Chaos Trapped by Eric T Knight

Author:Eric T Knight [Knight, Eric T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-18T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

“We’re going to see Anelda and get her to start on your dress,” Liv said as soon as she saw Aislin the next morning. She was holding the fabric they’d bought yesterday, and she grabbed Aislin’s hand and began tugging at her to follow.

Aislin tried to free herself. “I was thinking about that. I’m not sure I want—”

“Oh, pish. We already decided this,” Liv said. “Why are we still talking about it?”

Aislin gave up resisting and let herself be led upstairs, around a corner and down a hallway she’d never been in before. At the end of the hallway was a door. Liv turned the knob and dragged Aislin inside.

The room they entered was large and dimly lit, and it took a moment for Aislin to realize what was in there. When she did, she came to a halt and stared. The room was filled with people, dozens of them. But why were they standing so still? Why weren’t they talking?

Then she realized they weren’t people at all. They only looked like people. They were made of wood, nothing more than torsos and heads mounted on metal stands. It was the clothes that fooled her, as they were dressed in all manner of dresses, skirts, blouses. A fair number of them had wigs, and many sported hats with lacy veils, bright feathers, and so on.

“It’s a little creepy the first time, isn’t it?” Liv said. Her voice was quieter than usual, as if the room had a subduing effect on her as well.

“What are they?” Aislin asked.

“They’re dummies.”

“Why are they here?”

“A place to put dresses? I don’t know.”

Liv started to make her way through them, but Aislin stayed where she was. She didn’t want to do this anyway, and this only made her want to do it even less. Why didn’t this woman keep her dresses in a trunk like everyone else? What was really going on here?

Liv came back and grabbed her hand again. “Come on. Hurry up.”

Aislin let herself be pulled across the room, careful not to touch any of the dummies as she went. It bothered her that they had no eyes, no faces. She wished there was more light in the room.

On the far side of the room was a small doorway with a curtain hanging across it. Liv pushed the curtain aside, and they went through. This room was brightly lit by sunlight pouring in through the large window. There were tables and shelves covered with swaths of fabric of every color imaginable. There were scissors of various sizes, jars filled with pins and needles, and several more dummies wearing dresses in different stages of completion. The floor was covered with scraps of cloth.

Standing by one of the tables, peering at a bolt of cloth, was an elderly woman. She was bent with age. Her hair was pure white and long enough to reach her waist. She turned at their entrance and looked them up and down.

“What?” Her lips were pursed. She clearly was not happy to see them.

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