Beauty Chapter Two Part 2

Welcome back for the last part to this week’s story. I don’t usually post stories this long, however, when I asked if reader’s wanted more to a story I posted last month, they responded yes. (Beauty) If you missed the post on Tuesday or the story from last month, here’s the cliff note’s version:

Lila Dean’s a young girl who lost her mother in a fire and was horribly scarred, both physically and mentally, as a result. Now people just don’t look at her, so when a stranger approaches and asks her to steal the Roy’s ruby to help him save his daughter, she takes the chance to do something good.

But Billy Roy catches her in the theft. To her surprise, he doesn’t stop her, instead he trusts she’s doing it for a good reason. So when Lila Dean goes to give the ruby to the stranger, Michael, she questions his story and it falls apart. She realizes she’s been taken for a fool and runs away. Now she’s determined to return the ruby and make things right.

Chapter Two: When Lila Dean tries to return the ruby, she arrives to find the town burning and the people taken captive. With the help of her father’s friend, Sheldon Lea, she’s determined to help her father and the Roy’s escape.

Now for the rest of Chapter Two. Thanks for stoping by and I hope you enjoy.

Beauty Chapter Two Part 2

Lila Dean clutched the small bag in her hand like it was a priceless treasure. In a way, it was. The black powder inside was her key to the cages. Sheldon Lea had made a comment about no time for lock picking school and then he’s set her down to show her how to put the powder into the locks, then spark it for a small explosion. Enough to bust the locks but not enough to draw attention. There was more finesse to it than Lila Dean would’ve guessed.

She waited in the trees, covered by darkness and the general noise of the invader camp. She asked Sheldon Lea who he thought they were. He shook his head and replied a cryptic, “a lot of trouble.”

Now she wondered if she should’ve pressed for a more specific answer. Sheldon Lea insisted there would be a guard change during his distraction. Lila Dean hadn’t even asked what his distraction was going to be. Now she wished she’d been more bold with the old spinster instead of taking everything at face value like she always did.

“What’sss thiss?”

Lila Dean ducked at the shout but she needn’t have. At the other side of camp several men stoop up, staring at something beyond them.

A wobbly Sheldon Lea stumbled between two of the men, a bottle in hand.

“Coulda—“ He tripped and almost fell, “coulda sworn it’s time for dinner. Where’d the inn go?” He spun in a wobbly circle.

The guard at the cages still stood at his post but he craned his neck around her father’s cage to see what was happening as someone tried to catch Sheldon Lea’s arm and he pulled the man down into a crumbled heap. A nasal laugh erupted from him and he rolled on the ground, sloshing ale over himself and narrowly missing another man grabbing at him.

The cage guard stepped forward, trying to see between his comrades.

Keep going, keep going.

As if on cue, Sheldon Lea knocked another man down by rolling into him. The man gave a surprised cry and the cage guard started forward to join the others.

Lila Dean darted out of the trees with the bag of powder clutched tight.

“Lila Dean?”

She tried to give her father a smile but stopped as she met his eyes. They slipped away from her face, then came back only to slide away again like he couldn’t stand but a moment.

Lila Dean blinked at the tears that threatened behind her eyes.

What’d you expect?

With trembling fingers, she grasped the lock to pour powder into it. Her hand shook and more of the powder hit the ground than the lock.

“Lila Dean, get out of here.” Her father’s feet appeared in front of her through the bars. She refused to look up at him as she poured a bit more powder.

Twisting the bag closed, she shoved it into her pocket and pulled out her flint.

“Stand back,” she warned.

His feet didn’t move for a second but then they retreated without another word.

Lila Dean sparked the flint but missed the lock. Sheldon Lea’s voice rang in her ears. Not like that, angle it or it’ll blow up in your face.

She tried again and cried out as the sparks hit.

A look over her shoulder shielded her face from the blast and confirmed no one noticed her startled cry.

“Give me the bag and go.” Her father held his hand out.

Lila Dean’s fingers closed around the bag. With unfamiliar defiance, she poured a palm full into her hand before handing the rest over. Then, instead of leaving, she headed to Billy Roy’s cage as her father moved to Marcus’.

He shot her a reproving glance but, again, didn’t fully look at her.

Fumbling with the lock, Lila Dean didn’t see him approach. Billy Roy’s hand came through the bars to grasp her wrist.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered.

She glanced up to meet his eyes and he didn’t look away. A dull ache constricted her throat.

“Stand back,” she whispered, almost crying when he listened and released her wrist.

Her hands were steady this time. She sparked her flint and with a hiss, the lock exploded.

Lila Dean pulled the door open.

Her father and Marcus Roy stood by the tree line, waiting. When they saw her free Billy Roy, they retreated into the forest’s shadows, satisfied the kids were right behind them.

“What about the others?” Billy Roy caught her arm.

“No time,” she pulled away with a wave at where Sheldon Lea had been. So close to the cages she couldn’t see the exact spot but Sheldon Lea’s nasal laugh could no longer be heard.

“Dean—“

She spun back, surprised he’d shorten her name again, and froze.

“Fancy meeting you again,” Michael flashed a grin. He held Billy Roy with a knife to his throat.

Lila Dean glanced around. Her father and Marcus Roy must have moved farther into the trees where they couldn’t be seen because they didn’t come back.

And the cages still shielded them from the invader’s camp. Not that that would matter since Michael wore the same blood red uniform as the others.

“You’re one of them?” she asked.

“Who do you think I gamble with?”

Lila Dean swallowed. The knife had cut into Billy Roy’s neck and blood trickled down into the hollow of his throat.

“Let him go,” she begged. The words were supposed to be firm but Lila Dena rarely spoke. She wasn’t used to controlling her tone.

“Why should I?”

“He’s too young to work the mine,” Lila Dean knew as soon as she said the words that Michael didn’t care. He wanted something else.

“None of you are too young. Even you’re familiar with the tunnels, little escape artist.”

Confusion warred with fright on Billy Roy’s face. Lila Dean met his brown eyes, just for a moment, to savor the feel of being seen, to experience the flush of finding something other than revulsion in another’s eyes. Even if he never acknowledged her again, she’d always owe him for the trust she saw there now.

Looking away in shame, Lila Dean pulled the ruby from her pocket. She’d never get to return it now.

Michael’s eyes fixed on it. A half grin, ugly on his handsome face, pulled at the corners of his lips.

“I’ll set this down and step away,” Lila Dean whispered, “then you let him go. He and I will run and you can have the ruby.”

The gem clinked softly as she set it on the cross bar of the cage.

“You have no idea what that ruby will pay for, do you?” Michael asked as she stepped away.

Lila Dean shook her head. She didn’t want to know.

Michael chuckled as he shoved Billy Roy toward her.

“In war, when you don’t make the small sacrifices, a lot of people get hurt.” Michael’s grin said just how much he enjoyed her shock.

“War?”

“What do you think this is?” he gestured around. “Now go!”

Billy Roy grabbed her hand and pulled her into the trees. After a moment, she stopped resisting and followed but not before seeing Michael grasp the ruby. A chill ran her spine at the sight.

***

She’d failed to make it right. Sheldon Lea, Marcus Roy and her father sat eating cold soup. They had no campfire or even a camp, nothing to give their position away.

Lila Dean wasn’t sure how Sheldon Lea had gotten away from the invaders after his ‘drunken’ spectacle. She didn’t ask, either. Now the adults were talking and none of them acknowledged her again.

Maybe Sheldon Lea did it because her father did but no matter his reasons, it hurt.

Lila Dean huddled against a large pine, just outside the small clearing the men sat in, and hugged her knees.

Billy Roy flopped down beside her. She jumped and then looked away, ashamed of her nerves and her foolishness.

“You’re not going to tell me how you knew him?” he asked, his voice pitched low so the adults couldn’t hear.

Tell him how foolish she’d been? She remained silent and he let it go.

“What do you think the ruby will pay for?” he asked instead.

Lila Dean shook her head. “Don’t know.”

His lips pinched in. He didn’t like the answer any more than she did.

“We’ll make it right,” he said after a brief pause.

Lila Dean turned her head to look at him. He was so hopeful, so sure they could fix things.

She gave him a half smile, leaving the right side of her face shielded against her knees to keep the expression from being grotesque.

She hoped he was right but making things right was harder than it sounded. Even just returning the ruby spiraled out of control.

Lila Dean hugged her knees, enjoying for the moment the silence with someone beside her for once.

She really hoped he was right.

The End

Blessings,

Jennifer