CHAPTER THIRTY

Wails filled the air.
Pained agonized cries of women.
Selene grumbled angrily and sat up. Must her nightmares came to the world again to further haunt her?
Selene heard the shrill cry again, making her clasp her hands at her ears.
She was alarmed as she went to the window. Pulled open the drapes and looked down.
There was a large crowd.
One that went as far as the open fields.
Selene quickly dressed in a simple robe and left her room. Her slippers clad feet taking her hurriedly to the crowd. The guard by the edge of the field bowed and held her hands. Leading her easily through the crowd. He stopped her by a stone table.
She cringed. A head lay by her feet.
She turned to the guard who stood beside her and held onto him firmly. Her breath escaping her.
The guard kicked the severed head away, no doubt trying to ease her distress by being close to it but it sickened her the more.
"May I take you to the manor my lady?" He offered softly.
She shook her head. Transfixed. Indeed she was shocked. She had avoided execution at her home. Her father never allowing her present. "It was not for a woman"
He always said.
There, on the table was two more heads. And a smaller one. Of a...a child. A boy. Selene cried, without knowing. She quickly wiped her tears once she noticed.
Many around her where doing same, crying. Wailing, weeping. And being held back the warriors that ringed the stone table.
"Let that be a warning to very soul here! She is your queen and she will have your loyalty even on your death" Edgar said, turning to grip the hands of the Monique and left, guarded into the palace.
Even the men that held axes and robes were sickened, they looked such.
The bodies of three man and a boy was hefted by two guards unceremoniously inside the manor.
"Where are they taking them to?" She asked, confused.
"The royal wing. The emperor's orders" he said
Selene could feel her rage bubble to the surface. What love was this! How could he kill a child for simple disrespect? Was the man he once kissed a demon? Were the tales of cruelty true?
Wrenching hee hand from the warriors grip, Selene stormed to the royal entourage.
"This nonsense must stop!" She said as she shoved through the crowd of mourning bodies.
"My lady!"
"Selene! Princess Selene!" Came the call. She turned around and was held by an older woman. Her palace uniform on her.
"Release me this instant. How could you all watch him kill children?! How! Cowards!" She yelled and tried to escape the older woman's stronger hold.
"He would merely kill us all and still kill them! Please you have to listen, the Lord is not himself. I can swear" the woman plead.
"She is himself, his cruel loveless self" Selene argued
"I have seen the Lord as a lad, never this...she...he is not himself. Please do not go. He will only harm you" she said
Selene watched as the last of the warrior train disappeared into the manor along with the bodies.
She wrenched her hands free of the woman and fled. Away from the manor. The stone tables and the open fields that smelt of blood.
*******************************
The maid by her feet was humming. Her tone slow and light.
Selena's foot laid in a bowl of cold water. The rock under it scrubbing her heels and the maid cleaned her left foot with an oiled towel.
Three days had gone. Each one spent with her in her room, the windows closed and the fire place burning. Winter had fully approached and chips snow was dusting her window.
The younger maid whispered a "Sorry" as she winced when a Sharon rock poked her soles.
The room was warm. Yet the night air remained cool. Escaping the frost with the kindled fire.
"Your feet are pretty much lady" the maid said shyly
"Thank you" she replied with a soft smile and bent to stare at it again.
She sat on a round feathery heap, the maid crossed leg on a mat, tending to her fingers.
A knock came to the door abruptly.
"Enter" she said
A woman came in and curtsied
"Mistress" the servant by her feet greeted respectfully
" My lady. I must speak with you. Alone" she stated
Selene stared at the woman. The same that had held her back from apparent trouble.
The same that had stopped her from questioning the mad Lord herself.
"What do you want?" She asked rudely. Glaring at the woman.
"I must speak in privacy" she said, turning to look at the maid who rose reluctantly.
"I am yet to dismiss you" she snapped at the younger girl.
She stood confused, staring at her mistress and then the royal ward with torn loyalty.
"Please my lady" the older woman said, looking down
Selene waved at the maid who hurried out, eager to be away from the awkwardness.
Once the door closed, the older woman walked to her. She looked pointedly at the mat where the maid had sat seconds ago.
Selene nodded and she took the seat, her legs stretched out before her.
"My lady, it frightens me to say this. Those people were killed for the same reason I am here. To say that which is forbidden" the woman started in a whisper.
"They disrespected their...queen. yes! And do what? Are there no dungeon no more? But such minor crime warrant treason?" She asked loudly
"We must speak lowly my lady. She...she could be anywhere. I fear she is...she could be everywhere" the lady hushed an angry Selene.
"My lady, that day. Those people were family. The man's younger brother and his son. All killed" the woman said
Selene pitied the family. The events three days ago still fresh in mind that it have her nightmares. Further knowledge worsened it
"They spoke of what everyone here who has seen long enough would speak. We have seen the woman. She ...she wasn't supposed to come back " the maid said in the lowest of tones
"Was she divorced? Banished?" Selene asked
"The Lord had loved her so dearly, maybe that is what blinds him. No god could bring her back, no. Not after so long. And she..she is not a blessing after all. Several deaths has come to the palace in her few nights here. She should be gone" the older woman said, further confusing Selene.
"I do not understand...of the Lord wants her back. Then stay she must. No one can stop that" Selene said
"His men are loyal. And scared, even those that know the truth can not say it. Oh, even I can not say it. He looks Bewitched. Like a dead man with life...I can't explain it. It can not be. You must help us" the woman plead
"How? Why must she be away? What makes her so...evil as you put it?" Selene asked
"She has come from the other side. How, I don't know" she replied
"Which side?" Selene asked, her breathe paused
"She has come from the dead" she said.
The room fell silent.
" The lady Monique died nearly a decade ago. She was burnt, She had been turned to a walker, the plague killing her human side slowly. The Governess and the elders made the fire themselves. I was there, had seen it burn to the last smoke. Her body dressed and mummified. She had been laid to rest the same dusk, the Lord refusing to have her cast to sea like tradition demands. She is not ought the be alive" the woman said
"Surely this is a lie. You can not believe me to say she is a ghost...a ghost? No" Selene argued
"Not a ghost my lady. A spell. A powerful charm I can only imagine what it took. She had been brought back. She knows our name all. She called me by name. The soul is partly hers, her memories. Not her loving spirit. Bless her soul, but that woman must go back to the grave, she is not the mistress Monique" she said
Selene felt an overwhelming urge to look round her room. Brought back? Even a walker could not be dead a decade
"She...I met her, she was eating flesh, her eyes are enchanted. She had bewitched the head warrior and men on the council. No one can oppose her" the woman said
"No...if the Lord has an urge for some witch it is not my business. I will leave the manor if I see fit. He deserves the worst kind of curse" Selene decided and rose from her heap, enough of the spooky tales.
"You must let go of your jealousy my lady. The manor is in disarray. We do not know who else will be murdered or fed to her. I can barely sleep. The Earth hums and this...this force roams the manor all day. Death is upon us all" the woman cried out
"Jealousy? Jealousy? I am jealous? Of what? The woman he lays with? I do not care what the Lord does with his life. I have mine to worry of " Selene spat
"You will help me my lady. We can not with me any longer"
The woman shifted her weight and retrieved a satchel from her apron pocket.
"The healer gave me all he could. We can send her back this night. He gave me instructions too" she whispered
"Why not he carry it out himself?" Selene asked stubbornly
"He can not. No one that knows her can. They would be unable to send her back. She has cast a spell over the manor and all that know her in her past life. We can not do her evil. He tried but couldn't since the very first night she came" the woman said
"Then hire a new servant. I have no business in this...this tale of yours" Selene said
"It is no tale. And I trust you. That is why I came to you. I have seen the Lord with you, he values you.
If he...if he caught you. He wouldn't harm you" the woman explained
"You are ..I'm a bait? Some experimental rabbit?" Selene asked in bewilderment
"No my lady. You are key to freedom. This charm will be the downfall of Sol. Whoever sent the lady back had a purpose and she will not go away unless it is finished. Please help us my lady. I beg thee"
Selene listened. She wanted no more deaths. The manor had become her home. No more children should be lost.
The image of the head plagued her. Then the image of her beloved sister in her own pool of blood.
"What can I do?" Selene asked
"Follow me. The moon will aid us, today is th last waxing day of the moon my lady, I'm afraid we will have to wait for another firth night if we do not hurry now" she said.
Selene grabbed her shawl. A sheer black material and draped over her shoulder. Slipping on her sandals and following the woman out the door where the guards had retired and into the snowing night.
The duo went quietly around the manor. Behind it was a small gate, one that the older women unlatched noiselessly and led her in.
The glowing lantern the older woman held was bright enough. The snow coated ground was neat. , Few leaves laid on it.
Graves, hundreds of them adorned the massive land. Many with headstones and few just a neat heap of sand and now withering flowers.
The older woman led her to a grave. One that...one that had been broken.
The casket laid back inside and another grave close to it. Empty
Selene could feel fear bloom in her. She had always been partial to the myths and tales of witch and the dead. She could feel her bone chill, the night air not to be blamed.
"Here" the woman said, driving her out of cowardice. She placed three clear crystals in her palm and passed her a bottle of oil. The woman provided a Celtic cross from her bosom and held it to Selene who accepted it.
"You will pour the oil on the grave. Hold the crystals and pray she be laid back to rest. Do not be afraid when the earth rumbles. Nothing can harm you with that holy Cross" the woman said and shifted to stand at the far end of the grave yard.
Selene first said a silent prayer to the sun that she last to see it rays again, then she poured the bottles content entirely into the grave. It splashed on the wooden casket and ran in.
Selene closed her eyes. Said a short prayer that the soul of the beautiful woman she saw be laid down peacefully and never return.
The Earth did not rumbl...
It began to. A few light jerks and then it was silent.
She could see the faint glow of the moon shine brightly on the casket. A light so severe she was made to believe it was abnormal.
She stepped back as the night blanketed her and the grave again
The older woman ran to her.
"Oh thank you my lady. Come, we must leave" she said and relived her of the bottle, cross and crystals, shoving it into its sag anf pocketing it.
She held her lamp above them as they made their way from the grave yard. Closing the small gate. Unaware of the shadow that watched then from the dark end of the grave, hooded and with a frown.
Not knowing that as they left, their spell had been reversed and the figure that laid dead on the Lord's bed came to life yet again. Cuddling the warm man.