"There's no need to worry my mother," Venden exclaimed as he stood to his full height.
His ungentlemanly attire, consisting of a shirt tied around his waist and a pair of socks on his feet, would have embarrassed young Andem in any other circumstances, but all she could see was the state he was in.
The dripping, congealed blood that flowed from his wounds hit the floor with the sounds of wet slaps; his face was so swollen they could hardly recognize him, much less believe he could speak coherently; and he had more purple flesh than pink.
The oldest maid of the bunch, Yelmen, stepped up. She had the appearance of a sweet old lady, but the straightness of her spine and the stern expression on her face demanded obedience and respect.
She cast aside her feather duster and rushed forward, pinching and prodding Venden in various places to assess his condition. Each prod deepened her scowl further as Venden hissed in pain at the examination.
"Who did this to you?" she demanded. "And why were you hiding under the table, with no more clothes than a monkey?"
"I didn't want to worry anyone," Venden said. "My mother needs her weekly rest."
"Nonsense. I'd be remiss to not tell her right away. Andem, tell the other maids to wake Mistress Helga. We're going to get to the bottom of this," she promised.
"No, really, it's fine," Venden insisted.
"And where have you been this last week, young man? You up and disappeared on us without even a goodbye? Do you know how worried we were? Andem here thought you hated her!"
Andem turned her head to hide her blush, hand reaching up to the small earing dangling from her ear, with a minuscule crystal ball on one end.
Venden sighed and latched onto her with his Mage Reach, freezing her hands in place. He was careful not to hurt her, but that didn't stop the horrified look on the servants' faces as they realized what he had done.
'So Helga didn't tell them about Venden's emancipation,' Fate thought.
And why would she? It would make everything needlessly complicated if she announced such a thing, only for Venden to suddenly appear and say "hey, I'm still part of the family!"
From what little Fate knew, emancipated nobles rarely spread the news themselves, as the resulting lack of background would make them prime targets for mockery and scorn from spoiled noble brats who couldn't imagine throwing away such an easy life.
"What's the meaning of this?" Yelmen snarled. "Your mother raised you better than to use your powers on us maids!"
"And she taught you not to disobey a direct order," Venden replied. "Let my mother sleep. She can worry about it in a few hours. In the meantime, I'm going into town for some emergency treatment."
"The safety of my employers comes above all else!" Yelmen said, reaching for her own earring. "Your mother must know about this!"
"I'm sorry, Yelmen," Venden said sadly. "But I can't let that happen. Fate, now!"
Fate struck from the shadows, his Mage Grasp, working in tandem with Venden's, slamming all five maids into the walls. Fate scampered out from under the table and the two booked it, dashing through the hallways and weaving through other servants toward the front door, which was the closest to their position.
'Security on its way!' Kravoss yelled.
'I know!' Fate replied.
Just when the front door was in sight, they skidded to a stop.
The double doors were in a recessed area at the end of the hall. To either side of the door's nook was a hallway. A panel of the wall to each side of the door hissed open, out from which stepped two faceless machine men in white armor.
They brandished their weapons at the duo, each holding odd, tube-shaped metal items attached to grips, with a single barrel on the end. The one on the left spoke, its voice lifelike except for the relentless monotone.
"Young Master Venden. Who is this? What happened to you? And why did you assault the maids?"
"This is a friend from school, I got into a scuffle and he's taking me to the doctor."
"That doesn't answer my last question. And why didn't you use our resident healer?"
'Because she's in on it,' Fate thought.
"It's not as bad as it looks," said Venden.
"Right," the guard said. Fate could tell the thing didn't believe it. "And the maids?"
"I told them not to wake up my mother, and they refused to listen. I don't like it, but disobeying orders demands punishment."
Fate heard the sounds of clicking and whirring coming from the machine's head as it processed this information.
"The rules put forth by the patriarch forbid assaulting the servants for not following orders," it said after a while. "Wait here. Mistress Helga will be here soon."
"I need medical treatment," Venden insisted. "Do you want to be responsible for my death?"
"You said it wasn't as bad as it looks," the other machine chimed.
"Not now, but pretty soon it's going to become a problem. Let me through, I'll deal with my mother after getting treatment."
Through their bond, Fate watched as Kathrin swung up onto the roof Kravoss stood on and huffed a breath.
Walking over to the Dracok, she said, "Tell Fate to say what I say. That'll stop those things for a few seconds. Alpha five dash three virtue rhetoric…"
Fate didn't question it, reciting the prompt word for word.
A CLICK rang out from the machines as they lowered their rifles. Fate grabbed Venden by the shoulder and dashed forward, slipping between the machine men and slamming open the door.
They rushed out into the cold night air, the door closing behind them of its own accord, and Venden groaned when the breeze blew against his open wounds.
"Keep going!" Fate grunted, keeping pace with Venden, who staggered forward as the adrenaline started to leave him.
Fate cursed as the young man fell to his knees, panting heavily.
The doors to the estate swung open behind them, causing Fate to curse again.
This wasn't good.