THREE WEEKS LATER
Lord Belthor was barely touching his meal. He pushed his roast quail around on his plate and kept looking towards the door whenever he heard what sounded like footsteps. The sun had set halfway over the mountains in the distance, and the light was failing on this, the twenty-first and final day. The pigeons and carrier birds were usually all accounted for by now.
Then, approaching footsteps outside the door. Belthor bolted from the table and opened the large wooden door before the sentry even knocked on it. “Well?”
“I’m sorry, sir, there’s been no word.”
A sad breath bled from Belthor’s chest. This was it, then. “Dismissed… have the Spellforge children and their nanny sent in.”
“Yes my lord.”
Belthor closed the door and sat wearily in his seat. Two and a half cold, heavy minutes passed. The door was reopened and Nanny the shield golem ducked as he walked through. He carried Kizzlorn. Raelin and Kyler trailed behind. Lord Belthor put on his best friendly smile and spoke. “Hi there, boys. Did you have fun today?”
Raelin was looking around, pulling at his hands. He obviously was no longer comfortable with their little vacation. Kyler’s eyes were pink and he chewed his fingers. “Yes.”
Belthor got up and moved to Nanny. He held up the medallion used to control the construct and said “Hold still.” He opened a panel on Nanny’s chest to reveal a small compartment. Just below it, cradled in Nanny’s gentle arms, Kizzlorn cooed and watched as he pulled out a rolled parchment and unwound it. “Tell me what you did today, Raelin,” Belthor said as he began to read the parchment.
“Well, today I went to play with the other kids in the courtyard. They were playing with practice swords. The guards wouldn’t let me out. Why can’t I go outside to play?” The nobleman was obviously paying attention to his piece of parchment. “When are my mommy and daddy coming back?”
Lord Belthor lowered the paper and placed it on the table, then knelt before the two. “Boys, how would you like to live here in the castle with me and the others?”
“I want to go home.”
“Just imagine- you get to live with your friends! All the noble children, Eryllk and Jaelssa and Spraund and everyone else… it’ll be like a slumber party, all year round!”
Kyler started crying. Raelin said “NO! When are Mommy and Daddy coming back?”
Nanny said “Ky-ler, Bel-thor hurt you?” His eyes were glowing red. The nobleman realized with some alarm that perhaps the shield guardian couldn’t tell that Kyler’s tears didn’t necessarily mean that he was trying to do him harm.
He held up the amulet. “Easy, Nanny.” The machine relaxed. “Raelin, Kyler- “ he paused and swallowed three times. “Mommy and Daddy aren’t coming back. They’ve gone away, to live up in the clouds.”
“No, they’re coming back, they said they’d be back…”
“I’m sorry, Raelin, but they aren’t coming back.” The truth was a little more difficult to explain- they COULD come back, if he could amass enough interest to finance an expedition of heroes to find the remains and cast resurrection on them… after killing the dragon, of course. For another family the good deed might be enough reward, but the name Spellforge was accursed by commoners and adventurers alike for the pain their name had brought about. Verbobonc was gone- entirely reduced to a primitive hamlet. It would be very costly indeed to convince another party to endanger their lives and the lives of everyone in their town by attacking Acessiwal. Besides, Rafflorn’s wealth was all but spent, and his last favor called in by leaving the kids with the nobles. All he had left was the keep out by the ruins of Verbobonc, but he’d abandoned it when he fled. It was best to just let the children know the hard yet simple truth.
Kizzlorn was crying now, alarmed by her brothers’ weeping. The boys were red-faced and screaming. “YOU’RE A LIAR, DADDY SAID HE’S COMING BACK, HE’S COMING BACK!”
Belthor was extremely distressed by now, and he didn’t manage to stop what next came out of his mouth. He cast his head back, glared downward, and commanded “I am a high noble of Greyhawk, and I will NOT be called a liar by the son of a penniless—“ He put a hand to his head. He didn’t mean to say that. There really was no blaming the children, and no amount of comforting would help them right now. He took a breath and eased his tone. “Your parents have died. We will grieve, and we will move on. That’s how it works, you see? It’s all right to be sad. It’s all right to cry when you’re a child.”
“I want mommy,” Kyler gasped.
“You’re going to live here, with me, now. Is that so bad?”
Kyler wailed “I WANT MOMMY!!!”
Belthor straightened and said “Well- this is the way it is, so we’d all best get used to the idea. I’ll give you some time to be alone.” He walked out and began closing the door. “Nanny, comfort them as best you can. I’ll let you out soon.” He barred the door behind him.
As he walked quickly down the hall, the sounds of the children pounding and screaming on the door for him to come back, come back tore at him. He kept walking until he couldn’t hear them any longer. The children didn’t stop crying for some time.
More to come...
