Autumn for Black Tree

Chapter 8 Commodity of a Broken Dream (1/4)

Barley turned from her and reached into his bag. He pulled out his blanket along with his change of clothes. He held it out before him and walked toward her, blocking his view of her. She took the clothes from him and he kept the blanket up while she dressed. She finished with her back turned to him. She gripped and held up the very loose fitting pants while being covered by a shirt so large it swallowed her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Barley looked at the back of her hair falling to her shoulders and walked toward her slowly. He wrapped the blanket around her and turned her around, his hands gently rubbing her arms to stave off a bit of the cold. Her eyes were filled with tears.

"Now you know what I am," she wept. "I couldn't tell you. Not after how I found you. After all you'd been through."

She shook her head, her eyes cast down. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. Barley could see her tears falling to the dirt.

"They were right to try to warn you," she said, "As bad as this place is, it's nothing compared to me."

She sniffed and brushed her hair out of her face, rolling strands of it behind her ear. "I'm the monster that lives here... It's always been me."

The woods were silent as tears continued to dampen the dirt and dead pine needles at her feet. She couldn't bare to see his reaction. He was wordless as she watched his feet. She felt Barley's finger under her chin as he raised her eyes to meet his.

"I see no monster here," he said

She looked into his warm brown eyes and couldn't see an ounce of doubt in them. She could feel his breath as he drew closer. They both closed their eyes as his lips met hers ever so tenderly. In the cool night air her tears chilled as they rolled down her face.

Barley took Paxiss home wrapped in his blanket. His oversized clothes were still giving her trouble and it wasn't the best in the night air. He opened her door and laid her down on her bed. He lit a fire in her small fire place with some flint and and some kindling that grew on him during the day. He set up a little black kettle to boil on it and found some tea leaves and little ceramic cups in her cabinets. Once the water was ready he made tea for them both and set her cup on the ground next to her bed. He sat on a little wooden chair as the warm light filled the tiny cottage. He sat next to her small table covered in various supplies she had been using coming in and out of the house throughout the day. A small dried and half eaten left over piece of bread was on a metal plate in the center. It was clear she got a bite in where she could between work. Barley rotated the plate slowly with his index finger as Paxiss lay on her bed huddled up with her eyes wide open. A single tear rolled from one eye to the bridge of her nose and then traveled down the cheek on the other side to meet her mattress. There was silence for a while, but Barley was the one to break it.

"Well tell me a story, crying girl," he said with a sad and soft smile, "It seems you have one to tell."

Paxiss sat up and wiped the tears from her face. Still draped with the blanket around her shoulders, she picked up her tea from the floor. She brought it to her lips and sipped. The warm steam rolled up her face. She brought the cup to her lap and let it warm her hands. She sniffed and spoke with a voice still nasally.

"Well I should probably start by saying I'm the queens daughter."

Barley's hand dropped next to his cup and smacked the table with a thud.

"No way!"

Paxiss laughed as she rubbed her nose with her forearm.

"Yeah, I know. It's weird. I hardly believe it myself sometimes."

"But you're a servant!" he said. Then as if to immediately contradict himself he cried, "But you're a princess!"

Paxiss smiled, "You make it sound so glamorous."

"Well it's not when you're also a servant!" He paused. "But wait, you said just the queen. Farren isn't your father?"

"No." She took a deep breath. "Okay... Once upon a time there was a girl in Black Tree who-"

"No, no, you can skip my whole bed time story thing. Just start from the top," he said.

She giggled a bit. The moisture that had been keeping her eyelashes clinging together was slowly disappearing.