Realm of the Rogues

Chapter LXVII

Dom grasps my hand and we interlock our fingers. I follow him, expecting us to return to the drawing-room, but he pulls me into another room across from the drawing room. This turns out to be a smaller and more intimate room, that more closely resembles a living room, with one set of couches and armchairs all facing each other. At one end of the room is a fireplace, and I also spot a TV hanging on a wall, even though it's an old model and obviously not the focal point of the room.

On a big table in the centre of sofas and chairs sits several wine and whisky glasses along with three decanters of different liquids. Alasdair, Farlan and Isobel are sitting comfortably around the table, some with their legs up and resting on the couch that they are sitting on. Each of them is holding a glass of that dark red, almost black and thick liquid, that I have come to recognize as blood.

I'm pleased to see that none of them are as sloppy as the stereotypical vampire I always imagined - with blood running down their cheeks and chin. They are much more civilised and proper than that, which is nice. Even though it also leads them to think of themselves as 'better than', which is not so nice.

Dom lets go of my hand and plops down in one of the armchairs, while I approach Isobel, who scoots over in her seat, to make room for me to sit beside her. I notice that she has changed into a night dress, again in a dark red and black colour, but this time without the gold specks. She has let her hair down from the hairstyle she wore before and judging by the way she sits, she must not be wearing a corset. I kind of wish I could take mine off now, seeing as how all of them are chilling, and knowing that it would be hard for me to sit with anything but a straight back, as long as this corset is on me. I chose to try and ignore it, and just get as comfortable as possible, as I plop down next to Isobel.

"... And so, we rode away with all of their goods in the back of our caravan, while none of them even suspected a thing!" Alasdair says in a dramatic voice and laughs as Farlan laughs with him and Isobel gives Farlan a surprised look. Alasdair must have finished an anecdote, to which I didn't hear the beginning. I decide to smile anyway, guessing that it must have been a funny tale. 

"I can't believe how mischievous you guys have been!" Isobel says and swats Farlan, who is sitting in an armchair on the other side of her, on the knee.

"Oh, we have done much worse than that my darling," he responds, leaning forward and giving her a small peck on the cheek, to which she smiles and winks at him.

"Well, what other things have you done?" I ask looking over at Farlan.

"Well, I could tell you the story of how Alasdair, Harris and I formed our little band," he suggests, and I nod at him, before leaning forward and pouring myself a glass of wine. Dom leans forward at the same time, and gets himself a glass of whiskey, looking with interest at Farlan.

"A long, long time ago, I worked as a farmer on my dad's estate," Farlan begins, and I settle down, preparing myself for his tale.

"Nothing exciting ever happened there, since we lived so far out on the country. So when my father said we were going to town, I was the first lad to jump on one of our horses, eager for a change of pace. We rode off into the town - it doesn't exist any longer, so I couldn't give you the name. Anyway, we reached town after three days, and then my father gave me a list of items to fetch for him. It was an assortment of supplies for the farm, some seeds, a shovel and so on. So I went to the blacksmith, thinking I might find a shovel there." At this point, he looks over at Alasdair, and they trade an amused look.

"I met the blacksmith, who turned out to be Alasdair, and you all know him - he was just as big and just as sweet back then, as he is now. When I saw him hammering away on the steel, I knew that I wanted to be just like him, and not work on that wretched farm anymore. So, when it came time for us to ride home, I hid in a barrel in the back of Alasdair's shop, unbeknownst to both him and my father." Alasdair interrupts Farlan with a burst of laughter.

"You didn't say a pip for two whole days until I decided to move that barrel, and you tumbled out!" Alasdair says, causing us all to laugh and Farlan to blush a bit.

"Well, I was only a lad back then - barely twenty and scrawny as a pup," he defends himself, and then Isobel grabs around his upper arm.

"Well at least, no one would or could call you scrawny," she remarks with a smile, and Farlan smiles back.

"Anyway, I ended up becoming Alasdair's apprentice, and in that time I gained all these muscles you see now," he says to us but sends a wink to Isobel while flexing each of his pecs in turn. I roll my eyes with a laugh as well.

"It wasn't until Harris came barging in, begging his poor uncle for adventures, that we had to uproot the shop and become travelling merchants instead," Alasdair then continues, and I gawk over at him.

"Harris is your nephew?" I ask with raised eyebrows.

"Aye, son of my sister. I always took him on adventures as a little lad, so I couldn't very well say no now, could I?" he asks with a smirk.

"Come on now, don't give Harris all the honour! You had already talked about needing some more excitement - Harris was just the trigger factor," Farlan then replies with a laugh.

"That might be true, but don't ever tell the lad that! I like to hold it over his head, so I can tell him how grateful he should be, to have such a wonderful uncle who would sacrifice so much for his poor nephew," Alasdair then says, folding his arms with a smug look on his face.

"Well, it seems we are about to sacrifice quite a bit for him this time around, and this time for real," Farlan then says in a more serious tone, making all of us nod in contemplation in return.