บท 232: The Ingolsol Festival - Part 11

He heaved a sigh, and stepped through the snow towards them.

"Lombard," Beam said evenly.

"Boy," the Captain said back. They had merely said a word to each other, but both of them had conveyed their thoughts, their resoluteness. They needed to harden their will against an unknown threat.

The air stirred between them, and the snow disappeared in a temporary whirlpool. Then there appeared a man who would have preferred to have remained unseen. His straw hat, and his simple clothes were untouched by the snow, as though he had somehow made it all the way here whilst avoiding every drop.

Tolsey made the mistake of reaching for his sword. Lombard merely stood stoically.

"Ah. When the boy claimed to have a master, I had wondered who it might be," Lombard said. There was a smile on his lips as he said that – a genuinely happy smile.

"You know my name, but I ask that you do not speak it, Captain," Dominus said.