Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Start of an empire

We had been at the Martel castle for two weeks now, and I had settled into a simple but effective routine. Every morning, I would wake early to practice my rune craft. So far, I had practically mastered the repair rune and had moved onto a more complex one to increase durability. After practising running, I would train with Tristan and his guards. I had become far better with daggers to the point that Tristan was rarely winning spars now. In return, rn I had been helping him improve his sword work. Moving on from training I would spend an hour walking through the gardens with Aroura, usually joined by Rebekah most mornings, then we would join the Martels for lunch. Most afternoons, while my brothers joined the Count in Hunting, I would continue training, this time only with my vampire powers; my control over fog and shadow had both increased extremely well. I had tried to fly, but the best I had gotten was a few seconds of hovering before crashing to the ground, and I had no look with shape shifting or controlling birds like Damon had, yet I did not give up. The rest of my days were spent doing odd things throughout the castle, usually cleaning up after my siblings, compelling witnesses so we kept a low profile and my nights were spent with Rebekah.

Over the last week, I had managed to convince Tristan to let me borrow a horse so I could leave the castle for a few days, of course keeping my true intentions a secret. I had set off alone in the early hours of the morning, heading towards the winery that Tristan told me of. From what he told me, it was a three-day ride from the castle, but I was planning to stop at a village on the way back, so it would probably be longer.

I rode during the day, sticking to a rough dirt path. The view was beautiful, most of the time, rolling green fields encompassed by rich green forests. At nig, ht I would set up a simple ca, mp allowing my horse to rest, although I would have liked to keep movi, ng I understood that it only had a limited amount of energy. Fortunately, when it rested, I had time to train, so the nights were not completely wasted. Towards the end of the third day I arrived at the destination that I had marked on my map, a small house sat adjacent to a large wooden warehouse and behind those sat fields of grapes as far as the eye could see. I stepped down off my horse, hitching it to a fence post before walking towards the house, knocking. I was greeted by a man who was probably in his late forties. "What brings you out here, traveller?" the man asked in a deep scratchy voice. "I heard you make wine," I responded, with a smile on my face. "You heard right, what of it?" the man spoke again, suspicion evident on his face "I was hoping to talk about investing in your winery, I have gold and silver", I continued. The suspicion had started to ease off his face, and at the mention of gold and silver, it disappeared entirely. He continued forward, gesturing for me to follow him. We walked over to the warehouse, and they continued inside, looking around in the dark room. My enhanced vision allowed me to see the large barrels on each wall, no doubt where they store the wine. There were twelve of them. I walked up to them, knocking on each. Only three were full; the rest were empty. "Why are only three full?" I asked. The man who had introduced himself as Garret was now holding a lantern "We do not have enough staff, but with more gold, we could hire more", he answered. "We should talk more inside my home, follow me". Doing as he said, I followed him back outside, then into the large house. We stopped at a small room with an oak table. "Sit",, he said, still wearing a greedy smile. "I would offer you a large pouch of gold and silver, in exchange for half of your profits each year," I offered. "How about ten per cent?" he offered back. This was going to take a while.

After some back and forth, we settled on twenty per cent of the profits a year going to me. After finalising our deal, I took out the pouch of gold I had gathered in the last year and slid it over to him. He took it in his hands before opening it, no doubt checking that it was real, a wider smile opened up on his face "Would you like to stay the night? We have a spare room and you're welcome to it". I thought for a second, I would like to get back as soon as possible, but it would not hurt to delay my travel slightly, so I accepted. He showed me to the room I would be staying in, while not as luxurious as the castle, it was still far better than the hovel I lived in. I lay down, shut my eyes and let sleep take me.

Waking suddenly to a knock at the door, I looked out the window, creeping over the hills, I must have slept longer than usual. The knock came again, answering, I saw a young woman, not the old man like I expected, "Father said to get you breakfast, it will be served soon" Nodding, I thanked her before heading back inside my room, before gathering my belongings and heading downstairs. Unlike yesterday when there was only the old man present, now a large group of people were present. Seeing me, the old man told me to sit, then started to introduce the seven people around the table, his children. I smiled and introduced myself to each of them before a plate of food was put before me, digging in. After we ate, most of the children went off to do jobs around the winery, and the old man left to get my horse, leaving me alone with the women who woke me. She stood doing the dishes in one corner. I was still hungry, and nobody would return for a few minutes at least, so I drew my fangs and closed the distance before sinking them into the woman. After I finished drinking my fill, I turned her around, slicing my finger, I let a small amount of my blood into her mouth, healing the wounds at her neck before compelling her to forget what happened.

The old man had gotten my horse ready, so I walked out to him, "Thank you for preparing my horse, and I shall send someone in my stead once a year to collect my share of the profits". He nodded before putting out his hand, shaking it. It allowed a small amount of my vampire strength to break through, just enough to make him understand that he should keep up his end of the deal. I left not long after that with directions to a small town about twenty miles away.

I entered the town about midday, and it was larger than I expected, dwarfing the village I grew up in. I stepped down from my horse and asked a young man for directions to a building that Tristan assured me would be here. Following the directions I was given, I came to a small building with a hand-painted sign of a necklace on the outside. I walked inside, laying on the shelves were all kinds of jewellery, and a small man sat behind a desk, obviously the owner. I looked around for a few minutes before finding a gold necklace with a ruby set into it. I took it to the counter and paid the cashier. I got back onto my horse, glad that I had found something to gift Rebekah so easily, then continued on my journey back to the castle.

I arrived back late on my seventh day away, a couple of guards waiting for me along with Finn, I got down off the horse before I started to tell Finn of my travels, leaving out the fact I bought part of a winery that could keep a secret for now. I walked down the halls with Finn at my side before two familiar faces came around the corner, Rebekah and Aroura, as they noticed me, both sped up their pace. When they reached me, Rebekah grasped me in a hug before seeming to remember that we were in the company of a Lady and stepping back. "It is good to see you both again," I said to them both. Before I or Rebekah could speak, Aroura spoke, "And you, Lord Asmund, I hope you had a safe journey" Smiling, I assured her that I did. We spoke for a while before Aroura and Rebekah left, and I parted ways with Finn before going to my room. I got inside a bath that had already been made, a servant I saw on the way past told me they heard I was back and had it made for me.

I stepped inside, allowing the heat to encompass me and thinking back to the last week, if only I had secured an income, I would have also progressed with my powers, even being able to progress my flight, although it was more hovering at the moment. I was knocked out of my thoughts by the door opening and closing quickly, as I turned the face of Rebekah appeared before me. She kissed me before joining me in the tub, before we went further I reached back and grabbed the necklace from my clothes pocket. Telling her to close her eyes and lean forward, I put the necklace around her neck before allowing her to open her eyes again. "Asmund, it's beautiful, thank you", she managed to get out before pressing another kiss to my lips.