Chapter 16: His Lies
While Arianne and Will were standing together on the Black Pearl, Amos woke up in his own bed. A servant that had obviously been waiting for just this moment bolted from the room. As he was clearing the cobwebs of sleep from his mind, his father walked in with his mother trailing behind him with a platter of breakfast. It smelled wonderful. But first, he thought calculatingly, he must blurt out his story. "Father! Arianne! She's been kidnapped!"
Arthur looked at Amos blankly. "Kidnapped? What on earth are you talking about?" One look at Amos' frantic, wild-eyed expression alarmed Arthur visibly. Inwardly, Amos smiled to himself. "Calm down, son. Just calm down and tell me the whole story."
Amos took a deep breath, appearing to force himself into a calmer state, and began in a reasonable tone of voice. "Well, I was on my way home, walking past the two blacksmith's shops, when I heard a woman crying in the alley. There were dull thudding sounds, too, and so I went to see what was going on, to help if I could. Well, it was dark in the alley, but I could just make out two shapes as I entered the alleyway kicking at something, and I still heard that sobbing noise. I snuck up on them. "One of them looked remarkably like Jack Sparrow--you know, the infamous pirate that escaped about a year ago-and the other one was Will Turner." At Arthur's raised eyebrow, he amended, "Alright, so I couldn't quite tell who he was, I'll admit, but who else would be consorting with pirates?" Arthur nodded, his mouth set in a grim line and Amos continued. "Anyway, I must have made some sort of noise, because the pirate turned, nudged his partner, and then he turned towards me as well. The next thing I knew, I was laying in that same alley, alone and the pain of these wounds was surprisingly staggering. But I got up anyway, and found a scrap of deep blue cloth, and I remembered that Arianne had been wearing a dress of just that color-I saw her when she took her morning walk this morning, but our conversation was interrupted by that horrid Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. "I knew then that it had to have been Jack and Will that did this unspeakable act. The woman they had been beating so brutally must have been Arianne." Here his voice caught in what sounded like a sob, but he was really choking down laughter. Amos looked up at his father, who appeared to be very thoughtful. For a moment, Amos panicked, thinking that Arthur wouldn't believe him, but was relieved when he nodded. As he turned to leave, Amos called out to him, "Father? I thought Arianne was meeting with Sir James today. How did she come to be in the alley that late in the afternoon?" Arthur turned, a scowl on his face. "She climbed out her bedroom window," he said curtly, and exited the room quickly. His mother, left standing there with the breakfast platter, smiled at him with barely concealed hatred and disbelief in her eyes. She gave him his breakfast tray, put his servant's bell near enough that he could reach it, and left the room without a word. He stared after her. She didn't believe a word of his story, therefore she was dangerous. How could he silence her?
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Amara returned to her room, furious that the little prig could fabricate things like this. She knew it hadn't been Will and Jack beating her. It had almost definitely been Amos himself, and Will and Jack had rescued her and taken her someplace safe. She thought she knew where that safe place was. Sitting at her desk, she drew out a piece of paper and a pen and began her letter.
As soon as she was finished, she handed it off to Katie, asking her to deliver it as soon as possible. She would find out what had really happened to her daughter. Preferably from Arianne personally.
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Elizabeth looked out the window that morning and wondered where Jack was right at that moment, wondered if he thought of her. How was Will doing? And the girl, Arianne? Shrugging, she went about her daily regimen.
Later in the afternoon, a knocking interrupted her reading. She waited for the servants to answer the door. It didn't take long before a maid came to the parlor, wide-eyed with fear. "Ma'am, it's.it's the police! They want to know where Master Will is!" Ah, well. She had known it would happen, she just hadn't expected it to be so soon. She calmly sent the maid to do what she had formerly been doing, and went down to the door unescorted.
She nodded her head to the policeman that stood just inside the doorway, and he tipped his hat to her. "And what can I do for you, sir?"
"Ah, yes," he started nervously. He must be new, she thought with an inward smile. "Well, I'm here to arrest your husband, ma'am, and I was wondering if you could tell me of his whereabouts?"
"On what charges are you arresting my husband?" she asked with a lifted brow.
"Brutality and kidnapping," he stated baldly.
"Brutality?" she repeated, puzzled.
"Why, yes ma'am! Yesterday in the afternoon he and the pirate Jack Sparrow were seen to be brutally beating a young woman in the alley between your husband's shop and the next one. Then they kidnapped her. An.Arianne Bailey, I believe," he said, consulting a paper in his hand.
"Who was the witness?" She asked more sharply than she intended.
"Arthur Bailey's son, Amos." The officer fidgeted a bit, then asked, "So, er.is your husband about, then?"
"No, he left on a trip yesterday," she said, plastering a pleasant expression on her face. "As he's not here, sir, I bid you good day and good luck finding the criminals." She ushered him out and left him standing on the stoop, unsure what to do next.
Her mind was racing as she made her way towards the parlor. This was more than a trifle unexpected, she thought. Brutality? That Amos.she remembered him. He had given her the chills in spite of his courtly manner. Something about his eyes.
She was continuing on this train when one of the maids stopped her, an unfamiliar servant standing slightly behind her. "Ma'am, a message for you from Lady Amara Bailey," she said.
Blinking, Elizabeth took the letter from what must be Amara's maid, and read: Elizabeth,
I request your company this afternoon for tea and intelligent conversation. I believe we have much to speak of, and hope to see you then.
~Amara~
So Amara was inviting her for tea. Would this day full of unexpected things never end? She sighed and sent Amara's maid back with a message of assent before going to ready herself for an outing.
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When Katie returned, giving Amara the slip of paper with a single sentence of assent written on it, Amara ordered her to ready tea and cookies for her guest's arrival, and to bring them to her own quarters when her guest did appear. Sighing, she sat down to await Elizabeth's arrival.
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Elizabeth knocked upon the door of the Bailey house and waited. She didn't have long, for shortly the door was opened by the same maid as had delivered the message to her own home. She smiled at the girl, and followed her through the house to the door of what must be Amara's suite.
The girl bowed to her, and said, "My lady bids you welcome," before scampering off. Elizabeth knocked on the door, and a woman with beautiful golden hair opened it. Elizabeth knew where Arianne had gotten that aspect, but other than that she saw very little in the way of resemblance. Amara was short, very short, and incredibly thin. Elizabeth briefly wondered how Amara had survived birthing Arianne as Amara led her into the solar of her suite.
"What do you know of my daughter?" Amara said bluntly. Indeed, it was more of a statement than a question.
A bit surprised, Elizabeth said, "I know that she is somewhere at sea on the Black Pearl with my husband and the esteemed captain of the ship, that her brother beat her nigh 'til she broke, and that Will is hopelessly in love with her."
Amara stared at her, as if trying to decide whether she was telling the truth or not. Apparently satisfied, she gestured to a tray of tea and cookies sitting on a table that Elizabeth had not previously noticed, and proceeded to serve them both.
"Then my son is lying. I had thought so," Amara stated forlornly. "I don't know why he is the way he is, and I am rather ashamed that I birthed such a monster."
Elizabeth wisely concealed her shock that Amara had survived the labor of two children with the act of biting into a cookie. Amara continued with a story of Arianne and Amos when they were children, and when she had lost any control she might have had when Amos gained greater strength than she.
Elizabeth was shocked at the monstrosity that was Amos. "Lord above, am I glad I did not accept his suit of marriage!"
"But now what are we to do?" she queried.
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AHH! I'm not dead! I'm so sorry that took so long! -.-' The next chapter definitely will not take so long to post, I promise! Thank you for being patient with me!
While Arianne and Will were standing together on the Black Pearl, Amos woke up in his own bed. A servant that had obviously been waiting for just this moment bolted from the room. As he was clearing the cobwebs of sleep from his mind, his father walked in with his mother trailing behind him with a platter of breakfast. It smelled wonderful. But first, he thought calculatingly, he must blurt out his story. "Father! Arianne! She's been kidnapped!"
Arthur looked at Amos blankly. "Kidnapped? What on earth are you talking about?" One look at Amos' frantic, wild-eyed expression alarmed Arthur visibly. Inwardly, Amos smiled to himself. "Calm down, son. Just calm down and tell me the whole story."
Amos took a deep breath, appearing to force himself into a calmer state, and began in a reasonable tone of voice. "Well, I was on my way home, walking past the two blacksmith's shops, when I heard a woman crying in the alley. There were dull thudding sounds, too, and so I went to see what was going on, to help if I could. Well, it was dark in the alley, but I could just make out two shapes as I entered the alleyway kicking at something, and I still heard that sobbing noise. I snuck up on them. "One of them looked remarkably like Jack Sparrow--you know, the infamous pirate that escaped about a year ago-and the other one was Will Turner." At Arthur's raised eyebrow, he amended, "Alright, so I couldn't quite tell who he was, I'll admit, but who else would be consorting with pirates?" Arthur nodded, his mouth set in a grim line and Amos continued. "Anyway, I must have made some sort of noise, because the pirate turned, nudged his partner, and then he turned towards me as well. The next thing I knew, I was laying in that same alley, alone and the pain of these wounds was surprisingly staggering. But I got up anyway, and found a scrap of deep blue cloth, and I remembered that Arianne had been wearing a dress of just that color-I saw her when she took her morning walk this morning, but our conversation was interrupted by that horrid Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. "I knew then that it had to have been Jack and Will that did this unspeakable act. The woman they had been beating so brutally must have been Arianne." Here his voice caught in what sounded like a sob, but he was really choking down laughter. Amos looked up at his father, who appeared to be very thoughtful. For a moment, Amos panicked, thinking that Arthur wouldn't believe him, but was relieved when he nodded. As he turned to leave, Amos called out to him, "Father? I thought Arianne was meeting with Sir James today. How did she come to be in the alley that late in the afternoon?" Arthur turned, a scowl on his face. "She climbed out her bedroom window," he said curtly, and exited the room quickly. His mother, left standing there with the breakfast platter, smiled at him with barely concealed hatred and disbelief in her eyes. She gave him his breakfast tray, put his servant's bell near enough that he could reach it, and left the room without a word. He stared after her. She didn't believe a word of his story, therefore she was dangerous. How could he silence her?
********************************
Amara returned to her room, furious that the little prig could fabricate things like this. She knew it hadn't been Will and Jack beating her. It had almost definitely been Amos himself, and Will and Jack had rescued her and taken her someplace safe. She thought she knew where that safe place was. Sitting at her desk, she drew out a piece of paper and a pen and began her letter.
As soon as she was finished, she handed it off to Katie, asking her to deliver it as soon as possible. She would find out what had really happened to her daughter. Preferably from Arianne personally.
********************************
Elizabeth looked out the window that morning and wondered where Jack was right at that moment, wondered if he thought of her. How was Will doing? And the girl, Arianne? Shrugging, she went about her daily regimen.
Later in the afternoon, a knocking interrupted her reading. She waited for the servants to answer the door. It didn't take long before a maid came to the parlor, wide-eyed with fear. "Ma'am, it's.it's the police! They want to know where Master Will is!" Ah, well. She had known it would happen, she just hadn't expected it to be so soon. She calmly sent the maid to do what she had formerly been doing, and went down to the door unescorted.
She nodded her head to the policeman that stood just inside the doorway, and he tipped his hat to her. "And what can I do for you, sir?"
"Ah, yes," he started nervously. He must be new, she thought with an inward smile. "Well, I'm here to arrest your husband, ma'am, and I was wondering if you could tell me of his whereabouts?"
"On what charges are you arresting my husband?" she asked with a lifted brow.
"Brutality and kidnapping," he stated baldly.
"Brutality?" she repeated, puzzled.
"Why, yes ma'am! Yesterday in the afternoon he and the pirate Jack Sparrow were seen to be brutally beating a young woman in the alley between your husband's shop and the next one. Then they kidnapped her. An.Arianne Bailey, I believe," he said, consulting a paper in his hand.
"Who was the witness?" She asked more sharply than she intended.
"Arthur Bailey's son, Amos." The officer fidgeted a bit, then asked, "So, er.is your husband about, then?"
"No, he left on a trip yesterday," she said, plastering a pleasant expression on her face. "As he's not here, sir, I bid you good day and good luck finding the criminals." She ushered him out and left him standing on the stoop, unsure what to do next.
Her mind was racing as she made her way towards the parlor. This was more than a trifle unexpected, she thought. Brutality? That Amos.she remembered him. He had given her the chills in spite of his courtly manner. Something about his eyes.
She was continuing on this train when one of the maids stopped her, an unfamiliar servant standing slightly behind her. "Ma'am, a message for you from Lady Amara Bailey," she said.
Blinking, Elizabeth took the letter from what must be Amara's maid, and read: Elizabeth,
I request your company this afternoon for tea and intelligent conversation. I believe we have much to speak of, and hope to see you then.
~Amara~
So Amara was inviting her for tea. Would this day full of unexpected things never end? She sighed and sent Amara's maid back with a message of assent before going to ready herself for an outing.
********************************
When Katie returned, giving Amara the slip of paper with a single sentence of assent written on it, Amara ordered her to ready tea and cookies for her guest's arrival, and to bring them to her own quarters when her guest did appear. Sighing, she sat down to await Elizabeth's arrival.
********************************
Elizabeth knocked upon the door of the Bailey house and waited. She didn't have long, for shortly the door was opened by the same maid as had delivered the message to her own home. She smiled at the girl, and followed her through the house to the door of what must be Amara's suite.
The girl bowed to her, and said, "My lady bids you welcome," before scampering off. Elizabeth knocked on the door, and a woman with beautiful golden hair opened it. Elizabeth knew where Arianne had gotten that aspect, but other than that she saw very little in the way of resemblance. Amara was short, very short, and incredibly thin. Elizabeth briefly wondered how Amara had survived birthing Arianne as Amara led her into the solar of her suite.
"What do you know of my daughter?" Amara said bluntly. Indeed, it was more of a statement than a question.
A bit surprised, Elizabeth said, "I know that she is somewhere at sea on the Black Pearl with my husband and the esteemed captain of the ship, that her brother beat her nigh 'til she broke, and that Will is hopelessly in love with her."
Amara stared at her, as if trying to decide whether she was telling the truth or not. Apparently satisfied, she gestured to a tray of tea and cookies sitting on a table that Elizabeth had not previously noticed, and proceeded to serve them both.
"Then my son is lying. I had thought so," Amara stated forlornly. "I don't know why he is the way he is, and I am rather ashamed that I birthed such a monster."
Elizabeth wisely concealed her shock that Amara had survived the labor of two children with the act of biting into a cookie. Amara continued with a story of Arianne and Amos when they were children, and when she had lost any control she might have had when Amos gained greater strength than she.
Elizabeth was shocked at the monstrosity that was Amos. "Lord above, am I glad I did not accept his suit of marriage!"
"But now what are we to do?" she queried.
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AHH! I'm not dead! I'm so sorry that took so long! -.-' The next chapter definitely will not take so long to post, I promise! Thank you for being patient with me!