(Solstice)
The night before, Solstice had a nightmare.
She’d been running through the woods. It was dark. Mist twisted through the black trees, clinging to her. Clinging as she ran. She was being chased, she knew that. She could hear the tread of her hunters, many legs running to keep pace with her. The pant of their breath, almost as loud as her own.
Her lungs burned. Her heart beat painfully. Her muscles screamed. She had no choice. She had to keep running.
She ran, jumping over jutting roots that would have tripped her. Sliding down gullies. Bursting through tangled branches.
Behind her, the hunters were gaining. She couldn’t see them, but knew that some of them ran alongside her now. Corralling her. Herding her.
Suddenly, thorns seemed to erupt from the ground before her, barring her way. Their stems were as thick as her arm, their thorns an inch long. She roared, burning hot, and barrelled through. They snapped before her strength, but sliced her skin, causing her blood to drip hot and red to the forest floor.
All around her, the hunters howled. They smelled the blood. Their lupine forms began to emerge from the darkness. Eager at the scent.
As the blood seeped from her, her energy fled with it. Her stride was slowing, while her hunters flew into a greater frenzy. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t run!
She turned her head, just in time to see the first wolf leap out of the darkness.
She felt its teeth.
Solstice had woken up in a cold sweat. It took a moment for her to calm her breathing. She rose, and walked to the window, throwing on a dressing gown.
It was morning. The gardeners were already out, tending to the flowers in the Vance manor grounds. The sun was just peeping over the horizon, its light evaporating any mist that may have lingered the night before.
Solstice thought. Yes, there had been mist last night. She’d seen it before she’d gone to bed. There was often mist here. She was not sure why she’d dreamed what she had, but maybe that had had something to do with it.
And, yes, the thing yesterday with Fledinem had involved a wolf, hadn’t it? Or at least the rumour of one. Not to mention the wolf that actually followed Fledinem around, although that was a fey creature that was more like a trained dog than a true wolf.
Anyway, clearly the idea of wolves had been preying on her mind. Her brain must have taken these various ideas and come up with that stupid nightmare. That was all.
For some reason, Solstice felt that this was Jezediah Vance’s fault, though she couldn’t have explained why. She decided to be angry at him anyway. She turned from the window, and went to find her proper clothes. It was time to start the day.
Below her on the grounds, the gardeners continued their work. Amongst the flowers, they found and pulled up the thorns that had emerged from the soil in the night time, as they did every day. It wouldn’t do for the Lord’s beautiful gardens to be marred by thorns.
***
At around midday – a few hours after Dovakiin had interrupted her investigations of the manor with his stupid cheesecake offer – Solstice found herself at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor.
She had been told quite clearly that while the adventurers had the run of the ground floor, and the guest bedrooms of the first floor, the basement and everything above the first floor were off limits.
The stairs, like many things in this stupid manor, were finely crafted. Made from oak that had been darkly lacquered, and carpeted in red, the stairway up was wide and inviting. Solstice could see a glimpse of a corridor at the top, though she could see little of how far it went except that the ceiling was ornately painted, and the walls were hung with at least one painting.
Solstice had been told that this was the family quarters, used by Lord Vance. But as she looked up there, she found the term strange. Family quarters. Lord Vance was said to have no family – she had seen no family portraits – and yet he had an entire two floors dedicated to just him? And possibly an attic above that? She wasn’t intimately familiar with the ways of rich country lords, but it seemed like a blatant waste of space. How many beds could one man need?
However, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that, with the exception of Lord Vance himself, this area was largely unused. Although most of the manor she had seen was immaculate, these stairs seemed to be ever so slightly dusty, as if no-one ever really cleaned them. For the first time, Solstice wondered whether not even the servants were allowed up there.
Well then, this must be the place I most need to explore. Solstice looked around. There was no-one there. No Calliban ready to pounce out and stop her. No servants. No Lord Vance.
And unlike the basement door, there wasn’t any form of lock barring her way. Just an open staircase, leading to whatever answers this place might have to offer.
Solstice put a hand on the banister, and stepped onto the first step of the staircase. Above her, the corridor seemed to loom in the silence.
She thought of the strange force that had lifted and burned Fledinem on their first day.
She thought of the enigmatic master of the manor, Lord Vance himself. His games, and secrets. The unquestioning loyalty of his servants. His hatred of monsters like Solstice.
Clearly, up here would be the answers to all of these things. Why had Lord Vance hired them? What did he want? What was he hiding?
So… why wasn’t Solstice moving?
She looked around again. Still, no-one was there. She had not left the first step. Come on, Solstice, she told herself. Pull yourself together. What would the Demon of Teshykk have said if he could see you know, scared to walk up a few steps?
But she remembered the dream. And although she would not admit it to herself, she remembered the fear it had awakened in her.
And deep inside, a voice questioned:
Did she really want to know the answers? What might be the personal cost?
Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps registered in her ears.
Solstice fled.
It was because she did not want to be caught, she told herself. It was because if someone found out she was here, she’d be unable to find what she was looking for before someone came to stop her.
But it sounded hollow, even within her. And the fear turned to shame.
And the shame turned to rage.
Damn that Vance to the Nine Hells! May demons tear out his entrails, and may all his works turn to dust! Damn him, and damn the adventurers that work for him. I WILL bring an end to his plans, even if I have to-
So distracted was she, that she almost ran into Calliban, who was coming the other way around a corner, the tread of his footsteps so silent.
She pulled up short before him. He glanced at her angry expression and smirked.
“Ah, Miss Solstice. Going somewhere?”
She glared at him for a long moment, then gave a curt “…No.”
“Well, that is indeed fortunate,” the butler said, gesturing behind him. “Because I was coming to inform you that there was somewhere you now need to be.”
He was enjoying her anger, and Solstice hated his smug face all the more because of it. “Get to the point,” she spat. He knew the game they played.
“Certainly. Lord Vance has requested that you meet some of your fellow adventurers in the library. He has tasked his son with educating you on the proper bearing a Vance monster-hunter is expected to have, as well as notifying you of some of the resources available to you. It-”
Something in his words caught her attention. “Wait, stop there. Say that again. Who’s doing it?”
Calliban allowed himself one last I know things you don’t know smirk. “I said his son. Master Walter, the Lord Vance's heir in waiting. He will be guiding you through your official Orientation.”
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