Kathryn sat on the
front steps of their family's small farm, just outside Virdura
Castle. She was staring wistfully at Marcus, working in the fields of
the neighbouring farm. He was far away, but she could still see the
cords of his bulging neck muscles as he bent down and dragged the hoe
through the soil.
“Mama,” she said
as an older woman walked up behind her and put her hand of Kathryn's
shoulder, “One day, I'm going to marry that man.”
Kathryn's mother
looked down at her and smiled. “That's nice, dear,” she said,
“but right now, we should get back to work. Your father will be
back from the fields soon, and he will want his afternoon meal.”
***
Kathryn and her
mother, Iris, were standing at the fire, stirring a pot of gruel,
when David stormed in.
“What's for
lunch?” He sat down at the kitchen table and banged his fists onto
the surface, growling like a bear. Kathryn cringed at the noise, and
rubbed her hands together nervously.
“Gruel, dear,”
said Iris, “and please stop making so much noise. You're scaring
our daughter.”
David got up and
screamed at his wife. “Well, she should grow a backbone, then!”
In a flash, he was towering over Kathryn, holding her wrist in his
hand. He twisted hard.
Kathryn screamed and
pulled her hand away. She cowered in the corner, nursing her wrist.
David slapped her
through the face. “Stop your snivelling, girl! You're never going
to make it in this world if all you do is cry.”
His daughter stood
up and scurried away into the adjoining room. David and Iris ate
their meal in silence, while listening to the soft weeping coming
through the open doorway.
***
The next day,
Kathryn was leaning against the wooden log fence separating their
farms. Once again, she was watching Marcus tilling his field,
shirtless. She dreamt of the day when this muscle-bound man would
sweep her up in his arms, and take her away from her abusive father.
They would have children together, and she would love them and care
for them, and they would never know the horror that she had to
endure. Marcus would never beat them they way her father beat her. Of
that, she was sure.
She was brought out
of her reverie by the sound of someone calling.
“Hey, you
there!”
She looked up, and
saw Marcus standing, some distance away, waving at her.
Kathryn's heart
leapt up into her throat. This man, the man she had loved from a
distance for so long, had noticed her! Sheepishly, she waved back.
Marcus trotted up to
Kathryn. “Hello,” he said. “My name is Marcus, what's yours?”
With that, Kathryn
burst into tears.
***
That day, Kathryn
told Marcus everything about her father and his abuses. She learnt
that Marcus had been beaten by his father, too, but that one day, he
had fought back, and beaten his father so badly that the man had to
be sent to the healer. Marcus' father had never laid a hand on him
again.
Over the coming
weeks, Kathryn and Marcus would become closer and closer, sharing
every detail of themselves and their lives. Kathryn even confessed to
him how she had felt about him all those months. She had been
desperately afraid that he wouldn't feel the same way, but he had.
She was happier than
she'd ever been, and the day that the couple decided to tell
Kathryn's parents about their engagement was a happy one indeed.
***
“Papa,” said
Kathryn one day, after their evening meal. Marcus had joined them for
the meal, and she clutched his hand for reassurance. “Papa, Marcus
and I are getting married.”
Iris was overjoyed.
She leapt up from her seat and wrapped her arms around her daughter.
She sobbed, as she exclaimed how happy she was for her daughter.
David's reaction was
a bit different. He, too, shot up from his chair, a dark glaze
appearing over his eyes. “No daughter of mine will be getting
married to a man like this!” He lunched forward, and it looked as
though he was going to punch Kathryn in the face.
Marcus reacted
instantly. He reached behind his waist, and grabbed the small knife
that he always carried, out of its sheath. He stepped between Kathryn
and her father, and plunged it into his chest. The man stopped in his
tracks, clutched at the handle of the knife, and crumpled to the
floor.
Iris immediately
dropped to the floor and began stroking her husband's cheek. David
spluttered a few times, and then fell silent.
Kathryn's mother
stood up, faced her daughter, and slapped her through the face. Tears
were streaming down her own cheeks, as she screamed at her daughter
and her new fiancé.
“What have you
done?” She continued to pound her daughter's chest as she
continued. “Get out! Get out, and don't ever come back! I never
want to see the two of you again as long as I live.”
Seeing that there
was no arguing with Kathryn's mother, Marcus grabbed his beloved's
hand and pulled her out the door.
They ran, as far as
their feet could carry them.
Iris never saw her
daughter again.
---
If you'd like to
find out what became of Kathryn and Marcus, read my fantasy short
story,
A Petition to Magic.
