by T. K. Chapin
“Do you ever wonder about Ada and Nejik?” Illadari asked looking at her. She looked at the piece of bark and picked it up from the palm of his hand and began to rub it with her thumb.
“I think about Nejik almost daily,” she said keeping her eyes locked on the piece of bark. “I wonder if he’s alive… dead… all of its just-”
Kessler just then walked in. “Mommy… I can’t find the paste,” Kessler said.
“I’ll be there in just a minute,” Tessla said smiling at him. “Go back to the bathroom and I’ll be there shortly.” He left the room. Looking up at Illadari, she placed the piece of bark back into his hands.
“I wouldn’t trade our life we have here for anything,” she said smiling as she stood up and kissed Illadari on the head before leaving the room.
Chapter 6
A restless night’s sleep forced Illadari to awaken early the next day. His inability to locate his summoning necklace weighed heavy on his conscious as time waxed thin to when he was needed at the arena. Waking before Tessla and Kessler, he got his high priest robes on, and sneaked out of the house just as the sun was rising. As he shut the door behind him, he got a strange look from a guard that was passing by on patrol.
“Can I help you sir?” the guard asked as he stopped.
“Nope, I’m fine,” Illadari said.
Arriving at the Halls, Illadari found himself unable to pass into the alter room. Looking around curiously, he tried again, but hit a wall of resistance that prevented him from entering. Turning around, he left the Halls, back onto the main street of Silvermeer. Spotting Ponio, he called out to him, “Hey Ponio!”
“Who are you?” Ponio responded with disgust pushing him backwards in anger. “And who gave you those robes? They are for High Priests only!” Ponio said sternly. What is wrong with him? Illadari wondered. Glancing at his own left hand, he noticed his wedding ring wasn’t there. What happened? Illadari thought rushing away from Ponio, heading down the street towards his home.
Flinging the door open to his house, he rushed into the bedroom and found Tessla crying on the edge of their bed. “What happened?” she asked looking up at him. Illadari saw her face was that of Katlynn’s and fear began to set in for Illadari.
“Where’s Kessler?” Illadari asked quickly. If anything happened to my son, Illadari thought to himself.
“Gone, just like the entire illusion seems to be… It’s all gone!” Tessla screamed at him. Rushing to his doorway leading outside, Illadari looked up and down their street panicking.
Something must have happened to Ada, Illadari thought to himself as he went back inside and shut the door. Going back into the bedroom, he looked at Tessla as tears streamed down her face.
“We have to leave, we can’t be seen in this house, this home doesn’t belong to Amon and Katlynn!” Illadari insisted.
“We need to stay here until nightfall,” Tessla said. Illadari began to pace the bedroom.
“I agree,” Illadari said.
Cupping her face as she sobbed, Tessla said, “I want my son back!” Comforting her, Illadari placed his hand on her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.
“We will find Ada and get this fixed,” Illadari said.
**
A loud knock on the door came startling the two of them a few hours later.
“Illadari!” Ponio shouted. “What are you doing? The arena battles are starting soon and you aren’t there!”
Turning to Tessla, Illadari shook his head and put his finger to his lips.
“Oren said if you don’t show within the next ten minutes, he’d be letting me take over. Instead of just taking your spot, I wanted to be a good friend and come see what’s going on…” Ponio said. They could hear him sigh in disappointment as he continued, “Fine. I’ll do it, but I tried.”
“Won’t you be in trouble?” Tessla asked in a whisper.
“It doesn’t matter. We have bigger concerns than my job at the Halls right now,” Illadari said. Tessla nodded and then started crying again. “What’s wrong my love?”
“Kessler… your job… everything in our life is falling apart in a very short amount of time,” Tessla said as she dug her eyes into his shoulder. Pulling back, she looked at Illadari, “You should change into your blue robes… You don’t want to be traveling around with the face of Amon in those.”
Illadari nodded, going to the closet to fetch his blue robes. He turned to Tessla and asked, “Could you cook something up? I’m starving and need to take that bitter leaf.”
“Sure and you mean your Hilted Banes Leaf,” Tessla said with a faint smile in the midst of all the tears. Wiping her face clean of the tears and her nose that was dripping, she went into the kitchen and began cooking.
**
That evening, the sun began to set across Silvermeer and businesses closed up for the day. It was about time for Illadari and Tessla to make their way out of their home and go into the Darkwood Forest to find the witch Ada, but a knock from the front door disrupted their plans.
Tessla was putting her mandolin into their large traveling pouch when the knock on the door froze her and Illadari in place. Illadari turned to Tessla and mouthed without saying a word, “Who is that?”
“I don’t know,” she mouthed back to Illadari.
Then a voice came from the other side of the door, “You said you would join Sam and me for dinner and now you just ignore my knock? Some friends you are!” Liza shouted angrily as she kicked the door and left.
After her footsteps were gone in the distance, Tessla spoke up. “I forgot… We were supposed to have dinner with her and Sam tonight… I feel bad.”
“Don’t feel bad, if I would have had to hear another one of those fishing stories, I think I’d go crazy!” Illadari said.
Laughing, Tessla put her hand on his chest and kissed his lips while she smiled, “I think you’ve long passed crazy.”
“You seem awfully chipper given the circumstances…” Illadari said.
“You said you’ll get our boy back… I trust you. I trust Omad. I trust this whole thing… I have to, or I’d lose my mind…” Tessla said turning her head slightly away from Illadari. He grabbed her chin and pulled it back to him to make eye contact with her.
“I appreciate your trust and I will get our boy back. I promise you,” he said giving her a kiss. Walking over to the window in the kitchen, Illadari pulled the curtain back and peered at the night sky. “The moons are out, we can leave now.”
Chapter 7
With pouches in hand, Tessla shut their houses’ door behind her. Quickly, they made their way down the street to an alleyway. Where are we going? Tessla wondered as they went the wrong direction of the town gates. Approaching the dead end of the alley, she looked around curious to what the plan was inside a creepy and unpleasant dark alley.
Illadari hiked up his robe slightly, and then crouched down over a manhole. Ahh she thought to herself. Shifting the manhole cover off the sewer entrance, Illadari moved it just enough for them to drop in.
“Ladies first,” Illadari said bowing slightly.
“The sewers? Why? It’s dark and stinks. Let’s do the town gates,” Tessla said.
“No, we can’t be seen,” Illadari said insistently.
“Fine… I’m not going first though. Last time we got in a dark hole you were dragged off by a spider!”
“I’ll go first,” Illadari said rolling his eyes. Climbing down into the sewer, Illadari motioned for her to follow after him. Before she came down, he casted a sphere of light for them to see in the dark. “You grabbed the black diamonds, right?” Illadari asked.
“Yes Illadari…” Tessla said as she stepped off the ladder. The smells of the sewer overwhelmed her senses as she began to gag. “This place is rancid!”
“It is a sewer,” Illadari said with a smile. Glancing down the sewer tunnel, he said, “The sewers should line up with the streets if I recall properly from seeing the map once before.” Grabbing Tessla’s hand, Illa
dari led them down the sewer tunnels, until they made it to below the town square. “East,” he said as he continued leading them with the sphere of light nearby.
Glancing at the tunnel walls, Tessla saw green slime ooze from the crevices causing her to become slightly queasy. The sound of water droplets echoed through the empty sewer tunnels as they walked. Arriving at a solid stone wall, Illadari looked up and said, “This should be the town gate.”
“Looks like a wall more than a gate,” Tessla said.
“Ha – funny,” Illadari said looking to the south. Noticing a gap between the tunnel and a stone wall, they ventured over to the opening and squeezed their way through. As they shimmied their way through, the thick green ooze coated their clothing. Lovely, Tessla thought to herself as they found themselves in another tunnel. Venturing farther east, Illadari stopped when he noticed a wall with a piece of wood on it that seemed out of place.
Bringing the sphere closer, he began to inspect the wooden plank on the wall. Grabbing with both of his hands, he attempted to dislodge the piece of wood out of place. It was firmly fastened to the stone wall and his strength was not sufficient to remove it. I’ll fix this, Tessla thought to herself retrieving her mandolin from their pouch.
Suddenly Tessla began playing a song behind Illadari, which startled him as he was trying to inspect the plank. Turning, he began backing up as he watched the dark red notes travel through the air, heading for the wood on the stone wall. “Thanks for the heads up,” Illadari said with a slight irritation in his voice.
As the notes hit the plank of wood, miniature fires erupted. Then the final gold infused red note struck, igniting an explosion and a fire. As the fire burned, Tessla looked at Illadari, “I’m sorry for not warning you… I just want my little boy back quickly!”
Walking up to her side, Illadari put his arm around her shoulder as the fire kindled. “I know my love… We will find him,” he said kissing her on the cheek as the reflection of the fire danced off his face.
The plank soon burnt away to ashes, and thus revealed a small hole, the hole, while small, was big enough to climb through. Climbing through first, Illadari turned and helped Tessla up in and through the hole. Landing in a pile of rubble, Tessla glanced up at the hole she had come through, and began to feel a little bit lost. We’ve been going deeper into this sewer with not much hope, she thought to herself.
“Up ahead!” Illadari exclaimed as he had already started walking onward down the tunnel. Running back to Tessla, he said, “Thanks be to Omad! I was beginning to get a little worried!” Grabbing Tessla’s hand to help her up from the rubble, he pointed down the tunnel to a faint light in the distance.
“How do you know that’s an exit?” Tessla asked.
“The light is coming from the top part of the tunnel… it has to be an exit!” Illadari said whisking her down the tunnel by the hand. The sphere of light began to putter out as they got closer to the faint light. Illadari glanced at the sphere and said, “We won’t be needing it anymore, so I won’t cast another one.”
Making it closer to the light, they found it was indeed an exit. A ladder sat attached to the sewer’s tunnel wall and provided the freedom they had been seeking. Tessla climbed the ladder first and watched Illadari climb up after.
“I don’t want to live like this,” Tessla said as Illadari came out of the sewer and stood up on the forest floor. He looked around curiously to see how far into the Darkwood Forest they were, and then turned to Tessla.
“I agree, we will have Ada help us find a more permanent way to live,” Illadari said glancing at Tessla’s blouse. Looking down, she saw the green slime trail down her blouse and even onto her leggings. The smell was pungent as she directed her focus on it.
“Sick,” she said turning her head away.
“Look,” Illadari said pointing to a small pond. “Let’s clean our clothing off in there so we don’t appear filthy.”
The two of them went over to the pond and cleaned their clothing the best that they could. Looking through the moonlit woods from the pond, Tessla could see a dirt path off in the distance. “There’s the main path out of town over there… Do you remember where the Great Tree is?”
Illadari stood up from the pond and proceeded to climb over a log, to get a better view of the path. Turning back to Tessla, he said, “I kind of remember its location. I know it is east of Silvermeer somewhere in the Darkwood Forest.”
Stepping incorrectly on a log, Tessla slipped and cut her foot open. “Ahhh!” she shouted grasping onto a nearby tree. Running back to Tessla, Illadari kneeled and lifted her foot delicately. Removing the torn slipper, he looked up at her as he healed her with a minor healing spell. Tessla felt the warmth of his love by the tenderness of his touch. I love that man, she thought to herself with a smile.
“We will let it heal up for a moment,” Illadari said as he took a seat on the forest floor.
“Isn’t it strange?” Tessla asked, as she used a thread and needle from her pouch to sew up the slipper.
“What?” Illadari asked looking around curiously.
“We were just a few days ago arguing about who was going to go get the gymer bread from Tilvo’s, and now we are off traveling through sewers on a quest to find our son and find a witch that lives in a giant tree out in the forest.” Tessla began laughing as she slid her slipper back onto her foot.
“Strange in deed…” Illadari said as he appeared to think about it. “It is strange how life can change so quickly in an instant.” Tessla’s foot appeared to be healed as she put pressure on it, and was able to walk. They continued their journey in search of Ada and the Great Tree.
Chapter 8
Arriving at the path that they had spotted coming out of the sewers, Illadari and Tessla began to journey farther east, down a winding path. The farther they went, the more it began to swing northward.
“We are going too far north, let’s cut into the Darkwood Forest to the east now,” Illadari said as he came to a stop. The moonlight lit their path up until this point, but the lighting was not sufficient for the thick and dreary Darkwood Forest that lay before them.
“Love,” Tessla said looking at him as she grasped his arm.
“I really don’t want to do this…” she said softly. “I remember the Darkwood Forest and I did not like it one bit.”
Illadari looked her in the eyes and grabbed her arm that was latched to his. “I’m going to protect you. We need to do this for Kessler.”
Quickly nodding in agreement, Tessla peered into the forest confidently. “I trust you,” she said looking up at him and resting her head on his shoulder.
“Just a moment dear,” Illadari said pulling away from Tessla. Illadari casted a sphere of light, then tugged on the sides expanding it to light their path into the thick forest.
“Won’t someone see us?” Tessla asked.
Illadari looked up at the night sky and then over at Tessla. “Like who?”
“I don’t know… the Vul? Ada said they would stop at nothing to find me… maybe they are behind this all?”
Illadari looked around and then back to Tessla. “I doubt anyone is out here. We should be fine love.” Illadari felt his energy depleted from the casting of the sphere of light. “Could you be a darling and cast your Song of Mana Regeneration? That last sphere zapped me pretty good.”
“Of course,” Tessla said with a smile. Illadari returned the smile as she retrieved her mandolin from one of their pouches.
Tessla played the Song of Mana Regeneration and as she played, the notes floated around both of them. With the last note, it fused with electricity and exploded, causing a dusting of white shimmering sparkles to descend over the both of them.
“Much better,” Illadari said as he felt his energy return to his body.
Turning to the woods, Illadari put out his arm for Tessla to grasp onto, and they took their first steps off the path and into the Darkwood Forest. Bats screeched overhead as the sphere of light followed closely
illuminating everything nearby. Glancing down, Illadari could see worms, bugs and rodents scurrying about as the light fell upon them. Tessla jumped as she stepped on something that moved causing Illadari to let out a soft chuckle.
“What?” she asked quickly looking over at him.
Attempting to contain his laughter, Illadari covered his mouth with a hand. “Nothing.”
“Were you laughing at me?” Tessla asked.
“Maybe a little bit,” Illadari smiled.
“Be kind to me! Do not show me rudeness,” she said smacking him in the shoulder.