In The Blood

Chapter 4: To long nights and lone stars

We moved through the third circle of the city quickly, stopping here and there to admire the goods on display in the store fronts. Though it was late in the night, some of them preferred to leave their shops open, in case that some meandering wizard or a desperate wife had need of their goods. The apothecary's shop, for example, never closed, and the tiny bald man that ran it took turns with his eldest son in manning it. They said that what you couldn't get from the old man in the morning, could be bought just fine if you asked his son at night. I personally had never needed to ask for his special items, but knew that many women from the court visited him regularly, for less than pious motives.

When we arrived at the "Witches Cauldron", we were greeted by loud crashing noises, and bolts of light from every color of the spectrum flying around. Whyn and the guys immediately went into defensive mode, and started chanting spells for containment and protection. The silvery sheen of the barrier enveloped the brothel, and the sounds coming from the establishment muffled. I ran un to the door, making myself invisible in the process, and tore it down with a powerful gust of wind, dreading what we might find inside.

The fight was still going on, and dashes of light flew everywhere, colliding and destroying the walls, ceiling and other stuff around the house. As far as we could see, there were four men, all mages, fighting from opposing sides of the room. Three of them were dressed in the tell tale armor of the king's inner guard, a golden piece of craftsmanship adorned with a dragon killing a unicorn on top of a mountain, and a short cape of the most pure azurean color. The other, a tall, skinny and wide eyed, dark blue haired man fought them off with ease, moving with the grace of a panther and the might of a gryphon. It was pretty clear that the man was besting the guards easily, and that he had taken precautions before starting the fight. Not one of the girls of the cauldron was on sight, and what at first looked like heavy damage to the ceiling, was in fact damage to an exquisitely weaved protection spell.

As the guys picked the side of the lone mage, I ran upstairs to check on the girls. Female as I was, I had no need for their services, but felt a deep connection with them, as they had all helped me some way or another in the past. Relief washed over me when, after searching the whole second and third floors, I found Madame Aquinine and her "witches" hiding in their secret room behind the grandfather clock on the las floor. The girls hugged me tightly when I came in, some of them still sobbing from fear, others with the clear paths that tears had made on their cheeks still fresh. Madame, as gayly and composed as always, received me with relief and warmth. "My my! It was time you and the boys came, Louis dear! We were starting to be mildly inconvenienced in this chicken coop of a room!" She said smiling broadly. She had left the joke there for the taking, as she usually did, so I smiled back and said "Well madame, it's not every day that it gets to see so many hens at once! Don't t blame the room, blame the man that built it so small!" As the girls started giggling at me for my poor excuse of a joke, the madame and I started moving back towards the first floor, to appraise the situation. The cacophony of the fight had stopped, and only Theo's voice and the stranger's could be heard.

As we entered the room, the first thing I noticed was that the three guards lay unconscious on the ground, and that my first impression of the stranger had been quite wrong. His hair wasn't dark blue like Aldor's, but a striking shade of cyan, with streaks of silver and cobalt blue interwoven with green strands. He wasn't tall and skinny, but tall and lean, with muscles rippling in a tell tale pattern which showed that under his fine silken shirt there was a raw and concealed strength. But the most strange and fascinating feature about the stranger were his eyes. One was the color of rich gold, and seemed to shine with an unnatural and dazzling glow, while the other one was a deep purple color, much like mine.
Bear was looking through the guards bags, just in case there was something important in them, while Marcus righted the room, Aldor fixed everyone a drink and Whynn and Theo drilled the stranger for information on how the fight had started. The girls fluttered over to the guys, helping them right the brothel. As I got close to the stranger, bits and pieces of the conversation started filling my ears "...it's not fair that they tried to take you by force", or "not the first time we ha..." and "who on earth would...?" I looked up to Theo and he filled me in with what had happened.

"So... the guards were trying to take you back to the inner circle, not for the first time, and you refused so they got violent?" His eyes grew even wider than they were as he seemed to notice me for the first time, a slow grimace of confusion appearing in his lovely face "Louise? Sweet and brave Louise, Is that you?" A chill as cold as the ice darts that Aldor liked to make in summer ran through my spine, and an incontrolable dread made my limbs extremely heavy.
I could swear I had never seen the man before, as I would sure as hell remember seeing such a handsome oddball, but he seemed to recognize the real me, the traders stepdaughter. I did the only thing that came to mind, and smiled broadly "Seems like one of the spells must've hit ye pretty rough in the head mate, to confuse the great and manly me with some breezy called Louise. I am called Louis, as me maam wanted me to be as tough and strong as Louis the fearless, the knight of the emerald armor. Sadly, instead of a Knight, she got saddled with a whiny and scrawny water mage, not much to look at, but certainly not a girl"

He looked at me with a mixture of confusion and embarrassment, and just a bit of exepticism. The dude knew something was not quite right, but opted to keep his mouth shut, which in light of what I might have done to him if he hadn't was an extremely wise decision. The guys started laughing and jesting, merrily going back to party mode and swiping the unconscious guards into one of the rooms after making their memories hazy. The patrons started arriving and coming back in groups, so a merry crowd had formed by the time I decided to leave. The stranger had decided to stay with us, and had partied the rest of the night away as if he had been one of the guys.

When my time to go home came, I quickly said goodbye to the guys, leaving them in the arms of the very charming girls of the Witches Cauldron, and decided to take the unconventional road to the tavern. I looked at the sky, and rose up into the thick clouds that floated peacefully in the night. As I ascended, feeling the wind in my face, I let my hair become undone, and dropped the glamor that kept me from looking like myself. Only at this hour, when I was in the sky and hidden from everyone, could I really be myself. I knew it was wrong, but there wasn't really much of a risk of discovery. Though many wizards could fly or hover, there were only a handful of people who could really achieve such heights as I was used to. So, as I cuddled into a raincloud in the topmost level before entering the stratosphere, and looked at the clear sky above the sea of cloudiness my heart was still, and at peace.
It didn't last long tough.

"You are looking for the lone star aren't you?" I froze. Turning my head, a thundering sound filling my ears, I found the stranger next to me. My hair cascaded in soft waves around my body, and my face was no longer a man's. I had been found out. 9 years of careful planning, of sneaking around perfectly, of living a double life as perfect as I could ever want, and in one moment of carelessness I had been found out by someone I didn't know, and who would most probably tell the king. I was dead.

"I knew it was you Louise! Though, by the great mother of the stars, I was baffled to see you tonight. Can't say that I am not surprised that you can actually do magic but, it actually solves a great deal of questions I had about you." I forced myself to swallow, as my mouth had gone as dry as a mummy's spit, and tried to talk. If I was going to die today, I would rather know who would be sending me to my grave. "Wh...who are you?" He smiled, gently and with warmth, and my cheeks (bloody traitors as they were) became heated. "My name is Ark, or at least, that is what I want you to call me" He kept staring at me, with that unsettling toothy smile of his taking much of his face. "Didn't have you for a stargazer, my lady, though I didn't have you for a mage either." he grabbed my hand, and kissed it with tenderness. As I raised my free hand to strike him, he disappeared, leaving behind the warmth of his magic, and a scent of sandalwood and cinnamon.

Later that night, as I finally laid my weary bones on my bed, the only thing I could think of was that this was probably the last time I would actually sleep on it. Most probably Ark had already gone and told the king about me, and the guards would be sent to apprehend me in the morning. I would probably die a long and terrible death for disobeying the king, so I might as well rest. However, as I fell asleep, the last thing that came to my mind before going into the blessed darkness of rest were a pair of mismatched golden and violet irises.