“It might run in the family if half of what the books say about you is true. How old is she, by the way?” Gaby asked while reaching for a leather-bound book with the title of ‘Sunny Days at Belfrost’ on its cover.
“Twenty-two. She is technically my great-granddaughter, but I adopted her when her parents died,” Fionn replied, while he admired the detailed map Hunt had drawn of the Ionis continent, marking the places where the major battles of the Great War had taken place. “But she reminds me so much of my baby girl. My actual daughter, her grandmother. It breaks my heart that I wasn’t able to watch my daughter grow up...”
Fionn let out a long sigh.
“And I take it that’s why you haven’t visited her much lately.” Gaby handed the book to Fionn. “Check the title. Belfrost is high in the mountains; there are no sunny days there. This is something else.”
“It gets painful at times. I missed so much while trapped in that freezing spell for years, until Harland’s dad found me,” Fionn turned the pages of the book. The writing was not clear and the latter pages seemed to have been done in a hurry.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Gaby told him, feeling compassion for him. “Was Izia with you when it happened?”
“Yes and no, she was the one casting the spell after she barely managed to seal off an incredibly powerful monster. The place was collapsing and we were being buried alive in snow. She used her last spell to save me, while I was healing a wound that went from here,” Fionn pointed at his belly button, then he crossed his whole torso until stopping at his chin. “To here. If it weren’t for that I would have died too. The injury was so bad that I couldn’t move. She not only saved me but the whole world. And I couldn’t save her. That’s my biggest regret. At the most crucial moment, I failed her. Sam reminds me so much of her that it hurts too much.”
Fionn let his body fall on the couch, the only piece of furniture not covered by documents. Gaby sat next to him and hugged him. She couldn’t even imagine the guilt and pain he had suffered.
“I love Sam to bits. Being her father allowed me to recover a part of myself I thought I had lost forever. And she really helped me adapt to this new age. She is a bright kid. But I admit, between being depressed and the adjustment, I wasn’t the happiest dad to be around and she deserves much more. That’s why she came here.” Fionn looked around, dejected.
“Talking to someone who has had a toxic relationship with her father, I don’t think she thinks the same as you. She does seem to love you as well. But I bet she resents that you haven’t kept in touch with her more,” Gaby held one of his arms. “You need to fix that before it is too late. Trust me, I know about dysfunctional father-daughter relationships and yours can still be fixed.”
“Thanks.” Fionn smiled at Gaby. “I take it that you were enrolled at the Sisters of Mercy by said father?”
“It is more complicated than that. But I will tell you my story once this whole thing is solved and we have found the professor.”
The floor trembled.
“That was odd,” Gaby murmured.
“About that…” Fionn started to say, but Gaby placed her index finger on his lips and got closer to him. Then she took the book in her hands once more.
“I have an idea of what this is.” Gaby pointed to a drawing on one of its pages. “I think the professor hid his journal inside this fake cover.”
“These scribbles are similar to the one found on the floor at his manor,” Fionn compared it with the ripped page he had taken with him from the manor.
“He might have made copies.”
“He wrote all by hand. That is a lot of work to create copies. It’s safer that way, I guess, but his penmanship leaves a lot to be desired,” Fionn said ruefully.
“It’s not lousy penmanship, it’s a code. I can read it.” Gaby smiled, putting the book on the desk. She turned on a lamp to have better illumination to examine it.
“Can you?” Fionn asked, surprised.
“The Sisters of Mercy force you to learn how to read coded manuscripts in poor handwriting. Part of the trade of being a spy,” Gaby replied. “Hunt is clever but he is also absent-minded. He’d have to use a simple code to keep track.”
Gaby looked around and saw the Great War map that Fionn had been admiring. And then she realized. The map was placed just in front of Hunt’s desk, across the room. It was the perfect place to look at the map discreetly and at a distance. She got closer to the map. On it, there were scribbles that seemed to make no sense but were placed in front of the map’s coordinate grid points.
“See? He hid the code in this map. Not that hard if you know where to look. Wanna talk about lousy handwriting, you should see Alex’s. He writes like a six-year-old with a broken left hand.”
“Somehow I’m not surprised,” Fionn said. “You are quite the detective. What does it say?”
“He talks about his travels in recent years. Whatever he found during them unnerved him, as his notes become more hurried. There are lines about a group working for some nefarious end. He then mentions a creature named the ‘Bestial of Ulmo.’ Does that ring a bell?” Gaby asked, confused.
“It’s an old freefolk legend,” Fionn explained. “Ulmo was the first kingdom of the freefolk. It was also the last one, after the times of the Silver Riders. It got into a conflict with the Asurians, which soon escalated into a full transcontinental war. The Great War paled in comparison to what the legend says. Anyways, it got so bad that both sides used more extreme tactics, forcing the last of the Montoc Dragons to intervene. However, the Asurians summoned one of the strange deities, the Bestial. They didn’t realize that summoning a creature of destruction was a bad idea. It destroyed them first, then killed most of the dragons and then went after Ulmo, totaling the place. The last of them, the one named Black Fang, fought the Bestial until it managed to send the creature into some other dimension, or maybe even outer space, nobody is sure where, before dying. But by then Ulmo was gone, like its rivals. It marked the end of the freefolk domination on Ionis at least.”
“Wait a minute, Black Fang? As in your sword?” The floor trembled once more. “Did you feel that?” Gaby asked.
“Yes,” Fionn replied, he looked around, but nothing was moving, concern grew in his face. “Anyways, yes, the dragon’s giant fang was forged into it after his death,” Fionn touched his sword as he talked about it. “And then the Trickster Goddess dropped it into a lake near Skarabear, where Izia and I grew up, for safekeeping till the time it accepted an owner.”
“This is too much of a coincidence then,” Gaby said. “Because Hunt wrote that someone is planning to summon the Bestial again and use it as a key to open the door.” Gaby pointed at something on the page.
“A door to where?”
“It doesn’t say. It does say, however, that the key needs a will, a master to rule it and that the group will ensure one is created in the Bestial and its rider. He also mentions the need for a freefolk caster to empower the spell. He then wrote down the name of the group: The Fraternity of Gadol?” Gaby looked at Fionn.
“I haven’t heard that name in ages,” Fionn replied, standing up. He looked tense, walking around the office as if he was a caged animal. “If I recall correctly, it was an old, mystery cult, originated in the Empire of Asuria, where Meteora stands now. The cult resurfaced during the war. It was the sacred mission of the Masters of the Infinity Pits to fight against the children of the Akeleth, their enemies. We believed that they were the true power behind the Blood Horde but never found proof. They disappeared after the real end of the war.”
“Real end?”
“It’s a long story. Why I didn’t think of it before?” Fionn pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s too obvious.”
“Maybe because you have been trying to repress those memories. Sometimes the obvious escape our minds when we are too emotionally close to it.” Gaby rested her
hand on Fionn’s shoulder. “Besides, you were disconnected from everything.”
Both remained quiet for a few minutes. Gaby was trying to wrap her mind around Fionn’s whole story. How much of the world’s fast progress had he missed? How many places had he never visited? How much of his family’s lives had he missed? Gaby’s heart filled with sadness and concern for him. She had seen what depression and mental trauma could do to a person, every day, with her and with Alex. How Fionn hadn’t gone insane was either credit to the spell Izia cast out of love, or to Fionn’s willpower. Now she understood why Fionn acted the way he did and why he had insisted they remain on the Figaro. Why he was so protective of Sam and Harland. He had lost everything and everyone in his life once before.
The floor trembled a third time, breaking them out of their reverie.
“I felt that,” Fionn broke the silence. “We should hurry. Is there something else in his notes?”
“Just that the NPL might be a front for that cult. He wrote: ‘NPL a front for Fraternity of Gadol?? Need to learn more about NPL leaders! Doctor (?), did he perform surgery on his own children? How did he die? Did he actually die? Something escaped Carpadocci three generations ago. His first experiment? Was that related to the Fraternity? Madam Park is key.’” Gaby showed Fionn the photo of a lady dressed in the typical gala Kuni robes at a fundraiser. “He added a photo of her. And he also mentions the word Tovainar. I don’t know that word,” Gaby continued
“If I recall correctly, it’s a word from an ancient tongue, meaning ‘Harbinger,’” Fionn said. “As in harbinger of the Masters.”
Gaby continued, “Hunt wrote the following entry, dated three months before his disappearance that there will be five of them. ‘One seems to have been awakened decades ago, but I can’t find evidence of activity. Maybe it failed or went into torpor? There is a second one, of which they recently found its location. They plan to awaken it in the coming weeks. It is trapped in a place named Lemast. Why does that name sounds familiar? Need to ask Sam about that urban legend related to her family.’” Gaby paused. “The last entry here is just a few coordinates, and the words ‘Withered King’ next to a drawing that looks like a…” Gaby said before Fionn interrupted her.
“An ox with red eyes as a symbol?”
“Yes, how do you know that?”
“That’s the monster Izia sealed away. And it’s free again. We need to warn everybody,” Fionn told Gaby, grabbing her by the arm and running towards the door. A bigger tremor shook the office, making them both falter in their step. Fionn helped Gaby to remain steady. The office door opened and both Gaby and Fionn reacted by getting into combat stances, drawing their swords. Both relaxed when they saw Alex, Sam, and Harland, out of breath, entering the office.
“We might have a problem. A big one,” Harland said.
“Not as big as the one we will have later,” Fionn said.
Chapter 9
Can’t Catch a Breath
“I hate it when this happens,” Sid complained through the comms. He pushed the yoke wildly from left to right and left again, all while the ship’s alarm blared. The Figaro jumped, jolted from an impact that shook the cockpit.
“Sorry about that, Miss,” Sid said to his companion. In the seat next to him, the female magus with the green hair lay unconscious. She remained in place thanks to the belts holding her tightly against the seat. Her emerald hair and clothes were burnt at the edges, and beneath the damaged threads, burns peppered her skin. “I can’t catch a breath here!”
“What’s going on?” Alex’s voice could be heard, breathing heavily. Sid suspected that he had been running.
“I’m under attack, genius,” Sid replied, pulling the yoke to evade falling debris. It hit one of the drones, which went up in flames in a tiny explosion.
“Someone is invading the school, I guess both of us are under attack. What happened there?”
“Ha, ha, very funny. I was relaxing, enjoying your feed when the proximity sensors went off. The energy readings were off the chart for most human vessels that I know of. I had a bad feeling about that, so I called through the speakers to the magi that were guarding the platform, to show them the readings. The lady with green hair saw them and was on her way out to alert the other magus when a barrage obliterated the platform, killing most of them. I managed to pick up the lady before the platform collapsed, but she is badly injured and unconscious. We barely escaped the second round of fire. So now I’m flying for my life, dodging what I assume are drones shooting at me.” Lights on the console flickered when the Figaro got hit by another shot. Behind it, there were still five drones, heavily armed, trailing the ship like hounds to their prey.
“Drones?”
“Yes, drones! Now tell me what the hell is going on!” Sid yelled at the comms, barreling down to pass under a limestone arch. The whole place didn’t make any geometrical sense for him, so he was flying the Figaro more by instinct than by following a particular plan of action. Even the AI had conceded defeat and was just focusing on helping dodge the floating debris.
“Harland says that it’s an old flying fortress built during the Great War. They were decommissioned and buried in a secret place in the Grasslands. Only the royal family knew the exact location…” Alex started to explain.
“Tell him to spare me the history class,” Sid cut him short while pushing the throttle forward; the Figaro needed more speed to have any hope of getting out of the Maze. And yet it seemed that the edge of the canyon was out of reach. This was proving to be quite a test of his abilities as a pilot.
“Long story short. The evil guys that kidnapped Hunt are attacking this place and shooting everything in sight. We need to escape. It might have been a trap.”
“Really? I thought you were gonna do the idiot thing of fighting them,” Sid said nonchalantly. He knew that his friend had the proclivity of doing stupid things when facing a fight.
“Well it’s that or inviting them for tea,” Alex replied, amused.
“That’s amusing. Almost as much as trying to shake these drones from my tail,” Sid replied. The AI was having problems locking on the targets for the rear blasters. If he managed to get the Figaro out in one piece from this, he would work on that AI to teach it to deal with spatial distortions.
“The Maze is full of random gravimetric waves, use them to your favor,” Alex replied.
“The drones are more maneuverable,” Sid explained, annoyed. “No one likes backseat driving!”
“Hey, I’m just trying to help. Besides, the Figaro has more power and is sturdier. You can compensate. Think of this as a test run.”
“Again with that! If I manage to get out alive from this I will give you a test run! Find me a place to pick you up,” Sid said. Then he muttered. “B’ax”
“Sam says that there is a second service platform a few levels below. We will meet you there. Try to stay in the air a bit longer.”
“What the frig you think I’m trying to do! Get to that platform before I decide to leave you behind, smartass!” Sid barked at Alex.
“I’m working on that,” Alex replied before cutting the communication line.
“I’m working on that,” Sid said, mocking Alex’s words. “This is what I get for helping people I don’t even know. When am I gonna learn?”
The sensors blared once more, alerting Sid of an incoming gravimetric wave. In front of him, floating, there was a cluster of limestone debris from what he assumed had been a garrison perched on a wall of the canyon. He considering evading it, but then, against his better judgment, he pushed forward, reluctantly following Alex’s advice. The Figaro rocked, the unconscious magus jolted in the seat, the belt barely holding her in place. Sid felt the pounding that his vertebrae were enduring. It was then that he thanked the Prophet that his species was able to withstand the pummeling associated with traveling in a flying ship. The wave hit the Figaro, but
thanks to its power, it managed to stay afloat, dodging the debris around it. The drones weren’t so lucky; three were destroyed by the sheer might of the wave, while the other two were damaged by the debris. Soon the Figaro cleared the wave and the alarms stopped blaring.
“Huh? It actually worked,” Sid said aloud, to his own surprise.
† † †
“Wait, so they are planning to bring back some moldy freefolk god and start tearing up the planet?” Alex asked while the five of them were running. Gaby and Fionn had been updating Sam, Harland, and Alex on the way to the promenade.
“Asurian, not freefolk” Fionn replied.
“Yeah, big difference,” quipped Harland.
Fionn’s breath was accelerating, shifting, sounding uncomfortable. “And it’s not a god, it’s a creature from the Pits revered as a god. And they might even have something worse here already.”
“Worse than that?” Harland asked, breathing heavily. It was hard for him to keep the pace.
“The Withered King,” Fionn mumbled under his breath.
“Crap… Wait…who the heck is the Withered King?”
“I will explain later,” Fionn said. “We need to find a safe route to escape first.”
“There’s a secret passage hidden in the kitchen, near the walk-in fridge, we can use that one,” Sam replied.
“If it is secret, how come you know about it?” Alex said.
“Duh, I have been studying here since high school,” Sam replied once more, rolling her eyes. “What do you think I do in my free time? Those passages are good for playing pranks. Follow me.”
Sam and Alex took the vanguard, while Gaby and Fionn took the rear, to offer Harland some protection. The group turned around a corner, reaching the cafeteria once more. But they came face to face with troopers dressed in black, their faces covered with darkened goggles and helmets, holding rifles. When they reached the cafeteria they shot at the kids. The hail of bullets took Alex by surprise, not allowing him to react to them. But there was no need as they hit an invisible wall of energy that flickered with a purple and blue light where they hit it. Next to him, he saw Sam making swift gestures with her hands. Not wasting a second, Alex expanded his bow and let loose a rain of arrows that hit most of the troopers. Sam then proceeded to send them flying away against the walls with a hand gesture, a wave of purplish energy hitting them square in their chests.
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