CHAPTER 15
Layna was cleaning up the dishes from lunch, when suddenly the door to Mila's house burst open and a young girl stumbled inside. The girl collapsed, barely a foot within the door, and Layna rushed to her side, calling out for Mila. The poor thing had hardly a rag on her, and her skin was already red and raw from wind and cold blistering.
Mila came running into the room and immediately got down to business, ordering Layna to lift the girl up onto the bed and to get her out of the wet and shredded clothes. Layna did so without question, ripping at the rags in her haste to comply. She was horrified to see the condition of the body beneath them. There were scars all over it. The white lines traversed her length, and newer red ones, still scabbed over with dried blood, criss-crossed her body.
“What happened to her?” Layna asked Mila in horrified bewilderment.
“I don't know,” answered Mila regretfully. “Hopefully she'll be able to tell us when she wakes.” Mila paused, a look of real concern on her face. “That is, if the poor little thing's mind hasn't been damaged as well.” They wrapped the newer wounds with salves and bandages and re-dressed her in warm dry clothes before leaving her to sleep.
She still had not woken several hours later when Gryffon returned. Mila was starting to get worried as the girl's forehead was beginning to become feverish. They explained to Gryffon what had happened, and he listened with interest, and then went over to check on the girl.
“I recognize her,” he exclaimed suddenly. “I've been trying to figure out from where. She's one of the Golden Girls.” He paused. “Or at least she was.”
Mila gave him a look and answered, “I'm not even going to ask how you know that, but assuming she is, I wonder if any of the other girls would know who did this to her.”
“I could go ask,” Gryffon offered.
Layna added, “I'll go with you.” She wasn’t about to let him go there alone.
They saddled up Axe and Fly, and rode deeper into the city to the Golden Girls brothel. As they entered, Layna was happy to note that none of the girls greeted Gryffon by name or seemed to be overly familiar with him. Several who were lounging in the lobby eyed him with interest, however, and then looked her over as if trying to decide what they were here for. A particularly bold one came right up, brushing past Layna and draping herself on Gryffon.
“Here for a good time?” she asked, batting her eyes at him.
Gryffon gently extricated himself from her. “Uh, no. Thank you. We just want to know about one of the girls here.”
“You want someone special?” the girl asked putting on a pout as if hurt. “I can be better than whoever it is, and she can even come too,” the girl lifted her chin to indicate she meant Layna, and then blew her a kiss.
“I'm sure you can,” Gryffon acknowledged politely, “but we really just need to talk to the Madame here. If we could. Please.” He seemed to be grasping for words and Layna felt a little claustrophobic as several others girls moved forward to surround them.
Someone clapped, making Layna jump, and the girls scattered back to their couches. A new woman, significantly older than the rest of the girls and garbed elaborately with a mountain of hair piled high on her head and a large mole on her upper lip stood in the curtained doorway to the back.
“I am Madame Blanchet,” she introduced herself, moving towards them gracefully. “What can I do for you?” She looked at Layna appraisingly. “Are you interested in joining our ranks?” she asked her.
Layna blushed and shook her head negatively.
“Pity. So to what then, do I owe this pleasure?”
Gryffon cleared his throat and explained, “A girl collapsed at our doorstep this morning and I thought that I recognized her as one of your-”
He was cut off by gasp, and a young brunette with big brown eyes ran forward, ignoring the harsh look from Madame Blanchet. “Is it Carolyn? Is she alright?” the girl demanded.
Gryffon answered truthfully, “We don't know who she is, she's been unconscious since this morning. We're currently in the employ of the healer, Mila, who is caring for her.”
“Mila,” sighed the girl, “she's alright. Why is Carolyn unconscious?”
Gryffon hesitated, unsure how to break the news to a girl so obviously close to this Carolyn. “We don't really know what happened, but she basically collapsed at our doorstep. She's obviously been mistreated.”
The girls had all crowded forward now, and at this, they all started talking at once. “She's been missing forever!” exclaimed one.
Another said, “I bet it was that Farthen fellow, he's always been a little too interested in pain for my liking.”
Madame Blanchet clapped her hands once more for silence and was met with an immediate response. “I'll have a meeting with you in the back room,” she told Gryffon and Layna. Then she addressed the rest of the girls. “Go about your business as usual, rest assured I will do everything in my power to find out who committed this outrage upon one of our own, and they will come to justice.” She swept the curtain aside and ushered Layna and Gryffon in.
Once inside, she sat at a large desk and indicated that they should take the seats in front of it. It struck Layna as amusing to have such an official looking office in a brothel, but she made no comment.
“What Helena said was true,” Madame Blanchet started as they settled into the chairs. “Carolyn has been missing for quite some time now. I have had my people checking into the last couple clients she had, but none of them have seen her, nor seem to have had anything to do with her disappearance. I thought that maybe she had run off with one of them. That happens sometimes with the younger ladies,” she paused in her narration to explain, “they think that they fall in love with one of the clients, that his amorous talk is serious, and they disappear for a few weeks. They usually end up right back here crying their eyes out over broken hearts. I thought she had a better head on her shoulders though, Carolyn did - does,” she corrected herself. Her eyes darkened and she said in a low voice, “I will add whatever resources I can to her hopeful recovery and when she is able to tell us what happened, have no doubt that I will make sure that whoever hurt her will pay for it.”
They agreed that Carolyn would stay with Mila until she was healed, and Megan begged leave of Madame Blanchet to go with them to visit with Carolyn. She was granted it.
Megan climbed up behind Layna on Fly, exclaiming in girlish delight at riding a horse. The girl's mouth went a mile a minute on the short ride back to Mila's, talking about everything from Carolyn to the city in general, to how pretty Layna's hair was - even if it was getting all in her face.
Layna suddenly felt Megan let go of her waist as she ran her hands delicately through Layna's hair, twining it around and setting it over her shoulder so that it wasn't blowing in her eyes.
“Hey,” she observed, “what a pretty picture you have on your neck. What is it?”
“What?” Layna asked, puzzled. “I don't have anything on my neck.”
“Yes you do,” Megan corrected her mischievously. As Gryffon reined Axe back so that he was beside them, she pulled Layna's hair away from her neck again to show him, and Layna felt her cold finger pointing just behind her right ear. “See?” she asked Gryffon.
Layna looked to him for confirmation and was confused when he nodded that 'yes', indeed she did have some sort of mark on her neck. “It's too small for me to tell what it is though.”
“How odd,” was all Layna could think of to say.
Gryffon gave her a look of 'we'll discuss it later'.
Megan continued her barrage of words, hardly slowing even as they dismounted and entered the house. The moment that she saw Carolyn, however, the flow abruptly ceased, and she let out a strangled cry. She ran to the unconscious girl's side. She very carefully took a limp hand in her own and started whispering encouraging words to her, the rest of the world gone from her
mind.
Mila yelled out from the kitchen that she was making muffins that were just about done, so she'd be right out. Layna and Gryffon took seats by the fire, and starting talking softly in low voices.
“What does it look like?” Layna asked him.
He glanced over at Megan, but she had her back towards them and was still intent on Carolyn. He leaned closer to Layna and brushed her hair away from her ear, craning his head around to look at the strange mark. She hoped he didn’t notice the goose-bumps that his touch caused. “It could almost be taken for a hive or an irritation. It just looks like the skin is raised a bit,” he remarked. “But it's very obviously a symbol of some sort. Have you burned yourself with anything maybe?”
Layna made a face. “I don't think so, not on my neck anyway. I would think that I’d remember doing something like that.”
“Hmph,” shrugged Gryffon. “That is odd.”
Mila came bustling out of the kitchen, and Gryffon rose to take the tray full of muffins from her. He set it on the table by the bed. “How's she doing?” Layna asked her quietly.
Mila looked over at the two girls and smiled. “I was a little worried about her because I was having trouble staving off the fever, almost as if the poor child's body didn't care to fight it. She was up and flailing about a couple times, mumbling something about 'not the unicorn' or some nonsensical babble. But there's suddenly much more positive energy coming from her. I think you two did a good thing bringing this one back with you. I have the feeling that now she'll be all right.”
She handed each of them a muffin, which they took with thanks, and Layna took a small bite of hers so as not to burn her tongue. “How did your business this morning go?” Mila turned to Gryffon to ask. Mila had taught him how to weave healing charms into stones to then be embedded into swords and other weapons. It was both a way to earn some income, as well as providing a legitimate reason for their being so much power in Mila’s house and his frequent visits as he was running part of it through her. She had many stones for her official healing, the kind that the authorities knew about, and their presence wouldn’t be questioned. Stones radiated power as well as people, so it would be difficult for anyone to distinguish which was which.
He shook his head side to side in a gesture of ‘so-so’ and answered, “It went pretty well. What worries me is how many people suddenly are interested in them. There's fear running through the people and I'm not sure why. Several of them made comments about the forest being a more dangerous place recently, but none would elaborate.”
“Charles couldn't have been serious about their being bloodbeasts in the forest could he? Everyone knows that they were eradicated when the Dark King fell, and the knowledge to create them was destroyed in the fires, don’t they?” Layna asked almost pleadingly.
“They could only burn the ones they knew about,” commented Gryffon noncommittally. “I suppose there might be someone who knows about them and would use them.”
“What kind of person would bring back a creature or creatures that went down in history as being destructive and bringers of death? Not to mention using a lost art of blood-magic to create them?”
“What kind of person would completely make up a story about an innocent girl to get her in trouble, and then try to throw her into a cell with no one but Devon as company?” Mila interposed.
“You think that Jezebel has something to do with this?” Layna asked incredulously.
Mila chuckled. “Not necessarily, child. I don't think that woman is nearly as smart as she thinks she is. I'm simply pointing out that there are a lot of people who don't believe in right and wrong as we do. To them, 'right' is what gains them the most and 'wrong' is anything that doesn't. Your Jezebel is like that. You were someone who made her feel insecure, so she got rid of you to make herself feel better. In her own little warped mind, that makes it right because she feels better, with no regard as to what she's doing to others.”
A moan sounded from the bed and Megan exclaimed, “Carolyn? Carolyn, sweetie, wake up.”
The girl on the bed moaned softly again, and then blinked open her eyes, her dry lips cracking into a smile when she saw Megan. “Megan,” she whispered. “It is you, I thought I was dreaming.”
“Shh, shh,” soothed Megan. “It's not a dream. I'm here, and you're going to be all right now.” Relief seemed to wash over Carolyn and she broke down crying, her sobs wracking her broken body. Megan took her in her arms gently and rocked her back and forth as the tears flowed. Mila motioned to Layna and Gryffon that they should leave the girls alone, and they quietly retreated upstairs.
The next morning when they went down to check on them, Carolyn was looking much better. The color was back in her cheeks, and a smile was permanently affixed to her face as she gazed at Megan. Megan was hand-feeding her bits of bacon, while Mila sat watching them contentedly. She let them enjoy one another's company a while longer before regretfully breaking in, saying, “I'm sorry to break up the party, girls, but I have to change these bandages.” Megan suddenly looked concerned and possessive of Carolyn, and looked as though she was going to stop Mila.
“It's alright,” Carolyn told her. “She's trying to help.” Megan reluctantly moved away from the bed so that Mila could reach Carolyn more easily. Mila proceeded to undo the bandages that she and Layna had applied last night. Layna grabbed more salve and fresh bandages and stood by, waiting for Mila to indicate that she needed them.
As the bandages came off, Megan gasped and demanded, “Who did this to you? I'll, I’ll kill them with my bare hands!”
Carolyn reached out a hand to her, looking forlorn, and Megan took it, forcing herself to calm down with obvious effort. “I don't know who he was,” whispered Carolyn, not meeting anyone's eyes. She paused, and no one made a noise, waiting for her to continue. “I remember I was coming home from a house-visit and then...I don't know...suddenly everything was in a haze. I think maybe I was being drugged. I was chained up and there were a bunch of people in black and then, he came and...” she closed her eyes shuddering “He came and did horrible things to me, I must have blacked out or something because I can't remember more and when I woke up I was in a cell for I don’t know how long, and then moved to the chamber where I have been since. Tied to the bed, I don't even know how long I've been gone.”
She wailed and Megan soothed her. “It's all over now.” She petted Carolyn's head affectionately and Carolyn nodded at her, trying to smile.
“It's over,” she whispered as if trying to make herself believe it. She rested her head on Megan who had squeezed her way back onto the top of the bed so she could hold Carolyn.
“It's over,” repeated Megan firmly.