Chapter 6
“I’ve packed everything into your cases, Mistress. Is there anything else you require?” Samuel sets the pair of valises next to his own, then moves to stand behind the sofa to look over his Master’s shoulder as she reads through the lengthy report she had written over the past three hours.
“You, uh… might as well head over to the stables and get that old nag ready to depart…” Angeline leans against the back-rest of the couch and issues a long, weary sigh. She’d only been able to enjoy a four-hour nap on the heavenly mattress before an irate and eyebrow-less Magistrate was pounding on the door to their suite, demanding answers as to why his nephew was crippled and spouting nonsense about his pecker. “I’ll have my report completed within the hour, and delivered to the courier henceforth.”
The long-haired aide offers a nod as he gently clasps the girl’s shoulders, and delicately kneads the tense muscles at the sides of her neck as he tracks her features. “Very well. If we depart as the mid-day bells ring, we should be able to reach Downsview by the time the sun sets.”
“Mmmmm…” allowing her head to fall forward, the blue-eyed mage lets out a purr of pleasure, and again wonders if this was one of those ‘natural’ things that her companion didn’t realize that he was doing. Regardless… it felt bloody good after being hunched over for hours on end. “If you find yourself with some extra time… you could always visit the markets… perhaps a few of the wares might spark some memories…”
“A good suggestion, Mistress. I’ll do that.” With a final tender squeeze, the wiry aide disengages his hands from his Master’s shoulders, and spins to collect the baggage.
Resting her head against the back-rest, the golden-haired femme watches her confidant gather their packaged belongings, and she lets out another heavy sigh as he gently closes the door of the suite behind him. What a strange young man. Full of mysteries. Full of surprises. And with no way to discover his past, the best they could hope for would be a sudden moment of clarity…
It was rather odd, though. He was pretty young, by all accounts. No more than twenty-four or twenty-five. Certainly a bright individual. Always asking concise questions, and offering valid speculations. It would be a reasonable guess to say that he had been educated somewhere… most likely a boarding-school, perhaps even one that cost a fair amount of coin to attend. She’d met others who attended the same sorts of institutions… yet they always seemed to be so full of themselves… so quick to look down on others in order to prop up their own inflated sense of self-worth…
But Samuel was different in that regard. In the village they had visited before coming to this manure-pile, he’d gone out of his way to ensure that a common, penniless beggar had a feast of a dinner and warm place to sleep at night. When she’d asked him why he’d done that, he merely replied that the old, smelly man might have been his father… though conceded that the homeless individual might, in fact, be nothing more than a common criminal. But he still wanted to give the unfortunate, toothless male at least one decent night to remember…
It made her wonder, even with the lead-ball-induced amnesia destroying all of his memories, if his character and personality had remained un-changed. Or if it was an individual’s experiences that tempered those things. Would she still be so loathe to trust strangers had she not been tossed into the Order at the age of four? If she’d never been born a mage, would she still keep her eyes down-cast to avoid watching the horrified stares of the general populace?
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Aegis and Order: First Light
Fantasy"It’s shoulders were wide and powerful. At four metres in height, it was almost as large across as it was tall. The arms of the hulking beast hung nearly all the way to the ground, and were thick with rope-like muscles that bulged with even the sl...
