Locked Legacies

Chapter XVII: Town visit - Part 2

 Catastrophe. That's what it was. A preventable catastrophe.

"Well, you've led a nice life," Faylinn patted her brother's back as she stared at the view: in front of them was the field of yam, completely destroyed. The crops had been trampled over by deer and the leaves eaten by a couple of rabbits.

Countless times had Hector told Elias to always check for the gate, or all kinds of animals could enter and ruin months worth of work. Yet there they were, the youngest watching his life flash before his eyes, including the exact moment the previous night when he rattled the wood to check if it was locked.

"But-I-Wh-?" He stumbled over his words, frowning; all color was drained from his face except for his caramel eyes which were wide open as he imagined the atrocious moment in which the creatures crossed the fence.

"I can't believe how checking the entry before leaving doesn't already come naturally to you after so many years," his sister added, much unhelpfully.

"Except it does." And even though Faylinn would not believe him until much later, he was saying the truth. He had, indeed, checked the lock.

How had the animals entered, though? Had another worker gone into the harvesting area? That was not viable; no one would have forgotten to close it, it's royal worker 101. Would one of them try to ambush the royalty? Doubtful. Everyone loved Aldrich I; he was one of the fairest rulers of all time—though Augustus might have disagreed. However, he did not think of the key question: who would want to ambush him? Elias would have never thought he was "important enough" to have someone push him to his perdition, but he actually had a couple of enemies, dear reader, didn't he?

But neither of the siblings had that idea, so Faylinn simply let out a cackle that erupted from deep inside; "Look, boy, I don't mean to burst your bubble but... I don't think you did," she gestured their surroundings to prove her point.

"I did check. I swear."

"Fine, let's pretend I believe you," she laid her back against the fence in a relaxed manner and exhaled loudly, almost as if she were enjoying it. Just a tiny bit.

"You are weirdly calm and, honestly, it's frightening me..."

"Oh, Elias, Elias... I just know that Papa will do the job for me. He will kill you."

"Except..." He sang, the tone of voice indicating he was about to ask for a favor that she was going to hate.

"No. The answer is no."

"Please. I need you to go to town and get yam. I have too many chores."

"Me too." That was partially true. Her schedule wasn't as packed as it was most days, so she could have managed to run that little errand, but she didn't really want to go out of her way for a stupid mistake his brother had made; she appreciated the little free time she got.

"Yours are with Mama. She'll understand, but our father won't..."

She gasped, "Somewhere out there, someone cares."

"Fine. I wanted to be kind, but it appears I'll have to get it the bad way," he paced across the vegetable garden at a slow and steady pace.

"Wow, so scary," she replied nonchalantly, even chuckling after her sentence. "Maybe you will get me next time."

She had absolutely no idea how the tables were about to turn.

"I know about you and the prince."

"What? That you think I like him? Those are just delusions of yours; you have nothing against me, darling," she replied with a little too much cockiness given the amount of information that the boy had actually been withholding all along.