Hunor, events of misery and horror! I had hoped this morning to lie in until waking came naturally to me, after all a day off from the trudge of the militia does not come often, but was woken instead by the dull rumble of talking voices. Dressing swiftly in the dress you said reminded you of spring blossom, I pulled open the door to my room to a hallway full of mingling folks, cups of freshly brewed tea taking up their hands, and all of them staring out of the open front door into the alley. Peering past the gathered mass I attempted to discern what had happened to pull such an assembly of Bree folks together when Selia set upon me with a teacloth.
Flapping at me with the duster she herded me swiftly away from the intrigue and the nosy guests and out of the back door of the house, muttering all the time about “Enough bodies takin’ up the place without you showing your face” and “it’s the likes of you that brings this upon us”, before she slammed the door in my face with more vitality than I ever thought her possible of.
Brushing off those well worn insults and straightening my shoulders I marched my way through the tangled path that leads from the back of the house to the front of the alley. Here I found myself in another crowd of citizens all intent on blocking my path and all busy with low and horrified mutterings. Tapping the shoulder of a silk clad gentleman who was part of this knot of mismatched individuals I enquired as to the nature of the gathering.
He stared me up and down as his face flashed with instant detestation, but regardless of his opinion of me he found his manners and informed me,
“There has been a murder, and by all accounts one of the most horrific nature.”.
That explained the crowd of course, there is no such entertainment for folks as dead bodies be it a hanging or a stabbing, but before I could push the man for more news he drew in a breath with such vigour that I expected it to be his last and covered his open mouth with a finely embroidered handkerchief. Following the line of his gaze I saw the crowds split apart as two of the mayors men requested passage past the rabble. They carried between them the victim of the horrendous event, and had attempted to bring decorum to the situation by draping the body in a makeshift shroud, as soon as my sight alighted on the outline of the insubstantial body and familiar pattern of the shroud itself I felt the world drag me down as I buckled at the knees.
My body tumbled towards the elegant man who sprung aside like lightening and started screaming and raging,
“Thief ! You won’t catch me with that trick with me woman, I’ve been robbed before! Guards!”
A sturdy smith who was one of those enjoying the macabre theatre hefted me up and shoved me energetically through the crowd, I burst out the front like a charging mare and was caught by the arm by a foul smelling mayors man. Twisting my arm round this mercenary met my gaze with eyes as cold as the moon and nodded at the fine gentleman who had also been pushed to the front.
“Thief says you, what’s she took?”
“I was too swift for her, but she was going for this”
At which he reached inside his coat and briefly pulled out a purse obviously brimming with enough coin to feed a family for several years. As he tucked it securely away I must admit to a moment of satisfaction as I saw a number of eager gazes and minds working on a way back inside that well tailored coat pocket.
“Well she ain’t known to us, and she ain’t took nothin”
“She sir is a low down thief! And I insist that you arrest her!”
Upon this adamant word and noticeably eager for reward for his duties the mayors man gave a short sharp nod of agreement and ordered his team of unshaven men to drag me off to the gaol.
Upon this adamant word and noticeably eager for reward for his duties the mayors man gave a short sharp nod of agreement and ordered his team of unshaven men to drag me off to the gaol.
Hunor, they treated me kindly and well, they waited until the gentleman had taken his turn to rant and rave as the desk officer and bid farewell to the prig of a man before they explained that they would just keep me for a day in the cells, as
“there ain’t no evidence but the word of himself” but that “he’s paid me royally well to keeps you here until the judge arrives”
And so here I rest in the cells trying to fathom why the sweetest gentlest woman that I know can be dead, murdered in from what I gather was a sickening attack, and who could ever harbour such wrath for Mistress Smithfields.
