“I require an audience with the duke”

Leon said as he stopped the horse in front of the gate.

The two guards seemed to recognize Leon since they hastily followed his orders.

One went to signal the other guards inside to open the gate.

But then the other one asked a question.

“Pardon me Sir Leon, but who is she?”

I hoped I didn’t look that suspicious.

I had changed my clothes before my search for the woman I saw before.

Now I had on a blue dress with a brown cloak tossed on top of that.

The oddest thing out of place should be the sword at my hip.

Leon looked back at me, wondering how he should put it.

But I took the lead and spoke first.

“My name is Shera and I have urgent news that needs to be heard by the duke immediately”

The guard turned to Leon and he nodded in agreement.

With that, the gate was opened and Leon cracked the reins.

Leon charged through the path leading to the mansion.

Somehow, he managed to avoid hitting anyone and stopped us in front of the main entrance.

While he helped me off, a group of people were already gathering around us.

A man who had a beard and looked to be in his 40s spoke to us first.

“What is this all about Sir Leon?”

“We have urgent news for the duke”

Leon said with an impatient tone.

The man looked at us over and rubbed his beard.

He spoke some words to a nearby servant and they ran off.

Then he turned back to us and signaled someone else to take care of the horse.

“Hmph, it had better be important enough that you came here unannounced”

He motioned for us to follow him and we were led inside.

The interior of Duke Marren’s house was stylistically different from the Corland’s.

If there was a word to describe it, then it would be yellow.

There was a large painting of a man dressed in yellow robes that towered over you as you walked in.

As you got closer inside and near the painting, you could almost feel it’s intense gaze.

The drapes and rugs that decorated the place were also a yellow color.

It was a healthy yellow color that seemed almost alive.

It must have cost a lot of money to reproduce this color for everything in this place.

Arthur’s father had a more subdued style for their house.

But this, this was pretty ostentatious to me.

Almost to the point of being gaudy since the color was over used everywhere.

Leon cracked a small smile when he saw my bewildered eyes scanning this place.

It seems like this was a normal reaction to all this.

We were led to a large reception room of some sort.

There were four guards already in the room and they saluted the man with us as we entered.

“My name is Allan Renstair, you might not know this but the duke trusts me as his second in command. So, anything you

have to tell him can be told to me”

The man said after we sat down.

I looked at Leon, hoping that he was thinking what I was thinking.

“I’m sorry but this is must be spoken to the duke personally”

Leon said firmly as he looked Allan in the eye.

“What gall you have, to demand a meeting after bursting in to here. Even if it’s you Sir knight, this can only go so far”

Allan said in slightly raised but calm tone.

“And on top of that bringing your woman here? The city isn’t a place for you to prance around in”

“ENOUGH!!!”

Leon shouted as he got up and slammed the table with his gauntlet.

“There is danger to the duke’s household and I won’t stand to have you waste my time.

My duty as a knight is to protect the people, all of them. Even if that means I have to go through someone like you”

The mood in the room got a little tense as Leon was staring down Allan.

Allan suddenly broke his gaze and got up.

“Hmph. Well sir knight, I like your spirit. You should know your place though, sometimes it might get you in to trouble. But

since you insist with such vigor, we’ll interrupt the duke together”

He said with a look of amusement on his face.

I lightly tugged at Leon’s hand to get his attention.

“I’m sorry but in our rush here, I forgot to use the bathroom”

I said with an apologetic look on my face.

Leon looked at Allan and he rolled his eyes.

He snapped his fingers and motioned for me to follow one of the guards.

“Hurry up”

Allan said rather rudely.

I was led down the hallway by the guard and shown the bathroom.

I walked inside and smiled.

Now it was time for phase two of my plan.