Chapter 6 - Dharak - The Note

For three days, all Dharak did was eat, sleep, work, and be with Ruvy. She had a place of her own in the wealthiest part of town and it was there that they met whenever she didn't need to work at the club. Ruvy wanted expensive gifts and Dharak didn't mind indulging her. Every day he thought of new ways he'd like to have her, and every time he met with her, Ruvy complied without his having to say a word, sometimes adding a little spice of her own that utterly delighted him. This thought-sensing gift of hers was wonderful! He was starting to think he might need to divorce Nahla and marry Ruvy when it hit him he hadn't been home in three days.

What am I going to tell Nahla? Oh, I'll just say it was a work emergency. It's not like she would know the difference anyway.

But when he finally made it back home, Nahla was nowhere to be found. He searched out one of the servants and inquired, but the servant said she hadn't seen either Nahla or the children in the last three days.

What in the world could have happened to them?

For the first time in months, he felt a flicker of unease about the welfare of his family. Rich people were often the target of schemes to separate them from their money, and kidnapping wasn't out of the question. But wouldn't there be a ransom note in that case?

Thinking of ransom notes made him think about the note Nahla had left. 'It's over.' What on Gilon did she mean by that?

He went to her room. Nothing seemed out of order; rather everything was neat and trim. He went to where she kept her flying carpet and noticed it was still in its stand, so wherever she was, she hadn't taken that to get there. He went to his children's rooms, but there were no clues there, either. Their beds were made and their belongings put away, although he supposed the servants could have done that.

He went back to the servant he'd inquired of earlier and asked if anything had been out of order or seemed odd on the day she'd last seen Nahla and the children. The woman said no.

Grabbing a drawing Nahla had had done of herself and their three children four years ago, he finally decided to seek out an old wizard by the name of Ekarik Bendigen, an Undine he sometimes hired to do crafting projects for him. The man knew the Scrying spell, and he had met Nahla and the children, and the drawing would help making scrying on them a certainty.

Ekarik was hunched over his desk in study when Dharak arrived at the wizard's home, and didn't seem especially happy to see him, but the old man pushed his annoyance down. Dharak paid well, and that meant Ekarik could put the money toward his magic or his studies.

Dharak said, "Ekarik, I need you to scry on my wife, Nahla. She's gone missing."

Ekarik replied, "Well, I don't have that spell prepared today. It will have to be tomorrow."

"Fine," replied Dharak, and paid the man. "I want to be here when you do it, so same time tomorrow?"

"Fair enough," said Ekarik, and returned to his books.

Dharak saw himself out.

Then he went and found Ruvy, deciding he could work at his shop during the same hours she worked at the club. He wanted to tell her about his missing family, but she greeted him with a passionate kiss, and before he had time to think about it, they were back to their normal alone time activities. And Dharak liked the wild, vibrant, hedonistic sex that Ruvy offered enough that his missing family slipped completely from his mind.

Dharak showed up at Ekarik's the next day and the old man quickly performed his spell. Nahla's face quickly appeared in the mirror. She wore plain clothes far below her station and she seemed to be serving food. After a moment, she went to a kitchen and spoke to an Undine woman he didn't know before filling a pitcher of some sort, taking it to a dining room, and placing it on a table where a half-orc and a half-Elf sat.

When the spell ended, Ekarik asked, "Did you get what you needed?"

Dharak nodded and Ekarik returned to his studies. The wizard wasn't much of a one for pleasantries, but Dharak liked that about him. It saved time, and time was money.

It looked like an inn or a restaurant. I can hire someone to run those down. And if I give that person the sketch I let Ekarik use, it should help him identify her.

Dharak knew just the man for the job.