10. A Misunderstanding
A Misunderstanding
Larissa
L arissa flattened her body against the dirt, her eyes wildly scanning the forest. Her hands shook upon realizing the gunshot came from the farmhouse.
She crawled to Halla, who had fallen to the ground with her hands shielding her ears.
Larissa raised her sister from the dirt, wiping the leaves from her hair.
“Halla, listen; listen to me.”
But Halla’s tear-filled eyes stared through the trees toward their home.
“They’re dead, Lara,” Halla whimpered. “They’re dead because of me, aren’t they? Because I went to the Wall.”
“You don’t know that.”
“This is my fault.”
Halla’s breathing caught in her throat. She hyperventilated, her cries increasing in volume. Scared of discovery, Larissa gripped her shoulders and shook her hard. “Stop it, Halla, they’ll hear you. Deep breath. Come on, like that.”
Halla whimpered but locked her eyes on her sister’s face.
Larissa sucked in a breath, motioning for Halla to mimic her as she held her breath.
With gentle fingers, Larissa tucked back fallen strands of hair behind Halla’s ears, then tugged on the tail of her braid.
The movement reminded her of Pappa, which sent a pang of unexpected pain through her heart.
She prayed her next words were not a lie.
“This isn’t your fault, Halla. No one is dead. The sentries like to show off, that’s probably all it was.” Then, the hard part. “But I still have to go.”
“What?” Halla’s voice hitched up an octave. “You can’t go now!” She gripped Larissa’s shoulders with such desperate strength that Larissa winced. She peeled Halla’s hands off, squeezing them to reassure her. She inhaled loudly, nodding for Halla to follow her lead.
“I’ll make sure that Pappa and Mamma are alright,” Larissa said. “You want that, don’t you?”
Halla’s chin trembled. “But what if something happens to you?”
The sentry’s gun and knife popped into Larissa’s mind, but she shoved the image away.
“Nothing is going to happen to me, and nothing is going to happen to you, but you need to do exactly as I say. Stay here, Halla. No matter how long it takes or what you hear, you promise me that you’ll stay here until I return.
If someone else comes to the forest, you go further in and find somewhere better to hide. Do you understand me?”
Halla wiped away the tears puddling at the corner of her eyes and nodded.
“That’s better.” Larissa held up Halla’s wrists; the medallions on Halla’s bracelets clinked against one another. “Swear on the Norn that you will not leave this place until you hear my voice. Say it, Halla.”
She sniffed, but her small voice was firm. “I swear on the Norn, Lara. I won’t leave until you come back.”
Relief coursed through Larissa. Halla would never go back on an oath sworn to the goddesses of fate. She tugged on Halla’s braid, more gently this time, then rose to her feet. “Good. You keep your promise, Halla, and I’ll keep mine.”
Before she could reveal her own conflicting emotions, Larissa turned, briskly walking away from Halla and toward the sound of the shot. Once out of Halla’s sight, she broke into a run.
Whom had the sentry shot? Pappa? Mamma? Tucker? Why? Was it because Larissa was missing, or had someone seen Halla at the Wall? Larissa’s stomach clenched. Had Darien betrayed them?
The sun fell, signaling the evening’s rapid approach as the farmhouse came into sight.
Two armored trucks sat in the drive, blocking any exit down the dirt path.
Larissa ran across the yard, not breaking her stride.
If she let herself slow down, who was to say she would not lose her nerve and stop entirely?
She bolted up the steps to the porch, flung open the screen door, and ran straight into the barrel of a gun.
Larissa’s breath left her in a small gasp as though her body had been entirely robbed of oxygen.
Her eyes strained down the loaded barrel resting only inches from her face.
The black tunnel threatened to swallow her vision.
Would she see the bullet before it killed her?
Her heart pounded against her skin as if it might thump right out of her chest and escape her fate.
“Please, stop!” Pappa’s voice broke Larissa’s fixation of the gun. “This is Larissa; this is my daughter!”
Beyond the barrel stood a sentry dressed in all black, his dark visor pushed back.
Behind him, Pappa and Mamma sat on their small couch, frozen in terror.
From the way they perched at the edge of the cushions, straining forward, they clearly wanted to stand beside their daughter.
Larissa knew they couldn’t; if they rose to her aid, it could only make things worse.
Broken violet shards scattered across the floor, mixed with soil and flowers.
The old TV that hadn’t worked in years bore a new hole in the middle of the screen that spiderwebbed into thousands of sharp cracks, clearly the victim of the sentry’s bullet.
Pappa leaned forward with one hand in the air, pleading. “Sir, please. You have been asking for her. She was probably wandering in the nearby forests when she heard the gunshot and came running home. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
The sentry’s eyes did not leave Larissa. He lowered the gun an inch but held it steady. “Where have you been, girl? The Empress’ decrees require you to present yourself for all Inspections at a sentry’s discretion.”
Larissa swallowed, worried that even that small move would provoke a reaction. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry. We had an Inspection last week. We’ve never had two this close together. I was gone from the house before you arrived. I wouldn’t have left if I’d known.”
“Are you hiding something out there?”
Sweat dripped down Larissa’s spine. “No. I just meant that I wasn’t here to present myself because I didn’t know there was an Inspection today.”
“Inspections are random for a reason,” the sentry barked. “They often catch people in a lie. So what lie are you telling me? Where were you all day?”
The best lies often contained the truth. “There’s a stream running through the forest bordering our field. Some days, after finishing my work, I walk along that stream. I lost track of time.”
“Is this not Dal’s Berry Farm?”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“Are you not Larissa Daldóttir?”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
“And you mean to tell me that you spent the whole afternoon lounging in the woods instead of working in the fields, as is your job?”
Larissa hung her head as if in shame. Her scalp tingled at the exposure to the gun. “Yes, sir.”
“Are you aware that your family has been granted specific privileges to work on this farm and live outside the Wall? Only the Empress’ generosity provides you with water, electricity, and weekly rations.” The sentry’s voice was rich with indignation. “This is how you repay her?”
Larissa remained silent, staring at the floor until the cocking of the gun drew her eyes back to the barrel.
“Are you aware,” the sentry continued, “that it is within my power to remove you until I am convinced that this farm is working at full productivity?”
Larissa’s breath caught in her throat. For the oddest moment, she was not afraid. She was angry.
Who was this man to tear her family apart? Larissa’s fury burned, and she was surprised by how badly she wanted to hurt him the way he’d threatened to hurt her family. A scalding sensation rose in her chest as she dared to meet the gaze of the man who held her at gunpoint.
The sentry’s eyes narrowed in response. His finger twitched toward the trigger.
“What is going on here?” a harsh voice from behind Larissa demanded.
Larissa’s defiance fled, and with it the sudden surge of energy.
She swayed on her feet, at once drained and light-headed.
Black spots littered her vision. Mamma stared, placing a trembling hand over her mouth as Larissa’s legs quaked underneath her.
When she turned to see the newcomer, nausea crept up her throat.
A young man, perhaps in his twenties, stood in her peripheral vision, his body taut in perfect posture as he glared down the sentry before him. “I asked you a question, sentry.”
Larissa sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but certainly not him.
The shadow of a neatly trimmed beard clung to his face.
His blond hair was shaved close to the scalp on both sides of his head, and thick, wavy strands were braided tightly against his skull.
Larissa stepped back, keeping an uneasy distance between both the new arrival and the sentry’s gun, which was swiftly lowered under the scrutiny of the young man’s pale hazel eyes.
Larissa noticed the emblem stitched on the jacket of the newcomer’s chest: three diamonds linked together with a solid line, the Isa rune, drawn down the middle gem. She swallowed the bile that rose at the sight of the Empress’ marking.
“ Kafteinn .” The sentry inclined his head in his superior’s direction. “This girl is Larissa Daldóttir. She was in the forest all morning, abandoning her work on the farm. I was explaining—”
“Put your weapon away.” The Kafteinn nudged the broken shards of glass on the floor, his distaste evident in the downturning of his lips. “You’ve made a mess. Go outside and wait for me.”
“Yes, Kafteinn .” Though the sentry was nearly double the Kafteinn ’s age, he nodded again, then marched out without another word or a glance at Larissa.
With the sentry gone, only Larissa’s breathing and the creak of the couch as Pappa shifted broke the still silence of the room. Mamma’s small hand reached out to touch her husband’s knee. Larissa knew they were not out of danger.