His father laughed, shook his head, and walked over to the table.
Chapter Two
“To many, the Everser Vald was at one time no more than a commoner, struggling with the everyday woes of the world. Only the trained eye could see the servant and master, laboring by day and by night for those that mattered most.”
Legon hustled up the stairs to his room and began to undress. He went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of rough brown pants made of thick cloth and an off-white shirt made of the same material. His room was flooded with light coming in from the window, and outside he could hear signs of the town coming to life.
At the sound of soft footsteps in the hall, Legon poked his head out of the door to see Sasha being led to her room by Laura. Sasha was starting to look better, and he thought that a good nap would probably help. He got his clothes on and rushed downstairs, stepping out of the front door onto the dirt street. The street was lined with buildings of varying sizes, all made of the same dark brown wood. Many of the structures were starting to gray with age and the constant bombardment of snow, rain, and sleet. Most people in town built their home next door to their place of business, and in some cases the buildings served both purposes. The town did have a central market, but most of the things sold there were livestock and produce, along with the occasional traveling merchant who would sell their wares there.
Legon turned to his left and walked through the door to their family’s store, instantly being welcomed by the scent of salt, meat, and spices. An impressive array of knives and cleavers glinted on the walls, speckling the room with reflected daylight. Because they were butchers, their business was not set by the seasons but by what people would bring in. People in the town would bring their livestock and would either pay to have Legon and Edis butcher the animal and give the meat back to them or sell them the animal for them to butcher and sell to the rest of the town. Oftentimes, people would bring in kills that they made while hunting and would get the meat prepared. The shop did much more than cut up meat, however; they would cure or smoke it if people wanted, and they also would make sausage and other similar products. Because of how fast uncured meat would go bad, Legon and Edis would have to get all the work done in a short amount of time, and if possible they tried to have a one-day turnaround.
“Ok, what do I need to get done first this morning? Who has orders today that will be here early?” he said aloud to himself.
A moment later Edis stepped in, and as if he could read Legon’s mind said, “Moleth.”
“Just the person I want to see this morning.”
Moleth was one of the people that he liked least-she was irritating and very odd. Most people in the town either disliked her or thought she was a raving lunatic. Legon had gotten into several arguments with her about Sasha. Moleth loved to tell the town what a demon Sasha was, and that the day would come when they would all regret not listening to her. And Moleth didn’t restrain herself to criticizing Sasha; she had a go at the entire town, and it was for that reason that no one took anything she said seriously. She would often get into arguments with people because she would say something about their family or friends.
Legon’s friend Barnin couldn’t stand her; his family lived next door to her and he had been subjected to the woman on a regular basis for most of his life. They would get into huge fights shouting insults at one another. The townspeople would often stop and watch the arguments just for the entertainment value. It wouldn’t normally be acceptable to verbally accost a woman in public, but in the case of Moleth people tended to make exceptions, as most, if not all, had been in the same situation with her before. Barnin had even once tried to sell her to a group of soldiers, but sadly the men knew a bad deal when they saw one. It didn’t even take them five minutes to figure her out, and they left the town without Moleth leaving heartfelt condolences for those she inflicted herself upon.
“I know how you feel son, she’s a right piece of work that one.”
Legon walked behind the waist-high stone counter that split the shop in two and leaned over a wooden box that, when opened, revealed a big block of ice that had been collected from the nearby mountains and a shoulder of lamb. He took the lamb out of the box, set it on the counter, and plucked a cleaver off the pegboard on the wall. Soon the sound of chopping filled the air. He was almost done cutting the meat and wrapping it in paper when he heard the little brass bell above the door clink. A short plump woman with shoulder-length blondish-grey hair and a pronounced nose walked in. She looked timid and seemed to have a slight facial twitch.
Her voice was small but still irritating, like screeching metal. “Hello, is there anybody here?” As she spoke she looked around as if the shop was empty and Legon was not standing in front of her.
He grimaced and resigned himself to an unpleasant encounter, “Yes Moleth, we’re here. How are you today?”
“O-oh there you are,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “I was supposed to pick up some… hmmm… some meat.” As she spoke she looked around the shop noticing the knives and other sharp objects on the walls and shook her head disapprovingly.
“Well how else are we supposed to cut the meat you idiot?” he thought. Moleth was very odd and probably mad. He was already getting annoyed with her. She walked to the counter now and clasped onto it like Legon was going to pull it away from her. She started to speak but he cut her off.
“I’m just finishing up now, Moleth. The meat will be ready in just a moment.”
“Ah, oh well ok… ok I–I guess that works.” Her voice sounded confused and tired as if she was worried that Legon would do something to her; in truth she wasn’t worried at all. She was always like this. She fidgeted with her hands in a way that reminded him of a chipmunk. A fake smile played across her face.
“Why… why is it so late getting done? I am a paying customer after all, you know,” she started with a shaky but surprisingly accusatory voice.
Legon tried to cut her off. She continued to talk but he just spoke over her.
“Sorry Moleth, it will be done in a sec and you can be on your way.”
“She can’t hear you, you know?” said a voice inside his head. “She’s in her own world right now; she’ll be with you in a moment, not the other way around.” This was true. Moleth was prattling on about something completely unrelated to meat and seemed not to take notice that he’d spoken. After what seemed to be hours to Legon, Moleth registered what he’d said.
“Ah, so I take it you got off to a late start this morning?” She said this as if she had figured out the solution to some challenging riddle that he hadn’t solved yet. “Yes, I can see it in Edis’s eyes. He looks worried,” she said, growing more and more confident.
It was true. Edis did look worried. He was thinking about his daughter, and he seemed not to have noticed that Moleth was even in the shop. “Why does he always do this? He pretends that’s she’s not even here and I have to deal with her the whole time!” thought Legon bitterly. In the last few years Edis hadn’t said much of anything to her, and when Legon thought about it he wasn’t sure if his father had ever said anything to her at all. Legon knew that Edis did not approve of the way Moleth talked about his family, and he would have understood if his father had banned her from the shop or even gotten into fights with her, but he didn’t. Instead, it seemed that she just didn’t exist to him.
His attention was jerked back to Moleth. “It was that demon half-sister of yours, wasn’t it?” Moleth said knowingly.
She had apparently been born without the ability to figure out that you don’t say things like this about somebody’s sister. It was true that Sasha and Legon were not related by birth. Legon was by all accounts adopted, but they were still brother and sister. He felt his face flush.
“My sister is fine, Moleth,” he said through gritted teeth. His anger was rising fast.
