“Do you know why everyone looks so down?” Addie asked.
At her question, the man’s face turned into an expression of relief— a strong contrast from his earlier weariness.
He replied, “Miss Lorry went missing last night, and with the three other missing people from earlier this week, well,” He paused for a moment as Addie digested this, and then he continued, “We’ve been trying to tell someone at the manor for weeks, but every time anyone approaches, one of the maids forces us to leave. She wouldn’t even listen to us! She just ignored everything we said. Yesterday, when Ms. Lorry went missing, a number of us decided to try and all approach the manor at the same time and beg the Lord for help, but somehow, we couldn’t find the manor! We could see it in the distance, but every time we tried to approach it was like we took three steps backward for every one step we took forwards, even though we were certain we hadn’t been turned around.
“We're just scared.” The man admitted sincerely, “You have no idea how good it is to see your face, my lady.” The man used the highest title of respect, forcing Addie to recall some of her etiquette lessons with Christena. Of the three titles used for a woman of higher status, he had just addressed Addie with the equivalent of kowtowing through words. The gravity of it was not lost on Addie.
Horror filled Addie as she struggled to find a response. However, the man continued, “I'm glad you came out here today, my lady,” Once again speaking with the utmost respect, “We were worried that before long we would all vanish— just like Miss Lorry.”
“That's terrible!” Addie exclaimed, her voice filled with shock and concern. “The maid who turned you away, did she have a fox-looking creature around her shoulders? And did she seem tall with black hair?”
“That’s the one.” The man stated grimly.
Putting aside her suspicions and her dread, for a moment, Addie decided on a course of action, “We need to talk to my dad. Follow me.” Addie grabbed the man’s hands, forcing him to stumble a bit before he caught himself. Being of nobility, Addie was naturally stronger than most, even when comparing a ten-year-old girl to a fully grown man.
The man caught himself and asked Addie to wait for a moment so he could put his basket full of leafy greens down. Then they started walking towards the manor.
Addie felt a lot more confident now that she had such obvious proof of the missing villagers. She just hoped they could avoid Christena once they reached the manor. She didn’t want to see her maid right now. A tight ball of anxiety seemed to throb in her chest, but it slowly started to untangle the closer they got to the manor. It had been surprisingly easy to convince the villager to accompany her. They also didn’t have any trouble walking towards the manor like in the man’s story, either.
“Excuse me, Miss Lomain—”
Addie interrupted the villager, not wanting to hear the formal address. “Please, you don't need to bother with honorifics and titles. I never liked my decorum lessons, and remembering all the different forms of 'miss' is exhausting. You can just call me Addie!” Addie tried to speak with a cheer, but it came out as slightly forced given the situation.
The man seemed to hesitate for a moment, then spoke up, “Addie, then. I’m worried the maid will turn us away at the front door.” The man seemed to rub the backs of his hands as his anxiety continued to grow the closer they neared the manor.
“Don’t worry. You just need to reach my dad, and then everything will be fine. I’ll distract Christena if I have to.” Addie tried to reassure the man with her brave face, but she didn’t feel too successful. The man continued walking hesitatingly, the same way Addie imagined a man might walk towards the gallows. “There’s really no need to be so nervous.” Addie tried one more time to comfort him.
When they reached the front door of the manor, through some miracle, Christena was nowhere to be seen. Before any of the other servants could come walking by and potentially report the pair to Christena, she ushered the villager inside, and Addie quickly but quietly shut the heavy wooden door behind them.
To try and help calm the villager’s nerves, Addie once again grabbed ahold of the man’s hand as she led him towards her father’s office. Though, the act might have calmed Addie more than the man.
Addie let out a small sigh of relief when they reached her father’s office door without running into anyone along the way. Still holding the villager's hand, she knocked on her father’s door with her other hand. When nothing but silence greeted them, she gulped. After another moment, Addie decided to slowly ease the door open and peek through the crack.
“Oh, who’s that? Addie?” Her dad’s voice brought so much relief to Addie in that moment that she began to feel silly for being worried in the first place. She dragged the villager into the office behind her and practically shoved him into one of the guest chairs.
“Um, sorry, what's your name again?” Addie tried not to look too sheepish as she realized she hadn’t asked the villager for his name. “It's Jorel.” Before Jorel could say another word, Addie exclaimed, “Dad, people are going missing in the village! Jorel, tell my dad exactly what you told me.”
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Slightly wringing his hands and avoiding eye contact, Jorel began to speak. “Yes,” he cleared his throat and continued, “Well, like I was telling your daughter in town, the villagers today have been worried about our safety. You see, just last night, Miss Lorry went missing, and it's a terrible fright since she’s the fourth person to go missing this week.”
At this news, Addie's father stood abruptly and placed his hands on the desk, leaning on it with his upper body. With alarm in his tone, he asked, “Has anyone else been hurt? How come no one said anything?”
“We had trouble getting to the manor, Mister Lomain. Some kind of magic.”
Addie’s dad paced for a moment and then he addressed Jorel again, “I give you my word as Lord that I will get to the bottom of this. Thank you for coming in today. I would like to talk to Addie in private. Please, hurry back to your family and tell the rest of the villagers to stay in their houses and lock the doors until further notice. I’ll come out to the fields personally once I can confirm everyone’s safety.”
“Thank you, My Lord,” Jorel addressed the Area Lord with the same honorific he had used for Addie earlier. “I'll take my leave then.” With a deep bow, he swiftly exited the room, surely hoping to safely return to his family.
Now, with just Addie and her dad in the room, he asked, “You said you saw Christena kill a woman last night?” Her dad’s tone was harsh, with seething anger barely concealed.
“I think so...” Addie's voice trailed off, her tone meek, even though she knew the anger wasn’t directed at her. She didn’t want to believe Christena could kill anyone, but after everything she had learned today... Well, the facts put a deep pit of dread inside of Addie as she considered everything.
“Okay, promise me you will stay in the office; I'll be right back.” As he moved out from behind the desk, he held his arm out towards Dorple. Prompted by his bonded, Dorple jumped onto his outstretched arm, using his claws to climb onto his shoulder.
Feeling satisfied with Dorple’s position, Addie’s father swiftly exited the room. Just before he finished entering the hall, he briefly turned his head towards Addie and addressed her, “I’m serious, promise to stay in my office while I’m gone, Addie. No messing around right now.” Though he projected a stern and harsh tone, Addie felt safe and comforted by his words.
While some part of her nature initially rebelled against the idea of just passively waiting, ultimately, Addie acquiesced, “Okay, Dad. I’ll wait here for you.” After he left and closed the door behind him, Addie felt a bit of the adrenaline from earlier fading into the background of her awareness, though she wasn’t completely without nerves. She trusted her dad to take care of this, and quite frankly, she was glad that this would all be resolved soon. Some part of Addie still hoped Christena was the same comforting maid she had always been. Some part of Addie still hoped this was some kind of explainable misunderstanding. But it was hard for Addie to justify that idea.
For the first ten or so minutes Addie had no trouble waiting patiently. By the time it felt like over half an hour had gone by, still sitting in her father’s office, Addie began to worry. Once an hour had passed, Addie’s adrenaline fueled state had completely returned, and her father’s earlier words constantly repeated themselves in her head, “You stay in the office, I’ll be right back.” Addie kept repeating that second half to herself, ‘He’ll be right back.’ Though she thought the mantra should help ease her worries, Addie’s sense of foreboding only continued to grow as the minutes ticked past.
Finally, Addie heard heavy footsteps approaching the office door. Christena would never walk that heavily, and Addie felt tremendous relief realizing her dad was on his way back. She hurriedly stood up, wearing a big smile, ready to greet her father.
Her father did not open that door. It only took a moment for Addie to recognize the stablehand from the incident she witnessed in the basement.
Instinctively, Addie scanned the room for possible escape routes, her eyes landing on the windows behind her father’s desk. But before she could act, she heard Christena's voice outside, saying, “I wouldn’t try running that way, Addeline.” Christena spoke in a tone laced with poisonous honey.
Addie snapped her head back to the entrance of the room. The stablehand’s face was neutral, but behind him, Christena’s smile made Addie’s stomach churn.
“Where’s Dad?” Addie blurted out, unable to hold back the question.
“Oh, you poor baby.” Christena gave a non-answer, accompanied by a fake empathetic face.
“Grab her,” Christena commanded the stablehand.
Addie bolted toward the window and slammed into it as hard as she could, but the glass was fit for an Area Lord’s office and thus did not shatter. A moment later, strong hands picked her up beneath the arms, and Addie shrieked, “No!” Then, with more strength, Addie started flailing in the air and screamed, “No!” She kicked and struggled, even attempting to bite her captor.
“Ow!” The man seemed more annoyed than injured by her resistance, but it didn’t matter anyway, because within moments, Christena and Fluffy came into Addie’s view.
Defeated, Addie went limp, tears streaming down her face. Any hope of escape vanished as she realized she had to contend with a bonded pair. Christena had magic on her side. Addie just never thought she’d see Christena’s magic used against her.
The stablehand, Jeff, roughly threw the still sobbing Addie over his shoulder and continued through the door. Christena led the way, with Fluffy walking behind Addie and Jeff.
Instead of heading towards the basement as Addie expected, Christena seemed to be bringing Addie to her own room. They arrived, and her captor forcefully dropped Addie inside, knocking the wind out of her when she landed on the floor.
As Addie stood up and turned to face them, Christena spoke up. “It’s just so sad leaving you in the dark about your poor dad.” Her words dripped with sarcasm and cruelty, but her next words took on a conspiratorial whisper. “The Lord is currently fueling my recent ritual.” Christena pronounced the word ‘Lord’ as if she were speaking of an annoying insect buzzing around the room. “He has a lot more juice than any of the peasants out in the village, so the ritual is still digesting him.”
After Christena’s pause, Addie spoke up in a hushed whisper, “I thought we were friends,” she pleaded with her maid in a dejected tone, “Yesterday, I thought we were going to play games together!” Addie all but shouted.
Addie thought she saw Christena’s face crack for a moment as if she almost came to her senses to stop this madness. But then, Christena’s face steeled itself anew.
“In that case, I guess it’s your lucky day, Addie!” Christena said with false exuberance, “I’ll at least let you have a good night’s sleep before your turn with my ritual.”
Addie did not get a good night’s sleep.