"I demand to see Lord Leofric!" An angry voice echoed through the manor's front hall, causing Isabella to pause on the stairs. She had been on her way down for breakfast when the shouting began.
The butler stood in the doorway trying to block a middle-aged man with mud-stained clothes and wild hair. Two of Leofric's guards flanked flanked, looking uncertain about whether to forcibly remove the visitor or not.
"Please, sir," The butler said in his most polite tone, "His lordship is not yet available. If you could wait in the—"
"Wait?" the man interrupted, his voice rising even higher. "Wait while my neighbors sleep in the mud? While my grandchild suffers and children shiver in the cold?"
"Sir, acting like this won't bring any solution to the challenges you speak—"
"How can your lord be sleeping while his people are in despair?" the man demanded, his fists clenched at his sides.
"I didn't say the Lord is still in bed." The guard countered.
