She stressed the last part, trying to get a rise out of him. The only thing he did was glance up at her.
Jeni studied her for a few seconds then asked, “Do you know something about Dad’s mood?”
“Jeni, I’m fine,” he stated.
Odif knew she had to be what they called “discreet” with Art sitting next to her, but now was a good a time as any. “Last night, Arthur wanted me to help make him...a little younger. I didn’t explain the details of what I was going to do to him ahead of time...” She stopped as the kitchen door slammed open, and Sally walked briskly in. Her face was an unreadable mask, though her eyes threw daggers.
She didn’t sit down but stood behind her chair and grabbed the back as if she were going to choke the life out of it.
“I do not think we will discuss it here,” she stated coolly. Watching for a moment to be sure Odif stayed quiet, she slid into her seat. The tops of her pointed ears were partially laid back, and she was so tense the tendons in her neck stood out. Although she was trying to appear somewhat calm, Odif knew the signs.
“Sally, don’t you think--”
Sally glared at her. Her mouth unconsciously curled up into a sneer. “I think you should go.”
Odif felt the short hairs on her neck stand up. She had done her best to try to fit in and make their lives a little better. What was her reward? Not thanks, but get the hell out of our house. She didn’t need this shit; there were much more important things to be done that to try to talk to people who wouldn’t listen.
“Fine.”
She got up, resisting the urge to just kick the chair out of her way. To Jeni, she said, “I’ll bring Eric’s armor back as soon as I’m done with it.”
Salinthia spoke up. “Wait! Sauri, what is going on here?”
Still glaring at Odif, Sally said in a tight voice, “We will not discuss it in front of the children.”
“She thinks I’m a troublemaker,” Odif explained.
“I can’t say what you are!” Sally spat.
With the anger mounting between them, it wasn’t going to take long for someone to start swinging, and this wasn’t going to be practice. Staring back at Sally, she said, “You’re right, I better go.”
She turned and started walking out. Arthur said something quietly, to which Sally snapped, “You’re no better than she is!”
Odif couldn’t take any more. Whirling around, she exploded, her voice rough and deep in her anger.
“Hey!” she barked. “You wanna hate me? Fine! What I did was not his fault!”
Everyone at the table looked up at her, gaping like fish. Pausing to take a breath and calm herself, she pointed a finger at Sally. In a more normal yet tightly controlled tone, she said, “You, all of you, speak to me about decency. Arthur came to me so he could be a better husband for you. Have the decency to appreciate it!” She then turned and stomped out as fast as her legs could carry her.
They sat with all eyes on the empty doorway. Two years ago, Eric had faced one of the noblemen defending Tayan using an identical tone of voice as well as those very same words. What Sally had told Odif the day before in the bathroom came back with more truth than she had ever guessed. In complete conviction, she said it again.
“She is her father’s daughter.”
Odif snatched up the armor and her staff as she strode out. By the gate, the coach that took them around the city was parked in its alcove. Looking for the driver, she saw him sitting on a bench, talking to two elven men who leaned on their shovels.
She walked over and tapped him on the shin with her staff. “Get up, take me to the southern part of the city, on the other side of the river.”
He looked up at her then pointed back towards the house. “Mrs. Redman tells me where to drive. I can’t go without her say-so.”
“Do you really want to spend the rest of your life as a lizard?” she growled.
He swallowed nervously. “Sure, ma’am...I mean, no, ma’am,” he quickly corrected. “I’ll take you, but I have to return for Mrs. Redman.”
Odif got into the coach and waited for him to climb into the driver’s seat. She eyed him as he glanced in at her then mounted.
“Wait for me!” Jeni cried, running up. She sat across from Odif. Straightening her light purple dress over her knees, she looked squarely at the druid. “What happened in there is over. We are still trying to find Eric, right?”
The coach started to move. “Don’t you want to yell at me first?” Odif asked sarcastically.
Jeni frowned at her. “What you did was wrong. I have an idea what happened, and you should have explained it to Dad before you did anything. I know you tried to help, but it backfired. I just hope Mom and Dad don’t split up over this.”
“What is the problem?” she cried with a fling of her arm. “Arthur wanted to be able to make love to Sally again. I took him through the ritual; the sex was just to bond the change. It wasn’t personal. I wasn’t trying to take him away from her. Why was she so pissed off?”
With a groan, Jeni rubbed her forehead, trying to hide her face. “That was a little more than I needed to know,” she sighed. Clasping her hands in her lap, she collected her thoughts. “The problem is that sex is personal, or should be. Mom is heartbroken that Dad did that with you. Dad is feeling pretty bad, also.”
Odif shook her head. “I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“I know you didn’t. I will try to explain it to them once they’ve calmed down.” Changing the subject, she asked, “You want to try the southwest section today?”
Odif nodded. “Where’s Erica and Penny?”
“I had to run to catch you. Penny told me she can get a wet nurse for Erica today.” Looking down at herself, she mused, “I hope I don’t ruin this dress.”
Odif dug in her shorts pocket. She still had a strip of bandage she kept for emergencies. Passing it to Jeni, she said, “Here, fold this over your nipples to catch any leaking.”
Jeni did, patting it flat so it was barely visible. Looking at the bent armor, she asked, “Think we’ll have any luck today?”
Odif noted the cloud cover was just enough to keep the sun from shining. She was hoping it would rain--this city needed a good cleansing. The way things were going so far, it would probably turn sunny and hot. “If we have any, it’ll probably be bad.”
This day of searching found two more slick-tongued fakes and one man so bad he didn’t even fake that well. Odif was persistent by nature, but she was beginning to think she was wasting her time. Considering how long they had been searching, she could have gone back, had Duncan take a look at the armor and maybe even found him by now.
What had really kept her here was her cute little half-sister and Jeni. She wanted to get to know them and spend some time with them. She knew that was over. If today didn’t turn up a real seer, she was going back to Castle Zodiac.
Late in the afternoon, they walked into the shop of the fourth “fortuneteller.” This one called himself Wizard Chez. His “parlor” was a tent backed against the wall of a real building and had the same dark curtains, small table and large glass ball sitting atop a silver stand as just about every other one they had visited.
It might have been wishful thinking, but Odif thought she sensed something as they went in. Chez, wearing a dark-blue robe and a white towel wrapped around his head, led them in. He waved a hand at two stools on one side of the table. His voice was silky smooth.
“Come and sit,” he invited, sliding onto his own stool. “Two silvers in exchange for knowledge.”
Odif sat down and propped her staff against the table. She was careful to keep the armor out of his sight. Jeni reached for the money, but Odif stopped her. She studied the man for a moment, not sure if the odd feeling she was getting was from him or just from the few trees trying in agony to grow across the street. Before she let Jeni spend any more money, she decided to test him.
“Who am I?” she asked.
Slowly, Wizard Chez crossed his arms in fro
nt of him, leaning on his elbows. Watching her intently, he said, “I sense you are not one to be trifled with. You are very strong, both in body and mind. You hold frustrations, the latest of which was this morning. As for your name, all I get is the meaning, I doubt you would understand it.”
The sensation she felt grew as he leaned towards her. Glancing down, she saw he was touching the ball with one finger. “Try me.”
He cast her a look of surprise, which faded quickly. “Your name means strong-as-oak.”
She gave him a slight nod. “Correct.” He didn’t have the power, but his ball did.
“I require two silvers for any more information,” he insisted sternly.
Convinced, Jeni dug in her purse and paid him his silvers. As she did, Odif gripped the armor with one hand, slapping the other on top of the ball. She concentrated on the piece of twisted steel as Chez protested her touching his crystal.
Visions flashed through her mind. She saw pilgyns fighting with elves and humans. Explosions much like those of the spears flashed around her. She felt the heat, and something was ripped off her back as she flew through the air. The vision brought back her own terrible experience. Her mind tried to take her to the woods north of Newburg, but another vision ripped into her head. In this one, she was burnt and aching, and she was charging a pilgyn.
Odif’s screams startled Jeni, who jumped up to stare at her. Odif was gripping the ball as she bucked and threw her head back. Next she stiffened then kicked out with her legs as she curled her lips back and screamed again.
“What is happening to her?” Jeni cried.
“I don’t know,” Chez breathed. “No one but me has ever touched it.”
Beside them, Odif jerked her head to one side like she had been hit then snapped it back as she growled at nothing. Under the tangled mass of hair covering her sneering face, her nose trickled blood.
“She’s living it!” Jeni gasped. Grabbing Chez by the arm, she quickly explained. “We wanted to know what happened to my husband--that's his armor she has. She's reliving what he went through!”
Chez saw the twisted metal. “That was armor?” He summed up the situation. The man wearing that armor could not be alive. If she was living through what he had then she had a very good chance of dying. “I’ve got to stop her.”
Intent on pulling her hand off the crystal, he grabbed her quivering wrist. He hauled up, but she was pressing down too hard to move her. He laid his other hand on the crystal to get more leverage and something happened. His body wracked with pain as if lightning had hit him. There was no longer a woman at his table, but a large man. His dark red hair was long and shaggy; his face was covered in small cuts and bruises and bore a madness to it. He wore armor, but it hung on him as if someone had tried to tear it off. He was covered in streaks of blood. Chez saw this in an instant. He also saw the man snap his head up to glare malevolently at him. His voice was deep and hollow.
“Back off!”
Chez let go, recoiling halfway across the tent. He tripped and fell as he backpedaled up against the curtains.
“Who in the abyss was that?” he squeaked.
Jeni shifted her gaze from Odif, who was now only quivering as she stared at nothing, to Chez, who was shaking in fear. Deciding that Odif was in no mortal danger for the moment, she turned to Chez. “What did you see?”
“Big man, red hair, covered in blood,” he quavered. “He looked like he was mad.”
“Eric,” Jeni breathed. Putting a hand to her mouth, she watched Odif, gathering the nerve to put her hands on the crystal. She started to move towards it, wanting to know what had happened and fearing to at the same time. The ache to see her love again moved her to slowly reach out, one hand for the crystal, the other for Odif’s hand, just as Chez had done. She braced herself for what was sure to be a horrid sight. Just as she was about to touch, Chez grabbed her wrists and pulled her back.
“No, I can’t let you!”
Jeni’s face was stricken. “He’s my husband, I have to know!”
Holding her tight, he said, “He’s in a battle, he’s hurt bad. If the lady lives, let her tell you.”
The last thing Jeni wanted was to see Odif die in front of her. “And if she dies?”
“Then he did, too.”
“He can’t die!” she snapped. Jerking lose, she took a step towards Odif then stopped. “Can we talk to her?”
Chez shrugged. “If you can break into the vision. Whatever you do, don’t touch her.”
Leaning to put her mouth by Odif’s ear, she said, “Odif, tell me what is happening. Please, I have to know what’s happening!”
***
He ran along a ridge to intercept a vlak. The running was agony, every part of his body hurt. He had been close to two explosions and was burned. Through the knives of pain from wounds and burns, he focused on one thing--protect Tayan.
***
Odif heard Jeni’s plea. Her mouth worked a few seconds then she tried to relay what she was seeing.
“Following a vlak, it’s after Tayan and Lucinthia. The pain, it hurts to move, it hurts so much!” Tears began running down her cheeks. “Have to keep going, can’t let it kill Tayan,” she intoned. She heard Lucinthia’s piercing scream for Eric as the vlak crested the hill it was climbing. She followed in time to see it kill an elf, shaking the life out of him. Tayan waved his sword over his head to get the vlak’s attention. Directly below, Lucinthia and Glenarin hid behind a pile of rocks.
The vlak turned its attention to Tayan. He ran.
Odif/Eric shook her head, “No...not my son!” she blubbered, echoing Eric’s words. She cried openly as Eric threw the explosive ball and missed the vlak. Grabbing his battleaxe, he charged it. She stiffened to stand, both hands gripping the globe as he ran, hacking wildly in a vain attempt to stop it. She let out a long scream as she fought it with him. Her body arched forward, head flung back as he took the blow from its tail.
She fell over the table as Eric fell limp. She dropped to her knees, twitching in spasms as electric pain filled her. Through all this, she kept a death grip on the crystal.
“So...much...pain...” she whimpered, tears leaking between her squeezed-shut eyes. “Have to get up...can’t get up...have to get up!” she ended in a screech.
Jeni sobbed as she watched. She knew what Eric could do but never understood how much pain he lived with to do it. She understood one thing well--Eric had gone though hell in this battle.
Odif lethargically crawled to her feet, crying. Suddenly, she blasted out a scream, “Diiiie!”
***
He was on his feet, screaming in agony as he chopped into the vlak’s leg. The vlak fell. On a warning from Tayan, he looked to see the tail coming. He met it with the battleaxe, connecting solidly. The end of the tail was cut off, but he was on the ground again. Twice more the tail slammed down, crushing his ribs.
***
Odif convulsed the first time, and the second; her ribs depressed and blood shot from her mouth as the tail crushed him.
“Dear Odin!” Jeni cried as she watched the blood spray across the table. She was going to be sick--never had she witnessed such a thing!
Odif lay limp. Only her weight was keeping her from slipping to the floor. Still her hands stuck tight to the crystal.
Jeni grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. “Break free! You have to stop this now!” she cried.
Odif’s muscles began to spasm. She sucked in a small breath then a larger one. “Can’t...stop...now. Still alive.” She then shook her head, pleading, “Oh, Goddess, don’t get up, not again!” Even as she pleaded, she rose up from the table.
Chez’s eyes went round. “He got up after that?”
“Not again.” Odif cried, shaking her head.
Jeni shook her. “Tell me, what is happening!”
***
Odif/Eric staggered towards the vlak by the rock pile. “No more, please, stop,” she whined. Seeing something sprawled on the ground, he did stop. It w
as Tayan.
***
“Tayan’s on the ground, his legs, his guts, they’re crushed,” she gasped. “That thing did this.” Her voice became harder and deeper. “That thing did this!” Odif stopped shaking and crying. Her mouth curled back into a snarl, her eyes became hard, touched with madness. Deep in her chest, a whining growl started. Low at first, it increased in volume with every breath until she was screaming at the top of her lungs.
Jeni was afraid to touch her as she twitched and screamed. Seeing the look on her face, Chez had retreated a safe distance away. It looked like she was going to start ripping at anything within reach. For the next few moments, all she did was flex her muscles and scream.
Once Odif calmed down and sat heavily on the chair, Jeni sat gingerly beside her. “What’s happening now?”
Her gaze was loosely fixed on the orb as she said. “Killed the vlak, going back to Tayan. Got to save him...somehow.” She shut her eyes, face screwed up in thought. “Got to keep him from getting worse...preserve him...” Her eyes snapped open. “The bag! He put him in the bag to save his life." Odif regained her feet. "Getting up...got Parson by the shirt.” Her face became hard again. “You get my son to a priest, get him healed or I will find you!”
“Sir Parson?” Chez asked. He knew of the knight--he was considered very brave and was very highly respected. “Who is this we’re seeing?” he asked Jeni.
“My husband,” she said harshly. Calmer, she added, “His name is Eric Redman.”
“Redman?” he asked, blowing out an excited breath. “The Red Man? I saw the Red Man?”
“Yes, now be quiet!”
Odif was standing stock-still now, as if she were studying something in front of her. The vision totally consumed her. She faced a dark shape. Around it, everyone was lying on the ground. They didn’t look dead but more like they were asleep. Odif struggled to get as close to her father’s mind as she could--brawn alone was not going to defeat this thing. His thoughts became hers.
Standing a few paces away was the thing that had attacked him in Old Castle. It looked mostly like a black-haired human woman. That was its shape, but it also had a large pair of leathery wings on its back and long, sharp horns curving back on its forehead. The details of its features were hard to make out; its hands were resting on its hips as it regarded him.
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