Vengeance 03 - Believe In Me by Lana Williams Page B

been cutting tree limbs with it, it was so dull. Yet she didn’t realize she no longer had it in her possession.
    Cristiana seemed overwhelmed by the entire conversation and the woman now sobbing in her arms. William could make little sense of it.
    “Cristiana?” He knelt bes ide her. “Who is she?”
    “Our maid. She was with my mother the night she...when she was...murdered.”
    William shared a look with Henry , trying to get his impression of the situation. Henry shook his head as bewildered as William.
    Cristiana drew a shaky breath and rubbed her hand over the maid’s shoulders. “Branwen, calm yourself. I need you to tell me what happened that night.”
    Her request upset the maid further. Her sobbing words about winged demons made no sense.
    Cristiana turned to whisper to William, “If the Branwen I’d known and loved stood next to this person, I’m not certain I would realize the two were the same. She was a sweet girl, eager to please, always neat in appearance and manner.” She shook her head. “I’m terribly sorry that she attacked you.”
    “No harm was done,” William reassured her.
    Cristiana patted the woman’s back, hushing her until at last her sobs quieted to hiccups. “How did you find me?”
    T he maid calmed, pulling off her hood as she spoke. “I’ve been following you. I couldn’t get into the convent to free you. There were too many there. The walls were too high. Then the knight took you. Yesterday you traveled so fast, but this night I finally caught up with you.”
    “I’m glad you found me,” Cristiana told her.
    Branwen glanced nervously over her shoulder at William, seemingly unaware that he could hear all she said. “We must leave, my lady,” she whispered. “We must not go home. We must not go to Lonsgsbury. We must hide.”
    Cristiana bit her lower lip. “Branwen, I have to know what happened the night Mother was killed.”
    Panic filled the maid’s wide eyes and her breath came faster and faster as did her words. “The demons. I don’t know. They came at us so quick. I—I—”
    With a worried glance at William, Cristiana hushed her. “’Tis all right. Calm yourself, Branwen. We will speak of it later.”
    The maid’s agitation eased as Cristiana continued to reassure her.
    “ Are you hungry?” Cristiana asked.
    Branwen nodded .
    Henry poured what little soup remained into a wooden bowl and handed it to the maid with a spoon. She stared at it for a long moment as though uncertain what it was. At last she took the soup with a sniffle and shaking hands. “Thank...you.”
    William stayed nearby in case the woman did anything crazed. She seemed less than stable and he didn’t want to risk Cristiana being harmed.
    Cristiana continued to ask her questions in a gentle voice as the maid ate. The way she shoveled in the food made William think she hadn’t eaten for some time. Some of Cristiana’s questions she responded to and some she ignored. “Where have you been staying?” Cristiana asked.
    The maid blinked at her. “In the woods.”
    “All this time? But it’s been nearly two months.”
    “It has?” The maid shook her head, the odd look in her eyes confirmed to William that she was not in her right mind. “I—I don’t know where I was. I couldn’t go home. They might be there. They want to kill us all.”
    H enry moved to stand beside William. “I thought some food in her belly might give her wits back to her,” he said quietly.
    “Lack of food will do that to a person , but I don’t think that is her only problem. Sounds like she’s been in hiding for some time.”
    “From who?”
    “Therein lies the question. What simple thieves attack on horseback?”
    “That was my question as well. The tale grows more complicated.”
    “I can understand why Cristiana wants to discover who murdered her mother,” William said. “I would want to do the same.” If someone had killed his mother or father, he wouldn’t rest until he found the guilty