Chapter 12
Marald dismissed the guards. He sent for a servant to escort me to a suite of rooms, upstairs, on the eastern side of the building. He said that since I had come from the east, I should stay in an eastern room.
He told me that I had some time until evening meal was called. I used the time to clean up as best as I could. I had not really been expecting anything like this. I removed everything except my pants. I used a washbowl, and the pitcher of water that was near it. I heated the water with a little magic, and got out some soap from my backpack.
After cleaning up, I looked at my boots. I wiped them with a wet cloth, and decided they would have to do. I pulled a fresh shirt out of my backpack, and put it on. I closed the backpack, and set it on the middle of the bed. Since it was getting chilly again, I put my cloak back on. I vacillated between taking my staff, and leaving it behind. I chose the latter. I put it with my backpack, and cast a small spell on both the backpack and the staff. No one would bother them, now.
I moved from my bedroom, to a sitting room of some sort. My suite consisted of two rooms. The bedroom was accessible only through the sitting room. I had been told I would be summoned. So I went to an over stuffed chair, which turned out to be very comfortable. I sat and thought.
I had come loaded for bear, or so I thought. Dragons were another thing, entirely. I checked my spells. Would they work against a Dragon, if I had to cast it at one? Some should.
I remembered the painting from downstairs, that my host had shown me. It had been very detailed, as if the painter had been very familiar with his subject. The body had been long and slender as represented in flight. The head was attached by a long neck. It had leathery looking wings that seemed ridiculously huge compared to its body. The flames shooting from its mouth were red. They seemed to shimmer, even in the painting.
The body had been a golden color, and the eyes had been the color of turquoise. It was a truly magnificent painting. If it was a true representation, then this dragon was very dangerous. Said dragon had also let me live, for some reason. I had not even realized it had been a danger, as it was circling over me earlier.
The chill seemed to radiate off the very walls of this keep. I was glad for the warmth of my cloak. I sat and waited. I also constructed a few helpful spells. The first two were light spells. I summoned a ball of light. It floated above me in the air. I increased the power in it, until it glowed and lit the room nicely.
I then did the same for my bedroom. I did not want to be stumbling around in the dark when I returned to my rooms, later. I then got to work on making the rooms more temperature comfortable. That took a bit more time. It had been ages since I had done these types of spells. I had come to rely on gas or electric heating over the years.
By the time I was done, it had gotten noticeably darker outside. I was now very hungry.
There was a knock on my door. I strode over and opened it. In the hallway was an elderly man, dressed in what I assumed were the 'house colors'. I could be wrong, though, and greeted him with caution.
He wore dark pants of a material not as smooth and shiny as Marald's, but of similar color. His shirt was a good quality 'homespun', I would guess. It was better than what the people out in the little housing area had been wearing. In fact, he was dressed about the same as the servant who had taken me to my rooms, earlier.
He requested that I accompany him.
We went down several corridors, and through a couple of cross-corridors. Finally, we went down some steps. I was led into a large room, that had a large fireplace against one wall. There were three long tables set in the center of the room. Another table was set in such a way as persons sitting at it, could view the entire room. Though it was a smaller table, it was also closer to the fireplace.
The smaller table was where I was led. There stood my host. Also, standing by his side, were two women. One had to be his wife, the other could possibly be his daughter. Two other men were standing a little further down the table.
"Ah, Mr. Lindsy. May I present my wife, Orla? Next to her, is my daughter, Talia. The man next to her is my Captain of Guards, Savhn. Next to him is The Keep's Wizard, Benlin."
I glanced closely at this man, as he was named.
He was a little man, who exuded nervous energy. I looked with 'second sight', and saw he fairly glowed with magic! Yes, not a man to take lightly. I noted he was also examining me very closely.
I saw I was going to be seated to Marald's left. Everyone else at this table was to his right. I saw that there was room for another place to my left, but it was left empty. As soon as Marald sat, everyone in the hall sat.
I took this opportunity to count people at the three tables. One table seemed full of people. Twenty people sat at that table. The next, or middle, had fifteen people. The third table, had only eight people sitting at it. I assumed that you ate at a specific place at the tables.
"Are these all your people?" I asked my host.
"Not at all. These are just the Keep workers, and immediate family members. The total number of people that the Keep has, varies, but is currently around 220. Is it not similar where you come from?" he asked me.
How do you explain that there were no keeps in a modern world? I told him that while we used to have a system similar, it had fallen into disuse as the population expanded, and peace had come to the land.
His wife and daughter asked me what the woman wore in my land. I 'confessed' that I was not a follower of women's fashions. They were disappointed, but agreed that few men were.
These were the first women I had seen that wore anything resembling a dress. They were heavy and bulky, just to look at. They appeared to be similar to what was worn by the 'society' women of the mid-1800's. Apparently this world had not kept up with the one I had just left, in many areas.
On the other hand, they did have magic, and dragons. At the moment I couldn't say which was the better system. We had modern conviences in my world, but magic could do just as much or more. The world I had just left had had to get clever with things, since for the most part, there were very few practicing magic users, and they were hidden from society by choice. At least, I had been.
Servers came and went, placing heaping platters of meats of various sorts. There was venison, pork, and fish. There were vegetables also. That was rather surprising to me. I had not considered that they would realize how important vegetables were.
We ate and I listened to the conversation. They had just cleared another 10 acres of land and were still arguing as to what should be planted there. I also heard that a keep further to the west had been attacked, but the attackers had been driven off.
All in all it was an interesting if confusing meal. After all of us at the main table were finished, we got up and left, leaving the rest of the people to continue eating as we filed out. Benlin cornered me as soon as we were seated in a 'den like' room. He wanted to know which school of magic I followed.
I informed him that the world I came from didn't really believe in magic. That while there were magic users in the world, they were few and far between. I told him I had been tutored privately by a family retainer. He wanted to know who my family was. I had to confess I did not really know my real name.
Everyone listened, fascinated,, as I spoke with Benlin. I drank a couple cups of wine that tasted a little sweet. I was more interested in the cups than the drink. They were pewter, I think. Nice steel-like color to the cups, but with no iron taste. There were six, and they all matched.
Soon I was yawning. I think it was the excitement of the day that had tired me out. Marald sent for a guide, and then sent me off to bed. I thanked him for the meal and an interesting evening. He said he was delighted that I had come to his keep and was looking forward to speaking more with me tomorrow.
It seemed I had just gone to bed, when there was a muffled knocking on my outer door. I got up, and stumbled through the bedroom door. I opened the sitting room door, and found a servant.
"Breakfast will be in half an hour. Will my lord be needing help with dressing?" a young man asked me.
"No thank you. A guide to breakfast would be appreciated though," I replied.
"Of course, my lord," he said, and bowed.
So, now I was a lord. They must have promoted me after I left last night. I grinned as I went and made use of the chamber pot. I put it back in the place it was stored, and moved on to shaving. After I had cleaned up as best I could, I waited for my guide to show, which wasn't long.
An hour later, Marald and I were outside walking the outer wall of his keep. It was amazing really. We had only gone a short distance when I heard him gasp. I looked to where he was looking, and saw six winged figures coming in for a landing a short distance away. Sheesh! Five rather large dragons, and one very very large dragon were now on the ground and walking towards the wall we were standing on.
"Bel, his wife and brood, all here! This is unheard of!" Marald exclaimed to me.
"Well, I wouldn't really know. So this is not normal behavior with these dragons of yours?" I asked a bit nervously. I double-checked the spells I had ready. Still there. Good!
"No. If the dragons contact us, it is usually just one, and most times it is Bel himself, only. Never before have they all approached like this," Marald gasped at me.
Dragons could cover a lot of ground. They quickly covered the distance from their landing place, to just below the wall where we were.
All were staring at me. I just looked back. Marald was looking from the dragons, to me, and back again. He had noticed the dragon's interest in me.
"So, it is true. I had thought I smelled the blood of a 'Dragon Lord'. Welcome, Lord," the big dragon, Bel, said to me in a hissing voice.
As one, all six dragons dipped their heads. Once, twice, and then a final third time they bowed.
Marald was staring at me, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. I was confused, myself. What the hell was a 'Dragon Lord'? I heard a hissing, and thought of flames. It was very alarming, until I realized it was dragon laughter!
"I see you do not know who you are. Yet you were greeted by your cousin Marald as a friend. How amusing," Bel said in his hissing voice.
"Cousin?" I asked dumbly.
"Cousin?" Marald asked just as confused as I was.
"I know you from when you were first presented to me. You were but a newborn babe. I smelled your blood then. I tasted your essence. You are he. You are Paul Landkur, great grandson of the Demi-God and Dragon Lord: Vostich Landkur," Bel said. Again, the dragons bowed.
"YOU'RE Paul Landkur? But why didn't you say anything?" Marald asked me excitedly.
"This is the first I have heard about it. It's news to me," I said, my head shaking back and forth, while my mind was whirling!
This Chapter edited by TeN
derLoin.