Three days passed without a word from the captain of the guard or anyone else in service of Lord Albinus. I knew deep down something was amiss, something related to his reaction to seeing the face of the butcher. The thoughts of what he might have seen or who she was swirled around in my head in a cyclone of uncertainties and half understandings, it got so bad that Calavia even commented on my behavior.

  “Arthur, please come to bed. You didn’t get very much sleep last night, you will need it if you want to continue with your experiments and make more potions to sell.” Calavia called over to me from the simple wooden bed in our rented room. I rubbed my temples and stepped away from the window when I had been watching the street for several hours now.

  “I will just be a moment.” I replied as I took one last look outside before closing the window.

  As I started walking towards the bed Calavia sifted over making room for me to lay beside her, once I was snuggled up next to her she pulled the thin blanket over us and we placed our heads on the pillow and closed our eyes.

  I know Calavia fell to sleep rather quickly as she started snoring softly, it always reminded me of a small animal like a cat or small dog.

  Unfortunately it took a while longer to do the same myself. The uncertainty of why I haven't been contacted yet kept me awake for a while longer before I eventually drifted off to sleep alongside Calavia until the next morning.

  **********

  Hours later we were awoken by several loud knocks at the door to our rented room. We quickly stirred awake and listened to see if our visitor would say anything. Unfortunately they did not and I was forced to open the door to see who it was.

  Surprisingly it was someone that looked to be a scribe rather than a soldier, she was dressed in similar attire to the man who read out the crimes at the execution and she carried a worn leather bag that had a few scrolls poking out.

  “Good morning sir.” The scribe said with a soft smile as she gave a bow. “I have something for you on this fine morning.” Reaching into her bag she pulled a scroll made from good quality paper and with what looked to be a wax seal of sorts. Without waiting for a response she handed me the scroll before turning and walking back the way she came.

  I watched as the scribe left until she reached the stairs, then I stepped back inside and closed the door before locking it.

  “Is that a scroll? Who is it from?” Calavia suddenly asked from the bed as she slowly sat up.

  “I’m not sure.” I quickly replied as I pulled off the wax seal and opened the scroll.

  Within a few moments the scroll was opened up and I got a good look at its contents, and the very first thing that stood out besides the quality of the paper was the penmanship. Before I had even read the first word I could tell whoever wrote it did it by hand and was very good at it. I myself could likely do something similar to what I saw, but using hydromancy to write has a certain flat and identical style that doesn’t stand out like what I was seeing.

  Good day to you Sir Arthur

  I hope this finds you in good time. I understand you have questions regarding the lacking presence of the well known bandit and criminal called the butcher.

  Given your contributions to her capture I am more than happy to share with you my reasoning behind the decision to keep her from a public execution, however I require this to be within a private setting so there are no prying eyes or ears listening in on us.

  Perhaps tonight after dinner would be a good time to have such a meeting.

  Lord Albinus of Lindum

  I ran my eyes across the letter several times more after I finished reading it. For a moment I considered the possibility that it might be fake, but the skilled penmanship quickly dispelled any thought of danger or conspiracy.

  “It’s a letter from Lord Albinus, he wishes to have a meeting with me regarding my questions from a few days ago.” I said before looking up and finding Calavia standing just to my side with her neck craned to read the letter as I held it.

  “That seems a little odd. Why would the lord want to share that with you? I know he said it is regarding your contributions, but he doesn’t really need to justify himself to you. No offense.”

  “That may be true, however I have a feeling he would rather keep on good terms with us and by extension keep us within the city.”

  “Why exactly would he want to keep us within the city? We aren't exactly special. There are many other mages that are just as powerful as us, and just as many that are more powerful and more skilled than us. He doesn’t really need us in particular.”

  “Those are good points, however he doesn’t have any of those other mages in his city at the moment.” I confidently claimed as I stepped towards the window and opened it wide for Calavia and myself to take a good look at the city. “What he does have is us, and given how the city looks I have a feeling that we are the first mages to arrive in a long time, and likely the first to want to stay for even longer.”

  For several seconds Calavia remained quiet behind me, when I turned back around I found her thinking about what I said with her looking towards the wall opposite of the bed.

  “I suppose that does make sense.” Calavia grumbled as she turned to face me. “But why does he need us in particular? Couldn’t he just hire a few mages to do stuff for him?”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “He very well could, he most certainly has the money to afford a mage or two. But I imagine they would cost an arm and a leg to keep here, this city isn’t exactly the biggest market for mages and the services they offer. Any reasonable mage would either expect to be compensated for the lack of business or wouldn’t stay very long.”

  “And since we both came here willingly of our own accord and want to stay, he wants to entice us to stay, even if it means doing something neither he nor anyone else would normally do. In this case it is sharing information regarding a dangerous prisoner.”

  “And it looks like I will be getting that information after dinner tonight.” I smiled to myself as I handed the letter to Calavia to read over.

  *********

  When I finally arrived at the lord’s residence the sun was just starting to dip below the horizon. I walked up the flight of stairs and through the double doors without any resistance from the guards who stood on each side like statues.

  Inside I found Lord Albinus sitting exactly where he was when we returned with the bandit camp destroyed and a few taken as prisoners. Though unlike then the room was empty of both servants and guards leaving just the two of us alone with just the crackling of the squared and open fire in the middle of the room.

  “Good evening Sir Arthur, thank you for coming to speak with me.” Lord Albinus said as he stood when I passed the midway point of the room. “I take it you have some questions.”

  “I do.” I quickly replied. “But you already know the first one. Why was the butcher absent from the public execution?”

  Lord Albinus looked down to his feet as he walked around the table towards me, slowly I got a good view of him from the light of the fire as he got close enough. I could see his shoulders were somewhat slumped down, like he was ashamed of something.

  “As you and several others saw, I was quite surprised when I removed the bandages and discovered who the butcher really was. In truth I half believed the rumors regarding my own son's involvement with the bandits, he was always so rebellious when he still lived here.”

  “But you don’t believe those rumors anymore?” I asked, interjecting.

  “No I do not.” Lord Albinus had reached the steps that separated and elevated the table where he worked from the rest of the room. Slowly he took a seat and made himself at eye level as he finally looked me in the eye.

  “The reason I didn’t allow the butcher to be executed like the other two bandits is because she is my daughter Gavia. It wasn’t something I ever expected, even with her long unexplained absences I always assumed she was just acting a fool with her friends. Now that I know the truth I know what she was really doing during that time.”

  Lord Albinus looked down to his hands in shame like a child trying to avoid a parents' angry gaze. For a while the two of us just stayed where we were not doing or saying anything, neither knew what if we even should. But eventually Lord Albinus spoke up.

  “When I die the crown will take control over my land and then either split it up or just hand it over to one single noble family. The best thing I can do now is ease the transition.”

  “And what about your daughter?” I asked changing the subject. “How is her condition?”

  Lord Albinus slowly looked up towards me before looking back down to his hands. “She is the same as when she was dropped off here, she hasn’t said or done anything since. The only indication that she is even conscious is the fact she can still move her eyes. Why do you ask? Is this one of those odd interests that mages have?”

  “You could say that.” I said with a slight chuckle. “In truth I haven’t seen anything like what she is currently experiencing. All I know is that she is suffering from some sort of disease that is covering her muscles with its own dead parts. I honestly wouldn’t even know where to begin with curing something like it, I don't even know how she contracted it.”

  “There are all sorts of dangerous things out in the wilderness, perhaps she made a deal of some sort of fey or demon that she didn’t fulfil and this is the cost of her failure.”

  “I certainly hope not.” I immediately cut in. “Demons are some of the most dangerous and terrifying creatures I have ever had the displeasure of encountering. If something like that was wandering beyond the walls of the city we would have certainly known about it by now.”

  “I see you have encountered a demon in person, but I can also see you haven’t read up on the lore and histories of them. If you have the free time I suggest you read A Demonic Compendium by Felix Porter. It was written during the late second era in the Runead kingdom, it was lost for a while but around forty years ago a copy was discovered in an old ruin to the north west of the kingdom right on the border to the deadlands.”

  “That does sound rather interesting.” I chimed in with a slight smile. “But we should move back to other topics, namely your interest in me personally and what you want from me.”

  Lord Albinus snapped his head upwards and in his eyes I saw a touch of suspicion and surprise. “You wouldn’t mind clarifying yourself, would you Sir Arthur? Taken out of context that could sound rather ominous or threatening.”

  “You want a mage living on your lands.” Stated plainly. “Normally someone like yourself would need to offer money or something else of value to a mage to keep them in a place like this, it is just common knowledge that mages are skilled in many things that could be very beneficial to anyone everywhere. For instance, I am very skilled in alchemy.”

  To illustrate my point I retrieved a red potion from my bag that shimmered slightly in the dim lighting of the room. Without waiting I handed it to Lord Albinus and told him “Consider this a gift. Hopefully you will never need it.”

  He looked over the potion started with the label, it of course was a healing potion worth a very tidy sum in the capital. But in a place like Lindum where I was the only mage capable of making anything like it, well the price and value would only go upwards.

  “In addition to your combative capabilities you are also a skilled alchemist?” Lord Albinus said with a mix of surprise and amusement in his voice as he placed the potion on the nearest table. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you could sell a potion like this for as much as a whole silver coin in this city. I take it you wish for a location with enough space to house a proper laboratory to mass produce such wonderful potions.”

  “Actually I had something a little different in mind than just a location within the city.” I gave a sly smile as I reached into my bag and pulled out a large piece of paper and handed it to Lord Albinus. He took one quick look over it before he looked back towards me with a shocked expression.

  “This is a whole custom building you have designed. You even included a large garden to grow various types of plants. I can’t see any way this would fit in the city, I would need to displace several people to make such a thing possible.”

  “No no, I have no intention of displacing people.” I cut in before he could continue. “I was actually hoping to build this outside of the city. Perhaps half an hour away from the city to avoid interrupting the fields and farmers in their work.”

  “That could work, but building something like this would be very expensive.” he said as he gestured towards the tower I had personally designed. “Something like this would make sense if we were building it for defense or as a scouting tower, but I can’t justify it when a normal sized building would do you just as well without the risks that come with building in seemingly random locations.”

  “That actually won’t be an issue, mostly because I will be doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to building. As a geomancer creating something that is study and stable will be of very little problem as I can quite literally feel where it is unsafe to build, the only two things I need from you is someone to help with proper blueprints and the rights to some land.”