The Four Dimensions of Corey Emerson

Amadeus Tate

            Claudius Skape refused to send out another search party until the morning, so Bran and I were forced to wait around. Juniper was off playing with little children who were trying to teach her how to conjure fire.  I actually didn’t know what nymphs could do until I saw Juniper conjure up a leaf-cocoon around the little balls of fire, extinguishing them. I smiled.

            Whilst in the Reliqui village, I learned a good many things about Corey Emerson. From some older people I learned that he was a fantastic singer and could whittle anything. He was also in charge of lighting the bonfires every morning. Everyone else scolded me for even mentioning his name. I knew I could only get the truth about him, no matter how twisted, from Claudius Skape; so there I went.

***

            Soon, I found myself sitting in a leather and wooden chair, face to face with the man who destroyed my mentor. And he told me things; he told me things I would never have imagined. Horrible things… and beautiful things. He told me things that I’m not going to repeat. I won’t say it because Emerson wouldn’t want people to know. From what Claudius Skape told me, everything Corey Emerson said was right. There were other facts, though, that led me to believe that Emerson truly had sided with Four and One… and against me.

            Every second that Skape talked, another second I spent looking at the burn on my arm. The burn Emerson put there. I was marked.  And I was fine with that.

***

            Once, I was glad that I could be quiet for so long and to speak for so little; now, I wanted nothing more to do than talk. Than to say something; say everything that was on my mind and everything that was off it. But I couldn’t speak; I was forced to stare at the burn that took my whole arm. I was silenced by my own choices.

            I asked Sir Claudius why I was taken to the Reliqui when I passed out.

            He avoided the question. “Poisoned,” he muttered.

            “What?” I repeated.

            “Cursed,” Skape mumbled.

            He didn’t actually tell me, but his silence provided a clue: it could have killed me.

            Before Claudius Skape was done poisoning my mind, Bran stormed into the tent; his wings sent a cool wave of air against my back, making me shiver. The raven bowed his large head to the Fire-Conjurer and escorted me out. We began bickering

            “If Elwyn wanted to kill me, he would have done it!”

            “He was chasing us, Alice, he almost caught us! He almost caught you!”

            I turned to Bran. “He did catch me…”

            Bran’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

            “When Emerson pushed me into that hole, Elwyn jumped in afterwards; he grabbed ahold of me, whispered something, then just… let go… All I remember after that is passing out.”

            “What did he say??”

            “Is land it?”

            “What?”

            “Is it for land? Is that all this is for?”

            “Alice, I-?”