Chapter 6: An Old Friend and a New Discovery
Emi knocked on the door of the tree house, three times.
A slot was pulled open, and two cloudy, teal blue eyes peeked through. "Who is it?"
"Emi, and some friends," she said. "Don't you recognize your own sister-in-law?"
The door swung open almost immediately, and Calythé Night stood in the doorway with a huge smile on her face. "Emi! What a surprise. Come on inside. I'd like to meet your friends." There were scars around her eyes. She was blind.
They filed after her into a comfortable little room in the tree house and sat down around a small table. Calythé went to a small storeroom and returned with some chilled shiverthorn juice, which she passed around. "We don't get visitors all that often."
"What happened to your eyes?" asked Thunder.
"A couple of particularly ambitious goblins," said Calythé. "Clever little things, they've learned how to control shadowflame. Who knew? And with my sight gone, I can see much clearer with my mind than I ever could."
"It's ironic," Thunder laughed. "I'm missing an eye, and my sister is missing her sight. We've only got one working eye between the two of us!"
"Calythé, this is our daughter Cassandra; Bryn Briarcliff, headmistress of the Archers' Guild; and Lorre Samariettus, headmaster of the Warriors' Guild," said Emi. Calythé nodded.
"Bryn and Cassandra... the last time I saw you two girls, you were so little. And Lorre, Ramisse has told me so much about you," she added, shaking everyone's hands. When she had sat back down, she said, "So. What do you want? You people don't come anymore without requesting something."
"As a matter of fact, there's another grave danger rising," Bryn said, taking a sip. "There's a fourth Guild that's been hidden from Terrarians for as long as any of us can remember. The Archers' Guild was actually attacked."
"Oh yeah, I remember that," said Calythé calmly. "As a matter of fact, I was part of that Guild for a little while."
Emi gasped. "Wait, WHAT?"
"Yep, the Summoners' Guild. Many years ago I was a member, very briefly. Summoning isn't that hard - it's basically a derivative of magic," said Calythé. "You still need to use mana, but you use it to summon a minion. The very best summoners can control eight or nine at once, though there are ancient texts and glyphs depicting summoners with up to eleven. I don't know how it could be done, though. It would require an incredible amount of power and concentration."
"Okay, that's one question answered," said Lorre. "There's one more question we have, though. When you were at the Summoners' Guild, did you ever meet someone named Ixia? Bryn says that 'Long Live Queen Ixia' was scrawled on her storeroom wall."
"Ixia. I remember her... while I was at the Summoners' Guild, they were always talking about awaiting the return of someone named Princess Ixia, and later on I found this sealed room and she was inside. Apparently was sealed in her room thousands of years ago, on her wedding day. She stayed at the treehouse for a little while, but then she disappeared. Such a sweet, lovely girl..."
"It doesn't make sense," Bryn muttered. "It just doesn't make sense..."
"Don't tell me that the kid I found was the same Princess Ixia they were looking for," Calythé said, with disbelief. "They were going to extreme lengths to find her. One time they brought in a girl and then brought out the royal frost hydra to see if she was really the princess."
"What happened?" asked Cassandra, dreading the answer.
Calythé shuddered. "I won't go into detail, but let's just say I was sitting in the splash zone when it happened."
"Too much information, Miss Calythé," said Bryn, disgusted.
"If she's the real princess, we may be in a lot of danger," said Calythé, standing up. "If there's gonna be fighting, er..."
"What is it, Cal?" asked Thunder.
"If there's gonna be fighting... would you folks mind taking a blind old mage for one last battle against the forces of evil?" asked Calythé shyly, blushing and smiling.
"Oh, please," Emi chuckled. "You've saved the world twice. Do you have to ask?"
Calythé laughed for joy. "Thanks. Now let's see, where did I put my nimbus rod?"
"It's still my nimbus rod," said Thunder, "and I took it back."
"I was using it, you know. Not cool," Calythé snapped, her cloudy eyes flashing.
