The Sinner

I. The Banished Lady

In a land not so far away, there lived a place that lived in the past.

The people there simply called it the Town because its founders never came up with a proper name. They were too much consumed with haste to build it and set the rules in motion. In every convention, in every meeting, they simply referred to it as The Town and it stuck up to this day.

Their rules were their law. And the people of The Town took their law quite seriously. If one would inspect them, they weren't even complicated at all. They were basic laws against crime one could easily find in any other towns.

But what sets The Town aside from the rest?

They refuse the use of anything more advanced than electricity in any way whatsoever and the children of the Town grew up knowing what other towns would call ancient or basic.

Oh, yes, they know about the other towns. They had heard stories. They believed the other towns owned carriages that didn't require a horse at all. They could talk and see one another even when the other person was not in the same vicinity as them. They could do things with the 'tip of their fingers' as what the teachers in the schools of the Town would say. The children thought it was magic.

The adults, on the other hand, saw it as threat. The leaders battled against each other whether or not to form alliances with the other towns, but they would always go back to what the founders believed: the Town was indestructible. In a sense, it was true.

The Town was not really a town. The other towns outside considered it a country, and a very strong one at that. And it spanned almost half of the entire continent in the west. The very few people who knew of the Town's existence would not dare distract the Town. No one dared think of invading it either. Its very presence was a threat to almost all other towns outside because they stood on it.

The Town was their very foundation, built deep underground with its own cities and streets and buildings. They destroy the Town, they fall with it. And everyone left them alone untouched, peaceful as ever, forever living the history that had long been forgotten by the other towns, unknown to the commoners aboveground and alien to the very few powerful who had knowledge of their existence.

The streets of the Town were made of stones, fitted perfectly for carriages to drive by and people to walk on. The houses, though with enough electricity to give light, were always on the side of dim. Businesses thrived. Livestock were kept on the other side of town as well as the farms with their own holes to provide sun to their crops. As a matter of fact, everything from irrigation to waste disposals had been thoroughly planned from the start by the founders themselves. The Town could stand on its own without help from the outside.

The people of the Town were generally content and happy with their lives. It was, after all, the only life they had known. But if there was one thing they would have liked to experience more, it was the sun. Yes, they knew of the sun. They could experience it from time to time and bask in its goodness in the many parks their founders had built. Such parks were built with perfect holes hundreds of feet above the ground, giving them natural light and ventilation. These holes were the only access to the other towns and they were surrounded by tall walls shaped like a funnel so no one from the outside could climb on them and see the Town below. And if ever one could manage to climb to the top, sliding down would be easy though the fall might lead to a sudden death. Climbing out, on the other hand, was impossible. Or everyone believed that to be so.

There were hundreds of such walls and only once had it been trespassed. That was almost a century ago and it never happened again. What became of the trespasser was never disclosed to the public though ideas that ranged from possible to insane circulated that the story soon became a myth and the trespasser was named Mr. Jones. Some stories said that Mr. Jones survived and married a woman from a higher class. Others said he was taken prisoner until he died. There was one that said Mr. Jones was amongst the first founders of the Town.

But this was not Mr. Jones' story for there were far better adventures in the Town that would awaken anyone's attention. One in particular was about the banished lady...

*****

She had never imagined such immense hatred.

She only knew of pleasing, of maintaining decorum and accepting. She also knew, or rather, perfected the art of being vile, being perfect, and of being the most beautiful.

She knew only of pride, haughtiness and sarcasm. She was the best at being hated-at being the enemy of pretty, powerless girls she had considered her prey for years. She fed on their weakness and ire, reveled on their fear of her hypercritical remarks.

But never had she let hatred rule her to full height no matter how many times she was tempted to.

Not when she had not gotten what she had always wanted, not when she was deprived of things she so desired, for the world was only good to those who do well, but never to those who were hated-to those who made the good look even better. No, she never felt hatred even when she felt wronged for having been deprived of the same happiness found by the girls who hated her.

No...she never felt it then for Lady Belinda Kate Carrington never new hatred until the day she was banished.

She had been in her room, getting ready for supper, unaware of men waiting for her to come down while her mother, lady Amber Carrington, insisted that she come down at once. Not even her sister, Julia, could look into her eyes while she descended down the stairs. It had only been a week since her great scandal-her very first one. Mayhap that was the reason, she had thought.

Her father, lord Emmett Carrington was at the door, his face hard and determined. Across from him were two men, both draped in large, black coats.

She had asked them what the fuss was all about.

And that was when her world started to turn upside down. It turned as they all moved, facing her, and the two men walked forward and loomed over her.

She shouted for her mother, for Julia. She begged her father to give her another chance, that she would not make another mistake once again, that she would never shame him once more. But no one listened and she was dragged toward a waiting carriage outside their doors.

Julia ran toward her before the carriage took off, ignoring their mother's orders to come back.

"Do not go far, Belinda," her sister told her. Her hope of her sister stopping the carriage sank down to her toes. "Do not go far. I will find you. Wherever they take you, I will find you. I promise."

"Do not let them take me, Julia, please," she begged.

"Be strong, Belinda. I'll be-"

"Julia!" their father's voice shouted for her sister. Julia cowered away from the carriage mouthing, "Do not go far."

Belinda's heart sank as the carriage went away, slowly driving her from the life she knew-the only life she knew. Tears wouldn't stop and she wiped them away, fear and cold suddenly enveloping her entire body.

They had not even provided her with a coat. Had they even packed her things? No, of course not, for she would have known.

She watched Willowfair pass by before her eyes, the unassuming gentries walking with their expensive coats and dresses, the expensive estates and carriages.

She was being driven away from all of it.

She did so many things but she did not deserve this, she thought as new tears flooded her eyes. Her breathing became short gasps as she fought for control. Her red hair had gone askew in her struggle earlier.

She was being banished, she realized.

That night five years ago was the last time Belinda Kate Carrington cried.

*****

The lady did not take her hood down even when she had finally stepped inside the Sperling Estate. Andrew, the butler, did not find it uncommon at all for his master had received visitors who assumed far worse attempts of secrecy.

She would not have been permitted entrance if she had not been coming by for nearly a month, asking for the master of the house. Andrew had let it known to his master of the lady's insistence but it had only been today that the man grumpily said yes.

Andrew led the visitor toward the study where the master did his business.

He opened the door and announced her presence.

Once Andrew left, McKenzie Haverston stood from his chair and said, "Please, do not find it rude that I would insist upon haste." He checked the clock and sighed. He'd be late for an important meeting. "I have only permitted my butler to take you before me for I can no longer take daily reports of the same lady coming by every day asking for my time."

"I do understand that you are quite busy, Mr. Haverston, but I am in need of great help." By the way she spoke he knew she was a lady with status. The question now was why such lady would come find him?

"What help?" he asked, looking at the lady's slender figure. Her coat was too large for her, obviously chosen for the same reason why she had not taken her hood off.

"You are a Town Guard."

"That is not a secret."

"Then I do have a case for you," the lady said. "I wish to find my sister."

"What is the nature of her disappearance?" If it was a simple disappearance, anyone could directly come into the Grand Guard Hall and file for the case. But with this woman's efforts, it was either a case that would cause a scandal or a petty, foolish one which was getting too rampant nowadays.

He had been getting useless cases being presented to him by crying single ladies and their mamas in their poor attempt to get his attentions. Even a Town Guard could not be saved from the desperate single ladies still out in the marriage mart.

"She had been banished," came the lady's reply.

"I am sorry to tell you that we do not handle banishment cases. No matter how you may feel that your sister has been wronged, the law does not-"

"I know of the law. I would not have come here if I knew I would not get your help."

Ah, so she was confident he'd help her. McKenzie scratched at the scar across his right brow, a habit when he was getting impatient. "And why would you think I would take a banishment case?" he finally asked.

Honestly, if this was another single chit who wished to trick him into marriage, he would throw her out of the house for having wasted his time.

She finally pulled her hood off her face to reveal a beautiful lady with flaming red hair. Her cheeks were high and finely formed, her chin pointed and her eyes dark blue. She looked vaguely familiar and he quickly searched his memory for a name. He was quite good at memorizing faces and giving a name to them.

Carrington. She was a Carrington. She talked of banishment and if his memory served him right, Belinda Carrington had been banished out of Willowfair five years past. Emmett Carrington had two daughters. This must be the other one. She did not know her name but he soon would.

"I am Julia Carrington, now lady Trilby," she said, sparing him the trouble. Her face was too serious, her stand too stiff. He had heard of her recent marriage to the youngest Trilby son. "As I have said, Mr. Haverston, I wish that you find my sister, Belinda. You must know about her for her disappearance had caused a great scandal five years past."

"And I have told you, lady Trilby, that a banishment case is not-"

"The banishment is not unlawful, Mr. Haverston," she interjected, her blue eyes looking straight at him. "But where she was banished to is," she finished.

McKenzie finally allowed a frown. "Where she was banished to?"

Julia Carrington-Trilby's face tightened but McKenzie was certain that she was fighting back tears. "She was banished aboveground."