The Grey Dawn

by Stacey DeMichael

  As Christopher swung forward on his crutch, Ellalee acted. With her wrist still pinned under his boot, Ellalee rolled sideways into Vasin’s leg and bit him with everything she had in her. Vasin’s sword swung up as he yelled in fury, and he changed the trajectory of his stroke to strike her instead. In the same moment, as Christopher swung himself forward on his crutches, he released one and swung the other over his head straight onto Vasin’s sword arm knocking it down, offsetting the follow through but not the return strike.

  Ellalee rolled flat to her back. As if in slow motion, she could see the return strike falling. Vasin’s face contorted with rage, and then oddly froze. Vasin turned to stare at Fritz in shocked surprise, and then Vasin’s eyes stared down at the sword piercing his breast. Christopher crawled over to Ellalee and laid across her, and she held him tight. Vasin growled in fury and with his dying breath, turned to stab Valen. Kent’s sword was there to block the blow as Fritz struck again. Vasin fell backwards, his mouth gaping as blood trickled out a corner.

  Ellalee’s wrist finally released, she scooted backwards, pulling Christopher up into her arms against the wall. “Are you okay? That was a stupid stunt, Christopher. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

  “Sir Kent says it is up to men folk to protect their women folk. Aren’t you my women folk?” He looked up at her as though adults were the most confusing creatures on earth.

  “Well, hmmm, I suppose that’s so, but still.”

  “Aw! You knew what I was going to do. You’re the one that told me about Sir Kent and the dragon!”

  Sir Kent looked over at Ellalee and cocked one eyebrow. She shook her head, put up her hands and said, “Honestly, I can explain.”

  But he just laughed. She hadn’t believed Kent could laugh, he’d been such a grim fellow.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Anywhere but the Manor

  Ellalee rushed to Daniella, who dropped the skillet and fell into her sister’s arms.

  “How did you find me, Daniella?”

  “How could we not? Once I heard you scream like that, there was no more hiding. Winslow and I came immediately, but before we found you, we found Walter in a hole in the stairs.” Daniella gave Walter a fond look. Walter stood straighter giving her a smile and then harrumphed and moved past the sisters.

  “His arm was badly broken in the fall which also knocked him out cold. He was just coming to when we passed. We doubled back and made a rope out of the blankets in Mistress Murray’s room. Winslow set the the bones back in place with a firm jerk. Sir Walter looked pale by the end of that procedure, but I was the one sitting with my head between my knees. I’m not cut out for this,” Daniella sighed, shaking her head.

  “And how did you get the rest of the men out?” Ellalee asked.

  Winslow gave his dry chuckle. “The key I have isn’t really a key to Lord Valen’s study. It is just the only key that does work on that door. It is a skeleton key. It took me a few minutes, but I got the lock undone.” Then he gave his dry rasping laugh. “Good thing they didn’t light the lock on fire like you suggested. This night would have ended very differently.”

  Ellalee blushed, and Winslow bent down and tied the hands and feet of the still-unconscious Mistress Murray. “That will keep her secure until Lord Valen decides what he wants to do with her.” Then Winslow moved off to join the men.

  “Thank God you came. I had no idea that you had it in you to hit someone with a skillet,” Ellalee teased her sister.

  “Neither did I,” Daniella replied whole-heartedly, linking her arm in Ellalee’s. “We should get some food on. There will be some hungry men when they are all done congratulating themselves.”

  Ellalee turned around. Lord Valen had been released from the manacles and was surrounded by the knights and men. Sir Kent rested a hand on Christopher’s shoulder. The boy had never looked so proud. Valen was rubbing his wrists, and looked over at Ellalee, his look inscrutable. Ellalee could feel her face redden as she remembered her hasty confessions when she believed they would both die.

  “Yes, let’s get that food on the table. Let’s go now,” Ellalee said. She picked up the skillet in her right hand, grimaced and switched it to her left. The sisters made their exit as Irwin and Michael entered and hailed the men from the other hallway.

  When they arrived in the kitchen, Gladlia was just coming through the servants’ entrance and immediately accosted Daniella and Ellalee. “Where is he, that rat traitor of an earl? I have a piece of my mind I’d like to share with him.” Gladlia shook her fist in the air.

  “Oh dear, where is Simmons?” Ellalee couldn’t help but giggle.

  “Oh, he’s taking a wee nap, and if he wakes up before noon tomorrow, I can only hope it is with a dry mouth and severe headache. I’ll be giving him a piece of my mind as well,” she harrumphed and plopped down in a chair. “Do you know how long of a walk it is from the village with this bad hip, in the night, through this fog, at my age?”

  “Oh my. Sit there, Gladlia, and let me make you a cuppa,” Daniella said putting the kettle on. Ellalee started some fresh bread, and Daniella worked on a filling stew. While their hands flew, they filled in Gladlia. After hearing all that had happened in her absence, Gladlia pushed herself to her feet and worked beside them ripping bandages and preparing her salves based on the injuries that the sisters described, and by the time that the men finally rolled into the kitchen, the women were ready for them.

  Gladlia checked Christopher’s leg first and pronounced it still healing very well. She bade him to stay off of it for one more week. “No fighting dogs, dragons, or dangerous men for seven more days, and then you can try a few steps at a time but no running!”

  Christopher just laughed until she reminded him that if he didn’t obey, she would tip some of her sleeping draught into his food without him knowing and when he woke, he’d find himself strapped to a table once more. That took the cheer out of the proceedings, and Christopher gave Gladlia his solemn word.

  The men insisted on eating first, but Gladlia would have none of it. She examined Walter’s arm, rewrapping it with thin wooden splints and then put it in a sling. She patted Winslow on the back for his work in setting the bones.

  Kent’s right arm was deeply punctured from the wolf-dog’s attack, and he was missing the bottom half of his small finger on his right hand. Gladlia stitched up his nub.

  Daniella watched the surgery looking ill, but Christopher appeared very impressed. “Now, he’s one of us, isn’t he Lord Valen?”

  Lord Valen’s eyes drifted to Kent. He winced and gave Kent an apologetic look, but Kent only smiled and patted the boy’s shoulder with his good hand. “Yes, now I am just like you, one of the mighty and the brave.”

  Lord Valen’s face softened until Kent continued, “Besides I know a young maiden who likes her men scarred.”

  Ellalee covered her nose and mouth with her hands as her face burned, and she darted out of the room. Daniella was right on her heels. “What has happened?”

  “I don’t want to tell you. I’m so horribly embarrassed. Please don’t ask. Will you walk to the barn with me? I need to leave the manor for a while.”

  The sisters snuck out through the main entrance and darted off into the night. They found the barn lit with Irwin inside taking care of the horses. The horses were all unsaddled in their stalls, and he was brushing and feeding them in turn.

  Irwin was still pretty upset about having to kill those wolf-dogs. “They were just dumb animals, mistreated and made into killers. It wasn’t their fault. They shouldn’t have to die because someone else was evil.”

  Daniella sat on a bale of straw. Ellalee sat next to her, and they murmured their agreement which earned Irwin’s gratitude. Ellalee kept shifting and finally realized she was too jittery to sit and decided to help Irwin feed the horses. The horses softly nickered to one another, and Raptim rubbed his head on Ellalee in appreciation for the oats. Ellalee gave him a scrub behind his ears.

  The next time Ellalee lo
oked over at Daniella, the girl had curled up on the bale of hay and was sound asleep. Ellalee went over and covered her with a blanket, lightly kissing her brow as she thought back to the first day she arrived at Castle de Avium when Mistress Murray threatened to make her sleep in the barn. Tonight, she would be glad to sleep anywhere, anywhere on God’s great creation, anywhere but in the manor. She found another blanket and laid down next to her sister. Tomorrow, she would think of some way to explain. It seemed that she was always having to explain, and she solemnly promised God that she would change her ways. She’d be just like her sister, all sweetness and light. Then she laughed as she replayed her sister charging into that underground hall, skillet flying and hair aglow. Perhaps her sister wasn’t faith without action after all. Perhaps they were more alike than Ellalee had thought.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Search, Seizure, and Unforced Confessions

  Ashout from close range snapped the sisters from their slumber upon the hay in the barn of Castle de Avium.

  “I found them,” Kent shouted. “They’re here! They’re okay!”

  Daniella pushed up and yawned, “Is it morning?”

  “Be glad it isn’t! If we’d a had to search all night for you, the earl would be in a real tizzy,” Kent replied sourly. “As it is, we’ve searched the manor. Twice. I think Walter and Fritz are lost in that maze below ground, and your brother has been half crazed when we didn’t know where you both were. He blamed us, I’ll have you know. I can understand you losing one of them, but how could you lose both?” Kent mimicked.

  Ellalee rubbed her forehead and brushed the hay from her skirts. Daniella had hay in her hair which Ellalee removed and then felt her own hair. By the time they actually started moving towards the manor, Kent was grinding his teeth and muttering indistinctly except for the few words Ellalee could pick up such as troublemakers, females, and difficult.

  Two lanterns came their way as Charlie and Mark bounded towards the barn. “Oh thank goodness!”

  “Yes, while we were searching the manor, they were out here having a nice little snooze. I could do with some sleep, but am I bound to see it?” Kent continued his grumbling.

  The men escorted Daniella and Ellalee back to the castle and up an elegant staircase where the girls had not been before and into the bed chamber that held a huge ornate carved wooden bed.

  “They have been found. They were in the barn,” Kent announced.

  “Now, they are here. Take this medicine, or I will have the men hold you and pour it down your throat. Don’t tempt me because I am still very angry with you,” Gladlia stated as she sat next to the earl who was propped against some pillows.

  The earl frowned and took a swig.

  “All of it,” Gladlia said firmly.

  Valen tipped the rest into his mouth.

  Gladlia nodded and strode over to greet the sisters in the doorway. “Daniella, there is a chamber across the hall for you to stay in. Obviously Valen will take no chances with you or Miss Ellalee being further away. Ellalee will join you in a few minutes. Go on now. Yes, dear, that’s the door.”

  “Someone needs to find Christopher and set his mind at ease,” Gladlia continued.

  “Yes, and someone is going to have to find Walter and Fritz,” Kent rumbled then he gave Ellalee a long look as if he wanted to say something more, but he shook his head and left. Ellalee could feel herself blush again, but came into the room when Gladlia motioned her. Gladlia and Ellalee hung just inside of the door.

  “Valen’s had a sleeping tonic. His injuries are many, and sleep is the best thing for him. Sit with him for just a bit will you, Ellalee? He will drop off to sleep in no time. It will give him ease. There is a book by the bedside you can read. If he looks like he has taken a turn for the worse, ring the bell, and I’ll be right back.”

  By the time Ellalee pulled up a chair, Valen had laid flat and his eyes were closed. Sweet Mercy, Ellalee thought. His breaths were deep and long and his face looked utterly placid. Ellalee picked up the book and began to read, but by the end of the page, she remembered nothing. She put the book back on the nightstand and looked at the earl, watching him sleep. She gently reached over and moved a brown curl from his blue and black contused, scarred forehead. She was glad he wouldn’t wake up. They had come back to Castle de Avium well after dark, and it had to be the wee hours of the morning by now. Ellalee was still feeling sleepy herself and began to babble to keep herself awake.

  “You see,” she smiled softly at the earl’s sleeping form. “It all began that night I fell into the Wasenwater. Daniella has always accused me of being action and no faith, and I always accused her of being faith and no action.” She gave a soft laugh. “After tonight, it seems only she was right. That night, the night I found my way to your fire, my siblings and I were starving. I was upset because I couldn’t keep us fed. That night I left our home feeling so burdened and oppressed. I just wanted to walk free of it all for a while, but the baker found me. I only escaped him and the fish monger because I fell into the freezing waters off an overhang. In that cold water, I believed I would die. Would you believe that was the first time I ever really prayed? I thought God didn’t answer.”

  She sighed. “I don’t’ know what I was expecting. A voice from heaven maybe. The peal of thunder perhaps. Angels singing would have been nice. Well, as you might imagine, all I got for my prayers was silence. Finally a prayer but no faith to back it up.

  “I guess I thought if I finally prayed, God would be a genie and pop up and save me. So, I prayed again and again thinking that somehow I was doing it wrong. It’s funny now. God heard me the first time. He is an ever present help in times of trouble. I don’t even think he needed my words, just the moaning and groaning of my spirit, just the repentance in my heart.

  “Oh, Valen, I had laid myself so low. I had stolen. I had deceived, and I knew while I was bobbing in that freezing water that my brother and sister were going to bear the cost of my sin. Sin costs every so dearly, more dearly than I ever realized. I don’t think I ever so personally understood before what the cross meant. They never wanted me to steal. Daniella was upset every time. They were innocent, and my beloved would pay for the crimes I committed,” Ellalee sighed and paused thinking back on her foolish recklessness.

  “I don’t know how I found my way out of the water or to your fire or why you would save me, but you did. I was terrified of you. I thought God had forgotten me, that you were my punishment. I wish I had eyes to see then what I can see now. Then there was that awful scene in the village square. I lost everything I had left, even my freedom. Christopher asked if God still had us, even then, and I answered him yes. But I didn’t believe it.

  “Then Christopher told Irwin that you ransomed us, and I realized that is exactly what you did. You didn’t take our freedom, you gave us back our lives. God answered all our immediate prayers. We had prayed for food, and you fed us. You and Gladlia straightened Christopher’s leg,” she smiled softly at the memory. “He told me, but you can’t fuss with him about it. He meant it for good.” Tears were beginning to flow. She reached over and slid her fingers into his warm still hand.

  “God answered our every prayer. We had warmth, and food, and each other. Daniella and I laughed again. I don’t think we had laughed in years. Christopher is completely remade, not just his leg. His spirit is back as well. As much credit as I give you, I know it was God who brought us together, who softened your heart enough for you to bring us here. God who healed Christopher’s leg.

  “When I was looking forward, it was all like the grey dawn that morning I awoke by your fire, all hazy and unclear…frightening. But looking back, I see that God guided my every step. I think we see God’s handiwork most clearly in retrospect. Because looking back it was a straight and blessed path, and through all the hardships, he did bring us to greener pastures. Had I just trusted Him! My faith feels bright now, but I’m sure there will still be moments where I feel once again like I’m stuck in the grey dawn. I know He brou
ght me here, but,” she stopped and bit her lips trying to control the tremble in her voice.

  “I behaved foolishly in that underground chamber. I spoke my heart believing we wouldn’t leave that chamber, believing that you should hear that you were loved before you died. You should never have suffered alone, but I should not have been so bold. I am so fearful now that I can hardly sit. That is why we fled to the barn. I cannot imagine you allowing us to stay. I can’t imagine where else we shall go. You can’t have a maid who has fallen in love with you, and I do not know how I will bear your countenance now that you know.

  “If you were awake, I would want you to know that despite all of it, we have known happiness here, and love, and friendship. And I don’t want to go. I don’t know if Christopher would want to be parted from that ornery Sir Kent, and I can’t say for sure, but I believe that Daniella has some tender feelings as well. I can only hope you will forgive me. I would never speak so boldly again,” Ellalee withdrew her hand from Valen’s and wiped her tears on her sleeve.

  “Well, that would be a shame,” Valen popped open one eye.

  Ellalee gasped and leaped to her feet, knocking over the chair behind her. “You! You are supposed to be asleep. Gladlia gave you that elixir! I saw you take it.”

  “Well, then you should have kept looking. I hate that stuff. Gladlia is always trying to stuff it on me. Usually, I find a way to spit it out.” He pointed at the floor next to his bed. Ellalee craned her neck and sure enough, there was the elixir, right where Valen had spit it out.

  Ellalee could feel herself panicking and was finding it hard to breath. Her face burned with embarrassment. “I must go,” she said and hurried to the door, yanking it open.

  “Marry me,” Valen growled.

  Ellalee felt like she had been stabbed and her body just didn’t know to fall down. He was mocking her. She turned around and faced Valen as he pushed to his feet. He was wearing a clean shirt and trousers now, but his wrists were bandaged. He winced when he moved, touching his ribs tenderly as he hobbled toward the door.