Chapter 3: An Attack

"Lizzy!" Jane exclaimed, when she saw the state Elizabeth was in. "What happened to you? And your coat! It's caked in mud and dirt!"

Elizabeth allowed her sister to help her out of her now filthy outerwear. Exhausted, tired, and needing to share her secrets with someone, Elizabeth told Jane everything. She had faith that Jane would not judge. She told Jane about the Visions, the metal token, what Wickham had told her, sneaking out to go see him, and running into the Saxon warrior. She told Jane of how she ultimately changed her mind and returned – the fog was too much, it was too risky, she would never have found her way back, and the Saxon warrior had unbalanced her entirely.

Jane silently listened to her, helping her change. When she finished, Jane spoke. "Lizzy, will you show me this metal token?" Elizabeth nodded and did so. Jane turned it over and over in her hand for a long time before giving it back to Elizabeth.

"Lizzy, you must take care not to show that to anyone. Those are words from an old Saxon language. I don't think anyone speaks it anymore."

"Jane, how do you know that?"

"Seeing that has helped me…remember," Jane said quietly. "Do you remember that old Saxon woman I took food for? I saw the same like letters on her things. I asked, and she said that it was an old Saxon language that none spoke anymore, and that she herself didn't know it. She went on speaking, about how this land had become cursed with a mist of forgetfulness, a thing you have spoken of yourself. And then she asked me: 'How will you have a future for yourself when you can't remember the past you've had?'. I could not remember any of this the day it happened, but now you show me this and my memory has come flooding back."

"Jane, was there once a war? Between us and the Saxons? Or with someone else? When I saw that warrior's sword…"

"Lizzy, I don't…I don't remember," Jane said helplessly. "That woman…she said more. She warned me to waste no more time. She said we had to do all we could to remember what we've shared, the good and the bad."

"We will remember, Jane. Our memories aren't gone for ever, just mislaid somewhere on account of this wretched fog. We'll find them again, one by one if we have to," Elizabeth said with determination. "Let us write down everything we do remember, so that if we wake up tomorrow with no memory of this conversation, we will have it written down."

Jane nodded. "And we should keep writing everything, for such time until we are able to remember. You are shivering with cold, Lizzy. Come here closer to the fire. Let me brush out your hair and then you feel better. You get some sleep dearest."

Wrapped in her blanket as well as Jane's, Elizabeth moved closer to her sister.

"Lizzy, just one more thing. That warrior you met…why did he call you 'Princess'? As far as I remember – which is not very far," Jane added ruefully, "you have been here with me always. How can you be a princess?"

Elizabeth held her token for a moment. "Always here, except for when father took me away…I remember he took me away. I think. Jane, I am no princess, but…I know his voice, from somewhere. That much I am certain of".

When Elizabeth woke up, it was nighttime, and the fire Jane had fixed had died. She surmised that she had been asleep for maybe 3 or 4 hours. Normally, the noise and bustle outside tapered down as everyone readied themselves for bed, but tonight was the opposite. There was a hum of noise and activity outside that made Elizabeth frown. Hurriedly, she got dressed. Her coat was still wet to wear outdoors, so Elizabeth opted to drape herself in multiple blankets instead.

As soon as Elizabeth stepped outside, she knew that there was trouble. The stench hit her as soon as she took a few steps. The odour grew stronger and fainter as she walked, but never went away. Like anyone of her time and status, Elizabeth was well reconciled to the smell of excrement, human or animal, but this was something altogether more offensive.

Before long Elizabeth determined its source: all over the village people had left out, on the fronts of houses or on the side of the street, piles of putrefying meat as offerings to their various gods. At one point, startled by a particularly strong assault, Elizabeth turned to see, suspended from the eaves of a hut, a dark object whose shape changed before her eyes as the colony of flies perched on it dispersed.

No one paid any attention to Elizabeth, they were so distracted with their own business.

Elizabeth knew that something terrible had happened; never in her living memory (such as it was) had the village been like this. Never had they needed to pray to all known gods.

"Eliza! There you are!"

Elizabeth saw her friend Charlotte practically running towards her. "Charlotte! What has happened?" Elizabeth gestured around.

"Oh, Elizabeth," Charlotte said, and her eyes were red. "Jane said that you were sick and asleep, but you should be here…oh Elizabeth, I am so sorry."

"Charlotte, you're scaring me!"

Charlotte grabbed Elizabeth's hand. "Come, walk with me. Your uncle and aunt and most everyone is in the hall. Are you feeling better?" Charlotte asked as an afterthought.

Elizabeth nodded impatiently. "I'm fine, I just needed to sleep. What happened?"

Charlotte was silent but kept walking until they to the village market, devoid of both people and offerings to the gods. Here, Charlotte stopped walking.

"It seems…Lydia had spoken to Maria earlier today. For some reason, I suppose that Maria was more malleable than Kitty." Maria was Charlotte's younger sister. "Maria came just an hour or two ago, bleeding, her shoulder, all that blood…"

"Maria is bleeding?! She's hurt? And Lydia spoke to her? Charlotte, you must start at the beginning. I don't understand you," Elizabeth said. The hair at the back of her neck was standing up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Charlotte took a deep breath. "I want you to know before we go inside the hall. It seems that sometime earlier today, Lydia had spoken to Maria. Lydia had met a traveller outside – I have no idea what that even is. But she had told Maria that there was this traveller moving through and that he was carrying some treasures with him. Lydia had said that she knew he would be in the Great Plain at sundown and she had convinced Maria to go down with her to intercept this traveller. They had somehow sneaked out of the fence when the boy on guard wasn't looking."

"Oh my goodness," Elizabeth whispered. "Oh my goodness."

"Maria was brought staggering back an hour or so ago. She had blood everywhere on her, and she's badly wounded in her shoulder. It took us some time to calm her down and get her in a state to tell us what had happened. Maria said that she and Lydia had tried to make it to the Great Plain, but the fog was too thick, and soon they had become hopelessly lost. They are so stupid, Elizabeth! They took no herbs, no torch, nothing! And still, so excited at the thought of treasure, they had kept moving forward. They had found themselves at the brook."

The brook, Elizabeth noted, was located at the edge of the forest and sometimes had fish when it rained especially hard for a few days at a stretch. As it rarely rained to that extent, the place was frequently overgrown with prickly bushes and vegetation. It usually took two grown men to cut down the path to the brook.

"And? Charlotte?"

Charlotte reached out to hold Elizabeth's shoulders, as if she was afraid that Elizabeth would collapse. "Eliza, you have to stay calm, alright? We don't know that the worst has actually happened."

"Charlotte, I promise you to stay calm. Please just tell me."

Charlotte exhaled. "Maria said that as they were resting, she and Lydia had been set upon by two ogres."

Elizabeth felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. She was so shocked that she couldn't make a sound.

"According to Maria, these were no ordinary ogres. She says they were monstrous and able to move faster and with greater cunning than any ogre she'd ever heard of. They had thrown some thing at her – a piece of wood I think, because we picked out splinters from the wound on her shoulder. One of the fiends had carried Lydia off; Maria says that she only got away after a crazed and long chase. Maria said that she ran upon a camp of two men – Saxons - and she thinks that their fire prevented the ogre from chasing her further. The men had not been able to understand her to know what had taken place – Maria herself admits to being utterly incoherent and wild with fear. However, they had managed to do some immediate tending to her wound. One of the men had known the way to our village, and, suspecting Maria to be from here, the two men had packed up their camp and brought Maria here."

"And Lydia? What about Lydia?"

"No one could understand what had happened until Maria was brought here and Jane and I were able to make her talk. Come, Eliza, everyone is in the hall, speaking about what to do for Lydia."

The chaos she had awoken to, the putrid offerings to the gods…everything suddenly fit into place.

Elizabeth took Charlotte's hand and started running to the hall. She felt her heart drop to her stomach.

Lydia must have heard Wickham's directive to Elizabeth; that's how Lydia knew that he would have been at the Great Plain at sundown. Lydia must have seen the jeweled object Wickham flashed at Elizabeth, she thought, because that must be the 'treasure' that Lydia had spoken.

Elizabeth could hardly blame Lydia for breaking the rules when she herself had, but, oh, foolish girl, why didn't Lydia ever know when to stop?

Jane's tears poured out at the mere sight of Elizabeth, and the two sisters hugged tightly, each filled with terrible thoughts.

"Oh Lizzy! I didn't want to wake you because you were so…"

"Shhh, Jane, it's alright. Where is Kitty?"

Charlotte spoke. "Kitty is with Maria and my mother. Kitty is also hysterical, and would be of little help here in any event, so my mother is looking after both of them."

"Lizzy, I am glad that you are here." Aunt Gardiner came and sat down next to her. There were so many people inside the hall, talking and arguing, that it was hard for Elizabeth to make out what was happening. She couldn't see her uncle anywhere.

"What's being done?" Elizabeth asked. "What's being done to recover Lydia? Who has gone?"

Jane's tears increased.

"Lizzy, people are terrified, hearing Maria's description and seeing what happened to her. All of the men – the young men who could go - are shivering and muttering and stuttering. They are too shaken to go and save Lydia. For all the urging of the Elders, no one has yet agreed to go."

"What?!" Elizabeth gasped. "Every moment we waste makes it more and more likely that Lydia goes beyond our reach! Something must – "

"Elizabeth, I am very glad to see you."

Elizabeth stopped speaking and looked as her uncle came to stand in front of her, echoing the comments of his wife from moments ago.

"Uncle, how can no one be going to save Lydia?!"

"There is hope yet," Mr. Gardiner stated. "Can you see those two men? They are Saxon warriors, the two men who brought poor Maria here."

Elizabeth looked where he pointed. Shock upon shock, she saw the tall, long-haired man she had run into earlier, the one who had referred to her as 'princess'. He was flanked by another man who, though not as tall, was still easily taller and stronger than anyone else in the village. Young men from the village were hovering nervously around them.

The two warriors wore swords, and in addition, each was clutching a spear. The shorter one smiled and seemed to be reassuring the men around him, but the taller one, the warrior that Elizabeth had run into, was looking straight ahead, not smiling and not speaking.

"Though Saxon, they both speak Brittonic – the taller one flawlessly. They say they are from a distant country. The fenlands in the east, so they say. I was explaining to them what happened, and thanking them for saving at least Maria. As luck would have it, they have declared that they will come to our aid. They went to gather their gear, and will now set off to search for Lydia."

"But we're Britons," Charlotte said plainly. "Why are they risking themselves for us? They are Saxons, are they not?"

"Maybe so, Charlotte, but they are brave men, warriors, and I am grateful that they are going out on our behalf. Ladies, let us quickly go wish these men luck and good fortune, and thank them."

They all stood and quickly followed Mr. Gardiner.

"Warriors, this is my wife, Lydia's elder sisters Jane and Elizabeth, and Charlotte, sister to the girl you both thakfully returned to us."

"Fitzwilliam Darcy, at your service," the man Elizabeth had met stated, "and my comrade, Charles Bingley."

"We are all in your debt, and have come to thank you and wish you good luck and good fortune," Mrs. Gardiner said. Jane nodded, but was too upset to say anything.

Elizabeth spoke. "Jane and I thank you good sirs, for your bravery in going to seek out our sister."

"We are warriors," Darcy said to her coldly, "and it is our duty to offer our services whenever we may be needed." He turned to Mr. Gardiner, and spoke in what Elizabeth determined was a decidedly warmer tone. "Sir, we have left our belongings with Mr. Lucas, and we ask for your kind protection over such until our return. We have also given some instructions to your men here on how to protect the village until we return, and we ask for your notice in ensuring follow through."

"Of course, of course, you needn't even ask," Mr. Gardiner said. "I will make certain that your orders are carried out. And, may the spirits protect you both on this journey."

Darcy and Bingley bowed.

Soon, most of the village watched as the men left on horseback out into darkness.