Bladed Wings Read online

  I wandered around for a few hours on my own, shopping. At lunchtime I stopped at a café for a milkshake. It was a nice day so I sat outside under a big umbrella and watched everyone walking past.

  I flipped through a book that I bought from a used bookstore called Bobs Cakes. Odd name for a bookshop I thought, but the shop keeper hadn’t avoided me as everyone else still was so I had stayed for a while longer than I may have otherwise. The book was about the history of the village. Apparently it dated back to the Middle Ages.

  I had dressed in my best clothes to come into the village as I hoped to make some friends here. The dress was itchy pink material and my gloves where getting wet from the cool glass as I drank. But still the passers-by refused to even look at me, let alone talk to me. After a while of gazing sleepily at the passing crowds, I noticed that a few of the shops had small stickers on the bottom corner of their windows. From where I sat it looked like a small black square. I decided to ask Michael about it when we got home and went to find Linda. She was chatting to a local farmer about school, he seemed to like us well enough and even caught my eye at one point before giving us half price vegies.

  When I got home I knew that we had a visitor as I could smell their perfume in the entry way as soon as I walked through the doors, instead of going to see who it was though I decided to find Michael first to ask about the stickers. I checked the chicken pen and collected the eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast, then checked the edge of the woods (We weren’t allowed in the woods yet) then the walled garden. It was getting dark by the time I found him fixing a leak in the shed roof.

  “Michael!” I yelled up at him once he had stopped hammering.

  He startled and the ladder shook dangerously. Then to my horror he started to fall. I panicked and dove under him. I don’t know what I was thinking. He was much too heavy for me to catch but my fear took over before I could stop it. There was a flutter of black material, before everything went black.

  Chapter 3

  I woke up in my room with a handsome elderly man a short beard and weathered skin standing over me.

  “You gave us quite a scare young lady,” he said in a deep smooth voice.

  He held my wrist to take my pulse. “How do you feel?”

  My head was pulsing and my vision was foggy. It took me a moment to figure out where I was.

  “My hip hurts,” I said trying to sit up.

  “What were you thinking diving under the young man like that, it could have killed you.”

  I was struggling to wake up properly. I had figured that the man was a doctor but it confused me slightly that he had guessed what had happened, and I told him so.

  “Your sister saw the whole thing out of her bedroom window,” he explained. “You are both very lucky, if young Linda hadn’t seen you and raised the alarm it may have been hours before you and Michael were found.”

  I sat bolt up right causing a dizzy spell. “Michael, is he alright?” I asked.

  “See for your self,” he gestured to the lounge on the other side of the room.

  Michael was lying under a thick layer of blankets on the old sofa by the window.

  “He has a rather nasty bump on his head so I gave him something to help him sleep but he will be fine with a few days rest and you young miss need your rest as well. Jacqueline, you will need to ensure that she does not over exert herself. She is not to be up and about. Not for at least a day or two. Now you rest those remarkably white eyes of yours and Jacqueline will bring you up some soup before night fall.” He smiled kindly down at me than left to speak to Jacqueline whom I had just noticed standing in the doorway.

  I slumped back down into the pillows. What had I been thinking? That I had killed him, that’s what I was thinking.

  Jacqueline came over and placed a glass of water on the table beside my bed.

  “I will bring your dinner up in a few hours. I’m afraid it will be last nights stew though as I have not hired another assistant yet and have been busy for most of the afternoon.”

  I nodded feeling my eyelids drooping as she talked and was asleep as soon as she left the room.

  When I woke up there was a beam of sunlight coming in though the gap in the curtains. My head had stopped spinning and my headache had gone. I looked over at Michael and saw that he was awake. I wrapped my quilt around me and slipped out of bed stumbling a bit, forgetting how sore my hip was.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said kneeling beside the lounge.

  “What for? If it wasn’t for you I probably would have broken my neck,” he said quietly his voice weak and tired sounding.

  “But you wouldn’t have fallen at all if I hadn’t yelled at you.” I could feel my eyes welling up. He looked down at me with a slight smile on his face.

  “I guess we are even now than.” He closed his eyes and I could tell that he was asleep again.

  I lent against the lounge and wiped my eyes with the corner of the quilt feeling suddenly exhausted, I tried to stand up but found that my hip couldn’t take my weight, so leant back down against the lounge and went to sleep.

  …

  Linda woke me around lunchtime the next day to tell me that she had decided to go to Lady Cassandras. I didn’t know how I had gotten back to bed but could hear the sounds of men in the house and guessed Jacki had hired more staff who had probably carried me back to bed.

  “It sounds by far the best school in the country,” she said placing a bowl of soup beside the bed for me. “90% of the girls that graduate have made very well off marriages. Plus it’s an all girl’s school so there won’t be any distractions from immature little boys.”

  “Anyway I have to get going,” she added after a moment, “the mice are eating all the food and Jacqueline has traps all over the house which one of the new maids keeps setting off.”

  “Hey I just realised that mum hasn’t come in to check on me yet, is she ok?

  “Hasn’t anyone told you yet?,” She said turning back at the door. “Grandmother was here when we got back from the market and decided that Mum wasn’t well enough to take care of us so she took her back to the palace with her to see some of her doctors.”

  “Really? But what about us?” I said slightly stunned that Grandmother or even mother would just pack up and leave us like that.

  “She asked Jacki to look after us until we go away to school.”

  “Not that I’m complaining but Jacki is our cook why is she looking after us?”

  “Don’t ask me, but I got the impression that Gran has known Jacki for a while, she did hire her for us remember.”

  I spent the rest of the day reading the books Jacki brought in for me and watching dust float around the room. Michael only woke up long enough to eat his lunch before rolling over with a creak from the sofa and falling back to sleep. At 8pm Jacki came in with my dinner.

  “Your school ticket has been booked for Saturday morning, you will be going to Lady Cassandras.” She looked down at me as though asking if this was ok but at the same time telling me that I didn’t have a choice if it wasn’t. I smiled and nodded confirming that it was ok and that I would go to school.

  “Good, well I had better go and make the arrangements then. You get some sleep now.” She bustled out of the room straightening cushions as she went and yelling at a young maid who by the sound of it had been trying to hide the mouse traps beneath her head scarf.

  The next morning I was woken by a crash from outside my door. I peered around the bedpost to find a young girl in a loudly coloured headscarf, a dull grey dress and white apron chasing a small brown creature down the corridor.

  “Sorry miss,” the girl said seeing me watching her and coming into the room very out of breath. “I’ve just started a few days ago ya’ see and I wasn’t sure of where any of the family sleeps. If I had known that you where sleepin’ I wouldn’t have dared come up here.” She left the room then poked her head back in a moment later, a red curl escaping the scarf around her head.

  “Oh, and Jacki s
ays that breakfast will be up in a moment. She’s in a foul mood this morning, all her traps were taken again.” She gave an impish smile and leapt down the corridor, her feet thudding on the floor as she ran the whole way down the hall.

  I lay a while watching a ruffled black crow that was standing on the window ledge outside my room, until I noticed with a jolt that Michael was no longer lying on the lounge. I asked Linda as she came in with another book for me to read; she said that Jacki had moved him another room and assured me he was feeling better.

  I didn’t have much time to relax, our train tickets had been booked for school and we were leaving in two days. I tried several times to sneak out of my room but I had the feeling that Jacki had enlisted the maids who were growing in number to keep a watch at my door to ensure that I didn’t leave my room and was continually hustled back to bed. The redheaded maid with rainbow head scarf, whose name was Kinel I had found out, came in every hour or so to give me updates about the goings on of the staff. She was a very chirpy person and I always felt better by the time she left the room to continue her chores.

  I was interested to see that I had a big bruised area around the cut on my thigh were I had landed, which was what had made my hip hurt so much. I got up and did a few laps of my room before lunch with Kinel letting me lean on her shoulder because I was starting to cramp from lying down all day.

  On the last night before we were to leave, Michael came in with a letter.

  “Michael, are you feeling better?” I asked as he came and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Yes thank you, I have been out of bed for a few days now.”

  “How did you get Jacki to allow that,” I asked impressed.

  “She is not my carer, I didn’t give her a choice. Although she didn’t like it,” He laughed.

  As he handed me the letter he had been holding and I recognised Grandmothers handwriting.

  Dearest Amaris,

  I am sad to inform you that despite the best doctors we are yet unable to find what is troubling your dearest mother. I fear that it may be a spell or curse of some kind that has been cast upon her when your father died. We will be travelling to the good Queen Kinnest’s lands tomorrow to see a scholar from her university in the hope that he can shed some light on the situation.

  Jacqueline tells me that you and Linda will be leaving for Lady Cassandra’s Boarding School this weekend where I trust you will be well cared for. Until then, listen to what she tells you. She is a good woman and I trust her to keep you safe.

  I can only assure you that every effort will be made to aid your mother recovery in your absence.

  Yours faithfully

  Elliza Nicolialoa Mionesca

  I hurriedly blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over my cheeks, not wanting Michael to see me cry. I knew that he was watching me and hoped that he didn’t see that my hands shook as I held the letter in my lap. As though he had read my thoughts he stood and went to leave. He turned back when he was just a few steps away from the bed and came back, kneeling on the floor in front of me. He squeezed my shoulder as Mr Jenkins had done when I was upset.

  “Don’t worry Lill, I wont let anything happen to you.” As soon as the door closed behind him I buried my face in the pillows and cried.

  We left the house at 3am Saturday morning, we were frog marched out by Jacqueline and bustled into a waiting taxi. She had insisted that we look our best to start at a new school and had rushed about all morning, well night really, straightening our dresses and even attempted to tame my hair with a ribbon which worked to some extent. We were the only ones at the station, to my relief, as I felt like punching myself and didn’t trust someone else not to beat me to it. Before we boarded Jacqueline fastened a small gold chain with a round, golden pendant around my neck.

  “Going away present,” She whispered. She touched it and the locket glow slightly under her touch. She removed her finger and the metal immediately went dull once again. Well that answers one question, I thought to myself as she pushed us up into the train, she is a mage.

  It was already warm in the cabin and I could tell it was going to be one of those long never ending kind of days. As the day went on I watched as the train slowly filled, we were lucky enough to keep our cabin to ourselves. I could hear children running up and down the corridor, but no one stopped to check in on us.

  The cabin was sweltering by lunchtime, my legs where stuck to the chair and I could feel sweat running down my back. Linda didn’t seem to mind. She sat very straight and prim occasionally looking up from her book to glance out the window. It must have been at least thirty degrees in the cabin, I was weighing up my options about which item of clothing to remove next without causing too much outrage from Linda who was still even wearing her large hat despite the fact that we where inside.

  I had already removed my shoes, stockings and gloves. Now it was a toss up between my petticoat or my singlet. Just as I had decided on my singlet the train started to slow.

  I looked out the window and saw rolling green hills with pink and purple wild flowers scattered beside the rail. Large expanses of green meadow spanned the horizon. I looked down beneath the train and saw the grass ripple slightly away from the wheels which where giving off shimmers of heat.

  With a sigh I wriggled back into my stockings and shoes and shoved my gloves into my bag.

  A very slim and straight young woman wearing a long pale pink dress and a hat that was big enough to cover all three of us met us as we climbed down on to the station.

  “Miss Linda and Miss Lilly? If you will follow me please,” she said gesturing with her frilly pink, gloved hand.

  I hoisted my bag on to my shoulder only to receive a very heavy scowl from the girl.

  “Ladies never carry their own luggage. If you will just place it beside Miss Linda’s case it will be taken care of.”

  I stood for a second before dropping my bag on top of Linda’s. We followed the girl as she guided us to her car which was a surprisingly plain. Dull yellow with tan leather seats, but I changed my mind about it when I found that it had air conditioning.

  An elderly chauffer opened the door for us and held my hand as I got in. It was only a short drive to the school with was in Lady Cassandras ancestral home which resembled a small castle. I was a little reluctant to get out of the car because I was just starting to cool down.

  Our host guided us to the door, when it was opened I caught my breath. Fifteen young girls all around my age were standing in the entry, wearing identical pale pink dresses with matching ribbons in their hair.

  As we walked in a tall stern looking lady stepped forward.

  “Good day my dears, I am Lady Cassandra. I am delighted to meet you both.”

  She had an overly sweet, trusting voice and large blue eyes that were set off by her silver gown. Her skin was smooth olive in colour, she looked to be in her mid forties but hid it well. She was one of those women that mum called a natural beauty. The thought of mum brought a lump to my throat. I suppressed the thought and turned my attentions back to my new school and its headmistress who was currently studying my face with a sweet smile. She swept her long brunette hair over her shoulder and turned to the side gesturing to the girls behind her.

  “These will be your class mates and family as long as you are here with us.”

  All of the girls smiled as one and swept into a polite curtsey.

  “Trina could you please show Linda and Lilly to their rooms.”

  An average looking girl with olive skin and long, glossy black hair swept forward and curtseyed, before leading us off down a hallway to the right. She led us up two staircases and another long hallway before showing us into a large room at the end.

  “This will be your room Linda, you will be sharing with Amii and Lady Sophie whom you met at the station, she will be your guide whilst you are here. So if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask her. Miss Lilly if you will follow me I will show you to your room.”

  Wi
th some regret I left Linda to unpack. I noticed that her luggage had somehow arrived before us and was on her bed.

  Trina took me up another level and showed me into the first room in a line of four.

  “This shall be your room Miss Lilly, you will be sharing with Lady Monica and I. If you would like to close the door I will help you to unpack.”

  The second the door was closed Trina let out a sigh and flopped down on the bed. For a moment I thought that she had fainted, but she proceeded to pull out her bow and throw her fan rather unceremoniously onto an armchair by the window.

  “Gosh I hate all that formal stuff. We have to act like ‘proper ladies’ whilst we are in the presence of others.”

  I was taken slightly aback, but incredibly relieved.

  “Thank goodness I thought that I would have to act like that forever,” I said moving the fan and sinking into the chair.

  Half an hour later anyone watching may have thought we where at a slumber party. Trina explained that she had been at Lady Cassandras for only two months or so. Most of the girls where about 15 or 16, some older and some younger, with the eldest student being Sophie.

  “She was the one who picked you up from the station. She is the only one who lives up to the Lady’s standards. The rest of us can turn it on and off like a tap. If you are caught behaving in an ‘unladylike’ manner you are given the prestigious honour of being the Ladies hand maiden until she feels that you can be reintroduced to the rest of us.”

  She had taken to going through my clothes, apparently we were to wear whatever the Lady requested, usually all dressing the same.

  “Speaking of, you had better put your dinner dress on, it’s over there in the wardrobe, the pink one.”