The Dark Witch And Her Knights

41

I had decided to procure a home within the city limits that I could begin working out of. Tovias happily showed me any manor that fit the description of what I was looking for. One that was just on the border of the city limits surrounded heavily by trees. It was close enough to the castle that I could travel back and forth to it in less than a half-hour and it was far enough that the wrong people would not come snooping. I would never find something as remote and hidden as Gavrial's gallant cave manor. His home was magical in a whole other sense.

Reaching around the iron gate of the drive I unlatched the lock and made my way to the front entrance. Tovias took the lead using the iron ring to bang on the wooden door. We waited patiently until a very short and quaint serving girl pulled back the heavy wood in a fit while it scrapped roughly against the stone floors.

"Is the Master or Lady of the house in?" Tovias asked.

The girl looked him up and down before her eyes fell upon me only for a moment before shying back to Tovias with fear evident upon her face. "May I ask who is calling?" Her hand tightened on the door trying to hide the tremble. It would surely take too much effort for her to try to close it if we just wanted to barge our way in.

I spoke before Tovias could, "The apprentice to the King's Royal Physician."

"The Lady Sable Atropa," Tovias added. I had stopped saying the 'of the Hallstead house' for two reasons. The relationship between Gavrial Hallstead and I was up in the air being picked at by hungry rooks. Using my mother's name Atropa would hopefully give me the gossip I was looking to get.

She bowed her head and shut the door throwing all her weight in it causing it to slam with a quick efficiency I didn't believe she could accomplish. The sound of her feet scraping along the floors hurriedly to her master could barely be heard. After a few minutes, an elderly woman dressed in all black answered the door. The small servant lurked behind her deep in the entry hall. The woman had a sad air about her and when I looked upon her face I knew for a fact this woman was in mourning.

Again before Tovias could speak I stepped forward. "I fear I have come at a horrible time to make any request of you, My Lady."

Her face took on a shrewd calculating look. "It is Lady Citrine. If you are employed by The King I must hear why you have dared to knock on a Lady's door in her time of loss then."

I side-eyed Tovias and he quickly looked away with a knowing look. This was going to be a very difficult conversation. "My Lady, firstly I would like to give you my deepest condolences. I know what loss is. I lost both my parents at a young age. It irrevocably changed my life. They had left me a decent size property to support myself with but with no staff and lots of work to be on a young maiden's shoulders with no saved revenue to speak of. Eventually, I was forced to sell all that was left to me."

"My husband and son both died from the strange plague that came through the city off the Damascus. The lord gambled heavily with the sailors down at the peer. The Guard had come and dragged them from their sick beds kicking and screaming in torment as they burned them both alive in the yard. I doubt you know of such traumas."

I gasped in horror and followed her eyes to a piece of land that had been scorched months prior. The shape of two bodies indefinitely stuck out in the middle of the fresh grass. I knew of trauma yet it was a different sort of suffering. "The debt collectors have already come knocking and threatened to take all my possessions unless I find a way to pay up."

I watched as her hands began to tremble. Without repercussive thought, I reached out and gently grasp her trembling hands. "I am an Atropa." I willed the older woman to hopefully remember the name. "If the name rings a bell you would know I am no fan or favorite of The Guard either. Neither of my parents' bodies were ever returned to me and their deaths have always seemed odd and unusual to me." I began to tug her out of the safety of her home toward the cursed patches of grass. "The guard has always held most of the suspicion in my heart. I have made it my life's goal to become employed under the king to secretly investigate the workings of The Guard."

The Lady's eyes snapped from the dead grass to mine with a look of shock as a fragile hand shot to my shoulder gripping it. "I know you. Not know you, know you per se. But I know who you must be." The hint of excitement in her tone was unmistakable. "Tell me the truth. For I believe I already know that most of what you say is meant to mislead me and pray on my grief. I am old, not dumb. Your truth would serve you greater with me, than your lies with any stranger of the street." Her grip tightened and I saw the seriousness come over her face.

"My Lady, who do you believe me to me?"

"Lady Sable Atropa," she said as if she knew that name better than her own. "I know your father is not dead and I knew of your mother quite well." Her wrinkled yet soft fingers released my shoulder and gently caressed my cheek. "You have her eyes and I miss her so deeply."

"My mother?" I whispered gently and unsure.

Her hand lifted from my cheek and relanded with a waking slap. "I know you are not a daft child. Her eyes were not purple but your grandmother's were. She was my best friend. When I was a young beaut like yourself I was her lady in waiting and we were the best of friends till she died- her death was mysterious as well. Lots of unexplained occurrences happen around The Guard or within the castle walls. Brought a great many doubts to my mind. I knew the truth about her though."

Her head turned to the door where Tovias distracted the servant girl with his brilliantly flirtatious smile and long eyelashes. "Marry bring the boy to the study and serve him some tea."

She gave a small nod and ushered Tovias inside.

"Thank you, My Lady." He offered before following Marry.

"In truth, I always had thought The Guard took care of her in secret and then your mother as well." She took my hand again and started to lead me on a stroll through the property. "So now out with it girl what is the truth?"

"I came to purchase your property. It is a prime location and the home itself is everything I desire for the image I must create to investigate The Guard. But I fear this is not what you wish to hear."

"Yet, there is much you are not saying." She huffed. "You are the girl from the ball. The healer of the Hallsteads I was told. But you are no Hallstead are you?"

"I fear this is true and false in some ways. My relationship with the Captain of The Guard is complicated."

"Either the boy has been played a fool and Captain of The Guard Gavrial Hallstead is the farthest thing from such. So the only other possibility is he is a warlock."

I gaped at her.

"Close your mouth before you're eating flies, Baby Witch."