Death's Dragon Box Set

Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Duncan didn’t fight me, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I noticed there was a slight hint of a smile on his lips. It made him look even more handsome, and I couldn’t help but blush a little at our joined hands. I drew my hand out of his and allowed him to catch up to me, so we walked side by side.

A heavy silence fell between us, and my befuddled mind tried to think of something to say. My thoughts wandered back to our conversation with Julien, and my good humor faded away as I thought back to what our host had told me.

I lifted up one hand and brushed the tips of my fingers against the outside corner of my left eye. “Duncan?”

“Yes?”

I dropped my hand to my side and looked up at him. “What kind of way does Julien see dead people?”

He lifted an eyebrow but didn’t turn to me. “What do you mean?”

My imagination ran wild with that question, but I managed to stay cool with a shrug. “Like are they what they looked like when they died? Do murder victims come to him?”

Duncan shook his head. “Their souls project manifestations of their bodies in an uncorrupted form, marred by neither accident nor illness. However, the phantoms are corrupted souls, and so they take many different and at times horrible forms, as Julien has told me.”

I cast a look of suspicion at him. “If you knew all of this then why did you take me to him? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Duncan stared ahead and a tired look slipped onto his face. “I had hoped he would give you another answer. I also intend to introduce you to all the Keepers of the Points. Otherwise they may consider you an intruder or an unsent soul in need of sending.”

My face drooped. “How would they send me?”

“By destroying the form you currently inhabit.”

I felt my blood run cold in my veins. “They… they’d kill me?”

He looked down at me with pity in his eyes. “You’re already dead, but they will destroy your solid form. However, you’re safe so long as you stay by my side.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. I lifted my eyes up to the starry sky. “Does the sun ever come up here?”

Duncan kept his eyes on me as he nodded. “The sun does rise, and the other Keepers and I take our rest during those hours.” He drew off his coat and set it on my shoulders. “You should rest, too.”

I grasped the collar of his coat and drew the cloth close about myself. “I think that would be nice.” I raised my eyes to him and raised an eyebrow. “But after the explanation.”

He bowed his head. “Of course.”

We continued on our way and within an hour our quick footsteps took us to the end of the point of the pentagram. The ruination parted and revealed a sprawling manor house made of wood and stone. I tilted my head back and my eyes traveled up the rough stone walls. The structure was greatly similar to the château but was about four times larger. Rather than symmetric wings, the house featured mismatched additions on one side and out the back. Two large stone towers stood at the front corners of the building, and its peaked roof rose up high over even the surrounding majestic trees. Chimneys rose up in random spots and marked the points where new gabled rooftops met old. I couldn’t see a door, but a couple dozen high windows stared back at me.

The grounds surrounding the manor house were also of an immense size, with high trimmed bushes and stone pathways meandering everywhere. Oak trees dotted the landscape, and their huge branches stretched out over a high wrought-iron fence that surrounded the perimeter starting from the end of the cobblestones. Vines hung from the metal bars and hid much of the view of the rear of the grounds, though I glimpsed stone walkways on either side of the house leading behind the structure. Two large, unlocked gates hung from the fence and allowed entry onto the premises.

The tip of the pentagram also proved to have, like the others, a smaller version of itself set out in stones. The sigil in front of Duncan’s house showed a pile of… something. I couldn’t discern what it was other than maybe dirt.

I studied the unique architecture for a long moment. Too long, apparently, as Duncan caught my attention. “What do you think?”

I smiled up at him. “I think it’s really cool. You lived at a place like this when you were alive?”

He looked up at the manor and pursed his lips. “No.”

I blinked at him as I noticed a bittersweet tone in his voice. “But Julien said Death gave you guys your old homes.”

He nodded. “So She did, but not to me. This is her own abode, and I am merely charged with its protection.” He shook off his thoughts and returned his attention to me. “But let us get inside. You must be famished.”

I set a hand on my stomach and a soft gurgle reminded me that I hadn’t had dinner before I left the farm. “I guess I am.”

He offered me his hand and a true smile. “Then let me welcome you to my abode.”

I accepted his hand, and he guided me up to the pair of iron gates. We slipped through them easily and into the elegant square yard with its myriad of plants and flower beds.

I looked up at the impressive three-floor manor with its creeping ivy and elegant paned windows. “What kind of house did you have in life?”

His words came out like a soft sigh. “I was the lord of a great castle.”

I leaned forward and caught his eye. “So, what happened?”

“I died.”

A touch of gloom fell over us, but the home had piqued my curiosity. It was the third abode I had visited, and I noticed something different.

I stopped us in the middle of the courtyard and scoured the walls of the manor. “No niches?”

He half-turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

I nodded at his home. “Julien and Eva both had some decorations on their houses, like the skeletons and gargoyles, but you don’t have anything.”

“Master!”

The new voice made Duncan’s face droop. “I have enough trouble.”

Something small and slim flew out of an open second-floor window and zipped about Duncan’s head. I detected a tail and head, with a curvy body and short stubby legs. “You’re back! Where have you been?”

Duncan nodded at me. “Preoccupied.”

The creature jerked to a stop, and we gaped at each other, woman to dragon because that’s what I found myself staring at. Only, this dragon was about a foot long and of equally small proportions for the rest of its body. It had the typical long neck and flowing whiskers, but its snout was a little squat. Its claws at the end of its tiny toes, however, looked painfully dragon-like, as did its sharp teeth in its open mouth.

The dragon shook off its stupor first and twisted half its body around to look at Duncan. “What is this, Master? An unsent? Do you wish for me to practice my sending? It has been rather a long time, hasn’t it?”

My face drooped as Duncan smiled. “No. She’s a recent arrival and will stay with us for some time, fate providing. I expect you to treat her as you do me, Sheol.”

The dragon sailed over to me and floated about my head. I turned my head to follow it and lifted an eyebrow. “How are you flying?”

“I’m not flying, I’m sailing,” Sheol told me as he inspected every bit of my person. He stopped in front of me, and his lizard eyes narrowed. “What’s with the eye?”

I snorted. “It was a a parting gift.”

“Looks weird…” Sheol murmured as he drifted over to Duncan.

I studied the strange tiny creature before I looked at Duncan. “Is this the dragon that made that mess in the woods?”

Sheol puffed out his chest and glared at me. “Of course not! I can’t even leave the grounds of this manor. It was-”

“Have you prepared a meal for us?” Duncan interrupted him.

Sheol floated around my host. “Well, I have one for you. When you flew out of here in such a hurry, I knew you’d be peckish when you returned.” He glided over to the pair of doors that led into the home. “This time it’s still steaming hot, too, so let’s stop dawdling and get you full.”

Duncan caught my eye and together we followed the dragon through the doors. The entrances opened to a simple and clean entrance hall. There was none of the opulent gaudiness of Julien’s home. Instead, the wood furniture was of simple finished oak and the floors were the same. A few rugs broke the monotony, and every now and again the walls were interspersed with a tapestry.

Sheol zipped through a door tucked into the far-right corner under the stairs, and we ventured after him. The entrance led into an elegant front room with a piano, horsehair furniture, and large windows to allow light to stream onto the elegant rugs. A door to our left led deeper into the home, and we found ourselves in an elegant dining room with a long table and high-backed chairs.

Platters sat on the table and were covered with domed lids so shiny I could see my reflection. Duncan drew out a chair on the right of the head of the table and caught my eye. I slipped over to him, and at the same time, Sheol flew over the platters removing the lids.

I froze as a soft white light flowed out from beneath each of them. Food sat on the platters, but all of it, from soup to bread to fruit, gave off a strangely eerie glow.

I blinked at the glowing food as I took my seat. “Is it… glowing?”

Duncan pushed my chair in before he sat down in his place at the head. “This food isn’t to replenish the body but the soul, and the special ingredient is provided by our familiars.”

I cast a look of grotesque curiosity at Sheol who floated above us. “Provided how?”

Sheol frowned at me. “Through our own magic, of course. I just dabble a little on the food and my master is replenished.”

I tilted my head to one side. “Will it work on me?”

“A very good question,” Duncan replied as he took up an apple which he offered to me. “Care to find out?”