Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Breaker

Chapter Four ~ The Unification Amalgamation ~ Part I

By the time the group reached the lizard building, Tajana was walking without help. She had let go of Chadwick's arm and was now looking almost as good as new. 'Why is she better now?' he asked.

'She's taking steps to fulfil her Oath, so her Kundalini is forgiving her for almost breaking the Oath,' Fiona explained. 'You will want to prepare for your Oath Ritual,' Fiona told Tajana as they walked at the slow pace of all the surrounding people. 'Make sure to visualise your own Joint Trial; when your Mentor helped you make your Chimaera. Imagine it again so you can reproduce the ritual.'

Tajana nodded. She rarely talked about her Mentor, but Chadwick knew that her Mentor was a girl who had left Blackthorn after completing her Joint Trial and Advancing from Chandler to Bursar. She had chosen to become a Mercator instead of staying at Blackthorn, which meant she had left the halls to pursue a job in the trading of Alchemical goods and services. These were the blue-collar workers of the Alchemical world. Plenty of Chemists from Blackthorn and Burtree chose this route, which was sort of like dropping out of secondary school and getting a job instead of graduating.

Chadwick had always assumed that Tajana was embarrassed by her Mentor. He would be mortified to have been Paired with someone so much less talented and ambitious than himself. It was almost worse than what had happened to Thea's first Mentor.

The group finally reached the lizard exhibit. Chadwick searched inside the entrance area and found a map of the building. According to the sign, most of the lizards resided in the centre of the building in the Reptile Dome. Chadwick led the way there, all the while feeling the excitement build as he thought about what he was about to do. His heart began to skip beats with anticipation.

They reached the dome, and the group broke off to search again. This time, Tajana helped look, too. Chadwick shook his head, trying to remember exactly what the sungazer lizard looked like. Then he threw his hands up into the air.

Chadwick approached someone in a zoo uniform who was standing just off the path winding its way through the Reptile Dome. The man had a snake on his shoulders, and it was obviously his job to give a tour of the dome to any tourists who were interested. 'Erm, excuse me?' Chadwick said.

The worker raised his eyebrows and smiled. 'Yes. Welcome to the Reptile Dome.'

'Do you have any sungazers?' he asked, getting straight to the point, the way he imagined many tourists probably did.

'Ah, the giant girdled lizard. We have a few groups of them throughout the dome. It is a free range exhibit, so you will have to search carefully to find them.'

Chadwick bit his lip. 'Is there any way you could help me search? I've been looking for a while already,' he lied easily.

'I'm sorry. I'm supposed to stay in this area and answer questions.' The man smiled apologetically.

'Well, you've just had a question from me, and I believe I asked you to do your job,' Chadwick said. Then he heard himself talking and mentally kicked himself. He really should resist the urge to talk to a Recreant like that when he needed his help.

The man nodded and smiled. He must have been trained to deal with testy tourists. 'I can call for someone to come and help, but it may be a moment.'

'Please don't trouble yourself,' Chadwick said. He rolled his eyes and walked away. That turned out to be a waste of time. He resigned himself to the possibility that he would have to use the first lizard he found. The idea did not sit well with him. Maybe Tajana would be okay long enough for him to find the lizard he really wanted to use.

He looked up to see if he could spot her. The dome was modelled after a desert, with cacti and short rock formations, so he could easily see Tajana a bit down the path, staring into the sandy crevices near an outcropping of rocks. Chadwick skipped a step and burst into a jog to catch up with her. 'Any luck?' he called as he slipped in beside her, skipping around a few slow tourists who seemed to be counting the rocks along the path, they were moving so slowly.