The Stone of Truth - Part 1
The door to the Lord's sleeping chamber was slightly ajar.
Normally, Laetia wouldn't have dared to eavesdrop. It was not proper; besides, it was not wise to toy with Lord Hialdan's anger.
And it wasn't her fault. She was simply heading for the Lady's chambers to prepare her for sleep. She was in passing. She hadn't planned on seeing the stream of light and hearing the sounds. It wasn't her fault that she had approached the door to shut it. Only to shut it. And it wasn't her fault that she had tilted her head to better see inside.
Now she wished she had kept her eyes on the candle.
Her Lady was still waiting for her, if she hadn't already nightdressed and gone to bed. The Lady Corqurst was different from the other ladies she had served. She had the strange idea that she could manage things on her own.
"Do you like it like this?"
The words had come muffled and moaned. Laetia jerked from her thoughts to the scene that showed through the narow crack in the door. She knew that voice and that moan. Lord Hialdan was having company other than the Lady. Who it was, she couldn't very well see, no matter how she shifted position.
It could be anyone. Any servant, even herself. It had been herself many times before. It could be any guest, even.
"Ooh. More.."
It was a man's voice. He sounded in pain, pleasure or both. Probably both. She knew how roughly her Lord enjoyed the carnal acts sometimes. And even in pain, they always had to ask for more. She knew. She shivered slightly and pressed her free palm to her cheek.
She felt safe in watching, though. Her Lord seemed very much captured by his companion. Her face started to burn at the play upon words that had jumped into her naughty mind and she said a short spell, first for herself and then for her Lord to be stopped from such Hel-damning deeds.
Deeds she could not stop herself from watching.
A different sound. Lord Hialdan was getting up from the bed! She almost dropped the candle. The liquid wax fell on her hand and she whimpered.
The Lord had heard her. He was coming for the door!
The candle blew out while she ran for the Lady's chambers, but she ran on in the darkness, her heart jumping in the rhythm of her strides. She ran without looking back, hitting every sharp cornered object she could find in the hallway.
At length, Laetia passed a huge shiny Knight's armour, turned the corner and stopped to pant. She wanted to hear footsteps, but she couldn't hear anything except her own pulse. She gathered all the courage to peek from behind the armour. Even in pitch darkness she knew the House better than the palm of her hand. The palm. She caressed the cuts in it absentmindedly. She shunned the irreverent thought that had appeared in her mind about the cruelty of her Lord.
The hallway was completely dark. The Lord must have shut the door.
She breathed deeply, straightened her bonnet and knocked with shivering hands on the Lady's bedchamber door, then entered respectfully and waited.
"You look as if you've seen a ghost, Laetia! What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing, Milady. Please forgive me for being late. I.. I see you have already dressed up for the night."
"I can put a dress on myself, thank you. I'm not even into labour month yet. Don't worry for me, Laetia, please. Now tell me, what happened to you? You barely breathe."
"I saw.. a big spider on the way here."
"A big spider?"
"Yes! It was big, very big."
Her trembling hands made the shape of a very big spider. Lady Hialdan didn't look too convinced, but Laetia hoped she would not question her further.
"A big spider. I see.."
The pregnancy was tiring the Lady more and more. She looked very small in the middle of her bed sized for a queen, dark circles around her hazel eyes, the Stone embedded in her forehead glittering slightly in the soft candle light.
"Let me brush your hair, Milady."
Laetia took the tortoiseshell hairbrush and climbed next to her Lady in the bed.
"Thank you, Laetia. You are always so kind to me."
Laetia tended to the mass of curls gently. The brush parted the hair into thick braids. Her Lady had such smooth hair.
"Kind, Milady? But I only do my duty."
"No, Laetia, let me think you are doing it out of kindness."
Laetia didn't know what to reply to that. Lady Corqurst said the most strange things at times. All the servants put it unto the Stone. None of them could understand the Stone, but all of them feared it. They knew it enabled the Lady to see into their heads. But all the other servants were stupid, Laetia knew that the Lady could only hear the thoughts when she was close to someone. As she was to her.
As she brushed the soft brown hair, she tried to empty her mind of the scene she had seen earlier. What if her Lady caught that image from her? It wouldn't do to let the Lady know what the Lord did for company. Her glance darted to the door separating the two chambers. It was securely bolted. What was her Lady fearing?
"Laetia, are you sure it was a spider?"
"My.. Milady. Can you read my thoughts?"
Lady Corqurst laughed. "No, I can't do that now. Only while the Stone is fed, don't you know that already?"
Laetia felt herself blushing, so soon in such a short time. "Yes, Milady."
"I don't need the Stone to know I've never seen a single spider on the Rilngard estate in the months I've lived here. We did have spiders in Krall.."
She stopped. Laetia waited for the tears. It was like clockwork. The burning of Krall came to the Lady's mind every night before bed. Sometimes it was worse, sometimes her heart ached as well. This grief wasn't good for her or for the babies.
The Lady burst into tears. This was another thing she did that no other ladies did. No other lady cried before her chambermaid. Never. And as usual it was something that she never knew how to react to, she just waited for it to pass.
The door between the two chambers creaked, tried to open, but was stopped by the lock.
The Lady started. "Laetia, bring me water to wash my face. Quick!"
The door jolted.
Laetia obliged.
Angry steps resounded on the corridor, then as the Lady was settling into her bed, composing her countenance, the Lord entered the hallway door.
"What do you think you're doing, Corqurst?"
Laetia could feel the Lady cringe. Her own heart was beating wildly.
"What do you mean, Shrain? I was preparing for bed."
Laetia closed her eyes. Now it would come. Now.
A sharp slap.
She opened her eyes. The Lady was holding her hand to her reddened cheek, but her eyes held the Lord's gaze astutely.
"You know very well what I'm speaking of." His handsome hand pointed to the adjacent door. "Your tongue tricks may work on the servants, not on me, Cor. Speaking of tongue tricks."
The Lord turned to Laetia and gestured her out, while walking towards the bed. He didn't even throw a glance to the door before untying the lace that covered the Lady's body. The Lord's desire was hard to quench. That couldn't be good for the babies either..
While slowly walking the halls, her ears left behind, Laetia felt a pang of sadness for her Lady. She entered the quietness of her own little room. There was something else besides the sadness, something she didn't dare to admit. Something else. Sadness for herself? She quickly chanted another spell and started to dress for the night.
continue to part 2 >>
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-script by Alex
