although her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard, Victoria couldn’t help but listen in, considering the excitement level of living in a convent was pretty low. “I didn’t really make any noise, but he noticed me anyways.” Raela was saying, in a hushed voice. “He said he’d meet me later.” Raela’s friends tittered with laughter, and then looked over to make sure Sister Katherine wasn’t listening in. She wasn’t, go figure, Victoria thought. Instead, she was still scrubbing backs as dutifully as always.

Victoria turned back to the slop table, to find no more children waiting in line. Instead, the mess table was overflowing with them. Children were everywhere, and so was the slop. The long wooden table only sat fifty, and judging by the amount of shoving and pools of slop on the grass below, a good deal more than fifty had tried to sit there. The table, like the convent, was in desperate need of repair. But, like many other things born from a different time, it was forgotten. The only reminder of how Gracelia used to be, were the nunneries and monasteries, and the king. Granted, the King wasn’t a king in the old sense of the word. He wore the royal attire, but only for ceremonies. Beneath him was the Board, who passed the majority of the laws.

There were the old ways of thinking too. They still existed; condemning bastard children, and the strange belief that red hair almost always had something to do with the devil. Or at least, that's what the nuns would have her believe.

The world was indeed changing, and Victoria wondered if the world had changed in that particular way, yet. It had been an awful long time since she was born and she wondered if maybe she could go into the city, and make a way for herself, apart from the convent. If she’d have a chance. She touched her hair, instinctively. She'd have to do a touch up later in the evening.

Victoria looked at her watch again. 4:00 PM. She sighed, and took a quick glance around the garden. Everyone was busy with whatever it was that they were doing. Raela was still gossiping. Sister Katherine was still scrubbing. Grace was still wrapping, and a bunch of other nuns she didn’t know were milling around aimlessly. Victoria took one last look before slipping away towards the spring. Once she entered the clearing, she breathed a sigh of relief. Every time she came, it felt as if a weight was being lifted from her shoulders. She wasn’t sure what it was that she had been carrying around, but it sure felt good to have it gone. Victoria settled down on her favorite rock. It was marble, and was growing from the ground in a way that made it look like a crude chair, which made it one of her favorite parts of the clearing. As she sat there, taking in the view; the bubbling spring, and the familiar red and white flowers surrounding it, Victoria could almost understand why the few nuns, who had chosen to live here, would have made that decision. It seemed infinitely better than any city.

She rested there for a while and as her eyelids had started to droop, when she saw a black blur darting about from the corner of her eye. Her eyes snapped open, and flitted around the enclosure. For a moment, she saw nothing. But then, the black blur appeared again, this time darting behind a tree only a few feet from where Victoria sat. She shoved her hand into her pocket and gripped her dagger. It was deadly quiet and all she could hear was the gentle bubbling of the spring.

“
Show yourself. Or else.” Victoria spoke, her confidence magnified by the dagger in her pocket. She could hear no response, except for a soft twittering from a bird in a distant tree. “I said show yourself." Victoria pointed her dagger at the tree where she had last seen the blur. Nothing, once more. “Fine. Be a coward.” She made a move to sit back down on the makeshift chair, but something caught her leg, and she was thrown off balance. She landed hard on her back, leg bent awkwardly behind her, with a dark shadow hovering over her.

Victoria rubbed her eyes, and her vision came into focus. Standing over her, with a smug grin plastered on his face, was a guy who looked to be about her age. He held his dagger up to the sun, and all twelve inches of it glistened in the sunlight. Victoria quirked her eyebrow in surprise. She hadn't known that daggers could be that long.

“
Don’t call me a coward." His voice was bordering on deep, something that it would probably achieve in a few more years or so. Victoria twisted her leg out from under her. “Then don’t act like one.” The boy flicked his dagger back towards Victoria, with all the ease of a professional. “I don’t really think you’re in a position to talk, considering you’re the one on your back, and I’m the one standing. How’s that leg holding up by the way?”

The boy pointed his knife at Victoria’s throat for emphasis. She pushed herself back, putting a small bit of distance between her and the boy, and pointed her own dagger back at him. “You might be standing. For now.” With one swift motion, Victoria kicked the boy’s leg out from under him, and he fell hard, face first. She hoisted herself up, and massaged her leg.

“
Who’s got the advantage now?” She pointed her knife down at him. The boy leaped back up, brows furrowed. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. “What, nothing to say? I guess I wouldn’t have much to say either after that. Honestly, your face looks better now than it did before”

Victoria watched as the boy visibly tightened his grip on his knife. For a moment, she thought all hell was about to break loose. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut. It was always getting her into trouble.

She would have to kill him, somehow, and then make sure the nuns never found out about it, because even though they condoned “righteous” killings, they surely wouldn’t approve of Victoria simply killing everyone who came onto convent property.

Suddenly, the boy sheathed his dagger, and stared straight ahead, at something far off in the distance. “I was supposed to speak with you about something, but it slipped my mind during our little, uh, mishap.”

“
Speak to me? I hardly know you. And look me in the eye when you’re talking to me.”

“
I told you, I’m trying to remember, and frankly, the way you’re looking at me is disturbing.” “And how is that?” Victoria crossed her arms, and stared him down some more.

“
Well, you’re looking at me like you want to kill me. You’ve got this hungry gleam in your eye, like you might enjoy it.” Victoria averted her eyes.

“
Touched a nerve, did I? Anyways, I remembered what I was supposed to say. Sort of. I’m not supposed to kill you, and vice versa, of course. I think I was supposed to tell you about myself, or something.” The boy shrugged his shoulders.

“
I don’t think I’m so inclined to listen. Last time I tried to talk to you, you didn’t talk back. And, I think I remember you pinning me to the ground.” Victoria tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. “But, I suppose you can get on with it. I would like to know what you’re doing in my sanctuary, darting about behind trees.”

“
Your sanctuary? The boy asked. “This is for everyone. I come here all the time.”

“
You couldn’t possibly come here all the time, since I’m here all the time. Unless you’ve been watching me.”

“
Maybe I have been.” The boy crossed his arms.

“
Well, that’s uh…bizarre.” Victoria was at a loss for words. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the revelation that she had a stalker.

Almost as if he had read her mind, the boy blurted out “I’m not a stalker. If you’d just let me talk to you, I’ll explain.” Victoria said nothing, and the boy continued on hesitantly.

“
I’m part of the other brotherhood.” He stopped, and waited for Victoria to understand what he was referring to. When her face remained impassive, he sighed, and continued on. “You know, the other brotherhood. The ones with daggers”, he said, while fingering the edge of his own dagger. Realization dawned on Victoria. “Oh, I see. So you WERE sent here to kill me.” “Something like that.” The boy shrugged his shoulders. “You’re actually sort of my test target, really. I was supposed to watch you, learn about you, get to know you, all from afar.” Victoria’s mouth dropped open, and she suddenly felt very, very exposed. “It’s what all good assassins do.” The edges of the boy’s mouth quirked up into a smile, and against her will Victoria felt herself soften ever so slightly, even if what he was telling her was more than troubling. He knew his stuff, she would give him that.

“
So, what now? You kill me?” Victoria asked, despite her nervousness. Although it would be nice to throw her dagger at something other than her wall, she wasn’t anxious to die just yet. Throwing her dagger first would only speed up her death, it seemed. The boy seemed to be more experienced than her, and if she had to die, she would want it to be a fair fight.

“
No, I just leave. Mission accomplished. My name’s Roman, by the way." And with that, he walked away, soon disappearing into the darkness of the surrounding forest.