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| From above the trees, the destruction of Podunk taking place. |
How I wish I were deaf. There was a crisis very early in the morning that has left me feeling haunted. I sit here on a grassy hilltop after a short travel from what was left of Podunk. Late last night, or rather very early this morning, it seemed like I had barely fallen asleep. Maybe two hours. What ever length of time I slept, all I know was waking up to Cortanna shaking me. She was saying something important. Her face was urgent. "Inside! Rekka. Let’s go! It’s important!"
I could hear how distressed she was and so I quickly arose from the cot I was sleeping on. With the same motion I used to get up, I grabbed my gear and hurried into Isaac’s home, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Once in, everyone is huddled around Rekka who had one of her red gems out. There was a moment of gratitude that it wasn’t Rekka in trouble again. Then I heard Isaac’s voice as I got closer, “...held hostage by werewolves in town. Waiting for height of the full moon to do something. Hurry! We’ve already killed one!”
Any ounce of tiredness that was in me was gone as the adrenaline kicked in. Everyone, with weapon in hand, dashed out the door. Cortanna was up on Brier in a matter of seconds and took off. I jogged after her, changing my clothes to a solid black color and darkening my skin to blend in with the night. I could hear Jessica, Rekka, and Gideon behind me, but they grew faint as I focused on catching up to Cortanna. Soon she was out of sight, but I followed the road and after 10 minutes of jogging I caught sight of her talking to someone. I assumed she had caught up to Isaac and Billy. As I got closer I saw the figures walk off.
“Who was that?” I asked Cortanna when I finally was standing next to her. She whirled around somewhat startled.
“Who are you- Oh! Forgot you can change your appearance,” Cortanna said, managing to keep her voice at a whisper, “Um, that was Isaac and Billy. All the villagers, including the Goblins, are shut up in these houses along here. They’re continuing to go down house to house, killing each werewolf they come across,” Cortanna explained.
“Wait, they’re taking all the werewolves on alone?” I wasn't sure if I was astonished or impressed.
“Well, one by one. Each house has one werewolf, then a few more come and check on each house. But we were asked to escort the villagers and Goblins out of these home they’ve already taken care of and lead them else where.”
“Lead who where?” Rekka interjected, as she, Jessica and Gideon caught up.
“Villagers and Goblins are being held in the houses currently. Isaac and Billy killing werewolves while we transport them to a different location,” I quickly summarized.
“Oh! Just take them to the McGregor’s farm right over there!” Cortanna instructed. She pointed to a large barn about 60 feet away. We then broke up into groups of 3. I and Gideon took the right side, Rekka and Jessica the left. We would then point them toward Cortanna who would make sure they went to the farm.
I had given myself my normal color so as to not startle anyone by my near all black appearance. All was going well, the folk fleeing quietly from each home. I saw no sign of anything out of the ordinary which only made me feel secure in Isaac and Billy handling things. If only I had known what was waiting for me behind door number 6. Instead I had just begun to open the door when I felt a sharp jerk pull me back.
“What the-” I squeaked out louder than intended, a firm hand gripping my mouth.
Then I heard the growl from within.
“Sorry, we accidentally skipped this one,” Isaac whispered in my ear.
Panic was racing through my body as I felt myself pinned between Isaac and the door that I had barely opened. I heard the footsteps move toward the door and with a moment of clarity, I expelled Isaac from me by sprouting fully formed wings and quickly flew up 10 feet with my halberd poised to attack. The door squeaked open and a werewolf lunged out. My reflexes were hyped up on adrenaline and reacted as soon as I saw the beast. I swung my halberd down with all my might, hooking the werewolf in the face. On top of knocking the werewolf’s head back I sent my electric charge out of it. The werewolf froze as the electricity coursed through it's body. Isaac then sliced the werewolf across the chest with Gideon sinking his sword into the beast’s flesh.
The werewolf collapsed and we checked to make sure it was dead. Once confirmed, I continued to guide the citizens to safety. Isaac mentioned to me that he was going to the town wells because a circle was drawn there and he wanted to disrupt it before it could activate. I felt that was more important and told Isaac I’d assist him. Gideon continued to guide the townsfolk while Isaac and I turned on our heels.
Isaac barely took a few steps before freezing. I almost collided into him. He was silent and focused on something. I walked in front of him only to see his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw taunt. I looked around to see if someone had cast a spell over him. All I saw was Gideon still working on another house and Rekka and Jessica working on their side. Rekka took notice of me and Isaac and began to walk toward us.
I don’t know if it was Rekka that startled him, but suddenly Isaac jumped to his full height and looked between me and Rekka. His eyes were wide and worried.
“We need to get everyone out of here now!” Isaac said loud enough for those villagers and Goblins passing to hear. I had already made my mind up not to question what was happening. I turned on my heals and was about to shout to he villagers to flee, but Rekka beat me to the punch.
“RUN TO THE RIVER! EVERYONE! RUN TO THE RIVER!!” she shouted. The townsfolk with in range to hear Rekka's shout began to run to the river. Isaac summoned a skeleton to go mess up the circle for us. It was crucial for us to leave. Billy had gone to scout the circle and told Isaac the ritual had begun. I raced toward the farm to make sure Cortanna, and those there, knew to flee immediately. Once the whole town was on the run, I used my wings to fly up and above the treetops.
My heart was racing. I could hear it thump in my ears as I propelled myself toward the river. I had hoped to get to there before looking back, but 10-15 into our flight, the night was rent with a shrill and eerie scream on the wave of a great explosion from Podunk.
Meryth? I thought as I fell from the sky. I quickly regained control and stabilized my flight.
I looked in the direction of the 3 screams I heard. Podunk was nothing but a blazing fire Looking back, all I could see was a blazing fire where the center of Podunk was. My heart ached and I desperately wanted to fly back to the inferno. I had heard 3 simultaneous screams. Meryth was one of them! Heironious’s scream was there too, but I could careless about him. I hope what ever just happened to him hurt him deeply!
How I wanted to go back. I wanted to find Meryth. I couldn't believe shew as there, but why was she there? It was the same haunting scream I heard at her death... If that was indeed her... how DARE Heironious be with her! How dare he!
As my mind raced with anger and worry, I knew that what I heard could very well be a cruel trick... There was only one other who would dare use a trick so sick to get to me. I let out a cry of anger and resolved to descend into the woods to find my party. I wiped the angry tears from my eyes as I carefully dodged the branches of the trees. I could see the townsfolk still scurrying through the woods, seeming unphased by the blast.
I heard them before I saw them. Someone was screaming, probably Rekka or Cortanna. When I caught sight of them, I saw that they weren't moving. Everyone was huddled around Rekka. No one noticed my presence at first as they tried helping her. Through a gap, as they moved about, I caught a glimpse of Rekka’s face. Her eyes bleeding. It became clear why she was hysterical.
“What happened?” I asked, more to Rekka than anyone else. No one seemed to have heard me. Billy was able to cure Rekka enough to finally get her under control. Isaac now had taken his wishing sword out.
“Hubert, I wish for Rekka’s sight back,” Isaac said aloud.
“Might I interest you in a different wish?” Hubert asked.
“No. I said I wish for Rekka’s sight back,” Isaac repeated himself.
“Well sir, I’m afraid I am unable to do that. I suppose I could try, but it’s your call since I haven’t a clue what kind of magic this is and could very well fail.” Hubert explained. Isaac then put Hubert away and began to pace, looking deep in thought. I went next to Rekka to help clean her up. While close to her I could see her sunken in eye lids and knew that indeed her sight was gone. Both of her eyes had been removed some how. I asked her again what had happened.
“I heard the explosion and looked back," she began her lips quivering, "Next thing I know is I’m unable to see and pain...” she trailed off. I decided not to ask anything else and wrapped a rag Jessica handed to me around her head. It would help cover up the wound and make it less awkward when other folk saw her.
After tying the rag, I looked up at everyone. They looked remorseful about Rekka’s situation. However, now with her somewhat composed, I decided I would suggest what I was wanting to do.
“Would anyone else happen to be interested in going back and seeing what happened with me?” I asked. Everyone seemed perplexed by the idea. Isaac even stopped pacing.
“Why would you want to go back?” Isaac asked, looking back toward Podunk, “You can see from here it's an inferno.”
“I know... but I heard my sister scream,” I confessed, pursing my lips together. I knew then that my painful memory was moment from being revealed. How I desperately didn't want them to know.
“You have a sister? In Podunk? Why is it you never told us?” Isaac asked.
"Yeah, what's her name?" Cortanna added, "Perhaps we knew her."
“No," I began, "None of you know her," I bit my tongue before carefully saying the next bit, "My sister’s dead. But I heard-”
“Surely not, we got everyone out. The explosion probably scared her,” Isaac tried to reason, "You should have told us your sister was in Podunk."
“I didn't know she was there,” I responded, “because she been dead!”
“Araja, I’m sure she’s fine-”
“Isaac!" I snapped, "I would know she's dead! I killed my sister. So stop trying to correct me!” I seethed. I was partly surprised by my anger, but being corrected when I knew what had happened infuriated me.
A wave of shame swept over me as the eyes of my fellow comrades gazed at me in disbelief, excluding Rekka and Billy.
“You killed your sister?” Cortanna asked incredulously. I nodded my head. “How old?”
“Does it matter?"
"Yes.”
"She had recently turned 12."
“So, I’m the bad guy when I kill a kid on accident when you purposefully murdered your sister?” Cortanna challenged. How I wanted to punch something, maybe in the shape of Cortanna’s face. Instead I just clenched my fist up tight and hoped that the tension there would relieve some of the anger that coursed through me.
“Cortanna, really? Do you think I did such a thing for fun? Because I wanted to?," I said through trembling lips, "My sister was marked and I since I had witnessed her being marked felt it was best for her salvation to be killed before she could do any wrong!”
“Well I did my best to save that boy! I too made a mistake!” Cortanna snapped. I glared at her for a moment. At first I thought it selfish and thoughtless that she'd compare herself to me. But then my mind softened. It suddenly became very clear how harsh I had been to her when not realizing how much she must have hated what had become of her attempts to do what was right. With all eyes on us, what little I had left of my pride forbade me to apologize. I did feel ashamed for having judged so quickly my fellow comrade, but I couldn't apologize then.
The silence became awkward and practically unbearable. Let alone, most of us were in serious need of sleep and the adrenaline was quickly fading. Isaac then jumped in.
“Araja, did the explosion look to go very far?”
“I can’t recall. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious if my place was now engulfed in flames.”
“Oh no! My things!” Rekka cried.
“I’ll go check,” Cortanna said, clearly angry still from our little spat. She hopped on Brier and took off without a goodbye. I decided to fly up just to see if I could see anything. That way if Cortanna came back with no success, maybe I’d be able to see why.
Above the treetops was nothing but waves of heat. I could see the inferno was primarily of the city center in Podunk. The trees were catching fire now and smoke was wafting higher into the sky. From the direction of Isaac’s place, it appeared to be untouched, but with the haze of heat and smoke, I couldn’t be certain.
I descended back down and was surprised to find Cortanna had return already. Sure enough Isaac’s place was untouched. We then journeyed. As we walked, a thought came to mind. If there was anything from this night that gave me some comfort, it was the fact we had saved the townsfolk. What would have happened if we had journeyed back to Podunk by foot from the sinkhole? I definitely wouldn’t have heard my sister’s scream, but the town would have been killed or worse. Maybe they would have ended up like the marked being in the mine.
We gathered the horses and gear that was left behind and hitched the wagons up to head off. The fire looked to be coming toward Isaac’s place and we wanted to head a mile in the opposite direction in hopes to find a place to rest. And so when we traveled a mile out and on the way toward Lupik's Dukedom, we stopped and made camp. Isaac and Billy kept watch to make sure the fire didn’t get close to us. I would have written earlier, but I fell asleep about as soon as I laid down.
It was about noon when I woke up. Everyone else had already gotten up and eaten. I look ed around and could see we were up on a hill. Back in the direction of the town was a large, burning crater. Where I assumed the woods were laid nothing but ashes. As I joined the group, they were discussing whether to continue on to Lupik's Dukedom or check the crater.
“Let Brier at least go check it to make sure nothing’s there that could be noteworthy,” Cortanna encouraged.
“Would Brier be able to recognize a dead body?” I asked. Awkward glances are exchanged. Cortanna looked to Brier who nodded her head.
“By the way everyone," Billy interrupted, "I ate one of the werewolf people last night and, well.... I have all his memories,” Billy suddenly announced.
"You ate someone?" I questioned
“And is there anything relevant?” Isaac overrided my question..
“His name was Srod. They were preparing the people for some being who’s made up of three people. He’s not sure what was to happen to them, but he’s seen the ritual and the beings involved,” Billy said. He then continued to describe Heironious and Erythnul. I was right in my assumption of who would be behind the trick. Erythnul... And the third sounded very much like my sister. I bit my bottom lip to stifle myself from letting a cry of anger escape. Why was it they had her! Why are they using her? Where they so intent on having me? For that can only be the logical explanation for them using Meryth. They must be trying to get me! I thought to myself.
“Well, maybe it would be best then to check the crater to make sure this 'being' isn’t there or signs of it,” Cortanna insisted. Isaac, seeming like he wanted to protest, told Cortanna to send Brier off to investigate.
While Brier was gone, we all sat around waiting. I’m moped in my head as everyone began to gather their things. Billy just stood around looking off somewhere. Gideon and Jessica were chatting with Rekka as they packed. Rekka's face was blank of emotion. Cortanna looked in the direction of Brier once her things were ready.
Then it hit me. The blast last night was from messing up the circle that was summoning Erythnul, Heironious, and Meryth. I heard all of them scream and each of us felt the impact from the blast. Especially Rekka. For whatever reason, the thought came to mind that quite possibly we could have been marked as a result of the explosion. Yet it sounded idiotic in my head because I was certain the mark was transferred by touch. Still, I felt I should ask Isaac in case one of us had been marked.
“Isaac, could you ask Billy if he can sense anyone, other than himself and Brier being marked?”
Isaac looked at Billy. Billy then looked at me and pointed at Rekka. I was stunned in shock and terror. I could hardly believe it. And scarier, no one had control of her... so what was to happen and where was the mark placed?
Everyone eyed me, surely wondering what I would do. Rekka caught on that something was wrong.
“What’s going on?” she asked, sounding concerned.
“Rekka,” I began, partly scared that confronting her about being marked might trigger her, “Billy says you’re marked... Could I search you?”
“What!?” Rekka exclaimed.
“I am only wanting to look at what’s exposed. I’m not going to strip you down or anything,” I quickly explained.
“No, I’m just... What? I’m marked?" her mouth searched for words, "Um, go ahead and look I guess.”
Carefully and as respectfully as I could, I looked over Rekka’s head, arms, legs and feet. I couldn’t find it, but suspected it could be in other places that were hidden to the eyes. That was the thought that lead me to remove her eye bandages. Taking them off, they were still nothing but sunken eyelids and for a moment I almost gave up.
“Rekka... could you ‘open’ your eyes?” I asked, trying to sound considerate versus insensitive. She did her best to open her eyelids and there they were. Two marks, one in each eye, glowing red. I was saddened to see them and confused about what to do. Did I slay her like my sister? Did I risk my life and my fellow comrades for when she decides to back stab us? Tsk, probably the latter since no one cares about the mark as much as I do. Nor do they understand my fears.
“So, Rekka. You feel like yourself... right?” I questioned. Rekka poked at herself as I replaced her bandage.
“Um, I guess. Can’t really see, but I feel no different,” Rekka responded. Right then Brier came back looking happy to have had a joy ride through the fire. She trotted right up next to me and nuzzled my head. I took off my circlet and placed it on top of her head.
“Well that was refreshing,” Brier gloated, “and no signs of anything, though I could have sworn I saw images of imps or something dancing in the flames. Every time I drew near, the images were gone. But like I said, nothing there except fire and dirt.”
“Could it possibly be that a portal was opened?” Cortanna asked.
“Nope. And I would know if one had opened,” Brier answered.
“Well, Podunks completely destroyed with the exception of my place,” Isaac said, “And since we had hoped to save it from Lupik, do we really want to continue that way? Maybe we could go check on the town citizens, make sure they’re truly alright or go off to the Dwarven lands instead.”
“Well, if we continue toward Lupik, we will go right by the town I came from. It would be nice to say ‘Hi’ to some of the people there and check in on my family,” Cortanna piped in. I couldn’t think of a reason why not. I hadn’t realized Cortanna wasn’t originally from Podunk. I thought it was just Rekka and I who weren't from there.
“Podunk may be gone, but the werewolves are still a problem,” I added. There were murmurs of agreement all around.
“Then let us continue toward Lupik. Here’s hoping we can find something on Lupik and take him and potentially this bigger cult of werewolves down,” Isaac encouraged. With that, we all took off toward Lupik once more.
After some traveling, I made sure to find a moment to talk to Isaac. I hadn’t forgotten about Rekka’s situation and I felt it important to express my concerns to him.
“Isaac,” I asked, seeing we were well out of earshot, “I feel we can’t trust Rekka anymore.” Isaac looked at my like I was crazy.
“That’s a bit harsh don’t you think?”
“She’s marked Isaac."
"LIke that means anything," Isaac retorted.
"I don’t know why she hasn’t... I don’t know," I continued on, "Is she possessed to carry out the will of Heironious and Erythnul? It doesn’t make sense that she seems to still be in control,” I whispered, my body tensing with the anxiety I had, “From what I know, we need to keep an eye on her. Have Billy tell you if she begins to act different, like as though she’s possessed. And when that happens, we better wish her to a different plain because she may very well kill us all.”
Isaac pondered what I said. I could only hope he’d take me seriously.
“Also keep in mind Isaac, she’s not under any of our control. You control Billy, and Brier, well... she seems very loyal to Cortanna. Rekka however is her own person and therefore will be susceptible to the mark as soon as They will it,” I added.
“Okay. I’ll do my best to have Billy keep tabs. Anything else?” Isaac said, almost too quickly. I couldn’t be sure if he was taking this seriously, but he was the only one I felt safe around. Maybe it was because he controlled Billy who was very strong. Either way I did add one thing before dropping the subject.
“Yes, I plan on keeping close to you, especially at night, since you’d be first to know if she tried to do anything.”
I then took to the air. A full day of travel later, we’re camping once again and so far Rekka has been acting like she usually does, minus her sight. It is still daunting with her. I feel as though there’s an unknown timer on her. I suppose I’ll either learn this mark isn’t the one I grew up with, or my fears will be confirmed and I’ll probably have wished I had killed her when I had the chance.
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