Elizabeth of the Monticole Trading House

I awoke lying in a bed I do not remember falling asleep in. As I sat up, I saw Catherine and Aramis's concerned faces.

"I- What happened? Was I screaming again? I'm sorry. The nightmares are getting worse. It was so real this time."

"It's ok, Liz. I won't let him hurt you," Aramis said as he knelt down next to me. "I will defend your honor if it costs me my life."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "I swear you two are perfect for each other. You are both so dramatic. Of course, I am not much better. I made a complete fool of myself. He was just so…Oh, gosh, I have to stop thinking about him. Father will never let me marry him." She said with a sad sigh.

"Wait, are you saying-"

"You made me think he was some sort of hideous deformed monster." Then she looked at Aramis. "And you, what were you thinking? As soon as you found out who he was, you started glaring at him. You looked like you were ready to draw your sword. Is that what you call it when you promised you would stay calm?"

"Then it wasn't a dream," I said, running my hand through my hair to make sure it was there.

"Ugh, the whole plan fell apart so quickly. We need to fix this. If only I could get his face out of my mind long enough to think straight."

"Catherine, please, listen to me. He is not a good person. He will trick you and then do something horrible to you." I pleaded.

"Liz, seriously. You should have seen how worried he was when you fainted. Actually, your fainting was the best thing that could have happened. It gave me an excuse to get out of there and collect myself."

The door suddenly slammed open, and in stomped a girl who was probably about fourteen. "Catherine, why did you not come to see me immediately? I wanted to show you what that big man did to my hair." She said with a stormy expression.

"It looks lovely, Dianne. Who convinced you to do it?" Catherine asked.

"That baron, daddy invited. He made me do it."

I couldn't help myself, "I told you. I told you, Catherine. He is evil. He did it to this girl, too. He is going to cut my hair again."

"What? He made you cut your hair, too! How dare he. Did he give you a brush? He better not have. I'm telling Daddy. I won't marry him if he did." With that, the girl stormed out of the room.

I couldn't help it; I burst into tears. This was worse than I thought. I had hoped I would be able to do this, but now…now, I couldn't face him, knowing that he was still cutting girls' hair off just to be cruel.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw Catherine's reassuring smile. "Look, Liz. I think this is a big misunderstanding. Dianne is not the most reliable person in the world. Besides, her hair looks wonderful. It used to hang all the way down to her ankles and was always a mess."

"You heard her. He got engaged to her and cut off her hair! Why won't you believe me?"

"Liz, I promise I will get to the bottom of this, but for now, let's get some rest. I will stay with you tonight."

Amos

"So when you told me women swoon over you, is that what you meant," Carter said.

"Seriously, Carter, not cool to make fun of a traumatized girl," I said.

"I wasn't making fun of the girl. I was making fun of you. But speaking of the fact that the girl was absolutely terrified at the very mention of your name, I have to assume there is more to this story."

"I believe there is," I said without offering anymore.

"And…," Trish said.

I seriously did not want to discuss this, but I knew that one of them would get the story from Catherine. So, I decided to just tell my side of the story. I didn't have to be a genius to connect the dots.

"If she is the person I think she is, then she is Elizabeth. Her father owns a trading house in Manticole." I paused.

"You know, I think you are right; I know of the Manticole Trading House. Last time I was in Manticole, I visited it. And I have heard that the man's daughter is a friend of Cathy's. But how did you Deduce that."

"I think… she is my betrothed," I said with a grimace.

Trish's eyes went wide. After letting out a quiet gasp, Trish put her hands up to her lips.

Carter, however, immediately doubled over in laughter.

After a minute, Trish decided she wasn't going to wait for her husband to stop laughing.

"Baron Amos, please explain what you did to that poor girl," Trish said, trying to contain the disappointment in her voice.

"In my defense, I was thirteen at the time, and I wanted to ruin my father's plans for my engagement." At least, that is what I thought was going through the young man's mind at the time.

"Amos," she said sternly.

Sighing in defeat, I said in a rush, "I tricked her, tied her to a chair, cut a lot of her hair off, and dumped something in the rest of it to turn a blotch orange color."

I could feel my ears turning red. It was seriously so embarrassing, even though I didn't even do it. Heck, it might have been more embarrassing because I had to admit to doing something I really didn't even do.

Carter was sitting down now, wiping tears from his eyes. "I-I thought you-" he took a pause. To catch his breath, "I thought you were afraid of marriage for your own sake. I didn't realize you were trying to save the girl you would have to marry."

"I believe I am ready to retire for the night. Trish, could you show me my room? I believe your husband will not be able to walk for a bit."

She looked over at him and nodded. "I will lead you to the guest quarters, and we can find a servant to show you your room."

We walked in silence for a moment, but then Trish spoke up. "So, Amos, how are you going to fix this?"

To be honest, it was a surprise for her to ask the question. Most nobles would just look at her commoner status and say that it was nothing I should worry about. Technically, I hadn't broken the law in any way, and she was just a step above a peasant.

"I don't know. I thought I would have more time to find a solution. We were supposed to meet next year after harvest. Tell me, Trish, if you had to shave off all your hair due to someone's stupid prank, how would you feel? Sure, you could wear a wig, but that wouldn't stop the gossip from spreading. You would be ostracized from society. You would have to hide yourself away. Not to mention, if you were a commoner, there was no way you could get satisfaction. No, there is no way I can make up for that. The very sight of me caused her to faint."

"I think you are making her out to me more fragile than she actually is. She came all the way here to meet you after all. I think it was just a shock."

"You may be right. I will speak with Catherine and see what she thinks." I said.

"I think that is a good start," she said as we approached a servant. "Could you please show Baron Bicman to his room?"

The servant bowed and said, "Of course, Lady Frabak. Please follow me, Baron Bicman."

I knew this was going to be another sleepless night.

********

I found myself back at the duke's castle about mid-morning. I had come to paint Count Blackwell. I was nervous about meeting the man since I knew his wife was responsible for a lot of the problems I had faced so far. Benjamin tried to reassure me that he liked to keep his nose out of politics, but his assurance did little to calm my nervousness.

I was glad that Benjamin was right—at least, that is how it appeared. Count Blackwell was an elderly gentleman who seemed like the kind grandfather type. He was sitting on an unadorned wooden chair in a bare room with no ornamentation. Upon entering the room they had set up for me to paint in, he greeted me with a smile.

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"Hello, boy. You must be the young Baron everyone is talking about. I had heard you were young, but I couldn't believe you were still in your teens. Why, you can't be more than sixteen or seventeen. Shouldn't you have a regent?" He said in a strong voice that belied his age.

The question stunned me into silence.

Why didn't I have a regent? Shouldn't a relative like Baron Manticole have ruled over the barony until I was eighteen? Did nobody check on my age, or did they not care since I was out in the middle of nowhere?

This made me want to laugh. Surely, some of the people in my barony, like Draves, knew I wasn't eighteen. I did look older than I was, so maybe everyone else just assumed I was old enough not to need a regent. I didn't know the law when I first got here, so I just assumed that when Draves said I was Baron, that was the way it was. Then things got so crazy I hadn't put any thought into Amos's age. I was twenty-two when I died, and I still felt that way, so the fact that Amos was seventeen was kind of put in the back of my mind. This was hilarious.

I decided not to tell the truth. "At your age, Count Blackwell, I am sure everyone looks like a child. But I assure you I am old enough to rule a small barony out in the middle of nowhere with only a little more than a thousand people," I said with a smile.

That got a laugh out of the older man. "Well, that is certainly true. How would you like me to stand."

"For now, let us determine the background. This is a quite drab room. I could paint you in an environment more fitting for one of your station."

Count Blackwell waved off the suggestion, saying, "I believe our duke would prefer it this way. He has become quite difficult lately."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "He wasn't always this way?"

"Oh, no, he has always been bored with most aspects of ruling since his father passed away. He would much rather spend time hunting or fooling around with women. I have tried to help him in any way I could to relieve him of the burdens that were bothering him, but over the last ten years, his boredom has taken a more aggressive turn. He has also become more paranoid. I believe the stress of ruling has begun to change him. Sooner or later, I fear the king will declare him unfit to rule and place his son on the ducal throne."

This was interesting information, and I was surprised that the count was willing to share it with me.

I decided to change the subject in case we were being spied on. This may have been a trap set for me to see if I would complain about the duke. "Then we will support him as long as his reign lasts. Let me see where the best lighting will be. Please stand up, and we can find a good position."

He stood, and we started walking around the room. As we moved him around, I changed the position of the candelabras until I was satisfied that the light from the window and artificial light was exactly where I wanted it.

"I, actually, can start working on the background without you if you would like to step out. Then, either tomorrow or the next day, I can add you."

"Excellent. At my age, I don't think I can stand for too long. I am already getting tired." He said.

Inwardly, I sighed. This may be another one that takes a while to complete.

**********

I was not invited to dine at the castle, and I preferred it that way anyway. Since I wasn't painting the Duke, I didn't have to wait around for permission to leave, so I left at the noon bell so I could have lunch with the Frabaks.

I worried the whole way back to the manor that another incident would occur with Dianne or Elizabeth. On the way back, I spoke with Benjamin, who confirmed what Count Blackwell had said about the Duke. It was about ten years ago when the Duke started to exhibit more aggressive and cruel tendencies.

When we arrived back at the manor, I took time to freshen up before lunch. Carter was out with Rulot somewhere, and so it was only Baron Frabak, his wife, Trish, and Catherine who were sitting at the table eating fried bread with boiled root vegetables.

I wonder if I could take some of their vegetables and make french fries. The fatback that Baron Frabak loved so much would make a great oil to cook it in.

I smiled at everyone, and when my eyes met Catherine's, she seemed nervous and unsure, but she quickly plastered a smile on her face.

"Lady Catherine, it is so good to see you. I am sorry that the fatigue from your journey caused your friend to have a spell and disrupt our first meeting. How is she feeling today?" I said, hoping she heard the concern in my voice under the formality of my statement.

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Amos. She is, unfortunately, still a bit under the weather."

"Please call me Amos. We are cousins, after all," I said.

She seemed pleased by this, and her smile became more genuine.

"I will, and you may call me Catherine."

"Thank you. Once again, I am so pleased that this happy coincidence occurred. I have been looking forward to getting to know the Manticoles."

This is where Lady Frabak entered the conversation. "This is so serendipitous. My dear, how did we not know until now that Ashley was a Bicman?"

"Probably because she was embarrassed by her relations. And did not want to be associated with them." Frabak said in his usual straightforward manner.

The insult he directed at my family caused Catherine's face to immediately drain of color, and when she turned to look at me, her face went bright red with embarrassment.

Trying to lessen the tension, I began to laugh. This caused everyone at the table, except the baron, to give me a shocked look.

"I apologize for my outburst," I said. "If I didn't know better, Baron, I would think you have been to Bicman and met my father."

At this point, Catherine was so off-balanced by me that she looked like someone who had just seen an unexplainable magic trick.

"Catherine, would you mind joining me in the garden after our meal so that I might get to know you better? I have longed for the opportunity to meet you."

At first, all she could do was give a simple nod, but then she managed to say softly, "That would be nice, thank you."

Trish gave me a wink, and I wanted to roll my eyes.

Sorry, Trish, it ain't happening. I'm not marrying my cousin.

After lunch, I found myself escorting Catherine to the garden. I couldn't bring myself to ask what I really wanted to ask, so instead, I said, "It is an odd coincidence that we should meet in Kimton. What brings you here? Did you only come to see your friends?"

Her face turned a light shade of pink, and she wouldn't look at me as she said, "Actually, word came to us that you were in Kimton and that you were going to paint the Duke. As you can imagine, my father and mother were curious, so they asked me to come and meet you to see if the rumors were true."

This surprised me. How would news of me reach all the way to the barony of Manticole? I asked her that very thing.

"Well, the news of the Duke being painted is quite an important piece of gossip, and so when… Ah, my father's friend heard about it. He passed the news along to my father."

I was pretty sure I knew who that friend was.

"And he sent you here to spy on me," I said in a teasing tone.

Instead of refuting that claim, she turned a brighter shade of pink and became flustered. "Well, it's just…what I mean to say is…"

I smiled, "I'm sorry, Kate, I shouldn't tease you. I am sure your family has a lot of questions concerning me."

"Kate?"

"Short for Catherine," I said if it was the obvious thing for me to call her.

"My friends call me Cathy." She said hesitantly.

"Ah, those are just your friends. Of course, they can only shorten your name to two syllables. I am family, so that gives me the one-syllable privilege. It's a rule, trust me." I said with a wink.

Finally, she picked up on the fact that I was teasing and hesitantly attempted to joke along. "Does that mean I can call you A? " she asked with a sideways glance.

I chuckled. "Yeah, that kind of sounds weird."

"And Kate doesn't. I don't think I have ever heard someone use that name."

"Well, it has to start somewhere."

"If you call me Kate, I will call you A." She said threateningly.

I shrugged, "Call me what you want, Kate."

"Ugh, but I don't like A as much as I like Amos." She whined, then immediately blushed.

"Ah, now you're loosening up," I said while bumping my shoulder against hers playfully. "If we are going to be friends, you have got to relax."

"Friends?"

"Of course, and now that we are friends, you can feel comfortable asking me the questions your father wants to know. And anything you want to know."

At first, she hesitated, asking very general questions, but then, when she realized I was really going to be open with her, the questions poured out. She asked about my barony and how things were going there, about my paintings, and what I thought of Kimton.

I would occasionally ask about Manticole and living so near the capital. She was very easy to talk to and had a very nice laugh once she finally started to feel comfortable around me. Slowly, she began to walk closer to me until our shoulders touched. I wanted to step away, but I didn't want to ruin our budding relationship. I needed the support of her family, and I needed her to go back to Manticole with a positive report on me. But there was one topic I had been avoiding that I felt could not wait any long.

"Kate, I need you to be honest with me. How is Elizabeth doing? That had to be hard on her last night."

"Wait, you knew? Did you recognize her?"

I snorted, "Come on, Kate. It really wasn't that hard to figure out. Who do you and I both know that would clutch her hair and faint at the very mention of my name?"

"Oh…Uh, yeah, hmm."

"Kate, I think you know me well enough to know I am not going to do anything. I'm just worried."

"I don't…What about Dianne?" She blurted out.

That caught me off guard. "What about Dianne?"

"She, well, she said you made her cut her hair and that she was going to tell her father that she wouldn't marry you?" She said.

"She, what? How…?" I paused and thought about it, and I groaned. Then I couldn't help myself. I started to laugh. It totally made sense in a very Dianne way. And the way it must have sounded to her was almost like I was going around cutting off the hair of every girl who wanted to marry me.

"Amos, be serious. It sent Elizabeth into a panic attack."

"What! She told Elizabeth? Carter is never going to let me live this down. Look, I did not make her cut her hair. I gave her a hairbrush as a present since she has such long hair. She got frustrated that it was taking so long to brush her hair, so right there at the dinner table, she grabbed my knife and started to cut off the locks of her hair. As far as the marriage thing goes, I have no idea. I swear that girl is a few sandwiches short of a perfect picnic."

"A what?"

"She is not the sharpest tool in the shed."

"I don't understand, but as long as you didn't cut her hair…"

"Ask Carter, no scratch that, don't ask Carter, ask Trish. But seriously, I need to speak with Elizabeth. I need to fix things. I thought I would have more time, time to come up with a way to make it up to her."

She sighed, "I will talk with her. She just…"

"Thinks I am the embodiment of all the evil in this world."

She grabbed my arm and turned to me. Looking me in the eye, she said firmly, "You're not, though; you're a good person."

I smiled, "Thanks, Kate. Now I just have to convince her of that."