I went back to the dining room and found it empty. From there, I followed my nose to the kitchens easily enough. It looked like they were feeding the staff now and I could only hope the lady had taken breakfast early and without incident. I checked the store of koff and it seemed to be untainted. I couldn’t find any source of toxin in any of the food either in the kitchen or in the pantry area.

  I would have to do a more thorough search, but with all the staff looking at me oddly, I decided I should have Kaarlo’s explicit permission to be in his house and among his servants. My main concern was that his wife was not targeted.

  When I returned to his office, I strode in after a quick knock to find the lady sitting in his lap in the large chair behind his desk.

  “Oh, I beg your pardon. I don’t mean to intrude…” I said, backing out quickly.

  “Come in, come in!” insisted Kaarlo and I stopped backpedaling. I shut the door behind me and approached them slowly. They didn’t change their positions.

  “I was just chatting with Pardy,” Kaarlo said, looking at his wife. She was only looking at me.

  “Do you really think someone is trying to kill Kaarl?” she asked me, her voice wavering.

  “I'm pretty sure they would have succeeded this morning had I not been in the habit of casting a spell over everything that I eat,” I confessed.

  “Why have you been doing that?” Kaarlo asked, through narrowed eyes.

  “It seems either on purpose or accident, some water has been poisoned along the road on our way here and I feared some sort of sabotage to our food stores at night, so we’d all gotten in the habit of checking what we consume before prepping it or eating it,” I shrugged.

  “Only Kaarl’s cup had been poisoned?” pressed Pardy.

  “No, they were all poisoned, but only Kaarlo’s had a fatal dose. Perhaps to disguise the poisoning. If we all got a bit sick…” I started.

  “Then it would be less suspicious that I died,” finished Kaarlo. I nodded and Pardy hugged him harder and buried her head in his shoulder. I turned away from them wishing to give them privacy.

  “So, you see why you have to go, darling?” Kaarlo’s voice was soft as a feather.

  “But what about you?” she asked back.

  “I have Aebbe here now. We’ll figure this out and I’ll send for you as soon as I can,” he reassured her.

  “I think you should send Gavendor with her, Kaarlo. And tell him what’s going on. She needs someone we trust to watch over her,” I piped up, glancing in their direction. Pardy was shaking her head, but I could see that Kaarlo agreed with me. “He taught me that palatability spell, so he’ll know what to do.”

  No one said anything for a bit. I assumed they were thinking things over, but I didn’t watch them. I tried and failed to read book titles on a shelf.

  “You’ll need a good excuse. We don’t want to tip our hand to what we know or suspect,” I said after a while. I thought they might be kissing, but I didn’t want to look in case I was right.

  “My sister is expecting. I could go see her. I’ve been wanting to visit…” Pardy said, sighing.

  “That’s perfect,” said Kaarlo.

  “Where are they?” I asked, interrupting their reverie.

  “Northerton, near the foothills of Mt. Guardon,” explained Pardy. I visualized the location. I had not been there, but knew it was on the North-South road which crossed the road to Holdstone to the east of here and even further east of the town I grew up in. The closeness to the mountains concerned me a little, but, on the other hand, the only trouble with goblins seemed to becoming from the western ranges and not those to the North.

  “Is it common knowledge that Pardy would inherit the Barony?” I asked them in a quiet voice that shouldn’t carry outside the room.

  “No, there was no need to broadcast the information. You see, Kaarl, I don’t think…” Pardy started, but we were interrupted by a sharp rapping at the door which promptly swung open.

  “Baron Kaarlo, I…” a short man in fine robes with an ornate walking stick tucked under his arm had walked in looking over a scroll of paper, but he stopped short at seeing Kaarlo and Pardy behind the desk. Pardy quickly got out of Kaarlo’s lap. “I beg your pardon, Baron, Lady, I…” his eyes landed on me and narrowed. “I should return at another time…” He turned to leave.

  “No, no, Yonath. I’ve been expecting you. Running late, are you?” said Kaarlo. “You ladies will excuse me…” he nodded meaningfully to me and Pardy and we took our leaves. I noticed Yonath’s eyebrow rise at me at the title of ‘Lady’, but ignored it.

  Pardy and I walked out of the study together. She surprised me by linking her arm through mine and pulling me into a parlor just down the hall. It looked like a room set up for her since there was a harp and some knitting and embroidering supplies here with half finished projects around. She closed the door behind us and shocked me again by embracing me.

  “I can’t thank you enough for saving my Kaarlo. Thank Sarajin and all the Saints for bringing you to us just in time!” she said and I could hear the emotion in her voice. “I can’t go! How can I leave him now?!”

  “I'll keep him safe, Pardy. I promise. I hope we can figure this all out soon, but I’d rather not have to worry about you too. I’m just glad it seems his father is not a target as he’s so far out of our reach.”

  “Oh, yes. Abdication is forever, as my father always said. Why he never did it and made my brother wait years to take over. Stubborn as a mule, my father. But fair in the end. Well, my brother never thought so, but he learned a lot and I think he was better for it,” she told me. I felt like she enjoyed the sound of her voice. Or perhaps she was nervous.

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  “Your sister…” I started.

  “She stayed on in Northerton. Helps my brother. Married the captain of the guard! Oh, quite the scandal I can tell you. Well, I guess I don’t need to. Had a bit of your own scandal leaving my Kaarlo at the altar like that,” she said, but I could detect no malice in her voice or demeanor.

  “I’m sorry about…” I started again.

  “Oh, pish-posh! No one is happier than I that you did that. While he was pursuing you, I was pursuing him! Yes. Quite my own scandal, don’t you worry! He was fixed in my sites early on. Thankfully, he came around to woo me. But I didn’t make him wait, no, no! Part of me thought you might come back, but now I see things much clearer. You have…” she paused and looked me over. “A different calling.”

  “Indeed. Thank you for your understanding. And for going. It will ease all our minds, especially with Gavendor with you,” I finally got out.

  “Yes. I’m more sorry to take him from your company. I’m sure you would have wanted more time with your mentor. But I’ll do as you both ask. Well, I had better go pack. Perhaps you should find Gavendor and tell him of his new assignment. He won’t like it. I’ll warn you now!” she said, smiling as she left the room. She seemed a great judge of character. I agreed with her assessment and didn’t look forward to telling Gav the news.

  I wandered around the manor house for a while before finally asking a servant where I might find Gavendor. They directed me outside where I finally found him with Meig and some other men. They were with a group of three lizard people one of which had a fancy headdress on like I had never seen before. I think some of the stones on the headdress were the same, only much larger, than the ones in my necklace.

  The group was in discussion it seemed. One of the men was leading the humans side of the discussion. Meig was watching everything intently, particularly the lizard in the headdress who seemed to be doing most of the communication. Since they seemed quite intent, I decided to check on Jornian and the rest of the men before returning to talk to Gavendor.

  I found them in the mess tent set up to feed the men of the barracks. They seemed in good spirits. Jornian was done eating, so he walked over to me and we made plans for the day.

  “We need to get the lay of the land. I want to split up and check on the surrounding countryside to see what we are dealing with. We might get some ideas of their attack strategies and tactics by seeing what has already been targeted. I’d like to head out this afternoon. Tomorrow, let’s head out earlier to get farther out from town. Can you figure out who should go with whom? Let’s mix things up so everyone gets to work with other people and everyone gets to scout in all directions, okay?” Jorn understood what I wanted and went to get the men organized.

  When I got back to where the lizard people had been, Meig and the lizard people were gone, but Gavendor was still hanging about. He smiled when he saw me approach and strode toward me.

  “Aebbe, but it is good you’re here,” he said, smiling.

  “It's good to see you, Gavendor. I’ve missed you,” I told him. He clasped my arm again. “But…” I wasn’t sure how to start.

  “But?” he asked, chuckling.

  “I'm afraid Kaarlo needs you to travel with Lady Pardama to Northerton,” I told him.

  “What?” he asked, releasing me. “Impossible! With all the attacks around here…,” he stuttered.

  “I know, but it’s important. You’re the only one we trust with her safety,” I said, more quietly. “Come, let’s talk more privately,” I told him, aware of all the people around us. He grunted, but walked with me.

  “We?” he asked as we moved back toward the manor house.

  “Kaarlo agrees with me,” I explained and he snorted as we approached Kaarlo’s office. Gavendor knocked.

  “Come!” We heard from inside, so Gavendor pushed open the door. “Ah, Gav. You must get ready to leave. Aebbe has told you, right?”

  “Well, not why…,” started Gavendor.

  “No time for that now. Pack and prepare for the trip. Take a couple good men and Pardama’s maid. I will speak to Aebbe a moment,” Kaarlo said. Gavendor looked like he would say something, but then just strode out the door and shut it behind him.

  “You made quite the impression on Pardy,” Kaarlo said looking up at me from his desk. “Perhaps I overstepped in inviting you to our wedding…” He looked down at the desk avoiding my eye.

  “Oh, no. I got all your letters at the same time actually. We had a long job at a mine and were out of town for over a month, so…,” I shrugged and he had looked back at me.

  “Oh, I’m relieved. I thought…” he started, but I continued.

  “I really like her. She reminds me a little of me, but I’m sure she’s a great wife to you. I mean, keeping books and organizing balls and that. Well beyond me for certain…,” I laughed at myself and Kaarlo joined in lightly. Kaarlo shook his head.

  “Well, thank you for convincing her to go. And to take Gavendor. I’m surprised he didn’t make more of a fuss,” Kaarlo commented.

  “Well, I’m sure you haven’t heard the last of it. You should tell him about things so he can be alert about it. I’m going to go out with some of the men and do some scouting while we have light. I’ll go out again tomorrow earlier. I hope to have some ideas on the goblin front and we’ll go from there. Also, before he leaves, I’d better get all of Gavendor’s insight, too,” I said thinking about all that needed to happen. I was sad to lose Gavendor so soon, but couldn’t disagree with our logic in it.

  Heading out the door of Kaarlo’s office, I ran into Meig, so we quickly got ready to ride out and do some scouting with our men. We decided to go in different groups and report back together tonight. I also wanted her to hear Gavendor’s report on the situation.

  Thankfully, when we went out with our weapons in hand, Jornian had already gotten our horses saddled and ready. Gavendor surprised me by showing up, so I sent Jornian with Meig’s group and he came with me.

  My group went east along the main road out where we hadn’t traveled before. Gavendor said he wanted to show me something out that way. I thought we could talk on the way, but we took off at a lope and didn’t have much chance to speak together until we’d gotten to the burned out shell of what looked like it had been a sizable farm house and barn just a short path of the main road.

  “This is the closest attack we’ve had,” Gavendor told us as we slowed our approach. “About a month ago now, no closer to two.”

  The place didn’t smell of smoke. The roof had caved in and there were weeds poking up around the inside of what had been the house. Five graves looked relatively new at the back of the property that testified to the tragedy that had occurred here.

  “Here's what stood out to me,” Gavendor told me as we dismounted and walked around the property. “Everything was taken.”

  “Don't they usually take everything?” I asked, thinking back on that attack that had happened while I still lived in Thornhill.

  “Anything edible, yes. But these biters took their clothes, their furniture, EVERYTHING. They burned what was left, but people who knew them knew things were missing,” he explained. “The house was empty. They often kill all the animals in the vicinity. Not here. They packed up the horse and cart nice and neat, drove it away…”

  “To where?” I asked.

  “West. That’s all we could figure,” he told me. “Didn't want to ride too far away in case of another attack on the village.” I nodded in understanding.

  “Now you mention it. I didn’t think goblins rode or used horses…” I thought out loud.

  “Right. They do now. Not all the people are killed. Sometimes they just take stuff. Animals and food mostly, but after this we started to ask more broadly. And it seems they do take clothing, too. No one thought to mention it before.”

  “So… something has changed. Something with the goblins has changed,” I mused. I had skimmed most of the books on goblins that man had given me and he’d never mentioned any shifts or changes in their culture. Then again, how often do these changes happen and given the short time the man had to study them, that may not be all that strange. How often had our own culture changed and what had been the cause? I’d have to think on that. History was not my best subject to be sure, but surely there would be someone around that could give me some insight.