Stell Castle covered an enormous area, and its rear garden alone occupied nearly half a hillside. Rows of flowering trees and shrubs, each more than two meters tall, divided the great flower beds that climbed the slope into separate sections.
The gardeners who tended those beds lived in low stone cottages tucked among the trees and shrubs.
The cottage Ted and his men rushed into looked as though it had been abandoned for some time. It stood in a grove of Flower-Leaf Rubber Trees between the Golden Cloud Orchids and the peace lilies.
"Ted?" Earl Ster, who had been directing another group of fully armed Knights sprayed with Holy Water as they hammered metal walls into place around the huge pit, could not help following them. "Be careful! Keep your protective gear on... Don't leave so much as a nostril exposed!"
"My lord," Ted called from inside, sounding helpless, "we're all wearing full metal armor sprinkled with Holy Water.
"Besides, this place has been abandoned for years. At worst, it'll smell a little."
"Hm?" Earl Ster asked, puzzled. "Who used to live here?"
"Ivo Kutner. He was your mother's favorite gardener, my lord. He came with the late countess from her family when she married, then married a maid she trusted deeply."
The earl snapped upright. "Kutner?"
"Yes. Mrs. Kutner oversaw the castle's cleaning back then. Even the washing of curtains and bedspreads fell under her charge."
Ted fell silent. A few seconds later, he launched into a tirade. "Damn it! What the... It really was him!
"I knew it! How could your lady mother's family have produced such a devout believer in the holy light, one who went to the temple every damn day to beg for redemption through Holy Water?"
"What a... remarkably skilled gardener!
"Your mother's family