Varcola Arnfried’s Journal Gilpean 4th: Knowing the House-Rules of a Vampire

Yep, the chapter's been posted earlier than usual

Arnfried’s Journal

Gilpean 4^th,

The dinner that was served was delicious. One that consisted of poultry dipped in a local sauce, mixed with spices from the local village, and mixed with onions and cheese from Gallia. Never had I imagined that one might mix cheese with meat in such a manner and put together into a stew, yet it was quite remarkable. The pungent scent and warmth of the cooked meat, were far better than any of our monastery’s fare or that of even Ackalburg Sieghild if I may be so presumptuous. Truly the Baroness is blessed to have so talented a cook.

What you may find the most remarkable is that that this fine meal cooked and roasted in the kitchens was done by Klove. A man of some substantial size, with the sort of appearance that suggested clumsiness, and with an uncaring tactless air about him that gave him an uncouth disposition, therefore it was a talent one might not have expected from him at first glance.

The meal which was spent alone, as the lady I was told, “Has already eaten for she had expected us far earlier in the day, and thus had something prepared for that time.”

“Oh my apologies, and thank you Klove,” I had replied at the time, filled with guilt.

It happened later the next day, after I descended to eat in the large dining-hall, whereupon I had been fed the prior day that I was informed of how the baroness would not be joining me for either breakfast or lunch. “Why is that? Has she taken ill?”

“No young brother, but rather she has since taken ill,” Klove assured me in a smooth voice, “She has decided for this reason to take her meal in her chambers.”

“Really? Is there anything I can do for her? I have been trained in the healing arts, by the brothers of Eichbraun.”

“It is nothing you need concern yourself with, it is but age,” answered the last of the household servants of Castle-Teufelburg his tone and face impassive. “She is a victim of what comes for all who draw breath.”

After this I was led up the stairs which was far more easy a task than one night hence, due in no small part I suspected because of a full-night’s rest. That greatest of men’s boons as Brother Benjamin was fond of saying to all who might lend their ears in his direction, with the lady’s servant bearing the appearance of a man who had not slept at all. Eyes ringed by dark circles, ones that bespoke not simply of a lifetime of sorrows and age, but principally of an insomniac’s pains.

Shown to the castle-library, Sieghild you may not have believed me, but the wonders I saw there might well have entranced you at once, as it did myself; though a small chamber there were hundreds of tomes.

Hundreds! Think of it Sieghild! They were almost falling from the mahogany brown shelves, they were so numerous. Such was my awe, at the many blue, green and red dust-covered wonders that were to be found therein that tiny sliver of the castle that I stopped mid-step to gape. Hearing me gasp drew neither a smile, nor the slightest amusement from him.

“The library is yours to use as you see fit, brother for the duration of your stay,” Said Klove with nary more than a slight nod of his head. “I will be nearby, in the event that you should require the slightest aid or any other assistance. Good day, brother.” He paused long enough, in the doorway to whisper to me quite clearly, and with a hint of worry in his pinched brow. “One last thing Brother; do not go about exploring Castle-Teufelburg on your own. It is a large place, easy to lose oneself in, and there are places her ladyship would prefer you not visit.”

“Places such as?”

“Why the east-wing and the north-easterly quarter of the castle,” Klove explained in his deep almost threatening voice.

Hardly taking notice of his tone, or having much interest in visiting those places. Born a peasant, and raised in Eichbraun-Abbey, I am as you well know Sieghild obedient by nature insofar as the rules of a household are concerned. If a place be a monastery, or castle the abbot or lord were to be respected and obeyed, or so I had been brought up to think.

Giving him my assurances that I had little interest in the breaking of the lady’s rulings, especially in matters concerning her home, he did bid me a good-night and left, satisfied.

Pleased by this, yet hardly knowing where to begin reading I hurriedly thanked the tall man-servant who shrugged and left as abruptly as he had appeared one day hence.

I thus sit here, journal on one of the nearby tables, carved from fine red-wood and polished by the distant Wilder-Elves of Gallia who excel in such arts, noting down everything that I have seen.