“Because this belongs to me and Luke,” Kira declares with a quivering voice. Seeing the determination in the half-elf’s face, she is angry that her words are falling on deaf ears. “He’s the only family I have left. If we can’t save him then I’m alone. This was our special place and would be one of the few things I have left of him. All I’m asking is that we find another way to get out of here.”
Delvin clears his throat and raises his hand to bring everyone’s attention to Zephyr. “That demon left some internal injuries that I don’t think I can heal. We need holy magic or he’s going to die within a day. I’m sorry, Kira, but Nyx is right. The longer we wait, the less time Zephyr and Luke have. Though, I do agree with you that setting the entire place on fire would probably be a disaster.”
“The point is that we don’t have time to be patient, Grasdon!” the channeler screams as twin sabers of flame sprout from her palms. Temper flaring, she spins the weapons so rapidly that they resemble fiery circles at her sides. “Don’t you realize that Luke is being tortured and this is only our first stop? As much as I understand what you’re saying and how important this place is to you, we can’t afford to be sentimental. Better to do whatever it takes to save Luke and lose a few keepsakes than save the past and lose him. If it helps, I’ll try to preserve as much of the pocket cabin as I can before I . . . how long have we been in here?”
“Almost a day,” Sari answers, scratching her head. The ice layer is melted by a surge of heat and she puts the water into a decanter in case she needs it later. “Wait a second. These things are supposed to turn back into tiny cubes after a day. We’re going to get crushed if we don’t do something soon. I really don’t want to side with Nyxie here, but we don’t have any alternatives. Sorry, Kira.”
The heiress lets herself cry while dropping her kusari-gama and falling to her knees. She is surprised when Timoran hands her the weapon and pats her on the head. Forcing a smile, Kira gets back to her feet and moves out of Nyx’s way. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she watches the channeler’s hands crackling with lightning and point at the door. The spell lances out and is about to strike when Timoran deflects it into the bathroom. Everyone watches the door slam shut, which is followed by an explosion and the sound of a vacuum sucking the energy out into whatever void surrounds them. Racing ahead of the others, Kira cracks the door open, but sees nothing more than darkness. A chilling wind seeps through the crack and gnaws at her throat, causing her to close the entrance and back away.
“I sensed that the easiest path might prove to be the most dangerous,” Timoran says, bowing his head toward Nyx as an apology. The barbarian runs his hand along the wall, stopping when he reaches the front door. “Our enemies understand us. They know we are worried and impatient, which means we will be reckless. You have taken the lead, fire sprite, and you are not known for being subtle when backed against a wall. Perhaps the answer to this puzzle is for us to not do what our instincts tell us to do.”
“That means you and I don’t use force,” Nyx replies while sitting on the floor. The creaking of contracting wood makes her wonder if she has the power to keep the pocket cabin open for longer. “Sari can’t pick the locks and Delvin can’t be the one to come up with a plan. No offense, big brother, but I think you’re wrong.”
“What if this isn’t really a test?” Dariana interjects when she catches a brief flicker of maliciousness from outside. Finding the crack in the cabin’s psychic shielding, she attempts to track the source, but she loses it in a sea of voices. “We keep thinking that my father is testing us. Yet that part of the game should have ended with the Spirit Well being purified. This is entirely about making us angry enough to come charging into his territory. Look at the situation now. Zephyr is dying and we are bickering with each other again. My father is causing us pain and winning before we face him on the battlefield.”
“Then what we do?” Fizzle asks while he strokes Zephyr’s face with his tail. Sniffing at his young friend, he recoils at the demonic scent and sends a puff of sweet-smelling breath into the bard’s mouth. “Fizzle not like this. We need plan. Force no work. Maybe ask to be let out? Game stop if we die here.”
“Let me try something,” Kira requests as she gets closer to the door. Placing her hands on the frame, she rests her forehead against the damp wood. “Please let us out of here. If we can’t use magic or weapons then we’re stuck. The game ends unless you open this door right now. If it helps then this means you win. Not everything, but this battle goes to you. Maybe now you can even tell how to beat the champions when you really need to. All I know is that we can’t figure out how to get out of here in time, so we surrender.”
Angry scowls meet Kira when she faces her friends, but nobody has time to speak. The dull curtains stretch across the room to tear holes in the other walls and reveal the hungry abyss on the other side. Ice grows around the kitchen, which begins to shatter and melt until it is nothing more than a puddle around a collection of metal pans. Floorboards curl at the edges and the corners creep toward each other as the portable cabin prepares to collapse. The remaining walls bloat outward for an instant before springing back into place with a loud boom. Every window explodes into the cabin and the shards fly through the air, none of them striking any of the diving prisoners. The pieces drift toward the ceiling to spell out a message, which is abruptly fired into the wall. Orange paint seeps from the tiny holes to make the two words clear to everyone in the cabin.
“Bored now!” declares a disembodied, ghostly voice.
The door to the pocket cabin opens and the prisoners are ejected into the bustling marketplace of Bor’daruk. With the building appearing out of nowhere, people scream in fear and many customers run away without waiting to see if there is any real danger. A circle of guards has surrounded the pocket cabin, which collapses into a palm-sized cube and releases a few motes of sparkling dust from its corners. The soldiers remain at their post, but the sight of Timoran charging the line causes them to ready their weapons. They relax when the large man leaps and twists to catch Zephyr, who was launched high into the air an instant before the small building imploded. The injured boy cries out in pain from the rough landing, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his lips. Nyx and Sari are immediately at the barbarian’s side to help him carry the bard to the nearest temple.
“Thank you,” Dariana whispers as she is helped up by a black-haired boy. She smiles at the pale-skinned youth and hands him a gold coin before he retreats back into the crowd. “There is a Cessia temple a few buildings down. I will run ahead to make sure our friends find it. I’m sorry to leave you two here to explain everything to the guards, but that isn’t really my strong suit anyway.”
“It won’t take long,” Delvin promises, noticing that Kira is already talking to the man in charge. He waits for the heiress to finish before catching her by the wrist and leaning in close to whisper in her ear. “What in all of Windemere were you thinking? You don’t announce a surrender to an enemy and tell them that they won. Now the Baron and his agents think we’re weak and inept without Luke.”
Kira frees her arm and jabs the warrior in the chest with her finger, the manicured nail snapping against his chainmail. “I know exactly what I did, Mercenary Prince. Our enemies believe us to be easily defeated and flustered. We give up when the pressure is too much. Just a hint of tension and we end up fighting amongst ourselves. No ability to think as a group when time is running out, so we surrender and hope for the best.”
“Like I said, weak and inept.”
“Then you owe me thanks.”
“For what?”
“This was a test to see how strong we are. Why would the Baron need to do that after watching us all this time?”
“Because . . . He has a new agent that doesn’t know about us. How did you know that?”
“I didn’t. Just figured by surrendering, somebody would underestimate us from now on.”
Delvin chuckles as they head for the nearby temple where
Dariana is waving from the front door. Neither of the warriors admit that they are examining every face they see and watching the rooftops for signs of lurking enemies. The sensation of being watched gets stronger with every step, but they know it could be because of how slowly they are walking and the way their eyes dart from one direction to another. By the time Kira and Delvin reach the gold-plated doors of the Luck Goddess temple, the two warriors are ready to jump at their own shadows.
*****
The Cessia Temple’s small gambling parlor is filled with the constant sound of jingling coins. Shouts and laughter echo off the marble walls as visitors enjoy a wide variety of games, most of which come from foreign lands. The people of Bor’daruk have found card games more entertaining than anything with dice, so there are large mobs around those tables while the rest have been commandeered by children playing for candy. Ten private areas have been roped off around an obsidian fountain that is shaped to look like Cessia, complete with a dress of coins that turns the falling water into a colorful mix of silver and gold. Running along the edge of the room, a line leads to the local fortune teller who sits in an adjoining chamber and reads the palms of any hand that is put through a hole in the wall. Priests and priestesses of the Luck Goddess move about the crowd, each one carrying a tray of charms that have been enchanted for a one time boost of good fortune. Guarded by a robed warrior wielding a die-shaped flail, a single staircase runs to the next floor, which is reserved for healing and followers who wish to pray in solitude.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Delvin admits as he examines the ten cards in front of him. His companion’s calm face does nothing to help him make a decision, so he tosses out one with a knight. “The idea that somebody new is after us makes me think staying together is the best plan. We may move slower, but it means one group won’t find out that the other has been captured or killed. Then we have two rescue missions or worse.”
“This being said while our friends are on the other side of Bor’daruk’s wall,” Sari replies after putting a lightning bolt card on the knight. Drawing two more from the deck, her brow furrows at what she receives. “The group without Nyxie can’t continue the ritual anyway, so it isn’t like Kira and I can do much. All I’m saying is that we need to protect the others. You’re heading to the academy and the two of us will go to Freedom. Dariana is sending a message to Queen Tempest to keep an eye on Haven too. She said there’s a lot of chaos on the astral plane, so she doesn’t know when the request will arrive, so we can’t depend on getting much back-up this time.”
“That’s something, but I still don’t like it,” the warrior stubbornly claims, signaling for a young woman carrying drinks to come within reach. Stretching over the rope, he leaves her a gold coin in exchange for a glass of blue alcohol that reminds him of candy. “Timoran and I were talking about how Luke missing throws all of us off. Definitely some truth to that because I can’t seem to think straight, especially when planning a strategy. You’re coming up with better ideas than me, which I say with frustration at my own failings. What is driving you to think so clearly and not let the paranoia get to you?”
Laying down her cards, Sari weaves her hands through the air and creates a small illusion of herself on the table. The figure appears to be asleep among the cards while a shadowy figure rises from polished wood to circle her. With a few flicks of her fingers, the gypsy has her tiny double twist and squirm at the other phantom’s touch. Limbs bend in painful directions before snapping back into place and causing the illusion to scream without noise. With a swirling of vibrant colors, the vision changes to her being in a crystal coffin, which hovers over the cards. A tiny version of the Compass Key appears and flares with enough light to gain the attention of those at the other private tables. The illusion fades away as the tiny Sari reunites with images of her friends, a close up showing her smiling.
“Stephen did to me what the Baron is doing to Luke. Then again, the father might be worse than the son,” Sari explains while picking up her cards. She tosses a wyvern onto the pile and enjoys the grumble of looming defeat that comes from her moody friend. “I’m driven by my desire to rescue my friend before he breaks. That’s why I don’t entirely agree with this ritual plan. It sounds like it will take too long. Yes, we could end up walking into a trap, but we’d be together and Luke wouldn’t be as damaged as he’s going to be if we keep run into delays and distractions. This is supposed to be the final battle, Cunningham. How are we supposed to know that Gabriel didn’t plan for it to start this way?”
The warrior sips at his drink before drawing a card and immediately throwing it on the pile, the crimson dragon helping him stay in the game. “Because this puts everything in the Baron’s favor. We can argue about whose plan is better and what is happening to Luke all day. We agreed to follow Nyx’s lead, so the ritual is what we’re doing. Before you get angry, I do see where you’re coming from. In fact, I guess you’re right about us having to split up for a bit. The Baron can derail the ritual by going after Freedom or Haven while we’re heading to the academy. Even with teleporting from Helgard to the Spirit Well, we’ll be losing a few days and that puts the other places in danger.”
“I expected more of a fight from you.”
“Honestly, I don’t have it in me right now.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Just feeling like I can’t do this.”
“Me too, but I’m trying to be brave like Luke.”
“Not a bad idea. I’ll try to do the same.”
A shrill scream erupts from one of the card tables and the champions turn to see two men fighting. One of them is dressed in the robes of a Cessian priest while his attacker has stripped naked. The people nearest to the fight are trying to move away while others push forward to get a clearer view. A chorus of curses and shouts erupt when the melee knocks over a table, sending coins and cards onto the floor. A few greedy drunkards attempt to dive on the money, which causes more visitors to jump into the fray. Within a minute, a quarter of the room has been transformed into a chaotic mess of violence that threatens to envelope the entire temple. The champions can already sense a growing tension in the air and see people on the other side of the room balling their fists in preparation of a fight.
A curtain of rainbow smoke covers the brawling crowd at the same time as a sleep spell is unleashed by the High Priestess. The dark-skinned woman finishes coming down the stairs and signals for the guards to escort the fighters to the nearest jail. She nods to Fizzle as he swoops out of the collection of banners on the ceiling, the drite landing on the woman’s metal staff. He keeps his balance as the golden-haired priestess approaches Delvin and Sari, the pair having forgotten about their game. She gestures for them to sit before casting a silence spell over the table and handing each champion a coin adorned with a jester cap symbol. The holy item shimmers and gives off a soothing warmth that seeps into their skin.
“I feel you will need these considering your endeavor,” the High Priestess whispers softly even though they cannot be heard. She watches the unconscious guests get carried out of the temple and makes a silent prayer to Cessia for their quick recovery. “Your friend is healing nicely and will be able to travel in two days. He said that you will not be waiting for him because another of your companions is in danger. Captured by someone called Baron Kernaghan. That is a name I have been hearing a lot these last few days. Usually before a scene of madness ensues like you just witnessed.”
“This must be happening all over Windemere,” Sari says while anxiously biting her lower lip. She gives the Cessian coin a kiss before tucking it into one of her skirt pockets, the holy symbol granting her a little comfort. “How about this, Delvin? Kira and I will go to Freedom to warn our friends. After we get them to a safe place, we’ll head for Haven and do the same. Do you think we have to worry about Gaia and Stonehelm?”
The warrior stares at the gold coin before clenching it in his fist, the edge cutting into his callused palm. “Those a
reas are safe because this is about Luke. If Nyx and Timoran were targets then I’d be concerned. Still, I’ll ask Dariana to send a message to Rainbow Tower and another to Tigris Wrath. We should let all of our friends know that there is a small chance that danger could be heading their way. I’m going to find the others and get them moving. Where are you meeting Kira?”
“I’m right here,” the heiress says as she hands a small box to Delvin. The wooden container is edged with polished steel and there is an eye shaped lock on the front. “I put some food and water in there for all of you, but everything comes out once it’s opened. The best I could do on such short notice, but there’s nothing in there that will go bad within the next few days. I’m carrying a communication orb in my belt like you suggested. Sari and I have an hour before our ship leaves for Freedom. It’s a small transport vessel, but they recently lost their Waverunner halfling and are late on a delivery. That means Sari can get us there quickly, which is why the captain was only too happy to bring us on. Well, that and the money I gave him upfront.”
“In that case, I’ll head out and wish you two good luck,” the brown-haired warrior declares, earning a smirk from the High Priestess. Fizzle hops onto his shoulder and stretches his tongue to lick Kira and Sari on their cheeks in one slurp. “Take care of yourselves. Dariana will contact you as soon as we reach the academy. If anything goes wrong, we’ll call for you to drop whatever you’re doing and save us. You two do the same.”
“Thanks for letting us do this, Delvin. I know-” Kira begins to say before she is rocked by a coughing fit. She swats at Fizzle’s tail as he tries to strike her on the back like he has seen other people do. “I’m fine. Just got some saliva stuck in my throat. Guess it could have been worse like harsh alcohol or ice. Good luck and we’ll see you in Haven.”
Ritual of the Lost Lamb Page 8
