Chapter 5

Serinas only vaguely remembers the directions, but the smoke from distant fires guides them just as well.

"This must be the place," Renzo says, as the clearing opens up onto a well-tended complex of white buildings surrounded by numerous gates.

No one tries to stop them. Beyond the wide open iron bars, there's armor left behind by fleeing guards. The main doors to the mansion are smashed in, and sounds of footsteps and people yelling come from inside. Serinas hesitates at the entrance, looking up at the red glow coming from some of the windows, but Renzo plunges into the darkness before the healer can speak again.

Two things become immediately apparent to him. First, the rioters, or perhaps the servants, have snuffed out all the lamps and candles. Passing through the corridors, his eyes barely make out faint outlines in what moonlight creeps in through the windows. Second, when he closes them, faint spots of red, blurry at first, sometimes merging or splitting, appear in his vision.

When they grow big enough, he recognizes the silhouette of an armed man, and hides behind a statue.

"Intruders!" the man yells back to where he came from. "Help me, Olgard, this way!"

Hearing only one set of footsteps, Renzo trips the guard, and before the man can turn around and unsheathe his sword, knocks him out. The guard’s armor fits well enough, so Renzo borrows some of it, together with the sword.

On the upper floor, the screams are more discernible. He passes a room with a fire raging in it. Sneaking past further, he sees servants being chased around by the now-free slaves. A housemaid falls, and immediately two men jump on her with a debauched laughter. Renzo sneaks up on them as they are about to tear off her clothes, and slams both on the backs of their heads.

The maid, confused at first, looks up at him and screams when she sees his gleaming metal legs. She tries scrambling away, but he breaks the silence.

"Where is the Lord hiding?"

The woman stammers and tears up.

"Neither of us has much time to get out of this place. So I’ll ask you again, kindly, as somebody who helped you: where is Thredmore?"

The housemaid gingerly lifts her arm and points down another corridor. "T-there," she stammers. "To the left, up the stairs, but it’s all blocked."

"Thank you. Now you should run away," Renzo says.

The maid was not lying. The main passageway has been barricaded with all sorts of furniture – chests of drawers, sofas, golden chandeliers – all piled to block any entrance. Another bunch of looting slaves comes running around. He hides from them behind a pile of broken furniture. Once they pass he climbs out through a broken window onto a parapet. Standing outside, he sees Serinas below, struggling with the gate that leads to the flowery courtyards that open up onto the outside world.

Above him is the parapet of the next floor, but his fingers cannot catch enough of the stonework. He remembers how he seemed to suddenly have more energy when the guards were roughing him up. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and, trusting the same instinct that helped him then, jumps up. The lift is stronger than he expects, and mid-leap he turns halfway around to realize he has already reached the next floor. Desperately he grabs a piece of railing outside the window he's facing.

Inside, he sees the figure of a rather short man frantically pacing the room, turned away. Thredmore. Thredmore screams, unusually high-pitched, when the glass smashes into bits, backing away and still trying to load a crossbow. Shards of glass land over the gilded table and spray onto the lush woven carpet under his feet. The nobleman drops the weapon seeing Renzo and stammers, "It’s you... how did you–"

Renzo takes one step toward him. Thredmore squeals, "No, please, don’t! Don’t kill me! I’m sorry."

"You think sorry will help you now?" Renzo asks, and takes another step.

"No, please! I’ll give you anything you want, just don’t kill me."

There is a commotion outside. Sounds of screaming servants joined by banging on doors, until finally the noise reaches the door of the small study in which Thredmore is hiding. Thredmore tries picking up the crossbow again, but Renzo grabs him by the jacket and presses him against a bookshelf.

"How do I get out of here?" Renzo asks. "Where are the keys? I need a horse."

Thredmore looks left and right in panic. "You need to take the route north, fast, through the swamp. The keys, yes, there in my drawer," he points at the desk, shaking. "Please don’t kill me." Then he points at the bookshelf. "The book sticking out," he says.

Renzo lets him go and quickly picks the keys and a sack of coins up from the desk drawer, then walks up to the bookshelf, and when he tries pulling the book out, the entire hunk of wood swings around, revealing a passage behind it.

The banging on the door grows louder. Thredmore picks up the crossbow and tries to rush to the exit, but as he turns, the door flies out of the hinges, and he falls back down again.

"I told you I won’t kill you. I can’t vouch for these men," Renzo says, turning around and hurrying down the staircase.

He doesn't look back, running down the stairs. He hears lacquered shoes trying to follow, then a moment of silence, then screams of Thredmore, and the firing of a crossbow bolt, and louder screaming and a tumbling sound.

The secret exit from the mansion leads to a small garden, which opens onto another unguarded gate, now wide open. The secret exit is well-separated from the rest of the gardens. Renzo picks up what food and useful belongings he can find, left by the escaping servants. He goes to the stables to steal a horse, then finds Serinas still struggling with the gate.

"How did you manage to make it through? You've never been inside before, have you?" the healer asks, surprised.

"Does it matter?" Renzo says, opening the gate. "I sensed my way through."

"You saw in the dark, with your eyes closed, yes?" Serinas says.

"I might have."

The healer mutters something under his breath, then says quietly, as if to himself, "What have I done?" He looks up at Renzo. "I hope for us all you’ll do good with this power." Then he runs ahead and onto the road.

"I suppose I didn't ask where you'll go after. This way leads to my village, to my family," he says, pointing down one fork.

"Looks like we're going different directions then."

"Indeed. Thank you, and may the Heavens keep your path clear," the man excuses himself and hurries away.

Looking behind and seeing nothing but carnage, smoke and the ember glow coming more intensely from the manor, Renzo rides off towards a fork, and takes the road to Valenfall.