“Like Hell you did!” Wylie shouted, tossing the purse back at her. “I don’t want your money, it’s traitor’s money, and I will have none of it!” Judith stepped back in alarm at Wylie’s outburst as two men stepped down from the carriage, straightening their suits as they came to Lady Judith’s side.
“Wylie, your stubbornness would see you on the streets in your corset and bloomers! Where will you go without any coin?” Lady Judith thrust the pouch back at her. “Please, please take it. You are still my friend, and I still love you. This is my father’s doing, not mine. No matter what happens between us, I would never want you on the street.” Wylie huffed, slamming the door in Judith’s face, her heart racing.
How dare she come to my home! With her father’s men, as if she needs protecting!? I’ll die before I take their money!
“Wylie? Please, Wylie… after all of our years of friendship... is this how it will be?”
Wylie could not bring herself to answer. If Lady Judith was any sort of a friend, she would not be at her door trying to evict her from her home at the order of her father. Wylie, if you were her friend, you would not be in love with her fiancé, her subconscious shot back. She knew that was true and realized at that moment; she would not fight Lord Jameston. She would take her tiny bit of savings and leave Lugwallow Parish for good. Maybe take a ship to northern England and search for work there. She knew how to do a great many things; she might work as a shop hand, a stable girl, a cook, a maid… there were any number of things she was capable of. Perhaps a well-off family would hire her as a nanny, and she could spend her days caring for children.
The idea sounded wonderful; it would certainly be a change from what she had always known.
“Wylie, please?” Lady Judith had still not left, and so she opened the door once more.
“My mind is made up, I will not take money from a traitor. As for you and I, we are no longer friends, so you don’t have to feel guilty about casting me out into the streets.” Wylie spoke with steely resolve, but inside, her heart was breaking. They had been friends for as long as she could remember. Her fondest memories were horseback riding, picnics, and airship-watching with Judith. There had been a time when she had dreamed of being the captain of the most glorious airship in the sky, and Lady Judith had fully supported her. Tears welled up in her eyes and saw that Lady Judith’s eyes had gone red with tears as well. They turned away from each other as Lady Judith made her way back to the carriage where one of the men assisted her up the step.
There was no more to be said. Wylie shut the door on Judith for the last time and listened with a sinking heart as the horses clopped away. By the sound, she knew they had only gone a few feet, and she heard the heavy thudding as they knocked on the door to inform the widow Turpin of her eviction. Wylie walked back to her father’s room and sat on his bed, fresh tears falling fast and free down her cheeks.
“There is nothing left for you here, Wylie girl. Time to get a move on.” She knew it was true, but the sudden memory of the Dracosinum flashed in her mind. What had it said about the next Dragaleth accepting their destiny? She wiped her face on her sleeve and snatched up the journal that Dr. Mullins had given her the day before. She flipped it open, scrolling through the aged pages to what she was looking for.
The human host is only able to summon the Dragaleth when they are of an age to understand the balance between good and evil. This will be evidenced when they hold the Dracosinum in one hand, and the dragon essence balances perfectly. The gear will line up in accordance with its internal workings, but only on nights when the moon aligns with the North Star.
To activate the dragon essence within, the human host must turn the crown of the Dracosinum a total of twelve full turns to the left, and five full turns to the right. This act will unlock the essence of the dragon within and complete the connection with the human host. Once activated, it cannot be undone, and if the human host finds or inherits a Dracosinum and decides not to activate it, the Earth and its people will be left to destroy themselves as the balance of good and evil will eventually run out.
Though I have referred to the possessor of the Dragaleth as a host, make no mistake that the Dragaleth and the human who possesses it, are one and the same, for it is the essence of the person them self and it has been discovered that one cannot exist without the other. This concludes my findings.
Thaddeus McCollum
Wylie spoke to herself out loud to commit what she’d just read to memory. “So, I must hold the Dracosinum and wait to see if the dragon essence balances. If that works, then I must turn the crown of the Dracosinum a total of twelve turns left, and five turns right. Then it will be revealed whether or not I am aware? I wonder what it means by the Earth and its people will be left to destroy themselves as the balance of good and evil will eventually run out.”
“What if I am the Siapheg? What if I am the evil dragon and I do something horrible?” Wylie couldn’t imagine how she would feel if she knew for sure that she was the Siapheg. She didn’t want to be the one responsible for the death and destruction of her friends and loved ones. It was too much to bear, even to think about. She held the Dracosinum in her hand and stared at it, wondering how different it would be now that she knew its truth. Would it do something different? Will I do something different? Lost in thought, her eyes eventually settled on the name Thaddeus McCollum.
It was as if she was seeing it for the first time.
“McCollum! Like Lord Adrian McCollum? That can’t be possible!” She flipped the pages once more, looking for dates. The timeline that Thaddeus had constructed covered the late 1200s to the mid-1300s. There were no dates for when he had recorded his findings though she imagined they couldn’t be far off from what he had written on the timeline. Surely there was no link? It had to be a coincidence?
The idea set her mind reeling, and rather than sit and stare at the Dracosinum, she decided she would pay a visit to Lord Adrian’s stables. He wouldn’t know anything about her findings, and it was unlikely she would have the chance to discuss it with him anyway. She needed to get away from her thoughts and the negativity of the morning's activities. There was nothing else to be done this very moment, anyway.
Lord Jameston had more money than she could ever hope to have unless she was willing to sell the Dracosinum, but now that she knew of its importance, there was no possibility of that happening either. She needed to go somewhere familiar to work and think, and the stables were the perfect place for that. She slipped out of her gown and corset and pulled on trousers, work chemise, and vest. Finally, she slid on her mucked up gallies and grabbed her goggles. She needed to be out of the house as quickly as possible.
As she took to the street, locking the door behind her, she could see the elegant satin back of the carriage that was bearing Lady Judith from house to house. Wylie imagined that there was much sadness and mourning in Lugwallow as the people she cared about found out one by one that they had a short ten days to pack their belongings and find a suitable place to live. The thought made her stomach turn; the fact that what Lord Jameston was doing was completely legal, or at least appeared that way, was sickening.
Wylie’s anger made her want to kick the carriage wheel so maliciously it would break so that Lady Judith and her fancy assistants would have to walk back to Dobbinsturn. She imagined the mud splattering their layers of velvet and silks. That was something that would infuriate Lady Judith no end. Instead, Wylie took a different route to avoid the carriage altogether and hurried off to Lord Adrian’s estate.
It had been three days since Lord Adrian’s unprecedented and entirely inappropriate visit to her home. She wondered if he had thought about her as much as she had thought of him and decided probably not. She chided herself for her selfish thoughts, for surely, he had been arranging a funeral over the course of the past few days. Most likely, he would have his father buried by week’s end. She wanted to knock on the door of his home and offer him solace. For who better to c
omfort him than she, who had lost her own father just a fortnight and three days before.
“Good day, Chaos. Good day, ladies,” Wylie called out in greeting as she entered the stable. The horses flared their nostrils and stomped their hooves in response. She doled out their allotment of oats, then talked cheerfully to them as she shoveled out their stalls and did their daily grooming. She was still expecting a visit from a servant or someone of importance to tell her she no longer had a job. If not that very day, she was sure it would happen the moment Lady Judith told Lord Adrian about Wylie’s behavior.
“You... You’re here?” Lord Adrian’s voice stammered from where he stood by the stable door.
“Lord Adrian,” she exclaimed in surprise.
“Wylie…” his voice a mixture of relief and concern, “You’re okay?”
She laughed at his odd response. “Of course, I’m okay! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I just got word there was another beast attack,” he responded.
“What? Surely not here?”
“No, Wyles. In Lugwallow… I was so afraid it was you.” He rushed to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. Her breath quickened the moment he touched her.
“Lugwallow? Surely you must be mistaken. I would have heard if such a thing happened. I’ve just come from there.” She tried to think back over her route out of town. She had gone a different way to avoid passing Lady Judith’s carriage. “That’s so strange! I wonder who was killed.”
“I don’t know, I’m just so relieved it wasn’t you.” Without asking as he had done before, he gathered her in his arms and pulled her close. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost both you and my father.” He laid his chin atop her head, gathering her hands in his.
“Dearest Lord Adrian, I don’t know how much longer I can go on this way. This incessant game of wondering and worrying.”
“Wondering and worrying about what?” he inquired, stepping back, but still holding her hands firmly.
“Aren’t you worried we will be caught? What if Lady Judith finds out? She will make you get rid of me, and then I will be out of employment as well as a home.” Wylie’s head dropped, and she stared at the hay-strewn floor of the stable.
“Nonsense! You will never lose employment with me! What would give you that idea?”
“You said yourself, she knows! After this morning’s exchange with her, I imagine she will want me out of here as quickly as possible.”
He let go of one hand and lifted her chin to meet his gaze.
“She knows I don’t love her, I have yet to tell her who I truly love, but it matters not. Our wedding is in a month’s time, and I must do the honorable thing. Until then, I consider myself a free man, and I wish to spend whatever free time I can with you.” He bent his head, touching his lips to hers, and sent her heart careening out of control.
When he pulled away, she was breathless.
“It’s not right… what we are doing is not right…” Wylie contested.
“I know, it breaks every rule. My father would be disgusted, but I don’t care. He never knew love with my mother, only convenience. He told me so himself. Probably the downside to having money, I imagine. It’s not often we get to marry for love. Though, I do believe my betrothal is the earliest one I have heard of in this sordid family.” He leaned forward, pulled her closer to him, and kissed her again.
“My Lord…” she muttered.
He held her tighter, “You do not always have to have something to say, my love.”
She grinned impishly.
“No, I suppose you get enough of that from Judith.”
“That I do,” he agreed.
She carefully wrapped her arms around his neck, afraid the very act would get them seen by unwanted eyes. Everything in her that was reasonable and intelligent vanished the moment he kissed her. She wanted desperately to warn him, to tell him to save himself, but instead she asked, “How are things going with the funeral arrangements?” She realized the question might make him sad, but she wanted him to know she was concerned.
“As well as to be anticipated I suppose, his death was sudden. Another downside to money is that people look distastefully upon you if you exhibit emotions that are not favorable,” he confessed.
“Do you mean to tell me you are not permitted to grieve?” She thought back on the nights she had mourned her father’s death; even now, she felt like crying just at the mention of his name. “To mourn is human…” she whispered softly.
“Yes, well... tell that to the executors of my father’s estate, the servants, the maids, and all the people that have come in and out of the house in the past few days. Their faces so stern, I assume they’re stuck that way. The moment I began to get a bit emotional, you would have thought a plague had struck the room. They rushed out of there without so much as a word of acknowledgment of my grief. He was my father, for better or for worse. He gave me the life I have and made me the man I am today.”
“Yes, yes… and you should be allowed to grieve without fear of repercussion or without fear of chasing everyone away. It's wretched really, please don’t feel like you have to put on a brave face for me. I of all people understand.” She brushed a stray curl of dark hair from his forehead.
“I should say the same of you.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, allowing his lips to linger there for a moment before pulling back.
“I assure you that I am not putting on a brave face, I often feel that coming here to be with Chaos and the girls help me to think. I think much better when my mind is distracted.”
He moved his hands lower down to her waist, “Distracted, how?” He offered her a sly grin.
“Well, that’s a very good start, except for the life of me, I can’t remember what I was going to say,” she said as a crimson blush stained her cheeks.
“Well, tell me of this exchange between you and my betrothed today? What of that? What did you mean you would be out of employment and a home? You can rest assured nothing she says has any weight around here.” He winked as if to reassure her, but the act just made her gloomier.
“Adrian, please do not think poorly of Judith for what I am about to tell you. I do not wish to cause dissension between you and her,” she said as her forehead furrowed in worry.
“You must not fret, my love. What occurred just now between us is all my doing. I would not let you take the blame for that. Now, tell me what happened?” he insisted.
Wylie took a deep breath, realizing if she told him he would think poorly of Lady Judith and may very well call off the wedding.
“Oh, Adrian. I am a horrible person for what I am about to say.” She sucked in a deep breath and continued, “just a few short days ago, the day Judith wished to speak to me alone here, and she sent you away, she warned me that her father was going to partner with investors to purchase all of Lugwallow. At first, I thought it a splendid idea; new investors would have the money to clean it up and help the poor who live there.
“But that was never their intention. She informed me that her father and the investors mean to purchase Lugwallow and kick all those who live there, out onto the street, so they can tear down the houses and build new ones.”
“Surely her father is not that heartless?” Adrian was obviously taken aback.
“That’s what I thought. I thought for certain no one could do that to innocent men, women, and children. Then today, as I awoke, someone was pounding on my door. I thought it was you but when I answered, it was Lady Judith presenting me with an eviction notice and trying to place a purse of money in my hands. She informed me I need to leave my home within ten days or I will be jailed.” Adrian dropped her hands, and took several steps back, his face turning purple with rage.
“That is the most detestable thing I’ve ever heard!” he yelled, his voice startling Wylie and the horses. The mares stomped back and forth loudly in their stalls in alarm, and Chaos let out a loud neigh, tossing his head up and down.
Wylie immediately rushed to his side, patting his coarse mane, and whispering, “It’s okay, boy…” Over and over.
“I can’t believe that Lord Jameston would do such a thing! I’ll put a stop to it! Rest assured! This will not take place while I am around to prevent it.”
“No, please! Adrian! You mustn’t say anything! You will ruin your reputation. You will lose everything! You mustn’t say a word. Please! I never wanted to anger you…”
“But if I know what is right and do nothing, just to save face, doesn’t that make the evil of the situation all the greater?”
“Adrian, you would not have known about it, but for me. Please... I beg of you, don’t say anything. You have already given me so much… more than I dared hope for. I don’t wish you to jeopardize your social status on my account.” Tears streamed down her face as she patted the soft velvet of Chaos’s muzzle.
“I have been nothing but selfish with my feelings and actions. I have done as I damn well pleased, knowing that I could not marry you, but still accepting your love for my own. I will only break your heart in the end, Wylie. You must allow me this one thing. It’s the least I can do.”
It was Wylie’s turn to walk toward an angry-faced Adrian. She cupped his lovely, aristocratic face in her work-roughened hands and stared deeply into his gray eyes.
“No, Adrian. You mustn’t. Please. My love is mine to give to whom I please, and because I chose to reciprocate your feelings does not mean you took advantage or that you are selfish. I gave my heart to you, and in return, you gave me moments of joy. Several beautiful moments in which my station in life didn’t matter, in which I felt loved and beautiful... there is nothing more wonderful than that. If I never fall in love again, it will be enough. I want you to marry Judith and be happy with her. Be the great Lord Adrian McCollum of Dobbinsturn that you are meant to be.”
The Dragon Lady (The Dracosinum Tales) Page 8
