The Scientist

Chapter 2

*ohhh gawd soo many mistakes in that last part... Oh well, NEXT!*

Chapter 2: Metal and Shoving People off Cliffs

“When I woke up yesterday,” Rythian explained, sitting down on the tile floor, ”Zoey was gone. No note. Nothing. Teep said that he didn’t see anything, she’s just gone. All I found was this:” He held up a small piece of metal. Duncan grabbed it and held it up to the light, then sniffed it. Then, just to freak Rythian out a little, he licked it. Art rolled her eyes.  “Hmmm... Looks like regular iron to me, but I’ll do a few tests.” Rythian watched with resentment as he flew out the window and out of sight. Rythian and Art had to take the teleporters up to the lab, where Duncan was already mixing acids with chemicals that would tell him all he needed to know about this mystery metal.

              A few explosions later, Rythian watching the sky outside, and Art keeping an eye on him, Duncan held up the small sliver of metal. He had done all the tests that he could think of, even inserting a small slice into the lab rat that he kept on hand. “Its just iron, Rythian.” The scientist turned to the mage, who was sitting stock still, staring out the window. Art still held her bow, and her eyes glowed slightly in the twilight light.  Rythian put his head in his hands. “That doesn’t tell me anything about who might have taken Zoey.” “On the contrary,” said Art, and Duncan looked at her with surprise. She was very observant, he knew that, but she almost never voiced her opinions. “it tells us everything. How many people do you know that still use iron? Almost all of us have moved on from that stage.” Rythian’s eyes narrowed as they glowed a deep purple and he glared at the wall. “Sjin and Sips.” he growled.

Duncan sighed and handed over the iron, “Now that you have your information you can leave now Rythian.” He didn’t want Rythian to stay in his castle at all, the magic started to affect his precious machines after too long. Unlike Art, who wasn’t bothered by machines, Rythian seemed wary of them, even going so far as to openly back away from the electric furnace as they led him out to the gates of the castle. “Bye, Rythian.” Art said, and put her bow away. “Bye, Kid, thanks for your help.” Rythian ruffled her hair and she stood stiffly, not moving. Duncan felt a prickle of anger at his actions but didn’t say anything, instead he shoved Rythian out the gates and off the cliff. His armor made it so that he didn’t take any damage, but he still glared up at them as he walked away.  Art turned and went inside, turning on the force field when Rythian was outside its range.  

Duncan watched Rythian walk away through the haze of the force field until he was out of site, then saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turned, he saw a dirt covered man dart into the bushes, holding an iron sword and a small potion.  Duncan jogged inside and saw Art holding her bow, arrow notched, pointing at something in the sky. “What is it, Art?” he asked, squinting at the sky. All he could see was a few blobs on top of the force field. He wondered if this was another intruder, yay. “Some people are up there... I can’t see who.” “Well, they can’t get through the force field, whoever they are.” Duncan said reassuringly to Art, she could get really freaked out by this sort of thing. Art shook her head and flew up to the top of the force field. Duncan heard her shriek from where he was, down in the grounds. What had happened? Did whoever they were somehow find a way to break his force field? No, he assured himself, they can’t do that, force fields don’t work that way. He flew up to where Art was to see what the f*$@ was going on.