Edgar paced the living room.

Something was wrong.

He didn't want to wake Merida in case it was another weird night for Higgs but it just... wasn't the same. Something was very wrong. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and he went up the stairs, knocking on Merida's door.

"Merida? Can I come in?"

There was no answer so he decided to take a chance and just walked into her room. She was sleeping quite deep, all cattywompered, and Edgar hated to wake her but he gently shook her.

"Higgs, just get in..." she mumbled.

"It's me, Ma."

"Ye can get in too lovey..."

"No, wake up. Something wrong, can't you feel it?"

Merida moaned and straightened herself out. "Of course I cannae feel anything because I was sound asleep."

"Come on, Merida, wake up already. Usually this would have woken you up right out of a slumber. If I can feel it then I definitely know you can."

Merida sighed as Edgar grabbed her arm, trying to get her to get up and become alert to the issue.

"Laddy, an ye dinnae let go of me-" She suddenly seemed to wake up and sat up straight. "Something's wrong."

"I told you!" Edgar practically screamed.

"Aye, that ye did, lad... Where is Mr. Higgs?"

"He's not home yet. The sun hasn't risen completely but usually he's coming through the door or hanging around to come in."

"Get yer boots on. We're going to go and look for him." She said, starting to animate.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Ye're the one who said something was amiss and ye're right about it. I'd rather us be wrong and he's off chasing a rabbit than us be right and he's in a bad spot. An ye're coming then get."

He nodded as Merida changed from her nightgown into a pair of pants that Higgs had left in her room (or she had stolen, she couldn't remember) and grabbed one of her ugliest dresses and cut it down to make a shirt of sorts. She met Edgar out in the hallway, who had gone to get some shoes, and he made a face at her.

"I could have gotten you a better shirt."

"I didnae want to wait. Let's get some horses and go."

********************

They road through the forest all night, calling for Higgs and looking for signs of him sneaking about. As the sun began to rise over horizon, Merida to stop because the jarring of the horse was making her sick. She dismounted and ran to the edge of the path, vomiting into some bushes. Edgar waited patiently for her as he looked around the quiet wood when he spotted the chimney of a house a little deeper in the forest. He made a face, knowing only one person that had their house so deep set in the trees.

"Merida, I think we are on Lady Hinkley's property." He said, pointing to the chimney.

Merida wiped her mouth and looked at where he was pointing. She walked back to the horse and grabbed the reigns, opting to walk for a bit.

"If that's the case, it would be better an I was off the horse anyhow. I cannae overlook anything when it comes to that woman."

"You don't think she did something, do you?" Edgar asked, a small fear blooming in his heart.

"Cannae be too sure with her or without proof. Ye just tell me an ye see Higgs from up there and I will see if I can find anything useful down here."

Edgar nodded as they walked slowly through the wood.

The wind was blowing quite harsh and Merida looked up, seeing storm clouds gathering low on the horizon. Blast England and its annoyingly frequent storms that may or may not actually cause rainfall. Such a gloomy place... she growled in her head.

"We'll have to pick up the pace." She said, motioning to the sky. "Could be a storm brewing so we better try to find something afore the rain washes it away."

"Aye, I ken ye."

Edgar went into a trot so he could go ahead as Merida scanned everything in their path, looking for something.

"Merida!" She looked up. "Come here, quick!"

She walked to where Edgar had dismounted and he pointed to a tree. There was blood splattered on it, a small pool at the bottom by the roots where it looked like something had been impaled there. The tree held a hole where something had been impaled with blood around it and sandy blonde hairs wisping on the splintered bark. Merida felt her blood boil and she stuck her finger in the whole of the tree.

"What are you doing?" Edgar asked.

"Checking for remnants."

"Of?"

She didn't answer him as she pulled her fingers out of the hole. She tsked and looked around to try and find any clues that would clarify this scene better, but to no avail.

"Merida." Edgar growled, grabbing her arm. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find evidence of Mr. Higgs being here."

"How do you know it's him? Are you able to pick up scents from blood now?" Merida made a face at him. "That's how impractical you sound. I want to find him too but making assumptions won't benefit us. We aren't Northumberlys..."

"Then let's just ask the bitch. I'm going to confront her."

"But-"

"Now."

Edgar sighed as they got back on their horses, riding to the Hinkey estate a few yards away.

****************

Merida pounded on the door but no one would answer. Shouldn't there be a servant be up at least? Sure it was dawning (a little past) but that's what a well run household did. The Northumberlys were an exception to the rule regarding proper household help etiquette, but even Merida knew that a house like this had butlers and waitstaff perusing around at all times. Why was no one answering the door?

"Merida?"

They turned as Elizabeth was coming around the bushes lining the pathway towards the back of the house. She was in a plain outfit but it was completely covered in dried blood. Merida marched right up to her.

"Where is he?" she snarled.

"Where is who?"

"Higgs."

"I don't know what you mean." She said with a confused look.

"Ye shot him once before and we saw what ye did at that tree back there!"

"What are you talking about? What tree? You do realize what time it is, right?"

"I ken what time it is and I ye well know what tree I'm talking about, ye bitch!" she screamed, about to jump at her.

"Whoa, hey, wait!" Edgar yelled jumping in between them. "Let's try this a little differently." He said, looking at Merida. He turned to Elizabeth. "Lady Hinkley, Higgs hasn't come home and usually he's back by first light. Last time that happened, he had been shot by you. We got worried and while we searched the woods for traces of him, we came upon a disturbing sight. Could you please tell us if you may have seen him or if you know where he might be?"

"I can understand your concerns," she said, eyeing Merida as she backed up a little from Edgar. "but I haven't seen him, honest."

"They why are ye covered in blood?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Oh good lord, what have you been fantasizing? That mark you saw in the tree was me practicing my spear hunting skills."

"Spear hunting?" Merida said, not believing her.

"Ye---s... I sometimes find hunting with a rifle to be trite when I'm not actively pursuing something. Just seems a waste of bullets. I try different methods of hunting to broaden my expertise and give me a challenge." She laughed nervously. "I'm not that great with a spear though. I got the deer, but it went right through the poor thing's neck and got stuck on that tree. Of course it wouldn't hit anything major, so I had to slit the poor thing's neck to put it out of its misery."

Merida didn't believe anything coming out of her mouth, but it was also quite a plausible mishap. If the trophies in Elizabeth's home were any indication of her hunting prowess, then the story would make sense. And Merida had done spear hunting herself when she was younger and it was true that if you weren't skilled at it, you would either throw too soft and cause more harm than good or you'd throw too hard and send it clean through.

"You said you didn't know what tree we were talking about." Edgar said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Well all you said originally was 'we saw the tree'. We're in a forest, kid, there are literally thousands of trees. I realized when Merida asked about the blood what tree you were referring to. In any event, I don't know where Mr. Higgs is and I haven't done anything, if that's what you're insinuating. To be honest, I should call a constable out here to deal with your trespassing and senseless accusations."

Merida stopped trying to jump Elizabeth and seemed to calm down, actually smiling. It made Edgar uneasy because her smile wasn't a normal smile. It made him shiver.

"Ye're right. I'm verra sorry I encroached upon yer land. I didnae mean to; we were just trying to find Higgs. And ye're right, I shouldnae come to yer door and accuse ye of such silly things. How... insensitive of me."

Merida's demeanor was enough to make even Elizabeth seem nervous.

"Right..."

"Weel, Edgar, I ken I've made and ass of myself long enough, eh? Maybe we were just overreacting about the whole thing and since Lady Elizabeth's home was closest, we just assumed the blame to her. An ye see Higgs pass through though, please tell him we're looking for him and to get his bloody arse back home."

"Of course." She said with a smile.

"I apologize again for pointing my finger at ye. Ye have a good rest of yer day."

"You as well. I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help."

"Dinnae ye worry about it."

Merida turned to go back to her horse as Edgar ran up beside her.

"So... that's it then?"

"Hell no."

"Then-"

"I've killed many a deer and ye dinnae get that much blood on ye when ye bleed one. Even if she tried to say it had to do with her horrible shot, neither slicing the neck to bleed it or taking the spear out of it would have made her that bloody."

"If she carried it over her shoulder then it could have dripped down."

"No matter how good of a shot she is, she wouldnae be able to carry a deer over her shoulder. Doe or not. Too much blood for a fawn and blood wasnae running from her shoulders."

"What if she cut the deer while looking at it? Could the blood have sprayed?"

"A woman of her caliber and expertise damn well should know how to bleed a deer. 'Sides, that blood was almost in a circle or such, meaning that she got it because she was catching something falling onto her. Even if she wanted to claim it was the deer, she'd have held it around the neck to stabilize it. If she got it in the neck, only her sleeves would have been bloody. She's lying."

"Why wouldn't (or couldn't) it have been a fawn?"

"It's illegal to shoot fawns and what would she need with one? A deer has enough meat on it to last a while. Why are ye trying to make excuses for her?"

"I'm not. I'm ruling out everything before we go accusing people properly. I mean, how do we even do that? How do we prove it was her?"

"Unfortunately, there's not really anything we can do. It's all hearsay at the moment and trying to get anyone to look into it would just make us look idiotic. There's only so much the Northumberlys can do for us before we just end up being called 'insane' or bemirchers."

Edgar sighed. "So what if she really does have Mr. Higgs. What is she doing to him?"

"I'm on the fence. I want to know so I can beat the hell out of her later, but I also dinnae want to know because I dinnae ken how far she could actually go. I personally dinnae want to find out but I'm certain it willnae be good."

********************

Elizabeth watched them leave and then frowned. She walked to the back of the house and opened the back door. She went to another door that led to a staircase and went down into the room. She grabbed the key on the hook and opened the door, lighting the lantern that was hanging there. The dark, cold room lit up as she took the lantern off the hook and placed it in front of a mirror that was hanging behind a small vase table and then grabbed another to do the same thing on the other side of the room. Once the room was fully lit, she turned and smiled.

"I got a visitor. Do you know who it was?" There was no answer. "Come on, take a guess." Still no answer. Elizabeth huffed, exasperated. "Let me try this again..." She grabbed a chain that was connected to the wall and yanked on it hard, a snarl emitting the room. "Don't be coy with me. You answer when I speak to you."

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

"I would like to not get that angry with you, Higgs." She said, bending over to look at him. "Just do as I say and answer me when I talk."

Higgs spit in her face. "Fuck you."

"You are not making wise choices, Mr. Northumberly." She said wiping his saliva away.

"It's not like this feeling is something new. I should have never considered you a potential wife."

"Oh, because you wouldn't be here if you didn't? Hahaha, that's not true at all. See, I had my eyes on you way before any of this came to fruition. At first I wasn't going to go through all of this, but when you rejected me for that oafish redhead, I decided that this was going to be the best thing."

"She's going to find me."

"And how is that? I can answer every suspicious behavior with a plausible reason. Even she can't deny that what I say is the truth."

Higgs laughed, throwing his head back even though he had a horrible headache.

"Merida isn't some dumb maid. She's far more intelligent than you could ever be. You think she actually bought whatever you may have said to make her leave?" He laughed again. "You're a fool if you think that would deter her."

He kept laughing his head off as Elizabeth fumed, but it just made him laugh even harder. She finally had enough to being mocked and clawed her hands, scratching him across the face. The scratches healed immediately as he turned back from the smack.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed.

Higgs snarled at her and then lunged, gnashing his teeth at her. She grabbed the chain coming from behind him and yanked on it hard. He yelled in pain and she leaned towards him while hanging on the chain, pulling the chain down.

"You need to learn a few things about communicating with me, Mr. Higgs. Once of them is that if you mention Merida Dunbrough in my presence, you will be beaten. If you compare me to Merida Dunbrough, you will be whipped. If you do or say anything that's against what I say or do, you will be tortured. I am always right, no matter what. Understand?"

"Make me." He said with a glare.

"Oh, don't tempt me. You are the best thing I've seen in a very long time..." She stood up, releasing the chain. "But don't worry. I won't make light of our time together. I'm going to do a lot of things to you."

"Then why are you threatening me? Just do it. Merida is the best threatener in all of Britain. Don't think you compare to her even an inkling."

"That long winded blather is the best at threats?"

Higgs laughed again. "It may be long winded, but she doesn't back down. If she says she's going to do it, then by God she will. Empty threats are nothing."

Elizabeth smiled and walked away, going to the other side of the room. She went to the wall and unraveled a chain that was there, yanking on it as hard as she could. Higgs screamed out as the chain made one side of his body rise up, the meat hook digging into his shoulder. She unraveled another chain and pulled on it, making him be a few inches above the floor and hanging by the two meat hooks in his shoulders. Elizabeth set the chains and then went to a closet in the recesses of the dark and pulled out a whip.

"I think you're going to discover quite quickly that this may be the one thing that I am confident that I am much, much better at than Merida. You see, unlike her, my threats are short, sweet, and to the point." She snapped the whip, the leather wrapping around Higgs' body as she got close to his face. "And come with an instant gratification." She pulled the whip as it left a spiraled welt and grabbed his face. "There is nothing hollow about what I promise to do to you."