14 . 5 . 11
Wow. My life has been a real whirlwind since the last update. It's been almost three months since I've posted anything — yikes. To anyone who's reading: I'm terribly sorry for the wait. Let me make it up to you. How about a double-feature? And if I get any reviews before the weekend is up, perhaps I'll update again. On Monday I head back to No-Internet Land, where I currently reside (unfortunately).
Anyway, I hope you all are having a great start to the summer / end of the school year (/ middle of the school year, if there are any of my beloved Kiwis reading this -grin-). Enjoy!
Carvin closed the door behind him, then leaned on it heavily. There was too much to think about all at once. Images and snatches of visions came to mind and left again, confusing him and making it almost impossible to think. He shook his head and tried to decide what he needed to do.
Find them. I have to find them, he said. And that's why I'm in the Vests, so I can find them. But will it be fast enough?
It would have to be. He saddled his horse and was on his way to the port city of Taoh — his first stop — with Ar and the others within a half hour.
The tavern was painfully typical of an Ellespethian town. That was the first thing Karl noticed as he stepped into the place. It was respectably busy for the time of the evening — busty slave girls and quick slave boys cleared tables and took orders, while a few men sat at the bar drinking by themselves. There was a low hum of talking, interrupted from time to time by a laugh. The only differentiating factor was the tavern's cleanliness; Karl assumed Finnigan's wife had some say in how the tavern was run.
Karl absently scanned the crowd of pleasant faces, but once again saw nothing unremarkable. He bought his drink and sat, before a slave could show him to a table — a spotless corner table with a view of the whole bar had caught his eye. The person he was looking for would have to surface eventually. As an added bonus, the table was mostly hidden from view, just in case.
Sipping his drink, he observed the tavern from his excellent vantage point, listening in on a few conversations but always on the lookout for the boy. After about half an hour, Karl began to contemplate the best way to search the kitchens without attracting suspicion (leaning toward invisibility, if he could pull it off). He was starting to get paranoid that Iain would call him before he could get a hold of this—
And there he is, right on time, Karl thought, as the boy in question came through the doorway from the kitchen with a precariously stacked tray of food. He quickly handed it to a distracted waitress, narrowly missing another girl, and started back toward the kitchen.
"You, boy!" Karl said in a moderately loud voice, sending with it a spell for clarity.
The boy turned around, and Karl lifted his hand enough to draw the boy's attention. He walked up to Karl, nodding politely.
"Would you like another drink, sir?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Karl said. He was suddenly aware that he didn't sound fine; he sounded tired, and angry. The boy noticed, too, it seemed — his eyes narrowed slightly. Karl continued anyway. "I'd have a word with you, if you would oblige, Dannlin."
The boy's guard was up in a instant.
"How do you know my name, sir?" he asked warily. He took a step back.
"The same way I know you were a friend of Sarah's," Karl said smoothly. Dannlin's eyes narrowed further, and Karl could hear his thoughts start to race. "We need to discuss some things, about Sarah. Join me for a walk?" Karl's smile fell sour.
Dannlin was about to decline and slip away quickly — possibly to get some help — but Karl was faster. The boy soon felt something he could only describe as a fluid breeze encircle his neck. Instinctively, he reached for it, but nothing was there. It then tightened, constricting his airway slightly.
"Walk with me," Karl repeated, and this time it wasn't a question.
Dannlin drew breath to shout, but the breeze suddenly closed any passage and the shout was shoved uncomfortably back into his lungs. Completely unable to breathe, Dannlin nodded violently.
"Good," Karl said, and the breeze moved enough to let some air through. "Let's go outside, shall we?"
No one noticed the pair as they quickly left the tavern — and it took several hours before anyone realized that Dannlin did not return.
The trio was grateful to finally reach the city, and their fear of being caught was assuaged somewhat by the sheer number of people surrounding them wherever they went. As they approached the buildings that they had seen, it soon became apparent that what they had assumed was a town was actually more of a small city. They entered the city gate onto the main street, which was full of merchants with their wares. Nre and Cameron looked around desperately for an inn while Rose gazed at everything, eyes wide.
"A fresh roasted chicken's leg! Just the thing to ward off hunger 'til dinner!"
"Intricate pendants made by an esteemed goldsmith!"
"Nice firm quills in a variety of styles!"
"Hot blackberry pies! Your husband will think you've worked all day on it!"
"Fantastically woven handbags!"
"Birds that sing any song you name!" A lanky old man holding a swinging birdcage hollered his message, tugging on Rose's skirt. "Name a song, lass, any song!"
She shook her head, shrinking forward and holding onto Cameron tighter.
"Take ye one and take ye all,
Up to the tavern of 'All in All'!
There rest your spirit and tell your tales,
You'll never fail to find a listener there!"
The parrot in the cage perked up and started singing along with the faint sound of voices up ahead as the man moved on to solicit another person.
Rose and Nre looked around for the source of the singing, finally spotting a group of ten or fifteen boys cheerily singing as they turned the corner. The boys were standing in front of the tavern they were singing about — a well-painted sign indicated that the establishment was called the All in All. The boys sang loudly, and many passers-by sang along, chuckling and greeting the boys as they passed.
A few people tossed coins which the boys deftly caught and nodded their thanks.
Nre and Cameron traded strange looks — street bards were not uncommon in Berensia, but this group of singers didn't quite fit that description. It seemed that they were trying to attract customers to the tavern. Cameron thought it was an interesting practice, albeit a strange one.
Nre was soon distracted by a small crowd of children dressed in bright colors and twirling ribbons around a sign indicating that a troupe of gypsies was staying on the outskirts of the city and selling its wares. She opened her mouth to ask Cameron if they could stop, but the look on his face made her close her mouth again. He looked far too hassled and paranoid at the moment to suggest it, so she tucked it away and planned to ask him after they were safely in an inn.
Cameron was just relieved to find an inn that they could stay at with some more of the money from Karl's bag and get off the street. Although the nagging feeling of danger was less than it had been on the open road, he couldn't shake it from his mind. Nre was completely taken with the city, and she begged to stay a few hours the next morning to look around.
"We'll be perfectly safe, surrounded by all these people. We don't stick out at all," she pleaded. "And I really want to see the gypsies!"
He finally agreed to stay for a little while, though with many misgivings. After they ate dinner, they went almost instantly to sleep, happy to be sleeping on something other than rocks and dirt, though Rose and Nre still slept on the floor to avoid suspicion.
Cameron made sure the door was locked securely, and he still slept with dark images in his mind, waking at every sound.
Faidn stopped Danny just before the forest's edge. The sun was shining brightly, but the trees still looked ominous and dark. He'd gathered news in bits and pieces as he passed through the towns between his home and the West Wood, and saying that the kingdom was in an uproar was no exaggeration. With Princess Nre and Prince Cameron going missing (suspected kidnapping) followed closely by the disappearance of the Princess' fiance, and all three of them last seen by the West Wood — things were looking grim for all the magic workers in Berensia. The West Wood was well-known for its magical inhabitants, and the King and Queen were taking no chances. All the wizards and fairies that could be found were brought to the castle for questioning, making the whole country even more leery of magic than they were normally.
This, sad to say, included Faidn as well.
He gulped as he looked at the dark trees, remembering the creepy stories of his childhood, and the ones that had been recounted to him on his way there. Fairies were allegedly more vengeful than usual, setting barns on fire and loosing livestock.
"Don't be silly, Fai," he said to himself. "All those stories of fairies and hobgoblins aren't true. They're all stories."
He paused.
"Well, the old ones are just stories, anyway. And probably half of the new ones. Carvin just got lost in the woods. …And so did Cameron and Nre."
He paused again, and looked at the horse for help. It snorted.
"Okay, maybe not. Not Vin, anyway, I know he could find his way out of any wood."
The trees moved in front of him, the light breeze rustling their leaves. It looked like they were nudging each other and laughing. He shook his head to clear it; he was thinking crazy things. That lady at the inn had really gotten his imagination going.
"Well, there's only one way to find out what happened to them, isn't there?" he asked Danny, scratching its ear. "I've got to ask whatever lives in there if they've seen any of the three."
The horse snorted again when Faidn stopped scratching its ear, and Faidn rolled his eyes and resumed.
"There have been search parties in there, but they were just looking for Cameron and Nre, weren't they? They weren't seeking out the local inhabitants — the only people that would really know."
He nodded decisively. Fairies-shmairies. They couldn't be as bad as all that.
"Let's go."
He urged his mount forward, but stopped it again a moment before they entered the trees.
"Hey, if we get separated, go back home, alright? Are you smart enough to do that? Da'll kill me if I lose you."
The horse's ear twitched.
"That'll have to do," Faidn sighed. "Come on, then."
Welcome, friend of the soldier...
The journey to Molln was uneventful, though Gloria and Thomas were too busy worrying about Nre and Cameron's safety to be properly worried about their own. Thomas had refused to take a carriage, insisting that speed was of dire importance on this mission, so the royals' two bodyguards trailed them, also on horseback. The party of four horsemen raised a few eyebrows along their ride, but the bodyguards' frosty stares were enough to make the people's eyes turn back to their own business.
Five days of hard riding brought them to the Mollnian palace, which was situated on the plain, a modest distance from the river. They were received with some surprise, as Thomas' brief letter stating their arrival had only reached the palace some hours before the party.
"I'm sure you can understand why we mightn't want to delay," Gloria said, shaking hands with King Fraylish firmly. "With Prince Cameron and Nre missing—"
"Of course, of course," the king said, letting go of Gloria's hand and clasping Thomas'. "I understand entirely."
He made no further comment on the matter, and neither did either of the Berensian royalty, but the gravity showed in his eyes. They began walking inside the palace as Fraylish continued.
"I'm kicking myself a hundred times over for not investigating this man further," he said, leading them to a comfortable sitting room. "You of course have access to any of my resources — men, horses, food. Name it, and it's yours."
"We have reason to believe that this wizard intends harm to at least Cameron and Nre," Thomas started, sitting in the chair closest to the window. Outside, the river flowed by peacefully. "I suspect he also has plans to harm others, judging by our informant's actions and desperation."
"Because of this, we will need a battalion of soldiers, preferably those with at least some knowledge of magic," Gloria continued. "If we aren't too late, we will have to battle an angry wizard."
"That will take some time," Fraylish said slowly. "My soldiers skilled against magic are currently spread across Molln, and there are even a few in Sanjado, helping to calm a dragon scare in the mountains there. I will send word to have them return as quickly as possible, but the soonest I can guarantee that they will be assembled is five days."
Gloria and Thomas looked at each other. They were both thinking the same thing: Is there enough time?
"That is a long delay," Thomas finally said. "But I don't think we can afford to go without them. Gloria?"
"We can't," she admitted, though the words tasted bitter as they left her mouth. "We don't stand a chance against a wizard unless the soldiers are prepared to deal with magic."
"Then I will send messages out immediately with my fastest messengers," Fraylish said, pulling some parchment out of his pocket and walking over to the desk by the entrance to the room.
He called for a servant as he wrote the messages, and the summons were on their way in minutes. That left Thomas and Gloria with nothing else to do but freshen up after their journey, then wait. A servant showed them to the guest suite, where Thomas then graciously allowed Gloria to bathe first.
"You really don't think we can go with the regular soldiers, do you?" Gloria shouted through the door as she sponged her hair dry. Her voice echoed painfully on the tiled floors and walls.
"Definitely not," Thomas replied. "It would be a suicide run."
"Just checking," she sighed. "I hate not doing anything."
"I know," Thomas replied.
Gloria looked around, then realized she hadn't brought her change of clothes into the bathroom.
"Uh, Thomas, could you hand me a dress from the bag?" she asked, wrapping her towel around herself and pushing a dripping curl of hair out of her face.
"Hm? Oh, alright," Thomas said.
She heard him get up from the chair with a soft groan and rummage around in the bag they had brought for a minute before he knocked softly on the door. She opened it enough to take the dress, then closed again as she began to pull it on.
"Do you think there's anything else we can do?" she asked. "Would there be any wizards willing to help us, do you think?"
"I doubt it," Thomas said reluctantly. "They don't often like to fight each other; it ends up killing a lot of innocent people, usually. You know that."
"What about other magical beings? Naiads? Dryads? Fairies?" she pressed, bending her arms in all sorts of unnatural positions as she attempted to button the back of her dress. And this is the simplest dress I own, she lamented with a grunt. Her wet fingers slid against the button.
"They don't like to get involved in human affairs," Thomas was saying. When Gloria didn't respond right away, he added, "Are you alright?"
"These blasted buttons," came Gloria's solitary reply. She grunted again, and the button slipped free of her grip. "Lands!" she muttered, manipulating her arms and biting the edge of her tongue as she tried to find the button again. Her reflection in the mirror in front of her was ridiculous.
"Do you … need help?" Thomas asked hesitantly.
Gloria didn't answer right away; she found the button and tried again to fit it through the hole in the fabric, but it eluded her grip once more.
"Actually, yes," Gloria said, defeated.
Thomas slowly opened the bathroom door, wary of hitting his wife, then saw the source of the frustration immediately.
"They didn't exactly make these easy to do single-handedly, did they?" he said, easily fastening the buttons Gloria had struggled so furiously against.
He looked over her shoulder into the mirror and smiled at his wife. Gloria made a face.
"No, they don't," she said.
Thomas buttoned the last button, then inhaled slowly. The light smell of irises wafted from her hair.
"Thank you," she said, smiling slightly at him. "I'll leave you to bathe, then."
"You're welcome," he said, smiling back.
Gloria left the bathroom shaking her head.
When Karl didn't show his face at her home that evening — like he had promised — Mel was slightly affronted, but didn't think too much of it. She did rather like Karl, but she knew enough of his reputation to know that he didn't take women or relationships very seriously. She then put him out of her mind as a chance that could have been but wasn't, and moved on to bigger and better things.
She took to scouring the wood for any remaining search parties still looking for the Prince and Princess, and she found a great source of amusement in scaring the daylights out of them. After the embarrassing stint with Carvin, she decided not to try her luck with kisses for a little while, but there were plenty of other ways to drive a man mad with confusion and fright.
It wasn't until a week had passed with still no sign of Karl whatsoever that she began to get suspicious. A quick survey of her friends verified that the fiari hadn't been seen since the day he'd kissed her in the hallway and vanished. It wasn't like fiari to be gone this long from the Wood. Something must have happened with his master.
She remembered the look in his eye that afternoon, like he was trying to enjoy one of the last things he was ever going to do, and the way he avoided her questions.
It was then that she decided to go after him, come what may.
"His name is Karl," she repeated for the sixtieth time that evening.
She'd finagled her way into a party with a bunch of old, powerful fairies in hopes that one of them might know who Karl's master was so she could find him. The only problem was that, though rich in magic, the fairies were still quite forgetful.
"You know— black hair, charming smile, devil-may-care attitude?" she continued. "There's only one fiari like him, I'm sure of it, and you must have met him at some point."
The old fairy blinked slowly, opened his mouth, and then stroked the tip of his golden cane.
"Hummm. Karl. He likes the women, yes?"
"Very much," Mel emphasized.
"Ah, yes," the fairy remembered. "I know him."
"Do you know who his master is?"
"It's hard to keep track of these days, with all the changing around…"
"Come on," Mel pleaded. "You see connections in people. If you've seen Karl, you have to know who his master was."
"If I recall correctly, it was a wizard," the man said, furrowing his brow as he tried to remember. "Not from Berensia, but nearby… Molln, I think."
"His name," Mel pressed. "I need a name."
"What's in it for me, you uppity female?" the man said, crossing his arms. "I usually charge a hefty price for connections."
"Name your charge," Mel said steadfastly.
"What's your magic?" the man asked. "Then I'll decide."
"Blessings," she said.
"Ah," the man said with a smile. "That'll do nicely. Bless me with long life."
"Greedy curmudgeon," Mel muttered under her breath, but she took the man's face in her hands and gently kissed his forehead.
"Iain," the man said with a smile. "I think he lives along the coast."
"Thank you," she said, curtsying politely before taking her leave of the crowded room.
She flew back to her chamber and quickly changed clothes, preparing to set off for Molln. She considered the advice of some of her friends as she pulled on her traveling attire.
"He's not worth it," one had said.
"His master must have finally gotten smart and kept Karl around so he wouldn't do anything to get him into trouble," another had wisely commented.
"Leave him," another friend advised. "If he's that interested in you, he'll come back and find you. Don't go after him — you'll look desperate."
Mel, however, threw everyone's advice out the window and set off toward the west. Something fishy was happening, and Mel wasn't about to let herself be left out of it. She thrived on sticky situations, and if this situation had managed to ensnare one of the most famously slippery fiari in the Kingdom, it was definitely worth checking out.
What do you think Karl's up to? Any opinions on our favorite pair of unhappy monarchs? Or Mel's desire to take off an adventure — that might end up being more than she bargained for?
Eva: Well, I'm sorry for the late chapter! Hah. I'm glad you enjoyed the expanded scene — I had fun with it. Hmm, Arvid with his own story? Hmm… We shall see. -grin- Hah, I am glad you like Karl so much; someone needs to love him when he's being a bit of a mysterious jerk. Aw, your reference to Jab made me grin. It's quite the thought, isn't it? Yikes. I hope you were not so upset by the lack of Gloria and Thomas in the next two chapters that you decided not to review on them at all. -laugh- There was no room for that section until this chapter — what do you think of their support of one another now? -smile-
Lady Thorne: Faidn is one of my favorites too — it was the reviews that made me bring him back around last time, and I'm so glad I did. He adds a lot to the story. Poor Karl, indeed. :-( And yeah, the fairy might have shown him something useful… but also scary!
Mazzie: You are making me sad. Forgetting about all my characters. :-( But I guess if I updated more often this might be less of a problem, haha. Vampirate-fairy? Yikes. How many different supernatural character prototypes would you like to combine? -chuckle-
Healed: Hey! Welcome to the story! Sorry you caught me during such a rough time — that it took so long to update. I feel honored that you connected with my characters so well! I hope you can remember them now after all this time. -smile-
Reviewers get a slice of blackberry pie!