by Mac Flynn
I rushed down the street and turned the corner in time to see the carriage turn down one of the myriad of small streets like that occupied by the tailor shop. The maddening scent led me to the head of the street where I paused. The carriage rolled down a shadowed, meandering road of dark shops and few street lamps.
My concern for my safety should have been my first priority, but the scent demanded I follow. There could be no denying the smell, and I plunged headlong into the shadowed street. My feet echoed the clack of the horse's hooves as the animal quickened its speed. The carriage reached the end of the road and turned to the left. I rushed to the corner and paused beside the building to catch my breath and a whiff of the scent. The new, wider street was filled with stables and liveries that occupied both sides of the street. Their doors were shut, but I caught a whiff of their animal stench.
The carriage I sought turned into an open stable and the doors were shut behind it. I cried out and rushed forward. The scent could not be lost. A smaller servant's door was set into one of the larger stable doors, and I banged on that.
"Sir! Sir!" I yelled. I was not oblivious to my strange behavior, but I could not control the desperation I felt to smell that glorious scent. "Please!"
I heard a latch unlock and I hurriedly stepped back when the door swung open. A severe-looking woman of middle age stood in the doorway. Her hair was pulled back in a severe bun and her lips were pursed tightly together.
"Yes?" she snapped at me.
"Please," I gasped. "I saw a carriage drive in here and-" She held up her hand and a smile slipped onto her prim lips.
"Say no more. Please step inside," she offered.
The woman stepped aside and allowed me entrance. I slipped inside and found myself in a simple stable. The carriage which I sought stood at the back wall. The horse was unhitched and the driver held its bridle in his hands as he stared at me. His face was uncovered and I found he was a man of the same age as the woman.
"Is she-?" he asked her.
The woman set her hand against the small of my back and nodded. "I believe so. Put the horse away and fetch the incense burners from the carriage."
The strange lamps were incense burners. Their flames were extinguished, but I still smelled a faint whiff of the delicious scent. The woman and I watched the man fetch them from all four sides. In the quiet of the stables with these strangers I realized how awkward my position must have been to them.
"I feel I must apologize for my madness at the door," I told the woman. "I'm not sure what came over me."
She shook her head. "Do not fret. It is the same for all of them."
I furrowed my brow. "'All of them?'" I repeated.
The man retrieved the last of the four burners and strolled over to us. The woman grabbed the closest in his grasp and held the opening towards me.
"Is this the scent you desire?" she asked me.
I blinked at her. "How did you know I followed a scent?"
Her smile faltered and she shoved the burner closer to me. "Is it?"
I frowned and pushed away the burner. "No, it is not, but what do you mean by this? How did you know I followed the scent?"
She traded the burner in her hand for another and held it towards me as she had done with the first. "What of this one?" she questioned me.
I stepped back away from the pair and shook my head. "I know not why you have brought me here, but I wish to leave."
The woman pursed her lips and traded another burner. She closed the distance between us and held out the burner to me.
"What of this one?" she persisted.
I opened my mouth, but my nose was caught by the familiar scent of cedar forest. My anger ebbed away and my body relaxed. The woman smiled and clutched the top and bottom of the burner in her hands.
"The laird will be pleased to hear of this," she commented. She glanced over her shoulder at the man and jerked her head towards me. "Set her to sleep and we will contact his man."
The man nodded and handed the woman the burners. He pulled out a handkerchief from one pocket and stepped towards me. The faint scent of the cedar forest was not powerful enough to overcome the sudden fear that rode swiftly on the wings of self-preservation. My only thought was to flee.
"Stay back!" I shouted.
"Now 'old still, miss, and this'll be over in a jiffy," he assured me.
The man lunged at me, but I evaded his clumsy hands and slipped around him. The woman clutched the burners to her chest and stumbled back. I grasped her shoulders and flung her into the man as he turned to try to capture me. The pair collided into each other in a mess of burners and limbs. Several of the burners crashed to the packed dirt floor and shattered.
The woman flew onto her knees before the burners and caught up some small, burnt object like a thick strand of string. She whipped her head up to the man who stumbled to his feet.
"You clumsy idiot! Get her!" she snapped.
I raced to the door, flung open the entrance, and hurried outside. The snow fell in great clumps of white that stuck to me as I turned my head left and right. There was no one else on the street, but all was not lost. I knew my way through these maze of roads, so I rushed down the road back the way I had come. The man's lumbering footsteps followed mine and the thick, deep snow beneath my feet slowed me down.
He caught me some dozen yards from the stable. One of his long arms wrapped around my middle and pinned my arms to my sides. The other shoved the cloth into my face. A sharp, detestable smell emanated from the cloth and I thrashed in his grip to escape the scent. He held me tight, though, and in a few moments my head began to spin. The world around me also spun, and I felt myself slip into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER 3
