Chapter 12: Voices in the Dark
Baromosa was still crying when Crystal found him. She had woken up from a bad dream and rolled over to find Baro missing from the tent. When she knelt beside him he was still hunched over his knees, his breathing so harsh he couldn't even speak.
"Baro, what happened? Talk to me." Crystal said softly, taking him closer against her. He rested his head on her shoulder and embraced her so tightly she almost jumped in surprise.
"Crystal…" he whispered softly but kept crying into her hair. Through the night Crystal held him until they both fell asleep in each other's arms. Cold winds whirled around them but now Baro ignored them and felt safe now knowing Crystal was right next to him.
After the night went by to calm him nerves, sunlight rose above the horizon and made Baro's nose twitch. He smiled quickly but it disappeared just as quick when he remembered his visions from last night. Crystal was still asleep and clinging to him, having her own happy dreams. 'She stayed with me all night.' Baro thought to himself and brushed Crystal's hair away from her face.
She awoke to his touch and smiled at him. "Your looking better this morning." Crystal said cheerfully.
"Thank you for staying with me last night." Baro said meekly and smiled back at Crystal. "I… had another vision."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Crystal asked concerned. She moved a little closer to Baro's face, but he got up and turned his side to her, avoiding her innocent eyes.
"Crystal, I can't bring you with me to Shriladen." Baro said solemnly.
"But… why?" Crystal asked, a tear forming in her eye. Baro turned back toward her and knelt to her level.
"If you keep following me, I will lead you to your death. I cannot allow that." Baro grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly. "Go back to Snowfall, go back to your home."
Crystal stayed quiet for a few minutes with her mouth wide open. Then she looked down as a tear dipped down her nose and stood up away from Baro.
"How can you ask me to go?" She turned back around and yelled in his face, "You can barely take care of yourself, let alone taking on everything else in your way. You almost were killed!"
"Yes I was. And if that happened how can I protect you too?" Baro snapped back. Crystal took his hand again.
"By taking in on together." She said firmly. Baro tried to pull away from her but she held on to him strongly.
Baro sighed and looked back at her, "Together then." Crystal smiled and gently squeezed his hand before they finally walked back to their tents to get ready for their journey.
After a couple days of riding they reached a group of tents formed at a crossroads. The air grew colder as they neared the mountain, and the horses became uneasy near them as if sensing something invisible to everyone else.
"Look at that!" Crystal exclaimed, pointing to a large black bubble in the earth. Still glossy even after hundreds of years, the bubble seemed to be of molten rock that had cooled.
"What is it?" asked Baro confused.
"Haven't you heard the stories? Fire mages and earth mages worked together to boil the land and fry their enemies. I've heard that there are still trolls trapped in that cursed prison, poor devils. If you look around you might see smaller bubbles, most of them were cleaned up by mages but a few stubborn bubbles are still here."
"They couldn't move that large one in the center?" asked Baro.
Kaze shook is head. "That is Islan's Mark, the spell warrior Islan was the mightiest of the mages who mastered earth and fire. He sucked up at least fifty trolls in that single spot."
Crystal cringed, "Ew! I hate trolls. They make me feel all crawly."
After their discussion they fell strangely quiet. The patchwork tents and desperate look of their surroundings saddened them all and dulled their senses. Several times Baro thought about speaking out to Crystal, but for some reason all sorts of depressing thoughts dominated his mind unwillingly, burying everything else.
His eyes stayed fixed on the molten rock. It seemed to absorb all light around it, like the fires in his dream. The sky was cloudy as it had been all day but it seemed even blacker now. Wordlessly the three companions split up and explored the town by them selves, Baro on foot and Kaze and Crystal on their horses.
Baro's point on view:
Baro weaved his way between tents and met eyes with the refugees. Most of their faces were indifferent or hopeless, some even angry. When it was too much Baro played with the toy Crystal gave him weeks ago in his hand, trying to distract himself from the depression around him.
Once the rain had finally come, Baro almost welcomed it. The splashes against his face cooled it and its wetness softened his cheeks that were dried from travel. The light drizzle sent most refugees inside, only a few stood uncomfortable outside near a fire.
Baro walked over and sat down next to them. He received grunts as a reply but they were friendly enough or rather apathetic to him. The old man next to him was the only one smiling; he nodded at Baro and started in some idle chat. He was wrapped in a crimson cloak, and his face was covered with unshaven white hair. Blue eyes stared out at Baro like they were searching for something, making Baro move in small, nervous ways.
"You seem different, have I met you before?" Baro asked him. The old man just laughed.
"No you haven't, but that's not the only thing you notice do you?"
"You laughed, how is it that you and I are the only ones who aren't… depressed." Baro looked down at the fire and waited for an answer.
"It's the one thing that makes us the same, you must be a wizard to resist such a strong effect." The old man smiled and got up from his seat, walking into a near by shelter.
'Careful Baro, this could be a trap.' He told himself, and followed the old man into the tent. It was filled with scattered papers and books, old bottles and the scent of cheap wine filled the room. The soft pattern of the rain was broken by the old man first.
"How long have you known about your abilities?" the old man asked casually.
"Not long enough it seems." Baro replied quickly, not sure how much he wanted to share with this stranger.
"I need your help son, there are dark forces at work. I have the feeling you know a little about magic, and I'm not as strong as I used to be." The old man at down and wheezed out a few labored breaths. "My names Kamen. I've studied these people for the last few weeks. Once in awhile there's someone who can keep their head, but not enough to be of any use. That's where you come in."
Baro nodded. 'These people are being affected by something, its my duty to help them as in was my fathers.' He thought, resigning himself to trust the old wizard.
"How can I help?" Baro asked finally, looking over to Kamen.
Raising a finger he said, "All in good time. Walk with me, I'll explain on the way." And with a twirl of his cloak Kamen lead Baro out to the black glossy Mark.
When they reached the rock, Kamen told Baro to put his hands on it, which he did. "What do you feel young one? Concentrate on the smooth surface, let your mind flow to the energies around you."
Baro thought deeply about the rock, resurfacing memories and ideas he had been pondering. At first there were only the depressing surface thoughts, but Baro worked and kept thinking until he had broken his mental barrier like he had with Crystal. He could almost sense some evil across the rift, but it fought back and repulsed him further.
"Kamen, the wizard. He's in contact with the Mark. He's trying to hide his thoughts from me." Baro said under strain. A vein in his temple pulsed.
Kamen smiled, "Good, good. You are quite adept then. We need more power though, even together we couldn't break his concentration or hold on the Mark. Maybe if we had help we could break him and then we could sink the mark.
Baro nodded, "I have a friend who can help. A girl the same age as me, I think she's strong enough." Baro stopped his concentration and looked over to Kamen. "But after I want more answers from you, how did you know I was a magic user so quickly?"
"All in good time my friend. Suffice to say I'm very old and remember many things. But lets go, the sooner we can destroy the mark the sooner I can get you on your way to Shriladen." Kamen winked slyly and walked down the road, bringing Baro with him.
Kaze's P.O.V.
Kazekage drifted through the depression that flooded across people's faces. A soft splatter of rain hit his cheeks to make him look up occasionally when the dark clouds drizzled rain, but not much changed. He continued his walk down muddy streets until he noticed a familiar face.
A woman stood in the doorway of her tent, glaring at Kazekage. She was dressed in old, moth eaten clothes like all of the others, and her face was pale contrasting bright red hair and fiery eyes. Kaze started to walk away when the women screamed,
"MURDERER!" The women pointed an accusing finger at him. Kaze quickly looked around but no one even looked up at the outburst so he just stood surprised and listened to her ranting about his no good qualities. She continued yelling about her murdered husband and other things, but Kaze had to walk away leaving her screaming into nothing.
'I hadn't thought about the families of my targets. I always thought I was hunting the scum of the earth, not becoming it.' Kaze thought to himself, looking down at the ground before him while he walked. His black hair had become wet and tangled on the sides of his face and matched his dark eyes.
He pondered on new thoughts while he stumbled down the encampment, the suffering seemed to weigh him down but he trudged on through mud until Baro broke his wandering.
"Baro!" He shouted, running over to his friend. "Baro I can't take this place, some evil looms over everything." Kaze was out of breath and hugged Baro, happy to see him not a depressed drone like the others.
Baro nodded and pulled away. "It's the Mark my friend, it amplifies all of these feelings. We need Crystal's help to destroy it, can you find her?"
Kaze perked up at his new task, "Sure, sure. I'll start right away." He ran off with a new alertness, glad there was something he could do to right a few wrongs of his past. Baro looked a little strange, almost as nervous as a feral animal by his nervousness at sudden noises, but Kaze didn't worry. 'Everything will be fixed soon; all I have to do is track down Crystal. Sounds easy enough.'
When he was well away from Baro, a voice approached him from behind. "Hello again Kazekage."
Kaze turned around to see the smug owner of that voice was Raik, his old accomplis. He was dressed in his usual armor, the two handed sword of his still stained in blood. His lips curled slightly at seeing Kaze, and his gaze echoed an unsure motive.
"I need you Kaze, together we can finish the job." Raik said as if it was a sure thing.
"No, never again." Kaze shouted out. "I've been up nights thinking about what we did, and all for what? Gold?"
Raik snorted. "You don't understand, our 'employers' have doubled their offer! Baro doesn't even have to be alive anymore, if we kill him every desire of ours will be fulfilled.
Kaze thought about his words, but the greed disgusted him. "No! No more, I can't let you hurt Baro. There is something about him, he could bring an end to this suffering and all others like it." Kaze protested and drew his two broadswords.
"If you had joined me you could have been fat and happy until the end of the world! What do we care about the rest of the world if we can have all the gold and food we want, women as we desire them and enough land to support anything we want! But now you are my enemy, so you will meet an enemies fate." Afterwards Raik's face twisted in contempt and he lunged with the hilt of his sword and with a swift motion swung it into Kaze.
Kazekage was ready for it though, he had worked with Raik for a long time. Deflecting it easily the battle raged on, Kaze using a light fast attack and Raik using a solid, slow defense. The only time he was not on the defensive was when he was powering his sword at Kaze.
They tried many times to best each other, but their swords seemed to grow heavy at an unusually fast rate. When the burning in his muscles became too much Kaze dropped one of the swords and continued the fight with just one. Soon he tired of that too and they both dropped their swords to grapple each other like dogs. Letting out howls of pain and rage, they rolled, kicked, and clawed each other like savage animals.
'This mark, it drains are spirit. Erodes everything to the nerves." Kaze thought until he finally got Raik pinned down and beat unconscious in a chokehold. "Sleep my confused friend." He said, and breathed deep before running to continue his search for Crystal.