Every wing or tower of Dwomor Keep seemed to have been constructed in a different architectural style. Some walls were smooth, unadorned stone, while others were rough, or decorated with elaborate carvings. Windows ranged from narrow arrow-slits to grand mullioned or tracery affairs with hundreds of leaded panes, and were made variously of clear glass, stained glass, and wooden shutters over unglazed openings.
There were two unifying features, however-every exterior wall was constructed of the same gray-brown stone, and every roof, whether tile, thatch, or slate, seemed to need repair.
As they approached close enough to see into the courtyards, Gresh discovered the inner structures to be even more varied than the outside, as these walls did not need to be good defensible stone. Some were brick, or wood, or half-timbered plaster, or even wattle-and-daub, while others were that same gray-brown stone.
The courtyards themselves all appeared to be mud, though, untroubled by any pavement or boardwalk.
The carpet swept down toward this castle, and Tobas and both his wives began to shout and wave. People appeared in windows and on battlements, waving in response. The carpet flew a long loop around the castle so its passengers could greet everyone, but finally came soaring in toward a railed wooden platform that looked newer than any of the other structures. It stood atop an old slate roof, next to a tower where a new door appeared to have been cut into an old wall, and had no recognizable purpose for any ordinary castle.
It was, however, just the right size for landing this particular flying carpet.
The rug settled gently onto the platform, stopping when the luggage first lightly touched the wooden surface. Tobas then climbed off the front of the carpet, then stepped around the side to help his wives and child off. Gresh was left to his own devices and clambered awkwardly off, pulling his bag up and heaving it over one shoulder.
A moment later Tobas had the door open, and the entire party stepped into the tower, into a good-sized sitting room. Faded tapestries hung on several walls, and a few rather worn settees were arranged below them. Assorted tables, chairs, and cushions were scattered about, and three rugs covered portions of the plank floor, leaving a good-sized bare area in the center-one that Gresh recognized as a convenient place for the flying carpet. A spiral stair rose in one corner, and in the far wall two carved wooden doors stood solidly shut.
Gresh had barely had time to look around at the chamber within when a knock sounded on one of the carved doors. “Come in!” Tobas called.
The door swung inward, and a thin old man in an elaborately embroidered tunic leaned in. “Lord Tobas?” he asked.
“Yes. All of us, and a guest.”
“His Majesty the king wishes to invite you all to dine with him tonight.”
“Convey my best wishes to His Majesty, and we would be delighted.”
“Is there anything we can do for you in the meanwhile?”
“If you could give us a hand with the luggage, it would be welcome.”
“Of course. I’ll send footmen.” Then the door closed again.
“It’s good to be home!” Alorria said, smiling broadly and looking around happily, gently bouncing the baby in her arms.
“It is good to be back,” Karanissa agreed. “Home or not.”
“They seem to have kept it clean,” Tobas said. “I hope no one’s disturbed my workshop.”
“I thought you took everything dangerous with you,” Alorria said.
“I did. I still hope no one disturbed it-I want to be able to find things.”
“I didn’t think you left anything worth finding,” Karanissa said.
“This is your home?” Gresh asked.
All three of the other adults tried to answer simultaneously, Alorria saying “Yes,” Karanissa saying “No,” and Tobas saying, “When we’re in Dwomor.” The two women exchanged looks, and Karanissa added, “It used to be, before we bought the house in Ethshar of the Sands.”
“It still is,” Alorria said, with happy assurance. “We just don’t live here all the time.”
“It will be again,” Tobas said. “If we find the spriggan mirror and deal with it successfully.”
That sounded interesting. “Oh?” Gresh said.
Tobas grimaced. “I’m not as smart as you, Gresh-when the Wizards’ Guild ordered me to stop the spriggans, I demanded payment, and they agreed, but I didn’t think of asking for eternal youth. I asked for another Transporting Tapestry, one that comes out here in Dwomor Keep, so we could come back here permanently. I like being my father-in-law’s court wizard and don’t really want to live in a big city. They agreed to make one for us-though of course it will take a year or so, and no one’s even started on it yet. There aren’t very many wizards who can make one, and most of them aren’t willing to put in the time.”
“But when it’s made, you’ll live here again.”
“Yes.” Tobas sighed. “Eternal youth for Alorria and myself would have been clever, but I just didn’t think of it. I’ll just have to hope I can work my way up to doing it myself eventually.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage it,” Karanissa said.
“Plenty of wizards don’t,” Tobas said.
For a moment silence fell, as no one knew quite what to say, but then Alris awoke and began crying, and Alorria, cooing and rocking, carried her up the spiral staircase.
“We have the entire tower,” Tobas said. “The bedrooms are the next floor up, and my workshop above that.”
Gresh nodded. “Do you get many spriggans here?”
Tobas blinked foolishly at him for a moment. “What?”
“Are there many spriggans in Dwomor? Does your magic attract them to this tower?”
Tobas glanced upward. “It ought to, oughtn’t it?”
“Does it?”
“Not that I’ve noticed,” Tobas admitted.
“I’ve seen a few here and there in Dwomor,” Karanissa said. “But they’re no worse here than in the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars-perhaps not as bad.”
“But the mirror isn’t terribly far from here.”
“Well, we don’t know that…” Tobas began.
“I do,” Gresh interrupted. He was not ready to believe the spriggan he had interrogated had fooled him as completely as that.
“All right, then,” Tobas said, clearly nettled. “I don’t know why there aren’t more of them here; there just aren’t.”
Before Gresh could reply there was a knock at the door. Karanissa reached over to open it, revealing half a dozen young men in green-and-white uniforms.
There were several minutes of bustle and confusion as the footmen brought the luggage in from the landing platform and stowed it where Tobas and his wives directed them. Gresh tried to stay out of the way.
“I’m going to dress for dinner,” Alorria announced from the stairs, where she was blocking a footman’s way. He was balanced precariously, holding an immense leather trunk he had been carrying upstairs.
“Good,” Tobas said. “So will I.”
A moment later, when the luggage had all been dealt with, the six footmen brought in the carpet itself and spread it on the floor, exactly where Gresh had thought it should go. Then one of them bowed to Tobas and asked, “Will there be anything else?”
“No, thank you,” Tobas said. “Very good work, all of you.”
The footman bowed again, and the entire half-dozen quickly exited the suite.
“Pardon me a moment, Gresh,” Tobas said. Karanissa was already climbing the spiral stair, and Tobas followed her, leaving Gresh alone in the sitting room.
He glanced around, then shrugged and sank onto one of the settees. He had no intention of trying to unpack anything here; his most appropriate change of clothing for dining with a king was well down the bottomless bag. His Majesty Derneth II would just have to put up with a guest in traveling clothes.