Welcome To My Dark Side

Chapter 5 Not Such A Warm Welcome

Lyria glanced around the room she was in. Everything looked the same. All the furnishings were still covered. She looked over to the window to check if it was still dark out and when she did she noticed that it was still nighttime but the window was now shut. She was wondering if she had forgotten that she had closed it as she was feeling a little light headed. 'Maybe I hit my head on the mirror.' Lyria thought, dismissing this minor detail. Getting ready to lie down for a bit, she heard the sound of voices gradually getting louder. "Quickly find that girl before she is able to cause trouble! She has to be in here somewhere!" Yelled one of the pillagers. The pillagers were running around the mansion desperately trying to find her. Baffled about how the pillagers had known she was there, Lyria was not going to take chances and risk being caught. Hurriedly, she ran over to the window to throw it open and lept out, activating her elytra as she did so. She was going to have to abandon her mission.

When the dark and imposing towers of Dreadfort finally came into view, Lyria let out a sigh of relief. She landed in the middle of the town with the snow making a crunch under her feet. "Captain Lyria, where have you been?" She heard a cross voice say. Turning around she saw Commander Hilda walk up to her. "I am so sorry Commander but I could not reach the pillager town any faster and I had to.." She began to explain before Fractureverse Hilda cut her off. "And what were you doing there when no one had told you to?" She questioned Lyria. A little surprised that the commander had not been told of her departure, Lyria told Commander Hilda that Lord Patrick had ordered her to do so. "An unlikely story." Fractureverse Hilda said still angry with her. "You can talk to Lord Patrick if you want." Said Lyria. Fractureverse Hilda smiled briefly before she replied. "Why don't you go and talk to him?" Lyria was puzzled by Commander Hilda's unusual attitude towards her. Not wanting to get into trouble for no reason Lyria said that she would get Lord Patrick to confirm that he had sent her. What was stranger was the reaction she got from the soldiers who had overheard their conversation. They seemed to be shocked by the fact that she was going to go and talk with Lord Patrick .

She was even more confused when she met the grandmaster standing on the castle steps smiling at her as she approached him. "Ah there you are Captain. What can I do for you?" He said cheerily. "Good morning Sire. Um...Everyone seems to have forgotten that you had sent me to the pillager town. Could you please confirm to them that you sent me Sire?" She asked nicely. Fractureverse Patrick thought hard for a moment before he responded. "While I don't remember giving you permission to leave, I will make sure that no one questions you about it." He said in a way that was reassuring to Lyria. "Thank you Sire." She thanked him. Fractureverse Patrick stared at her briefly before he climbed up the stairs leaving Lyria wondering why he had not said goodbye to her.

Satisfied that Lord Patrick had cleared up her absence with everyone, Lyria was going to get something to eat. "And where do you think you're going?" She heard Commander Hilda yell at her. When the commander came closer to her, Lyria stood to attention and saluted. "Commander Hilda." Lyria said, greeting Fractureverse Hilda. "Lord Patrick has..." She never got to finish because she was interrupted. "I don't have time for your excuses." Fractureverse Hilda huffed. "But Commander.." Lyria cried but was again cut off by Fractureverse Hilda. "Why haven't you cleaned out my horse's stall?" She asked. "You never asked me to and it's not exactly my job." Replied Lyria now confused why she had been expected to do so. "Then whose job is it then?" Snapped the commander. Lyria couldn't understand why Commander Hilda was so angry at the moment. It was very often that she was like this.

"Isn't that your job?" Inquired Lyria because she had remembered hearing somewhere that members of the cavalry were expected to muck out their own horses. "Do you think that as a commander I have the time to be doing that? What do you think we have stable hands for?" Fractureverse Hilda said, annoyed that Lyria had been cheeky enough to ask such a question. "Oh I'm sorry Commander but if you have stable hands why do you need me to do it?" Lyria asked and tilted her head since the conversation was only getting stranger. "Are you questioning my ability to make decisions? Just make sure you do it!" Barked Fractureverse Hilda. "That's not very fair Commander because I don't know how to clean the stables properly." Augured Lyria. "I don't think it was very fair that you ran off and besides when has anything around here been fair?" Fractureverse Hilda said walking off, leaving poor Lyria completely clueless.

Lyria did as Fractureverse Hilda asked and went to clean out the stable for her. If Commander Hilda was having a bad day then Lyria would help take some of the workload off her, although she couldn't help but wonder if the commander had intended it to teach her a lesson because she had left without informing anyone. 'Maybe Lord Patrick will clear things up with her later. I thought he would have told everyone that I was leaving but he claims that he never even ordered me to go there.' She thought, whilst she shoveled out the dirty straw into a wheelbarrow. Even though Lyria had never done this before, she had made sure that she had done it correctly and checked with one stable hands when they entered the stables. It had taken her all afternoon and she still couldn't wipe out the strange events that had happened earlier. She was hoping that Lord Patrick had managed to sort it all out but as she would later realise this was far from the case.

Finally after being able to have some food, Lyria headed over to the barracks. She went inside and went to go and open the door to her room. Pulling down on the handle, she found that the door wouldn't budge. Giving the door a harder shove, she realised that it was locked. She was sure that she hadn't bothered to lock it. Reaching into her pocket, she took out her key and inserted it into the lock. However when she tried to turn the key, it would not move. The key still did not twist after she had tried turning it several more times. "Forcing an old key to open a new lock won't work. Surely you should know that." Lyria heard Fractureverse Agatha say. The officer had been standing behind Lyria for some time with a rather amused look on her face. "Well how was I supposed to know that the lock has been changed and why has it even been changed in the first place?" Lyria asked, annoyed that no one had told her earlier. "That's King Patrick for you. He had it changed after he spoke with you today. He said that if you think that you can just go off by yourself then you can go by yourself and find somewhere to sleep tonight." Explained Fractureverse Agatha. Lyria was too tired to notice that Officer Agatha had referred to Lord Patrick as king."Where does he expect me to sleep? Does he expect me to sleep in one of the other barracks with the privates?" Asked Lyria, unable to believe that Lord Patrick had done this. "I don't know where he expects you to sleep but he has banned us from letting you enter any of the barracks tonight, although he said that you can have the key back in the morning." Fractureverse Agatha told her. "Who has the key?" Lyria wondered if Officer Agatha had the key to her room. "We have not been permitted to disclose such information." Fractureverse Agatha said. "Well in that case, where does he expect me to sleep?" Lyria asked her again. "You could always try the tavern." She suggested. "Ok fine. I suppose I'll have to." Groaned Lyria.

When Lyria arrived outside the tavern, she caught one of the staff locking the door. "Tavern's closed for tonight." He said. "Why? It isn't normally." She pointed out. "King's orders." He shrugged and was about to walk off before Lyria stopped him but she still hadn't picked up what was odd about his statement."And where am I supposed to go? I haven't got anywhere to spend the night." She explained to him, now panicking as it was pitch black outside without a single star in the sky. "You could always try the stables." He said half jokingly. As much as she didn't want to, she realised that this might be her only option. She watched him go and decided that she would go back to the stables. It was only for one night and she would get the key in the morning.

All the horses were fast asleep when Lyria entered the stables. She was beginning to hate the smell of horses, after having cleaned out one of the stalls and not being able to get changed into something cleaner. The stables had a hay loft at one end. Lyria had seen this earlier and decided that sleeping amongst the hay was better than just sleeping on the floor. She climbed up the ladder and tried to make herself comfortable. 'It's just one night.' She reminded herself. 'Hopefully tomorrow will not be quite so strange as today has been.' She rolled over in the hay. 'Yet another night where I am not going to be able to sleep well.' Lyria moaned.