Arcaedus, having made the journey back to Draycott’s main hall was weary as he mounted the dais and took his seat beside Draycott, who watching him approach had summoned a servant with a goblet of water which he handed to Arcaedus after he was seated.
“So they have their new task?” Draycott asked.
“Yes my Lord,” replied Arcaedus, taking a deep drink from the goblet.
“And I’m going to assume that they were both up in arms about the matter?”
“That is what I expected as well,” began Arcaedus, “But Dmitri simply stood by and listened. He was already inspecting the corpse when I arrived.”
“He is a sly one, that foreigner,” said Draycott, and then thinking of something, summoned a guard, “I need you to put some guards on the door to the chamber that the foreigner and that infernal woman are in. But just watch and report. Do not under any circumstances interrupt them. The work they will be performing could be dangerous to anyone that interrupts them.”
The guard nodded and left. Draycott turned to Arcaedus, “We need to lull them into a false sense of security. They were fairly restrained before and now that they have their freedom, they will be more suspicious than ever.”
Arcaedus nodded, “A wise move my Lord. They are very uneasy at the moment. They believe that either Akahaziel is controlling you or that you actually are Akahaziel.”
Draycott barked a laugh, “Do they now? That’s an interesting conclusion to reach isn’t it? Did they have help reaching it do you think?”
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Arcaedus narrowed his eyes, as if focusing on something, “It seems that my bodyguard Birkett is in a bit of a situation, with guardsman Wayte no less. I can’t think of many people more likely be a contributing cause to our prisoner’s thinking. Should we bring them in and see what they have to say for themselves?”
“Or, we could go to them,” said Draycott and rose to his feet, “Where are they?”
“I would say that they are in the courtyard my Lord,” replied Arcaedus.
In the courtyard, Birkett and Wayte circled each other, bundled wooden lathes held out at the ready. Birkett stepped in, swinging his practice sword around and down towards Wayte’s legs. Wayte stepped back and swung his sword at Birkett’s back as he spun. The lathes made a loud cracking sound upon impact and sent Birkett to his knees.
“Do you yield?” demanded Wayte.
“Never!” yelled Birkett and swung his sword at Wayte’s legs, the impact sending him to the ground as well.
Birkett leapt to his feet and lunged towards Wayte on the ground, who rolled away and regained his feet.
“You shouldn’t be amongst the guards!” Birkett yelled at Wayte as they began to circle again.
“I do it to protect the innocent from people like you,” retorted Wayte as he pressed his attack with a flurry of blows, which Birkett deflected and retreated from.
“You’ve sided with the prisoners!” he yelled as he steadied himself.
“They are prisoners that were wrongly imprisoned; Dmitri, a foreigner here to stop a great evil. And next is Claudia, a poor alchemist that you abused.” Wayte said heavily, still panting from his attack.
“Abuse that I enjoyed and would do again,” sneered Birkett and began a series of blows that Wayte was having trouble deflecting. Blow after blow struck Wayte’s practice sword until one hit Wayte’s wrist, numbing it and causing him to drop his sword. Birkett stepped forward and delivered a kick to Wayte’s chest, sending him sprawling. Birkett walked slowly over to the winded Wayte, chuckling. “So you lose then Wayte?”
Wayte, on the ground, was on his back. He reached out with his hand to collect some of the dirt in the courtyard, ready to throw it in Birkett’s face, to blind him. “I will never yield to a monster like you,” said Wayte through gritted teeth.
“So be it,” said Birkett, raising his sword above his head.