The sun was not fully up yet.
It wouldn't be for a while. The days had been getting shorter as autumn settled into the Gannon region, and the sky at this hour was still dark with blue color, as if it hadn't committed to becoming morning.
Despite that, the mansion was already moving.
Maids worked through the corridors - dusting, straightening, replacing spent candles with fresh ones. The smell of bread came faintly from the kitchen wing. Through the window at the end of the corridor, Jin could see the training ground below.
The knights had already started their morning session. The sound of wooden practice swords carried up in the cold air, punctuated by the occasional bark of an instructor's correction.
The Gannon household seemed to be running the same way regardless of what was happening to any individual member of it.
Jin adjusted his grey coat, thinking about the last hour he had spent rediscovering the medieval approach to personal hygiene, which the novel had never once mentioned and which he now understood was a significant omission.
There was no running water.
There was a basin, a pitcher, and a cloth. The water in the pitcher was cold because nobody had thought to heat it at the sixth bell, and he hadn't thought to ask. He somehow felt that might have been intentional.
He ignored it for now and washed his face, hands, and did what could be done with his hair using a wooden comb, and the result was not impressive, to be honest.
There was also the matter of the chamber pot, which he decided never to think about again.
He had changed into the riding clothes Gus had prepared. Thick trousers, a linen shirt, a wool layer over it, and the grey coat on top of everything. He had stood in front of the mirror afterward and looked at himself for a moment,
Encrid's face was less disheveled than the night before, and the headache was also gone. But still, it was not a face that would give any favourable impression.
'This is going to take some getting used to,' he had thought, coming downstairs.
Corvan was waiting in the entrance hall.
Jin saw him before he saw everything else - the head steward standing at the center of the hall with his hands folded and his jacket pressed and his shoes polished neatly. There was no evidence whatsoever of a sleepless night spent arranging provisions, weapons, horses, and money for a departure that had been decided last night.
The Jin saw the rest of it.
Four knights stood in a line beside the door, donned in full armor, each of them had an engraving of the white griffin on their breastplates and gauntlets.
Two soldiers held the horses beyond the open door. The grey and the brown, saddled and loaded, steam rising from their breath in the cold morning air. The brown was packed with provisions. Three servants stood beside the animals, holding the weapons he had requested.
There were also four more horses, just behind.
Jin looked at all of it and then at Corvan.
"What about the money?"
Corvan produced a sealed leather wallet from inside his jacket and held it out with both hands.
"Twelve gold Solari, young master. His grace approved the advance without condition."
Jin took it and weighed it in his palm. Then he unbuttoned the coat, lifted the wool layer and tied the walled to the cord that was built around his waist. He buttoned everything back up and smoothed the coat down.
"Thank you," Jin said.
Corvan inclines his head. "It was my duty."
Jin looked at the four knights.
They stood at attention, visors up, facing forward. Young men, mostly. He could see their stiff expression and hardship while they tried hard to perform, understanding their instructions.
"Corvan, What are these for?"
"An escort, young master. To accompany you to the Wall."
Jin looked at the four knights again. Then at Corvan.
"Were they afraid I'd run somewhere else?"
A brief silence followed between them.
One of the four knights made a sound that he converted very quickly into a cough. The other three continued facing forward, trying hard to focus and ignore whatever remarks that Jin was making.
Corvan's expression, however, didn't change. He was impressive indeed, as expected of the head steward of Gannons.
"The Duke felt it appropriate that a son of this house travel with a proper escort, young master," He said.
"Of course he did."
Jin walked past Corvan and out through the open doors into the cold.
He took the sword from the first servant and buckled it at his waist, adjusting the angle.
The dagger rig went across his shoulder - there were four daggers in total. Small and handy enough to use both in close combat and as throwables.
He took the crossbow last and felt its weight. It was heavier than he expected.
He slung it to the horse's side.
With all that, he was aware of how he looked. Encrid's body was broad and solid and had a build that came from twenty-three years of excellent food and minimal effort. With all the weapons and coat, he probably looked like a war elephant.
But nobody said anything.
Jin walked to the grey horse and got himself into the saddle. The horse shifted once and accepted him. He settled his weight, took the reins, and looked out at the estate.
The training ground was visible from here. The mansion rose behind the courtyard, stone and banners, the White Griffin watching from every crest. He had been inside this building for less than a full day.
It already felt like longer.
The four soldiers had mounted up behind him, arranging themselves into a loose formation. It was likely that they had done escort duty before. Their armor caught the pale morning light. The White Griffin on their breastplates gleamed.
Jin looked at the road ahead.
Behind him, he heard movement -the brown horse shifting, a strap being checked, the small sounds of someone settling into a saddle.
He turned.
Gus had pulled himself up onto the brown horse and was seated as if he had been riding since he was born. He reached forward and checked one of the pack straps, found it satisfactory, and straightened.
He looked up and found Encrid watching him.
"What are you doing?" Jin said.
The courtyard went still. The soldiers stopped their quiet adjustments. Corvan turned. Even the grey horse seemed to pause.
Gus looked at him with the expression of someone who had understood each word individually but was uncertain what they meant together.
"...Sorry, young master?"
"I thought I was going alone," Jin said. He said it plainly, without accusation.
It was genuinely what he thought, but apparently that was not the case.
Gus was quiet for a moment.
"You'll need someone to serve you at the Wall, young master," he said.
"Huh?"
Jin looked at him.
He thought about the story of the Last Age of Radiance, and he also remembered everything Duke Gannon had told about Encrid.
He genuinely did not understand it.
Encrid had probably abused this child. He probably had hit him, ignored him, and had been, in any reasonable measure, a person that a fifteen-year-old boy with options should have put as much distance between himself as possible.
And here Gus was. On the horse, read to follow Jin to the terrible place called the Wall.
He didn't understand his loyalty, nor was he sure if Encrid deserved it.
"The Wall is not a comfortable place, Gus," Jin said.
"Yes, young master."
"It's cold for most of the year. The men there are rough. It's dangerous in ways that are different from anything you've dealt with here."
"Yes, young master."
"If you come and decide halfway through that you've made a mistake-"
"I won't, young master."
"You don't know that yet."
Gus looked at him steadily. "No," he said. "But I've thought about it."
Jin held his gaze for a moment longer.
Then he turned back to face the road.
"Keep up," he said. "I won't slow down for you."
"Yes, young master."
"And if you complain about the cold even once-"
"I won't, young master."
Jin clicked his tongue at the grey horse and moved toward the gate.
Behind him, the formation assembled itself-four knights in their White Griffin armor, the brown pack horse, Gus sitting straight in the saddle with his hands easy on the reins. It was more of a procession than he had planned for and considerably less quiet than he had wanted, but there was a road ahead, and it wasn't getting shorter while he stood here thinking about it.
The gates opened.
Corvan stood at the entrance to see them off. He had his hands folded and his back straight, and his face had arranged into an unreadable expression.
Jin looked at him as he passed.
"Corvan," he said.
"Young master."
"Thank you."
Corvan said nothing. But something shifted in his face- a small and brief smile, there and gone - and he inclined his head in a way that was slightly deeper than the professional standard.
"Safe travels, Young master."
As Jin disappeared ahead of the gate, a figure stood watching him from the far with an expression so blank it was hard to say what he was thinking.
It was Duke Aegis Von Gannon.
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