JustinTime: Hehehe... Who knows? I'm twisted, but even I don't know how twisted could that necklace get. The necklace is a very chaotic ítem and noone that doesn't know what does each stone do can control it. In other words, I have a list of at least 10 things that could happen (Sabaal grins evilly)
Now on to the chapter!
Chapter 8: Agnes and the Lycan
- "Come in, come in, fast!" sayed the Kaon, hurrying them to get inside and after closing the door behind them he turned to look at the foreigners. Inside the room there was another Kaon that looked at them and asked "What are you doing here, travellers?"
Kedri looked around and looked somewhat lost in the cave like house of the blue skinned beings untill she saw someone to talk: a small red flower at one side of the entrance door. They were keeping her as a indoors plant and she was not.
- "We were just passing. and looked for shelter in that cave. My name is Tor Cal Dahra, this short fellow here isWyrmir and the one with the plant over her head is Kedri" Dahra introduced them all, but Kedri was not paying attention. She was caressing theflower, entranced.
- "Yes... I see your friend is kind of... busy" the second Kaon sayed pointing at Kedri and showed them where to seat by a table nearby, where there were 2 glasses with wine and 2 empty plates.
Dahra grinned innocently "Heh! And... would you be so kind of telling us your names?"
- "HAHAHA! What's in a name, newcommer? is it really that important? no, I don't think so. Intentions are" replied the firstKaon. His laughter was as friendly as could be having in mind that Kaons don't usually laugh very heartedly."I could never understand what's between some races and names, like if they could tell about people's hearts!"
- "Yes" the other replied to his friend "I can't understand either what's the need of taking a bath or even more... why some people take a bath and then they lay in the sun to get a suntan? I mean, we can still understand that they get on a boat and roam in the ocean to fish, but not the other... is ridículous!"
Yes, the Kaons never took a bath, but in spite of that they didn't smell bad.
In the meantime, Kedri was talking to a small flower that was near the door.
- "Hello, little flower"
- "YAWWWNNN Hello" the flower answered, very surprised that someone was talking to her. The Kaons can't talk to plants, so inside a place where Kaons live there's no much talking for a flower. "Who are you? and how can you talk to me?"
- "HEH! I'm an Arborum. Arborums talk to plants. My name's Kedri... is weird to find someone like you in a place like this, were you born here?"
- "Oh, no! but I'm here since..." the flower thought for a while"like 200 years, I guess"
Kedri thought it was strange and thought to herself how often they watered the flower, and with what
- "Hummm... do this beings give you enough water?"
- "Yes, every 3 days" the flower answered, visibly bored (for Kedri it was visible )
- "Well, at least they do. I hear them talking about taking a bath and how they think is ridiculous, so at least they don't think is ridiculous to give you water"
- "Yes, at least"
- "... ... ... where do you come from? I'm looking for the place where the Lord of All Times lives. Maybe you have seen him"
The flower started thinking again and suddenly she got really desperate and sad
- "I dunno..." For Kedri the flower had a really confused and desperated expression. The kind of expression that a person with Amnesia has when they try to remember something too badly and they can't. Her leaves and petals got downfor thedepressionshe felt. "I... I REALLY DUNNO!" The flower cried in despair.
Kedri knew just then that she had screwed up the little plant and felt really bad for her
- "Oh, for Tyra... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad! I just wanted..." all the while the flower was crying"Oh, is useless. I'm sorry, dear friend, I never meant to make you feel like this... would it make you feel better if I convinced this Kaons to give you some water?"
- "It would help, yes" the flower sayed between sobs.
Kedri broke the link with the plant to talk to the Kaons and grimaced.
- "Hey! could you give her some water?"
The Kaons, that were talking to Dahra at the moment, looked at her and frowned
- "Is not her turn to get water, why would we water her today?"
- "I... accidentally made her sad and some water could help, besides she's a plant and plants usually need water every day unless she's a plant from the desert... and she's not"
- "Ok, then"the Kaon sayed while he took a glass from a table nearby and started walking. Suddenly he stopped and looked at the Arborum once again, frowning "Are you sure they need water every day?"
- "Oh, most definitely. She told me you water her every 3 days. Every 3 days is ok, but not good enough. Plants feel happy with water" Kedri started nibbling the flower's downed petals once again and told her "He'll bring water for you. I hope I convinced him to give you water every day "
- "Snif! Thanks"
And she broke the link again, but kept nibbling her.
After the Kaon that went for water came and gave it to the flower, he sat again, took a zip of his wineand asked "So... names don't matter. What are your intentions here, besides of making our plant sad?" Kedri blushed under all that furr.
- "We're heading to see the Lord of All Times" Dahra sayed.The Kaons spitted the wine all over the table (OoO)
- "WHAT? THE LORD OF ALL TIMES? This is a pacific Kaon community. We don't want problems. I hope you don't bring them." they looked at each other "I think we should take them to our leader, brother"
- "Yes, definitely" the other sayed, cleaning the wine as he could.
- "Come with me, please. You" he sayed to his brother "Keep cleaning."
- "OOOOOK"
Dahra, Wyrmir and Kedri followed the Kaon through a stone corridor to a big door. The Kaon knocked it twice and an ancient voice sounded from inside
- "Come in"
- "Sorry, dear Leader, but this travellers ujst came and I think they have something to talk with you" the Kaon sayed as he made Wyrmir and the rest enter a big room. it was not dark, although the walls, ceiling and floor were made of stone. As Kedri went inside she looked around, to recognize the place.
The leader of those Kaons was a very old man. He was bald like every Kaon, but he did have some white beard, his blue skin had turned greyish for the old age and he was sitting in a single chair. When they entered he raised his head to look at them. In spite of his old age he was still a very energic man and his voice, although ancient, was strong and lowd.
- "Come in, foreigners, seat down and tell me what can I do for you?" The old leader looked at the joung Kaon that was with them and dismissed him "You may leave. You can come later for our guests" the jounger nodded and left, closing the door behind him.
- "Well..." Wyrmir started "We came here by chance and... we told your people we're looking for the Lord of All Times" he swallowed saliva. Kedri had always thought her two companions were too direct and self confident to tell things. She'd sure like to keep some things for herself rather than just go around telling to strangers what they were looking for, so she was not looking at Wyrmir in a very nice way right now.
- "HAHAHAHAHAHA! REALLY?" The leader laughed "Only the three of you want to go and face that old Lord? I'd advice you agaist that. Only if you got an army you should go see him."
- "Yes" sayed Kedri, still looking bad at Wyrmir "We have been warned to go with an Exorcist and now with an Army. How encouraging!" Kedri was getting tired of all the warning and still no sign of the Lord of All Times and the sarcasm in her voice was obvious.
- "Calm down, my furry friend" the old Kaon sayed "To find the Lord of All Times you'll have to find first the "Hand of God" Then you will find him" Dahra looked at him in a strange way. Where do you coma from, any ways?"
- "We come from the Black Mountain" sayed Kedri, drily and the old man smiled
- "Then you must have met Mahatma, right?"
- "You seem to know a lot. Yes, and we took him to Celanam, where an old lady gave me this" Talking of having a big mouth... Kedri took out the big black bottle of unfinished potion from her bag. "You wouldn't happen to know where can I find some... blood of a cow that didn't suffer, right? The potion is unfifished and the old lady told me that's one of the ingredients I need to finish it"
- "Hehehe... that's a metaphor, my dear friend, but I'm affraid I don't. I'm sorry." He sayed and after two seconds he talked again "Is late, travellers. You may rest here. Tomorrow you will start your trip again." He reached for his cane, that was resting at his right side and knocked the floor with it 3 times. After a few seconds the Kaon that brought them there appeared through the door.
- "Yes?"
- "Show our guests to their rooms"
- "Follow me" The joung Kaon motioned the group to follow him. Kedri stood up and look at the old man
- "How will we find the Lord of All Times?" she asked.
- "Hehehehehehe... Untill where is it possible to enter the forest?" he just sayed and continued laughing softly.
Kedri smiled "I got it, old man".
The Kaon showed them through the same corridor, two rooms, smaller than the one of the leader, but also made completely of stone.
- "The Alfon can stay in one of this and you two can share this one" he sayed as he left.
Wyrmir sayed good bye to his female friends and got into his room. Dahra and Kedri smiled at sayed good night and entered their room. Once inside Dahra literally fell over her bed and closed her eyes for a while. Kedri sat on her bed too and tried if it supported her weight or not. The bed sounded a little, but it supported her very well. She opened her bag and checked on the two ebony boxes she was carrying; the ones that had the rings that the leader of the Alfons wanted to recover. She opened them and saw two golden and simple bands.
- "What are you doing?" Asked Dahra opening her eyes
- "Nothing, just looking at this"
- "Oh... I'll sleep for a while, ok? I don't think anything will happen to us tonight"
- "Ok. See you in the morning" sayed Kedri, still looking at the rings, not able to take her eyes off them. "What's so special about you? You certaily gave us a lot of trouble some days ago" she thought and without any second thought she put them both on. One in the right hand and one in the left one. At that same instant she felt a rush of strength flowing through her body. It was almost painfull and she got scared, but didn't scream. She didn't want to wake up Dahra. Suddenly the pain stopped and she felt really stronger. It was good! "I think I will keep you, after all" she grinned to herself and fell fast asleep.
Dahrawoke up to the sound of a knockat her door.
- "Hey! Wake up, lazy girls!" Wyrmir was awake for hours and he got tired of waiting. "We're not going far by sleeping"
Dahra woke up first, yawned and stretched. She didn't want to get up. She looked at Kedri, but she was still soundly asleep and snoreing. Grumpily, Dahra stood up from her bed and shook Kedri.
- "mumble... mumble... no, mom, I don't wanna go to school today... mumble... mumble"
- "KEDRI!" Dahra screamed in her ear.
- "YAAAAAHHHHH!" Kedri screamed back at her "GOOD TYRA! YOU SCARED THE LIFE OUT OF ME, DAHRA. What happens?"
- "Time to wake up, sleepy plant"
- "Hey, don't call me that!"
- "Well, you do happen to have a plant in your head, right?" Dahra grinned at her obvious statement. Kedri glared at her angrily and rubbed the rest of the sleep out of her eyes. Kedri slept dressed, and so did Dahra, so they didn't need to waste timein getting dressed and they hoped Wyrmir wouldn't want to stay and have breakfast.
He wanted, but the girls wouldn't let him, argueing that he was the one that sayed they shouldn't loose time sleeping, so that applied to breakfast either and dragged him the outside(Wyrmir's crying ´)
- "Be carefull with the shadows, thieves, burglars and with what you think" The Kaons sayed as they sayed good bye "The Lord of All Times has thousands of sons, all of themlook just like him, and he lives among them"
- "Thank you. We'll keep that in mind"
- "Before you leave,"The old Kaon was there, surprisingly "Could you give me the recipe of the black potion you showed me last night?"
- "You won't keep my bottle, will you?" replied Kedri
- "Oh, no. I just want the recipe"
- "Fine, then. The Old lady sayed I had to solve this potion with some grain, dill and the blood of a cow that didn't suffer to have a really potent healing potion" The old man smiled, thanked her and left, back to his room again.
- "Oh, by the way," Dahra sayed before the old man left " In our way here we found a knight. It was a skeleton" The old Kaon stopped and waited "he was riding a horse and he had a symbol, it was the same symbol of the triangles you have at the entrance to this place..."She didn't finish the sentence.
- "Yes, that's a Fallen Errand" He interrupted the Piggot and walked away.
With that good bye from the Kaon community, Kedri and her friends started their trip to the north again, througha now snowy road. After a while they saw a caravan that was destroyed at one side of the road, but it didn't happen recently; the horses's corpses were rotten.
Dahra inspected what was left and found a vase that Wyrmir inmediately took for him, greedily (surely it was magickal) and along arrow made of steel, just like the ones that Kedri found in the room outside of the Black Mountain; the one that belonged to the Kaons, and thought it was related to the Kaons of Celanam. She remembered the incident with Planchet in that city and related it to Wyrmir.
- "Let's just be carefull, ok?"
- "Maybe they already forgot. I wouldn't worry" Wyrmir shrugged
- "Kaons have a fantastic memory, Wyrmir. I would worry" Dahra added while looking around.
Kedri noticed too that they were in a peumus wood and she touched one.
- "Hello, my dear tree"
- "Yawwwnnn! hummm... hello... what is it? I wanna go to sleep"
- "Oh, I'm sorry. This won't take long. I just wondered what happened here?"
- "I don't know. I have been here for 50 years and this was here before me"
- "Oh, thank you. I'm sorry and now you can go to sleep" Kedri smiled. Those Kaons weren't anywhere close. "We can breathe in peace now. This has been here for more than 50 years. Give me the arrow, Dahra. Maybe I could give her some use"
Dahra did as she was told and they kept going. In the way they found a decapitated deer in the snow. The view was gross, but as it was comming to dawn and they didn't have any food they cut a leg of the animal to eat it later, when they set up camp, but the blood of the deer made a visible trail and it was fresh. They followed it to a cave. They had to follow because they couldn't see the road now. Kedri and Wyrmir went inside, to inspect if it had inhabitants. Dahra stayed outside, to guard if anyone came.
Red eyes looked at them from the inside. Wyrmir didn't notice them untill Kedri grabbed him by the waist and runned like if fire was chasing her to the outside.
- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAHRA! A TROLL!" Kedri cryed to her friend who immediately got her sword ready to fight the beast. As soon as they left the cave, Kedri put Wyrmir on the ground and stepped behind a tree, bow ready to shoot. The mage started preparing a spell.
The troll came outside and growled to the Piggot and slashed at her head with a claw, but Dahra dodged just in time. Words in a strange lenguage came out of Wyrmir's mouth, but the spell wasn't ready yet.
Kedri took out one of her arrows "DAHRA, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she sayed just when she dodged the troll attack, leaving the way clear for the arrow and she shoot a beautifull, clean shot to his arm. The beast growled in pain, but kept attacking. It seemed that instead of making it get away her shot just made him more angry.
It was Dahra's turn to slash and she aimed for the troll's stomach, but missed too. The troll slashed back at her with his other arm and this time he did hit her in the back, making her fall face flat to the ground. Kedri shoot again and hit his stomack, but again the beast got even more upset. He saw the archer. H runned to her, showing he was stronger than what they all thought. Dahra was having problems to get back on her feet, but she managed to roll out of the troll's way before the heavy thingstepped on her and slashed his toe, but he didn't even notice the cut and kept running for the archer, who was preparing her third arrow to shoot. This time he was too close and didn't give her any time to point it where she wanted, so she had to shoot wherever the arrow wanted to hit him. The arrow seemed to want to hit the wall behind the troll.
- "WYRMIR! FAST!" she screamed as the troll reached her and tried to aim at her. The Alfon started chanting higher, to make it obvious that he was about to finish. "Oh-oh" Kedri sayed "Damn! He's going to shoot a slim! I have to get away of the troll".
- "GET A TASTE OF MY SLIM, BEAST!" Wyrmir screamed at him. A huge ball of transparent, flammableand sticky slim of about 7 feet high came out of the small and mage's hand. Having in mind that he was only 3 (or something) feet tall it was a huge thing. The troll turned around in surprise to look at the mage that he had dismissed before for considering him inocuous right in the second that the sticky huge ball hitted him with strength, leaving him trapped inside of the flammable substance. Kedri had stepped back just in time to not get sticked and was paler than usual. She and Dahra had their mouths dropped in awe. Both of them knew the slim is the most powerfull spell known in the world of Geetah and their friend could use it.
Wyrmir approached the trapped troll and smiled. He looked really tired. He motioned Kedri to step back and managed to make a fireball to hit the slim ball with the troll inside.
- "Bye... bye... troll" he sayed and fainted, but never hitted the ground. Kedri took him before.
Kedri looked at Dahra with the alfon in her arms
- "He's alive; he just used too much mana at once. I think he'll be fine. Let's find a place to rest, ok?" the Arborum sayed.
- "How about the cave? and we will need wood to make a fire"
- "Sure. I'll get the wood. You take care of him and cook the deer, ok?"
Dahra took Wyrmir's body and went inside. Several hours later, it was already night and they all ate with a warm fire, leaving their stuff behind a shrub that was inside, they set the guards and this time Kedri took the third.
She was sitting, looking at her new rings when she thought she heard something comming from the shrub, she looked and... the shrub moved! she took her bow and prepared an arrow to shoot at whatever was behind the plant.
- "HOLD ON THERE! Show yourself or I'll shoot you"
- "Noooo... please, don't kill me" the voice of an old womanbegged and her head looked at Kedri from one side of the bush, using it still as a shield
- "Leave whatever you have taken from us right there and come out" Kedri demanded
The old woman left everything in the ground.
- "Please, let me keep this thing... please" she showed kedri what she was holding in her hand. It was one of the little now empty wooden boxes that had the rings that Kedri had in her fingers. Kedri was intrigued.
- "No, leave it right there"
- "Please... I found it... it was there and I found it, so it's mine" she begged so much that the archerthought it wasn't harmfull if she let her keep it. "I found it so it's mine"
- "Ok, ok... come over here, take a seat" Kedri, defeated by the old lady's begging. The woman approached her as soon as she dropped the bow andput the arrow back in her quiver. She had a huge pack on her back, surely filled with all sort of things, it was so full that she had to tie some things to the outside of it. All that kedri could see was a pot, some cups,somebig spoons that she surely used to cook and well, all sort of things for the kitchen, but the bag was full of things."I'm Kedri. Who are you and what are you doing here?"
- "I'm Agnes and I'm just travelling" she sayed as she sat down by Kedri's side and put the little box inside her bag."Do you want me to give you something?"
- "Do you have a pot?"
- "Yes, what for?"
- "To cook grain, of course" Kedri answered and Agnes opened her eyes wide
- "NO! It hurts to the grain when you cook it!"
- "Ok, then to boil water. I'm cold."
- "It hurts to the water when it evaporates." she explained "Are you cold?" Kedri nodded at this question.
- "Ooooohhhhh... cold..." she sayed and it started snowing INSIDE THE CAVE! then she took out of her bag a teapot, made tea and served it in two cups. "Are you lost?"
- "No"
- "Where are you going, then?"
- "To the north, to see the Lord of All Times"
- "And you know where to find him?"
- "Yes, in the Wind Hill"
- "And do you know where the wind hill is?"
- "Yes, to the north"
- "But exactly... where?"
- "No, I don't know that" Kedri answered, not understanding why this woman was interrogating her so much.
- "Then you ARE lost"
- "NO, I'm not!"
- "Yes, you are. You don't know where you're going so you must be lost" Again, Kedri was defeated by her insistence.
- "Ok, yes I am lost, you win"
- "WEEEHEEE! then you're mine. I found you, and your friends are mine too!"
- "Well..." started Kedri even more confused now, but then she laughed wholeheartedly"I AM your friend, yes... if that's what you mean"
- "Friends give things to each other"
Kedri smiled. Agnes was the strangest being she had ever seen but she was starting to like the old lady, whose race was uncertain. She looked like an Alfon, but she couldn't tell really and for courtesy she wasn't going to ask. She remembered what she sayed about the grain being hurten and she took some of the grain she was carrying herself in her bag and gave some to Agnes.
- "What's this for?" Agnes asked
- "You sayed that the grain was hurten so you must appreciate it, right?" Kedri sayed. Agnes smiled and took out one of the bigwooden spoons that she carried and gave it to Kedri. Kedri accepted the gift and put it in her bag.
- "I'm friend of Nobody. He sleeps under the earth..." Agnes sayed, like absently Some day you'll meet him." she looked at the arborum lycan "did noone in your village ever shaved? I mean, you're really furry..." Agnes looked really concerned for that.
Kedri bursted out in laughter and started telling her the story of her life, since when she had to exit her village and the fire in the forest to the part when pelavin captured her and killed her wolf companion, No-One-Knows.
- "Does that hurt?" Agnes asked when she finished the story "because if it does I can help you"
- "Can you?" Kedri was surprised and excited for that. She wanted really badly to recover her arborum shape.
- "Sure I can!" Agnes took a small knife out of her contain-everything-bag and a seed and gave it to her "Make a hole in your arm skin and put the seed inside it"
Kedri distrusted her for some reason, but did as she was told. Her appereance couldn't be worse so she didn't care of what happened. She did a small cut in the skin of her left arm and put the seed under the skin. To her surprise the seed started to dig inside her arm so quickly that when she reacted the seed already had disappeared in her flesh and she didn't feel it any more. Agnes was grinning.
- "What did you do to me, Agnes?"
- "Nothing! you did it yourself!" she served her and Kedri another cup of tea and they kept talking about trivial things and knowing each other. Agnes was some sort of healer mixed with other things that came from a city very far to the north and she had been travelling for quite a while now. She had met many places and people, and her bag was full of all sorts of things. After a while of talking and drinking tea with her new friend, Kedri started to feel drowsy. Her guard wasn't over and she felt like she was falling asleep. She tried to fight the sensation and shook her head andwashed her face with cold water a few times, but finally she couldn't fight it any more and fell fast asleep.
A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERY ONE! I hope you all had great holidays, so this is a special long chapter, as a gift for all of my readers.
Did you like it? I really hope so, because I have been 2 weeks working on it!. So, what do you think will happen to Kedri? and what do you think of Wyrmir now? I want to know what you think, so...
GO AND REVIEW OR ELSE I'LL THROW YOU ALLTO THE OCEAN WITH A KRAKEN!