Chapter 7

The air in the corridor was warm and stale. To my left at the end of the corridor I saw a window that overlooked an unruly garden. There was another door opposite me which I left untouched it looked like someone's living quarters.

I turned to my right and strode confidently down the corridor. I felt Jacob shadow me, it amazed me to find that when I wasn't quite thinking about it I could feel his emotions and his 'presence' He gave off a kind of aura of danger and intent and I could track where that aura was.

He followed a few feet behind me as I turned the corner of the corridor and went down a flight of stairs. I found myself in an even larger corridor. The ceiling was almost nine feet high and had high arches like the room I was in earlier. The floor under my feet was bare boards that might have one day been attractive but were now worn and dusty. I would have to have this entire house cleaned from top to bottom I though absent-mindedly.

This corridor had six doors on the left hand side and only one on the right. As I passed the door on the right I looked in and saw a vast library. There were a few old oak desks in the middle of the room and then tall floor to ceiling bookshelves with old rolling brass ladders which reached right up to the twenty foot high ceiling.

I took a deep breath as I surveyed the room and was surprised to find that as I breathed in I could sense the knowledge stored in this room and the books on the shelves which practically vibrated with magic. A small plump woman was sat behind one of the desks and was regarding me with a half shocked half fearful gaze.

She had thick spectacles sat on the end of her small nose. Her piercing blue eyes conveyed intelligence and wisdom. She was dressed in a conservative blouse and skirt both of a bland colour. She was surrounded by books in various states of disrepair.

She must be a librarian of some sort, I mused. "You, find me a couple of books which outline this places social and political structure will you. And also I want a few books on basic healing as well as defensive and offensive magic. I want them by the morning please." I nodded at her as I finished speaking and then swept out of the room.

I wondered momentarily where all this confidence had come from. I never would have spoken to someone like that before. But that was just it, that was before. Now I was a different person. I'd killed and brought people back to life. I could do magic and was an heir to some sort of magical estate and grand title. I was a Lord and I could feel my very bones humming with purpose. I felt complete. I now had goals.

I mentally reviewed my aims as I walked down the corridor. First, food. Second, talk to Mary-Lou once she comes round. Third, learn more about where I was. Fourth, experiment with magic. Fifth, work out. Sixth, meet my family and staff.

As I reached the end of the corridor I came to another set of stairs and descended them swiftly. I was aware of the librarian following a few feet behind Jacob. I also knew there were several other who had come out from the doors I had passed who had joined my little entourage.

At the bottom of the stairs I came out onto a balcony supported by old marble columns. In the centre of the balcony was another staircase leading down and on the other side of the balcony was another set of stairs leading up. Opposite the stairs leading down was a large archway almost ten feet tall which lead into a hall with a roof almost thirty feet high and made out of exquisite carver wood which was as he now expected in a sad state of disrepair. As he stood in the archway he saw that the room may have once functioned as a grand dining hall or dance hall but now functioned as both kitchen and dining room and even bedroom by the look of the wooden pallets at the end of the room.

This simply will not do. I thought in anger. I had no reason to but I felt a deep connection to these people and to see the condition of such a beautiful home which was more a manor than house was deeply saddening but it was downright infuriating to see the conditions his people lived in!

All of a sudden, through my anger I felt magic touching my senses once again. "This is unnaceptable!"My voice thundered through the manor and grounds. I felt a flood of memories that were not my own break into my head, I saw the manor built. Cut into a thick bed of limestone for foundations I saw it built from bottom up and saw the manor in it's prime.

I felt magic overwhelm me, my skin felt as if I'd been dipped in ice water one minute and as if it was on fire another. There was an immense pressure behind my eyes and all through my head. I fought to hold the great flow of magic in but it burned me almost inside out. I felt the aura's of the fore fathers once more, they were acting through me!

With an almighty roar I let go of the magic and shoved it all out and let the forefathers take both it and me over. I vaguely heard my own voice boom out, "Let this place be restored to it's former glory and let all know that Drake Manor has a Lord once more!"

My throat hurt. My eyes hurt. My entire body ached.

"Can't even keep out of trouble for a few hours? Typical you!"

That voice, that sweet voice. It sounded so familiar. But it was so hard to grasp where he had heard it before. Then it hit me!

"Mary-Lou?" I croaked. My throat really burned as I tried to speak.

I felt a cool hand on my forehead and recognised the soothing voice of Mary-Lou. "Hey, you're okay kid. Just relax. You really burned yourself out."

As I lay there listening to her I felt a resonance within my head. I felt a presence in my mind, it felt foreign and odd. Not like the forefathers at all. I struggled to try to force it away but Mary-Lou just shushed me and stroked my forehead. It was her?

Then I felt a feeling of lightness come over my body and warmth spread from Mary-Lou's hand on my head through my body and all the pain fell away.

I struggled to hold on to consciousness but the soothing voice of Mary-Lou put me to sleep.

I awoke again to near silence. I could hear someone breathing softly and another breathing deeply as if asleep. The deep breathing was coming from my left and the soft from in front of me. I just knew it was Mary-Lou to my left and Jacob opposite me.