Sole Dorato: Lui Restaurarà

by Tafkae

Chapter Four: Vale

The next days grew into weeks, and the weeks became months; and yet, somehow much more quickly than before the harbor had been blocked, another eighteen months passed by. It didn't seem like nearly that long, but it was still a relief when one day, a resounding CRACK that echoed from one end of Prox to the other was discovered to be the ice shelf separating from the outer wall of the cove. The second it became clear that they would be able to maneuver the ship out, Saturos ordered that it be stocked and make way as soon as possible.

They left port on a crisp summer morning; the sky actually wasn't overcast for a change, and everyone agreed that was a good sign. Felix stood at the prow, blank-faced, gazing out over the ice-filled waters of the Northern Reaches and the barely visible mountain peak on the horizon beyond them. To be honest, Alex was becoming worried for him. He joined his friend at the dragon's-head ornament adorning the bow. "Everything all right? I would have thought you'd be bursting with excitement now that you're going home."

"I just realized," said Felix. "I'm twenty-two."

Alex raised his eyebrows and nodded in agreement. "I suppose you are, aren't you."

Felix sighed, then chuckled. "It's kind of silly, isn't it? I am going home, for the first time in three years, and I'm not even thinking about Jenna being fifteen, or how much things must have changed… all I can think about is that I'm twenty-two years old."

Alex shook his head. "That's not silly at all, my friend. In fact, I was just at this very moment contemplating how very twenty-three I am."

They paused and stared at each other for a moment, then Felix started to snicker, and Alex started giggling, and within moments they were both laughing so hard they had to hold the boat railing for support.

Two days later, the ship finally said goodbye to the last iceberg of the Reaches. "We're making better time than we did on the first expedition," Saturos remarked at some point, and that fact seemed to keep him in a good humor for the remainder of their sea voyage. It was the morning of the fourth day when they dropped anchor in a small, well-hidden cove below the cliffs that lined the western coast of Angara.

Alex gazed up at them curiously, shading his eyes from the sun with one hand. "That's got to be at least two hundred feet up," he observed. "Isn't there any other place we can put in?"

Saturos shook his head. "No. The coastline is nothing but cliffs until you hit Gondowan, and I'd rather climb two hundred feet than walk two hundred miles, thank you." He took a length of rope from where it lay curled up on the deck as he spoke. "I'll take the lead line."

Menardi sighed. "Saturos, you've forgotten already?"

Saturos glanced over and saw her gesturing at Felix. "Right." He handed the lines to Felix, who accepted them a little reluctantly. "You've got a decent range, don't you, kid?"

Felix's expression changed from uncertainty to annoyance; he knew for a fact Saturos was only about six years older than he was. After a moment he shrugged it off and weighed the ropes in his hands; both of them had a strong grappling hook firmly tied to one end. He judged the cliff for a moment, and then let the first line fly, propelled by his Psynergy. It soared over the precipice and caught turf. He then did the same for the second hook, and when it had touched, tugged firmly on both to check that they were secure. They were. "Let's go," he said.

The four raiders scaled the cliff almost silently, all of them more focused on their grip on the rope than on any kind of conversation. A few times Alex's shaky footing caused them some minor scares (especially Felix, who was below him on the rope), but overall they reached the top of the cliffs without incident. Alex and Saturos worked to wind up the ropes and hide them away once everyone was safely on land.

Felix's eyes were elsewhere, on the familiar grey peak of Mount Aleph and, dwarfed by comparison beneath it, the smooth, white spire of Sol Sanctum, half-covered in bright green moss. He couldn't see Vale itself over the trees that separated him from it, but he knew it was there, and the thought made his heart beat faster.

"We're making great time. If we move quickly, we should be able to reach the foot of the volcano by at least sunset," said Menardi firmly. "Pick your feet up."

The others nodded their assent, and all four disappeared into the forest as quietly as they had climbed the craggy rocks before it.

"But you can't leave," Isaac protested. "We'll be so bored when you're gone."

Just past the outskirts of Vale proper was a small cottage, which was home to a somewhat hermitic old man from the distant city of Tolbi. Kraden was the only person living on the slopes of Mount Aleph who had not grown up there, and as he had lived there for almost twenty-five years already, Isaac, Garet, and Jenna had only a very rough idea of why he was allowed to stay without even being an adept. The rest of the townspeople didn't seem to mind his being there.

Kraden's cottage was even more cramped than it appeared from the outside when all his belongings were taken into account. The wealth of books, papers, and oddities from all corners of the world made it feel like a closet already, and the presence of four people trying to work around the mess and pack it into boxes didn't help the situation.

At one of the several desks, Kraden enthusiastically rolled up parchment after parchment and tossed them, along with the occasional knick-knack, in the general direction of his three guests. One of them usually caught the items and they packed them as best they could into a large wooden crate he'd had brought up the night before. They hadn't known then why he wanted it, or why he had asked Stephen earlier this morning for passage to the inconveniently southward city of Kalay.

"I'm very sorry I must simply up and pack my bags like this, children," the old man sighed as he tied up another bundle of parchment. "It's that I've made a critical breakthrough in my research, and I must return to Tolbi to further evaluate my findings. The library, my colleagues, you know." He tossed the bundle over his shoulder and began on another.

"I'll miss your stories, Kraden," said Jenna, catching it with her hands and lowering it into the crate.

"Yes, yes, and I'll miss things as well," said Kraden absently, though he didn't seem to mean it. "Let's see, I can probably get as far as Kalay by nightfall with fast horses… yes, that'll work very well…"

The scholar continued to mutter indistinctly to himself as his young friends packed for him. Eventually Isaac's curiosity overwhelmed him. "What is it you found out?" he asked.

"Why, my boy!" Kraden answered triumphantly, glancing back over his shoulder. "I'm beginning to really understand what led the great powers to hide the alchemical element for a thousand years. But I oughtn't divulge too much yet, not before I can be more certain that my findings are consistent with the facts. Let it be known, though—" he shook a quill pen in emphasis "—I'll return with groundbreaking news one way or the other, that is a fact."

"When'll you be back?" Garet asked half an hour later as he and Isaac levitated the heavy crate into Stephen's cart.

Kraden shrugged. "I can't say for sure, son. Won't be more than a few months, I'd wager. Wish I didn't have to leave, but you know how important this research is and all that."

"Yeah, we know. It could change the world."

"Indeed it could. Jenna—"

She looked up at him.

"Your tea is remarkable. You'll have to make me some when I come back."

"Aye aye, Cap'n," said Jenna with a fake salute and a fond smile.

The three friends stood at the gate and waved until they figured the cart bearing Kraden was far enough away that he probably couldn't see them clearly anymore. Garet was first to lower his hand and heave a sigh. "Well, now what?" he asked.

Vale didn't have much of a nightlife. Actually, it was small enough to lack a great deal of day-life either, especially for a few fifteen-year-olds who had already finished their chores. They flopped down at the top of the terrace outside Isaac's house and watched the clouds for a painfully long time, pointing out the shapes of faces and animals.

After about an hour of this, Isaac sat up and stretched. "Unnnh. I'm gonna go rearrange your sister's garden, Garet."

Garet got quickly to his feet, grinning. "Sounds like a plan. Count me in!" He turned to Jenna. "You coming, Jenna?"

Jenna thought for a second, then shook her head. "Nah, if I wanted Kay to yell at me I'd just ask her how much she weighs."

Isaac and Garet laughed. "Okay, suit yourself," said Garet. "You just gonna hang out here till we get back?"

Jenna propped herself up on her elbows. "Nah… I don't know. Maybe I'll go to the river and visit with Felix or something."

The boys hushed; Isaac nodded solemnly. "All right. I'll come get you when we're done, okay?"

"See you later, you good-for-nothings," she chuckled, dismissing them with her hand. Her friends slid quietly down the grassy slope below them and vanished down the well-trodden path toward Garet's house.

Sighing, Jenna pushed herself to her feet and brushed the grass out of her cerise hair. Felix was dead; he had been washed out to sea three years ago. She had marked the spot on the riverbank closest to where she had last seen him with a small wooden marker painted white. His name was written shakily at the top by the hand of a distraught twelve-year-old, but the flowers at the base were neat and fresh.

She visited this marker fairly frequently. It wasn't that she didn't visit her parents' graves – she made a point of keeping fresh their flowers, too. But she never said a word to her parents anymore. Them, she had seen dead, and the dead were notoriously bad listeners.

But Felix was dead, too, so even Jenna wasn't sure why she talked to him.

Her feet knew the way to the river on their own, so she let them take her along.

It was mid-afternoon when the town itself finally came into view. It was built on a steep part of the hill where the slope had been cut into stair-like terraces, though stairs were also cut into the terraces periodically. Felix knew that many of the village's youth didn't bother with the stairs, and instead just climbed up or down the banks of earth. On the flat ground the terraces provided, white-walled cottages with thatched roofs stood out against the grass and soil on which they were built.

Saturos' company came to a stop in a thickly wooded glade near the western boundary of the village. The area around the mountain wasn't particularly dense with trees, but there were enough of them that it wouldn't be hard to stay under cover while moving. Saturos kicked a thick fallen branch aside and sat down on a lichen-covered boulder. "We'll stay here till closer to sunset," he said decisively. "It'll be easier to skirt the town once everyone's gone indoors for the night."

"And no wandering off," Menardi added in a more condescending tone than was necessary.

Felix turned abruptly. "But what about—"

"Your little sister?" Saturos groaned. "I am sick and tired of your feeble whining, Felix."

"You said I could see her," said Felix dangerously.

"And you can, if you can see her from here," Saturos retorted. "At the very best, she would ask questions and then pass your answers on to everyone in town. When I said this mission was to be conducted in absolute stealth, I did mean absolute stealth."

Felix's fists clenched. "You never said anything like that!"

"No, you just weren't listening," Saturos hissed.

"You've just been stringing me along this whole time, haven't you? You were never going to let me see her at all, were you, you damned liar?"

"Do NOT call me a LIAR!" roared Saturos, jumping to his feet. The sun glinted on the polished metal of his sword as it darted halfway from its sheath.

Felix's hand flew to the hilt of his own sword, but before he could draw it, Alex forced himself between the antagonists and held them apart. "Hey, hey, stop this nonsense now! Remember what we're doing here!"

After a tense moment, Felix withdrew his hand from his weapon. Saturos straightened up and returned his to its scabbard. "Too much noise anyway," he scoffed. "We cannot be detected if we're going to succeed. No more close calls." With that he returned to his boulder.

Felix reluctantly sat down on the opposite side of the glade, looking between the trees at the town – his home – laid out below them. From here he could see part of the river and the thick copse that surrounded it. He watched the small waterfall for a few minutes, and as he did, an idea began to form in his head.

Alex became bored quickly and climbed into one of the trees as far as the third lowest branch. Since it was thick enough, he propped himself on it against the trunk and stared up at the hypnotic patterns of light between the breeze-blown leaves. Within five minutes he had dozed off.

It was after about an hour of waiting that Felix finally stood up and announced, "I'm going to go refill my canteen. I'll be right back."

"See that you are," said Menardi absently over the top of the book she'd brought. Quietly, Felix edged past the napping Saturos and darted across the few yards of open grass between their hiding place and the thick layer of trees edging the river.

The echo of the rushing water grew louder as he pushed through the underbrush, assuring him that he was going in the right direction. At the same time, though, there was something about the sound that made his skin crawl. The closer he came to the water, the more his hands shook without his consent. After a few somewhat distressing minutes, he was near enough to be able to see the sun glinting off the shifting surface of the water, and the foam carried downstream from the rapids ten yards north.

His throat clenched as a sudden flood of memories washed over him. The rain falling into his eyes. The frigid water rushing past his half-numb skin. His father's hand reaching out to him, everyone calling his name. Hold on, Felix. Someone get help. Rocks tumbling over the falls. Jenna's anguished scream from the shore.

Blood in the water.

He shook his head and took a deep, deliberate breath. No. It's just the river. I grew up here. He tried to call to mind any fond memory of the swirling waters, maybe a swimming outing – he knew they'd happened when he was younger – but none would come to mind. The river was inextricable from the storm now; one just led back to the other. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. He had almost managed to settle himself when he heard an all-too-familiar voice.

"Hi, Felix."

Felix whirled around, trying to pinpoint the sound. It was coming from the riverside, he realized. Had someone seen him? He pressed through the trees and was about to step out into the open by the river when he saw who had been speaking. A young scarlet-haired girl knelt at the bank – he recognized her instantly and drew back into the cover of the foliage.

"Jenna," he whispered.

Jenna pulled out a small handful of daisies and set them at the foot of a wooden marker at the water's edge – an impromptu grave marker, he suddenly realized. That's right… as far as she knows, this is where I…

"So… it'll be three years next week, won't it," said Jenna absently to the marker. "But you know, for all I talk about stuff and all, you really haven't missed much. You wouldn't believe how boring it's been lately. Isaac and Garet can't think of anything better to do than get into trouble – although I guess that's not much of a change. But now that Kraden left, I can't even listen to his old stories to pass the time. See, now, if you were here we could … play cards or … oh, I don't know, all that stuff Garet's too thick to care about." She let out a halfhearted laugh. "You know, it's… it's just not the same without you."

It broke Felix's heart to hear her. Never before had he wanted to break down and embrace her as strongly as he did now. "Jenna…"

He spoke louder than he'd meant to. Jenna jumped and whirled in his direction. "Who's there?" she shouted. There was no reply. She glanced around, confused.

"Jenna!"

That time, the voice wasn't Felix's. Jenna turned to the other direction as Isaac appeared from the footpath that led to the upstream bridge, out of breath. "Isaac? What is it? What's wrong?"

Isaac took a second to catch his breath enough to speak. "Do you remember… when I told you… about those people… we met after the storm?"

Jenna nodded. "You mean when you got beaten up by those blue guys, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

Blue… it might have been Saturos? Felix thought incredulously.

Isaac pointed back the way he'd come. "We were coming back and – we saw them again. Come on, Garet's keeping an eye on them."

"They came back?" said Jenna, surprised.

"Yeah. Saw them with my own eyes. And I'll bet a hundred to one that they're here for the same reason as last time."

"This is bad. What're we going to do?"

Isaac looked both ways, as if afraid someone in authority was watching. Then he leaned toward her a little. "Okay, I've got a hunch that we'll get ourselves killed if we try to fight them again. They're going to go back to Sol Sanctum and try to get the elemental stars, right? But they can't take them if they're not there."

Jenna blinked. "What are you saying?"

"They're just waiting around. Probably they're going to try and do it under cover of darkness. So we're going to get there first and get the stars for safekeeping."

Jenna's eyes went wide, and she shoved him away. "What are you, stupid? We can't go up to Sol Sanctum!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's not allowed, I know. But it's not allowed for them either, and that's not going to stop them! They don't care about our rules. So to beat them we're going to have to break a few rules ourselves."

"Tell the mayor!"

"He doesn't believe a word I say, Jenna!" Isaac laid a hand on her shoulder, desperation in his eyes. "Trust me, we have to do this ourselves. There's no other way. And we need your help. Come on."

Jenna paused, then sighed and nodded. "All right."

Felix remained where he was, dumbfounded, as they disappeared down the path from which Isaac had come. How did he know what we were here for?

"Felix! Felix!"

He turned quickly to see Alex there, clambering toward him through the underbrush. "Hey, mind your voice! Everybody in Vale knows my name, don't go hollering it all over town," he whispered harshly.

"Sorry," said Alex, catching his breath. "Okay, to sum up: you ran off, Saturos is mad, please come back quickly."

"But – but – Isaac's on to us," Felix stuttered.

"Who?"

"I – he's one of Jenna's friends."

"You didn't tell them!"

"No, of course I didn't!"

"Then what do you mean 'he's on to us'?"

"It's – never mind. We just have to tell Saturos," said Felix, running back in the direction of the grove.

"Those kids?" exclaimed Saturos. "Those kids from three years ag- shit! I didn't think they'd overheard that much."

"This is bad," said Menardi, biting her thumbnail.

"We should head them off. Can't we?" said Alex. "We probably know the way better than they do."

Saturos nodded. "We're going to have to. Those kids don't know what they're getting themselves involved in." He stood and dusted himself off. "If they get there before we do, there's a good chance they'll blow themselves and the mountain to kingdom come. We don't have another three years to waste." He strode off and beckoned for them to follow. "Let's go."

The road to Sol Sanctum was short from where they were, and blocked off even less strictly than they'd expected. A single empty building, a short fence, and a good amount of shrubbery were all that obstructed the path. The shrubbery was slightly crushed in three separate places, and three different pairs of footprints led away down the dirt path. Saturos cursed and sped up, leaping the fence without stopping; the others hurried to match his pace.

Sol Sanctum came into view shortly. It looked fairly innocuous on the outside. The tallest tower was all that was visible from a distance, but there were two others as well, a half and a third the height of the central one, respectively; all three were rounded at the top. The structure carried centuries' worth of moss and ivy, but the white masonry still dominated its overall appearance. A single door was set unobtrusively in the front of the central tower; when they arrived, that door was already open. All four of them gazed through it, but none were willing to enter right at that instant.

"We should have killed them when we had the chance," Menardi said sharply. "Made a clean job of it."

"Somehow I don't think spilling the blood of children qualifies as a clean job," said Alex.

Saturos gestured at him and at Felix. "You two keep watch here, but don't be seen. Menardi and I will follow the children."

"Don't hurt them," Felix demanded.

Saturos rolled his eyes. Menardi nodded patronizingly, smiled, and said, "Fine, if we can avoid it." Then they disappeared into the dark interior of the sanctum, leaving Alex and Felix out in the sun.

Huzzah, we're through with the boring stuff. Trust me, the next chapter is a lot cooler than this one.
That's right. It's already written but it's going to be your Christmas present. Hee.

Those who review get my love but not in that way, sorry.

Edit: I've been informed that Camelot says Felix is 18…
But if it was really a big deal how old he is, wouldn't they have mentioned something about it in the game?