Chapter 16:
At some point in the afternoon, I left Grog and returned to Driftwood, buying some food. Before going to my cottage and losing myself in potion-making.
...
Three days passed by in a blur before I knew it. The fourth day found me yawning, trying not to doze off while I sat at my workstation, boiling a pot of water to dilute the herbs.
The mother tree murmured that three sunsets had passed, much to my surprise, and then berated me for not sleeping at all. At her words, I put out the fire and put everything away, before falling into bed.
...
Day five, I woke up before the sun rose and was out the door in time to watch its light spill over the landscape, Englo by my side.
We wandered north, turning east when we reached the bridge across to Bloodmoon Island. Bypassing the Blackpits entirely with this route. The sight was... "rough" was an understatement. The land was broken up into chunks, as if a giant's fist had come down and hit the earth, shattering it.
Eir appeared before us suddenly, startling both of us. My hand flew to my chest as I gasped for breath, the air knocked from my lungs at the shock.
"You- You scared me!" I managed to get out.
"Up ahead is a cave. If you wish to help Almira, you need to get inside. Without being seen." She instructed.
I nodded, having collected myself while she spoke. "Understood. May I ask why?"
"There is a tablet in the cave system. You must be careful, however. There is a shriek inside. You'll see it before you cross its path. All you have to do is stay out of its reach."
"How will I know where I can go, if I don't know the reach?" I frowned, doubtful.
She touched my forehead, smiling softly. "There. You'll be able to see their range now."
I blinked, my vision... different, now. There was a red cone that came from Eir, and one that came from Englo, too.
"That's so... Wow." I was speechless.
It would come in handy for other reasons, I was sure of it.
Releasing Englo's summon, I shielded myself from sight and made my way to the cave in question. It was easy to sneak past the magister guarding the entrance- she was asleep when I got there.
Cautiously sneaking around, careful to avoid any traps, I made my way deeper into the cave system. It only took a little while to find the shriek Eir had warned me about. With the cone indicating its reach, I was able to see where I had to go. Forming a rock wall that laid down, bridging the gap between the track I was on and the track a few feet away in the chasm. Another wall to get across to the next track, and I was safely behind the shriek, outside its cone.
With a sigh of relief, I pressed on, coming upon a room with magisters. Practically holding my breath, I moved around them, between them, and searched for the tablet that Eir had told me to retrieve. If it could help Almira, then I had to find it. After searching the tables for a few minutes, I found one that called to me. Whispers coming from it.
Reaching out to pick it up, I froze when my skin touched it- I saw a vision of darkness, with an unseen presence hovering just out of sight. I came back to myself, shuddering at the feeling of emptiness. A yawning, starving emptiness. With a shake of my head, I grabbed the tablet and stowed it in my pack, before taking out my pyramid and visualizing the red pyramid.
I found myself standing on the second deck of the ship, near the sleeping placements. Quickly, I went to find Almira, who was standing on the top deck with Mihaly.
"I found this." I said, handing it to her, without a proper greeting.
Her face lit up. "These are instructions on how to forge Swornbreaker!"
"I'm glad!" I smiled brightly.
"We would still need the blade and the shaft." She mused. "But this is a good start."
She suddenly starting looking around, a frown pulling her lips down.
"Where are your friends?"
"Ah. I... I don't know." My voice sounded so small. "I left them. A few days ago."
"Tell me what happened." She leaned against the half-wall behind her, getting comfortable.
With a sigh, I told her my tale. The more I said, the guiltier I felt. I hadn't been very fair, not letting any of them speak. Not very fair, at all.
"You look like you know what you did wrong." Gentle.
"I do." I nodded, miserable. "But... how do I... How do I make it right?"
She tapped her chin, before shrugging. "Just be yourself, little dove. If they don't like it, you're welcome to join us." A wink.
My face flushed, and I looked away, at a loss for words. "Th-Thank you."
...
I waited another day on the ship, wondering where they were, before picturing the blue pyramid and teleporting to it.
I looked around, recognizing where I was as one of the rooms at the tavern. Something dropped to the floor behind me, and I whirled around, my eyes meeting Ifan's.
"Ifan, I'm-"
He rushed me, one hand going to my shoulder, the other on the back of my head, and kissed me fiercely. I wrapped my arms around him, clutching him to me, tears falling down my face. When we parted, he brushed his fingers under my eyes, wiping away my tears.
"I'm-"
He shook his head, smiling tiredly. "You're here."
"You..." I touched his cheek, frowning. "You haven't gotten much sleep, have you?"
"I could say the same to you."
I blushed again, looking down. "Ah. Yeah."
"Are you alright?" I glanced up to see his eyes roaming my body, looking for any signs of injury.
Nodding, I grasped his shirt. "I am. Now that I'm here, with you, I am."
A sigh of relief left him, his shoulders relaxing.
"I need to apologize to everyone." I looked down again, shame filling me. "What I said wasn't fair. And I didn't let you guys speak."
His arms went around me, holding me in place. "Tomorrow."
Surprised, my eyes went back to his. "I-"
"Tomorrow." He growled.
I smiled softly. "Tomorrow, then."
He guided me to his bed, sitting me down, eyes never leaving mine.
...
I woke up with a comforting weight on me, something I hadn't realized I'd missed the last few days. Smiling to myself, I snuggled closer to him, feeling his hold tighten.
"You're awake." He sounded sleepy, as if he'd just woken, as well.
"You are, too." I murmured.
Almost two hours passed, before there was a knock at the door.
"Be down there soon." He called out, before pressing a kiss to my forehead.
Silently, we got up and went about getting ready for the day. When he was done, he stood by the door, watching me. I flashed him a smile as I approached, ready to go apologize to the others. Before opening the door, he grasped my hand, intertwining our fingers, making me blush. But I was happy.
Together, we went down, much to everyone's surprise.
"You're here!" Lohse ran at us, throwing her arms around me.
Chuckling, I patted her back with my free hand. "I am." The humor died quickly. "Um. Guys. I'm-"
She pulled back, waving her hand in front of her. "Forget it. We all talked, and we know we haven't been the best companions for someone like you."
"We will try." Sebille said quietly. "For you."
"Thank you so much, everyone." Tears threatened to fall as I looked around at everyone. "Let me... Please. I'm sorry."
"Ah, don't worry about it, lass. We know it wasn't out of malice." Beast chimed in.
I opened my mouth to apologize again, but Ifan squeezing my hand stopped me.
"Thank you." I settled for instead. "I'm grateful that you're all so forgiving."
"Right. Well." Lohse clapped her hands. "We have a graveyard to explore!"
I blinked at her. "What?"
"Tarquin, the guy from Dallis' room on the ship? He wants us to get an artifact from one of the tombs." She held up her hands in a defensive gesture. "Don't get us wrong! We're just breaking in and taking something from a dead person. We're not gonna hurt anyone. Hopefully."
I looked down, smiling softly. "You guys... I know what I'm coming back to. I don't expect you to change. At all. How we act and believe may be at odds, but that doesn't mean we need to change. That shouldn't be how friendship works."
She shooed me to the table, making me sit- Ifan sitting beside me- and went to get us drinks. She came back with a water for me and a beer for him.
"Okay. Time to talk shop." She was grinning so wide, I wondered if it hurt.
...
We entered into the graveyard, quickly finding the tomb in question, and picked up the item- a blade.
When we reached Tarquin, he was overjoyed to have the thing, even though it was clearly broken, missing a hilt. Which, he already had. When the others had gone to the library on Bloodmoon Island, they'd found it. He went back to the ship to get started repairing it. Not that I knew what "it" was.
But it did remind me of something.
"Oh." I turned to the others. "That does remind me... Eir had me go into a cave to the northeast, to get a tablet that turned out to be instructions to make or repair or something Swornbreaker. Well, when I was there, I overheard the magisters talking. They mentioned something called Aeteran. That Dallis had it."
Fane paled. "She what?"
"I'm guessing that's bad." I frowned at his reaction, worry filling me.
"That's very bad. It can absorb Source."
Everyone looked varying levels of concerned.
"We'll come up with something." I reassured them. "We haven't been defeated yet."
The Red Prince laughed, nodding. "You're quite right."
My eyes went to the mansion looming over us. "So, are we visiting Ryker? Since we're here, I mean."
They all looked at me as if I'd grown a second head.
"You want to see Ryker?" Ifan asked, frowning. Confused.
I knew what I was going to ask. I knew what it would mean. But if I can help, I will. I closed my eyes, taking a centering breath.
"He's hurt a lot of people. He's going to continue to hurt people. I..." My eyes stung with unshed tears. "I know what I'm asking. But I can't do it myself. I..."
They exchanged looks, before all nodding.
"I've never liked the guy." The Wolf grinned, looking downright feral.
I wiped my eyes. "Thank you guys. I'm so-"
"Oh, hush. We don't mind it." Lohse winked, before waltzing up to the front door, all of us quickly following after her.
...
The fight had gone well, over quicker than I'd imagined. I'd thought he would put up a bigger fight, but he'd been too cocky, and it had been his downfall.
I breathed a sigh of relief, watching his body fall. It felt strange- being happy that someone was dead. But... I would feel the same for when Dallis dies. And I knew that. I also knew that some people... were beyond help. That they liked hurting people.
We went through all his papers and books, looking for anything that might be useful, before splitting up to search the rest of the house. I went upstairs with Lohse and Ifan. Sebille and Fane stayed on the first floor. The Red Prince and Beast went down to the basement. Cellar. Whatever.
We stepped through the first door, walking right into a spiderweb. Lohse let out a squeal, swatting it away. I gathered she wasn't very fond of spiders. I turned to leave, but realized the door had shut behind us. And it was locked.
"I don't mean to worry anyone, but the door's locked." I murmured.
And we had the two pyramids. We would have to leave the others behind, teleporting to the ship.
"There's probably a door on the other end of the room." Lohse whispered.
It felt as if we shouldn't speak at a normal volume, the air thick with danger.
The two of them walked in front of me. A large spider descended, cackling. She went to attack them, but I threw myself in front of them, staring her down.
Pausing just inches from my face, she chittered quietly. "You bear a spider's kiss. Fine. I suppose I'll let you go." One of her legs motioned us toward the spiral corner of the room, and I saw the staircase leading down. "Go, before I change my mind, little morsels."
I shepherded my companions down the stairs as quickly as I could.
"Saved us again." Lohse chuckled, shaking her head. "You'll have to tell me how you always manage it, one of these days."
I laughed, a little breathless from the anxiety of the encounter. "If only I knew. I'll be happy to share, when I find out."
Everyone met up with us after about a half hour, all of us empty-handed.