Bladed Wings Page 7

  Trina and I headed down to the dinning hall together, leaving Monica in the room to reply to a letter that she had received from her family. I was a little disappointed not to get a reply from grandmother yet. But I was foolish to think I would get a reply this fast.

  We were a little early for dinner and the first ones there. The hall looked bigger when it was empty, I let out a low whistle, which bounced off the walls. Identical smiles spread across our faces.

  “Hello.o.o.o.o,” Trina echoed.

  With a quick glance at the door to check if anyone was coming I kicked off my shoes and hurried over to the table, climbing up into the middle.

  “Coooooowheeeeeeeee” I shouted. It bounced back all around me, Trina was in a fit of giggles on the floor, it was made all the funnier by the fact that we knew it was forbidden. I took a deep breath for another go “yowwwweee-“

  “YOUNG LADIES!” I dropped to the floor faster than I had known possible spinning around to face the door. Framed in the doorway Michael was bent double grasping his sides for support, laughing. I opened my mouth to yell at him but his impersonation of the ladies voice had been so realistic that I couldn’t help but laugh. Trina was frozen on the spot, she still thought we were busted.

  “Now, now young ladies, that is no way to behave in the dinning hall.” He strutted up to us in an uncanny impersonation of the Lady, his chest thrust out. He threw his head back and looked down his nose at us. Trina was looking from me to Michael with a very confused look on her face like she wasn’t sure whether or not to laugh.

  “Stand up straight, we do not behave like this in the presence of your superiors. I see you have acquired another china doll, pray tell me her name.”

  “Oh this is Trina she is a friend of mine, Trina this is Michael.” Michael stood even straighter and puffed out his chest just like the lady did when she was talking to the servants. He mimed fanning himself and fluttering his eyelids.

  “Well young lady what do you mean by interrupting my table?” Trina swept into a low curtsey, “I am terribly sorry my lady but there was a spider on the wall, I remembered that you did not like spiders so we where trying to vibrate it off.”

  “Rise my child.” He gave a loud sniff as though trying to smell a lie. I’m sure I had never seen the lady do that but it was funny nether the less. I could hear a soft noise from outside the door and knew it must be the others arriving for dinner. Without flinching Michael bowed his head, mimed sweeping up his dress, and fluttered from the room.

  Just as the kitchen door swung shut, the main doors opened and everyone filed gracefully in.

  We all took up our places at the table and waited for the lady to enter. The doors opened and Lady Cassandra walked into the room fanning herself with a white lace fan. Trina let out a snort, which she turned into a cough, and we both had to bite our cheeks to keep from laughing. Dinner was rather boring so we soon had our laughter bored out of us.

  I took Trina to the library to meet Michael after dinner. I told her that he was our grounds keeper at home, which was true, and that my grandmother had fired him so he decided to come here. He was waiting when we got there.

  “So Trina, you and Lill share a room do you? Tell me.” He moved in closer to her and whispered, “does she snore?”

  Trina giggled, “luckily for me, no she doesn’t, she sleeps like a log.”

  “Really? Well next time I need some firewood I will know where to go. Now ladies I have a slight problem. It’s rather a big problem actually but I was wondering if you could help. The head chef Joan is trying to get me to help with the big banquet tomorrow night, and unfortunately I have no idea how to cook. The Lady is getting in some extra staff after he complained to her and I tried to convince him to just ask one of the other cooks to help him but he said that I will have to learn eventually and now is as good a time as any.

  “Well I told him that he was a just a big onion, smelly and fury. He sent me to peel onions for an hour- Anyway long story cut short, I need cooking lessons.”

  “Oh, I can help. Mother Vesta, I mean Vesta. Used to teach me when I was little. Show me to the kitchen.”

  Michael swept into a low flurry of a bow, took Trina’s arm and escorted her down the hall.

  We went through rather a lot of doors that I wasn’t aware existed and down to the butler’s quarters. When we got to the kitchen Trina pulled out one of everything that she could find and lay it out across the bench.

  “I should feel very silly teaching a cook how to cook.” Trina commented.

  “Not as silly as I’m going to look in this I’m sure,” said Michael. He had grabbed a pink frilly apron off the wall and tied it around himself. He came up and stood between us with his hands on his hips. I smiled thinking how much he looked like Jacqueline. He winked at me over his shoulder when he noticed me looking at him.

  “Ok now do you recognise any of these?” Trina asked.

  Michael scanned the bench with a look of deep concentration on his face. He grinned and grabbed a bunch of asparagus and announced proudly that they were beans. He looked at them again and announced that they where hairy beans that had been left out of the fridge and gone stale and hard. Trina and I looked at each other.

  “Is he kidding or what,” she whispered.

  I wasn’t sure either but we decided that we had to eat whatever he cooked so we had better start from the start.

  Half an hour later he could name all of the common vegetables like carrots and potatoes, and even knew that they were in fact not hairy beans but asparagus. Teaching him how to cook wasn’t as hard as I had thought.

  Trina hadn’t lied, she really was a very good cook and a good teacher. As Michael stood boiling vegies and cooking stroganoff sauce, he regretfully said that we couldn’t use any meat because chef Joan weighed it all every morning. Trina and I went and sat on the bench for a rest.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you knew him Lill?”

  “I didn’t know that he was here until two days ago,” I pointed out.

  “Plus you said that he wasn’t cute, and I hate to tell you this but he is a total hunk, ask anyone. They will all die when I tell them that you know him.”

  “Oh, um, about that. I don’t think it would be such a good idea for you to go telling everyone about this, or that I know him.” Trina frowned, looking confused, “It’s just that I’m still trying to fit in and I don’t want the wrong kind of attention,” I finished quickly.

  “Mmmmm.” She mumbled. I wasn’t sure if she believed me but she agreed not to tell.

  “Ah, ladies don’t mean to interrupt but should there be that much smoke.”

  Poor Michael, you couldn’t help but take pity on him. Trina took the iron pan from the stove and quickly stirred in some water that stopped the smoke. Michael was looking at her with a slight frown on his face.

  “Trina that handle burnt me just now when I tried to pick it up.” He said to her.

  I looked and sore that she was indeed holding the pan without any cloth between her and the heated iron.

  “Oh ah, I have developed a, um, tolerance to heat after years in the kitchen.” She stuttered not meeting his eyes, but hurriedly placed the pan back on the stovetop. Michael continued to watch her as she checked the vegetables that were boiling over. Trina’s eyes flicked up to meet his briefly, he held her gaze for a moment before she looked away and became suddenly very interested in wiping down the bench. After a moment Michael turned and returned to his bubbling sauce. The scene had lasted only seconds and left me slightly puzzled as to what the problem was. One thing that I did understand was that I meant a lot more to Michael than he had let on.

  Later that night after we had thoroughly cleaned the kitchen of any sign that we had been there, Michael showed us back to our room through the service passageways to avoid any teachers.

  “Goodnight Lilly. Trina.” He nodded to her and I noticed that he watched her as she walked around me into the room.

  Chapter 9

&nbs
p; Just as Michael had told us, the next morning the house was buzzing with activity. There must have been at least fifty more servants running, well, walking around. Every time we passed one they would stop and bow and of course we where expected to curtsey in return. I seemed to run into them more often than the others, which not surprisingly made me late for classes all day. Every inch of the Manor was cleaned and polished. Truckloads of food were being brought in through the front gates and our teachers seemed very jumpy and much stricter than usual.

  “Louise! I hope you won’t be speaking to our guests like that tomorrow or I shall die of embarrassment. Now do it again and try to keep your voice to a delicate whisper.”

  Louise was only 15years old and had arrived at Lady Cassandras the day after Linda and I. She was almost in tears when we left for lunch.

  “What is going on?!” Monica asked as she slid into her chair between Trina and I ripping her hat off her black hair so violently that the pins that held it in place went flying across the room.

  “Haven’t you heard? The lady is throwing a banquet for some very reputable guests tomorrow night.” Trina told her.

  “Oh so that’s why Miss Fisher was having a nervous break down this morning,” Louise put in leaning over the table, “she almost chopped her hand off whilst trying to show us how to prune the hydrangeas, because she was shaking so much.

  “Oh no, we have choir practice next, I don’t think I can take any more yelling about my voice.” Poor Louise, she didn’t have a bad voice but she did have an interesting accent. Her parents live in France and she came to live here in England with her grandfather when she was twelve. I thought she sounded very exotic but apparently the teachers did not share my opinion. They were forever trying to make her speak with an English accent.

  Word spread quickly about the guests, even by the schools standards. By mid afternoon everyone knew what was happening. The teachers where trying desperately to keep our attention in class but it was no use. In the end most simply gave up and let us chat for the rest of the lesson. Our last class for the day was even cancelled so that the teachers could help with the preparation. We were however left with strict instructions to use the time for extra study. Most girls ignored this advice and took the chance to go out side and stretch their legs. The warm weather over the last couple of days had become almost to much for me, clouds threatened rain but only made the air humid and uncomfortable. I felt that they were brave for venturing outside the manors walls a feeling that they seemed to share but we hadn’t been aloud out yesterday because the grounds men had been spreading fertilizer on the gardens and the smell had been to strong for our ‘delicate noses’.

  Trina, Monica and I did take the teachers advice and headed to the library to do some work. The coming days events did not stop them from giving us three essays to work on. I took the chance whilst the others were working to check the book Michael had shown me. I couldn’t remember where it was at first, so I just scanned the shelves looking for something that might help with one of my assignments. I almost fell flat on my face when I tripped on a book that was lying in the middle of the aisle. I picked it up and was putting it back on the shelf when I noticed something had fallen out of it. I knew that this was not the book that Michael had told me to look for, yet someone had obviously had the same idea as we had and hidden a note in it.

  The note was written on a heavy kind of paper with water stains around the edges. I cracked open the seal and read the message. It was written in an untidy scrawl in what looked like normal blue pen. This made me stop and look at the seal again. Who would go to the effort of writing on such good paper and sealing it with such an expensive seal if they where just scribbling in pen?

  The seel was still intact, it was hastily made so it was a bit smudged but I was still able to make out what the image was. A small animal of some kind surrounded by what looked like a wreath or leaves. At its feet were some initials but I was unable to make them out. I had never seen a seal like this one but I could tell that it was made by a heavy stamp because it was set deep into the wax. I tried for a few minutes to read the initials before going back to the letter. It read:

  Mademoiselle,

  We have just received word that they are indeed sheltering nearby. This confirms your theory, this note will be sent via the usual means. I pray that you receive it swiftly and that your reply comes soon.

  Ever faithful R

  I had to read it several times before I could understand the whole letter. From what I could tell, this H. F had some good news for who ever the note was intended for. I decided to show it to Michael when I next saw him. I didn’t think that it was a good idea for me to take the note so I wrote it down on the back of my choir book then slid the note back into the book and put it back onto the shelf.

  It turned out that the book Michael and I used was only a few feet away. There was a note, the cook had thought he was a great pupil and was going to put him second in charge of deserts, at the end there was a P.S for me to thank Trina for him. I smiled to myself, thinking about how proud Michael must have felt and happy that we had gotten him there. I turned the note over and scribbled a brief message telling him to meet me early tomorrow morning in here and that I had something to show him than added my own P.S. saying ‘ Well done!’.

  When I got back to the table where Trina and Monica were sitting they didn’t even look up. They each had a stack of books in front of them; Trina was sticking her tongue out in concentration. I sat down and pulled my own stack towards me, grabbing my pen off the floor and started on my History essay.

  It was dark by the time we left the library. We were nowhere near finished but we knew we would get into trouble if we missed dinner.

  The hall was empty when we arrived. There was a letter pinned to the door telling us that dinner would be served in our rooms so that they could prepare the hall for tomorrow. There was also a note below it telling us that every girl would be going to see the schools tailor tomorrow to be fitted for new gowns.

  I sat shivering slightly in my nightdress waiting for Michael the next morning. My plan was to be back in bed before anyone woke up which was why I hadn’t bothered to get dressed. I had however removed the ribbons from my hair in an act of pure vanity. The ribbons were meant to curl our hair, but in my already curly mass of brown hair they just made it three times as puffy. I loved my hair most of the time because it reminded me of dad’s own short brown curls and close cut brown beard that tickled my cheek every time he kissed me goodnight. I combed my fingers through its twisted mass trying to make it lye as flat as possible whilst I waited and couldn’t help but give a faint smile at the warmth that thinking about dad gave me. A grinding sound alerted me that Michael had arrived. There must have been a servants entrance in to the library that I didn’t know about. I sat and waited for him to come over.

  After a while when he didn’t show up I thought that it may not have been him after all and that someone else was in the library with me. There weren’t any more noises but it still took a few seconds for me to work up the courage to go and have a look around.

  The library was strangely eerie at this time of morning. It was still dark but with a misty blue glow as the sun slowly crept up over the hills. I padded around the shelves, stopping at each end to listen for any one moving around.

  I heard a muffled thump from the back of the room so crept around the other way for a better look. At first I thought it must have been a rat as I had seen them around the kitchens but as my eyes became accustomed to the dark I could make out a tall shadow standing at the shelf. I realised I was holding my breath and slowly released it. The figure was leafing through a book, when he froze mid way through. Slowly he put the book back on the shelf then spun to face me. My breath caught in my chest, a glint at his side told me that he had drawn a dagger from his belt.

  Chapter 10

  We both stood in a stale mate. My only hope was that who ever it was had only heard me, and didn’t know where I was exactly
. After a minute he started to move away from the shelves and walk quietly towards me. I was too afraid to move, he moved closer every second and had started moving faster. As he got closer I could see that he stood taller than the grounds keeper with very broad shoulders and powerful arms. He was only a few steps away now and I knew that if I ran now he would be on me in a second. I crouched where I was so that I when he got close enough I might be able to sneak out in the shadow of the shelves. When he was close enough that I could hear him breathing, I braced myself ready to fly out beneath him when I was flung back into the isle behind me, a mans hand over my mouth and the other pinning me to the ground.

  I could hear footsteps growing louder, than suddenly they stopped. There was silence, I didn’t try to get up, I would prefer to take my chances with the unknown man saving me than the one wanting to cut my throat. My arms had been pinned underneath me when I fell making it impossible to reach the dagger that was strapped to my thigh.

  The footsteps started again, softer this time as they moved away from where I lay. The silence was broken by crash that vibrated the floor and a grinding sound again signalled that the man had fled the library. My eyes where clasped firmly shut a strong arm gently but hurriedly lifted me to my feet.

  “Can you walk?” Michael’s voice whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes looking directly into his, I had never seen him look as he did now. His hair was on end and he was breathing heavily. A wave of emotion swept through me, a mixture of relief and fear. Fear of what had happened and relief that Michael was there with me.

  “Lilly!” He said grasping my shoulders.