The Duchess paused to take a sip of tea, and sat the cup back on the table. “We will also be sure to fairly compensate you for the damages you suffered due to our negligence.”
Why do I feel like I’m being buttered up?
I tried to carefully keep my face neutral. The woman was offering me money, I didn’t want to show a negative reaction and make her change her mind. She probably wanted me to keep quiet about the whole thing. The Strykars had made significant contributions in the fight against the Tarnished, if word got out that they’d missed members of the zealot group under their own roof it would, at best, make them look incompetent.
“Thankyou, Your Grace, that is very kind of you,” I said, lowering my head in a small bow. I chewed the inside of my lip a bit, wondering if I’d be able to push my luck a little. “If I may ask, were you able to get any information from the Tarnished that was captured alive? Perhaps on why they were targeting me?”
The Duchess sat back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other and fiddling with her necklace.
“No,” she eventually said. “I’m afraid the man that was captured managed to kill himself before we were able to question him.” She clicked her tongue in annoyance, delicate brows knitting together and causing part of her scar to pucker. “Damned Tarnished and their poisons.”
I silently agreed. This had been my first hands-on experience with them, but Da had told me much about the Tarnished. They all had a permanent black stain over their bottom lip that extended down over their chin in a thick line. Da said it was remnants of a curse laid on them by the Gods for attempting to usurp them in favour of the demons. Da had also told me that any Tarnished that was captured would commit suicide using a poison that they hid in their mouths.
The Duchess considered me a moment, continuing to twist her necklace.
“As for why you were targeted specifically, I don’t have any certain answers. But I do have a theory.” She sat forward in her seat, elbows resting on her knees and hands loosely clasped together. A strand of grey hair fell over one of her eyes. “I believe the Tarnished are focusing on eliminating all remaining earth magus in Ardere. Once that is done, they can focus on destroying the Deadwall and making the whole country vulnerable to demonic invasion.” She tapped her fingers together, eyes staring at me intensely. “The timing of everything is too suspicious. The unusual wall breaches, the fading Barrier Stones, the death of a number of earth magus on the same night. There are too many to be a coincidence.” The Duchess frowned and pursed her lips. “If my fear is correct, this will not be the last time the Tarnished come after you. They will likely also target your family.”
My stomach, which was already sinking with dread, felt like it fully dropped out of me at her words and the air in the study felt colder. I hadn’t considered that mum, Da and Mason could be in danger, even after hearing how other earth magus had died. I’d assumed it was all an unfortunate accident. But the Tarnished may target them? The farm is so far away from anyone…
They’ll have no help, no warning.
I opened my mouth to speak, but the Duchess raised a hand to stop me. “I have already made arrangements to keep your family safe,” she assured me. “Though they will need to remain close to the Wall lest any further damages occur, they will have a number of guards stationed with them at all times.”
The tension I hadn’t realised was building in my chest lessened a bit. “Thankyou again, your Grace,” I said to her, relief evident in my voice, and she smiled graciously.
Mason is gonna hate having guards.
“As for you, Miss Rowan,” the Duchess continued, once again sitting back in her seat. “You will need to have a guard with you whenever you wish to leave the mansion’s grounds until your trip to the capital. I would discourage you from leaving the grounds altogether, but I won’t go so far as to forbid it. Also, we will be increasing the number of people going to the capital as insurance.”
I sighed internally at this, but didn’t protest. After everything she’d told me, I couldn’t discount her worries that earth magus were being targeted. If the Deadwall fell before the Barrier Stones could be renewed, all of Ardere could fall the same way Arbor had.
A polite knock at the door caused me to jump a little. Once the Duchess called out “Enter,” Harold poked his head into the study.
“Your guest has arrived, Your Grace,” he told her, without even glancing in my direction.
“Excellent,” replied the Duchess, straightening in her seat. “Send him in.”
I glanced over to the Duchess, confused. She was receiving a guest right now? Should I go?
A man walked through the door into the study, clothes dusty from travelling. His short hair was damp and curly, seeming more grey than last I’d seen it. His familiar hazel eyes twinkled at me as his face cracked into a broad grin.
“Da!” I launched out of my chair and flung myself at him. I felt his arms wrap around me in one of his bear hugs as I buried my head into his shoulder. He smelt of horse and the inexplicable scent of flowers and herbs that permeated our home. My eyes prickled with tears, but I squeezed my eyes shut to force them down.
I’m not crying here.
A nagging feeling of having forgotten something increased as I felt Da pat my back, one hand at my shoulder and the other between my shoulder blades. Two hands?
I withdrew from our hug, looking down at the arm I’d seen Mason hack off him only a week ago. Instead of soft flesh, hard brown bark peaked out from the end of Da’s sleeve and weaved around into the rough shape of a hand. The fingers seemed a little longer than would be natural, and one small green leaf grew out near the wrist.
Da saw me studying his new prosthetic and held it up in front of me, flexing the fingers as he did. “What do you think?” he asked cheerily. “Not bad eh? It’s taking some adjusting, but I’m almost able to use it like my old hand now.”
I held the prosthetic hand in both of my own, feeling the thin threads of magic Da was using to move it. Such replacement limbs were apparently not uncommon when Arbor was still flourishing, mum and Da had mentioned it in some of their stories about our county.
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“Your mother has been at me for shedding bark in the house though,” Da sighed with a smile, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
The Duchess cleared her throat behind us, and Da and I looked over at her as I released his new hand.
Right, forgot she was here.
The Duchess gestured for us to sit on the couch I had just left. “Please sit, both of you. We have much to discuss.”
Da looked over at me, eyes lingering on the bruising around my throat as his smile dropped a little. “Yes,” he said, “I dare say we do.”
Da and the Duchess talked for some time. I didn’t join the conversation since much of it was simply recounting what had happened and the Duchess’ theories of a larger conspiracy. Da had his remaining arm wrapped around my shoulders during the whole conversation. When the Duchess spoke of the details of my attack, Da’s arm tightened around me, but his outward expression didn’t change.
I could feel myself growing weary, my mind beginning to wander away from the discussion no matter how many times I dragged it back to the present. I wanted nothing more than to go back to my room and sleep. Da must have noticed, as he glanced down at me.
“Pardon me, Your Grace,”Da said during a lull in their conversation. “Would it be possible to continue this later? I’d like to spend some time with my daughter.”
The Duchess gave him a small smile, and I could swear eyes seemed approving. Maybe I was just imagining things. “Of course, Sir Gareth. You will have a room next to Miss Rowan’s for the night. Please, enjoy the day, we will continue our discussion later this evening.”
Da led the way out of the study and into the hallway. Thankfully, Harold was nowhere to be seen. Da pulled me into another hug once the door closed behind us and planted a kiss on top of my head. The tears stung at my eyes again. Though I was supposed to be an adult, being next to my father still made me feel safe.
“Come on sweetpea,” he said, using a nickname from when I was small. “You look pale, lets get some food in you.”
I chuckled, wiping my eyes. Da’s philosophy has always been that food will make most things better. “Alright Da, I’ll lead you to the kitchens.”
We slowly wandered down to the kitchens. Da chatted as we did, updating me on the repairs to the house and farm, mum, and Mason, and very carefully avoiding the topic of the Tarnished. When we walked through the door of the kitchen and into the now familiar scene of chefs and servants busily hurrying about, the hub of noise faded briefly as people paused to stare at me. I resisted the urge to try and cover my neck with my hands. I pushed through to the table as the noise resumed its usual level. One of the kitchen servants that I was friendly with brought us a couple of plates of sandwiches after we had sat down, and gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Evidently the story of what happened to me had done the rounds amongst the mansion staff.
Da had me regale him with stories of my time here while we ate. I happily obliged, glad to distract myself from the heaviness I’d felt settle over my shoulders since my meeting with the Duchess. I told Da all about Gordon and the gardeners and their various shenanigans. Once we’d finished, I took Da for a stroll around the grounds. I could tell he wanted to speak of more serious matters, and decided an open space away from other people would be best.
We found a spot free from onlookers against a small copse of trees, and sat amongst the shade. I leant my head back against the tree’s smooth bark and looked up at the gently swaying leaves, feeling the gentle pulse of life just out of sight within its trunk and relished the moment of silence.
“I’m sorry you’ve been caught up in all of this kiddo,” Da said quietly. “I want nothing more than to take you out of here and keep you safe, but I’m afraid that’s not an option.”
I tilted my head so I could look over at my father and fiddled with a piece of grass that was tickling my hand. The lines on Da’s face seemed to have deepened, tiredness and worry dragging down at his skin. I gave him a small smile.
“I know Da, it’s alright,” I told him. It wasn’t alright, none of this was alright, but running away from this wouldn’t do any of us any good.
One corner of Da’s mouth quirked upwards in response, before his bushy brows knitted together in a frown. “There’s something…” he paused as he reached into the pocket of his pants, frown deepening a moment, and pulled out a small bundle of fabric. “I have something for you,” he finished, passing the bundle to me.
I carefully unwrapped the bundle, feeling the slight weight of it and hearing something gently clink within. Nestled in the worn scrap of rough fabric sat a polished round disk of a deep golden colour. Swirls of small delicate carvings ran around it, making up an elaborate earth magic circle that had been inlaid with a glimmering blue-green material. It was bordered by two graceful arches made from gold that branched out into small spikes and reminded me of deer antlers, and met at the top of the disc to form a small loop. A fine gold chain had been threaded through the loop, making the disc into a pendant for a necklace. I brushed my thumb over the pendant, feeling a little entranced.
“It belonged to your Grandmother,” Da told me, voice soft and gaze seeming almost sad as he stared at the necklace. “Traditionally, it is passed on to the oldest girl in the family when they turn 21. We were going to give it to you on your next birthday, but you need a decent magic circle to take with you and.. Well, this pendant is said to keep the wearer safe.”
I lifted the golden chain, feeling the fine links slither through my fingers until the pendant was dangling in front of me and swaying slightly. The blue-green inlay caught the light of the sun and seemed to almost glow.
“You…you’re giving this to me?” I asked, feeling a bit dumb. This necklace was definitely worth at least ten years of our family’s income. Everything in our house had been simple and rough, but we had something this fine the whole time? And now it was supposed to be mine?
Da gently took the necklace from me, undoing the clasp and shifting to place it around my neck before clipping it back together.
“Your Grandmother handed this to me the day we escaped from Arbor,” he told me, lifting my hair out from under the chain. “She had made me promise that I would give this to you when you came of age. She dearly wanted to be the one who bestowed it to you but…the corruption was…was to far gone.” Pain edged his voice, and I looked back at him .
I had heard this story before. Grandmother had thrown herself in front of a demon that was going to attack me and Mason as we all tried to escape the fall of the kingdom. She’d caught the blow in her chest, there was no way she could have been saved. Mum had told me Da still felt immense guilt at her passing, since he believed he should have been able to protect us all.
I hugged Da again tightly, wanting to tell him that he wasn’t to blame for her death but not knowing what words to use. The pendant thumped against my chest, and I felt a resonating hum come from it which made me pull back and touch it once more.
“Wait, is this made from wood?” I asked, surprised.
Da chuckled, quickly swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. “Yes, it’s made from a piece of heartwood. No matter how many years pass, it will always still carry life within it.”
I was speechless, my estimation of this necklace’s worth instantly doubling. Heartwood was derived from the sacred tree in Arbor, said to be the resting place of the God of Earth. All parts of the sacred tree were said to never die, and were carefully guarded and cared for when Arbor was still flourishing. To receive a piece of it, even a small piece, was an immense honour granted to only a very few.
Clearly mum and Da had left out some very big details when telling me about our family history.
“How did Grandma get this?” I asked, looking back at Da.
Da scratched his neck for a moment, looking thoughtful before giving me a large grin that felt a little forced. “Tell you what, you come back from your journey in one piece, I’ll tell you the story about that necklace.”
I fiddled with the pendant, smiling back at Da. “It must be one heck of a story,” I said.
Da chuckled. “Believe me kiddo, it is.”