A Peasant's Hope

Chapter 2

Laura looked up from the bucket that she was filing in the stream. The royal trumpets had pulled her from her thoughts. Was she hreaing things or did the Queen come a week early for the wheat and barley?
"It's probably some merchant family traveling through our town," she thought as the horns blasted again. However, this time it was louder and nearer. The third time, Laura noticed that there was a voice in the midst of the blasts.
"LAURA! LAURA!" The cry came sharp and clear this time. She whirled around to see one of the village elders break through thte small shrubbery surrounding the stream.
"They've come a week early! You're brother revolted and they are taking him away!" The elder yelled, but Laura didn't hear her. She stopped listening at "you're brother". Dropping the clay water pitcher, Laura sprinted toward the village.
"Petar! Petar!" she said to her brother. "You can't take him away, he is all I have!"
To Laura's dismay, the Queen stepped out from her parade of royal guards. She bent down, for she was quite tall, and snatched Laura up by her collar and dragged her away from her brother.
"Well, well, what a beautiful sight! Oh, it's so tragic I think I'll cry. Pitiful little urchin, aren't you," the Queen laughed an evil laugh that sent shivers down Laura's spine, "Take her to her hut. Tie her to up and make sure that the knots are tight. Take that one to the carriage and lock him up. Tomorrow he shall die," the Queen demanded as she gestured to Laura's badly beaten brother.
As the guards dragged her away, Laura screamed and kicked as hard as she could, but the guards held her tight. After they had finished tying her to a post, outside of her home, the guards turned and left. Laura was left alone with a clear view of her brother being herded into the prison carriage. "How could someone be so cruel-hearted?" she muttered under her breath. "Speak one more time, peasant scum, and we'll execute you here and now," said one of the guards tauntingly.
As the cariage rolled away, and Laura caught the last glimpse f her brother's frightened face through the bars of the carriage, she felt sure that she would never see him again.
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That night as Laura tossed and turned on her straw bed, her mind was consumed with the thoughts of her brother. She was so upset that she couldn't even begin to believe that everything would go back to normal ever again.
She had thought through so many plans her had ached. Her plans, well what she called plans, were more like sorry excuses for rescues. She was never a very strong girl, and had always been small for her age. Laura's "plans" kept her up that night; never once did she think of devising a plan to acccually leave the village and save her brother from danger.
Finally, she decided that there was nothing that she could do, so she fell into a fitfull sleep.
When the rooster crowed the next morning, Laura woke with a start. She looked around anxiously. Where was her brother? She sank back down into her bed as she remembered what had happened the day before.
Laura got dressed slowly, for she was extremely tired. After tying on her apron and eating some oat mash from the night before, she set out to do her daily chores. She couldn't bring herself to go back to the stream for the water or the clay pitcher, so she asked one of her friends, Isobel, to do it for her.
"Sure, I'd be glad to," said Isobel turning to face Laura, "You know, I really loved your brother. He was a wonderful husband; please say you will help find him. I miss him so much," Isobel choked out as she turned to go retrieve the water from the stream.
"Isobel, wait. I was thinking a lot last night because I couldn't sleep. Well-"
"Oh you good soul! I knew that you would decide to go rescue him! When do we leave?" Isobel shouted with joy.
Isobel-Grace had always been the adventurous one in the village. She was one year younger than Petar. Isobel had dark brown hair and electric blue eyes, which were very rare.
"We don't leave. You know we would have to go through the Forgotten Woods to get there in enough time to save as much of him as we could, and I'm not up for that! There is nothing you or I can do! Forget it!"
"My apologies, but you don't have to speak with me that way! Just because I'm not a blood relative, doesn't give you a right to disrespect me. I was only trying to help, but if you don't care enough about your own brother, then I'll just kindly step out of this situation! He is your brother, and you should remember how much he's done for you!" Isobel walked away as she said, "Self-consumed. She doesn't even care. Probably never even loved him"
Anger began to boil within Laura as she whipped around and grabbed Isobel by her arm.
"Don't you ever say or think that again," she said through clenched teeth,"You of all people would know how much I loved him."
"Yes, I should, but right now you are acting just as stubborn and thick-headed as your mother used to be!" Isobel yelled.
Laura let go of Isobel's arm. She couldn't believe that her sister-inlaw and best friend would withhold such a secret from her for all these years. To Laura, her breathing was rapid and deep, however, Isobel was still angry.
Before Laura could stop her, Isobel jerked her arm away and stomped off in the opposite direction.
Had Isobel been lying, or was she really serious?. Had Isobel known her mother and never told her? These questions raced through her mind as she walked home.