Alder stood by the small windowpane and was gazing into the dark moonless night. The tavern was full and they were fortunate to have a bedchamber at the last moment but that did not lessen his fretfulness.
He was having a very bad feeling. A feeling of something bad going to happen but he could not decide what it could be.
If it was the Alder from years ago, he would have flicked his fingers and in moments he would know what all he wanted to. But years later when his magic has lost its strength and he was vulnerable to the situations, he could not help but fret over what to come.
Knox was not to be trusted again. He was one of the causes he lost good part of his magic. Knox had not just killed his dear daughter but also sinned by his hands making Alder be the victim of all the erroneous events.
He regretted not giving the details of his wife, son and daughter to Knox Garrick. If he had not kept them away from his knowledge, then most of what happened had not happened ever.
But then again, Alder was resolute to get back what he lost again. He had higher motives and he was working for them from years, several years without rest. Just when everything was falling in right place, the downfall of him has begun.
Alder gave a brief glance at Knox who was hissing in pain and just sneered at his condition. If Knox hadn't had come to him with the details of Orla's whereabouts then he would had killed him without a blink. But at the moment, he was in need of Knox's assistance.
He needs to find Orla and by the looks of it, Knox was fraught to find her and get a cure for his sufferings.
"I'm stumped by the fact that you haven't done anything yet to retrieve what you had lost, My Lord." Knox spoke stealthily, with an expectation he would get a response.
Knox knew he was walking on thin ice as long as he was with his then previous friend. He knew he was playing with the fire, not just a usual fire but a fire from the very hell and yet he had no other way than to do so.
"I am ever so grateful to you for that, my friend. You had made certain to make me so weak for anything to be ever made." Alder mocked furiously as he gritted his teeth to let Knox know how disappointed and upset he was.
"Then your son –"
"He does not come in this yet. He was and is always my last resort. Also I am not in any place to go forward with it. In the end I still need the least of my powers to have Lucius give me what he ought to." Knox nodded thoughtful of Alder's sudden importance in meeting his missing wife.
Orla was the key. Only she could get back what Alder had lost. However what Knox could not comprehend was, will she?
The cause behind Orla's disappearance from Emor family decades ago was still a mystery; not to forget, she now holds the light to what Alder was striving for.
Knox did not know if Alder had thought about it or not but Knox was suspicious regarding the whole stage behind Orla's disappearance.
A strong-willed, best of the Witches, Orla had to run away from her family, why? And the downfall of Alder had started only after his wife's departure.
Is everything related? Can Witch Orla be a cause of it?
Why does Knox feel that there is more to what is really happening? Should Knox express his suspicion to Alder? Will he believe him or regard his say?
Alder was no fool then why did he not think about such a possibility?
"Will Witch Orla aid you as you desire?" Knox put forth his hesitation as he directed his attention to the old Lord. Knox was not completely certain that the Witch would ever help the Lord.
Now that he was thinking about it, Witch Orla was being a bigger mystery than any other.
"She shall if I come to know regarding her flee and help her with it, she would absolutely do as per my desire. After all, there was a time when she was blindly in love with me." Knox shook his head as he was not in the same page with the Lord's statements.
Alder was no fool and he knew there must be a great cause for his dear wife to flee leaving her family behind. She loved him; she loved her brood by heart.
He wanted to know why she had to leave them without a prior notion. Was he the cause behind her departure?
If yes, then does it mean Orla knew something that she shouldn't have? If she did, then why would she leave their offspring behind?
He observed Knox by his peripheral vision and saw him sitting on the chair with a mug of ale and deep in thoughts. He picked up the pot and poured a mug for himself and returned to the windowpane.
Just as he completed his drink, a dark bird flew to Alder in sudden and flapped its large wings producing sparks of lights. Knox did not hear or pay any heed as he was in deep thinking but the dark owl was right in front of his eyes.
As the bird stopped before Alder and flapped its wings, beams of sparks erupted in bright blue and read and a small message appeared in air written with the blue and red sparks.
Alder was taken aback by the sudden missive and glanced back to see Knox still distracted. He moved a step forward and hid the message by his body and read what was sent and by whom.
'I am ever so grateful to you for the short notice you had provided me regarding your impromptu visit along with the Lord. I shall leave my place and get to another of my site without delay. In return for your information, I shall be sending the cure to your bodily anguish soon. Wishing you a good life, Knox Garrick.'
Alder's gaped at the missive and blinked his eyes at another of the betrayal he was given by his once close friend. Knox betrayed him?
Last time it was not intentional but certainly he did intent to deceive him right then.
How dare is he?
How dare that demon of a human betray him?
Knox had been on Orla's side all the time, giving her the details of them and their trip in return for his own cure.
That was it! Alder had had enough!
He was shaking in rage as his eyes dilated in shade of black. His hands formed into fists and the hair on his skin was standing up at the range of utter vehemence he was experiencing.
"How dare you! How dare you deceive me, you son of a hoe?" Alder yelled Knox as the message disappeared and the bird flew away.
Knox stood up in fright at the abrupt scream coming from the older Lord. He was scared at the absurd sound of the Lord yelling at him that it took a good time to consider what the Lord had said.
Deceive? He deceived the Lord?
Knox could not understand what the older Lord was saying? When and how did he deceive him?
"Deceive? No, My Lord. I –"
"You dare to lie. I shouldn't have put my faith in you. I shouldn't have!" Alder bellowed. In a couple of strides, Alder reached Knox and held him by his neck as he lifted him off the ground.
Knox attempted to loosen Alder's hold on his neck but with his poor body health, he could hardly collect himself. Alder's grip tightened and Knox started to cough copiously.
"You shall get back what your deserved for what you did to me." Alder spoke in enragement. He threw Knox on the ground harshly and gathered all the magic he was left with in his hands as he chanted spells over spells.
"N-N-No" Knox coughed out as he tried to speak but failed.
"You shall be crippled from this moment and shall be tormented in pain for a whole day. You shall die at the end of the day morrow and no strong magic can break this curse I give you for your betrayal towards me." Alder cursed as the ball of light left his hands and hit the terrified Knox causing him to fall back.
With a painful scream, Knox laid on the stone floor with his limbs going incapacitated gradually. Knox was shattering with the pain but no words were forming in his throat to speak out.
He has no mind to think why Alder had cursed him out of nowhere.
Alder on the other side was still shaking in fury as a major amount of magic left his body, making him weaker and more human.
He had to get his magic back. He had to and he shall even if it meant he had to kill his son, Lucius, earlier than later that he planned.
~*~*~*~*~*~
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Next chapter is here. Enjoy!
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Knox really informed Orla of their trip to warn her?
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