Capítulo 96: - Whispers and Wonders: Questions Unanswered
"This is the ball room, and that over there, through the window, is where Voln used to play as a child with his friends."
Winslow, being the kind butler that he was, described his days watching over Voln as a child with such kindness in his tone that it would have been unright to call it all a lie.
"Voln used to run around the ball room as a child, oh those days were fun. I got to listen to the little one screaming at the top of his lungs, then for the rest of the day he would be out like a light, too exhausted to bleed my ears any more."
Well, somewhat.
Lia listened on as she looked over the different rooms, from ballrooms, living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms. The Dorrow's had it all.
From fabulous and intricate designs painted across their wall to large and grand rooms where the walls were made of glass.
It felt like walking through a palace all over again for her, but it put a distaste in her mouth so vile that it took everything Lia had to keep her face from scrunching up.
From one item to another, she was constantly sent back in her memories about her childhood, and how distinctly similar Voln and her were. So much that it surprised her. He had run the halls as a child, filled with joy, oblivious to the world around him and the weight on his shoulders that was unseen but all the same undoubtedly there.
He had run, run from the happiness that he once had filled with a heart of pain and sorrow, though for what reason LIa did not know and thus could say nothing to deter her heart from believing they were the same.
"And here, finally, is the young master's bedroom. A small thing but, then again, he preferred it small."
As Lia looked over the room, quite small as Winslow had said, she was left somewhat perplexed.
"Is there a reason he liked it so small?"
"Well, he believed the smaller the room, the less he would have to have in order to fill it."
Lia frowned, looking around the room for something odd. Something that shouldn't belong or at least did not fit Voln's character. At least the one she had begun to draw of him in her mind.
The room was small, though not too small. Lia could take about three to five steps - depending on how large - and she would find herself at the other end of the room without much struggle. The bedroom had a total of three wardrobes stuffed inside, but it still left quite enough space for a rug covered in toys - toys Lia nearly stepped on as she walked over.
Though there were three wardrobes, only one seemed to be used, which Lia found odd. With Winslow's permission she threw open the first and second of the three wardrobes only to find them empty of any clothing, boots, jackets, or anything for that matter.
"Why have three wardrobes and not use two of the three? And on that note…"
Lia drifted off, gesturing to the room itself.
Toys laid strewn across the floor, covered in dust and unmoved. Normally, Lia wouldn't have thought this odd, a family grieving over a possibly dead son wouldn't dare to venture into his room, wanting it to stay the same for when he 'returned.'
But even then, above all else, the untouched toys were the least of her curiosities at the moment.
"...why are these untouched toys?"
"Ah.."
Winslow looked around awkwardly as if he had been laced in the most precarious of situations.
Clearing his throat, however, he spoke with just as cool of a tone as he always did, no measure of his once awkward state showing.
"...well, you see, the young master never really liked having many clothes. He was quite humble in that regard, a rare breed as many might say. He never once liked expensive things, so his parents did the best they could to make him happy."
Lia's brows furrowed again, looking at the third - half opened - wardrobe, who's draws and doors were thrown open, the clothes inside strewn about. However, unlike the toys that had seemed to be here for days, weeks, even months on end due to the dust that had found itself resting on them, the clothes looked as if they were brand new.
True to Winslow's words, they didn't look the grandest of clothing, nor did they look the poorest. They truthfully looked average in every way. But unlike the dust covered toys that had not been moved once since Voln left five years ago, these clothes didn't have a speck of dust on them.
"What about the toys?"
Lia asked again, repeating her question with her back turned to Winslow. Already she was beginning to get a creepy feeling rising along her spine, but she didn't know why or from where.
Winslow cleared his throat again, watching her with pale eyes.
"Well, the Dorrow's didn't want to move any of his toys after he left. His mother nearly broke down in tears when she picked one up. The clothes though…I believe one of the Hunter pirates searched through them in hopes of finding something."
Lia looked between the clothes, touched and moved, and the toys, untouched and covered in dust, as she silently thought to herself.
'But they didn't look at anything else. The dressers, the wardrobe, the desktop…they're all covered in dust. Why?'
Her question was answered clearly by the man she had thought to throw out of her unwilling mind.
'They want to leave the things you would see untouched, and the things you don't see, unseen.'
'What does that mean?'
Cain didn't answer, and Lia could tell he was watching Winslow from behind her.
'...it means be on your guard. If one thing in my life has taught me anything at all, don't listen to your gut, listen to your fear. The latter is warning you for obvious reasons.'
'I'll keep that in mind.'
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Winslow clearing his throat behind her, clearly trying to get her attention.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was lost in thought there for a moment."
"No apologies needed madam. Uh, If it wouldn't bother you, would you like to see the rest of the house? Your friends should be meeting us soon."
As his words left hr mind, Lia was reminded of how Rian and Lukali, convinced they would get nothing done in such a grand house, too distracted to focus, went to tour the yard for any clues, escape routes, and to speak with the captain of the security force, who - according to Winslow - was the one who spotted Voln a few weeks ago when he entered the grounds .
Lia thought for a moment, her eyes passing over the dull blue wallpaper that covered the room on four sides. On the far wall, directly across from the end of his bed, sat a door. Whether that was a closet or the entrance to a bathroom Lia didn't not know. The whole room screamed silence and all at once she found herself wishing to be out of the dust filled room.
"I think that's a great idea. We should converge and share any clues we might have found."
Winslow nodded his head once, a quick and subtle movement, agreeing with her.
"I think that is a marvelous idea. I do hope you find him…"
Winslow turned out the door, quick in his steps as a butler should be, but all too quick for Lia not to wonder.
"...I was quite fond of the boy…"
***
"Did you find anything?"
"At first, no. But then when we walked around the house, we did find something…"
Lia was currently walking with Rian and Lukali, slowly enough that they were relaxed, even though the weight of their conversation betrayed that they were anything but stiff.
"What did you find?"
Lia asked, her eyes panning over the line row boat in the pond, lily pads with blooming flowers on top dotted the water's surface. Mosquitoes buzzed around due to the close proximity to the water, and Lia was just about to get fed up with how much they were buzzing in her ears.
"Well, Saul, the guard captain, told us about everything we needed to know about the grounds. From the store houses, to the trails, roads, and even the boat house that had a secret cellar. But when he got on the topic of Voln, he…well he got quiet."
"It was almost as if he didn't want to talk about it. Though he was very avid about telling us all we wanted to know about his escape routes, he didn't speak of the night he saw him."
Lukali said, chipping in on the conversation, the thick bowstring strapped across his chest keeping his bow handing off his back.
"He looked almost afraid."
"Hm…"
Lia frowned, her face betraying how deep in thought she was to her friends, her eyes passing over the tree line watching and waiting, the sun just beginning to set beyond the mountain's edge.
"What escape route did he take?"
Without skipping a beat, Rian recited word for word what Saul had told him, as if it was the only thing he had heard all day.
"South, straight for the mountains."
"Did Saul say any reason why?"
He shrugged, rubbing his temple with the palm of his hand.
"When he wasn't telling us tons of other useless crap. Ugh…he gave me a headache. He told us that the mountains south of here happen to be a great place for caves, the last count being at least over a dozen."
"So he hid in a cave?"
"Saul wasn't sure. He said it was a possibility, but he doubted that he was still there. The last group of Hunters or mercenaries - whichever they were - headed off in that direction to search for him. They came back without any leads. Too many caves."
One by one, Lia began revealing her own little details of her side of the investigation, connecting them like puzzle pieces with the rest of the big picture.
"So he went south and took only what he would need to survive. According to Winslow, that was a few small bags of grain, vegetables, three pairs of clothing, pots, pans, sleeping bags, and four sets of clothes."
Lukali pointed to the mountains southward, thinking aloud.
"Sounds like he packed heavy. No wonder, those mountains are a dangerous place to be. Monsters roam on the other side, this side only being safe because of the Wayward trail that lines those mountains."
He thought for a moment, some of his own words clicking in his mind, like gears and cogs turning to fit in place.
"You think he might have hoped on the Wayward pass? It wouldn't be too far-fetched to say he could have."
Lia thought for a moment, then shook her head. Though the idea wasn't as far-fetched as it may seem, this being a boy and all that, it just didn't fit with the recent occurrences.
"To be honest, I think the kid came back this way because he ran out of food. Not many people travel these parts and my best guess is that he might have robbed a few travelers on the pass to survive for so long."
"What do you think stopped him? If he was successful, why come back for food?"
She shook her head again, her mind already throbbing.
"Who knows. That's the part that does not fit for me and no matter what I think of I can't find any reason for him coming back. He could have been long gone. He could have got scared, worried, hungry, or just plain guilty. But he ran again, and now he's out there somewhere."
Rian stopped to look over the pond and the reeds that blew in the evening wind, the lights from the manor silent and still, an eerie silence that made Lia's skin crawl. Why though, she didn't know.
"I think we should head for the mountains in the morning. If he ran again, the same way he left, we might find him in the mountains. Maybe he might try hitting the house again."
Rian shrugged, his mind just throwing things out there to consider openly.
"It's possible, him being a boy and all."
Lia thought deeply for a moment, thinking of all the Dorrow's had told them, her eyes passing over the mountains in the far off distance, no more and 5 miles away, their pale gay color darkening from the setting sun.
Before she knew it, she was beginning to speak openly, thinking aloud.
"You know what I find odd. His room is untouched but his clothes were moved, as well as several other things like pictures of family, friends, school supplies. All those things were freshly moved, not a speck of dust on them. And his house, he must have been living here all his life if the servants describe seeing him as a young lad, happy and full of joy."
She frowned looking up at the large white house.
"Why run? If he was happy, why run?"
"They said he didn't like the new marriage. Maybe he was just hiding it."
"But that doesn't make sense either. Think about it. If this was his home, he would have been comfortable with the servants and guards. After all, they would have known him since he was a babe."
Lukali looked to Rian, his own brows growing, some parts of Lia's words finally making sense to him in both their strangeness and illogical sense.
"Where are you getting at this Lia?"
"It's common custom that, when a woman gets married, she goes to live with the husband at his home, even if she has a child. So if this was his mothers house and all the servants and guards men knew him since he was a baby, why didn't they move to her new husband's home when she remarried? And if this was Mr. Dorrow's house, why is there a room full of toys and clothes, things that look like they just belong there, in a house that Voln would have hated. Stories of how the maids and butlers saw him running around the ballroom with joy, while he 'secretly' hated being there. He would have been cold to them from the start if this was the case."
Rian and Lukali glanced at each other, finding her words to be all too truthful in this case.
"You think they're hiding something?"
Rain asked after a while of thinking, his back to the house throwing it a casual and careful glance.
"Maybe. I don't know for sure. They speak so openly about how much he hated being there and how much he hated Mr. Dorrow, yet Voln's image is filled with stories of how kind he was to the butlers and maids."
"You're right. Even the guardsmen talk greatly about him. Saul especially."
"Same with Winslow."
They were silent for a moment, letting the night crickets play their tune while they watched the house with gazes unwavering, filled with questions.
"What should we do?"
Asked Lukali, his gaze wavering just long enough to glance at Lia.
Taking a deep breath, and letting out a large sigh, she spoke cautiously and carefully in a hushed tone.
"We will keep this going for now. Tomorrow, we will head for the mountains and look around. If we can't find anything, then we will come back."
"Sounds like a plan."
As they began walking back towards the house, the first shift of guards men just coming out to patrol the grounds, Lia thought back to Rian's words.
"Sounds like a plan."
She thought, taking a deep sigh.
'I hope so.'
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