later
“Good morning, Heralis,” Palose greeted an older woman, who was a bit hunched over in the shoulders after all the servitude she had given over the years. A servant, who merely cleaned the residences of warlocks and military men, she had probably been ducking to avoid notice most of her life in addition to the hard work of a cleaning woman.
“Good morning, Master Palose,” she said quietly and he noted her eyes darting back and forth as if looking for something. In this case, he knew that she was looking for Atrouseon.
“Atrouseon’s already left for the day. I need to meet up with him in his laboratory shortly myself,” he informed her and the apprentice watched as much of the tension left her shoulders. Unlike the warlock’s intent to instill faithfulness through fear, Palose had found quickly that a little flattery and kindness given to those living in Ensolus often brought trust and perhaps even loyalty. What a simple cleaning woman could do for him, the young man didn’t know, but the more people who owed him loyalty or favors, the more likely that something good would come of it.
The woman nodded and commented, “He has finally trusted you with his work?”
Over the last few visits, Palose had spent enough time breaking through Heralis’ walls, while baring just enough of his own to create that bond. The cleaning woman lived in the area south of the lake at the eastern end of the cavern. It was essentially the only place within the cave city where humans congregated outside of the military and the area was set as far from the monsters of Ensolus as they could be. Only those in the military or the warlocks lived outside of the human ghetto, unless they were in the sunlight and open air outside of the stone walls of the city completely.
Palose had learned much of the city through talking with people like Heralis. He had found few among the warlocks so willing to share as the people who served a mostly harsh set of taskmasters. Of course, the other problem the battle mage dealt with was the matter of his being a resurrection man as well as being so freshly removed from Southwall for them to trust.
“So how’s the family doing? Is Werlith still trying to get work in the citadel?” he asked using a piece of information gained from the last time they had talked. Like most of the humans in the ghetto, Heralis and her family struggled to earn enough to feed and clothe themselves. Luckily, Palose had both his magic and Atrouseon’s wealth to rely on to avoid such things.
“He is working in the kitchens now with the hopes of moving into the castle’s cleaning staff,” she beamed. “He will be earning twice as much as he was making in the mill.”
Ensolus may have been an extension of the emperor, but money ruled everything else. He had come across orcs and goblins using coin like any human along the way and realized this city was little different versus his old world. Just as people could be cruel or kind in Southwall, the creatures living here had their own lives and ways of getting through life with others around them.
“Well, that is good to hear,” Palose said just going through the motions. Though the woman couldn’t tell that he wasn’t very interested, the mage was listening enough to pick up anything useful to him and no more. When she said the next bit, his ears perked up however.
Sighing, Heralis added, “Too bad Serash and her husband gave up. Our neighbors moved out to live with their cousins outside the city. They have a farm there and Orwen hopes to one day carve out his own farm near them someday.
“I am sad to see them go. They were good friends, but work was too scarce and with five children to feed they thought it was best.”
He nodded and murmured his condolences as well as various other appropriate affirmations, but Palose’s mind was on other things. While Atrouseon kept a fairly loose leash on his apprentice most of the time, the young warlock in training had