The Chronicles of Castlebrook: The Obsidian Court

Chapter One: Of Snakes and Hourglasses

The carriage was much more spacious on the inside that it had appeared on the outside. The carriage had definitely been charmed by some high level witch or magician for it spanned in great space must larger than the quaintness of my humble parent's home I had left just hours before. Hardwood mahogany planks lined the floor in perfect symmetry and the rest was of the "carriage" I suppose you could call it, was furnished head to toe in matte black rococo furniture; trimmed with the goddess silver that had also been observed on the carriage, as well as the lantern. I had never heard of a lord or lady or family, for that matter, with these particular colors as their signatures and noticed myself staring widely at the utter extravagance of it all. The kind man must have noticed my facial expressions and chuckled accordingly.

"Yes, Mr. Grey, our lord is a very wealthy lord and one whom partakes in most of the finer things in this life."

I chuckled back at him very softly as I continued to do a panorama view of the interior. Few candles were lit throughout the carriage and  I noticed a very elaborate heating charm had been placed inside the mock fire place to the far western wall of the room. There was so much magic tied into the charm that it was literally glowing red as it radiated enough heat to instantly de-thaw my bones in mere moments. A stack of similar paper charms lay on top of the fire place... pentacles perfectly stamped in a fine scarlet wax.

"Should you get cold throughout the night, please do replace the charm as you see fit. Quantity is of no object here, we have enough to last us several years in the polar caps if need be."

I nodded his way in silence, still astonished by the sheer grander of it all. It was at this time that I had noticed my own ill manners rearing their ugly head as I noticed a young boy reading in an arm chair seemingly without a care in the world, and a stoic young witch staring intently at me as if I were a ghost.

"Thank you so much Mr.___ uhhh?" I paused in hopes of retrieving the kind man's name.

"Handley. You may refer to me as Mr. Handley my good lad." He uttered in response.

"It is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Mr. Handley. Thank you for picking me up on such short notice. It was to my understanding that my contract was only bought a few days ago by post."

"That is correct my good sir. It seems our lord has taken a shine to you and your talents and wishes to put you to work for him and the estate." He curved his lips in a smile that did not seem as genuine as when we had first exchanged pleasantries. My affinity was definitely telling me he was hiding information but no matter how hard I tried to poke inside his head, I couldn't hear anything but the faint blowing of a gentle breeze seemingly through an endless valley.

"I shall take your luggage into one of the spare rooms in the very back and I will let you get acquainted to the other staff to your left." In an instant he vanished beyond the candlelight and retreated further into the carriage with the only things I had left to my name in this world. I suppose I shouldn't be so trusting of nearly complete strangers but the night was wearing deeply on me and I wanted nothing more to do than sit down in one of these lavish chairs and feel the radiating heat from the charm exuding from the fireplace.

I turned to face the other two when the witch pointed towards a chair which indicated where my place would be. She looked to be in her early to mid twenties, not much older than me and definitely the closest one to me in age. She had tattoos that laced her arms down to her wrists of flowers that I had never seen before and what appeared to be deadly vipers. I didn't want to find out the meaning to her markings and did not make a fuss when she inaudibly was suggesting for me to take a seat directly across from her. She stared at me for a moment and then began to speak.