“Calm yourselves,” came a voice from the other side. “I’m coming.”
Falcon kicked again. “Hurry up!”
The door opened and Falcon came face to face with a familiar face. Father Lucien. In his hand he carried a mug of steaming red tea. He dropped it to the floor, scattering the hot contents everywhere. “Bring her in.”
Falcon followed the father to an empty bed in the corner of the room. He slowly set Iris down, careful to not hurt her any further.
Father Lucien ran his hands over Iris’s forehead. “What happened?”
“She’s been poisoned,” said Faith, her voice trembling. “But I couldn’t remove the poison, even with my holy wielding.”
Father Lucien shook his head. “You’re a holy wilder?”
“Yes. But like I said, my wielding was not helpful.”
“Well then, this is troublesome. Holy wielders are said to be the ultimate healers, and if you couldn’t heal her, I don’t think I’ll be much help. I’m a simple part-time medic.”
Falcon’s eyes darted from the father to Faith. “So is there anything either of you can do? I’m sure together you can figure something out.”
Father Lucien put his head over Iris’s chest. “Her heartbeat is faint.” He bent down and examined her face.
Falcon stepped back as dark rims appeared around Iris’s eyes and mouth. He could spend an entire day in battle. But here, among healers, he was but a novice.
Father Lucien looked defeated. “The fact that the poison is appearing in dark circles suggests that it’s working extremely fast. I think we only have a few minutes.”
Faith closed her eyes and shook her head. Once in a while she would mutter, “No” or “That won’t work either.”
Falcon tapped Faith’s arm. “Are you—”
“Shhh…” said Father Lucien. “Can’t you see she’s trying to find a solution?”
“I can see a light,” Iris mumbled.
Falcon’s clammy hands took hold of the girl’s arm. His heartbeat intensified as he shook her. “Hey. Don’t go to sleep.”
“We need to extract the poison,” said Faith, her eyes opening.
The father shook his head. “You said you already tried that and failed. Why would it work this time?”
“Bring me the surgical tools,” ordered Faith.
The father ran to a small study at the corner of the room. He opened a desk and pulled out a brown bag. Huffing loudly, he rushed back to Faith.
Falcon remained nervous and confused. “How is that going to help?”
“I’m lost too,” said Father Lucien.
Faith took the bag and pulled out a long silver knife. She handed it to the father. “You’re going to cut exactly where I tell you.”
Father Lucien took the knife. “M…me? But I’m not even a surgeon.”
“Today you are,” said Faith. She ran her finger behind Iris’s ear. “I want you to cut there, and only there.”
“Yes,” said Father Lucien. With trembling hands he set the knife where he had been instructed.
Faith took his hand. “Calm down and wait for me to tell you when.” She turned to Falcon. “I need you to hold her down. I can’t have her squirming.”
Falcon set his hands on Iris’s shoulders and pressed down.
Faith put her hand over Iris’s face and mumbled. The white emblem glowed with intensity as the dark lines around the girl’s eyes moved in a snake-like manner toward the ear.
The fact that Iris didn’t even flinch told Falcon how close they were from losing her. His mouth went dry at the thought.
“Now,” said Faith.
Father Lucien pierced as Faith had told him. Dark blood gushed out of the cut. After a few seconds the blood turned a normal red.
Iris opened her eyes. “What happened? Where am I?”
“You’re fine now,” said Faith, as she covered the cut with a towel. “Lay down and rest.”
Falcon Lucien stared at Faith with admiration. “You knew that you couldn’t pull the blood all the way. So you gathered it in one spot and took it out with an incision. Amazing. Simply amazing.”
“It was nothing,” said Faith. “I’m just glad Iris is well.”
Despite Faith’s humility, Falcon couldn’t help feeling proud of her. She was truly remarkable.
Faith’s face turned red as her gaze met Falcon’s. “Why are you looking at me that way?”
“Oh, sorry.” He shook his head. “Listen. You two look over Iris. I’m going to have a talk with the owner of the restaurant. He knows something, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
“Yes,” said Faith, “but you heard him. He said he didn’t have anyhing to do with the poisoning.”
“Of course he said that. But who else could it have been? It has to be him.”
“I’m not too sure,” Faith insisted. “I’m pretty good at telling when people are lying, and the man seemed truthful.”
Falcon wasn’t convinced. “I guess we’ll find out, wont we?” As he reached for the handle, the door swung open.
A boy stumbled in. “Help me!” He had the same dark lines around his eyes and mouth. He was pale and sweat dripped from his hair. “Please…” The boy collapsed. Falcon caught him before he fell to ground. With the help of Father Lucien, he set him on one of the empty beds.
“What did you drink or eat?” asked Falcon.
“He’s passed out,” said Father Lucien as he listened for the boy’s heartbeat.
“It appears to be the same poison Iris had,” said Faith. “We have to remove it.”
“Help me!”
Falcon turned to the sight of a whimpering woman. In her hands she held an unconscious young girl. Her arms and legs dangled uselessly. Her lips and eyes were rimmed with darkness.
“My baby!” yelled the hysterical woman. “Something is wrong with her.”
“Set her down here,” ordered Faith, motioning to one of the empty beds.
The woman did as instructed.
Faith pulled out a clean knife from the bag and handed it to Father Lucien. “You know what to.”
The healers went to work.
Falcon faced the woman. “What did your daughter have to drink or eat this morning?”
“Nothing to eat. All she had was a mug of water. But it couldn’t have been that. That water was fresh.”
As Faith and the father finished working on the boy, another woman came in clutching a girl in her arms.
Water? Falcon stood, lost in thought. That was the same thing the restaurant owner had told him. Which meant the man had been telling the truth.
“I’ll be back,” said Falcon.
“Where are you going?” asked Faith.
“To warn everyone about the water.” As he headed for the city square, the same question raced through his head. If it wasn’t the owner who had poisoned the villagers, who had?
~~~
It was midday when Falcon marched into the inn. Faith sat on a red sofa with her face dug into her hands.
“How are the children?” asked Falcon.
Faith looked up. “Better. They’ll all be fine in a few days.”
“That’s good.”
“I would feel better if we knew who did this. What are we going to do?”
“I’m afraid there is nothing we can do. We’ve done what we can by tending to the children and figuring out the source of the poison. But no, we must keep moving. The authorities from K’vitch will have to figure out who is behind this.”
“I can’t abandon them,” said Faith. “They need my healing abilities.”
Falcon rubbed his eyes, pondering what to do. He had to continue on with his mission. But, at the same time, he couldn’t leave Faith behind. What if one of those psychos came looking for her?
All of a sudden, a guard rushed into the inn. “It happened again.”
“What happened?” said Falcon. “Has someone else been poisoned?”
“No,” said the guard, struggling to ca
tch his breath. “Even worse.”
Worse? What could possibly be worse than a poisoning?
Faith stood. “Is Iris in trouble?”
The guard lowered his gaze. “That’s the thing. I don’t know. All the children from the infirmary have disappeared.”
CHAPTER 15
Falcon rushed into the empty infirmary, followed closely by Faith.
“I don’t see her,” said Faith, gasping for air.
Father Lucien sat silently on a dark chair, staring at the floor. “She was taken.”
“Yes, we can see that,” said Falcon, sighing in frustration. “Do you have any information that is actually helpful?”
Father Lucien nodded his head. “Still letting your emotions get the better of you, I see.”
Falcon stared at the man, refusing to answer. This wasn’t about him. It was about Iris.
“I was in my dormitory when I heard what sounded like a window panel sliding open. I made great haste and managed to catch the culprit sneaking out that window, carrying young Iris over his shoulder.”
Falcon examined the window. “What about the other children? The kidnapper couldn’t possibly have carried all four of them at once.”
“Maybe it was done over multiple trips,” said Faith. She examined the shattered glass. “But what use is there for kidnapping Iris? And why break the window after going to such lengths to keep quiet?”
“I have no idea.” Falcon stared out the window. “But these tracks lead into the forest. My guess is that he wasn’t counting on Father Lucien walking in on him.”
The father stood from his chair. “What makes you think it’s a he and not a she?”
“Just a hunch. There are not many women who could run out through a window with a body in tow.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Father Lucien agreed. “Regardless. I’m sorry that I was unable to be of more assistance.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Falcon hurried outdoors, motioning for Faith and the father to follow. The moonlight illuminated a path of bent and cracked branches leading into the forest. “You seemed to have startled our friend enough to make him sloppy.”
“And leave a path for us to follow,” Faith added.
“But I’m afraid the moonlight is not nearly enough,” said Father Lucien. “You won’t be able to pick up the tracks until morning. By then Iris could be forever lost, or worse.”
Faith put one hand to the sky. “Lihtan.” In an instant, dozens of small dancing lights appeared in front of her. They converged, creating a fist-sized ball of bright light that illuminated the path before them.
The father stared in awe. “You are truly full of surprises.”
Faith smiled and turned to Falcon. “After you?”
“Yes, let’s move.”
“Fortune be with you,” said Father Lucien as Falcon and Faith moved into the thick forest.
“Thank you, sir,” said Faith.
Falcon remained quiet. This culprit had made a big mistake. Falcon had grown fond of Iris in the short time he’d known her. When he found the kidnapper, he would make him regret ever laying his hands on her.
Deeper and deeper they went.
“Wait,” said Faith.
Falcon stopped. “Why?”
Faith leaned down and picked up a piece of a broken branch. The ball of light glided above her, moving up and down as if floating on water. “These tracks aren’t right.”
Falcon stared at the path of footsteps leading to the East. “What’s the problem? Let’s continue on.”
Faith scanned her surroundings. “There.” She pointed toward the southwest.
Falcon stared at where Faith had pointed, but no matter how much he scrutinized, he couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to be looking at. All he saw were the same dark trees and plants.
“The tracks leading to the East are too deliberate, almost as if someone wants us to follow them,” said Faith.
“We don’t have much of a choice. It’s the only lead we have to follow.”
“No.” Her eyes remained fixed to the southwest. “You see these mooningdale plants?”
Falcon stared at the small insignificant green stems that burst from the forest floor. “Yes, what of them?”
“These plants naturally grow with a slight arch toward the East. But these flowers are all ramrod straight. Someone tampered with them.”
Falcon took a look at the flowers, recalling that Faith had spent her entire childhood roaming the woods of Asturia.
“But Father Lucien only saw one person, not two. Who could have had the time to create a fake set of footprints?”
“Maybe it wasn’t someone else.”
Falcon narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Faith lowered her voice, as if someone might overhear their private conversation. “What if it was some type of wielding?”
“I never heard of any wielding that could do that.”
“Exactly. It could be some type of dark wielding…or worse.”
Falcon winced at the sudden ache in his chest. There was only one element that he knew worse than darkness. It was an element that raged within him—chaos.
“If I’m right,” said Faith, “it could mean that the Suteckh are involved with all disappearances, or maybe even Volcseck.”
“Then we have no time to waste,” said Falcon with renewed vigor. “I can’t wait to get my hands on that monster.”
“Don’t go too overboard,” she said as she stepped over the flowers. She moved in zig-zags without saying a word. Once in a while she would stop and pick up a slab of rock, or sniff a nearby plant. But then she would continue on at a determined pace.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” he asked, wary to voice his doubts. He had no desire to hurt her feelings. “I haven’t seen any tracks in ages.”
“I'm sure,” she assured him. “It’s not always what you see, Falcon. Sometimes it’s what you don’t see.”
Falcon nodded as if he actually understood what she was talking about.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at a small clearing.
“There’s nothing here.”
Faith moved forward to a trio of thick leaved bushes. “Dorrington bushes don’t naturally grow this close together. Someone planted them, almost as if they were trying to…” She grunted as she pushed the husky branches to the side, revealing an entrance to a dark cave. “Hide something.”
“Great job,” said Falcon, glad that he had decided to trust Faith.
She nodded. “I say we move in quietly from here on out. We don’t want to alert whoever is in here that we stumbled onto their hideout.”
“Yes,” agreed Falcon, his admiration growing for the young holy wielder.
They crept through the thin cave, their only source of brightness coming from the light floating above them. Falcon made out the tan cave walls. There was writing on some of them, as if someone had taken a rock to them. He read the messages quietly.
He will be upon the world.
No one can stop him.
The deeper they moved into the cave, the more erratic the messages became. Even the writing itself grew increasingly abnormal, as if a crazed lunatic had etched it.
His stomach turned as he continued to read.
The tRue mastER awakens.
VolCsecK is but a PreTENDer.
ChAOs to the World.
Chaos CHAos CHAOS cHaos.
Judging by Faith’s trembling lips, Falcon mused she was having the same thoughts as him. Was Shal-Volcseck somehow involved in this?
A sudden high-pitched voice forced Falcon back to reality.
“Whoever is speaking sounds close,” whispered Faith. “It doesn’t seem like they know we’re here.”
Falcon nodded and signaled Faith to keep following the voice. He was eager to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Seconds later, the tunnel came to an abrupt end. They stood in a massive opening. The high domed-s
haped rock ceiling easily reached over thirty feet high. Crystal-clear water flowed through an opening in the ceiling and into the cave, falling gently into a pool of water.
Falcon ignored the scenery as his eyes settled on the dozens of human-sized crystals that lay side-by-side, creating a circle of gems. Inside each of the gems lay a child, including Iris. Each child had their eyes closed and their hands by their side.
“Those poor children,” said Faith, concern in her voice. “Do you think they’re still alive?”
“I hope so,” answered Falcon as he noticed a cloaked figure at the center of the room, chanting in a raspy masculine voice. At first his voice was barely audible, but with each passing second it grew in volume until it became a shout.
“Do you understand anything he’s saying?” asked Falcon.
“No, but it sounds a lot like a summoning chant, doesn’t it?”
Falcon’s eyes widened as he realized Faith was right. Only advanced element summoning used ancient languages. He had to act quickly before the summoning could be finished. Without much of a plan, he hopped down to the hard floor, landing with a loud thump.
From within the veil, Lakirk’s brow rose in recognition.
Falcon stumbled back. “What are you doing here?”
The mayor’s son flashed a grin. “Oh, it’s you. I knew you coming to K’vitch would prove troublesome.”
“Lakirk? But why?” stuttered Faith as she landed behind Falcon. “These are the children of the village. The same village your father is mayor of.”
Lakirk tossed the cloak aside, revealing a patch of untamed hair. His eyes darted back and forth between Falcon and Faith as he licked his lips. “Please. That failure is no father of mine.”
“His mind is broken,” said Falcon. “Who knows what kind of dark arts he’s been dwelling in.”
Lakirk cackled loudly as he clutched his stomach. “Oh no, not darkness. I serve something far greater.”
“Greater?” echoed Falcon, taking a step forward. Perhaps he could slowly close the distance between them and put an end to this madness.
Lakirk held up his index finger and moved it side to side. “Stay back, Rohad. If you make another move I’ll cut these roots and you can say goodbye to the poor children, including your little friend.”
Void Wielder 2 Legacy of Chaos Page 11
