by T. K. Chapin
“So why don’t you look like Illadari and Tessla anymore?” Haden questioned.
“The illusion was extremely powerful and required Ada, the witch, to cast it every day to maintain it. Now the illusion is broken,” Illadari said.
Haden put his hand up to cover his mouth as a bit of horror looked to overcome him. “Kessler?”
“He’s gone,” Tessla said. “That’s why we need your help.”
“What can I do? I’ll help in any way possible!” Haden said standing up.
Fishing the vial from his robe pocket, Illadari handed it to Haden. Glancing down at the vial in his big burly hands, Haden squinted for a better look. “Mya?” Haden asked looking up at Illadari.
Illadari nodded, and said, “You know how she is with visitors from out of town.”
“Yes. She doesn’t take too kindly with strangers,” Haden said rolling the vial in his hand with his finger. “You think there’s enough in there for her to see what it is?”
“We hope so,” Tessla said. “It’s our only hope.”
“Where did you get this?” Haden asked.
“Whoever took the witch left it behind,” Illadari said. “Just tell Mya you found it on the Limestone Shore and were curious to what it was. Make something up so she’s not alerted.”
“Agreed,” Haden said looking at the two of them, he smiled but it was coupled with sadness. “We will find Kessler and make whoever did this pay!” Haden said with a firm and confident tone. “Kessler has been like a son to me, training over in the arena ranks, and I won’t let anything happen to him.”
Tessla hugged Haden the best she could wrapping her arms around his bulky build. “Thank you,” she said smiling up at him.
“You’re welcome,” Haden said. “I’m going straightway into town to get this over to Mya. You two should find some left over Grimly Turtle Soup in the kitchen.”
“Thank you,” Tessla said. “We’ve been eating nothing but gymer bread.”
“Gymer bread is great, but it gets old,” Haden said as he went to the front door to leave.
“Haden,” Illadari said.
“Yes?” He asked turning to Illadari.
“Thank you.” Haden nodded with a smile and shut the door behind him.
Chapter 12
An hour had passed when Haden came rushing in through the door. Slamming it behind him quickly as he entered, startled Illadari to jump and run to him.
“What’s wrong?” Illadari asked quickly glancing out the window’s curtain next to the door to see nobody was there.
“They are coming!” Haden said quickly as he rushed into his bedroom and began gathering his things. Tessla and Illadari followed after him.
“Who?” Illadari asked.
“What happened?” Tessla asked.
Pausing for a brief moment from packing his things into a bag, Haden turned and said, “The guards. They will kill us all.”
“How’s that even possible?” Illadari said angered. “What happened Haden?”
Haden continued to pack his things quickly as he spoke. “I went and met with Mya about the vial. She said she would look into it and to come back in a little bit. So I figured I’d go over to Tilvo’s and pick up some supplies. While I was browsing, I noticed Mya through the window talking to the guards.”
“What? Why would she do that?” Tessla asked.
“Listen... I went outside Tilvo’s to see what the problem was and she pointed to me when I walked out of the shop and said, ‘that’s the man that brought the vial.’ When I questioned the guards what the offense was, they informed me that Mya had determined the contents of the vial had runic magic within it and that was forbidden within the city limits.”
“Because of Silvermeer’s alignment with the Curo?” Tessla asked.
Haden nodded as he finished packing and went into the kitchen.
“What now?” Illadari asked.
“We have to leave, I’m considered a traitor to the Curo,” Haden said quickly as he opened a cupboard and began loading gymer bread into his pack. “I took off before they could seize me and led them out into the Darkwood Forest before ducking into the sewers and making my way back here.”
Illadari couldn’t help but feel responsible for ruining everything that Haden had worked for in his life here in New Haven and Silvermeer. The arena, the friends, the community… all was shattered within an instant all because of a droplet in a vial. Somberly, Illadari placed his hand on Haden’s shoulder, “I’m sorry Haden.”
Turning to Illadari as he paused, Haden smiled. “Don’t be sorry. We were trying to figure out where your boy was. I hope I helped to some extent.”
Nodding, Illadari replied, “Would you like to come with us?”
Shaking his head, Haden said, “No way. I’m going to go live off the Limestone Shore just up the way from New Haven. I have enough supplies to camp out there for a while until I figure out what I’m going to do. I really don’t want to lose my arena.”
“We will figure this out Haden,” Illadari said confidently. “All of it.”
“You are a good man Amon… I mean… Illadari,” Haden said resting his hand on his shoulder. Suddenly the door busted in from the guards as they stormed in. “Run, follow me!” Haden said darting for the back door of his cottage.
Grabbing their pouches from the floor of the kitchen, Illadari and Tessla followed Haden out the back. As they shut the door behind them, Haden grabbed a giant log and pushed it against the back door. “That should hold them off for a minute,” Haden said.
Following Haden, they went into the forest that rested behind his cottage and came to the shore that was on the northern most part of the island. Glancing over at the Limestone Shore across the way, Haden turned to them and said, “I can swim from here. I don’t know how well you two can swim.”
“We can just teleport out of here,” Tessla said.
“Thank you for the help in finding out the contents of the vial. It being runic magic gets us that much closer to determining who could have taken Ada,” Illadari said. The sound of the guards coming through the forest towards them could be heard in the distance.
“You are welcome,” Haden said looking over their shoulder into the forest. “We best be going now.” With his packs on his back, Haden dived into the water and began swimming. Pulling out the two potions from their pouch, Illadari and Tessla downed them and were quickly transported to the Great Tree.
Walking over to the shelf to pick up more teleport potions, they found every potion had been smashed. Bending down to inspect liquid from the potions, Illadari touched it and felt the consistency was still wet. “This was recent,” he said rubbing the liquid between his thumb and index finger. Glancing up at Tessla, he saw Kessler standing behind her. Confused, he said, “Kessler?” as he stood up.
Tessla turned to see him and said excitedly, “Kessler!” Reaching down to grab her son, her arms went through him and the image of him vanished. “No!” she screamed looking around as she panicked. Illadari embraced Tessla in his arms and comforted her. “What is going on?” she asked as she looked up at Illadari.
Before he was able to say anything, a male voice from behind them said, “Just a little bit of this and that.”
Turning around quickly, their eyes fell upon a man that neither of them recognized. He was in all black and had a mask over his face that matched his outfit. A ninja? Illadari wondered to himself. He had seen only a couple throughout his time in the Halls of the Living. Each time he did meet one, they were quiet and well mannered in nature.
“Who are you and what did you do with Ada?” Illadari asked with a beat red face of anger.
“And where’s our son?” Tessla asked.
“Ada’s been taken by the Runics of Belstrom…” Looking over at Tessla he said, “Your father probably had some hand in that.”
Ignoring his comment about Ada, Tessla asked, “Why did we just see our son?”
“That’s a trick. I can use your imagination a
nd thoughts to create an illusion in front of you. It makes it easier to sneak up on you if I direct your focus elsewhere.”
“Who are you and what do you want from us?” Illadari asked pulling Tessla close to him.
“I’m Miko, a friend of the shadows... I have been hired by the Wizards of Curo to locate precisely you,” he said looking at Tessla.
“For what?” Tessla asked grasping onto Illadari’s robes.
“The wizards don’t tell me much. They just tell me what they need and I take care of it.”
“We aren’t going anywhere with you,” Illadari said firmly stepping forward.
“Oh priest…” Miko said. “Your courage exceeds your abilities. I’ll give you two options. There’s the easy way and the hard way.”
Illadari began moving his hands in a circular motion to cast his spell of smite and Tessla reached down to grab her mandolin from her pouch.
“I guess that means the hard way,” Miko said sighing heavily.
Releasing a bolt of white light towards Miko, Illadari watched as Miko vanished from the spot he had been standing at on the platform. Appearing behind Illadari, Miko kicked his legs from underneath him dropping him to his back. Turning to Tessla as she was playing a Song of Discord, Miko grabbed the mandolin from her hands and threw it off the edge of the platform of the tree.
Trying to push himself up off the floor, Illadari looked up as Miko got closer to Tessla to lay hands on her. “Stop!” Illadari shouted reaching forward he grabbed Miko’s foot and pulled him down to the floor back towards him.
Miko turned back to Illadari and kicked him in the face with his boot causing his nose to begin to bleed. Pain surged through Illadari’s nose and into his head as the blood began to pour. Tessla ran over to a chair and grabbed it as Miko stood up.
Tessla swung the chair with all her strength at Miko as he approached her. Putting his hand out quickly, Miko chopped the chair in half with one swing of his hand. Tessla backed up fearfully as he approached her.
Grabbing her by the back of her hair, he turned around and walked up to Illadari. Towering over him, he looked down at Illadari and pushed Tessla’s face down into his and said, “You shouldn’t have fought.” Reaching into his silk pouch that hung from his waist, Miko retrieved a thin black rope and piece of cloth, and then proceeded to tie Tessla’s hands together behind her back, and he quieted her screaming by tying the cloth around her head to cover her mouth. Forcing her to sit down by the shelf, he came back over to Illadari, which lied on the floor in pain.
Illadari tried to gather his strength to push himself up, but Miko kicked him in the shoulder knocking him onto his back. “You are a rather pathetic priest. Would you not agree?” Miko laughed placing a boot onto Illadari’s chest. Bending down, he retrieved a blade from his silk pouch and held it in front of Illadari’s face, swiping through the air inches away from his eyes. Reaching up, Illadari’s hand was quickly stopped by Miko’s and then twisted behind his back as Miko rolled him over and bound his hands together with rope, and then gagged him with a cloth.
“You can’t stop fate,” Miko said laughing as he went back over and grabbed Tessla from the floor. Lifting her to her feet, Miko brought her over to Illadari and dropped her onto her bottom next to Illadari as he lay on the floor. “You made me angry,” Miko said with a frown. “I don’t like to be angered, Illadari.” This guy is a nut job, Illadari thought to himself as he fought to undo the rope that bound his hands behind his back. Setting Tessla down onto her back so her face was next to Illadari, Miko drew his blade again.
“They said she needed to be alive… so I can’t kill her. Plus, I don’t really like to kill women or children… It doesn’t feel right, you know?” Miko said waving the blade around as he spoke. “However…” Miko said as he brought the blade to Tessla’s face. “They didn’t say don’t harm her.”
Placing the tip of the blade against her temple, Miko slowly dragged the blade downwards drawing blood as the blade slid down the side of her face. Illadari’s heart twisted inside his chest as he fought against the restraints that held him. Screaming, he was unable to be understood as the cloth muffled his words.
“Isn’t blood beautiful?” Miko asked lifting the blade to his eyes. “If it was any other color, I don’t think I’d like it as much.” Turning his head as he looked down at Tessla, he continued, “Red is the color of passion... which I have for this line of work,” Before standing upright, Miko bent down and grabbed Tessla bringing her up with him. “Say goodbye,” Miko said looking at Illadari.
Illadari used what little strength he had to twist his body clockwise and hit Miko in the legs attempting to drop him, but the attempt fell short. Instead, Miko just laughed and kicked Illadari in the stomach.
“I wasn’t going to kill you, but you left me no choice!” Miko said throwing Tessla backwards onto the floor as he approached Illadari. Drawing his blade from his pouch, he pushed it against Illadari’s neck. “Goodbye,” Miko said as he began pulling the blade across Illadari’s neck.
Chapter 13
Nejik appeared on the platform and saw Tessla. Motioning with her head, she directed his attention to Miko kneeling at Illadari. Running over to Miko, Nejik pulled him away from Illadari.
“Stop!” Nejik shouted. Miko grunted and swung his blade at Nejik, but was surprised when Nejik dodged and slipped his own blade into his torso. Staggering backwards, Miko grabbed at the flesh wound on his torso and tripped backwards, falling off the platform. Rushing over to Tessla, he removed the cloth around her mouth.
“Illadari!” she screamed. “Go, I think Miko might have killed him!” Nejik hurried over to Illadari and removed the gag that was wrapped around his head. Holding his head in his hands, Tessla could see the blood around the neck from where the blade had cut. “No!” she screamed as she began to sob.
Illadari let out an agonizing moan. “He’s alive,” Nejik said looking back towards Tessla. Nejik began to circle his index finger in small tight woven circles over Illadari’s neck as he spoke unrecognizable words. Blinking the tears away, Tessla watched as a soft green light fell from Nejik’s fingertip and onto Illadari’s neck.
“The wounds, they aren’t healing,” Tessla said. Gently, Nejik set Illadari’s head back down. Nejik came over to Tessla and untied her hands.
“My mending abilities are weak and they are in the form of Druidic magic… I’m not sure if it will work, but his wounds appear to be changing to some degree and he is healing.”
“My mandolin!” Tessla exclaimed as he finished loosening her restraints. “It should be down at the base of the tree, let’s get it and I can play my Song of Healing!” She leaped up and went to get onto the slide that led down to the base.
“How would you get back up here though?” Nejik asked. She turned and looked at the empty shelf and the teleport potions that had been smashed on the floor.
“Can we take him with us? We aren’t going to stay up here forever.”
“I’m afraid he has broken bones… If he’s moved before they are healed, he could die from one piercing an organ,” Nejik said.
“And if we stay up here? He could just die here?”
“I’m afraid so sister,” Nejik said as he approached her and put his arm around her shoulders. “I’ve spent some time with the druids in recent years, and they not only practice Druidic magic, they use prayers to help heal their people. They believe that Omad gives grace to those he deems worthy.” Glancing at Illadari, he continued, “Your priest relies on the grace of Omad to conduct his work, maybe if we rely on that same grace, we can bring Illadari back to health.”
Tessla recalled Illadari’s rituals he performed in the alter room in the Halls of the Living. Bending down on her knees at his side, she untied his hands and brought them to his chest. Placing her hands on top of Illadari’s, Tessla bowed her head.
Omad, please grant grace to your servant Illadari… Help his wounds heal.
Opening her eyes, she didn’t recognize any
change in Illadari. “What are we going to do?” Tessla asked as Nejik joined her on the floor next to Illadari while she held Illadari’s hand.
“We have to wait now. What happened anyways?” Nejik asked.
“We teleported here because we were being chased by guards in New Haven,” Tessla said raising her eyes. “We thought we could just get away quickly without an issue.”
“Did you find out what was in the vial?” Nejik replied.
“We found out there was some kind of Runic magic inside it,” Tessla said as she looked over at Illadari.
“Really? Runic?” Nejik asked curiously as he looked to be thinking. “You think father stole Ada away?”
“He’s not magical… and Ada is so powerful. It’s hard to understand,” Tessla said.