Holes in the Walls

The boy stealing from my father’s garden would come to regret the fact that my first arrow missed.

The dogs howling woke me from the peaceful place of dreams, and I cursed the moonlight that filtered into my room as I pushed aside the heavy curtains. My room, at the eastern edge of my father’s mansion, overlooked his prized gardens. The scent of lilacs and oranges competing for my attention as I shoved open the balcony doors. The light breeze caressed my bare calves and swirled my black hair around my tan shoulders.

“Xyra! Jiros! Hush!” I shouted down to the pacing figures of his prized hounds. They glanced up at me, a moment of silence stretching across the early hours of the day, until a branch snapping severed it. My eyes shot across the garden, searching for the source of the sound as Xyra and Jiros bolted into the darkness.

“Deities above,” I muttered, turning back into my room to change out of my sleeping clothes. I pulled on yesterday’s riding outfit and wrinkled my nose at the stale stench of horse sweat and mud. Listing off every curse I could think of I tiptoed through the bare corridors and listened for any more sounds of disturbance. Everyone was still asleep blissfully, or otherwise, and I huffed at my inability to ignore the call of the dogs.

The main hall echoed no matter how quietly one tried to move so I let my footsteps echo like war drums. My frustration adding a harsh cadence to my movements. The ancient oak door creaked as I pulled it open, obviously it also disliked being woken before the sunrise. The courtyard outside reflected the moonlight in an attempt to look like a pearl. I considered it too harsh to be a pearl, I thought of it more as a portal to the Land of the Dead. I shook my head to clear the glare from my eyes as I jogged towards the guard’s house at the edge of the bridge that crossed the small ravine my father had dug to increase security.

Inside our one night guard was distracted by the scenes on his eyelids. I grumbled my disapproval, but my sympathies for exhaustion one out against the instinct to shake him awake. With far more softness than my other interactions with doors I pulled this one open slowly and with agonizing patience. It was nearly open when Xyra and Jiros both let out howls that could freeze even Helios’ blood. The guard inside jolted awake with a soft yelp and I left behind all pretense of sneaking around. It was after all my father’s house; I could do as I pleased.

“Good morning, Alexander,” I said, a pleasant smile pulling on my lips, “At least I’m assuming it’s morning.”

“Good morning, Lady Demetria.” Alexander took a moment to regain consciousness. “What are the dogs going on about this time?”

I stepped past his chair and opened the door to the small armory stashed there. “I think it’s probably a big bird or something along those lines. I couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d go check it out.”

“I should join you,” Alexander said as I walked by, a bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows in the other.

“That won’t be necessary,” I replied, striding out of the guard’s house, and giving him a confident smile over my shoulder, “I think I can handle a bird. I’ll be back before dawn.”

He didn’t argue and returned to his position, his shoulders falling before I was even out of sight. I snorted to myself and made my way to the eastern bridge and the stables that stood just at the edge of the ravine. The doors facing towards the mansion and my balcony doors still open, the breeze making my curtains dance. I opened my horse’s stall, and he gave a huff of annoyance at being awakened before breakfast.

“I know Tyo,” I whispered as I placed the halter around his sleek brown head, “But it’ll be a quick trip, I swear.”

He nickered softly and buried his nose in my shoulder. I laughed and gave his forehead a scritch before leading him out into the smaller yard between the stables and the mansion. Using a turned over bucket as a mounting block I swung onto his bare back and my muscles groaned in protest. Gripping the bow in my right hand, I tightened the quiver across my chest and nudged Tyo into a walk.

The black stones of the eastern bridge thudded beneath Tyo’s sure hooves and I worried the sound would wake the entire estate. My fear eased a bit when I remembered that Xyra and Jiros had been howling loud enough to wake the Deities. Once across the bridge I turned off the stone path that ended in the massive marble wall that stretched around the entirety of my father’s estate. Tyo’s hooves were much softer in the dirt paths of the gardens.

The moon illuminated the flowers of the main garden, the roses tucked away in their peach colored shells, the lilacs bursting with a fresh scent, the chrysanthemums dancing through the rainbow as Tyo walked past. I inhaled as we passed the lilies in the center fountain, the water crisp and silent in the night. Tyo shifted easily into a trot when I asked. We left behind the flowers and entered the orchard part of the garden.

My father referred to this section as the Cornucopia. The apple and orange trees growing in rows and filling the air with the scent of citrus and apple blooms. There were peaches just a few rows over, their roundness signaling they’re harvest was near. My eyes scanned the trees as we rode past, searching for any nesting birds that may have set off the hounds with a sudden movement. I brought Tyo to a halt and let my eyes scour the rows and columns of trees, waiting for any sound or movement.

“Xyra! Jiros!” I called, my voice floating through the trees on the wind. The thudding of paws warned me of their rapid approach and Tyo stomped his front hooves in agitation when they finally appeared at his side. Panting and covered in slobber they watched me with pride and anticipation. I looked to where they had come from, the marble wall practically ghostly in the moonlight, and realized how far out I had ridden.

“Stop barking at nothing,” I said, my voice filled with more sarcasm than actual chastisement. Xyra had the good thought to look a little scolded, while Jiros simply wagged his tail. Groaning against the tightness in my back I turned Tyo back towards the mansion, praying that if I rushed back I could pack in a few more hours of sleep. Then my eyes caught a shadow of movement. A few rows over and at first I thought it might just be the branches shifting in the breeze. That is until the shadow raced in the opposite direction of the wind and had a solid human shape.

“Tyo,” I whispered and turned him towards the now running figure. I pressed my knees to his sides, and he leapt into a gallop, his hooves throwing up dirt as Xyra and Jiros gave chase with us. I found the rhythm and dropped the reins to grab an arrow and nock it. I drew the arrow back, aimed for the figure darting in the night, and paused. My arm straining and my core threatening to give out and send me sprawling in the dirt I moved the arrow point up and released. It spiraled after the figure and sliced through the fabric at its shoulder and thudded into the tree they were trying to scramble behind.

Tyo slid to a stop a few feet away and I watched for a moment as they tried to yank the arrow from the tree. I dismounted and nocked another arrow, though I didn’t draw it back.

“Who are you?” I demanded, stopping five feet from them. The moonlight caught on their features.

“I feel like I should be asking you that question,” they replied, their voice decidedly male and rushing from their tongue like a river over rocks.

“Seeing as you are on my estate,” I paused as his eyebrows drew together in confusion and then sprung apart in realization, “I think you should answer my question first.”

“Finnian, my name’s Finnian.” He stopped trying to yank the arrow from the tree bark and instead ripped the shirt. I drew back the arrow as he bent down to grab at something near his feet.

“Stop.” I hissed, and he froze, hands placed in the air. “What are you doing here?”

“There are people are starving outside of this estate,” he replied, his hands wavering and finally unfreezing to wrap around the top of a cloth bag, “I didn’t think anyone would notice a few missing fruits. I didn’t think anyone would come to check on the dogs, no one has in the past.”

Realizing he wasn’t worried about me shooting him, I released the tension on the bow and placed the arrow back into the quiver.

“You’ve been here before?”

He glanced up and the moonlight caught the constellations in his black eyes, “Yes. I’ve been here before.”

“How are you getting in?”

He laughed and my heart sank into my stomach. “If I told you that, you’d have them patch up the hole and I’d be out of luck. I have families to feed, you know. After all, it’s your father’s job, as Duke of Trea, to feed the people beyond his estate, but he doesn’t.”

“People are starving?” This last question erupted from my chest with hurt air. What was I supposed to say? That I didn’t know, I wasn’t included in my father’s estate meetings.

“People are starving.” Finnian growled and I took an involuntary step back at the shadows in his eyes. “And they will continue to if I don’t do something.”

I let my attention wander back to the mansion sitting just beyond the trees. “Who picked you?”

“What?”

“Who picked you? To steal?” I pointed to the bag now slung over his shoulder. “Because it is stealing.”

“I picked me. Somebody had to do something, and I was the only one willing to risk my neck.” He turned away and then paused. Waiting, I realized, for me to make a decision.

“Show me how you got in,” I held up a hand to stop his protests, “I’m not going to block it or anything, but if you’re using the hole in the eastern wall, they’re going to patch that up in a week. I can show you other ways in and out, easier ways too than that tiny hole.”

He smiled and my brain went a little bit fuzzy. “You’re Lady Demetria, right?”

I nodded and whistled for Tyo and the hounds, who had wandered off to try and eat some of the fallen fruit. Tyo shuffled behind us as I followed Finnian towards the wall.

“How much do you get away with?” I asked as we reached the wall and turned left to follow it towards the eastern gate.

“About a bag a night, sometimes two if there’s been a festival or celebration.” Finnian shifted uncomfortably in the exposed area along the base of the wall. “I’m usually a lot more careful.”

“You should be happy it was me who came and not anyone else.” I said, and nearly tripped over my own feet as Tyo bumped me with his head.

Finnian let out a soft chuckle, “Yes, happy that I was caught stealing to feed people and only let off with a warning by the Duke’s daughter.”

I flinched at the harshness of the joke, “I am trying to help you.”

He stopped and whirled on me, his hand flying out to grab me by the arm. “If you want to help, feed the people your father has conveniently forgotten.”

I pried his hand off, the red mark visible in the night. “Come back tomorrow night, then. There’s a gap in the south wall nobody knows about and it’s bigger than this one. Plus, the guards never patrol that far.”

“Are you actually trying to help me rob your father?”

“It’s my estate too,” I challenged, “Consider it…reparations for years of neglect.”

We paused at the small black smudge in the wall, the hole barely big enough for the boy standing in front of me. He shifted the bag to his other shoulder and then extended his right hand. I took it, the callouses brushing against my own, and even though I knew the cause of them were different I felt a connection to this boy.

“Swear on the Deities,” he whispered, his fist tightening around mine, “that you won’t betray me. That when I slip through the southern wall tomorrow night, it will only be you and not anyone else.”

“I swear on the Deities that only myself and Tyo here will be there to greet you. I’ll have the dogs put away.” I shook his hand as the final words slipped from my lips.

He returned the shake and said, “Good. Till tomorrow night then, Lady Demetria.”

Finnian disappeared through the wall and I led Tyo over to a forgotten step ladder. Swinging onto his back, my body gave a moan of exhaustion and I tucked the bow to my side, gripped the reins and guided him onto the stone path that ran back towards the mansion. The gallop back was enough to keep me awake, but after putting Tyo away I had only enough strength to climb into the hayloft and collapse into a dark dreamless