grail of death and clockwork.

Chapter VII

With heavy limbs which felt as though they had been weighted down with lead, Dakoda shuffles down the halls.

"My Lady, it would seem something is bothering you," Audrey queries matching her pace with Dakoda's slow and grim one.

"It is nothing, I am fine," Dakoda murmurs with sorrowful voice.

"Well now, I am far from being an expert but that tone says otherwise, My Lady," Audrey utters raising and eyebrow

"your right," Dakoda mutters as she stops walking. "You are no expert in how one feels, so when I say I am fine... I mean I am fine!" she snaps

"Lady Cipher, do leave the poor child alone, she is only concerned for you," Ezekiel speaks up from behind them. Strolling out of the kitchen and towards the two he smiles kindly at Dakoda.

"You have been through a lot, and that ,must be very tough, but you should not take your anger out on Audrey, the rest of us, we are use to these moods of yours we've been with you for a long time. But ms Audrey hear, she only joined us a year ago, you got to give her some time to learn the ups and downs, Ins and outs," Ezekiel expresses in a soft spoken voice. He places a hand gently on her shoulder and smiles widely.

"now I'm not going to pry, but I do agree that something is bothering you. It would be easier for us to assist you if we know what that is, My Lady," He calmly enquiries. Dakoda glares at her cook for a short while before letting out a sigh.

"my apologies, Audrey, there is something bothering me. I suppose I thought it would be easier to brush these worries aside and ignore them but..." she sighs shifting her gaze to out the window. Towards the forest where Virgil had died.

"It's been a month... Thirty days... since all this started. And now there is a body count of four people who were close to me, all I can think is... How many more? How many must die before this is over" Dakoda murmurs, turning to her servants she frowns grimly,

"when will the good for nothing inspector learn? That this is the doings of someone evil?" She whispers before walking away towards her study.

With a dazed look, her thoughts stagnant and foggy. Finding it difficult to focus of any one thing for any length of time Dakoda opens the door to her study and with a dead stare stalks over to her seat falling down into it stiffly before starting at her desk. Her eyes glazing over slightly as she looks at the mess of papers and the map which still graced her desk space from when she had first read the letter.

Menachem enters the room with a slight bow as she placed the silver tea tray on the desk.

"Have some tea, Lady Cipher," she offers pouring a cup.

"I have business to tend to in town. Can I trust you to ready the carriage for me?" Dakoda murmurs accepting the tea and taking a sip.

"of course, Lady Cipher, when shall we be leaving?" The mechanized servant enquiries.

"No... Not we, I shall be going alone, just prepared the carriage for me to leave after I've drunk this tea." she instructs staring blankly down at the mess on her desk.

"Are you sure, Lady Cipher?"Menachem inquires, with a slight twitch in her hand and a flick of her gaze towards the maid Dakoda takes a deep breath and Another sip of tea.

"yes, I am," She mutters.

With a bow the maid walks out of the room and down the hall. One the sound of her shoes clicking against the floors is no longer audible Dakoda shifts the papers to stare at the map.

"I have a killer to catch, and I do not need... or want, anyone to be caught in the crossfire," She whispers glaring at the cross marked on the map.