Chapter Thirty-One - The Runaround

  54th Day of Spring - Year 1758 of the Golden Era

  Shorefarm, Yellowfield, Draya Calyrex

  The mansion wasn't far from town. It stood out, squatting atop a hillside where it could overlook most of Shorefarm, but the mansion was definitely not within the bounds of the town.

  The walls encircling Shorefarm closed off at a wide gate, and from there, there was a well-maintained road from the town to the front of the mansion which had its own walls all the way around. Short, stone walls, stacked up to hip-height, with a much taller wrought-iron fence above covered in sharp-edged spikes twisted into decorative patterns.

  The front gate of the mansion had a small hut next to it, for a guard or two to rest in, but it was left unoccupied at the moment. A plaque sat next to one of the two stone pillars framing the entrance gate. "Welcome to the Goldfilius estate," Viridian read. "Home of the Lord Goldfilius, sons and daughters of Aurynth the Golden."

  "Not much gold for a place with that kind of name," Carnel said.

  The home was old stone, with ivy clinging to its side all the way up to the gabled rooftop. It was larger than any of the homes in town by a factor of ten, with a pair of single-story wings jutting out of either side of the main building and a small stable off to one side.

  A little to the rear of the mansion were a pair of smaller, far more humble homes, still within the grounds, and just past them a long glass-roofed greenhouse.

  No one was out and about, however.

  Viridian led her companions down the main path from the gate to the front of the mansion where she was the first to climb up the steps to the front door. There was a knocker next to it, with a pull-cord just below.

  She tugged on the rope three times, and something within the home clunked an equal number of times.

  There was movement in the mansion, something shifting, and indistinct call, then a shouted order. Finally, someone moved up to behind the door, and it opened a crack. The person on the other side had tipped a chair against the handle, keeping the door from opening all the way.

  It was a maid. A middle-aged woman in a simple frock with an apron over the front. "H-hello?" she asked.

  "Hello," Viridian said.

  The woman gasped, then shut the door.

  "Did I... say something wrong?" Viridian wondered.

  "I don't believe so," Lazur replied.

  They waited as there was movement within the home, but within a minute or two, the door opened once more. The maid now had a butcher's knife in hand, and was staring at them with wide eyes. "Forgive me," she said. "But who are you?"

  "My name is Viridian. My companions and I were sent by Magus Maldrak."

  The maid nodded slowly, then looked back. She repeated what Viridian said to someone deeper in the room. A reply came soon after, and she returned her attention to Viridian. "Thank you. Um... this magus, would he have any relations with the priestly order?"

  "I don't think so," Viridian said. "But we are here for something related. We want to save an apprentice magus on behalf of Magus Beornhelm."

  "Oh," the maid said. "One moment." The door shut again.

  "Now did I say the wrong thing?" Viridian asked.

  It didn't take long for the door to reopen, fully this time. The maid was there, but so were two young men in well-fitted armour. Not just gambesons tossed on over plain clothes, but arming doublets and scaled armoured coats. They had swords on one hip, and one of them carried a short spear.

  "Please follow me," the maid said. "The Lord Master would like to see you. Please leave your... longer weapons by the door."

  "We can keep our swords?" Carnel asked.

  The maid hesitated, then nodded. "They shouldn't be able to harm the Lord Master. We just... don't want holes punched into the ceiling."

  Viridian nodded, then placed her pike to the side against a small coat rack. She supposed that was as reasonable a reason as any for not carrying a polearm in the house.

  She started to follow the maid, her companions behind her, and the two young soldiers came in from behind them and walked a few paces back.

  Viridian wasn't sure how well they could fight either young man. They seemed healthy enough. A few scales poked out along the neck of one, but he didn't have the sickly paleness of someone on the verge of fainting, nor the thin gauntness she'd seen in so many villagers.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The maid had a very slight limp, but that was all, she seemed normal otherwise, though her dress covered her much.

  Viridian wondered if the people of the mansion were simply not as impacted by the state of the rest of the world.

  Then the maid brought them up a set of curving stairs to a second floor. Paintings of men and women with severe looks and clothes that dated back further and further in style hung from the walls. The men often wore complex scale armour, with dragon-headed pauldrons and helmets tucked into the crook of their arms. The women tended to be pretty, in a very carefully make-uped way.

  "The lord is within," the maid said as she opened a door and slipped to the side to allow them access.

  Viridian nodded in thanks, then carefully stepped into what turned out to be a grand office. Bookshelves lined one wall, and the opposite had tasteful seating spaces between large windows overlooking the back of the mansion. At the far end of the room was a large desk, behind which sat a man in a high-backed chair.

  "Lord Master," the maid said as she followed them in. The two soldiers stationed themselves outside. "Presenting... Viridian, a messenger from Magus Maldrak and Magus Beornhelm, and her... their companions. Viridian, this is Lord Master Goldfillius, of Shorefarm."

  The man raised a hand to dismiss the maid. His hand was four-fingered, each one thick and covered in fine scales and ending in a long, well-tended nail that looked like it could rend flesh with ease. "Thank you," he said. "You're dismissed. Unless our guests require bread and water?"

  Viridian shook her head. "No thank you, sir," she said. Her eyes clicked back to the man's face. He was elderly, she noted, with a receding hairline, and what was left was a shock of white and grey. His eyes were slitted, like a lizard's, and there were fine scales along his jawline. But the draconic changes seemed, at a glance, well-tended and natural. These weren't cancerous growths of wild magic, but purposeful.

  "So... Magus Maldrak. That isn't a name most in Draya Calyrex will know, not amongst the common folk, but though my station is low as a mere baron, I am not so unlearned as to be unaware of your master."

  "Thank you, sir," Viridian said. Was Magus Maldrak so well known? She wasn't aware.

  "What does the good Magus want with me?" he asked.

  "I... am afraid that there might be a misunderstanding," Viridian said carefully. "We were sent to scout Shorefarm and the area around it. The town by the shore was filled with people who had... lost their minds. But we continued to search. One of our objectives was the tower of Magus Beornhelm. He indicated that he would assist us if we secured his apprentices."

  "Ah," Baron Goldfilius said. "I can imagine the story from there. Did you visit Shorefarm itself?"

  "Yes, sir," Viridian said.

  "And the priest spoke to you?" he asked.

  She nodded. "He wants the other apprentice from your mansion."

  The man tensed, then relaxed into his seat. "He can have the apprentice over my still-warm corpse. Not that that would take much today. Do you know what is happening in the nation at large?"

  Viridian glanced to her companions and back. "We think so? Magus Maldrak suspects that the dragons are..."

  "Dead," he finished for her. "A fact that the priesthood will not take kindly to. The town by the ocean, how fared it?"

  "The people were... not sane. They were making sacrifices to Aurynth the Golden every day."

  "I see," he said. "The mayor there is a cousin. A foolish one, pushed there to keep his ambitions in line. I can't imagine him being calm and reasonable and leading his people through turbulent times."

  Viridian said nothing.

  The baron sat up in his seat. "I wish to talk to your Magus Maldrak, but first, let us fix the debts between us."

  "Debts?" Viridian asked.

  "Yes," he said with no further explanation. "You seem capable enough. And you aren't of Draya Calyrex. If you want the apprentice, then you will do something for me."

  "What do you want us to do?" Viridian asked.

  "I need that priest dead. Otherwise what am I a lord of if I cannot rule over the village that my ancestors built?"

  ***