Kaitlyn
Gloriana sits back with her cup of tea and puts down the plate with only cake crumbs left. I often bake cakes for the two of us. We long decided not to make them for the shop as it would be rare any witch or warlock would purchase a whole one. They are notoriously penny-pinching.
This one is chocolate, which is rare enough in the Yeavering, and we’re both enjoying it very much.
“The customers were talking in the shop today about a Bluecap being seen in Moranick,” I say, as if I’m making conversation.
“Pfft.” Gloriana hisses out a laugh. “Moranick loves its gossip.”
“Wasn’t there a Bluecap at Reavely and Wynter’s wedding?”
Gloriana thinks for a while. “I think it was a tame one, if I remember rightly.”
“A tame one?”
“Well”—she takes a slurp of tea—“they’re never really tame, I suppose.”
“But they’re dangerous, right?”
“They do have some pretty disgusting habits, the blood drinking being one of them. The fact they make good assassins doesn’t endear them to those outside of their immediate lairs.
But so many of them were slaughtered in the Night Lands, it’s hard to believe there are any left who would wish to leave the safety of their caves and mine lairs. ”
“So, peaceful creatures, not dangerous?”
Gloriana barks out a harsh laugh. “I’d have thought you’d have learnt by now, my dear, nothing is as it seems in the Yeavering.”
She leans forward and refreshes her cup of tea.
“So, if there was a Bluecap in Moranick, it wouldn’t be interested in coming here, would it?”
“They do what they do. There’s not much to stop them save for the strongest of locking spells, but even then, come the full moon, when they gain their strength and magic, virtually nothing can stop them.”
“What’s the chances there is one here?”
Gloriana gazes at me carefully over the rim of her teacup. “Why?”
“There might have been one in the shop earlier.”
“Doing what? Purchasing a peach melba?”
“Fondling a sticky bun.”
She snorts a laugh so loud, tea spills from her cup.
“You got me, Kaitlyn.” She laughs. “Fondling a sticky bun! Perish the thought! Bluecaps exist on blood. It’s the reason they’re mostly shunned by the rest of the Yeavering. Save for when their assistance is needed as assassins or for their scales.”
She gets to her feet, still chuckling and clearly not believing me at all.
“So by shunning them, they ended up in the hands of the Faerie?” I query, my sense of justice needling me.
Gloriana is opening the door to the prep area, and she stops with her back to me.
“You know, I’ve never thought about it like that,” she says. “But perhaps, in which case, it makes them even more dangerous.”
“Surely worthy of pity?”
Gloriana turns to face me, her face a mask.
“Don’t ever pity anything in the Yeavering, Kaitlyn. You’ll end up in more trouble with more dangerous creatures than you can ever imagine.”
She bustles into the bakery, and I hear her rattling the flour mill as I contemplate what all of this means.
Who was the Bluecap in the shop earlier, and what did he want?
I follow Gloriana and start with my prep for tomorrow. After a while, she relents and sends me over the road to get the apples Rowland offered, and he is ecstatic.
I don’t feel like anyone is watching me for the rest of the afternoon.
I’m not sure, but I think I sort of miss it.
I wake in the night, sitting bolt upright, the dream of the red eyes burning in my mind’s eye. I uncover the night light, and a warm glow fills the room.
I am alone.
And I am wide awake. It’s quite clear that, despite the early hour, I’m not getting back to sleep any time soon. I slip out of bed and go to the window. A large, waxy gibbous moon hangs low in the sky, and I recall the conversation with Gloriana.
The full moon is when the Bluecap’s powers are at their height.
With a sigh, I pull on my dressing gown and make my way downstairs.
It doesn’t take long to stoke up the range and put the kettle on.
I pull my nightclothes further around me as even next to the fire, there’s a chill.
However it doesn’t take long before I have a hot cup of tea in my hand, and the world seems a better place.
One of these days, I’ll come to terms with how I ended up in the Yeavering. With what it was like to be at the mercy of a cruel Faerie Lord. A shiver runs through my body unbidden, and I tamp down the terror which rises within me.
I am not going to be defined by my past. What I do now defines my future. Taking my tea, I head into the bakery and stoke up the ovens. I may as well get a head start on my confectionary if I’m awake, and I might even have time to make some more.
Hey, I might even get the chance to keep a peach melba for myself for a change.
I busy myself with the fondant before going through to the cool and very dark scullery to whisk up the cream. I unveil the glow box which contains phosphorescent rocks and allows me a yellowy light which I can use to navigate.
The cream is on the lower shelves, and I realise I don’t have a bowl because I’m doing this in the early hours of the morning rather than actually being awake.
So I put down the lantern on the cool slab, the loose cover sliding back over the light like it always does and we always say we have to get it fixed, and head back into the main bakery.
Lamp light flickers over the three creatures stood in the centre of the room. Three creatures I will never forget from my time at the hands of Lord Guyzance.
Redcaps.