Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 44 Isn’t There A Spell For That?

The guard led Isaac and Lenna out of the jailhouse and much to Isaac’s surprise, no guards tried to ambush them. He could see a pair of guards jogging in their direction two blocks down the street but they didn’t look like they were expecting a fight. They looked hurried but casual. ‘They haven’t heard yet.’ Isaac reasoned.

“They will escort you.” The guard next to them said. He was still trying to catch his breath but could at least get full sentences out now.

Isaac shook his head. “No. You will escort us. They may tag along.” Isaac ordered the guard. He spoke with the authority of a general commanding his troops on a battlefield. Except… these weren’t his troops and this wasn’t a literal battlefield. Those two facts didn’t seem to matter to the young guard however and he resigned himself to this new task.

The new pair of guards approached and stopped in front of Isaac, Lenna, and their ‘pet’ guard. Isaac wasn’t going to lose a perfect pawn now. The young guard’s fear was palpable and he needed to look as strong as possible. “Are you the important visitors?” One of the guards asked.

“Yes.” Isaac replied with an even tone that left a hint of annoyance or maybe disdain in it.

The new guards shared a look and then the one that had spoken before spoke again. “Understood. Follow us.” The new guards then turned on their heels and started off in the direction they had come from. These guards were in plate armor like Lenna except for their open faceplates. They wore the same vest the jail crew had on over their armor. These guards had lanterns hanging at their hips with the magical, glowing, white, stones that lit up the majority of town.

They had longswords hanging at their hips but no other visible weapons. ‘It really is just an escort I guess. If they were trying something funny they wouldn’t have just sent these two and the young idiot.’ Isaac thought to himself.

Lenna glanced at Isaac while the five of them walked towards the duke’s mansion. “When was the last time you fixed your hair?” She asked. She was slightly annoyed that his hair was never out of place and that she had to brush and braid hers regularly and his was just always tossed back without a care in the world. No matter the circumstance it was always like that. It wasn’t fair.

“Um…” Isaac thought for a while. “After I got a bath at Ben’s End. Why? Is it that bad?” He ran his hand through his hair to brush it back again but there were no hairs out of place to fix in the first place.

Lenna frowned behind her faceplate. “That’s not fair.” She grumbled. “No. It’s perfect. Like it has been since we met.”

“Huh. Thanks Zei.” Isaac said the last part out loud even though he probably should have kept it to himself or maybe even just sent up a prayer.

“A divinity gave you perfect hair?” Lenna questioned. Her shock caused her too to forget about the three pairs of listening ears around them.

“Yeah.” Isaac confirmed. “But you probably shouldn’t have mentioned who Zei is out loud.” He nodded at the guards. The younger guard was sweating heavily despite their relaxed walking speed and the other two shared another look when Lenna had mentioned ‘a divinity’.

“Oh.” Lenna replied. “Apologies.” They continued the rest of the walk in silence until they reached a pair of double oak doors. The duke’s mansion was massive. Four stories, two balconies, a garden, twenty windows visible from just the front. They couldn’t see the garden but from the trees that had managed to grow underground, peeking over a cobblestone wall that was at least eight feet high, it was obvious that there was one. It was also obvious that this was the single most expensive property in the entire small city.

The guards stopped at the bottom of the three stairs that led up to the double doors. The younger one stopped as well and wearily looked at Isaac. “Can-can I leave now?” He asked with fear clear in his voice.

“No.” Isaac told him. “Lead the way.”

The guard swallowed audibly and walked up the steps. The other two guards shared another look. This time the pair were in clear view and it was clear that the look that they had just shared meant ‘stay quiet and out of the way or we are dead’.

The young guard opened the door and walked inside. Isaac and Lenna followed. Inside was a small room, small for the mansion anyway, that was about fifteen feet square. There were hooks for cloaks or hats and boot cleaners to ensure no one tracked anything foul into the rest of the mansion. The pair didn’t stop to use any of it and Isaac just nodded forwards to the guard.

He slowly walked over to the next set of double doors and opened one of them. He took a step inside and bowed low. “My Lord.” He said clearly. “I have brought them as requested.” He then stepped to the side to allow Isaac and Lenna to walk in. Lenna cut in front of Isaac quickly in order to open the other door.

Isaac strolled through the open doors and walked confidently into the center of the grand hall. And grand it was. The hall was thirty feet wide and sixty feet long. The ceiling was twenty feet high. Every ten feet there was a pillar on each side that reached to the ceiling and at its center was a magical glowing stone to illuminate the hall. There was a red carpet rolled out the whole way from just two feet inside the room, to two feet in front of the dais, upon which a pair of large oak chairs sat.

Isaac counted five guards on each side, to the left of the dais was a man in a set of overbearing, heavy, white and gold, plate armor without a helm. He looked to be in his fifties and was a human man. He had to be at least six feet tall and had brown hair and eyes with light tan skin. ‘The magistrate.’ Lenna thought.

To the right stood a man in plate armor much like the guards except his vest was decorated with ribbons and metals. He looked much the same to the magistrate except his helmet was hiding his hair. ‘The captain of the guard perhaps.’ Isaac reasoned. ‘I wonder if they are related. They look similar enough.’

Next to him was a man in flowing blue robes with a staff in his hand. His black hair looked like it was trimmed short at one point and that point was not recent. His hair was messy but his eyes were sharp. Their emerald green irises bore into Isaac. The pair could feel the magic clinging to the man. ‘The court mage.’ Lenna assumed.

Lenna stopped a few feet behind and to the right of Isaac. Her shoulders squared and her eyes forwards. In the chairs resting on the dais were two middle aged humans. The man was graying but his dark brown hair continued to fight for survival. He had a full beard, unlike everyone who worked for him, that was well trimmed and added an air of a battle hardened lord to him. He sat casually with his blue eyes drifting over both Isaac and Lenna neutrally.

The duke’s clothes were white and red with golden threading and trim. His heavy tunic sat well on his shoulders and only seemed to make them appear bigger. His thick pants were plain brown but kept the golden threading. To his left was his duchess.

A beautiful woman who wore an elegant white dress, that must have had a dozen layers half of which were red, with golden hair and blue eyes smiled down at the newcomers. Her hair was let to fall like water from her head and shown in the magical lighting. There were some wrinkles around her eyes but they still had a youthful vibrance. Her eyes shown, much unlike her husband’s, with excitement at the pair of unscheduled guests.

Isaac met the duke’s eyes for a moment before meeting the duchess’s. He gave her a polite nod and then locked eyes with the duke. Neither of them backed down for a long moment. “Who, Are, You?!” The guard captain demanded of Isaac.

“I.” Isaac started. “Am Lord Isaac Wexler. And this,” He nodded towards Lenna. “Is my guard. Lenna V’Nova.” He waited in silence as the court mage and almost tripped, the magistrate and captain’s faces scrunched with anger and the duke’s mouth fell agape. The duchess seemed to be struggling to hold in her laughter and the guards all gripped their weapons hard enough that Isaac and Lenna could hear their leather gloves rub against their hilts.

“Do you speak the truth?!” The magistrate demanded.

“Do I?” Isaac replied with a grin. “Isn’t there a spell for that?”

If looks could cause a person to burst into flames then the entire room would be on fire from just his fury towards Isaac in that moment. “By my oath no lies will be spoken.” The magistrate spoke through gritted teeth. A pulse of mana washed out from him that seemed to seep into everything and everyone.

The duke spoke calmly after the spell had settled: “I ask again. Who are you?”