At first, Evelda wondered if she’d overslept again. The amount of noise she heard reminded her of the morning bustle that normally stirred her. However, when she opened her eyes she found her home was still covered in a blanket of darkness. It’s still night?
The sound of something banging above her head made Evelda turn onto her back and look straight up.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” She screamed with all her might. Looking down at her from the hole in her roof was a terrifying creature. An abomination. It hissed at her response and jumped down into her home. In fact, the black figure almost landed on her. Evelda crawled out of bed just in time and threw herself through the wooden door to avoid becoming its dinner. She was whimpering as she crawled backwards, and her horror increased tenfold as she got a better look at her surroundings. All over her little house were more of these things. Something had taken the shadow of a normal man, given it solid form, and then distorted it with unholy magic. They were longer than they should have been and had a curved spine. Some had two sets of arms, others had more than one head, but all of them looked tormented by their own deficiencies. White pinprick eyes shone at her like moonlight. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Evelda screamed again and turned onto her hands and knees to try and take off.
Unfortunately a familiar black hooded figure stood in her way.
“Evelda? I told you to sleep elsewhere tonight. Why have you defied me?” Evelda craned her head to look up, still out of her mind with fear, to find Turuk was bending right over to stare down at her with furious flame like eyes. The slits of his pupils were very narrow, showing his displeasure. “Does your tongue fail you as well?” When she seemed frozen in place he reached for her with a silver gauntlet…and it was just too much. She fell to the floor in a thud. Cheek first in the dirt. Moments ago she’d been in a deep sleep. To be accosted by so many phantoms so soon after waking was too much for her tired and tormented mind to take. Turuk had been the last straw.
The demon didn’t believe she was unconscious at first and nudged her with his boot. She didn’t stir. One of his familiars staggered over, hissing and groaning. “No. Finish repairing this eyesore.” Turuk still watched Evelda breathing softly into the mud. “Speaking of eyesores…”
This time when Evelda woke up it was far more pleasant.
“Evelda?”
“Mmmmm nnnnn.”
“Evelda? You need to awaken. The day has begun and there is much to do.” I know that soft voice. Evelda groaned again and slowly cracked her hazel eyes open. Talita’s kind smile shone back down at her, and she pressed a damp cloth to her face. “You need to wash and dress for the day Evelda.”
“Ok…but why are you here?”
“Because I live here.” Talita chuckled and sat back, allowing the confused redhead to sit up and scan her surroundings. She recognised the fine wooden log walls to belong to someone with a lot more money than she had. Her home was practically one room, with stone bricks missing, and holes in the roof. This room was luxurious. The wood was worn, but warm, with fur rugs on the bed, the floor and the walls. It even had a dressing table, a wardrobe and sweet smelling oils lifted the mood of the room. “Don’t you remember…?” Talita chewed her lips and looked down at the damp cloth in her hands. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t.”
“Remember what?”
“The Demon Lord Turuk brought you to my father last night.”
And then like a flash and a squeak Evelda remembered last night alright. It hadn’t been a nightmare like she’d thought. Monsters crawled all over her home last night and she fainted at the demon lord’s feet.
“He…brought me here?”
“Yes.” Talita put her hands together over her long blue dress and tilted her head. Her long golden hair was in a long braid, but it fell forward over her shoulder with the movement. “Father carried you into my room and allowed me to care for you.”
“Oh…”
“So why were you unconscious and at Turuk’s mercy at such a late hour?”
“I…didn’t do as I was told.” She gulped and accepted the offered cloth. Pressing it to her face and cleaning the dried mud from her left cheek, she sighed. “He told me to find somewhere else to sleep last night, and I didn’t.”
“Why?” Talita’s eyebrows shot up.
“Because he wanted his familiars, creatures of evil nightmares if you ask me, to fix my house. He told me to sleep somewhere else and I didn’t. I didn’t think they would break in anyway.” I’m such an idiot. Like unholy creatures like the ones I saw would take one look at little old me sleeping and be deterred in any way.
“But why would you not do as he said? Why would you intentionally-”
“Because I don’t exactly have an alternative place to sleep Talita. I don’t have family who could take me in.” Evelda closed her eyes with shame. “He knows I’m alone. Where exactly did he think I’d go?”
“Oh for goodness sake Evelda!” Talita took her hands and bent her head further over to catch her sad hazel eyes. “Had you asked, I would have shared my room with you!”
“You’re the daughter of the Chieftain. I’m a dirty peasant. If our town wasn’t so desperate and low on numbers, you wouldn’t have been allowed to befriend me in the first place.” Evelda took her hands back and pushed herself out of bed. “I bet your father only allowed it because Turuk dumped me on your doorstep.”
The image of him dragging her by her feet whilst she was out cold and dropping her on her ass came to mind. She rubbed her rump, thinking that was highly likely and testing her backside for bruises.
“Oh I’m sure that-”
“Thank you for taking care of me Talita.” Evelda bowed her head quickly. “I better get back to my house, whatever’s left of it, and get washed and ready.”
The door to the bedroom opened. “I imagine Turuk will be eager to punish me for last night. How I’ll survive him I don’t-” Talita gasped and jumped up to her feet. Evelda saw the shock on her face, and whipped her head round to the doorway.
Stood there was the fully cloaked demon lord himself. His hood hid most of his face, but those glowing fiery eyes told her all she needed to know about his mood. He was definitely pissed.
“Follow me. Now.”
“I-I’m dirty and-”
“Yes, you are.” He snarled and looked down at her with disdain. “Filthy ignorant ungrateful little whelp.” Oh, yes he was possibly angrier now than he had been with her last night. He’d never resorted to name-calling before. Not that she’d known him very long…“Follow me now, or I’ll become ‘eager to punish you’.” He mocked her and turned with a flourish of his black robes and vanished through the doorway.
“…I’m dead…” She whispered under her breath.
“No, you’re not. He wouldn’t kill you.” Talita held Evelda’s arms from behind, feeling how still she was. “…surely not.” Her certainty fizzled away at the end. “I’ll come with you.”
“No.” Evelda would be damned if he got her friend in trouble with her. “I…I’ll take my punishment.” She would have said she’d be fine, but she couldn’t lie because of Turuk’s enchanted pendant. Talita took her hands back and held herself instead. She was powerless to defend her, and Evelda knew it.
“Please just…be careful.”
“Don’t follow me.”
It’s a little late for that.
If only she could go back in time and tell herself it was better to starve than eat those seemingly unowned mushrooms from the glade. If only.
Evelda trembled as she walked through the Bryne halls and out the front door. She hesitated, her heart hammering in her chest, as she found Turuk waiting for her. He had his back to her making it easier for her to follow him when he started striding head high through the Douma streets. He said nothing, so she said nothing. Maybe this is my punishment? The silent treatment? I wouldn’t mind that.
But Evelda wasn’t that lucky.
They came to a stop outside of her home. Or at least, where her home used to be. In its stead was what looked like a brand new house. It was three times the size, like the original building would have been, made of freshly cut and carved wooden logs. It even had a sturdy new thatch roof. In her life time Evelda had never seen a new home like this.
“You are welcome.” He hissed at her, rage bubbling through every syllable. Her awe was quickly replaced by her returning fear, and she bowed her head. “Go inside, wash and dress. Take no more than 10 minutes or I’ll burn the house down with you in it.” He turned to look down at her with something between amusement and anger dancing in his eyes. “That would be ‘punishment enough’, I think.”
She didn’t doubt his threat for a moment. Evelda ran forward, pulled her new heavy door open and closed it behind her. She saw a bolt so she locked it. Not that a piece of metal would keep the fearsome Demon Turuk out, but the extra defence made her feel better regardless.
Evelda turned and gasped at the interior. The familiars had done more than rebuild her family home. They had brought fine pelts and woven rugs to warm the floors and walls. If only she could truly explore and appreciate her new home. But she had 7 minutes left. Instead, she glanced only briefly at the fire crackling in the middle of the entrance room, surrounded by guard stones, and the raised bed she looked forward to sleeping in tonight, and pulled open a wardrobe at the base of her bed. Normally she’d have all her clothes in a trunk, or on her bed. Only the richer families had wardrobes to hang their clothes in.
Pulling the heavy doors open she barely registered the ornate carvings on it, and pulled the first dress out her hands found. She threw it down on the bear pelt bed and scurried over to a bowl of water by her bedside. She stripped out of her green dress from yesterday and desperately scrubbed her face with her hands. She had no mirror, so she couldn’t tell if she got it all. But she couldn’t feel anymore with her hands, so that would have to do. Her hair didn’t feel dirty, so she hurried over to the new dress. She pulled a dark brown linen underdress over her head, pulling her arms into the long sleeves, and then picked up a slightly paler brown woollen apron skirt over her head as well. Evelda was just fastening the last round but plain brooch on the left strap as the door to her new home opened.
“Your time is up.” Turuk announced from the now open doorway.
“Oh p-please don’t kill me!” Evelda lowered to her knees and lifted her hands up submissively. “I swear I got washed and dressed as quickly as I could I-”
“Get up.” He remained in the doorway and narrowed his gaze on her angrily. “You are ready now, yes?”
“Y-yes Master.” Evelda trembled.
“Good.” To her horror he traversed the doorway and entered her home. He turned his head this way and that, examining his familiar’s handy work. “Much better.”
“It’s wonderful!” Evelda blurted out and timidly approached him. “I haven’t had a chance to look around much, but what I’ve seen is far too grand for one such as me.”
“Such as you?” He snapped his head to look at her. “What do you mean by that?”
“I…” She gulped. What she meant to say was ‘for a humble woman such as I with low standing in Doumian society. Unfortunately? Her pendant translated that into the pure truth before she could stop herself. “For a penniless peasant woman with no prospects or a husband to afford such a dwelling.” She gasped and held her mouth.
“You look shocked?” He stepped towards her and pointed at her chest. “You still wear the enchanted pendant I gave you?”
“Yes Master. I’m too scared to take it off.” Damn it! She tensed, expecting a good lashing for that.
“Exactly.” He chuckled darkly. “It forces you to tell the truth. Or at least, the truth as you both know it, and feel it.” He then stared at her for a moment, mulling something over. “Why did you faint last night?”
“I was…” Evelda gulped, trying to compose herself and choose her words carefully. “Overwhelmed.”
“…by what emotion?”
“Terror.” Her mouth moved before she could stop it. “Th-those creatures were horrifying, Master.”
“Those monsters are my familiars.” He circled the fireplace, taking a closer look at her home. “And had you done as instructed you wouldn’t have seen them at all.” Evelda held her middle, knowing the next question before he even spoke it. “Why did you disobey me?”
“I felt I had no choice.” She closed her eyes, knowing he wouldn’t accept her answer. “I had nowhere else to go.”
“Lord Bryne took you in last night.” He countered, turning with a flare of his robes and stared at her. Not that she could see. Her eyes were still closed. “So that can’t be true.”
“He only took me in as you told him to do so. A peasant such as I can’t possibly ask the chieftain to-”
“You are friends with his daughter, Talita. You told me so.” He wasn’t accepting her excuses, and his tone was turning darker.
“Douma isn’t as large as it once was. Some of the traditions of who a chieftain’s daughter may socialise with during the day weren’t upheld as stringently. We were more concerned with not dying under your curse, than avoiding those with low breeding.”
Oh sweet lord… She hadn’t just said that, had she? To her horror, Evelda had said it with an accusing tone as well.
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