She stopped abruptly when she saw Dorrie locked in the stock, her eyes were swollen and red from crying and her garments and hair were already filthy from villagers throwing whatever was handy at her, mostly mud & dirt.
“I’m sorry, Dawn,” she cried out. “Please, please, I beg you to speak on my behalf and ask Cree to free me. Please, please, oh God, I will never treat you badly again. Please, please.”
Dawn stared bewildered while villagers took a wide berth around her as if they too feared they would suffer Dorrie’s fate if they should speak wrongly to her.
Dawn hurried along keeping her face concealed and ignoring the whispers that surrounded her, so many whispers. Tongues were wagging and Dawn could only imagine what they were saying.
At the moment she didn’t care. Dawn wanted nothing more than to get home and lock herself away from everyone. But most of all she wanted to wake from this never-ending nightmare.
She halted in her tracks when she saw the warriors tossing things out of her cottage. The little she had was being set to flame. She ran praying they had not found the wrapped cloth that contained the only thing her mum had passed on to her.
She flew past the men before they could stop her and her heart slammed into her chest when she saw that not a stitch of furniture was left in the cottage. She ran to the hearth now cold from the water that had been doused on it. She shifted the one stone in the fireplace until it came free and reached in to rescue the cloth she had hidden there.
“You’re to come with us, Dawn.”
She turned to see Sloan standing in the doorway. Fear rippled through her entire body. What would they do with her? Was she to be punished like Dorrie or would her punishment be worse for not obeying Cree and going into the woods when he had ordered her not to?
She hugged the pouch to her chest and shivered.
“There is nothing to fear,” Sloan said. “You have been given a different cottage.”
His comment caught her unaware and she instinctively shrugged.
“I understand that gesture,” Sloan grinned. “You’re asking why.”
Dawn nodded, her fear receding, though just a bit.
“Cree’s decision,” he said and stepping to the side he swept his hand at the door. “After you.”
Dawn felt a tightening in her chest. This was her home. The one she and her mum had shared. She did not want to be moved to another cottage; she wanted to stay here where she was familiar with the drafty spots and the way the door rattled when the wind caught it. And from here she could take a few steps and be at Lila’s cottage. No she did not want to leave her home.
And so she stood firm clutching the cloth and shaking her head.
Sloan took a step toward her and she took a step back. He stopped and smiled. “It is a nice cottage that has been made ready for you.”
Dawn shook her head and pointed to the ground and then to her.
“I understand that gesture too,” Sloan said surprised. “This is your home and you do not want to leave it.”
She nodded.
Sloan winced. “Unfortunately, it is not truly your home or your decision. Everything in the village belongs to Cree and he decides where each person will reside. You have no choice but to reside where he commands.”
He was right. There was nothing she could do but obey. She cast one last sorrowful look around the small room; her home since she and her mum had arrived here and breathed a silent farewell, fearing it was not only her cottage that she was bidding farewell to.
Dawn stopped just outside the door. Several women were gathered in a huddle a short distance away. They were whispering and pointing in her direction.
Sloan stepped past her and shouted, “You have chores to attend to, be gone.”
They scurried away, whispers trailing behind them.
Dawn followed Sloan, though gave one last glance behind her and was sorry she did. She watched as her only garments were thrown on the fire. Her stomach knotted and her hands began to tremble. She turned around not wanting to think of what all this meant, though she was no fool. Cree was making it clear to all that Dawn was his.
What she could not understand was why? Why did he want a woman who he refused to couple with? She was more confused than ever.
A strong wind blew sending the shivers through her meager cloak and gray clouds raced overhead. She shivered again. A storm brewed and she did not care for storms. They frightened her, though she could not say why.
Dawn halted when Sloan did and cast a wary eye at the cottage in front of her. This certainly could not be where he meant her to live. It was much too large for just her and was meant for one in service to the keep, which was why it sat close to the keep and tucked back a bit in the woods this way the person would have easy access to the servants’ entrances in the back.