Terra Incognita

48

Tilla felt herself go rigid in the darkness. Something had woken her. Something bad. There it was again. That scrabbling sound. Mice?

No… mice did not sniff and sigh and mutter and bounce around enough to make the bed shake. Not mice. Aemilia was hanging over the side of the bed, groping for something under the mattress.

“What are you doing, cousin?”

Another sniff. “I can’t tell you.”

“Well, can it not wait until morning?”

There was a choking sound, then a sob. “It can wait forever!” wailed Aemilia. “It is no good now! What am I going to do?”

Tilla fought down an urge to shove her cousin out of bed. “Go to sleep,” she suggested. “Or lie still so that I can. And be glad that Rianorix is no longer in chains because of you.”

“You don’t understand.”

“You don’t explain.”

Another sniff, then a movement that led Tilla to suspect her cousin was wiping her nose on the sheet. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now,” said Aemilia. “Put your hand out.”

After a moment of confusion in the dark Tilla felt something small and hard being pressed into her palm.

“Don’t drop it,” urged Aemilia. “It’s very precious.”

Tilla’s fingers explored what seemed to be a metal ring with a complicated pattern that made the surface deeply uneven.

“Gold,” Aemilia whispered. “With my name on it.” Another sniff, another wipe.

“Who gave you this?”

“Felix.”

Tilla yawned. “He gave you a gold ring?”

“It was our secret.”

Tilla slid it onto her third finger. She had never worn a gold ring before. She did not expect to wear one again. It was a pity there was no light by which to admire it.

“Do you think I will see him in the next world, cousin? He said he didn’t believe in that sort of thing, but you don’t have to believe in something for it to be true, do you?”

“I suppose not,” said Tilla, who privately thought that if the next world was reserved for people with honor, any soldiers who managed to make it there would be very lonely. “Is the ring the reason Rianorix was jealous of him?” Rianorix could make baskets all day and all night and still have no hope of affording a gold ring.

“No, no, cousin! The ring made everything all right. And then that horrible doctor went mad and… and…”

Tilla reached for Aemilia’s hand and placed the ring on her finger. “I am sorry for you, cousin,” she said. “Truly.”

“I am going to wear it,” announced Aemilia. “I know what everyone thinks. But he gave me a ring with my name on it. I will show them!”

“Tomorrow,” agreed Tilla, snuggling back under the blanket. “Now we must go back to sleep.”

“I will show them all.” Aemilia flung herself back down on the mattress and sniffed.

“Good night, cousin. Sleep well with your beautiful ring.”

“Good night, cousin.”

“Cousin?”

“Yes, cousin?”

“One last thing. Do not wipe your nose on the sheet when I am in the bed.”