Dark Mer

14

Varian moaned softly and Lance stroked his hair soothingly, resting his head in his lap. "It's okay, little bro." Lance assured him. "Cassandra's leading. You can rest now."

Varian smiled and snuggled up close to him. Andrew offered him some more water, which he gratefully drank.

"We need to find him a pond or something soon." Andrew remarked.

"We'll find something." Lance nodded.

"That Baron guy wanted to meet with Varian. Maybe we can drop by his place after the Spire." Andrew suggested.

"Uhhh, why would we want to go to The Baron?" Lance asked, laughing nervously.

"Because he wants to talk with Varian and he's offered room and board. It's up to Varian, of course." Andrew nodded.

"Right..." Lance looked a bit nervous but decided not to share his apprehension with Andrew.

--

Cassandra followed Zhan Tiri down the road, with the woman pausing every so often to make sure that Cassandra was keeping up. It was...strange, following what was essentially a spirit, a ghost, someone that wasn't really there but somehow knew everything going on.

It was unnerving, but she wasn't about to tell Varian his mentor was creepy.

Do you have questions?

Cassandra gasped as she realized the woman was speaking to her in her mind. "I...uh...not right now, no."

Feel free to ask if you do. I indulge curiosity.

"Okay..." Cassandra gripped the reins tightly. "You know my mother, right? She was your student?"

Yes, before Demanitus sealed me away. She was one of three students of Demanitus that turned on him when he turned on me. He wanted to hide the power of the moonstone and sundrop from the world. I seek to benefit the world with them. And Varian has been such a good boy, making such wonderful plans even without my prompting.

"Why do you want to destroy Corona so badly?" Cassandra asked.

I swore to him that I would destroy his precious Corona when he turned on me. I tried to do it by turning into a blizzard, but he used that machine Varian destroyed to stop me and partly seal my power.

"Wow." Cassandra nodded. "That's why he destroyed it, then."

Yes, he's such a good boy.

She smiled a bit. "Do you see him as a son?"

I...

The image ahead of her flickered as she looked thoughtful and then shrugged with a nod before moving on.

I suppose, in a way, I do. Though he has made it clear that he does not want to call me his mother. He still thinks his mother is alive somewhere.

"Is she?" Cassandra asked.

...We will worry about that when we have achieved our goals. One dream at a time. The boy can only reach for so much at once.

"Yeah, that's understandable." Cassandra nodded.

--

They traveled for a week from there, with Varian and Cassandra switching off so they could keep going while the other rested. They stopped when they found another river and let Varian have a soak for a few hours,

"So, are we not leaving the trail anymore?" Lance asked as he brought out food for them all.

"Cass can't leave the trail, so it's inconsistent." Varian shrugged, biting into his sandwich. "Besides, Madam Tiri said they took another road."