Legends of Windemere: 03 - Family of the Tri-Rune

by Charles E Yallowitz

  “I won’t take you back,” Kayn calmly states.

  Sari kicks her legs into the air, so that she is balancing upside down on Kayn’s chest. She smiles before letting her body fall back, driving her knee into his groin. With a high-pitched whine, Kayn curls up and rolls off the bed. He falls with a dull thud and is about to get up when he feels the tip of a dagger touch his cheek.

  “I think we’re about to have our first real fight, lover, and it doesn’t look like you’re going to win,” Sari evilly whispers into his ear. “I’m going to sit here and listen to you explain what turned you into such a bastard. If I don’t like your answer or if I think you’re lying, I’m going to carve my name into your cheek. Maybe I’ll add a few hearts and birds around it to make it pretty.”

  “I’ll only talk if you put the dagger away,” Kayn says through his clenched jaw. “I swear on my family’s honor that I’ll tell you what happened if you put down your weapon.”

  Raising her hand, Sari flips the dagger against her wrist and lets it gently slide under her sleeve. She helps Kayn prop himself against the bed and brings him water to drink. He turns his nose up at the stale liquid, making a mental note to steal some fresh water for breakfast. His breathing returns to normal and the pain in his groin subsides as Sari curls up to him. She puts his arm around her shoulders and nuzzles his neck in a playful attempt to make him smile. The male gypsy looks down at her with a fire in his eyes, but the warmth never reaches his mouth.

  “As I already said, I was imprisoned in a castle. I think I was on Shayd because I saw a lot of chaos elves, but I don’t know anything beyond that,” Kayn explains, rhythmically stroking Sari’s hair to keep himself calm. “I remember being tortured for days before being given any food or clean water. There was no light in my cell, if you could even call it a cell. A cupboard with a low shelf and undead rats would be a better description. I think . . . everything is disjointed because I remember having freedom to move about the room some days, but other days I was chained to a wall. A woman with swirling skin and no clothes would visit to examine my aura. It was painful because she tended to get distracted by my memories. One time, a memory of mine caught her attention, so she pulled it from my mind and kept it. I don’t have a clue as to what that memory was, but I’m sure it was something important.”

  “I’m sorry for what you went through, but I don’t understand why it would make you turn me away without a second thought,” Sari whispers as Kayn begins to shudder in fear. “You were always there for me even when we were children. Nothing should be strong enough to make you want to give me up so easily.”

  “They broke me in that castle, Sari,” Kayn mutters, his voice barely above a murmur. “I could feel my spirit shatter and the shards were consumed by rage. I want nothing more than to regain my sword and take my revenge. The shawl was going to be a keepsake to give me strength, but now I plan on sending it to you when I get it. It will help you rebuild our clan and give them a sense of their history.”

  “Why do you think I want to rebuild our clan?” Sari asks, sitting up and fixing her hair. “I can’t replace the loved ones we lost, so it would never be our clan. I think it might be better for me to keep the shawl and my bloodline diary to preserve some of our clan’s history.”

  “You know what I mean,” he claims with a tired expression. “I mean for you to find people you can trust. Find a man to give you children who will pass down our history and traditions. All I want is for you to stay happy and bright, which won’t happen if you stay with me.”

  “We’re going to keep having this fight,” Sari says before she unleashes a scream of exasperation. “You’re really making me mad!”

  Kayn reaches out to push a lock of blue hair out of her face. “You know I’m more stubborn than you, so I’m going to keep saying it until you do what I say. Your scars can be cured with time if you follow the right path. My pain has already consumed me and it’s only a matter of time before I fall completely into the abyss. I knew it when I was a prisoner and I knew it when I landed outside of Haven.”

  Sari somersaults to her feet, sliding on the maps until she steadies herself against the table. She walks among the scattered papers, her bare feet gently running along their faint creases. Kayn watches Sari dance to a song only she can hear. Her skirts billow in the air as she spins on her toes to move the maps she is intently staring at. To pick up a map, she bends down with one of her legs rising straight in the air. The delicate, mesmerizing dance continues for an hour, taking Sari around the room to inspect every scrap of paper. Finally, she hooks one of her legs around a bedpost and gracefully spins herself onto the bed.

  “What was that about?” Kayn asks, taking a seat next to her. “I remember you dancing to the music in your head before, but I don’t understand what you were doing with the maps.”

  “I’m always thinking about a problem when I dance without music. I focus on my thoughts and let my body move to whatever rhythm it wants,” Sari answers with a relaxed voice. “I was looking at the maps to see if I could find any place the sword or the shawl might be hidden. I knew I wouldn’t find anything, but I wanted to rule out the idea that they’re in the city. So, my idea is probably right.”

  “All of my information says they’re in the city,” Kayn insists. He lies down behind Sari and takes a deep breath.

  “Did you actually have the sword when you appeared near Haven?” Sari asks, leaning against him. “I mean, it’s strange that you landed near Haven after having escaped with the reflector blade, but the sword ends up in Hero’s Gate. I’m wondering if you dropped it in the portal or after you hit the ground.”

  Kayn is about to answer, but stops when he thinks back to his landing. “I had the sword when I was in the portal and then I landed hard. The air was warm when I first landed, but it was cold when I got to my feet. Everything was a daze, so I must have passed out and woken up hours later. Someone could have taken the sword while I was unconscious, which means the sword is traveling. All this time, I thought the portal had spit it out in another city because it was a reflector blade. Portals must function differently than other types of magic to allow reflector items to pass through.”

  “This means we can try to use the locator spell on the person who took it,” Sari proudly declares. “Give me that incantation and I can try it again.”

  “There’s a problem, Sari.”

  “Yeah, you’re not giving me the spell.”

  “We can’t use the spell.”

  “Not with you stalling.”

  “We don’t know who took the sword.”

  “Damn it!” Sari shouts, her voice echoing throughout the cavern. “Then we have no way of finding your stupid sword. Why don’t you track down a different magic sword and steal it? I’m sure you can get information on another reflector blade.”

  “Reflector blades are incredibly rare artifacts from before the Great Cataclysm,” Kayn mentions in tired frustration. He rubs at his bloodshot eyes and yawns. “There might be a few made since then, but their existence is protected with a hundred times more fervor than the old blades. Gods forbid the wrong people learn who can still make a reflector blade. I have a higher chance of finding the blade I stole from my enemy.”

  “Except for the part where you have no idea who took the blade and we can’t get a location spell to work,” Sari points out with an innocent smile. “We can cast the spell for the shawl if you want.”

  “I guess, but I have a feeling I’ll need the sword to recover the rainbow shawl. It’s been missing for over a century, so something powerful must either have it or been left to protect it,” Kayn bitterly says. He sighs and sits up in the bed, forcing Sari’s head into his lap. “As much as I’d like to believe the shawl is sitting in a country bumpkin’s dresser, I don’t think my luck will go that way. Still if you want to attempt the spell then go ahead. I’ll get the maps organized for you.”

  “Do you have any maps of the areas surrounding Hero’s Gate?” she politely asks
while stepping off the bed. “We already checked the city maps, so doing it again would be a waste of time. I’m thinking the shawl is near Hero’s Gate. Lazy informants say the name of the nearest city instead of mentioning that the item is in the surrounding area.”

  Kayn rolls off the bed and goes to the nearest dresser. He opens a middle drawer and pulls out a bundle of maps, which he carelessly throws onto the bed. Sari gingerly unrolls the maps on the bed while Kayn rummages around the floor for the piece of paper the incantation is written on. He finds it under the bed and hands it to Sari as soon as she is done preparing the maps.

  “Here we go,” she whispers as she relaxes and holds out the paper. She focuses on her aura, creating a thin coating of blue energy around her body. “Oh, smiling Cessia of the finders and sad Crisus of the lost, we ask for your blessings in our search. We ask that you guide our feet and show us where the rainbow shawl of our clan is sleeping. Please hear our voices and bestow your luck upon us.”

  The blue energy around Sari rolls up her body and gathers in her eyes, transforming them into swirling orbs of magic. She scans the maps on the bed as the sapphire light flows outward. It becomes a pair of snake-like tendrils that move among the papers, curling around their crisp corners and pressing against their smooth surfaces. Without her control, Sari’s head snaps to the side and one of the tendrils stretches to a point beyond the maps. The other tendril merges with its brother, making Sari’s eyes cross behind the energy. She is unable to move her head as her aura flows along the gradually thinning tendril and weaves into an intricate pattern. Kayn walks over to the growing image to get a closer look while Sari feels the room spin. The moment the energy leaves her eyes, she collapses onto the bed and weakly slides to the floor.

  “This doesn’t look good,” Kayn states. He examines the odd image of a terrain where a light pulses in the middle. “This area looks like a distant section of the swamp. We need that reflector blade if we’re going into krypter territory. If I can’t find the sword then I’m going to demand that you stay behind, Sari. I don’t want you getting hurt out there. Are you listening, Sari? Where did you go?”

  “I drooled on your maps,” Sari mumbles, waving her hand from her side of the bed. She manages to grab the bedpost and drag herself to her feet. “That spell was more potent than it should have been. I’m terrified of what would have happened if we tried for the reflector blade. I think we’ll need Nyx for that one.”

  A second light suddenly appears in the air on the opposite side of the room from the fading image of the swamplands. Kayn goes to the light and eagerly watches as it becomes a small sword. The energy sword spins into the air and rockets through Kayn’s chest, stealing his breath and driving him to his knees. The tiny sword flies around the bed at a dizzying speed until it burrows into Sari’s forehead. Crystalline tears gush from her eyes as she is forced to see the image of the forest edge where a shadowy figure is resting beneath the trees. A soft glow emanates from the bastard sword at the figure’s side before Sari’s sight is violently snapped back to the cavern.

  “I can feel where my sword is,” Kayn whispers from the floor, his eyes nothing more than white orbs. “It’s so close and I can sense whenever it moves. All I have to do is focus and Cessia’s blessing guides me to it.”

  “I . . . I need some air,” Sari gasps, blindly stumbling into the darkness. She falls to her hands and knees when she reaches the stone steps, but she defiantly continues crawling toward the city above. “I don’t think that was Cessia.”

  *****

  Sari clutches the cool lantern post, struggling to catch her breath and clear her head of a mental fog. Patting her skirts, Sari realizes she left the last of her fae water in the hideout. She frantically fumbles with her shirt to pull out a lavender-scented handkerchief, which she presses to her face. The calming smell helps her focus as a light sprinkle of rain begins to fall. She puts the handkerchief away, pausing when she notices that it is only raining on her. Looking up, she sees a broken gutter over her head, which is where the cleansing water is coming from. The small shower tapers off as Sari wrings her hair dry and steps into the empty street. She watches the yellow light of Ult, the autumn moon, runs along the ground, occasionally joined by a few red beams from Vir, the defiant summer moon.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?” asks a female guard as she approaches. She immediately levels her spear when the gypsy spins around holding a dagger.

  “I’m sorry. You startled me,” the gypsy apologizes, gracefully tucking the dagger into her skirts. Sari leans against the lantern post and smiles. “Thank you for your concern. I was getting some fresh air and got caught up in watching the moonlight.”

  “Do you have any messages for me to relay to your friends?” the guard whispers, moving closer to give the appearance of helping Sari stand. “I was told to stay in this area in case you needed help or had an urgent message.”

  Sari pats the woman on the cheek and gently laughs. “They really need to teach guards how to be subtle. In the future you should let your contact approach first. You did good asking if I needed help, but you should have kept your distance for a little longer. If somebody was watching me then you would have blown my cover. Do you have a name?”

  “Jordan,” the guard answers as she steps away.

  “Well, Jordan, I have some information you can deliver to Nyx,” Sari says, her emerald eyes scanning the shadows. “It isn’t much, but it’ll make me feel better knowing Nyx is aware of my situation. I might need to call on her for help soon.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll have a problem getting a message to her tonight,” Jordan nervously claims. She blushes out of embarrassment from the way she had initially offered help and now she is at a loss. “Nyx and Timoran were called to the Salamander Army camp two hours before nightfall. They haven’t returned and news is that they have gone into the swamp with Tzefira and Luke Callindor. We’ve been ordered to hold the city and lend support to the mercenaries if they require it.”

  “What happened?” Sari asks, taking Jordan by the hand and leading her to a shadowy corner. “Is everything okay?”

  “There’s been an incident within the mercenary forces,” Jordan explains, fighting to hold back her excitement. She fails and an echoing chuckle escapes from her mouth. “Tzefira’s second-in-command attempted a revolt and turned most of her army against her. There was a small battle between his forces and those loyal to Tzefira. She was injured along with her second, so they had a contest of champions. Her champion was Luke Callindor and her second used a warrior that turned out to be a krypter. Luke killed the krypter bare-handed, but Tzefira’s second escaped. Her loyal men were left to contain the traitors while she took Luke, Nyx, and Timoran to hunt down her second. It’s believed they’re really going into the swamp to finish off the krypters and put an end to this. That’s why the krypters aren’t at the walls tonight.”

  Sari cocks her head to the side as she listens to the refreshing silence. “I didn’t realize it was so quiet tonight. I guess my information can wait. I was going to let her know I’m close to getting the thieves guild to disband, but it may require that I venture into the swamp. If she’s already in there then I’ll run into her.”

  “It’s a pretty big swamp,” Jordan politely points out.

  “Nyx and I always find each other if we’re in the same area,” Sari proudly declares. She smiles brightly, which causes Jordan to smile back at her. “It always happened when we were kids and it happened when I was in trouble near Haven. Nyx was nearby and she saved me. She’s my guardian angel and I’m her loyal gypsy.”

  “I can ask if we have any messenger birds that can enter the swamp,” Jordan offers. She shifts from one foot to the other when she realizes the problem with her idea. “Most of our birds are pigeons that are easy prey for the swamp owls. There might be one of the big seabirds we use to contact ships, but I’m not sure they’re allowed in the swamp. I heard one guard say they use bats for nighttime messages, so that could work if i
t’s true.”

  “Thank you for your help,” Sari says, giving the guard a hug that resembles holding on for support. She makes the noises of someone throwing up and wipes her mouth of imaginary spittle as she steps away. “Now, I’m going to walk down the street and you’re going to go wherever you need to go. If you’re tempted to look back, count to ten and do a full turn. Never do that more than once every five minutes.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jordan says, her arm almost coming up for a shake. “Good luck with your mission.”

  Sari walks away and shivers when she steps through a puddle of cold water. She glances at her dirty feet and silently curses at herself for forgetting her boots. Her sudden need for fresh air made her forget most of her tools, leaving her more defenseless than she would like. An icy feeling is still swirling in her mind and she cannot shake it no matter how hard she tries to focus on warm memories. It is almost as if the reflected locator spell has stolen something from her, leaving a feeling of loss behind. She begins wishing that Nyx was still in the city, so she could talk to her and convince her friend to cure this magical unease. The more she dwells on it, the stronger the icy feeling gets, drawing her attention to a layer of frost on her arms. Sari frantically wipes the frost away and casts a warmth spell on her body. It lasts for a second before the spell is devoured by the coldness surging through her body.

  Sari ducks into an alley and kneels behind a rotting crate. She tries another warmth spell getting the same result. The gypsy checks her legs to find they are turning blue, so she aggressively rubs them until her skin is raw. Slowly they warm up and she looks up to the sky, hoping to see Cessia or Gabriel descending from the stars to help. All she sees are a few shooting stars that swirl around each other, making the brief outline of a flower like the one on Sari’s bloodline diary. Knowing a sign from the gods when she sees one, Sari pulls the book out of her skirts and holds it to her chest. After three minutes, nothing happens and Sari feels even colder than before, her breath now appearing in the cool air.