Assault on Fulbrück Castle

"Do you know who I am?" the armoured giant asked, his tone increasingly pompous and, it must be said, impatient.

The girl looked up, struggling to focus her vision. The face swam before her.

"Uncle Heinrich?" she guessed.

"That's not your uncle Heinrich," the young man sitting with her giggled, waving his tankard at the now furious warrior.

"How d'you know?" the girl demanded, languorously swinging her head to approximately face her drinking partner. "You never even met him."

"True," the young man acknowledged. "But I would've thought... hang on. I'm not sure what I'd've thought. Time for another drink. That's what I'd've thought. Yeah. That's about right."

He struggled to his feet and cast around to locate the bar he'd already frequented enough to have an intimate knowledge of its location. The newcomer let him go, dismissing him from his mind. He returned his attention to the girl.

"I am not your uncle Heinrich," he assured her, with barely concealed contempt. "I am Baron Guy le Vrai, Chevalier of Gisoreux."

The girl pondered this.

"Bretonnian?" she said at last.

"Clearly, I should have assumed by now," the knight muttered.

The girl nodded.

"So you're not my uncle Heinrich, then?"

Guy said nothing, believing the next words issuing from his mouth would be unworthy of his knightly order. Instead, he gave the girl time to mull over the implications of this revelation.

"So if you're not my uncle Heinrich," she finally said, "what do you want with me?"

The knight finally smiled.

"I have need of your services," he told her. "I want someone who can open doors and disarm traps. I want the best. I was told the best was Elise von Hammack. Are you interested?"

The girl focused on him properly for the first time.

"I'm interested, but there's something you should be aware of, though."

"What would that be?"

"That's Elise, over there."

****************************

"Elise isn't an Elven name," Baron le Vrai told the Elf. "And, in fairness, I was told you would most likely be drunk and in the company of a male, um... companion."

The Elf regarded the nobleman as she took another swig of whatever it was she was drinking.

"Well, under normal circumstances, my 'companion' would be here, but he's out on a little fact finding mission right now," she said. Guy struggled to place her accent. It wasn't one normally associated with Elves, nor did it sound like something you'd expect to hear around these parts.

"Well then," Guy smiled, accepting this information, but eager to get to business. "I have a proposal for you. Are you interested?"

"I'm always interested," the Elf smiled. "But here's my 'companion' now. I want him to hear what you have to say."

Guy looked in the direction of her gaze and watched a well dressed human making his way through the bar. He turned back to Elise.

"Can he be trusted with what I'm going to tell you?"

Elise looked at him with a cool expression.

"Of course," she said. "He's my husband."

The man came straight over to the table and slid onto the bench next to his wife without so much as a glance at Guy. They kissed, not a possessive "my-property-keep-off" kind of kiss, or a showy "this-proves-we're-together" sort. It was, Guy noted, the sort of kiss that spoke of a long and comfortable intimacy. This told him first of all that there were no secrets between these two, and secondly that they clearly saw themselves as a team. If Elise's reputation was matched by her ability, then Guy could probably count on him too.