Shadows Bleed

XVI

XVI

Lord Vaskarth was seated behind an imposing hardwood desk that, I imagined, had cost him quite dearly. He looked up when I knocked on the doorframe.

"Ah, Aeriae," he said spreading his arms. "It's good to see you, please do come in and have a seat."

Having positioned myself in a rather comfortable leather chair to face him, he looked up again from his desk and smiled, slipping a folded letter into an envelope and locking it in a drawer in his desk.

"Sorry about dinner last night," he apologised. "I'm afraid my girls can be somewhat energetic."

"Oh no," I raised my hands, brushing it aside. "I quite enjoyed their company. It was simple."

"It warms my heart to hear that. I'm sure my wife, on the other hand, was quite close-lipped."

"Have I offended her?"

"Ha! Who hasn't these days?" he chortled. "Though I don't suspect you came here to exchange idle chatter."

"No," I confirmed. "I'm ready."

"You're sure?" he asked. "If you go through with this you agree to spend the next three months in the Isles under my tutelage."

"Like I said; I'm ready."

"Okay then," he burst out of his seat, smacking his palms on the table's surface. "Time to get the ball rolling!"

Moving away from the desk, he strode purposefully to the back of the study and into a copper contraption resembling a man-sized, gold-painted bird cage.

"What are you waiting for? Get in the elevator."

I took my place beside him and nervously awaited while he slid the barred door shut across the opening. Inside was a brass lever, which he wasted no time in pulling. I heard a mechanical groaning and looked up to see cogs winding and turning, manipulating the chains attached to the top of the 'elevator'. I threw a hand to my mouth, preventing a short squeal escaping as the cage jolted and descended into the ground.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as my nerves settled.

"To the only refuge I have from this agitated world and the politics that engulf it," he answered, without really providing any closure to my question. Instead of pushing, I decided to wait. I would see for myself soon enough.

The descent did not last and, in less than a minute, the elevator came to a standstill and Vaskarth led the way out and into a large open room beneath the manor.

Circular targets were placed at varying distances against the back wall, opposite a wide selection of ranged weapons. Bows, javelins and weapons similar to those Vaskarth had used on me during our first encounter were all laid neatly on a table, ready for use.

In the centre of the room was a square sparring ring, a selection of blunt and bladed weapons on a rack beside it. There was even a narrow lap pool pressed flush to the wall.

The most interesting, due to its peculiarity, area of the room was in the nearest corner. A single armchair rested on a fur rug, accompanied by a bookshelf extending from the floor to ceiling.

"Sometimes I come here to simply read and relax," Vaskarth explained, seeing where my gaze lay, "to revel in history and science with no intrusions except for my own thoughts."

"Where do we begin?" I asked. I never found myself to be particularly taken with reading. I learned to read when I was younger, my father had taught me, but the opportunity to read rarely presented itself and I never found myself taken with it.