by Eric Vall
“He must know you’ve worked with House Fehryn before,” Cayla mused. “To choose Rali and turn him against you, I mean.”
I shrugged. “He probably knows a hell of a lot more than that,” I allowed. “I’m just wondering where the fuck he got the gun.”
“What gun?” Aurora demanded.
I shifted and pulled the rogue revolver Rali had fired at me from my belt, and as I passed it over to Dragir for him to study, Aurora furrowed her brow.
“That doesn’t look like one of yours,” she decided.
“It’s not,” I agreed. “It’s pretty shit craftsmanship to be honest, but it looks like it’s been replicated from my design. Those bullets in the cylinder, though? Those I made myself.”
Aurora and I exchanged a glance.
“Where could the Master have possibly gotten your own bullets from?” she asked uneasily.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” I mumbled.
Dragir looked over. “Have you made revolvers for anyone beside you and your women?”
Cayla cursed from the back seat.
“His revolvers are all over Illaria and Cedis,” she told the elf. “With plenty of ammunition.”
“We have to get out of Nalnora,” Aurora decided. “Something’s not right back west, I can feel it.”
I sighed and slowed Bobbie a bit as we turned to head along the grassy cliff edge, and with the dense jungle opening up, I could see stacks of black clouds gathering along the coast.
“Things aren’t looking too great in the east, either,” I remarked.
The ocean rolled heavily far below and was a deep gray, and a frigid wind howled up from the ocean as the sky darkened to an ominous green.
“We have to find Deya,” Shoshanne said uneasily.
“Once we get there, scan for her lungs, alright?” I told the Aer Mage. “We’ll look through the jungle for the Flumen Mage while Cayla sets up. They’ll probably be stalking around somewhere, but if Deya’s in trouble, you and Dragir--”
“No, I will kill this mage,” Dragir interrupted. “You get Deya.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m more equipped to battle a mage than you are,” I pointed out. “Unless you’re willing to boil their--”
Dragir sent me a stern look to silence me before I said any more.
“Nevermind,” I mumbled.
Aurora’s keen gaze flicked between the two of us, and Dragir cleared his throat.
“I will look for Deya,” he agreed, “but as soon as that is handled, I will rejoin you. I am curious to see what this Flumen Mage is capable of.”
I smirked. “You’re looking forward to this, aren’t you?”
“Of course,” Dragir replied thoughtfully. “Magery is rather fascinating to witness. Harnessing power over the element of water is a dangerous trick in the jungle. The ocean, the soil, even the air holds water.”
“Rune magic is pretty fascinating to witness, too,” Aurora casually added. “You have a rune of your own, right?”
Dragir sighed.
“Yes,” he finally replied.
Aurora grinned eagerly and waited where she perched on the edge of the seat, and after I sent Dragir a shrug, he rolled his eyes and leaned over to mutter in the half-elf’s ear.
I watched her emerald eyes slowly widen while Dragir explained his rune to her, and when he finished, her jaw was unhinged.
“Don’t tell Deya,” Dragir ordered, and Aurora immediately agreed before she turned to me.
“You’ve seen this?” she asked me incredulously.
“Yeah, it’s pretty fucked up.”
“What is it?” Cayla asked curiously. “What does the rune do?”
“Nothing,” Dragir sighed. “I am not wielding my rune against this mage, so it does not matter what it does.”
I nodded my agreement and parked the Mustang a little ways from the path that led into the cove.
“It would be great if you never used your rune in front of me again,” I muttered to the elf.
Then I unsealed the doors and the trunk, and while Cayla headed for the back to prepare her arsenal, the rest of us scanned the surrounding area.
Aurora and Dragir trained their ears toward the jungle at our backs, and I sent my Terra Magic into the ground as I searched for any sign of the Flumen Mage’s presence.
The trees along the cliff swayed violently in the frigid wind coming in off the sea, and their trunks groaned against the force while they bowed and smacked together to send bits of debris down on us.
Shoshanne called to us from the cliff’s edge after a minute.
“No need to look around,” she informed us. “She’s right there.”
“Deya?” Aurora asked eagerly and jogged to the healer’s side, but Shoshanne shook her head.
I eyed the two women from where I stood near the trees with Dragir, and when I recognized the predatory stance of the half-elf, I quickly joined them near the head of the path.
The cove below looked more treacherous than ever with the heavy clouds looming overhead, and the choppy surface of the water roared loudly as waves slammed into the inlet and against the walls of the cliff.
There was a figure heading out along the jetty despite the dangerous swell surrounding her. The woman wore a long and tattered mage’s robe that hung loosely around her slender form, and she strolled out toward the open ocean while she balanced like a tightrope walker from one boulder to the next.
Her pale and lanky arms were extended to the sides, and her long black hair appeared to be matted and unkempt while it whipped wildly around her. She seemed completely unconcerned with the ominous storm gathering over the sea, and as she reached the end of the embankment, she slowly turned back to continue her balancing act amidst the thrashing waves.
“Is she talking to herself?” Shoshanne muttered uneasily, and Dragir nodded.
“It sounds like a child’s song,” he mused, “but a very creepy one.”
I strained my ears as the wind swept up from the cove, but I could only make out a few eerie notes that drifted by like a whisper. It reminded me of something I might have heard on a haunted carousel, and with the thunder echoing overhead in the deep gray clouds, I began to feel like I’d walked into a nightmare.
Then the wind caught in the woman’s long strands of hair and lifted them straight up, and as the mage’s pale face was exposed, Aurora furrowed her brow.
“I think I know her.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“From the Order,” the half-elf told me. “I barely saw her there, though. She never really acknowledged anyone who spoke to her, but I think her name is Yvette. I’d see her walking in the hills while I was on my patrol once in a while. She was always alone and sort of … talking to herself.”
I glanced over at the half-elf as she crinkled her brow with pity, and just beyond her, Shoshanne sent me a sad look.
“We can’t kill a crazy lady, can we?” I muttered, and the healer shook her head fervently.
Dragir snorted. “Why not?”
“Because,” I shot back, “it’s … I don’t know. It feels wrong.”
“She’s fucking possessed,” Dragir said. “Kill her.”
I sighed and ignored the man’s very elven advice as I turned my gaze back toward the woman tiptoeing along the jetty. She still hadn’t seen us looking down from the ridge, and she absentmindedly chewed on a long strand of hair while she continued to sing to herself.
“Hold off for a bit,” I told Cayla as she came to my side with her rifle in hand. “I’m gonna try and talk to her.”
All of the women stared at me, but I nodded my resolve.
“We got the rune off Rali,” I continued. “The least we can do is try to save her from it.”
“She’ll drown you before it’s done,” Dragir assured me flatly.
I realized he had a decent point, but as I watched the woman stoop and pick up a small shell to study it, I decided we couldn’t avoid taking the risk.
“I do
n’t doubt she’ll try,” I allowed, “but every other creature in Nalnora with any connection to the Master is dead. If we’re gonna get information about his plans from anyone, she’s our only bet now. We could just shoot her in the head, but we have no idea what the Master’s next move is. He’s already been several steps ahead of us so far, I don’t want to give him more of a lead.”
I glanced back down at the mage in the cove. The bones of Yvette’s spine jutted out beneath her raggish robes, and her petite frame made her look practically harmless from this distance. I imagined her wandering around the hills around Serin all alone, and as she slipped the shell between her lips and took a bite, pity began to settle firmly in my stomach along with a plan.
“Yvette,” I mumbled to myself while I considered the solitary mage.
Almost the moment after the word left my lips, the Flumen Mage turned, and her gaze snapped to the five of us standing on the cliff’s edge.
Her deep blue eyes gleamed against the gray waves at her back, and I could see the dim shadows beneath them from where I stood. She looked a little frail and tired as she spat the bits of shell out, but then a smile twisted on her lips, and the expression sent an instant chill down my spine.
Even from this distance, there was something maniacal about the grin and the intensity of her gaze, and she slowly raised a bony hand to send me a little wave.
I hesitated for a second before I waved back, and then the mage curled her finger to beckon me down into the cove.
“That bitch looks crazy,” Cayla decided.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this one, but either we save her from this rune, or we get some answers before it’s time to put her out of her misery. Don’t worry. I’ll stay on my toes.”
Yvette stood waiting for me on the jetty, and her robes clung to her slight frame in the coursing wind and the spray of the waves. I reminded myself of the tsunami that had nearly dragged us out to sea just to be sure my guard wasn’t wholly dropped, and the memory of the boiling river that chased us through the jungle helped quite a lot.
“Where’s Deya?” I asked Shoshanne.
“She’s in the caves with Ruela,” the Aer Mage replied. “They’re both breathing still.”
I nodded and let this ease my nerves a degree. “There’s a chance the mage doesn’t know she’s there, then.”
“Deya may not know either,” Dragir warned.
“We’ll approach Yvette first,” I instructed. “Don’t give any sign you’re trying to get to the fortress. Stay calm and alert, and if you’re sure she’s distracted, and any of you have an opening, get in there as fast as you can. Deya can sneak away if she uses her runes. Whatever you do, though, don’t throw out the first attack. We’re avoiding that as long as possible. If it’s possible.”
Everyone agreed to this, and after a steadying breath, I eyed the blanket of clouds waiting to break open above us before I led the way toward the path along the cliff’s edge.
Cayla remained waiting for my order on the ridge, and I kept half my focus on the Flumen Mage while we descended the thin footpath into the stormy cove.
We came to a stop in the middle of the slate of rock that led from the mouth of the fortress to the sea, and the Flumen Mage sent me another little wave as her knotted hair shifted with the breeze to conceal half of her face.
“It’s Yvette, right?” I called out above the howling wind.
The woman’s blue eyes sparked with something a little like glee as she nodded.
“We came here to help you,” I told her, and I kept my tone as reassuring as possible. “I can remove the branding the Master has given you if you’ll let us. You could go back to being yourself again. We’ll bring you home.”
The mage raised her jagged brows toward the roots of her black hair.
“I am myself,” she said in a high, clear voice.
“Yvette, the Master’s rune has taken over your mind,” Aurora told her gently, “but you don’t have to do his bidding like this. Please, let us help you.”
Yvette began giggling like an amused little girl as she covered her twisted grin with her hand, and when she spoke again, her voice rose and fell in another eerie sort of song.
“Master didn’t give me his rune,” she informed us, and she turned in an absent-minded circle while she watched her fingers dance lightly through the air above the thrashing waves. “Master says I’m a good girl. He knows I listen to what I’m told.”
I furrowed my brow and exchanged a glance with Dragir.
“The Master hasn’t branded you?” I clarified.
The woman’s long hair whipped up around her as she looked back over her shoulder, and she sent me a wide and toothy grin.
“She really is crazy,” Aurora muttered in a low voice.
“Godsdamnit,” I sighed before I called out above the wind once more. “Look, why don’t we just talk for a bit, alright?”
“I cannot hear you,” Yvette said, but her tone carried clear across the cove.
I could tell she wanted me to join her on the embankment, and I eyed the waves that continued to crash wildly around the Flumen Mage.
“Kill her,” Dragir muttered at my side.
“Dude, she’s not even runed,” I shot back. “There’s a reason the Master sent her specifically.”
“Yes,” Dragir said with a nod, “she’s unstable and unpredictable.”
“She’s clearly more than just an assassin to him,” I continued, “or the Master would have made her as mindless as his soldiers. We couldn’t even question his army because they’re too feral, but she’s just … you know. Crazy.”
“You believe she will tell you anything of value?” Dragir asked skeptically, and he looked at the mage on the jetty like she was some strange species to him.
I shrugged. “She’s clearly dangerous as hell, but you saw how many soldiers the Master gathered in only a few days. He’s getting more powerful. We need to know what his next move will be, and Yvette might be our only angle. If she’s not, then I’ll shoot her, alright?”
Dragir furrowed his brow, and I could tell he saw the logic.
“Very well,” he muttered, “but I would approach her carefully. The cove does not normally experience this sort of storm. She’s up to more than singing songs out there.”
“Agreed,” I mumbled as I looked far out toward the horizon, where the greenish clouds had begun to take on a spiraling shape.
Then I raised my voice and beckoned to the Flumen Mage.
“Why don’t you come over here?” I called, and I sent her a friendly grin. “We’ll talk by the cliff.”
Something in Yvette’s expression changed at the offer, but her features all seemed to contradict one another, and it was hard to tell what she was thinking.
The mage’s stark eyes lit up like a child’s while her lips twisted at the corners, and before I could process much more than this, she suddenly raised her arms to the side and pinched her fingers together.
Then her bony figure burst into hundreds of water droplets, and a giant swell billowed up over the slate to swallow her up.
Within seconds, the wave towered above us, and we all stumbled back in shock just as the water came crashing down. I could have sworn I saw a shadow of a face in the wave just before I was thrown down, and my head slammed hard against the slate as I was dragged across the cove by the swirling water.
When the swell drew back, I squinted against the salt stinging my eyes to see the others scattered around the slate and spluttering for breath.
Yvette’s bare and knobby toes were planted only a foot from where I fought to steady my spinning mind, and when I dragged myself to my knees and looked up, the Flumen Mage smiled down at me with her black hair dripping steadily.
“Hello,” she softly.
I swallowed and shot up to my feet.
Yvette didn’t move an inch, but her piercing gaze followed my every movement, and she stood with her thin arms limp and streaming with water while h
er fingers continued to weave absentmindedly through the air.
I stared into her severely pale face for a moment and worked to remain set on finding out all I could from her, but whatever the hell that trick had been, it left my stomach in a knot, and my own magic sparked at the ready.
Still, there was no way I was going to chicken out on the opportunity, so I extended a hand while the other settled on the handle of my revolver.
“I’m Mason Flynt,” I tried.
At first, I wasn’t sure she’d heard me because she remained like a statue, but then her bony hand shot out and caught hold of mine.
She yanked me closer with surprising strength for her size, and her icy grip sent another chill up my spine. Yvette didn’t smile or speak, and now that we were standing so close together, her clear instability shone vividly in her wide and blank blue eyes. After she’d clutched my hand for nearly a minute in silence, I pried mine free, and my mind ran a mile a minute as I tried to decide how to handle the mage.
It was likely her obscurity and solitude singled her out at the Order, and if the Master had been able to lure her in with any semblance of friendship, I hoped I could get away with the same approach.
As I considered Yvette’s slight figure and raggish robes, I actually felt a little sorry the Master preyed on her so easily.
Only a little, though.
The fact that he didn’t even need to put his rune on her to keep her in his hold probably meant her insanity did the job well enough. Either that or the Master decided the crazed mage was more dangerous without it.
With no rune to remove, there was little chance we could save her if this was the case, but as I watched Yvette’s shoulders twitch lightly beneath her thin robe, I decided to keep the conversation as casual as possible until we had no other choice. If there was anyone who could speak coherently with us about the Master, it was the unpossessed mage he’d had under his wing for who knew how long.
“We’re from the Order as well,” I told the mage, and I kept my tone friendly. “How long have you been studying there?”
Yvette’s blue eyes snapped to mine, but she didn’t respond.
