The Dark Lord's Lady

The Dark Lord's Lady

Chapter three: Time and Memory

Sabbath lay on her back and watched the shadows slowly lengthen across her ceiling. She was in her new bed, which was part of the new suite of rooms Sophorim had insisted she stay in. She was waiting for dinner, which he had also insisted she take with him in his dining hall. A glance to her left showed the dress he had insisted on as well, which she had puzzled over for close to half an hour. The laces, buttons and various straps had bewildered her and she had eventually had to throw her hands up in disgust.

Well, she thought as she glared at it once more before returning her attention to the ceiling, it’s less a dress than it is a contraption! How does anyone expect me to figure the damned thing out, really? Clothing was always more my mother’s thing.

Of course, thoughts of her mother never improved Sabbath’s mood. She supposed that if she and her mother had been on better terms, she could content herself with thoughts that she’d be missed, that her mother wouldn’t rest until she knew where her ‘dear baby’ was… but sadly, her best recollection of her mother’s face was blurred and all she could recall of an expression to match the blurred image was one of discomfort.

Now that she had her current situation as an alternative to brood about, Sabbath frowned and blocked out her view of the ceiling with an arm thrown over her eyes, preferring to lose herself in memory.

***

“Sabbath?” Her aunt’s voice echoed slightly in the hall.

Sabbath didn’t respond right away because Aunt Tessa’s sharp tone made her uneasy. What did I do now?

“Yes?” She scowled at the nervousness in her answer.

“You,” her aunt paused and Sabbath heard recrimination in her voice as Aunt Tessa approached to stand in front of her closed door, “have a phone call.”

Okay… she thought as she closed her science book and rose from her chair. Who would callme? She didn’t have any close friends because Aunt Tessa didn’t allow them. No one asked for her number when it soon became common knowledge that she would not be engaging in any social activities after school.

She opened the door and was met by Aunt Tessa’s disapproval. Her eyes flicked over Sabbath and as always seemed to find her lacking, before scanning Sabbath’s bedroom. “When you’re done with the phone call, pick things up in here, it’s a mess.”

“Yes, Aunt Tessa,” Sabbath replied as she edged past her and towards the phone, which was in the kitchen, down the hall.

“And make it quick because it’s long distance, although I should thank my lucky stars it’s not collect.”

Sabbath’s eyes widened as she heard that and she quickened her steps. Long distance only meant one thing. Mom. She swooped onto the phone and cradled it carefully against her ear, curling as much of herself around it, in case the connection was bad, like last time. She didn’t want to miss a word.

“Mom?” She couldn’t hide the childish longing in her voice and cursed herself, knowing Aunt Tessa was undoubtedly listening and would fill the house with her sullen silences afterward.

Just as she was about to repeat herself, or excuse herself for making a mistake, if it really wasn’t Mom on the phone, she heard the words she’d been aching to hear.

“Hi Sabby, I’ve missed hearing your voice. How are you, lovey?”

Sabbath felt such relief at her mother’s concern, that she felt the welling of something warm in her throat and the sting of tears in her eyes. She fought it down and took a deep breath. “I’m good, Mom. I was studying for my Weather class.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” Sabbath continued, and she felt the tension unwind as she felt her mother begin to really listen, the way Aunt Tessa didn’t, as she spoke. “Finals are coming up soon and I’ve got most subjects nailed, except this stupid class. It’s so boring… air currents and moisture…” she trailed off, knowing her mother would hear it and share in her woe.

“Yes, that does sound terribly boring! After all, you did do so well in Geology last semester! I told everyone at work you got a ninety-seven percent on your final grade. I was so proud.”

Sabbath felt a rush of warmth at her mother’s praise and smiled into the phone.

“You remember,” her mother continued, “I’ve always told you your element was Earth, so Air would be a difficult subject for you.”

Sabbath’s smile froze in place and she squirmed uncomfortably. “Aw geez, Mom… you know Aunt Tessa says that stuff is nonsense,” Sabbath whispered uncomfortably into the receiver.

She peeked over her shoulder down the hall and wondered where her aunt was. She’d often caught her loitering just within hearing range. More often than not, Aunt Tessa would simply stand nearby, her arms crossed over her chest, in her ‘guardian of phone time’ pose or, as a reminder that Sabbath couldn’t whisper of the indignities she suffered under her aunt’s care.

Not that Mom would allow her to do that, anyway. She just said ‘let me talk to her’ as if that would magically allow Sabbath some time with friends after school or admittance into the Drama Club. It never made any difference, so Sabbath continued to hurry straight home after school was over for the day. She was supposed to be grateful to her aunt for agreeing to help them out. Why, if it hadn’t been for Tessa, Mom would say, you’d have been living on the streets with me and that would have broken my heart…

The long break in the conversation ended. “…Well, that may be,” and Sabbath was shocked to hear her mother admit that, “but the grades bear it out, don’t they?

“But I really wanted to call and give you some wonderful news!”

Sabbath’s heart bottomed out in her stomach as the hope of eleven years came boiling up at those words. The slight note of nervousness she could hear in Mom’s voice was something she could dismiss, because if she was going to say what she thought-

-oh please let it be, please! Please I’ll be good I’ll be-

-then it could be explained away, because now Sabbath was more nervous than she could ever recall!

“I’m getting married!”

Something in Sabbath’s chest went thunk and she frowned, staring at the granite patterned linoleum at her feet. That linoleum had been with her through all of life’s little setbacks thus far and at least it was still constant.

That wasn’t what Mom was supposed to say at all.

Mom was supposed to say, ‘I’m sending plane tickets,’ or even better, ‘I’m in town and coming to pick you up. Right now.’ Sabbath repeated silently, right now, damn it, but even then could still see how things could be fine. She could see the husband paying for the plane tickets or driving the car Mom would pick her up in. And things would be fine.

“Um, I know it’s sudden, honey…” and there Sabbath tensed, because Mom only called her ‘honey’ when it was bad news.

“But Graeme and I decided that what with this being the end of your senior year, it is best that you stay with Tessa.”

Sabbath couldn’t cope with the sudden plummeting of her hopes and dully asked, “Wh-what?”

“I know you wanted to move back to California, but it’s just not the right time. Don’t be mad or blame Graeme for this, it was all my decision…”

How could she be mad, Sabbath wondered, when she felt nothing at all?

“…but we’ve agreed to pay for your college, wasn’t that nice? Graeme suggested it…”

Her mother continued to prattle and Sabbath felt the phone slip in her fingers, just a little. She decided then, that when she could get a grip on her thoughts she would yell at her mother then. It had been their dream to be together, hadn’t it? Yes, her mother had said, ‘when you come home,’ numerous times. When had that changed and why didn’t Mom tell her? Was this part of Tessa’s quiet yet intense exchange of recrimination and frustration whenever she spoke with Mom? Something they spoke of, only between sisters that Sabbath had been left out of?

As if the thought of Aunt Tessa conjured her presence on the phone, Sabbath heard her Aunt snap, “Jolene, that’s quite enough!”

Sabbath blinked at the phone stupidly and wondered when Aunt Tessa had picked up. She hadn’t even heard the click. She had no time to ponder this question, because Aunt Tessa wasn’t pausing.

“My God, could you be any more insensitive? I thought the intermittent calling was bad enough, but now you throw this on her? You drive up her hopes all these years and now, when she’s been aching to hear some good news from you, you give her this? Sabbath!”

Sabbath squeaked in surprise and said, “Yes?”

“Hang up, I don’t want you to hear the language I’m about to use.”

“Okay…” Sabbath looked at her hand as she set the receiver back in its cradle. She hadn’t said ‘goodbye’ but now it was too late, wasn’t it?

She listened to the angry buzz of her aunt’s voice carrying from the den. There weren’t many things she could hear, aside from ‘irresponsible’ and oh, there it was… ‘goddamned.’

Woodenly, she walked back to her room, sat back down at her desk and stared at her science book. Her bedroom was closer to the den and she heard more of Aunt Tessa’s side of the conversation, but not much was registering. She wasn’t going home. Home was where Mom had always been and now home would include some man named Graeme, but not Sabbath. That was the thought that brought her out of her stupor. Sabbath felt a crushing pain begin in her stomach and move inexorably higher, until she was gasping, great whooping breaths as Aunt Tessa’s voice rose along with her accusations in the next room.

“-she’s your goddamned daughter, throwing money at her won’t help a thing!”

And just like that, Sabbath began to cry, really big, ugly-sounding sobs that she hated to hear coming from her own throat.

“-real piece of work, Jolene! But I’ve gotten really good at damage control over the years-“

Part of Sabbath waited for someone to walk in her room and tell her it was all a big mistake, to pack her clothes, because she was going home. No one did though, so Sabbath cried, feeling sick and betrayed.

Later, as Sabbath bawled into her shoulder, Aunt Tessa would hold her and quietly, calmly, tell her of her mother’s fears.

***

The bitterness of that memory still burned in Sabbath’s throat. Her mother had left when she was seven, promising to retrieve her when she had a job, after the move out of state, when she had a house, when she had more of the bills paid off, it wouldn’t be long now, sweetie, Sabby, lovey. And Sabbath, being her good girl, who was so mature for her age, had believed everything Mom told her, because Mom wouldn’t lie to her. Every delay was painful, but when she came home, it would be worth it.

It didn’t seem like it was worth it at all when she first came to live with her mother’s younger sister. Aunt Tessa was strict and didn’t view Sabbath as being in any way older than her years. She was seven and the indignity of being treated like a four year old rankled.

Her weapons were chosen early on. Along with her clothes and meager belongings Sabbath had brought a head full of fairytales into her aunt’s house. Aunt Tessa had done her best to disabuse her of such notions, as her house was no place for nonsense. Sabbath had enthusiastically retaliated, imagining that her life was a fairytale. Her aunt filled the place of the evil witch rather well and Sabbath would test the limits of her aunt’s patience acting the part of the beautiful princess in distress. As she grew older, the playacting had internalized but there remained elements of the fairytale in her life. The princess locked away in the tower worked well as an analogy, much to her aunt’s displeasure.

Now of course, Sabbath could look back and regret her actions, realizing that she had acted the brat to a woman ill-equipped to deal with her irresponsible sister’s child. Now Sabbath knew she had actually made things worse for herself then. Even after her mother’s betrayal which shattered every fairytale notion Sabbath had nursed to herself, she had never apologized for her behavior. After she had moved into her little apartment and started college, she put off voicing her regrets to her aunt, figuring it would be better not to say over the phone, that Aunt Tessa deserved to hear it, face to face. Now, she would never hear it, over the phone or otherwise. The phone companies’ long reach didn’t include Faerie.

She was finding out now that ‘never’ was a bitter word.

That afternoon, which she could never rewind and fix now, Aunt Tessa had told her of her mother’s fears. Primary among them was Sabbath herself. Mom had been frightened of being a bad parent, so she hadn’t tried, opting to not be a parent at all. Mom could love her from a distance, or on weekends, so long as Sabbath went back to Aunt Tessa on Sundays.

Mom would love the abstract concept of Sabbath. Her guilt over Sabbath’s awareness of this fact would pay for Sabbath’s college.

Now Mom would miss the abstract concept of her disappeared daughter.

That didn’t make Sabbath feel better at all. Neither did the realization that her aunt most likely would miss the actual real person, because no matter how strict she had been, she had always told Sabbath, ‘It’s all for your betterment,’ and ‘it’s because I care what happens to you.’ That memory was a bitter pill as well, because why was it she could understand these things now, rather than then, when it would have done Aunt Tessa some good to hear her thanks instead of a slammed door?

She realized now, that as a child she had been a little bitch… although Sabbath had to smile grimly as she considered her younger self’s dismay to know she really would end up in a fairytale-

-which included an evil sorcerer who came complete with a dark, brooding fortress and a herd of goblins and even worse creatures under his command. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was in an almost constant state of war with the good guys. Or so she assumed the opposing side was the good guys, because he hadn’t actually come out and said it, had he?

There had been the nagging clues which kept trying to poke her and get her attention.

Her first impulse upon seeing him was to sag into the chair she’d been standing on with relief, so certain she was that here was a normal person and not another walking nightmare. His manner kept her standing on the chair though. Every glance sent in her direction was appraising, as if he were sizing her up. Of course she would blush when she realized his gaze lingered most often on her bare thighs, but…

He scared the crap out of her. The more she saw of him the more alien he became. It was in the tilt of his head as he spoke, the odd cadence of his speech. His eyes were just as outlandish as those of the gobliness. They were bright orange, too large to be human, too tilted and feral-seeming. The rest of his face fit those eyes.

It was in the way he’d asked for her name even…

“I suppose it’s rude to simply call you ‘human’ or ‘woman’ isn’t it?” He’d smiled arrogantly at her as she had nibbled on an apple slice from the tray in front of her.

Sabbath hadn’t really reacted to the strange words at first. Actually, she found herself wondering what the hell was going on. She had been off balance all morning, which was to be expected after the fright she’d gotten from meeting Girfah. Or whatever its name was.

Then there were the subsequent frights she’d gotten on the walk to this room and her replacement breakfast. The hall had been positively filled with all sorts of creatures, goblins being most predominant. It had been like one long nightmare. Just as she was certain there was some explanation for everything, something would hurry past her on too many legs or none at all and totally shatter any firm grasp on her slipping sanity.

There was also something in the way his ‘minions’, as she began to refer to them mentally, would scatter out of his way. There was a certain fearfulness in the way they fled before him that almost made her pause and reexamine the beautiful man who frightened monsters. His laughter at her discomfiture had been cold, same as the hand he had placed on her arm in a not-so-comforting manner.

Sabbath’s startled glance at him had been her undoing, because she bumped into something that felt like dried twigs and branches wrapped in soft, cool leather. Her skin began to crawl and that, she decided, was a bad sign, because she didn’t even know what it was yet.

“Oh,” she quavered softly, every muscle in her body going lax. She knew that she was going to faint dead away, in front of him, in front of this nightmare menagerie and all she was wearing was a thin robe over a shift and nothing was going to save her modesty, or what was left of it, if she did.

She turned her head to face whatever it was she’d bumped into and her vision was instantly filled with eight glittering eyes. Furthermore, there was a great, big gaping maw filled with teeth and clicking mandibles which exuded the odor of rotten meat. She couldn’t take it all in, it was too close and she had the impression of a buff colored body with purple markings, but her brain was unhelpfully shrieking, ‘spider!’ at her. Of course it was a spider, she knew what they looked like after all… never anything so big, of course.

“Oh,” she repeated and closed her eyes, trying to banish the image while taking a deep breath. There was a pony-sized spider inches away from her and she was not, not going to faint, because she was very proud of the fact she Had Not Peed. That was a feat to hold onto, Sabbath decided, even when clicking and the air from moist, whistling breath began to ghost over her collarbone.

Dazedly, she opened her eyes and saw that to the left of the gigantic spider were two smaller spider-like creatures. Aside from their black legs, they were all over gray and covered with a coat of soft fur. Their bodies consisted of a bloated spider’s abdomen from which rose a humanoid body and head. Sabbath’s gaze skittered nervously past their eyes, which were cold and black to match the spider in front of her. Bizarrely, she noted, they wore intricately patterned shawls draped across their abdomens.

As she watched, the mouth of one split wide and vomited out a second mouth, complete with fangs and clicking mandibles. Sabbath’s heart stuttered in her chest as it spoke in a hissing whisper. “Our apologies milord, but Senecthial says she did not see the human until it was too late.”

His lips quirked in a grin as he gave the spider Sabbath had bumped into an appraising look. “Senecthial, all your chasing of slow prey does you no favors.”

There was a pause, then the spider clacked its mandibles loudly and a wheezing chuckle escaped it. For all its bulk, Senecthial had a certain prim grace as it daintily backed away from Sabbath and sidestepped her, little gray followers trailing after it.

Inanely, as she watched it walk further away from them, Sabbath felt slightly offended for the spider’s sake. “I can’t believe you just scolded that spider for being slow when it was my fault for not looking,” she muttered before she thought better of it.

He turned to her, his mouth slightly parted in surprise, eyebrows lifted and in a teasing manner said, “And I had worried over your reactions to the Weaverfolk. I had almost thought you’d be out of your mind with terror, but you are coping rather well.”

“Oh, that terror?” Sabbath chuckled as she waved a hand in the direction Senecthial and the strange little spider people had taken. “Just give me some time and I’ll work up the steam for a really good screaming fit later.”

He peered at her closely, trying to appear concerned and failing somewhat because he still looked too surprised and amused as well. “Indeed?”

She preferred him like this, she realized, although his close attention made her blush. It was a definite improvement over his behavior earlier, all cold and brusque as he rushed her through the halls. He certainly was less scary this way. She arrived suddenly on her rejoinder.

“Oh yes, and if I can fit it in before the cardiac arrest, there might be some hair-pulling and bashing my head into a wall.”

He snickered and this time, when his arm curled around her shoulders to draw her further down the hall with him, his gaze didn’t drop to her neck, or her legs, instead fixing approvingly on her face.

“Might we avoid that unpleasantness if I were to heap assurances upon you?” They started walking again and Sabbath frowned deeply, as if taking his words under deep consideration.

“Well, you could,” she admitted doubtfully, “but I really was beginning to look forward to a good nervous breakdown. I hear some of them can be quite relaxing.”

“Your comfort is important then?”

“Well, of course it is,” Sabbath swallowed her nervousness. “Wait a minute, you’re not taking me to a dungeon, are you?” To her dismay, she wasn’t sure the image of him chaining her to a wall was an entirely unattractive option and that was an unsettling thought she was going to stop thinking right now.

Apparently the incident with the spiders had been some sort of bizarre icebreaker for him, Sabbath reflected, because his attitude warmed considerably towards her.

***

AN: Good Christ, I’ve kept everyone waiting! Well, I hope you all accept this chapter along with my abject apologies. I was going for some expansion on Sabbath’s character, since my focus has been mainly on Sophorim. Actually, when I put my mind to it, this chapter just flowed. Sabbath’s a bit easier to write, very unlike the alien mindset I try to work into Sophorim. Do you like?