8 The Haundrake Mansion
In an hour, just like Ausu had said we would, we reached the Haundrake Mansion.
It towered over our heads, at least five stories high, with random chimneys and towers sticking out of its roof at strange angles. It looked old and shabby, but not tumbling down. As a matter of fact it looked well-kept indeed.
A broken shutter on the nearest window to the large heavy wooden door with its horn shaped brass knocker creaked as it was blown in a sudden blast of wind that sent a chill down my spine, and at that moment, the sun-baked billowing white clouds turns to an angry, black mass, then the sun disappeared, and rain poured down in torrence, as flashes of lightning lit up the sky.
The rain soaked me through and through. I shivered uncontrollably, waiting for Ausu to announce our next move.
"We're going in!" He told us, motioning to the door, then going up to it himself, and grabbing the horns knocker.
He knocked three times, so I couldn't hear it, for just then a crack of thunder burst out, layering out all noises. It was so loud, that for a second I thought I had gone deaf.
When the thunder subsided, the door was forcefully wrenched open by a woman in a white apron, with lace at the collar, floppy purple dog ears on her head, and a large eyes that made you want to smile.
It turned out her smile was as beautiful as her eyes, for just then she smiled in welcome, struggling to hold the door open against the wind, and beckoning us inside.
Ausu turned and nodded to us, then entered the mansion.
I followed, and then Unah came, and Nicolu last.
When the woman had slammed the door shut (because of the wind), she turned to face us. we must have been a curious sight, in our torn and sopping clothes.
I was glad when Ausu took charge right away: "Please, mistress. We have to come to hear the history of your family."
"Tourists? In this kind of weather? Gracious, me. However did you get here?" She spoke in a British accent, which explained her manners to complete strangers who came waltzing up to her door during a storm.
"Yes," I stepped in, not answering her question, for fear of her getting suspicious. "We we're really anxious to learn your family's history."
"I see," She looked disappointed, somehow. "But I I am not the Mistress of this house. I am merely the family's maidservant. but I will take you to see the Lord in a moment, if you like."
"Yes, please." Ausu replied humbly, though I could tell it was fake.
"But first you must get into dry clothes." She left the room, and we waited in silence.
When she came back she was carrying four pairs of clothes, and handing them out to us, showed us where we could change.
I changed first, peeling off my wet clothes, and changing into the warm new ones.
Their was a shirt made of silk and lace, and silk pants.
When we had all changed, the maid took our wet clothes, and put them down the laundry shoot, then she beckoned us to follow her, and she brought us down a hallway lit by crystal chandeliers, and through a door at the end of the hall.
Inside, a desk with an unusually large red chair stood in the middle of the room, and towering bookshelves reached all the way to the high ceiling above.
Maybe Lord Haundrake is a giant... I thought observing this.
But when Lord Haundrake spun his chair around, I realized how wrong I really was.
