Eight Intertwined

84 - Reminiscence

"...And that's all he told me."

Once Ophilia finished telling the story of what Bartolo had related to her, the table fell silent. They had all received their food since Ophilia began, but even so, nobody dared to reach for their utensils or food for a few heavy beats of quiet. Ophilia herself swallowed dryly, desperate for somebody to break the silence. Her heart was screaming in her ears, and she couldn't help but think that it was a miracle that nobody else could hear it.

"So... Morlock," Therion muttered. "I've heard a few things about him over the course of my time as a thief. He's not a pleasant man as far as I can tell. I haven't been to Quarrycrest many times, but I know not to get involved with anything that could attract him."

"I'm glad we won't be spending much time in Quarrycrest since that should drastically reduce our chances of running into him," Primrose said. "I don't know if I would be able to hold myself back from fighting if I was met with the sight of him. After all the people he's hurt... He doesn't deserve even the slightest ounce of sympathy. All of this was caused by his greed. He's well past the point of redemption."

"I don't know how people can be so willing to sacrifice others in the name of profits," Tressa confessed. "Human lives will never be less important than money. If you think that gold is a higher priority than other people's survival, then... You're too far gone and have been for a long time."

"If all goes well, we shouldn't have to even think of seeing him while we're in Quarrycrest," Ophilia told everyone. "I'm personally counting on us not crossing paths with him. I don't want to get revenge for what happened years ago, but... I don't want to have to face that man either. In fact, the less time that we spend there, the better. It's going to be odd setting foot in that place knowing that its leader was responsible for the deaths of everyone in my village." She didn't finish that thought, but she knew that everybody else understood what she meant. If Aelfric hadn't intervened, she would have died that day too. How could the thought not hang heavily over her shoulders with all that she now knew?

"There is one thing that I wish to do while we are there," Cyrus announced. "I have an old friend who moved out to Quarrycrest after leaving Atlasdam behind, and I would like to try and catch up with her for a short while... If anyone is going to know where I should be searching to find the missing tome from Atlasdam's archives, it would be her. She has fine knowledge of the academic world, and I have no doubt that she would be more than happy to see us for a few hours."

"Do you think it's going to put us behind schedule at all?" Primrose questioned. "I'm not trying to rush you and your conversation with her or anything. I just think it would be for the best if we planned ahead a bit for Quarrycrest, that's all. We don't know what we're going to run into there, and we'll need to stay on our toes to make sure we don't find any unsavory characters there."

Cyrus shook his head. "You have nothing to worry about. I'll speak with her easily, and we won't be set back at all. We'll be able to set out from Quarrycrest in two days' time. I'm certain of it," he assured her. "I wouldn't want to linger there any longer than we already have to as long as we know this about Morlock."

"I don't think that he would know that I was from Creek even if he saw me, and honestly... Part of me doubts he even remembers what he did all those years ago," Ophilia murmured. "I just don't want us to find any trouble, and that means handling ourselves carefully. We have to go to Quarrycrest to investigate the shrine location there, so we don't have much of a choice in the matter. We'll simply need to play our cards properly and carefully."

"We'll be in and out before you know it," Tressa promised Ophilia. She reached for her journal where it rested in the bag sitting at her feet, flicking through the pages with a small smile. "The traveler who owned this journal before me went through Quarrycrest, and I want to try and see a bit more about the town before we have to leave, but I think that Ophilia's right about us needing to be careful. We can take care of everything over the course of one day, and after that, we'll be able to leave without any problems at all."