A Betrayal of Storms by Ben Alderson

Chapter 8

Calling this building a manor seemed like an insult. To me, it was more likened to castle, a palace of grandeur and wealth adorned in colours of burnt orange, browns and gold. And a castle that I saw little of as Gyah led Erix and I on quick feet through long, endless corridors and up so many stairs it should have been a crime. The muscles in my already tired legs burned with each step. Whereas Gyah and Erix breathed with ease. I huffed and coughed, my body rejecting this level of exercise.

I was not a stranger to hard labour as I had spent the last three years working alongside Father at the tavern on nights when it was so busy people opted to stand rather than sit. My body was lean, with subtle humps on my stomach that whispered the possibility of muscle.

Perhaps my inability to catch my breath and hold my composure was the human half of me coming through. In fact, I had never felt so... human. So very, obviously different from those who seemed to glide around me with grace, heads held high and broad statures carved from hands of the Gods themselves.

I usually felt taller around the other humans, even Father stood several inches beneath me. But with Erix and Gyah and the many shadows of female warriors who separated from walls to join our journey, I felt smaller.

By the time we reached the closed door, which Gyah announced as my chamber, there were countless stern faces around us. They lined the walls beyond the door, silent guards who showed no emotion, so still that they could have been mistaken for statues of stone, instead of flesh and blood. Each fey warrior were covered in weapons strapped around strong waists, across shoulders and dangling by sides. I could only imagine the number of blades hidden on their bodies, but I didn't dare hold my stare long enough to investigate.

It was Gyah who instructed me to enter, promising a freshly filled bath and to return with food and drink shortly. Erix had not said a word, mainly taking orders from Gyah who instructed him with short commands. He simply nodded, joining the many fey to stand guard beyond the door.

"The room is yours to rest within." Gyah's voice was rough when she spoke, deep and full of authority that made Erix seem like an unsure boy in comparison. "If you require anything before Althea's return then please ask."

I forced a smile, holding back the urge to look at Erix a final time as I slipped through the door Gyah held open.

I wanted to ask Gyah why there was the need for so many to stand guard outside the room, but the door was closed before I could muster the words.

Then there was a click, the turn of a key from the other side. I did not need to reach for the brass knob to know I had been locked in. A knife of discomfort sliced down from the base of my skull to the bottom of my spine; in a single moment I had gone from feeling like a guest to a prisoner.

The chamber room was enormous, undeniably the most comfortable of prison cells in both Wychwood or Durmain. There was the living quarters which I had first entered, with dark oak furniture, plush chairs and an unnecessarily large number of gilded mirrors hanging from the cream papered walls. Three alternative doorways waited on the far walls of the room, each leading to yet another incredibly decorated room.

I felt ridiculous being here, standing with dirtied feet in the ripped nightclothes that I suddenly noticed just how bad they smelt. The room had a scent of vanilla and something fresh, like a field just after a downpour of rain. Raising an arm, I sniffed the odour that seeped from me and fought back a cough.

I needed to wash.

Moving through glass double doors at the back of the living quarters, I entered a bedroom which was equal in size. Keeping my hands to myself, I did not want to dirty the elegant, shifting curtains of lace that draped from each of the four posts of the large bed, a mattress big enough to fit a number of bodies, and still have room to stretch.