The first story chosen to fill out into a full blown manuscript has been completed and is resting comfortably before it’s first edit. A new story line has arrived to take us through the end of the year. Thus far it is kind of fun to write. Magic, treachery and other fabulous things will be involved before we close out the year. I have only the barest of outlines, more thoughts than outlines, so it should be interesting to see where this end up. For now, the story continues…
Day 4: “What was in the archives,” she asked her feet refusing to move forward.
“What was in the archives,” she asked her feet refusing to move forward. Because her string changed from blue to red, she knew something was there. How he responded might tell her a little about his place.
Marcus smiled. “I should have known you would know something,” he said. “I put a tracking spell. I knew the archives weren’t well used and so it seemed reasonable that the person who caught it would be you and not some other researcher. I just put it in the aisle that had a little less dust than the others and didn’t make it specific so it would be harder for you to notice.” His eyes narrowed. “Actually you shouldn’t have noticed anything since it wasn’t specifically keyed to you. How did you spot it?”
“What is the letter,” She asked instead of answering.
Marcus studied her a moment and then shrugged. She knew that wasn’t the end of things. He was just willing to table the discussion for later when he thought he had a better chance of getting an answer. He was a patient one. Anna was surprised, he thought there would be a time to change he mind.
“It is a letter stating the agreement that was reached. It also has a copy of your pardon inside,” he told her.
Anna felt her eyebrows shoot up nearly to her hair line at his words. “Pardon.” She repeated, the word coated in ice.
Marcus held up his hands in self-defense. “I did not condemn you. I did not think that was right. But there were others who did. They have been made to see reason and revoked the sentence. So even though you were wrongly condemned you have been pardoned.”
Anna lowered her eyebrows but her mouth remained a thin line where her lips pressed together tightly.
“There is no magic on it,” Marcus assured her. “I give you my word on that, if you still value my word.”
Anna looked at Marcus and realized that he wouldn’t lie to her. If it was a trap he would tell her. She bend to pick up the letter and he smiled, but stayed where he was, not closing the distance. Anna opened the letter. She pulled the thick paper out of it’s envelope and scanned the pages.
Marcus was right, an agreement had been reached. She promised herself she would read the details later and shuffled the pages to her pardon. There it was. The ink was shiny and black, the words formal, the signatures of the entire council lined up on the bottom and the official seal of the United Council stamped at the bottom. It was legit.
‘Or a very good fake,’ She thought. Unwilling to chance it, she mouthed the words for revealing truth and passed her hand over the pages. They shimmered but remained unchanged. The documents were real, official. She scanned the wording of the pardon, her anger growing. She was forgiven any accusation of wrongdoing. The document proclaimed that she was falsely accused and that all of her family’s holdings were now returned to her along with a sizable sum to make up for any difficulties the charge of treachery might have caused her.
Anna felt her lips press even more tightly together. Anger was rising. She swallowed it back. She could think about what it meant later as well as sort her feelings. “Was that all?” she asked. She looked up at Marcus.
“Is that not enough?” he asked, his eye twinkled with amusement.
In her mind nothing would be enough for what they did.
“I meant was there more you needed to say or do before you left?” Anna clarified.
Ten til Midnight 