Chapter 12

Marald dismissed the guards. He sent for a servant to escort me to a suite of rooms, upstairs, on the eastern side of the building. He said that since I had come from the east, I should stay in an eastern room.

He told me that I had some time until evening meal was called. I used the time to clean up as best as I could. I had not really been expecting anything like this. I removed everything except my pants. I used a washbowl, and the pitcher of water that was near it. I heated the water with a little magic, and got out some soap from my backpack.

After cleaning up, I looked at my boots. I wiped them with a wet cloth, and decided they would have to do. I pulled a fresh shirt out of my backpack, and put it on. I closed the backpack, and set it on the middle of the bed. Since it was getting chilly again, I put my cloak back on. I vacillated between taking my staff, and leaving it behind. I chose the latter. I put it with my backpack, and cast a small spell on both the backpack and the staff. No one would bother them, now.

I moved from my bedroom, to a sitting room of some sort. My suite consisted of two rooms. The bedroom was accessible only through the sitting room. I had been told I would be summoned. So I went to an over stuffed chair, which turned out to be very comfortable. I sat and thought.

I had come loaded for bear, or so I thought. Dragons were another thing, entirely. I checked my spells. Would they work against a Dragon, if I had to cast it at one? Some should.

I remembered the painting from downstairs, that my host had shown me. It had been very detailed, as if the painter had been very familiar with his subject. The body had been long and slender as represented in flight. The head was attached by a long neck. It had leathery looking wings that seemed ridiculously huge compared to its body. The flames shooting from its mouth were red. They seemed to shimmer, even in the painting.

The body had been a golden color, and the eyes had been the color of turquoise. It was a truly magnificent painting. If it was a true representation, then this dragon was very dangerous. Said dragon had also let me live, for some reason. I had not even realized it had been a danger, as it was circling over me earlier.

The chill seemed to radiate off the very walls of this keep. I was glad for the warmth of my cloak. I sat and waited. I also constructed a few helpful spells. The first two were light spells. I summoned a ball of light. It floated above me in the air. I increased the power in it, until it glowed and lit the room nicely.

I then did the same for my bedroom. I did not want to be stumbling around in the dark when I returned to my rooms, later. I then got to work on making the rooms more temperature comfortable. That took a bit more time. It had been ages since I had done these types of spells. I had come to rely on gas or electric heating over the years.

By the time I was done, it had gotten noticeably darker outside. I was now very hungry.

There was a knock on my door. I strode over and opened it. In the hallway was an elderly man, dressed in what I assumed were the 'house colors'. I could be wrong, though, and greeted him with caution.

He wore dark pants of a material not as smooth and shiny as Marald's, but of similar color. His shirt was a good quality 'homespun', I would guess. It was better than what the people out in the little housing area had been wearing. In fact, he was dressed about the same as the servant who had taken me to my rooms, earlier.

He requested that I accompany him.

We went down several corridors, and through a couple of cross-corridors. Finally, we went down some steps. I was led into a large room, that had a large fireplace against one wall. There were three long tables set in the center of the room. Another table was set in such a way as persons sitting at it, could view the entire room. Though it was a smaller table, it was also closer to the fireplace.

The smaller table was where I was led. There stood my host. Also, standing by his side, were two women. One had to be his wife, the other could possibly be his daughter. Two other men were standing a little further down the table.

"Ah, Mr. Lindsy. May I present my wife, Orla? Next to her, is my daughter, Talia. The man next to her is my Captain of Guards, Savhn. Next to him is The Keep's Wizard, Benlin."

I glanced closely at this man, as he was named.

He was a little man, who exuded nervous energy. I looked with 'second sight', and saw he fairly glowed with magic! Yes, not a man to take lightly. I noted he was also examining me very closely.

I saw I was going to be seated to Marald's left. Everyone else at this table was to his right. I saw that there was room for another place to my left, but it was left empty. As soon as Marald sat, everyone in the hall sat.

I took this opportunity to count people at the three tables. One table seemed full of people. Twenty people sat at that table. The next, or middle, had fifteen people. The third table, had only eight people sitting at it. I assumed that you ate at a specific place at the tables.

"Are these all your people?" I asked my host.

"Not at all. These are just the Keep workers, and immediate family members. The total number of people that the Keep has, varies, but is currently around 220. Is it not similar where you come from?" he asked me.

How do you explain that there were no keeps in a modern world? I told him that while we used to have a system similar, it had fallen into disuse as the population expanded, and peace had come to the land.

His wife and daughter asked me what the woman wore in my land. I 'confessed' that I was not a follower of women's fashions. They were disappointed, but agreed that few men were.

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