Death Comes To All (Book 1) (37 page)

The
place they had come to was nothing at all like Bane had expected
however. Nothing at all. His companions had been calling it the Hut,
but such a name was as far from accurate as possible.

Calling
this place a mansion would have been closer to the truth.

It
was a huge, sprawling structure, nearly completely hidden by the
thick vines that covered it. Bane was surprised that, given its
apparent condition, the swamp hadn't completely reclaimed it.
Certainly at some point in the distant past it had been the home of
some rich family, but no longer.

"What
has happened to this place?" Bane asked in awe. He couldn't be
certain of the true size of the building in the dim light. A thick
screen of cypress trees, clotted with hanging vines, obscured the
view of everything but the front face of the building. Dull grey
paint, which Bane believed might once have been white, could just be
seen underneath the green of the growth that covered it. The panels
along the side of the wall appeared to be made of painted wood,
though Bane believed they must have been made by some longer lasting
material.

It
might even have been built in the days of the ancients,
Bane
thought.

If
that was the case it was in remarkably good condition, especially
considering it seemed to be abandoned by all save the few who knew
the way, which began and ended with Raiste most likely. Bane was
certain he couldn't find the way on his own, and Raine had already
told him that she had only been there once before herself. They tied
the horses up to a tree and headed for the entrance to the building.

"I
don't really know for sure," Raiste answered quietly as the
walked up to the door. "I found this place by accident many,
many years ago, and this was more or less the condition it was in
when I found it. I should say that Trick found it really, and led me
here. It was less than a year after I had found his egg, but he was
already smart as a whip. I was in bad shape at the time. I probably
wouldn't have made it another day or two without some sort of
shelter.

"When
I first came here I was amazed that it was still standing," he
continued, pushing hard on the heavy door that led inside. "There
are no longer any roads that lead here. As far as I know, the path we
took is the only one that leads here without the use of a boat. My
first time here, I had to wade in water as high as my neck, and
expected an alligator to pull me under at any time. In the back of
the house stands what's left of what used to be a dock. Perhaps the
original owners traveled by boat. It had been abandoned long before I
came here."

The
inside proved to be an even greater surprise. The clean walls in the
first room they entered were painted a cheery sky blue, still in as
good a condition as it likely had been on the day it was painted. A
wide staircase led to the second floor from the middle of the room,
which appeared to be made of cherry wood. It was waxed to a smooth
shine, covered with only a light layer of dust that coated everything
in the room.

Several
doors, Bane counted seven, led to other rooms on the first floor. On
the floor above, a wide balcony surrounded the entire second level,
looking down into front room, and he could see more doors on that
floor as well. Above them a huge skylight, extending the entire
length of the room, allowed the fading light from outside to shine
in.

"The
only thing I've done with the place was to sweep the dust off the
floor," Raiste told him. "The material that this place is
built from is like nothing I've ever seen anywhere else. As far as I
can tell, it doesn't corrode or wear down at all. The only damage is
on the back of the building, where a fallen tree came down into one
of the rooms. There are other places where branches and such came
down on top of the place, but the building material is so strong it
protected it. When we last left we covered the furniture with cloth
to protect it from dust, but aside from that I've never had to do a
thing. Even the furniture here is made of that same sturdy material,
or a softer variation of it anyway."

"This
place is amazing. It's nothing like I expected. Why on earth do you
call it the Hut?"

Raine
chuckled. "That was a bit of a joke actually. I had mentioned
that if people knew the type of place we had really gone that
everyone would want to come here, so we should act like it's some
rundown shack in the middle of nowhere, crawling with spiders and
snakes. That way no one would ever want to join us. No one would
normally want to join us anyway, and you're the first we've invited,
but the name stuck."

"Raine,
why don't you get the fire going while Bane and I unload the packs
and take care of the horses," Raiste suggested. "Come on
Bane. There's a barn in the back where we can stable the animals for
now. It's in pretty bad shape. I never had any reason to clean it out
before now. This is the first time I've ever brought horses here.
We'll either have to clean it out in the next few days or we'll have
to do something with them, either take them somewhere to sell or let
them go free. We don't have enough feed to stable them all winter, so
if we keep them here we'll have to find something for them to eat in
the coming months."

As
he headed for the door, Bane saw Raine disappeared through a door on
the left-hand wall. He should have guessed that a home such as this
one would have a fireplace. He didn't need to wonder where she would
find the wood. If Raiste wanted her to build a fire it was likely
that they had already stocked wood during their last visit, or that
there was a ready supply somewhere nearby.

Bane
helped Raiste unload the packhorse, and the two men led the animals
to what was left of the barn. Raiste hadn't been lying when he said
that the structure was in a horrible state of disrepair. Unlike the
main house, this building had been built of standard wood. Two of the
supporting beams had rotted out completely. Almost half of the roof
was missing, probably torn off at some point by one of the many
hurricanes that had blown through the region in the years since it
was built. Strangely, most of the outer walls seemed to be intact.

Bane
was amazed that the building was still standing. If he was right, and
the main house was built during the Age of Technology, that would
make this place over four thousand years old. He wouldn't have
expected anything that was made out of normal wood to still stand.

Perhaps
they treated their wood with something,
he thought, though
certainly not whatever the main house was made of.

"Are
you sure it's safe to leave the horses in here?" he asked
skeptically. "This place doesn't really look structurally
sound."

"You're
not wrong about that," Raiste laughed. He opened the door to the
building, which promptly broke off, falling to the ground with a loud
crash. For a split second there was silence as the two men looked
down at the wooden door. Finally they couldn't hold it in any longer,
and they both cracked up laughing.

"So
where are we going to put them instead?" Bane finally asked once
he was able to catch his breath.

"We'll
have to put them in here. As bad as it is we don't have any choice in
the matter. You might not believe this, but it's probably safer for
them in there than it is to let them run loose. We'll have to do
something with them in the next few days. If a bad storm rips through
here we won't have to worry about them anymore. They wouldn't survive
it. For now we'll just bring them something for their water, and
bring them their food for the night. We still have our own things to
put away."

Bane
didn't feel happy about the conditions they had to leave the horses
in, but couldn't think of anything else he could do to help them. It
was not that he had gotten attached to the animals. It was just that
he didn't think anything should have to live in such conditions.

He
knew, however, that Raiste wouldn't want them to either. He wouldn't
have been lying when he said that he would think of something over
the next few days.

The
poor animals will just have to deal with it until then.

Once
the horses were taken care of as best as possible under the
circumstances, the two men went back inside. Raine had lit a few oil
lamps that were spaced around the walls, giving them enough light to
see the entire room much clearer than they had been able to when they
first came in. Though the moon was nearly full, it was not positioned
correctly to shine into this room.

They
had left all of their gear in a pile by the front door. Now it was
time to deal with it. First step was to put away the food they had
brought. Raiste led the way to the kitchen, where they found Raine
already cleaning out the cupboards.

"I've
taken out everything we left, which thankfully wasn't much," she
informed them. "It looks like rats have gotten into everything
that wasn't sealed shut. We'll have to throw away anything that was
left behind. Even the stuff we had sealed in jars has gone bad, but
that’s nothing more than what we expected. I've already started
a small fire in the living room fireplace. We can cook there, or
start a cooking fire in here for our dinner tonight. I'll leave that
up to you."

"How
does the rest of the place look?" Raiste asked her.

"As
far as I can tell it's pretty much just as we left it, though I
haven't been upstairs yet. I uncovered the furniture in the other
room. Aside from a thin layer of dust, I haven't noticed any
difference. I'm not sure if you remember how much firewood we had
left, but I checked into what we have down here and there’s
enough for about three or four days. I don't remember if we left any
upstairs. Is there anything I've missed?"

The
feral woman had such a clear look of amusement on her face that Bane
couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that, now that they had arrived at
the closest thing they could call a home, their frayed nerves were
finally settling. Relief was taking its place, and once more the
jovial manner that Bane had seen when he first met them was
returning.

Ever
since they had left the city they had been different. The strain it
had put on them must have been greater than he had realized. It had
only gotten worse since they had seen the shadow dragon. Now they
felt safe and could at last relax again. They had tried to hide it
before, but the difference was clear.

Still,
there was work to be done. They were safe now, granted, but they
still had a mansion to clean. They wouldn't do much that night, at
least Bane hoped they wouldn't, but a building this size must take a
tremendous amount of work to keep tidy. They had been traveling all
day, and the only thing that Bane wanted to do was to go to sleep. He
knew, however, that he wouldn't be so lucky.

"For
now let's just put away our food and cook dinner," Raiste
suggested. "We can cook on the fire in the living room. There's
no sense in starting a second fire in here now. Once we're done in
here, I'll get the cooking started while the two of you check out the
rooms upstairs. Stick to the west wing for now. I didn't see any
damage from outside, so the rooms on that side should be intact. Pick
whichever room you like. There's fireplaces in each of them, though
there will only be wood in the rooms we were in last time. Raine,
I'll be in the same room I used before. You can take some of the wood
from there for Bane's room. It's still fairly warm, so I don't think
I'll be needing a fire tonight. Go ahead and take as much as you
need."

A
short time later, the food and kitchen supplies had been put away.
Gathering their things from the front room below, Raine led Bane
upstairs to the bedrooms. The second floor, Bane discovered, was
every bit as spectacular as the floor below it.

At
the top of the stairs, Raine turned to the left. Doors along the
right hand side led into various rooms. A banister on the left of
them looked over the main room below. Half way down the walkway the
path split, one part turning left to continue around the entryway,
and the other half continuing straight on, leading to other rooms.
She stopped at the second door they came to and went inside.

"This
room here is mine," she informed him. "Raiste stays in the
room at the end of this hallway. You can pick any of the other rooms
you want. Just strip the bed in your room for now. I'll bring you
sheets and blankets shortly. I'll be here cleaning up things and
unpacking if you need anything."

That
said she turned away from him and went back to her work. Bane went
back the way they had come and took the first room they had passed,
not seeing any need to move further away from the stairway leading to
the first level. Why Raiste had chosen a room at the far end of the
long hall was a mystery to him.

It would have made more sense to stay closer to the
stairway, where there was less walking, and away from the outermost
walls, where it would be more difficult to heat the room from the
winter chill, Bane figured.

Of
course, I don’t understand half the things that Raiste does.

The
inside of the room he chose was in a terrible state. Dust, perhaps an
inch thick or more, covered everything. Every step he took left large
footprints in the dust beneath him. He could just make out a set of
smaller footprints, from a raccoon he suspected, that led in from one
of the open windows and back out again. It was clear from the
additional layers of dust that nearly covered those prints completely
that whatever animal had made them had left long ago, however, and he
knew he wouldn't come across it now.