Vondell trailed his fingers along the wall the left wall, and held Surth, sheathed, in his right hand. Without his scars, he wouldn't be able to tell when someone was trying to attack him, so Surth would have to be his eyes in this dark place.
However, after walking for only a few minutes, he saw light dancing against the walls at the far end of the corridor. He put Surth away, and clasped his hands in fake prayer, before heading towards it.
A massive door stood at the end of the corridor, with two fire torches mounted on either side of it. The door was inscribed with a depiction of a man wearing a crown, kneeling in front of a massive tree.
Vondell stepped closer to inspect it, but just then, a loud rumbling filled the halls and the doors slowly opened. He took a careful step back, as bright light shone out from within. He instinctively reached for Surth under his tunic, before stopping himself.
"You. You're late, the banphrionsas have already gone to sleep," a man wearing silk robes said. He stood right behind the doors, staring at Vondell with a disgusted expression.
Behind him was a great hall, with polished wooden floors, a great chandelier made of green crystals, and walls fashioned out of tree bark. A massive fireplace roared on the wall at the far end, giving the room a comfortable warmth, contrasting the cold of the corridors Vondell had been walking in.
"What? You won't even apologize?" the man asked, grabbing Vondell by the hood, and pulling him in.
Vondell had to control himself from acting out of instinct. He had to find out more information about what this place was, and a bloody corpse in the entrance hall was definitely among the most poor ways of achieving that.
The man shoved him towards the center of the entrance hall, before shutting the doors. He turned around, and leaned against them, staring at Vondell with squinted eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked, fixing his silk robes.
Vondell's heart sank, and for a moment he contemplated just killing the man. However, he took a deep breath and decided to play the game as long as he could.
He pointed to his mouth, and shook his head, before kneeling on the ground and bowing apologetically.
"Ah, you're a mute," the man whispered, walking toward Vondell with grand exaggerated steps. He pulled Vondell up by the hood again and looked into his eyes. "Still, you haven't been drinking the poppy juice, have you?" he asked, caressing Vondell's cheek.
"You know the punishment for that, don't you," he whispered in Vondell's ear.
~What in the bloody heavens is going on here?~ Vondell thought to himself, as the man bit Vondell's ear.
"Dubhán Finley, I think that is enough," a girl's voice called out. Both Vondell and this Finley fellow turned to look at her. She was a girl of nine or ten, perhaps more though her frail build made her look quite young. She held her weight against a crutch, as one of her legs was shorter than the other, gnarled and crooked.
"He was late because I told him to come late. There were things I needed to take care of before he cleaned my room," she said.
~Cleaned her room? Are they mistaking me for another serf?~ Vondell wondered. However, he was somewhat relieved that she had come, otherwise, he would've had to cut this idiot's phallus off. Well, he was still going to find a way to do that. Nobody could just, bite his ears and walk free.
Finley let go of Vondell and walked to the girl, bowing slowly and elegantly, before caressing her hair. "Whatever you say, banphrionsa," he said, before heading towards the flight of stairs at the utmost left corner of the room.
Once the two of them were left alone in the room, the girl stumbled towards Vondell. "I think I pushed myself a little too hard. Can you please..." she said, reaching her arms out to Vondell.
He was confused for a moment, before realizing what she wanted. He bent down and picked her up; even though his polymorphed body lacked any muscle whatsoever, she was surprisingly light.
"I'm sorry about Finley. I would have him removed from the house, but I know my father won't listen. And the others seem to like him, so..." she said. Her voice was soft, and melancholic, as if the mere act of talking subdued her spirits.
"You're new, aren't you?" she asked, holding Vondel''s face between her hands. They were cold and thin. Vondell was convinced that if he moved his head wrongly, he'd break her fingers.
He nodded in response, and the girl moved closer, searching his eyes almost frantically. "You have beautiful eyes," she said. "Like... fire," she whispered, before quickly turning her attention to the fireplace.
"I burned my hand playing with fire once," she said, caressing her index finger. "I don't think I like fire very much."
The room fell silent after that, and for some reason, Vondell felt uneasy. He couldn't sense even a smidgen of ichor emanating from her, and most scions, apart from the Miracles, were immune to physical disabilities. But even then, he felt like he was being watched.
~What a strange girl,~ he thought to himself. Surth burned softly against his chest, it seemed that even she sensed that something was off with her.
"Please take me to my room. I'm tired now," the girl said, still staring at the fire. She pointed to her left, where an arced doorway led out of the entrance hall.
*
The doorway led into a long corridor, with a flight of stairs at the far end. The floor here was made of polished green marble and the ceiling of dark ebony wood. Along both sides of the walls, were five doors, equally spaced until the stairs, though strangely, none of them had any handles.
"Wait. Actually, I want to eat first. Take me to the dining room," she said, pointing towards the third door on their right.
Vondell walked towards that door, and it creaked open, inviting him into a dark room.
He paused, peering into it hesitantly. Even if she was just a child, he'd be an idiot to enter that place with someone he knew nothing about.
"Are you afraid of the dark?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.
"I used to be afraid of the dark too. But there's nothing in there," she continued, turning to peer into the dark room.
"Just you... alone, after you enter."