The Grey Dawn

by Stacey DeMichael

  The earl’s face softened further, and he smiled, a genuine, warm smile. In that one moment, the scars weren’t what Ellalee saw. He had a nice smile and a strong chin and nice full lips. He was, for a moment, the man he might have been.

  “You have a nice smile,” Ellalee said without thinking and then blushed clear up to her hairline. She had no business commenting on the earl’s countenance, and stammered on, “I must go.”

  The earl’s scowl returned, and his eye brows snapped down as she hurried out of the door. Ellalee was thoroughly beside herself with embarrassment. She sent up a prayer that she would not cross paths with the earl for a week and saw no reason that she wouldn’t be able to manage it.

  When she returned to the kitchen, Christopher was peeling and chopping carrots, but Ellalee could tell that he was distressed.

  “What’s wrong, Christopher? Is it your leg?” Ellalee asked with concern.

  “No, it’s Max. The kitten is always here in the morning, but this morning he hasn’t turned up. I’m worried. Daniella says that she hasn’t got time to go look for him.”

  Daniella was churning butter in the newly cleaned-out churn and rolled her eyes. Apparently, they’d been through this conversation several times already, and with Christopher confined to his chair, he had no other options but to convince one of his two sisters.

  Ellalee smiled reassuringly. “Daniella has a manor to feed and a certain reputation to uphold, and you know that kittens have a bit of wanderlust in them. Max’ll be back, but if it will make you feel better, I will scout around a bit while I clean. I bet he turns up by the midday meal. He’s probably just found a comfy place to nap. If I find him, I may join him!”

  Christopher laughed. “Thanks El. But, really, if you find him, will you bring him here?”

  “Absolutely,” Ellalee said and messed up his already messy brown curls.

  She spent that morning scrubbing the second floor where Elise should have cleaned. Given the shabby results, she rather thought Elise must have found other things to do. It made her wonder again what might be bothering the girl. Surely not that horrible sound from many nights ago that had frightened them all! Nothing had come of that.

  After several hours of backbreaking scrubbing, a mile of rags, and a veritable river of water, Ellalee rounded back for the midday meal. The cat still had not turned up, but Elise had. With the footmen coming in and out, and Simmons sneaking a roll whilst he thought no one saw, it was hardly the ideal moment to talk with Elise, but as the opportunity had presented itself, Ellalee made the most of it.

  “Elise, I’ve been worried about you. You don’t look as though you feel well,” Ellalee said.

  “Just haven’t been sleeping well,” Elise said and scrubbed her face. “I’ll be better soon.”

  Ellalee gave Elise a hug. “If there is anything Daniella and I can do to help you, you know that we would.” This comment brought tears to Elise’s eyes and her bottom lip began to quiver. Ellalee gave her another quick hug and changed the topic. “Maybe you could help me? Max, the little black kitten with the white chin, has gone missing today. You haven’t seen him have you?”

  Elise looked somewhere between relieved and as though the wind had just gotten knocked out of her. “I think I saw him skirt past Mistress Murray out the door.”

  “Oh, thank you! I’ll see if I can’t round him up, and surely if Irwin spots that kitten, he’d bring it back to the kitchen.”

  Ellalee decided that a brisk walk outside would do her more good than a meal. She waited until no one was looking her way and slipped out the kitchen door. The cold mist draped over the land like a shroud, wetting her hair and freezing her skin. As she walked, Ellalee realized that her ankle hardly bothered her at all, and it felt regenerative to be out of the manor stretching her legs. In her old home, she had loved going to town, and secretly, she had loved running home from it. In her proper upbringing, girls did not run, nor certainly go barefoot, nor ever wear boys’ clothes. She was also certain that a proper lady did not steal. But, ah, the freedom of running through the Wyndale woods, bouncing from rock to rock, free, free of skirts, free of expectation, and free of consequence. If only free of care, she thought. She wished she could run all the way to the village here at Avium. Alas, the trip would take her through the north field, and once again being a part of a proper household, she would cast further aspersions on her already tarnished character by hiking up her skirts and running for the pure unadulterated joy of it.

  The memory of the north field brought her mind back to the stranger who had drawn the red grouse. She felt sure that if there was anyone who could shed more light on the dark undercurrents that surrounded this castle and its lands, it was he, but she also felt that there was deception in the man’s words that made her very wary. Given her choice, she’d rather take her chances with the irascible earl. Lord Valen was easily angered, but he seemed less shadowy than the man in the north field. She nearly laughed at the irony.

  Lost in her thoughts, she rounded the south wall where there was a steep slope that rose up around the manor. She stopped to take a breath and looked around. A thicket was off to her right as the path rose hugging the castle wall and above her a parapet where someone might peer out over the forlorn landscape. She wondered if the earl stood there often. She decided that she would walk around the next corner of the estate, and then she would double back and visit Irwin in the barn to ask him to keep an eye out as well.

  Half way up the rise, she heard a shrill mewing and picked up her skirts to hurry along. Just beside the castle wall, she found Max who had been collared with a thin twine and tied to a stake. The kitten was frantically pulling on the lead and meowing pitifully. She glanced into the woods and frowned. She was lucky to have found the kitten before some predator from the underbrush or hawk from the air had found Christopher’s pet. No curse had tethered the cat, but if it had been brought back in pieces, the curse was surely what would have been blamed. Christopher’s heart would have been broken, and that thought infuriated her.

  The rope was tied so tightly around the cat’s neck that she couldn’t slip it over his head, and she was having trouble with the knot. The kitten was no help, thrashing and writhing around and around. Ellalee changed gears and started digging out the stake when she heard a rumbling above her and a roar from behind. The scraping above her seized her first attention, and she looked up to see a huge stone falling from the parapet plummeting towards her.

  Before Ellalee could pull in enough air to gasp, she was hit from behind and knocked several feet from where she had stood just a moment ago. She landed on her stomach and her breath left her in a whoosh. Ellalee rolled over onto her back, but try as she might, she could not catch her breath. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she began to panic and black spots rose in her vision. She felt herself grabbed up, and a hand rested upon her cheek.

  “Are you okay? Are you injured?” the earl asked running his hand across her face and then down her arm.

  Ellalee finally sucked in a large shaky breath then two, so long overdue the intake was painful. She shook her head as tears escaped, trailing down her cheeks more from being winded than being frightened.

  Valen put a hand gently on her cheek once more. His thumb wiped away a tear as he stared down at her, his face tender with concern, his eyes warm and expressive. Ellalee could get lost in those beautiful eyes. Then she then heard shouting coming closer as Simmons and Charlie bounded around the corner, stopping short. Valen’s eyes regained their customary aloofness, and his look hardened as he dropped his hand and unceremoniously dumped Ellalee on the ground. The earl stood up brushing off his waist coat and announced loudly, “You are hereby confined to the manor. I will use the ball and chain on your next offense.” He turned on heel and strode back towards the castle without so much as a backward glance. He motioned Simmons and Charlie to follow.

  Ellalee got up and brushed herself off and then gasped as she saw the huge stone that had come unhinged from the p
arapet. The kitten! She rushed over and was mightily relieved that by God’s grace, the impact had missed the little guy. She yanked out the stake from the ground, as the kitten, frightened out of its wits, turned into a scratching, hissing fanged fur ball at the end of the rope. Ellalee took off her apron and wrapped it around the silly thing to keep the kitten from peeling flesh from bone and headed off to the kitchen.

  Her mind was whirling. Had someone purposefully attempted to kill her or had she merely been the one that came? How on earth had Lord Valen found her? The words of the disappearing stranger came floating back to her. She dressed in her wedding gown and just before the ceremony threw herself from the parapet rather than let him touch her. She looked back up over her shoulder at the parapet and shivered.

  Chapter Eighteen: The Sword, the Skillet, and the Silent Strike

  Daniella and Christopher were waiting anxiously as Ellalee came in through the servant’s door into the kitchen and handed the now howling beasty to Christopher. In her brother’s arms, the cat calmed right down and was soon eating scraps from Christopher’s hand. Apparently its ordeal had not diminished its appetite nor its love of her brother, but every time it looked at Ellalee, it hissed. Ellalee rolled her eyes and thought, sometimes you just can’t win.

  Daniella hugged Ellalee. “Mark would not let Christopher or me leave the kitchen. He was overly bent on making sure we stayed safe. You really scared us, El.”

  “But she found Max, like she promised,” Christopher said.

  “It is true, what Charlie said?” Daniella asked.

  “Oh dear, what did he say?” Ellalee replied retrieving her apron and putting in back on.

  “That you were nearly crushed by a falling stone,” Christopher said, wide-eyed.

  “It is an old crumbly castle. I was just in the wrong place. I suffered greater injury when the earl smashed into me, I assure you,” she replied, scruffing his hair. “I am fine, but you better keep a sharp eye on Max. Our earl has confined me to the manor. I think I shall go crazy without fresh air from time to time.”

  “Oh dear,” Daniella said. “I don’t think he knows you, does he?”

  Ellalee hugged her sister and laughed. “Oh, I think I’ll try not to test his patience for at least a week or so.” She carefully did not admit the threat of the ball and chain. Though, given the fact that Charlie and Simmons had heard, it would take no time for that threat to spread amongst the staff. Daniella looked relieved but Christopher smiled. It seemed each of her siblings had heard the part of her statement that was most pleasing.

  The afternoon passed quietly. Ellalee finally found Elise and gave her thanks for Elise’s part in finding Max. Elise looked so morose at the Ellalee’s kind words that Ellalee felt maybe she hadn’t been talked to kindly in sometime, which made Ellalee even more cross with the surly Mistress Murray. It wasn’t hard to remember when she was ill-treated by Mistress Bane, and she was determined to befriend Elise if she could. A friend can make all the difference in the world. She gave Elise a quick hug and headed back to the second floor to keep up the battle against dirt, dust, grit, and grime. It seemed a near victory too as some of the grime almost out-stubborned her. But alas, victory was hers.

  Ellalee had just finished her work on the second floor and was admiring the transformation when Mistress Murray arrived, pointing out invisible imperfections in Ellalee’s work. Dutifully, Ellalee went back over each area as though there had indeed been an area missed. What difference did it make if she spend another hour here or somewhere else? Housebound, there was no place to explore….except the manor. Then Ellalee smiled. There had to be more to this old castle than met the eye, and she’d barely scratched the surface. Suddenly, she became happier.

  Mistress Murray caught the brightening of her countenance and took it for an opportunity to engage Ellalee. “Winslow tells me that you are literate, but earl said that you were but a washer woman.”

  Ellalee blinked. Then making up her mind, she gave a dry chuckle. “Well, rumors about new staff abound I suppose. You are, in fact, correct. I washed the clothes for the manor in Bressott,” Ellalee responded.

  Mistress Murray raised an eyebrow and continued, “I understand you had an unlucky run in with the curse today and barely survived. We all feel very lucky to still have you with us and are most grateful for Lord Valen’s quick intercession.” Mistress Murray appeared to be trying to gage Ellalee’s response, and Ellalee wondered vaguely to what end.

  “I don’t believe in curses, but I do believe in crumbling castle walls,” Ellalee replied and turned her back to dust a table blowing a curl out of her face. She wondered what Mistress Murray was really after. Whatever it was, Ellalee was bound and determined to make its extrication as difficult as possible.

  “I’ve seen too many die here to believe otherwise,” Mistress Murray replied casually. “Winslow told me that you were not to leave the manor so I will be making sure that you have enough to do.”

  Ellalee tried very hard not to roll her eyes. When finally Mistress Murray left, Ellalee relaxed her shoulders which she hadn’t realized until that moment she had held rigid through their conversation. Mistress Murray continued popping in from time to time to inspect her work, and Ellalee was glad when the day finally came to a close. She stretched her back and packed up her brushes and rags and headed down for the evening meal. In the servants’ dining hall she sat across from Elise at the dinner table. Elise’s eyes were red and weepy. Ellalee could imagine where Mistress Murray had spent the better part of her time. She tried to give the girl encouraging looks from across the table, but Elise was in a world of her own.

  The next day Mistress Murray cornered Ellalee right after breakfast and told her that her cleaning supplies had already been taken to the lady’s bower in the top turret on the east wing. Apparently, it had not been entered in since the death of Lord Valen’s intended, and Lord Valen wished it cleaned and aired. Ellalee looked over her shoulder at Daniella and Christopher to catch one of their eyes before she left, but they were both busy so she followed Mistress Murray down a long hallway and through a door that Ellalee hadn’t realized led to another wing of the manor that she had yet to explore. Behind another doorway that Mistress Murray unlocked with her master set of keys, there was a staircase that wound up to a room that overlooked the courtyard below. The view was lovely, and she could understand immediately why the lady would have chosen this room as her retreat. Sadly, however, the room was covered in what seemed like several inches of dust. As Mistress Murray had promised, her supplies were laid out for her, and with no further ado, Ellalee began cleaning. The dust was insurmountable. Soon every rag she had was so thick with dust and her water bucket so filthy that she knew she would have to trudge all the way downstairs from this back beyond for more hot water, strong lye soap, and clean rags.

  When she arrived in the kitchen, she was startled when Daniella shrieked, “Where on earth have you been? The earl is furious! He went roaring out of here not ten minutes ago.”

  “What? I’ve been cleaning the bower. Why is he angry?”

  “He thought you had gone to the north field again to meet some man,” Daniella replied and then whispered, “He took his sword.”

  “Goodness gracious, what foolishness! Mistress Murray has known where I’ve been all morning. Did anyone go with him? There is a man that must live out that way that is certainly no fan of his lordship.” Ellalee felt her emotions rise.

  When Daniella said that she didn’t think so, Ellalee grabbed an iron skillet off the rack and headed out the kitchen door. First, she hurried to the barn. Irwin said that his lordship had left without his horse, but added that if she would wait a moment, he would come with her to the north field. Ellalee assured the groom that the circumstances hardly warranted taking him from the barn and darted back outside and down the dirt track towards the path up the hill. Ellalee could only assume that the earl had wanted to be able to sneak up on her, and with a horse the size of Raptim, being surreptitious
would be simply impossible.

  When she hit the path to the north field, Ellalee began to run up the incline. Partly it was to stretch her legs, but mostly it was because she was nearly frozen through. Winter was coming with full authority. Away from all other eyes, she was glad for the chance to run, and only wished it wasn’t in skirts. All the same, the cold air bit through her dress, and she was glad when the running finally warmed her. As she came up to the top of the trail, she slowed and gasped.

  There on the moor stood Lord Valen battling three enormous black wolves, or were they dogs? Whatever they were, they were the largest canines Ellalee had ever seen. The tops of their shoulders came nearly to Lord Valen’s mid-thigh. The canines were broader than a wolf and somehow less rangy. Their heads carried more breadth than a wolf, but their thick black coats looked as eerily wild and fearsome as her darkest imagination.

  The wolf-dogs surrounded Lord Valen. His sword arm dangled at an odd angle. The wolf-dogs circled him, each attempting to dart in for an attack, but sprang back to avoid a retaliatory kick from the earl in this tenuous stand-off. The earl’s sword lay by his feet. Each time Lord Valen attempted to snatch the weapon with his left hand precipitated another feint by the beasts. This was no winning stratagem for the earl. It was only a matter of time before a beast grabbed his leg or evaded the kick. Sure enough as Ellalee watched in horror, one dog dodged the earl’s boot and savaged the earl’s leg upending him.

  Ellalee screamed involuntarily at the horror of what would surely follow. The wolf-dogs’ heads popped up. Then without further thought, Ellalee charge the scene. She must have made some spectacle because even the dogs stood still for a moment as she rushed towards them, raising the skillet high above her head. Then they charged. As the creatures bounded closer, they seemed to grow in size. Their wild golden eyes glowed, and the size of their bared teeth made Ellalee quake. She barely had time to register panic because in what seemed like only the blink of an eye, the span of the thought itself, they were on her.