Chapter 5
1730 Words
5
The baron leaned back and clasped his hands together in his lap as he studied Caius. His horrible humor sank away as a smile replaced it. “I see. So you are the fabled brother of which the lad speaks, the one called Caius Ornello.”
Caius stretched to his full height. “I am, now where is he?”
The baron stroked his chin as he studied him. “From the stories your brother says of you I thought you would be twice as tall and broad.” He shook himself and chuckled. “Where are what little manners I put upon myself?” the baron mused as he gestured down at his lower half. “Though you must excuse me for not rising to greet you. My legs were not as they once were.” I glanced over my shoulder at the portrait that hung above the hearth. The baron frowned. “That is a relic of a bygone man. It wasn’t five summers ago that I stood for the portrait, and now I can’t stand for my morning dressing. Miss Fenla-” He looked over his shoulder at the woman, “-obliges me with her assistance.”
Caius stepped forward. “Where’s Marcus?”
A sly smile slipped onto his lips. “Would you like to see him and his work?”
Caius nodded. “Immediately.”
“Then follow me. Or rather, us,” the baron instructed.
Fenla turned the wheelchair around and wheeled him out of the room. We followed with Caius at the head of our group. At the entrance hall the baron took a right down the hall to the rear of the house where another hall held a wall of windows that looked out on the expansive rear lawn. Wide gravel paths wound their way through the trees and bushes, and as in the front large swaths of flowerbeds added to the color. The garden was separated into two tiers with the lower tier farther away and accessed via three wide set of stairs, one in the center and the other two at the far ends.
A long, wide stone porch stood just outside the windows, and it was to this that we repaired. A stone railing lined the far side and a few pots had been lit to illuminate the area. Caius hurried over to the railing where I joined him. I set my hands on its flat top and gazed out on the beautiful view.
What I saw were holes. Lots of them. The whole yard was littered with the dark patches of freshly dug dirt. Some of the holes had been recently filled and the grass had yet to recover from its unearthing.
“Someone has enthusiasm for the good earth,” Sage mused as he joined us at the railing.
Caius’ eyes scoured the area. The baron looked to his nurse. “Would you mind searching for the young lad?” She shook her head and proceeded down the steps and onto the lawn. The night soon swallowed her.
“Your companion is very quiet,” Sage noted to our host.
The baron waved away my comment with a flick of his had. “She can’t speak. Some impairment when she was younger.” He paused and chuckled. “A man couldn’t ask for a better woman. Smart, pretty, and silent.”
Sage clapped his hand on my shoulder to warn me to keep my mouth shut. We still hadn’t found Marcus, but that was soon to change.
“My Lord!” a boy called out, and a moment later a lad of some twelve summers with a shovel in hand darted out of the darkness.
The young boy was dressed in a fine suit of gray clothes, or they would have been fine if they hadn’t been covered from head-to-foot in dirt. His hair was the same color as Caius’ but his round face was more cherubic. Life hadn’t given Marcus any of the sarcasm that etched the lines in Caius’ face so that his smile was as bright as the sun that just disappeared behind the horizon. The only mar in his features were his dirty hands. Beneath the grime I could see his cracked skin, broken by days of hard labor.
Marcus hurried up to the man’s wheelchair. “My Lord, I think I found-” He paused when he noticed our group. His eyes widened and his jaw hit the floor when his gaze fell on Caius. The shovel clattered to the stone ground. “C-C-Caius?”
Caius crossed his arms and frowned at him. “Marcus.”
The young lad let out a whoop and rushed forward. He embraced Caius in a tight hug that nearly bowled them both over. “You came back to help me with the hunt!”
“I came back to take you back to Father Ferrero,” he corrected him. He looked over the young lad’s head at our ‘host’ and held out the package. “You can have this and I’ll be taking Marcus with me.”
Marcus drew away and shook his head. “I can’t leave yet! I’ve almost found the treasure!”
“There is no treasure,” Caius insisted as he picked up Marcus by the back of his collar and turned them toward the doorway. “You’re going back to the father now.”
Marcus thrashed in the air. “But I’ve almost got it! The map says so!”
Caius paused and frowned. “What map?”
Marcus crossed his arms over his chest and turned his face away. “I’m not showing you until you put me down.” Caius drew Marcus closer to him and started searching his brother’s pockets. “Stop that!” Marcus yelped as he wiggled against the frisking. A laugh escaped his lips. “That tickles!”
“Then just show me the map,” Caius insisted as he paused in his search.
Marcus frowned, but reached into his coat and drew out a tattered piece of paper folded once.
Sage held out his hand. “May I have a look at it?”
Marcus glanced at Caius who nodded. The young boy handed Sage the map and we crowded over his shoulder as he unfolded the paper. The parchment was stained by time and a poor hiding spot, but I could make out a simple map to the left of the fold and words on the right side.
Caius stood at the rear with his brother still hanging in his clutch. “So is it real?”
Sage arched an eyebrow. “This does appear to be Miamoran writing, though written in a poor hand.”
“What about the paper?” I wondered.
He brushed his palm against the parchment. “The paper is also of an extreme age.”
“What does it say?” Caius asked him.
Sage squinted at the faded black lettering. “It mentions something about a wealth beyond wealth, and-” He leaned forward, but after a moment’s perusal he straightened and shook his head. “I cannot for the life of me read it.”
“But the map is what’s important!” Marcus insisted as he pointed at the old paper. “It shows the estate!”
“I doubt the Miamorans could travel through time and would bother to write down the property lines for the estate,” Caius pointed out.
Sage turned the map over in his hands and arched an eyebrow. “There do appear to be boundaries, but I am not familiar enough with the estate to know if they match the existing lines.”
“It does, and the treasure is buried somewhere in there!” Marcus insisted.
“Where did you stumble on this find?” Sage inquired.
“It was in an old box in Father Ferrero’s attic,” Marcus revealed. “He told me to clean some trunks up, and I found this in the bottom.”
Caius gave him a hard shake that rattled his whole body. “And you’ve forgotten about the father ever since. He’s been working trying to keep the church going and you’ve just been slacking off here.”
“I haven’t just been goofing off out here!” Marcus countered as he nodded at the holes. “See? I did all that by myself!”
“And you have been diligent in that search,” Sage mused as he studied the dozens of holes before us.
Marcus grinned at him and nodded. “Yep! And I know I’m close to finding the treasure! Then I can go back to Father Ferrero and we can give all the money to the village!”
“We’re going back right now,” Caius insisted as he carried him toward the house.
“But we can’t go!” Marcus insisted.
“We’re doing just that,” Caius told him as we followed the bickering pair back into the house.
“Please, Caius! Just a few more holes!” Marcus begged.
“No.”
We reached the entrance hall when a voice behind us made us stop. “My Lord! My Lord. . .a moment!”
We turned back toward the rear of the house. A man in grubby attire that was covered in fresh dirt hurried up to the wheelchair-bound lord. His face was red and he wheezed as he held out his hand. A small coin glittered in his palm.
The baron studied the coin for a moment before he smiled. “I may not be able to read the ancient writing of the Miamorans, but I know a gold coin when I see one.” He plucked the coin from his servant and raised the coin to the light of the chandelier that hung above us. “This writing looks very much like that on the map.” He turned his head to his winded manservant. “Where did you find it?”
The servant nodded at Marcus. “In one of his holes, sir. I was returning the dirt to the holes when I spotted this in the mound.”
The baron smiled and set the coin in the man’s hand. “Keep it as a souvenir. I think there may be many more where that came from.”
The servant’s face lit up and he bowed his head. “Thank you so much, baron! And a thousand of Gad’s blessings upon you!”
The baron waved off his servant’s well-wishes. “His blessings aren’t of interest to me, only his healing powers.”
Marcus looked up at Caius. “This means that there really is buried treasure! Can’t we stay a little longer?”
Caius shook his head. “No. Father Ferrero is expecting us back tonight.”
“I might send a messenger to Father Ferrero and tell him you wish to stay for a few days,” the baron offered.
“We would not dream of intruding on your hospitality,” Sage spoke up.
The baron smiled and shook his head. “You wouldn’t be, I assure you. My house is rather lonely of late, what with these blasted legs of mine keeping me from entertaining guests. Besides, the church is no place for so many guests. The poor father would be hard-pressed to keep you all under his roof, much less fed.”
Marcus stuck his trembling lip out as he met Caius’ gaze. “Might we? Please? It’s only for a few days.”
Caius sighed. “All right, but only for a few days.”
- Writer
