After my sister Holly and I finished our meal we talked for a further hour or so before she had to return for she had to be up the following morning before her mistress. Otherwise, I am sure we might have conversed all night long. Just as she was heading out the door of the inn I handed her a sealed envelope and asked her if she wouldn’t mind passing it on to the Barons majordomo.

“So what are you up to now, brother, nothing too nefarious I hope?”

“Do not fear it is nothing of the sort I have simply come into possession of some things I think the Baron might like to add to his collection.”

“In that case please for my sake if not yours try not to overcharge him too much for them. The barony’s finances are in a precarious state at the moment and his father-in-law insists that he won’t bail him out again, not after the last time.”

“You needn’t worry on that account their interesting specimens I suppose and rare at that but in the grand scheme of things not worth all that much I imagine.”

Once she had departed I took myself to bed and awoke refreshed the following morning. I wasn’t expecting the majordomo to get in contact with me until after the Baron had returned to North Shields and with my sister being busy for most of the next few days I had a lot of free time on my hands. After doing my morning training, seeing to my horse and having breakfast I had a quick wander through Grisby. It wasn’t all that large of a place and other than the Manor House which I currently had no pressing reason to visit and the local temple of Telondia which is open to all, there wasn’t all that much to see. That being the case I quickly returned to the inn and took my horse out for a long ride.

I had no particular destination in mind and though I had been in the area before I wasn’t all that familiar with it. I ended up in a small forest clearing where I had some lunch and then headed back the way I had come.

Holly didn’t come to see me that evening but she did turn up the following one but was only able to stay for half an hour. She had passed on my letter to the majordomo but hadn’t heard anything back from him. The next day was when the move to North Shields was to take place and she had secured me permission to accompany them though I was only permitted to join the rear of their party and I had to make my own arrangements in terms of food and overnight accommodation, not that I minded. I didn’t want to spend any more time with the baron than was strictly necessary and certainly not his family.

The Baron and his entourage didn’t depart Grisby the following day until close to noon. I don’t know what the hold-up was and I’m not sure I want to know but things were already running two hours behind schedule before they had even got on the road. When they did depart a snail would have travelled fast than they did.

There were two carriages in the baronial party, one for him and his family and another for his older retainers plus three wagons, one for his servants and the other two for his possessions. There was also a ten-strong mounted detachment of guards and various other individuals riding horses and the occasional pony plus a priest of Telondia riding a mule not to mention half a dozen servants on foot.

By the time we laid up for the evening, half an hour after nightfall we were miles from where they had planned and Telondia knows what might have happened if it had started snowing. Holly paid me a visit shortly after we had stopped and briefly joined me for dinner which we both enjoyed

We got off to a much better start the following morning and while we were still way behind schedule we just made it to Lantobe before nightfall. Just as soon as we entered the village it began to snow and I split off from the rest of the party who were bound for the castle and headed to the village inn.

The Lantobe Inn was twice as large as the one in Grisby and both the accommodation and the food were of a higher quality. Hours later the modest snowstorm that had started upon our arrival had taken a turn for the worse and it lasted all night and well into the morning. When it ended the snow was over two inches deep and while I was until recent years well used to it I didn’t venture outside the inn all day.

I didn’t expect my sister to pay me a visit and thus wasn’t disappointed when that proved to be the case but when she didn’t turn up the following day I started to get worried. In the end, it turned out I needn’t have as the following morning a messenger from the castle arrived with an invitation to pay a visit to the Baron at noon. When I questioned the messenger he informed me that Anna FitzWilliam had caught a cold and Holly had to stay by her side until she recovered.

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Before departing for the meeting at the castle I made sure to dress in my fanciest clothes and otherwise prepare for it the best I could. Upon arriving at the castle gatehouse and handing over my invitation to a guard I was asked to wait while he summoned a servant.

Thankfully I didn’t have to wait all that long before one showed up. He introduced himself to me as Corbin Bode and asked me to follow him to the Castles library where the Baron was expecting me. So this was the young man that was courting my sister. I didn’t think all that much of him, sure he was handsome enough I suppose but he was one of the tallest people I have ever met, he had a face full of freckles and it seemed to me as if one of his legs is slightly longer than the other.

But then it isn’t really up to me to dictate who my sister can and cannot be attracted to. Sure if he ever asks for my permission to ask for her hand I could in theory turn him down. However, unless there is a solid unassailable reason for it then I’m not the kind of brother that would even consider doing anything like that.

Other than when he introduced himself and asked me to follow him we didn’t speak to each other the whole way to the library but before he opened the door to it to let me through for my meeting with the baron he paused for a few moments and before his sudden bout of courage dissipated he spoke to me.

“So your her brother, from the way she talks about you I thought you must almost be as tall as me, twice as handsome and elegant to boot, how disappointing. You're probably wondering what she sees in me and how serious I am about her. You might even be anxious that I might be about to ask you for her hand. Well, you needn’t worry, while I am sure in the fullness of time that will be exactly what I will do, it isn’t something I am willing to rush into, not at this stage.”

“Good to know, my opinion of you has just gone up a notch but between you and me I consider the whole thing to just be a formality and whenever you are both ready you should just go ahead and do it. But I have two lines you better not cross and for both your sakes I hope you never do.”

“Well we haven’t got all day, what are these lines a better not cross?”

“Firstly you better not get married without me being present. Secondly and I trust you already know what I am about to say, if you ever excessively hurt her in any shape or form it better be because your dead or you soon will be, capiche?”

“Sorry what was that last word, Capeesh, you and your sister, she just doesn’t make sense sometimes.”

“Never mind it means ‘do you understand’ and you can blame our father for that though I think I’ll let my sister explain why that is.”

“In that case, yes I understand, now we better not keep the Baron any longer.”

While this isn’t my first visit to the castle I haven’t been in the library before. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be, no were near the size the counts had been but it was impressive nonetheless. But then only about a fourth of the wall space was used for bookshelves. The rest was almost universally covered in arms and armour, the former more than the latter.

“Hello, Mr or should I say Lieutenant Ryder you claim to have some unique items that you believe I would wish to add to my collection. Well I am always interested in adding to it but I don’t just buy any old tat, now show me what you have.”

Well, you have to be in it to win it so I took out my two Mibritum claymore swords and five double-ended Mibritum thrusting spears and placed them down on the table the Baron was sitting behind.

Well, the claymores are longer and I bet heavier than usual so I don’t think they were made for humans though for who they might have been I cannot say. And those spears are double-sided but nothing I haven’t seen before plus they aren’t exactly up to the quality I usually aim for but I imagine you know that already so you must have a reason why you think I might be interested in buying these here weapons. Now I could just use identify on them but I’d rather give you a chance to sell them to me so go ahead and do your best.”

“Have you ever heard of the Mibritum otherwise known as the Hixtum or the Mibrido?”

“No, I don’t think any of those names is at all familiar to me.”

“In that case do you know what happens when a Wetlander and a Under-dweller have a child?”

“Yes”

“What about an under-dweller and a Water Bourn.”

“I thought that wasn’t possible.”

“No it’s just highly unlikely and that’s what a Mibritum is.”

“And these weapons were created by and for one of the Mibritum.”

“Yes and while there are other such weapons in existence it is quite possible that there aren’t any living Mibritum to produce more of them or at least none capable of doing so.”

“In that case, it’s a pity that no one myself included has ever heard of these Mibritum before but still if the price is right I might just purchase them from you in the hope that might change in the future but only if you sell them as a package deal, now what are you asking for them?”

“Two Platinum.”

“You claim there are other weapons out there, how many are we talking about exactly?”

“A round a hundred that I know of but a doubt that the majority of them will ever find their way into the hands of collectors such as yourself.

“In that case, I’ll give you ten for the swords and five for the spears.”

“Sorry, I can’t go any lower than one Platinum.”

“And I can’t go any higher than double my original offer.”