Free An Unexpected Deity (Book 7) by Jeffrey Quyle

guest room for the night, then come back here.”
    Bradstree, follow the boy to your room for the night,” Kestrel threw out one more set of directions.  He was suddenly exhausted once again, feeling the effects of the mountain-climbing day return as the energy from the spring faded away.
    “Putty, you go to your room and lock the door,” he said finally, as the others all began to move.
    She looked at him with a puzzled look.
    “Oh, just go to bed, and sleep well.  Tomorrow you’ll have to tell me all about your day with Remy,” he said in a tired voice as he squeezed her shoulder affectionately, and watched her leave.  That left him alone, the only person in the office, and he shook his head to think that not long before he had been in danger of frostbite on a mountaintop in the high peaks of the southern mountains.
    Remy came running down the hall, his footsteps clearly audible, then he paused before he entered the office again in a slow and casual manner.
    “The gnome is in his room, my lord,” the elven boy told Kestrel.  “He said something to me, but I don’t know what he said.”
    “Did you take good care of Putienne today?” Kestrel asked.
    “Yes, sir,” Remy answered enthusiastically.  “We did all kinds of things!”
    “You were a proper gentleman to her, I’m sure,” Kestrel kept his expression neutral.
    “Oh yes sir, absolutely, my lord, sir,” Remy stuttered over the words of affirmation.
    “Good; that’s what I’d expect.  She’s very, very important to me, you know,” Kestrel told the youth.  “Now go to your room and go to sleep,” he ordered the young servant, and patted the boy’s shoulder as they left the office.
    He was dead tired, ready to fall asleep on his feet, he decided, but he stopped at Bradstree’s door anyway.
    “Do you need anything?” he asked.
    “Just tell the boy thank you for leading me here,” the gnome said.
    “I’ll wake you in the morning for breakfast,” Kestrel told him, and two minutes later he was lying on his own bed, snoring soundly.
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    A yeti was standing beside Kestrel’s bed when he awoke the next morning.
    “Putty!” he grinned, happy to see the creature in its natural form, not just because he wanted to discourage Remy’s interest in Putienne, but also because he simply enjoyed the sight of the friendly, furry face.
    “I can never scare you!” she pouted as she morphed back into her girlish form.  “Is it time to get up?”
    There was sunlight coming in the window, Kestrel saw.  “Yes, it’s time to get up.  Go to the kitchen and see if breakfast is ready.  I’ll go get our guest and join you there, then we’ll go back to the mountain.”
    “Can I just stay here and be with Remy while you climb the mountain again today, just like yesterday?” she asked hopefully.
    “No,” Kestrel replied instantly.  “I’d like for you to be with me, and see the mountain scenery,” he added after a moment.
    “Okay,” she seemed unfazed by his response, and left the room.
    Kestrel rose and dressed, then woke Bradstree, and  they walked to the kitchen.
    “How many people live here?” the gnome asked as they walked the halls.
    “I don’t know,” Kestrel admitted, trying to add up the number of servants who resided in the manor.  “Maybe more than a dozen?” he guessed.
    “So few people in so much space?  Did many of your elves die?” Bradstree asked incredulously.
    “Well, no.  It’s just not meant to have lots of elves living here together,” Kestrel answered defensively, even as he wondered about how he would have viewed the manor just a few years earlier, before he had been exposed to so many palaces and mansions, and come to take so much for granted.  He was reminded that he needed to think further about how to help the elves around him, in Oaktown and the villages nearby.  And he would think about it, he promised himself, once he finished carrying out his current