The Merchant's Daughters

Chapter Five

  Renee's eyes opened to an unfamiliar room. Gone were her warm, handmade quilts, her little window with the lace curtains and inviting reading chair. There were no walls to speak of, just a series of bookshelves, each fully stocked with leather-bound manuscripts. In the far corner was a large writing desk with paper and quill, ready to be used. The bed itself was an enormous four-poster with white silk draping down from the canopy overhead. In its dark wood was carved a story. A knight, with lance in hand, galloped on a magnificent warhorse round and round the posts, towards the very top. The top of each post was carved into the shape of a sleeping dragon. Just below it was the image of a screaming maiden in a cage.

She sat up in bed, looking around at her new surroundings. Fear filled her belly as memories from the previous night and their frightening visitor came flooding back. He had caught them, she realized, and had dragged them back to his home, just as he said he would.

She threw back the fine, white linens and ran to the door, throwing it open. She walked out into a pitch black hallway. No sconces lit her way and she couldn't find any walls nearby. She thought of crawling along the floor, but when she knelt down, her hands went straight through empty space. Only her feet it seemed could travel the hallway safely. They were the only part of her that could find the floor.

"Is this even a hallway?" She asked herself aloud. A shiver ran down her spine. It felt more like she was walking through the night sky. "Oh, I wish Helene and Cecile were here." She whispered.

As if the hallway understood her, a red door appeared to her right and a yellow door appeared on her left. "Are these their rooms?" She asked the hallway, glancing around at the darkness, half expecting the monster to appear behind her. The idea set a fire under her feet and she hurled herself at the red door.

"Renee!" Helene squealed at the sight of her baby sister. She was bouncing around on a big sleigh shaped bed. Her curls flew around her head as if alive.

"It's a very good thing the ceilings are so high in here." Renee smiled as she tilted her head back in awe of the cathedral ceiling above and was surprised to find a mural of a fox hunt there. Hounds chased after the scarlet furred creature while men on horseback gave chase. Helene's room was very different from her own. Hers had been barely bigger than the one at home and did not have cathedral ceilings or much decoration that she noticed. Helene's room, however, was very ornate. The walls were apple red. There were numerous small bird cages hanging from golden chains all around them. Inside were colorful song birds, which chirped and tweeted amongst themselves cheerfully. There was a rug underfoot. Its pattern bore a network of entangled thorny vines; at its center, was a giant blooming rose. The room was very big, with lots of space for Helene to run through. There was even a balcony. Its doors were wide open, letting in a cool morning breeze.

"Isn't this place marvelous?" Helene laughed. Her cheeks were all red and her mouth was stretched as far as it could possibly go, showing every tooth in her head. "Come, Renee, come jump with me! It's fun!" She stopped jumping long enough to offer a helping hand. Her hair fell around her face in a tangled mess.

It really does look like fun. Renee thought for a moment, very tempted, but she caught herself. Jumping on the bed was very childish, besides they had more pressing concerns. "Helene, you realize that we're in that monsters house, right? We need to go find Cecile and Papa."

"I know." Helene sighed, visually deflating. Her smile fell and the color drained from her cheeks. "I've been awake for a while now, and I was going to go look for you all, but this place is so..." She looked around her room, at the mural overhead, the balcony and the all of the birds. "This room is so amazing. It's as if it were made just for me. It's comfortable and...I was afraid to leave it." A small, sad smile curved her lips. "That wasn't very brave of me, was it?"