Chapter 8
Will was sitting up and blinking before he realized that he was awake. Someone was banging on the stable doors loudly. WIll got up as fast as he could and walked to the door. His leg felt much better today as he went to open the door. Will noticed that it was still dark outside.
"Will, Open up". A voice he instantly recognized as Geoffrey's said.
Will opened the door and he was face to face with Geoffrey, Lord Damien, the captain of his guards and one other man.
"Get the horses ready." Lord Damien said in a tone that left no doubt as to the urgency of that order. Will got the horses out of their stalls as fast as he could with Geoffrey's help. Will couldn't help notice that the entire party looked agitated while Lord Damien looked like he was in pain.Will had so many questions on his mind but he knew that this was not the time to be asking them. As Will assisted Lord damien in mounting his horse, he noticed that the lord was clutching a silk bag to his body as if his life depended on it. The Lord, his captain and the other man rode out of the stable. Will shot a questioning look at Geoffrey.
"It's about Messenia. I'll talk to you when I get back" Geoffrey said before he too rode out of the stable.
Will stood at the stable door looking at the men as they rode off. They were riding in the direction of the forest. 'Why would they be going to the forest at this hour?' he wondered.
He knew that piggy was sick, but he never, for a moment imagined it might be serious. Perhaps the healer had sent them to the forest to search for some rare herbs. But if that was the case, Wouldn't it be better if the healer went with them?. Whatever it was, from the look on Geoffrey's and Lord Damien's face, it wasn't good.
Will had wished death on Messenia more times than he could count. Now though, he wasn't sure how he felt. Will tried to think of other ideas that might help make sense of what just happened and each one seemed worse than the last. After a while, he decided it was no good to keep going round and round with the crazy ideas in his head. He was up anyway, might as well get some jobs done. Will busied himself with the morning routines at the stable.
When Rowan arrived, Will had completed all the work and all that was left for Rowan to do was inspect the horses. As soon as he walked in the stable, Rowan noticed that the Lord's and the Captains horses were missing. Will however, filled in Rowan about what happened that morning before Rowan could panic. Rowan looked pensive as will related what he'd guessed was the reason for the early morning ride to the forest.
Rowan was running his hand along his chin and looked really worried before he looked up at Will and said "I really don't like the sound of this".
"I didn't know you cared about Messenia that much Rowan".
"It's not Messenia that I'm worried about Will, it's you".
"Me.. Why?" Will asked, puzzled.
Rowan sighed as he said "Will, we all know how much Lady Mildred hates you. She blames you for everything that went wrong in her life even though it doesn't make any sense. What do you think she'll do, if something happened to her only daughter Messenia".
Will opened his mouth to say that it wasn't his fault that piggy got sick, but at the same time he knew that Rowan was right. If something happened to Messenia, her mother would find some way to blame him. And unlike piggy, her mother Lady Mildred was a good deal smarter and a formidable enemy. Will knew only too well what she was capable of. Will was in a subdued mood as he sat down to eat the breakfast Rowan had brought with him.
After breakfast they went to work, though there wasn't much to do in the stables that day. A couple hours after sunrise, Will was grooming Lavender's coat when Rowan called him.
"Will come here" Rowan gestured for him to go to the stable door where Rowan was staring at the road. Will looked in the same direction as Rowan was looking and it was the road that led outside the village towards the forest. Will could see riders on the road heading into the village. It was Lord Damien and his party returning from the forest. As they got closer to the village, Will noticed something, there were 5 riders in the party, not four.
In a couple of minutes, the riders were close enough for Will to make out their features. Will was looking at the fifth rider and the first thing that caught his attention was her blue hair that flowed till it went past her shoulders. Will had never seen that hair color on anyone. Will would've been nervous to be riding in the middle of five armed men, but the woman looked to be perfectly at ease. She looked to be in her 30's and had a face Will thought was pretty. Her cloak will billowing in the wind and this gave Will a look at her figure. She was wearing a blue gown with heavy silver embroidery at the borders of her dress. The gown hugged her figure nicely, showcasing a respectable bust and a flat tummy. Her clothes were fine enough to belong to a noblewoman, but Will knew no one in the village who dressed quite as provocatively as that. Her ample cleavage was on display in that dress, accentuated by the motion of the horse.
The strangest thing about her was that she was riding a black stallion with no saddle, stirrups or reins. Will had never seen anyone ride a horse like that. She was holding on to the horse by its neck hair and was carrying a staff in her other hand. The woman spared a glance at Will and Rowan at the stable gates before the party made their way directly to the manor house.