Serpent in the Mist

by Cleave Bourbon

  “What the . . . ?” Ganas said.

  Rennon recounted the events in an uneasy haste. When he was done, Ganas sat staring at him with an angry expression for a moment.

  “So that’s why you volunteered to come here with me,” Ganas said. “You had your own agenda. What were you thinking?”

  Rennon suddenly realized that this was the first Ganas had heard of his secret. Rennon chastised himself for letting his guard down without thinking. “No, it wasn’t like that at all. I use the herbs to suppress it, to protect us from it.”

  “No, you have jeopardized our mission for Morgoran by hiding it.”

  “By hollowed Vex!” he swore. “She has me all befuddled. I can’t believe I blurted it all out like that. The potion—what was in that blasted potion?”

  “You are a wielder, and what’s worse, you shunned Devyn for it.”

  “No, I am not a wielder.” Rennon’s anger surged within him. “I’m no wielder.” he stammered. “I’m not.”

  Ganas clutched his own head in pain; blood trickled from his nose. ”Rennon, stop it!” he gasped.

  Rennon stared in horror as blood now gushed from Ganas’ nose. He willed himself to hold back, to stop. What was that potion? He pulled the bottle from his cloak and looked at it as if it would tell him something. After a moment, he felt himself regaining control. Ganas sighed and breathed in deeply, his hateful eyes fixed on Rennon. Without warning, Ganas reached for his scabbard and produced his sword, pointing it at Rennon’s throat. “Do that to me again and I will run you through, mindwielder!” he threatened.

  Again, Rennon felt his anger rise, but he was able to suppress it now. “How would you know if I was a mindwielder? How would you know anything of the wild magic, being from Symboria?”

  “As soon as we deliver Morgoran’s message to Theosus, I think we should part company.”

  Rennon nodded.

  RENNON DID NOT SLEEP well for the last few hours of night. His mind would not let him escape the images of the night and the guilt of allowing Deylia take the blame for the fallen Enforcers. Since Ganas planned to leave Trigoth without his company, Rennon decided he must take responsibility for his actions. He had to find the Enforcers and offer them his testimony. He opened his eyes to see Ganas sitting up with his unsheathed sword lengthwise on his unmade bed. He eyed Rennon as he prepared to get dressed for the day.

  Rennon felt a pang of regret. “Ganas, after we meet with Theosus Fiderea, I will go to the Enforcers. I will offer my confession in exchange for the woman.”

  “That is the honorable course to take, Rennon. I will explain to the others when I return what happened, minus the mindwielder confession.”

  “Ganas, I wonder, will you tell Devyn I am sorry for how things turned out?”

  “Aye, I will.”

  Rennon and Ganas left the inn just after daybreak in search for Theosus Fiderea’s shop. They found it nestled in a corner in the merchants’ square. It was an oddly rounded structure with large round windows inset in wooden trim. The front walk was made of wood fastened tightly together and polished. Ganas entered ahead of Rennon and made his way to a wooden counter near the rear.

  “May I help you?” a pleasant-looking man behind the counter with white hair and wearing a long, linen apron asked.

  “I am Ganas Nashe, and this is Rennon Parah. We have traveled far to meet Theosus Fiderea.”

  “Oh, and what purpose do you have with Theosus?”

  “We come bearing a message from Morgoran Cleareyes.”

  The old man eyed Ganas with suspicion. “Morgoran Cleareyes? How is that possible?”

  “I beg you, good sir, we will explain the message to Theosus. Is he here?”

  The old man behind the counter did not move; he eyed both Ganas and Rennon, sizing them up. “He is around, but he rarely receives guests. I will ask him. Come back tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” Rennon blurted out. Ganas gave him a stern look.

  The old man scowled. “Is there something the matter with tomorrow?”

  Ganas put his hands together sympathetically. “No, it’s just that we have come so far and our message is urgent. Could we possibly meet with Theosus today?”

  The old man shook his head. “I am afraid not. Theosus is a busy man. He would never agree to meet with someone on such short notice, especially someone he has never met. You will have to come back tomorrow.”

  “How do you know he has never met us?” Rennon pointed out.

  “Because I have never met you,” the old man said.

  Rennon’s apprehension grew. The longer he delayed with this meeting, the more urgency and danger he felt for Deylia.

  “Now, if there isn’t anything else, I must get back to my work.”

  Rennon stared into the old man’s face. “What time do we return tomorrow?”

  The old man looked as if he were taken aback for a moment. He was not going to set up a meeting. He doesn’t believe we have a message from Morgoran Cleareyes. He thinks we are lying! He believes Morgoran is still cursed.

  “About the same time tomorrow, I should expect,” he stated coldly.

  Rennon stared at him. “You don’t believe us, do you?”

  “What?” the old man asked.

  “Rennon, we will just come back tomorrow,” Ganas said.

  “It won’t make any difference; Theosus will not meet with us. This aged fellow has no intention of setting up a meeting for us. He doesn’t believe us.”

  “Now see here, young man. No need for rudeness. I most certainly will.”

  “Um, Rennon, what are you doing?”

  Rennon looked harder into the old man’s face. Theosus is in the back room listening to us. I wasted a whole gold piece on that useless potion!

  “I think you two should leave now. I tell you I will set up a meeting, and that is exactly what I intend to do. Tomorrow.”

  “Is tomorrow fine for you too, Master Fiderea?” Rennon shouted toward the back of the shop. “Or would you just rather come out here and speak to us today?”

  Two patrons standing near a shelf of multi-colored potions turned at the sound and shock of Rennon’s shouting.

  “Rennon!” Ganas gasped. “I am sorry. I will take him out of here.,”

  “No need,” came a voice from somewhere in the rear of the shop. “Friedan, tend the shop and send them back here to me.”

  “As you wish, Master Fiderea.” He cocked his head in the direction behind him. “Take care to use your good manners.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Ganas said. Rennon headed straight for where he knew Theosus Fiderea was standing.

  As they entered the rear of the shop, Theosus came into view. He was a tall man with white hair, standing facing a shelf away from Rennon and Ganas. His robes were red and black with a strange pattern embroidered on the back. It looked like the back of a black widow spider.

  “Greetings, friends of Morgoran Cleareyes.” He turned to face them, and both boys gasped at his appearance. His face was a dark hewn indigo; he had slightly raised ears, and his eyes were as red as his robes. “I am Theosus Fiderea.”

  Chapter 5: Hidden

  Theosus gestured for Ganas and Rennon to pull up a chair and sit down. “Do you boys play nine cards by chance?” he asked.

  “A little,” Ganas answered.

  Rennon nodded.

  Theosus sat in his chair and pulled himself to a small table situated in his comfortable and cozy back room.

  “Good. I think I can come down to your level. Sit, sit.” He gestured again.

  “Master Theosus,” Ganas began, “we really don’t have time to play nine cards. We—”

  “Nonsense. If you want to speak with me, you will have to do it over a game of nine cards,” Theosus argued.

  Ganas set aside his irritation and took his place at the table.

  Rennon smirked and shook his head as he reluctantly joined them at the table.

  “Now, what is so urgent that you must bother me so?” Theosus said
as he dealt the cards.

  Ganas took his cards and looked at them intently. “I have been sent to you as a personal envoy for Morgoran. He has instructed me to inform you that the curse put upon him has been lifted and that he has returned.”

  Theosus looked at his cards as if he didn’t hear Ganas speak. “Ah, nine of leaves,” he said as he placed a card embossed with nine green leaves upon the table. “My lead.”

  “Pardon me, Master Theosus, but did you hear what I said? Morgoran told us that you would know what to do with the news of his return.”

  Rennon’s turn was next, and he placed a two of stones onto Theosus’ nine of leaves. “Two stones crush nine of leaves. Three points to me,” Rennon stated flatly.

  Theosus scowled. “Lucky card. Your turn, friend,” he said to Ganas.

  “What?”

  “Play your cards if you have them. Don’t waste time,” Theosus scolded.

  “But this is a waste of time. Morgoran says—”

  “Yes, yes, I know. Morgoran has reappeared, right? The curse of the Silver Drake—an item made of the power of the gods—has lifted the curse somehow.” His red eyes gleamed in contrast to his indigo skin. “Truly, do you have any idea how many times I have heard that story over the years? Most who utter those words think I will reveal the location of some hidden treasure or uncover some forgotten artifact for them. That is, of course, if they believe Morgoran existed at all. He has become somewhat of a myth in the Trigothian kingdoms. Now listen to me, good boy, Morgoran will never return. The Silver Drake’s curse will never be lifted; he left me with no location of treasure or staves of powerful magic. Now, if you have nothing else to say, play a card!”

  Ganas sighed at his cards and placed the two of leaves over the two of stones. “Two leaves cover two stones. Three points to me.” Ganas folded his cards in his hand.

  Rennon pulled out a card. “Not so fast.” He placed an ace of gems over the two of leaves. “Trump card. I’ll take those three points.”

  “I am beginning to think you boys might be better at playing cards than I thought,” Theosus observed. “Where did you two learn to play nine cards?”

  Ganas took a frustrated breath and then stated sarcastically, “We are mountain folk. We invented the game.”

  Theosus chuckled. “Oh, you did, did you?” He put his cards down onto the pile and folded his arms across his chest. After he studied Rennon and Ganas for a few more moments, he gestured with his arms up in surrender. “I give up. All right, I am game for a good storytelling. Tell me of Morgoran’s miraculous return.”

  Ganas put his cards on the pile. “The Silver Drake removed her curse. It took him a few months, but he has recovered, and he sent me with this message. He said you would know what to do next.”

  Theosus nodded. “Interesting, but I wonder. What color are his eyes now?”

  “As blue as the midday sky.”

  “I see. Well, what is his disposition?”

  “His what?” Ganas asked.

  “Is he angry, happy, sad?”

  “I would say grumpy,” Rennon chimed in.

  Theosus chuckled. “That certainly sounds like him, but I hardly believe Morgoran would send a representative. He doesn’t trust anyone, you see.”

  Rennon’s face turned red. “Not even you?”

  “Especially not me.”

  “I am a fool for trying!” Rennon responded.

  “What did you say?” Theosus asked, a little surprised.

  Ganas put a finger to his temple and rubbed it as if he were getting a headache. “Rennon, we are not here to start up trouble,” he cautioned between clenched teeth.

  Rennon moved closer to Theosus. Hatred swelled within him, and he wasn’t sure why, but he knew he wanted to attack. “I said that your arrogance is only second to your obvious stupidity.” Rennon could see Theosus clearly did not approve. Rennon’s behavior was not something Theosus was used to seeing.

  “Perhaps I should have brought you Morgoran’s head for the sole purpose of proving his return to you. But, then again, what use to us would he be dead?”

  Theosus stood straight up; one eyebrow cocked at Rennon. “Why, I should—”

  “Rennon! What are you doing? You are not helping,” Ganas said, trying to diffuse the situation.

  “I don’t care, Ganas. This fool is of no help to us.”

  “Boy, you go too far.”

  Rennon clenched his teeth. “No, sir, I do not go far enough.”

  Theosus raised his hand to chest level. “You are in need of manners.” He made a hand gesture, and Rennon felt his legs stiffen. His chair came out from under him, and he stood up, ridged.

  He was not sure what Theosus had in mind, but he was not about to let him do it. He strengthened his will and thought of Theosus flying bodily against the back wall of the room. He released his thought, and Theosus tumbled backward. Bottles on the shelves shook and fell to the floor as Theosus met with the wall. Immediately Rennon’s fear took him. Theosus picked himself off the floor and leveled his red eyes at Rennon. Ganas took two steps back. Rennon braced for the worse.

  Theosus cracked his neck left and then right. With a gesture from Theosus Fiderea’s hand, Rennon froze. The white-haired man limped to the wall on the left side of the room and took down a wooden box. He opened the box and removed a glowing blue stone. Rennon cringed.

  “This is a Lora Daine,” Theosus said in a low voice. “Do you know what a Lora Daine does?” Rennon shook his head that he did not. “It’s a dragon stone.” Theosus whispered something to the stone. Rennon thought he heard the word Brendlewyre. “Here, boy.” He tossed the stone carelessly to Ganas, whose involuntary action was to catch it. As soon as the stone touched Ganas’ hands, he vanished in a haze of azure. Rennon began to conjure up thoughts to defend himself, but his mind was a jumble, and nothing tangent came to thought.

  “If you are trying to mindwield on me again, boy, save your strength. I only sent him away. Morgoran told you that I knew what to do, so trust that he was correct.” He looked at Rennon with contempt. “He also said that if he did not face me in person, look for a mindwielder. His eyes were clear at the time, and I dismissed his prediction like so many of his others, but here you stand. I must say, I would not have believed a mindwielder would be so bold as to face me here. I thought your kind was all but wiped out in the War of the Oracle.” He turned to another shelf. “But what must be done will be done. Morgoran asked me to give the mindwielder this tin of leaves.” He blew the dust off a small tin box. “The contents are magically sealed. I prepared them many years ago at Morgoran’s request. When you brew a tea, any kind of tea, mix in a pinch of this, but mind that you use only a pinch. It’s powerful.”

  “What is it?”

  “Poison.”

  “Poison!”

  “Aye, poison if you take too much. Just a pinch will alter your mind. Two pinches will have you seeing monsters in the dark, and three pinches will put you in the grave. Less than a pinch will probably cure a headache. Morgoran instructed me to give it to you when the time came.”

  “Oh, that’s comforting. You said his eyes were already clear. When did he tell you this?”

  “Well, about nine hundred years ago, if I remember. It was just after he started spouting out prophecy.”

  “That tin was prepared nine hundred years ago?”

  “Aye, he was very convincing that I prepare them. By the way, throw that overpriced potion you bought away. I can smell it on you from here.”

  Rennon took the tin. “What potion?”

  Theosus made a slight motion with his hand, and Rennon stopped breathing. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach. “No more games, boy, I have already brought out your abilities.” He released him. “Now you are calm, tranquil.”

  Rennon gasped a moment for breath; his anger and apprehension flowed out of him. As soon as he was able, he opened the tin. “What is in this, then? I mean, I know what you said about it being poison if abused, bu
t what is it exactly?”

  “If you are so worried about the contents of that tin, remember that I am old enough to have known a few mindwielders in person. That concoction is what they came up with to help control their power when they started losing the ability to do it themselves. I know of no other apothecary in Trigothia that can still concoct it.”

  “What if I run out of this?”

  “I guess you are out of luck, unless you can find an apothecary elsewhere that can duplicate it. The apothecaries in Endil might still be able to make it. Now go on. I have done my part.”

  “Endil? That’s in the middle of the Great Sythian Forest. I can’t go there to get it.”

  “Then you better use it sparingly and not run out. Go now.”

  “Not until you tell me what you did with Ganas.”

  Theosus appeared annoyed. “If you will leave me in peace, I will tell you. He is with the dragons in Draegodor. Morgoran foresaw that they are to help him.”

  “How is it you can remember everything Morgoran said to you nine hundred years ago?” Rennon asked.

  “You should be more impressed that I was able to send your friend all the way to Draegodor with such a small Lora Daine.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? I have never even heard of a Lora Daine before today.”

  Theosus looked disappointed. “Here, you will need this.” He handed him a small pouch with something hard inside.

  “What is it?”

  “Your salvation. Now, go find the girl.” Theosus’ eyes flared with a strange twinkle, and Rennon felt lightheaded.

  Rennon scoffed. His mind reeled as he exited the shop.

  What am I doing? he thought. I am losing what little control I had.

  Don’t dawdle, boy, you have to find her now. Use your thoughts.