Isbeth's Redemption: Episode 1

Isbeth smoothed down the front of her new uniform. The bliaut of rough woven wool dyed brown hung from her thinning frame in limp folds. She didn’t bother cinching the laces tighter. Each layer was made of the same material, poorly made and coarse in texture. They were far removed from the silk, velvet, and satin of only a month ago.
Lifting her chin, she blinked back the tears. It wasn’t the change in circumstances that hurt. If Kort lived to share the journey from a manor house to the gutter, she would have been content. If she tried really hard, she heard his voice joking at the frock, teasing about her braid bringing out her youth, and offering warm companionship for the long, cold nights ahead.
“You there, get moving!” The voice of Madam Fores, the landlord’s wife, pierced the dream, dispelling it like a vapor in the cold wind of reality.
Her husband, Kort, was dead. Only months before Isbeth had watched the life vanish from his eyes. She had clung to his cooling hand until it grew stiff in death. He would not come back. His voice would never sooth her fears again.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
“You said you were willing to work. Don’t make me regret hiring you, lazy wench!”
The woman’s voice so close to Isbeth’s head jerked her into focusing. Madam Fores’ generous nose and wide lips were tolerable at a distance, but inches from one’s face they grew grotesque.
“So help me, if I have to scrub those floors myself, I shall throw you out on the stoop.” The matronly woman turned away and plodded into the corridor.

Read the first entire installment of this riveting story in the August issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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