All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 63: Home Sweet Home

Chapter 63: Home Sweet Home

As they made their way to the castle, Bee formulated a plan to explain the situation to Tony. He had gotten quiet after seeing the smaller girl’s little demonstration. Quiet enough that they just walked along in silence for the next 10 minutes or so. Eventually, he seemed to have processed his thoughts. "So what have I got myself into?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure I know why all of the other inhabitants of the castle ran away. And it wasn't because they were called somewhere else." Bee was struggling with how she was going to explain this part to Tony without him freaking out. She was sure that there was no real danger. But it was going to be hard to explain. And now that she had the possibility of help and company, she didn't want to give that up just yet.

"See, the mages were attempting some sort of big summoning ritual. And I wasn't really invited but I was still listening around the corner. Anyways I don't think the ritual went exactly how they were expecting. Because at some point, they caused a lot of noise, and I could hear them screaming something. I couldn't quite make out the words. Then I heard them running. At that point, I fell down some stairs." Bee was starting to worry that she was rambling a little bit. Also, the story wasn't making her look good.

"I hurt my leg, and I wasn't able to follow everyone, so I hid in the closet for a little bit." Yeah, this wasn't going very well, she thought to herself.

"And when I was better, there wasn't anyone left in the castle." Bee finished lamely. She didn't look at Tony for a few minutes. This explanation made her sound pathetic and weak. She got defeated by stairs and then just stayed behind, forgotten at the castle. It made it feel so useless. Tony was probably laughing at her right now. No wonder why they insisted that he come with her. She knew that wasn't the entire story, but the rest of it didn't make her sound much better, and she also would have to admit that she wasn't really alone in the castle. If she told him about Void, he might be too scared to continue.

Eventually, she risked a glance at Tony. Instead of the suppressed grin she expected to see on his face, he looked quite concerned. It was good that she didn't tell him anything about Void then, Bee thought to herself. He would only be more concerned then. She waited for him to collect his thoughts. Eventually, he spoke up, "So they all ran away and then didn't realize they left you behind?"

Bee kicked a rock and looked down at her feet as she muttered, "Pretty much, yeah."

"That was… incredibly irresponsible of them. I can't believe they would leave a little gi- A member of their college behind like that. Did they not do a head count or send someone to check or anything?" Tony sounded indignant and almost incredulous. Eventually, he took a long, slow breath. "That's horrible. I'm really sorry that happened to you."

Bee couldn't decide if that was better or worse than laughter. On the one hand, he wasn't laughing at her. On the other hand, it felt like pity she didn't really deserve. Sure the first few days had been rough, but honestly, she was happy with how things had turned out. If given the choice, there was no way she would trade her experience and levels for a chance to have left with the mages back then. She had learned actual magic. Also, she had leveled far beyond what was reasonable for anyone her age. Sure, she didn't have complete control over her own soul or destiny anymore, but it was really a small price to pay for power. Also, she felt like it was in good hands.

"Well, it didn't turn out so bad." Bee wasn't sure why she was so hesitant to share the details. She would at least need to tell him something about Void. He would find that out pretty soon anyways. "I got plenty of levels and made a friend."

Tony seemed confused. "A friend? I thought the mages left you alone in the castle?"

Bee felt like it was overly familiar to call her master her friend. Still, she had to admit it would be a little weird for her to tell Tony about Void before they met. It was pretty hard to believe that Void was all-powerful but still benevolent. So she stuck with the term “friend” for now, at least until he witnessed Void's true power. Still, it was good to introduce the idea sooner rather than later. Maybe? She still wasn’t sure. Who was she kidding? She didn't know what she was doing.

"Yeah, the mages left me. My friend isn't a mage. It's… not really human." Okay, this explanation didn't seem to be helping matters. If anything, Tony was only looking more and more concerned.

"Wait, so your friend isn't human, but you're alone in the castle?" Tony started giving her a side-eye. Bee was beginning to worry that he thought she was crazy. Really this explanation was harder to give than she thought. It would have been best to just wait until they reached the castle to try and explain it. "How long have you been alone? When did the mages leave?"

"Oh, it must have been over a month ago." Bee tried to count the days back. Almost a week before meeting Void. More time cleaning and fighting demons. The adventurers came, then there were the catacombs. Then the earth demon infestation. "A month or two, maybe."

Tony stayed quiet. Thinking back on how much time had passed reminded Bee of all the ticking time bombs in the castle. Soon many of the containment circles would start failing, even the intact ones that Void hadn’t disrupted. She hadn't even managed to go upstairs to check on all of them. That's not to mention the fact that the Lieutenant now probably only had a month or two before waking up. She really needed to check on it too. All the thoughts of things she needed to take care of started to make her feel a bit concerned. And she was actually grateful for Tony speaking up and breaking her out of her musings.

"I'm sorry. I look forward to meeting your friend." Tony said. When Bee looked over at him, he was giving her a pitying look. Inwardly Bee groaned. Tony definitely thought that she was crazy. It didn't matter. Bee figured he would see what was really happening when they got to the castle.

"So, I think I mentioned a little about the gardens and animals at the castle?" Bee said in an attempt to change the subject.

Tony's face displayed a little reluctance to leave the last topic hanging, but eventually, he softened a little. "You did. I think you mentioned something about chickens. How many do you have?"

Bee missed a step. "You know, I don't think I actually counted…."

***

When they reached the turn-off to the road, it was well past midday. Tony was still questioning Bee about the castle farms. She was just glad they had moved past the whole level discussion. He had never actually told her his level. It didn't matter; Tony would soon see what was going on. Despite her attempts to warn him, he still seemed set on helping out. "So the carrot tops, what shade of orange did you say the one you pulled out early was?"

Really, Bee wasn't sure why he was so fixated on this. They would be there in less than half an hour, and he could find out for himself. Tony just seemed to really enjoy farming. At least a lot more than she did. If it was anyone else, this conversation would have put her to sleep hours ago. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to explain the shade of orange for what must have been the umpteenth time.

It wasn't long before the castle came into view. Taking a quick look at it, there seemed to be no obvious changes to the exterior. It seemed like there had been no disturbances. Bee was quite relieved as she half expected to come back to a destroyed castle. But that fear was mostly unfounded, she knew; her master wouldn't allow that to happen. No matter how many demons were roaming around.

As they approached the looming structure, Tony stopped asking her questions about farming. When she had a few minutes of silence to herself, she looked up at him questioningly. Noticing her, Tony snapped his slightly agape mouth shut before. When he spoke, his voice was filled with wonder. "I've never actually seen the castle before. It's way larger than I thought it would be. Way larger than the building in Greg, too."

Bee understood the reaction. The castle really was an impressive sight. There were tall spires and towering walls, plus its footprint was massive. Looking up at some of the towers, she realized that she likely hadn't explored most of the castle. She wasn't even sure if the mages' college used the entire space. Once they had finished with the current demonic threat, she hoped that her master would want to explore the rest of the castle. She figured it would be likely, seeing that it really did seem to want to clean everything. She just hoped it wouldn't insist on cleaning the catacombs before they explored the other floors.

Besides, if there were any other demons stored in the castle on other floors, they might be getting loose soon. It would probably be best to take care of them now before that happens. She had been doing some research on that, and she was pretty sure she could redraw containment circles now.

Tony's statement just kind of hung there as they entered the front gate of the castle walls. It didn't feel like there needed to be anything else said. The castle spoke for itself. The two of them followed the long path up to the building, climbed the steps, and crossed the little plateau before they finally reached the main doors. By that point, Tony seemed to have recovered most of himself.

In what was probably an attempt to be a gentleman, Tony darted ahead of Bee to open one of the main doors. He pulled at the handle and tugged. Then tugged again. Then tugged even harder, until he was pulling with both hands and his full strength. The door barely budged. After trying the same thing with the other handle, Tony stepped back and peered at Beatrice.. "Did you happen to lock the doors before you left?"

She smiled slightly. "No. There’s no keyhole either."

Tony scratched his head and sighed. "Well, I think someone barred the doors then. I don't see signs of anyone else around, though. Maybe someone else was in the castle after all? I could see two people being in here without even realizing the other existed. Or maybe it was your friend?"

Bee chuckled slightly at the mental image of Void barring the doors. "No, I don't think that my friend barred the doors."

She motioned for Tony to move aside and grasped the right door. She braced a foot on the left door and pulled with all her might. Opening the door from the inside was much easier than this. Normally she would have avoided closing it completely, but when leaving for this long, it hadn’t seemed like a very smart idea.

Slowly the door ground open, groaning. Once it cracked open, Tony reached out and helped her haul it the rest of the way.

---

I watched as the door slowly opened. The other human was helping Beatrice out. That was a good sign. When Beatrice came around the corner, I popped out my arm and waved to her, beeping excitedly. She gave me a wave back as her face broke into a grin. It was good to see her again. Behind her followed a larger human.

My initial good impression of him helping Beatrice open the door was quickly undone. I looked at his clothes, and they were filthy. Many of the creases were filled with more dirt than even the outside humans had managed to accumulate. Even worse, both his boots and the pant cuffs that hung over them were caked with mud. His hands were clean, but I could see some dirt on his elbow and above his left eyebrow.

How does someone even get so dirty? It was like he had been rolling around in the mud all morning. And how was Beatrice going to let this guy inside? He would track dirt everywhere!

As I sat there in shock, The human seemed to realize something. He looked at the sparkling floors ahead of him, then at his boots and took a step back outside. He took a moment, kicking his boots against each other and knocking some amount of the dirt off. Okay, that was nice of him. Well, I supposed that was progress, and it did raise my estimation of him a bit. Still, this was just one more human I had to educate about the wonders of cleanliness.

While the large human was doing that. Beatrice gave me a bow. "It's good to be home, master."