This morning I woke on my own. I could reach the ceiling and that beam with my hands. Yesterday was a quite interesting day in many ways.

Gaining some survival skills would be handy when we were going to leave slavery behind us. Depending on getting food by buying it in villages would give pursuers hints about our whereabouts.

The hot bath was relaxing. Milly. She was sending signals I couldn’t ignore but they unsettle me to a degree. Regardless of our personal feelings we should keep it literally under the covers. No need to attract unwanted attention from our owners.

They had far too much power over us because of the ring. I had problems remembering my old name.

I wondered what they had planned. It looked like a political move, so it would be best to keep onto our toes for the time being.

I yawned.

“Already awake?” whispered Milly.

“Yeah.” I whispered back. “I come down. It won’t be long before we have to prepare breakfast.” I continued, while carefully lowering myself to the floor.

I went over to Milly’s bed and sat down on the edge of the bed. Milly sat up and sat down right beside me. leaning her head on my shoulder. After a while I put an arm around her waist.

“I seems we’re almost at our destination.” I mused whispering.

“Uhum.” Milly responded. “I suppose a lot of things will change, since we’re not on a journey anymore.” she whispered.

We heard Tilly yawning.

“Already up?” she whispered.

“Just for a few minutes.” we whispered back. “Come over.” we added.

Tilly came over and sat down beside Milly.

Then we heard Caroline yawning.

“Good morning, you three. Already up?” she asked.

“We are.” we answered.

“I’ll make some light then.” Caroline announced.

After a while a candle was burning in one of the candle holders at the wall.

“I wonder how it is to live in castle.” she said while she sat down at the edge of Milly’s bed as well.

“We don’t have experience with living in castles, too.” Milly declared.

Tilly and I nodded.

“Let’s stick together for the time being. We at least know each other for a while.” Caroline proposed.

“Do we have something like a big sister then?” I asked while looking at Milly and Tilly.

“That would be nice!” Caroline exclaimed. “Though I am not very experienced being an older sister. I didn’t have siblings at all.” she added dejectedly

“We don’t care. Let’s look after each other. Most of the people in the castle will be strangers. And those we know will be occupied with their daily tasks.” Milly appeased her.

“We’re not used being younger sisters as well.” Tilly concluded.

Then someone knocked at the door.

“We’re awake!” Caroline called out.

After we finished up dressing for the day, we helped preparing breakfast. We, including Caroline, had to serve the others during breakfast as well. After that we helped ourselves with the leftovers. Miss Tessa was the only one sitting at her place. After we cleared the tables and finished the dishes she clapped her hands.

“We a going to leave for Redcliff Castle after lunch. I need you to pack the baggage this morning.” Miss Tessa announced.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” we answered.

The morning was quite busy folding clothes and carrying stuff to the carriage, which was already standing, without horses of course, in front of the lodge.

Not long after we finished packing, the preparations for lunch began. Loraline was busy helping in the kitchen as well.

After lunch, we were just done washing dishes, Miss Tessa appeared.

“We’re leaving soon!” she declared. “Get going.”

We waved a goodbye at Loraline, which she returned, and went to the carriage. The horses were already harnessed.

“Caroline, you sit outside on the servant’s seat.” Miss Tessa ordered. “You three get inside the carriage.” she looked at us.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” we piped while exchanging curious glances.

We entered the carriage and sat down next to each other on the front bench. All curtains were closed.

A few minutes later Erlaucht entered the carriage. Miss Tessa closed the door after him. He sat down on the opposite bench, ignoring us.

A few moments later the carriage started to move.

We sat there silently for some time, while the carriage was going quite fast.

“I want to talk with you about your situation.” Erlaucht announced. “I’m going to give you a few facts first. You may have heard them before or maybe guessed about others.”

“Arhithrea being an old Enemy of Eskoran.

I was in the arhithrean capital, because I was aware a new hero summoning ritual would be performed a few months ago.

These summoned heroes are a problem for Eskoran, as they are an capable elite troops.

There are rumors about new rituals could only be performed when there a no heroes left from the last summoning. At least Arhithrea put much effort in recovering captured heroes in the past, but it makes sense since they are a valuable assets.

There are no heroes known who died of old age. This might be due their dangerous lifestyle, but there are a few cases where the remaining few heroes died under suspicious circumstances not long before the next summoning.

I intended to get further prove on these rumors as I saw an opportunity to get my hands on heroes that are not valuable asset.

Should they track down you all the way here and get hands on you, I consider my theory proved. The effort to accomplish this would be way beyond they would do for a simple revenge.

I decided to hide you with the staff in my castle, while keeping tabs on their actions. We should have some time before they even notice something is amiss.

As long as there is no downside for me, I would rather help you to run away than to turn you over, since it’s more trouble for them and gives you a chance, I admit a faint one, to live a live of your own.

Miss Tessa is going to teach you how to fight, to improve your odds. They may underestimate you in the beginning.

Since I don’t like slavery personally I would even remove your marks if I could. Unfortunately I don’t know how to remove them without killing you. Your marks are not intended to be removed as normal slave marks would be. I’m going to ask a capable magician to have a look a that, but I don’t believe I’m wrong with the assessment.

You should be aware that your marks are trackable even without the ring. A capable magician is needed for that though and accuracy degrades considerably with the distance.

When we approach the town of Redcliff you will go in the beds. I want to avoid unwanted attention.

Miss Tessa is going to fetch you later when we had arranged an unsuspicious way of arrival for you.

And as soon as this conversation is finished there is no special treatment for you. This would draw unwanted attention sooner or later.” he elaborated.

“Questions?” he asked.

“We were on the journey with you. Couldn’t find out about us by simply asking people?” Tilly asked.

“They will probably find you by locating your marks with magic. There was a decoy carriage with which I officially returned home on a different route as well. Direct tracking of our carriage will stop at the Dwarves door with high probability. Our crossing was negotiated months in advance, as a fallback plan, and we are on good terms with the Dwarves.” he replied.

“How long do we have to wait later?” Milly wanted to know.

“As long as it takes.” he answered.

This as quite a bunch of information. There are no mayor loopholes, but he had put effort into covering his trails. There may be things he hadn’t told us as well.

“What is the plan if the Arhithreans won’t show up at all?” I asked.

“Well, as long as they don’t succeed in a new summoning while you’re here you are going to stay. Thereafter I may let you free, but it makes no sense to make plans for that, since it may be decades in the future. It depends how the other heroes fare.” he answered.

Hmm. Makes sense. We will see how far we come with our own plans. These marks are really nasty, though. Without the ring there was no leaving and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of enchantment on that dreaded thing that prevents theft from slaves it controls. Topics to research.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. We had lunch inside the carriage, while Erlaucht was away. .At some point we were ordered into the beds.

“Oww!” Milly let out.

“We have plenty of new information!” Tilly exclaimed.

“Yeah. There are some of them I don’t like at all.” I replied.

“How do you two feel generally?” Milly asked.

“Well, quite nice for me. There were things to adjust to, but I don’t mind.” Tilly answered.

“We know each other for about a month now.” I stated. “I’ll come around sooner or later, and I like you two, much.” I added.

“I love both of you too!” Milly proclaimed.

“Uh! Thanks! I. Uhmm. Too!” Tilly stuttered.

We were silent for a while. After that we decided to polish our languages skills for the remaining time. We were using it for almost everything through the day now, but more complex topics are still a bit difficult.

Eventually Miss Tessa cane to fetch us. She was holding a lighted lantern and it was dark outside.

“Follow me!” she ordered.

“Yes, Miss Tessa!” we replied.

“Normal dinner time is over, but there we prepared something for you. Tomorrow morning you will start learning and working earnestly! Time for leisure is over.” she announced with a stern face.

We followed her accross the outer bailey towards a castle gate which was flanked by two massive towers. There were actually two gates connected by a passage with an arched ceiling with murder holes.

On the inner bailey was a large stone building. There were at least three floors, but the first one started about three meters above the ground. A large door was accessible over a flight of stairs. Behind the building loomed as massive tower, the keep.

We turned to the back side of the building and arrived at large sturdy metal reinforced double door.

Miss Tessa knocked and the right wing the door was opened. There were two guards behind the door in a small room. They simply waved us through the small guardroom. Through another open double door we followed a wide hallway which bent to right after a while. After the bend we passed two crossings with a smaller corridors to the right and a larger ones to the left each.

At the end of the hallway was a spiral staircase up to the right. We passed the staircase and entered a large room at a corner. A door was in the wall to the left, about 7 m away. The room ahead was filled with two rows of wooden tables with benches. There was another door in the center of the wall ahead, about 20 m away. The last door of the room was in the left wall as well, but at the start of the last quarter of the wall. Lady Tessa went to the last door and we entered a large kitchen. There were 3 trays with bread, cheese, jam and an apple each.

“These are for you. Sit down anywhere in the refectory.” Miss Tessa ordered.

“Yes, Miss Tessa.” we replied.

Miss Tessa left for a while and came back with Caroline after a few minutes.

“Caroline will show you your room. We’re short of rooms, thus I put you all in one room. It’s a bit cramped, but you’ll manage.” Miss Tessa stated and left for the staircase.

“Hello, how was the journey?” Caroline asked.

“Quite boring.” Milly replied. “We’re hungry and tired, as it took long and we had no dinner.” she added.

“All you need is already in the room.” she said. “And it is cramped.” she added.

After we finished our dinner, we cleaned everything up and went to our room. We took the door in the center of the wall at the far side of the room. There was a hall with three other doors, each in the center of one wall. Caroline took the door on the far side, which opened in a narrow hallway with many doors.

“These are the sleeping quarters of the maids.” Caroline explained while she opened the first door to the left.

A two by three meters room was behind it. There was a small locker at the wall by the door. Most of the back of the room was filled with a kind of bunk bed. There was a passable gap at the left side of the room. The upped bed was much narrower. The ceiling was high enough to sit on the upper bed. There was a small ladder up there as well.

“Small.” Milly pointed out.

Tilly nodded.

“I’ll sleep on the upper bed and you three take the lower one. Your nightwear is in the locker. There are five shelves.” Caroline said.

“Good for me.” I replied and started to get ready for the night.

Milly and Tilly nodded.

After a few minutes we were all ready for the night and Caroline tucked us in.

“Good night.” I muttered tiredly.

“Good night!” replied the others.

Caroline turned of the lantern and I heard her climbing up the ladder and making herself comfortable in her bed.

Tomorrow we would see how live would be for the time being. As far as it looked like it wouldn’t be a live in luxury.