deadly divinations

Chapter Two

Dappled shadows danced over her face as she lay among the tangled roots of the ancient rowan tree. The sounds of various birds chittering to one another filled her ears with sweet music and she enjoyed every second of it. Sorrow had her slender arms crossed behind her head, her deep green eyes closed against the sunlight that managed to sneak between the leaves. She knew that if Mother Fresia found out that she's shirked her duties yet again it would mean another visit with Cowan, the First Son of the Children of Darkness and their Father's skilled tormentor. It didn't bother her, however. In the past five years she had been given more beatings than she could count. Some of them she'd been lucky to walk away from but she had. Not literally, of course. On those particually nasty days when their Father was feeling vicious, Cowan had to carry her out of The Chamber and back into her little room in the Daughter's Hall.

"So here you are!" a shrill voice growled.

Sorrow opened one eye and took in the sight of a pudgy girl two years older than herself. "Hello Grudge." she said flatly. "Nice to see you here."

Grudge crossed her fat arms underneath her ample breasts, tightening the blue silk around her round stomach. "Mother's going to be angry when I tell her you shirked your chores again." she said with a satisfied grin.

The younger girl closed her eye once more, shrugging indifferently. "Tell her what you like." Sorrow said. "My chores are done."

A look of disbelief crossed Grudge's round face. "Liar!" she cried.

Sorrow sat up slowly and placed on are carelessly over a raised knee. "I resent that, you little cow." she said in an even tone.

Before Grudge could answer, a least ten more girls hurried to range themselves around the pair. Sorrow raised an eyebrow questionably at Grudge but the other girl said nothing. It was obvious that the elder needen an audience if she was going to say anything to Sorrow. Normally, the other girls left her alone. They thought her insane for submitting to the First Son's whip so silently. And so often. Even the few Sons who had been introduced to The Black Serpent learned whatever lesson needed learning after that first time. Sorrow just didn't seem to get it. Every one of the twenty-five Untouched Daughters did their best to avoid the Sons and their Father. They had no desire to meet them any sooner than they had to.

"Now what?" asked Dreamer, a skinny girl with mouse brown hair and pale brown eyes.

"Found her slacking again, she did." piped up Hollow, a short little pig of a girl with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes.

Sorrow smiled menacingly. "I wasn't slacking." she said in the same bored tone she had used on Grudge. "My chores are done."

"Ha!" barked Furrow. "A likely story."

Turning her cold green eyes upon the tall, dark young woman Sorrow said, "I suppose you are all done working as well since you have time to spare to harass me."

Grudge uncrossed her arms and stamped one of her slippered feet. "Now you listen here you wretched girl!" she growled. "We aren't going to pick up your slack any more!"

At that moment a tall girl with long, straight blond hair and green eyes stepped up beside Grudge and slid between her and Sorrow. "You never pick up anyone slack, Grudge." she said venomously. "Sorrow's done her chores. I saw her finish them myself."

As if this drew the conversation to a close, Grudge relented and changed tactics. "Well then why didn't she report to Mother, Sky?" she demanded.

Sorrow turned her neck to the right and a loud cracking on bones filled the silence. A few girls winced at the sound but said nothing. "Look Grudge what's this really about?" she asked.

The older girl glared at Sorrow over the shoulder of the girl that stood between them but she said nothing. Sorrow knew what it was about. Grudge hated her because their Mother gave Sorrow liberties that the other girls didn't get. Over the past five years, Sorrow had proven herself to be the strongest willed girl-child to be sold into servitude to their Father. It was no secret that Fresia favored her. After that first beating that Sorrow had endured without screaming, their Mother had been smitten with her. Always doting on her and allowing her to wander the grounds more freely than the other Untouched Daughters. So long as she stayed away from the Son's Hall and the Training Grounds. This Sorrow did, but with difficulty.

"I'm tired of you strutting around her like you're something special!" Grudge growled through gritted teeth.

Smiling sardoniclly, Sorrow rose to her feet in one fluid motion. Her grace was a gift from her Gypsy mother and something that most of the girl's envied. She didn't understand why herself. It wasn't like they weren't graceful in their own right. Well, except Dreamer. She was a clutz. Sky glanced back at her and the two shared a knowing look. It was no secret that most of the girl's hated or feared Sorrow for one reason or another.

None of them had ever seen the long scars that marred her once-smooth back. None of them saw the shadows of pain and heartache that welled the surface of those lovely green eyes more often than not. None of them had ever seen the silver tears grace her high-boned cheeks on the anniversary of her become a Child of Darkness. None of them ever would.

"So what would you have me do to sate your taste for getting me into trouble so deep that our Mother will have no choice but to turn me over to our Dreaded Father?" Sorrow asked.

Grudge looked back at the group of girls standing around them. When she turned back to Sorrow her eyes were alight with malice. "I want you to drink the Honey Serum of the Sons."

Sky whirled around, her eyes full of fear. "Sorrow." she whispered. "Don't."

Sorrow rose to her feet, brushed the dirt off her black britches, straightened her crimson tunic, and smiled viciously at the girls standing before her. "You got the vial?" she asked.