by Sam Ferguson
“Njar isn’t our enemy,” Kyra said.
Herion shook his head and sighed. “Then where is Leatherback?”
Kyra shrugged. “Let me go to the grove. I will look for him.”
“Out of the question,” Herion replied. “I can’t send you out there alone.”
“Then the priests will go with me,” Kyra said. “They trust me. They know I am not lying.”
“I don’t think you’re lying either,” Herion clarified. “I am only worried that you have been deceived.”
“Very well,” Kyra began, “then you can come with me too.”
“What?” Herion squawked. “Go traipsing about looking for a dragon that officially I have to pretend doesn’t exist or else the king will have my head? No, thank you!”
“You, me, and the priests. If we all go together, then you will see the truth of it.”
Herion opened his mouth to speak, but the door opened again.
“Oh for the love of the Ancients, what is it now?!” Herion shouted as he wheeled on the intruder.
To their surprise, Cyrus stood in the doorway. He bowed his head.
“I do apologize, but perhaps I could offer my assistance,” he said. “I will accompany Kyra to the grove.”
Herion narrowed his eyes on Cyrus. “Who told you about this?”
Cyrus snorted. “Does it matter?” he asked. “What matters is we have an old enemy that is meddling in our affairs. I will accompany Kyra, and then I will repay the satyr for what he did to our king those many years ago.”
“No!” Kyra said. “You cannot do this.”
Herion stroked his chin, then he nodded. “Very well,” he said.
Cyrus then held up a finger. “However,” he began, “I might wonder why an enemy would send us a fair warning.”
“What?” Herion replied.
Cyrus shrugged and looked to Kyra. He winked at her and then pointed to the letter. “You say he warned us of the attack. I just heard Lady Arkyn’s report of the event at Caspen Manor. I should say that I am of the opinion Njar is on our side in this fight.”
“What on Terramyr would make you say that?” Herion asked.
“A shade is a powerful enemy. Njar knows this. He knows that if he lets it fester, a shade’s nest can grow to uncontrollable power. I say, let me go and talk with the satyr. Let me see what kind of scheme he is playing at. If I feel like he is the same trickster from before, then I will kill him. However, if he is an ally, even a temporary ally of convenience, then I say we let him be.”
Herion bristled. “I can’t believe you are saying this. It’s an outrage!”
Cyrus smirked. “I thought Feberik was the one with the temper around here?”
Herion shook a finger at Cyrus. “Why should I go along with this?”
Kyra wanted to explain that Njar was helping her locate the garunda beasts that would lead her to the shade, but she dared not say that for fear the two wizards would lock her up for her own protection. She just stood there and watched the two old men argue until finally Cyrus held up his hand and said something that Herion had not been prepared to hear.
“I know why the satyrs attacked us,” Cyrus said.
Herion folded his arms and puffed air loudly to show his disbelief.
Cyrus was undeterred. “There were necromancers and warlocks among the king’s court,” Cyrus said.
“Hogwash!” Herion shouted. “Kuldiga Academy exists to hunt such foul creatures down. None would ever get so close as to be among the king’s court.”
Cyrus shook his head. “There were three that I am aware of. Two of them died in the attack, and one shadowfiend escaped.” Cyrus stepped in close to Headmaster Herion, his brow stern and his eyes alight with fury. “Herion, I know we haven’t walked the same path since that day. In fact, we never met again until I came to work here, but you know of my reputation. I hunt the darker creatures of magic. If anyone knows a shadowfiend, it’s me.”
“Then tell me, who was the shadowfiend that escaped?” Herion asked.
“His name is Dremathor,” Cyrus said flatly. “Of course that is not his true name, but it is the name we knew him by.”
“Dremathor is dead,” Herion countered.
Cyrus shrugged. “Perhaps, but I would doubt that very much. Just because someone has not been heard from in a long time does not mean they are dead.”
“When did you learn about this?” Herion asked.
“I went to his home, after the attack. The items I found therein left little to the imagination. I am telling you, he was a shadowfiend.”
“You are saying the satyrs lured us there in order to kill the necromancers, warlocks, and shadowfiends that had embedded themselves within the king’s court?” Herion shook his head. “I have heard some whoppers in my day, but this one tops them all.”
Cyrus sighed and shook his head. “Will you allow me to go with Kyra and investigate the matter?”
Herion thought for a moment, and then nodded his head. “All right. You may go, but you had better be right about this.”
Cyrus nodded.
Herion stormed out of the room without another word and slammed the door.
Cyrus turned and moved his finger in the air, the lock slid into place on the door to allow them some privacy. “A bit emotional, that one,” Cyrus commented.
Kyra burst into a fit of laughter and then sat on the bed. “Is everything you said true?” she asked.
Cyrus shrugged. “I can’t be certain, but that is what I’ve put together in the time since that attack. Besides, if Njar warned us about the assault on Caspen Manor, I see no reason to distrust him now. Even if he only desires self-preservation, it appears that the satyr is on our side.”
Kyra nodded. “I believe he only wants to help.” Her mind then turned to the things Njar had told her about before sending her to the academy. “Cyrus, the artifact you mentioned before, the one that the wraith attacked that boy for and the thing you thought my vampire father had, was it a dagger?”
Cyrus’ eyes shot wide and he looked at Kyra suspiciously. “Why do you ask?”
Kyra narrowed her eyes on the old wizard, as if puzzling it out in her own mind before telling him the rest. After a moment, confident that she was on to something, she proceeded to tell him what Njar had seen in the Pools of Fate. “Njar saw a dagger. He said he could see it in my mother’s possession, and then she used it to kill Bhaltair, my vampire father. After that, Njar said he lost track of the dagger, but the attack on Bhaltair is what awoke the shade and other creatures in the area. He thinks the dagger is at my house, and that’s why they attacked it.”
Cyrus nodded thoughtfully. “Then we have no time to lose. You go and wait for your dragon in the grove. I will go to Caspen Manor and search the place for the dagger. If it is there, I will find it, and destroy it.”
“Why destroy it?”
Cyrus stopped for a moment and looked her in the eyes. He nodded and finally opened his mouth. “You remember how I spoke of the creatures in Iverglendar, the underdark, right?”
Kyra nodded.
“This dagger can summon creatures from there, or possibly even from Hammenfein itself. It’s a very powerful relic, and it needs to be destroyed. If we get rid of it, the shade might even be forced to leave.”
“You can destroy it?”
Cyrus nodded. “To tell you the truth, the last time I fought a wylkin, it was in Bhaltair’s lair. He must have had the dagger in order to create a slave out of that terrible creature. Now that I realize your mother took it when we rescued her, it makes sense. Now, I just have to find where she put it, and then I can end this madness. You’ll be safe, and then you can focus on getting Leatherback out of here before the curse overtakes him.”
Kyra looked at the old wizard curiously. How did he know about that? She hadn’t mentioned to him that she was thinking of flying to the north. So how could he have known?
Cyrus smiled. “Don’t look at me like that. Leatherback isn’t just a friend
to you, he’s family, am I right?”
Kyra nodded.
Cyrus patted her on the back. “We’d all do anything to rescue our families.” He stood up and motioned to the floor. “Come on, we should go. You wait for Leatherback at the grove. I’ll go to your old house.”
“Are you sure it will be safe?” Kyra glanced at the door. “Headmaster Herion seemed pretty convinced that Njar was out to hurt us.”
Cyrus winked. “I think I would rather trust your instincts on this one. You have dealt with him the most recently. You would know by now if he wasn’t what he seemed. Let’s not give heed to doubts from an old man that has harbored hate for decades.”
Kyra nodded. She opened her portal and stepped through.
Cyrus waited until the portal closed and then he let out a wicked laugh. “Now I shall have the dagger, and soon I shall use it to slay those piddling warlocks and keep it for myself. Then, no one shall be able to stop me.”
The old wizard opened a portal to the woods outside of Caspen Manor and stepped through.
He exited the portal amidst a copse of twisted elm trees.
He could still smell the musty odor of the magic that had exploded nearby. It held a sulfuric tinge to it that was unmistakable to the wizard. Lady Arkyn had left that detail out of her report, but that was not entirely unexpected as she was not as experienced in magic as he was.
The wizard stalked his way out of the woods and stopped as he approached the east side of the manor. He was not entirely unfamiliar with the home. He had been here before. He had even searched for the dagger here as well, but he had never found it. Now that he had reliable information that led him to believe it was still here, he was determined to find it.
He floated up to the window that belonged to the late Lady Zana’s office. A wave of his hand was all it took to open it, then he sailed through as easily as a summer breeze. He set down lightly upon the floor and was intrigued to see that the office was still in shambles, exactly as it had been after the night of the murder. The desk was overturned and books were everywhere. Bookshelves were tossed across the floor and bits of paper and glass were strewn all over the room.
Cyrus went to work searching for the dagger. He checked every book, every drawer or space in the overturned desk, and every inch of the office. When he found nothing, he pulled a vial of crushed red crystal from his pocket and shook some out into his left palm. He threw the crystal into the air and watched it fall. If dark magic was present in the room, the crystals should have floated toward it, but they fell straight to the floor.
Cyrus sighed and went to the door.
He pressed his cheek to the wood and heard music coming from somewhere in the manor. He tried the knob, but it was locked. Cyrus pointed to the keyhole and the pins slipped up into place with tiny little clicks. The door opened easily after that, and he stepped into the hallway.
Now that he was out of the office, he could clearly hear fiddlers and boisterous laughing coming from down in the lower levels.
It appeared that Feberik’s recent visit had had little lasting effect on Lord Caspen. Not that it bothered Cyrus of course, but he always found it interesting to learn about peoples’ vices. He couldn’t help but wonder if Caspen had been this kind of man all along, or if it was a weakness brought to the open by the shock of losing a wife and then learning that Kyra was not even the nobleman’s daughter.
Whatever the reason, Cyrus was grateful for the cover that the party downstairs afforded him. He was able to easily walk through the halls until he found the late Lady Zana’s room. Unfortunately, the search there went the same as in her office. He checked every jewel box, drawer, and every bit of space in the large wardrobe. He even lifted the mattress and looked under the bed. At last, he pulled out some more of the crushed red crystal. He tossed it in the air and grimaced when it fell straight down again.
There was no other place to look. He sighed and sat on the bed.
A thought came to him as he pondered where else he might look. Perhaps Kyra’s mother had hidden the object in Kyra’s bedroom. Cyrus got up to his feet and left the room, closing the door quietly and locking it after himself. He then padded softly down the hall and opened each door he came to. The first was a water closet. The second was a storage room of sorts, with old blankets stuffed inside. The third was a small room with a spinning wheel and various colors of fabrics and threads collecting dust upon a series of wooden shelves that covered the wall.
The next room was entirely empty. Cyrus almost closed the door, but something nagged at him. He slipped inside and closed the door. The sunlight from the window was more than enough to illuminate the chamber. The wood floor was bare. There was no furniture, and nothing upon the walls. The window didn’t’ even have any curtains.
Cyrus then looked to the corner and saw scratches in the wood floor. He moved to the area and noted that there were four scratches, each originating in points that could have easily have been where corner posts for a bed had once been.
The old wizard knew that he was now standing in what had once been Kyra’s bed chamber. Even he had a hard time not feeling some amount of empathy for her as he realized that Lord Caspen had literally removed any reminder of her existence. How odd it was that the mother’s office and room would be left untouched, while the daughter’s room would be entirely cleared.
Cyrus shook his head. He doubted whether he would ever understand Lord Caspen.
He exited the room and stepped into the hallway. As he closed the door, someone else opened a door at the far end of the hall. Cyrus looked up to see a servant, or at least that is what he assumed the man to be judging by his drab clothes and unkempt hair.
The servant pointed to Cyrus. “What are you doing up here? The party is downstairs.”
Cyrus couldn’t afford to be seen. On the other hand, he couldn’t cause any sort of hysteria by killing the man either. Kyra knew where he was. If he used magic to kill the man, she would know it was him, and then there would be no keeping her trust. Though he planned to double-cross the warlocks of the Order of the All-seeing Eye, he had no intention to harm Kyra if he didn’t have to.
He quickly cast a spell that froze the man in place. Cyrus then quickly moved to the man and pulled him into the room he had just exited from. Luckily, it was a large room with a sizeable liquor cabinet. Cyrus smiled at his good fortune and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. He drank some himself, and then poured some down the servant’s throat, using a spell so that the liquid would slide down without choking the man. Cyrus then magicked the man into a nearby chair and rendered him unconscious.
The old wizard weaved a spell of forgetting on the servant, erasing his memories for the day, and then placed the half-empty bottle of whiskey in the man’s hands. Cyrus then went to the window and looked down. The woods were a short distance away, but there were a pair of workers down there loading empty crates into a horse-drawn cart.
Cyrus decided it was simplest just to open a portal from inside the room and return to Kuldiga Academy. Better to return empty handed than to be caught red handed in Caspen Manor.
Chapter 11
Kyra waited in the grove for Njar for the entire day. He never showed. Worse than that, Leatherback never appeared either. Kyra sat in the grass in the middle of the aspen wood until the sun began its descent toward the western horizon, then she slowly began walking back toward Kuldiga Academy.
She didn’t use her portal this time, preferring instead to think as she walked. Headmaster Herion’s words echoed in her ears a thousand times over, giving room for the seeds of doubt to grow in her mind. She thought back to everything Njar had done for her, and for Leatherback. She couldn’t believe that it would be just to gain her trust and take Leatherback away from her. What purpose could that serve?
After a while, she came to the pool she and Leatherback had made in the mountain stream. She leaned over the high walls of earth and dipped her hand in the cool waters. She laughed as she thought about the flying mud and the
mess they had made of this place.
Kyra decided that it was time to let go of all of the stress. She stripped down to her undergarments and then jumped into the pool. As the water caressed her body, she pushed everything out of her mind, giving herself the freedom to simply enjoy the moment she was in. She swam across the pool, then dove down into the water and swam back across without coming up for air until she reached the opposite bank. As she popped out of the water, she ran her hand over her face, wiping the water away and pulling her hair to the back of her head.
She swam the breadth of the pool twice more, and then she emerged from the water and laid upon a large, flat rock until she was dry enough to put her clothes back on. Then, she opened a small portal and jumped farther into the woods, beyond the rock nest and closer to Kuldiga Academy.
She made it back to her room a half hour before supper. Linny was inside, sitting cross-legged upon her bed and staring at a piece of paper in front of her.
“What’s that?” Kyra asked.
“My new class assignment,” Linny replied. “I was assigned to a Master Obren, have you heard of him?”
Kyra shook her head. “No,” she said. “How many days a week will you have to meet?”
Linny shrugged and tilted her head to the side. “I guess all of them. It says that we have a lot of lessons to catch up on, and that I will be spending every day of the week with Master Obren. It’s a good thing I already have my textbook.”
Kyra nodded her head. “I can always help if you have homework,” she offered.
Linny smiled. “Thanks.”
Kyra smiled back and moved to lie upon her bed, flinging herself backward and landing haphazardly on the mattress.
“Are you all right?” Linny asked.
“I’m okay,” Kyra said. She wasn’t about to share her secret about Leatherback with anyone else at this point.
Linny slid off her bed and flattened out the front of her skirt. “I’m going to go down for supper. I start my new class tomorrow, so I want to be back to bed early.”
Kyra nodded. “I’ll catch up soon,” she said as she threw her left arm up over her eyes. She heard Linny walk out of the room and close the door. Kyra was now back to thinking about Njar and Leatherback. She wished she knew where they were. If they were in Viverandon, then how could she reach them? Njar had shown her the pools of fate once, but she would not be able to create a portal to get that far away from Kuldiga Academy. It may as well have been across the world for how hard it would be to find.
