It was early morning and Beniter had woken up early to see the sunrise. Was he tired? Yes. But did that stop him? No. He was too much of a romantic at heart to be denied life's simple pleasures.
While he was sitting on the castle wall, he heard a noise coming from the front gate. He turned his head just in time to see Marley leaving the castle.
He called down, "Is that Lady Marley?"
She saw him and froze.
Beniter asked, "What're you doing here?"
Marley said, "Uh, um. Well, you know. What… what are you doing?"
Beniter said, "Watching the sunrise."
Marley looked at the light peeking over distant trees. She said, "Uh, yeah, …me too."
Beniter nodded and said, "Grand."
Marley's plan to send a message to her family using black demon magic was thwarted. She'd have to tell them about her upcoming trip to the CPG using the plain old fashioned mailing system.
Marley took the stairs to the top of the wall where Beniter sat. As they watched the sky, a crow came and landed in the nearby grass. The two watched the bird for a moment as it pecked at the ground.
Marley said, "The early bird gets the worm, doesn't it?"
"Yup. I can't decide if this is a bad omen or not."
"Bad omens can't really be caused by birds. They're just animals."
Beniter thought about that, saying, "Hm…"
Feeling informative, Marley said, "Did you know that bird's eyes take up half of their head space?" She used her hands to demonstrate large eyes, saying, "That would be like if I had peaches for eyes."
"Oh, like this?" Beniter said as he copied her action and made it more extreme. His eye lids strained away from his eyes, giving him the impression of a crazed luni who hadn't slept in weeks.
Marley smiled, and said, "And when a bird walks, it always bobs its head."
"Like this?" Beniter said, demonstrating the large eyes and bobbed head movements reminiscent of a chicken.
Marley laughed as Beniter strutted around. She had only ever had sisters, but if she had a brother, she suspected it would have felt like this.
Beniter said, "You sure know a lot of facts about birds. How do you know I'm not one? I'm pretty convincing."
Marley said, "Cause you don't have wings, stupid."
Beniter started flapping his arms and asked, "How about now?"
An unknown voice said, "Excuse me…"
Beniter stopped when we saw two priests waiting by the front gate. Marley burst out laughing.
Beniter cleared his throat then said, "Uh… what?"
The first priest, a kind gangly looking man, said, "I'm sorry to interrupt but… we're here to see Duchess Arquix."
Beniter frowned. He hated priests.
Marley tugged at Beniter's shirt. Bringing her hand up to his ear, she whispered, "Tilda said that priests from the church need to be kept away from Lady Cosaria."
Beniter nodded. Addressing the priests he said, "Come back tomorrow."
The gangly priest said, "It's urgent."
Beniter said, "Tomorrow."
The second priest, a red-faced fat man with an angry tone said, "Excuse us, but we are representatives from the church!"
Beniter held his ground. "Yeah? Well you can come back tomorrow."
The gangly priest put a hand on his red-faced companion to hold him back.
Gangly said, "Young boy, how will your Duke feel when we tell him about this unruly treatment you've been giving to us?"
"I'm not afraid of his reprimand." That wasn't entirely true, but it did sound good to say.
Gangly said, "We're on orders from the King."
If it was the King's orders, then not even a Duke could reject those.
Marley turned to Beniter and whispered, "What do we do?"
Beniter whispered back, "Find Tilda, or Felux, or someone important. I'll keep them distracted."
Marley ran off as Red-face said, "Let us in boy!"
"So whiny," Beniter said, "Can't you even wait?"
Gangly said, "Isn't there a place inside that we can wait?"
"No, it's full, sorry," Beniter said sarcastically, "But here, I'll tell you a story while you wait. You'll like it for sure."
Beniter paused for dramatic effect then began his tale, "Once upon a time there was a little girl who was cursed."
Alarmed, Gangly's voice rose in pitch, saying, "You don't mean to say Duchess Arquix is cur-"
"She was my sister."
"Oh…"
Beniter continued, "And we tried to get help from the church. We paid for holy water, and we donated and everything, and you know what the church did?"
Rolling his eyes, Red-face said, "The church healed your sister."
"The church let my sister die."
A slight breeze blew through the awkward atmosphere.
Gangly said, "We're sorry that that happened but-"
Red-face interrupted, "No! I am done with this child's rudeness. If you don't let us in, we'll blast open this gate with our divine power."
Gangly said, "Brother Geoffrey, calm down."
Beniter smirked as Gangly held back Red-face again. Red-face was yelling, "How dare you keep the King's vessels waiting like this!?!"
Just then, the gate began to rattle.
Alarmed, Beniter ran down the steps to the gate saying, "Wait! Don't open-"
He stopped in mid-sentence to see Duke Delrik and Felux opening the gate. Doom spelled itself out in Beniter's mind as he gulped.
Red-face said, "Finally, Lord Delrik. I'll have you know this impertinent boy has kept us waiting out here in the most rudest sort of fashion."
Felux only half way opened the gate.
Duke Delrik said, "What's this I see? Uninvited guests?"
Red-face stumbled on his words, "Eh, ah, excuse me?"
In a cold tone, Duke Delrik asked, "Who sent you?"
Red-face's mouth was opened in appalled astonishment. He had not expected to be treated so coldly from the Duke himself.
Gangly said, "We're here on the King's orders to test Duchess Arquix's divine strength. Please Sir, it's urgent."
"Felux," Duke Delrik said.
Felux took a step forward and handed the priest a piece of paper with a royal signet.
Red-face's eyes widened, saying, "This is!"
Duke Delrik spoke, "An authorized permission for an extension from the King. Your services are not required today."
Gangly said, "Sir, please. Allow us to test the Duchess. Discovering the Duchess's spiritual capacity could provide vital aid in the fight against the cursed beasts terrorizing the kingdom."
Having regained his confidence, Beniter spoke up, "Remember that story I told you? Yeah, what we need is a little more free-will and a little less of your church."
Red-face balked incredulously at Beniter and then at Duke Delrik. Huffing, he turned away as Gangly followed.
Watching them leave, Beniter called out, "You guys got stuck with the wrong job!"
Beniter turned and remembered that both the Duke and the Knight commander were present and had seen his display of ridicule. He scanned their faces. Duke Delrik was blank, emotionless, and unreadable while Felux was frowning with a raised eyebrow.
Beniter lowered his eyes and said, "Sorry, I just. I couldn't resist." He hated priests and it felt so good to be able to knock them off their self-righteous pedestal.
"Aye, but let's not be talkin like that towards another again."
Hanging his head, Beniter said, "Yes Sir. Sorry Sir."
Felux said, "Get yourself to breakfast. We've a big day today."
"Yes sir."
The two watched as the apprentice shuffled back towards the castle.
Duke Delrik turned to Felux and asked, "That's your new apprentice?"
"Aye."
Delrik smiled. A genuine, intrigued smile. He said, "I like him."
Felux grinned. "I thought you would."
He was a good addition to castle Arquix. The boy was determined and fierce with clear judgment and an open heart. He acted on his ideals, said what he felt, and worked hard with shrewd fervor. He was everything Delrik looked for in a trusted servant, so of course Delrik would like him.
༻✧༺
Inside Delrik's office, the Duke and Felux were finalizing the preparations for the trip. They would be ready to leave that evening, provided there came no more delays.
Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.
༻✧༺
Around midday, a carriage rolled up to the quiet servant's entrance of the Arquix castle. It was none other than Count Angelo.
Having seen his carriage from a window, Cosaria was the first to greet him in the servant's courtyard.
"Lovely Lady Cosaria," Angelo was careful not to express too much desire, but he couldn't help but let a little slip out. He said, "I have dire news. I came as soon as I discovered the tragedy to have occurred."
Cosaria tilted her head, asking, "What tragedy?"
Angelo said, "It is just as I suspected. You have not heard. Please, we need to go somewhere private."
Cosaria took Angelo to the library where they sat in privacy. Delrik was busy with preparations, and had not yet received word of Angelo's arrival. Felux was helping the servants to pack and Tilda was in the market with Marley picking up last minute necessities.
Angelo began, "I must first offer you my most sincerest condolences."
Cosaria said, "Do say why."
Then Angelo told Cosaria the news: The Baxarte household was dead.
It happened soon after the Prince's Birthday Ball. Lord Baxarte's curse flared. There wasn't enough holy water and the priest arrived too late. Lord Baxarte had transformed into a demon monster and attacked everyone in the manor. There were no survivors.
The beast was detained after decimating the closest town, but by then, the damage was done and the Baxarte legacy was destroyed.
There was a deft silence for an estranged minute as Cosaria processed the news.
She spoke quietly, saying, "I didn't know Father was cursed."
Angelo wished he knew what to say to calm the troubled sea of Cosaria's heart.
Cosaria stood up abruptly and said, "Forgive me, but… but I, I need… to go."
Then she rushed out of the library, leaving Angelo by himself.