Taniel (The Taverner's Daughter I)

49: Dax - Castle Stakkr

The feeble orange light of the doorball filling the witch's room caught Dax's attention. While he had been trying to summon courage to defy her orders, Paget had cleared space for activating the portal. In the door-room at Stakkr, the knob on the receiving door alerted the guards of their impending arrival.

"Dax, you're coming with me," Paget said. "I'm not facing your mother alone."

He believed her, though he wondered why she would be scared when none of what happened was her fault. Her witchery was needed only to confirm success in the creation of the progeny. Dax did not mind admitting he was reluctant to tell his mother that the coupling had not even eventuated. Mother, when out of sorts, was hard to reason with.

"Take your things." Paget tossed his coat and bag at him. "You will not be coming back." She picked up her own valise.

Katerine pressed the crystal on the doorball again and moved away. The light flashed red. Accompanied by a slight scraping sound, the portal door snapped into view with the threshold a hand width above the floor.

Dax sighed and, clutching his belongings, walked to the door. He loathed the doors. As a child, he had been terrified that both ends would shut as he passed, leaving him trapped in nothingness. Later, he learned the two portals were only the one, in two places simultaneously. It still gave him a headache to think about it. Some childhood dread lingered.

"I better go first," Dax said. "I don't want you skewered by the guard." Trying not to think about passing through water and rock, Dax stepped on the threshold step, forcing his eyes to stay open. He opened the door, and stepped into the unfurnished door-room in the bowels of his stepfather's castle.

Barbed spears pricked his stomach and he heard Paget gasp behind him. They waited to be admitted by the armed guards who would not move until he had identified Paget. Satisfied, the third guard spoke to the gharls in their own tongue before turning to rap code on the exit door. The guards moved aside, their weapons lifted.

As the outside locks were released, Dax glanced at the other doors arranged in the rounded walls of the antechamber. Though he hated portals, he longed for the convenience of his own doorball. He could leave whenever he wanted, without waiting on his dragon.

Paget nudged him in the back and they moved forward. The gharl guard resumed their positions with spears facing the Skerby room. Beyond them, Katerine stood by the bed, her arms crossed, longing on her face.

Dax ushered the witch into the small chamber at the foot of the staircase. Here, he was relieved to see familiar guards. "One of you should mind the other side of the portal," he suggested. The senior guard waved the other to do Dax's bidding.

Dax acknowledged Katerine's mouthed thanks. Once the guard took up a stance in the tavern, Dax signalled for the sealing of the door-room.

The racket of the locking system followed Dax and Paget up the circular stairs. He saw her interest in their surroundings. In marked contrast to the roughly hewn bathing chambers on a similar level, here the smooth granite walls gleamed. Gilt-framed paintings, interspersed with bright mage lights, took the eye away from the drop on their right. As they clattered up, Paget took in the images of turbulent seas, fog-enshrouded fighting ships, and sunlit mountain views.

He liked the way she moved. Pity she is a witch, he thought.

The wall ended in a sweeping balustrade. The granite steps widened and spilled them into a small reception area. A heavily armed gharl stood by each carved newel, their spear butts firmly on the floor.

"The grand hall," Dax said, pointing to the curtained archway comprising the entire wall directly before them. He waited while Paget peeked into the darkened room, knowing she would not see anything much except a double height, gloomy space lined with banquet tables and stacked benches. Taking her arm, he steered her to the left through a smaller curtained arch. "Kitchen and guest quarters, for when Mother entertains. This way is quicker than going through the hall."

Several dim mage lights lit the passage ahead.

Is it always like this?" Paget whispered. "All these guards?"

"No. There's usually just a few on rotation in the door-room and a couple more for the roof." Dax lowered his voice. "There are extra gharls."

"Wizard Ritter looks ready for trouble, do you think?"

"Looks like it," Dax responded, wishing Paget would stop talking.

"But gharls, Dax? I thought they were confined to Dakeshott. Does Wizard Ritter-"

"Paget." Dax frowned and touched his lips with his forefinger, giving a brief shake of his head.

She lifted her eyebrows.

He shook his head again and they proceeded in silence, their pace gradually tuning to the rhythm of the sea thrashing against the walls. The next flight of stairs followed the curve of the outer wall. "Servant's quarters." Dax nodded to the right as they walked across the landing.

They climbed up to the main living level and he thought a call to his dragon was in order. He opened his mindpath, but almost immediately sensed the shielding.

He grimaced. With all the increased security evident, he might have guessed Ritter would have a mindshield wrapped around the castle.

Halting, he absentmindedly scratched his head. He should go back and make sure Jarryd's woman was alright. Someone should keep an eye out for her.

"You're not going back?" Paget looked over her shoulder at him, frowning slightly.

He took it as an order, not a question. He shook his head.

Fenberry lounged ahead of them, leaning by the pair of tall blue doors.

Dax turned to Paget. "Did you want to take your things up? I presume you have a room here?" He eyed the ceiling.

"No, first visit."

"Really?"

"I came down from Ferryton and your mother met us on the road. That idiot coach driver of yours almost had me killed when we came up out of Skerby. Some fellow on top spooked the horses, he said. Frightened the hell out of me."

"Were you hurt?" Dax asked.

"Nothing I couldn't heal," she said. "Anyway, after meeting with Olivia, I was coached back to Skerby. These doorballs are great, though, aren't they? Better than coach travel, that's for sure."

"Yeah." Dax straightened his clothes and greeted the manservant. "Fenberry, has Mother gone to her rooms?"

"Mistress Olivia is in the Blue Hall," intoned Fenberry, seemingly from his nose for his lips barely moved.

"Good, thanks," Dax said.

He fidgeted while Paget put down her valise to smooth her dress and fuss with her hair. She squeezed his arm. His nervousness was too obvious, he thought. Heartened by the witch's encouragement, he grinned at her.

Together, they each put a hand to a silver doorplate and entered the Blue Hall.

***

29 March 2017 - replaced with revised scene

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