Chapter One
He dropped his hand holding the rose to his waist as the door to the Castle Entry opened. The young woman, as always, brought the scent of the wide outdoors wafting through the whole place. That original blast of fresh air never lasted, there were too many other sources of smells, far stronger and far less appealing nearby, but the Iron Knight treasured the moment of relief. Whenever Dana stood near, he could still smell tiny bits of those wholesome scents clinging to her hair and clothes. He liked it when the Lord Chamberlain gave him a mission for her to gather mystical items; not only would she enter the Castle Entry several times while she was on such a mission, but she would have to talk with him many times as she returned to give him the items. The respite from the foul odors of the Castle Entry was precious indeed, but...
"Good day, Iron Knight. I hope you aren't too mad I took your money at the dice table last night!" Dana winked.
Oh, yes. He double tapped the dice to turn a six into a one and give her the win on the last throw. What use did he have for money? He was paid for his guardian services, but never had a chance to spend it. He never left the castle environs further than the Inn, didn't drink alcohol, and only played against Dana at the table and even then, for pretty low stakes.
"Not at all," he smiled gravely. There was something disturbing about the normally welcome miasma of scent surrounding the castle quester. He had been able to tell, if not at a glance, though the family resemblance was strong, then certainly at first sniff, that this young woman was indeed related to the last owner of Midnight Castle. That smell upon her skin, her own scent, was the same.
So too was the faint smell of flowers and freshness clinging to her clothes and hair, a combination of the toiletries she used and the airy outdoors, full of open sky, flowers, trees, brush growing on the hillside... Outside. Something in him longed, deeply, for outside. Sometimes the solid and ominous presence of the four stone walls around him filled him with a near-paralyzing fear that they wanted to close in and crush him. He wished he could throw off the shackles of duty and honor and leave the castle. He lifted his rose to his nose to clear the heady scent of the outdoors and quell the longing to abandon his post and leave the castle never to return.
Anabel's scent of roses, that too clung in minute amounts to Dana's clothes. It was a bit stronger today, which meant that Dana had stopped to converse with the girl at the front gate. There had been a disturbing change in Anabel's faint essence lately, a hint of moist earth, or the not-quite clean scent of rotting leaves. It disturbed him, reminding him of something else, another not-welcome scent, but he couldn't place it.
"I have a quest for you. There is need for the Argent Collar. I need you to bring the components for it to me," the Iron Knight said.
"The Argent Collar? I know you won't tell me, you guys never do, but what does it do?" Dana asked.
The Iron Knight smiled. Yes, they rarely told Dana what the various mystical items she gathered and crafted for them were for. Some of them he didn't even know himself. He often wondered if the Lord Chamberlain thought he was too stupid to understand. Perhaps, given the unsavory ingredients required to make some of them, the Lord Chamberlain was trying to protect him from knowing too much about something very dark. He knew there was a ghost in the basement, and that the basement was more like a dungeon even at the best of times. "Actually, I have no idea. The Lord Chamberlain told me only to have you get the components for it. I get to give them to him."
"I'm glad. He's nice enough, with his words, but his eyes are cold, like Anabel's have become," Dana said. "I'd much rather bring things to you."
Anabel's eyes were cold? She'd not come into the Castle Entry for a long while, and the Iron Knight hadn't been able to catch her at the Inn. What could have happened to the sweet girl to change her? He fretted and lifted the rose to breathe in the scent that most strongly reminded him of his friend. They had been playmates in a forgotten garden overrun with rose bushes when Anabel had been a tiny child. He dropped his hand again, to catch the faint, clean scent of the outdoors once more before sending Dana on her way with the new quest.
"Yes, well. All I do know is you will need to find the Orb of Moonlight, the Buckle of Full Moon, and the Beast's Plumage. I get to give them to the cranky Lord Chamberlain once you've brought them to me."
"Cranky?" Dana asked.
"Yes, even more than usual. He seems to be rather upset about something, so dear Dana, do make haste," the Iron Knight smiled faintly as he issued his gentle command.
Dana grinned in return. "As much as I can. I'm going to have to rummage about for the specific items to get into and open other places to find the bits and pieces for the crafting of these three objects. It will take me a while."
"You know where to find me." The Iron Knight sighed, lifting his rose to breathe in the comforting scent again. Dana shocked both of them by dashing forward and catching the Iron Knight in her arms in a quick, impulsive hug.
"Ouch! Your armor isn't exactly meant to allow anyone to do that!" Dana exclaimed, nevertheless completing her plan and landing a kiss on the knight's cheek before stepping back to the distance proscribed by propriety. "Yeah, I won't be doing that again. I just had a sudden feeling..." She shivered, and wrapped her arms around herself. "Don't you go anywhere, okay?" Dana winked, and dashed out the front door.
The Iron Knight looked around. "Where would I go?" He glanced down and realized his rose had fallen and been crushed by Dana's surprising action. He knelt to pick it up. "I wonder what dark omen this portends?"
