A Mess of a World: the Etched Stone

6.2) Lorraine

Dead? The thought was alien to Lorraine. Why would he be dead? I did- I didn't- I wasn't even- Oh no, no, no, no! She raced to his side and loudly plopped down beside him. Her blood pounded in her ears and mimicked the sound of knocking. A dagger remained plunged in his back and it glinted slightly. I didn't get my answers! We weren't even able to talk! How- I...

She screamed again this time, but more out of rage than fear.

Now she would never know why he had kept her as an apprentice and fathered over her for fourteen years before trying to kill her.

Lorraine angrily yanked a piece of parchment out of one of his thousands of notebooks and used it to pull the dagger out. Mania filled her and a sickening desire of vengeance followed.

I will make whoever did this pay! She thought will gritted teeth as she stood and plopped the dagger down onto the potion table. Her nimble hands quickly got to work, pulling out powders and liquids that would help. Each of their properties seared into her brain by the trillions of lessons she'd received.

Whenever she pulled out a wrong one, Master Rembe's voice would shriek at her in her head until she remembered the right one. Slowly she began to experiment with the dagger.

'It's been poisoned,' the Cragsdid powder told her.

'Roqdu'say. Instant kill.' A rubbing of Shinathan said.

'There's a rusted crest. Decipher it and you'll be closer to finding out the culprit.' A doze of Floundrid squealed.

'Use me to clean it off.' A bottle of Zeriann scolded her.

She did just that, her mind making up voices for each bottle or package she used, until she saw a crest of crossing daggers.

Lorraine nearly flew over to one of the bookshelf that still carried contents and pulled out a thick book of different seals and crests through the ages, both well-known and rare.

She placed the book down beside the dagger and was skimming through the pages, looking for a matching picture, when her ears picked up the sound of footsteps.

Intruders! Her mind roared and she quickly retrieved her staff. Just as the door opened up revealing... two of the four she had met in the forest.

Recognition and surprised flashed on their faces. "You!" The three of them said in unison.

"Eth kara-sen tal! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" Lorraine demanded, clenching her staff tighter and aiming it. Her eyes flickered between them in disbelief. "Did you follow me here!?"

The man's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "What? Of course not!"

The red-head pointed an accusing finger. "I knew it! I told you she lived here! I knew that you were the one that cursed the city!" "What?" Lorraine growled.

The eyes of the two trespassers flew to the body of her dead master and red hot panic flowed under her skin. "Oh my-" The man cursed under his breath running over to his side. "Lorraine! What did you do?!" "Murder!" The girl exclaimed, both hands over her mouth.

Two sets of accusing eyes bore into her skull and words fumbled out of her mouth to protest.

"I didn't kill him! He was like that when I got here." Lorraine told the two, though her voice faltered. The two glared and didn't believe her. She sighed and looked down at his body. "I live here. We did. He was my surrogate father." Anger boiled in her chest and her head snapped up. "But what's your excuse? You're trespassing on private property!"

"There's a dead body in here with you and you're getting after us?" The man spluttered. "You should explain and quickly before I get the guards."

Lorraine sighed and pushed her hair over her shoulders. "I've lived here since before I could walk and he attempted to kill me!"

The two exchanged bemused looks and Lorraine sighed again. "He- he tried to- he told me to go into the Altering Woodlands to..." She squeezed her eyes shut at the memory and then opened them. "To find a supposed magical artifact that would help his studies of magic. We're both mages, and I wanted to help. We were family! I had no reason not to trust-" Her voice broke off.

She cleared her clogged throat. "...He sent me a week ahead. He told me that the two of us would explore together. And so I waited. I had no supplies or food! I fought off wildlife the entire week to survive, half-starved, waiting. Waiting for him to save me..." Her body began to heat up again. "When he finally arrived, he was so surprised that I was still alive. So surprised. He pushed me into the tomb and sealed it."

Lorraine's eyes fell to the slits in her hands. The pain still lingered every time she looked at them.

Wounds from magic would never heal. It would always be a reminder to her of betrayed trust.

She folded her arms to hide them.

"Why?" The girl mumbled.

Lorraine glared at her. "I've lost track of how many days I've been walking to get here and how many times I asked myself the same question. The only way I was able to get out was when--" She faltered again.

I am not telling them about that. Lorraine told herself. The brightness of the explosion filling her vision and the feeling of her magic building until it blew up in her face. The memory of breath failing and the rubble crashing down on her and her hands getting- She shook her head.

"I escaped and you and your... companions were the first people I came across. I followed the road here, came inside, and then saw this." Lorraine finished bitterly, her eyes flying back to the dead body.

"But how did you get inside the city? The gates are closed down. They won't let anybody in or out." "There are other ways if you've stayed around long enough to find them. But I don't know anything about this curse you were talking about."

"So what was that crash we heard earlier?" The girl asked.

"A rogue defense mechanism. My father was assassinated." Lorraine told them. "This was the weapon."

The two examined it.