Chapter 50

 

This chapter has been copied from the original and may contain typos and grammatical errors.

~*~

“I’m not going to be the one to tell him.” Rufus said as they walked through the capitol. “I may have been the one who went to get Blake from is posting, but the events after that are not going to get pinned on me.”

“Besides the fact that you’re the one who was charged with bringing him home?” Angus mentioned.

“And you two were just strolling in that part of the kingdom, were you? We were all tasked with bringing him home, and we’ve failed doubly.” Rufus whined.

“Blake chose to go on his own to find the heir, his choices are not our fault. We just need to get a boat to take us to the King’s island, and we’ll tell him everything we need to. If we don’t, he’ll start to wonder where we’ve gotten to. We’ve done nothing wrong.” Marco said, hoping it was true.

“Besides losing the heir to the templar. And she’s probably dead…” Angus muttered.

“That was not our fault!” Ruffus emphasised.

“Let’s get to the island, then we can start worrying.” Marco rolled his eyes,

~*~

“You’re sure we’re not lost?” Romeo asked. “I could swear I’ve seen that boulder before.”

“We’ve been walking straight, I think. Anwyn, what do you think?” Liam asked.

“Don’t ask me, you’re the one we’ve been following and can tell how far north we are by the angle of the shadows. I don’t know anything about directions.” she huffed, happy to not have to be wearing her disguise for the moment.

“The trees are too tall to be telling the directions. I wish we had a compass..” Liam said.

“I knew I was forgetting something when we left the Islands,” Romeo said with a smirk.

“We have to talk about something,” Anwyn addressed. Her face had become serious in the last few minutes. “What are we going to do once we get to the capitol?”

“We’ll go and kill the king, that’s what. Save Gloria, castrate Blake, kill the king.” Liam and Anwyn stared at Romeo with big eyes. “What, just me?”

“We’ll save Gloria, we know that for sure, but we can’t just kill the king. The place could be guarded to the teeth, it’ll be hard enough getting her out, much less splitting up and killing the king.” Liam said.

“How will we even get to the island? We’ll be seen approaching, and the closer we get to the capitol the more likely we’ll be recognized, disguised or not.” Anwyn said.

“You were already recognized, but Liam and I haven’t been. Maybe we should have you stay further outside of the capitol? At that nice inn we passed last week?” Romeo suggested half heartedly.

“We’re not splitting up!” Liam and Anwyn said to him in unison.

“Besides, what if Briella is walking around and recognises you? Or the Duchess? What then? You’ll be captured and questioned until the underworld freezes over.” Anwyn said while Liam blanched.

“So we enter the capitol, then what? How do we get to the island?” Romeo asked.

They thought for a second. “Do you think that Montoya is still the captain of the guard at the palace?” Anwyn asked.

“He would be old by now. He was already well into his forties when we knew him, and it’s been 18 years… He’d be… 64?” Liam said.

“He was pretty spry though, I think it’s a good chance. Unless the king figured out he helped aid us in our escape and didn’t try to stop us.” Romeo answered.

“Then we should send him a message. Now, if we’re as far away from the capitol as I think, we should be there in the next two days. We should think of what we want to say before we get there.”

~*~

Everstar had never seen Midshore this disturburbed.

“I can’t find her. I can’t find her. Why can’t I find her?” she kept muttering. “Something is coming... something is coming, and I... can’t tell her… I can’t find her... Where is she?”

Everstar touched her shoulder. “Midshore, what’s the matter? Please, tell me.”

Midshore acted as if she didn’t feel or hear her. “Where are you…” she asked.

“Midshore, you haven’t eaten in two days, you haven’t slept. The kids are starting to ask more questions…”

It had started two days ago. Midshore, who usually liked to meditate in the front yard, had furrowed her brow and went down to the ceremony room, adorning the priestess garb, and trying to meditate there to be closer to the spirits. She hadn’t said anything to Everstar as she did this, and she hadn’t come out of her meditation since.

Everstar knew that the spirits favored Midshore, and that Everstar wouldn’t ever have that sort of bond with them. Midshore was selfless in her faith; she would give everything for it, but Everstar wasn’t like that.

She was far more selfish.

She said a quiet prayer for forgiveness and shoved Midshore off balance, forcing her out of her trance.

She fell to the ground, sprawling out. “Why did you do that?!” she said, her voice rough from not drinking any water for the past two days.

“Why did I do that? Why did you do that? You’ve been meditating for the past two days, and you didn’t tell me anything before you did! Why did you do that?” she barked.

“It was two days?” She asked, looking confused. “It was that long?”

“Yes! Now what were you doing?” she asked.

Midshore straightened herself. “It’s Gloria. I can’t sense her anymore. It started- i guess two days ago. I’ve been able to feel her, and I’d check in on her every day or so, but when I went to try and sense her, I couldn’t find her. She was gone. That’s when I came down here.” she took a breath. “I contacted the spirits and started to look for her among the collective, fearing she had died, but I couldn't find her there. She was simply gone. And now, just recently, I feel a dark presence amassing and I can’t tell her that it’s coming. I can’t tell her her parents are coming, or that Blake is leading her to a trap. I can’t reach her!” Midshore cried.

“My love,” was all Everstar said as she wrapped her arms around her. “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.”

~*~

Seneca was breathing heavily when he came out of the house, as if he were restraining from smashing something. Gloria eyed him suspiciously, but kept knitting. It was a skill she had learned some of as a kid, but she had let it go. However, knowing that if this is how cold the autumn is on the Mainland, the winters must be very cold. Thus, she was going to knit scarves and blankets. Anything that wasn’t very hard and could be square… Or at least that was the goal. Who knew how long she would be here.

“Can I ask?” she said to him.

He blew air out of his nose. “I lost again.” he stated.

“Mmmm.” Gloria said. “Maybe chess isn’t the game for you then. Have you played Don’t Wake the Tiger?”

“What’s a tiger?” he asked.

“It’s a really big cat that can eat a man. They have them a lot in jungles.” Gloria explained. She had learned about them when her mother had some refugees from the far south come and tell the class where they came from. However, looking at Seneca, she wasn't sure he even knew what a jungle was…

“It’s a game with a whole bunch of sticks, and there’s a little figurine at the top, usually in the shape of a tiger. The idea is to go around the table and draw sticks until the pile topples over and the figurine falls off of the stack, thus waking the tiger.” she continued.

“We have no tiger figurines.” he commented, as if he had nothing nice to say.

“We may not, but I found some wooden animals in storage, and I think those would work fine.” Gloria said.

“You found toy animals in storage! Those were mine!” he balked. “You don’t have a right to them.”

“Oh. They weren’t marked. Sorry if that was intrusive.” she answered.

“Just-” he took a short breath. “Just don’t keep looking around in storage.”

“Very well, but would you like to try the game? I guarantee you, it’s fun and based on skill, not too much on strategy. It’s more fun than chess by any means.”

He thought for a moment. “If it’s better than chess, I’d be willing to play anything. What do we need to play?”

“We need sticks, preferably straight, and all roughly the same size. And a figurine for the top.”

“Then I guess I’m helping you find sticks.”

After about an hour in the small woods they had on the island, they were able to find enough sticks to play the game.

“Now all we need is a figurine.” Gloria finished.

Seneca pulled a Llama out of his pocket. “I guess we’re playing Don’t Wake the Llama.” he said.

~*~

“I don’t want to harm anyone, but I do need to know some information, and I’m not leaving until I acquire it. The faster I know what I want to know, the sooner I’ll be moving on.” he said.

The woman shook in her chair. “I don’t know anything, I swear it!”

“There is some sort of Compound. People must know about it, and if you don’t, then tell me who does. Your answer could cost you or save your life.” he paused. “Speak!”

“I’ve only heard rumors of a Compound,” she shrunk away from him as far as she could. “I didn’t ask any questions, it’s not polite.”

“What did they say about it?” he pushed.

“They- they usually say they’re coming from the south, but that’s all I know. They talk about a woman, but never by name or title. Just whispers of a ‘she’ and ‘her’. I swear to you that’s all I know!”

Blake paced. “How long have you heard these whispers?” he asked. If it was recently, it could be a sign of Gloria’s survival, but if rumors had reached this far then she was in more danger than ever. Blake could name several people who would want her in their custody or dead. The king wasn’t popular with everyone.

“Oh, years now, lad. I can’t remember when I first started hearing about ‘her’.” the woman said.

“Years? There’s been a secret Compound in the south for years and I’m just now hearing about it?” he leaned in.

“Here in the south, the king’s rule stretches thin. The Church has a stronger hold- I would guess the Compound is being protected by the Church. But that’s only what I theorize, don’t take it as truth.” she offered.

“I know the further you get from the capitol, the… looser… the rule seems to get, but let me assure you that there’s nothing loose about his grip. As soon as I get back to the capitol, I’ll be sure to tell him how things have been slipping around here. But if you want me to leave, I need you to tell me how to get to my target. How,” he turned to face the woman, “do I reach the Compound?”

~*~

As the moon rose over the horizon, Seneca sighed as he saw it in its entirety. After the transition to being in hiding, he had nearly forgotten where the moon was in its cycle, but the moon didn’t. Tonight he would sleep, and tomorrow he would wake up in agony.

He entered the house where Gloria was knitting by the fire and Henry was reading out loud. The two of them eyed him, but kept on with their activities. Gloria kept her eyes on her knitting, and Seneca raised his hand in hopes to get Henry’s attention.

He noticed and nodded. “‘And as he drew out his blade from the creature, he let out a breath of exhaustion.’” He put the scrap of paper in the book to hold his place. “I think Seneca wants to talk to me about something, I’ll be right back.” he put the book on the table and stood to follow Seneca out of the front door.

“What is it?” he asked him.

“It’s the full moon tonight. I’ll be sick tomorrow. I figured you should know ahead of time.” Seneca told him, looking a bit jittery.

“I know, I‘ve set water aside for you, and I’ll be sleeping on the bench tonight. Am I missing anything?” he asked.

Seneca looked at him, surprised. “No, water is just about the only thing I can handle in the morning.”

He eyed the moon, something that he was always on guard from. This time he knew that Gloria was a real person, that he didn’t have to think of her as a magical being. He may not even see her in his dreams tonight if she was wearing the equipment. It was unprecedented.

“Good luck, my friend.” Henry said as he turned to go back into the house.

I need to use my wider cast more often! Look at all the plot I can dig up when I do!

And look at that, It's 11:40 at night again !

I took a few blooper pictures, so please enjoy!

I'm heavily thinking of making this my profile picture. My baby knitting. I love knitting irl.

It started snowing! So pretty.

I thought this was just a nice picture.

The kitchen gets pretty close.

Fun story, this woodsy scene is brought to you by the island of Brindleton Bay, so Liam and Anwyn got to visit their daughter. I like how nice this picture is, a daughter looking at her father.

I had to age up Midshore and Everstar's babies, so now they have a child son and a toddler daughter, but being spellcasters makes them have the possibility of special eyes.

I aged them up in cas, so they lost their special eyes, but I intend to apply them if possible when they get older. May or may not be possible? It's not important.

Get yourself a partner that looks at you the way Everstar looks at Midshore .