The Count of Castle Rock

Chapter LIV- Bloody Rock

Leesa leans on the counter beside the register at Father's firework shop. Jessica shoots her a clandestine look and both hide their laughter. Mary walks around the store with Uncle Barney, trying her best to make a sale. The two had been engaging in a battle of wits for days, each attempting to sell the other a product. It has been like watching two masters at work, each manipulating the truth and exaggerating the facts in order to convince the other to part with coin. Uncle Barney is winning, having convinced Maribelle to purchase a pair of earrings supposedly once the property of a disgraced lady.

Uncle Barney's bodyguard, a handsome woman named Lykeshaw, sits in the lounge napping.

Mary runs her hands down a pair of whistling rockets, and says something that makes Uncle Barney's cheeks turn bright red. Not to be out done, he removes his hat and whispers something so risque that Mary's cheeks darken and she slaps him across the face. The sound wakes Lykeshaw and wipes the smirks off of Leesa and Jesse's faces. Everyone looks on in shock.

"Are you okay, Mr. Blinker," the bodyguard asks, stepping into the main room. Her eyes so cold, Leesa has no doubt she'd have no qualms with manhandling Mary.

"I'm fine," he replies, his normally playful tone quite flat. "It's fine." He picks up his hat, dropped in his shock of being struck. Dusting it off, he places it back on and with it his smile. "A great salesman never lets a potential customer get him frazzled. You'll do good to remember that, Mary."

She adjusts her sleeves and fusses over her crown of curly red hair. "I lost my composure, Uncle Barnabas. It won't happen again."

"That's the best apology you'll get, Uncle Barney," Jessica says under her breath.

"What's going on in here?" asks a familiar and welcomed voice as Uncle Will exits Father's office. "Why's everyone so tense?"

"You've missed quite the fireworks display, Will. I saw lights." Barnabas laughs and, after a long pause, so does everyone else.

"I don't get it."

Mary huffs and runs upstairs. Everyone shares a more heartfelt chuckle at Will's expense. He looks to Leesa for help and she just shrugs and laughs even harder. Father joins them from his office as confused as Uncle Will.

"What did I miss?" he asks.

"I'm winning four to two," Uncle Barney says, rubbing his cheek.

Lykeshaw rolls her eyes and returns to the lounge.

"Barnabas, you have to go easy on her."

"Never. She'll never reach her fullest potential if we baby her."

Father shakes his head and hands Leesa a broom. She sighs and starts sweeping the shop. Father's anger has subsided in the month since she's been back, but he still expects her to do the lion's share of the housework and she's permanently on kitchen duty. Knowing she deserves it for letting him think something happened to her, Leesa accepts her punishment. If any of them knew what horrors she'd truly faced in the Felah Forest or The Hag Swamp, they'd likely never let her out of her room.

"Look at this," Uncle Will says, peering out of the window. "It's stopped raining and everything still looks gloomy."

"What do you expect, William. You don't call a place The Badlands unless it's a terrible place to live." Barnabas joins him at the window, looking at the grey skies.

"It's not that, Barney," Father interrupts. "It's this war. These people have had it rough these last few years. First, they had to deal with a bloody warlord while The Count was south with The King, fighting Gramshandle. Now, they have Lord Lawson taking away their children to fight in this border skirmish. These people haven't fought more than the ghost of the Lia'chem in nearly a hundred years. It's draining."