Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 27

Two letters were sent to the guild. Both were inconspicuous, but one held more weight than the other. The first was a letter for Samson and the others to meet Elise at the castle. The second was addressed to Takunda from his client, telling him that he was to let them leave, and that they would talk about it at a later time. Only he knew the contents of that letter, which was why Samson and his companions were a little surprised when the guild master let them leave. All he chose to share with them was that Elise had it sorted.

While waiting for those three to arrive, Elise was given the opportunity to rest. She was given a room in the guest wing of the castle. The servants would return later to take her measurements, they said. It would be suspicious if a supposed member of thing King's staff were dressed in such poor and filthy clothing. By assumption, the same would be true for the mage, though she couldn't help how well he would take to being called dirty and poor. He'd probably be calm about it, as he was with most things, but it would certainly hurt his pride just a little.

On the topic of the mage, the information the king shared helped put some of what she had picked up about the man into context. She would confront him about it later. For now, she made use of the expensive and massive goose-down mattress by throwing herself onto it. It was even softer than she had imagined. The softest thing she had ever rested on and would probably ever rest on.

Startled awake by a knock at the door, Elise found herself in a panic. She didn't recall falling asleep, and for a moment was confused about where she was. When she finally gathered her senses, she stood and called out. "Uh, y-you may enter?"

A servant woman opened the door and stood at the threshold. She was dressed in a long black dress with a thick layered skirt, a white apron, and a simple white bonnet. The woman bowed. "Miss Elise, your companions have arrived. I have been instructed to direct you to one of the tea rooms to meet with them. After that, I shall be responsible for tending to you for the time being."

Elise nodded, a little uncomfortable with the prospect of having a servant, even if only temporarily. "Alright, then. Please lead the way."

There were several tea rooms in the guest wing, where visitors could take afternoon tea, snacks, and relax without having to leave the perceived safety of the castle. The one that had been designated for Elise and the mage to meet with the others was one of the smaller rooms, due to their company not being particularly large.

The first thing Elise did when she got in to see the others was hug her son. He was stiff and unreceptive, but that was fine. She already knew something was wrong, but for now she was just grateful that they were all ok. Well, not all of them. She let go of her son and distracted herself before she could be miserable again. "What happened with Tak? Did you get anything useful?"

Samson shook his head. "He refused to talk about anything until we saw someone who wanted him to send me to them. Then when your letter came, he let us go. All he said was that you had sorted it out somehow. Do you have any idea what's going on? None of it really makes any sense to me."

"Yes, unfortunately." Elise sighed. "I don't know if I have it in me to explain it all right now. It's... a lot. Not at all what I was expecting."

"Is this where you went when you wouldn't tell us what you were doing?" The boy questioned.

"I was hoping that we might be able to get something about giving away some information to the king, even if it was only that he would act on his own to prevent a siege. I wasn't expecting any of this." She gestured vaguely around them, indicating the peculiar fact that they were currently guests of King Hereskel, who had until recently been their sworn enemy.