The Shadow Morpher-Book 2

Chapter 11

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Chapter 11

          “He’s asleep?!” Leo asked incredulously. “How did he fail? He should have made the nomads and the magicians fall asleep, not himself!” 

         Ellie frowned. She knew the most about magic; after all, she had been born only slightly after Varmer himself had been born. She was actually the eldest daughter of Rosalie, the original Magician of Earth.

          “I don’t think he was doped,” she said cautiously. “I think he and Dahlia had a fight over words and mental force as to whom fell asleep. They both used magic against each other and I think that Dahlia prevailed. I think.”

         Leo tapped one of his fingers against one of his white teeth. “So Dahlia incapacitated Valentine and then they escaped,” he said.

          “I guess so,” Ellie said. 

          Tia shook her head. “No. According to the tracks on the earthen floor, all of them except Dahlia collapsed. Some of them have more resistance to the power than others.”

          “You can read the tracks?” Benjamin asked, setting down the scrying bowl and bending down next to Tia. 

          She nodded, reaching down with one finger to trace the base of Sapphire’s sandal. Carefully, she ran her finger down the side of the footprint.

          “She fell after…” Tia paused and examined another mark. “This one is Cedric’s. He succumbed to it first, then Tamarak did.”

          Tia hesitated again, touching another print. “Then Troy, I think, and then Luna. Then Sapphire fell and Kayla did too.” 

          The other listened carefully to Tia. She might be a bit full of herself, but she knew her work. Tia had learned how to track animals and humans when she had been a little girl.

         She and Zara had been born many centuries ago and Tia had hunted animals for food. She spent ages hunting and gathering in the woods, until she had become the expert warrior who she now was. Tia was not only who she was because of her magic.

         Then, suddenly, Tia tapped one of Dahlia’s footprints with her index finger. She leaned in closer to  examine the mark.

          “Now here is where things get interesting,” she said. “Dahlia collapsed too, but her back never touched the floor. It’s like someone… caught her.”

          “I bet it was Troy,” Zara snickered.

          “Yes, you’re right,” Tia said, absent-mindedly. “Troy caught her. But Valentine knocked Troy out...”

          The guard shifted obediently out of the way as Tia moved forward to check Valentine’s prints. She brushed the earth back and forth and then nodded in satisfaction.

           “He fell first,” Tia continued. “But Dahlia fell for some reason; I don’t know it. “

           “Probably energy loss,” Ellie said, thoughtfully. “Valentine is really powerful and the amount of energy needed to repel his magic would reach really high amounts. Especially seeing as Valentine is very powerful.”

          Benjamin twisted his hands together, nervously. He didn’t want the others to know how much he cared. He took a nervous breath.

           “Do you think that they’re hurt?’ he asked, deliberately trying to sound casual.

          Tia raised an eyebrow. “Here we go again. You’ve done nothing but think about Kayla since you fell in love with her. Now that she’s on the other side, you still care. Don’t you get it that she won’t love you back? She’s with them now!”

         Benjamin clenched his fists. Every nerve in his body ached to deny it. He knew that he still loved her, but his insides twisted when he thought about her. He ought to be loyal to Varmer, but didn’t love come before that?

            “I don’t love her,” he said, flatly.

        He hated himself for doing it, but he looked Tia in the eye and lied. Tia and Benjamin were locked in a stare-down but finally Leo interrupted.

          “We should get back to the palace,” he said. “Tia and Zara, check out the rest of the hidden area. Ellie, go with them and get ready to bring the roof of the Catacombs down when I say go. Benjamin, get the scrying bowl. “

           Tia was reluctant to do so, but she went, walking off with Zara and Ellie to check out the rest of the hidden rooms. Just before she left, she tugged her twin swords out of the wall and floor.

          Leo turned to Benjamin. “Well, man, I don’t pretend to understand what’s going on between you and Kayla, but I do know that Tia is suspicious. If she reports you to Varmer, you might be killed. Varmer isn’t forgiving, Benjamin, you know that.”

           Benjamin sighed and turned away. He knew that Leo was only trying to help him and had his best interests at heart.

          “Will you think about it?’ Leo asked him.

          Benjamin sighed again. “You can’t just stop yourself from loving someone, Leo. You never fell in love; you don’t know how that feels. Kayla was all I had. I had her for a century. It’s hard enough to let go of someone after ten years, but less one hundred.”

          Leo shifted nervously. He was Benjamin’s best friend and knew him the best of all the guard members.

         “I suppose you know best,” Leo said, carefully. “Now get that scrying bowl before the girls return.“

          Benjamin lifted the scrying bowl mentally and then they waited. A minute later, the girls came back, their hands empty.

           “Nothing,” Zara reported.

          “Let’s go then,” Leo said. 

       The guard joined hands. Benjamin stuck the scrying bowl under his arm and they left, teleporting back to Varmer’s palace.