The Enchantments: Book 3 - The Key of Sorcen

Chapter 43: Sorcen

Man it was hot!

Simeneon looked up to the sky to see then sun pelting down on them like a furnace. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she tried to gain her bearings. She'd been to Malistof on two other occasions and every time she wished she hadn't.

The air was dry with swirling dust storms drifting across the makeshift road. The town was quiet now, in fact too quiet, but secrets had a way of leaking out before any-one knew what was happening.

Simeneon stepped from the middle of the street to the shadows in hopes of relieving the heat from the sun. Although it was a few degrees cooler, it still wasn't enough.

She peered around the desolate area and sighed when she saw the familiar statue of the Dirtua that graced the center square of the town. Behind the statue she saw a soli-tary figure standing amongst the shadows to which she was instantly drawn.

Not wasting an instance of time Simeneon ran across the burning sand towards the person, who to her chagrin was now making their way to a nearby alleyway. She passed by Dirtua without even a glance and headed straight towards the alley.

The passage was dark even in the late afternoon sun, a perfect place to hide from un-suspicious eyes. She waited for the white-cloaked figure to open a hidden door in the wall that sat a few feet away from the end of the alley. Then raced as fast as she could slipping inside just as the door slammed shut with a loud whomp.

The room had the smell of stale air, filled with a million different scents that bom-barded her senses. But the one that lingered in the air and was the strongest was the smell of impending doom, it was a scent she had smelt more then enough times.

She watched the figure through the dim light showing his outline as it walked for-ward to the far end of the room to open another door. She followed him through and soon found her self in a long corridor lit by small candles showing years of hardened wax. She stood in fairly close to the person until they reached a dead end, or so she thought.

On the hard sandy floor was a carpet, worn with age and dirt. They pulled away the fabric until she saw a metallic circular handle. The figure reached down to pull it up, then with a quick look around disappeared inside.

Simeneon had taken the risk in running down into the cellar before they came down. She hated walking through the walls, it was almost like someone jumping out from be-hind the door and yelling 'boo!'

It just wasn't right.

She sighed deeply when he stepped down and pulled the door shut over his head. The scene turned dark as the person came down the steps. At first she started feeling a little apprehensive with the increasing darkness but her fears soon subsided when they lit a lamp hanging on the side of the stairs.

To her relief she was able to see who was behind the veil. A skinny medium sized man with a tuft of blond stringy hair stared back with sunken eyes. She could see the pain in those eyes and for a split second she almost felt bad for the man. But she real-ized he was probably part of the atrocities the others had orchestrated those many years ago.

She heard him mumbling to him self over and over again but couldn't make out any-thing he was saying.

"What secrets are you hiding?" She asked herself.

Of course he would never answer her, but all the same she realized she needed to say it, even if it was only for her benefit.

He took the lamp down from the wall then with a few minor adjustments to the flame he moved it in front of his body and began walking methodically down the gloomy corridor.