Legends of Marithia: Book 1 - Prophecies Awakening: Uncut and Extended Second Edition (13 page)

She arched an eyebrow. “Although it does
bring to mind the obvious question, what on Marithia are
you
doing with his bow in the first place?” she asked, scanning the inn
with her piercing eyes. “Is he here somewhere? Hiding upstairs,
like the cowardly little boy that he is? Or shivering in some dark
corner at my presence?”

Tusdar's voice strained and his lip quivered
as he answered. “No, great sorceress… I mean… my Queen. His horse
found its way home to the inn and I took the bow from his pack. You
will not find him anywhere here, so you best look elsewhere if you
want to find him. I speak the truth and would not defy you."

Kassina smiled, revealing small glints of
fang. “Thank you for your
amazing
report. But you think you
speak the truth?
I’ll
be the judge of what the truth is.
Although it is a pleasure that finally there is someone here who
can show his new queen the respect she deserves. As for the rest of
you, I will spare all of your lives if you tell me where to find
that slippery rat Aidan. Derian tells me that Aidan was the only
royal guard to escape Greenhaven alive. His blood left a trail in
this direction, so don't bother lying to me."

One of the men in the room spoke up. “My
Queen, I was here a few days ago when Aidan was brought into the
inn in Vartan's arms. He was taken upstairs by a healer, but that
is all I know.”

Kassina turned to Derian and giggled. “Would
you look at that, my sweet? We have some potential in these humans
other than to whet my appetite. Consider your life spared, young
man. Derian, let us pay a hospitable visit to the rooms upstairs,
shall we?”

Hildar sent an icy-cold stare toward the
informant as he interrupted them. “Why don’t you have some drinks
and join us, so we can welcome you properly as our new king and
queen? After all, this would be cause for a celebration and it
would be an honour to serve you. There is nobody up there but a few
of our paying guests. That man is confused, and I have never seen
him here before today. My inn does not hold any injured men."

Trisa wet another soft rag with cool water
and laid it gently on Aidan’s forehead. "You have already begun to
heal and are well on the road to recovery."

The room was warmed by the small fireplace
near the bed, and Aidan couldn’t help but feel very comfortable in
her care. When he spoke, his voice was weak. “I don’t know how I
will ever thank you, Trisa… you saved my life."

“It is not me you should be grateful to. I am
just doing my work. Thank the young knight who left a pile of shiny
king's gold to save you. I believe his name was Vartan."

Aidan smiled as he began to recall snippets
of the events that had taken place. “Of course, I remember now. It
was
Sir Vartan. One kind deed deserves another, and I will
never forget him. I owe Vartan a lot more than I ever did for him
in Greenhaven. How long have I been here?”

“Many days have passed before your eyes
opened, but your will is strong and so are my potions. Thanks to
your friend's gold, I was able to make the rare ones needed to keep
your body alive while I used enchanted scrolls to speed up the
healing process."

All of a sudden loud, heavy footsteps echoed
from the stairs. Aidan shot up in bed and then winced, hunching
over at the pain from his healing ribs.

He desperately searched for a weapon near his
bed and he asked through quickened breath, “Who is that?”

Kassina and Derian ascended the inn’s stairs
to discover three locked doors with low light escaping the cracks
in the door. They stood at the entrance to the corridor, their
silhouettes flickering shadows in the firelight from the inn's
fireplace.

Kassina's laugh echoed down the corridor.
“Derian, do you feel
lucky
tonight? Maybe we should get a
room and start really enjoying our time together. What do you
say?”

With a grin on his face, Derian marched his
way to the first door and kicked it with all his might. He sent the
door flying across the room, narrowly missing a frightened couple
making love in the bed.

“Oh dear, it appears we interrupted something
that
we
want to be doing. Don't let us stop you - please
continue on with our blessing!” laughed Derian as they approached
the second door.

Kassina shook her head and sighed. “Derian,
do
be more subtle. What good is anyone to us if you’re just
going to splatter them like the bugs they are? Allow me." She
lifted her index finger, which bore a ring in the form of a coiled
snake, to the lock, and she whispered a spell. The lock hummed and
clicked open. She eased the door open slowly as it let out a
groaning sound. The room was empty, save the inn’s dusty
furniture.

Derian pouted. “Does nobody ever clean this
place? Disgusting! Well, that leaves only one room."

Kassina turned her head and stared
disdainfully at Derian. “
Well
, I would have
never
known that. How
amazingly
perceptive of you. Did they teach
you to count in that big city as well?”

Trisa turned her attention to the door as
footsteps came closer and the shadow of legs could be seen. “Who is
it?” she asked, sliding a shiny dagger out from her boot.

Derian knocked playfully on the last door of
the inn. “Hello, little mouse? Why don’t you just open the door for
us and save us the trouble of opening it for you?”

They waited a few tense moments without a
reply. Derian shrugged. "Then you best get out of the way!" he
yelled. He growled as he booted the door open with his full
strength.

Trisa spun around at the sound of the door
being smashed open and crashing into her cottage walls, to see a
tall man stumbling in and trying to keep his balance, his arms
piled high with wood.

Trisa put away her dagger. “Jamik!” she
yelled. “How on Marithia can you be so clumsy? The doors have
handles, you know!”

Jamik replied sheepishly. “I’m sorry, madam.
I lost my balance, as my arms are full of the firewood, you know? I
tripped into the door.”

“By the gods, Jamik, you managed to scare us
half to death!” said Trisa with a warm smile. “Thank the stars we
moved out of that horribly small inn and came home. Remember that
part of the healing process is to
not
kill people with
fright, even if it does generate business.”

Jamik placed the wood down carefully and
nodded as he closed the door behind him. Aidan eased himself back
into his bed and rested his eyes once again. "I thought it was that
wench, Kassina."

“Never fear, Aidan. I may not be a dark
sorceress, but I have some tricks of my own. She would have great
difficulty finding us here. In fact,
nobody
should be able
to find us here. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for when
you leave." Trisa walked to the corner of her room, heaved open one
of the drawers of a dark, wooden desk and reached inside to
retrieve an impressive pearly orb that emitted a slight humming
sound. She sat at the end of his bed, her heavy robe draping over
the blanket. “Now, I have something for you to try. If your heart
truly desires an answer, you will see it in this orb. Some would
believe that knowing answers can alter the path of their lives or
bring them closure. Some would rather leave some questions
unanswered. I will not force you to take it, but the choice
is
yours."

She held the orb out in the palm of her hand,
and Aidan couldn’t help but look into it. The orb began to change
colour to a light purple and hummed louder.

She smiled at him reassuringly. “Ah yes - it
appears that your heart truly
does
seek an answer. Hold it
tightly in your hands and ask of it whatever you wish.”

Aidan gently took the orb; surprisingly, it
was as light as a feather. He lifted it up in front of his chest
and stared deeply into it, his face hardening as he focused.

Does Vartan live?
he thought.

Within the orb, he saw small flashes of
movement and swirls of colour. At first it was just a few hues,
then suddenly the mist cleared and he saw dragons as they flew
higher in the sky than the eye could see.

“It
can’t
be—dragons don’t exist.
Everybody knows that they died out long ago,” said Aidan.

“If you see it, then it is simply as it is,”
replied Trisa. “Nothing is trickery in the Orb of Farsight.
Dragons, you say? I would never have thought it possible either,
but it must be so. That is certainly an interesting turn of events.
We have not seen dragons in Marithia for a
very
long
time.”

As the orb took him closer to the flying
legends, he made out a man held within the claws of the largest of
the dragons, his hair fluttering in the wind. Aidan beamed. “That
must be Vartan. He is alive!”