The Walls Have Eyes

Chapter Four

We wandered over to a dressmaker to browse the local selection and to make an appearance about town. As he did before, Eli waited outside the door with the pegasi and Eeion stayed with me inside. The local style was different from the loose, flowing skirts and high cut bodices of my homeland. Here, it seemed the women wore hoops under their skirts and lower cut bodices, even in the winter months. There were less furs and silks; those items seemed to be replaced by cotton and velvet.

As I fingered a red velvet skirt, the shop's proprietor approached me. "Hello there," she introduced, "I'm Millie."

I nodded my head in greeting. "Morrigan."

"That's a fine skirt there, though I don't know that red is your color, miss." She led me to a wall of fabrics and ran her finger along a rack of velvets. "Aha, this is more of what would suit you," Millie said, pointing to a muted pink velvet. "You seem the daring type, though, so I would try a new, daring style on you -- silk."

"Silk?" I asked, trying to act surprised.

"Yes. I hear it's all the rage in the Shadowlands. I think it would look lovely on you."

"I don't know..." I returned as I turned to look at Eeion, who appeared to be fighting a grin.

The conversation with the dressmaker went on for a while, and in the end, I ordered the pink velvet and sink dress, with an almost indecently low cut silk bodice and velvet hoop skirt. It was nothing like what we wore in the Shadowlands, but it was also not quite like what was worn here in Faelus. It was almost a compromise between the two realms.

As I paid Millie, I asked her what had been weighing on my mind since the meeting with the town registrar. "As you know, I've just moved her from the Dark Forests..."

"Yes, milady." She nodded, writing something in her logbook.

"When I registered with the town, Mistress Laroe said something about my new house being haunted."

"What house have you purchased?"

"Wolfrill Manor."

Millie's head snapped up from her logbook, her eyes wide. "The walls have eyes up there, milady."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that. The walls... they have eyes." She tore off a sheet of paper and handed it to me. "Here's your receipt. I really must go check on inventory now." With that, she bustled off.

I turned to Eeion as I stuffed the receipt in my change purse. "That was... odd," I muttered.

"Something is very odd about this," Eeion responded. Maybe you should try to read her, he continued telepathically.

One of my affinities was the ability to read a person's thoughts and memories. It was something that I didn't like to do, and I tried to avoid it at all costs, but I also really wanted to know what caused people to think my current safe house was haunted. The undead isn't really something people in Faelus get worked up about. Ghosts, banshees, specters... They're all normal. There's a bit of prejudice towards them leftover from a corrupt king's reign a few thousand years ago, but they're not taboo and they're definitely not feared. The only difference between Faelus and my homeland when it comes to the undead is the prejudice that Faelus often has.

So, it had to be something pretty bad for people to fear my manor.

"I could," I responded to Eeion.

"Whatever it is, it could be bad," he told me.

I sighed. He was right, and as usual, he basically echoed my thoughts. I took in a deep breath and searched for that bright pink flame of magic inside of me. It flared to life in an instant, filling me with power and strength. I reached for the tendrils of magic that connected me to every living thing and they flickered to life. A blazing yellow cord fastened me to Millie, and I followed it into her thoughts. I combed through her mind, looking for anything related to Wolfrill Manor.