The Fallen World

House Konnen - Part 4

     Thomas was awoken many hours later by Diana's soft voice as she whispered prayers to Caroli, begging for the strength and courage to face the trials that lay ahead. The wizard lifted his head to see over Jerry's night cap to see the two women wrapped in each other's arms, each drawing comfort from the presence of the other. His movement woke the nome, who looked miserably around at the luxurious room, and as Lirenna also stirred the two men pulled the covers up over their head while the women rose to get dressed.

     Just a few minutes later, while the women were averting their eyes as the men got dressed, a maid entered pushing a trolley with their breakfasts on it, confirming their suspicions that they were under constant observation. They thanked the maid, though, since the poor girl was probably as much a victim of Lord Basil’s cruel regime as they were, and when she’d gone they ate everything she’d brought them. Buttered rolls, bacon and eggs and a pot of hot coffee. They wanted to keep their strengths up in preparation for whatever lay ahead, all the while trying not to think of what, if anything, Shaun and Matthew were being given to eat. Their feelings of guilt as they enjoyed this five star treatment were almost too much to bear, and was only helped by the fact that there was nothing whatsoever they could do to change the situation.

     When they’d finished eating, they ventured a look out through the door into the corridor. They’d expected to find a couple of big, tough looking guards waiting outside to make sure they didn’t go wandering off, and so were surprised to see that the corridor was empty, with only the distant sound of female laughter to tell them that the mansion wasn’t completely deserted.

     “They don’t need to guard us,” said Lirenna unhappily. “They know we’re not going anywhere.” Thomas could only nod unhappily in agreement.

     The mansion was huge, as large as any nobleman’s mansion back on Tharia, with more bedchambers and bathrooms than they could count. They passed more maids bustling to and fro carrying breakfast trays and clean sheets. The questers tried to talk to them but they fearfully averted their eyes and hurried off. They also saw the occasional family member. Elegantly dressed men and women related to Lord Basil either by birth or marriage who carried themselves with authority and arrogance and sneered down at them as they went by. One of them, an especially unpleasant and arrogant young man in his twenties who identified himself as Cassius Konnen, turned out to be Lord Basil’s younger brother. He stopped them in the corridor to gaze with undisguised lust at Lirenna, whose half shayen beauty was unknown on Kronos. He questioned her at length about her life and interests while the others grew increasingly more afraid for her, but eventually he dismissed them and sent them away, perhaps having been warned by his Lordship that the new additions to his household were not to be molested. Thomas breathed a huge sigh of relief, but he knew that the danger wasn’t past and that she’d be at risk every second they were among these people.

     They came across a flight of steps in the main corridor and went down it to find themselves in an identical corridor in the floor below, the ‘ground’ floor. This was the business area of the mansion, and as they wandered around they came across a huge dining room with banqueting tables running around the walls. There were also smaller dining rooms for more informal meals, a library which, for once, held no interest for Thomas, kitchens, baths and even a full sized theatre complete with stage, curtains and hundreds of seats. The thing that surprised them more than anything else, though, was the chapel, which looked as though it must once have been magnificent but which had been neglected for generations and was now in a pretty poor state.

     In common with most Tharian temples, it had one main altar at its far end dedicated to its patron deity, in this case Conwar, God of Courage, and smaller altars along the other walls dedicated to the most popular and well known of the other Gods. A layer of dust lay over everything, though, telling them that the Konnens had long since abandoned their patron deity, who would undoubtedly have deplored their treatment of the questers. The bronze statue of the huge lion rearing up on its hind legs and clawing the air, the symbol of Conwar, had recently been cleaned and polished, though, and an area of floor in front of it was free of dust, indicating that somebody still came now and then to kneel before it, probably one of the servants. This discovery cheered them immensely and gave them hope that they might find friends even here. Perhaps even people willing to help them.