by Sam Ferguson
The two bandits looked to each other and then laughed.
The highwaymen rushed forward, swords at the ready. Master Baird spun under the first strike and brought Stormfang up into the man’s ribs. A second later, Lady Stirling sent a stream of fire from her hand that burned through the second bandit’s chest. Both of the dead cutpurses fell to the ground at the same time.
“Brutish,” Master Fenn called out. “They could have spared them.”
“Better to let the highwaymen seal their own fates and receive their just reward,” Feberik said loudly.
Kyra, despite her displeasure upon hearing her fiancé speak, couldn’t help but agree with him.
She turned back to the orb and watched as Baird and Stirling continued on their way. As the sun began to set in the west, a fierce, biting wind nipped at the two. They drew their cloaks in tightly and bent forward into the wind. They drew their hoods up over their heads and continued on.
Soon, they found what they were looking for.
“Just as the barkeep said,” Master Baird said to Lady Stirling.
Lady Stirling turned and smiled at him.
Kyra saw through the orb a cozy log cabin on the top of a nearby hill. In the gray light of dusk she noted a bit of smoke flowing from the chimney. It didn’t look like a vampire’s lair, and was certainly nothing at all similar to the place her mother had been held prisoner. It was the sort of home one would expect to see out in the middle of a field with a pair of kids playing around the house while parents worked in a family garden.
“He looks to be home,” Master Baird said as he pointed to the chimney.
“Be on your guard,” Lady Stirling warned.
Master Baird motioned for her to come close. He held the sword between them, blade pointed to the ground and his head bowed reverently. “Icadion, All-father, watch over us now. Give us the ability to act quickly and the strength to overcome any obstacle.” Then Baird fastened Stormfang to his belt.
“Not sure why you pray,” Lady Stirling said. “Icadion no longer hears the prayers of Terramyr. He left long ago; that’s why it’s up to us to chase away these kinds of demons.”
Master Baird shook his head and then motioned to the house with his chin. “Do we knock, or just go in?”
Lady Stirling shrugged. “If he is in there, then better we surprise him.”
“But if it isn’t him, then what?” Baird asked. “We can’t just barge into every cabin out in the woods now can we?”
Master Baird and Lady Stirling walked up to the door and tried it. The door didn’t budge.
Lady Stirling waved her hand and whispered a spell, but again the door was sealed.
“I can break it,” Master Baird offered.
Lady Stirling shook her head. “Let’s knock and claim to be weary travelers caught after dark. The sun is almost gone. It might work.”
Master Baird nodded and rapped on the wooden door with his gloved fist. “Hello, is anybody home? We are looking for shelter, and maybe some food for the night.”
As Kyra watched them, she could hear something on the other side of a door that sounded like a plate being dropped on the floor. Footsteps thumped on the floor until they came to the door. A series of bolts and locks slid aside, grinding against metal slots and brackets. The door itself cracked just a bit and a short little woman with beady eyes peered out.
“Who are you?” the woman demanded in a raspy voice.
“My name is Baird, and we have been caught out in the rain and now it is dark. Could we impose upon you for the evening? We have money to pay for your hospitality” Master Baird pulled out a small coin purse and opened it toward the woman.
“I suppose I can offer some soup. I only have one bed though, so you will have to sleep upon the floor.” The woman nodded as she opened the cabin door wide enough to reveal herself and a good view into the cabin. Master Baird and Lady Stirling eyed the woman carefully.
From her vantage point behind the wall, Kyra watched too. The woman appeared to be well into her sixties, stooped over with age, and carried a sizeable hump on her back. Her face was lined with wrinkles and her hair had long ago turned gray. Her body was thin, frail looking, and barely occupied more than half the doorway’s width as she stood. Not an imposing foe by any measure, and certainly not the vampire Master Baird and Lady Stirling were searching for.
“Come in,” the woman said. The two travelers followed her in through the doorway.
“The soup is here,” the woman announced as she moved to a pot hanging over a fire. Just then, the door slammed shut behind them and the bolts slid back into the locked position.
Master Baird and Lady Stirling turned, but no one was near the door. They wheeled back around to see the woman sneering at them. Instead of the hunched, old woman, she was now tall and beautiful, with a perfect spine and youthful looking skin. She smiled wickedly and a pair of fangs shone out from her mouth.
Kyra gasped as the strange woman attacked, but Master Baird struck out with Stormfang and Lady Stirling sent a column of fire into the woman’s face. The woman shrieked and screamed, then fell to the ground. She writhed and twitched as the flames continued to consume her head. Master Baird stepped in and severed her head with Stormfang, then he plunged the weapon into the woman’s heart.
Kathair leaned in close to Kyra and whispered, “Stormfang is an enchanted blade. It is able to kill vampires and their ilk.”
Kyra looked at him with wide eyes. “Can it kill a shade?” she asked.
Kathair shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe we can look into that possibility when Master Baird and Lady Stirling return.”
Kyra turned her eyes back to the orb. Master Baird and Lady Stirling were now sprinkling some sort of powder on the body, and great, blue flames jumped up and turned the corpse to ash. Stirling collected a vial of the ash and then the two of them began searching the cabin.
After several minutes, they moved to the hearth and pulled the pot out from the fireplace. Lady Stirling waved her hand and said the words of a spell Kyra didn’t know. Suddenly the back wall of the fireplace glowed green.
“I’ll dispel the trap,” Stirling said.
Baird nodded and stepped back.
Lady Stirling bent down and wove her hands in the air for several moments. Line by line, the glowing design faded away until the chimney wall looked normal. Then she extinguished the fire and pressed the wall inward, opening it to a secret passage that led downward.
Slowly they maneuvered themselves into the small tunnel and carefully descended the slope inside. There was an eerie glow in the tunnel, but there were no fires or torches. Soon they came to a cliff. They carefully lowered themselves over the side and searched for footholds. They ended up needing to go down a single ladder that was apparently cut into the stone with footholds carved from the rock. Kyra watched with baited breath until the two reached the cave floor.
In the eerie light, Kyra could see bats hanging from the cave ceiling. Large spiders crawled along the walls and water dripped from a few of the stalactites. Master Baird and Lady Stirling walked forward, mindful of the sheer drop to their right that descended into a crevice that appeared to go on forever until it was swallowed by darkness. To their left were a couple of smaller caves branching out into the belly of the mountain.
“Let’s follow the main tunnel,” Lady Stirling said.
“We should have sent more people with them,” Master Fenn commented from his chair as everyone watched the scene unfold in the orb.
Suddenly, the tunnel opened to a large chamber filled with bones, as if a great beast had discarded its meals for hundreds of years. The two crept into the opening and searched the area. There was no sign of any movement.
To the right, the floor inclined up to a small landing of stone, upon which stood a man with silver hair that hung down to the middle of his back. He wore a leather vest over a silk shirt tucked into wool trousers that were in turn tucked into mid-length leather boots. The man seemed to be standing in fron
t of a desk or pedestal of some sort and reading something.
Lady Stirling lifted her hand and looked to Master Baird. The man held Stormfang at the ready and nodded to her.
The sorceress sent a blast of blue flame at the vampire’s back. The fire struck its target and then the man faded away.
“It was an illusion, you fools!” Master Fenn shouted as he rose in his chair. “He’ll come from the side while you aren’t looking!”
To Kyra’s horror, that is exactly what happened. A mass of darkness leapt at Master Baird. The man spun around with Stormfang, but was struck down before he could wield the weapon effectively.
Lady Stirling shouted some sort of curse and sent a crimson shockwave out from her. The vampire was knocked backward through the air enough for her to get to Master Baird.
She helped the man to his feet, but he was only barely conscious. His left arm had been severed just above the elbow, and he was losing a lot of blood.
“I love the scent of blood,” the vampire said in a surprisingly low voice.
Lady Stirling summoned an orb of light to pierce the darkness. The silver-haired vampire was standing near the far wall, smiling at her. He snapped his fingers and the darkness closed in on her. The magical orb winked out of existence and the ambient light in the cave dimmed so that the vampire was hidden once more.
“You are not the first to come for me,” the vampire said.
Lady Stirling fired a bolt of fire through the air at the voice, but it hit nothing.
The vampire laughed at her. “You shall die as all the rest,” he hissed.
Master Baird handed Lady Stirling the magical sword and then fell to the ground.
Lady Stirling summoned another orb of light. She saw the vampire walking toward her confidently. She fired another column of fire, but the vampire dashed to the side with the speed of a lightning bolt. He then opened his mouth and a flood of bats flew out to assault Lady Stirling. She erected a wall of fire to ward them off. The bats collided with the flames, bouncing out and shrieking shrilly as they died.
Kyra held a hand over her mouth and gasped. No one inside the secret chamber heard her, for they were all shouting as well.
The vampire appeared behind Lady Stirling. He stabbed her with a short sword and lifted her writhing body into the air. The sorceress flailed about, trying hopelessly to cast spells at the vampire. The creature reached up with wickedly long claws on his left hand and gripped Lady Stirling’s neck.
“I think I will take that sword from you,” he said.
Kyra only barely heard the beginning of a scream and then the orb went dark and shrank to its original size. Everyone in the room was silent after that. The sconces erupted with light once more. Headmaster Herion held his head bent toward the table. Master Fenn slammed his fist on the table and wheeled on the old man as if to say something. Instead, he shook his finger and then stormed out of the room.
“Come, we should go,” Kathair whispered.
He nudged Kyra through the tunnel and they didn’t stop until they reached the chairs down in the small chamber and he closed the secret passage behind the bookshelf.
“That was terrible,” Kyra said.
Kathair nodded. “I didn’t think it was going to be like that,” he replied. “I heard them say they needed to talk about a clue they had about the strange beasts. I thought maybe they might have had a lead on the shade, or a garunda or something.”
“It’s all right,” Kyra said. “But, I think I am going to go back to my room now.”
“Sure,” Kathair said.
Kyra turned to leave, but then noticed a book on the small table and paused. “Is this how you were able to find the headmaster’s journal?” she asked.
Kathair shrugged and offered his impish grin. “Well, you heard them right, this academy was built on the ruins of a shadowfiend fortress. There are lots of little nooks and crannies.”
She smiled and nodded. “Thanks,” she said.
Kathair shrugged. “Of course,” he said. “I do what I can to help.”
Kathair remained in the secret room while the young sorceress left. Kyra made the long journey back to the laundry room, then stopped by her classroom to apologize to Cyrus for keeping him waiting, but the wizard was nowhere to be seen. She then went directly to her room.
Chapter 8
Kyra opened the door to her room and walked in. In the wake of what she had just seen, she had almost forgotten that she now had a roommate. Her hand went up and she almost opened the portal to the aspen wood, but stopped short when she saw Linny on her bed, curled up and facing the wall.
“Are you all right?” Kyra asked.
Linny looked over her shoulder with puffy eyes. She nodded and then put her head back down on her pillow.
Kyra noticed that Linny hadn’t unpacked anything at all. She was just lying on the bed. She moved over to Linny and sat on the edge of the girl’s bed. She reached out and put a hand on Linny’s shoulder.
“Is there something I can do for you?” Kyra asked.
Linny shook her head. “No, I just miss my mum,” Linny said.
Kyra nodded empathetically. If anyone knew what it was to miss their mother, Kyra was that someone. The young sorceress patted Linny’s shoulder. “Come on, it’ll be all right. You’ll see. We’ll have so much fun, and you will have enough homework that Winter Festival will be here before you know it. Then you can go home for a couple of weeks and see your family. Don’t worry, it’ll be all right.”
Linny shook her head. She scooted away from Kyra and sat up, back against the wall, and leaned into the corner. “No,” she said quietly. “My mum is dead. I won’t ever see her again.”
Kyra blinked and her mouth parted slightly. Had Linny’s mother been killed by creatures of dark magic as well? A part of Kyra wanted to interrogate the young girl, but fortunately, the part of her that was like her mother took over and instead of grilling the fragile girl in her grief, Kyra reached out and enveloped her in a hug. Linny gave in and bent her head down upon Kyra’s shoulder, crying softly and wetting Kyra’s dress with her tears.
They held each other for several minutes until Linny sniffled her last sob and pulled away to wipe her face. She looked at Kyra and tried to smile, though in reality it was hardly more than a small pull of the left corner of her mouth.
“Come to class with me today,” Kyra suggested.
“But, I was told that all the sorcery masters were on assignment for the summer. The headmaster told me to stay out of trouble until he could find someone to take me on,” Linny replied.
Kyra nodded. “I have a private instructor who gives me a few sessions a week. Maybe you can get a jump on things by coming with me. In any case, it will help take your mind off of things.”
Linny nodded. Her eyes shifted to a point on the bed and her focus turned distant. “She died of consumption,” Linny said. “I tried to help her, but…”
Kyra reached out and took Linny’s hands. “It isn’t your fault,” she said emphatically. “Come on, let’s get dressed.”
Linny looked down and realized that her top had been soaked in tears. She nodded dully and the two moved to change into fresh clothes.
“Where did you go?” Linny asked, pulling a large bit of cobweb off of Kyra’s back.
Kyra turned and regarded Linny carefully. The younger girl looked up to Kyra and there was something there that formed between them, a bond of some sort that made Kyra feel responsible for Linny. She decided that it was appropriate to tell Linny a bit about her own mother. Not everything, of course, but enough so Linny would know she could trust her. Kyra would have given anything to have someone to talk to that she fully trusted back when she first heard about her mother. Now, seeing someone else going through the same type of loss, Kyra knew she had to help.
“Linny,” Kyra began softly, “I know how you feel. You see, my mother died last year, during my first term here at Kuldiga Academy.”
Linny’s eyes went wide.
<
br /> “I’m not saying I am a great font of wisdom for how to recover, but I can be there for you anytime you want to talk. Okay?”
Linny nodded. “Was your mother sick?” Linny asked.
Kyra shook her head. “My mother was murdered,” Kyra said. “Kathair, the boy you saw come for me in the dining hall, he was taking me to a meeting where someone had a clue about my mother’s murder.”
“They never solved it?” Linny asked.
Kyra shook her head. “No, but it’s important that you never tell anyone I am looking into it, all right? The headmaster can be kind at times, but he is concerned first and foremost with the school. If he were to find out a student was trying to find a murderer, he would likely expel that student.”
Linny nodded. “I understand,” she said. “If I were you, I would want to do the same thing.” Linny held out her hand and extended only her pinky finger. “I hereby swear that your secret is safe with me.”
Kyra smiled and wrapped her pinky around Linny’s. “Thank you,” she said.
The two changed clothes and then Linny followed Kyra through the halls and into the classroom where Cyrus was waiting, standing near a window and staring out.
“I heard there was a pair of wylkins killed last night,” Cyrus said as he slowly turned around.
Kyra blushed and dipped her head until Cyrus realized that she was not alone. Thankfully, the old wizard recovered gracefully.
“I thought I might explain what a wylkin beast is, that way you can see how terrible a monster they are,” he said as he gestured to the desks. “I see you have brought a guest. Might I ask her name?”
Kyra nodded and smiled. “This is Linny Ravia. She is my new roommate. I thought I might bring her to classes over the summer if that is all right with you.”
Cyrus smiled and walked to his desk. “The more the merrier, I suppose.” He looked to Linny and nodded warmly as he gestured to a seat once more. Kyra and Linny took seats next to each other. “Linny, in this class I teach how to defend against dark creatures. We have already covered imps and a host of others. Now, I want to discuss wylkins, seeing as how two of them have been terrorizing shepherds to the south for a few days now.”