Vivien and the Scoria

Chapter 12: Explanations of a confusing nature

I spoke for what I guess was about ten minutes before Rowan tried to interject. I quickly stopped him before he could get much out however. He looked like he was ready to strangle me, but the presence of Twister and Blaze seemed to stop him from doing so.

"Several things about your account don't quite make sense, Vivien - namely, the white figure, and how it apparently killed the Fellan." I groaned and dropped my head my hands with my elbows resting on the table top. Of course Rowan had problems with my account of what happened. He always had problems with everything I did and never seemed to believe that anything I did could actually be true.

"I didn't make the figure up!" I mumble-yelled into my hands, but knew that that would not be enough of an answer for him.

"Even though neither Rael nor Blaze can claim to have seen it as well?" Rowan queried, his voice taking a nasty tone. I raised my head from my hands to glare at him once again.

"Wraiths don't appear to just everyone, you ass. I don't know why it appeared to me, but it must mean something, right Twister?" I bit back at Rowan, before turning my head and my attention towards Twister, hoping he might have some answers to explain the events of the last day.

"You are certainly right about it meaning something. Whatever it means, it will have both good and bad connotations for us." Twister rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, thinking, before he continued to speak. We all waited expectantly in the moment before he spoke, each of us wanting answers to different questions, but all fundamentally wanting to know what these events would mean to each of our lives and our survival.

"Good for us in that if it really was a Wraith that you saw, that implies that you have some ability and disposition to become a Wraith Lord. This could be very advantageous to us, as it gives us an extra element that we can use against Tante. On the other hand, Tante likely knows that someone in the city has the ability, which would explain the increase in Scoria patrols along the route that you took today. I suspect that he can track the use of the ability, even if he does not know who is using it. This means that he likely already has forces heading here now, and he won't stop until he catches you. Vivien, you need to leave here now, before it's too late."

As Twister spoke, he became more agitated, and by the end, he was on his feet, as were the rest of us. Twister and I met eyes, and I saw the panic that he was trying hard not to show more visibly. A hard, quick knocking sound came from what I suspected was the door of the shop. This sound only lasted for a few seconds before the sound of the door being broken in reached our ears, followed soon after by the sound of clomping Scoria boots and the sound of fragile glass bottles crashing and breaking onto the ground.

"Too late! The Scoria are outside! We need to move!" Blaze exclaimed, doing his best to keep his voice down as much as possible so that the Scoria wouldn't hear. Twister ran out of the door, followed closely by Blaze. Rowan leaped over the table, drawing a short sword from a back sheath, and followed them. I went last, hands moving to my belt to draw my daggers before realising that they weren't there. I hadn't put them back on when I had gotten out of bed this morning. As well as being weaponless, I still had not recovered my full strength from the fight last night, and my wounds stung as I moved as fast as I could out of the room and back to where I had slept last night to retrieve my weapons.

In the time it took me to get back to the room where I had slept the previous night and buckle my dagger belt around my waist, the sounds of fighting met my ears from the front of Twister's shop. I could hear Twister's voice yelling at the Scoria to get out; I could hear the sound of breaking glass as I imaged Twister throwing bottles at the Scoria to slow them down; I could hear the sound of Rowan fighting the Scoria with his short sword, and whatever other weapons he had hidden on his body at any one time; and I could also hear someone coming back down the corridor towards where I was.