The Grey Dawn

by Stacey DeMichael

  Ellalee reached over and gently took Christopher’s hand, pressing his fingers between her own and bent her head over their entwined hands. She prayed deeply for Christopher’s healing. When she lifted her head, Gladlia smiled softly at her.

  “It is good to have faith,” the old woman said. “It is good also to have dinner.”

  Ellalee moved her food around the plate while Gladlia ate with gumption, murmuring words of appreciation for the good cooking. Christopher’s food remained untouched as he slept, and until he woke, Ellalee didn’t believe she could eat a bite.

  “Eat, girl. The earl asked me to make sure you did, and report if you didn’t. I’ve stood up for you, but I won’t lie for you. The earl is rather sensitive with trust as you have noticed,” Gladlia said.

  “I don’t understand him,” Ellalee said.

  “Nor should you. He is a damaged soul, too much suffering for one as young as he. Everything he has ever cared for has perished. Now eat, child.” Gladlia gave her a sad smile.

  Ellalee took a small bite and found that her sister’s meal was praiseworthy indeed. She hoped that a decent meal would bring about a better disposition in the earl, but she doubted it. She ate a few more bites, but found worry filled her more than anything. She reached over and held Christopher’s hand. It was warm inside her hand but not feverish. She waited with him long into the evening sitting in comfortable silence with Gladlia until her eyes were bleary, but still Christopher did not stir.

  “He may not wake, dear. He has had a hard week, and he is young. His body knows to sleep. Go to bed. I will not leave his side, and you may come again when you break your fast in the morning.”

  “Can’t I stay? Won’t you need sleep?”

  “No, child, I am old, and I need little sleep. I have an ache in my hip that is worse in this damp cold, and it would keep me awake even if I wanted to sleep. You go; rest now. Tomorrow will be just as busy for you, and all I will do is sit.”

  “But couldn’t I stay and keep you company?” Ellalee tried a different angle.

  To this Gladlia smiled outright. “And try the earl’s patience once more? While I do like to see him work himself into a dither, this is not the best place to have him lose his temper. Go now. I will send word if anything changes, day or night. You can trust me. I had a younger brother once, a long time ago, and I know how much you love him.”

  “What was his name?”

  “Simon. He was a good man. He drowned in a flood trying to save his horse. The horse lived, he’d be glad know, but if I had my choice, I’d have chosen him.” Gladlia gave her a small smile. “Now off with you!”

  Ellalee leaned over and kissed Christopher’s cheek and whispered, “Thank you, Gladlia.”

  The manor was creepy at night with no sounds of voices. The wall sconces helped her find her way back upstairs, but the creaking of the stairs and shadows on the walls from the flames’ light gave Ellalee goosebumps. It was less noticeable how menacing the manor seemed with the hustle and bustle of manor life, but when all was still and quiet, there was feeling of ill-will that was nearly palpable. She stiffened her shoulders and held her head high determined not to succumb to superstition; however, she began to have the uncanny feeling that she was being watched. She could verily feel an icy stare upon her back. The feeling became so uncomfortable that she stopped to listen, and in the mere moment after stopping, she could have sworn she heard just one more foot fall trailing behind her before the silence once more ensued.

  She began walking quicker, wishing her right ankle wasn’t still as stiff and sore as it was. She thought she heard something scrape behind her as though someone or something had picked up its pace as well. She decided in that moment that tomorrow she would no longer bandage her ankle so that she would have freer movement if she needed it.

  She limped up the wooden stairs as quickly as she could manage, and once more she heard an out-of-place footstep behind her that raised the hackles on her neck. Throwing caution to the wind, she began a gimping run towards her room, up the stairs, down the hall, throwing open the door, and plunging herself into the gloom within. She felt for the latch and turned it.

  Her sister shot up from under the covers in her bed, turning up the lamp. “Are you okay?” she gasped. “You frightened me bolting in like that!”

  “Yes.” Ellalee gave a false laugh and pushed herself off of the door. “Just got myself spooked on the way back to our room.”

  “How is Christopher?”

  Ellalee went over to her bed and began pulling off her shoes. “He hasn’t awoken yet. His leg is straight, but he will have to stay very still while it heals.”

  “For how long?”

  “Six weeks, I imagine, but for the next few days, he isn’t to move at all.” Ellalee pulled off her dress and shivered in the cold in just her shift before jumping under the covers and pulling them over her.

  “I have been praying for him,” Daniella said.

  “Me too.”

  “Do you want to hear something funny?”

  “Funny?” Ellalee almost laughed at the thought. When was the last time anything at all was funny?

  “Do you remember when the footman, Charlie, came in and said that Winslow wanted to see Mistress Murray? Well, he never did!”

  “What?”

  “It was all a ruse to keep Mistress Murray out of the kitchen so she couldn’t tamper with the food! Apparently, the food has been abysmal since she took over in the kitchen. Oh, and remember the cat? That was all made up too! They were all in on it. Whenever Mistress Murray was going to give up the search with Simmons, either Mark or Charlie, the footmen, would meow from the other room, and the search continued. She apparently tore through wardrobes and bedding trying to find a cat that was never there.”

  Daniella was gasping as she laughed through the story and Ellalee with her. Then they laughed at each other laughing and laughed again just for the pure joy of laughing. They might have continued, but a fist beat on the door. They heard Mistress Murray shouting at them to turn down the lamp and go to sleep.

  Daniella hollered back, “Yes m’am.” Then whispered to Ellalee, “She is in the room just next door.” Daniella pointed at the far wall with the wardrobe.

  Ellalee was stuffing a pillow over her mouth to keep from laughing, and Daniella started to giggle again, and then began turning red, trying to hold her breath which made them both start laughing again, but they buried their heads into their pillows to stifle their merriment.

  With the lights out, and quiet settling in, Ellalee found she was more exhausted than she had ever been. It wasn’t just the physical exertion but the emotional tumult of the last week and a half which had taken a toll on her heart as well as her mind. Her mind swam as she thought about all the changes in their lives. When was the last time that she and her sister had laughed? Surely, not since Papa had died. They’d certainly had no cause, and their relationship had grown stiff and strained with the hardships that had followed. But tonight, they had laughed, and this morning they had hugged. With that last thought came a sense of peace that she had not known in such a long time which felt very odd with the fear she constantly felt at being in the cursed Castle de Avium. Her mind struggled to find equilibrium between the severely contrasting emotions but simply gave way to exhaustion in the end. She turned down the light, and was asleep no sooner than her eyes closed.

  The room was pitch black, and Ellalee wasn’t sure what had woken her up because it surely wasn’t morning. She cracked her eyelids, but stayed very still. The darkness seemed to push back on her eyes and glancing around without moving her head revealed a lighter darkness outside the window under the moon’s cool gaze. She didn’t move, trying not to give away that she had awoken but let her eyes wander around the room. It was hard to distinguish anything because the room was so dark, but she felt like someone was in the room, watching. She thought she saw a shadow pass the foot of her bed, but when she didn’t hear any accompanying noise, she wasn’t sure w
hether or not it had just been a cloud crossing the moon outside her window. She could feel her heart rapping out a tattoo, and she tensed, ready to leap into motion. Suddenly, there was a rolling sound behind her near the wardrobe that startled her so that she gasped and sat up turning toward the wardrobe to see what was there. Seeing nothing but blackness, she turned toward the lamp. Her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t light the lamp, but when she finally did, she saw that the room was empty. Had she dreamed the intrusion?

  “What is wrong? Is it morning?” Daniella murmured next to her.

  “No, sorry, must have been a bad dream,” Ellalee replied turning the lamp all the way up. Daniella sat up looking frightened as Ellalee got up, shivering in the night air, to search the room, looking under the beds and opening the wardrobe cautiously but finding it empty.

  Daniella looked on with wide alarmed eyes.

  “Sorry. I really thought I heard something, but it must have been the wind.”

  “Or a rat.”

  “Uh! That’s an awful thought, but given the size of that one we saw in the kitchen, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “Do you want to leave the lamp on?”

  “No, I’m sure it was nothing.” Ellalee smiled reassuringly at her sister and turned down the light eclipsing the sisters back into darkness. Ellalee climbed back under the warm blankets, still shivering from the night air. She was sure she had heard something. She lay for a long time as her ears strained for the slightest sound. She didn’t know how long she lay there awake, but was startled awake once again by a banging on the door the next morning that Daniella scurried out of bed to answer.

  Chapter Ten: The Beast Within

  Mistress Murray hovered outside Ellalee’s door, scowling magnificently.

  “I have brought proper livery. Dress quickly and report to the kitchen. Ellalee, you will help your sister with the morning meal and then see me after you break your fast for your daily duties,” Mistress Murray said, handing them new clothing and snapping the door shut behind her as she turned and departed.

  Ellalee was grateful for the change of clothes. They weren’t fancy, but they were better than the clothes she’d worn for the better part of a week. If she had her dream, she’d have had a bath too, and as long as she was dreaming, she would add in a bar of lavender soap. She sighed. Her dresses were black, but the fabric was fine rather than rough and itchy. She was supplied with new undergarments, stockings, as well as pair of shoes that were a tad big, and a large apron to keep her dress clean while she worked.

  “You look nice, Ellalee,” Daniella said and then frowned. “The shoes are a bit snug, but I imagine they’ll break in.”

  Ellalee looked at Daniella who had been given light blue dresses with a beige apron as the new cook along with all the other essentials. The color brought out Daniella’s fair skin and her rosy cheeks. What a beautiful change from the rustic brown dress she’d been wearing. She really was a beautiful girl. Ellalee decided that she had better keep a sharp eye on the footmen.

  “Try mine; they are a bit too big.”

  They switched shoes and found a better fit in the switch.

  “I wish I had a brush,” Ellalee said. Her thick chestnut brown hair turned into knots without much help. She pulled her fingers through her hair and quickly braided it as Daniella swept hers into a quick bun by twisting her long blond hair and tucking it into a knot secured with a kerchief wrapped around her head.

  They made their way to the kitchen. Fires were being stoked in the grates, and servants were silently moving about the manor on this cold morning. Ellalee and Daniella worked quickly to get food ready to break the fast, and the footman appeared to bring the earl’s trays upstairs. After helping Daniella set the table for the servants, Ellalee shoved some bread in her mouth, and made a tray for Gladlia and Christopher. She was anxious to see her brother once more.

  As she drew near, she could hear Christopher’s anguished cries. She shouldered her way through the heavy door sloshing the tea without care. Gladlia was trying to get Christopher to drink something as he sobbed.

  “Another sip, just one more,” Gladlia murmured. “It will be okay.”

  “What has happened?” Ellalee demanded as she rushed to Christopher’s side, discarding the tray on the table as she went. “Christopher! Christopher, are you all right?”

  He turned his streaming face towards her. “Ellalee. My leg…” His gaze was unfocussed. “My leg is…”

  Ellalee grabbed his hand and kissed his fingers as his eyes rolled back, and he was asleep again. She stared up at Gladlia and demanded, “What has happened?”

  “Hold a moment, child. I must check his leg,” she said as she pulled back the blankets. His leg had been bracketed by wood and tied with rags from ankle to mid-thigh. A rope held is ankle taught to the base of the rack and a leather belt held the top of his thigh so that the leg stayed straight. His leg was a ghastly shade of blue and green and swollen. Ellalee gasped.

  “You’ll do him no good with reactions like that,” Gladlia gave her a severe look. “All is well. He didn’t move his leg.” She covered the boy back up tenderly. “Well, that was a shock, not at all what I expected.”

  “What happened, Gladlia? Was he in that much pain? Honestly, I will never understand how a person can hurt a child. He was a cripple, but he could work. You should have seen him brushing down the horses on our journey here, and he could easily wash the scores of dishes that pile up each day in the manor.” Ellalee brushed a soft brown curl from her brother’s forehead and murmured, “He is such a sweet soul. Hurting him is like ripping the wings off of a butterfly for the mere cruelty of it.”

  Gladlia sat back down and merely rocked and allowed Ellalee to vent her spleen without comment until Ellalee’s voice cracked and she began to sob. “I can’t stand to see him in this kind of pain in this horrible room.”

  Gladlia pushed to her feet and placed a gentle hand on Ellalee’s shoulder. “He woke this morning and asked if his leg was straight, and when I said it was, he began to cry. We must continue to pray for his healing, body and spirit. Other than keeping him still and resting, I have done what I can. Now it is up to God.”

  “Can we at least move him from this awful room?” Ellalee sniffed.

  “Not yet, dear, but soon. He is young, and the young have a gift for bouncing back quickly. Now, why don’t I see if there is any tea left in that pot and pour us both a cup?”

  Ellalee was having trouble controlling her tears as she mounted the steps back to the servants’ floor. It was all she could do to seek out her sister to inform Daniella that Christopher was still sleeping. She certainly would not pass along this morning’s horror to her sister’s heart, and Ellalee prayed for something better to report soon.

  Mistress Murry arrived all fluster and frustration. “You, girl, grab rags, soap, and a bucket of hot water and follow me,” she announced impatiently.

  Ellalee pasted a smile on her face and replied, “Yes ma’am.” The earl would be so impressed.

  Mistress Murry led the way to the reception room. “You will begin here and clean every surface. Then clean the dining hall, the salon, the music room, and when those are complete you may begin cleaning his lordship’s study.”

  Ellalee scrunched her nose as she looked around at heaps of dust layered on the furniture, the thick caking of cobwebs in the corners, and the dirt that clung to the floorboards. The clutter and the cobwebs were every bit as bad as what she had found in the kitchen. Mistress Murray noted Ellalee’s distress and gave her a smug grin. In that moment, Ellalee realized why she disliked Mistress Murray; it was the resemblance to Mistress Bane. There wasn’t a physical resemblance at all, but the smile was the same.

  “His lordship said I was to be the upstairs maid,” Ellalee said.

  “He leaves these decisions to me. Elise will clean the upstairs, and you will clean the down. Trust me, she was as unhappy as you, sniveling and sobbing.”

  Ellalee shook her head
incredulously. “Is the upstairs worse?”

  “Worse than what?”

  Ellalee decided that Mistress Murray must indeed be in the running for the worst housekeeper in history or nearly blind. “Sorry. Why didn’t Elise want to be the upstairs maid?”

  “Because of what happened to the last upstairs maid. She went missing. We searched the manor and the grounds with no luck. We assumed she was another victim of the curse, but, finally, we found her. The earl drew up her body from the bottom of the well. They’d all been drinking parts of her for days, made everyone right ill for a week afterward. We had completed the new well just before you and your lot came.” Mistress Murray gave a sickening laugh. “Elise ought to show some backbone. After all, I took the cook’s spot for a time, didn’t I? I’m fit as a fiddle.”

  “And what happened to the cook?”

  “Well, no one rightly knows. We only found parts of her. And the parts we found were,” Mistress Murry held onto the silence, savoring it before the words slithered through her savage smile, “chewed. Now, get to work.”

  Ellalee didn’t mind the work. It kept her mind focused on something other than the curse and how her heart broke for Christopher. Nothing was better for the soul than hard work which helped pass the time until the midday meal where she would be able to visit her brother again.

  After scouring the reception room for the better part of the morning, Ellalee paused, leaning against a wall and surveying the unsubtle difference between the part of the room she’d cleaned and what yet remained. Ellalee didn’t know what Elise had been doing all this time. The manor hadn’t been properly cleaned in ages. She ripped open curtains only to find herself covered in dust. She beat the curtains soundly until so much dust came loose that she found herself coughing and sneezing, but realized that the fabric was far more luxurious that she’d believed and a far more vibrant green than she’d first imagined. She beat the tapestries, brushed the cobwebs off the walls, dusted everything in sight, polished the furniture, swept and scrubbed the floor, and by the time she was done, the reception room was something to behold. She stood back and admired the beauty of the room before she turned her attention to the dining room. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but her hands had begun to cramp around the scrub brush. She stretched her fingers examining her hands. Ellalee had hit her knuckles enough times that they were scuffed and raw. She thought wryly that not long ago she thought being a laundress was hard on her hands.