Whispers of Blood & Magic

Chapter Twenty-Three

Back at the library, we blocked off the secret entrance once again and Scythe and I moved chairs and desks to block the doorway.

We ran out and upon entering the large hallway, saw faces of maids peeking out of doorways. None moved to stop us. But once we moved down the hallway towards the Ladies' rooms, Lucianna and Adelina ran towards us, faces wild with anger and hands resembling clawed talons.

Scythe stepped in between us and them, and I was unsure who he was trying to protect from whom. Their fingernails scraped his metal uselessly and he gently but firmly pushed them back into a bedroom and held the door closed. He then grabbed the door handle and wrenched it sideways, snapping the knob off and locking the mechanisms from turning correctly. We could hear knocking and clawing from inside, along with frustrated screeching.

We made our way past an open doorway and saw Vivienne holding Brienne as she wept. Vivienne was looking at us with disdain, but made no move to attack us. As Brienne wept, Scythe stepped forward and spoke softly, "We can take you away from here. We may be able to find a place for you to live safely. Please, come with us."

Brienne made a gentle move to step away from Vivienne and perhaps take us up on Scythe's offer, but Vivienne grasped her firmly and whispered something in her ear, causing the small woman to sink back into her female companion's embrace. Scythe hesitated for a moment, but Fausto tapped the metal man on the shoulder and started back through the castle towards our exit.

I followed Fausto and eventually Scythe came as well, leaving the women behind.

As we made our way towards the front foyer, the butler stepped out between us and the front door, wielding a narrow dueling sword of some sort. His face looked more ragged than when I had seen him last, and his eyes were narrowed and his brow furrowed. He was much more poised and technical than the ladies who had tried to attack us earlier.

A large hammering noise came from far, far into the castle, back from where we escaped the cavern. A cacophony of screeching and screaming came from there as well, the chaos of noise difficult to pin to human or likewise.

Scythe readied his blade, but we didn't have time to sit and see who was the more skilled swordsman. Instead of wasting time, I called to the creepy crawlies that hid in the nooks and walls of the manor, and in a moment, the butler was twitching his neck, shrugging his shoulders, and then he dropped his sword a bit. In that small instance, Scythe took the chance to step in and elbow him out of the way, allowing Fausto and I to run past as Scythe easily dodged a swing from the man.

We ran out the door and down the manor's pathway to the small township, hearing more screaming and screeching from behind us. I slowed my pace to look backwards, but Scythe caught the fabric on my shoulder and kept us moving forward. Fausto didn't look back.

As we ran from the manor and those terrifying noises became louder and louder as they moved closer to the entryway, the townspeople started to make their way out of their houses and businesses, most likely curious of what was happening. The looks of curiosity turned to either terror or anger as they saw us running away from the Baron's castle to the pathway that led us here, back through the jagged rocks and towards Rutherfrys.

The people started to gather pitchforks, daggers, swords, and other implements of doom. Sure, in a one-to-one battle, any of the three of us could take any one of them, but this was a whole town after us. We had just had quite the battle and I wasn't about to slow down to start another fight. So, we kept fleeing, making our way towards those rocks and the small pathway that would be our freedom from this macabre place.

We ran through the wooden gate that was the entrance to Barrhead just as the two guardsmen aimed their bows at us. Arrows flew in our direction, one shearing through Fausto's robes and another one clinking off the side of Scythe's metal armor. We could hear them take aim again, and a second later my shoulder screamed in agony. The force of the arrow hitting me almost made me tumble forward, but Scythe once again caught me and we kept running.

We could hear the townspeople running behind us, yelling in anger, calling to us to come back and face them. I don't think they even knew what was happening yet, but seeing us fleeing in the dawn's light gave them a hint that something had indeed taken place and they needed to stop us from leaving so that we could pay for whatever happened.

The dirt turned quickly to stone where the township ended, and although the pathway was damp and slimy in some places, making the running just a little more difficult, it was a relief to feel us getting further from that place. We rounded a corner of the pathway and the jutting stone pathway started to encase us, making it easier to hide from arrows and shouting. We kept going, each of us helping the other when we faltered, pushing each other down the pathway.

The salty air was filling my nostrils as I inhaled from exertion, another beautiful indicator of our retreat. We kept pushing and pushing until finally, the harbor and city of Rutherfrys lay in front of us. We all quickly glanced at each other and headed for the harbor itself, knowing now what Flynn meant by meeting him at the "Flaming Woman."

We slowed our pace once our feet hit the planks of the piers and we wove through the harbor, hopefully losing ourselves amongst the crowd of crewmen and dock workers. We didn't even look back to see if any of the townspeople were following us. I would think that they wouldn't enter this place for fear of being mugged, but since the two Sheriffs were brothers and these people were interlinked despite their differences in living conditions, I didn't want to take the chance to check.

We eventually ducked into Ember's shipyard, and before anyone could stop us, we made our way to her office. As we neared the stairs, I could feel a familiar magic calling to me, but it was so much fainter than when I had last felt it. I knew we were heading in the right direction. The door to her office was slightly open and we pushed our way in.

And standing behind her desk with a sword in her hand aimed head-high was Ember. Upon us entering the room, her face was one of fierce determination, but once she recognized us for who we were, she dropped the sword and the look and slumped into her chair.

"Goodness me," she said with her unrecognizable accent, which was quickly dropped as she continued. "You four have put me in a place of nervousness. I could skin you all alive for even coming here... like you have." She made a motion under her desk and a light click could be heard from the wall to our right. She moved over to the wall where a tall bookshelf stood and opened it like a door.

A small room was hidden behind the bookshelf, and inside were small boxes and bundles, and sitting atop the pile of goods was Flyn and the green crystal. His eyes scanned us quickly and a smile of relief crept over his face. He quickly shook the smile off and stood up, still holding the treasure.

"Well, pleasant seeing you again Ember, but we really must be vacating the premises in haste." He started to make his way out of the room to join us, but she blocked him, hands on her hips and feet planted firmly. She meant business and I can only imagine what her face looked like. I swear her red hair started actually glowing.

"Oh no you don't! If anyone finds out that I have helped you, I'm done for!"

"About that," Fausto said beside me and she turned only slightly to put him in her line of sight as much as possible without losing contact on Flyn, "you might want to pack your things and leave this place. There are going to be some changes soon, and I can't imagine it will be good ones or even ones that you could prosper from."

At that comment, Ember turned to face us and her shoulders slumped a bit.
"I've made a place for myself here. I am successful here!" Her voice faltered. "It's bad, isn't it?"

Flyn came out from the small room and stood almost in front of her and facing her. "Please, if you and I have had any honesty in the past, trust me when I say that I have no idea what will happen here and I don't want you caught in the middle of this. If you have valued our... friendship in the past, take my word that I want to see you safe and away from here."

This was a new side of Flyn that I had not seen and Fausto, Scythe, and I stood quietly as the interaction held more in their body language than with their words, which were themselves heavy. After a tense few moments of unsaid conversation, the two broke eye contact. Flyn moved to us with his bounty and Ember moved towards the hidden room. The three men made their way out of the office, but I wanted a last view of this enthralling woman who at one point must have held Flyn's heart, mind, or at least attention. She was packing.