Hello, hello. :)
I'm back with a brand new chapter of the story- or better: With THREE new chapters. :D
Again, it took some time, that's why I decided to upload a little more than usual this time. As you might figure out during reading the chapters, we're coming closer and closer to the end of the story... So, enjoy reading and keep me company. Thank you so much. :D
Cya soon.^^
Love, Eeva :*
CHAPTER 7: One step closer – Part II
After Cassandra and Fidella had left us alone in the barn with Varian, Pascal and I lay on the small bed in one corner of the room and counted the spider's webs on the beam above our heads. Meanwhile, Varian was working in another corner of the room. He was analyzing the liquid from the stones. Alone. I had asked him, if I should help him with his work, but the answer was no.
I'm not the person, to accept denial like that so easily, but meanwhile, there had been enough aggression and quarreling since the day, our friendship went down the drain. So, I decided to wait, untill he might need my help...
Until then, I would probably continue counting webs above my head.
When I had just reached number 27, I suddenly heard a loud rumbling from the other side of the room. Then the rattling of chains and Varian, who whispered curses into his collar.
"What's wrong?", I asked, quickly getting up from the bed and walking over to the alchemist.
"Nothing.", he snapped, but I could see clearly, what had happened. Some of the testing glasses had fallen down and a strange kind of liquid was spilled over a pile of books and paper, which seemed to contain alchemistical notes and research.
"Oh, my... Let me help you clean up.", I demanded, but Varian quickly shook his head and tried to block my way to the desk by stepping between me and the table.
"Don't take it the wrong way, but don't help me, princess. We've only got a small amount of Essence of Darkness left here, so if too many people are baking the bread, it might all just end up in a gigantic mess, you know..."
Essence of Darkness? Did he mean the strange liquid, which came out from the black rocks?
I stepped back and started to wonder, what else Varian was hiding from us.
Sure, the young alchemist was a pretty smart cookie, but even for him it should have been simply impossible to find out so much about the liquid in such a short period of time, to already have a proper name for them by now...
"What? My researches went further than you know...", he grinned. That meant, he really already knew what kind of liquid he was testing here?!
"At least until things happened and I was sent to prison... Aaand, sadly, I haven't had the chance to come closer to those rocks excreting it, back then. Now, I was able to. Thanks to you, princess."
He grinned again and a cold shiver went down my spine. Did he really have a plan for all of this, again...?
"What's wrong? You're a little pale, your Highness... - Are you scared of the 'evil alchemist' again?"
Varian started laughing, but calmed down just another second later.
"Don't worry. As I have already said: My researches about the black rocks went very deep towards the end. You might already call it some kind of a small obsession... - But still, I only read about it. A lot of books, 'though, but still only books. So, my actual experience with the material is about the same as yours: None in practical."
I believed him. Otherwise, he'd known, not to use normal testglasses on the liquid from the beginning...
"Anyway. You can't help me here. And so- Ah! No!"
Varian turned away to continue working, but caught himself with the chains around his wrists on the edge of the table again.
"Geez...", he murmured, moving a little slower and more careful.
"Isn't it pretty uncomfortable to work with those chains on?", I asked and made Varian turn his attention towards me again.
"No", he answered and gave me a crooked smile, "Actually it's all wonderful. It's preventing any movement disorders, you know..."
"You're right! That's great! So you are using your brain and train your motorical skills, wow..."
"Really, princess...?"
Varian gave me a glance, which showed me, that I must have been completely wrong.
"Wait. That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"
"Of course it was! How comfortable do you think it is to work with an operating range of less than 15 inches?!" Varian sighed and showed me his bonds.
"You're right.", I said, "Then, there is only one thing we can do right now: We have to remove that chains as quick as possible."
"What!? Why would you... - I mean: I - It's great, because it means, I'm free again... - But how are we going to do that? Do you have any key?", he asked and I could clearly hear the hope within his words.
"Yes, I do.", I said with a smile, "Pascal..."
Pascal climbed down my shoulder and into my coat pocket. When he climbed out again, he had a small bunch of keys in his mouth, which he layed down onto my outstretched hand.
"We just have to choose the right one..."
For some moments, I rattled around with the keys, but then I finally found the one, the guards always used to lock and unlock the handcuffs of prisoners down in the dungeon.
"Here we go!" I smiled, holding up a small bronze key in the shape of a flower. Then, I asked Varian to stretch out his arms towards me. He eyed me distrustful and hesitated first, but then he finally stepped closer and showed me the chains around his wrists again.
"They're gone in a minute, I promise..."
"Why are you doing this?"
I stopped turning the key, which I had already placed in the tiny keyhole on the upper side of the first handcuff.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because you were supposed to help us save Corona, remember?"
Varian looked down on the floor.
"Varian... You said, you'd help me save Corona, didn't you? But you can not help if you can not move, right? So, there's nothing wrong with it... At least, I suppose so..."
I giggled.
"Princess... You said, you were sure, I wouldn't do anything bad to you... I wonder, what made you so sure of it after all the things that happened one month ago..."
I paused again. Varian was still staring at the dusty floor, when I answered his question:
"You.", I answered bluntly, what made him startle a little, as he didn't seem to understand first, "You're not a natural bad person, Varian. Sure, you've done some things that weren't right... - But so did I."
Varian continued staring at the floor, but I felt some tension between us rising, as I continued speaking.
"I know, that I shouldn't have let you down back then. And it's still haunting me, that I couldn't help you and your father, when you needed me to... Believe me, Varian, if it had been possible at that time, I would have -"
"Just stop it!" Varian snapped all of a sudden and pulled his hands away from me with a hard tug.
The little KLINK which followed his action sure saved us both from arguing again.
"Oh, no..." I stared down at the fragment of the key which had been left in my hand.
The other one was still stuck inside the keyhole of Varians right handcuff.
"Great...", he sighed and moved further away from me. Chains rattling and voice slightly trembling.
"I knew something like this would happen, as you promised again...", he said with frustration in his voice.
But Varian wouldn't be Varian, if he didn't already have another solution to the Problem. At least, I hoped so. Events and the time in the dungeon seemed to have changed him a lot, though. But he was still a smart kid, and so, he really already had the answer before I even asked the question:
"There must be one of them anywhere around here...", he murmured, searching his desk and then the rest of the room after something that must have just come to his mind.
"What are you searching for? Maybe, I can help you find it..."
This time, Varian said nothing and so, I helped him search the room for whatever he was looking for.
"Is this what you're searching for?", I asked after rummaging around the room for some time. I held up a small flacon which had been sealed with a thick material, probably to save the environment from what was inside the glass.
"Yes! That's it!" Varian had stopped his search and went over to the place where I was standing to get the flacon.
"That's just the thing, I need right now.", he explained, reaching out for the glass container. In his excitement and hurry, he didn't mind the shelf next to him and got stuck on its edge with his chains again.
"AH! Time to get rid of those as quick as possib- N-NO!"
Our eyes widened in shock when some of the books, laying on the shelf fell down and hit my hand, so that I lost the small flacon. Both of us tried to catch it, but while Varian was still handicapped by his bonds, I simply wasn't fast enough. Luckily, Pascal was on the spot and catched the glass with his tongue before it could hit the ground and break.
"Thank you, my friend.", I praised him for catching it and petted his small, green head.
"Take that out of your mouth!"
The three of us got startled at the sudden appearance of the sharp voice, commanding Pascal to put the flacon out of his tongue's grip.
Cassandra rushed over to us and took it before any of us could even move. She must have just returned from her search for food and water. I wondered, how she got in here without us realizing it...
"Is that what I think it is?"
Her gaze lingered sharp on the alchemist, whose ears suddenly got bright red.
"We...We had a key...", he stuttered, "but it broke and..."
"And so, you decided to take concentrated acid instead?!"
Cassandra frowned and for a second, I had the impression of Varian shrinking a little under her icy glance.
"Wasn't it you, who told me that this was dangerous, back then? What were you planning to do with that thing, anyways...?"
"We wanted to get rid of those stupid chains."
Cassandra's face turned pale, when she heard my answer.
"Varian said, he would help us", I explained, "But how is he supposed to do so if he can't even move properly with those bonds around his wrists. Alchemy is something, you have to to with your hands and so it wouldn't make any sense to block them any longer, would it?"
Cassandra eyed me warily, but then sighed and turned to Varian. Startled, the young alchemist stumbled a step backwards.
"Show me your hands.", she said. Varian hesitated, but then lifted his hands and held them up towards Cassandra. Meanwhile, she had taken out a small knive from her pockets and unsealed the flacon with its tip.
A strong smell of citrus fruits striked my nose, and I have to admit, that at this moment, I really wanted to drink whatever was in that little flacon...
"Keep still...", Cassandra said calmly but also determing. She was holding the flacon above the iron ring around Varian's left wrist. Her other hand was steadying the alchemist's hands which were slightly trembling.
When she finally poured some drops of the acid into the small keyhole, Varian's tension got so immense, that he had to close his eyes, not to have to watch things any longer. Then, Cass did the same with the right keyhole, while I curiosly stared over her back. When we finally heard a gentle KLICK KLICK, it seemed, as if tons of weight fell off from our hearts. And when Varian's bonds finally fell to the floor with a loud clattering sound, even Cassandra seemed to be pretty relieved...
"What are we going to do with the rest of it?", she asked before anyone else could say a word.
"Oh, I know!", Varian blurted out and snatched the flacon right out of Cassandra's fingers. And of course, it fell right out of his hand and crashed to the ground.
"WHOA! That wasn't actually what I had in mind for it...", he said, jolting back, like the rest of us, when the acid etched a hole into the wooden floor between us which had at least the space of the triple of Pascal. When the flacon (and the handcuffs) were gone through the hole, Varian curiously peeped after them.
"Wow... It's even stronger than I thought...", he murmured a little absent – and then jolted back again, when all of a sudden a screeching shadow came shooting through the hole and past his face only a few inches.
"Owl!" Cassandra put up her arm, so the bird could land on it as he had been trained to do.
"What do you have got here?", she asked then, examinig a paper roll which had been bound to one of the bird's legs.
"A letter?"
Cass untied the parchment and unfoldet it.
"It's a letter from Xavier...", she said, and then started reading out loud what was written down on the paper:
DEAR FRIENDS,
I HEARD WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO, AND SO, I'VE DECIDED TO HELP YOU AS GOOD AS I CAN. FOR THIS REASON, I READ SOME REALLY OLD BOOKS AND FOUND OUT THAT THERE ACTUALLY EXISTS A WAY TO FREE OUR KINGDOM FROM THOSE ROCKS.
I ALSO HAVE TO SAY, THAT I REALLY HOPE YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL, BECAUSE THIS WHOLE THING WONT REALLY BE TOO EASY AND CAN EVEN BE PRETTY DANGEROUS...
Banned, we stared at the paper and none of us said a single word.
AT THE TIME OF EQUINOX, YOU HAVE TO GIVE BACK WHAT ONCE HAD BEEN STOLEN. TO THE PLACE, WHERE IT HAS BEEN STOLEN...
"So, we have to give back the light at the place, where I first touched the rocks?" I scratched my head. „But how?"
"No." Varian inspected the letter closely. „We do not simply have to give back the light... Look here..."
He pointed at a line, which read: AND AS DARKNESS HAS GROWN STRONG IN ABSENCE OF THE LIGHT, YOU'LL HAVE TO GIVE MORE, THAN YOU GOT, BACK THEN.
"Which means, we have to give more light? But how are we supposed to do that?"
We looked at each other, then suddenly Varian turned his head towards his desk, where the materials of his work were still spread all over.
"The Moondrops! Of course..."
"Moondrops?"
"Yeah. I thought 'Essence of Darkness' would sound a little too dramatical, so, I would suggest to call the strange liquid from the rocks simply 'Moondrops'. Besides, it's also very easy to remember, 'though... - So, may you please excuse me then, Ladies? I still have lots of work to to and Equinox will be soon enough..."
With these words, the alchemist turned away and went back to his work, while Cassandra and I still lingered over the piece of paper, she was holding. Not seeming to understand anything, at first...
"He's right, Raps", Cassandra said later, a little worried, "Equinox will happen in only three days and we only know, what we know about the whole thing..."
"And, if we actually have to combine the light of sun and moon, how are we supposed to do so then?", I asked, voice low and full of thoughts.
Cassandra didn't give me an answer, but looked at me now with the deepest concern I had ever seen in her big grey eyes. .
"Oh...", I whispered and looked towards the desk, where Varian already had resumed working, " I guess, I know..."