We left the tavern, and the duke escorted us to a pair of carriages. He gestured for Hrig to walk ahead and join him in the lead one, but she instead made straight for the second, and we filed in behind her. The carriages began rolling as we settled into our seats. I kept silent as long as I could before my curiosity overwheld . Luckily, Stone beat to it.
"So, is that why you were the ‘duchess’ of death?"
Hrig chuckled. "Yes, that’s how I got it. Before I married, I was the ‘Braided Butcher.’ They really liked their alliteration."
"How’d you et Duke Ellis?" asked Kyren.
I wondered if I’d missed him saying his na.
"He was a fan, my patron, in fact. He’d always throw a single flower onto the arena after each of my fights. One day, he asked to join him at his estate for dinner, and I didn’t want to offend him when the money he was providing was helping to get my siblings and out of the slums. When we t, he confessed that he loved and asked to marry him. I was hesitant, but when he offered to adopt my brother and sister into his family, I agreed." She drew the curtain to glance out the window at the winding streets.
"Why’d you leave?" I asked.
"The rot… My brother and sister didn’t get it from the slums; they got it at the estate when a mber of the staff got sick. If I hadn’t married him... I thought about staying, but the truth was I didn’t love him, and everything here reminds of what happened. So a few nights after they passed, I grabbed my favorite axe and left. I was hoping he’d move on, but clearly, he hasn’t."
"Maybe this will be good for him. This could give you a chance to really say goodbye to one another," said Kyren.
Hrig didn’t respond, just returned her attention to the window. We sat in silence the rest of the way.
* * *
It was evening when we arrived at the duke’s estate—an enormous villa situated on an even more enormous piece of land. The leadup to the main building consisted of an elaborate garden filled with flowers and complex hedges, which surrounded everything in neat rows.
The main gate squealed as it opened for us, and the carriages made their way to the front door before coming to a complete stop. We exited, and Duke Ellis was there to et us.
"Welco. I wasn’t sure whether or not you’d want to head for the tomb imdiately or would require lodging for the night, so I had rooms prepared for each of you as well as a dinner, if you’d be so inclined."
"It’s best to strike at such places in the dayti. I welco your hospitality," said Kyren.
"Bed would be fine for ," said Hrig.
"Ah, of course… You know the way I—"
She walked through the doors without another word.
"I could eat," said Stone.
"As could I," said Kyren.
Ellis looked at a loss for a mont, but regained his composure and led the way inside. The manor’s interior shared the splendor of its garden, the walls tastefully covered in tapestries and paintings and the floors with rugs of fine quality. Flowers from the garden had been trimd and potted, giving the ho a sweet sll.
We were led through a main dining room with a table that could’ve sat dozens and into a side room with a much more reasonably-sized dining area.
"I hope you don’t mind. Hrig never felt comfortable in the main dining room, so I already had things prepared to eat in here."
"That’s fine, lad. We’re used to eating around a fire, so this is still a big improvent."
"Ah, of course."
I pulled out Kyren’s chair, relying on Sevald’s courtly manners to guide . It may have been a servant’s dining room, but it was still a duke’s house. She sat, and then, we all joined her. The staff poured wine that I guessed was also likely Hrig’s favorite.
The duke put on a smile that didn’t et his eyes, clearly trying to push past his disappointnt at Hrig not joining us. I wasn’t certain if my companions didn’t realize he’d have preferred to be alone or they didn’t care and just wanted to learn more about the man Hrig had called “husband.” I assud the latter.
"So, how are things in the south? Clara told you travelled all the way from Entden."
"Bit of a ss, actually," said Stone, sampling so of the wine.
"Well, that’s not surprising. Seems like there are shakeups happening everywhere lately. Caedun is rebuilding its military, the Eastland’s raids have gotten more frequent as their clans have joined together, the barbarians to the north have cut off all trade, and two elvish barons to the west have gone independent. Everything seems to be in chaos lately. As soon as you hear one piece of news, there are three more waiting."
I noticed Kyren’s ears twitch when the elvish barons were ntioned, but before I could ask her about it, the food arrived, a three-course al with spiced eggs, roasted pheasant, and a simple soup topped off with a dessert of chilled fruit. I couldn’t actually eat, but I could taste, and I appreciated the expertise of the chef.
After dinner, Ellis made a polite excuse to leave and went to his quarters. We were then led to our own separate rooms by mbers of his staff. I entered my room, not bothering to light any candles, and gently lowered myself onto the too-soft bed.
I lay there for a few hours, going through my mories and those of my essences while trying to sort out my feelings about the duke. He seed like a nice man. A bit standoffish, clearly used to using so subtle manipulations to get what he wanted, but that was all typical of the nobility. Thinking of him independently didn’t muster any strong feelings, but thinking of him with Hrig left a sharp pang that was only dulled by how I’d seen her act around him.
My door opened, and soone eased their way into my room.
"Hello?" I asked. The room was of such a size that I couldn’t quite tell who had entered.
"It’s ," said Hrig, approaching the bed.
"Is sothing wrong?"
"Can’t sleep."
"Oh, well, I’m sure one of the servants can get you so wine, or Kyren could always knock you out, if you’d like."
"I was hoping for a more ‘active’ distraction."
I felt her sit down on the edge of the bed.
"M-my vows, Hrig."
"It’s pitch black in here, Sevald. I can’t see you. Though I assu you're hiding under the covers just in case. That’s fine. I’m happy to join you under them."
She couldn’t see , but I could see her. She wore a tight silk robe, and her normally braided hair hung loose down her back. I felt sohow paralyzed and jumpy all at the sa ti. She slid closer, sliding under the covers next to , and brought her hand to my chestplate.
She laughed, which wasn’t exactly what I expected or preferred to hear.
"You even wear it to bed! Sevald, you’re absolutely ridiculous! I have never t a man who takes a vow so seriously in my life." She shook her head and stood up, still lightly laughing. "I’m sorry, Sevald, I shouldn’t have surprised you like this. I was just feeling a bit vulnerable."
I sat up, clanking awkwardly as I did so. "It’s fine, but I…can’t do what you ask of . At least not under these circumstances." Or any others, unfortunately. "But if you can’t sleep, how about I stay up with you? I doubt I’ll be able to sleep myself after what just happened."
"I’ll take that as a complint," she said, standing and making her way carefully over to a nearby table to light a candle. She moved suspiciously well for soone who said she couldn’t see.
I made my way over to a small table and sat with her.
"So, why can’t you sleep?"
"How could anyone with a handso knight so close by?"
I felt heat in my faceplate but didn’t respond.
She chuckled at my discomfort. "I just don’t like how I left things here, and the mories I have of this place are...hard to deal with."
"They can’t all have been bad. I can’t imagine you never had any good tis here."
She looked thoughtful. "That’s true. I rember once my brother actually managed to set fire to a portion of the hedges."
"Why did he do it?"
"It was an accident. He was attempting to use oil to burn an image into it. He thought the hedge was too green to actually catch fire."
"What was the image?"
"Let’s just say it involved a sword and two shields."
I laughed, and Hrig joined . We spent the rest of the night talking about her brother Gaius, her sister Hrid, and all the little adventures they’d had in the duke’s estate.
* * *
Hrig slipped out and back to her room before dawn broke to avoid the servants telling Ellis where she’d been. She told she didn’t want to keep hurting him unnecessarily even if she still wanted to be apart from him.
I waited to hear the house wake up and made my way down to the dining area I’d been to before. The servant staff was disturbed that I hadn’t waited to be walked down, and that I was still wearing my armor, but I ignored them, though I did make sure my boots were clean before I walked the halls. No reason to make their lives more difficult.
Stone, Kyren, Hrig, and Ellis were already there discussing strategy. I took a seat between Kyren and Stone, returning an acknowledging nod from Ellis as I sat.
"There are definitely traps throughout the tomb. Unfortunately, the only person who knew what and where all of them were was the gravekeeper. I also don’t know how extensive the tomb actually is. As family mbers died, it was common to expand it underground, but I have no record of the size of the expansions or how they were done, not to ntion any areas that may have fallen into disrepair. The gravekeepers would just teach their replacents those things."
"I can handle the traps," said Stone.
"Do you have any specifics about the types of undead that have been seen?" asked Kyren.
"Skeletons and zombies are all we’ve seen outside of the tomb, and only at night. I haven’t let the servants out at night since the first sighting, though. There certainly could be more that we aren’t aware of."
"Did you get the items I requested?"
"Yes." He gestured to the end of the table where so servants were placing long, heavy crates.
"Hrig, will you do the honors?" asked Kyren.
She nodded and opened the crates. There was a massive warhamr in one, a long-spiked club in another, and a small mace in the third.
"The undead don’t stop coming at you due to a missing limb or a stab wound. Crushing has always been the most effective way to stop them," said Kyren.
"Yet another area where the hamr outdoes the axe," said Stone, who was rewarded with a dirty look from Hrig.
I lifted up the club, testing the balance. It weighed significantly more than my sword, but the change wouldn’t affect much. I gave it a few test swipes and was only a little disappointed in the whoosh of the club moving through the air compared to the swish of the sword moving through it.
We finished getting equipped and made our way to the estate’s graveyard. It was empty when we arrived, and seed at a glance to be just another portion of the estate's garden. Flowers blood, dripping morning dew, the grass well-trimd, and the hedges that surrounded the estate bordered one edge of it. But the gray tombstones and large building in the center marked it out for what it was.
Before we entered, Hrig handed Ellis her axe. "I’ll be back for this. We’ll talk when I return. My conditions are the sa, but I think we should clear the air."
"I’d like that," said Ellis, doing his best not to let the weight of the axe cause a dip in his posture.
We entered the graveyard carefully, looking for signs of disturbed graves or any movent. We saw several open graves, but nothing was lying in wait within them.
As we made our way to the mausoleum in the center, I felt sothing tug at my leg. I looked down, and a skeletal hand had wrapped itself around what would be my ankle. I swung my club downward and crushed the hand with a satisfying crunch. As I did so, five more skeletons rose from the dirt, and the one whose hand I crushed also rose, wrapping itself around .
I started pulling the skeleton off myself piece by piece, but whatever magic was holding it together simply drew those pieces back to it, so I began crushing the pieces with my hands as I pulled them off.
While I was occupied, Stone was fighting a skeleton to my right. The one he faced wielded a small knife and swung at him wildly. Stone slid between the skeleton’s legs, smooth as silk, and brought his hamr down hard on its spine. The skeleton fell, and Stone leveled another strike at its skull, smashing it to dust.
The skeleton facing Hrig was in pieces before I was even done removing one arm of the one that had wrapped around . Kyren was facing the remaining three who had surrounded her. One closed in on her from behind.
"Kyren, watch out!"
Just as they lunged at her, she held up her hand and gold light flashed around her in a small sphere. The skeletons around her simply collapsed, returning to their previous inert state.
"Wow," I said, crushing the skull that was holding on to my pauldron with its teeth. I’d forgotten how effective Kyren’s magic could be.
"Well, I’d say that was a solid warmup," said Hrig.
"The fact that they were lying in wait implies they’re being guided sohow, as does the state of the cetery," said Kyren.
"How do ya an?" asked Stone.
"The occasional skeleton rising from an unkempt grave is common. They’re just dissatisfied with how they’re being treated and lashing out. This graveyard is well-tended, though, and the skeletons were waiting here as a trap. I think we have a necromancer on our hands."
"How do you know all of this?" I asked. "I knew that priests as a whole were against undead of any kind, but you seem to know more than is expected."
"Priests of Sidi are tasked with the removal of the undead. Respecting the Ancient includes respecting the dead and the lives they lived. It’s our sacred duty to end the type of disrespect a necromancer brings to them."
"Well, let’s head on and help you perform your priestly duties," said Stone.
"It’s nice to be able to perform a religious rite that involves smashing things. It should be more common," said Hrig.
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