Page 36 of A Broken Promise (the Freckled Fate #1)

36

T he previously wide limestone cobble streets of Svitar were now narrowed down to nothing more than a small walking path. The buildings resembling more bright grey than the original white stone. The regular, beautiful flower arrangements were long replaced by unkempt moss of all kinds growing at the base of the leaning condos. The welcoming pine and cranberry wreaths, which hung all over Svitar in preparation of the Death Day, were nonexistent here.

Here in the Slums, the empty flowerpots were left with nothing but frozen dirt. No cheerful holiday decorations, just half empty window displays and faded paint on doors.

I had been here twice. Once by accident and one time looking for something I had never found. People stayed away from the Slums. Here, the laws of nature ruled the streets and though I never came here without my belt loaded with knives and crossbow locked in, I couldn’t stop thinking that this was still nicer than some of the rundown villages I had been too. Whores, standing with one foot against the walls, still had most of their teeth, and even occasionally got paid. The shops and houses still had windows and roofs, and rats… rats were still scared of the people.

Priya hated the Slums, but even here, she walked pridefully, staring in the eyes of every drunk passing by, as if looking for trouble. I trailed right next to her, calm and aware of each sudden move within our radius.

Finally, we approached a decent sized shop, “Silken Arrow.” Priya opened the small door, and the trivial bells chimed, signaling our arrival.

The immediate warmth of the shop heated up my ice-cold skin. I took a quick look around. One side of the chipped wall was covered in large rolls of plain fabric with only a few color variations. There were shelves covered with pins and needles for sale, and a few sewing kits. The other wall was filled with bows, quivers and arrows of all manner, with occasional knives laid out on display.

“Silks and Arrows, quite literally, huh?” I said out loud, turning my head above me as a small piece of candle wax dripped on my arm from the low chandelier.

“You’d be surprised, miss, just how often those two go together,” a scratchy voice sounded from behind the counter. A man appeared a second later. He was covered in gnarly scars and only a few feet tall. His arms and legs were short, yet painfully curved, as if in a half circle. His hands were just as badly scarred as the rest of his body. He was missing a few fingers, but it was the yellow, long claws he had that grabbed my attention. The left side of his scalp was completely exposed, all the way to the bone, while his right side still had small brown patches of hair coming through. One of his eyes was completely blind, lazily rotating on its own, as if a watchful ghost lived inside of him. The white of his other eye was completely bloodshot, with only a black pupil to swim in the ocean of red.

“Laviticus.” Priya nodded at him.

“Miss Priya, welcome. It is always a pleasure.” He bowed slightly to Priya. He then looked at me, almost smiling, though his look was heavy, assessing. “I am glad those leathers fit your guest nicely.”

“Your work never fails,” Priya said in return, her voice soft and appreciative.

I never met the person who made my leathers, yet for some reason I imagined it was one of those large sewing buildings I walked past often in the Fashion Corner, filled with gold threads and rows of seamstress sewing by the windows for pedestrians to look at, to awe at their skills and speed, then to look at their perfected works a few steps further as the large gowns of all kinds were spread out on the full window displays with live models, only occasionally changing their poses.

Somehow, I had not imagined this.

“Come,” Laviticus said as we followed him up the tiny stairs with a ceiling so low that even I had to bend my neck lower to avoid bumping into it.

Upstairs was one big, cozy room. The roof and ceiling, being weathered, were letting in a draft thanks to the small gaps above. Yet a tiny hearth in the room kept that air warm, and the strong smell of myrrh and burning sage filled my nose. There wasn’t much around. A large rug covered most of the worn-out slabs of wood serving as flooring. A couple of windows provided generous lighting, even on darker days like today. He had a small desk in the corner with a few sewing machines on it and large shelves with huge, glass doors filled with various tools. He climbed onto the big chair with the help of a small wooden stool.

“So,” he said, laying his hands on his desk. “What can I do today for my favorite client?”

Priya pulled out a large sack filled with gold; pure gold, not even shaped as coins.

“This is short notice but we both need to be dressed for the Royal Death Day Ball.”

“Oh.” Laviticus’s eye filled with vile excitement. He wiggled on his chair, his small legs dangling in the air from anticipation. “I’ve waited a long time for this day to come. A gown created by me for the Royal Ball.” He chuckled, taking a second look at me. “And now I get to make two. What a good day today is.”

“I do have a few requests, though,” Priya said, standing up to pass on the payment.

“Your wish is my command.” He bowed, accepting the payment and quickly opening the sack. Priya paid generously. I knew that. But a hint of surprise still ran through my eyes as he poured out the contents of the sack and pure gold bars fell out. With that sum, she could easily have bought his whole house and the entire street as well.

“As much as I know you wish to create a masterpiece…I need to be able to blend in, since I am going for a job.”

“Oh, putting restraints on me like that already? What is the point of having wings if you never get to fly?” he said with just a few notes of frustration. Yet when a second passed, he smiled again as he put away the gold-filled sack and pulled out a thick sketch book with a white writing feather. “But it will be done.”

“Come, friend.” He motioned with his sharp claws to me. I obediently came up to him. “You remind me of the bright moon and stars if the colors were inverted.” He said, taking a deeper look at my face. “As if you were a galaxy and those freckles were the stars, lighting up the path to the forever unknown.” He scribbled on his paper some notes, I quickly glanced to see a sketch not of my gown but of me, my face. “I shall create you a gown of silvers and deep purples.”

“She will be carrying that night also,” Priya added from the couch.

“I shall make accommodations for that as well.”

“For you, Priya, yours will be a dress called Death’s Kiss. With such deep blacks that you will absorb the darkness of the night with each of your steps.”

“Sounds good, Laviticus, but remember I need it practical; this is a big night for me, if you remember.”

“I shall never forget, my dear,” he said, exchanging a deep glance with her.

He pulled out the small measuring tape and motioned me to come closer to the round mirror in the corner. He carried his stool and started measuring me from head to toe.

I stretched out my arms and stood still. Priya sat quietly on the small couch, staring out the window across from me. For being in the Slums, Laviticus had a gorgeous view of the Kinderby River. Large steam ships were sending their last hurrah as they departed down the water path .

“What are those?” I asked, pointing with my chin to the three large black arrows hanging on the wall above where Priya sat.

“Those are Basalt Glass Arrows.”

“Glass arrows? That seems rather impractical.” I smiled, trying to make small talk.

Laviticus chuckled at me, his thick claws scraping just a tad as they dragged the measuring tape against my back.

“Very impractical indeed, especially if you ignore their practical ability of stopping the Cleansing Fire.”

“They stop what?” I sharply turned to face him.

“One shot with those, and the poor Destroyer bastards cannot summon their powers until that glass is out of them.”

I paused.

I wanted to know more. I needed to know more.

“Why have I never heard of this? Why is this not common knowledge?” I asked, conflicted.

He chuckled as he motioned to put my arms down.

“Why would it be? Why would the Mad Queen and Royals want us, the regular folk, to know that there is a cure to the Great Rot that the Destroyers have become? Why would they let us know when we are so easily controlled by fear?” His bloodshot eye narrowed on me. I understood that stare. I had seen it in my own eyes; that anguish, the defeat, the disappointment.

“Where can I find Basalt Glass?” I asked. My thoughts were now churning and twisting like an awakened dragon preparing to unleash its fire.

“You won’t,” Priya objected from the couch; her face filled with clear impatience.

But Laviticus continued.

“It’s been banned for a long time, and even before the Great Fall, it was almost impossible to find. A rare commodity even then, and with Destroyers in power for years before the Mad Queen, it was a miracle Basalt Glass of any kind survived at all.” He grabbed his tape and went back to his desk .

My mind chose to ignore the impossibility, focusing on one truth: it was rare but not gone .

“Yet here you have not one but three arrows,” I mumbled, now staring at the long, thick arrows against the chipped beige paint of the mud made walls. “How did you get them?” They were larger than any arrows I had ever shot.

“They were gifted to me by those who no longer exist,” Laviticus said, now finished with his sketch and measurements.

“By whom?”

“By the High Lady of the Creators. Raylin the Fair, Blessed Be Her Name.” He bowed down as he said her name, moving his hand in a swift motion from forehead to his chin and then round his face.

“I’ve never heard of her,” I stated.

“It's a shame. She was the most beautiful and courageous woman alive.” His face filled with grief and subtle sorrow. “That is, until she died.”

“What happened to her?” I took a few steps closer to the arrows. The light reflected from the black glass as if it was a mirror.

“Murdered by the Mad Queen, alongside all the other High Ladies and their courts. She gifted me these arrows not long before her death and I’ve kept them safe until the right moment comes.” He paused now, looking at the arrows himself. “It’s truly a blessing and a curse to have them, you know. A dream to use them for good, and the reality of knowing I could never make a difference. So, I am cursed to see them every day, to always remember their potential and my complete uselessness.”

I turned to Priya, trying to keep my voice calm, ignoring the raging heart inside of me. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? This—” I motioned with my hand to the arrow. “This could change everything.”

Priya’s thick lips turned into thin line. “It could, but it won’t.”

“I could kill him. The Destroyer General. I could kill him once and for all,” I uttered. “With this I could kill him and—”

“Not kill him, Freckles, but only disable his power for a brief time, until he rips that arrow out and burns you to the ashes,” Priya shot back .

“Not if I shoot him straight in the heart,” I countered, my thoughts lighting up faster than a dry twig against the forest fire.

“Destroyers heal faster than regular humans, and you … you are a terrible shot.”

“I can do it. I can kill him. I…” I knew I could.

“Enough!” Priya’s raised voice echoed through the room. “I told you once and I will not repeat myself twice. I don’t mess with Destroyers, and neither will you.”

An impasse. What was previously a small crack in the foundation felt now more like a giant rift.

The dragon within me was ready to roar. But not yet. I calmed it. Not yet.

No, the anger and the rage can stir inside of me. That so-well-built dam that I had been constructing within myself my entire life can stay put a little longer.

I bit in my words, though a sliver of anger slipped past my shields, igniting my core with sparks of defiance and hope .

Priya walked towards the door hastily, and I quietly followed.

Patience. I needed more patience. To think, to plan, to figure things out.

There is no point in arguing, I tried to convince myself. Priya is right , I said to my heated thoughts, slipping back into a familiar meek and obedient mask.

Even if I found more Basalt Glass, I would still have to find the General, approach him, and get close enough to successfully shoot straight through his rotten heart.

It would be impossible; unreal and probably completely unreasonable. But …now there was a chance. The little drops of defiance, not patience, like black ink on white crisp paper, spread slowly out. I hid those thoughts deep in me, behind all my dust-covered memories, behind every plan I ever had.

Be patient, I chanted to myself again and again. Though I could no longer ignore the corrosion on my dragon’s leash.

I took a last glance at the three black arrows as I walked down the stairs, following Priya. They were strong and proud, waiting patiently for their fate.

I would find a way.

Laviticus hurried down the stairs behind us.

Priya quickly opened the front door, the small bells chiming loudly at the rough swing.

“You shall hear from me in six days’ time,” Laviticus said as he bowed in goodbye. Priya didn’t reply as she heatedly stormed off in the cold afternoon.

“Thank you,” I softly said to Laviticus. “And not just for the dress, but for your kindness and honesty.”

Laviticus’s damaged hands cupped mine. The brutal scars and claws were so warm. His dark eye met mine.

“Keep your hope, little child. Great things shall come to those who wait.”

I smiled at him sadly before rushing off to catch up to the quickly departing Priya.

My heart ached at that word.

Hope.