Chapter 334 — Splitsone Keep
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
The ancient castle that House Glan had inhabited for generations stood quietly before Gao Yang.
It sat at the summit, a steep cliff at its side. Years of wind and rain, erosion and collapse, had eaten the cliff back until it almost began to curve inward, and the castle perched above it seemed poised to topple at any moment—an unease only deepened by the castle's own decrepitude, which preyed on every visitor's mind. Yet regardless, a fortress set upon a mountaintop, snug against a sheer precipice, could not help but strike the eye with a breathtaking beauty.
Gao Yang had been studying that old castle since they were still at the foot of the mountain. Only when the carriage followed the broad ramp up to the summit and drew to a halt before the fortress did he murmur softly, "The Glans have broad shoulders..."
Beside him, Amber gaped. "You've been marveling over that the whole way?"
Gao Yang gave the half-elf girl an odd look. "What did you think?"
Amber opened her mouth, choked on a word for a long while without finding a better one, and then joined him in tilting back her head with a sigh. "The Glans have broad shoulders..."
"Enough marveling. Go knock on the door."
The heavy black gates of Glan Keep swung slowly open before Gao Yang, and as the oak doors inlaid with purple steel and bronze runes parted to either side, his gaze swept across their surfaces.
He saw mottled wounds and patches of charred black, faintly visible despite the repairs.
Beyond the gates lay a long, brilliantly lit hall, a red carpet running from the main door to the steps at its far end, maids and attendants standing on either side, and at the very front a rather tall, middle-aged steward, who bowed, extending his left hand like a swan's wing to guide the honored guest over the threshold.
The lady of House Glan stood in the center of the hall.
She was a tall woman but too thin, somewhere around thirty, with slightly wavy black hair that fell past her shoulders, deep-set eyes, and a somewhat pale complexion. Yet time had not left its weary marks on her face; she remained a woman who could still draw every eye in a banquet hall.
As Gao Yang stepped forward, the noblewoman came to meet him with perfect timing.
All was courteous and correct, the full ceremony observed, and Gao Yang could not help recalling the last place he had visited—Kant Keep. Only there had been nothing but a chaotic, hollow dream. What would he find here?
Gao Yang showed a faint smile. "I hope my unannounced visit won't trouble my neighbor."
"Your arrival brings this land unprecedented honor." Robenia Glan bowed, paying her respects to Gao Yang according to her own rank, and Gao Yang noted that the noblewoman performed the courtly obeisance of a male aristocrat—though he was not surprised.
Since House Glan had lost its master, this widow had taken on the master's role; she was the lady of this land, and no rumor of remarriage had ever reached his ears—which was itself an attitude of a kind. Now she greeted a duke with a male noble's obeisance, and that too was a kind of "language" that only nobles could understand.
Gao Yang raised his eyes toward the end of the hall, and sure enough, on the wall between the two curved staircases, he saw a great portrait: a handsome young man with black hair, dressed in a black coat and a snow-white shirt, standing in the painting with a faint, composed smile. Before the portrait stood white candlesticks and, just as white, "death's chrysanthemums."