Read Online The Four Realms by Adrian Faulkner - Free Book Online

vampirwaffen, that was something special to him.   They had fought valiantly, had earned honour countless times over.

    Metzger found the tentacle around his neck tighten as he was pulled to his feet.
    "Now then," said the man, the tip of his tentacle stroking the side of Metzger's face, "you and I are going to have a very long conversation."

CHAPTER SEVEN - Death And Opportunity

    Maureen was spoiling for a fight.   If they were going to shut down her gateway then she wasn't going to make it easy for them.   As it was, she'd already insisted Abbott Rofen make her a cup of tea.   He hadn't technically offered, had simply said, "Are you all right sitting here for a moment?" after placing her in his office.   Maureen presumed this was to keep her away from anywhere she could cause further trouble.   Joseph had been sent off on some errand, leaving her alone with the Abbott.
    "Oh, a tea would be lovely," she had replied to him.   "Two sugars, not much milk."
    Give Rofen his due, when he had returned, he had done so armed with two mugs of tea, making Maureen feel a little guilty.   So much so that she didn't bother to comment on the chipped mug - she wasn't a snob by any means but had been brought up to believe that tea should always be drunk out of a cup and saucer.
    Rofen's office was a grotty, tiny place.   The high thin window gave very little light, and the overflowing bookcases that lined the walls gave the room the feeling of a stock cupboard rather than an office.   It was small enough that Rofen's large oak desk only just fitted in the width between the two lines of bookcases - so much so that Rofen had to breathe in to squeeze through to reach his chair.   Everywhere there were piles of paper, his desk buried under them, even the chair he'd got for Maureen had to be liberated from a huge pile which he dumped rather unceremoniously on a rare patch of floor.
    "Right," he said, setting himself down in his seat and peering over the jetsam of his desk to look at Maureen.   "I suppose you're wondering why you've been brought here?"
    "It had crossed my mind," Maureen replied, sipping at her tea.
    "Look Mary..."
    "Maureen," Maureen corrected.
    "...Maureen, there's no easy way to say this," he lent across the desk.   "It's about Ernest.   He's... well he's dead."
    There was suddenly emptiness in Maureen, a space where disbelief took the space of sorrow.
    "Ernest?   He can't be.   He was only..."
    "He was murdered in London this evening.   I'm sorry"
    "Murdered?   But how?   Why?"   She'd been so sure Rofen was going to close down her gateway, she'd not been prepared for this possibility.   She felt numb.   Was this shock, she asked herself?   Why wasn't she crying?
    "I understand the two of you were very close."
    Maureen was unsure of what he meant by that.   There was something fake about the sympathy.   They'd always kept their affairs private, a wizard and a gatekeeper having any form of friendship, any form of relationship, was frowned upon.   What did Rofen know?   She wasn't going to betray Ernest's trust even if he was dead.
    "I've known him a long time," she replied.   Thoughts of them as children brought sadness to fill that empty void in her gut.   "He and his friends used to come round for jam sandwiches when they were acolytes."
    She smiled at the thought of this, but stopped when she saw Rofen smiling too.   The thought of him smiling at an experience he'd not been part of, made him seem false, unsympathetic.   But then, he'd invited her over the gateway, had told her face to face.
    "Why call me here?" she asked, trying to push down those memories less they make her cry.   "Why not get Joseph to tell me?"
    Rofen knotted his fingers together.   "I thought the personal touch would be more applicable given the circumstances."
    Maureen viewed him suspiciously.   There's something he isn't telling me, she thought to herself.
    "That's very kind of you, Abbott," she said.   "I take it