Jo waited nervously sitting by the fire Koldo produced for her. Clay left her a small late breakfast, filled with proteins and those dreadful fruits. She was hungry, but her body wasn't cooperating: she felt nauseated. The perfectly ripened cheese she always enjoyed felt like ashes in her mouth. She could hear the commotion outside, the war cries and the rattle of swords and staffs, the hundreds of feet stomping on the pathways on their way to the edge of the forest. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was all her fault, even if she knew it wasn't at all: Volstad would've found a way in, with or without her. Whatever he wanted was important enough to sacrifice it all. The stories of lost expeditions, of men driven crazy by the experience, of mysterious deaths: they had been enough to dissuade people for the last hundreds of years.
Jo's head hurt as she tried to make sense of it all: why? What could be so important? What was he planning to do with the power of the Core Silvam? They had six hours until nightfall, with luck maybe less; winter was finally there, and with it, the shortest days of the year. What if the army of Faradians wasn't enough to stop the Nivean Knights? What if Volstad made it to the forest? If it happened, would he be able to find the tree? The Faradian Forest was enormous; she could see for kilometers around from Koldo's pod, and even so, she couldn't see the damned tree, assuming it looked different from every other.
Jo noticed the wisps around the village were going a little insane, swirling and crashing with the windows. Maybe whatever magic Koldo was doing inside that little lab of his, plus the fighting in the borders, was messing with the magic in the air-- but she wouldn't know. She wanted to get out and get Alaric, but Koldo instructed her to stay put until he finished drafting the runes he'd inscribe onto her companion's skins; she worried about Wyn, she was only a kid-- but she was tough, she'd take the pain like a champion. Maybe she'd be thrilled about getting tattoos, Jo could see the way she looked at Koldo's. By the creators, the little girl had made herself at home in the forest, she really seemed to like it there; maybe she'd rather stay in that place. Jo wouldn't stop her, if that's what she wished; she wouldn't stand between the little girl and her dreams.
She stood up from her spot by the fire, she wanted to get a better view of the hanging village. The sight of the glowing pods in the middle of the branches soothed her, albeit just a little. She examined her tattoos under the harsh morning light; they swirled and danced in front of her eyes, like quicksilver under her skin. The runes were intricate and delicate, looking almost like vines; they were still a little pink around the edges, but Koldo had slathered some gooey ointment on them to help with the healing process. She pressed both hands on the glass wall, then her forehead. Those runes wouldn't only take her out of that place: they'd make sure Alaric wasn't going to be trapped in there with her corpse if -- by Ontur's beard, if things didn't go as expected. She was putting a lot of faith in Laurentius and Wyn, but Koldo seemed to think they had good chances to make it work. Still, she was glad she wouldn't cause Alaric, or the rest, any further pain; if she died, they'd be able to go on with their lives.
She sighed.
How did she end up in that situation? If she made it out alive, she and her grandmother would have a very long talk. It seemed to her that dear old granny always intended to send her instead; that idea started to take root in her brain, slowly, since the first time she spoke to Koldo in private. Jo couldn't really pinpoint what made her feel like that, it was a gut feeling that stretched all the way up to her brain, slowly, like an oil stain. It occurred to her that grandmother never did anything without planning things thoroughly; she noticed Grandma packed things for her, but not for herself-- small details that piled up and found a place in the corners of her brain. The acorn charm. She only made one of those; she claimed she didn't intend to bring Jo with her, but the backpacks told a different tale. Jo bit her tongue without realizing.
Koldo opened the door to his lab. She overheard him instructing Clay to bring Alaric, Wyn, and Laurentius to the pod. He had the runes ready, it seemed. She wondered how they'd react to the news. The man went back into his lab, without even glancing in Jo's direction. Maybe he wasn't ready after all, she figured.
Jo tried to distract herself as she waited for them by idly inspecting all the plants Koldo had around his pod; she couldn't reach the highest ones, of course, that mountain of a man was the only one capable of getting up there without using a ladder. Some of the plants moved and recoiled at her touch-- one of them even tried to bite her finger.
The pod's door opened, finally. Wyn and Laurentius went straight to Koldo's room, no doubt to discuss the details of the alloy, they didn't even look at her. They looked serious, all business. Alaric was another story.
"Jo!" Alaric ran to her arms. "I was worried, did you hear the rattle outside? They wouldn't let us out of the pod," he cupped her face with his hands. "You're fine, you're... fine." he sighed "I honestly didn't know what to think about the mess out there. But I'm so glad to see you're safe," He held her hands; his eyes then lingered on her tattooed arm. "Oh no. Don't tell me he branded you with one of those secrecy things? Why would he do such a thing? It's not like you'll be able to get out of here and talk about this place, right? What is it with that man and his secrets?" Alaric looked outraged. Jo put a finger to his lips.
"These markings," she held her forearm high. "Are our way out of here, actually. They're transportation runes," she smirked as she saw Alaric's expression slowly change into an incredulous grin.
"As in -- oh, wait. Did you know about this the whole time?" by the creators: he looked offended.
"Believe me, I was as surprised as you are," Jo snorted. "Koldo forgot to tell me, believe it or not. I wanted to kill him."
"I believe that," Alaric chuckled. "I'm glad you didn't try to, though," he took her hand, then squeezed it softly. "He's quite tall, and have you seen his arms? Thick as tree trunks: you wouldn't stand a chance."
"Hey! Have you forgotten who killed the monster in the cave after you were knocked down? With a broken leg, I might add. We would've been monster food if it weren't for me. Show some faith, sir," she teased.
"I take it back," he gave her an amused smile. "You could definitely take Koldo down in a fight."
"Much better," Jo stood on her tiptoes and kissed him briefly on the lips. He grinned in the goofiest way; he was just adorable.
"So," he cleared his throat, "what's going on outside? Does it have something to do with the ritual? Is there a party we're missing? I'm not even wearing my party robe, this one's not nearly flowery enough," he teased; Jo pressed her lips, twisting her mouth.
"The Niveans caught up with us," she muttered.
"Creators' mercy, I was right? I'm never right, about anything and the one time I'm right --" he shook his head. "Ontur's sandals. They're mobilizing the whole city, how...? I don't even dare to ask. How many are they?" his voice had a slight tremble to it.
"The woman who told Koldo about it said they had been about five hundred. And they weren't the first ones to get here," she told him about the night before, how the weather wards had failed. He, too, wondered how in the world they managed to remain undetected. They were probably traveling with powerful mages. Maybe dark mages. The Nivean Knights resorted to all kinds of measures to get things done.
"I feel bad, not being able to help at least. We led them here, we weren't careful enough. I should be there, lending my arm. It's our fault," he sat on a cushion, clutching another.
"Don't blame yourself, Koldo isn't blaming us-- so that's something, at least. Maybe their magical cloak was too powerful, if they were using dark magic, like you said, there was no way we could've seen them or hear them. They even sneaked on Gerard, and he's-- was-- an anointed knight: they were right under our noses. But it wasn't our fault. Even if it feels that way, trust me: I know. I feel it too," she tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"By the creators... I feel completely useless. They're dying out there, because of us. One way or another, it's because of us. We led them here. We crossed, and let them know it was safe," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked haunted. "Maybe there's something we can do to help. Anything."
"We have to make it out of here alive. Dying before the ritual won't do any good to anyone. Well, maybe to Volstad. But we don't want to help him," Jo sniggered. "I trust the Faradians will manage to keep them at bay, at least until the ritual is over. There's really nothing else we can do, we just have to wait. Actually, staying alive is the only way we can help them," she placed her hands on his shoulders.
"You need to stay alive, they need you. The rest of us are expendable," he smiled sadly at her. "At any rate, I wouldn't think of leaving you here," he brushed her cheek delicately. "Not because I don't think you can't defend yourself, don't look at me like that," he chuckled. She hadn't realized she had been making a face. She chuckled, softly. "It's just that... oh, call me selfish, but I don't think I'm ready to die just yet. I want to stay here, with you. And then, I want to walk out of here, with you," he whispered the last part, barely inaudibly. As if he were afraid that saying the words out loud would jinx it, like he needed to guard them and keep them close; she understood the feeling.
Jo simpered. She didn't know how to answer to that-- part of her wanted to make promises of eternal love to Alaric, but she couldn't do that to him. Not until after the ritual. Not until she knew there would be a future to think of. She just kissed him, that was all she could do-- for the moment.
They laid on the floor as they waited for Koldo to be done with Laurentius and Wyn, lazily looking at the plants and wicker figures Koldo kept in there, trying to make sense of what the little dolls were. After a couple of minutes, they heard some faint cursing coming from Koldo's room, it seemed like Wyn had finally found her match- who would've known Laurentius knew that many curse words? He could've passed for a skaldjaar, with a mouth like that. Jo betted Wyn didn't even make a peep; judging by the time they'd been in there, she had been the first one to go under the needle. Completely unsurprising, Jo thought.
After a while, the cursing gave way to a series of sad whimpers, cued by Wyn's hoarse laughter. By the creator's, Jo would've given anything to see Laurentius suffering at Koldo's hands; Alaric agreed it must've been hysterical. They wondered if it was too late to get in and take a peek. Alaric was halfway there when he was interrupted by Laurentius and Wyn as they popped out of Koldo's tattooing room. Laurentius looked pained, and Wyn had tear streaks down her face-- tears of laughter.
"Guys, you should've seen this wimp," the girl sniggered. She looked at Jo, winking an eye at her briefly. "We're going to craft something for Koldo's ritual, he's a little busy and he learned I'm good at potions and stuff. And Laurentius could be helpful, I guess-- if he stops whimpering like a wuss," the girl bumped the mage's freshly tattooed arm; he winced. Jo and Alaric suppressed a laugh, quite badly.
"Hey, it hurts. My delicate, beautiful skin is not used to these barbarities: look at me! I look like a bloody skaldjaar. A complete savage," the mage lifted his chin. "Now, let's go; Koldo said he left the lab prepped for us, there's no time to waste," he shoved the little girl softly, beckoning her to move. They disappeared into the chamber next to the tattooing room. Koldo popped his head out the latter.
"Alaric?" He called. Jo patted his arm, giving him a sympathetic look with just a hint of amusement.
"Good luck in there, try not to scream too much," she teased; Alaric looked like he was trying to keep a straight face.
"Can you come in and hold my hand? Please?" he pleaded comically.
"Sometimes I wonder how you made it through the Onturian Knight training," she snorted a little laugh, then held his hand. "I hear it's savage."
"I just hide and cower and hope the instructors won't notice," he jested. "That, my dear lady, takes true skill."
Jo watched as Koldo inscribed the new runes on Alaric's lower back, dangerously close to his bottom; he didn't want to have them somewhere visible, as Onturian Knights took their physical appearance very seriously. According to their code, an Onturian Knight's body was a sacred temple and had to be kept as such. Alaric mentioned, between small exclamations of pain, how the resident vicar made the recruits stand in line every morning, inspecting every inch of their personas, making sure their hair didn't touch their ears, their nails were clean and the hems of their training pants were perfectly sewn. A tattoo? That would probably get him kicked out of the training grounds for a year, or as long as it took to get it magically removed. Arms, torso, neck, face, and calves were completely out of the question; the lower back, on the other hand...
When they were done, Alaric's runes looked mesmerizing; the runic symbols on his tattoo weren't as embellished as hers, Koldo had gotten a little creative with the decorative shapes, but somehow that made his runes look even more impressive, like moving, living pieces of a puzzle. She was so enthralled by the patterns that she didn't notice her hand was making its way right over his rear, to touch them; she stopped herself short. Koldo looked at her with amusement but didn't say a word. She bit her lip, wanting to disappear.
After cleaning and smearing Alaric's tattoos with the healing goop, Koldo left them in the common room of his pod; he was busy preparing tea for them, an attempt at making the waiting bearable. They had four hours until nightfall. Wyn and Laurentius were still in Koldo's lab, preparing the alloy; Clay went inside with a tray of finger food and beverages for them, following Koldo's command. Jo herself was starting to feel a little peckish, she wondered if Clay would bring anything for them; she also wondered if her stomach would let her keep the food down, nervous as she was.
They were in the middle of sipping their tea when someone stormed into the pod: Marauri, again. That woman had never heard of knocking, it seemed. Her facial paint was now stained with blood and dirt, dripped in sweat. Jo wondered if the blood had been Faradian or Nivean-- she really hoped it was from the latter.
"Koldo," Marauri needed to catch her breath, she could barely say his name. Jo stood up and helped her to some tea, which the woman drank greedily. Koldo didn't move at all from where he was, his face a mask of graveness.
"How are things in the border?" he asked, giving Marauri a stern look. He sipped his tea, slowly.
"I bring a message, from their leader, the man they call Volstad," Marauri unstrapped her staff, then leaned on it; she looked drained, she had dark circles under her eyes noticeable enough even under all the paint and blood. "He wants to talk to you. He called for a ceasefire, I -- he did not tell us what he wants to talk about. He gave you half an hour to get to the border."
"The nerve of that little man," Koldo chuckled gravelly. "He comes into our home, then makes demands? How very amusing," he crouched to put his teacup on the low table in the middle of the room. "Very well. We will see what this man wants to talk about. Tell him I will be there."
Jo felt her blood turn into ice. That meeting had trap written all over it.