Stalks of Gold: Original Third Chapter
Stalks of Gold just passed 150 reviews on Amazon, so I’m happy to be sharing the original third chapter from the first draft! Remember this is from a rough draft, that I scrapped a lot from, so be kind and enjoy seeing just how different the story ending up being!
Aurelia did her best to put Sandor’s words out of her mind, to put him out of her mind.
The old woman wasn’t anymore dangerous than a ladybug. She was harmless. He was just upset she trusted an old woman over him. She had no idea what his problem was. Certainly, he must be used to people’s disdain, he worked for the king!
“—and they lived happily ever after.”
Aurelia was brought out of her thoughts as the woman finished her story. She lifted her foot off the treadle of her spinning wheel, turning to face the woman. She’d lost track of the story sometime after the princess had been put in charge of geese for some reason. She assumed everything worked out if the woman said happily ever after.
“Would you like to hear another one?” The woman adjusted the blanket on her lap.
Aurelia blinked. “You know more?”
“Of course! You spend as much time alive as I have and you hear every story at least twice. Telling you a good, romantic story while you spin is the least I can do to pay back your generosity. Do you have a request?” The woman leaned back in her chair.
Aurelia looked at the wool in her lap. She shook her head. “Whatever story you want to tell is fine.”
“Well, I’ve got just the story in mind.” The woman flashed her crooked smile.
Aurelia turned back to her wheel and started spinning again. The woman started the story in a soft voice. Her voice fell into the same rhythm as the sounds of Aurelia spinning. Her fingers pulled as the wool twisted. The words hit her ears like she was far away or underwater. As the wheel spun, parts of the woman’s story hit her ears while other parts faded away.
There was a princess, as there usually is, and an evil woman, a witch or fairy or some kind of magical creature cursed her. When she turned sixteen, she’d fall into some death like sleep. Despite the king’s efforts, when she turned sixteen, she pricked her finger and fell into such a sleep for a hundred years. A prince snuck in and found her, falling in love at first sight. He kissed her, and the curse was broken.
Aurelia wondered if that was really how love worked. Would she know? How did someone know it was true love or love at all? The woman described it as though it was just inexplainable. True love either happened in one moment or it didn’t happen at all. Was it magic? When the princess woke up, did she feel it in her gut that the stranger she was looking at was who she was meant to be with? When the princess saw him, did the world just fall into place? Did anyone actually experience that?
The yarn kept winding around the bobbin. Her foot continued pushing the treadle. The wheel blurred in her sight.
In the stories, true love was earth shattering. Life was never the same after it, and in some ways, life ended when someone found it. Once they shared true love’s kiss, they got married and lived happily ever after.
What did that mean?
Aurelia wasn’t sure. She couldn’t wrap her head around it, but she knew it wasn’t the future she imagined for herself. The picture in her head was more of a contently ever after. It could be happy, but Aurelia wasn’t so sure it would be. How many people really found a happily ever after? Was that dependent on true love?
The woman had moved onto another story, but Aurelia stopped listening again.
Was she supposed to want true love? Wasn’t everyone? Was it bad of her to try and force herself to be at peace with the knowledge she wouldn’t have that, if it even existed?
It sounded nice, falling in love, but it was just a story.
“What did you think of the story, dear?” The woman’s voice caught Aurelia’s attention again.
“It was great,” Aurelia said as she slowed her pace. She glanced over at the woman and asked, “Are any of the stories you’ve told true?”
“I’m quite sure they are!” The woman cackled softly. She tilted her head. “Of course, what you mean by true may differ. The details may be different, but all of these stories started somewhere. We tell them for a reason.”
“So, you believe true love is real?” Aurelia asked, lifting her foot off the treadle.
“Don’t you?”
Aurelia hesitated. She had no idea. Maybe it did exist, but it was unlikely to happen to her. People did what they had to in order to survive. Marriage was just part of that.
“I’m not sure,” Aurelia settled on saying. “Have you experienced it?”
“Not in this lifetime, but I wasn’t made for it,” the woman looked at the empty fireplace, but she might as well have been looking a thousand miles away.
“Then, doesn’t it hurt more to believe it exists when you know you won’t have it?” Aurelia asked, picking at the wool in her hands.
The woman smirked, and it was clear she knew Aurelia was asking her own sake. Aurelia didn’t really care.
“Don’t count yourself out. True love finds you.” The woman grinned. “It may not always look like what you imagined, but you’ll know it when you see it.”
“And if I never see it?” Aurelia asked.
“You will. There’s something in you, your kindness, your beauty, call it an old woman’s intuition. Our lives are never what we set them out to be.” The woman said, leaning her head back. Her eyes shut.
Aurelia waited for her to say something else, but she started snoring soon after.
“Senile old thing,” Aurelia muttered, spinning again.
The wheel spun and spun. Fibers twisted together, sliding through her fingertips.
She put all thoughts of romance, fairytales, and true love out of her mind. There were more important things to be done.
Love wasn’t as important as surviving.
* * *
“Aurelia! Wake up!”
With a grunt, Aurelia crawled out of her cot and stumbled into the main room. She yawned, “What is it?”
“The woman, she’s already gone.” Meldon said gesturing to where the woman had been sleeping by the fire.
Aurelia shook herself awake. She looked at the window. It was barely dawn. “Why would she leave so early?”
“No idea, I had hoped you would know, if she said something to you before you went to sleep last night.” Meldon said, breaking off a piece of bread.
Aurelia shook her head. “She didn’t. I don’t think she woke up after she fell asleep while I was spinning.”
Meldon frowned. “I’m surprised she didn’t wait to say goodbye. I don’t think we even got her name.”
Aurelia, still feeling the effects of being startled awake, shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t want to make a fuss or put us out any further.”
“That’s a shame. I would have liked to say goodbye or seen if there was anything more we could do.” Meldon sighed and glanced at the door. “I’ve got to get started but let me know if she comes back.”
Aurelia muttered her agreement as she ran her fingers through her hair. Her father disappeared into the mill. Aurelia figured there was no point in trying to go back to sleep again. Besides, there was always something to do around the house.
She went back into her room and dug out her wooden comb. She tried to comb her hair quickly, but it always took time as her long hair tangled easily when she left it loose. She hissed as she pulled apart knots. Since she was up early, she took the time to braid her hair back out of her face. With a scrap piece of yarn, she tied off the braid and pushed it off her shoulder.
After getting dressed, she went about straightening up. She picked up the blanket the woman had been using from beside the fire. She shook it out and started to fold it when something fell from under the creases. Aurelia tossed the blanket over her arm as she bent down to pick it up.
It was a letter? Something was written on the front. Aurelia unfolded it, and all she could see was half a page of writing.
Had the woman written her a letter? How did the woman know how to read and write?
She turned it over a few times, but she didn’t magically gain the ability to know what it said. Her father couldn’t read either so there was no point showing him.
After their conversation and how she left without a word, Aurelia desperately wanted to know what the woman would have said. She tapped the letter against her hand, but she didn’t know anyone who could read, except maybe the merchant she sold to. However, asking him to read a letter for her felt wrong.
Maybe she could find someone in the marketplace who would read it for her for a small price. She didn’t like going there when she didn’t have business there, but she had been wanting to get something warmer for her father for winter.
It couldn’t be considered wasted trip then.
Aurelia grabbed her shawl and tucked the letter into her coin pouch. She walked through the mill, letting her father know she would be back shortly. He smiled, wished her well, telling her to say hello to anyone they know for him. Aurelia wondered if that comment was about the guard, but she brushed the thought off.
As she walked into the city, the wind picked up and she was grateful she brought her shawl. The marketplace was quieter as everyone’s pockets tightened after taxes were collected. She stopped by the baker’s, asking if they knew anyone who could read, but they didn’t.
She wandered around the rest of the city, looking for fabric that was within her budget as well as warm enough to be of use. Aurelia’s heart wasn’t truly in it or else she would have started haggling with the merchants to try and find something affordable, but the letter at her side kept entering her thoughts.
One merchant kept calling after her as she walked away. She ignored them and pulled out the letter. She turned it over and over again in her hands as she walked, not sure where to start or who to ask to read the letter.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Aurelia spun around, jumping away slightly.
“My apologies,” Sandor said, holding his hands palms out. He smiled. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Aurelia huffed, “Don’t you have a job?”
“Yes, I do, and I’m not on duty until tonight. Any other doubts about my character?” Sandor asked.
“Give me a minute, I’m sure I’ll think of some,” Aurelia crossed her arms, gripping her letter tightly.
Sandor laughed softly, placing his hand on his heart. “Always so critical. Is it just me?”
“Maybe,” Aurelia said. The paper crinkled in her hand.
Sandor glanced down at her hands. He raised an eyebrow. “Is that what brings you to town? Sending a letter?”
“No,” she snapped. Heat rushed up her face. She couldn’t say why, but the fact he expected her to know how to read and she didn’t made her want to run. She uncrossed her arms and looked down at the letter. “The woman left a letter, and I can’t read it. There. Now you know my business, happy?”
Sandor’s forehead crinkled for a moment before understanding relaxed his face. He looked away for a moment. He didn’t quite look her in the eyes as he hesitantly said, “You know, I could teach you. It’s a good skill to have.”
Aurelia was floored. Was this his way of trying to change her opinion of him?
“What’s the catch?” Aurelia shifted her weight, eyeing him carefully.
Sandor’s eyes met hers. He frowned as if it hurt him she would ask that. “No catch. I just want to be your friend. Friends help each other, no questions asked.”
She didn’t believe him. She didn’t like him. She hated the thought of owing him something. The thought of him hanging around her, trying to teach her made her feel sick.
She wanted to know what the letter said. She liked the idea of not having to pay for it. She liked the idea of being literate even more. If she could read and write, she could use it to earn money. It’s a highly valuable skill. If she could get a job doing that a lot of doors would be opened for her. She could provide a much better life for her father.
What was more important? Her dislike of Sandor? The ability to make a better a living?
Ultimately, she realized she valued her living more than she disliked Sandor.
“Alright, if you want to teach me how to read and write, I won’t say no,” Aurelia said, rolling her eyes.
Sandor immediately lit up. His eyes shone. He grinned widely. He radiated a gentle happiness she hadn’t seen in him before.
Maybe she was too hard on him. Maybe he really was genuine.
Well, if he was, she gave him a chance to prove it.
“Great! I’ll come by the mill tomorrow and we’ll start, anything to get me away from the castle,” Sandor laughed.
“What’s wrong with the castle?” Aurelia asked. Wasn’t working in the castle the ideal post? Better pay and less work? No one would be foolish enough to attack the king.
Sandor’s face paled. He shook his head. “Trust me, if you think living under his rule is awful, it’s so much worse living under his thumb.”
“Living under his thumb? Surely you don’t see the king all that often.” Aurelia eyed him. “You help collect taxes, if you were part of his guard detail you’d never do that.”
Sandor’s eyes widened, and a panicky glint flashed in them before he said, “No, I don’t seem him all that often, but he is very strict and particular about the guards and our conduct. No one likes working for him.”
There was something about his words that felt odd. She had a feeling there was more to it than that, but she didn’t push it.
“Right, I can imagine.” Aurelia tucked the letter back into her pouch. “If I woke up every day with the possibility I’d have to face the king, I don’t think I’d ever get up.”
Sandor’s smiled returned. “I think you’re braver then you give yourself credit for.”
Aurelia couldn’t help grinning back. “I’ll never have to prove it, so you’ll never know.”
Sandor shook his head. “Then I’ll continue to believe you’d spit in his face if you got the chance. It’s the only way I’ll get through my long shift tonight.”
Aurelia said, “I can’t stop your delusions.”
Sandor chuckled, as there was a lull in the conversation. He gestured in the direction of the mill. “Would you like for me to walk you back?”
Aurelia glanced in that direction. She did need to head back. She still more to do at home. She shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. I’m sure you want to get some rest before you work tonight.”
Sandor nodded, and his eyes softened. “Right. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow then,” Aurelia said, turning and heading in the direction of the mill.
She walked quickly, counting all the things she still had left to do. She glanced back over her shoulder, at Sandor. He gave her a small wave as she walked. She turned her head back around, ignoring his gaze still on her.
Maybe he wasn’t what she thought he was. Maybe he was a good man.
At least she was getting something for free. Was that bad of her to think?
I’ll release the next original first draft chapter when Stalks of Gold reaches 200 reviews on Amazon!