Chapter III.28 #2
Miria wiped her sweaty hands on her skirts and paced where she could keep an eye on the open gate.
Would the wedding have started? They’d been wise to get here early, but even still, the sun was high in the sky.
The trickle of people going in and out of the manor grounds had slowed to nothing.
Miria wanted to throw herself at the invisible ward and scream in frustration.
Rosmilda would not, could not, get the better of her when she was so close.
Adaline might have been prepared to go through with the wedding if she needed to, but Miria was not prepared to let her.
Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention, but it wasn’t a bird carrying a charm in its beak. It was a guard. The guard—Otto—who had owed her a debt and paid it recently.
Otto glanced around nervously and nodded at one of the other men.
“Looking for something?” the second guard asked.
“Making sure everyone who was expected has arrived. M’lady Adaline was concerned someone might be missing.” He raised his voice as he spoke and opened the palm of his left hand carefully, and there—Miria saw Adaline’s charm.
Her heart leapt into her chest. This was odd, and Otto clearly didn’t see her yet, but he was holding the charm out, trying to be discreet.
Miria darted over, and she could see the moment Nalki’s almost-invisibility spell failed. It was predicated on people not seeing that which they didn’t expect, after all. And somehow Otto had known enough to be here, to expect Miria.
His eyes widened, and his whole body twitched in surprise.
Miria feared this would be all it took to alert the other guards, but one of the two was staring in the opposite direction, and the one who’d been talking to Otto appeared more concerned with teaching himself how to flip his dagger theatrically.
“What’s that?” The guard dropped the dagger and motioned toward the charm as he retrieved it.
“What?” Otto shook himself. “Oh, found it lying about the wedding area. Figure it belongs to some girl, maybe one of the O’seer’s daughters. Better pick it up in case.”
The guard snorted. “Girls and their trinkets, eh. Looks like a fancy rock to me.”
What was any precious jewel but a fancy rock, Miria thought.
Her charm was something far more valuable.
But this was not the time for it. Otto looked like he might pass out as she stood so close to him and pressed her own charm into the ward.
With her other hand, she motioned for him to move his closer.
He did, uttering some inane reply to his friend.
Miria stopped listening because as soon as both charms touched the ward, its power vibrated through her body.
Her nerves tingled with it, her body hummed, almost violently at first, and Miria held her breath.
Then the sensation calmed, her magic matching the ward’s foreign rhythm.
It was now or never. It had worked or it had not.
Miria crossed the gate’s threshold. As soon as she was through, she felt the magic snap back into place, nipping at the hem of her dress. She let out her breath.
Miria nodded at Otto in thanks. Why or how he’d come to help would have to be a mystery to solve another day. She had a wedding to prevent.
But Otto snagged her wrist before she could run off. “Wait.”
“Lady Adaline needs my help,” Miria said. “I appreciate what you did, but—”
“You owe me now, witch,” he said under his breath. “If nothing else, an explanation for why I just did that.”
“Why did you do that?”
Reluctantly, she followed Otto into a secluded area. They were heading in the right direction. In the distance, Miria could see people in fine clothing milling about. It didn’t appear as though the wedding had begun yet.
Otto ran his fingers through his hair, realized he still carried the charm, and thrust it at Miria. “Something is not right here. These people from town, the O’seer and his wife—they aren’t right. You told me you would look into the illnesses plaguing the children in town. Did you learn anything?”
“I did, actually, and—”
“Does it have something to do with them? The O’seer’s family?”
The question managed to strike Miria speechless for a moment. “How did you know?”
“Because I’ve worked for Lord Sigmun for years, and something has not been right around here for a while.
Especially in the last week, m’lord and lady have been walking around like they’re half asleep much of the time when there’s been so much to do.
Then you came flying through a few days ago, Lady Adaline disappears, and it’s gotten even odder.
The O’seer’s wife struts about like she runs the whole place, and we’ve been told to let her be.
A woman wouldn’t do that unless she’s a queen or a witch, and no way would Lord Sigmun allow it unless she was the queen. No offense.”
“I’ll consider it.”
“I start wondering, then, what if she is a witch?” Otto said, talking over Miria’s sarcasm.
“So I snooped on her. I saw this thing she was working on, the thing m’lord and Sir Alberik said was going to help find Lady Adaline.
It was magic, for sure, but not your kind of magic, if you know what I mean. ”
Miria did know. Though Rosmilda’s golem and Tuli were not that different, magically speaking, she understood exactly what Otto meant.
“When Lady Adaline returned, claiming she fought her way out of the woods, I thought it strange again. And then, just now, I’m called in to assist the O’seer’s wife.
Seems Lady Adaline was found in possession of ‘witch magic’ as Rosmilda told of it.
She said it was dangerous and gave it to me to dispose of.
But Lady Adaline was distraught, fighting with her.
There was a note with a ribbon. I’m sure Lady Rosmilda didn’t care that I saw it because she doesn’t think I can read, but I can well enough.
I followed the instructions you left and came down to the gate. You tell me why now.”
Miria had to take a moment to let this all sink in, and she took a deep breath, deciding how much she should share. She hadn’t expected an ally in here other than Adaline, but Otto—even if his motivations were questionable and sexist—was not a gift she would overlook.
“Rosmilda blocked me from entering the grounds. You helped me break the spell she had to keep me out. She and my fa—the Overseer—are responsible for what’s happening to the children in town, and I can prove it.
Lady Adaline’s marriage must be prevented from tying your lordship’s family to the Overseer’s. ”
“You’re here to stop them?”
Miria pushed down the bit of guilt in her gut. It was true, after all. Even if her own motivations might be questionable, too. “I am. Will you help if I need it?”
Fear flashed over his face, and Miria regretted her words in an instant. He’d already done a lot, more than she would have expected, and she didn’t even know exactly what she was asking.
“Forget I asked. Just watch out for Lady Adaline, will you?” she asked instead.
“Her ladyship and her family have my sword.” Otto started away, then paused and glanced back with some trepidation. “Be careful.”
“You, as well.”
Miria let him return to whatever post he was supposed to have, and she tied Adaline’s charm around her wrist. As she did, she touched her own, letting Adaline’s emotions remind her what was at stake.
Her heart.
That was once ripped out her chest.
That was healed and then given over to another who needed her now.
Miria let Nalki’s spell fall away, then she marched across the lord’s lawn to a sham of a wedding and a moment fifteen years in the making.