The Fires of Cerran

Chapter Twenty-four

Strange things had been occurring in the days during the meeting of the High Lords at Ceraborn. Maids and servants had recounted tales of footsteps about the place, coming upon doors that had been locked and finding them opened but seemingly untouched by any key. Indeed, even the key master had himself had been taken for questioning by Lenren and the Kingsmen guards, and he offered up the names of all those who had previously held a key during the High Lord’s stay at the Castle. The ironmonger’s sheds had been looked over, but nothing out of the ordinary was found. Watches had increased, and all that were questioned swore total loyalty to the King and the Lords which were now in their care.
 

 ‘These occurrences are becoming more frequent.’ Lenren said, his lips barely parting as he chewed on the end of a lengthy wooden smoking pipe.
 ‘Has the girl said anything?’ Replied Ramon, taking his gaze away from his partner and towards the doorway which stood ominously before them.
 ‘No, she hasn’t said a word since the meeting. She eats, drinks and watches from her window.’
Ramon sighed heavily at the thought of the girl standing behind the doorway, scared and in this terrible place. He pitied her and following a gentle rapping on the door he slowly opened the creaking door.
 ‘Good day, young Lady.’ He said gruffly as he arched his way into the room. It was cold, and there was a strange misting on the glass. He turned to the bed and saw the girl sitting cross legged, her hands tucked into her skirts.
 ‘I am no Lady.’ She replied with venomous fury, though she remained unmoved.
 Lenren followed into the room and the two men stood looking down at the girl at the foot of the bed. Both felt the hairs on their necks stand on end and both instinctively felt for their sheathed blades.
 ‘Are you cold?’ The girl asked, staring towards the men and carefully watching as they found the hilts of their swords.
 ‘Aye, just a bit.’ Ramon returned.
 The girl nodded.
 ‘Do you not feel it?’ Lenren asked, arching an eyebrow.
 ‘Oh yes, though I am quite use to it now.’ Melran returned, and Lenren noticed the bag that sat tucked under her right arm, perhaps the only thing she owned. Her skirts were grey and brown, tattered and weather worn, and though she had washed when she had come to the Castle, her hair was now twisting and frizzing at the ends.
 ‘We have come to ask your help.’ Lenren announced as he pulled himself back to reality.
 ‘How so?’ Melran asked, again unmoving and with her gaze still fixed upon the men’s hilts.
 ‘People have been… there have been… sightings.’ Ramon struggled, ending his sentence with a rough clearing of his throat.
 The girl raised a half smile for a moment, and her eyes blinked as her gaze re-focused itself on her misted windows.
 ‘Sightings?’ She whispered.
 ‘Aye, by the chamber maids and the servants. All over the Castle there have been… things. They say they hear doors opening and closing, and the sound of chains and swords.’ Ramon replied, again sounding unsure of himself.
Melran pursed her lips in a curious way and lifted herself from the bed and walked across the room. She ran a finger along the window and water trickled down the pane until it rested on the sill. Looking out through the slit, the girl saw the guards of Ceraborn marching along the grounds in smart uniformed troop.
 ‘The Chancellor has been effected?’ The girl asked, cocking her head to the side as she awaited a response.
 The two men exchanged glances, where had she heard that from?
 ‘Yes, though we believe that to have been some kind of madman or intruder.’ Lenren replied, clearing his own throat as the cold air wrapped around his lungs.
 ‘Ah, I suppose that would make sense.’ Melran returned, smiling sorrowfully. ‘Though sense and logical are quickly disappearing in this place.’
 The two men scowled as the girl turned to face them, bare footed and in ragged clothes she looked like some kind of Wild Folk witch or poor travelling girl.
 ‘You speak in riddles.’ Ramon returned quickly.
 ‘No riddles Ser, only truths’ Melran answered.
 
Arch Chancellor Velgar sat uneasily opposite the girl. To his side sat the King and the two archers, and opposite them sat the ragged girl and her protectors, Lord Tharandal and the Yellow Sister, Nemara.
 ‘I assume everything is in order?’ Tharandal asked of the King, sliding his gaze across to the large bags that sat beside the King.
 ‘Of course, my Lord, I am a man of my word. The girl will be taken good care of and my recommendation for your installation within the High Council has been noted by The Welling.’ Brodon returned with a kind, fake smile.
 ‘Recommendation?’ Tharandal replied, the word slithering over his tongue like a bad tasting wine.
 ‘Merely a formality.’ Brodon returned quickly, and the Lord smiled in the knowledge of his rise in status and wealth.
 ‘The girl will be taken good care of my Lord.’ Lenren said, with a gracious nod to the Tharandal. The Lord gave a mocking nod in return but no reply.
 ‘Well then my King, it would seem that all is sorted. I wish you well in your battles.’ The Lord said, with an outstretched hand to the King who duly took it.
 ‘Where shall you be going, surely not to Sera?’ Velgar asked.
 ‘We ride to the South, for warmer weathers.’ The Sister answered, smiling warmly at the Chancellor. The two stared hard at one another for a moment, assessing each other before the Chancellor gave his best farewell nod to the woman.
The doors closed behind the Lord of Sera and his Priestess, if indeed that is what she was, and all was quiet. The monies that the Lord had requested had angered Brodon in truth, though he felt his hands had been tied by the powers that the girl had showed. With the departure of the Lords, the Castle felt quiet now. Quieter than perhaps it had ever been.
 
 ‘I wonder, my girl, if you can explain what you said to these fellows.’ The Chancellor asked, staring towards the girl with both curiosity and fear.
  ‘You said that these occurrences were the spectres of those who had fallen in the attack on Cerran. How can that be?’ Lenren interjected.
The girl sat with a dejected expression upon her face, and her gaze fixed only on the banners which hung behind the men that showed the conquests of the South some years before. And she remained silent.
 ‘Indeed, a strange one.’ Ramon noted, throwing a disapproving glance to Brodon who returned with a shrug of his shoulders. 
 ‘She did not want to die.’ The girl said suddenly, making Velgar jolt slightly.
 ‘Who?’ Brodon returned.
 ‘The mouse. She was scared, she wanted to be back in the fields near Arisen. She liked it there, where it was warm, and the grass fields ran for miles and miles.’ Melran replied as she shifted her gaze to her cupped hands, imagining the animal to still be sat there. ‘That was her home and that’s where she should have died. Not here, not in the dark and the cold.’
 ‘Are you illuding to these spectres as being stuck here?’ Velgar asked, his voice stuttering.
 ‘Not stuck, they choose to be here now. They choose to haunt these halls.’
 ‘But why?’ The Chancellor answered, his voice sounding desperate. But a grasp at his robes stopped him from talking further, and he looked to the King who sat wide eyed and with a fearful expression.
 ‘Do you not see? They haunt this place because they were killed in such horrific ways that they now haunt the halls of the one who sent them to Cerran.’ He said, the gripping arm shaking and his voice harsh as he struggled for conscious breath. The Chancellor turned quickly to face the girl, who sat with a knowing smile on her face.  
 ‘Impossible!’ Velgar retorted, shaking the King until he came to.  ‘The Gods protect all those who perish, no matter how they depart this world, and especially those who died to protect the Crown.’
 ‘But perhaps they did not? Perhaps they rescinded in their final moments, and the beast burned or crushed them nevertheless! Could it be true? Are the Gods shunning the Kingdom’s because of my foolish leadership?’ Brodon returned, his bottom lip quivering in pure fear.
 ‘Nonsense. The laws of the Gods are clear.’ Lenren responded quickly, with a firm nod to Velgar.
 ‘Indeed, they are, yes. But perhaps they look upon my rule and the rule of my fore-fathers and see it for nothing but sorrowful ruin. Look at the Southern croplands, those poor families. Perhaps these plagues were a warning? A warning I was blind towards!’ Brodon returned, now rubbing his fingers together as he attempted to go through the rush of thoughts that occupied his mind.
 
The girl sat quietly as she watched the King’s mind unravel. And as Ramon flicked his eyes away from the jittering King, he saw the girl’s frosted eyes remain unblinking, but as he cocked his head and sharpened his gaze he found them returned to normal. A trick of the light perhaps. And as Velgar calmed the King the two archers turned to one another and whispered.
 ‘We cannot allow her on this journey.’ Ramon said, keeping his eyes firmly on the stone-faced girl.
  ‘But we must, her powers are –’
 ‘Far beyond our knowledge and look at the madness of the King. Her words are venomous, and her mind works in ways I do not understand or enjoy.’ Ramon returned quickly.
 ‘We must take her if we do not then we will die.’ Lenren snapped back, keeping his words hushed.
 ‘And if we take her, we will be torn apart by her.’ Ramon ventured.
 The two men stopped and stared towards the girl, each unsure of her and untrusting.
 ‘Better her than a dragon.’ Lenren answered after a silence.
 ‘I’m not too sure. I’ll have to think about that one.’
And as the men smiled at one another they found the girl sitting as she had been, again unmoving and expressionless.
 ‘Can you help us with the dragon?’ Ramon ventured; his eyes fixed upon the girl.
 ‘Of course.’ She answered simply, and her voice cracked as the words escaped her mouth. With the King calmed, though his eyes were now focused solely on the tabletop, Velgar began to make note of the routes that the Archers would take, the supplies they required and the weapons and armour they would need.  And watching over all of this, Melran screamed within herself as she fought for control of her body, but the bond was too much at this moment, as it had been seen she had arrived at the place.