Manira rang the doorbell. A few moments
later, the terrace door was opened. He was a man in his late twenties
(or so he seemed), with his red hair in a mullet and black eyes filled
with intensity. Surprisingly, he was dressed rather casually, but his
resemblance with Manira was rather uncanny. He smiled.
“Manira.”
Grandfather and granddaughter embraced.
“Hey gramps.”
He stood back and inspected his other guests.
“Kiyor, I haven’t seen you in a while. It’s
been…what? 7 years?”
“8 years,” Kiyor corrected.
Tiamisat nodded. He looked at Rowan. “I haven’t seen you before.”
“This is Rowan,” introduced Manira.
A slight elation appeared on Tiamisat’s face. “Would you all like to come in?”
The half-Vampire stood to one side, allowing the
visitors to come in. As Manira led the way down the corridor of the
relatively small house, Rowan stopped to look at a photo. The couple in
it were smiling. The younger Tiamisat had longer hair. He was with a
woman who had wavy hair in the colour of golden hay.
“The woman is my wife, when she was much
younger,” Tiamisat suddenly explained. He smiled apologetically.
“I’m sorry, did I startle you?” He took Rowan by the
arm. “What do you think of the Light Kingdom? I know that seeing
it can be overwhelming at first.”
“It seems…unsettling,” Rowan quietly answered.
“Because of the bad memories?” he asked,
as they walked along the carpeted corridor. “What happened to you
was quite tragic.”
“What was it that happened to me?” asked Rowan, mystified.
Tiamisat faced her in shock. “You honestly
don’t know?” She seemed even more mystified. “Perhaps
it’s better if you don’t worry about it then. Come, join us
for cake and tea.”
Kiyor and Manira opened a door and went through it,
the other two following closely behind. Inside was a cosy dining room.
Sitting at one place at the table was a jovial, elderly lady. Sitting
on the sofa at a side was a young man in his late teens, with long
blonde hair neatly tied back to reveal his pointed Elf-ears. He smiled
in greeting.
“Hello Manira.”
She stopped and stared. She smiled sheepishly. “Hello Nisri.” (Niss-ree)
She quickly faced her grandfather. “What’s
he doing here?” she hissed.
Tiamisat spoke aloud. “My wife enjoys company, so we have at least one visitor a day.”
Panic-stricken, Manira took a seat. Kiyor sat next
to her. “Who’s he?” he asked in a whisper.
“Nisri used to be my babysitter and my first
crush.” Rowan took a seat next to Kiyor. “He’s a
32-year-old half-Elf,” Manira quickly added.
“Half-Elf?” exclaimed Rowan.
Nisri shrugged. “We’re somewhat more common than half-Vampires.”
The old woman smiled. “Manira, aren’t you going to introduce us to your friends?”
Manira snapped out of her worry. “What? Oh! Kiyor and
Rowani meet Ziranda.” She gave a warning look to Rowan as she introduced her.
Ziranda smiled pleasantly. “So nice to meet
you. Please, help yourselves.” She indicated the two plates in
the middle of the table. One had Bakewell Tarts and the other small
Lemon Cakes. Everyone reached for the cakes.
“It’s always the cake first,”
commented Tiamisat with a grin. He reached for a Lemon Cake and took a
bite. When he swallowed, he asked: “So why are you here?”
Manira swallowed quickly and reached inside a pocket
in her jacket. She pulled out the drawn-on napkin. “We thought
you could identify where this is.”
He took the napkin to inspect it. His eyes turned to
stone. His face seemed to become a stern shadow. This worried Ziranda
and Nisri.
“Ziranda,” Tiamisat casually began.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to get your knitting
finished?”
His wife wasn’t sure how to react. “Well, yes but I can always finish it after tea.”
He stood up to lead his wife out. “I think it’s better if you finish it now,” he suggested.
Ziranda allowed herself to be stood up. “But
what about the guests? I can’t be rude to them.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll be here all afternoon.”
This carried on as they exited and moved down the
corridor. Those left behind continued to eat cake. Nisri moved and took
a seat at the table. Tiamisat hurried back a few minutes later.
“Sorry about that, but at her tender age my
wife can’t take hearing anything related to the Dark
Kingdom.” He threw Nisri a look. “But you I trust.”
He sat down.
“So what is it and where?” asked Kiyor.
“This was once used as a punishment chamber by
the Sorcerer’s Guild, but it hasn’t been used for over 30
years. However someone must be using it because these banners are not
used by the Sorcerer’s Guild. But anyway, it’s under the
Crystal Tower in the Razskov Territory.”
“The Tirenth Territory,” corrected Rowan. (Ti-renth)
“What?”
“The Razskovs fell from power and were bought out by the Tirenths,” explained Kiyor.
Tiamisat grinned. “Well forgive me for not
keeping up with Dark Kingdom politics.” Nisri seemed alarmed by
these facts.
“So how do we get there?” asked Manira.
“It’s
really complicated, so you’d better write it down.”
It seemed quite late in the evening, but not quite sunset. Rowan and Kiyor got back to his parents’ flat.
Kiyor closed the door. “Are you sure you want a Steak and Kidney Pie? For dinner?”
“Absolutely,” Rowan finalised.
Kiyor shrugged. “Okay, I’ll get it cooked, but it’s
not the best thing in our cupboards.” Rowan quickly marched to
the lounge area and began taking off the pink
shirt. “Wait a minute, you’re changing now?”
Rowan turned around but maintained her back to him.
“Most definitely.” She almost seemed desperate.
Sadness and disbelief crossed Kiyor’s face. “If that’s what you want.” He went to the kitchen area.