Shadows At Dawn: Chapter 3
Reprieve
Read the first two chapters of Shadows At Dawn before diving into the third:
Chapter 1: Sorrow
Chapter 2: Regret
The girl said little over their first couple of days travelling together, and Rueben found he preferred it that way. His mind was racing in three directions: seeing Maddie, how he was going to tell Pa he was leaving and Everett’s death. But all paths converged back to the centre of his guilt and remorse. He was a dead man walking and it was only a matter of time before his sins caught up with him.
On the third day of riding, Rueben stopped, as much for his sake as the girls. Hard travelling took a lot out of him, so he could only imagine what it was doing to her. They found shelter among a swathe of rowans and Rueben lit a fire with his tinder box.
He hunkered down in front of the flames and the girl sat on the opposite side. She still wouldn’t make eye contact and so he took out the clump of cheese he’d been eating to keep him going and broke off a piece.
“Here,” he offered. “It ain’t much but it’ll keep you from going hungry.”
The girl swiped the cheese, eating with a kind of wild-eyed vigour that only starving people felt. Her dark skin glowed in the light of the fire and it dawned on Rueben how young she was. She couldn’t have been any older than twelve or thirteen.
Rueben watched for a few moments and cleared his throat. “So, are you gonna tell me your name or are we just going to keep sitting in silence?”
The girl stared at him from beneath black, matted hair. “Renee,” she mumbled.
Rueben rubbed his scruffy jaw. “I’m Rueben. And whether you believe me or not I ain’t going to hurt you, Renee.”
She blinked, as if considering the notion for the first time. “You don’t think I’m a witch?”
“If I thought that we wouldn’t be sitting here. I mean that literally.” He swiveled his finger to draw attention to the trees. “Witches can’t be anywhere near rowans. Has something to do with them being sacred to the gods and no profane thing may touch them.”
He figured the more he talked the more it would get her to open up so he continued. “Everett was known to be overzealous but Godfrey was a professional. He wouldn’t have taken you unless he was sure you were a witch, which still makes me wonder why they captured you to begin with.”
Renee hugged herself, shivering even with the embers burning in front of her. “Money,” she whispered. “Money’s the only thing that counts in Appleby.”
Rueben recalled travelling through Appleby with Pa when he was an apprentice. The apple orchards growing in the area were some of the largest and most prosperous on the western plains.
“Who paid them?”
Renee didn’t say anything and just as he thought she was lapsing into silence she let out a breath, as if she’d been holding it all in her entire life.
“My uncle. He’s mayor of the town. He didn’t want to take care of me when my mamma died so he had me locked away and bought up all the land she owned. He has half the town in his pocket and he paid off your friends to take me away.”
Rueben wanted to say they were no friends of his, but what difference would it have made? Renee had seen the worst of what humanity had to offer and even if he was a crooked bastard, Rueben couldn’t stop feeling guilty for killing Everett.
Renee started crying and she’d brought her knees up to her chest. Rueben put a hand on her shoulder and no matter how he said it he couldn’t shake the awkwardness of the gesture. “You’re safe now. Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
She didn’t move away, though he didn’t think she believed him. Rueben wasn’t sure he could keep her safe either.
“This is farming territory. I’ve passed through here before and there’s a lot of good folk. Someone could be willing to take you on as help and give you food and shelter so long as you work for it.”
Renee looked up, her eyes red-rimmed and shiny.
“It’s better than running for the rest of your life,” Rueben continued. “Change your name, keep your head down and come out when it’s time.”
Renee wiped her face on a tattered sleeve. “Why do you care what happens to me?”
Rueben had been asking himself the same question ever since he’d challenged the Fosters to a duel. “Because there needs to be a little justice in the world every now and then.”
In the morning they rode out into the pastures, searching for a family to take Renee in. No one answered at the first farm they tried and at the second they were greeted by an elderly man tending to his livestock.
Rueben introduced himself and Renee as Sela. He explained how he’d rescued the girl from bandits and she needed a place to recover from her wounds.
The elderly man listened and invited them inside to rest. By the afternoon, Rueben had convinced him to let Renee stay and given half his coin to make sure she was provided for. The elderly man accepted the coin and said he’d look after her.
Rueben didn’t bother saying goodbye. He didn’t want to be around her for any longer than necessary, given the violence that surrounded him. No sooner had Renee fallen asleep was he out the door and back on the road.