• CHAPTER 1

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    9

    The Search


    Outside the manor walls the forest was rather peaceful. Nothing but the sounds of birds filled the air and the occasional rustling of leaves in the wind. The mid afternoon light filtered in through the trees in golden rays all around. Such a beautiful location for a manor, it would be a wonderful place once it was fully repaired.

    But the beauty of the nature around him was the last thing on Aiden’s mind as he wandered through the brush.

    How could he have been so careless? He had been grateful to the manor host and his wife for allowing himself and Lady Catriona to stay there. So grateful, in fact, that he had offered to do a favor for either of them in return. Which put him where he was now…

    Since he had failed to be more specific in his offer, he had now been given a quest. A quest he had grown to hate already. He had been sent to find that treasure map.

    Could it even be considered humane to send anyone out on a quest that couldn’t be completed? It was a piece of paper! Where could he even begin looking for it? He had already been searching for hours and still no sign of any sort of map anywhere.

    He let out an exasperated sigh and ventured toward the riverside. It seemed that a break was in order for now.

    These Pyrogolths the old man spoke of, they still had yet be seen anywhere. Aiden knew of some variety of Pyrogolth, but he himself had never had to directly deal with them. He knew what they looked like, but he had seen nothing all day that even resembled them.

    What would they want with a treasure map anyway?

    Aiden sat down at the base of a tree to rest once the river was finally in view. Would the manor host really be that upset if he returned without it? From the way his wife had been speaking of it earlier Aiden had a feeling that at least one person there would be happy if it were never seen again.

    But a promise was a promise, and he had promised to do his best.

    On second thought, since this was proving to be so impossible this could count as trying his best…

    That was it, he had decided. He began to get up and head back to the manor, already trying to think of what it was he would say when something caught his eye. Not too far from where he had been sitting, something fluttered in the breeze. Something that looked an awful lot like…

    No way.

    Stuck in a bush a short distance from where Aiden stood now, was in fact, the map. He could make it out better as he approached it. The old tattered piece of parchment did have what looked like landmarks and the names of places written on it. He pulled it from its resting place and examined it a little more closely.

    It had odd writing on it, that was for sure. It seemed to be in another language even, but it was most definitely a map. It already seemed as though it had had a rough life. Actually, it looked like it had already been patched up once before, if not twice.

    A sudden chatter caught his attention, pulling it away from the curious thing he held in his hands. He looked away from the map and finally saw one of those creatures. A Pyrogolth. And just when he had been beginning to doubt their existence in this area. It peered at him from behind the brush, its tiny, goblin-like face crinkled in a scowl. It made a sudden lunge for the map but Aiden quickly pulled it back.

    “Hey, sorry buddy, but this isn’t yours.” he said, not that it mattered. He doubted it would understand him anyway.

    It chattered angrily, waving a skinny arm in the air. The short staff it held came alight at the end with a flame. It wasn’t happy in the least. It turned and ran in the opposite direction.

    Aiden stared after it a moment as it disappeared into the brush. “What a weird little monster…” he murmured to himself.

    Figuring he had seen the last of it, he began back toward the manor. A sudden bright flash startled him as he walked; a flame right at his hand, the one that held the map. He dropped it, instinctively jerking his hand back. That was hot!

    “What the…”

    He looked back to see the Pyrogolth glaring at him from a distance.

    He sent a scowl back and picked the map back up from where he had dropped it. When he began forward again he found his way blocked by yet another one of those creatures.

    Alright, so perhaps a detour was in order. He moved to walk around it but once again, his path on the ground was blocked. What in the world had gotten into these creatures? He didn’t have time for this. He was tired and all he wanted was to get this map back to the host so his debt to them would be repaid.

    He summoned his wings to fly over the angry and chattering monsters instead of continuing to try walking around them, but it soon became very clear that they had other plans. Plans that didn’t involve him leaving with that map.

    Before he had much time to register what was happening, he found himself making a mad dash for the river. It burned! Those little monsters had come from everywhere! Their chattering filled the forest around him… No one had ever told him these things could light things on fire from a distance!

    He dove into the cool water of the river staying submerged for a few moments before coming back to the surface. When he looked back to shore he noticed quite a few standing at the edge, glaring at him.

    What a fine mess. Now his wings would surely be wet and unable to take flight. These creatures were so bothersome! He hated them already and had only dealt with them a total of a few minutes. He had to come up with some kind of plan now rather than just staying in the middle of the river.

    One of the little goblins let out a screech as something hit it. It looked around for the source just as another seemed to get hit by the same thing. They quickly began to scatter, running in all directions back into the shade of the trees.

    What was it scaring them off?

    Were those… arrows?

    Once again the forest was quiet, all but the sound of laughing. A voice that sounded very familiar to him. “I would have helped you sooner… but that was… that was just too hilarious!” the voice exclaimed through bouts of laughter.

    “Torrance?” Aiden questioned from the middle of the river. He didn’t know whether to be excited or to dread it. The big, blond goof would never let him live this down, that he knew for certain. This was just great.

    Torrance came out his hiding place in a tree and landed on the river bank just as Aiden was making his way back there. “What would you ever do without me?” He prompted with a smile as he helped his friend out of the water and back onto dry land.

    “I would probably never die of embarrassment.” he replied.

    “Who are you kidding?”

    “You never let it go…”

    Torrance laughed at him. “I do have a big mouth, don’t I?”

    “Yeah, you do.” he grumbled as he tried to squeeze the excess water from his clothing. At least he hadn’t been wearing his armor. That would have been a pain.

    “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. I didn’t just see you run screaming from a group of monsters half your size.”

    Aiden frowned. Not about the comment but about the situation, something didn‘t seem right. What was Torrance doing all the way out here? And why did he look so ragged? He had dark circles under his eyes. Not only did he look tired but he acted it too.

    Torrance took a seat against a tree, flopping rather than just sitting. He didn’t even bother to hide his wings again. Instead they just rested on the ground, not even folded. He let out a heavy sigh. “Man… I’ve been flying all night.”

    “What for?”

    Torrance’s usual light hearted air seemed to fade. If that didn’t put Aiden on edge, nothing would. If Torrance were ever serious, something big was going on. Given the circumstances, he wasn’t sure that he liked where it was headed.

    “I don’t know what it was you ever did to get karma like this, but you need to get out of here, fast.”

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    Seconds felt like hours as I hid in the cellar. I couldn’t see much through the floorboards but I could hear enough. Edna had seen the fear in me, I was sure. I didn’t know that I could ever be so afraid of my own kind, but something was off, something that made me nervous.

    She had come to the conclusion that I needed to stay out of sight until we knew for certain what was going on here. Who was I to disagree?

    The cellar was dark and dank, and hidden directly under the kitchen. The door was concealed with a rug and this now served as my hiding place.

    “I don’t understand why you think that we would keep anyone dangerous.” I could hear Edna say, accompanied with the creaking of the floorboards as someone walked across them. “but if it makes you feel any better, you may search our house. I assure you that you’ll not find who you’re looking for here.”

    Someone dangerous?

    “Well we mustn’t leave any stones unturned when it comes to our elder’s murder. I hope that you understand and I‘m sorry to have invaded your home.” I heard a female voice say, one I recognized to be Guard Ling, one of the more skilled archers around Plume.

    I stifled a gasp. The elder’s murder? My grandmother was…

    No. No, it couldn’t be true! I put a hand over my own mouth to keep from being heard as the tears began. You don’t even know if it’s true yet! Please, just stop it! I scolded myself. But why would Ling lie? Then what I had seen in that odd vision I’d had before came to mind… how the priest spoke of killing my grandmother.

    No, it had to be wrong!

    I set my jaw as my internal struggle for control continued. I wanted to cry… no, bawl. Scream even. Somewhere in my heart I knew it was true…

    I forced myself to look up through the cracks in the floor. It seemed that Ling had sent the others to search the rest of the rooms. She brushed a few strands of her long blue-tinged hair out of her face and let out a sigh. I could barely make out the expression on her face but she seemed weary.

    Edna seemed to notice the same thing. “You look very tired. Would you like anything? A cup of tea?”

    Ling waved her off. “No, no thank you. I appreciate the offer…”

    “I’m sorry to hear about your elder, it must be hard news to take.”

    “It was. The priest sent search parties toward all the nearby towns as soon as he found out what happened. There will be no rest until this killer is found.”

    Edna paused in the kitchen, right over where the cellar door was hidden. I suppose it would be quite rude to ask someone to move aside in their own house. It seemed that Edna had decided for sure that I shouldn’t be found.

    “There’s no one else here, I don’t see a signs of them anywhere.” another voice said from the doorway.

    “You searched each room thoroughly, yes?” Ling prompted.

    “We did.”

    “Then it’s time we moved on, the sooner we find Aiden and return Lady Catriona home, the better.”

    Aiden? Was he accused of the murder? I had only known him for a short while but I doubted that he would even be capable of such a thing. He had been with me when we both left my grandmother… but I suppose there was no one else around to see that.

    I wanted to come out and tell them the priest was a liar, but who would listen to me? I would be taken back to Plume and then what? If that vision was anything to go by, the priest still wanted me dead. He had already succeeded in that once.

    I felt nauseous just thinking about it.

    Ling and her search party finally left and all was quiet until Edna returned to let me out of my hiding place. I didn’t say a word as I climbed out with her help. I was too lost in thought.

    “Are you alright?” Edna questioned.

    I just nodded. It was a lie, I wasn’t okay. I sat in silence as the same question plagued me over and over again. What do we do now?

    “I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother… Ling told me that you were the elder’s granddaughter and then when she mentioned…”

    “It’s okay. They didn‘t say that they‘d found Aiden yet did they?” I asked, anything to take my mind off of my grandmother’s death. If it meant worrying for someone else’s survival, so be it.

    “No, they didn’t.”

    I sighed heavily. I couldn’t cry, not anymore. I had cried enough and this still had me in shock… and I was so confused. “I need to find him… but then what do we do?”

    CHAPTER 10