Kara (20 page)

Everyone looked at Snow, who had her hands on
her hips. The wizard paused, totally put out, mouth open. He closed
it as soon as he came to his senses. “Could I at least have some
tea while we discuss how to rescue Kara?”

***

Kara awoke to the bumping and jiving of wagon
wheels along a rocky dirt road. She knew the feeling from riding
with her father on his bakery runs. Often she would ride in the
back, holding the bread steady as the horses made their way along a
rocky trail. A smile appeared on her face as she remembered, but
then quickly faded as her thoughts synced with the present.

First, she found she could not move. Kara
didn’t know if her bindings were rope or some sort of magic. The
cart she rode in was covered and smaller than her father’s. An
opening toward the front revealed a driver and some of the horse
ahead. Memories came flooding back from the kidnapping. Kara
assumed the driver was Katrena.

“I know you’re awake. Sit still. No use
struggling,” a woman’s voice called from the driver’s side.

“Why…?” Kara squawked. She sounded
pathetic.

Katrena did not answer at first. After a few
minutes, she said, “It is all about money. Really nothing personal.
Not revenge. Even though your friends led to my Skrag’s demise.
Good little helper. A bit creepy, but still he was a fine
servant.”

The road started to even out some, for there
were less bumps against the wheels.

“Who…?” Again it wasn’t much, but the one
word conveyed her meaning.

The driver laughed. “That is the question. I
don’t know why the crown wants a little girl. You will learn about
this world when you grow up. Well, then again, you might, if you
live through your interview with the captain of the Witch
Guard.”

Instantly, a memory of her father and her
home burning flashed through her mind. With all that had been going
on, she had forgotten he could still be alive. Would she see him
today?

She began to cry. The necklace glowed faintly
and warmed against her skin. It seemed to soften her sadness
somehow.

Katrena turned to look over her shoulder.
“Oh, that reminds me. The necklace. Don’t be shocked. Sometimes I
can pick up thoughts from humans. Not mind reading, but sort of
selective hearing, if you want to call it that. I will be taking
back my property before I deliver you. Naughty girl, stealing stuff
from Katrena.”

The horses clopped onward shuffling the cart
along. The vibrations set her mind askew with questions again. Why
did the king want her father? What did he do that warranted their
home set aflame? And why would he want her?

Would she have an explanation soon? Did she
really want to know the answers?

***

“Guard! Guard!” Jesset yelled through the
bars. His shoulder still ached, but his strength had come back
enough for him to stand. No one heeded his plea. His whole escape
plan hinged on him getting out of the jail cell. If only a guard or
somebody would come along. He could antagonize whomever enough to
deserve a beating. And once his cell door was open….

He called out again. Jesset heard the clank
of armor moving down the corridor. Witch Guard were coming. Jesset
waited and watched as they came closer, and slowly he backed away
from the bars.

“I see you recognize me.” Taylon stood in
front of the cell, with two others slightly behind him. His face
held a bemused look. Jesset watched them intently, unsure how to
reply. His escape plan vanished. His mind went blank.

“Capturing you was a little harder than we
expected. I lost two valuable men to your tricks.” While he talked,
Taylon intertwined his hands, cracking his knuckles. His cohorts’
faces held simple sneers.

One came forward and unlocked the door.
Jesset inched his way back against the wall. These men had come for
retribution, had been granted the privilege of revenge. And there
was no way to stop what they would do.

The door swung with a creak, a fast whining
noise. It sounded like a prisoner in pain farther down the hall.
Soon, he would be sounding like that too, if he still made any
racket at all.

Taylon motioned his men to go in first and
then he entered. He pushed the door to its full open position and
stepped aside. “Your chance to escape.” His hand motioned out as if
revealing a vanishing doorway in a Mordock show. His men laughed in
low grunts.

All stared at one another, no one moving, no
one hardly even blinking.

“Well,” Taylon took a few steps closer on
Jesset’s left. “Don’t say I didn’t give you the chance.”

His fist flew lightning fast. Jesset felt the
blow before seeing it. A tooth broke loose in his mouth. It spewed
forth as his whole body did a slow rotation with the hit. His knees
gave out and the rest of him crumpled to the floor. One hand saved
his face from hitting the ground.

The two soldiers in the corner laughed again.
Taylon stepped in a circle, ready to deliver more. “How’d that
feel? Nothing like the hoof to the head Filo received, but maybe we
can come close.” He lifted his boot to stomp on Jesset’s leg. A
squeak interrupted him.

Taylon stopped midair. A rat crawled by his
other foot. He switched targets from Jesset to the rat out of
habit. It scurried away as his foot came down.

“No bother. Just some animals wanting to
taste your….” Taylon stopped mid-sentence. A knowing look came over
his eyes. The second in command looked towards Jesset, who besides
the pain in his watery eyes, also had a laugh of his own.

The rat sank its teeth deep into Taylon’s
ankle.

“Ahhh!”

Before his men could come to his aid, they
too screamed. More rats had come to the battle.

One of the soldiers panicked immediately,
flailing his arms and legs. “Rats!” he screamed.

Taylon kicked out with his foot and the rat
attached to his heel skidded across the ground toward Jesset. The
Mordock gathered himself up, trying to stand.

“Not this time!” Taylon made a move toward
the Mordock. Jesset grabbed a nearby rat and threw it at his
attacker. The rat caught on Taylon’s face. Muffled by rat fur, the
captain roared in outrage.

Jesset scampered out the cell door. A few
steps later, whispers in his mind told him to lock the door behind
him. Quickly, he swung the door and it slammed into place. The key
popped out of the lock.

Taylon ripped the rat from his face, taking
some of his flesh with its claws. He saw the door slam and the
Mordock scrambling for the opener.

Jesset’s hand snagged the key. Taylon
collided with the door forcing it open an inch and then an inch
more. Strength slowly left the Mordock. He was slipping backward
and the door was opening.

Hold on mate.

A rat jumped and climbed up Taylon. It
perched itself above the soldier’s neck and bit down.

“Ahhh!”

Taylon’s scream made the whole dungeon quake.
The pressure on the door slackened and Jesset’s weight slammed it
closed. After a moment of disorientation, he had the key in the
lock. With a quick turn, the cell door was secure.

Taylon screamed again. Jesset scooted back
from the door, exhausted.

Rat fur tickled his hands. Jesset looked
down.

This way!
the rat said, and headed
deeper into the dungeon.

He pulled himself up and hurried after the
rodent.

Another scream came from the cell, but it
sounded like one of frustration and not one of pain.

In the Mordock’s wake, other prisoners were
noticing his escape. Some cheered, some laughed, some called out
angrily to be let out. He heeded none of their cries.

Except one.

“Jesset?”

The voice stopped him in his path. All plans
of escape vanished for the moment, as Jesset skidded to a halt.

“Kirt?”

Brothers stared at each other, hands clasping
through the bars. “But I thought you were dead?” Jesset was first
to speak.

“Barely alive, but still here. What about
Kara?”

“She’s…alive.” Jesset didn’t have time to
explain. He saw the pale look on his brother’s face and added.
“She’s not here. The Witch Guard didn’t get her.”

Relief washed over Kirt. “They wanted that
shard I gave you. I thought they were after you. That’s why….”

“We don’t have time. I need to get you out of
there.” Jesset had the key in his hand and was just about to unlock
the cell door when a massive hand clamped down on his shoulder. As
he spun around, the small piece of metal fell to the floor.

The huge dark form of Tyr, La’ard’s dungeon
master stood hulking before him. “And what do we have here?” he
said.

***

The wizard sipped tea and a munched loudly on
the biscuit Snow gave to him. She gave a disapproving grunt. Again,
he slurped his tea noisily and biscuit crumbs went everywhere with
each bite.

“Okay, you got your tea and something to eat.
Now, tell us what we need to know.” The wizard opened his mouth to
speak, but Snow cut him off again. “And about the necklace. No long
life story about you.”

The wizard closed his mouth again, giving her
a dirty look but decided to go along with the rabbit for now. “The
stone is called Hevinis, or as Guillaud referred to it, midnight
core. Cultivated out of the Lake of Harad, before the land
swallowed it up.”

“I’ve never heard of it before,” Hambone
said.

“Of course, you haven’t. Lake of Harad
disappeared almost two centuries ago, and most of the midnight core
was destroyed or gathered up by Guillaud.” Ynob took another slurp
of his drink.

“Wait a minute, what was that name?” Snow
asked.

“Guillaud? You couldn’t possibly have….”

“That’s the name Kara mentioned from her
dream, the one with Rose and Miranda.” Snow said, looking at the
wizard with a ‘see-told-you-so’ smirk.

The wizard looked a bit stunned. “So it is
true,” he said.

“What?”

“Many years ago—”

“Wizard, I warned—”

“This
is
about the necklace. I am here
to help, but this rudeness of yours I won’t tolerate much longer.”
Ynob and Snow gave each other a hard look, before he continued. “I
took a certain book from the castle library before I left. The tome
had been hidden away from the other texts. As far as all my
research can tell, it is the only source of information on this
necklace.”

“So, what was it?” Dante said. Unlike his
sister, the fox appeared to be delighted talking to the wizard.

“Guillaud’s journal.”

“Okay. Start at the beginning. Who is this
‘Guillaud’?” Snow waved a hand trying to get the man to
continue.

“Guillaud was a great wizard, probably the
greatest in the land of his time. The king he served under was a
great warrior who conquered and claimed vast quantities of land. It
is believed that he even wiped out entire races in his campaign to
expand his kingdom.”

“So, not much different than other human
kings,” Snow jeered.

“There you are wrong. He was not a
money-hungry power monger. This king, for he is named by many
monikers… the Serpent is the one I prefer, saw an expanding
population. He did his conquest for his people. Guillaud helped
him.”

“In the journal, Guillaud refers to this
necklace, a gift to his wife Rose. There was even a picture he drew
of it. Anything magical that came across his table that he didn’t
understand, Guillaud made a sketch of it to master every detail of
the piece. The necklace was foreign to him, but exquisitely
beautiful.”

“It is pretty.” Dante said. Snow shot a look
of contempt at her brother.

“Later on he found that the properties of the
midnight core were sophisticated in their magical makeup. But this
he found out much later after his wife’s soul was stolen by the
necklace.”

Hambone reacted first. “What!”

“That necklace is stealing Kara’s soul?” Snow
was on her feet.

Grace twittered something and Ynob turned to
answer her. “Yes, sprite. Midnight core is also referred to as the
Soul Snatching stone.”

“We have to get to Kara quick! Before that
thing—”

“Rabbit! Be still.” Ynob waved a hand in
front of Snow. A dreamy, peaceful look appeared on her face. She
calmly sat down while Hambone and Dante watched, their mouths
open.

“You
got
to show me how to do that
trick.” Dante sounded very impressed.

“Later.” Ynob dismissed him and continued.
“This stone’s makeup—”

“Umm, is she going to be okay?” Hambone
asked. Snow’s face held a crooked grin and her eyes looked
semi-unfocused.

“She will hear and understand everything we
say. It is as if she is in a state of total bliss.”

“And she won’t be furious when she comes out
of it?” Hambone asked.

“Well…” The wizard took that moment to slurp
the rest of his tea.

Grace twittered for him to continue.
“Guillaud told of how the necklace slowly took his wife’s soul. She
turned evil as the necklace took the life out of her. When living
things start to become soulless, demons and other unwanted spirits
have a way of taking roost.”

“Devils?” Dante shuddered.

“May I have some more tea?” Wizard Ynob
extended his cup in the general direction of everyone. Eventually,
Hambone stood and refilled his cup.

“Now where were we?”

“Demons?” Dante repeated.

The wizard took another biscuit in hand
before confirming Dante’s suspicions. “Yes, the worst kind.”

“You see, a wraith saw the soulless, living
corpse of Rose. And it was only able to gain full control when she
committed an evil act. In this case, killing one of her closest
friends, Miranda.”

Hambone blinked. “You mean that wasn’t a
dream Kara was having. That actually happened?”

The wizard seemed to be in no hurry to answer
the anxious pondering. He dunked his biscuit and then took a bite.
“I must say, these little biscuits are a marvel. I’d almost swear
they were elf-made.”