Being goats, they would strip everything.
Now, Edenside was a community of goats and chickens, having the run of the place and lots of delicious things to eat, but up in the tower, on the roof, a tiny figure emerged from her hiding place and began to fearfully make her way down the stairs.
When the screaming had started, little Dyana had run. She was young, but not so young that she did not know a bad sound when she heard one. Back in the days of Laird Letty, she’d been a toddler and whenever there was screaming or raised voices, Artus had taught her to run and hide.
This time, it had saved her from abduction.
She’d run straight up to the roof and hid in a little crevice between the roof and the wall. But now that she’d come down the stairs, she could see that the tower was empty. No sounds, no people. Dyana made her way down to the level where the girls slept and she wandered into the dormitory, finger in her mouth, as she looked at the empty and somewhat disheveled chamber. Marybelle and Nora had tried to hold on to their beds as they were grabbed, so the beds were in disarray and scattered on the floor. As Dyana stood there, looking at the chaotic mess, she heard a groan.
She followed the sounds.
Tucked over behind her own little bed lay Tibelda.
The woman had a dagger in her chest, her own dagger in fact, turned on her by one of the reivers when she’d tried to defend the girls. Blood soaked the woman’s woolen clothing and pooled on the floor beside her as Dyana knelt down beside Tibeldaand put a timid little hand on the woman’s head. Tibelda’s eyes fluttered open.
“B-babe?” she said with her heavy stammer. “Is it the b-babe?”
Dyana leaned over so Tibelda could see her little face. When the woman blinked, cleared her vision, and recognized her, she smiled weakly.
“’Tis the w-wee b-babe,” she said, reaching up a weak hand to stroke the terrified child’s cheek. “Are ye w-well, lass?”
Dyana nodded, finger still in her mouth and tears in her eyes. “Where’d they go?”
Tibelda was fading fast. “Is everyone g-gone now?”
Again, the child nodded her head. “They ran away.”
Tibelda thought as quickly as her muddled mind would allow. “And t-they didna take ye?”
Dyana was chewing furiously on her finger. “I hid.”
Now, things were coming a little clearer to Tibelda, but she knew her time was limited. Frankly, she was shocked to see the child. But in that little one, she saw hope. She couldn’t go for help, which meant only the child could.
A tiny little girl against the world.
But she didn’t want the child to go to Kelso Abbey or into that big town; she’d only become lost, or worse. Kelso Abbey, and the abbot, only had bad connotations for Edenside and Tibelda didn’t trust them to help those at Edenside. They never had before. Therefore, that meant the child had to find help elsewhere. She tried to smile, cupping the child’s face in her hand.
“I-it was good that ye should hide,” she said. “B-But now ye must find help. Do ye understand? Y-ye must find Sir Thomas and tell him w-what has happened.”
Dyana’s eyes widened with confusion. “Where is he?”
Tibelda could see how frightened the child was. She could feel her strength fading and breathing was becoming more and more difficult. She felt as if she were drowning, but she summoned the last of her strength to calmly give instructions to a terrified child.
Too many lives depended on it.
“G-go into my chamber,” she told the little girl as calmly and steadily as she could. “T-there is a cloak on a peg. T-take it with ye and go out to the road. D-do ye remember the way the knights went when they left us?”
The child shook her head, perhaps not completely understanding the question, and Tibelda held up a finger. “I-if I give ye a pence, w-which hand do ye take it with?”
The little girl was puzzled for a moment, but took the finger out of her mouth and held out her right hand. “Here!”
Tibelda smiled faintly. “G-Good lass,” she said. “N-now, get the cloak and go out to the road. A-and follow the direction of yer pence hand and stay to the river. W-When ye come to a bridge, cross it, and there will be Wark Castle. T-That is where Sir Thomas is. D-do ye understand?”
Dyana nodded solemnly. “Will he come?”
Tibelda closed her eyes; her vision was starting to go. “H-he will, lass,” she said quietly. “H-Hurry, now. T-The cloak will protect ye from the night, b-but ye must hurry. T-tell Sir Thomas that the bad men t-took everyone away and he must help. P-please, lass. Y-ye must go.”
Dyana nodded, but the finger went back in her mouth. She sat there and chewed on it until Tibelda closed her eyes and stopped breathing.
