Taming the Beast by Heather Grothaus Read Free Book Online Page B

on some old shoes to come into the hall and take the men to task. It was brutally cold, snow was deep outside the keep door, but so incensed was she that she thought to teach my father a lesson by going to the stables for the night, where the shepherdess kept a warm and comfortable shelter. She bid my father farewell and left the keep.
    â€œShe was no farther than the road when she heard the terrible calling of the hounds, and the sound of hoofbeats like thunder in the snow. Ever firm in her belief that God would protect her, Mother stood her ground, determined to get to the bottom of the legend that had everyone in the village terrified. Then the riders were upon her, and there was no time to hide.”
    Elizabeth covered her eyes for an instant, but then looked once more with merry excitement at Michaela.
    â€œThe next morn, my father, feeling the ill effect of his overindulgence, and no little remorse for his poor treatment of his wife, went in search of my mother. He looked in the stables first, as although he was—by his own words—a bit thick at the time, he knew it was the only place my mother could and would go where she and I would be safe. But the shepherdess stated that she had not seen sign of Agatha since the day previous, and she had not ventured out of her hut the whole of the night, for she had heard the baying of the hounds beneath her covers and was fearful of the Hunt.
    â€œWell. At this, my father became concerned. As he left the shepherdess, he wondered where on earth his cumbersome and oft troublesome wife could have hidden herself away. That is, until he found the shoe in the center of the road. Mother’s footprints led up to where the shoe lay and then simply…vanished.”
    Michaela had told this tale to Elizabeth many times since coming to Tornfield Manor, and she never embellished from the version told to her by her own mother, but it was here that the story deviated from the original version. Michaela still recounted the truth, but omitted the part where Agatha claimed to have been taken up on the horse of the Hunt’s fearsome leader and lifted away into the sky.
    This was a child’s tale, after all. No need to frighten the girl with details that were—in Michaela’s opinion—likely stretched to contain some sort of twisted moral. Michaela herself had lost enough sleep over the dreadful story, until she’d grown old enough to determine what was true and what was likely dramatic embellishment.
    â€œIt is said that my father and the villagers searched for sign of my mother for the next pair of days, without ceasing. On the third day, father took to the village chapel and fell to his knees, begging God to return his wife and unborn child to him. He prayed that he would perform any penance if his request was granted.”
    Elizabeth swept both palms away from her stomach in a wide mound.
    â€œThat’s right. It was just then that my mother entered the chapel, nearly scaring the life out of my father. She was unharmed, but missing both shoes, and she said to him, ‘Walter, you must never fight again. You must give your life to God as a meek and obedient servant, lest you and this child be taken from me as punishment for your wickedness.’”
    Elizabeth held her palms up, a questioning look on her face.
    â€œSo he did. Father dismissed the men of the village who were reserved for fighting, hung his own weapons on the wall of our hall, and set to seeing only to the comfort and happiness of his wife.”
    Not willing to let even a word of the retelling slip, Elizabeth pointed to Michaela’s bodice.
    â€œYes, and this, I nearly forgot.” Although she hadn’t truly forgotten, she simply didn’t wish to bring it out. Michaela reached into the neck of her gown and withdrew the chain that held the small piece of metal, like a link from a chain shirt. She held it up for Elizabeth to see. It was blackened with age, thin and