Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 57: Insanity

He ran through an open door that led to the battlements. He spotted Maruka directing the archers who were all ducking behind the parapets for cover. Eory found a smile overtaking his face; he fought a temptation to say hello to Maruka.

Some of the recruits noticed him, but most were focused on the battlefield and didn't see him. Eory kept close to the body of the fortress to minimize the chances of getting hit by the shadowy doppelganger arrows.

He managed to block out the sounds of arrows flying and clashing steel on the battlefield down below; he sat cross-legged under the cloudy, yellow moon, and flipped through the blank book rapidly.

Golden letters pulsed upon one of the fluttering pages.

Upon the page was a long word written in a language he did not understand. Eory examined it carefully.

This character... Eory put a finger on one of the letters in the word. This looks familiar...

Realizing that the word would most likely disappear when it was not in moonlight, Eory wished that he had brought a pen to write the word down.

The fairy glanced at Maruka and the sheath hanging at his side. Embracing his newfound fearlessness, Eory marched over to the selkie. "Maruka, I need a swor—"

An arrow sang through the air toward Eory. Maruka gasped and pulled Eory's ankle toward him—sweeping the fairy's feet out from under him.

"W-what are you doing here?" Maruka questioned.

Eory had gone silent in shock for a moment. In another moment, he regained his courage and devoured his fear. "I need a sword."

"Why?" Maruka asked as he grabbed the fairy's wrist and dragged him against the parapet.

"I just need it." Eory replied simply. "Let me have it."

Maruka raised an eyebrow. However, the selkie was too busy to argue with Eory. He unsheathed his blade and waved the fairy away.

Eory crawled back to where he had left the diary.

He took a deep breath.

He let his fearlessness cloak him in unbreakable armor like Pollyanna had done.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He opened them and dragged cold steel into and across his arm—grunting in pain the whole time.

Maruka glanced his way briefly with his jaw agape.

The selkie said something to the female recruit next to him and then crawled over to Eory—narrowly avoiding a flurry of arrows--he grabbed the fairy's arm and blanched at the bloody word carved into it.

"W-what w-were you thinking?" Maruka was flabbergasted.

Tears of pain were in the corners of the fairy's eyes, but he otherwise showed no outward sign of pain.

Maruka shook his head angrily. "I'm taking you to the i-infirmary."

Eory smiled. "I'm okay! I don't feel a thing!"

Maruka was disturbed at his friend's apparent glee. He took him by the arm and dragged him back into the fortress.

__

While Eory sat on a stretcher and waited for a physician to attend him, he shoved his bloody arm at Maruka and asked him, "do you know what language this is?"

Maruka sighed and held Eory's wobbling arm still. Maruka shook his head. "Some of it looks l-like elvish... But I really don't know.."

Eory nodded. "I'm almost certain that it is elvish. I can read a little bit of elvish—Kori taught me and I taught myself—and this third character definitely looks like an M..."