The Lord Son's Travels (13 page)

Chapter 14

Elenna
smiled her most welcoming as the timid young girl introduced herself as my
Lady's maiden.
 
"Please,
Limmett," she urged from her seat on the corner of the bed.
 
"I would love the chance to wash
up after all that riding.
 
Is that
hot water?
 
Thank you!"
 
The young maid relaxed at her kind
words.
 
The innkeeper's wife had
scared her half to death with warnings of the wicked ways of the nobility
upstairs.
 
This young Lady seemed
nice, though.
 
She poured the
contents of her steaming kettle into the wash bowl, and laid a thick woolen
towel nearby.
 
Elenna drew closer,
enthralled by her first chance at cleanliness for such a long time.
   

"My
Lady," Limmett addressed her, turning to Elenna’s previous place on the
mattress.
 
When she realized the
Lady was right behind her, she jumped back involuntarily and knocked the bowl
from its place.
 
Before either woman
could catch it, the bowl hit the floor and shattered.
 

"Oh,
no!" the servant moaned, falling to her knees among the fragments.
 
"A thousand apologies!" she
cried to the Lady kneeling down next to her.

"It’s
only a bowl!" Elenna tried to soothe her.
 
"Watch yourself, these pieces are sharp!"
 

"What
is this!" a grizzled woman's voice called from the doorway.
 
"Limmett, what have you done
now!"

The girl
cried harder in response.
 
Elenna
looked up to see a older woman glaring down on the servant girl.
 
"Get up this instant!" the
innkeeper's wife snapped.
  
When the girl didn't move, she kicked her roughly in her side.
 
"Worthless piece of..."

"Wait
a minute!" Elenna roared as she flew to her feet.
 
She stepped in front of Limmett, who
was trying anxiously to gather all the pieces she could find.

"My
apologies, my Lady," the older woman offered.
 
"I will send a better girl to serve my Lady.
 
This one will be sent out
immediately."
 
Limmett sobbed
harder.

Elenna
moved closer to the supervisor.
 
"No you won’t!" she stated, arms crossed in front of her
chest.

"No,
my Lady, I will not employ such a clumsy creature such as that." The
goodwife glared down at the servant, who was sucking a finger she had jabbed on
a shard of the porcelain.

"I
broke the bowl, not her," Elenna spat out, boring into the old woman with
angry eyes.
 
"Do you want to
kick me instead?"

Adrien
burst in through the open doorway.
 
"What has happened?" he demanded, eyeing the trio of
women.
 
“My Lady,” he added
quickly.

The old
lady shuddered at the anger in the Lady's expression.
 
"I am sorry, my Lady, if I have offended
you."
 
She backed down, eyes
turned to the floor in humility.
 
Adrien watched in silence.

Elenna
softened.
 
"Go get something
to clean this up," she ordered.
 
"And a bandage for the girl.
 
And this kind of abuse had better not happen again," she
threatened.
 
The goodwife hurried
from the room, slipping past the Lady's tall guard.
 
"Let me see the cut," Elenna bent down next to the
servant, who offered up the slashed finger silently.
 
"Its a deep one."
 
Adrien leaned over her shoulder to examine the scene.

"I
dropped a bowl," Elenna offered as a response to his inquiry.
 
Limmett glanced up at her face, her
eyes brimming with tears.

"Thank
you, my Lady!" she whispered.

"It
was my fault," Elenna replied.
 
"How is your side?
 
Did
she injure your ribs?"

"Fine,
my Lady," she replied softly.
 
"I am a terrible servant, the mistress must always punish my
willfulness."

"What
a freakin..," Elenna muttered.
  
Another servant girl knocked on the half-open door.
 
Adrien let her in while slipping back
out into the hallway himself away from the confusion.
 
The girl carried a broom and a roll of clean bandage cloth.

"I
will tend to this, my Lady, and to Limmett," she said to Elenna, with a
shy, faint smile at the kind Lady.
 
She nodded and searched for Adrien.
 
She found him lingering in the hall and listening to their
conversation.

"Lunch
has been laid out for us downstairs," he informed her with more than a
faint hint of disapproval at her tardiness.
 
She hadn't even taken off her cloak yet.
 
Elenna unhooked the clasp and tossed it
onto the closest chair in her room.
 
She pushed back her frizzy hair with her hand, sighed, and followed
Adrien down the hall to the stairs.
 

The
common room was still empty, as it was still too early in the day for even the
regular drinkers to have arrived yet.
 
The private dining room was behind the common room, much smaller in size
but still comfortable.
 
For
lighting in the windowless chamber, candles had been placed on the table and
all available flat spaces around the room.
 
A full spread was laid out on the side table producing a
variety of wonderful smells. Adrien had requested that their own servant would
serve the meal, ensuring them privacy for their conversation.
 
Brendan was already there picking at the
plates of cakes and other sweets and drinking from a large cup of ale.
 
Elenna avoided Adrien’s chastising gaze and
immediately began to fill a plate with the fresh meats and vegetables.
 

"Nice
healthy lunch there, Bren," she said, motioning to his plate.
 
He shrugged.

"Get
it while you can," he suggested.
  
"We're back to stew in a couple of days.
 
I heard about the broken bowl."

Elenna
glanced at Adrien.
 
"Good news
travels fast." she declared.

"The
whole kitchen heard our mistress discussing the high-nosed Lady upstairs.
 
What did you say to her, Elenna?"

This time
Elenna shrugged.
 
"She
deserved it.
 
What kind of person
would treat a poor working girl that way?"

"Every
person with a little money or position in this town," Adrien answered
grimly.
 
He picked at his plate
listlessly.
 
"You just made an
enemy of every person of stature in the city."

"But
the servants love you," Brendan assured her.
 
She frowned.
 

"I
hope this doesn't ruin your plans too much," she said to Adrien.
 
"But I won't take crap like that
right in front of me."
 
He
sighed.
 
Her actions did hurt his
chances for helpful communications in this town.
 

"Let's
finish our meal, and then Brendan and I will go to the market," he
said.
 
This caught Elenna's
attention.
 
She paused, with her
fork halfway to her mouth.

"What
about me?" she demanded.

"Ladies
don't go to the market," Brendan answered firmly.
 

"Dammit!"
she exclaimed in frustration.
 
The
men turned to stare at her, in shock at her choice of words.

"Ladies
don't use that language, either," Brendan added in a prim tone.

She bit
her lip.
 
"Then one of you
gets to be the Lady next time.
 
What do I do, sit here all day?"

Adrien
suggested, "You may rest in your chamber, maybe even tidy yourself a
little.
 
That is, if you can manage
the water pitcher without any further injury."
 
Brendan giggled at his words.
 
Elenna shot him a look that would have melted a less secure
man.

"Maybe
one of the servants will find you something to read," Brendan suggested.
 
"I wouldn't ask our hostess for
anything if I were you."

"I'll
see what I can learn about returning you home," Adrien offered.
 
"There must be a Wizard in this
city."

"Good
enough, I guess," Elenna rose from her seat.
 
"Servant, see if you can get me some decent shoes
today.
 
These boots just aren't
going to cut it.
 
Maybe a different
dress, too, if we're going to be here a couple of days.
 
I wouldn't want to offend the natives
with my limited wardrobe."

”I think
you have offended the natives enough,” Adrien agreed.
             

"Anything
else, my Lady?" Brendan asked, as he gulped down the last of his ale.

"Amtrak
ticket home," she replied promptly.
 
She waved her hand at his lost expression.
 
"Sorry, no, I'll be fine.
 
You be careful." she admonished both.

Chapter 15

The sun
was approaching the horizon.
 
 
Elenna could see the last rose-colored
rays streaking in through her window had reached farther across the wooden
planks of the floor.
 
She flopped
back on the soft bed and regarded the book she had been reading.
 
It wasn't bound as well as the books
she was used to; a few pages were perilously close to falling out.
 
The parchment was thick and yellowing
with age, and the print fading.
 
She had studied the pages for over a half hour until she could recognize
the letters of the strangely wrought script.
 
But the results were worth the effort.
  
This was history of the world she
had found herself trapped within.
 
The Eastlands, as its residents called it.
 
She had found herself gripped by the stories contained
within the pages.
 
There was no
index so she had resorted to paging through and searching for names and places
already known to her.
 
The biggest
section was dedicated to the kingdom of Allè-dôn, the birthplace of her fellow
travelers.
 
A couple of maps were
scattered within the pages, one just like the chart Adrien carried.
  
Elenna studied it closely.
  
She found the name of Falmat on
the sketch, in the northeast corner of the land of Arden.
 
The road they had been following
continued on the other side of the city to the south to the far border.
 
She wondered where Adrien was leading
them.
 
There were no other major
cities on the road until they crossed the border into Brannon.
 

A knock
on the door interrupted her.
 
She called
for the person to enter as she pulled herself into a more decorous seated
position.
 
A maid stuck her head in
the door, apologizing for the intrusion.

"Begging
your pardon, my Lady," the girl started.
 
Since the incident that morning, the servants seemed to have
lost all their fear of the strange Lady, to Elenna’s relief.

"What's
up?" Elenna replied wearily.

"Your
guard and servant have returned from market.
 
They have given me this package for you, and instructions to
bring you downstairs in half an hour."
 
She came forward with the wrapped package held out in her
arms.
 
Elenna accepted it with
gracious thanks, and dismissed the girl.
 
She opened the bag to reveal a new dress.
 
It was gorgeous; pale grey silk with hundreds of
mother-of-pearl beads sewn in the design of flowers along the bodice.
 
She was pleased to see a matching pair
of slippers and a delicate set of combs for her hair.
 
“Which one of them has taste?' she wondered out loud as she
began to dress.
 

She was
ready in plenty of time, so she returned to her book while she waited for the
maid to escort her downstairs.
 
She
paged through the section on Allè-dôn again.
 
She found a list of all the Lord Kings of Allè-dôn since
their names were first recorded.
 
The current Lord King at the time of the printing of this book was
Andrüe Lord King.
 
There was no picture
to sate her curiosity. Again, she wondered what Adrien and Brendan could have
done to rank as treason against him.
 
He had one son listed as the Lord Heir.

The
servant knocked again and led Elenna down to the main floor.
 
The residents of the crowded common room
stared as she zipped quickly across the chamber with skirt billowing out behind
her.
 
She yanked open the dining
room door and slipped within.
 
Inside her fellow travelers were already seated for dinner.
 

Brendan
tipped his half-full cup of ale in her direction.
 
"Don't you look nice!" he greeted warmly.

"Yeah,
well, I had plenty of time."
 
Elenna pulled out the chair in front of an unclaimed plate.
 
She frowned when she saw the plain cup
of water.
 
She glanced around,
noting with satisfaction the bottle of wine in the center of the table near the
candles.
 
She poured herself a
drink into an empty cup borrowed from the neighboring table setting and
returned Adrien's disapproving look with a flippant shrug.
 

"Did
you boys have fun shopping?" she asked.

Brendan
nodded around a mouthful of food.

"Learn
anything?" she continued.

"The
Wizard could tell us nothing," Adrien answered snappishly.
 
"and neither could anyone else."

Elenna
leaned back in her seat with her wine glass in hand.
 
She regarded him with a look that he could only interpret as
smug. "Who'd you ask?" she demanded.

Adrien
leaned towards her in challenge.
 
"Several of the Mayor's men, a few military men, the
barkeeps."

"Oh,
well, that's a nice try, but you should have asked the people who really know
what’s going on," she replied. She smacked her glass down on the table and
grinned.
 
"I don't know what
you're looking for, but the gossip around town is pretty good.
 
Of course there’s us, but then there’s
lots more.
 
The Mayor's wife is
getting it on with his head groom, who's supposed to be a real hottie, but I
guess you don't care about that."

As Adrien
raised one eyebrow, Brendan laughed heartily.
 
"Where did you hear that?"

"There's
more.
 
I guess the son of the King
of Allè-dôn ran away from home awhile ago.
 
What a tough life he must have, the spoiled brat.
 
More seriously, there were some
fighting across the border in Angor.
 
Lots of creepy talk about monsters and saboteurs coming to the capital."
 
She paused when the men froze.
 
Brendan bit his lip, as Adrien nodded
slowly.

"Monsters,"
she repeated, puzzled.
 
"Is
this meaningful to you?"

"Yes,"
Brendan replied when Adrien remained silent, contemplating the empty air in
front of him.
 
"Where did you
hear this?"

"My
maid," Elenna replied. "When she came to clean the room, I asked her
for some of the local gossip.
 
No
telephone or telegraph, but tell-a-woman works fine here too.
 
Some of the local men were in the
fighting, she said.
 
They won't say
much about it, but what they did say has terrified most of the populace."

"Yes,
of course it would," Adrien snapped back.
 
His eyes bounced around the room in the same path as the
thoughts in his brain.
 
He couldn't
focus as he wrestled with the worries in his mind. The others watched as he
abruptly rose from his chair and paced the perimeter of the room.
 
"Did the girl give you the names
of these towns?"

"Nest-of-Ravens
was one.
 
I remember there were a
few more." Elenna answered.
 
She had to crane her neck to keep the anxious man in her view.
 
Her voice lost all of its joking
quality.
 
"Adrien, she said
these towns were decimated.
 
What's
going on?
 
A war?"

With his
palms resting on the dining table, he dropped his head forward and sighed.
 
Brendan bit anxiously on the fingernail
of his left thumb, waiting for Adrien's response.

Finally
he said, "Yes, I think it is war.
 
A terrible war I don't know if we can win."

Brendan
interrupted, "Wait, Adrien, what we’re hearing is only repeated gossip.
 
This might be highly exaggerated on the
part of the townspeople here.
 
We
must go there first and see for ourselves who or what was involved."

Adrien
nodded. "We can leave tomorrow.
 
Elenna, perhaps you should stay here in town.
 
Our road is becoming more dangerous."
 

Elenna
shook her heard violently.
 
"No, Adrien, I want to go with you.
 
There is no way home for me here," she continued loudly
as he started to interrupt.
 
"I have to keep looking, and I don't doubt you're my only way out
of this town.
 
Besides, you can use
me in a fight."

Brendan
replied first, his surprise causing his voice to raise an octave.
 
"You've only had a few practices
with the sword!
 
What are you going
to do?"

"What
I did to those brigands," she snapped back.
 
"What are you going to do, ditch me here?"

Before
Brendan could reply in the affirmative, Adrien stepped in.

"You
may stay with us until we can find you a Wizard to guide you home.
 
But you will follow my directions
without complaint, do you hear me, woman?"

"Yes,
boss," she returned smartly.
 
His lips tightened at her tone, but he didn't respond. Instead he
reached for his packages still sitting on the floor next to his seat.
  
"We should sleep soon,"
he advised.
 
"I want to return
to the city center tomorrow and find any more information we can about these
attacks.
 
Elenna, tomorrow you may
come with us.
 
A lady can walk the
city green without
undue notice in the company of
a guard."

"Free
at last," she muttered, rising to her feet. "I'll see what I can
learn from a member of the higher classes."

Brendan
cautioned, "Don't ask too many questions!
 
We don't want extra attention."

Elenna
glanced back over her shoulder, and grinned. "Maybe I want to hear more
about the Mayor's groom!"
 
He
chuckled in reply.

"I'm
going to the kitchen for awhile," he said.
 
"If there's news about fighting, I'm sure the other
boys will glad to share."

"I'll
go to the common room," Adrien answered.
 
"There will be common news there, sure enough."

Elenna
perked up at the thought.
 
She
desperately wanted to see some of this strange world beside her companions, her
room, and the never-ending road.
 
Adrien immediately pooh-poohed her accompaniment.

"‘Tis
too late, Elenna.
 
No proper Lady
would be in the common room at this hour."

"What
time is it?" she cried, exasperated.
 
"No one is going to turn into a pumpkin anytime soon!"

Brendan
looked up from his drink, startled. “You know that story?" he demanded
incredulously.

Elenna
nodded vigorously.
 
"Cinderella!"

"Penderallaë!"
he replied, grinning.
 
Elenna gave
him a glorious wide smile unlike any he had seen since her arrival.
 
She beamed, glowing with joy at this
discovery of even the smallest link to her own world.
 
He couldn't help laughing at the sudden change in her
attitude.
 
Adrien ignored the whole
interaction.
 
They chattered
excitedly about fairy tales, or elf-speaks, as Brendan called them, as Adrien
urged them from the room.