The Lady of the Lake: Vivienne

Chapter Four.

As I descended the steps down to the small cellar room Merlin's whispered voice floated up through the column as I neared the bottom. Pressing my palm against the rough wall to steady myself, I listened to the sharp hushed voices speaking below me.

"The winds are changing and the air is shifting here. Danger is on the horizon," Merlin hurriedly whispered, "Ever since she got here things have been changing. She needs to know before he gets to her. Or worse before they get to her."

My brain whirled with curiosity and confusion as I heard Merlin speak those words. Was she talking about me? Or was Merlin working with someone else as well? And who was coming after this newcomer? My stream of questions was cut off by a muffled and broken voice that sounded as if it was speaking through a thick fog.

"No," came the harsh reply, "She cannot know until the time is right."

"At this rate the time will never be right. We don't even know if she'll ever—," Merlin suddenly stopped mid-sentence and an eerie silence filled the void, "We will continue this conversation later."

After a slight pause I heard her voice call out, "You can come down now, Ariana."

The tension in my body released as I let out the breath that I'd been holding for so long. I wiped my sweaty palms against the rough fabric of my cloak. Even though I hadn't meant to eavesdrop I still felt guilty about overhearing a conversation that clearly wasn't meant for my ears.

"How did you know I was up there?" I huffed out as I planted my feet on the landing, hands on hips.

"Oh please," she retorted, staring down into the murky contents of her pot, "You clop around like one of those horses on the streets."

That was impossible. Father had taught me how to lighten my footsteps when tracking deer when I was a little girl. It was an ingrained motion that I had practiced ever since. She shouldn't have been able to hear me at all.

Ignoring her jab at me, I probed, "Who were you talking with? And where are they?"

I scanned over the dim room, searching for a sign of an escape route that they may have used, but came up empty handed. Merlin watched me with a bored look on her face, an eyebrow arched, as I tried to nonchalantly look for them.

"They aren't here anymore so there's no use looking for them," she informed me, rolling her eyes.

"Who was it you were talking with?" I pushed.

"That's for me to know and for nosy people to only guess at."

"I wasn't being nosy! It's not my fault you were talking with someone when I came to see you."

"That brings up a question of my own. Why are you here? You couldn't wait for me to send a message to you?" Merlin accused, folding her arms over her chest.

"You haven't sent a word to me in the whole two weeks I've been here and you just expect me to wait for your call?" I snapped back at her.

"Well, that would have been ideal," she sniffed, turning to stir the dying fire.

"Do you think I can just sit still and wait after my family and whole tribe was massacred? And now I have to work with the very man who helped murder them all. Not to mention I found him in a room in our brothel and if that doesn't say something about a man, then I don't know what does," all of the words seemed to tumble out of me in a heap of anger.

I had been trying hard to keep things under control that all of my frustration had been pent up for days. I was still struggling to come to terms with everything that had happened and not being able to do anything about it had been eating away at me. Not having any form of communication with the ones who had promised to help me left me feeling defeated and alone.