From The Ashes

Chapter Sixteen - Whispers Between Silver Bars

Fenris Alivar

Fenris gripped the bannister rail lining the staircase which he descended gingerly, for the sake of both the remnants of an ache in his healing ribs, and the burning lantern which swung precariously from his other hand with each sudden movement. A window at the base of the stairs presented him with a sky of deep periwinkle blue, serving as a background to what small a fraction could be seen of the Mayor's manor. He could not see well into the small windows of the manor, and had no intention to pry into Victor's home as such, but he could make out the warm, glowing dance of candlelight in some of the rooms. Only the faintest trace of golden white could be seen in the small, urban horizon, heralding the departure of the dark gloom of twilight and the long awaited rising of the sun.

During his descent, Fenris had gotten into the habit of, after walking about two or three steps down, he'd stop on the next step and turn to watch the landing above, straining his ears to pick up even the slightest sounds; the creak of an old floorboard, the groan of a door or the hollow thud of footsteps trundling overhead. That last sound he was particularly apprehensive to hear. He wasn't exactly permitted to wander the halls of the infirmary at this time, or at all, really.

Since Warren's last visit, Fenris had indeed struggled to settle and find rest in his infirmary room, somehow even more so than before. It had not only been the pain of upsetting his broken bones by moving and becoming emotionally stressed, it had been that coupled with, and somewhat overridden by, the news Warren had brought with him. Severin had apparently caught and spared a vampire, an undead creature. Fenris knew Warren as a close friend and knew that the man was good and honest, he wouldn't lie to him even if he had anything to gain of it. Nevertheless, Fenris had found it difficult to come to terms with this information, and fully bring himself to believe it. He'd mulled over it almost without cease in the wakeful hours he'd spent in bed, with nothing better to do than reflect on how much he wished to leave the infirmary. Once the sting of envy had left him upon hearing what his fellow hunters had been up to in his absence, of which he had spent quite unwell and miserable, he'd begun to dwell further on what Severin's reasons could be for taking the creature alive.

The main reason he'd decided to take as a temporary conclusion, until he had a true answer, was that Severin had taken the vampire in for interrogation purposes. It was the most obvious conclusion he could come to in his mandrake-induced stupor. Now, it occurred to him that it was the most likely, but still highly unusual behavior from Severin. While Fenris was certain the creature lived, as even shut away in the infirmary, he would've been bound to have heard something if it had met it's end somehow whilst he was incapacitated. It was such an odd circumstance to him that, although he believed both Warren's claims and in the prospect that the creature still lived, it was something he felt he must see with his own eyes before he could fully believe in it.

Upon reaching the last step of the staircase, just as his luck was, the sound of footsteps could be heard above him. Several pairs, in fact, accompanied by the low hiss of whispers passing between their owners' lips. Of what little tone he could hear, was cold and professional, almost certainly a pair of physicians in formal discussion. Under a fair assumption, it was likely they were soon to stumble upon his empty room, hence a need for him to hasten a decent distance from the stairs.

He rounded the corner into the hallway, which was desolate and dark, the only sound being the guttering of his lantern and the sound of his own footsteps echoing upon the wooden floor. The hall was not all that long, but was rather wide and each wall of it was lined with doors of darkwood and black iron. Many of them simply led to the rooms of young Duskguides, which was an understandable choice; Fenris could see through an eye shaped of experience, how having the infirmary close to where the training hunters lodged would be beneficial. He was on the second storey of the building, and across from the staircase that led up to the infirmary room, at the end of the hall, he knew he would find Severin's study.