Alarm

Bellavarn's eyes opened. Paralyzed.

"Help!"

A shrill scream tore through his eardrums, echoing off the walls. Bellavarn was scared stiff. A cry? In a Duke's house? An accident?

"Help! Someone please, help!"

Again it was there. He wasn't dreaming. It was real! Someone was in trouble. But why couldn't he move?

Bellavarn stayed utterly still, paralyzed. His mind in overdrive.

Someone is out there. Alarm, I need to call an alarm. Alert someone. Somehow anyone. That girl could be in trouble! She could be dead by now. Move! Damn it! MOVE!

He lurched up, gasping. Throwing off the covers he raced out the doors. Searching left and right. Empty. Silent.

Just once more. Scream again. Let me know you are alive!

No calls. No alarms. No shouts.

Cold winter silence.

Not a single person was out and about.

"Where are you?"

He ran around barefoot through the corridors, searching madly. His footsteps were the only echo in the entire mansion.

"The guard barracks. Someone should be on watch."

Bellavarn sprinted for the guard quarters. Someone had to have heard the cry. If no one responded it could only mean it wasn't heard, or there was no one to respond. He severely hoped against the latter.

Rounding a corner he lost his footing, rolling into a wall. The thud made him lose his breath for a second but he was up even faster. Running.

Why does the blasted Mansion have to be so large?

Where is everyone!

Rounding a final corner, he saw a pair of guards moving down a corridor. One held a lantern while the other looked around. Approaching swiftly, he noticed they weren't Kerv and Henry but another pair of guards employed by his father. They finally noticed him.

"Young master! Is everything alright? Why are you up? You're feet are bleeding."

He didn't feel his scrapped soles and didn't care.

"A scream. I heard someone scream! A woman."

"Who? We didn't hear anything."

"It woke me from sleep! It was loud, and she sounded scared. Mother? Send someone to check on mother, please!"

Bellavarn eyes were darting everywhere, searching for some sign of an intruder. He pleaded, his heart hammering.

"Korel, go wake the guards! Take a few and check on the Duchess. Young Master Bellavarn, can you take me to where you heard the scream."

"I- I can try. I heard it from my room. It sounded like it came in this direction though. I might have passed it..."

Korel ran off while the other guard, Taren, gave him an appraising look. Bellavarn was clearly shaken. Whatever he heard, he believed it. This had never happened before either, so it wasn't like the young lord was crying wolf. Taren had no reason to doubt.

"Let's retrace your steps; maybe you missed something. Stay behind me, alright?"

"Yes. I understand, let's hurry. She may still be in trouble."

Taren in tow, Bellavarn hurried down the corridor.

=

Soon, everyone was awake whether they needed to be or not. The guards had hounds who started barking when the search began. Two more guards accompanied Bellavarn as they searched the inner garden courtyard. Reiss was crouched down searching in a bush when he heard his mother's voice.

"Bellavarn, what are you doing crouched in the bushes?"

"Mother! You're safe."

He ran and hugged his mother, nearly barreling her over.

"I was afraid it was you who screamed."

"What- I, Bellavarn. I'm fine. I am okay. I'm right here. What is all this about."

"Son?"

Duke Braster stood next to his wife. Bellavarn had completely missed his presence. Finally registering their confused looks, he gave them the best answer he could.

"I woke up to hear someone scream for 'Help'. I ran out of my room searching for the voice but didn't find anyone. The first people I ran into were Taren and Korel on the other side of the mansion. I told them I heard someone scream and to check on Mother. Then we began searching the area nearby."

Bellavarn paused uncertainly when he thought about things. That covered everything. There wasn't much else to add since they hadn't found anything yet. His mother held his arm, asking him for clarification.

"Did you recognize the voice? Where did it come from?"

Bellavarn shook his head.

"Mm, no. I didn't recognize it. It was female. She sounded so scared."

"What did she say exactly, Bellavarn."

His father asked.

"She screamed 'Help'. My eyes opened wide and I didn't move, thinking I imagined it. But then it came again a few moments later. 'Help. Someone please, help' was what I heard. Clear as day."

"Was the voice young or old? Could it have been an older maid?"

Bellavarn shook his head again.

"No, at least it shouldn't be. It was a younger woman. Not a child, but not old either. It was shrill."

Baster Sallow rested his chin in a hand as he thought. Mother was looking between the two of them and around at all the guards searching the garden. Bellavarn wanted to join the search. The moon was supposed to be out, but the cloud cover cast the inner garden in darkness. Anyone could be hiding nearby. The girl could be knocked unconscious.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Bellavarn?"

He examined his mother, who looked increasingly worried. Bellavarn wanted to comfort her by lying, but he couldn't. Not when someone might be in danger.

"No. I wasn't dreaming. My eyes were clearly open. I heard the voice twice."

"Are absoultuley positive?"

"Yes! Mother. I am."

She removed her hand from his arm and moved closer to Braster for comfort. The guards in the background kept searching. His father patted his mother's back.

"Shall we try to head back to sleep for the night? The guards will keep searching and I'll have some post some at our doors, just in case. We can reconvene for breakfast in the morning."

Bellavarn wanted to keep searching but realized he wasn't really helping anyone in his condition. Reluctantly, he followed his father's words and tried to go back to sleep.

...As if sleep were possible.

=

Breakfast the next day was quiet. Bellavarn had gotten precisely two hours of sleep last night. Not enough to run on. He was starving, being awake but not eating. Yet, he also had no appetite after last night. A silver fork pushed around the scrambled eggs on his plate. He chopped it up into little bits barely larger than the prongs on his utensil. Still, Bellavarn never took a bite.

"The guards were unable to find anything even as they worked into this morning. No traces of blood, drag marks, nothing. No spells were cast last night either."

Bellavarn looked up from his meals, horror written across his visage.

"Then the intruder managed to getaway? Or what if someone collapsed? Did someone fall down the well in the garden? Did anyone check?"

Braster gave his son an understanding look.

"The guards checked everywhere in and out of the mansion. Nothing was out of place."

Bellavarn's fists clenched. What other explanation was there?

"Could... could the scream have been a distraction? Or maybe, a smokescreen? A ploy to get everyone out and about."

Braster actually smiled, wiping his lips with a napkin.

"I was thinking that is most likely. I am glad you are using your head."

"Are you sure it wasn't a dream?"

Bellavarn's brief smile turned sullen as his mother spoke from her side of the table.

"I am sure, mother. It couldn't have been."

The Dutchess glanced at Duke Braster, who sat in between them, and then back to Bellavarn.

"I know you've been having a rough time since Melody and..."

His heart twisted and he felt intensely ill.

"That's not it, mother. I promise. <i>That</i> isn't it."

There was silence from the table.

"It's just... I believed her as well, you know? She tricked all of us. And I saw you waiting in the snow all night and until the next day. I know you are still hurting. Your father and I would completely understand if..."

Bellavarn flinched as his mother reached for him. It was true that his heart was stolen and crushed. It was true he waited outside, in the snow, for hours for the carriage's return. When the driver told him that Melody asked to be taken straight to the border and never looked back...

It was only a few days later and the wounds were still bleeding. It was true he had trouble eating. Trouble sleeping. But <i>this</i>? This he would be his life on.

"This and that are different. Someone could be in danger or hurt, or worse!"

"I know! I am just saying that..."

It hit Bellavarn in the gut as he felt the bile pool in his mouth. The truth that should have been so clear. Last night. The gaze of the guards. How slowly they searched. The way his parents questioned him. The staff's whispering to each other. His father's silence while Mother spoke of Melody. It was all so clear.

"You don't believe me."

It came out as a hollow whisper.

"You don't believe me."

He repeated. Looking around the room, he saw a server look away. His parents glanced at each other wordlessly.

"You never believed me. You. The staff. The guards. You all think I am a heartbroken fool who dreams of Melody crying out for help."

"That's not true. We are just worried about you, Bellavarn."

His mother reached out again but Bellavarn jumped out of his seat. The chair crashed to the floor.

"No, you never believed me. Not when Melody was hurt. Neither of you listened when I wanted to search for the real perpetrator. You aren't listening now, even when I KNOW someone cried out for help. You think I've gone insane."

The silence from his mother was all he needed. His father stood from his seat, more controlled than Bellavarn, but with an identical furrow in his eyebrows. Braster Sallow faced his son, his piercing blue eyes broke into his soul, and he saw the crashing waves. The turmoil and despair. The hurt and mistrust. The love lost.

"I believed you about Melody. Your mother does now as well. We are your parents. Trust us."

Bellavarn felt the eyes hammering him. Posting signs and labels onto his skin for all to see. He couldn't remove them or touch them. He waved his own sign but felt like someone was drawing a cover over it. It felt invisible compared to all the rest carved in his flesh.

The trembling in his arms and legs was getting too much. Fury? Heartbreak? Longing? Betrayal? It was all of those things. Bellavarn knew he wouldn't last any longer at this moment. His voice cracked, his eyes blinking rapidly.

"Permission to retire..."

His father's eyes cooled with a forlorn frown. Mother looked like she wanted to speak or rush over and embrace Bellavarn.

Conflicted. Warring. A battle of sense and reason. Truth and Fact blurred.

<i>Fictitious.</i>

"Granted."

Bellavarn hurried away, keeping himself upright, carrying the pieces, wondering if they were enough.

"We'll keep searching, Bellavarn. I promise."

His father's parting words threatened to scatter the pieces.

=

Bellavarn was inconsolable. He locked himself in the library. Avoiding all possible interactions. His room had too many painful memories. The stares outside, from the staff and his parents, pricked painfully. So, he retreated into books. This was where he slept and ate now.

His father did continue searching. Or ordered the guards to continue. Nothing was ever found.

No evidence.

No clues.

No hints.

And not a single dream.