Chapter 13
1503 Words
13
We returned to the manor and the boys’ room. The place was quiet, but when we opened the door we found evidence of the gleeful roughhousing. The lamp was still broken, albeit in a neat pile, and the bed had been made with all the care of a pig rustling in the mud. The animal rugs were still askew and there were footprints on the walls that had been partially scrubbed by inexperienced hands.
The two culprits themselves were on the bed. Caius sat up with his back against the headboard, and draped over him was his young brother, fast asleep. He looked up at our coming and sheepishly grinned. “Hey.”
I couldn’t help but grin at the adorable sight as I walked up to them. “Hey. You two have fun?”
“More fun then I’ve had in a long time,” he affirmed with a sparkle in his eyes as he looked at me. “At least, with my brother.”
I whacked him on the shoulder and my eyes flickered to my grandparents. “Behave!” I hissed.
Sage cleared his throat. “Yes, well, perhaps we might leave these two here, instead.”
Caius arched an eyebrow as he looked at each of us. “Leave us here? Where are you going?”
“Back to the tomb,” I told him. “I thought maybe we could take a second look.”
Caius looked over his young burden. “I think we’ll stay here.”
Marcus’ eyes flew open and he whipped his head up to glare at his brother. “Well, I’m going!”
Caius frowned. “Were you asleep at all?”
“I got enough,” Marcus insisted as he sat up and rubbed one eye. “But when do we go?”
Caius examined him with pursed lips. “You sure you’re up for another walk?”
“I’m fine,” Marcus insisted as he looked to the small table near the bed. An empty tray sat on its top. “The meat Fenla brought us really helped.”
“Then shall we go?” Sage suggested.
Marcus looked to his brother with tense anticipation. “Can we?”
“Only if you make another deal with me,” Caius insisted.
Marcus’ face fell. “What kind of deal?”
“If we don’t find any treasure then we go straight back to the church,” Caius revealed.
His younger brother’s expression changed to sullen and he turned his face away. “But there’s still so much mystery around here. . .”
“That can be solved with a bed at Father Ferrero’s home,” Caius countered. “Now do we have a deal or not?”
Marcus hung his head and sighed. “All right. I’ll go if we don’t find anything.”
Caius grinned. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”
“We need rope for your idea of closing the tombs,” Sage reminded us.
Marcus tugged on Caius’ arm. “We could get something from the grounds keeper. They used ropes to help me move some of the stones in the yard.”
“Then let’s go find them,” Caius agreed.
We left through the rear door of the manor and out into the extensive grounds. Marcus pointed out across the lawn at a hint of a thatched roof. “That’s the shed where they work during the day.”
We walked across the wonderful work of those men and up to the wooden door of the log shed. Caius knocked and the door opened. The head grounds keeper looked us over and sneered at Marcus before he returned his attention to Caius. “What’s wanted?”
“We were needed some rope. Tough, but short,” Caius explained.
The grounds keeper sighed. “All right. Wait here.” He turned and strode over to a mess of cupboards to the right of the door. I peeked through the door and saw two other assistants seated around a table on the left close to the fireplace. They held cards in their hands and glowered at us. I was glad to see that neither of them was Ezra.
“Is Ezra around here?” I spoke up.
The head grounds keeper paused in his perusal and looked up to glare at me. “Who?”
“Ezra. One of your assistants,” I explained as I studied their reactions. There was nothing but annoyance and confusion.
The grounds keeper jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the pair. “I don’t have any more than these two rats.” He returned to his search and soon drew out two short, rough hemp ropes. The man marched over and thrust them into Caius’ chest. “Here. Don’t bother returning them, I don’t care what you do with ‘em and I can get more.”
Caius nodded and we turned away. The man shut the door loudly after us. “Friendly fellow,” Caius quipped.
Sage looked to me. “Who is this Ezra you asked about?”
I shrugged. “He’s a guy I saw I’ve seen twice on the grounds. He had a shovel both times and said he worked around the place, so I thought he was a grounds keeper.”
Marcus shook his head. “I haven’t seen anyone else but the guys in that shed.”
“Perhaps he was helping without telling anyone,” Bee suggested.
Sage stroked his chin as he took on a far-off look in his eyes. “How very interesting. And you say you saw him twice? Was the last time just before we reached you in the garden?”
I sheepishly nodded. “Yeah. He’s the one who gave me the idea. The way he said about taking a second look just made me think maybe we hadn’t looked that well.”
“We should try to speak with this gentleman when we return,” Sage suggested. “He seems to be a very mysterious and bold individual.”
“Speaking of mysterious,” I mused as I turned to my dragon shifter. “Did you see the look that Fenla woman was giving you the last time we were in the trophy room?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t seen someone that angry with me since I ran out of that playground without paying.”
Marcus’ eyes lit up and his expression was one of admiration. “You were in there? What was it like?”
Caius picked him up around the waist and clapped his hand over his brother’s mouth. “You’re not helping!” he hissed.
I blinked at him. “Paying for what?”
He winced and his face turned a shade of red I’d never seen before. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Sage turned his head and glared at Caius with one eye. “In these parts, a ‘playground’ is a euphemism for a brothel.”
My jaw hit the ground and I whipped my head to Caius. “You could have at least paid her!”
“I was there because of a client, and when he decided not to pay me I ran out of there without paying him,” he defended himself.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Uh-huh. And I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”
It was his turn to blink at me. “What would I want with a bridge?”
“Maybe stick it where the sun doesn’t shine,” I teased.
He grinned. “Now that is known around here.”
Some of the humor fled from his face when I noticed him lay his hand on his bone arm. “Something wrong?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. When that Fenla woman came up with the meat tray I thought she kept looking at my arm more than my face, almost like she was trying to figure out what was under the glove.”
“You are wearing one glove,” I reminded him.
He furrowed his brow. “Yeah, but this look was different. I wondered if she was going to rip it off.”
“Fenla’s always been nice to me,” Marcus countered with a frown. “She always brings me food and smiles at me sometimes.”
Caius grinned and ruffled his hair. “Maybe she’s trying to fatten you up to eat you.”
Marcus waved away his hand away. “Will you stop doing that?”
“Only when you get taller than me,” Caius quipped.
We all had a good laugh and even Marcus grinned. “Maybe someday I will be.”
“Keep eating all that meat and maybe you will be,” Caius suggested.
We crossed the trees plains and reached the tombs with a few hours of sun to spare. Caius tied one end of each rope to some of the rocks on the face of the doors and tugged. The doors pulled a few inches.
“This looks like it’s going to work,” he confirmed to us.
Sage’s eyebrows shot up before he picked up a few thick sticks on the ground. “How stunning. Now let us see if Jane’s mysterious gardener is wise or foolish.”
We proceeded inside and to the circular room at the back. Sage handed out the sticks to us and lit them with his fire. “Now we search for this elusive treasure.”
“What was the hint?” Marcus asked him.
“‘To lie forever among between the two. To lie in private, a leg but no shoe,’” Sage repeated.
We broke apart and scoured the room. Our firelight illuminated the grinning skulls, mocking us for our failure. I paused at the foot of the three sarcophagi and glared at those derisive, skinless faces.
Still, they weren’t quite wrong. I hadn’t found anything that hinted at another leg other than the bones piled around us and the figures at the foot of the stone coffins. The figure in the center sarcophagus was similar to the sun god outside. I frowned at his sanctimonious appearance and kicked him in the nether regions.
We all started back when a grinding noise of stone against stone echoed throughout the room.
- Writer
