“Wylie!” A feminine voice called out behind her. “Please, Wylie. Wait up!”
“Lady Judith!” she spun to face her. “You’re looking radiant as usual. How go the wedding plans? Is there anything I can do for you? I am just the stablehand, but I would be more than happy to assist you if needed.” Wylie kept her face emotionless, refusing to allow the hurt of her friend’s betrayal to show through.
“What? Wylie. I just want to talk to you. I wish to apologize for my father’s actions. I don’t want it to affect us. You mean a great deal to me, you always have.”
“Judith, let’s be totally honest here. We can’t possibly be the friends I thought we were. For goodness' sake… your father is going to destroy my life and the lives of many others, and let's not forget, I am in love with your fiancé.”
Judith looked a bit taken aback,
“Wylie, I don’t care that you’re in love with him. I certainly am not. Don’t you think it bothers me that I will be in a loveless marriage, all for the sake of money? Do you not realize my father forced my hand? Just as much as he is forcing you and yours out of Lugwallow. No one is safe from his greed for riches. Least of all his daughter.” The look that came across her lovely face was one of deep sorrow, and Wylie found herself feeling deep empathy toward her friend.
“I guess I owe you an apology, Judith. I’ve been the most horrible friend… I hope you can forgive me.”
“Oh, Wylie! Dang blammit!” Judith cried out, racing toward her and hugging her so tight she felt the breath being squeezed out of her. “We have years of friendship behind us. I wouldn’t throw that away for some… cove.” She giggled, “Besides, do you not think that I may have found love as well? I’ve more on my plate than just an unwanted marriage and a tyrant of a father.”
“Judith, get over here please. Now!” Lord Jameston barked, so Judith jumped at his command, grabbing Wylie’s hand and yanking her along.
“What is ‘that’ doing here?” he sneered, nodding his head towards Wylie.
“Pardon me, Lord Jameston, with all due respect, which isn’t much, I…” Judith clamped her hand over Wylie's mouth and turned to face her father.
“Have we turned into complete monsters, father? Wylie is my friend, and she will always be my friend. And there’s nothing you can do about it,” she yelled at him. Wylie’s eyes grew wide at her friend's outburst.
“You’d better shut your mouth if you know what's good for you, daughter, or your fate will be worse than hers. She has you to thank for what is about to happen next. But first, we have a funeral to attend. There’s been another murder.”
Judith gasped, “No! Who is it this time?”
“That’s not important. Come, we must take our leave.” To the housekeeper he said, “Please give Lord Adrian our regards, we shall return in two days to finalize the wedding plans, by which time,” and for this, he turned to Wylie, “You’d best be all moved out of your home, or I’ll have you jailed!”
“What!?” Wylie and Judith exclaimed at the same time.
“Father! You can’t be serious, please don’t do this,” Judith pleaded, “I am sorry I disrespected you! Please don’t punish Wylie.”
“I can make it today if you wish?” Lord Jameston continued.
“No. Oh no, Oh Wylie… I’m so sorry!!” Judith wrapped her in a warm embrace, squeezing her with all her might. “I am so, so sorry. I love you like a sister… please forgive my father for this atrocity!”
“I love you, too. Please don’t worry about me, Judith. I promise, I’ll be okay.” Lord Jameston frowned distastefully, and Wylie wished she could take Teselym form and take care of him right then and there.
Lord Jameston called his servant over, and the ladies listened in dismay as he told the dapper man to take word in person to the residents of Lugwallow that they now had two days instead of nine to be packed and moved out or they would be jailed.
Wylie held back tears as he made plans with the servant. Meanwhile, Judith hopped dutifully up into the carriage, tears streaming down her face. They waved to each other until the carriage was out of sight.
The servant took off on horseback, and once both he and Lord Jameston were out of sight, Wylie collapsed on the ground, and let the tears flow. What am I going to do? Where are my people going to go with only two days to pack their things and move?
“If I were a Siapheg, I would rip your throat out!” Wylie screamed out loud, frightening Miss Davenport who was still standing in the garden, a silent witness to her outburst. The woman ran into the house and slammed the door, and Wylie jumped up from the ground and ran to the stables to bury her face in Chaos’s mane.
“Hey, hey!” Lord Adrian called after her.
“No, Adrian, don’t!” She just couldn’t face him. Not now.
“Miss Davenport said you wanted to murder Lord Jameston, what happened?” She spun around and watched his tailcoat flap behind him as he ran after her. His top hat flew off and landed in the dirt. Making no effort to retrieve it, he stopped in front of her, breathless.
“I wasn’t serious, not that it’s any of your concern.” She turned her head away from him, not wanting to meet his eyes or she knew she would buckle.
“You can’t do that with me, I see right through you,” he said softly. “What happened, love?” Putting an arm around her waist, he pulled her close. She fought to resist, knowing her Teselym side would be having a fit right now if it saw this little exchange.
“Lady Judith and I made up, and as punishment… Lord Jameston says everyone must be out of Lugwallow within two days, or he will have us jailed.”
“What? He can’t do that!”
“Apparently, you can do a lot of things when you’re part of the upper class and have a big purse,” she frowned at Adrian. “Like you, with your arm around me right now.”
“Huh?” He dropped his hold on her and stepped back. “Whatever do you mean, Wylie?”
“I mean that you’re engaged, but because you have money, you think you can just wrap your arms around me, and I’ll simply melt,” she snapped at him, angry about the situation, and furious at him for being the object of her affections.
“I… I’m not sure why you would say such things, I thought the feelings were mutual?”
Wylie couldn’t even bring herself to look into his eyes, instead staring down at his black leather strapped boots.
“Wylie. Please come back to me… you know I don’t love Judith. You know that she knows that... The only thing wrong with ‘us’ is that you are stubborn and refuse to let me give up on responsibilities that I don’t even want. You know that she loves someone else? Did you know that? She doesn’t want to marry for money either. It’s her father. Her father is making her do it.”
“She told you she is in love with someone else?” Wylie asked, incredulous.
“Yes, he’s a good friend of mine. He isn’t too badly off… but he isn’t as well to do as I am either. Judith has already spoken to her father about him. He was furious and forbade her to see him ever again,” Lord Adrian explained.
“So, you are both sacrificing love for money? Simply because that devil of a man told you to?”
“Wylie, it’s not as simple as that, and you know it.”
“Something needs to be done,” Wylie stated simply, wondering if killing someone would disrupt the balance of good and evil.
“I agree, but there are other matters at hand. First, we need to find you a place to live, at least for the time being. You’re in my employ; you can stay in the servant’s house. Would that do for now? Until we can figure out a solution?”
“Adrian, I… I can’t.” Her shoulders drooped, and she felt his hand on her chin, lifting it so that their eyes met.
“Why? Because of this?” He kissed her lips, and her heart fluttered excitedly.
“Definitely that! What are you doing?”
“Promising you that we are going to figure a way out of this,” h
e answered.
“Well, that takes care of me, but what about my friends? Their families? Their children?” she pushed.
“I will talk to them, tell them to move their things here temporarily until Lord Jameston can be dealt with properly. I will see to it myself, even if it means that I lose everything. Surely he won't make us marry if I’m penniless,” he joked.
“Why can’t you just break it off, Adrian? Why even go through with it at all. You both love someone else? Why not just break it off?”
“Because if I break it off, it will harm Judith’s reputation... Don’t you see... money, life, Dobbinsturn...? It’s all reputation and purse strings. Politicians are the same. Speaking of which, Lord Jameston may not have told you who his business partners are, but one of them is a high official in the Queen’s court. Apparently, he and Jameston are good friends, and he is doing this as a personal favor to the man.”
“Adrian, how do you know this?”
“Wylie, the man and I are about to be family… he tells me all sorts of things.”
“Then I take it that Judith has not told him about you and me, at least?” Wylie’s eyebrows creased in worry.
“You have nothing to worry about. Even Judith isn’t that rebellious. Though I would love to see the look on her father’s face if she did tell him such a thing. He might have my head for a wall decoration though.” He laughed it off, but she couldn’t join him in his merriment.
She stepped closer to him, feeling bad for her reaction moments ago.
“I… I do love you. I just don’t see how this is all going to work out.”
“Nor do I, my love. Lord Jameston and his backers are too rich and influential for us to fight. Perhaps I’ll just sell everything and buy an airship so you and I can sail away together.” His face grew whimsical, and she longed to grab hold of his dream and make it come true.
Suddenly Wylie had another thought. There was more than one reason the dream could never happen. He must never know that she was a Teselym. The hope of a future together quickly faded as she realized that she would never have a normal life.
“Oh, Adrian. So many things I want to tell you but can’t.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, taking in a deep breath of his soft lavender scent.
“What can’t you tell me?” She raised her head to gaze into his face as his arms made their way warmly around her corseted waist.
“Why the dark circles, Adrian? You look as if you haven’t slept for some time.” The poor man had rings around his eyes as if he hadn’t been to bed in a week. He shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly, I sleep at night, but I always feel so tired when I wake. It’s as if I haven’t slept at all. I imagine my mind is still grieving the loss of my father. Truthfully, though, it's not just his death. There has been a string of deaths as of late. All unexplained, animal attacks people say, but what kind of animal just kills people and leaves them there?” Adrian’s face grew sad.
“A good airship Captain friend of ours was the first to go, weeks ago. In fact, right around the time your father died. We didn’t hear of it until recently. Apparently, it happened outside a tavern that Judith's father has a stake in, or it's named after him or some such tripe.”
Wylie sucked in a deep breath. Deaths around the area? Adrian looks as if he hasn’t slept? No… No! Say it isn’t so! She screamed mentally, dropping her hands from his shoulders.
“I, I…” She couldn’t finish her sentence and instead took off running towards home.
“Wylie,” he yelled after her, but she didn’t turn around; she just kept running. Things were about to get worse, and fast.
Chapter Fourteen
Wylie didn’t stop, she didn’t think, she didn’t do anything but hurry until she burst in the door of her home and locked it behind her.
“Please.” She yelled at the ceiling, hoping the gods would hear her. “Please. Anyone but Lord Adrian. Please!” She screamed and begged for a long while, crying until she couldn’t cry anymore, before crawling into bed to sleep.
Upon awakening, the stark realization that she was losing everything and everyone she loved would have to wait for the moment as she remembered her responsibility to the world. She fished in her side pocket for the Dracosinum and held it gently in her hand. For whatever reason, it was the only thing that made sense to her anymore.
She pressed the fob, and dragon wing cover opened, the little clicks made a comforting sound as Quincy stretched and yawned. His eyes fluttered open sleepily.
“Quincy, I need you. Wake up!”
He smacked his lips together noisily. “I’m awake. I’m awake. Ready for another big night?”
“No, I have questions,” she demanded.
“All right, all right… no need to get snippety. I’ll answer the best I can.”
“Good. You know the Siapheg, correct?”
“I know of it, yes.”
“Do you know who it is?”
“Well, of course, I know who it is,” he said grumpily.
“Then tell me! I must know because I really can’t take the suspense anymore.”
“Oh dear, Wylie. I know you have been through quite a lot, but please trust me when I say you do not want to know who it is.”
“What is that supposed to mean? If anything, it further confirms my fears!” She shouted, “Why can’t you tell me?”
“That would upset the balance, and you know it.”
“Tell me how in the names of the gods that would upset the balance? I already have you. Isn’t that an upset to the balance?” she shouted at the little beast.
“No Wylie, it’s not. I am a moral compass so to speak because you are innately a selfish creature. What I do is help you to not be so selfish. I am able to see situations where your help is needed, which is not something you would see on your own. Don’t be angry. Most people don’t see how innately selfish they are, and how they could do so much more for people than they do. Most people are so caught up in their own petty little worries that the farthest they get in life is meeting their own needs. They never get to see how rewarding it can be to take care of the needs of others.”
Wylie huffed at his response.
“Well, you needn’t get mad at that, dear girl. It’s not personal. You just need to be taught another way as do most of your kind.”
“Then please, answer me this… does that person know yet? Do they know they are the Siapheg?”
“Now that, I can answer honestly… No, to be fair… they do not know who they are yet. They are where you were when your father died.”
Wylie breathed a deep sigh of relief. If Lord Adrian was the Siapheg and was flying around killing people at night for whatever reason, at least he didn’t know that he was doing it. She had to put a stop to it.
The gears of her mind began turning as she tried to remember if there was anything in the journal about trapping a Dragaleth essence. Perhaps an herbal mixture that would render the human powerless? I don’t recall reading such a thing. What if I trap the human and have someone willing to help me trap the dragon form once his essence begins to transform?
It was risky telling anyone of the Dragaleth, but it was crucial to mankind that she put a stop to the Siapheg, especially if it was indeed Lord Adrian. It would require a fair bit of planning since the Siapheg can change sizes. However, if I am right there, watching him change, I can throw chains over it, or a rope or something, immediately.
“I know what you’re thinking, and you can’t. You can’t chain up the Siapheg, or anyone for that matter. It isn’t right,” Quincy scolded her.
“I hate when you do that,” she mumbled, referring to his ability to read her thoughts.
“I know you do, but nonetheless, it is necessary. Come now, we have work to do,” he prodded her.
“The hell we do, Quincy. I’ve got to figure out a way to rescue the people of Lugwallow. That immoral beast of a man, Lord Jameston, has just cut our
time even shorter. We have two days to move. It’s not enough time!” She paced back and forth, her feet stomping heavily across the floor.
“Wylie, I urge you… look at your Dracosinum. It's near ‘The Time of the Dragon’… there is nothing you can do about that problem right now, but there are people even at this moment in need of your help. Please, put aside your human sorrows for a while, and let's save the world. I assure you, all your problems will still be here when we get back.” He paced back and forth on the face of the Dracosinum.
“Quincy, there has to be another way. Have the gods not tried to figure out another way to balance good and evil during the night?”
“Why fix what isn’t broken?” he countered.
“Why indeed?” she spat back. “Obviously, something is broken, we’ve never had ‘animal attacks’ before. But suddenly they’re happening with regularity? What do you make of that?”
“I only know what I know. We do not know why the Siapheg has suddenly started killing people. He or she has always feasted on livestock before now. As I said before, it's one of the most level-headed Siapheg I’ve dealt with for centuries.”
“Simply impossible!” she yelled at him. Though it would stand to reason if Lord Adrian were the Siapheg as she assumed, that he would most likely be level-headed. Even if he didn’t know what he was doing. Only, that didn’t make sense, because his father would have been the Siapheg up until a few days before. Lord McCollum had been gone less than a week which meant Adrian would have been Siapheg for less than a week.
From the sound of it, the attacks had begun right before her father died. Which meant what, exactly? She lifted the Dracosinum to her face and stared Quincy straight in his beady little dragon eyes.
“Quincy, please. People are in danger. I need to stop the Siapheg, and to do that I need to know who he or she is.”
The Dragon Lady (The Dracosinum Tales) Page 11
