The Scourge of Muirwood (Legends of Muirwood #3)

Very cautiously, Lia waited and then peered around the edge of the doorway into the room. The door was wooden, but there were enough gaps for the light to exit and sound to carry. Lia stared through the crack in the door first and saw movement in the room. There were three girls in the room, but two of them seemed like servants. One of the girls disappeared through a door on the other side. The other lingered, waiting for the third, which Lia hoped was Hillel. She pressed her ear against the crack.

“Yes, you go down ahead,” said Hillel’s voice, which she recognized. “I am going to write again in my tome and then will join you at the fete. No, do not wait for me. I am slow in my engraving. I know you are excited to see that young knight who danced with you last night.”

She spoke in strong Dahomeyjan, but Lia still recognized her voice clearly.

The other girl did not need to be encouraged to find her beau and soon followed the first out the door, leaving Hillel alone. Lia held her breath a moment, waiting just a moment longer to be sure no one returned for a shawl.

Carefully and slowly, Lia pulled on the door handle and it bucked and resisted, giving her alarm that it was locked. But after the initial resistance, it opened quietly to her touch, the hinges oiled. Lia slipped into the torchlit room, amazed at the gauzy veils covering the enormous velvet bed, the ornate chests, hidebound and trimmed with gold, the fresh rushes, the smell of purple mint that was almost staggering in its intensity. The fragrance clung to the entire room. There were dishes, shelves, polished marble tiles beneath the rushes. It was the palace of a princess and contrasted sharply to Colvin’s small booth deeper below in the fortress.

There was a waxed wood changing screen, with several gowns hanging haphazardly across the top. It was from the changing screen that the sounds emerged, the rustle of fabric and then Hillel Lavender appeared immediately around the edge, facing Lia as she struggled to fit an earring into her lobe on her own. The two stared at each other, startled by the suddenness of their abrupt meeting.

Lia took the image in with a rush, her hunter’s eye clinging to every detail in a blink. The low-cut gown revealing ropes of gold and pearl necklaces to fill the open bodice. The gown was elegant, worthy of the tailor’s praise, but it was just the sort of gown Pareigis would have worn. She saw the rings flashing on her fingers, the rouge on her lips and smears of kohl at her eyes. But what startled Lia the most was her hair. It was lighter than what she remembered seeing before. It was almost a pale blond and the tresses had been crimped from excessive braiding. She realized immediately why. Hillel was slowly transforming herself to look like Lia in the hopes of winning Colvin’s heart.

For a moment, neither could speak. For Lia had the queer sensation that she was staring into the eyes of an enemy.





CHAPTER TWENTY TWO:


Secrets of Dochte





Neither spoke. It was too much of a shock for both of them, but Hillel recovered and her demeanor changed to a look of ardent relief. “Lia!” she gasped exultingly. “I should not have doubted my senses seeing you here. The orb led you?”

Lia could not shake off the feeling that the other girl’s first reaction was not friendly. It was an oily feeling lodged in the quick of her bones. “Look at you,” she said, staring openly at the transformation. Hillel had always been so meek and timid – there was a fire in her eyes that was not there before. “You have changed.”

“I have!” she said, nodding quickly. “I am desperate to leave this place. Thank the Medium you have come. It is a boon, Lia, truly.” She rushed forward and embraced Lia, squeezing her with affectionate warmth and the tremulous waver of a suppressed sob. Lia smelled her, inhaling the rich fragrance of purple mint. It swarmed them both.

Hillel pulled away, still clutching Lia’s hands. “When are we to leave? Tonight?”

Lia was dazed at the response, confused by her initial reaction. She was wary though, her experience with betrayal reminding her of how uncertain friendship appeared to be. “I do not know. We must be cautious, for the tide prevents any rash departures. Look at you though. How changed you are.”

The other girl nodded in agreement. “They took all of my clothes, Lia. They promised to launder them, but said they were ruined by the salt air and brought me these instead. I feel ashamed to be wearing it, but I have nothing else. More than anything, I long to be away from this place. We must go immediately. Do you have a way out? A way to escape?”

Lia nodded mutely.

“Will you tell me?”

There was that feeling of uneasiness again. Lia shook her head. “The plan is still being formed. I needed to find you and see that I could reach you. It would be best if we could leave in the early morning. The city sleeps late and there would not be many witnesses.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes, we must go. Have you told Colvin yet? Why am I asking that. Of course you have told him. He was so different today, and I could not reason why. There was a look in his eye – a hope that I had not seen earlier. Do you know what has happened, Lia? The Earl of Dieyre is here!”