Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Chasing Pain

Lianza paced down the hillside to the water's edge, where his Queen stood, looking across the river to the wild she had come out of only a few days ago. He knew that it drew her, that the Wild in Rulin called her to it regularly, and thus this undamaged, former home of Queen Veranandein must also draw her back to its folds.

And he wondered if Rulin, if King Drakos, was ever going to lose her into it completely. It wasn't the first time he had pondered that question.

"Majesty." He murmured, coming to stand beside her, drawing her out of her reverie, though he never seemed to surprise her, no matter how quietly he approached.

"Are you a good hunter, Lianza?" She asked after a moment, holding out her hand.

He offered her one of his, and watched as she placed a rough-looking hemp cord, with an odd, bent and hollow coin tied in the centre. A necklace of sorts, one that smelled of Treasa, and someone else he didn't recognise.

"I can hunt, Majesty."

"Can you smell the other girl on there?" Her voice, her countenance, was sad, though there was a flash of anger in his Queen's eyes.

"I can. I don't recognise it, but I can tell the two apart." He didn't want to guess who's scent that was, or why he was being asked these questions by a Queen looking ready to destroy anyone put in front of her.

Veranandein nodded and looked to him finally, meeting his eyes and holding his gaze for a dizzying few moments.

He would, could, do anything for her.

She had that power over him, like she had it over so many others, but she merely nodded. "Xilo brought that to the Capital, and Chaven brought it up to me. This Kethan has indicated that he did, in fact, murder Treasa's friend, though he tried to convince her that the girl was still alive. We haven't told her this, but before she went to the Palace, Chloe asked if there was something she had, that would allow them to find this friend of hers. Apparently Bethany has one that's identical. They made them together, and would exchange them whenever they saw one another, so both smell of the two of them."

"I will hunt every inch of that city till I find her, Majesty." Lianza was afraid of the task, afraid of what he would find, afraid of what he would see about Treasa's life, when he felt so strongly that she was his Kin-daughter.

"We will." Veranandein said firmly, shaking her head. "We will do it together. I would not make you do this alone. Just as surely as I could not do it alone. But I don't think it's in the city. Apparently there is a farm, close to here, though safely distant from the Wild, where off things happen. It smells of death and pain, and torture. The Feysha won't go near it, though the hunters have debated destroying it. I believe we should start there."

Lianza frowned, staring down at the necklace, then looking at his Queen. "This is not something you should do, Majesty."

"It is." Verana's words were nearly whispered, her eyes shining with tears. "I wish it wasn't, but it definitely is."

They stood there for several more moments, acknowledging the pain that was to come, trying to find solace in the peace and tranquillity of this unaffected corner, before, almost as one, they leapt into the air and began flying south.

The remainder of the Rulin Guard caught up with them and formed a loose, collected circle in the air. In another situation, he would take pride in the fact that his Guard fell so easily to task, without question, sensing the sombre mood and adopting it themselves, but he barely acknowledged they were with them.

He could barely begin to, and he knew it was lucky the others were there, as distant and lost in his thoughts, fears, and dread that he was.

Into evening and full night they flew, circling over the capital city just as the sky greyed with the predawn, before tracing along a man-made road, following Veranandein. Not long after they left the capital behind, he realised there were Vayans flying with them, and then they were landing in a field, which stretched up a long way, bordering a slightly worn dirt track up to an abandoned-looking farmhouse.