Whispers of Blood & Magic

Chapter Twenty

"What the hell, Lillian?" was the only reply from Flyn that I received while Fausto moved up to check the bookcase and Scythe kept an eye out towards the hallway where we came from.

I didn't respond, not having an answer myself, but instead went to investigate the bookshelf and back wall along with Fausto. Flyn finally joined us, and we spent a few moments fiddling with books, moving trinkets, and looking for hinges before we finally found the triggering mechanism that allowed the hidden door behind the bookshelf to be opened.

Beyond lie a hallway, wooden at first and then it slowly transitioned to a carved out tunnel. This part of the mansion was set into the jutting rocks from the island, and this side of the building was clearly built around and into those giant rocks, making this a formidable structure for any outsider attacks.

As we stepped into the rocky tunnel, we suddenly heard the baron's voice, echoing down the corridor. "You know what I am now, there is no hiding that secret. So I will tell you why I am the way I am. This place belonged to my maker for many years before I was ever born, but I was raised here in the town nearby. This land was prosperous then and was famous for its northernmost trading port. The land was surrounded by a dense forest filled with all sorts of flora and fauna that the people here relied on for sustenance. But the forest was ancient and held fey creatures, dangerous to the humans that lived here so long ago."

As we came to the end of the corridor, it started to curve downward and into itself, making a natural set of spiral stairs that we carefully started to descend. The baron's voice was still far off, but was easily heard coming from below. We couldn't tell how long the stairs would go downward, but we went anyway.

"My maker, an intelligent and shrewd man, hired a caster of some sort to help him with a project. He wanted to imprison the being of an elder wood nymph and found one in the woods nearby. He knew that one day having such an ancient being trapped for his benefit as the humans tore down the forest would set him up for a lifetime of success.

"Little did my maker know that I, Eldon, My Family Name Long Forgotten, was actually in love with the wood nymph and would visit her often, bringing gifts. I was human then and had been enraptured by the beautiful being, having visited the forest as I was hunting. The night the maker's caster had the wood nymph captured, I was there in the woods courting her. As the caster was setting up the ritual, my maker and I fought. It was a quick battle and one that I bravely lost, trying to protect my love. Once the ritual was cast and the wood nymph was imprisoned, the maker kept her healthy by feeding the crystal she had been imprisoned in with his blood. He had me at his castle for a while, feeding on me, until he turned me one night, claiming to need a companion."

We eventually came to the bottom of the carved-out stairs where it flattened out into a small cavern with another tunnel on the far right side and shelfs of broken rocks on the left side. The air around us was humid and cool, but I could smell a hint of saltwater. The rocks to the left must be hiding some connection to the ocean, but I couldn't quite tell where.

The baron's voice continued, clearer now that we were no longer in the winding staircase. "After several years of feeding the crystal his own lifeblood and no longer having me to easily feed on, my maker gathered a man and woman from the town below to feed him pigs' blood to keep his strength up, and would occasionally sip from them as well. They made a deal that if he gave them land to farm, money to build a butcher shop, and a small herd of healthy pigs, they would provide for him in one way or another. They started gathering a crowd of people wanting to live there to help with the pig raising and farming, since the land was so rich. The town grew on its own, and supplied the surrounding port town with business, making it grow as well. And my beautiful nymph provided lush land while encapsulated within her prison."