Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Indoor Woodland Creatures

I had a billion questions that I knew weren’t about to be answered right there. “Are you feeling ok?” I stuttered.

The bear continued to cock his head as he put out a paw, “I am fine my lady, shall I lead you back to your room?”

I nodded as I tried my best to not turn and stare. I couldn’t tell if I was actually going crazy but it seemed like in the dim light his features were changing to make him look even more human like. The fur was consistent though. I continued to trot along with a gaze fixed straight in front of me as we reached the threshold of my room. I turned to thank my bear leader and almost screamed again when I saw instead a very normal looking man with a huge set of mutton chops. He seemed to be wearing a comically designed butler-esque outfit and seemed incredibly gruff given the circumstances. “Are you the same…” I started to ask as I shook my head to correct myself, “thank you.”

He nodded as he pointed towards the bed, “master Victor made sure to lay something out for you. The dining hall is around the corner and down the main stairs. If you need me to escort you to the dining hall I can wait here. Otherwise I will take my leave.”

I contemplated asking him to stay so that I didn’t get lost again when I realized he planned to stay and stare directly into my room. “I think I have it from here,” I replied as I fiddled with the dress on the bed. It was surprisingly plain. I started joking to myself about how it must be because Victor was a straight man. But stopped when I modified it to be a straight man with a taste for human flesh and a bear human as a butler. I quickly pulled myself out of the nightgown and into the blue thing in front of me. This was one of the few events where Annalise’s bosom wasn’t so aptly described or heaving so I was somewhat looking forward to feeling more normal.

I trotted back down the hallway this time determined to not get lost when I once again ran into the bear man. He was facing the wall and had a neutral expression on his face as he turned and looked at me blankly. “Did you need help my lady?” he replied.

“Just going to breakfast,” I answered.

He seemed perplexed, “but it’s the other way.”

I stared behind me before I thanked him and nodded. For a moment I suddenly wanted to test the bear thing. I started to walk the wrong way again just to see if he looked more bear like. Instead I was left staring at a completely normal looking gruff man with mutton chops who was now staring at me like I was crazy. “Sorry!” I said as I scampered back in the correct direction.

I was relieved to see Victor sitting by himself at a long table in front of a dimmed fireplace. I wasn’t sure if I should stick to the script or give an honest assessment as I went to sit across from him.

“Well this feels cozy,” I said with a grin as he looked up to meet my eyes.

I nearly jumped from my seat as a 5 foot tall bird proceeded to cross the threshold of a doorway near the fireplace. I noticed Victor subtlety watching me from his chair as I tried not to react. I looked from him to the bird as he went directly back to the script, “I’m glad to see you were able to make it Annalise.”

Nearly instantaneously the bird turned into a woman wearing a medieval like maid’s outfit. Or at least what I imagined a medieval maid’s outfit would look like. I swallowed as I tried to remember my lines, “thank you for the invitation.”

He indicated towards the woman, “I had a small meal prepared for you. I hope it’s to your liking.”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” I replied as a plate of something was set in front of me. It looked like porridge, bread, cheese, and some kind of meat.

I was wondering if I could trust the meat as Victor grinned, “it’s pork.” I tried not to stare too hard at the woman to see if the explanation had triggered the bird again. But she was still a normal looking woman as she left us.

“Do you fear me Annalise?” he asked after a pause. The line certainly fit given my reaction.

“I fear seeing any more human sized woodland creatures,” I mumbled. I went to correct myself, “I fear I’ve been a rude guest to you.”

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“Not at all,” he replied, “it’s only natural to find some of the surroundings here, unnatural.” It sounded too cheesy to be real. I forced a grin. We were at least progressing to the part of the story where the author glazed over the details. I was supposed to chuckle, sit back, and then have a lively breakfast conversation that impressed him with my wit. We were about to be temporarily off script.

“I wonder,” I started. I stopped as I looked towards the main who’d reentered and was now staring straight ahead. My brain couldn’t immediately come up with an answer but I knew I was supposed to say something impressive. “What do you do for fun in these unnatural surroundings?”

“Read, study, wait,” he replied.

“For fun?” I replied. I tried to ignore the bird wing adjusting my plate. I felt instantly more at ease when I saw she’d finally retreated to what I hoped was for good to the kitchen.

He sighed as he sat back and adjusted himself in the seat. He seemed instantly relaxed. “You know I’ve noticed you haven’t called me my lord once,” he said.

“That’s what I keep forgetting,” I mumbled.

He crossed his legs as he folded his hands on top of them, “and what’s this about woodland creatures?”

“I swear I saw a bird when I first sat down in here,” I replied. It occurred to me he was probably going to think I was crazy, “but it must have been my imagination, my lord.”

“You seem to know what to say to me,” he replied, “I advise you to do so.”

I felt my knuckles crack as I stared back down at my plate. It sounded more like a command than a suggestion. “Yes my lord,” I replied.

“Now,” he replied, “what would you say you do for fun?”

I racked my brain for an easy game I knew that Victor might as well. Chess in its modern form wasn’t around until the 1800s, but an original version called Chaturanga had spread through Europe by 1000 under the name shatranj. I took a guess, “backgammon, dice and…” I started.

“Chess?” he offered.

I nodded as he grinned, “Would you care to play with me?”

The earliest known book of rules for board games was called the Libro de Los Juegos. Which I was guessing would come in very handy right now if he happened to play by an older rule set than I was used to. The only issue was that this was finished in the 1200s and who knows what time period we were in currently. He was staring at me as I started, “you don’t happen to have any… rule books in this estate do you? This might sound strange but if you’ve heard of a Libro de Los Jugos…”

He blinked, “we have that here. But I prefer to play by modern rules.” At first I felt a wave of relief, after all of course the mismatched time periods would allow for this particular flub. But then I didn’t know how modern he meant.

“Let’s see your chess board,” I grinned.

Victor sat up before sighing with a large frown. “For some reason it’s right there, in sight of us from the other room,” he muttered. He stood from the table to walk through the foyer to silently groan, “of course it is…”

I looked back to his plate, “aren’t you going to finish your food? …my lord” it was hard to remember to sound like her. I tried to stuff another mouthful myself before I jumped up to follow him.

“What’s the point?” he replied. He seemed surprisingly melancholy at this. That was until he looked a bit surprised he had said this himself and turned to me to croon, “why would I need food when the sight of you is all that I need?” I would have found this cheesy and totally out of character had I not remembered it was a line from the book. I sat down across from him at the table that sure enough, had a chess board, and observed him begin to study it.

He was a strange man. His steadfast desire to remain true to the plot of the book almost made him seem like an NPC from a video game, but he obviously also had a strong desire to rebel from his programming. At times he seemed almost robotic. But just for a moment as he went to stare at eye level at the chess board, his entire demeanor broke character. Instead of the dark-brooding-blood-sucking male lead and main inhabitant of a gloomy castle, he almost seemed like a normal guy trying to figure out how this world worked as well. He sat back as he placed his hands together and regained the typical Victor composure that he’d had with me. “Care to start, Annalise?” he replied.

I studied the board as I felt him continue to stare at me. He did have very lovely eyes. I wasn’t sure why they had to make a man with such a dark and brooding personality so handsome if he was ultimately going to be the villain of the story anyways. I was supposed to seduce him then run away with the real hero, Frederick. It was a long shot but for some reason I was curious if I could get him in four moves.

I moved my pawn placed in front of my queen two spaces as I waited for him to respond. Based on his reaction and this board, it seemed my assumption that we’d be playing by the rules of the more modern system that had come about after the late 1800s was correct. He moved his pawn to meet mine as I moved my bishop four spots to the left. Was he really this clueless?

He moved another pawn as I sent my queen 5 spots to the right. I watched as he scratched his chin and moved another bishop. And then it was done. My queen took his pawn and he was in checkmate. He continued to stare at the board as it dawned on him. He looked from me to the board before sitting back in his chair. He was doing everything in his power to try to hide his surprise as he muttered, “impressive, Annalise.”

We sat there like that in silence for another moment as I offered to reset the board with a wave of my hand. He shook it away as he indicated that it was ok for me to go. For the first time since I’d arrived I could feel my heart pounding. Had I done something wrong? I was supposed to woo him with my wits at the breakfast, not completely destroy his confidence. If my goal was not to be eaten I needed to seduce this man. And he didn’t seem any more captivated by me as I stood up. But to my relief he did appear deep in thought. I did my best to saunter towards the hallway as if the interaction hadn’t shaken me.

“I suppose now you’d call me a rude guest, my lord,” I said from the doorway. Cheesy, but a line from the book. After all, I wasn’t in the mood to see another bear right now.

He chuckled as he offered a half grin. He hadn’t said anything but I could swear I heard him audibly mutter, “why does this one have to be so smart?”

I turned as quickly as I could to head back to my room. I had no idea what he meant by “this one” but it was filling my head with plenty of nonsense. The Victor of the book had been prone to toying with young beautiful women before ultimately draining their blood. Annalise’s only hope was that he was also known to let them go should they be too beautiful or he found them captivating. When she’d been on the run she found this gamble to be a better option than getting slaughtered by her pursuers. Of course I assumed I looked just like Annalise. But she had truly won him over through her charm. And him calling me brainy didn’t make me feel any more confident in this.

I went to flop on my bed as I covered my eyes and hoped I’d have a few precious hours to myself. I had been sitting there ruminating on my breakfast mistakes when I heard a knock on the door. I groaned as I realized the visitor was likely here to deliver the letter. It was the next plot point, and at this point I wasn’t ready for it.