Night had fallen. The daytime stench of blood and madness had been blown away by the wind.
Leech sat in the hastily cleaned council chamber.
Compared to the oppressive great hall, Iron Wall Castle's council chamber was quite plain, containing only a simple, long, solid wood table and four chairs.
Candles were lit, and the flickering flames made Leech's shadow dance upon the wall.
Leech thought to himself, 'Even at its peak, Iron Valley had at most four administrators. And this room was hardly ever used.'
His most profound memory of an Iron Valley lord came from a book he had read. More than a decade ago, a lord of Iron Valley had been obsessed with flight and wanted to build a ship that could sail the skies.
And then, he fell to his death, right from the cliffs by the eastern wall of Iron Wall Castle.
'It'd be a miracle if the territory could develop when its lord only cared about his own pleasure.'
