The Stones Of Power

Chapter 4｜A Deadly Game

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It wasn't quite what Terico expected to hear, but he waited for a further explanation before giving a reaction. The competition Febraz had in mind could have been any number of things.

"I am certain you will be able to handle this," Febraz said. "Areo is a strong girl and will be all right, as long as the fight is kept fair."

"Fight?" Terico asked.

"Yes," Febraz said. "My sweet little darling is turning one hundred this year, so she can take part in the Rite. If she passes, she will at last be able to reunite with me, here under the sun."

There were several things in these two sentences Terico wasn't quite understanding. His thoughts stumbled with what to ask about first. "Wait... one hundred?"

"Ah, it must sound old to a human," Febraz said. "One moment."

He set his mug of blood down on the table and glanced around his dark, candlelit tent. Terico looked around as well, finding a variety of wooden chests and crates. There were a few sheathed swords atop some of the boxes, and a number of odd, shiny trinkets here and there. Febraz got up and picked up a small, framed picture lying atop one of the crates. He walked back to the table and handed Terico the picture before sitting back down.

"This was painted about four years ago," Febraz said. "She used to have such nice long hair, but I suppose her mentor wanted her to have it cut."

Terico lifted the picture a bit closer to the candlelight and tilted it so he could see the image. It was a portrait of someone's face, though if Febraz hadn't said this was his daughter, Terico would have probably guessed this was a boy. This Areo had a rather jagged, masculine face, with dark brown eyes and short brown hair. She didn't look very happy.

"She used to be human?" Terico asked.

"Yes, until she was seventeen," Febraz said. "Her blood parents died of illness when she was only six, so she had to live on her own for quite some time. We crossed paths one day when I was staggering down the road, almost fatally injured, and she gave me a rabbit she had caught in a trap. The animal's blood rejuvenated me, and I learned how she had survived the last four years on her own, selling rabbit pelts for her bread. We ended up sticking together, and I raised her as best an outcast vampire could."

"But then you made her a vampire when she was seventeen?" Terico asked.

Febraz gave a light sigh and clasped his hands together atop his table. "She caught the same illness her parents had died from. She never wished to become a vampire, and even as she lay dying, she asked me to just let her go..."

"You didn't though," Terico said.

"Of course not!" Febraz said. "I loved her far too much for that. She was upset at first, as you might imagine—but time heals all wounds, as they say. She's become one of the vampires city's best hunters."

"So she's in Istal?" Terico asked. He had heard stories of the city of vampires, deep in the forests west of Fiefs Kingdom.

"Yes, she had to go there after becoming a vampire," Febraz said. "Couldn't go out in the sunlight anymore. I would sneak into Istal whenever I could in order to see her, but for a long time she struggled with connecting with anyone there. It was against the vampiric code for me to make her a vampire, you see. I am not a Seeker, so I had no authority to do so."

"You were an outcast already, though?" Terico asked.

"Well, not technically," Febraz said. "I just never quite fit in well at Istal... Most of my kind are a bit more serious about life than I am."