A part of Kaily knew it all was impossible in every sense of the word, but another part of her knew it wasn't. It felt like something clicked into place in her mind, and she didn't like how it made her feel. She accepted long ago that her earliest memory dated back to when she was seven, the day her parents found her. No memories existed before that time, not even a glimmer of one. This place threatened that peaceful fact. She remembered nothing before for a reason, and she wanted to keep it that way. Something about the room threatened her happy, peacefulness of memory loss.
Her options, two doors, two choices. She refused to exam the gruesome tapestry to find out if a third choice existed. She rejected the doorway option. She didn't try to open the door, and she was afraid to try, if she were honest with herself. No telling what might happen if she walked through that cursed doorway again. She pushed off the door she leaned against and walked to the tapestry. She avoided adventure where possible. She would take choice number two.
She slipped behind the tapestry and crept up the stairway. The stairway curved in a spiral. Torches similar to those in the library lined the outer wall. The air felt cool in the stairway. She stopped at the top in front of a closed door, a similar mahogany door to the one in the library but smaller. Apparently, the people there liked dark and foreboding colors, at least from the choice of wood.
She put her hand on the door handle and paused. She glanced back the way she came from and wondered if she shouldn't try to go through the door in the library after all. A lump lodged in her throat along with the stone in her stomach. She felt an intense fear which threatened to choke her senses. She noticed the light of the torches dimmed as if on some kind of motion sensor. If she stayed there, she would be surrounded by darkness. She hated small places, but especially dark, closed in spaces. She opened the door and stepped through into the room on the other side before the last of the torches dimmed and went out altogether.
Her fear got the better of her. She shut the door hard. Before she could lay her head against the door and calm her racing heart, a sudden clatter noise startled her. She turned around and found she startled two women when she entered the room, if the look on their faces gave any indication. Off to the side stood a man in the room, not immediately noticed. Kaily frowned or perhaps still frowned. She couldn't tell if her features relaxed in the stairway on her way up them. It didn't feel like it, not that it mattered. Her thoughts jumbled together. She felt grateful incoherent words didn't just tumble out of her mouth. She no longer possessed any semblance of wit. He glanced her way, and then turned his attention back to the two women and barked orders at them. It sounded like orders from his tone. The words he spoke sparked familiarity in her mind, but not in a way she could understand what he said. Either because of the speed in which he spoke or the fear that consumed her. Her thoughts barely coherent even to her.
He continued to speak to the women.
Kaily intently listened to the words he spoke. As she listened, she realized she could make out some of the words. She thought perhaps he spoke an old English or Gaelic. The more he spoke, the more she could understand. She leaned against the door she just came through to keep from falling down. Her eyes remained fixed on him, although he paid little attention to her. A cold chill ran down her spine. Nope, not old English or Gaelic!
He spoke the language of her childhood, the language she spoke when her parents first found her. She thought she lost it, since she didn't speak it for so many years. She still possessed the knowledge inside her of that language. The more she listened, the more she understood.
From the look and sound of it, the two women were servants, probably chambermaids from the look of the room. Kaily stood in a bedchamber. A large, highly decorated bedchamber with multiple doors leading to and from the room. She stared at the women as they curtsied to her and bowed their heads to the male in the room. They then left the bedchamber through another door in the room. A larger door and perhaps the main door of the room. She gawked at the man in the room as he turned his attention to her. His garb, clearly medieval era, including a sheathed sword hung from a belt at his waist. When their eyes met, he bowed his head, but not before Kaily saw a puzzled look cross his features.
"Forgive me, Mistress, for not having your chambers prepared for your early return," he said. Kaily thought he might have repeated himself before his words registered in her fear clouded mind.
Kaily gawked. She couldn't tell if her mouth hung open. She wouldn't be surprised if it did. If she could find words to answer him, she would, but she couldn't. Although she could understand the words spoken, she could not engage her wits.
He opened his mouth as if he were going to add more, and then
