Theurgy: The Journey's Dawn (Book One)

Chapter 3 The Path Paved

"What do they want?' Lyse said in another small voice, panicked now. "Why us? Why my sister? Mom and dad."

The wolf sage stayed silent, and a sympathetic look spread across her face as she looked down at Lyse. For a long time, she observed him. Now he was close to breaking apart at his seams. Of course, she has seen a lot of this before. But, she was impressed all the same. Because he was not yet broken, he was still thinking. Even after the tragedy was forced upon him, he was still thinking. And that was when she remembered something important and turned back to him with newfound urgency.

"The pendant," she whispered and looked back onto him, stepping closer. "Do you have it?"

He paused, then looked down at his chest, his clothes loosely hanging off his frame from the rough treatment through the forest and where that Thirian from Arkouda had nearly struck him dead. But still there, dangling and untouched, sat the pendant. Its smooth emerald and Lapis crystals are still faintly glowing and pulsing as if paced with the rhythmic pulse of his own heart. He took it in hand and clutched it close to his heart.

"What about it?" He asked her. She knelt to get at eye level, then leaned closer. Her eyes seemed to analyze 0his being.

"She gave it to you . . ." She whispered and gave a puzzled look. The look confused him. It was as if she told him that he shouldn't have it. That it didn't belong to him. This made him furrow his brow in misty confusion as well. But neither could throw another question to the other as the noise of chatter, clanking of metal rose upon them. The two of them sat; a party of soldiers and civilians rushed on. A few immediately ran to the house with buckets of water. There were some familiar faces, but Lyse could hardly focus on them. So many looked soot burdened already as they approached the knights with little Knicks here and there beneath their armor. The only one seemingly untouched was the doctor. A woman in thick black robes that rippled with the night, a porcelain mask resembling a young woman's nose and mouth covered all but her eyes. She was the one who immediately rushed to Celia's side.

"What happened here?" Sir Gabbes walked towards the two of them now standing. Lyse was still covered in a decent amount of blood and debris, and his cheeks were still wet with drying tears. The wolf sage walks towards him. Though she was about a foot under him in height, her vibrant eyes made her presence equal. Lykos has always been a close companion, even among the clans. They held the most in any border skirmishes with the frostlanders, as they hold most of the borders themselves. But they were still unsteady, somehow, their swords only pointing to the ground, not sheathed.

"State your purpose," Gabbes told her, a harsh tone Lyse thought he only held for new squires.

She spoke surely and confidently, the soothing tone absent now. "My name is Makyra Donalus, a knight of Lykos," she saluted, placing her fist over her heart and bowing. Gabbes did the same, although a little stiffly.

"What is a Knight from Lykos doing here in Liontari?" He asked, gazing now at the wreckage before everyone as they watched the last embers sputter out under a bucket of water. "The king's order Knights."

"Indeed, and I've been given orders by your king James. I was tracking some rogues from my clan when I came upon this tragedy."

She gestured to Lyse and his mother. Lyse stared at the two, and his mind began to fill with questions now that were apparent on his ashen face. He was not too familiar with the knight, but she was not telling the truth, not the complete truth. The way she nearly fired at him and asked him why he left. It made it sound very much like she was following him, watching him since he even left the house. There was definitely something off about her as well. She seemed even more troubled about this than she appeared. Her desperate nature when trying to mend his mother's wounds. He was more than curious about her now.