Scanran Trust
Chapter Six
The Dark Mage's Mistake
Gala Damedire sat on the bar stool, staring out the window to the side of her. Her glossy blonde hair and green eyes made her something to look at, but most men steered clear of her. She was known throughout the town as a ruthless assassin, and no man wanted to risk her anger. Once she wanted to kill somebody, they were dead. A man came up behind her. He was another reason nobody messed with Gala. Harland, her brother was another ruthless assassin, and he didn't much care for men who came after his sister. He was very protective of her. "Gala, he wants to speak with us now," Harland whispered in her ear. Gala nodded and stood up. She took one last gulp of her beer and set the mug down on the bar. She put her two astrels inside the mug, which was mostly empty, and walked out the door. Harland nodded slightly and walked out after his sister.
Avadth stood on the balcony of Terra Tower, staring out at the expanse of space ahead of him. He grinned. "Soon, all the mages of the world shall be in my grasp and no one will be able to defeat me!" the Dark Mage snickered.
"Your Darkness, sire, we are here as you demanded. What is it that you want of us?" Harland asked, trudging up behind his master.
"I want you to join the Tortallan's journey here, and kill them all off, one by one," he said slowly. Gala and Harland nodded.
Two shadows appeared ahead of them. It had been two days since the beginning of their journey, and the group of Tortallans had just left Terif, a small town a few hundred miles away from Corus. As the two figures approached, the party immediately noticed the blonde hair and green eyes that marked them as Scanrans. Or, most Scanrans had at least one of these attributes, and having both usually meant "pure blood," or as pure as Scanran blood could get. One of them was male and one was female. They both seemed very sick and wounded. Alanna walked up to them and asked them how they were doing. They looked at her skeptically. Faun walked up to the two and in flawless Scanran asked how they were doing. Gala and Harland Damedire introduced themselves and told a very false story. Faun detected a lie, and checked it out in the two minds. "I don't believe you," Faun said, in accented Tortallan.
"Why not?" Gala blurted, then clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Because you are lying. I can tell. But, we must not let you tell the Dark Mage of this. I will have to suspend you," Faun told them.
"NO!" they screamed.
"What is suspending?" Raoul asked, trying to be as civil as possible.
"I put them into another world, and only I can talk to them or take them out of it. In Scanra it is done to criminals. They can't move, eat, drink, or talk to each other or the others in suspension. The years or minutes of their lives are not taken away though, so if they are suspended and the person who suspended them dies, they will be in the world of suspension until one of the beasts in that world devours them. It is not exactly something most people want to do." And with that, Faun muttered a few words in Scanran and Gala and Harland Damedire disappeared for a very long time. And the Black Mage's first mistake happened. He underestimated the party of Tortallans, and that was very bad.