Chapter One
There was no rain that day, but sorrow filled the air of Matelei. The new lady of the village stood in front of a grave, the site where her mother and father peacefully lay together in their final resting place. The stone read: Here lies Lady Hazel Gray and Lord Aaron Gray of Matelei.
“Lady Edith, the head-guard of Matelei, Luther, approached her.
“Greeting, Luther,” Edith greeted him with a sorrowful smile.
“Your village is waiting for you, Lady Edith,” Luther quietly said, using her new acquired official title for the first time.
“I know they are,” Edith glanced down at the gravestone.” I don’t know if I can face then on my own. Not right now least.”
“Take your time, My Lady. This must be a complicated time for you having to grieve and take over the village on your own. Both of them would be proud of you.” Luther tried to reassure Edith that everything will be alright.
“Father wanted to make sure that I was prepared to take leadership of Matelei before he decided to greet Mother on the other side. I wish he didn’t have to go so soon.” Edith struggled to hold back her tears.
“My family and I are here for you if you need any sort of assistance adjusting to your new lifestyle,” Luther reassured her before headed in the direction of the village square.
Once Edith knew that she was alone, the composure she was desperately trying to hold on to finally crashed down. Edith’s knees crashed into the cold, hard ground as she clutched onto her shirt for dear life. The tears streamed down her face and landed on her lap; screams and pleas escaped her lips as her delicate heart shattered from losing the only parent she ever knew. Edith couldn’t give, she couldn’t give anymore. She felt so broken that she knew she wouldn’t be able to give herself to the people of Matelei.
“I’ll always miss you, Father,” Edith whipped away her tears. “I will make you proud of me. I’ll continue the great legacy of the leaders of Matelei and make the village a safe place where anyone can live. “Edith made the promise before standing up and whipping her tear-stained pants.
“Better now than never.”
Before Edith left the cemetery, she noticed that her older brother, Dante, came up from the entrance. Once Dante noticed Edith, he walked over to her and stood beside her.
“Congratulations on the new title,” Dante said as he patted Edith on the back.
“Thanks, Dante,” Edith said. “It feels weird though, yes father set me up so I would be prepared to take leadership as Lady of Matelei. But, I’m still the younger sibling. Pretty much every elder in the village is expecting you to be on the stage introducing yourself as the new Lord of Matelei.”
“That’s how Matelei is though,” Dante brought up. “The only reason Father became the lord is because none of his siblings were either witches or warlocks. Before you were born, I was expected to be the next heir to Matelei. When Father fond out you were a witch, he had to change everything over to you for being the heir.”
“Yeah, I know. I never got to meet Mother either because she passed away in childbirth.” Edith mentioned.
“I was five years old when Mother passed away. I helped Father take care of you when you were a toddler and you set fire to my hair and clothes so many times that it wasn’t even funny.” Dante joked around a little. “Besides that, you are going to do great things for Matelei and I will be here for you and whatever your life has in store.”
“Thank you, Dante,” Edith slightly smiled at Dante. “I should be going now, I have the people of Matelei waiting for me.”
“Go do your thing, Lady of Matelei,” Dante lightly punched Edith’s shoulder as she finally headed to the village square.
Edith was greeted by almost all of the villager when she made it into the square. The village’s elderly occupants were quite disappointed and did not approve of Edith becoming the Lady of Matelei without a husband by Edith’s side to take up the lordship of the village. She ignored the disapproving glares as she confidently walked up the few steps up to the stage where, for the first time, she would greet the people as Lady Edith Gray, the official Lady of Matelei.
“Good morning, everyone,” Edith greeted the crowd of people surrounding the stage. “You all know me as Edith and witnessed me grow into the individual that I am today. Due to my father’s, Former Lord Aaron’s unforeseen passing. I have taken leadership of Matelei. Being the Lady of Matelei with a lord’s rank.”
Most of the people in the village were there to witness and celebrate the rise of their lady. As Edith stepped of the stage, a few young children ran up to her.
“Lady Edith,” the little girl with braided hair said. “Can you sing us a song?”
“Bella, you shouldn’t bother Lady Edith,” the little girl’s mother grabbed the daughter’s wrist.
“Apologies My Lady. I need to teach my daughter some better manners.” She profusely apologized.
“No need to worry,” Edith smiled crouching down to the little girl’s height. “I love singing to the children.”
“Lady Edith,” Luther walked over to get Edith’s attention. “You have visitors coming tomorrow. You should head back to your home and get some rest.”
“I feel fine, Luther. It’s barely mid-day, I should be good for a while. Plus, I like spending time with the people and feeling the cool ocean air. “Edith stood up to face Luther.
“Alright then,” Luther sighed in frustration before walking away from Edith.
She decided to spend some quality time with her villagers before she made her way over to the boating docks. Edith slipped of her socks and boots before she sat down at the edge of the docks. She delicately dipped her feet into the cool ocean water, causing small ripples to go out into the ocean.
“I though I wouldn’t be in the position,” Edith began talking to herself. “Dante should’ve become the Lord of Matelei, but fated decided that this would be my fate. Even with all the possibilities that could have happened, I became the Lady of Matelei. All I can do now is be my best self for the people of the village.”
Edith grazed her right hand above the water, the water followed any of the movements her hand made. Edith smiled as she spun the water in the space around her. With a snap of her metal fingers, the free flowing water transformed into sold ice. As she swiped her to the side, the ice block crashed into the water, splashing Edith in the process. The simple action caused Edith to laugh like a little girl when she was first learning how to control her mana. Edith continued to sit on the docks as she attempted to process everything that had happened in the past month. The sun started to set in the Ruiandian sky as Edith made her way back to the village square.
“How beautiful,” Edith said to herself, admiring the setting sun.
The closer Edith got to the square, she could hear laughter from the people and music that filled her ears since she was a child. Edith stood at the edge of the square, looking at everything that was going on to see some of the taller villagers decorating the maypole for the dance that would happen in the center of the village. She watched for a little while until Luther’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, strolled over.
“What’s going on?” Edith tilted her head in confusion.
“Celebration of life,” Elizabeth answered. “Dante brought up the idea. Him and I planned it out together and everyone was able to helped set up while you were at the docks.”
“You and Dante didn’t have to do all this, Elizabeth,” Edith said.
“Dante wanted to make sure that Former Lord Aaron got a Celebration of life. Knowing him, he didn’t want you to worry about it.” Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth proceeded to drag Edith over to the maypole as each of them grabbed a ribbon before the dance started. The ribbons of the maypole braided around the pole as the people danced to the music. As the colorful ribbon completely braided the pole, the participating villagers walked back to their families and friends. One of the many children in the village skipped over to Edith with a flower crown in their hands.
“This is for you, Lady Edith,” the little girl handed Edith the flower crown.
“Thank you,” Edith happily smiled kneeling down to the little girl’s height. “Can you put the crown on my head.”
The little girl placed the crown of flowers on Edith’s head, “you look like a princess.”
“Well, thank you,” Edith smiled before patting the little girl’s head.
The little girl smiled at Edith before running back to her friends. Edith couldn’t help but smile seeing her villagers having fun in the square. As the sun continued to set and night cam crawling in, candles began to light up the village center as the celebration continued. When night took over the sky and the flickering flames from the candles were not enough to light up the sky, Edith casted up small orbs of light to illuminate the darkness. As the celebration of the late lord came to a close, people, including Edith, returned to their homes.
As Edith was about to walk out of her home for home for the day, there was a knock at her door. She opened it to see it as one of her guards looking slightly panicked.
“What’s going on?” Edith gave the guard a look of confusion.
“Lord Garrett Clough and his son Randal Clough are here to see you,” the guard said slightly out of breath. “Your brother is talking to them right now, so you have a little bit of time.”
“Thank you for the information. I should be there soon.” Edith said before the guard walked away and she walked out of the house, closing the door behind her.
Edith finally made it to the village square, she did, in fact, see her brother talking to the Lord and the heir of Kamaal. She made her way over to them to see that Lord Garrett was giving Edith a side glance.
“Edith, you made it,” Dante said. “I will leave Lord Garrett and Randal to you.”
“Lord Dante, why would you leave me with your younger sister? Aren’t you the one who took lordship of Matelei?” Lord Garrett ignorantly said.
“Lord Garrett, that would be incorrect. I’m not the Lord of Matelei. That title belongs to my younger sister, Edith over here. She is the Lady of Matelei.” Dante corrected him.
“I will leave this to you,” Dante said, directing his attention to Edith.
“See you later, Dante,” Edith bid him a farewell.
“What do you need to see me for, Lord Garrett,” Edith redirected her attention.
“I was hoping to talk to the lord of the village or your head-guard,” Lord Garrett continued to get annoyed.
“You are talking to the Lady of Matelei, how can I help you,” Edith continued to hold her slowly crumbling composure.
“I will be talking to your head-guard then, unless they are also a female,” Lord Garrett almost gave Edith a death glare.
“Excuse me, Edith stared at Lord Garrett with annoyance stirring though her light blue eyes. “Is there something wrong where you cannot talk to me?”
“You’re a female,” Lord Garrett blatantly said. “Females shouldn’t be running the village. They should be taking care of the house and kids. It’s not like you have a husband or any children, Edith.”
“I’m sorry, you are going to have to amend that name,” Edith said with a smile of annoyance. “It’s Lady Edith, Lady Edith of Matelei.”
“Well then, Lady Edith. My eldest son, Randal and I are here to offer you a marriage proposal.” Lord Garrett brought up.
“I am sorry, but I am going to have to decline the marriage proposal. As of right now, I’m not looking for anyone to marry at this current moment or anything in the near future.” Edith stood her ground.
“You’re a female, you shouldn’t have any choice in who you marry and at what time. Get your older brother and he should decide if you are going to marry my son or not.” Lord Garrett practically shouted at Edith.
“Excuse me,” Edith flung her metal hand. “My brother doesn’t determine my life. Dante would agree with me on that.”
Dante hurriedly walked back over to Edith and the visitors from Kamaal once he heard the shouting in that direction. “What is going on here?”
“Your sister should be married or getting married since she is a female. As you know, females are unable to properly take leadership of any village.” Lord Garrett’s assumptions about women was poorly timed. “You also should have taken the lordship of Matelei.”
“Lord Garrett,” Dante forced a smile. “I’m afraid that it works differently in Matelei. If Edith was born a human, then I would have taken lordship. Since my sister was born a witch, she is automatically gets to be the heir of Matelei and now she is the lady of Matelei.
“If you continue to be disrespectful, I will have to ask you and your son to leave my village,” Edith took in a deep breath to maintain her composure.
“I won’t be the only lord who will do this. There are other lords that will do worse to you, who knows they could have a plan to kidnap and force you to marry their eldest don just for their son’s to have heirs of their own.” Lord Garrett pulled on her left hand just enough to have her arm stop functioning.
Edith was luckily able to pull her arm away, but in the cost of damaging the mechanics in her automail arm just a little bit more. Edith tried to move it once she was free, but she realized she couldn’t by the nerve pain that felt like sharp pins that were poking the nerves in her left shoulder. Edith had to hold up her metal arm with her normal arm just so the pain would not be as bad.
“Leave.” Edith commanded has she tried to dull down the pain. “You will leave now and never comeback to my village under any circumstance. Kamaal nobility will not be allowed in my village until Randal becomes the next lord.”
Before the wo of them could be escorted out of the village, Randal had apologized for his father’s actions. Lord Garrett had to be forcibly escorted out of the village with Randal willing to leave the village.
Edith, still holding onto her currently broken arm, headed over to the guard station to see if anyone was there was knew how to repair her broken arm. When she made it in, she looked around to only see Luther sitting at one of the many empty tables.
“Luther, why is there no one here besides you?” Edith wondered, doing her best in holding in the pain.
“They all went on patrol,” Luther responded. “It has been like this since earlier this month. There have been rumors spreading about a dark figure in the forest north-west of the village.”
“How come this is the first time I have heard about the situation?” Edith questioned with a hit of annoyance.
“It was because the appearance of the mysterious shadow individual started showing up sometime after your father’s death. It’s strange that this happened around the same time he passed.” Luther answered. “I didn’t want to add more stress to your already stressful month, so that’s why I didn’t tell you, Lady Edith.”
“Is there anything else that has been discovered about eh mysterious figure?” Edith asked, sitting in the chair across from Luther.
“The only thing that we know is the shadow individual is not fully human,” Luther responded. “One of the night guards saw the individual change from a human to what we think is some sort of wolf.”
“That’s quite odd. The last thing I knew is that didn’t have any packs around here because of our constantly warm weather.” Edith added. “And the timing is even off-putting.”
“Did this start before or after my father’s death?” Edith questioned, having a little bit of a hard time retaining information.
“As I said before, this strange occurrence started soon after your father’s passing. The area where the individual is seen most of the time in the woods closest to the lord’s house. It’s lie who, or whatever it is, is watching over you for some reason.” Luther repeated.
“Could you write that down for me it is not already written,” Edith slightly flinched as she adjusted the way she was sitting.
“Are you alright, Lady Edith?” Luther asked genuinely concerned this time.
“Some of the gears and wiring in my arm popped out of place when Lord Garrett pulled on my arm, and I tried to free it.” Edith explained. “I was hoping to see if the part time guard that works here and also made my arm was in today.”
“No she is not in; Kristina should be at her shop today. She work here three times a week.” Luther responded before Edith walked out the door.
Edith hurriedly made her way to the automail shop to see Kristina working on one of her patients that are not from Matelei. Edith sat in the waiting area, clutching onto her arm, attempting top ease the pain shooting from her nerves. It wasn’t too long after she came in when Kristina was finally able to take her. Edith sat down in the chair like usual and manually lifted her left arm on the table beside her so Kristina could work on it.
“What happened this time?” Kristina asked as she slowly pulled off the steel covering some of the more delicate parts of Edith’s arm.
“Once of the lords from a neighboring village gave the whole, I am a female so I should be married and not run a village talk,” Edith said sounding annoyed. “The he grabbed onto my arm and pulled on it and that’s when I first felt it a little bit. Unfortunately, I had to pull back on my arm so some of the wires and gears were pulled out of place causing a lot of nerve pain that still quite frankly hurts a lot.”
“It sounds painful. I should get you back into shape in the next hour or so. Some damage was taken if you are feeling that much pain.” Kristina slid on her glasses as she go to work on Edith’s arm.
A little over an hour later, Edith arm was finally repaired and she was not in pain anymore. “Thanks again, Kristina.”
“Be more careful next time,” Kirstina chewed out Edith a little bit. “Next time a guy does that you, kick him in the nuts the come to me.”
“Will do, have a good rest of your day,” Edith bid Kristina goodbye.
