Ashes Ashes: Chapter Two

The Right:1

"You can't make it go away, Guss, no matter how hard you glare at it." Peronall chided, brushing a dirty blonde strand of hair away from her sweat beaded brow. It was a particularly muggy day, making either of the tiny cottages, seemingly overlapping save the thin strip of grass running in-between the stone structures, simply unbearable to lounge in. 2

"Perhaps not, Nall." The petite brunette perched on the fence that ran parallel through her yard, separating her land from that of her friend and confidants own plot, conveyed with a bereft roll of her hazel eyes, "But if some manner of savagery should befall this damnable letter, I would certainly not be adverse to it." Gussalen cursed, balling the offending parchment and throwing it down into the dirt. The young farming woman of 19 summers swung her legs freely, picking at the mud that caked her nails from that mornings harvest duties. 3

Peronall arched her brow playfully. An impish grin twisted up the corners of her mouth as she pulled a freshly dried shirt from the clothes line and folded it. 4

"You mean the same manner of savagery that befell the courier of said letter?" The elder, green eyed seamstress watched amusedly as Guss' face proceeded to scrunch crossly, a flush of cherry pooling in her cheeks.5

"Oh!" She jumped down from her perch and stalked over to her neighbor. "That-That man, if you could call him one," Guss spat pointing an accusing finger a Peronall, who placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle of astonishment at the abrupt outburst, "Got off easily if you ask me! Did you not see the haunty way he swaggered in here, frowning down his nose at us as if we were the very manure that spotted the streets. And then!" Guss threw up her hands, narrowly avoiding stepping on a chicken during her ranting pace, 6

"He had the audacity to offer me his bed for the evening! His Bed!" She screeched. "Nevermind that he was the ugliest bugger I've ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on."7

"Quite so, luv, but do you really think that pushing him into the well was the best course of action? He was a man of the law you know, and as such, you're lucky to have not ended up in the stocks.....Again." Peronall added, absently rubbing her swollen belly, the thought of the life growing within making her smile unconsciously despite her scolding tone. Her younger companion came down from the melodramatic tantrum and placed her hand over Peronall's sighing happily when feeling the baby kick. 8

"You're right. Perhaps that was a tad irrational, if not at the very least hygienically unsound." Guss paused thoughtfully, her freckle spattered nose scrunching. "What are we suppose to drink now that our water is tainted by that mans stink?" The seamstress shrugged, turning back to the clothes waiting to be taken down from the line. 9

"We'll just boil it as we always do."10

"Filth like that can't simply be boiled out of water, Nall." Guss muttered, reaching up to pull down a sheet to fold, only to have her hand smacked away.11

"Don't. You. Dare." Peronall bit, with a pointed glare at Guss' dirt riddled hands. Guss cradled her stinging appendage to her chest, sticking her tongue out at the older woman. 12

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A familiar scottish brogue teased. "She's likely to rip it out if you give her the chance." Peronall narrowed her green eyes as Guss shared a conspiring laugh with the new addition, at her expense. 13

"I should've ripped out yours long ago, maybe then I'd be spared your poorly executed ridicule." 14

"Is that any way to greet your husband?" Conall cocked his head, his warm brown eyes glowing with mirth. He held open his arms towards his spitfire English wife who turned to level him with a cold glare. A few moments passed before Guss shrugged, stepping into Conall Mallery's embrace, blatantly ignoring the spark of jealousy flaring in Peronall's green eyes. 15

"At least someone's happy to see me." Conall laughed, the deep timbre making his whole body shake. 16

"Oh, sod off." Peronall pushed Guss out of her husbands embrace, and placed his corded arms around her very pregnant waist. She placed a chaste kiss upon Conall's stubbled cheek, running a calloused hand through his unruly dark brown hair. "Your home early."17

"Yes." Conall's face becoming serious. "I bring word of our new proprietor."18

"Ha!" Guss huffed patting down her work attire made up of her fathers old leggings and weather-worn shirt. One couldn't exactly farm in a dress now could they.19

"Aye," Conall raised an amused brow, "I take it you've heard?" 20

"Of course I've heard!" Guss spat. In the foreground Peronall rolled her eyes, mentally preparing for yet another ta- 21

"In fact, whoever it is, was kind enough to send us a letter hand delivered by him majesty's most perverse!" Guss scraped. Conall gave his wife a puzzled glance, which she of course shrugged off, going back to her laundry. "Can you believe the nerve of those noblemen! Prancing around in their fluffy collars and kissing royal feet! They wouldn't know the meaning of hard labor if it beat their cushioned asses with a stick." 22

"She's not to happy about it then." Conall whispered to his wife, grinning like a cat. 23

"He writes us a letter, and expects us to just fall under his rule? I. Think. Not!" Guss held her head rebelliously. The words of her conviction flowing like the river that cut through her lands. "Last time I checked, I was free, and to hell with it if one man thinks he can take that away from me! I've bled for this land! Those fields are sown with my tears and reaped by my hands. Damn it all if some hoity-toity, fork using, Noble-fairy is going to say he has the right to tax me for the right to live!"24

With that said, Guss turned heel and stalked back to her yard, an aura of inflexible animosity poisoning the air about her tawny crown. 25

"I wonder how she truely feels," Conall mused earning him a smack on the arm from his wife. "Hey..."26

"Guss is right you know." Peronall watched Guss storm into her cottage, only to storm back out of it seconds later, her straw hat shoved down onto her head. The younger woman disappeared behind her dwelling, most likely to hitch up her ox, Hampton, in order to plough out her frustration. "That girl has lost so much, and now she may lose the right to farm the only memory of her family she has." Peronall shook her head sadly. The past was always a sensitive thing, especially where Guss was concerned. 27

"Good thing I didn't tell her then." Conall sighed, wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders and bringing her back to his chest. He rested his chin on her shoulder, placing a soft kiss on the smooth column of her neck. 28

"Tell her what?" Peronall closed her eyes, covering his arms with hers and relishing Conall's affectionate embrace. 29

"Well, that he's coming." Peronall's eyes snapped open, she turned to face her scottish lover. 30

"Who?"31

"The one who now owns this land, Viscount Bouchier. He's coming to 'inspect'" Conall finger quoted, "His new property. He'll be in the village tomorrow." 32

"Oh dear."33