The Chronicles of Nir

19 | Blinded By The Light

In no condition to climb back through the balcony window, Tallon and Eri had been reduced to knocking on Thaddeus Vine's front door an hour before dawn, with streaks of golden light tinging the eastern sky.

The butler, Leon, answered their summons with a scowl and a distinctly unimpressed expression. His suit was impeccable; Tallon wondered if this man slept in it—or at all, for that matter.

"I do believe it is my duty to inform my lord if his guests are returning at this hour, smelling of unspeakable things," he said.

"You do that," Tallon rasped. "Tell him we need an urgent audience."

Leon strode away with a scowl, barking over his shoulder, "Take off those disgusting boots and leave them by the door. I will send them to be cleaned and shined in short order."

Going ahead of them, his footsteps thumped heavily against the polished wood. Slowly, Tallon led Eri up to their rooms where he walked Eri to the washroom and helped him sit on the edge of the copper tub. With a promise to swiftly return, Tallon deposited his satchel with the precious logbooks on the table. He hoped whatever they contained had been worth the effort.

Rejoining Eri, he said, "First things first—let's get this stink off us, and then we'll see if Maisie can treat your eyes."

Eri bowed his head. "I am glad Thaddeus is wealthy enough to have indoor plumbing," he remarked. "I would hate to have to ring for a bath; I think Leon has a low enough opinion of us already."

"That's nothing new," Tallon replied with a laugh. "I have that effect on everyone I meet. You'll do yourself no favors keeping my company."

Then he frowned, realizing Eri might actually feel this way, given the mixed results of their quest.

He wanted to blubber his apologies then and there, but he knew Eri would only dismiss them. More pressing was the fact they stank like the sewers.

Bath first; apologies later.

Once they were thoroughly cleaned, they rang for Leon, who deemed them fit for his lordship's company, and led the pair to an upstairs study, where he instructed them to wait.

When Tallon inquired after Maisie and started to move towards the door to go summon her, Leon's withering glare pinned him in place. "Rayna shall fetch your friend. Perhaps things are different in other corners of the world, but in this house, a man, gentle or otherwise, does not dash about, unasked, into a lady's chambers." With which pronouncement he departed.

Left to wait, the only sound that broke the silence was the steady tick-TOCK, tick-TOCK of another of Thaddeus' ornate, gnome-made clocks.

Eri rubbed his hands together in his lap. A towel still wrapped his hair (he'd talked Tallon through the somewhat time-consuming process of washing it, which required the removal of many pins and bands) and he felt a thousand times better now that he was clean, but his sight still hadn't improved.

He cleared his throat. "You know, Tallon... I've been meaning to say—"

Before he could finish his thought, the door to the study burst open, and Thaddeus strode in, clad in a plush velvet bathrobe with Leon, bearing a tray of refreshments, in tow.

Thaddeus sat in an armchair upholstered in red and white pinstriped fabric, concern furrowing his brow.

Leon placed the tray on an oval coffee table and bowed to Thaddeus. "Ms Barnes will be in shortly. Our guests..." He paused to shoot Tallon and Eri a contemptuous glare, "insisted she be awoken and present for whatever they wish to say."

Without another word, he bowed, took his leave, and closed the door behind him.

Thaddeus repressed a chuckle. Leon was traditional and a touch boring, but he'd been a father figure to Thaddeus after his parents' untimely deaths. Money couldn't buy that kind of loyalty.