The staircase led to a long corridor, bare wooden floors with walls made from stone more roughly cut than the outer walls, with mortar to fill the gaps.

Now that I was inside, the mildew odour from the gate was gone, but I was assaulted by other smells. The old wood of the boards, the dry and bitter odour of dirt and dust, and the smell of salt spray, so faint I could believe I was imagining it, as if I were catching the breeze carried from a distant ocean.

We stopped briefly at a closed door part way down the hall.

"The captain's office," Beatrix said. "We won't disturb him."

"Will he be upset if I don't report to him?"

Beatrix shook her head, leading me onwards.

"How long have you been here?" I asked as we passed out of earshot of the captain's office.

"It feels like forever. Here we are."

Seen from outside, the front two corners of the fort were rounded, and now that we were approaching one of them from the inside, I realised they must form internal towers. The door Beatrix stopped at was set into the curved outer wall of a circular room, built into one of the towers.

"This is Terrance Huthnance's room, our healer," she said, knocking on the door.

"Quite a name," I said.

"Unpronounceable after even a small amount of alcohol," Beatrix confided.

There was the sound of a latch and the door swung open, revealing a man only a little older than me, perhaps thirty, with cream-colored skin and short yellow hair. He was wearing a loose white linen shirt that hung down to his knees, belted against his body over tan pants. He wore an amulet around his neck; a silver eye hanging outside his shirt at the end of a long chain.

The man's eyes were wide, the pupils dark and large, giving him an innocent, wondering expression, though there was something worldly about his smile. There was a strong, sweet smell of oranges drifting out of his room, and below that a fainter liquorice odour.

"Terrance," Beatrix said. "This is Bastian, our new administrator."

"A pleasure," he said, reaching out.

He took my hand, holding it for a second in a gentle grip.

"Likewise. It's good to meet you," I said.

"Will you come in?" he asked. "I was just about to have an afternoon drink. I could pour you in, if you like. Or would you be interested in some candies?"

"Not right now, Terrance," Beatrix said. "I have to introduce Bastian to the commander and then show him his quarters."

"Oh."

"Another time," I said. "I've had a long journey."

Terrance seemed slightly crestfallen, but perked up a moment later, smiling in resignation. "Another time then."

Beatrix said our goodbyes and Terrance closed the door after us.

I had the distinct impression that we hadn't interrupted him doing any kind of work. I wondered what exactly he was doing to occupy himself in there.

As we moved away, Beatrix's comment to Terrance came back to me.

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"Who is the commander?" I asked.

"The captain is in charge of the fort, getting final say in any matter, but the commander covers day-to-day operations for the garrison," Beatrix said as we walked. "We have a handful of soldiers here. They mostly behave."

"I think I saw one on my way in," I said. "A man on the battlements."

"Crouse, the watchman."

Our route took us around the circumference of the fort, the long corridor running around in a square to the next set of stairs at the opposite side of the building. Beatrix pointed out the rooms as we passed, either as the quarters of the other staff, unused dormitories, storage closets, meeting rooms, or rooms reserved for visitors – theoretically, as there hadn't been any for some time.

The narrower stairs at the end of the corridor led up to an open area set up as a combination lounge and dining room. A large rectangular table sat at the center, with couches and low tables to the sides. There were sparsely populated bookcases against two of the walls, and four doors leading off to other halls or rooms.

"The kitchens are downstairs, but we often eat in here. The chef serves dinner at evening bell, and there's usually food and tea set out from morning through noon."

We moved through a door and down a long corridor of the same construction as the one directly below it, but here the floor had been recently swept, and the cool air had a cleaner smell, which I felt was fresh air being drawn in from an open window or hatch somewhere.

The silence of the hallway was cut through by the thunk of metal striking wood. The sound repeated rhythmically, getting louder as we approached a door set into the side of the passageway. The noise stopped briefly when Beatrix knocked on the door.

"It's open."

Beatrix pushed open the door just in time for us to see a woman with black hair flick a sleek knife across the room, landing somewhere out of sight to our left with another thunk.

"Commander," Beatrix said, stepping through the door into a spacious office. "This is Sebastian Lewis. Our new administrator."

I followed Beatrix inside and saw that to the left there was a wooden mannequin by the far wall, its head bristling with half a dozen slim knives. The commander had four more on the desk in front of her, apparently part of a set.

She twisted in her seat, another knife already in her hands.

"Ah. Fresh meat," she said, eyeing me from head to toe. She used the tip of the knife to point to herself. "I'm Rosewood. You'll want to be in the weekly security briefings I suppose."

"Yes, I expect I will," I answered.

Commander Rosewood turned her attention to Beatrix. "He's in the north tower?"

"Yes," Beatrix said.

"Fine." She gestured at the door with her knife. "I'll let you know about those briefings."

"Goodbye Commander," Beatrix said, backing us away and closing the door. She spoke to me as we turned away. "Be careful around her. She gets bored. She might make a project of needling you."

"I'm sure I'd take it with good grace," I said.

The corridor became darker as we reached a part where the oil lamps dotting the walls weren't lit, and Beatrix led me towards another curved wall, a tower room that I felt must be directly above Terrance's on the floor below.

"You must be tired," Beatrix said.

"It was a long journey."

"Well, those are the main introductions out of the way. We have the chef and her assistant, the houseservant, and the garrison, but you'll meet them as you go about your day."

"And the captain," I added. "I didn't meet him."

"And the captain."

She stopped us at the tower room door.

"Here we are. Your quarters. Take as long as you need to settle in. I'll have one of the soldiers sent to bring up your things."

"I have all of my things right here," I said, turning to show her the bag hanging from my shoulder.

"Oh. Well. The last administrator's clothes and effects might do for you, if you find yourself short of something. It's right that they go to you."

Beatrix opened the door and pushed inside. I paced after her.

"The last administrator? Didn't he take his things?"

Beatrix stopped and turned to look at me. "I'd say not. He died a month ago." She opened the door and led me into the room. "We buried him in the road, for want of clear ground. You must have driven over him on the ride in."

I was quiet for a moment, words stilling on my tongue, though I may have made a noise of shock or surprise.

"How did he die?" I asked.

"He fell from the battlements," Beatrix answered. "Right onto that old tree out there. Very sad. Quite messy."

She said her goodbyes, which I responded to numbly, and then she left, leaving me alone in a dead man's office, contemplating collapsing into a dead man's bed.