Now that time is no longer distorted, the four guards from the doorway stumble into the room and push through the crowd and create a barrier in front of Lord and Lady Brust. Another four guards come through the rear entrance and take up station behind the royal duo. The local merchants show the expected amount of indignation at having guards suddenly storm into the room. The first petitioner glances down at his felled compatriot, smirks and turns back to Lord Brust.
Another dozen guards storm the room looking for a royal body to protect, they dejectedly resign themselves to manning the exits. This looks like the group from outside, maybe Sergeant Brandt from the gatehouse made it here after all.
Lord Brust is the first to speak, “Master Terius, what a surprise. Was that your doings?”
“Lord Brust, if you are referring to the time-anomaly it was not of my making.”
“What time-anomaly. I was referring to the light show. The sunlight disappeared and reappeared; it was very shocking. And more so, what happened to that young boy?” Lord Brust nods his head to the petitioner’s companion who is still unconscious on the floor.
“As to that it’s best we speak in private.”
“Of course, this is what I pay you for after all. Defending our lands from unexplainable mysteries and those overpowered idiots calling themselves duelists.”
Advisor Moon stands up and declares the days petitioning period is over until next month. He then signals for the guards to clear the room.
Having so many guards standing around made short work of clearing the room. In less than five minutes only two guards remain, along with Lord Brust, the Lady Terara, Horace Moon, Terius, and the petitioner whose name is Bahter Santoso and his oversized but young companion, Malo Feltman.
Terius attempts to explain the mechanics of what occurred but settles for Lord Brust, accepting that time sped up outside this room. Everyone agrees that the merchants are going to be very upset when they learn what happened.
As for Malo’s involvement. His companion, probably not the right word for their relationship, insists Malo be locked away for his crimes. Including the delusion that time sped up outside the room. His other crimes are apparently matricide and patricide. Bahter backed off the matricide claim when they got him to admit she died giving birth. Killing his father just happened the night before by fire, and the evidence is literally on his body. He’s covered in third degree burns on his entire left side from head to toe.
Lord Brust is used to his role as a judge for crimes of this magnitude, and hears out Bahter before questioning him, “Bahter, you said the fire just happened and Malo received these burns in that fire. How is it that they are half healed? My advisor assures me those burns have been treated extensively for more than a year to look the way they do.”
“He has an ally, a Hedge Witch. Everyone knows she’s one, but she won’t accept payment, so nobody calls her out. She showed up the day Malo was born, and he’s been nothing but trouble his whole life.”
Now Lady Brust speaks up while still smiling at the unconscious boy, “How can such a joyful boy be trouble?”
“For one he’s dumb as a rock. The valley masters had to teach him every single word and their meanings. They even bought him one of those dictionaries so he can look up words and their definitions. He should know the same words as everyone else. Don’t get me started on math, he had to be told how to add and subtract numbers when he was already three years old. He barely talked until he was two. Even for a runt he’s denser than expected.”
Lord Brust looks up at that last sentence, “A runt you say? I’ve never heard of a runt surviving this long. They’re usually so sickly that they die in just a few months. He must be sixteen maybe seventeen by his size.”
Bahter looks apologetic, “I don’t want to be correcting you my lord, but he’s barely nine years old.”
“That must be a mistake look at his size, you’re telling me he’s going to grow even taller?”
“I don’t know about the growing, but he’s nine years old for sure.”
Lady Brust used this time to put the pillow from her chair under Malo’s head, then sends a guard out to find a blanket.
Terius is also studying Malo, using his expanded senses, he finds nothing out of the ordinary, except for those burns. The only way he survives those is through the gift. Terius is confident that he could be equally burned and would heal, but he would heal one hundred percent. Malo healed just enough to close most of the blisters and replace charred skin and then stopped. If it was his internal ability, it would continue until he was fully restored. If it was this ally who isn’t a witch, why would she leave him like this?
Help from a Hedge Witch does explain the crude attempt to cloak his spirit. Most of them have very little spirit to hide of their own, Malo’s cloaks would have been adequate for a witch’s purposes. Terius wishes the boy would wake up, he has a lot of questions and is anxious to know if there will be a fight.
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Bahter continues to plead his case to have the boy locked away, “The boy once tried to summon a leaper to be his familiar. He almost got his friend killed that night.”
Lord Brust is not moved by the ever-evolving narrative, “Horace, Mister Santoso traveled all night to bring Malo here, he should be offered refreshment before his return to Feltworks.”
“Of course, my lord, I’ll see it done. Mister Santoso, would you come with me please?”
Bahter’s eyes light up at the prospect of eating in Brust Keep. He hasn’t had a bite in 12 hours and telling everyone that he dined in the keep will be a story to tell his great-great grandkids.
As if his presence was the cause of Malo’s state, Malo begins to moan when Bahter leaves the room.
Terius, concerned for the safety of the Lady and Lord, “Lady Terara, I must ask you to leave at once, and the same goes for you, my Lord.”
In answer she kneels down and sits next to Malo and repositions his head to her lap; Jgeorg just sighs at his wife's resolve and stays put as well.
Malo’s eyes flutter open and all he can see is the beautiful face of Lady Terara gazing down at him with soft purple eyes and a broad smile, all framed by her golden curly hair. He takes a deep breath and falls asleep, now with a smile on his face.
Lord Brust mutters, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Terius, “I agree, we know nothing of this boy but the words of his travel companion. He said he was promised compensation to bring the boy here for protection, didn’t he?”
“Eventually, he let that slip. He first attempted to convince me that the whole town wanted to lynch the poor boy and it was he who insisted on bringing him here for a fair trial.”
“It’s strange that the man has such disdain for the boy.”
“I agree, it’s downright impossible to conceive of such an attitude where he’s concerned.”
“I believe the part about the ally. I think she patched the boy up after this fire but knew she had reached the limits of her skills and sent the boy here in hopes someone like me would arrive before the others.”
Lord Brust looks uncomfortable, “What do you mean by others?”
Hoarce Moon returning from the kitchen where he dropped off Bahter, “Yes, tell the good Lord Brust about the others.”
“As you know my Order has taken an oath to defend against people and entities with similar capabilities, but with less scruples on how they are to be used. Some of them seek out young and powerful humans like our Malo to use in ways I’d rather not say in front of your wife.”
The Lady doesn’t look up from the sleeping boy, “You speak of the ones that devour spirits and the flesh of children. I read about them many years ago, that book gave me nightmares for weeks. Thank you for sparing me.” Somehow, she managed to convey an eye role without moving her head.
Everyone but Terius picked up on the sarcasm, he replies, “You’re welcome my ‘lady.”
Lord Brust has a plan formulating, “Did you say this Malo has the gift? And is powerful?”
“I believe I did. What are you getting at?”
“Can you take him to your study and train him to be a Defender?”
“I was planning on doing exactly that.”
“Excellent, my Lady. What do you think about adopting this orphan?”
“That would be wonderful,” Lady Terara pulls her gaze away from Malo long enough to glance at her husband.
“Eh’ hem,” Hoarce clears his throat. “My Lord, what are you doing?”
“If we adopt the child and he becomes a trained Defender. My son will have a loyal and powerful protector when I step down in a few years. He won’t have to buy one from a study like I did. No offence meant Terius, but this is the truth.”
Terius sighs before speaking, “First off you are not buying me. The contract states that the Study of Mammatus will provide services required to Defend your people. It won’t always be me responding to your calls. Secondly what makes you think that any Defender would choose an adoptive family over their Study. If he trains with us, we become his adoptive family.”
Horace clears his throat again, “Do any of you think it’s odd that the three of you are mooning over an unconscious boy who a few hours ago altered the natural order of the universe for an entire day?”
The room became uncomfortably quiet for several minutes as the three adults pondered that question and the implication.
Lord Brust was the first to speak, “Horace, once again you’ve proven that I could not have a better voice and advisor at my side. I can’t explain why, but I have this unnatural desire to help and protect this oversized, half crispy boy.”
Next to speak is Terius, “I too seem to be unreasonably enamored with this child. Thank you for the insight. I’ve never heard of such a gift, a nudge to one’s emotional state is possible, but this is wholesale instant trust and invocation of paternal instincts. I’ve had an affinity for many of my students, this far exceeds that feeling.”
Last to speak is Lady Terara, “I don’t care why I have these feelings. I’d like to adopt Malo anyway.”
Lord Brust, “Terius can you explain what is happening?”
“This is no part of the gift. This is something unique to Malo. Perhaps his spirit is the cause. I had a glimpse of it before I cloaked him, it is easily a hundred-fold deeper than I could have imagined one to be.”
Lord Brust looks bewildered, “A hundred-fold you say, how is that possible? What did it look like?”
Horace interrupts, “Perhaps it is because he is a runt. There’s so little known about them, mostly tall tales, and superstition.”
“Yes, my favorite advisor, how did you see through the cloud of adoration and realize something was amiss?”
“That was easy, I don’t like the little shit one bit. I could watch him lit on fire and cook dinner over his smoldering corpse. I found myself sympathizing with that ass-face Bahter. Yet, I have no reason to feel this way and seeing you three mooning over him made it clear that none of us are in our right mind when it comes to Malo.”
“Master Terius, would you mind staying at the Keep tonight, in case any of those other beings show up?”
“Of course, Lord Brust, that is what you pay the Study to do.”
“Thank you, maybe in the morning our heads will be clearer.”
Lady Brust had a room prepared for Malo and spent the night by his side while he slept. Horace, Jgeorg, and Terius were awake most of the night. Jgeorg was excited by the possibility of leaving his son a Defended kingdom, Horace was worried about the mental state of his Lord and Lady, and Terius spent the night in meditation to disassociate his feelings from Malo. Nobody but Malo slept well that night.