"I wanted to talk to you," Arjiah said. She pulled another book from the bag at her side and flipped through it. "I think I found out what Byron was trying to accomplish with all that blood." She shivered and handed the book to Katerin. "It talks more about the Ihmu'tahd constructs."
Katerin studied the pages, there were drawings of constructs of enormous size. Reclaimers, they were called. They had spoken a little of them before, but this was far more detail than she had previously seen in the books Arjiah had kept. The Reclaimers ran off from the energy of life, and the book's description was a dark thing. If it was accurate, these monstrosities could wipe out entire cities in one swipe with the weapons they wielded. Katerin looked up from the book, with wide eyes. "You think he found one?"
Arjiah nodded. "I believe we were in one," she said. "Further on, it talks about how they were lived in, like a castle... just larger and... deadly..." She had fear shimmering in her eyes. "There are five of them, in total. Nothing except these books talk about them. And locations... are difficult. I believe these were written before the world split."
Katerin frowned, "Well. Whatever he was planning is gone now... did you show Graiden this?"
"Not yet," Arjiah said. "I wanted your opinion on it. My theory makes sense, but only within the bounds that these truly are more than myth."
Katerin shrugged, glancing to Brazen. "I don't see why they couldn't be real... and the blood makes sense, with your theory about Luxian... Blood is about as close to life as you can get, in terms of magical usage." She shuddered. Arjiah believed, from her brief studies, that Luxian was made partly of energy, or soul essence, if one wanted to call it that. It was life itself turned into material. "Are they really this... large?"
Arjiah nodded solemnly. "If you'd believe the writings." She held up a worn scroll. "This even speculates that they could be what caused the world to split, but it's hard to be sure. There's no record of them after the calamity."
Katerin shook her head. "Even in Typhon's histories? I would have thought that if they were responsible for the calamity, they would be better known."
Arjiah sighed. "Me, as well. But I suppose there wouldn't be a record, after." She shrugged. "I'm going to keep digging for information on them, in any case," she said as she took her book back, scratching one finned ear.
Katerin had spent three days lazing about the Inn. She had no desire to move much or talk much while her shoulder healed, and her thoughts strayed somewhere dark, lingering on that room and Byron's words.
On the fourth evening, as the room filled, the loud bustling laughter was almost painful to her ears. Every sudden noise made her jump, and every sudden movement had her on the edge of her seat. Her friends talked and laughed and tried their best to brighten the situation, Brazen hardly strayed from her side, and Fykes greeted her every morning. Even Graiden tried to be jovial, though his sadness was palpable.
She felt cut off from it all. Unwelcome, with panic rising every second she sat beside them. After yet another round of drinks was poured, she could no longer stand the noise, or the smells, or the people, anymore. She excused herself and fled the inn, trying to look as casual as she could, though she felt as though she could not breathe.
She left the smells and sounds and people behind and nearly ran out into the night. Brazen trailed her but spoke not a word. She gasped for breath, Byron's words and actions replaying in her mind. Over and over she heard her staff crack across Fykes, and every time it made her sick to her stomach. Her mind was her best weapon and he had simply commanded it away from her. She had thought that something in Sahn-Raidar was wrong, but she never would have guessed their commander to be that twisted.
She wondered what it would take to twist someone that far from the side of good. He must have been one hell of an actor. She could not look at someone like that, who was willing to murder and sacrifice lives to awaken a power such as a Reclaimer, as anything decent. No matter the reason or the issue, the things of the past were passed, and should stay that way. Though the magic Byron wielded proved that he had no qualms with darker things. Necromancy was banned in nearly every civilization, though that had never stopped people from using it. She shivered. She had an aversion to it for quite some time. Her own dalliance into it had not gone well, for anyone involved—now she could accredit that mistake to the grief of her father's passing, but still she had deep regrets for her studies, even months after he died.
There were other elements of Byron's magic she had never practiced, either, like his ability to simply bend her will. The elements were a strong enough force on their own, in her opinion. When her tirade of thought finally slowed, she found she was standing on the docks now instead of the rocky beach, and it was quiet around her. A cold, salty breeze whipped her hair as she sat. She steadied her breath and let her tears fall—all her terror and pain, flowing out with them. Byron was dead, and he could not twist her mind again. She had not killed Fykes. It all felt like a dream—no—a nightmare, that she could not escape.
She sat still and gave herself over to the process of her thoughts as they slithered through all the events that had transpired, all the while watching the moon as it glinted off the ocean. She must have sat for a long time, because eventually she heard footsteps on the docks behind her.
It's Fykes, but I can make him leave, Brazen said.
She wiped a hand across her face and straightened her shoulders. It's alright, she said.
"What're you doing out here?" he asked, sitting next to her.
"I needed some air," she said, trying a smile that did not quite fit. "Trying to process the past few days... I—" she faltered, not sure what to say.
He smiled, though it was nothing akin to his usual mischievous grin. "I'm with you there." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
She leaned into him for a moment. "You know that it wasn't me, right?" Her expression dropped and her eyes brimmed with tears again. "I wouldn't..."
"I know," he said softly, tilting her chin up. "Of course I know."
"He took my mind from me." She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling.
He brushed her hair from her face. "It won't happen again, Katerin. He's gone."
"What did he do to you?" she whispered, leaning on him. She had never seen someone so terrified as he had been.
"I... don't know." His eyes flashed with fear, that quickly disappeared behind composure. "But I'm fine now."
He gave her that smile that she had come to adore, but she could still see the lie behind it. He wasn't fine. "I'll spend some time, figure out what he was trying to do. I'll figure it out."
"Not tonight, please. It's not important, tonight."
She nodded, sniffing and scrubbing her face with her sleeve.
"Now... are you going to come back inside and kick all our asses in a good, friendly game of dice?" He raised his eyebrows. "Graiden even managed to talk Lugaria and Agrata into staying for dinner."
"He talked them into it?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"Hhm. Ordered is a better word. But regardless, we're all waiting for you and your luck."
She laughed, stretching out her arms. "Only if you insist."
As they walked back, they found Brazen lingering behind them.
"Will, you just get up here?" Fykes said, grabbing Brazen's arm and pulling him between them as they walked. Brazen smiled, holding his head up as Katerin mussed his hair.
Suddenly, she paused in the empty street. "You have... celestial blood. Don't you?" She spoke quietly, almost a whisper.
Fykes looked around with a grimace. "Figured it out, huh?"
She shrugged, "I wasn't sure for a while."
"How'd you do it?"
She bit her lip, "Since I learned to sense bloodlines... I could sense a celestial being every time I used it." She frowned. "And Byron really wanted you in particular. Most people think that virgin blood is the best for those types of things. But celestial or plane-touched creatures' blood is stronger, and it's much more valuab—" she stopped, cutting off her rant, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.
Fykes sighed. "Interesting things you carry around in your brain, Katerin."
She smiled. "You asked. Have you ever told anyone?"
"Graiden knows. No one else." He shrugged. " Or so I thought."
"Well, to be fair, I don't know anyone else with purple hair that never tangles," she said.
"I'm special," he said, winking at her.
"No, but honestly, how is it that it never tangles? I could use that knowledge." She raised her eyebrows and held up one finger. "I could create the most sought after spell of all time with such knowledge."
He ran a hand through her hair and left it to fall over her face, laughing. "I have no clue."
Her face turned serious. "Listen. If you don't want to travel with me to the Brothers of the Mountain I—"
"I'm going where you go," he said, face serious and determined, His thumb rubbed her cheek. "You have a penchant for life-threatening situations, you know."
"No, I don't!" she said, "It doesn't—I mean, I haven't—" She sighed, giving up on her attempt to argue.
He laughed as she stumbled over her words. "I really wouldn't be okay with you going on your own." There was humor in his tone, but it was tinged with concern.
"I'm not helpless... I made it here on my own just fine," she said. "Besides, wasn't it you in danger just a couple days ago?"
He cringed. "Let's just leave that subject be for now."
Katerin sat in her dark room, holding the ivory comb in her hand. It was simple and worn with use. Fykes slept not far away, snoring quietly, tangled in the blankets. It was not as if the bed in this room could not hold two people, and she had had trouble sleeping since they had returned eight days ago.
She studied the comb, starting at the spell book on her lap. She sighed and reached for the satchel of ingredients she carried. She had been studying this spell for days now. With the comb, she finally had a somewhat recent item of Sulea's. And though she knew she would not be able to hold the spell for long, she had to try. Her abilities had grown astoundingly quick, with their near-to-everyday use here. This spell was far outside her expertise, but she would be able to manage it as long as she was careful.
She finished her circle and incanted the spell, closing her eyes. Her vision lifted from her body and soared across the dark green of the forest. Far up into a mountain range—through stone, gray surrounding her and pressing in on her vision. Then into something darker, black and shining. Suddenly her vision lurched to an abrupt stop. The spell had worked. Her vision was blurry and it was dark, but she could just make out metal bars, and something black and glossy.
Cross-legged and head bowed, in the corner of the tiny cell, sat a now familiar—if only in dream states like these—figure. Her hair was matted and torn, and dried blood covered her. Her skin was pale and gaunt, under the bruises and blood. Suddenly the head snapped up, and staring directly at the sensor were electric blue eyes.
Sulea's body looked beaten and defeated, but her eyes held all the defiance in the world. She smiled and held up a broken piece of clear crystal—A match to Katerin's own amulet. Katerin tried to speak, move the spell. Anything to tell the woman she was there. That she would find her. But the magic did no such thing. As she frantically thought for a way to converse with her mother, her vision was ripped from the cell and the defiant woman. Snapped like an old bowstring, as something tore the spell away from her.
Her eyes opened, and she found Fykes with his hands on her shoulders.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking at the table and blood on her hand. She had squeezed the comb so hard its teeth had bitten into her palm.
Tears streamed down her face, and she fell into his shoulder, trying to collect herself.
"Are you hurt?" His voice was close to frantic, now.
"No." She sniffed. "I got the sight spell to work."
His eyes widened. "Why didn't you wait for me and Arjiah? You already admitted it was tough to learn."
"It isn't a dangerous spell." She frowned. "I couldn't wait anymore..."
Fykes' expression relaxed, "Did you find her?"
Katerin nodded. "She's in a cell."
"A cell?" His face contorted. "There aren't many cells here. One here, none in Ky'lei'mei. And I don't know of any in—"
"It was a cell," she insisted, her tone allowing no room for further argument. "Somewhere in the mountains."