Feeling a little better I tucked it under my arm and headed back toward my room. My life might be a mess in most respects but here at least was a problem I could solve through honest application of effort. Wrapped in my own thoughts I barely noticed the voices coming from one of the rooms along the hallway. I kept walking, wondering how late I could stay up studying and still be able to rise at the proper time in the morning, when a shrill scream cut through my ruminations. It was a sound I’ll never forget. A raw expression of fear and terror, the sort of scream you sometimes imagine but never hope to hear. The sort of sound someone might make falling to their death. It stopped abruptly, cut off before it could be completed.
I looked around anxiously, unsure which direction it had come from. The book distracted me so I set it down against the wall to free my hands and walked back the way I had come. There. I could hear someone talking behind a door. I checked the doors on both sides before I found the correct one and leaning in I thought I could hear Devon’s voice, speaking calmly to someone else. I almost moved on at that point, surely the person that had given that blood curdling yell couldn’t be inside, not with Devon talking in such a composed manner.
I pulled my head back from the door frame, and then I felt a sudden release of power. My practice over the last few days had made me quite familiar with the sensation. That held my attention. I pressed my ear firmly to the door, straining to hear his voice through the thick wood. The words that finally came chilled my blood, “Sometimes it takes something like that to teach someone just how important life is, certainly it’s worth more than your maidenhead.” I couldn’t be sure who Devon was speaking to, but it was clear that whoever it was, they were in terrible trouble.
Unsure what to do I drew a deep breath and used the only spell I knew that might help, “Shibal,” I intoned quietly with as much power as I had, directing my will beyond the door. I listened again, I wasn’t sure but I thought I heard someone slump to the floor, and Devon was no longer talking. Satisfied I tried the door handle.
It was locked, of course. I had no knowledge that would get me past locked doors, and the doors in Castle Lancaster were so sturdily constructed it would take two men and a ram to batter one down. I stared at the door, angry at my own ignorance; surely if I were better educated there would be a simple way to bypass the lock. Thinking of the state the poor girl must be in gave urgency to my anger. Placing my hand on the door I closed my eyes and bowed my head. I took a deep breath and drew my power up as I filled my lungs, pulling in ever more, till it felt as if it would be a race to see which burst first, my mind or my chest. I had never tried to do something like this before but I knew that without proper words it would take a lot of strength. Then I began to exhale slowly, building pressure in my hand as it pressed against the door. As my breath emptied I began to feel the door give way and I blew the rest of the air from my lungs in an explosive rush. The result was an explosion of wood and splinters as the door disintegrated, slivers of wood flying in every direction.
The vision I found within was one that still gives me nightmares. Devon lay slumped on the floor on the opposite side of bed, but I had no attention to spare for him. The figure on the bed riveted me in place. It was Penny, her long dark hair had come loose from the bun she usually kept it in when working, and it lay scattered about her head in dark ringlets. Her uniform was ripped open, from her neck to her belly, exposing flesh that I had previously imagined but never hoped to see. Her skirt was shoved up above her hips and her legs were spread, one folded awkwardly under her, the while the other was stretched out, her foot touching the floor. She looked dead. A long splinter stood out from her right thigh, blood dripping down onto the linen sheets. If I could describe the emotion that filled me then I would, but there were no words, the world went white, as if all the color had been leached from it, leaving a horror of stark white and black contrasts.
I was numb with horror and shock while at the same time filled with a cold heartless rage. Walking over I bent down to pull the dagger from Devon Tremont’s belt, which was already partly undone. From the looks of things he hadn’t had time to bring his crime to fruition. It hardly mattered, Penny was dead. Her virginity or lack thereof would not bring her back to life, would not make her smile at me again. I knelt beside the bed, and though I cannot remember feeling anything but a cold numbness, tears ran down my face.
Carefully, I brought the dagger to bear, directly over the bastard’s still beating heart, careful not to prick him with the point lest it wake him before I made the final plunge. I held it there for a timeless moment. My only worry was that it was too clean a death, better than he deserved. That momentary debate was all that saved his life.
A sudden sound broke my train of thought, an incongruous noise, too improbable to belong there. Penny was snoring. If it had been a light snore I might have missed it, but this was no delicate thing, it was a deep rumbling vibration. The sort a fat farmer might make after having too much ale and passing out in his bed. It led me out of the dark place that had replaced my heart, and improbably I began to laugh.
It was an awful laugh as such things go; when it started it was a terrible sound, a wretched gibbering sound, the kind of laugh to make townsfolk shutter their windows and lock their doors. As it stretched on though my stomach relaxed and I began to laugh more naturally, a deep belly laugh, interspersed with gasps as I struggled to catch my breath. Eventually the laughter faded into tears and I cried quietly till I got control of myself.
Easing myself up from the floor I began to think. Carefully I drew the splinter from Penny’s leg, which caused it to start bleeding again. I watched her face to see if she might waken, but I had put a lot of power into the spell and she hardly stirred. Reaching down I cut a long strip from the bed sheet and used it to bind her wound. Then I straightened up and surveyed the room.
It was a mess to say the least. Jewelry lay scattered on the floor, interspersed with oaken shards. The sheets were stained where Penny had bled upon them, and two people lay sleeping in varying degrees of disarray. It was too much to deal with all at once, so I did the most important thing first. Bending down, I slipped my arms underneath Penelope, easing one arm behind her shoulders and the other beneath her knees. It was not the best angle to stand up from and I staggered for a moment, nearly stepping on Devon’s head. Aww, that would have been a shame, to ruin those pretty features. I thought sarcastically. I couldn’t risk waking him though. Penny was not a slight girl, she was nearly as tall as me and hard work had given her plenty of muscle, yet she felt light as a feather in my arms. Adrenaline I suppose, but I didn’t bother to think about it.
I walked out into the hallway and made my way to my room as quickly as I could. Hers might have been better but I had no idea where she kept her quarters. Gently I laid her upon my bed, taking a moment to cover her with the blankets. I returned to the hall and recovered the book where I had left it leaning against the wall and went back to stow it safely with the others in my room. Each trip took several minutes and I worried constantly that I might meet someone in the halls. It was past midnight and my luck held; the corridors were deserted. I still had several problems.
I needed help and there was only one person I could trust at this hour. Fifteen minutes later I was standing outside the door of the Thornbear household. Lord Thornbear was the seneschal for Castle Lancaster and accordingly his family lived in the large bailey overlooking the main gate. The night air was damp and a light rain had begun so I was a little wet when I got to their door, which suited my mood just fine. A sleepy servant opened the door, a man I knew from my previous stays with the Thornbear family. I’m not sure if he had a surname as I had only ever heard him addressed as ‘Remy’.