Chapter VI, Part 1: Separation

Liriel’s form was sliding through the forest like the trees weren’t even there. Her agile steps easily avoiding the treacherous vines and fallen branches; her sword on hand cutting a clear path through the thickest of the bushes. She felt invigorated. It was like her strength was not diminishing as she darted forward but renewing. With a last small jump she exited the thick embrace of the woods and found herself in a vast plain.

It was clear that the forest had ended abruptly, burned down to create the farmlands that surrounded the small city. As the sun was setting, she could clearly see a huge tower in the middle of the settlement. Even taller than the walls that surrounded it, it dwarfed the rest of the settlement. Liriel’s hopes rekindled when she saw the forms of two dragons landing on the top spire of the tower and her feet continued their frantic pace.

~~~

It was almost like a miracle happening, the guards had let her straight into the presence of this man, no questions asked, no waiting time, nothing at all.

“So my child what is the reason you had to see me for so urgently?”  His soft and deep voice seemed to engulf the whole room as his hands kept brushing his sort-cropped white beard.

Liriel, still gasping for air finally managed to clam down her heartbeat enough to speak. She felt like the presence of this man alone could force tranquility to her clouded mind. “Sir… please, a friend of mine… he is sick, dying, in the edge of the forest. If you could please bring him here with one of your dragons so as to be treated… I beg of you to-”

“Enough child.” His abrupt tone and the sudden raise of his hand startled her as he cutted her speech. “So you were in the camp beyond the forest eh? Where were you coming from and what is your clan?”

“I…Eh… We were wandering. We are clanless and… our village was destroyed when we were kids from bandits, we were wandering ever since…” Liriel couldn’t understand what was wrong. She had practice this lie since she realized that everyone would be asking such a question but the inquiring eyes of the wizard made it almost impossible for her to speak it…

“I see child. You should have known better than to leave an injured man to the brink of the forest. Since you say you have been traveling since kids, you should have known that…”

“Eh?”

“My Dragonriders found the camp you spoke of. There was nothing but blood there. I’m sorry child but the tracks indicate that tigers attacked and drew something heavy in the woods.”

“Tigers…?”

“Yes child, tigers. All the forests around here have them in abundant supply. Our hunters only dare to venture within the forest in whole groups. I’m sorry, but I think that tigers… killed… your friend. I’ll initiate a search of course, right now. But I fear that there is no hope for your friend… Till it is complete you are welcome in my city, also ask for guard Lornvail and ask him to give you the salvaged equipment from the camp. Since you are a wanderer, I expect to have no money to stay somewhere decent those days. Do yourself a favor and tell him to give you some money too… No please leave me, I have other things to attend to and I have to start the search party too.” Suddenly, his arms were all around her, grasping firmly her shoulders. “I promise child, that I’ll do whatever is in my hand to find your friend…”

And with that, he turned his back to her.

Liriel couldn’t understand what was going on. She stopped following the elder’s words when she heard that Jacob might be dead. How did she let that happen? Why? She felt arms around her, raising her from the ground and she saw the room moving. As she turned her head, she saw that a giant of a man had picked her up and was removing her from the council room. She put a glass in hand and almost forced her to drink it.

The overpowering stench of raw, distilled alcohol made her cough it up almost immediately but also jumpstarted her mind anew. She was in a different room now, still nice and huge but also much more plain than the previous one. As her eyes scanned the area they met with the dark, brown eyes of the man that had carried her here. A wild grin formed in his face as he realized that she was coming around.

“Well med gal. I’m Lornvail.” He said brushing his thick brown hair away from his face. “One of the two dragonriders of Clan Nenantial. Worry not; I’ll do whatever I can to find your friend.”

~~~

Darkness has fallen in Nenantial for good. It was a small city, a small clan, sustained mainly by its rich fields, and most people were already asleep awaiting the rise of the sun to go back and work on them. But in the brightly lit council room two figures were sitting watching the flames in the fireplace dancing. It was the wizard that broke the silence first.

“So, Lornvail, have you set up the girl in a modest inn yet?”

“Of course Master. Exactly as ordered. What did you learn?”

“She is lying. They are no wanderers. Their clothes were still in a decent condition and you’ve reported me that they were no more weapons in their small camp. The scar on the boy looked like a tainted whiplash or something similar. The girl stunted her speech when I imposed my will on her. They seem to have been running from something but they also don’t look or act like criminals. So, I think they are escapees or runaways slaves or something like that.”

“So, what do we do?”

“If someone is hunting them, I want the girl to leave as soon as possible. I don’t need the extra attention here. It will only distract us from our goal.”

“And the boy?”

“The boy we will use. He is still young, I have much to gain from him and he is not important and a runaway. The only one that would look for him would be his friend here. Make her leave tomorrow. I will give you a child’s skeleton to show to her as the remains of her friend, clean of course so as ‘to avoid gruesome scenes’. You’ll hunt her down two days later and kill her to avoid any unwanted suspicions.”