Noble Arcana

When I was a girl it was easy to eavesdrop. I could linger in a hallway or outside a door so easily, and hear all sorts of devilish things. Now I’m afraid that the size of my gowns and the jingle of my jewels make such a pastime impossible.

Lady Arbessa in a letter to a friend

“Good afternoon,” said Solomon, making his presence known as he moved toward them.

“Afternoon Lord,” said Barnabus, bowing slightly and hiding his missing hand.

“Lord Morrow,” said Bart, mirroring his brother’s bow and loosening his grip on the hammer he was holding. Bart was tan like his brother, and his hair was like a black mop on his head, but he always behaved respectfully despite being one of the youngest of his servants. He’d seen him and Duncan’s stableboy Regis chatting often. He liked him, especially since he was the one that had stabbed former First Watchman Marcus to death.

The older carpenter and mason gave respectful nods and averted their eyes from him.

“I need a few moments with my servants here, would you leave us?” asked Solomon.

Simon and Bovi nodded, grabbing a few of their tools and walking out of the ballroom.

Once they were gone Solomon turned to the brothers with a serious expression.

“I’m not a tradesman, nor do I expect others to abide by the level of etiquette I was taught, so I must ask if the comment I just heard is typical and reasonable to you?”

“It’s not. I’ve never heard such insults,” said Bart, his hand tightening around the hammer he was still holding.

“That’s not true,” said Barnabus. “My master and yours were both foul of tongue and quick to make comments.”

“Yes, but not about…” Bart paused.

Barnabus shifted uncomfortably.

Solomon frowned. He’d wondered about how the young man had lost his hand. It was his non-dominant hand from what he could tell, but it certainly affected his abilities as a carpenter. Still, he’d seen no sub-par work from him.

“If you both feel their comments have gone too far I would rather remove them and find others to replace them than have things escalate to violence,” he eyed the hammer Bart was holding and the young man sheepishly placed it down.

“No, Lord. I feel I’m learning from Simon. My brother had only just began his apprenticeship, so he’s learned a lot from Bovi as well. We can deal with some rough words. Right Bart?”

Bart sighed. “Yes. We can handle it, Lord.”

Solomon nodded. “I’ll make no changes in the short term then. Let me know if things become untenable though.”

Barnabus nodded. “Yes sir.”

Solomon looked over and noticed a prybar. He picked it up and examined it.

“My uncle Rentus Ryland was missing a hand. He had a fake golden one he would wear to balls, but otherwise he had one with a simple dulled hook. Would you benefit from such a thing? At least to help you with leverage?”

Barnabus nodded. “Yes lord. It’s something I’ve thought of often. Unfortunately I have not had the time to find a smith or doctor who can help me make such a thing. Nor do I have the necessary funds.”

“Tomorrow go and speak with Dr. Isaacs in town. I’m sure with the history of mining here he’s familiar with cases similar to yours. He may know where to start. Let me know the price and I will pay for it.”

Barnabus shook his head. “Lord, I can work fine as I am.”

“I know. You’ll go anyway, and you’ll accept me paying for it as well. Understood?”

He nodded. “Yes Lord.”

“Good. I’m going to borrow this for a moment,” he walked away with the prybar in his grip before they could object or insist on doing whatever he needed the bar for themselves. One the way out he gave nods to Simon and Bovi, before turning down the hall and making his way toward the library.

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Once inside he locked the doors and made his way into the secret chamber. He then made his way to the far wall on which the chain had been secured. Unlike the chain itself, the fasten into the wall was black iron and heavy. He looked at it carefully and jammed the prybar’s narrow end at it. He was unsuccessful at actually getting it behind. He tried wiggling it back and forth while applying pressure to it and with that method he was able to get the prybar behind it. He then pulled back as hard as he could, using his weight as leverage. After nearly a minute of this, he’d moved it a few centimeters. He sighed and repeated the process several more times. Pulling, yanking, and shimmying until the chain finally fell completely from the wall.

He dropped the prybar to the ground and put his hands on his knees, catching his breath. Once he’d collected himself he used the bar to drag the chain close to the desk. The metal was light. He raised the prybar and aimed the narrow end at one of the links. He slammed it down with all his strength and was surprised when he hit the stone floor. He looked closely and saw that the metal of one link was cut halfway through. The metal wasn’t just light, it was soft, like gold. It couldn’t be broken with brute strength by him, but with the right tools he could separate individual links if he needed to, perhaps even break them down into smaller pieces. He’d need to measure their efficacy, but he felt he had a much better chance of using smaller shards of the metal on the Lord of the Black Wood then he did lugging the entire chain and attempting to wrap the god in it.

Temporarily satisfied, he walked over to the homunculus pots and pricked his forefinger with a scalpel. He let two drops fall into each pot, walking along them until he was done. He could feel some of his mana within the pots stir as he fed them. Once that was done he went to check on the spare vials of blood he’d left on the desk. He could still sense his mana within them without issue, but it had diminished a bit. He reinfused them, and then drew two more vials of blood and placed them next to the others.

Once he was done in the chamber he left it and went to the door of the library. Very shortly after he heard footsteps he recognized as Melissa’s followed by a knock on the door. He moved to it and unlocked it.

Melissa smiled at him and held out a letter. “For you, Lord. Straight from the courier.”

He accepted it. “Anything else?”

“Yes, the man that has been… persistent with Emery is here. Would you like me to bring him here to you?”

“Yes, please.”

She nodded and left. He left the door open and went over to the desk. It was rather unused since he actually did everything in the secret chamber, but it was free of dust and he kept a few ledgers there for show to justify hiding away for hours a day. He grabbed a spare letter opener from within it and broke a seal. As it had only been a few days since he’d sent his last letter, he imagined this had to be from James Byar. As he lived in Etling, his correspondence could be returned the quickest.

Solomon,

I heard that you had more trouble there in Moonfallow, but less severe. You have become quite a sensation among us little nobles here in Etling. I know that you were still wary of committing to visiting, but I am hosting a small ball here in one week and I am certain many would be interested in you making an appearance. It will be a relatively intimate affair, only a hundred or so guests, mostly lesser nobles and local merchants. If possible I’d like to host you for a day prior and a few days after.

Please let me know at your convenience,

-Viscount James Byar

He neatly folded the letter as he finished reading it and drew a paper from his own desk. While he still hadn’t settled on exact meeting dates with some of the lumber and manarite interests in Etling, and it was a bit ahead of schedule, the opportunity to expand his contacts couldn’t be passed up. He penned a quick response in the affirmative and had just finished sealing it when Melissa returned.

With her was a young man, roughly Solomon’s own age. He was broad, with light hair and a square jaw. He remembered hiring him to help provide security almost immediately.

“This is Nils.”

The young man took off his hat and held it in his hands.

“You wanted to see me, Lord?”

“Yes. Melissa, please leave us.”

She nodded and left the room.

“Nils, I’m going to keep this short. I’ve heard that you’ve made many overtures to Emery. While none have been improper, the volume of them has led to some discomfort. Please cease them, or I will end your employment. As things stand I was planning on making sure everyone working here will also have work when the roads are being repaired and expanded. I don’t want you to jeopardize that.”

“Yes Lord. I understand.”

“Good. And thank you for your hard work so far.”

He nodded and left the room.

Solomon sighed. Truthfully, he didn’t mind if his servants made more connections with the locals, but he certainly wouldn’t force it. He grabbed his letter and handed it to Melissa.

“Lord, it’s quite beautiful out today.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. It may be good to take stock of how well the garden is coming along.”

He frowned, the garden was mostly an expanse of dirt at the moment. He noticed her eyebrow was raised and understood her meaning.

“You feel I’m in need of some fresh air and sunlight?”

“Yes, Solomon.”

He smiled at her. “I’ll give it a try.”

She smiled back and he moved back into the library to grab his walking stick and the prybar which he handed to her.

“Please return this to Barnabus, and see if he has a chisel and small hammer he can do without.”

She nodded, not asking any questions.

Solomon walked out the front door and did a leisurely loop around the property. As he turned a corner he heard a loud conversation that included a voice he recognized.

“-keep his little harem here safe. He’s no better than an orc chief with his dozen captured wives.”

“All nobles are dirty bastards like the rest of us, they just like to pretend they aren’t.”

“I’m sure Emery’d have gone with me to the tavern if he didn’t control her purse strings.”

There was the sound of spitting. “Bastard.”

Solomon sighed and quietly spun around. It seemed Nils would be out of work soon after all.