Abaddon Summer

Chapter Four

AN: Trild Kaulu is the second-born Kaulu heir. He outshone his brother Andle and nearly outshone Graydon Pan. Until his grandfather shattered his left knee, supposedly to teach him his place. Trild was introduced briefly in a chapter directly after the council convened. Basically, we have seen him before but only seen his actions. Say hello to the new Kaulu representative at Amos, the Terror of the North, the only one of their generation able to fight Graydon Pan and walk away... Trild Kaulu. 

Much to do as the school year ended and another began to approach. Trild Kaulu leaned heavily on his bloodwood cane. The scaled handle shuddered under his palm as he watched the servants struggle with the ebonwood desk the previous representative had used.

Despite the pain that lanced up his left leg, pulsing from the knee, he moved nothing but his head, watching as people came and went from his study, emptying it. With his proofing behind him, he could have had any position among the ranks but chose to be there.

In Amos, in the heart of it all, as war mages returned.

"Sir, another," his aide said, holding out a scroll for a second.

Trild simply looked at the scroll, then up to meet his aide's eyes.

"Put it with the others," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"And then take your term papers," Trild said. "I'm crippled, not stupid."

"Yes, sir."

The fool had already taken bribes from mage families to look the other way when it came to the crossborn. The Seven were commanded to honour her female pronouns, but the students, staff, and mages had gotten uppity at the beatings they had incurred from assumption without consent.

Trild would stand no fools.

Once the office and adjoining suite had been cleared of the previous occupant, the servants stepped out into the hallway. Trild moved forward, stepping into the study. He breathed in the stale scent and scrunched his up nose in disgust. The study had no windows, but when he stepped into the adjoining suite, closed for the previous twenty years, he found the windows looking down on Hydra pond thrown open.

Even the curtains had been stripped of the rooms, including their fixtures. The bathroom was quaintly white-washed over the stone. Mildew had clawed its way into the cracks, warping the paint.

Pulling a kerchief from his pocket, Trild covered his nose and mouth against the stench as he flipped open the toilet with his cane and grimaced. He knocked it closed once more and left the rooms.

"Had you reached the bathing room?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, but not cleaned," one of the women said.

He made a noise as he sniffed and turned.

His bride-to-be approached with her mother. Her dressed in a creamy yellow, the matron in a blue-grey more befitting a widowed mother. The marriage would bring their small family branch to an end while giving the mother a place to stay for her remaining years after her own father cast her and his granddaughter out.

The man would be hard-pressed to find wives for his grandsons.

"Hello," Trild said. "I was told you would be arriving. This is where we will live for the first year. We will revisit the arrangement at the end of the school year."

"Of course," she responded quietly, pleasantly as she met his eyes. "I'm certain the rooms will meet your every expectation."

His heart stilled for a second.