Chapter 13: Infiltration
Pushing through the rough paths of the forest at dusk, she dragged her broken leg, battered and tattered, with a discolored grey drew, worn below an apron that had tasted weary years to become colourless, with the remnants of dried blood having turned black all over it, leaving a stench that was almost unbearable and one would not stand.
Her legs were scarred badly, with several wounds looking fresh and very dirty. The sight of her hair was a mess. Disheveled overtime, without combing, and tangled , forming dreadlocks over the formerly black silky strands. She was near unrecognizable, moving onwards without purpose but pushing forward, frustrated, tired, with no heart left for the hate that once devoured her.
It was the same night that Vincent was released, and before then, in a bid to make up for the sin of one, Marcus had opened the castle prison for the only prisoner that had seen it's walls in decades. The order had no sooner passed his lips before the men were outside dragging the almost lifeless body of a very thin woman, old and worn out, unrecognizable at first glance.
Scared by her tormenting wail that had accompanied them for years every night, they were relieved and hastened to get rid of her.
And it was so that when the band of the living dead, led by the Marcus' assailant perceived the scent of the human blood after fleeing at the sight of Lucian, that like ravenous wolves, they hastened to the slaughter, growling for the excitement of the blood but when they approached, a voice halted them, and from behind her, a cloud of smoke moved in the air, bearing the image of a woman whose silver hair reached the ground.
Her lips were the brightest shade of red, luscious with an upward lift when she smiled.
"Are you willing to say your business in this area?"
For a while, her lips only moved but no words came forth. Her voice was inaudible and looking at the state of her appearance, a smile etched onto her lips with a building tension between them and after a while, her voice cut through the darkness, melting on the ears of retreating monkeys and predators like them that were called from their sleep unintentionally by her voice.
"Wouldn't be a bad idea to lease some part of it out. It would help with the cost of management and with the lease on, we ha more supplies, think about it."
"Just keep those nice thought of you to yourself. Keep them bolted inside and just make sure that this voice is not too loud that it equips the air to carry it beyond this kitchen."
"Why are you so indifferent to it? I know that no one knows benefits of this more than you. Don't you understand? It's just half of the estate, one way or the other, someone else will bring up the proposal and believe me she wouldn't waste a moment before buying into it."
"Ivy! I said enough!
You either get yourself busy with someone important or you let me have some peace and quiet!"
They stood before each other, eyes locked onto the other but his gaze was cold and distant, shooting arrows at her and even when she cringed under his cold treatment, he didn't mind. Straightening his back, he looked away from her, and left with his dinner.
Just when she turned around, she caught sight of Henrietta watching from above. She turned away immediately and went towards the cold and lonely path Pet had taken, leading to the backyard where the horses were kept.
Searching fruitlessly for sometime, she met the plate of food he had taken earlier but it was empty and cold, with the cup fallen on one side, a direction that whispered something dark to her.
Without further ado, Ivy tied her hair up, weaved and neatly tucked it inside. Turning the sweatshirt inside out, she wore it with the back outside, and without a second thought, she opened one door after another, gently searching around the horses and mules for signs until she came to the last shade which was empty.
"Where could he have gone?"she wondered and instantly, Henrietta called her inside, but a faint light beam penetrating through the hay stacked close to the wall of the shade caught her attention, and the crack came into view before she went back inside, adjusting her clothes.
"Look over there," he said pointing at a lean figure standing between two patrol officers.
"Amanda? Gracious heavens!"
" Go on, go bring her inside. She needs to rest well."
"Yes. Sure ...my... where have you been? What happened to you?"she enquired meeting her clean skin cut but she didn't say a word.
"I'm sorry about the impromptu notification."
"It's fine, Mr. Drew, but how and where...."
"Only heavens knows what happened to her. She has not so much as said a single word and the state we met her earlier was too bad to leave her hair on."
"Was it that bad?"she quizzed, showing concern.
"Bad might be an understatement. The her we met out there was indescribable. Save for her form, she could have passed for a beast. Whoever or whatever took her for these past years and her appearance upon sight shows she must have offended an angry god.
" You mean it wasn't the empire?"
"I doubt. Such torture goes beyond what any of them could inflict under any circumstances. This was not the handwork of a wolf... and from rumours flying around, the undead might have risen. There have been disturbing sightings inside the Benign Woods and the forests. I don't know how true it is but you need to keep the people of your household out of those woods especially at dusk."
At that moment, Henrietta got pricked by her conscious," he must have left already,"she thought.
Sure officer, I will ensure that. Thank you very much for bringing our baby girl home,"she smiled.
"One more thing, Henrietta...we found this imprinted on her back," he explained, holding up a drawing of five stars with an eye in the middle," you and Mary are the very few in this town who knows this, and this is no good tiding.
Mary looked up from the drawing cold and stricken like one who just beheld a ghost and at that moment, Amanda smiled, being led to the kitchen by Ivy who felt she needed milk and fruits. Her lips became very red when she smiled, luscious with an upwards lift at the upper lip.