Jessamine

Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. The earth shook with the roar of the heavens. No one would see her, shadow that she was, slinking along the abandoned street. Time to bury the thing and be done with it. Already it had caused more trouble than she cared for. A little trouble at times weren’t no problem. When that trouble took on life and opened its gaping jaws to swallow her down to hell, well, that was a tad much.

She weren’t no fool neither. Jessamine had all the smarts an urchin could gather. She knowed she was a pawn. Those big men could tell her sweet things till their tongues rotted, but she knew better. They lied, all the time. She weren’t no beauty, no matter what they said, just some street kid they plucked out of them filthy gutters like a rotting tomato. And they didn’t even come find her themselves. Sent some retarded lackeys to do the job for them. Why, even them priests with their visions and prophecies wouldn’t step down the street they dreamed ’bout.

Breath fogged in front of her petite nose as she peered around the corner of a crumbling building. Guards stood watch at the city gates, probably told to keep her inside. Well, them soldiers was dumber than dishwater. Couldn’t be helped, with such little pay. But it made sneaking around the city that much easier for her and her mates.

Those crummy boys hadn’t stood their ground, though, when them soldiers came rushing up to grab her all those weeks ago. Musta figured she was done for with all them swords a pointing at her little head. Couldn’t even find them tonight in their usual haunts when she’d looked. She’d just have to leave the city on her own, no help from anyone. She didn’t need no help, though. How many times she snuck past them foolish guards? Too many to count, considering she didn’t know her numbers so well.

Her chance to slip past came when watch changed for the night. Two sauntered off to greet replacements, the fools, leaving their backs open. Jessamine stole quick to the gate and slipped through the shadows as more lightning lit the sky. Holding her breath, she waited for the blinding light to leave her eyes. Seconds later, the echoing pound of thunder covered the sound of her feet thudding across the bridge.

Her kifed boots touched dirt on the other side while she paused to get her bearings, what with white spots dancing across her vision. Wind whipped long brown hair about her head as she spotted a grove off to her right. Perfect. She would bury the blasted necklace there. No use carrying the thing about her neck longer than she must, and then she’d be on her merry little way. Running for the trees, her stolen servants rags twisted about her legs in all that wind. Her hand closed about the bauble bouncing furiously on her chest. She dropped to her knees, ready to pull that thing off and thrust it into the ground, when lightning crashed and thunder boomed in unison.

All that light rushed straight to the ground in front of her where she’d wanted to plant the durned necklace. Instead of ridding herself of the thing, the metal chain fused securely around her neck with all that energy flowing around her.

“Aw, sh—” The world went black as a tree limb fell atop her pretty little head.

———

“Jasmine. Lady Jasmine.” Cold and water dripped down her face, getting her wet.

“T’aint my name.” Groggy, she tried to sit up, but firm hands pushed her back down. “Get that blasted rag off my face, you putrid—”

“My lady! That is no way to address your servants.” The chamberlain bustled about the room, shooing servants out.

“And I’m not ‘Your lady.’ Never been no lady, won’t never be one. Might as well throw me out on the street again for all the ‘Lady’ I’ll ever be.”

“Now, dear Lady, we’ve been over this. The priests saw you wearing the Jasmine Pendant in a vision of light. They saw the glory of your countenance beneath the filth in which you lived. It was they who brought you to us, the future savior of our kingdom. Who else is to rescue the captured prince and avenge our slain king?”

“Lay that ‘savior’ crap on me one more time and I’m likely to bring my dinner up all over your fancy little robe.” Jessamine pushed aside the serving girl and tried to sit up. Her head wobbled on her neck, and she fell against them soft pieces of fluff they called pillows. What had happened to her? She tried to ask when the chamberlain shushed her again.

“Sleep, Lady Jasmine. We’ll speak more after you’ve rested.”

“Sleep, my eye. Tell me now or I’ll wake the whole castle. You know I will.”

His face looked weary, but he sat on a chair beside the bed. “The guards found you at the foot of a tree struck by lightning. They say you were filled with the light of heaven though you were not burned. Not a hair on your head was singed.” He paused.

“Say it, or I scream,” Jessamine threatened.

“The pendant. We are, ah, unable to remove it from around your Lady’s neck. It seems the lightning fused it to your person and it is now permanently part of you.”

Jessamine gasped. Filthy liar! They’ve tried to make her wear that blasted thing at every moment, and now he says she can never take it off? They’ll see. Why she’ll . . . She felt about her neck and couldn’t locate the chain. How could he say it was there when it wasn’t?

Anger filled her face at his lies—until he brought up a mirror in front of her face that a servant had brought over from the dressing table. There, about her neck, was a delicate silver line that looked so much like the necklace tattooed upon her skin. Then right above the hemline of the nightdress she could see the white starburst of the flower pendant upon her pale skin. White as death it was. Her face paled to match, but still the outline was still clear.

She grasped for it, felt along her skin, but it was smooth as the day she was born. No bumps, no depression. It was as thought she was born with a horrid birthmark.

Those horrid priests had done this to her, cursed her for life. She would be their pawn for the rest of her days, unable to hide their mark upon her. Jessamine never should have stolen the necklace from that old crone. How could she have been so stupid?