The door was thrown open and the Lord Draycott, resplendent in his jewelled breastplate swept in, flanked by Wayte, Mattief and a wave of darkness. Behind them came Arcaedus, shuffling slowly though the doorway and followed by Birkett. The guards took up positions around the room, Mattief expectant, Birkett’s face held its normal sneer and Wayte’s face was an expressionless mask, wooden and unfeeling, his eyes, unseeing.
Draycott strode into the centre of the room.
“Well?” he demanded, “Where is it?” he sneered at Claudia, who shied away. Dmitri, ever her guardian stepped in front of her, protecting her from Draycott’s gaze. Draycott transferred his now baleful glare to Dmitri who responded by tossing the gold filled bowl at him.
“Your gold,” he said simply and stepped back and offered Claudia his hand which she took gratefully.
Draycott caught the bowl and delivered another glare at Dmitri and then lowered his eyes to inspect the bowl. He turned it over in his hands, applied pressure to it and inspected it in the light. “It seems about right.” He declared, in such a way that it was as if to say that these two fools stumbled into creating the gold. He tossed the bowl to Birkett who handed it to Arcaedus.
Where Draycott had handled the bowl roughly and almost carelessly, Arcaedus felt it gently and held his hands to the gold. He murmured to himself and nodded his head, continuously turning the bowl in his hands.
“Well?” snapped Draycott, anxious to be elsewhere.
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“I would say that they have been successful my Lord. I would say by the resonance that I can feel that it was Claudia that performed the actual change.” He looked towards Claudia questioningly, his unseeing eyes, boring deeply into her. She nodded in affirmation. Arcaedus continued, “We are now ready to have them perform the next step.”
Draycott stepped forward once more, “The task we will have you perform now is of the utmost importance. The enemy has grown in numbers to the extent that they endanger our very homes. We must stem the tide and prevent them from gaining the strength to invade our homeland. If we do this, we will not only gain respect in the eyes of our King Henry, but in the eyes of God Almighty.” He finished with a broad sweep of his hands as if expecting applause. When none was forthcoming, his face darkened with a scowl. Similarly, the room also darkened and a chill seemed to descend upon them. “Birkett,” he barked, “You will go with Arcaedus once more, but this time you are to outfit a new chamber for our guests. Arcaedus will fill you in. And you,” he span towards Dmitri and Claudia with hate-filled eyes, “You will do as I command or you will find yourself begging for death.” With that, he turned away from them and marched out of the room, the chill and darkness receding with him.
“You can see that there is something not quite right with that man can’t you?” said Arcaedus with a chuckle. “Pay him no mind. As long as we all do as he asks, he will pose no problem. I will continue to keep young Birkett here away as I can. I know of the trouble you had with him.”
It was now Birkett’s turn to scowl at them and he smacked a fist into his palm in a gesture as if to show them what was coming when Arcaedus was next absent.
“Birkett!” snapped Arcaedus. “Enough! I may be blind but I can still See the souls of man. Leave your pettiness out of this.”
Scowling some more, Birkett followed Arcaedus as he shuffled out of the room, followed by Wayte and Mattief, Wayte’s expression still blank and unseeing.