Beth furled her eyebrows “Thank you.” She then left to continue to water the other men. Dillon looked at her walk away. Somehow the way she walked enticed him into thoughts he didn’t want to have about her.
The work continued on for over a week. The last property to work on was Master Dudlow’s, he insisted on having his home done last since his fields were not too bad and he had a barn. They still slept in the barn but they had been given some warm blankets to cover themselves with. They did get used to the noise of the animals and even Beth seemed to like being close to silhouette.
Working on Master Dudlow’s home were a much larger number of people. Barnab the man who had lost his cattle even had come to help. He was a fat pocked faced man, but he worked hard and had a great respect for master Dudlow. Master Dudlow gave him some egg laying chickens help him with his misfortune. Dillon didn’t trust the man. At first he seemed to be a good person, but he kept leering at Beth and that bothered Dillon. Every time she walked by the man he would just keep on staring, eventually it got to the point where he looked furious at her. Dillon was nervous for Beth made sure to keep his eye on her and Barnab.
It was difficult keeping to his tasks and watching both of them. If one disappeared from his sight then he would make sure to keep an eye on another. Even though he was keen with keeping her safe he messed up Beth disappeared behind the barn and when he went to look for Barnab he could not find him in his usual spot. He looked all over, but there was no sight of them. He dropped what he was doing and ran behind the barn where beth had disappeared to.
He caught Barnab holding Beth around her waist and covering her mouth with his hand so she would not scream. Beth looked frightened. Barnab didn’t see Dillon and he tried to sneak up on him.
Spittle covered the corners of Barnab’s mouth. “I don’t know what your doing here? You don’t have the right. But what you did to me was no better than the storm. You ruined me you selfish brat.”
All Dillon could here from beth was her muffled voice, she was pleading with her eyes, but Barnab couldn’t see them. “What do I do with a queen. I could make a fortune selling you to another country, maybe more if I held you for ransom. If I killed you some people would look to me as a hero. It would be so easy to snap that neck of yours.”
Beth squeaked
Dillon was ready to bounce on Barnab, but he was discovered. “What? Don’t interrupt.”
“Let beth go.”
“Beth? This is not Beth this is the queen.”
“I don’t know what your talking about but she is no queen.”
“She’s fooled you boy hasn’t she.” Barnab looked down on Beth. “I bet you got this one wrapped around your royal hands, your smarter than I thought. What I don’t understand is why the queen would be mixed in with a bunch of common folk.”
Dillon edged closer. “Stop or I’ll snap her neck.”
Dillon’s heart pounded, one wrong move and Beth would be dead. He could never forgive himself he he cost Beth her life. Something was wrong with Barnab, how could he think this girl was the queen. “She’s no queen, she doesn’t act like one, her manners are awful, she’s rude and her temper flares out like a storm. No queen would act like that.” Beth despite being held and her life threatened gave Dillon a dirty look.
“Oh she’s the queen, I’ve seen the queen in her throne room when she harshly punished me. I’ll never forget her face. Do you even know what the queen looks like boy?”
“No.”
“No surprise there, she’s locked herself up in the castle not many get to see her face. I know that face even with dirt covering it and a bonnet to cover her hair. I want justice and she will give it to me one way or another.”
“What if she’s not the queen? You’ll be killing an innocent girl.”
“She’s the queen.”
Dillon felt helpless if he had a better plan things would not have ended up this way, but if he had not acted Beth may have already been dead. He felt relief when he saw Orson coming from the other side. Orson took noticed and quietly walked behind Barnab and grabbed Barnab’s hand that was covering beth’s face. His other hand loosed in surprise and Beth pulled away from him and ran to Dillon, he caught her and held her tight. She sobbed into his shoulder and he held her tighter. Orson had a good hold of Barnab and his eyes were wild.
“Let me go, that’s the queen, I want revenge for what she did to me.”
“Queen? Don’t be a fool Barnab. Would you think a queen would allow herself to be comforted by a commoner. Look at those two, they belong with each other and our queen sits safely in the castle away from the hard labor of us folk. Why would royalty such has her sully herself?”
“It is the queen,can’t you see. She looks exactly like the queen.”
Orson squinted. “I met her once, when she was younger, Her father had commissioned me to work on a dragon scale vest with a caster. I measured her up made the vest larger for her growth. I’ll admit that she is the very likeness of the queen, but we know there are people who can look like each other though they come from different worlds.”
“Can you prove she’s not the queen?”
“In fact I can.” Orson removed one arm away from Barnab though he tried to get free Orson still managed to hold him. Orson pulled a parchment from his pocket and handed it to Barnab.
“I can’t read. What does it say?”
“You really should have learned your letters long ago. Its an invitation to all the good people in the kingdom to come witness the queen being wed to the church. The ceremony takes place tomorrow. Food and drink will be given to all and taxes will be waved for the next couple of months in celebration of the wedding and to provide releif to those who were devastated by the storm.”
“That means nothing.”
“It means everything. This girl has been with the Dudlow’s for over a week. If the queen was gone this proclamation would not have been made and her guards would be searching for her.”
“She could have snuck out to spy on us.”
“She has her own spies and after the kidnapping the guards have been on high alert. This is not her. She just happens to have the misfortune of having the queens looks. Dillon take the girl away, while I deal with Banab.”
Dillon obeyed and walked away with Beth. Beth still clung to him. He brought her to Missus Dudlow, but when he went to work she grabbed his hand and pulled him to her.
“Don’t leave”
Missus Dudlow rubbed Beth’s shoulders. “So thats the way it is. Let him go, he’ll be back.”
Dilln didn’t know what Missus comment mean and he didn’t try to think too much on it. He was trying to sort out why the queens chambermaid looked like the queen.
Rebuilding and discovery
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