Lily of the valley

12

Meanwhile Katherine was drifting in that soft blue place between dreaming and waking, curled into a ball in the armchair by the window. Lily was sat on the floor, her back pressed against the door in a silken nightgown, she was eating a fresh green apple, stolen from dinner, and she listened intently for footsteps. They had been waiting hours for Josie's return and the sun was close to rising. Lily wondered if something had happened to her, if she had betrayed them to the Queen, or if she had simply forgotten about them. Lily paced, she sat down again, she paced and sat down again. By the time Josie did arrive Lily had fallen sleep on top of the bed but Josie's knock and haughty whisper jolted her awake.

Lily rushed to open the door and ushered Josie inside, Josie checked the spy hole. She had not been followed. Katherine was roused by the frantic movement, Josie was breathing heavily, shocked with herself. Terrified of being caught. She checked the corridor again for good measure. Katherine offered her the armchair and Lily offered her some bread and cheese, she looked as if she were about to faint.

"Take your time Josie, calm down." Josie took a bite from the bread and breathed, it was the best food she had eaten for years. The servants food revolved around wet oatmeal and boiled vegetables. The bread was a fresh sourdough infused with rosemary and the cheese was a creamy, tart Wensleydale with sweet cranberries. It delighted her, it made her forget her fear.

"I...I don't know where to start." Josie fumbled and pulled at her sleeves. Lily knelt before Josie's chair and Katherine perched on the end of the bed,

"What were you smoking earlier?" Josie dug her nails into her palms.

"We call it the dragon. It makes you feel like heaven."

"So why call it the dragon?"

"Because we cannot escape it." There was a period of heavy silence, while the waited for Josie to expand, she was pale, her hands clammy. "She pays us with it, so we can never leave. If you don't smoke it she'll start putting it in your food and then you'll have to work for it. You must get out."

"How?" Lily and Katherine were afraid to face that fate, a lifetime of servitude to false joy, all while enabling a tyrant's gutting of the earth. Josie shook her head, she was about to cry.

"I don't know." She tried to stifle a sob, Lily gripped her hands to bring Josie back from the pull of despair.

"Think, think, you know this castle better than anyone. Take your time." Katherine was frozen, petrified, sat stricken across the room. Barely able to breathe as she watched her fate be decided, it was being slowly unraveled in Josie's drug addled mind.

"It's dangerous... but you could take the mines."

"How dangerous?" Katherine asked, preparing herself for the worst, she was preparing herself to do anything, to risk anything, rather than live a half life.

"If you are caught you will be executed. But there are rarely soldiers in the mines, only her miners but they're kept so high on the mines fumes that they won't notice. She'll likely send some knights after you so you'll have to move fast."

"Is it possible." Katherine stood and walked towards the quivering kitchen maid, despite the mess of her white hair and the dirt under her nails she radiated royalty and command.

"I believe so. You'd have to go at night to get a head start and pray there's somewhere to hide at the end." There was no decision to make for Katherine.

"We'll do it." Lily was not so sold, she looked up at Katherine whose face was taught and serious.

"Will the fumes effect us?" Lily asked.