Chapter Eight: Wicked Witch of the North
Thol had managed to convince Tor to wait until they had finished with the supposed 'witch' in the north cave before they charged on towards Provoka. Tor saw the redundancy in having to back track all the way back to where they were now if they went to Provoka first and agreed.
"We'll liberate Provoka then take a ship to Melmond. The Orb of Earth is supposed to be over there somewhere," he had said. He kept almost totally to himself after that.
It took them rest of the day and a good part of the next to finally get to the cave where the witch was supposed to live.
"What do you think, Goro? Does it look like anyone lives here?" Thol asked.
Goro was examining the entrance to the cave closely. He stood up and dusted off his hands. "Well," he began. "There is evidence of activity here, but there hasn't been anything recent."
"Can you tell when the last time there was someone here?" Keza asked.
"About a week to a week and a half ago. Well, Thol. Do we go in or not?"
Thol stood there for a moment, running the question through his head. "Yeah. I think we should go in just to be sure. Tor, do the others a favor and light a torch."
Tor wordlessly complied.
The cave wasn't as dark as the one that Thol and Tor had explored a week ago. There seemed to be a light source from somewhere, but none of them could figure out where.
Thol lead the way with Tor right behind him. They had been the cave for about ten minutes when Thol spotted a door in the wall. Not an open space like you'd normally see in a cave, but a human made door. "Head's up everybody. There's a door ahead. Our 'witch' could be through here."
Thol waited for the others to catch up before opening the door. He cautiously stepped through the doorway and looked around. He could plainly see that someone did indeed live there, though it didn't look like the sort of place a witch would live in. He couldn't see anyone so he called back to the others. "Coast is clear, folks. It doesn't look like there's anyone in here."
The others entered the room now and also looked around.
"Well, this is definitely the home of a woman," Melira commented.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Keza asked.
"You can tell by the way this place is decorated that a man doesn't live here," she replied simply.
"Are you tr. . ." Keza began to say.
"Forget it, Keza. She's right. A woman definitely lives here," Thol interjected.
The all heard something fall over on the far side of the room and quickly turned around. They had all expected to see a wizened old woman who was going to turn them into toads, but the person who stumbled into the room was most certainly not that.
"Who's there?" a frightened voice asked.
The 'witch' that everyone was afraid of was just a young girl about the same age as Thol. She didn't look dangerous at all.
Thol stepped toward her. Something about her was very familiar. He looked closely at her. "Matoya!" he said suddenly, making his companions jump slightly.
The young lady looked surprised by this. "Who- Th-Thol? Is that you?"
"Yes! Don't you recognize me?" he asked, stepping even closer to her. It was only when he was right in front her that he noticed that there was something wrong with her eyes. "Oh my. . . You're blind," he said. His heart wrenched at this revelation. He felt immense pity for her due to his own eyes.
"Yes. That's why I ran into. . . Well, what ever I just ran into," Matoya said.
"When did it happen?" he asked.
"About two years after you left the city. It happened so suddenly and no one knows why. Everyone thinks I was possessed or cursed and they started shunning me. Even my own parents didn't want me around. Oh Thol! Why did you leave me there all alone?" she said. She started crying and hugged Thol fiercely.
"I'm sorry. I left for the same reason you did. Our people aren't nice about abnormalities," Thol said, trying to comfort his old friend as best he could.
She managed to get a hold of herself in sort order and let her death grip on Thol loosen. She started to take a step forward and almost tripped. Thol steadied her and helped her around.
"There are others with you, aren't there?" she asked.
"Yes. They are my friends."
"I'm sorry," she said to them. "I should have introduced myself before hand. I am Matoya of Crescent Lake."
"Then you're a black mage then, not a witch," Valon stated.
"A witch? Where on earth did you get that ridiculous idea from? Witchcraft is just a silly old wives tale. Of course I'm a black magician," Matoya said.
"That's what I tried to tell them," Thol commented.
"I'd like to sit down, Thol, and I'm sure your friends would as well. Please take me to a seat."
Thol complied. The others followed them and pulled up chairs of their own.
Melira had noticed that Thol sat beside Matoya instead of her like he usually did. She found herself getting unreasonably upset about that, but she kept it to herself.
"Well, now that we are all comfortable, why don't you tell me who your friends are, Thol?" Matoya asked.
We're not all comfortable, Melira thought with a slight frown. Where did that come from? I'm not jealous am I? That's ridiculous. . . Isn't it?
"Well first there is Tor. He is my partner. I meet him a little while after leaving town," Thol began.
"So you're a friend of Thol's? I haven't had the privilege of meeting any of Thol's friends until now," Tor said.
"Poor Thol never had very many friends. As he said, our people are very discriminate when it comes to abnormalities," Matoya said. "It's nice to meet you though, Tor."
"As it is for me," Tor replied.
"Valon here is responsible for us all being here, on our journey that is. He is a scholar from Elfland."
"Thol speaks the truth. We are charged by the Prophecy of Lukahn. You are referred in it as the Blind One. It is good to finally meet you after all these years," Valon said.
"Lukahn? Did you talk to him?" she asked.
"No. I have never met him, unfortunately. I have only read what he has seen in his visions."
"Oh. . ." Matoya said, seemingly disappointed. Thol noticed but decided to ask her about it later.
"Well anyways, Goro is from Coneria. It's too bad you can't see him fight. He is amazing."
"Really?" Matoya asked.
"I'm afraid Thol exaggerates. I'm not nearly as good as he says," Goro said, modestly. He caught himself staring at the blind magician. Goro found her to be unbearably attractive and was being distracted by it.
"Is that so?" Matoya said. She could tell that he was being modest just from his voice and smiled slightly.
"Goro isn't one to brag about things, but I assure you he is very impressive with his fighting skills," Thol said.
Goro just looked embarrassed and said nothing.
"Who else is there, Thol?"
"Keza. He's a thief," Thol said, giving him his usual scowl as he said this.
"A thief?" Matoya said, her voice betraying that she was afraid of having a thief in her home.
"I assure you that he will not touch a single thing, will you Keza?" Thol said, casting a look at him that would make a dragon think twice.
"Of course not," Keza said, his voice weak.
"A-alright. I suppose I can live with that. Who is the last one?" Matoya said.
"Melira. She's a white mage," Thol said.
"A white mage?" Matoya said in a disgusted tone. "You brought one of those disillusioned hypocrites here?"
"What did you say?" Melira asked, her tone incredulous.
"A female no less. How do you stand her, Thol?" Matoya asked.
"I don't have to sit here and listen to this! I'm leaving!" Melira said. She got up and stormed out of the room.
"Melira!" Thol said. He stood up to go after her but was stopped by Matoya.
"Thol! Don't leave me hear with all these strangers!" she begged, clutching on to his arm with both hands.
Thol stopped and was torn between what to do. After a painful moment of decision, he turned to Goro. "Could you go find Melira and make sure she's okay?"
"Of course," Goro said. He left to go find her.
Thol sat down beside Matoya again. "I wish you wouldn't have done that. Melira isn't like the white mages from Crescent Lake. She isn't full of her own self importance like them."
"Are you telling me the truth, Thol?" Matoya said, doubtingly.
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"Well, no. . ." she said.
"Well I haven't started now."
"I don't know… I've never met a white mage that wasn't like the ones back home," she said, uncertainty in her voice.
"Melira is from Coneria City. The only reason she even became a white mage is because her parents run the clinic there. I promise you she isn't like them," Tor said, aiding Thol in explaining to her the difference between Melira and the mages from Crescent Lake.
"I see… I'm sorry, Thol. I should have known that you'd never travel with one of those foolish mages. I'll be sure and apologize to her the moment I get a chance. I'm sorry," she said, apologizing again.
"That's alright. Melira is an understanding person. I've managed to seriously offend her many times already and she has forgiven me each time. I'm sure she'll do the same for you."
"I think we'll go take a walk and leave you two to catch up with each other," Keza said after a minute of silence between them all. The other two nodded and followed the thief out the door.
"Are we alone now?" Matoya asked.
"Yes. The others have left. Was there something you wanted to talk about?"
"Yes. Valon mentioned Lukahn. He gave me a special crystal just before I left our town that allowed me to see. He said that it would be very important later. I still don't know what he meant by that. Well anyway, I left home and eventually made my way here. I lived here ever since then. About a week ago, a funny old man came to see me and asked about my crystal. He said he was researching magical relics and wanted to see it. When I showed it to him, he took it from me and changed into a creature. He called himself Astos, the Dark Elf. He laughed at me and said that I would never see again and that I had no idea of the true purpose of the crystal. He left then with my crystal and. . ." She began to cry again. "For awhile I believed him that I would never see again, but then I heard your voice, Thol. I know you'll find my crystal for me and punish Astos for doing this to me. You will, won't you?"
"Of course," he said. His voice broke as he said this and he began to cry lightly himself.
"Thank you, Thol. You're always here when I need you." Matoya said to him.
There was something in her voice that Thol picked up on, but he didn't know what it meant. . . .
* * * *
Melira had gone all the way out of the cave without even knowing it. The nerve of that woman! I can't believe she said those things to me! And Thol didn't even try to stop her! With the thought of Thol, she stopped her angry stomping about and sighed. What is this? I can't be jealous. Thol's just a friend so that's not it. Of course, she is quite beautiful and he's been doting on her the whole time. Maybe he's in love with her. That thought made her unbearably upset for some reason.
Goro found her like that, staring at her feet and wishing that they had never come to the cave. He stopped just behind her and spoke quietly. "Are you alright?"
She turned to look at him. "Yeah. I'm fine now. Where's Thol?" she said, not really knowing why she asked.
"He stayed back in the cave with Matoya," Goro said. He mentally kicked himself just as he finished saying it. He knew that was the last thing that she wanted to hear.
"I see," she said in a dejected tone, turning away from him. A thousand thoughts seemed to bombard her then, none of which she could make sense of. Most of those thoughts centered on Thol and herself and a few of them also revolving around Matoya. Shaking her head in confusion, she felt he eyes begin to tear up as the unknown sadness became too much for her. "I…" she began to say, but she had no words to explain how she felt.
Goro embraced his friend to try and comfort her. He was aware of the girls growing feelings for their companion and wasn't really surprised to see that she didn't know of them herself.
Melira silently embraced the large man back, not really knowing why he offered his support, but thinking that she really needed some right now. After a few moments, she finally spoke.
"I don't understand any of this," she said quietly.
"I think you do understand but you're not willing to accept it right now. If you take some time to think it over, I'm sure you'll come to understand it. Then you'll be able to tell him."
She broke away from him at that. "Wait a minute. If you're trying to say that I have feelings for Thol then you're wrong. We're just friends," she said. "Besides," she added, almost sadly, "It's plainly obvious that he's in love with Matoya."
Goro let a small smile grace his lips. He words confirmed that he had been correct about his insight despite her absolute denial. After all, I never actually said I was referring to Thol, he thought.
"I wouldn't say that exactly. He's concerned about her of course. She's gone through the exact same thing he has so it's only natural that'd he want to comfort her as much as possible, especially since she's an old friend. I've noticed that Thol is very concerned when it comes to his friends."
"Oh? Then why didn't he come after me instead of you then?"
"Would you leave an old friend who can't see a thing in a cave full of strangers she knows nothing of save their names?" Goro replied simply.
Melira didn't know what to say to that.
"If he didn't care he wouldn't have sent anyone at all."
"I still don't know why we are having this conversation. Thol and I are friends, nothing more," she said again, this time with less conviction.
They both stood in silence for a few seconds before Goro spoke again.
"Just take some time to think about it. Not too long though. Things like this tend to spiral out of hand if left unattended. Shall we go back in now?" he asked.
Melira was about to protest again, but let it drop and relied with, "Yeah alright. Let's go."
Goro turned with another slight smile on his face, Melira only two steps behind him as he entered the cave again. . . .
* * * *
Thol had summoned the other three back in and was waiting for Melira to get back. He had begun to pace nervously. Oh dear. . . Where is she? She isn't that mad at Matoya, is she? Or is she mad at me? Maybe she hates me and has gone back to Coneria, he thought. Damn it! I should have gone after her myself. Melira, I'm sorry. . .
When she finally did return with Goro a few seconds behind her, Thol almost leapt over the furniture to get to her. "Melira! Thank goodness you're back. I'm sorry about what she said to you. The white mages at Crescent Lake are rather conceited, especially the females. She didn't know you were from Coneria. She's really very sorry about what she said."
"That's alright, Thol. As long as she knows she was mistaken," she said. She cast a quick glance over at Goro. "Um. . . Thol," she said.
"What is it?"
"I. . . Um. . . Uh, never mind. It's not important," she said. She wasn't even sure what she was going to say at the moment. She needed more time to think.
"Oh. . . Okay then," Thol replied, a little disappointed. He hid his disappointment by addressing the others to Matoya's request. He told them of the crystal that gave he sight and of the stealing of it by the dark elf.
"The world truly has become corrupted," Goro commented, a frown on his face. "I was not aware of it while living at the temple with my master."
"We will find her crystal and make sure this Astos is brought to justice," Tor said.
"Right," said Thol. "We'll stop at Elfland on our way to Melmond. I'm sure if anyone knows about the dark elf, it will be them."
"Astos," Valon said.
"Do you know of him?" Thol asked, remembering that the red mage hailed from Elfland himself.
"The name does ring a bell, but I'm not sure where I've heard it before. I've been working almost exclusively on deciphering Lukahn's Prophecy. I'll ask around when we get there."
"Right, which leads us to our next problem," Thol said.
"Provoka," Tor said gravely.
"We'll leave at first light tomorrow. If we hurry, we can be there in about two and a half days. What do you think, Goro?" Thol asked.
Goro calculated the distance mentally. "Yes. I think that is about right. Have you been to Provoka before, Thol?"
"Once, a long time ago before I met Tor though, so I'm a little foggy about the terrain between here and there."
"Right. Don't worry about it, Thol. I know the way," Tor said.
"Good. I guess we can all rest until tomorrow then," Thol said.
Just as he finished saying that, Matoya entered the room. Thol was right beside her in an instant, guiding her through the room. She walked up to Melira with Thol's help and gazed blindly at her. "I hope Thol told you about the white mages in Crescent Lake. Either way, I'm sorry for what I said about you."
"That's alright. Thol did tell me too, you don't have to worry about that," Melira said.
"Thol, I'm tired. Would you take me to my room? I'm sorry everybody, but I'm exhausted from stumbling around for a week," Matoya said.
"I'm going to go outside for some fresh air," Melira said.
Thol watched her leave and wished that he could go with her, but he had to lead Matoya to her room. Goro stepped up to them suddenly. "It's alright, Thol. You go with Melira. I'll take Matoya to her room."
Thol blinked suddenly. "Do you mind, Matoya?" he asked.
"No. Of course not. Go get your white mage, Thol. I'm sure Goro will see me safely to my room."
"Thanks," he said to both of them. He let go of Matoya and rushed off after Melira.
Matoya sighed as she heard him leave and let Goro lead her through the cave.
"Something wrong?" Goro asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. I wouldn't want to bore you with my problems," she said.
"You wouldn't bore me, don't worry about that. It's not good to keep things bottled up inside you."
Matoya sighed again. "To tell you the truth, it's about Thol," she said. She paused and Goro could see the look of sadness on her face. "I was so happy when I heard his voice today. I thought that I. . ." she said, trailing off. "But I could tell by the tone of his voice that there's something about that white mage that has him trapped."
"And you're in love with him, aren't you?"
"Yes. I can't remember not being in love with him. I hoped that I could finally tell him, but there's no hope now," she said. Tears started rolling down her face as she said this.
"Hey now. There's no need to get so upset with it. There are other people in the world other than Thol," Goro said, trying to console the weeping girl he was leading through the cave.
"You don't understand. Thol is the only who does. No body wants an evil witch who can't see and turns people into frogs," she said bitterly.
"That's absurd. You're a very attractive girl and I know that there are people out there who will look past whatever false reputation you have and see you for who you really are."
"Like who, Goro? The world is far too cruel for that to ever happen," she said. She forced herself away from him and leaned against the nearest wall. "There's no hope," she said in a quiet voice. "I'll be alone forever now."
He stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Matoya."
She turned toward him. Something in his tone had caught her attention.
"I am on of those people," he said quietly.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I've never met anyone as beautiful as you before. If you'll accept me, after we have revived the orbs, I'll stay with you and neither of us will ever have to be alone again."
She stood there speechless. She never in her wildest dreams expected him to say that to her.
"You see, I grew up in a small hut near the Temple of Fiends. The townspeople never truly accepted me into their community when I finally decided to leave the hut. I know only too well what it means to be alone." He stopped then to let her take that all in.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke. "You would do that for me? Would you really?" she asked, afraid that he would take what he said back.
"Yes. Yes I would."
She smiled at him then. "Take me to my room, Goro. I'm very tired. I'm sure I'll dream of the day I finally get to see your face."
Goro dutifully lead the young magician to her room where she indeed did dream of that day. . . .
* * * *
Melira sat with her back against a rock gazing up at the full moon sitting in the night sky like a second sun. Her thoughts dwelt on Thol and exactly what he meant to her. She could deny it all she liked, but the fact was that she had been jealous of Matoya, maybe even still a bit. That obviously meant that he was more to her then just a friend.
So engrossed she was in her own thoughts that she failed to notice the wolf until it was right in front of her. Only its sudden low growl alerted her to its presence.
She stood with an alarmed intake of breath, cursing herself for leaving her staff back in the cave. She cautiously backed away toward the mouth of the cave hoping to be able to make a break for it.
The night sky was suddenly illuminated by a bright flash of lightning that struck the ground just in front of the wolf. It yelped in fear and took off back into the forest just to the south of the cave.
"Bah! It stopped moving at the last second. The thing should be a smoking pile of meat right now," said a voice from behind her.
She turned to see Thol standing just outside the mouth of the cave not ten meters away from her.
"Thol!" she said, closing the distance between them in seconds. She flung her arms around him and clung to him almost in desperation.
"You alright?" he asked gently.
"Yes. Thanks to you. You got here just in time," she replied. He heart was beating fast and she wasn't sure if it was just because of the wolf.
"Can't let you out of my sight for a minute, can I?" he joked, trying to ignore the effect that her closeness was having on him.
She smiled to herself, realizing that Goro had been right. She did know what she was feeling and wasn't ready to admit it, but she couldn't deny it any longer. Thol meant more to her then just a friend. She just hoped that he felt the same way. . . .
* * * *