***
In the doorway was a thin man. His hair was metallic purple and his skin was cream-color, tinted lavender. The leggings and vest he wore were matching purple with gold filigree. His feet were bare as was his chest underneath the unclasped vest.
It was immediately clear that he was not human. His eyes were liquid-silver with no pupils or irises. He had a wide grin with sharp, intimidating teeth.
But out of all that was odd about this creature, the fact that he was hopping from one foot to the other in a funny sort of dance was the strangest. It was a happy dance. He would hop twice on one foot, then twice on the other foot, and then he would do a spin, moving his shoulders up and down in time with some unheard music.
Tathan had his sword out and was standing in front of Liselle to protect her. “Who and what are you, Stranger?”
“Me? I am . . . Vevin!” he exclaimed, still doing his happy dance. “Yes! Vevin is my name. Vevin is a good name, no?” he asked hopefully.
Liselle moved out from behind Tathan and gave the newcomer a big smile. “Vevin is an excellent name. I like it.” She casually waved her hand in her cousin’s direction as Tathan crouched, ready to attack. “Don’t mind Tathan. He’s a bit jumpy and we didn’t expect to find anyone way out here in the middle of the forest.”
“Yay! I like you.” Vevin waved at Tathan. “Hi Tathan!” Still doing his dance, he spoke to Liselle, “You’re nice. And pretty! I didn’t expect anyone out here either!” Vevin added foot slides to his dance.
“Thank you, Vevin. You seem like a happy person.”
Vevin leaned forward with an intense look. “No! I’m not happy at all. He stole my home and hurt me bad!” Vevin turned his head and showed them a long, deep gash along the left side of his face from the bottom of his chin to the top of his head. It looked as though it was beginning to heal, but it was a grave wound.
“Oh, Vevin. Who did that to you?” Liselle moved forward with a hand raised to touch it.
Tathan put a warning hand on Liselle’s shoulder.
Vevin shrank back. “Him! He’s bad and he stole my home and I can’t say his name or he might find me and kill me!” The dance changed to a frightened shuffle. Vevin hunched his shoulders together and moved back and forth like a snake.
Liselle made calming gestures. “It’s all right, Vevin. We won’t say his name. He’s very bad if he did that to you and stole your home.”
“Yes! Very bad!” Vevin went back to doing the original happy dance. A wide, toothsome smile filled his face, marred by the wound. “Do we get to explore now?”
Liselle could tell there was something off about this person. She wondered if perhaps the wound on the side of his head had damaged his mind. “Yes, Vevin. We can go explore now.” She turned to her cousin. “Can’t we Tathan?”
Tathan said nothing, just continued to crouch with his sword at the ready.
Liselle walked to Vevin. “I’m sure he’ll follow. Let’s explore.” She linked her arm in Vevin’s elbow.
Vevin went eagerly with Liselle, occasionally doing a little hop or dance. “Let’s investigate the building with the cave first! Maybe I can use that as my new home!” Vevin pointed at a building to the east, the largest structure standing.
It was three floors tall, with remains of a domed roof. The cream-colored stone walls of the upper floor were collapsing. “That looks like a good place to start,” Liselle agreed. It was early afternoon, giving them a fair amount of time to explore.
Tathan followed them, studying the stranger. His black blade seemed to suck light out of the air.
It made Liselle shiver to look at it. She turned back to Vevin. “You said you were looking for a new home?”
“Oh yes! I need a new home. He took my old home, so I need a new home.”
His voice resonated through Liselle’s bones. His scent was earthy, with a hint of lightning. “Wouldn’t you rather have a home where there were more people, Vevin?”
“No. I like quiet places. I need someplace to keep treasure.”
“Treasure?”
“He took my treasure too. I didn’t have much, but he took it.” Vevin’s dance moved back to the darker shuffle. “He took everything and hurt me. I need a new home.”
“All right, so we need to get you a new home. That way you have someplace to put your treasure. Got it. Are you going to get it back from the person who took it from you?”
Vevin shrank into himself. The liquid-silver of his eyes rippled in what Liselle guessed was fear. “No! He’s not a person. He’s dangerous and I’m not going to try to get my treasure back.” Abruptly, he went back to the happy dance as the cousins stared at him. “I’m going to get new treasure as soon as I find a home to put it in.”
“Well, that sounds like an excellent plan.” Liselle moved toward the building again.
Vevin took a single leap to her side, farther than any normal person could have made. Liselle looked back at Tathan to see his eyes were wide once more. Perhaps it was foolish of her to trust this strange being so easily, but she believed he wouldn’t harm them.
A moment later, they reached the ruin. Its architecture was that of a church. Remains of statues lining the walls had the trappings of priestly orders. Crumbling remnants of fountains lined either side of the walkway to the main doors. It must have been a magnificent sight to behold once upon a time.
Vevin peered into the dark beyond the large doorway. “Oh, it’s nice in there! I like it a lot. I can see there are rooms and even caves underneath. We should definitely explore them!”
“Rooms and caves underneath?” Liselle couldn’t see much beyond the doorway.
“Oh yes. There’s dormant magic down there and some sort of being. It should be interesting.” He danced ahead into the building.
“Some sort of being?” When Vevin didn’t respond, she followed him into the building.
Rojuun Page 16