Chapter Five- Foreshortened

"You don't mind if I come in..." Vandorr peeped into the fine furnished office through the door. "Ha! Come on in now, Vandorr. I'm sure you know why I've asked that we met here privately. Apparently I can't have Gwen listening on such an important and dangerous thing like this one" Calqués said signalling him to come sit at the wooden designed desk he sat.

"We can't make mistakes on allowing this leak out, the last time something like that happened, Gwen had been showing off about the Dularian wine I hoped to import into the country. That woman has issues" He said again this time with a sigh as he rested his back on his chair.

"You seem to have information..." Vandorr said with a serious tone. "Patience Vandorr, whatever information i do have will not seem useful unless I hear the full story" Calqués said with a broad smile on his face. Vandorr made no mistake and neither did he hesitate to tell him the content of the events that had happened some days earlier.

"A Vandolsk?! Are you sure of what you saw?!" Calqués frowned a little, stroking his bare chin. "Calqués, you speak to me like I know nothing. We've both seen things that make men stutter and wet their boots" Vandorr said in a manner of cool.

Still, stroking his chin, he seemed to have been lost in thought. "I do not doubt you, Vandorr.... A VANDOLSK isn't a puppy you see everyday. They are so rare that they become myth. It's a supernatural ordeal" Calqués soon broke free of his thoughts. He had reached out to the stack of books arranged on a shelf behind him. "This is Herrming's journal. He once spoke of this creature but never have I for once heard someone being cursed to become it. Celiona could have been bitten" He said again opening the pages of the red book he had pulled out.

"Then what do you say about the pendant we found in her grasp?!" Vandorr replied in a manner of conviction. "What pendant?!" Calqués asked. "The Crest of Marmalade, so Doric called it" he replied him hoping to get a better response this time. "You have spoken with the Governor?! You know some of us have the ability to see through the illusions of an Aramadion" Calqués let out a laugh.

"We're lucky he isn't a vampire, there are rumours that Silas Targeris is one, one should be weary of" Vandorr beamed as well. "God cursed Nebuchadnezzar for seven years to feed off grass like a beast of burden. The priests in Andorra had used magic as hex on that crest that if it be stolen, such a curse should befall such a person but I don't think it to be a VANDOLSK and besides I never seen that happen" Calqués said again more seriously ignoring his last statement.

"Because no one has, everyone is afraid to. Celiona doesn't seem like one to steal such a thing. A fine young lady..."

"Trust is a fragile thing Vandorr, expensive as well" Calqués stood to his feet, returning the book back to the shelf and looking out through the large window pane in the room. "Are you saying she could have...."

"I'm saying, there's only one man who reports to the church in Andorra and it's Hermis Serth. He is in charge of the treasury of the church" Calqués said again still looking outside at the green field ahead. "Does this mean....?"

"I'm afraid, it means nothing than that this mystery which seemed more confusing before is beginning to have an understanding." He said again looking at the door as a rapt knock had resounded from behind it.

"Come in.."

"A letter for you Vandorr. From the Governor, he says he has new information for you" A woman who could have been no one but Gwen, Calqués' wife had walked in.