The Girl at the Well by J. C. Ahmed

Author:J. C. Ahmed [Ahmed, J. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781987490114
Google: phg8twEACAAJ
Amazon: B07CY9JJHJ
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2018-05-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Sometimes you can’t speak truth to power

Because it won’t listen

It doesn’t want change

When it thinks the status quo serves its interests

So you furtively creep around it

Plotting and planning

Conspiring and deceiving”

— Journal entry by Malthus West

The clang of the school bell marked the end of another day of learning and the beginning of the new plan Malthus was preparing to set in motion. Dozens of kids pushed their way out of the sunflower yellow schoolhouse and lingered outside.

“Are we going up the hill?” Jack asked.

“I want to meet Liralexa by myself again if you don't mind,” Malthus said, as he pulled peeling paint off the wood framed wall. Anton and Meryl snickered.

“You’ll do a little smoochie, smoochie with the princess,” Anton laughed.

Malthus’s mouth curled up into a grim smile. He was hatching a gruesome plan, and he didn't want to let his friends in on it. Anton and Meryl were right, he concluded. Liralexa definitely would not agree to become involved in a plot to kill her parents. He and Jack were being naïve to think she would. And he seemed incapable of broaching the topic with her, anyway. He would get her to help though by turning her into an unknowing and unwilling co-conspirator.

“Have fun,” Anton teased.

Malthus threw a bag over his shoulder and shot a smile at him. Meryl covered her mouth and tittered but Jack narrowed his eyes and gazed at his friend until he was out of sight. Malthus took long strides as he pushed through the bustling streets of Vallerton. The sounds of carriage wheels bumping on cobblestones, chattering, children’s laughter and hawkers advertising their wares faded when he reached the edge of the town. His feet pounded the dozens of steps lining the hillside. There was no sign of Liralexa when he reached the well, so he sat with his back to a tree and dozed off in the afternoon sunshine. He felt something tickle his nose and drowsily pushed it away. His eyes blinked open. Liralexa knelt before him with a dandelion in her hand and a smile on her face.

“I had to get your attention somehow.”

“You succeeded,” he responded. “Come here, sit next to me.” He held out his arms to her.

“I shouldn't,” she said, but did anyway. He put his arms around her and held her in a tight embrace.

“There isn't much security on the palace grounds, is there?” he asked. “You can come and go with ease. And meet strange boys in unruly regions.”

Liralexa giggled. “I haven't been to any others. There is plenty of security along the wall which surrounds Palace Hill.”

“But not inside?”

“Guards stand atop the wall and keep watch. They can see inside and out. Guards also stand at the gate. Some roam around the house, but they don't go into the woods very often.”

“They figure they would stop an intruder before they reached the house?”

“Yes, the walls are very high and there isn't much crime in the Golden Region. A few people tried to break in over the years, but they never made it past the wall.

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