by JD Franx
“I’ll try.” He sighed, standing slowly with his hands held above his head, the fire opal between his thumb and forefinger. “We mean you no harm, Sir,” he said, raising his voice. “We came here looking for you. We’re hoping you could answer some questions for us.”
Clearly not fooled, the old man shook his head. “I have no answers for anyone, and there is nothing I can help you with. Leave, now!”
“Make something up, Cormack. Calm him down and get us closer,” Dominique whispered into his hand, so the hermit didn’t see.
“Sir? Please?” Cormak tried again. “We’ve heard that you’re a skilled alchemist. We’ve travelled from the city to find you and lost most of our companions to the bladed traps a mile or so behind us. Please, just a moment of your time, we’ve come for help, looking for healing medicines.”
“You ain’t after meds, gobshite. How dense ya think I am? You’re after what they’re all after. This,” he said calmly, pulling a sword handle with no blade from his belt. A gem on the pommel flashed in the sunlight. Cormack squinted, trying to see what the man held.
The old man yelled again. “Last chance, Holy Joes. Go back and leave me be.”
“Fuck this shit and this old man,” Dominque snarled, standing. “Distract him, Cormack. Shasta, put a bolt in his foot.” His first mate obeyed immediately, reaching for the small crossbow slung across her back.
Cormack dug through his pouch of runestones, muttering. “Bad, bad idea, Dom. Something’s not right...” He looked up as the old man’s words reached his ears. Reaching blindly for both Dominique and Shasta as she followed her captain’s command, Cormack stared helplessly. The old man smiled, waving as he spun the sword pommel in his hand and pressed the red gem.
“Get down!” Cormak yelled. Shasta stared at her section of shield. It flared with strength as the runecaster did what he could to rebalance the magic. In an instant, Shasta realized he pushed his share to her and Dominique.
The meadow heaved, exhaling fire and thunder. Cormack’s shield flared to life, but quickly winked out after absorbing a massive amount of concussive pressure. A second blast erupted under Shasta’s feet, swarming her, Dominique, and the wizard in fire and tossing them through the air as rocks and dirt swirled in their vision. Pain swallowed all conscious thought as Shasta struck the ground.
Cormack cursed. “Dammit, Dominique,” he slurred, and lost consciousness.
Screeching birds flew from the trees and animals bolted into hiding as the shockwave rolled over the mountain range. Minutes passed before the dust settled and a calm quiet returned to the grove. Shasta could hear giddy laughter, like a young girl, or a crazy old man. Her vision wavered as she tried to remain conscious.
Eamon O’Leary’s cackling laughter echoed across the meadow as he sat down on his porch. “Effing gougers never learn.” Shasta heard him snort as the darkness closed-down her mind. His last words barely reached her in time. “Magic never stands up to good old fashioned Irish boom.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“News from DormaSai has been quiet. According to our wizards and several fleets, the rebellion was successful. The castle in Drae’Kahn succumbed to the siege, thanks to an infiltration group led by the rebel’s military strategist, Nekrosa Kohl. He now sits as king of DormaSai, and for all the reports we get, it appears most claim he is rebuilding two hundred years of damage caused by the Azmerack family during their reign of necromantic terror. Few reports state that this man is also a prodigal necromancer. I certainly hope not; DormaSai has suffered enough under the cold hands of death callers.”
Excerpt from ArchWizard Zirakus’ report to Talohna’s Elder and Wizard Councils on the post-rebellion status of DormaSai, 5015 PC
DASAL
Ember, Yrlissa, and Seifer walked to the lower open air square where most of the city markets and vendor stalls who dealt in food and travel supplies were located. Max was talking to a merchant at a stall selling dried goods like meat and fruit. The vendor also had some dried vegetables that would travel well and allow for healthier, warm meals. With a full three weeks of journeying ahead of them, he was buying as much as he could, but the three of them on their own had very little money compared to Giddeon and the others, so he was trying to haggle a better price from the merchant; Ember could see it was not going well.
“Problems, Max?” Yrlissa asked in a sarcastic, but sweet voice.
“You could say that,” he grumbled. “This merchant doesn’t want to deal on his goods. He wants my bow in exchange for the amount of food we need. Asshole.” He swore at the merchant, who only smiled in return.
“That’s because he knows what your bow is worth more than you do. Orotaq bows are priceless and you are the only person besides an Orotaq Arkas to have one. You can’t blame him for trying.” she said, smiling. Then turning to the merchant, she said, “The bow is not for sale or trade, peddler. Do you want our business or not?”
Smiling, the merchant nodded. “Always, child of TaCeryss, but the price is seven gold for what the big man wants. Or the bow.”
“We don’t have seven gold, Yrlissa, not even close. Fucking little crook,” Max snapped.
Seifer stepped up beside Yrlissa, placing a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Morning, Malikai, business going well?”
“It’s all right, Master Locke, steady as always.” Ember smiled; the merchant was lying in order to protect his argument.
“These good people are my friends, Malikai,” Seifer said. “And they are Kael’s friends. This is Ember, Kael’s real wife. This is Max. He and Kael are like brothers. Did your son, Tavin, get the medicine your granddaughter needed, Malikai?” Seifer asked.
The merchant’s face turned bright red as he looked to the ground and mumbled, “You know he bought it, Master Locke He told me you were there when he paid your captain’s sister.”
“Little Namara is feeling better, I hope?”
Still too embarrassed to look up, the merchant nodded. “She is, Master Locke. She was just here helping me open and getting some fresh air for the first time in months. Thank you for asking about her, and please thank Mistress Dara for the elixir when you see her.”
“I will, Malikai, and I’m sorry... very sorry to have to remind you where your son got the money to pay for her medicine, but Kael paid your son two gold coins for a couple coppers’ worth of paint, did he not? And Mistress Dara only asked your son to pay for the fleshleaf needed to enhance the strength of the elixir so it would help Namara, did she not?”
“She did, Master Locke, and I’m sorry, it’s just times are hard, she has been sick for so long, and not everyone was truthful or helpful like Mistress Dara was. We have no money left, and she still is going to die... You know that. But at least we will have some time with her now.” Ember’s heart dropped to her stomach as the merchant’s eyes turned red and glossed over with moisture.
“I understand, Malikai, I do, but charging unfair prices for your goods is not right and can get you tossed from the Merchant’s Guild, should they find out. Myself and Dara consider your family our friends. I don’t want to see you lose your livelihood over a few gold, right?” The merchant nodded as he finally looked up, his face red with embarrassment.
Ember said nothing as the conversation played back and forth, her thoughts kept drifting to the news about Kael travelling with another woman. Though she had not been listening that closely, the merchants last few words seemed to snap her back, as if her mind had heard him without her consciously being aware of it it.
“Excuse me?” she asked “If you don’t mind my asking, what is wrong with your granddaughter?”
“We don’t know, Mistress, but she is very ill. It is known only as the wasting sickness. She feels better now and she can walk a bit after Mistress Dara helped, but she cannot cure her. No one knows what is wrong,” he said.
“Can you tell me how it started, and everything that happened afterwards?” Ember asked, a frown creeping onto her face. The merchant nodded and sat on a wood
en stool to the side of his stall.
“She was three when it started,” he began, looking up at Ember. She nodded for him to keep going. “It was nothing bad at first,” he continued. “She would bump into things or drop the spoon when she was eating, but from there it got much worse. She was tired all the time and she would get muscle spasms and cramps that wouldn’t go way. Her little muscles seemed to be vanishing even though she was still eating, and she would just fall over sometimes when sitting. It got worse as the years went on, and then about six months ago she could no longer walk. She was even beginning to have trouble breathing. It was terrifying. My son’s wife died birthing her, so she is all he has left. We knew it wouldn’t be long before she passed, but the fleshleaf we needed is so expensive. It doesn’t grow here, so it must be imported. Kael gave my son the gold to get it by purchasing some cheap ink. My son tried to tell him it was worth much less, but...” he finished, trailing off.
Ember felt her eyes mist with moisture as Malikai looked down at his feet not wanting to say any more. It sounded exactly like the Kael she knew and loved.
Reasserting self-control over her emotions, she cleared her throat. “I... I’m sorry, Malikai, for everything. But how about we make a deal? You give my friend here a fair deal on the supplies we need and I will come see your granddaughter. Maybe I can help her. Sound fair?” she asked.
He nodded. “Two gold is a fair price, Mistress, but you need not come see her. You will not be able to help Namara anyway. The Blessed Fae wouldn’t be able to help her were they not so many millennia gone from our world.”
Putting her hand on his shoulder, Ember let a trickle of magic flow into the old man, her only intention to give him hope. “The Fae are not as far away as you think, Malikai, and it won’t hurt Namara any for me to see her, will it?” she asked, whispering. He gave her a smile and nodded his agreement.
“Malikai,” Seifer said, just as they were about to leave. “I’ll go let Tavin know that Namara is having some special visitors, all right?”
“Thank you, Master Locke,” Malikai said, as he waved to the wizard.
Most of what Malikai had for sale, Max took. Paying the old man the two gold Yrlissa had given him, he began packing it up for the horses as the merchant closed up his stall.
“Meet you at the stables when you’re done?” Max asked, getting a nod from Yrlissa.
Malikai led Ember and Yrlissa on the long walk back to his house. He told them eight-year-old Namara would be resting.
Ember noticed Yrlissa staring at her as they walked back to Malikai’s. “What is it?” she asked.
“You know what is wrong with the girl, do you not?” she answered.
“I might.”
“Can you help her?”
Ember glanced at Yrlissa and smiled. “If I am right about what is wrong, then I hope so. She will die before too much longer if my suspicions are correct.”
“What is it?” Yrlissa asked, as they started up the massive stone steps leading from the market square.
“On Earth we have a disease called muscular dystrophy. Well, it’s not really a disease, I guess, though it is usually called so. It’s a genetic disorder, where the body cannot make what our muscles need to grow and work properly.” She tried to explain while keeping in mind Talohna’s drastically different approach to medicine.
Yrlissa frowned, looking around as if to make sure no one was within earshot and to make sure Malikai was still well ahead of them.
“The Fae could heal most things. Not usually mortal wounds and some poisons, Ember, but diseases, yes. What you are could... will change this world. You have already started to change it, I believe. But we must be careful. Many would seek to take you for their own selfish reasons. You must remember that you cannot help everyone. You are only one, you are the last, and you are important,” she warned.
“Maybe, but someone gave birth to me and someone took me to Earth, which means there are other Fae somewhere. And I’m starting to learn what people are like in this world. A little too quickly in fact, but one little girl is not everyone, is she? Besides, I’m not helpless, especially with you and Max to help keep me safe, right?”
Yrlissa smiled. “Always, and your heart is true to the Fae. They would never have turned away from someone in need, even if it meant their life. But please be careful. I’ve read stories from ancient times when countries fought wars over Fae-trained healers, let alone a real Fae like you.”
Ember smiled, nodding in agreement as they saw Malikai wave that they had arrived.
Ember and Yrlissa entered the small stone and mortar, single story house. With only three rooms, it was warm and cozy. Malikai led Ember to the back bedroom where a young girl was resting on a small bed. She was awake and sat up when her grandfather entered the room. Ember noticed she almost fell face forward when her body was unable to stop her forward momentum from sitting up.
“Papa!” The little girl smiled from ear-to-ear. “You are home early today. I am so happy to see you!”
“As am I to see you, my little princess,” he said, giving her a hug. “I have brought a friend to see you. Her name is Ember, and she would like to see if maybe she can help you feel better, all right?”
“All right, Papa, but I feel good for now, and we can worry about later when it comes, right?” she said, bravely.
“That is right, my brave girl, but you tell Mistress Ember what she wants to know and be a good girl, like always.”
Namara smiled. “Yes, Papa.”
Ember sat on the side of the bed and placed her hand on Namara’s knee, careful to be gentle. The contact would allow her to feel what was wrong as they talked.
“Hi, Namara, my name is Ember. I hear you haven’t been feeling well for quite some time, huh?”
“Yes, Mistress. I know it cannot last but I have been feeling a little better, and I can walk again now, most of the time. And I only fall a few times a day now. The last two days, anyway,” she rambled, nervously.
“I see,” Ember commented, smiling, though a part of her mind was far away concentrating on the little girl’s sickness.
“Namara?” Ember asked. “Would you like to feel better all the time, and never fall or bump yourself again, and be able to run all day and play with your friends outside?”
Namara’s eyes took on a haunted look as her voice lowered to a whisper. “Yes, Mistress, but Father and Papa told me that only the Blessed Fae could help me, and they have gone from this world thousands of years ago,” she sniffed, and wiped her nose before continuing in a whisper that Ember could just make out. “It’s all right, Mistress. I only wish my Father and Mama and Papa would stop crying all the time. It makes me sad.”
Ember took Namara’s hands in hers, and leaned forward. “Would you like to know a secret about the Fae, Namara?”
Namara’s uneasy smile nearly broke Ember’s heart. “Papa says the Fae will never return to our world because they have all died, and Father says that they will never come back because people have become too mean and bad so the Fae don’t want to be here any more.”
“Oh, baby girl,” Ember chuckled. “There is so much more to it than that. I don’t know why we left this world,” Ember winked, offering a mischievous smile as the green of her eyes flared bright with power. “But I promise you, sweetie, that we have returned. Well, one of us has,” Ember said, waiting for Namara to catch what she said. It took only moments before her eyes popped open and Ember was afraid they might burst if they grew any bigger.
“Yes, sweetie, I’m not Human,” Ember whispered. “Though we look mostly like you do. I’m the only Fae in this world right now, Namara, and nobody else knows. Do you think you can keep that secret for me?” Though she said it to Namara, Ember was staring at Malikai. His eyes were as large as his granddaughter’s.
“Does... Do... Can you really help her then? C-cure her?” he stuttered. Ember smiled, the reason for her love of most people becoming clear. Back home, she had begun her studies to be a doct
or, Kael’s injury being the initial incident that drove her to try and help, and then later, the social injustices of Extended Life Medicine, or ELA as it was called, drove her on further. It was all so clear to her now.
Another piece of the wall inside her mind crumbled away, bigger this time, spilling forth more knowledge and memories that were not hers.
“Yes, Malikai. I think I can help her,” she answered. Turning to the little girl, she asked, “Would you like for me to help you, Namara? Make all this go away and make sure it never comes back?”
Namara sobbed. “Please, Mistress... Ye-yes... Pl-please.”
“Then lay back and close your eyes. When you wake up, perhaps what is wrong with you will be gone,” she said.
As soon as she was laying on her back and comfortable, Ember caressed her cheek, putting Namara into a deep sleep. Tavin, Namara’s father, burst through the front door and into the bedroom at the same moment his daughter slumped unconscious.
“What did you do to her?” he screamed. Stepping forward, he snatched Ember’s arm, jerking her from the bed. “Get away from her,” he growled. Before he could finish speaking, a metal blade slipped around his neck and pressed on his throat drawing blood.
“Let go her, now, or your daughter will be an orphan,” Yrlissa hissed, and pressed her blade harder against the artery on the left side of his neck. Tavin released his grip, and Ember spun back to the bed to check on Namara.
“Wait! Mother Inara, stop!” Seifer yelled, as he burst through the door of the small house. “Everyone please, just calm down. Tavin, they’re here to help. Why didn’t you listen? You just took off.” Even with the partial explanation, Yrlissa wouldn’t release the girl’s father.
“I overheard the ArchWizard talking about an assassin here in the city, when they came to the far market. I assumed that after I helped Kael, someone hired her to get back at us. Lircang might be dead, Master Locke, but his associates aren’t.”
“Assani’s blood, are you stupid?” Yrlissa snapped. “Is the girl all right, Ember? Had you started yet?”
