‘You left the university. What will you do now young master? Return to the old country? Go and live outside the walls of the city until a horde of corrupted decide to eat you alive? Marry a minor noble? This is not how you were raised. You will go back directly to talk to your tutor and apologise for your actions. If you mother heard of your actions why she would experience great disappointment in yourself and in my own guide-’ said Alessandro as the young man stood in front of him wearing white and red robes marking his status as a trainee of the academy of purity ripped off a badge off his uniform and threw it to the floor.
Out of sheer frustration he had taken one of the artistic vases from a plinth and smashed it against the wall. The fact that it could have fed a lower-quarter family made him ashamed but he was feeling so angry, so frustrated that all he could do was lash out.
They were inside the main room of his minor estate. Barely enough to service a House for even minor nobility but had been built higher on one of the three mountains of the cities so remained protected from the lower quarters but close to the merchant section of the city.
His mother had originally carried enough assets and wealth to buy herself into this position in the city and with her title from her ancient noble homeland which had been proved through the records of the Queen and the King Consort she had established herself as a member of nobility.
Granted the deaths of so many nobles on the battlefields in the last days of the war against the Dark Lord and the corruption which took overs before the Goddess intervened directly she was a welcome addition. Her son, born from out of wedlock from her previous relationship as a young woman was not.
The fact that she had given birth at sixteen, her unique appearance as a clear foreigner and her own mannerisms and training as a noble in her homeland had given her further suitors amongst those of the lords and ladies of the capital city.
The servants, hearing the argument had closed the doors and left Cristiano with his Head Servant and Butler to argue. Fights between them were extremely rare and few in-between.
The room itself was expensive if old fashioned, stone walls with wooden flooring and alchemical lighting. A rich array of colourful images and a large fireplace decorated the room. It was in part a room for leisure, education and entertainment, the largest inside the minor estate. A small servants quarters, kitchen and two bedrooms adjoining. A small garden and training ground lay out the back along with horse stables long since emptied out.
There had been neither the funds nor the inclination to keep horses inside. Even paying the servants had been a chore, Alessandro himself managed the finances of the minor house tightly and efficiently in his role as head servant.
Restraining himself from lashing out Cristiano clenched both his fists tightly onto the white fabric of his trainee-priest robes. The material stronger than his desire to rip it off his body.
‘No. Alessandro, you might remember my mother but I barely do. She left me when I was five years old. Five years old! Who does that? I don’t even know why I’m taking this from you. You’re my house servant, you’re not my grandfather. How about you listen to what I want to do for a change? I was kicked out for asking the wrong questions. As for what next? I don’t know but I do have a plan for tonight. I’m going down to the lower quarters to find some genuine people, have a few drinks until I’m feeling good enough and then find a girl to kiss. I’m tired of following orders and routine. I need one single night of freedom away from it all and then in the morning...I’ll...I don’t care right now. Tomorrow’s Cristiano can deal with it. He’ll wake up with the hangover, not me. I don’t need a lecture from an old solder who decided to escort my mother to this kingdom out of fear.’ said Cristiano.
The young man was seated in one of the several items of furniture inside the room. He had positioned himself on the same large green backed chair his mother had always sat with him when had had been a boy and unconsciously he had grown to use it as his own.
Standing opposite him in front of the twin decorated hard-wood doors was his head of house servant and butler Alessandro.
The old man had short cropped hair and was of average height but he was slim, thin even beneath his smartly dressed black suit with white lapels. His shoes had been polished and he held a straight posture with both arms tucked behind his back.
‘You possess the fire of your mother and the inner will of your father. When they were young their respective families opposed their relationship and in spite of it they bore you out of love and passion. Your mother...loves you but she has her own family to consider. Her role, her position, even as a minor noble you must learn to adapt to these circumstances. You have opportunity so many living here do not. I did not educate you to be a spoiled brat. You are better than this but I will not argue with the desires of youth. Cristiano, a parting gift. Take these blades, they were meant to be a gift from your mother upon your graduation from the Church. To guide and protect you.’ said Alessandro.
Walking over to the large fireplace in the room he pressed a hidden button and reaching inside the cold fireplace, the weather had been sufficiently warm to avoid lighting it, pulled out a rectangular box inlaid with gold leaf and patterns of olive trees from his old country.
Fingers pressed on the sides he clicked it open and opened the lid revealing a pair dark switch-blade knives with horn grips.
‘These...these belonged to your father once. Your mother never sold them, never showed them to anyone except myself and she made me promise to hand them to you.’ said Alessandro.
The mention of his mother once again made Cristiano experience a burst of rage. He slapped the box out of the hands of his servant sending it clattering onto the wooden floor. His anger stopping him from seeing the look on the face of Alessandro.
‘My father? He was the reason that everyone calls me a half-noble! The reason that my dear mother decided to remarry to higher nobility and make her own life once more. You think that memories matter to me? All, I know about him is that he made my mother pregnant and died in one of the stupid feuds between the noble families back in the old country. No, I earned this blade through my efforts’ said Cristiano as he pulled out his own white blade from a sheath on his back.
‘I’m done here. Give me my script allowance and I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Or I won’t. Either way, you don’t know anything old man. Go and manage this worthless house for all it’s worth. I don’t know why my mother made you accompany here to this kingdom or even why you agreed but we’re done.’ said Cristiano.
Alessandro flicked a wrist and an amount of noble scrip appeared in his hand. He’d been good at minor tricks which had impressed Cristiano when he was younger but he’d had enough of being told what to do by an old man who wasn’t even his own flesh and blood.
Snatching the noble scrip from Alessandro’s hand he marched over to the twin doors, yanked one open and slammed it behind him leaving his butler behind with the box on the floor.
He barely heard the final words of Alessandro as he half-ran, half-walked to the front door of his minor mansion.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
‘….Careful….find…..danger.’ said the butler.
Cristiano woke up from his dream. Sweat was running down his back as his hands reached out and gripped the soft cushioned seat beneath him and he pulled on the curtain next to him revealing the city streets passing along. There was a strong scent in the air, one that he remembered from earlier when he had woken up on the lap of the woman in the silk mask, the one with the facial aberration. Coughing he pulled his face to the window. The strong smells of the city brought back awareness to his face as Cris began to smell stronger smells of spice, vegetables and cooked meats.
From the view outside the horse-pulled carriage Cris recognised the sights of the merchants quarter of the city, despite the capital city still technically in a state of war outside trade with the three surrounding kingdoms was encouraged. Where there was profit to be made, traders would make the journey to the capital city, sell their produce or pick up local items and then sell it.
The remaining nobility had also inherited a great deal of lands outside the city and a small influx of minor nobility as in his mother’s case had flocked and been able to purchase both countryside, titles and influence within the city. As far as he knew it was the six Lords and Ladies who together with Queen Ferberg formed the governing councils and stood above all. Their holdings both within the city and in those villages and towns that had survived the corruption or been reclaimed and held after the end of the war.
Cris preferred to keep his viewpoint outside of the carriage as he realised that they had passed a street earlier, clearly they had been going in a broad loop from the lower districts up to the markets quarter and closer to where the nobility, city government, military and priesthood resided.
If he was to exit the carriage now likely, he would be able to make his way back to his small mansion on foot, there would be Alessandro waiting for him with a list of steps to take next and marriage proposals to consider, or enlistment in the city guard or for one of the reclamation mercenary troops. Even signing up with a wandering merchant and leaving this place behind him was a viable option, he’d met ex-priests and trainees who’d expressed and told him how it was possible.
‘You can look at me if you like. I’m quite aware of how my face makes people..uncomfortable. The changes it makes cannot always be controlled but I’ve had a great deal of practice with it. I’m sorry for using the same chemical effect on you but Disease Master promised that it would calm you down and provide decent dreams. A shame it doesn’t work on everybody but given your history with the Church of Light and Purity you would have been exposed to a similar variant. Would you like me to stop the carriage if you want to buy something to eat or drink? Arrangements have been made for suitable cleaning and a change of clothes in your size is waiting for you at my offices.’ said the woman with no face.
Drawn towards the sound of her voice Cris saw that in her hands she was holding a glass bottle with sticks of lit incense which she had extinguished.
Cris ignored her and continued to look outside as his own stomach gurgled in hunger and thirst. Regardless of his own choices he was a captive to the strange woman and he was fascinated by the rest the group that followed her instructions and worked with her. He could always jump from the carriage and find a place to hide, he knew the merchants quarter well enough to do that. Even leaving the city would be an option as long as he had scrip in his hand.
All he would have to do is leave Alessandro without a clue of where he had left. The old man would be saddened and his mother would have lost her son whom she barely communicated with aside from messages, birthday and celebration presents gifted in her name.
Not that much to lose really.
‘I’ve seen those eyes before. The sense of thinking about your future. Shall we be frank for a moment? Ah, I prefer to talk face to face as it were. I think...a young redhead will suit. With freckles and green eyes.’ said the woman with no face as underneath her silken mask her skin stretched without her hands touching it and reformed underneath.
Having seen the transformation once, Cris understood why she chose to wear a mask. If she chose to do that openly in public she would be either denounced, arrested or worse. Magic use outside of the Church of Purity and Light was strictly mandated, besides, all the gods of the kingdom had long since stopped responding since the Goddess Aliza rose into prominence. Cris knew that the higher up priests and priestesses knew the exact reason behind it but he had been admonished when he had asked and reproached for his lack of true faith.
‘I don’t have a preference. As long as you don’t look like my mother then I don’t personally care what you become….actually if you could avoid looking like Agnes that would help. Any other woman except her.’ said Cris.
The woman laughed, a strangled sound as her vocal cords stretched and altered along with her face then the flesh shifting underneath the silken mask stopped and she pulled if off with a flourish and crumpling into one hand threw it out of the window.
‘Interesting...I didn’t know you had a preference for older military trained women who could crush you. Physically I mean. Those limbs of hers aren’t just for show.’ said the woman with a fresh young face, short red hair, freckles and green eyes. Her teeth shone white and clean with no signs of decay.
The horse drawn carriage had two opposing seats, enough for four at least with two sets of curtains on each window, one to block out the sun and the second to give privacy to the occupant. The interior was plain enough but well built, old Cris recognised, but good quality. The interior wood had been painted over in shades of grey, a strange choice as it didn’t match with the deep green of the leather seats.
‘I have a preference for you stopping this carriage and letting me leave of my own free will.’ said Cris as he folded his arms. He was aware that his own noble clothing was now becoming torn, worn-out and he was beginning to smell. He’d need to throw it away and find a new set of hard wearing travelling gear.
‘I’ve met your mother. She talks highly of you. Her oldest son, tell me, do you ever meet your half-siblings? They admire you. But her husband on the other hand...being one of the six Lords and Ladies of the city is no easy task. I think he doesn’t like you. You remind him that his wife once knew another man before him. But he still cares about you in his own way. Do you know he protected you from punishment of partial heresy? All those questions..all those ideas. Hard to find someone like that, who actually thinks for a change.’ said the red haired young faced woman sitting in front of him.
Her body hadn’t changed during the process and she remained the same slim build but had taken the cloak of Cris when he had been sleeping and covered herself with it.
‘Am I pretty enough? I think that many would like how I look. I can change my voice if you like, but I’d prefer not to. Enough conversation, we need to have a serious talk my Young Master Cristiano Cifesboren. My name is Lady Joanne Dee Mawr and I am the Spymistress of our fair Nurburg Kingdom appointed personally by the Queen herself. To make it simple, I’ll offer you a choice. You can leave this carriage, even by one of the gates of the city if you wish. I’ll give you provisions, weapons and even enough money to buy your passage on a merchant caravan to wherever you wish. Or you can play a direct role in stopping the entire destruction of this city, our countryside, every single living person here and the kingdom itself.’ said Lady Joanne Dee Mawr.
Cris glanced out the window, he saw the same market vendors hawking their goods, different customers this time. They had made a loop once again around the market quarter. A few people on the street had begun to point at the carriage and young children waved when they saw him looking out.
‘No. I can’t stop the corruption from destroying us, only the Goddess has the true and raw power to slow it and turn this kingdom back to what it once was. I’m an ex-trainee priest looking for a new way to live. Yes, I’d love answers to my questions but you’re looking for the wrong person. Surely the Queen herself as the Head of the Church of Light and Purity has more ability than me to stop the magical disease. You can give me that cloak back as well. It was a gift from Agnes.’ said Cris.
When he saw the faces of the children of merchants and their servants smiling at waving at him, he pulled open his part of the curtain and began to wave back. To his surprise Lady Joanne imitated his actions and waved and smiled as well.
‘Funny boy. You think the corruption is a threat to us? We’re making progress beating it back after all these years. No, there’s a more serious threat than that. I estimate we have a little more than a year at most until our old three allied kingdoms decide to invade. Tell me, how would you like to be part of saving the kingdom and having an adventure and making new friends in the process?’ said Lady Joanne.
She raised her hands as the cloak slid off her shoulders and fell onto the carpeted floor of the horse carriage and made a series of knocks and thumps on the roof of the carriage. They abruptly stopped as Cris steadied himself from toppling off his seat as the horses whinnied in front.