The castle is, as always, eerily quiet as Daniel makes his ways through the hallowed halls of Brennenburg. He knows Alexander employs a great number of servants to take care of the daily chores, and he's even seen one or two of them as they go about their duties when Alexander has summoned them, but they are always mysteriously missing whenever he wanders the castle. He's learned not to question the strange goings on in Castle Brennenburg as he rarely receives any answers. Alexander is strangely cryptic in regards to the old structure, rarely speaking of its events or history.
As always, Alexander is working through the day without any signs of stopping. Daniel rarely sees him between the times when the two wake and when the two take lunch together in the main courtyard, at which point he once again disappears into his "lair" to continue his studies, not reappearing until dinner. This leaves Daniel with many hours to amuse himself. Usually he spends this time in the castle's enormous library or, when its dusty shelves become too much, out on the balcony with a cup of tea and a book borrowed from its massive stores. Today, however, he feels a strange restlessness and unease and chooses instead to walk around and work off some of the excess energy built up in his muscles.
Castle Brennenburg is large and easily to get lost in, but after several months of living here in its protective walls, Daniel has gotten quite used to the layout and could most likely navigate them in his sleep. He wanders without aim towards the servant area of the castle. Although he is considered a lord of the castle, what with his sharing the baron's bed and all, he feels more at home in the quaint servant's quarters than he does among the brilliance and beauty of Brennenburg's main halls. Although it does unnerve him that he never sees servants in these quarters.
He comes to the heavy wooden door leading into the kitchen area, which then connects into the bedrooms of the servants, and pushes it open with his full weight as he knows he must do. He is rather surprised to see Alexander standing there at the meat racks, selecting already cut and salted portions of meat and placing them in a basket. It looks almost like a mockery of a woman in the markets back in his home town. He briefly considers turning around and walking back through the door, but his exertion in opening the passage had clearly caught Alexander's attention as he looks back at him.
"Daniel," he says in curt greeting. "I wasn't expecting to see you down here. I thought you would be in the library." He doesn't sound like a man who's been caught doing something he shouldn't, or like he was hiding anything from Daniel; he merely sounds curious.
"I- was restless," Daniel replies, Alexander's calm response doing nothing to reduce his apparent and needless embarrassment. He always feels so small, so childish under the gaze of the baron. "I wanted to take a walk, to clear my head."
Alexander smiles at him. "Perhaps you could accompany me during my task, then," he says, striding forwards with all of his usual grace and confidence. "I would enjoy the company after having spent so long cooped up in my lab." He motions for Daniel to follow at his side and the much younger man obeys immediately, falling into step with him like a faithful dog as Alexander leads him towards the staircase into the basement.
"If you don't mind my asking, Alexander, what sort of task is this, exactly?" he asks as they descend further into the darkness. Before answering his question, the baron stops, lights a torch in one of the wall brackets and hands it to Daniel, who accepts it eagerly. He's never liked the dark, even before the incident with the Shadow began. "Does it have anything to do with that meat?"
"Of course it does, Daniel," he replies as though it were blatantly obvious. "I keep some.. very exotic pets here in the castle, my dear, and they can be skittish and touchy around those they don't know. I don't trust my servants to feed them without startling them, so I do it myself." He feels Daniel tense up, and reaches up to stroke his hair. "Don't worry, so long as you're with me, they won't mind you. Over time, they will come to see you as one of their masters as well. But for now, I advise you don't come down here when I am not with you."
Although he's not sure that Alexander is watching him, Daniel nods in understanding. As they descend further, he starts to smell damp wood, and the mold growing on it. He wrinkles his nose.
"Oh, yes, my apologies," Alexander says. "The smell can take a bit of getting used to. The creatures are water-bound, you see- they breath air like you and I but they cannot survive without water. They also prefer dark, cold environments, and so I had a section of the basement flooded to accommodate them. Between the smell of the mold and the smell of the creatures, it can get a bit ripe, but you do get used to it after a while."
Daniel merely nods in understanding.
It isn't long before Alexander stops and motions for Daniel to do the same; it seems as though they've been descending for miles, almost into the bowels of hell itself. There is lichen on the walls here that glows faintly, but not enough to be useful as a light source. Daniel keeps the torch raised high, to see as far as he can, but Alexander takes it from him and lowers it. It hisses out after coming into contact with the water.
"What are you doing?" Daniel asks, with some irritation but mostly out of genuine curiosity.
"My pets detest strong light and fire even more so," he explains. "Don't worry, there are others we can light and take back up with us. For now, though, it's best that we stay in the dark."
Without much conscious thought, Daniel reaches over and clasps Alexander's arm now that his hands are free. The baron says nothing, but lets out a sharp whistle. Soon, Daniel hears the gentle splashing of footfall, and begins to shake out of fear for reasons he does not know. Alexander chuckles.
"You needn't be frightened, Daniel," he says. "The Kaernk are really quite tame creatures, undyingly loyal to their masters. They won't hurt you so long as I'm here, pet." Daniel still clings despite his assurances. The footfall stops directly in front of them, and though the darkness prevents him from being able to see the creature, he can sense its presence; it is tall but not particularly large, walking somewhat upright, like a man. It breathes heavily as it moves closer; Daniel shrinks back. He's never been fond of large animals, tame or not. He hears a shuffling noise and then a slurping sound; Alexander is feeding the beast. "Would you like to try, Daniel?" he asks.
"I, ah-" He hesitates, not wanting to refuse Alexander's offer but not being particularly fond of the idea. The older man chuckles.
"He'll be more friendly to you if you feed him," he says. "Don't worry, dear, he won't bite you. Kaernk aren't particularly fond of eating humans in the first place, even those in the wild, and the ones in my care are particularly timid." Before Daniel can protest again, he hands him a slab of meat, and takes him by the wrist to encourage him to hold his hand out. Daniel shivers when he feels a long, wet tongue against his hand, which then pulls the meat out of it. He then feels the tongue return, lapping at his palm.
"No, no, I don't have any more," he whimpers. Alexander chuckles again.
"Is he licking you?" he asks. Daniel almost nods before realizing that Alexander can't see him in the darkness.
"Y-yes." he replies. Alexander frees his arm from Daniel's vice grip and takes his other hand, reaching it out towards the creature.
"It means he likes you," the baron explains. "I've never seen him grow that fond of a person quite so quickly. You have a way with animals, pet." Daniel allows Alexander to manipulate his hand, and soon he feels damp, leathery skin under his fingers. Something that sounds like a growl enters the air and Daniel flinches, moving to pull his hand back. Alexander stops him. "He is purring, my friend. Don't worry."
The creature tilts his head into Daniel's hand and nuzzles against it, and soon Daniel finds himself less afraid of the creature. "What does he look like?" he asks curiously. Although he cannot see Alexander, he can almost feel the smile adorning his aged face.
"No one is quite sure," he says. "They avoid light so well that no one has seen them close. Why, I had to transport the ones in my castle in carefully sealed crates to avoid scaring the poor creatures."
Alexander is generally a wonderful liar, but even Daniel can tell he's lying on this matter. He doesn't pry, however, knowing that he must have a very good reason. Instead he just strokes the head of the leathery-skinned, water-bound creature until Alexander takes him by the wrist and leads him upstairs. He hears the strange creature, the Kaernk, whine.
"I will bring him back to visit soon," the baron tells the creature. "Just behave, my pet."
Daniel listens as the creature shuffles off back through the water, letting himself be led up the stairs for a while until Alexander stops, pulls another torch from the wall and lights it with a tinderbox. He again hands it to the younger man, who carries it as they ascend the stairs back up into the castle.
"I had no idea you kept such creatures in the castle," he says with intrigue. "I had no idea you even had pets."
The baron turns to him and smile.
"There are many things you do not know about me, Daniel. But in time, you will learn."