Acha rubbed his back and nodded. “I’m not a red- or black-scale.” He chuckled and tapped his cheek to highlight his dark-green scales. “So dry environments aren’t my specialty. But Iguiza has dry climates as well. I simply need to stay hydrated.”
“I have never been to your realm, but does Iguiza have anything like our deserts?” Reina asked.
He looked at her with a sharp-toothed smile. “We call the area that the black- and red-scales call home Ember Rock Plains. The heat there can reach almost boiling levels.”
“And you can survive that?” she asked with a hint of shock in her features.
The squama’s toothy grin slimmed to a more jovial look. “Well, not without the proper precautions—like my tunic.” He stretched the blue fabric. “It’s light and breezy but it has a special coating that keeps me cool. It’s one of the few things I brought with me when I joined the order.”
Reina shook her head as Pete chuckled. “Well, you could have explained that.”
“It’s a pity about Kanami, though,” Pete remarked. Devol thought about the Tsuna scholar he had occasionally seen working with Jazai and Zier. “She badly wanted to come but the location is too much for her, at least for an extended stay.”
“So you will be gone for a while?” Jazai asked.
Acha nodded. “Possibly. What we’re looking for…well, we don’t know much yet.”
“What? Then how can you find it?” Devol inquired.
“We can certainly look for the signs.” Pete laughed wryly. “The thing is, it seems it could be rather nasty. It is something magical, to be sure, and was found by an archeology team that came through one of their many ancient sites. The team disappeared, as has anyone who attempted to search for them.”
“And you are not concerned that you are also now a team looking for them?” Asla asked bluntly.
“We will be fine,” Reina assured them and placed a hand on the ornate necklace she wore. “My majestic will keep us safe.”
“And mine will take care of anything in our way,” Pete boasted and brandished the mace he had rested on his shoulder. It was almost as long as his arm and a round white orb on the end featured cracked markings that glowed orange. “We’ll be fine and wouldn’t have been requested if we couldn’t handle it.”
“Or at least have a good chance to deal with it,” Acha added and tapped his daggers. “If it turns out to be a majestic, maybe I can claim it for myself.”
“Potentially, but given the circumstances, you know what it is more likely to be,” Reina replied.
He sighed and nodded. “Yeah, it’s probably a malefic. Oh, well. Macha mentioned that there are a couple of majestics they are ready to test so I might have to check with her once we return.” He looked at the Freki. “Speaking of which, you might want to check in with mistress Nauru.”
The wolf wildkin nodded in agreement. “We were on our way to her. We’ve just returned from a mission.”
“And this isn’t getting any lighter,” Jazai grumbled as he adjusted the sack on his shoulder.
“But why do you say that, Acha?” the hunter questioned.
“From what we were told, this isn’t the only incident like this at the moment,” the squama revealed.
“Aye, It seems a few of these odd anomalies have appeared,” Pete continued. “And all at the same time. They started to come in before you left but in the couple of days since you’ve been gone, we’ve had almost double the number of requests for aid throughout the kingdoms.”
“All of the kingdoms have similar occurrences?” Freki asked. His voice lowered as his eyes narrowed to show a more serious face that Devol only saw him wear once in a while. “And we have no clues about any of them?”
“We have many theories, all supplied by the clients,” Reina replied with a shrug. “I’m not sure how much good they are. They all seem a little different.”
“I see.” Freki nodded and motioned for the younger Templars to follow him. “Best of luck to you three. We’ll go and report to the grand mistress.”
“Aye, good fortune to ya!” Pete called as Acha waved cheerfully and Reina opened the anchor point. The portal revealed a desert of golden sand and amber skies that the trio walked into before it shut. Devol turned his attention to the castle’s main gate.
A mysterious force spreading around the kingdoms? Potentially dark magic of some kind involved? It sounded exciting!
“Hey, Heni, Coko! Are you here?” Freki called as they entered the main lobby.
“Coming!” a sweet voice responded. Two of the stewards of the order walked into the lobby from an adjacent room. Coko was a verte wildkin with the appearance of a white-and-brown spotted rabbit and Heni was a large, crimson-skinned daemoni man with curved horns who wore a double-breasted black suit jacket and slacks. “Hey there, Freki and friends. How was the mission?” Coko asked.
Heni eyed the wolf wildkin with curiosity. “I thought you were supposed to hide from your charges.” The daemoni’s voice was deep and booming but he spoke in a calm and polite tone.
Freki chuckled half-heartedly and nodded. “Yeah. I’m afraid I was discovered. But they completed the mission before they saw me.”
The daemoni nodded and adjusted the collar of his suit. “The young Templars must be impressive to have discovered you at any moment during the trial.”
“It wasn’t as difficult as you might think,” Jazai told him and swung his bundle. “Do you mind taking this, Heni?”
“This is the flayer mission from Brestshire, correct?” Heni asked as he took the bundle from him and lifted it casually.
“Yes, sir.” Devol nodded and handed the smaller bags to Coko. “It was an alpha leading a few smaller flayers. Are you okay with them, Coko?”
“Oh yeah, no worries!” she said although, with her tiny frame, the four bags filled her arms and stacked on top of each other to obscure her face.
“We will make sure to send these to the clients,” Heni stated and held the bundle at arms’ length so the fluids that darkened the cloth didn’t stain his suit. “I recommend you inform the grand mistress that you have returned, Freki. Both to tell her of the success of the mission and to attend to a new development.”
The wildkin nodded “Yeah. We ran into Acha and his team on the way in. They said something about anomalies popping up in all the kingdoms?”
“That is correct,” the daemoni acknowledged with a nod. “Fortunately, the issue seems to be only on this realm so far. We are not quite sure if they are related, but the grand mistress has asked me to send all higher-ranked Templar to her whenever they arrive.”
“We’re on it.” Freki and Heni bowed slightly to one another as the tall steward and his assistant wandered to the mailroom to transport the proof of the flayers’ demise to the client. The wolf wildkin led the group to the main stairs. “Let’s check in with Mistress Nauru and see about these new problems that are springing up.”
Asla followed her mentor with Devol and Jazai a few paces behind. “I wonder if we’ll be sent to investigate,” the young swordsman said quietly to his friend. “I guess even if we are, it’s not like we’ll get to go on our own.”
“That might be a good thing in this case,” the diviner replied and chuckled at the confused glance he received. “Don’t get me wrong. I was annoyed like you and Asla that they sent a handler to keep track of us. I’m simply better at hiding it.”
“But you’d be okay if they did it again?” Devol asked. “I thought we were hoping to get out on our own.”
“There is a difference between having faith in us and throwing us to the wolves,” Jazai warned as they began to ascend the stairs. “Having someone watch over us while we dealt with a few flayers is a little insulting. But if they sent us to look into something at our skill level when they don’t even know what it is? Hells, I think we would be better off in a thieves guild.”
“Do you honestly think it could be something that bad?”
They reached the top of the steps
and continued along the main hall to the grand mistress’ chamber behind Freki and Asla. “You heard what Acha and the others said, right? Those archeologists disappeared and anyone sent to look for them.”
“Yeah? I thought the Templars were who you called to brave the unknown,” Devol retorted.
Jazai smirked and nodded. “You still have that spirit. I would have lost a bet by now,” he said but mostly to himself. “You are right in a way but remember how most people see the Templars. Maybe a few centuries ago, we would have been called in as soon as something like this happened, but now?” He drew a deep breath and looked him in his eyes. “Now, it means they have run out of options.”
Chapter Seven
When Freki pushed the doors to the grand mistress’ room open, Devol felt like he had walked into the middle of a council meeting. Zier and Wulfsun were present, along with Vaust, surprisingly. The boy had seen him come and go since his arrival and unlike the other elder Templars present, he was not one of the mentors, which meant he had either invited himself or they had indeed interrupted a rather dire meeting.
“A timely return, Freki.” The grand mistress’ voice seemed to drift through the room. The swordsman finally located her where she was almost hidden behind Wulfsun’s massive frame. She wore dark-blue robes. “Ah, and the young magi are with you.”
“Of course, mistress,” the wolf wildkin said with a small bow. “They performed admirably during their mission.”
“I would expect so,” Vaust commented from where he sat on a large chair with his feet kicked onto a pink ottoman. “They were able to detect you as well.”
Freki frowned slightly. “Perhaps I merely decided to accompany them on their return after the mission.”
“Nah. He slipped up after we killed the flayer alpha,” Jazai interjected and held his book up. “It turns out he’s a sucker for a happy ending, especially when it comes to his ward.”
This earned him a tired and somewhat exasperated look from the wolf wildkin and an irate one from Asla, who pushed Freki forward.
“We completed the mission, Madame Nauru,” she explained without preamble. “We were told that there have been some interesting developments since we departed?”
“Interestin’, sure.” Wulfsun snickered. “I prefer my interestin’ things to be more jovial and less evil-soundin’.”
Nauru closed her eyes and nodded slowly, “Yes, some rather unfortunate events are taking place around the kingdoms, but we will return to that in a moment.” She glanced at the wildkin mentor, whose blue eyes glimmered under the shade of her hanging garden. “Tell me, Freki—how did they fare on their own?”
He glanced at Jazai, who gave him a mischievous grin before he shook his book again in response. The hunter waved him off as he approached the head of the Templar Order. “They took care of it, madame, and as you can see, gained a few small wounds to boot.”
“Although with a flayer alpha, one good strike is all it takes,” Zier interjected and his apprentice scowled.
“It was a mana-infused flayer too,” Devol added and drew the attention of all present, “Jazai said it might have eaten a powerful magi or something. Honestly, it took a fair amount of work to kill it.”
“Is this true?” the dryad asked and looked at Freki, who nodded. The old scholar tapped his chin in amusement. “So not only an alpha flayer but an awoken one as well?”
“Awoken?” Devol asked and glanced at the apprentice. “Do you care to translate?”
“It’s merely the designation they give to beasts and critters that can access mana,” Jazai replied. “Like I said, every living thing has mana but it doesn’t mean it can use it well or even use it at all. Animals, in particular, aren’t exactly known for it outside a handful of creatures in the Osiris and Soel kingdoms. The idea is if they do find a way to access mana, even in rather unfortunate ways, they’ve ‘awakened’ to it.”
“It’s typically not a wonderful thing, given that the most well-known method to achieve this is by devouring a mana-user as your flayer friend did,” Vaust added and seemed thoughtful as if he sifted through his memories. “Although I do recall coming across an awoken stag once in my travels in Britana. I don’t know how that happened, but it could bloom flowers in its wake.”
“It sounds enchantin’,” Wulfsun commented and stroked his beard. “I didn’t think that would make an impression on ya. Doesn’t Avadon have loads of awoken beasties?”
“Oh, certainly,” Vaust replied with a smirk. “They are nasty little creatures, especially those that eat the purps and flowers we use to make our enchanted wine.” He held his gourd up with a smile as he popped the top. “It leaves less for me and it’s also why we keep our forests to a minimum outside the Scarred Valley.”
“Moving on,” Zier interrupted grumpily and turned to the grand mistress. “I suppose we should show a little more faith in our protégés—as you have, Madame Nauru. If we had made a bet, we would all have to pay.”
Wulfsun coughed as he slid his hand into his satchel and handed two cobalt shards to the mistress. “Speaking of…”
The dryad’s eyes narrowed. “How do you keep any cobalt for yourself?”
“I win some bets. I’m not a complete idiot.” The man snorted as he folded his large arms.
Before the scholar could retort, his gaze returned to Nauru. “Wait—you bet with him?”
“I don’t recall,” she replied and frowned at the shards. “I think it might be the fact that I simply didn’t say no.”
Wulfsun shrugged and held a hand out. “I’d be happy to take those back, madame, so you don’t need to fret about taking part in such a nasty habit as gamblin’.”
Nauru looked at the shards for a moment before she tucked them slowly into her sleeves. “No, it is quite all right, Captain. I’ll simply consider this your tithe.”
The Templar’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Tithe? Are we a parish now?”
“You’ve lived here your entire life, Wulfsun. You should know she’s playing you,” Vaust chided teasingly and took a sip from his gourd. “Although I suppose I could also be wrong. If that is the case, I should be more concerned. I take pride in my ability to speak blasphemy quite fluently.”
Devol approached his friends as the others continued to make jokes and snide remarks at each other’s expense, with the exception of Nauru. The swordsman folded his arms as he watched the display. “So I assume this means it isn’t that much of an emergency?”
“Huh? No, this is fairly common.” Jazai flipped through his tome before he sighed and shut it. “Their animas are up. Anyway, even in dire situations, they are likely to joke and such. You have to be comfortable with a little gallows humor around here.”
“I think the only situation that would truly get them riled up would be if someone knocked our gates down,” Asla added and pursed her lips in thought. “Although maybe that is not a guarantee either. They might find it amusing.”
Nauru looked at the young magi and nodded to them in sympathy before she held a hand up to silence the others in the room. “You can continue your little squabbles another time, gentlemen,” she stated and folded her hands into her sleeves. “We should return to the matter at hand but first, with the completion of their mission, the young ones should now know what could potentially lie in store for them.”
Freki and Wulfsun shifted uncomfortably, Zier locked eyes with Jazai, and Vaust merely glanced at them as he took another sip. All three youngsters felt an odd chill at the sudden shift in the mood in the room
“Is something fatal involved?” Devol asked when no one seemed inclined to speak.
“Potentially,” Zier responded and drew an angry stare from Wulfsun and growl from Freki before Nauru held her hand out to stop them.
“This seems rather a jump,” Jazai stated and studied the faces of the elder Templars. “You don’t trust us to do a mission alone but now you are putting us in a situation that could potentially end our lives?”
“Well, the
mission you completed could have ended that way,” Nauru pointed out and took several steps forward toward them. “And you need not worry about this now, young magi, but with your completion of this mission—one with a red mark—you have now completed two missions that can qualify you for a challenge that can potentially open not only this world to you, but almost all the realms.”
While some of what she had said flew right over Devol’s head, her last statement certainly caught his attention. “What do you mean, madame?”
She paused and looked up at her garden again. “You all have your reasons for being here in the order. Not all by choice, necessarily, and perhaps a couple of you are not completely sure where your road will lead. With that in mind, we have been testing your potential.” She turned, moved toward her desk, and opened one of the drawers.
“We already knew you were all gifted in your individual ways,” she continued. “But even the finest sword is no use if it simply rests on a mantle. The missions and quests we have had you do over these last three months since the day we brought you together for that first retrieval mission were not without a particular purpose. It was to see if you could qualify for a challenge that makes even great warriors and skilled magi shudder to participate.”
She turned toward them again and held some type of badge or signet up. It was a jet-black spiral shape with the only exception being a shining silver diamond in the center that stood out even more against the deep black of the object. “Tell me, have any of you heard about the Oblivion Trials?”
Chapter Eight
Each of the three young magi had different reactions to Nauru’s query.
Jazai stared at her in surprise bordering on shock, as he had indeed heard of the Oblivion Trials and very little of it was good.
Asla was frozen by trepidation. The trials sounded familiar to her but she couldn’t place from where. However, when she saw the reaction from her mentor as his apprehensive gaze drifted from her to the grand mistress, she realized that whatever it might be, it was nothing to be taken lightly.
Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2) Page 4