Bloodring by Mildred Gail Digby

Author:Mildred Gail Digby [Digby, Mildred Gail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE NEXT MORNING, Lark was the first one up. She felt reborn.

Instead of her usual outfit of jaunty trousers and body-hugging top which stank of wood smoke and the cider Alice spilled on her at one point, Lark shook out a tunic and long skirt from her clothes box at the foot of her bed, both of a deep blue color. As soon as she was dressed, Lark wasted no time as she strode up and down the long room, whacking the groaning masses in the other beds.

“Up and at ‘em kids!” she called out. She skipped the length of the room and threw open the windows. The clear autumn sunlight streamed in and invited a fresh wave of moaning. The girls who hadn’t been at the drinking party the night before started their morning routines with a few pitying glances at the afflicted members.

“Why are you so cheerful?” Alice sat up in her bed. She looked a fright with her hair standing up in all directions. She grabbed up her blanket and peered underneath it with an expression of horror on her face. “And why am I wearing a potato sack?”

“Because you lost the dice game,” Nora told her. She staggered over to the water closet and shut herself into it.

“Awww…” Alice groaned as she fell back into her mess of blankets. “I’m not going to get up today. Lark, just tell everybody I’ve temporarily died.”

“No way am I letting you take the easy way out,” Lark said. She stood at the front of the room with her hands on her hips. “You stay here and I stay with you. And you know what? I think I’m in the mood to sing.” Lark took a deep breath and was just about to launch into a lively tune when Alice’s body hit the floor. Her bare feet scrambled around, making her potato sack ride up over her knee-length drawers.

“Okay, okay, I’m up!” She fell over one of the other fledglings, who was on her way to the row of washstands.

Even though she was the recipient of several nasty glares and a few rather sincere-sounding threats, Lark organized the groaning and complaining fledglings into a loose group on their way to the dining hall. En route she found a nearly-comatose Bethanie outside the junior staff house and led her over to their table. Lark distributed strong tea to her tablemates while teasing them with big bowls of oatmeal and muffins which nobody wanted. After a while, Murray stumbled to their table, where Alice and Nora slept on their breakfasts and Bethanie sipped gingerly at her mug of tea. He stopped in his tracks and looked Lark up and down.

“You’re not dead,” he said.

“Nope.” Lark raised her head from her bowl, spoon in her mouth.

“All arms and legs still attached, no impaled objects that I can see,” Murray said. He moved around to inspect the rest of Lark. She swatted him off. “Yup, definitely alive and unscathed.”

“You know what that means,” Alice said.

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