Song of the Piper

::19:: Healing (Part 2)

Music is The Banks of Sansretour, composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikolai Stroinski, Piotr Musial and Percival. Play it!

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No nightmares this time. Which was good. They had been plaguing me ever more violently ever since I'd found out that Lord Himmel was the Pied Piper.

I opened my eyes, slowly scanning my surroundings. Heidi was sitting on a stool beside me, head buried in a book. I must have made a faint rustling sound, however, for she soon noticed that I was awake. She leapt out of her seat and helped me to sit upright. "How are you feeling, Your Ladyship?"

I looked about. This room was small, square and sparsely furnished. It was also impossibly clean, as though dust had thought about settling here but eventually changed their minds as it was far too clean for their liking. It felt unlived in—empty.

"Where am I?" I asked wearily.

"In the guest room, Your Grace." She moved towards a small, sturdy table beside the bed. There was a pitcher and a mug on it. She poured out some water and pressed the mug into my hands. I took it without protest. She looked to be only one or two years older than me, yet she had the air of a mothering hen.

"What happened?"

"Well, I don't have the whole story, but I do have the odds and ends of it, if you'd like to hear, Your Ladyship."

"Klaudia," I said. It was odd for a girl around my age to address me with such reverence. "And please, do tell."

"Not much that you don't know, I suppose," she said hastily, turning pink around the ears, "but I heard from Cook saying that you and Lord Himmel were here on a visit. Then His Lordship went mad and attacked Lady Anya, while you were left behind when he was escaping in a frenzy. That true, milady?"

"Klaudia," I corrected her again. "And not quite," I added with a grim smile.

Since Lady Anya was going to report the Council of the incident, I decided that there was no use in keeping anything from Heidi. So I told her everything. Or not exactly everything, but the essential details. It felt good to let it all pour out, to finally let an outsider know what was truly going on in Heidelberg.

When I was done with my story, Heidi's eyes sparkled with admiration and horror. "So Lord Himmel was the Pied Piper all this time?" I nodded. "Saints above, I'd never have suspected it!"

"Who would have?" I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my tone. "If Lady Anya hadn't been there to witness the whole spectacle, I doubt if anyone would have believed me."

"Well then, fortunately Lady Anya was there, no?" She gestured towards the mug in my hands. "Take a sip, milady. Should do you some good."

"Klaudia. Otherwise I shan't drink this," I insisted with faux heaviness.

Heidi looked mildly frightened, but I think she was secretly amused. "Klaudia," she tested my name carefully, as though afraid that I would lash out against her, "please. Do have a sip."

"That wasn't so hard, no?" I actually managed a laugh before taking a sip out of the mug. The water was refreshingly warm. "Thank you, Heidi."

"No worries," she said. "Just doing my job."

"So...what happens to me now?"

The sparkle in her hazel eyes dimmed. "I reckon that the Council will want to meet with you soon. And that they will want to address the issue of Lord Himmel."