Dulcis dolo sweet deceit

Chapter three

Draco the bartender looked at all the other customers. The bar was suddenly hushed again until an old man with jet black hair broke the silence.

"He can stay with me, Draco; Cirrus wouldn't mind me bringing somebody home."

But Draco knew what the old man, Caleb, really meant. I'll keep an eye on him, he seems like trouble.

But who was Draco to argue was someone such as Caleb himself? Caleb was the village leader, respected and full of wisdom. Besides he needed to be weary ever since the mysterious death of Attila the priest. Gavin shifted uncomfortably on his bar stool. Every one was quite while Caleb spoke.

"So I take it that your clothes are in that bag that you are carrying, but you are going to need to dry off."

Caleb barely looked at Gavin as he made his way out of the bar. Gavin quickly followed him, not knowing what to say or do. It was a short walk to the house that he was going to stay in. The old door was instantly opened by an elderly woman, who he assumed to be Cirrus. Although her pale white face had been wrinkled with age, her hair was also raven black like Caleb's. She smiled warmly at Caleb but frowned at Gavin. She moved to let them pass. Gavin stood gazing at the hallway he was in. It was wondrously antique and gothic with intricate engraved furniture and a high ceiling.

"You bought company Caleb?" she enquired. Caleb merely nodded.

"Yes make sure he is fed please."

Gavin was mystified. Such weird names! Draco, Caleb, cirrus, where was he? He was interrupted from his thoughts as he felt Caleb's eyes on him. Gavin returned the glare.

"I didn't catch your name." Caleb asked.

"Gavin." he replied.

"Unusual name," Caleb pondered out loud. Gavin was confused, seriously where was he? After being fed a decent meal of stew with hunks of bread, Gavin gratefully collapsed onto the bed he had been given. Just as he was about to reach out to switch his lamp off, cirrus's head popped in through the door.

"You alright?" she asked.

"yeah fine," Gavin was surprised due to the fact that he couldn't remember the last time somebody had come to check up on him. But despite a stern look Cirrus had a heart of gold.

"Well, I just thought I'd come in to leave in a thimble of milk and some raisins for the faeries. And don't forget to leave the top window open a tad bit."

With that she left. Daft old bag, he thought. Faeries. He then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. When he woke up the following morning, he saw that the milk was gone as were the raisins. But Gavin was a grown man, heck he didn't believe in faeries even when he was three years old! At the breakfast table he asked Cirrus about what she meant about faeries the night before. She stopped drinking her tea. Even Caleb looked up from his newspaper. Gavin didn't like the look of this. He regretted asking. Cirrus looked like she was about to answer, when Caleb spoke first.

©copyright dulcis dolo sweet deceit 2012©