Whittling Wood: Ch 2
Oct. 20th, 2009 01:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foolish_m0rtalRated: K+ (rating will go up)
Published: 7/17/2008
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Characters: Gabriel, various JO characters
Summary: The ruins in Whittling Wood have always been there. Dormant. But after Gabriel is sent on a research project deep into its woodlands, he discovers that not all of history is content to lie sleeping. AU Fairy tale
He shut the front door with the set of toothpick keys strung on a bit of wire.
“I-If anything happens,” –the lock above his head squeaked shut- “Get word to Carnelian or one of his. They’ll know where I am.”
The next lock, nestled under the door handle. His hands were shaking a little. “I’ll only be out a few miles in Whittling. Can come back if you need anything too. Not a problem.”
Finally, the lock down by his knees.“Just a bit of research, like that last time in Kitterlight. Though I won’t be gone for half so long.”
“You won’t be gone at all!” his neighbour exclaimed. She snatched the spare keys from his hand. “Now go already- you look like you’ll leap out of your own skin if you linger any longer.”
It was bumpy going up till the mail station, but it smoothed out once he got on the main road. It would have been easier to take the bypass straight to Besdeth, but he detoured to go straight through town.
Luckily, when he reached Acheree Book Purveyors, Kasei was outside cleaning the display windows. Gabriel found it easy to be around Kasei. He didn’t talk much.
“Kasei.” Gabriel slowed down. His bag slid down his shoulder and banged against his elbow, heavy with his freshly bought notebooks and pens. “Tell Carnelian I’m leaving.”
Kasei nodded. “I will. Good-bye.”
Gabriel nodded back. “See you in a few weeks.”
He had been so close.
Gods, he had almost been clear of the shop…when the door banged open.
“Hey, Gabriel!” Ituski shouted at his retreating back. “Good luck with your ghosts up in Whittling!” He pinched his lids up, making his eye whites huge. “The Cutler-Eye! Ohh, the horror, the Cutler-Eye!”
The shop boys behind him were falling over themselves laughing.
Gabriel felt his face redden a little as he coasted away down the street. What did Itsuki know about his project? He wasn’t out to chase after some ridiculous ghost stories.
His bag bumped congenially against his elbow once more, reminding him where he was at last headed and the project he had finally been allowed.
He smiled quietly to himself and took the right fork that went into Dunbrey.
The food stock and shoppe at Dunbrey was so crowded and noisy, there was no polite way to elbow people aside. He hadn’t known Bott & Backsley’s was so popular. There were too many people- he hesitated at the door and had just finished deciding to come back after breakfast when someone else came through the door behind him and did not wait for him to move aside. He was shoved into the mass. The crowd moved like a water current, the raw smell of sweat and the rude painful elbows knocking into his sides, the heels of shoes clamping down onto his toes, the shouting in his ears. Gabriel was moved from one side to the other, feeling like a leaf caught up in it. Eventually, he was shoved up near the order counters, where a bright cheery young woman in a floury apron and rolled up sleeves was shouting back and forth with the best of them.
“What would you like, sir?”
“A…wheel of your sandwiches and a jar of…of tea.”
She cupped her hand against her ear. “Speak up, I can’t hear you.”
He said it again, trying to shout. His voice might have cracked.
“You’ll have to be better than that!” she said merrily, her voice easily twice as loud as his.
He repeated, but then gave up, shaking a hand at her and turning to leave. He should have left at the door; he should have come back later. Dear gods, but he was hungry. He stole a horrified look at the tables and saw people stuffed into the benches like olives in a jar.
A hand grabbed his elbow and pulled him from the fringes of the crowd. Gabriel wheeled around to his rescuer.
“Right,” the woman from the counter said. “Come back here- we’ll get you what you need.” She shoved open the door into the back of the kitchens. “Now what was it you wanted?”
She had felt sorry for him. Dear gods, she had felt sorry for him. Gabriel wondered if his day could get any worse.
“Don’t you have to be at the counter…” “Oh, I had our help take over for me. I was about to go on my break, anyway.” She pulled him along. “You wanted…” “Oh! Er, a jar of tea and one of your wheel sandwiches.” “Alright.” The kitchen was huge. An employee pushed past him on his way out, carrying an armful of bread loaves tied together with string. “Ah, here’s one already made up on the board. You don’t mind what kind it is, do you?” “No.” “Sliced?” “If…if you would, yes. Thank you.” She grinned at him. “Oh, no problem at all.” She found a clean knife beside the board. “Dorica!” she shouted across the kitchen. She was absently cutting the round sandwich into pie slices, and Gabriel wondered how she could do both at the same time. “Would you get me one of those tea jars from the shelf? Thanks.” He felt rude being so silent. She was taking so many pains for him. “I…I did a research project on Dorica. Th-the Dorica books, you know?” “Oh, yes! I get my husband to buy them for me whenever he goes to get our groceries,” she confided, her eyes twinkling. “I can’t wait for the next one to come out.” “Yes…” “Ah, thank you, Dorica. Just put it here. Is this good for you, er…” “Gabriel. Yes, it’s fine.” “Gabriel,” she said thoughtfully. She unfurled a sheet from a roll of wax paper and trimmed it neatly. “Where are you off to, Gabriel, if you don’t mind me asking? This sandwich roll should last you for quite a bit.” “Whittling. “Ah, how nice.” She wrapped his sandwich up in the wax paper. “You there for the ruins, then?” “The woodland is interesting. And the river system.” She grinned at him knowingly. “You’re going for the ruins.” “I suppose I am,” he replied, smiling back faintly. This woman had a way of putting him at ease. He wished he could have had some of that inherently in him. He wished he could have been able to shout out what he needed over the crowd. “Carnelian would be angry with me otherwise.” “Carnelian?” Her smile widened. “You’re one of his?” “Yes.” “Oh, my husband’s best friend works there. You might know him. Kaname!” she shouted into the back. “Kaname, come here!” “What is it, Mana? I have to fix that oven in the back now.” But he came anyway. “Dear.” She seized her husband’s arm. “This is Gabriel. He works at Acheree Purveyors.” She turned her bright eyes back to him. “You know Itsuki, don’t you, Gabriel?” Did Itsuki have to be everywhere? “Y-Yes…of course I know Itsuki,” he murmured. Kaname’s expression soured a little. “My sympathies.” Mana laughed and elbowed him. “Oh, don’t put on that act. He and Itsuki,” she said to Gabriel. “Have been best friends ever since they were young, isn’t that right, Kaname?” “Ngh,” Kaname replied. “If you must call it that.” She laughed again. “Oh, you. How is Itsuki doing? We haven’t had a letter from him in some time.” “Oh…he’s fine. He’s…Itsuki, you know.” At this, Kaname grunted in shared understanding. “We’ve been having our book sales. He’s been busy.” Gabriel swallowed. “You know he’s sure to inherit the shop after Carnelian leaves, right?” “Oh, is he?” Mana clasped her hands together. “That’s wonderful news! He didn’t tell us; I swear, sometimes he’s more close-mouthed than you, dear.” Kaname wore an odd expression at that, and Gabriel imagined they were both wondering if Itsuki could be close-mouthed about anything. “Yes…”Gabriel continued. “No decision has really been made yet…I mean, there are others up for consideration with him, but…” he shrugged. “I-I wouldn’t place much stock in them.” “Not like Itsuki, eh?” she said brightly. “Definitely…” he murmured. “They’re not like Itsuki…” He cleared his throat. “Er…thank you for helping me. I should….I should let you get back to your customers.” “Oh, it was no trouble at all.” He shook hands with Kaname and realised with a little jolt that even though he had been in the back working on the ovens, his hands were perfectly clean. Gabriel looked up at him, about to say something. Then, he shut his mouth with a click. Swallowed. “G-Good-bye,” he said. “And thank you.” “Of course.” There was no way he would eat inside there, stuck amongst all those people. One of the sandwich wedges was stowed in his jacket pocket. The rest of the wrapped sandwich and the jar of tea were jammed into his bag next to his notebooks and map. If he had left his poor bicycle in the front with the rest of the traffic, it would have been shoved aside or displaced like he had in the shop. Thank the gods, he had found a smaller area in the back of the building near the ovens. He looked up and saw a smoke-less chimney sitting in a line with its brothers and sisters. He wasn’t sure what it was. A slight popping in his ear. A little clink. And then Gabriel felt the hairs at his neck prickle slightly, though there was no wind or chill. The roaring of open flame suddenly resonated through the walls, and when he craned his neck, he could see smoke rising from the deserted chimney. Gabriel thought to himself, thinking of those dark eyes that never seemed the right colour. Bott & Backsley’s ovens are run by a fire spirit. A salamandrin. He smiled a little to himself. I wonder if Itsuki knows. Mana was at the window watching Gabriel speed away balanced expertly on his bicycle with one hand on the bars and the slice of sandwich in his mouth. “Do you think he knows?” she whispered. “Did you see the way the looked at you? Do you think he knows?” “I’m sure he does.” “D-Do you think he’ll tell anyone? Oh, Kaname, I’m afraid. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him. He’ll never say a word.” She turned away from the window to look at him. “How can you be so sure?” A smile actually touched the side of his mouth. “The way he looked at me?…Mana, did you take a good look at him?”
The gods knew he felt like that chimney most days. He was…he was- hell, he couldn’t even order lunch by himself. How could he run a bookshop? It was so packed during sales, like the stock and shoppe today at lunch. All those people- he wondered how Itsuki and the others put up with it.
