Chapter Sixteen: Starting Out
A large bell tolled the morning mass. Danni groaned and buried her face in her pillow. Her head was pounding.
"Somebody stop ringing that bell," she moaned to herself. Every toll seemed like a hammer stroke to her temple. It was quite appropriate that she was in a monastery. She was sure she was on the brink of death.
She pressed the pillow closer to her ears, but it didn't help. Her heart seemed to be echoing the bell, including the subsequent temple hammering.
A monastery was a place of healing, right? Perhaps they had something to heal her with. She moaned and sat up, pressing two fingers into both of her temples. It seemed to ease the ache a bit.
She swung her legs out of the bed, surprised to find that she was fully dressed, including her badly worn slippers.
It seems someone had prepared the room for her. A basin of cold water and a towel had been set out on a small dresser, along with a stack of clothes and a hairbrush and pins. She splashed the water over her face and patted it dry with the towel.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked awful. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were red rimmed and a little blood shot. If she didn't know better, she would say that she was hung over.
But she hadn't even had that much wine to drink… hadn't she? She frowned. She couldn't really remember much after the library. A hazy memory of a statue, and Aiden, and… nothing.
A slow horror dawned on her. What if she had become drunk? What had she done? She felt relieved of the fact she was fully clothed, then was angry at herself for being relieved. Of course she was fully clothed; Aiden would never take advantage of a drunken woman. She shouldn't doubt him.
Danni didn't dwell on the matter any longer, although it was hard with the chimes from hell echoing in her head, and instead inspected her clothes. The pile of clothes included a dark blue tunic, brown trousers, thick wool socks, a white camisole, and a pair of white drawers.
She frowned, wondering where the monks had found women's undergarments, but shrugged it off. She stripped out of Aiden's shirt, pulled the letter and her head dress out of her bodice, wincing a little at the crumpled condition of the parchment, and pulled off her dress, lying over the bed. She stripped out of her chemise, ruined shoes, and stockings.
She gave herself a quick scrub down with the cloth dipped in the cold water, and just as quickly pulled on the camisole and drawers. She tugged the tunic over her head and donned the trousers. She pulled on the wool socks, wriggling her toes, trying to warm them up before shoving her feet into the brown leather mid-calf boots she found beside the table.
Running a brush through her slightly wavy hair, Danni deftly braided it, pinning it in a bun behind her head.
She pressed her fingers into her eyes, trying to calm her raging headache. At least the bells have stopped, she though wryly. Her stomach rumbled.
Figuring a full stomach might be the first step towards stopping the pain, Danni opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
And was nearly barrelled over by an enormous man.
"Sorry 'bout that," the monk apologized. "I didna see ye there. Slim little gel ye are, an' I'm always knockin' inta things."
He patted his large belly. "Tha name's John, Brother John."
"Danni," Danni managed politely.
"Ah, ye're Crispin's friend!" John continued down the hallway and Danni followed him, listening to his polite chatter, but secretly wishing that he would be quiet.
"-so I turn aroun' an' crash! Tha blasted thing's fallen again! Sorry Milord," he said, folding his hands together and looking skyward. "So, anyway, we had ta fetch all tha monks here an' tie a rope aroun' his head and… Oh, look, we're at the dining room. I'll leave ye here ta eat, I'm a little late for mass." He waddled off down the hallway.
Aiden sat at one of the tables, eating a bowl of oatmeal. His face brightened as she sat down across from him.
"Ah, Danni!" he exclaimed. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Miserable," Danni replied shortly before dropping her head onto her crossed arms on the table.
"Here," he said, pushing a mug at her, "drink this. It's a bean from Karrish that they brew into a hot drink. It might help your headache."
Danni took the mug, willing to drink poison if it would stop her headache. The dark liquid was hot and bitter on her tongue, but the piercing throb in her temple did fade to a dull ache.
"Um," Danni started, running a finger over the lip of the mug, not sure how to phrase her question.
Aiden looked up from putting more honey on his oatmeal. "Um?" he inquired.
"So, what, er, happened last night?" Her cheeks were already stained pink, a hazy memory half-formed in her mind.
"You fell asleep during our conversation," Aiden said calmly, scraping the last bit of oatmeal out of the bottom of his bowl. "I put you in bed."
"Oh," Danni said, relieved in spite of herself. "Thank you."
"No problem," he said, standing up to get seconds.
Danni stood up and retrieved her own bowl of oatmeal from the pot that sat right outside the fire to keep warm.
They ate their breakfast in a comfortable silence. Danni looked at Aiden through her eyelashes. He looked well rested and was dressed in the same outfit as she was only his tunic was a deep forest green.
After they had finished and set their bowls with the other dirty dishes in a small tub, Danni turned expectantly to Aiden. She felt a whole lot better, the hell chorus having diminished into a mere solo.
"So?" she asked, her hands on her hips. "Where are we going today? Don't forget, we only have five days left, and we need at least a day to get back."
Aiden motioned for her to follow him, and led her back into the library. He pulled out the book and pointed to the line that Crispin showed him.
"We think that this is a path that leads behind the monastery to the Cave. It also came with this clue." He flipped the page and showed her the verse.
"Why is it written like that?" Danni asked.
Aiden shrugged. "I think it was translated way back before they had standard spelling of words, just sounds. It does look strange, doesn't it?"
"Here you two are," Crispin said, walking into the library. "I have had some things prepared for your journey." They followed Crispin out of the library and through the kitchen, to the outside.
Danni squinted. The bright light wasn't exactly making her head feel better.
"Carpet!" she exclaimed, rushing to meet her horse. She rubbed his nose, soothing herself as well as the horse.
Crispin turned to Aiden as Danni cooed to her horse. "I think you might need this," he said seriously, pulling a sword out of his cloak. "Rumours have it that the closer you get to the Cave, the weirder things become. The path starts from right behind here."
Aiden nodded and strapped the sword around his waist.
The two men walked over to Danni and Carpet.
"He has been loaded with two bed rolls, food, a small powder to start a fire even on sopping wood, an extra blanket, and some spare clothing, plus a copy of the map and the verse," Crispin listed, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe.
"Thank you," Danni said. She looked at Aiden. "We best be going," she said.
"We can't thank you enough," Aiden said, clasping Crispin's hand tightly. Aiden lead Carpet out of the back of the Monastery.
They found the beginning of the overgrown path fairly easily.
Pushing back a strange leafy plant, they stepped onto the road.
"Here we go," Aiden muttered under his breath.