The Lord of Shadows

by E E Ewer

  Nire had no idea how long she had laid there listening to the sounds around her when Miko dropped down from the ceiling.

  “Can’t sleep?” she asked the girl in the corner who stared at her with wide green eyes.

  “No, not really,” she responded.

  “Well why don’t you come with me, I have some things to get done and I can show you around a little bit. Just try not to talk too much and follow my lead, ok?” the fox suggested.

  “Um… well…” Nire hesitated. She was terribly curious, but at the same time she was also rather afraid of what these other demons might be like. “All right… I guess.” I guess it would be better than staying here all day…

  “All right, you will need to change your clothes first.” Miko wandered over to a cupboard and pulled out a plain gray dress with a white apron. “I’m supposed to wear this stupid thing whenever I go into Eastcastle, because its ‘proper attire’, but I never do. I don’t like looking like a housemaid,” Miko said as she tossed the dress to Nire.

  Miko was wearing a pair of leather trousers underneath a long green tunic. Around her waist was a belt with numerous pouches, and a satchel bag hung from her right hip. Nire could understand why they would want her to change before going into a castle… She looked as though she could have stepped straight out of the forest. Which in fact, she probably did.

  As Nire changed she struggled with the laces on the back of the dress, and Miko came to help her.

  “That’s another reason I never change before I go in – too much of a hassle, and I don’t have anyone to help me lace up.” She then handed Nire a pair of plain black slippers and led her to the door in the stone wall. “This little hut was built for my master before he died – he always complained that the alchemist lab in the castle was too far from the forest and his garden, so they threw this little place on the side for him, ha ha. It’s not much to look at from any angle, but I do have to agree, it’s much better than being stuffed up in an old castle!”

  Opening the door Miko led the way and instructed Nire to watch her step.

  “What is this?” Nire asked as she stepped over buckets and brooms, mops and all other sorts of objects.

  “Supply closet,” Miko laughed. “It used to be the back entrance to the kitchen before they built the hut here, and since then they just started throwing all sorts of junk in here.”

  “That’s a bit inconsiderate…” Nire thought out loud as she navigated the mess.

  “Nah, I don’t mind. Makes it easy to get to things when I need something, and not like anyone ever notices anything goes missing.”

  At the end of the narrow passageway there was a short flight of stairs that lead to another wooden door, identical to the one they had just come through. Miko used a key to unlock it from the inside, and peeked out before carefully pushing it open. Once open, Nire could see why Miko had been so cautious opening the door.

  There were people, everywhere, most of them wearing the same gray dress and white apron as Nire. Rushing this way and that, Miko could have easily knocked someone over had she opened the door quickly. On top of the rush, there was an unimaginable amount of talking and shouting, and it seemed the entire staff was condensed into this single room. Miko looked back at Nire who stood closely behind her.

  “Not the best time to be going into the kitchen, everyone’s trying to get the morning chores done. Hold on, ok?” she said as she took Nire’s hand and prepared to lead her into the crowd of gray and white uniforms. Nire nodded, and Miko moved quickly into the crowd, shutting the door behind her. “Ready?” she asked Nire as she paused by the wall for a moment. Nodding again, Nire was suddenly pulled behind the orange haired girl as she expertly maneuvered the crowd.

  As they rushed through the kitchens, dodging people with plates, platters, cloths and a number of other objects, they managed to make their way to the center island where numerous cooks rushed between food preparations, yelling at housemaids and butlers, and the likely assistant or two. Miko quickly approached a beast of a woman who had just finished yelling at a poor young girl for bringing her the wrong item.

  “I’ve just completed that batch of ground Arnicate for you Miriam – where should I put it?” She addressed the frightening woman with a smile as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a small bottle filled with a red powder.

  “Eh? Oh give it here,” the woman responded gruffly. “And I will be out of Negraman root soon as well!” she added in a harsh tone.

  “No problem. I should already have some in storage and I can get it for you by the end of the day,” Miko replied in a sweet voice. The woman grunted as a response, and Miko took Nire’s hand once again and began to lead her off, when the beastly woman suddenly turned and looked straight at her. She placed her hands on her hips and seemed to forget about her rush as she looked the human girl up and down.

  “Who’s this?” she addressed Miko while looking directly at Nire, who stood frozen in the sights of the awful woman.

  “She’s new!” Miko said cheerfully. “Marge asked me to help her get acquainted with the castle, seeing as that she has a bit too much on her hands at the moment to be dealing with new staff members.” Miriam grunted and made a huffing sound.

  “I thought the staff was full,” she questioned, causing Nire to swallow hard, and squeeze Miko’s hand.

  “It was, but Marge decided she needed a little extra help with particulars in the East wing.”

  “Oh, I see,” the frightening woman grunted. “Well, welcome to Eastcastle then!” she said in a hardly inviting tone as she patted her hand roughly on the side of Nire’s shoulder, knocking her off balance. “Scrawny thing aren’t you? What’s your name girl?”

  “Nuh… nuh….” she stuttered.

  “Speak up girl!” Miriam shouted. “No one’ll ever hear ya in this kitchen with a voice like that!”

  “Her name is Nire,” Miko responded for her. “She’s a bit nervous.”

  “Oh. Is that all? Well, no one’ll bite ya! Except for Namia, she might!” Just then the large woman let out a powerful laugh. Nire couldn’t move, she just stared at the woman as she laughed at what she must have thought was a pretty funny joke.

  “Well, we should be off Miriam,” Miko said as she tugged on Nire’s arm.

  “Course you should, and I back to my cookin’. LENNI, WHERE IS THAT BIRD? IT WON’T DRESS ITSELF YA KNOW!” she shouted over the crowd as a small girl came running with what appeared to be some sort of large fowl.

  Miko continued tugging on Nire’s arm until her feet finally dislodged from the floor, and she followed the orange haired girl to a storage pantry. Inside the voices quieted and Miko began to chuckle.

  “What… was that?” Nire gasped.

  “That was Miriam. She is a Minor Demon like me. Her animal form is a bear. She’s the head cook, and she is nice enough, as long as you don’t work for her.” Her chuckles continued at the look on Nire’s face. While Nire tried to wrap her head around everything, Miko began rummaging through the shelves, turning around jars, reading labels, taking things down, putting things up…

  “Minor Demon?” Nire asked suddenly.

  “Yeah. There are lots of different kinds of demons actually. Minor demons like Miriam and I have a natural animal form. It’s actually our original form; these human looking forms are just something we maintain to be useful. It takes a lot of energy though… so we can’t really do pure magic like the other races can. That’s why we do things like Alchemy,” Miko explained.

  “And cooking?” Nire asked. The fox girl laughed as she continued rummaging through jars and bottles.

  “Not everyone is interested in the ‘Arts’ I guess,” she responded.

  “And Alchemy…” Nire paused. “Isn’t that where you turn common metals into gold?”

  “Ha. Well, not exactly. It’s really more involved with plants… You know, your basic use of herbs for whatever… sometimes with a touch of magic to get the desired effect. A lot of the plants I sp
ecialize in are magic themselves, so learning how to use and utilize the power they hold is a big part of it. But since it’s usually fairly uneventful here, I mainly deal in common kitchen spices.” Miko had climbed the shelves to a rack that sat above her head, and continued her inventory list.

  “Miriam can’t keep track of everything, so I keep my own lists. She just lets me know when she runs out of something she will need right away, so I know to move it up on my to-do list. When I’m done in here we will sneak down to the Medics,” Miko added as she put her note book in her teeth and scaled another shelf.

  “The Medics?” Nire asked.

  “Yah,” Miko said through clenched teeth, before removing the pad with her free hand. “That’s a lot more fun than kitchen spices.”

  “Didn’t Margery say I should keep to the kitchens?” Nire asked… not wanting to sound confrontational.

  “Yup. That’s where the sneaking comes in,” Miko winked at her. “Don’t worry; the point was just to keep you out of sight. It’s one thing if the staff sees you, but if any guards or residents see you there might be problems.” Nire looked unsure. “He is going to notice you’re here, it’s just a matter of when. And the longer you stay… in the shadows, so to speak, the better. Though, contrary to the metaphor, do actually try to stay out of the shadows.”

  The brown haired girl blinked. She wasn’t quite sure what Miko meant by that, but obviously the idea was to remain unnoticed, plain and simple. Miko was quickly down off the shelves and took a hold of Nire’s hand once again.

  “Here we go again!” Miko said as she pulled Nire out from the dark pantry and into a kitchen that was slightly less busy than before. “It’ll be like this till about noon, and then it quiets down some until supper,” Miko told her as they made their way towards a large door at the end of the kitchen. The door was closed, and no one appeared to be using it, although there were many people coming and going.

  Nire looked around as Miko pulled her to a small door with a round top, positioned next to the large door. She opened the smaller door, led Nire through, and prompted Nire to shut it behind her. Looking forward she found herself in a very narrow passageway, that was only dimly lit by hanging candle sconces.

  “Wouldn’t you hate to have the job of keeping all these candles lit?” Miko asked jokingly as she pulled her down the hallway. There were numerous twists and turns, cross sections, forks, and most of all the same kind of small, round topped doors lining the walls.

  “Where are we?” Nire asked as they passed yet another door, identical to the previous one.

  “Service hallways,” Miko answered shortly. “They run through the entire castle; makes it easier for us to move about without getting in the way of the residents.”

  “So they just follow the large hallways?”

  “Hmm, most of the time, but not always. You should be careful coming in here by yourself; it’s pretty easy to get lost.”

  “I can imagine. Where do all these doors go?” Nire asked.

  “Some of them go into private rooms, so unless you know exactly where you’re going, don’t open them. Most of them however are just exits into the main hallway – those ones have these on them,” Miko said as she stopped and pointed to a red stripe near the top of the door. “Bedrooms have green marks, common rooms have blue, and if the door doesn’t have a mark on it you should probably stay out. These halls are used for a lot of purposes, not just by servants. There are only a few people who know where every door leads, and the rest of us know better than to try to find out.”

  That small piece of information didn’t make Nire feel any more comfortable as she continued to follow the fox girl down the hallways. Coming to a staircase that descended to the right, Miko turned and tugged Nire along.

  “We’re crossing under one of the grand hallways right now,” she informed her as their footsteps tapped quickly along the stone floor. Reaching the opposite ascending staircase the girls continued forward.

  Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of narrow hallways, Miko pulled Nire through a small square topped door, and down a flight of spiral stairs. Nire noticed that the design of the castle was taken into great consideration, and that everything seemed to have a meaning.

  “Round top doors lead in and out of service halls, and square top doors lead to…?” she asked. Miko chuckled.

  “Square top doors mean you’re not changing locations. Round top doors mean you’re going into a separate area. So from the kitchen to the dining room, there is a round top door. From the kitchen to the pantry is a squared door.”

  “Oh…” Nire replied. That makes sense, she thought to herself.

  “For the most part, if you know the architecture you should be able to find your way through the castle without getting too terribly lost. There are lots of tricks for getting around here,” Miko added.

  At the bottom of the spiral stair case was a round topped door. Miko gestured to it, as if to ask Nire where it led. It had no mark on it, so it was not a hallway, bedroom, or common room. Nire shrugged, she did know where they were going, after all.

  “The Medics?” she asked.

  “Yup. Not a lot of people come down this way,” Miko said. Her yellow eyes flashed in the dim light as she knocked on the short door. Without waiting for a response she opened it and walked through, tugging Nire behind her.

  A tall woman in dark clothing stood with her back to them, grumbling angrily about something.

  “That damn Alastor! Why he insists on using REAL swords for training purposes is beyond me. I swear if I have to restore one more severed limb I’ll –“

  “Hi Neir!” Miko interrupted the other woman’s rant, and she jumped at the sudden voice from behind her.

  “Oh Lords, Miko, you gave me a start,” the woman said as she turned to face them. Her hair was long, straight, and black, and her skin was a light gray. She crossed her arms as she saw Nire standing behind Miko, and made no attempt to hide her glances as she sized her up. “What’s this?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “This is Nire… hmm, your names have all the same letters!” Miko exclaimed. Neir was not nearly as amused.

  “Indeed,” she responded. “And what is she doing here… and in a housemaids dress?” she inquired. She seemed well spoken and of a higher intellect than Miriam, which concerned Nire, but didn’t seem to bother Miko in the slightest.

  “She’s new. Marge wanted some extra help and has me showing her around the castle,” Miko said very matter-of-factly.

  “Is that so? If that is the case, why is she not with Margery then?” the woman inquisitively prodded.

  “She’s busy, hence needing the extra help. She doesn’t have time to show her around the whole castle.”

  “Hmm, very well. I will speak with Margery myself on the matter. What is it you have for me?” The woman did not seem to have much of an interest in Nire’s presence beyond that moment.

  “I have the extra Kamin root extract you requested. Lots of healing potions to make?” Miko asked.

  “Yes, I do so hate mixing potions but I don’t have the time to go and heal every poor recruit finding themselves on the sharp end of a blade. Every summer that demon floods my halls with wounded recruits and insists that it makes them better soldiers. I don’t know how many times I’ve told him to use wooden swords with the new ones. These men have never even held a blade, how in all the Realm he expects them to be able to block one is beyond me,” she grumbled after taking the small vial from Miko and returning to her work.

  “I could mix some of them for you, if that would be any help,” Miko offered.

  “Oh, thank you for the offer dear but you are quite busy as well and I’m sure I can manage. It’s just such a daunting task. I much prefer working with the Pure Magics as opposed to these material Magics.” Neir realized she may have said something rude and quickly glanced up at Miko, who smiled. “No offense, of course.”

  “None taken, we all have our preferences,” Miko said p
olitely. “Just let me know if you ever want any help.”

  “Actually,” Neir started as she turned back to face them again. “You could do me a great favor by mixing this for me,” she said as she took a piece of parchment from the pouch that hung around her waist and handed it to Miko. “It was a special request, and I am not too familiar with a few of the ingredients. I’m sure your skills would be far more appropriate for this type of mixture than mine.”

  Miko glanced at the list, and her smile dropped.

  “Who requested this?” she asked with a concerned look.

  “That information is not really mine to disclose, but rest assured it is a trustworthy source,” Neir reassured the suspicious fox.

  “Hmm, all right, but please make sure they are aware of exactly what it is they are asking for…” Miko urged as she tucked the parchment into her satchel.

  “Will do, also there is a list on the table over there of the ingredients I will need a resupply of shortly.” Neir’s dark hair swayed as she moved quickly back to her work.

  “Got it,” Miko said as she picked up the paper and took Nire’s hand once again. “We’ll get out of your hair, good luck with Alastor.”

  “Ha!” Neir huffed at the mention of his name. “I’ll wring his maned neck!” she said through gritted teeth. Miko chuckled as they backed through the door to the spiral staircase they had descended.

  “Miko…” Nire started.

  “Oh, don’t worry about her. Trust me. I wouldn’t take you anywhere I thought we might run into trouble.”

  “She didn’t seem to like me too much…” Nire pressed.

  “She doesn’t like anyone much… Except maybe Alastor,” Miko giggled.

  “Alastor? Who is that? Isn’t that the person she said she hated?”

  “Yup. He’s Captain of the Guard. If you ask me, they like each other more than either one of them will care to admit. She doesn’t gripe about anyone nearly as much as him, and he doesn’t irritate anyone quite so much as her…” Miko laughed again. “Though it’s not as if either one of them will ever own up to it. They will probably spend the rest of her life digging under each other’s skin.”