Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: DISGUISE (08/12/21)
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TITLE: A Moth Eaten Robe | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sue Botte
08/18/21 -
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I received a message from Bevan the butler: My chaperone, Ma’am Harriet is waiting downstairs.
“Lydia” I called my handmaiden “my black tunic and my cloak, please.”
A few minutes later, the three of us departed for the market.
“What a noise!” I exclaimed.
“It is market day.” Ma’am Harriet said.
“Never the less, we are here now.”
My eye caught a peculiar sight. The tall well-built man whose face was obscured, was dressed in heavy brocade, not the quality of royalty, but it could be that it is moth eaten, worn and very old. However, still eye catching and not what you would expect in a place like this.
Who is that?
I beckoned to Lydia. She immediately understood my unspoken question.
She bundled up her coat and hat, which she had on, and tucked it in under her arm. Ma’am Harriet did not notice the activity between Lydia and me.
I steered Ma’am Harriet to the linen and fabric stalls, which were under a canopy made of reeds.
I glanced over my shoulder. Expected to see Lydia, I bumped into a man, “Pardon Sire.” His brown worn-out hat almost covered his eyes. He had not shaved for a few days. His clothing was that of a stable worker. His hands and nails groomed.
A sense of, I know you, comes over me.
He barely lifted his hat and quickly disappeared.
I shuddered and turned back to the fabric stalls. I browsed while Ma’am Harriet trailed behind me.
“Miss Charlotte.” I heard Lydia called me discreetly. She had her hat back on, and her over coat.
As I stepped away from the fabric stall, I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head.
“Yes, Lydia, who was that, could you see him clearly?”
“Miss Charlotte, I am almost sure it was the King, but there was another man, dressed in worker clothes, unshaven. Him I recognized as the Kings right hand man, thus I say it was the King. Many people noticed the clothes, and from what I hear, they did not recognize either of them; thinking them to be travelers.”
Mmm, probably the same man I bumped into earlier. I have heard that things in the palace’s governing office with the looming war is not going smoothly.
“Thank you Lydia. Please rearrange the hood neatly.”
“Miss Char…”
“Ma’am Harriet, we are returning to the palace.”
In my view came the two ‘suspect’ persons as I turned around.
I stood still, unobtrusively pulled the hood over my head. I pretended to look at the contents laid out on a table at the end of the stalls. All around me faded into the background, the salesman’s voice floated passed me.
The two men stood still in front of a booth of which the curtain was drawn closed. The unshaven man spoke, he waited a few seconds. He pulled the curtain aside, the other man walked in. The unshaven man did not enter the booth, but stood guard.
I looked at Lydia. She again took off her hat and over coat. She knew what to do.
I tallied around a few minutes. Ma’am Harriet’s eyebrows knitted together, her eyes not accommodating, her shoulders pulled up.
I heard hasty footsteps…Lydia. She was out of breath, white as a sheet…shock written all over her.
“Lydia, what is it, what happened? Breath, Lydia. Let’s go to the carriage.”
“Miss Charlotte, it is the King. He is with the woman who calls up familiar spirits.” She burst into tears.
I gave her tea from the flask and handed a cup to Ma’am Harriet as well.
“Lydia, how dare you speak about the King like that? When we get back…”
“Ma’am Harriet, I know Lydia is right. I saw them myself. The Lord who sees and hears all will surely sort this mess out.”
Of course, the King wanted to know what is going on with the imminent war. He had not heard from his trusted religious advisor or from the Lord. Now, he is trying to conceal that by consulting with a woman who contacts familiar spirits…not wise, not wise at all.
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Inspired by 1 Samuel 28 v 5-15
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Your entry held my interest from beginning to the end.
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