Julie woke up in a huge, soft bed. The first thing she noticed was that she was completely naked beneath the heavy quilt. She panicked for a moment, searching for her sword. Then she noticed that Ravenhair was sitting next to her in a very old fashioned chair writing in a leather-bound book. The pain was completely gone from her ribs. Although she had just been sleeping, she felt weary down to her bones.
“Oh, you’re awake, hun? How’re you feeling?” Ravenhair asked, looking over the top of the book.
Julie thought about the question before answering, “Hungry, I guess. And still tired, what time is it?” The only light in the windowless room came from a small oil lamp sitting on the ornate table next to the bed.
“Late, we’ve been back for hours. I didn’t want to leave your side until you woke up though. Coming off a healing draught like that can leave you disoriented. I’ll bring you a tray of food.” She marked her place in the book with a red silk ribbon and placed it on the table next to the lamp. Then she leaned over and kissed Julie on the forehead before slipping out the heavy wooden door.
Julie lay her head back on the overstuffed pillow, and tried to remember exactly what had happened. Most of it was clear as day in her mind, but there were foggy parts as well. Julie wondered if Sevil was awake yet. He looked like he was dying the last time she had seen him. How did he even climb the rope!
Julie sat up again, and looked over at the book Ravenhair was writing in. It was thick and heavy with nothing on the cover, bound in aging leather. The red silk ribbon was sticking out of the top. Julie glanced at the door, and then picked up the book. Surreptitiously she opened the book, and read.
Godsday 25, High Mellow
Sevil is a moron. Need to decide the best way to discipline him for insubordination. Julie surprised me, going to give her a main gauche, think that will help. That bite on the hand could’ve been bad. Still worried about Toby, I don’t know if he’s ever going to recover from losing Max. I might not either.
There were spots that looked like they might have been tears on the page. Julie turned back a few pages back, feeling self-conscious and a little guilty.
Planday 21, High Mellow
Sevil’s contact in Cartson said the city is no longer safe. Just as well. Frederick was grateful as always to hear news about D. Her daughter is the spitting image. He asked us to bail out some green teenager before we leave the area. Saw Fern, that was nice. Still a hound, and he still does that thing with his
Julie felt herself blush, and quickly flipped back further in the book.
Thaumday 20, Low Mellow
Damn!
I feel so much better getting rid of that vest. It was as bad as being in the Null. Almost.
Those dwarves paid through the nose for it, but I swear that thing was killing us all. Sevil insisted we bring it up here, but he seemed like a wraith by the time we made it. Has his spring back in his step. No more matches. I swear he’s smoking more just because of that.
Saw D, that was good. I feel bad, about what happened to her, but we lost Max, so I don’t feel as bad as I probably should. We’ll swing by Kentvale on our way to the capital.
Her thoughts were chased away when the door opened again. Reflexively Julie pulled the blanket up to her neck, but it was just Ravenhair carrying a heavy wooden tray laden with food and drink. Julie asked, “Where are my clothes?”
Ravenhair laughed and walked over the side of the bed. She balanced the tray easily on one hand, and picked her book back up from the table before placing the tray there carefully, “Your bag’s at the foot of the bed, but I didn’t see anything very comfortable in there. I asked Tert if he had any of those silky things like we were wearing on the boat, but he said he they were all back in the boat, and for some reason there aren’t any women’s clothes in this whole keep.”
Julie smiled at this, and looked over at the tray of food, “Well, I could wear a man’s shirt,” She picked up a big piece of bread and dipped it into the cold soup, “anyway I wouldn’t want him wandering in here while I wasn’t dressed. He doesn’t seem to knock.” She said this last through a mouth full of bread and soup.
Ravenhair laughed, “Don’t worry about that, he’s way on the other side of the castle, and unlike his boat, the doors here actually lock!” She picked up Julie’s bag from the foot of the bed and tossed it onto the bed next to her, “Suit yourself though, I’m going to get some sleep myself.” She patted Julie’s hand affectionately and then added, “You did real good today.”
Julie was washing her food down with tepid milk from the pitcher, she decided inquired, “Is Sevil all right?”
Ravenhair smiled, “Yeah, ‘ceptin’ for his ego. He actually wanted to go back out tonight and get another look at that thing, but Toby wouldn’t let him. I’ll tell you everything in the morning though, I’m going to get some sleep.” She walked back to the door and unbolted it, “Good night, Julie. Good work today, I mean it.”
“Good night, Ms. Ravenhair.”
“You can call me Delilah,” Ravenhair said with a wink, “But only when it’s just us.” She slipped out of the door and closed it behind her quickly.
Julie got up and crossed the cold stone floor, quickly bolting it, before crawling back under the heavy quilt. She ate everything that was on the tray, and snuggled down under the blanket. Her bag was left lying next to her in the bed unopened, I’ll just get dressed in the morning.
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Julie awoke to a soft tapping on her door. “Hello, who is it?” She was still naked under the blankets.
Tertius happily replied, “Fair warrior, brave maiden, hero of my heart, ‘tis I, Tertius Feld, Third of his name, bid you to break fasts with your cohorts with me.” He tried the door knob, and Julie winced at the sound.
“I’ll be out soon! Where will you be?” She tentatively sat up with the blankets pulled protectively around her.
Tertius assured, “I will be waiting at your service, for you are wounded in your great deeds which places a debt of honor on my name forever.” She heard no other movement outside her door, he was waiting.
She sighed and got up, putting her clothes on hurriedly and quietly. Her armour was missing, all she saw Ms. Ravenhair’s lovely black silk dress in her pack. There was a large mirror in the corner, and she looked herself over. She stretched her ribs out, they ached horribly where she had gotten shot, but the bandages were clean. Underneath, there did not seem to be blood clotted, but the skin was dark purple. She strapped her swordbelt on over the little dress, and laced up her heavy boots. Ridiculous!
Backpack in hand, she opened the door. Tertius stood waiting for her, he had on the hat he made while they were working. She glanced up at the narrow windows, close to the ceiling. The light was thin and weak, blue with the early morning hour. “Why are you waking me so early? We got back late last night.”
“Well, here is the thing, my brother says that all of my brave heros cannot stay here at the keep. Or the city. Anyway, you simply must follow me.” The man was red faced and sweaty. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all.
“Where is Ms. Ravenhair?” Julie followed him as he motioned forward, trotting to keep up. She felt ridiculous in her little black dress and heavy boots, which had seemed like a fine idea the night before.
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“She is this way, in the dining hall. They are all in the dining hall.” His voice had a whining, cracking quality. They turned a corner towards a staircase, and she could hear their voices booming in the distance.
First it was Toby, who sounded very intent, “We have our money, let’s go!”
Then it was a voice that Julie didn’t recognize, “You were lucky to get that! I saw that thing you left in the field, and you want to talk about public safety! It almost killed me on me way back to the castle!”
Tertius made a sort of gesture to Julie as the reached the bottom of the stairs. She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by it. “You need to help calm Sevil down. I think he’s means to knock down our ancestral tower. Himself.”
Julie was feeling mounting anxiety in her stomach. Her ribs hurt, and she didn’t want to deal with any of this. She wanted to climb back up the stairs, and under that heavy quilt. The morning was cold and the fires hadn’t been lit yet, the fireplace stared at her like a cold empty face as she walked into the dining hall. She said, “He can’t do that! He passed out last night!”
The scene that greeted her only exacerbated her anxiety. She recognized the ruddy faced man closest to her. She had met him yesterday, Reginald, captain of the guard who hated Tertius and reminded Julie of her uncle, who was a drunken bully. He was flanked by three men on one side and two men and huge woman on the other. They were all wearing armor and they all had their hands on their sword hilts. Toby was standing between the menacing group and Sevil who stood nonchalantly smoking his pipe.
Ms. Ravenhair was sitting at one of the huge wooden tables, eating food vociferously from a plate piled high. A serving boy with a tray stood near to her, with his eyes cast downward. Observing all of this from the far side of the room was Tertius’ brother Barron and his manservant William, they stood near a doorway posed to flee. William was cowering and at the same time trying to shield his master from the scene.
“I’m not asking,” Sevil hissed, “This is not a debate. I am telling you what your options are. The first is that you let me contact the University, and have them send up a crew who will dismantle the monstrosity without having it fall on your town. They’ll even let you keep the materials. Your other option is that I take it down myself. I can chop off the bottom real quick, and it will fall. There’s no one up there to repair it. Right?”
Barron’s men looked at him, hopefully. They were sweating and they were scarred, Julie could see that. She squared her shoulders, and threw her backpack over one. The men were between her and her companions, and so chin held high she crossed right through the group. Her eye met each of theirs as she walked through their ranks, and she waited until each of them looked away before moving onto the next. Then she reached Toby, and put a hand up onto his shoulder, she whispered, “What’s going on?”
Toby smiled down at her and grunted, “Sevil. And his damn principles.”
Ms. Ravenhair caught her eyes, shoved another egg into her mouth, and then stood up, wiping her hand on a linen napkin. “Well’p looks like we’re all gathered. We need to be gettin’ on the road,” she winked and Julie, and added, “Sounds like Sevil has a call to make before we can go though. Have an egg.” She pushed the plate she’d been eating across the table towards Julie.
Julie looked down at the ham and eggs, and thought Might as well. She rounded the table and sat down where Ms. Ravenhair had been sitting, and started eating. It was delicious. Through bites, she asked, “What’s the big deal anyway? Won’t it just fall down at some point anyway?” She dipped a piece of bread in the yolk on the plate, and tried to look as casual as Ms. Ravenhair had.
Every single eye in the room turned towards her, and there was a moment of silence. Julie realized that perhaps that was not the right thing to say. Finally, it was Sevil who broke the silence, “It will not fall, not in a hundred generations.” He hissed, and lit his pipe again from a flame on his fingertip. Julie could have down without the acrid smell while she was eating.
Barron finally coughed and spoke from the doorway, “It will not fall. It is of no threat to anyone. You seek to erase my family's history!”
Sevil glared at him icily, and William shrank back, but Barron met his stare. The seven guards kept their hands on their swords, and they kept glancing over to Barron hoping for some order to ease the tension. Sevil tap the ashes of his pipe out against his black boot, and let them fall on the floor, and then ground them into the floor with the sole of his boot, leaving an unsightly black smudge. Julie felt a pang of sympathy for the serving boy whose eyes had followed the boot with horror and winced.
She decided to try a different route, “Why do you need the tower? To remind you of what? I thought the towers were, ya know. Bad? Isn’t that kind of a Thaumatist thing to do? To try and keep the towers up. You’re not a sympathizer are you? It is a Thaumatist monument.”
Barron started coughing and sputtering, and Ms. Ravenhair had a wide grin on her face. When Barron finally regained control of himself, he said hoarsely, “My family was one of the first families to turn to the king! We’ve been staunch royalists ever since! There’s not a Thaumatist sympathizer in all my lands! For you to even make such a,” he launched into another coughing spell, and William gave him a hand to steady him. “I will not,” Barron sputtered, “Have that word used in this keep!”
Julie looked down at the empty plate, and idly wished that there was more ham. It was really good ham, nice and crispy. She looked up from the plate, and saw tension on the faces of all the guards, but Toby’s axe was still on his back, he’d not made any move to reach for it, and Ms. Ravenhair was twiddling her fingers through her hair, she looked bored.
Toby rumbled, “We’re not here to kill this man, it’d leave this city in chaos, Sevil.”
Sevil looked surprised, “I’m not going to kill him. That’s ridiculous, he’s one foot in the grave already, no matter what his healers have been telling him, bunch of frauds. Vultures, I saw them outside, sniffing after blood money. You’d think a University educated man would have more sense,” and Sevil dug through his pockets and finally produced a silver ring, “But when you’re staring down the blade of a sword, with no heir. Well, I can see why you’d do stupid things.” He removed the ring from his right hand, the ring that seemed to be made from solid ruby, and replaced it with the silvery one.
Ms. Ravenhair stood up, and stretched like a cat, eyeing each of the guards, “I’m tired. I want to go back to my room and get some sleep, just make the call Sevil and let’s get some rest before we head out.”
William burst forth in an indignant rage, “No! You are not staying here! I manage this household. You insult my master, call him a liar! Fail at the task we set you upon, and still take our money!”
“Now hold on,” Ms. Ravenhair interrupted him, “We didn’t fail at anything. We got rid of your ghoul infestation. It was just about to get really bad around here. When it gets into the ground like that, it can get out of hand quickly. That salt water was right convenient, flooded the whole system, I’m sure. This might be the first time I’m totally sure we got the entire infection.”
William clamored, “Oh! Oh! Oh! And what about that, that, thing you left in the field! The thing that almost killed my lord Feld.”
Toby muttered, “We told him not to go looking at it. Said to put up a fence. You know you could build a very nice fence with the materials from that tower. If you cared.”
“Quiet!” Sevil said, “It’s ringing!” Everyone went quiet and stared at Sevil. He cocked his head to one side. Time passed. Julie looked around, everyone seemed expectant. The air felt pregnant, she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Idly she reached into her bag, and put on her goggles. And I look even more ridiculous, no wonder Ravenhair never wears that gold cape. She looked around the room, at the glow around each person. Sevil’s ring was emitting a strange blue line of light that shot through the wall. It was undulating. Text appeared in shining blue letters, with a helpful line to Sevil’s ring, which said, ‘PRIMITIVE COMMS ENCHANTMENT, SINGLE CHANNEL.’ Primitive? Julie thought.
“That’s really strange,” Sevil said, sounding curious. “No one is answering at the University.”
Barron spoke for the first time without sounding furious. He sounded genuinely worried, “What? There’s something wrong with your ring! The switchboard, man! There’s always someone, has been for a hundred years,” He turned to William, “Go get the box next to my bed, the green one.”
Sevil glanced over at Barron, “You keep your ring in your bed stand? You were entrusted with that ring, but of course someone like you who supports Thaumatist monuments wouldn’t take a responsibility like that seriously.”
Barron did not deign to respond to this, he made his way from the threshold over to the big table Julie and Ms. Ravenhair were sitting at. All of the tension seemed to have gone out of the room. Ms. Ravenhair asked the serving boy to fetch her some strong tea, and he looked very excited to have a reason to leave the room. Julie thought of the black mark on the floor, and thought about talking to Sevil about that later. Finally, William returned looking winded, he was carrying a green jewelry box. It was bronze stylized like woven grass, painted bright green. It matched Tertius grass hat, which was the only thing anyone was wearing that made her feel less awkward about her ensemble.
“Let’s see just a moment,” Barron muttered some words, and the box popped open. Through her goggles Julie could see a number of different colored glows radiating from within, followed by a whole list of words that popped up next to each glow. He procured a thin silver ring that seemed an exact twin of Sevil’s. Her goggles identified it, ‘PRIMITIVE COMMS ENCHANTMENT, SINGLE CHANNEL.’ Julie tried to make a mental note to ask Sevil what that meant later.
“Well?” Sevil said after a few minutes of waiting. “Anything?”
Barron’s face dropped and went white. His mouth hung slightly open, and he seemed not to notice, “Well it seems as if our little argument may have to wait. Someone has to go to the U.”
Julie piped up excitedly, “We were already going to the University!”
Toby, Sevil, and Ms. Ravenhair all looked at her at once. Ms. Ravenhair said, “Well of course Sevil will check to see why the University is not responding. But all of this needs to happen tomorrow morning.”
Sevil looked very grave, he said, “No. We need to go now, I can get us there.”
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