Frost Arch (8 page)

I followed Charles from his little office. Jack announced that he had work to do and left me with the stranger. I followed as closely as I could, trying to memorise everything around me. Tapestries hung on every wall as did candles. The carpet beneath our feet was an emerald green. As we walked through the Manor I noticed that the theme of emerald seemed to be constant. Every hall was lined with green draperies and carpet, and I caught glimpses of rooms beyond open doorways that were the same.

I kept silent, not quite sure if Charles was the talkative type. I wondered vaguely wether the master of this manor would indeed agree to let me work here. What if he didn’t like the look of me? Couldn’t he trust Charles to make the staffing arrangements?

I thought myself very lucky. What were the odds of finding a great opportunity like this? A live-in job that required someone of my … talent. It was almost as though I was meant to be here all along. I had even made a friend already.

Charles led me up a beautiful wooden staircase, which had a running of emerald carpet down it. I was careful not to put my hand on the railing. I wasn’t quite ready for a disaster yet. I nervously flattened my hair as we passed a suit of armour, and I caught a glimpse of my distorted reflection. Charles noticed this, “You’ve been travelling.” It wasn’t really a question.

“Yes.” My answer was short and boring. I racked my brains for a conversation starter to fill the awkward silence. “Um, so what do you do? I mean … Your Power.”

Charles continued leading me down the hall and did not answer. I thought maybe he hadn’t heard me, but after several seconds of silence he replied.

“I know it seems pointless to have my particular Power, and live in Frost Arch … but never the less-” He broke off, but I wasn’t particularly sure what he was talking about. He, however, showed me.

He slowed his walk and came to a stop, his hand outstretched. Staring, I waited for something to happen. Why was his skin rippling like that? I looked closer. No … Something was growing from the palm of his hand. Something green.

I gasped. Long, entwining vines were growing from Charles’ hand, growing up his arm. It was an odd sight, watching a plant grow in fast-motion.

Before the vines had reached his elbow, they began to tinge brown, and soon after they were dead. I looked at him curiously and he answered my unspoken question.

“Greenery doesn’t really last long in Frost Arch. I used to be able to grow, control and maintain beautiful gardens in my old town. But of course … Mistress Frost prefers-” He fell silent.

Elvira Frost. That was the name I had read in the Power Seer’s office.

“What?” I persisted.

“Let’s just say that being here doesn’t do my Power justice. The environment, the atmosphere, it’s almost as if coming here has repressed my ability. It’s like nature knows it’s not meant to thrive here, so it doesn’t even bother trying.”

“Where did you live before you came to Frost Arch?” I asked.

Charles looked sad for a moment. “Phoenix Arch.”

“That sounds awfully similar.” I thought out loud.

I was confused, and I was quite sure that Charles knew more than he was letting on, though it sounded as if he didn’t want to talk about it further for he fell silent and continued walking.

We stopped outside a large oak door. Charles knocked before a voice announced that we could enter. He opened the door and bowed me through it before closing it behind us. Charles then turned to a man standing before us.

This man had a head of thick, grey hair, a moustache and goatee that came up in a little curl. His eyes were small, black and beady, and his forehead had a permanent crease in it from frowning so often during his life. He was tall and lanky, with a slightly protruding stomach that suggested too much vintage wine and cheese. Overall he gave of an air of great intimidation and importance. I soon found myself extremely scared. This was clearly Master Forsythe, the man Lester Elwood had mentioned to me.

“Master.” Charles bowed deeply.

“What is it Charles?” The man said walking to the window and pouring himself a drink from a table that stood beneath it.

The room we were in was very handsome indeed. Books lined the walls. In the middle of the large area was an enormous desk with an assortment of quills, parchment, and other objects all spread out evenly and orderly across the surface. Behind this desk was a beautiful spiral staircase that lead upwards to another level of the study. From here I could see even more books as well as a giant telescope which pointed up towards the entirely glass dome ceiling. I gawked at the beautiful room, wishing I could explore, perhaps have a go of the telescope.

“This is Miss Avalon Redding of Mortlock, Master Forsythe.” Charles indicated to me.

Mr Forsythe’s beady little eyes fell on me; his expression remained stern as I gave a nervous smile.

“I’ve just interviewed her about the position available in our staffing.” Charles pressed on. I glanced at him and noticed he too seemed very nervous in Mr Forsythe’s presence.

“Ah yes.” Mr Forsythe nodded in understanding, “Very well Charles. She is up to scratch then?” He spoke as if I wasn’t there.

“Yes sir. Of course I wouldn’t bother you if I thought Miss Redding wasn’t right for the job. Although she has no previous work experience, her abilities are perfect for the position I believe. With your permission sir, I’ll have her hired, given a tour of the manor, and a run-down of her duties. She’ll be ready to start tomorrow morning.”

Mr Forsythe nodded and took a sip of his drink. “Very well.” He waved a hand at us before turning his back and walking towards his desk.

I gulped and Charles indicated for us to leave. Once we were back out in the corridor I found that my legs felt very weak indeed. That hadn’t been what I expected. I didn’t even get spoken to. Didn’t the Master want to know anything about me before hiring me?

Charles seemed to pick up on my silence. “Master Forsythe rarely speaks to the staff, and he only speaks to me when he has to. He much prefers it if he pretends we aren’t here at all.”

“Does he live in this big place all by himself?” I wondered aloud as we continued back downstairs.

“Oh no, the Master lives here with his family. His wife is Lady Winifred Forsythe, lovely woman, slightly mad though. She doesn’t go out much so you’ll most likely see her wandering the halls talking about nonsense. It’s best you don’t repeat that to anyone outside of this household too.” Charles added as an afterthought.

“Do they have any children?”

“Yes. Fully-grown now of course-” I heaved an internal sigh of relief (I was rubbish with kids), “There’s Miss Rain Forsythe; might want to avoid her. Young Master Noah isn’t here very often, travels a lot see, but when he is here he mostly keeps to himself. He stays on odd occasions for a few weeks at a time. He should be arriving in a few weeks actually.” Charles said all this in a low voice as not to be overheard talking about his Masters truthfully.

“Then there’s Mister Theodore from the Arthfael family. He isn’t related to anyone here by blood of course, but he is betrothed to our Master’s daughter. He lives with his family in a manor on the opposite side of Frost Arch. Well respected family. They visit often, so make sure you stay out of their way.”

It was an awful lot to remember, and I repeated the names in my head to try and retain the information. Master Forsythe, the man of the household was married to Winifred. They had two children together who were grown-up named Rain and Noah. Rain was betrothed to someone called Theodore Arthfael, who was part of a very important family on the opposite side of the city. I hoped I had it right.

“I think I got all that.” I said slowly, “So how many people work here?”

Charles did a quick count in his head, “at least fifteen other people besides us.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Fifteen people to look after a family of four?” I said amazed.

“Well … There is the specialised household staff,” Charles pressed on, “Like myself. I manage the other staff; make sure everyone is on task and doing their jobs. I also organise wages, and hire new staff. Then we have our chefs who plan and prepare every meal. We have someone to train the Pegasi, and organise travel throughout the city.” I opened my mouth to ask what ‘Pegasi’ were, but closed it again when Charles continued talking, “You already met Jack our household healer. We’re quite lucky to have him actually. Most people would kill for live-in healer. We have a messenger too. Then there are the odd jobs here and there that need to be done, so we hire servants to clean dishes, mop floors, dust tapestries, and feed the humans.”

“There are humans here?”

“Oh, a few. We’ve got a couple in the basement dungeon right now. Not good for much really, seeing as they can’t even string a sentence together. Though I suppose that’s our doing really.” Charles said thoughtfully.

“So what do you use them for?”

“Slave labour of course. Always good to have a few humans handy, as you don’t have to pay them see? Once they’re bought and paid for that’s it really. They’re cheap too. We mainly get them to wash the linen. Simple job. Can’t confuse them too much otherwise they get upset.”

I nodded, my stomach twisting painfully as I thought about Helena back home. I had never actually seen a human before. I wondered whether they looked different from us. I was sure you wouldn’t be able to tell Helena was void of Power, as she looked a great deal like my mother. But pure humans I was curious about.

“So where do I fit into all this? I’m a … a servant?” I guessed.

“Not quite.” Charles said leading me through another doorway, “The position you will be filling will be parallel with your Power. As you may have noticed Frost Arch is a rather frigid place to live, so you’re job is quite relevant. I’d define your position as … more of a dignified maid, minus the vigorous cleaning that the servants do. All I want you to worry about it the constant temperature of this manor, whilst making sure that nothing catches on fire. Make sure, when you go into the Master’s study to light the fire, that you never set foot upon the upper landing. If the Master finds out that anyone but himself has been there, well, it won’t be pretty. Do you think those chores will be a problem?”

“No sir.” I lied.

“Good, good. Of course I will have other chores to keep you busy. Sometimes I may request that you make a trip to the marketplace for me, or the kitchen may require your help at meal time if we have guests. Lots of different things.”

As we had been talking Charles had led me back down into the kitchen that I had entered the manor through. My bag was still hanging from the hook by the door. Around me Mages were bustling here and there preparing dinner for the household. I collected my things and rejoined Charles who led me away from the kitchen and down a narrow hall.

“This is where most of the staff lives.” He indicated down the hall to the left of the kitchens, “The master rarely goes past the kitchens. Like I said before, he prefers to see us as little as possible. Technically this whole left hand side of the first floor is designated to staff.”

I found this quite amusing. While the 15 staff members were designated to live on this particular side of the first floor, the Forsythe family consisting of four people had the other three floors to roam freely.

As we entered the staff living quarters I noticed a very obvious change in decoration. I could no longer see the handsome green carpet that lined the floor, as well as the beautiful tapestries that had hung on every other wall I had passed. Instead the atmosphere became severely depressing as the stone walls, floor and ceiling obstructed any source of light from the outside world. Charles pointed out the living quarters as we walked past boring wooden door after boring wooden door.

“That’s Jack’s room there.” He informed me as we walked past another generic door. “This is you.” He pointed to the very last door in the hallway.

He took a chain from his pocket and flicked through a bundle of heavy brass keys. He put one of them to the door and unlocked it with a heavy clunk. I felt like I was being put in a prison cell. He then removed the key from the bundle and handed it to me. “This is yours. It only fits in this one door. I also have a spare, just in case you lose yours, or just in case there are … uh … incidents.”

“Incidents?” I repeated faintly.

“Yes, well, a few years back we had a rogue staff member. Went absolutely mad and tried to drown everyone in their soup.” He waved it aside, “We needed to confine her until we could get her taken away.”

I gulped. What if my Power slipped up and they assumed I was attempting murder? I fought the horrible thought aside.

“I’ll let you get settled in before I send Jack in to give you a tour and a run-down of everything you’ll need to be doing.”

Charles turned his back on me and walked briskly down the hall towards the kitchens once again; his balding grey hair bobbing out of sight when he turned a corner.

I heaved a sigh and turned to face my door whilst I pocketed the heavy key. With my expectations extremely low I turned the brass handle and let the door swing open. It creaked very loudly and the first thing I smelled was a lot of dust. I was right to have my expectations fairly low. The room was rather small; I guessed I could have crossed from one side of the room to the other in three of four paces. In the far right hand corner was a small, moth-eaten bed with itchy brown sheets. Above this was a little rectangular window that I probably couldn’t have stuck my head out of. Next to that was a bedside table with a lone candle. In the left hand corner of the room was a little wooden chest of draws.