Hollows of the Nox

by Matthew E Nordin

  A loud creek broke the silence, causing him to jump off the stool and slam his side into the counter. The noise grew into footfalls on the stairs. He expected one of the guests to come down. Instead, Sayeh descended.

  It was the first time he had seen her fully since the forest. She had replaced her tattered garments with a dark cloak, similar to his own. The markings etched into it sparkled with pure silver woven through the silk. It clung to her body as her features curved with the light fabric.

  “I’m amazed.” She smiled and kept her gaze on him, her eyes no longer haunted by the dark aura. “You did not offer to rise me for breakfast?”

  “You looked so beautiful in your rest,” Eldritch said and looked away to the bar. “It’s strange. There are typically more people here, but I’m not sure where they went. I would have ordered you something.”

  “Don’t be alarmed.” She hopped behind the bar, pulling up boxes while she scavenged. “This was going to happen. It was merely a matter of time. But now that it has, we must prepare.”

  “What are we’re preparing for? What happened?” He picked up one of the boxes. It had been torn through already.

  “The shifting.” She stood and stared at him. Her eyes held an abyss of secrets. “All will be restored to how it should be.”

  Terror crept along his spine. He stumbled to the other side of the bar and found a bottle half-full of something relatively clear. Of course, he could create something stronger and more focused than the drinks, but the refreshment would help him focus. Especially after the events in the forest.

  He took a swig and nearly coughed it back up.

  “What are you looking for?” he asked and crouched down to Sayeh who was searching through the cabinets.

  “Fruit or cheese. Something more tasteful what I’ve been forced to eat for so long. I’ve watched and waited for it. So much waiting.”

  “I’m sure there are cheese blocks in the back. I can find them for you.”

  “Yes, thank you.” She nodded and pulled out a corked bottle. “I found wine. You search for cheese. Hurry.”

  He hoped the tavern was truly empty. If the barkeep found him sneaking in the storage while Sayeh tore apart the bar, he would have to face him. That is if the barkeep would ever turn to face anyone that wasn’t a fae.

  The loud clattering of cans made him search faster. Others would hear the noise if they walked by.

  Eldritch opened a few more boxes. Empty. All of them. And so much dust.

  He brushed against a barrel when he turned to leave. Something shifted inside. He pried it open to find a putrid mess. Its rancid stench filled every corner of the room as he tried to close the lid. Whatever had been cheese was now a seething growth of mold and putrescence. Eldritch held his arm to his nose and returned to the bar.

  “There is nothing back there.” He took a deep breath, away from the smell. “Nothing edible anyway.”

  Sayeh poked her head up from the cabinets. She had found a few blocks of cheese with little mold growing. She chewed off a corner and swallowed quickly.

  “Help me grab some of this,” she said. “Best not let it go to waste.”

  She ducked down again and continued to pile the cheese and bottles above her on the bar. Eldritch scanned the room for a container. He stopped as an eerie feeling sunk into his gut.

  The once polished and well-cleaned tables were coated with layers of dust. Tattered rags blocked the windows, covered in dead flies and marks where animals had scratched at them. Some of the marks were new, and some of them were old, very old.

  “Sayeh, how long was I unconscious?” He cracked open the tavern’s main door and peeked outside. Deep ruts filled the streets and weeds sprouted between the stone.

  “I would guess longer than a while.” She staggered beside him. “Time is irrelevant now. We have all the time we need.”

  “Does anyone still live here?” he said more to himself than to Sayeh.

  She shrugged and bit off more of the cheese. She had managed to grab a small bag and filled it to the brim. A few bottles stuck out from under the flap.

  “Best to keep on the main road and try to blend in.” He held his breath and stepped outside.

  Sayeh smiled and held out some of the remaining cheese to him. He took it and broke off a smaller taste. The creamy texture lingered in his mouth.

  “Tell me, what were you doing while I was sleeping in the field?”

  “You weren’t sleeping,” she said. “We taught you many things. Things that you’ll need to know for later. You wanted to learn, but you never moved or opened your eyes, just talk and repeat. Many moons passed as you learned our ways.”

  “I don’t remember any of this. How could you have taught me if I don’t recall any of it?”

  “But you do. It’s veiled until the right time. When the time comes.” She laughed. “Patience. Your destiny happens at the right time. And here it comes now.”

  Eldritch turned to Sayeh’s outstretched finger.

  “That’s him!” a lady from across the street cried out from a darkened shop. “That’s the one I told you about.”

  “Bethlyn, what are you talking about?” A man nudged past her and stepped into the light. “No one could survive that far in. You probably just saw a dead body that had been thrown into the field. No one goes by there, and you shouldn’t have wandered that close.”

  “No, I swear, that’s him,” Bethlyn said putting her hand above her eyes and squinting at Eldritch.

  His mouth went dry. He tried to stop staring back at her.

  “Sorry miss, you must have me mistaken for someone else,” he yelled back, hoping his shaking voice didn’t give him away.

  Bethlyn pulled the man back and whispered something to him. Eldritch couldn’t understand it, but it caused her to rush back into the shop.

  “Sorry sir,” the man said, stepping across the washed out tracks in the street. “We have some questions is all. My wife thinks she saw you out in the field by the fairy forest yesterday morning. I told her that’s crazy because no one’s ventured near that place for years since the incident. It’s supposed to be forbidden to even go near it.” He turned to look at the shop behind him.

  “What incident? What happened here?” Eldritch tried to disguise his concern with ignorance.

  “You must be new to this area. Not many even travel here. Where did you come from?”

  Eldritch searched for the right words. He looked to Sayeh for help. She swayed listlessly in her blissful state. Her unwillingness to offer an opinion seemed to remind him more of the voices and not the girl he grew up with.

  “The thing is―” The man stopped talking as a hand caught his arm.

  A person had emerged from the shadows. Their face was the aged face of a friend. White hair hung down past his pointed ears.

  “Where have you been, lad?” Grinley said. “Come quick.”

  Before Eldritch could respond, Grinley yanked him into the shadows and through the invisible barriers of a passage spell.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “You haven’t aged a day,” Grinley said when they arrived in a windowless cellar. “And who is this?”

  “First of all, I must ask you,” Eldritch said pulling a chair from the side wall and resting his weight on it. “What happened to the tavern? Where did everyone go?”

  “You don't know, do you? You must’ve been lost. Did you seek out the north shore?”

  “No, I traveled home to bring Sayeh with me,” Eldritch lied as he pulled her next to him. She swayed gently, intoxicated from the old wine from the tavern she had been drinking. “We were childhood companions, and she always wanted to see the fairies.”

  “Good luck with that now,” Grinley muttered quietly. He sat on a barrel near the center of the room and mused to himself in silence.

  Eldritch perused over the old cellar’s wine barrels and rationed food. It appeared to have been a sanctuary for many years.

  Maps of various cities hung on the wal
l, nailed there centuries ago. Pins marking different points of the world stretched from Caetheal in a spiderweb of twine. Areas Eldritch had never seen before. If a great traveler like Grinley truly lived here, he had little to keep himself preoccupied from day to day. Most likely why preferred the company of the performers in the tavern instead of the confines of this prisoning cellar.

  In fact, there didn’t seem to be an entrance or exit to the room.

  “Such a small place for one who travels so far,” Eldritch said, unable to hold in his curiosity. “The passage spell to get us here was unusual. Where did you learn it?”

  “Ah, lad. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Especially now.” Grinley sighed. “Since you left, things have changed, and I’m afraid not for the better. First was when the barkeep was not at his post. I’ve never known him to leave, ever. The rare times he turns around to pay attention to anything going on in his tavern is when there’s a fairy performing. I’ve always assumed he was part fae himself or under a curse from one. Whatever the case, he didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, didn’t even blink an eye to any of us. He disappeared the very day you left. Something must have scared him away or forced him to leave. Anyway, with him gone, the tavern stopped its business, and the customers eventually wandered off. He was probably the reason anyone came back to that old tavern in the first place. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he slipped some enchantment into everyone’s drink to keep them returning.”

  Grinley nodded to Sayeh who sat on the ground and slumped over her bottle.

  “Best take it easy on that stuff. I’m not sure how well your friend is taking it.”

  “She’s stronger than she appears,” Eldritch said. “So what happened to all the others?”

  “Oh, yes.” Grinley took a swig from his mug. “Everyone knew the treaty between the humans and the fae. They would come out and share with us from the resources of their magic if we stayed out of their forest. Plain and simple. Balance must be preserved. But for whatever reason, they stopped. Some thought they were having a famine in their forest, while other’s thought they could be having a war within the forest itself. A dark cloud filled the skies above it. Everyone thought it was going to spill out onto the town.”

  “How long did the cloud last?” Eldritch meant to keep his thoughts to himself but let the question slip.

  “Not long. I was preoccupied when it happened so I didn’t see it, only heard rumors of it. Some talked about the great dark cloud, and others said a great bird flew above the trees and landed in the forbidden field. Well, that is what they called it anyway.”

  Eldritch looked down to Sayeh who was smiling to herself.

  “Strange sounds in the middle of the night came from the western edge of town,” Grinley continued. “Livestock turned up missing. I knew it was probably some unsavory types preying on peoples fears, but it did nothing but help the rumors. Soon, all those with children moved out. Once the crops lost their yield in the following months, that was the end of this place. So many good folks simply walked away, the lot of them.” His voice trailed off, and he hummed a dirge familiar to Eldritch from Raikrune―the song of the empty harvest.

  “What of Ben and the other casters? Did the performers all leave too?”

  “Aye, they were jobless. There was no one to perform for, so they journeyed away. It was hard to see them go, especially Ben. I thought of traveling with him, but he kept going on about more important work somewhere else.”

  “What about you?” Eldritch leaned forward with his question. “Why did you stay behind? Were you not wanting to seek employment elsewhere?”

  “Indeed, lad.” Grinley’s eyes sparked with a hidden fire behind them. “This is why I wanted to ask you of your whereabouts. You were very keen on seeing the fae. Some in town said they saw you wandering near the forbidden field.” Grinley paused and looked hard at Eldritch. “I’m surprised you didn’t inform me when you left for Raikrune.”

  “I didn’t want to cause alarm.” Eldritch leaned back into the chair. “I didn’t know if everyone would be too pleased about me leaving since I owed more for the room and all. And I needed to see Sayeh.”

  Sayeh looked up at him and nodded slowly.

  “Don’t tell him.” She did not move her lips, but her voice whispered in his mind. “He can destroy us. All the power you have obtained will be for not.”

  “Come to think of it,” Grinley continued, spinning the mug around in his hand. “Bethlyn said she saw you in the forbidden field yesterday. Farther in than anyone else has ever gone.”

  “That’s not true. No one could get that far in. I did try to get close when I first arrived, but the defenses would not let me pass.”

  “That was before we trained you.” Grinley sat the cup beside him. “Before you learned to control your powers.”

  “I assure you, friend, we had only arrived when you found us today. We walked through the shadows so as not to be seen and stopped in at the tavern first. That’s where we were coming from when you met us.”

  “She must be mistaken then.” Grinley gave a forced smile. “My apologies.” He hopped off the barrel. “Well, since you are a guest in my home, would you care for a drink? I’m sure you've never tasted anything like the wine I've stored down here.”

  Eldritch shrugged and smiled at him. Perhaps his old friend had good intentions.

  Grinley took an empty glass and held it under the nozzle of a barrel. The latch twisted under his command without a touch. The liquid barely dripped into the cup before he closed it with a jerk from his hand.

  “Such delicacies are best to be enjoyed in moderation. Wouldn’t want to be wasteful on something so easily multiplied.” He flicked his hands over the cup, and it filled to the brim with the dark purple liquid.

  “Trickery,” Sayeh whispered into Eldritch’s thoughts. “He speaks of false things with malicious intent. He wants our power for himself. He knows you are stronger now.”

  The spell Grinley used contained more than the simple duplication conjuring. He added something to the drink. A hidden spell.

  “I know it would be rude of me to refuse such a kind gesture,” Eldritch said holding up his hand. “But I fear I’ve already had too much from what we found at the tavern.”

  “Nonsense lad,” Grinley said as he sloshed the foamy liquid in the cup. “What better cause for drinking than the reuniting of old friends? I thought I’d lost you years ago.”

  Grinley placed the cup in Eldritch’s hand and returned to grab his own mug.

  Eldritch looked closer into the duplication spell. It was not something Grinley or Ben had taught him, yet somehow he recognized it, like a faint memory from a dream. He remembered Sayeh’s words about the Nox teaching him in his unconscious state.

  He tried to recall Grinley’s hand movements over the cup. If he could figure out the added spell, he could reverse it.

  The pattern snapped into his brain like a doorway unlocking in his mind. It could be done without any hand movements at all.

  “You don’t need his tricks anymore,” Sayeh spoke into his mind. “Listen to the liquid. Unlock its powers and destroy the curse. Reverse the spell by our command.”

  Eldritch lifted the glass to Grinley and smiled. “Here’s to the reuniting of all our friends.”

  Sayeh jumped up with her wine bottle, and they all clashed their drinks together.

  Eldritch released the offending enchantment from his cup. As it separated from the duplication spell, he saw it was primitive magic for truth-telling. It slipped away unseen into shattered fragments of power. Eldritch took a deep sip from the cup.

  “Such a fine refreshment. Unlike any you’ve ever had before, correct?” Grinley ran a finger around the lip of his cup.

  “Indeed,” Eldritch said. “A complex flavor I could never conjure.”

  He took another sip and looked over at Sayeh who had fallen into a drunken sleep on the floor.

  “Now then,” Grinley said, wiping the drips from his chin, “
I know you returned to Caetheal before I saw you today. There was a light on at the tavern last night, and people said they heard noises inside. Were you there?”

  Eldritch examined Grinley’s piercing gaze. The truth spell he intended to use would have taken hold quickly.

  “Yes, we needed to rest.”

  “Where were you before last night?” Grinley asked.

  “Traveling, from Raikrune.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  “I hoped to see everyone again.”

  “How long were you away?”

  Eldritch’s eye twitched. The question he feared to ask himself. It was impossible for him to tell how much time had truly passed.

  He tried reaching out to Sayeh in his mind, but she remained silent.

  “For many seasons, to convince our families to let us go,” Eldritch said and held his breath.

  “Interesting,” Grinley said and took a sip from his mug. “If that is the case, how is it that no one in Raikrune knew of your return?”

  Eldritch felt his heart racing. Of course, Grinley would have checked there.

  “Another interesting thought is that the girl, Sayeh, whom I assume is this drunkard you have with you, fled that town long ago. They found her parents dead and drained of their life essence. Something only a dark mage or spell would conjure. So I ask you again, where were you?”

  Eldritch breathed out slowly to still his nerves. No more time for lies.

  “You will soon find out,” Eldritch grabbed a chair and chanted at the cup in Grinley’s hand.

  It glowed with the heat intensity of a forge. Grinley dropped it with a howl.

  The wooden chair under Eldritch’s hand became soft and transformed into a leather cord. It coiled around his arm before dropping to the ground like a whip. He lashed it out.

  “Foolish child!” Grinley snarled. “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.”

  Grinley snatched the whip in the air and yanked it away from Eldritch. His hair flicked around his eyes that widened into a murderous stare. He was faster and stronger than Eldritch assumed.