The guest had not come wandering out to see what the commotion had been. Which was some decent fortune Coral felt that she and Pearl were well overdue.
“We’re going to have to move those bodies before someone sees them,” Coral said, staggering to the bed in their shared bedroom. It had been a struggle to walk up the stairs, the back of her knee smarting with each step.
“You leave that to me, I don’t want you aggravating your leg any further,” Pearl said with a decidedly final tone. “Now sit still so I can have a look at what they’ve done to you.”
Coral lay across the bed as instructed. It was better to let Pearl fuss about rather than argue. Besides, she wanted to take a moment to be thankful that she had gotten away from the Hobgoblins with her limbs still attached. She winced a little as Pearl prodded at the back of her leg.
“It doesn’t look too bad. The teeth marks look like they haven’t gone in too deep. Though your leg looks like a well-used pin cushion. You have some teeth stuck in your leg.”
“Lovely,” Coral mumbled sarcastically into the blanket.
“I’ll be back in a moment; I’m going to get a few things to disinfect your wound. Who knows what manner of nastiness those creatures have brewing in their mouths. No doubt that filth curse will cling on to whatever germs there are.”
Pearl left the room, leaving Coral to stare in dismay. She hoped Pearl would run, as she didn’t want to spend another moment with her bloodied leg to become infected. The curse hadn’t seemed so horrible at first, certainly not life threatening, but there was a far more sinister implication added now that Pearl had pointed it out to her. Perhaps that was why she had that infection from when the Ghoul had torn into her, the curse ensuring the germs clung to the open wound. She really needed to get the spell lifted.
Rather than sit uselessly, Coral preoccupied herself by checking over Fable. He seemed to be perfectly fine now, having shaken off the altercation merely a minute or two afterwards. She ran her hands over the snapdragon, looking for any cuts or bruises. She stretched out each leg, watching for any signs of discomfort, pushed her fingers into the pads of his paws, bent and folded each wing. Fable did not appreciate this in the slightest and tried to push her away with his legs and slapped her with his tail in annoyance. There was a small cut along his snout, but otherwise, he appeared unhurt. She let him go, the tight feeling in her chest releasing as Fable jumped off the bed and went to settle in a far corner. He gave her a reproachful look as he hid his snout beneath his tail.
“Don’t look at me like that, it’s for your own good,” Coral told him. Fable closed his eyes, thoroughly ignoring her.
Pearl entered the room, a tray balanced on one hand as she pushed the door open. A steaming bowl of warm water was laden on top, along with a cloth and a small glass bottle filled with what Coral could only assume was a healing tincture.
Pearl placed the tray atop the bed and instructed Coral to lay down again. Coral followed her directions, and tried to distract herself from the small plinks as Pearl plucked the teeth one by one from the back of her leg and dropped them on to the tray. Three of those sharp teeth were as long as Coral’s smallest finger. At least now if they required needles, they had several.
Pearl dabbed at the bite with the damp cloth with the warm salt-water. “Is the snap-, I mean, Fable alright? He was in the hands of those Hobgoblins when I came out.”
“Only a small scratch as far as I can tell,” Coral said, trying not to flinch away as Pearl wiped salty water across the bite. The tray beside her was beginning to look a little too bloody.
“The bleeding won’t stop,” Pearl said, pressing another cloth down on the back of her leg.
“Just give it a minute. I think I read somewhere that hobgoblin’s saliva has anticoagulant properties. As if they need more than their teleportation and telekinesis magic.”
“I think it’s fascinating,” Pearl admitted after a moment.
Coral turned to stare at her.
“What?” Pearl said a little defensively. “There are all sorts of magical creatures that have unique properties that help them thrive. Not to mention the use we can make out of them. Stop looking at me like that.”
“I didn’t know you were interested in monsters,” Coral said.
“Just the ones that possess magic. And I far prefer the gentler type that don’t try to rip you apart the second they see you. Like snapdragons,” Pearl said. “Stop moving, you’re making your leg bleed more.”
Coral sighed and dropped her head into the blanket. “I’m trying. It’s not much fun being bitten. You can try it for a change.”
“No thank you. Here, read this. It will distract you at the very least,” Pearl said, practically forcing an envelope into her hand.
Coral brought it up to her face and promptly dropped it. Her name was scrawled along the front in neat print. Not Coral Seaver. Her old name, Farley, had been used. She stared at the ink, her mind whirling. It took her a heartbeat to flip the envelope and break the wax seal. It was not the same as the envelope she had received from the Adventurer’s Guild. The royal purple wax seal had the insignia of the Crown. This was an official letter. There was no risk here of having to pay a reverse fee to the Guild for delivering this letter. There was no need for that nonsense now that she had been found.
Inside, the thick paper was embedded with the Crown’s insignia, further proof that this was an official letter. Coral read through the letter quickly, her eyebrows rising the further she went down the page. When she reached the end, she re-read the letter far more carefulyl, trying to pick out phrases.
“What does it say?” Pearl asked. She was dabbing at the back of Coral’s leg. Pearl had been right, the letter had served as a very good reaction.
“Our dear papa is dead, and his assets have been sold to pay his debts. The amount was not sufficient to cover what he owed. The remainder has been written off. We don’t owe a single copper coin.”
Their luck finally seemed to be changing. She grinned at Pearl, who took the letter and read it for herself. Coral had known her father’s debts would not be her responsibility after his death, however it had still been a slight worry in the back of her mind. What if her father had found some loophole to have her take on the debt. What if he had forged her signature and cosigned her name on a loan she had no knowledge of. She wouldn’t have put it past her father to sink as low as fraud. His harsh lessons, the mistreatment, he had sent curses out specifically to find her after she left. He had sold her off, most likely to pay off some debt. With this letter, it was confirmation that she was free of him, completely.
“I’m going to frame this and put it in my room,” Coral announced, looking at the piece of paper as if it had been spun from the finest silk that had been imbued with a magic that made her feel safe and warm. She took the letter back from Pearl, her fingers light and delicate so she didn’t mark the page.
Pearl stared, her hands trembling.
“Do you know what this means?” Coral said, twisting so that she could sit upright. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and while it didn’t fix anything of their current situation, it was one less thing Coral had to worry about. Who could have known how much joy a simple letter could bring her. She wanted to leap to her feet and skip through the halls. She wanted to laugh for the pleasure of it. Coral swept her legs off the side of the bed and winced.
“He is not our problem anymore. I’m not responsible for his debt. The house in the city is not ours, and it certainly didn’t go to my betrothed. I don’t have to hide,” Coral said, mostly so that she could hear the words aloud.
Pearl nodded slowly, still not meeting Coral’s eyes.
“Of course, I’m not taking the name Farley ever again. I don’t know what this means for the arranged marriage. I don’t know if father ever received coin for me or not. If he does come calling, I can kick him out,” Coral said.
Pearl sniffed.
Coral blinked and looked at her and immediately shut her mouth. Pearl’s head had drooped, her hands now clenched into fists. She was trying not to cry. At once, Coral felt absolutely wretched. Coral had been so wrapped up in the freedom this letter provided to her, that she had completely disregarded Pearl.
Their father had been much kinder to Pearl. Her sister had always been able to meet his expectations. She was the prettiest, was within the right social circles, even if they did sneer down at her from behind her back. Pearl hardly had to endure weeks of starvation, as she was always the perfect weight. Her posture and mannerisms were gentle and demure, just as their father had wanted. She was, in short, his golden prize to sell off to the highest bidder.
They both knew this, they weren’t stupid. Pearl was well aware that she was a puppet in their father’s world. Her social standing and beauty would have gained father more than coin. Pearl would have been married off to a noble that was in the king’s inner court, or better yet, the prince.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Coral herself had failed to attract the eye of the prince, an endeavour she only half-heartedly pursued under her father’s increasingly furious instructions. It was a relief when that fell through, as she hardly liked the man. He had then turned these instructions to Pearl.
Pearls shoulders were hunched, her head hung lower still. Coral reached out and pulled her close, squeezing her shoulders.
“You can be sad about it,” Coral told her. “Despite his flaws, I know you loved him.”
“I don’t know what I feel,” Pearl admitted quietly, as if the words were a confession to something horrible.
Coral held her tighter. She wasn’t sure what she could say in this moment, as she had already said it all in the past. Coral had assured Pearl countless times that father had loved them in his own way, and that he had tried his best for them. The truth was, and Coral had decidedly kept this to herself, their father’s best was a selfish act. Whatever good intentions he had towards them, had served himself.
It didn’t stop the hurt. It didn’t stop Pearl from wanting his approval. Coral had stopped wanting that a long time ago. She had already mourned for a father that loved her, that wanted her happy. That was not the man Eirek Farley had been.
So instead, Coral kept her arms wrapped around her, until Pearl finally pulled away, wiping at her wet cheeks.
“I’m ever so grateful to have you as a sister, Coral. I don’t know where I would be without you.”
“Probably about to marry the prince, I suspect,” Coral said.
“Probably,” Pearl sighed. She sniffed, took a deep breath and then straightened her back. “Now, lay back down so I can finish bandaging you before you lose your leg to some infection.”
Coral lay back on her stomach. She winced as Pearl administered the tincture. At this rate, Coral may as well keep some stocked in their room. A minute later, with her leg freshly bandaged, Coral tested her weight then ambled about the room. It wasn’t terrible, in a couple of days the bite should have healed over.
For good measure, Coral cleaned the cut on Fable’s nose, much to his disgust. When she had finished, Fable sat in a sullen sort of way and tucked his head up against his side to drape a wing over his eyes so he couldn’t see her.
“I know it stings,” Coral said. She stroked the snapdragon’s head to comfort it. “I promise to find you a treat for being such a good boy. What do you say, does that sound better?”
Fable didn’t chirp back at her, which was expected. However he didn’t shy away from her touch, so Coral decided to take that as a good sign that she was mostly forgiven.
“Who is the guest that’s staying with us?” Coral asked, trying to distract herself from the stinging pain. The tincture seemed to be taking effect rather quickly, as the back of her leg was beginning to go a little numb.
Coral was surprised that Pearl had allowed a guest to stay in the manor at all. Having guests stay while they dealt with their ghost problem wasn’t ideal. It was a risk, and one Coral would have thought Pearl would be wholly considerate of. She supposed the concept of earning some coins to add to their steadily declining supply would have been the main motivator.
“Mr. Rubin McCray. He had heard in town that we had some rooms for let. He intends to stay through to Mid-winter I believe,” Pearl said.
“Did you get payment?”
Pearl shot an annoyed look at Coral. “Of course I did. I know we need the coin. He was insistent on paying at the end of his stay; however, I told him that he can’t if he didn’t pay to secure his room,” Pearl said proudly, though it was marred a little as she sniffed. Her eyes were still a little puffy from the crying.
“Good, now all we have to do is deal with Lady Rayner and hope she doesn’t cause us any further problems,” Coral said. Saying that felt ominous, as though she were inviting that very trouble into their lives. It was bound to happen regardless, but doing so with guests was a tricky endeavour.
“I invited the owner of Cravings and Delirium tomorrow to look at some furniture. Hopefully we can recoup any loss. She is Otis’s sister.”
“I beg your pardon?” Pearl said, her eyes widening. “His sister? What’s her name?”
“Glenna Morvel.”
With her leg taken care of and Pearls tears dried, they headed back to the front gate to clean up. It wasn’t a particularly welcoming sight with carcasses strewn about. Pearl knew of an old wheelbarrow, which was only slightly rusty and had a single hole that shouldn’t cause them too much trouble. The wheels squeaked as they trundled down the drive with it. Cleaning up hobgoblin remains was something Coral had never imagined she would ever be doing. Yet here she was, collecting their lifeless bodies.
Coral had to admit that she was rather impressed. Pearl did not complain once. Rather, a grim curiosity had set upon her. There was certainly revulsion as she hefted the last hobgoblin into the wheelbarrow, but she was observing the remains with the same focused intensity Pearl had dedicated to her studies.
“Do you think the snapdragons can eat them?” Pearl asked.
“I have no idea. Perhaps when they’re older. They don’t look particularly appetising to me, and I wouldn’t want to make any of them sick.”
Pearl gave a thoughtful little hum and leant a little closer to peer at one of the hobgoblins faces. “I suppose we would have to burn them. I would hate to find one of these had reanimated during mid-winter.”
Coral raked at the ground where blood had been spilled. The area looked different somehow, but she pushed the thought from her mind in her haste to clear the area. She hoped she could cover up and disperse the scent enough to deter any creatures from sniffing around, she should have brought a bucket of water to dilute the area. She wouldn’t want any potential guests to step in the mess either, though if they were adventurers, the sight of a bit of blood wouldn’t be anything new, in fact it would be almost expected in such a remote area. Coral stepped back to check to see if she had missed anything, when she realised what was different.
A beat later, Pearl too seemed to have realised, as she said, “Where’s it gone?”
The gargoyle had left the wall and had taken the last hobgoblin with it.
Coral stepped over to the gate and looked up, searching the roof of the manor for a sign of the gargoyle. She stood there for a full minute in silence. Every dark crevice or roof tile was empty, though she did see what could have been a bird’s nest.
“Oh, look,” Pearl said, nudging Coral and pointing down the stone wall that separated their land from the road. Further along, the gargoyle had frozen in place, as though it had paused mid-stalk. Its prey hung from its mouth, a ribbon of the hobgoblin’s intestines trailing behind it.
“Maybe we can let it keep that one,” Coral said. After all, the gargoyle hadn’t attacked them, and she didn’t want to provoke it by stealing a meal. Did gargoyles even need to eat? She thought they had been entirely made of stone.
“What if it doesn’t eat it,” Pearl said worriedly.
The approaching crunch of leaves had Coral turning in time to see a man walk towards them. He wore a dark cloak about him, his grey eyes trained directly on her.
Coral stiffened. She recognised that partially shaved head. The gash that had been stitched was now a raised, red scar. He was the man from The Dog’s House that had been treated to a free mug of ale for good behaviour. He was still too far for her to smell him. Coral hoped that whatever has transpired since that night, that the man had bathed since then. He had smelt worse than a sack of rotten potatoes.
Coral straightened her back and stepped in front of the wheelbarrow. She had been slowly putting meat back on her bones since she had arrived at the manor, in thanks to the chocolate cake. There still wasn’t much to her, and there was little she could actually hide of the carcasses piled behind her. Still, she didn’t want to appear inconsiderate to a paying guest, even one that would have already seen their fair share of monsters on their way to Direwood. Pearl shuffled on her feet and looked a little panicked as she tried to hide her bloodied hands. She settled with balling her hands into fists and hiding them in the folds of her apron. Coral hadn’t bothered with one as they came back out the door. She expected to get dirty with or without the apron.
“Good afternoon Mr. McCray”, Pearl said, dipping into a quick curtsey. Coral smiled at the man, bobbing her own curtesy and greeting.
“Lady Seaver,” he said gruffly. His eyes fell upon Coral, focusing for a beat too long before drifting to the wheelbarrow.
There was no point in denying the bloody mess. “If you’re headed into town, be careful. There are hobgoblins about,” Coral warned. “These attacked us not an hour ago.”
“Yes, I can see that. I’m surprised the guards have left the creatures for you to clean up. I thought there was a protocol for not leaving dead things around town,” the man said.
“The guards don’t come out this way,” Pearl said before Coral could speak.
Coral could have throttled her. What kind of naive idiot confirms that the town’s guards patrol rounds didn’t extend to their home. “We have Adventurers come by, and the manor’s walls offer ample protection,” Coral said. She gestured towards the wall, where the gargoyle had perched.
Surprise flickered over the mans face for the briefest of moments as he saw the stone guardian. It had moved while they were talking. Its head had turned in their direction, the hobgoblin half chewed, swung about as though it had jerked to a stop.
“You will be perfectly safe within our home,” Coral continued, hoping that was true. Lady Rayner notwithstanding. However, if she followed along with the advice Egbert had provided, then their guests should be safe. Hopefully. Coral hoped she had enough black crystals to put in each guests bedroom. Perhaps she should tie a crystal to each room key.
Mr. McCray looked uninterested from the assurance of his safety. “Which Adventurers come here?” he asked.
“An apprentice, on occasion Crowcaller and The Unbroken Seolfor,” Pearl supplied. At least she was sound of mind to not provide their actual names. Technically, only Elwin had visited. They were hopefully to have the other two visit soon. It was in their best interest of safety to name drop the Guild Master and an excellent Adventurer. It was not safe to appear completely defenceless to this stranger, and Pearl may have only just caught on to that notion.
“Seolfor,” the man mumbled thoughtfully, still staring at the gargoyle. “I’ve been looking to speak to him. Do you know where I could find him?”
“My apologies. He is currently out of town,” Coral said. She wished she knew where he was. He could have helped her with her ghost problem already and she wouldn’t be spending money on frivolous things such as black crystals.
“So I’ve been told. I don’t believe it,” Mr. McCray said. He reached into a pocket, parting his cloak as pulled out a silver coin. The hilt of a sheathed sword jutted out by his waist. “For his whereabouts.” He held the coin up between two fingers for Coral to see.
Even if Coral knew where Silas was, she did not know this man standing before her. Mr. Brown at the Dog’s house had been weary of him, which told her that she should be too. Coral shook her head.
The man was unfazed. He flipped the coin into his palm and then fished around in his coin purse and pulled out a second silver coin.
Coral groaned inwardly. She was not appreciative of the bribe. As nice as an extra two silver would have been welcome, Coral had no knowledge of his whereabouts to provide, nor did she want to. Why was this man so keen for information?
“If you’re looking for him, I suggest you try The Dog’s House. Or the guild.”
“Already tried,” he said, tucking away the coins. “You have blood on your cheek,” the man said in way of parting words. Coral and Pearl watched him walk down the road towards town.
It seemed Coral wasn’t the only one looking for Silas. At least now the guest was out of the manor, and she didn’t need to worry about him being bothered by Lady Rayner for the day. With a grunt of effort, she and Pearl pushed and shoved the wheelbarrow into the manor’s grounds. By the time they passed the greenhouse, slowed down significantly by mud and a tangle of moonflowers, they were both gasping for breath. They went further out into the grounds, near one of the other outbuildings where there was enough of a cleared area that the nearby trees wouldn’t alight.
They gathered wood and piled it high, threw the bodies one by one on to the pile, and lit them on fire. The stench was awful, and if Coral had managed to stay relatively clean – which she hadn’t, she was now covered in a manner of things far worse than blood, they both would have needed to bathe purely from the smoke clinging to their hair and clothes.
The day had that feeling as though it was going to drag on, and it was only morning.