Chapter 14 - Nightly Adventures

Night had fallen. Darkness as thick as ink spilled in the air spread before them impeded only by the little squares of light flowing out of scarce windows. There wasn't enough brightness for their eyes and their range of vision was limited, but the lack of people on the street and the houses locked shut compensated for it all. The entire village was sleeping; Eleonora had never felt more liberated.

They walked with careful, deft steps, trying to make as little noise as possible. The silence was a blessing, but it made even a pin drop sound like a fall of a hollow hammer. Eleonora didn't wish to wake anyone up — more for her own benefit than theirs. It would defeat her whole purpose of crossing the village in the middle of the night.

'How long are we to walk more?' Talia whispered to her. She looked tired already and they weren't even halfway to the way station to catch the cart.

Unlike Eleonora, Talia came from a relatively richer family. Her father, the eldest of the family — first of Hugh's four brothers — owned a bakery in Ilyndor and her mother came from a family of merchants. Being the only sister of five brothers, Talia was loved abundantly by her family. That meant, there was hardly any time where she had to walk longer than a few steps. There was always someone to take her to places. They couldn't afford to buy a carriage, but there was always a cart waiting by their door. And that was more than what the working class people like her could wish for.

'A lot,' answered Eleonora truthfully. 'The waystation is at the end of the village.'

'My feet hurt.'

'You wish to go back?' asked Eleonora. They hadn't come a long way from their cottage. It would be no problem for Talia to return.

Talia, who had been slouching behind her until now, stood up straighter and walked ahead to match her steps. 'Not a chance. I wish to meet your soldier. And I want a percentage of your reward for accompanying you.'

Eleonora smiled. 'How much?'

Talia tilted her head in thought. 'Not less than one percent,' she decided.

Eleonora raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. 'That's a lot. How's two?'

'Woah!' Talia feigned a gasp. 'Careful with the generosity, my lady.'

Eleonora suppressed a laugh as she stopped in front of a particular house. It was well lit; the windows throwing golden shine onto the darkness outside. Unlike every other house, she could hear movement within the walls of this one. Albert's house. It must be his mother still awake to take care of her sick son.

'I'll wait here,' Talia said, waving to her cousin to go in and deliver the medicines.

'I won't be long.' Eleonora nodded, climbed the steps to the door, took a moment to compose herself, and knocked. All noises of the movement inside the house ceased instantly. For a moment, Eleonora was worried that there was something wrong inside, but then she thought of her present condition and realised how utterly terrifying and immensely spooky it was to hear a knock on your door in the middle of the night.

'It's Eleonora. I've come to deliver the medicines,' she said, trying to keep her voice down so as to not wake up the neighbours.

Movement began again and she hoped it was Albert's mother getting up to open the door. As if on beat, the door was unlatched and thrown open the next moment.

'Thanks Heavens. I thought it was the guards.' Albert's mother was visibly relieved to see her. 'What made you come here in the middle of the night?' She asked, even as she stepped away to let Eleonora in.

'I'm running an errand for..,' Eleonora wondered how to refer to the soldier/spy in the conversation. He wasn't a complete stranger — not after the nerve-wracking forest incident. But he was certainly not a friend either. 'An unwanted acquaintance,' she completed, pleased with that description.

'It might take the whole day. I wanted to deliver these before late,' she handed over a smaller box of medicines and her potions to Albert's mother. 'Can I please see him before I go?'

'Most certainly, please,' Albert's mother gestured for her to walk to his room where he lay.

'Has there been any changes in his condition?' Eleonora asked, as she sat down on Albert's side. Her eyes moved over his body expertly, noticing and noting the changes from the last time she saw him two days ago.

His mother smiled. 'My boy finished a whole bowl of stew tonight. The mandrake roots you left me last time seems to work very well.'

'When it comes to certain poisons, the will to live heals better than any medicine can. I can see him fighting to get better,' she explained.

Eleonora touched his arm to check for his pulse. Steady.

She opened his mouth and was pleased to note that the discolouration of his tongue was significantly reduced. Not to mention his skin looked slightly more healthy and less ashen.

He'll live. He was improving. Although he still needed care.

'I have left a note with the potions in the box, explaining when and how to give them to him. He seems to be doing better but it takes time for the poison to leave the body completely. Continue with the stews and rice water until he's healed enough to sit on his own. I'll come to check on him on my way back from Ilyndor,' Eleonora explained as she stood up straight, ready to leave.

'Ilyndor?' Albert's mom asked, her voice was almost trembling. 'Did the guards come to you too?'

Eleonora frowned. 'What guards?'

'The king's men,' she answered, looking around as if they could be lurking inside her home. 'They have been going around the village, checking every single house, claiming to have the king's decree that permits the intrusions. They say they are searching for bandits who have taken cover within the village. But there have been strange rumours going around.'

'What rumours?' Eleonora asked, even as she wondered if these bandits who had taken cover in the village had anything to do with the stranger she had met in the forest. Had she been wrong about the whole thing? Was he a criminal? But then the letter...

Albert's mother shifted closer to speak in a much lower voice. 'Martha, our village chief's wife, said they are looking for the ailing. She said one of them took away a man who coughed in their presence. It's all very strange.'

'Why?' was all she could say.

'I wouldn't know,' she came closer to take Eleonora's hand in hers. 'They haven't come to this side of the village yet, but I'm worried one of them will show up anytime. I'm not going to let them take my Albert away from me. I'll give up my life before they take him away from me. So please if they ask you about him, do not mention his ailment. Please do not mention that you have been treating him. I beg of you.'

Eleonora hadn't heard of anything like that. But then, there was hardly anyone who would share the village gossip with her. Regardless, she was about to put her life on the line by following the letter. She could but hoped to get another one of her questions answered before she took her final breath.

'Do not worry. You can count on me. I will not speak about him to anyone.'

'Thank you. Thank you,' Albert's mother cried with relief. Then as if remembering something she had previously forgotten, she rushed into Albert's room and came back with a small bag of cinnamon cookies. 'I'll pay you for your kindness as soon as I receive my wages for the month. For now, please take these for your journey. I made them myself. They're my Albert's favourite.'

The full journey to Ilyndor and back home would hardly take more than a day's time and they had already packed enough food to last a day. But Eleonora didn't have the heart to decline her kind offer. Not to mention the sweet smell of cinnamon and charred sugar emanating through the small bag was mouth-watering. It would be a sin to refuse it.

'Thank you,' she said. 'I'll come by on my way back.'

With that, Eleonora stepped back out into the thick darkness of the night. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the changes in lighting. The door behind her was, once again, bolted shut with a sharp snap. She looked around for Talia; she was nowhere to be seen.

The panic that hit her was sudden and severe. Thousands of horrible scenarios crossed her mind in the few seconds when she looked around her surroundings and saw nothing but impenetrable darkness, like a black cloth shrouding everything — every house, every object, the streets and the sky.

'Talia?' she called out to nothing in particular. She wasn't screaming. Not yet.

'Tal-'

'Shhh!' the whispered echoed, riding over the gentle breeze.

Eleonora almost snapped her neck with the quickness with which she turned her head in the direction of the voice and sighed deeply when she was greeted with Talia's face looking back at her from the end of the street. She couldn't see much clearly with the dark, but it appeared her index finger was over her lips, signalling her not to speak.

Eleonora smiled — more because of the relief she felt from seeing her safe than because of her antics in the middle of an empty street. However, the smile quickly faded away when she realised Talia was not frolicking to scare her, but instead was beckoning her to rush to her faster.

'What are you-'

'Someone was there,' whispered Talia, evidently distressed.

'Where?' Eleonora whispered back.

'I don't know. I just felt someone move and I ran away.'

'Like a person?' Eleonora asked, worried. Had the guards Albert's mother mentioned came to inspect her house already?

Talia shook her head. 'Not a person.'

'Then what? A ghost?'

Talia cowered, looked away. 'Maybe.'

Eleonora laughed. She knew they existed, despite never having the opportunity to come across one. 'Ghosts are just people we can't see anymore, Talia.'

'Are- are you not scared of them?' Talia had her whole body wrapped around Eleonora's arm as they made their way towards the waystation.

'What is there to be scared of? Every person behind these closed doors would spare no chance to curse me out and wish for my untimely death. The ghosts never bother me. Who do you think scares me more?'

Talia loosened her grip around her arm, but still held on as they walked. 'I'll take the two percent you offered before. I need it to burn a few homes.' She glared at the houses they passed by.

Eleonora smiled, sprinting faster and pulling her cousin along. 'Come on, let's move faster now. If we miss the cart at three, there won't be another one until six. We'll mess up our masterplan.'

As they turned the corner, hand in hand, conversing in low, whispering voices, Eleonora didn't know of the slow movement of the shadows behind them.

She didn't know of the eyes that watched them through an unclouded gaze, piercing the darkness like an arrow does the flesh.

Most importantly, as she ran through the empty streets of the village in the middle of the night, she didn't know that she wasn't going to walk these streets again. Not for a very long time.