Page 18 of The Study of Fire
Lieutenant Millicent and Sergeant Dagon were on duty. They straightened to attention when they spotted Valek. At least they had stopped saluting him. He introduced Brede.
“Spread the word to your colleagues that he’s allowed entry.”
“And my cart,” Brede added.
“And his cart of cleaning supplies.”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.
Valek led the young man into his suite of rooms and gave him the tour. “No need to bother with the two other rooms off the living area, I use them for storage. But I’d like to keep this one”—he gestured to Yelena’s old room—“clean and ready in case I have guests.”
Brede poked his head in and sniffed. “Will do.” Then he glanced around the living room. “You have so many books, perhaps I could arrange?—”
“They stay on the floor. Everything remains in place.”
He nodded despite the unhappy purse of his lips.
They climbed the stairs to the second floor. Valek pointed to the right. “I use the sitting area for storage.”
To the left of the sitting room was a long hallway. The doorway to his carving room was closest to them. His boots crunched on the rock dust that had drifted onto the floor like snow when he strode inside. Piles of the gray rocks he used for his carvings littered the area. Toward the back was his table full of tools, his grinding wheel, and a half dozen finished statues.
“I don’t normally let anyone in here, but the dust gets everywhere and should be cleaned up.”
“No problem.” Brede picked up a black frog statue and inspected it. The stone had streaks of silver though it and Valek had used bits of amber for the frog’s eyes. “This is fantastic. Did you carve it?”
“Yes. Carving helps focus my mind when I’m working on a difficult problem.”
“I know, right? When I’m scrubbing a floor, my mind is free to think about other things.”
Interesting. Valek longed to ask what things but refrained.
Brede scanned the area. “Where are the pretty black rocks?”
“All around you.” He picked up a small grey rock and sat down before the grinding wheel. He pumped the pedal with his foot a few times to set it spinning. Once it was fast enough, he pressed the rock to the whirling wheel for a few minutes. Then Valek blew the dust off and handed it to Brede. “See?”
“Wow. Look at that transformation! Like a caterpillar into a butterfly.”
Valek’s thoughts immediately went to Yelena and her transformation from a victim to a powerful Soulfinder. “Exactly.”
After a brief stop in Valek’s bedroom, they returned to the lower level. Brede moved closer to inspect the weapons displayed on the wall.
“Be careful. They’re still sharp, but they are secure.”
“This dagger is dirty.” He recoiled. “Is that blood on the blade?”
“Yes. Don’t bother trying to clean it off. Actually, don’t worry about the weapons at all. I oil them and keep them in good working condition.”
“Why? They’re useless.”
“These weapons have served me well. I’m not going to allow them to rust or dull with age.” And they were far from useless. Only Valek knew how to release them from the wall.
With the tour over, Valek handed Brede two more keys for his necklace. “There’s three locks on my office door.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“There’s sensitive information in my office. And I have a number of enemies that would love to ambush me.”
Brede paled. “Is it safe for me to be there at night?”
