Chapter Twelve
Austin
He was deep in sleep, snoring away like a bear in hibernation, when someone’s voice broke through his dreams. “Austin!”
“Sir?” Austin gasped, springing up from his slumber in the lab. He’d unfortunately fallen asleep at a weird angle and his neck ached. After a quick snap left then right, the muscles relaxed, but he’d still feel the soreness for several hours.
“Austin,” Sebastian sighed, striding further into their lab. “Did you spend all night cleaning up the lab?”
“Oh…” Austin grimaced, his master having caught him red handed. Sebastian found him still holding the mop handle. “I may have been inspired.”
“To clean?” Sebastian teased, moving the mop bucket aside with his boot. “My boy, you have a bed, and yet, I’ve not seen you in it in days. And sporadically before that. Should I be worried?”
Yes.
No.
Yes.
Maybe?
“This time, no,” Austin confessed.
“Alright, I’ll bite.” Sebastian took a seat on one of the many stools within the laboratory. “What was the reason this time?”
Austin gave a cursory glance around, remembering he’d cleaned most of the lab to its prior to glory.
Most of the walls were sparkling again, the slabs clear of debris or ash.
He’d swept up so many clumps of things he expected that thing to form again.
Only thing left was soot and stains. When he returned his attention to Sebastian, he found the lich with an arched brow aimed at him.
“Hyacinth asked for an animal companion. I wanted…” he trailed off, realizing how silly it was to be down here by himself. He’d been so inspired by ideas of what kind of woodland creature would flatter Hyacinth most, he’d forgotten the key piece.
Austin could not bring anything back to life.
He was no lich, no sorcerer, no summoner.
He was not fae. Austin was made from a dead ogre who specialized in broad swords and shields.
Every once in a while, he replayed what little scraps he had from the before times.
A leader, a warrior, a captain of his vessel, going down with his ship even when there was no hope.
Brave. None of that made him proficient in magic.
Nor did being Lord Rosemont’s assistant. Even with all the tools at his disposal, the most he could do was make a vessel.
“You wanted to make her something? I see. Well, what were you thinking?” Sebastian began to pull his mask back on his face as he spoke. Like he’s getting back to work.
“That it was too dirty in here to think,” Austin confessed.
“Right you were,” Sebastian chortled, nodding his head.
His mask dented inward as he sucked in large gulps of air.
With a wave of his hand, the mop was tugged out of Austin’s grasp and dunked back in the bucket.
It continued on its journey while a duster danced around the high ceilings of the laboratory.
Austin even picked up his feet to give the tiny scrub brush room to scoot past him.
“Now that it’s clean, or clean enough to think. What are we thinking?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure. We feed that opossum last night and they’re really fluffy, like her teddy bear is.
Maybe she’d like that? Or maybe a racoon?
Everyone loves raccoons. Or a bat! A bat could fly with her.
But then I thought about an owl, or? Well, or and or and or…
” Austin tentatively lowered his feet. Then he glanced down at himself, truly took a good look at himself.
Disheveled was a word that came to mind.
Stinky followed shortly after as he caught a whiff of his own morning breath.
He made several faces that elicited a hum of understanding from his maker.
Sebastian rolled up one sleeve and started on the other. “No use trying to think on an empty stomach. And, not to be mean, my boy, but you could use a bath and a change of clothes.”
“That’s fair,” Austin grumbled, stretching his body more. With each movement, something else cracked.
Sebastian clapped his hands together like he had an epiphany. “Tell you what, you run upstairs, get a good scrub, change clothes, the works. Stop in the kitchen to get breakfast. Maybe do some reconnaissance.”
“Yes!” Austin waggled a finger at Sebastian, following the lich out of the lab only to stop at the base of the stairs. “Sir, what’s reconnaissance.”
“Why, investigative work! Now that you know what it is you want to make, you should narrow down its shape, size, and desired effect. Ask Hyacinth what she likes. Maybe take her out to the garden to see more creatures out and about. Plus, you two should get some sunlight while we still can. I saw those storm clouds closing in from the south. It looks like all that warm weather was outrunning an unfortunate hurricane or two. We’ll have to hunker down for the next few days.
” His maker prattled on as he made his way up the steps.
Sebastian moved at a leisurely pace, hands flapping about as he talked.
Sunlight? While we can? Austin glanced out through the large window in the lab.
Out front it was sunny and bright, early morning light barely cresting over the treetops.
If they were lucky, they’d still have a few hours of outside in the garden.
He could get Kevin and Carl to come garden out front.
All the animals were attracted to the fence when Kevin was around because he fed them as often as Austin did.
“You’re brilliant sir!” He charged up the steps.
The whole house rumbled around him, but he didn’t stop to worry.
The manor was enforced with strong magic, ever since The Hungry One happened.
Then, of course, after Elyth, they double checked it.
Austin sprinted down the hall, narrowly getting into his room before a certain bedroom door opened.
He was in the shower in a moment, his soiled clothes in the hamper.
Austin preferred showers because the steam felt good on his muscles.
And I don’t much prefer to stew. It’s not easy being tall and bulky.
The warmth did wonders on all the muscles, even the tiny, rarely used ones.
Plus, it was hard to buff his tusks in cold water.
He stopped to glance in the mirror, the shower curtain pulled back an inch.
Steam already filled the bathroom around him, but he stepped away from it to take a better look at his body.
“I’ll need my stitches re-tightened,” he sighed to himself, lifting his right arm and inspecting where pieces of him were pulling apart.
Austin tried to keep himself stitched tight, but there were some spots it was nearly impossible to reach himself.
His shoulders were bulky and his arms often got in the way.
Austin was a barrel-chested, firm-bellied, thick-thighed man without the blessings of having skin that healed on its own.
If he accidentally sliced his arm open, it would take magic to put him back together again.
The fallback to being undead: all those lively little perks didn’t apply to him.
Ogre’s naturally have thick hides, for which he was thankful.
But they also tend to heal quickly too, especially if they’re well fed.
Austin was well fed and still staring at a seam under his left shoulder blade that would need redoing.
Hyacinth’s stitches are so neat. So tidy. So small and pretty. Like the hem of a skirt.
He didn’t want to be jealous. He’d been in actual pieces when Lord Rosemont put him together.
Hyacinth’s chest was cracked open and her wings were ripped off.
In the grand scheme of things, her wounds were easier to close.
He shouldn’t compare the two. “But if I was as beautiful as her, they might not run away screaming.”
And that comment drove him into the shower. No! Nope! We’re not doing that. We’re focusing on making an animal companion! On reconnaissance.
He focused on scrubbing every inch of himself, of buffing his tusks, then his nails, then brushing his teeth.
Once he was out, finding a fresh shirt and pants to pull on, he’d forgotten the hurtful comment he lobbed at his own head and headed out.
Because if I can’t beat the dark thoughts, I can simply out run them.
Austin was so very tired of trying to escape his own misery.
The house was cold, unlike yesterday. Frosty, even the wallpaper seemed stiff.
He followed the shadows around the manor, finding the spiderwebs dusty.
Not a single arachnid in sight, nor a ghoul.
Is the storm driving them underground or?
He wondered if he checked the dungeon, if he’d find them shivering down there in a corner near the stone walls.
Austin pondered it the whole way down the stairs and into the kitchen doorway. He said a storm was rolling in from the south? If he wasn’t wrong, this was the first autumn where the weather was so…so…odd!
“Oh! Good morning!”
Austin jerked, twisting to find Hyacinth at the kitchen table.
She smiled at him and slapped the seat next to her. “Dahlia said she’d be back, she went to find something. I wasn’t really listening, so I don’t know exactly, but there’s breakfast!”
Austin sank down beside her as she returned to stabbing her eggs with her fork.
There were cheese, peppers, and tomatoes scrambled within it along with chunks of sausage.
Austin’s plate, however, had more pieces.
Buttered toast with scrambled eggs and melted cheese over it like an open-faced sandwich, whole sausages, roasted tomatoes scenting the air.
He stopped when he saw a collection of whole apples on the table.
Last night flashed in his head. Her adorable excitement, the feeding of the opossum, the offering of her applesauce-covered palm.
It was almost too much to bear how much it made the flutter in his chest kick back up.
Unbearable.
She was unbearably perfect.
He croaked, “Good morning, how did you sleep?”