"I'll be right out. Hang on."When I came back into the room, the drapes were only partly closed now and the lights almost dim enough for my eyes. A sm...ll table with two chairs had been brought in from somewhere, and there was coffee. I could smell it. The life-giving elixir of the gods. The steam rising from the cups beckoned me closer, like a siren luring sailors to their deaths. The hidden rocks that destroyed the sailors' ships were the various other foods, and they made my stomach do. The clothes were a near perfect fit, and the colors were precisely right to show her off to perfection.He saw a look of confusion on her face. When he went to kiss her hand, he noticed her flinch. Her hands were rough and callused. This was a girl who had worked and worked hard. Where had the King found her? What was her lineage? Where was her family? There were too many questions, but he was sure of one thing though, and that was that this was what the King had sought for so long. He HAD KNOWN. By mid-day the frost had gone and they set out on the walk to where Jim was due to meet them with their evening meal and hot drinks. Apart from a couple of times when they had to take cover and wait shivering while parties of hikers passed by, the day was incident free and Jim duly appeared at the redezvous.He and Gwen disappeared behind a convenient wall for a very long time and the other two ate their meal in silence until Jessica spoke."I'm really going to love altering that lovely face of. .. rats probably." He rationalized, more than slightly unnerved. He'd buy some rat poison and lay down some traps. There – all taken care of.Of course it wasn't really.Over the coming weeks he'd heard the whisper from down the drain at random times, but with a noticeable increase in frequency. After a month it had become audible through the kitchen sink, even though it clearly hadn't increased in volume. After several more weeks, there wasn't a drain or faucet in the house that wasn't.