intimidated. “Chellion gave me control of the lower floors and I will use my power the way I believe best. I’d rather have a thousand commoners than one of you.”
Criath glowered angrily and continued to back away. “This whole place is going to fall down on your head with that many commoners. No food—no army—I’ll take my chances in the manor region with the king and the greatest army ever assembled.” Craith turned and ran down the hall.
Yinnib held the wall for support and made his way back to the table. He collapsed into one of the chairs and began to sob.
Ackerley sat on the floor out of sight for a bit, not knowing what to do. If he tried to leave Yinnib would surely see him. He waited for Yinnib to leave. After several minutes of waiting he finally got up, attempting to sneak away.
“Oh my, I did forget you were there, young Morzha.” Yinnib said, wiping his eyes. “I’m very sorry about all that.” He chuckled. “It’s the way of war, I suppose. I’ll bet your brother has conversations like that with the king all the time—actually I hope he doesn’t.”
Ackerley sat down across from Yinnib. “I think it’s great that you’re going to let in more people.”
“We’re all Chells.” Yinnib whispered, staring longingly at the wall.
“Well . . .” Ackerley thought long and hard if he wanted to continue his thought. He decided he did. “Maybe we aren’t all Chells—not really anyway. He was right, I didn’t know a thing about being a real Chell until I got here.”
“There’s no such thing as a real Chell.” Yinnib said sadly. “It took me so long to realize that.”
He got up, wavered, and waved carelessly at Ackerley. “I’ll be seeing you then. I do need some sleep. The mornings always look better than nights, don’t they?”
Ackerley watched him go, still wondering what made up a real Chell.
When he got back to the room both Jarn and Jamie were asleep. He thought about waking Jarn to tell him what happened, but decided against it. It was awfully late and he decided to see if Yinnib was right about mornings being better.
He woke up early and jumped out of bed. He didn’t feel much better, but wasn’t as tired so he counted that as a victory.
The castle was eerily quiet as Ackerley wandered around for a morning walk. For a moment he thought of going down to Cerise’s residence before remembering that she was up on the third floor now. Instead he went down to the first floor to see if there were any nobles left at all.
A couple sat around the big table talking, but got quiet when he walked in. They all looked concerned about something.
Ackerley went up to breakfast a little later and found that Cerise was the only one there. She sat quietly in the corner eating the now daily breakfast: bread.
“You’re up early.” Ackerley said happily as he sat down across from her with a small roll in his hand.
“Thrindle always got me up at dawn. I can’t seem to shake it.” She smiled as she looked at her own half eaten roll. “It’s a little boring, isn’t it?”
“Boring isn’t always bad.” Ackerley pondered.
“Oh, definitely not. But it’s a little hard to feel truly bored with everyone walking around all depressed. It’s dreadfully quiet this morning.”
Ackerley shrugged nonchalantly. “I think a bunch of nobles ran off in the night.”
He glanced at Cerise and was astonished to see that she didn’t look fazed.
“It’s about time. I figured they’d run off a long time ago. So is this it? Did we get word of the Welgos coming?”
“No, I think they left because Yinnib wants to invite a bunch of the people whose towns went up.”
She laughed darkly. “That’ll do it. Ayya must be one of many coming.”
“I suppose.”
Jarn came in a few minutes later as the room began to fill. Ackerley informed him of everything he heard the night before. He looked a little more shocked than Cerise, but soon came to the same conclusion that it was bound to happen eventually.
A half hour later Yinnib came in and addressed the crowded breakfast room. He had a sad expression that looked as though it might adorn his face permanently.
“The schedules we have gone with these last few years will no longer be used.” He declared glumly.
An intrigued murmur broke out.
“You see we have decided that it is best if some of our own . . .” Yinnib looked around the room, his eyes resting on Ackerley and Cerise’s table. “No—there’s no point in hiding it.” He looked at the floor as if afraid to see the reaction to what he was about to say. “Last night a good number of the instructors and workers here left.”
The intrigued murmur turned to gasps.
“Getting back to relative normalcy is going to take time.” Yinnib continued. “Things will be different from here on out. For your first task I want everyone to get some exercise; so go out and walk through the gardens for a few hours. For second task . . . just treat it as a Sunday and do what you want. I’ll talk to you all again at lunch.”
He went over to Ackerley, Cerise, and Jarn. “Meet me down in your old meditation room for first task.” He told Cerise and the others. “I have a special task for you three.”
A few minutes later the three of them headed to Cerise’s old meditation room, talking hurriedly about what they thought this special task was.
“I’ll bet he wants us to go after the nobles.” Jarn said, giving his sixth and most unlikely idea.
“Doubtful.” Cerise considered. “Maybe we have to clean the floors. Does anyone know if that janitor is still here?”
“No idea.” Ackerley said. “I think he wants us to make up new schedules that don’t require noble supervision. The walking sounds like a good first task. Now we just have to come up with some others.”
Yinnib stood in the center of the columned room. He feigned a smile when they entered. “Everything is getting rather dubious.” He said casually. “This is rather irregular coming from me, but I have a very special and important job for you three. I want you three to help me with the new people coming. The closest town to here is several miles away. I know that you have met Ayya, she is from this town. Her parents came here one night and begged to be let in. This happened many times in the past, but we never let anyone in. I—I finally realized that that was the wrong thing to do.” His eyes filled with tears, but he continued heartily. “I immediately sent a messenger to the town to tell them to come here should anything happen. Ayya’s parents told me that the latest news told them that the Welgos were on their way. I expect the townsfolk to be here any day now.”
“That’s why all the nobles left?” Cerise asked as if she didn’t know the answer.
“Unfortunately, yes. Many found that the Welgos coming this close meant that they would then get to the manor region. They went to help protect their families.” Yinnib’s eyes briefly made contact with Ackerley’s, and then shifted away. “Will you do the honor of accepting these new responsibilities?”
They all agreed readily.
19.
The night air came lazily through the open window of Kenton’s room. He sat on the windowsill and looked out over the many large houses that seemed to stretch on forever. Guards marched in the street, talking amongst themselves. Their footsteps slowly faded away and all was quiet again.
A few lights hung in windows of the many and varied homes. Kenton watched a few children playing some type of board game in the house next door. Every now and then they got up and chased each other around the room. He chuckled softly at their antics.
Kenton could remember being a little kid and hearing about the manor region for the first time. He promised his parents that he would be living there one day. At the time he didn’t know that wasn’t possible, and yet there he was. The usual rules that would have kept him out were in the past. Almost all the rules were now.
A quiet knock forced his ret
urn to reality.
“Come in.” He said, quieter than he had intended. “Come in.” He said a little louder.
Marvie entered the room and took a seat on the end of the bed.
Neither spoke for a while. Kenton continued to stare out the window, taking in as much as he could while he could.
“Feeling better?” Marvie finally asked.
“Yes.” Kenton murmured.
“Glad to hear it, commander.”
Kenton glanced over to an ornate chair where Rogerseen’s old commanders jacket lay. Black with yellow stripes on the shoulders. “Hmph.” He looked back out the window. “Doesn’t mean much now, does it?”
“There’s still a king.” Marvie pointed out. “There’s still an army.” He stood up and took a couple careful steps toward Kenton. “Are you ready?”
Kenton rolled his eyes and focused on a glowing torch in the street. “There’s not much to tell.”
“We really need to know what happened in that town. What did they do to you?”
“Nothing.” Kenton lied, his voice barely able to find its way out.
Suddenly Kenton was back in that town. He could see Victor nodding his approval from a few feet away. Sidestep neighed angrily nearby. “I never go back on a promise.” The Welgo had said. “As long as you keep up your end there won’t be a problem. Remember, adjutant, I am the only one left for you to trust.”
Kenton shook his head softly and smiled at Marvie. “I got a little beat up as I escaped.” He said. “That’s all.”
Marvie took a step