Timeless

CHAPTER 36

1507

F rom the first moment Agnes remembered, she’d been preparing. Her entire life was about helping her mother in the home and in the fields. Her father’s role was different, as was the role of her two older brothers, and Agnes knew that.

When she was fifteen, her mother had sat her down and told her that it would soon be time for her to marry. Her father would travel to another village to find her a husband, and after that, she would leave with him. Agnes would leave her home and her family behind, and she’d be expected to have children and take care of a house that wasn’t her home. Her brothers didn’t have the same worries. They were already eighteen and twenty years old, but no one was telling them to find a wife yet. She was expected to soon be one to someone, though.

Agnes didn’t want to marry a man. She didn’t want to marry anyone, really. Not sure exactly of what she wanted, she tried to focus on her chores and taking care of her family how her mother taught her. Due to a sickness that had spread in their own village, outside of her two brothers, there were very few men left who weren’t already married, so her father went from village to village, searching for someone to marry his only daughter and pay him the dowry, which the family desperately needed due to the fact that their farm hadn’t yielded much of what they needed themselves, let alone what they’d need to sell at the market.

When Agnes was eighteen, her father returned from yet another trip. She could tell by the look on his face when he pushed open the heavy wooden door and saw her that he’d been victorious this time. She was to be married to a man that she’d never met .

“He’s a merchant, and the dowry is a sizeable one. I told him that the women in our family line have always produced sons. You bore me two before a daughter, and both of them are healthy men now. We would have had more, too,” he said to her mother when they all sat around the table in the middle of the one-room cabin that was their home.

Agnes didn’t know why her family hadn’t had any more children. Many families in their village did, and it had been a good thing, too, because so many had perished when the sickness came sweeping through. Their family had been lucky to avoid it nearly entirely, with only her father getting a little sick.

“I told him that we were strong enough to get through the sickness, and he liked that his wife would carry his sons and that they would be strong.” Her father turned to her then. “Your sons will apprentice as merchants. That’s a good match made, Agnes.” He nodded resolutely.

“Thank you,” she replied because that was what she was supposed to say to her father, who had just found her future husband after years of searching.

The next day, Agnes walked the field. She had work to do, to be sure, and her mother would certainly be mad at her if it didn’t get done, but as Agnes stared off into the woods beyond her father’s land, she couldn’t help but think about it. Running. Running far away from her home and into the woods; away from everything and everyone. Living on her own and not having to marry, bear children, or care for them when she wanted none of that for herself. The hard work, Agnes didn’t mind. She could cook and take care of a house. She just wanted it to be a home that she loved, with someone whom she loved in it. While she loved her mother, and her brothers were fine, it wasn’t the same.

As she stared into the trees, she saw something – no, it was some one – standing at the edge of the woods. It was a woman. Agnes didn’t believe she’d ever seen her before, which was strange because she knew everyone in their small village. The woman was too far away for Agnes to know for sure if she was someone she knew or not, so she took a step toward the trees. The woman didn’t move. Agnes took a few more steps and watched the woman carefully to see if she’d move toward her or maybe even run away. With her next step, the woman took one toward Agnes, but she stopped there. Agnes kept walking, though, expecting the woman to either join her in the field or move back into the woods and disappear entirely.

Eventually, Agnes was at the edge of the field, where there was some tall grass before the trees grew in earnest. It was the line that separated their land from the woods that no one had cut down to make their own property yet. While her father had considered adding to his own, they didn’t have enough people to take care of it even if he did, so he hadn’t yet. Agnes suspected that once her brothers had wives and children who were old enough to work, he would expand his property, and they’d all work it together.

“Hello?” she asked more than said.

“Hello,” the woman, who looked to be a little older than her, said back.

She had dark hair and dark eyes, along with pale skin that told Agnes that she must not spend a lot of time outside, working in the sun.

“I’m Agnes,” she said after a moment of staring.

“Hi, Agnes.”

“What’s your name?” Agnes asked.

“Why did you walk over to me?”

“Pardon?”

“You walked over to me. Why?”

“I don’t know. You… I’ve never seen you here before. I wanted to know what you were doing on our property.”

“This isn’t your property. I’m very careful.”

“It’s close to it.”

“Yes, but I’m not on your property. This land is owned by no one.”

“Not yet. But it will be. Now that the sickness is gone, the village will continue to grow again. My brothers will soon need houses for their wives and children. They could build them here.”

“I’ll be gone by then.”

There was something about this woman that confused Agnes. She thought about turning around and walking away, but she couldn’t. Her feet were frozen in place.

“Where will you go?”

“I don’t know. Wherever I end up.”

“Where your husband takes you, you mean?”

“I don’t have a husband.”

“Your father, then?”

“I don’t have a father.”

“We all have fathers.”

“Mine is dead.”

“Oh,” Agnes said. “Your mother?”

“Also gone. The sickness swept my village three years ago, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Agnes replied. “You survived?”

“I did. Just me. My brothers and sisters all perished as well.” The woman looked around the woods and back to Agnes. “I’m all alone.”

“Are you… hungry? Need a place to sleep? I can ask my father if–”

“No, I’m fine,” she interrupted. “Thank you. I–” She stopped. “Do you have a husband?”

“Not yet. But soon,” Agnes answered. “I don’t want one.” She shook her head and then realized what she’d just said. “Not now, anyway. I…”

“It’s okay if you don’t. I don’t, either.”

“You don’t?”

“No,” the woman answered quickly. “I’ve been living on my own since I lost my family. Our house went to my uncle, who wanted to find me a husband to get the dowry, but I ran away before he could find me one.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want a husband, just like you,” she said with a soft smile that had Agnes smiling back. “I decided to live on my own in the forest, so that’s what I do. I go from place to place, find food when I’m hungry, shelter when I can, and I live on my own without worrying about my uncle finding me anymore. I’m certain he thinks I’m dead since no woman could survive on her own for this long, in his mind.”

“My father is like that, too,” Agnes said. “I’m sure my husband will be as well.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” she replied. “I’m to be married before my nineteenth birthday. My father is only working out the details of the dowry before I leave. He was supposed to get a certain amount of money, and the man said that wasn’t what they’d agreed to, so my father went back there to get what he was promised for me. He’ll return, and I’ll go with him the next time he leaves. Then, I’ll be married and with a child soon after.”

“And you don’t want that?”

Agnes shook her head.

“Would you like to see where I live?”

“In the woods?”

“Yes,” the woman said with that same soft smile. “It’s not much. I move around a lot. I’m trying to find somewhere that I can truly make my own one day without a husband, but for that, I would have to travel far from here. I’ve heard there’s untouched land west. It’s a several-week journey by horse, so it will be longer since I’m walking, but I want to build a real home there.”

“Just you?” Agnes asked.

“For now. Do you want to see?” The woman held out her hand.

Agnes swallowed before she glanced back to her house and decided to take a chance.

“Yes,” she said and took the woman’s hand.

“My name is Frances.”

“Hello, Frances,” she said as they walked through the tall grass and into the woods that Agnes had only been in a handful of times before; her mother always telling her to stay away from them because of the animals and the men hunting them.

“How do you do it?” Agnes asked when they were far enough into the thick woods for her mother to no longer see her walking away.

“Do what ?”

“Live on your own.”

“I hunt and find berries, mushrooms, and other food when I need to eat. I keep warm. I build traps to keep animals away, and I get to live freely.” Her smile widened. “That’s all I need.”

“Does it… get lonely?”

“Yes,” Frances replied. “I miss my family. I’m still used to the noise in our small house. All of us lived there together until my oldest brother built his own, married, and moved out, but the house was still filled with noise. I miss that. But before it happened, my father was close to finding someone for me to marry, and I didn’t want that. He became mean and told me I had no choice. I was his to do with what he wanted, and the kind father I used to know disappeared when I told him that I wouldn’t marry anyone he told me to. It was then that the sickness came, and…”

Agnes looked down and only then noticed that they were still holding hands. When she squeezed Frances’s hand, Frances looked down, too, probably realizing the same thing, and gave her that soft smile again.

“I prayed because I thought it was my fault that they all got sick and I didn’t. I prayed and prayed and prayed, but God didn’t answer.”

“You thought they got sick because you defied your father?”

“I didn’t want them to die. I just didn’t want to marry. My uncle, aunt, and I had to bury them all on the property and then, my uncle told me that he was going to find me a husband. I packed what I could and left the next morning before dawn.”

“And now, you live free? ”

“Yes, I do. Here. It’s this way,” Frances said.

She pushed through some downed tree limbs, and they walked to a thick grouping of trees.

“There it is.”

Agnes looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“There what is?”

“Where I live for now.” Frances pointed to the largest tree in the middle that had been split into three large sections.

It had died long ago because Agnes remembered seeing this tree years ago during one of her very few trips into the woods. It was surrounded by living trees, though, and received a lot of cover from their branches and leaves.

“Inside,” Frances said and pulled on Agnes’s hand. She then pushed the branches and leaves aside, revealing a small, covered shelter that she must have built using the dead tree inside. “I found this tree, and there was enough room inside it for me to have a little space away from anyone who might wander by. The animals mostly stay away because the tree is long dead. All I had to do was lash small branches together, add mud and leaves to the roof, and attach it to the tree. I’m working on some walls now, which will give me more protection during the coming winter and from animals who still get curious.”

“Where do you put your fire?”

“Over there.” Frances pointed to a small hole in the ground. “I dig it out every day and fill it at night. That way, I can easily cover it in case someone comes by.”

“You did all of this yourself?”

“Yes. My father taught my brothers, who taught me. I don’t have much to do during the day since I have no one to take care of but myself, so I can spend the time building my shelter and finding food. And when I have to go, I can just leave it behind and build a new one somewhere else.”

“Why would you have to go?” Agnes asked, suddenly very concerned that Frances would leave.

“Because people want to build on the land. They get too close, and I don’t plan on letting anyone take me from the life I want for myself. It can be dangerous, being out here on my own, Agnes. Sometimes, I have to hide, and it’s not because of an animal. I’ve had moments where they got too close. A man stood outside of my old shelter once. My fire had just been put out, and he thought someone was still there, so he looked and looked. I hid, and I was silent, so he left, but if I hear a voice, I hide to keep myself safe, and then, I leave. I don’t wait for them to come back. I packed my things and left that time, too. I don’t want to be taken by anyone. And they would take me. They would want to sell me or make me theirs because I’m the scariest thing in the world to any man.”

“Why? What are you?” Agnes asked.

“A woman who won’t be tamed,” Frances replied.