WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE Read Online Free Page A

afford now, and it served as
both a workshop and an apartment.   A
small shower and bedroom were located just off of the shop but gaps in the wood
made sleeping there impossible.   She
pulled her roll away cot out from beneath a shelf in the back.   After it was opened in front of the crackling
fire Sarah lay down to think over the day’s events.
      She hadn’t even dared to dream of something
like her own private shop, with her own tools.   Money was very hard to come by these days and she wasn’t really sure how
she planned to buy groceries this week if Raven hadn’t been so quick with the
check.   Now here was someone offering her
everything she couldn’t even think about hoping for, someone with enough money
to pay her 500 gullions just to consider going into business.   That would pay the rent for two months and
give her a little cash to buy some much needed supplies.   But could she move was the question.   Could she trust this strange redhead who had
popped up like some mystical genie, granting wishes Sarah never thought to ask
for?
    She flipped her
pillow over to fluff it and pulled the quilt tighter to ward off the night’s
chill the fire was just keeping at bay.   With a nod, she decided that she should at least go and look at the
place since there was nothing to lose.   Besides, her father would want her to be successful.
    All of these
thoughts and emotions kept Sarah Petty awake until the small hours of the morning.   When she finally drifted off to sleep, it was
with a smile.
                                                   

 
    CHAPTER
2: A GAMBLE

 
 
                The
sweltering heat hung over the city like a damp blanket as Raven walked up to
the smithy.   Shielding her eyes from the
glare of the mid-morning sun, the redhead looked into the shadows of the stall
adjacent to the building and spotted Sarah, hard at work shoeing a horse.   Her mind was a hornet’s nest of problems, but
the most pressing was if Sarah had decided to join her in opening a new shop
back in Valentria.   The second most
pressing was the message she had received from her ever annoying step-mother
this morning.   This was a simple business
trip and Elspeth knew it.   Cursing
slightly under her breath, she forced a friendly smile and hailed Sarah, who
turned, raising her hand in greeting.
                “Good
morning, Raven.”   Sarah sat down the
hammer she was using and swiped a grimy arm across her forehead.   Despite the calendar promising it was early
spring, the humidity from last night’s storm made sure she worked up a
sweat.   Blonde hair clung to her cheeks
which were already dirty from the morning’s labor.   She decided last night that she was going to
take a chance on going into business with Raven but a trip to her landlord had
dashed that dream.
                “Well,
not yet it isn’t but I hope you can change that.   You think any about my offer?”
                Sarah
wiped her hands on the leather apron she wore wrapped around her waist, more
out of habit than necessity.   Raven
propped her elbows on the top bar of the stall and looked hopeful.
    This is going to
be harder than I thought, Sarah sighed to herself.   She really wanted to leave, to get away from
this city and possibly start making some real money doing what she
enjoyed.   Mr. Jackson, the man who owned
the building she rented, pointed out the fine print in their contract which
said if she left before the lease was up, she would be subject to deadbeat
laws.   She tried everything she could
think of, even offering to pay for the next two months rent out of the money
Raven gave her last night, but the lecherous old man was intent on keeping her
around for only one reason.   He was
trying to force her to marry his son, an annoying little shrimp who had been
pestering her since their school days.
    “I’m sorry Raven,
but my landlord