The Broken Ones

Chapter 1:3 -Ana

Waking up the next morning was not a pleasant thing. Soi’s body was sore and ached all over. But he got up and ate what little there was to eat in his kitchen, for breakfast. Bread with butter and a glass of milk, an apple and soon he was out of the door with a robe on his arm and steered his steps to the Fair Lady, the place of the mayor’s residence and where Ana was lodged. It was still early in the morning and the sun shone over the rooftops of the houses. In the west Soi saw clouds gathering and he estimated that due midday the rain would be pouring down in Sofara. He arrived at the pub where the mayor and Ana sat at the breakfast table. There was a slight difference between their two plates. The mayor’s was full of sausages, bacon and egg, fried tomatoes and a bowl with porridge with cooked pears and a cup with coffee. Ana’s breakfast consisted of an apple and a glass of water. Soi sat down beside Ana and gave her a confounded look. She returned it with an irritated stare and she rose from her chair.
-I will attend to the matter we discussed last night.
She left the two men to stare at her empty chair and walked, perfectly straight, out of the pub.
The mayor made a little cough and Soi turned his attention to man opposite him.
-You know what to do, was all the mayor said accompanied with a meaningful look.
-Yes, sir.
Soi rose from his chair as well and put on the robe and slipped out of the pub to follow Ana. He didn’t need to follow her tracks to know where she was going so he took a short-cut to the Black Eye and arrived before her. He sat down in a corner and ordered a whiskey. He sipped it while eyeing the crowd in the pub. Although the early morning they were all drunks or soon to be. Soi had heard from the guards that there had been a bar fight last night in the rough part of the town and by the look of it the Black Eye had been the scene of the fight. There were broken chairs, a crushed table, and some of the, what Soi knew were, regulars had their share of black eyes so the pub’s name hadn’t been picked out of the blue. Soi lowered his head when he recognised Ana’s cloak covered figure walking into the bar and straight to the bar disk. She called on the bar owner and when he came up to her, she grabbed him by the collar and looked him deep into the eye. The bar man jerked away from her as if he had been hit and shook his head desperately. His shrill voice carried through the room and it was obvious that he was scared of Ana.
-No, no, it’s not here. Someone got it last night. I swear! Ana, you know me, if I had known I would have…
-Keep your excuses, Ana hissed threateningly -Now, describe the collector.
She released his collar and he relaxed a bit.
-I didn’t see him. There was a fight last night and when I’d got it under control the box was gone.
-Do you remember the customers from last night, before the fight? Any odd ones that usually don’t come here. Anyone with a visible injury.
The last part of the sentence was barely audibly. Soi decided to move closer to the two.
-Perhaps, there was this man, he was here all day yesterday, from early morning till the evening.
-He was here when I got my box?
-Yes.
-Where did he sit then?
The bar man pointed in Soi’s direction.
-Over there.
-So, close enough to hear our conversation, Ana stated.
-I don’t know, suppose it is close enough.
-But after the fight he’d disappeared and so had the box.
-Yes, that’s correct.
-Do you know what’s in it?
-No! Of course not, why would I…
Ana placed one of her hands on the old man’s cheek and instantly the man’s eyes opened wide with fear.
-Now, I thought we were through with all the lying, Ana said coldly. –Tell, me, the, truth.
-I, I… I saw your necklace… and in the oth…other box there was a…, the man leaned in closer and whispered in Ana’s ear.
Ana withdraw her hand fast and turned her back on the man and walked away.
-Soi! She called. -Come on!
Soi admitted his discovery and followed her out of the pub.
-So, did you hear our conversation?
-Yes, mam.
There was no need to deny it.
-Then so did the man from the yesterday.
-Do you think he’s still in town?
-He’s long gone.
They walked along the harbour on their way back to the Fair Lady and the rain begun to sprinkle down on them.
-More over, you are terrible of disguising your self. Did you think I wouldn’t recognise you?
-I am not so used to cover myself as you are. Why do you hide your self?
-Not that it is any of your business, I simply prefer to go unnoticed through the towns.
-Do you travel a lot?
She narrowed her eyes and didn’t answer. But the silence didn’t last long as they arrived at the pub. They made their way up to the mayor’s office on the second floor. Ana went in without knocking and stumbled upon a private meeting between the mayor and one of the waitresses of the Fair Lady. The waitress run out of the room and Soi looked after the girl with a surprised expression. Ana slide down in one of the chairs and put up her limp leg on a small stool with a sigh.
-Knocking is the polite thing to do.
The mayor watched Ana with a grim expression.
-And miss out of all the fun? She replied with half a yawn. –The package’s gone. Was a bar fight last night and the box was gone after that.
The mayor sank deeper into his large armchair and his face filled with wrinkles.
-Well, that was sad news upon a sunny morning.
-It raining, sir, Soi put in.
The mayor sighed deeper and looked out through the window.
-So it is. At least it’s lunch soon, I’ve heard that there will be honey soaked ribs.

The rain was pouring as always and Ana and Soi was stuck inside the Lady. Days had passed since their investigation and the rain had perpetually been showering down the streets of Sofara since then. Ana sat by one of the windows facing the main street, her eyes gazing the people passing by. Soi was positioned in an uncomfortable wooden chair with his legs lazily strewn on another chair some steps away from Ana. He rested his head on his knuckles and watched Ana in silence. This was how their days had passed. Sitting in silence, awaiting the next meal and watching the rain. Suddenly Ana took her eyes off the view of the street and lay her eyes on Soi instead. Uncomfortable by her persistent gaze he moves nervously and stare back at her. But she remains indifferently gazing. After a moment his patience run out.
-What?!
-Does it always rain this much, Ana asked and rested her cheek in the palm of her hand, looking bored at Soi.
-Yes, he answered grumpily. –It’s always like this by the sea.
-It’s tedious.
-There’s nothing much I can do about it.
Ana sighed deeply.
-What would you do if I wasn’t here?
-What?
-What do you normally do on days like this, when you’re not bothering other people’s lives?
-I would practice.
-We’ve done that already. Something else?
-Take care of my horse, perhaps.
Ana sat up straight.
-You have a horse?
-Yes.
-Let’s see the animal then.
She rose from her position and gave Soi the sign to lead the way. They wandered through the streets back to the stabled were Soi’s horse stood. It was a ordinary brown mare. Soon Soi was all busy caring for his horse and Ana sat on a stool and watched him in boredom.
-I hate horses, she said after awhile.
It was the first time she shared something of her personal life. Soi stopped brushing his mare for a moment, dwelling on the decision of actually carry on a conversation which could make them hate each other. He decided that he was already in deep enough water that is was remarkable that she’d slipped him the opportunity to inquire about her life and ask questions, which she obviously didn’t liked to be. He took a chance.
-Why?
-Well, they have four legs to start with. If they lose one leg it doesn’t really bother them. They can still run faster than a human.
-So?
-So, a human has two legs.
Ana held up two fingers to demonstrate, as if he was slow.
-Yes, he played along.
-If we lose one leg, we have only one leg left.
She poked her bad leg with her staff.
-You can still walk.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
-I wouldn’t call my dragging my leg in the mud leaving a trail behind me, walking. And those who really are missing a leg, the way they move forward, skipping like a rabbit or a frog, would you call that walking?
-No, of course not, Soi answered her, but added with a hushed voice. –I would call that making progress.
Ana’s eyes were still narrow slits.
-Anyway, having four legs are a luxury. And that they can run even without the fourth is just unfair. I have never been able to walk properly and I sure can’t run.
She glowered at his mare who innocently chewed her hay. Soi watched Ana’s jealousy and thought silently that she could at least fight. Better than most people.
-You can’t ride, that’s it! That’s why you don’t like horses.
For a moment Ana was startled with surprise that he had found her out. But she caught herself.
-For the second, they smell, she said trying to cover up her revealed secret and got up.
-But…, Soi was about to ask another question but wondered if it was so wise.
-What!
Ana was clearly annoyed to be hold up by another of his stupid and seemingly endless stream of questions.
-But how did you get here if you didn’t ride? The other towns are miles away.
Her deep from lightened a little.
-I walked, she said blank.
-All alone? Soi was astonished.
-No, I had a guard the first few days.
-What happened to him?
-Oh, he died, she smiled at Soi mockingly. –I don’t know why they keep pushing these guards on me, they all end up dead anyway and slow me down. The only good thing this one did was cooking me dinner. Not so good at guarding, though they assured me he was the best, but so they always do.
She left Soi to a hideous realisation. If he was to leave the safety of Sofara as Ana’s guard he was as good as dead.

To be continued...
By J.L.Frick

Katter, garn och vantar!

Jag har en katt i knät. Detta är inget ovanligt, så fort jag sätter mig i datastolen kommer en katt springande och med ett stort hopp så sitter hon plötsligt i mitt knä. Det finns ett citat som går ungefär så här: "Den bästa platsen i huset ligger katten redan på." Jag antar att denna lilla katt tycker att jag är bästa platsen i huset, i alla fall när jag sitter i datastolen för där blir jag ju sittande ett bra tag.

Vilda poserar med mina vantar

Har upptäckt lyckan med alla bloggar om stickandet och virkandets konst och letar mönster och inspiration med jämna mellanrum nuförtiden. Jag började i denna årets första månad med att bli ett år äldre och mer kreativ. Jag föredrar att virka då det enbart krävs en virknål i stället för fyra stickor för att göra ett par vantar och i fredags hittade jag ett relativt enkelt mönster på ett par virkade tumvantar vilket var precis vad jag behövde. Mina egengjorda lovikavantar har gått sänder i tummarna och tills jag kan få hjälp med att laga dem så har jag tagit tillfället i akt att utnyttja det garn jag fick i julklapp av min älskade mormor. Hon tyckte jag skulle göra sockor av det, vilket i och för sig var en befogad åsikt då jag sliter dem som andra byter ut mobiler, men det fick bli vantar. Högervante tog mig 5 h och vänster 3 h, man lär sig fort så det är inte utan att man blir lite stolt. Nu ska jag virka svarta eklöv som dekoration men vi får väl se om det går nå vidare.

Mina katter är i alla fall lyckliga, jag sitter stilla många timmar och arbetar flitigt så de kan lugnt sova i mitt knä.

Min bebisvante till min brorsdotter som föddes denna månad. Välkommen till vår jord!