Valeryn pulled the slingshot taught. Her eyes were fixed on the castle. The brittle leather between her fingers gave her something to hold on to. She focused on the highest tower that proudly paraded the symbol of the House of Spades. Just once, she wanted to reach it and tear its walls down with a single stone. Bury the nobles with her fury.
As she stood there, adjusting her aim, the rainclouds subsided, and the sun mockingly smiled on the tin roofs of her neighbourhood, promising a warmth that never reached them. Inside, the raindrops still found their way through gaps in the ceiling, and the wind crept through cracks in the walls.
Growing up in this neighbourhood had taught her that if you wanted something, you had to take it yourself. No one would give you better food or warmer clothes if you didn’t work hard for it. No one would give you a soft bed or a new pair of shoes just because you wanted them. Especially not the nobles in their fancy castles. The nobles that only ever came to take, never to give.
She felt the air rush past her face as she let go of the leather strap.
“Val”, sounded a voice from below.
The small grey stone whooshed through the air, going straight towards the castle before it dropped out of sight.
My anger will never reach them, she thought defeatedly.
“Valeryn”, the voice sounded impatiently from below.
Valeryn jumped down from the roof, her feet landing steadily next to a puddle that the last rainfall had left behind.
“Looking for me?” she smirked at her sister Triss, throwing back her long brown hair triumphantly.
“You know you are just wasting your time. Those stones will never reach them anyway.” Triss rolled her eyes.
When her sister’s brown eyes shone angrily like that, and her red hair was tightly pinned up on the back of her head, she looked more and more like their mother. But while Triss often pretended to be the dutiful child between the two of them, they had run around the neighbourhood getting in trouble together ever since she could remember.
When they were younger, they often ran away from home for a day or two to make friends with the children of merchants who had arrived on large ships by the harbour. A few years later, they had discovered their talent for card games and made sure to attend and win as many illegal card game tournaments as they could. Most of their mischiefs had been Valeryn’s idea. But every adventure followed the motto: Where Triss goes, Val goes, and where Val goes, Triss tries to follow.
“Let’s go, my sulky little sister! Mom’s waiting for us at the tavern. She made our favourite.” Triss reached out a hand to her sister and guided her down the muddy road between the barren brick houses. Their shoes splashed through the puddles on the ground.
Once, Valeryn had been an outsider in this neighbourhood. When she was a child, she was found at a riverbank not far from here. No one knew where she came from or who she belonged to. Triss’ family took her in as Triss’ little sister (although they must have been around the same age). Triss’ family owned the neighbourhood’s tavern and always needed a helping hand. 12 years later, Valeryn knew every house that grew along the muddy road like mushrooms and every puddle that formed in the bumps on the road after a heavy rainfall.
Valeryn did not remember anything from the time before she woke up by the river. It was as if she had been born the moment her mother had found her. They named her Valeryn because that name had been hanging on a golden necklace around her neck. The necklace had since been sold, and had paid for her food until she could work in the tavern and earn her place in her family’s home herself. It was not a very common name in these parts of the city, but she kept it as the only treasure from her past life, the only clue she would have if she ever wanted to find out where she had come from.
The bright light of the tavern windows beckoned them from the end of the street as they walked towards it. The sign above the entrance read “The Merry Flame” and showed an image of a lighthouse. The paint was slowly peeling away, but it was still mostly readable. The lighthouse had been painted to invite the sailors and merchants who arrived at the harbour close by. Although very few of them arrived this time of year.
“Found her!” Triss called as they entered the tavern. Their mother was standing behind the bar, handing out a beer to one of their regulars. She was wearing a simple linen dress and a beige apron. Strands of red hair had come loose from her tightly arranged ponytail, and she absentmindedly tucked them behind her ear. Her face looked tired. She must have been working since early this morning.
“Like you always do,” she said with a smile, and her warm brown eyes rested on her daughters. After a pause, she added, “Dinner is ready!”
She cleaned her hands on a kitchen towel and rushed towards the kitchen. Owning a tavern meant that there was always something to do, but it also meant that there was always food left over in the kitchen.
Valeryn and Triss sat down on a small table at the very end of the bar in a darker corner of the tavern, partly hidden from sight. The privacy of the table was useful for those working at the tavern who wanted to have a few minutes of rest.
Their family spent almost every waking moment in the tavern, their mother in the kitchen and behind the bar and their father running the administration and organising the guest rooms upstairs. Their daughters helping them since they could walk on their own.
The tavern was one of the better establishments in Underberg, the poorest neighbourhood of the city, and the best place for gathering information should you need it. Valeryn and Triss had made it their side business to earn extra coin by listening to rumours and asking around. Sometimes wives wondered if their husbands were cheating, families had their one valuable heirloom stolen, or merchants were new to the city and needed to know the latest developments. No one was suspicious of a barmaid asking questions. And it earned them some extra money.
Valeryn looked around the wooden tables and the scattered chairs that they would need to clean and organise before most people arrived for dinner. A few of their regulars were already playing cards in one corner of the room, laughing as they did so and occasionally slamming a glass of beer on the table. A sigh escaped Valeryn as she contemplated the puddles of beer she would need to mop from the floor later.
As it was still early in the evening and most of the people were just ending their workday, the tavern was still empty. Most of the people from Underberg were employed by the harbour: maintaining boats, moving cargo or working on the ships as sailors. This time of the year, in autumn, fewer ships arrived because the winds between the continents became too strong to cross the sea by boat, so fewer people were needed for work, and the tavern received fewer guests.
“It’s finally pumpkin season, Val. We were able to get some on the market, so mom’s making pumpkin soup tonight.” Triss continued excitedly about the different vegetables they were able to buy on the market that day. Valeryn smiled at Triss every once in a while and played with the slingshot in her hands. She thought about how difficult it would be to hit one of the candles on the chandelier in the middle of the room, but quickly put the slingshot away when their mother came from the kitchen with steaming bowls in hand.
“Thanks, mom!” they said in unison and happily dug into the food. The warm, sweet soup first burned her mouth and then warmed her from the inside out. She closed her eyes for a moment and felt the warmth and sweetness seeping through her from the bowl in her hand into her stomach.
I thank whichever god is responsible for making pumpkins grow for this meal, she thought blissfully.
When her bowl was almost empty, a sudden gust of wind blew into the tavern as the door flew open. The sudden quiet in the room made her curious to look at the door. She slowly got up and craned her neck to look over the bar, but Triss pulled her down as soon as she saw who entered the tavern.
“Sit down!” Triss hissed and pulled on her sleeve. She had sunken against the bar, completely hidden behind it.
The only thing Valeryn could see before sitting back down was a man in shining armour stepping through the door, a crest from the House of Spades glinting at his chest and a sword on his hip.
Had death come to Underberg?
Never once had a soldier from the House of Spades entered The Merry Flame. When a noble appeared in Underberg, people died or went missing, never to be found again. The stories of encounters with members of the House of Spades became more and more outrageous the longer they circulated. From burning houses to the use of magic circles, every rumour reached them in the tavern. Even though they had learned not to trust everything they hear, one thing was clear since Valeryn was a child: A noble’s appearance always led to something horrible.
About a year ago, two soldiers had appeared by the well close to their house. Valeryn was there washing kitchen towels for the tavern. She could only watch as they walked straight up to a group of women and pulled two of them by the hair, dragging them away before anyone could call for help. It had been a friend of Valeryn and Triss and her mother who got dragged away. No one ever saw them again. Their cries and the soldier’s laughs were burned in the back of Valeryn’s mind. This could not happen to her mother right here, right now.
Their mother quickly got up from the table and stepped behind the bar.
“What can I get ya?” she asked in her warm, friendly bartender’s voice.
Valeryn heard a barchair scratching over the floor, it was ringing in her ears in the silence of the room. Every face she saw was turned towards the bar. At the wolf in a herd of sheep. She wished she could just get up and have a look. Her knuckles around her slingshot were white, and her face red with frustration.
After a while, the soldier’s low voice replied: “I am looking for a blonde girl with grey eyes, around 18 years old.” She heard the sound of a coin being dropped on the bar. A noise she was very familiar with.
Triss, who hadn’t let go of Valeryn’s sleeve, became white as a sheet and held a finger to her lips. Her eyes begged Valeryn not to make a noise. Blonde hair and grey eyes were not common in Underberg. Actually, Valeryn had never seen anyone looking like that. The only one fitting that description was, well, her. Her grey eyes had always stood out in this town, and people had called her creepy because of it. To not draw even more attention, her mother had encouraged her to colour her hair brown, and she had been doing so ever since she could remember.
Why was a soldier from the House of Spades looking for her? Valeryn grabbed the slingshot in her hand as hard as she could. Trying to keep herself still in her seat. Her heart was pounding.
She heard her mother’s voice from the bar: “Those traits are not common in this part of town, mister. I’ve never seen anyone like that.”
She sounded like what she was saying was common knowledge, not letting a hint of doubt show. She knew that her mother was wearing her best poker face and stood up straight. Years of working behind the bar listening to customers had trained her even more than their daughters to keep a poker face and to always seem friendly, no matter how unreasonable the customer behaved. At that moment, Valeryn was proud to be her daughter more than ever.
“Would you swear this on your life?” The low voice replied.
Ice seemed to run through Valeryn’s veins. She was frozen in place. What would she do if he attacked her mother? She grabbed the slingshot hard in her hand, thinking what in the world she could shoot that would hurt or at least distract an armoured soldier.
But her mother’s voice did not show any weakness or insecurity: “I swear that I have never seen anyone like that around, sir.”
It was dangerous to lie to a noble, especially if someone else from the neighbourhood had already told him about a girl with grey eyes. But Valeryn knew their mother would never sell out one of her daughters. She would rather die.
The silence seemed to stretch out endlessly. Valeryn looked at the burning candle on their desk: Fire! If she could throw the candle in the soldier’s face, that might give them a moment to run away. She waited for a noise that would tell her that the soldier had drawn his sword.
Instead, he replied, “I see.” He seemed to leisurely draw out every syllable as if unsure about her sincerity.
It took several heartbeats until she heard the bar chair again, and the heavy footsteps left the tavern.
The noise in the room slowly resumed. The few guests faced their meals again. A waiter continued cleaning the tables and bringing dishes into and out of the kitchen. Valeryn was frozen in place.
Powerless…
What if the soldier had attacked? What can my stupid slingshot do against them? What if they come back? Why were they looking for me?
Triss was still holding onto Valeryn’s sleeve, her face white.
“He can’t be looking for you, right? No one ever has for 12 years,” she whispered more to herself than to Valeryn.
Their mother appeared from the other side of the bar, her face not revealing the danger of the situation they had just been in. This would not have been the first time that a peasant of Underberg had been killed for defying a soldier. And it would not have been the first time that none of the nobles would blink an eye if an Underling had been killed. Triss got up and hugged her mother tightly.
Their mother stroked her hair and smiled at Valeryn. Her eyes seemed to say that she should not worry. That she would be safe. Valeryn took a deep breath and calmed her heart. But looking at her mother and her sister, she also knew that if the soldier came back and drew his sword, there was nothing she would be able to do. She looked at the slingshot in her hand and felt utterly useless.
The only defence that Triss and her had learned was how to gather information, use rumors and trick people. But how would that help her against a soldier? If she could do nothing else, at least learning why they were looking for her was her best chance of finding out how to protect herself, how to protect her family.
“I’ll take over kitchen duty today,” Valeryn announced and walked towards the blue door with the round window that marked the entrance to the kitchen. She smiled at Triss, whose eyes followed her worriedly.
The cooks barely noticed her in the steamy kitchen as she slipped past them and out of the back door. She grabbed a brown overcoat with a hood that was hanging on a hook by the door and pulled it over her head.
She darted behind the house and kept to the shadows. This was her neighborhood and she knew it well. Even though the soldier had a slight head start, there was only one way he would go: Back to the castle and the noble district surrounding it. She was just hoping that he didn’t find someone else to interrogate instead.
She sprinted down the street, jumping over puddles, careful not to make too much noise and slowed down only once she heard heavy armoured footsteps. She followed the noise slowly, keeping to the shadows, walking steadily uphill until she was almost at the nobles’ quarter.
The soldier reached a square that was illuminated by lanterns. She hid behind a mountain of crates in the street that he had emerged from. She tried to calm her breath and her racing heart. It was beating so fast she thought someone must hear it. She would be caught at any moment. But it was her only chance to learn why the soldier had been looking for her. She counted her heartbeats, but no noise came from the square. When she just wanted to take a look, the soldier’s voice sounded.
“No luck, sir,” he said. “Either she is really not there, or the Underlings don’t want to talk. Not even for money.” His voice had a clear tone of disgust as if even speaking about Underlings made him uncomfortable.
“Only one old man talked when I showed him a gold coin. He had seen someone with grey eyes in the neighbourhood. But that girl had brown hair.” He continued. “Maybe we need to use other means to make them talk.” His dark laugh sent shivers down Valeryn’s spine.
“Interesting.” A second voice sounded. This voice came from another man, but it sounded much higher and more arrogant than the first. “Let’s keep searching then, with any means necessary. It is of the highest importance that we find her. The king needs her. We cannot let a few Underlings get in our way.”
“Yes, sir.” The soldier replied.
Valeryn slowly leaned around the corner of the stack of crates she was hiding behind and immediately jerked back. The first man was the soldier she had briefly seen in the tavern. But the second one was no ordinary man. He not only fit the description of a proper noble perfectly with his long white-blonde hair and neat uniform, but he also seemed to be shining. A faint ray of green light with streaks of darkness surrounded him.
Valeryn needed to make sure that she had not just imagined the colourful aura. She counted her heartbeats to 100, and when they did not speak again, she dared to look at the square.
It was desolate before her. Only a few lanterns were lit, illuminating the large silver gate on the other side of the square, leading to the nobles’ quarters. They had vanished.
Valeryn ran all the way back to the tavern. No one in the kitchen had noticed that she was missing, and she picked up her work as if nothing had happened. No one noticed that her heart didn’t stop racing, and she completed her work slower than usual. She couldn’t concentrate as the image of the green light around the noble was burned into the back of her head, and the laugh of the soldier rang in her ears. Maybe we need to use other means to make them talk…
Only when she was back at home, the fire in the hearth had died, and the raindrops were dripping again through the gaps in the tin roof, her heart finally slowed down enough that she could fall asleep.
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