Kaya

Part 9. Moving in

"Carry as much inside as you can before nightfall!" Valeska ordered the pack as she heaved a crate from one of the wagons into the lobby of the house. I helped carry some things inside and followed Valeska's lead on where to put it. The house was in excellent condition, it looked as though it had still been in use yesterday, though the rooms were almost fully empty. There was still some furniture but no decoration.

"Hey Val, did Fen say anything about how long this house has been empty?" I asked.

"I believe almost a year." She replied before heading back outside to carry more things.

Bullshit. There was no way nobody had been here for a year and it was still in such a good condition, without any dust.
With everyone giving their all to carry as much inside as they could, we had finished emptying over half of the wagons. Once it had gotten dark, I approached Valeska once again. "Val, I will check out the house. Something isn't right here."

"Yes, I've gotten a little suspicious aswell. If you find something let me know. Be cautious."

I nodded before turning and walking up the stairs. As I went through the corridors, I inspected  everything carefully. I had learned from Sylen that anything could be made into a trap with just a bit of magic, and this house to me reeked of it. I opened every window to check if the view was real, I looked behind every shelf and into every drawer. In the mirrors I stared into my reflection, making sure every detail was correct, I examined every stair before stepping on it and every door was carefully opened but I found nothing.

Until I came into the attic.

I opened the door at the very end of the only staircase to the fourth floor. It was only a small  room below the roof. A glowing circle with intricate geometric patterns and runes was on the floor, in the middle a small pedastol with flowers and pine needles on it. It faintly reminded me of a ritual but it was very different from anything Sylen had ever done. His usually didn't seem this.. tranquil.

I left the room and walked back. As I walked down the stairs to the lobby, Valeska crossed my path. "Did you find anything?"

"I think so. Come, I'll show you." I gestured for her to come back upstairs with me. Valeska's eyes widened as she saw the ritual circle.

"This... is way out of my league. What are your thoughts on this?"

"Well I suspect that a wizard lived here before us and this was their doing. It doesn't seem harmful, the contrary even. But I'd still like someone who knows more about magic than me to inspect it."

"Yes, I agree. Sága would be the one to go to for that. But since you think it's not dangerous, I'm sure this can wait till tomorrow. I am terribly tired."

I chuckled. "Me too. Let's go to sleep. I'll ask her about it first thing in the morning."

Valeska and I went down to the second floor as she entered one of the rooms. "Oh, sorry. I  forgot to mention, your room is that one, at the end of the hall. We have enough space now for everyone to have their own rooms."

"My own room?"

"Yes. Is that alright with you?" She chuckled.

"Oh, uh.. yeah. Of course." I laughed nervously. "I'm just not used to it."

"Do you want to continue to share our room?" Val asked.

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll be in my room then.. Good night!" I power walked down the hall and just heard Valeska confusedly say "..Good night." Before walking into her own room. I closed the door behind me and sighed. My bag had already been put in my room and I just pushed it off the bed as I crawled under the blankets. It took me a while to fall asleep. I felt alone.

The next day when Valeska and I went downstairs, wanting to check in with Sága about the  circle we found, we were informed that Sága wasn't here.

"When do you think she'll come back?"

"We don't know. She left yesterday evening with Idunn and hasn't come back since."

"You're saying they've been gone all night?" Valeska and I looked at each other worriedly.

"I'll ask around if anyone saw them." Val said before running of.

Bhaltair cam up to me. "I am heading out and searching for them."

"I'll come with you."

"Great. You're from the south, right? Here, take this. It's getting colder." He threw me a cloak  which I swiftly threw around my shoulders as we left the building. It was cloudy and a cold breeze swirled up the fresh snow that had fallen over night.

"Do you have any idea where they might have gone?" I asked him as he walked ahead.

"A pretty good one." He replied, pointing at the faint footprints in the snow. We walked for an hour, maybe two. I didn't know for sure. The sun was blocked by the clouds and the wind picked up as it snowed heavily and I could hardly see. Bhaltair was just a vague figure walking in front of me until there was nothing.

"Bhaltair?" I called out. I looked around but couldn't see him. In front of me were his footprints and I followed them, continuing to call out his name.

"Kaya?" I faintly heard a voice call for me. I walked faster in the direction of the voice, ignoring the way the footprints lead.
"Bhaltair!" I called again. I listened carefully but couldn't hear an answer. I kept walking in the same direction, hoping to hear his voice or see his footprints but there was nothing. Just untouched snow in front of me as I made my way through the deep and heavy snow, holding my cloak tightly around my body to try and keep warm.

My legs grew heavy as my energy got low, I fought to keep my eyes open, tried to breathe steadily, looking for something that looked familiar, anything that could lead me back home. I kept walking despite my body telling me to stop, to lay down. I took one step after the other  until there was no ground beneath my foot and I fell. I rolled down a steep hill, my skin burning as it was covered in snow, my vision  blurred, seeing nothing but white before I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and all I saw was black.

The face of Sylen flashed in my mind. Our apartment. The face of Sága.
The crackling of a fire, a voice. No, two voices. A pain in my head, dry lips and throat. I slowly opened my eyes and was blinded by the fire opposite of me. After my eyes had gotten used to the light I could make out Valeska standing next to the fire. She was talking with Bhaltair.

"Leave us alone." She said quietly as she saw I was awake. Bhaltair glanced at me for a second  before leaving the room and closing the door.

"Val..." I croaked as she sat down on a chair beside mine and stared into the fire. "Valeska." I said again when she didn't react.

"Don't ever do that again." She hissed.

I frowned. "What? Do what again?"

"You don't know these lands! You could have died out there in the snow!" She yelled as she finally turned to look at me.

"I just wanted to help Bhaltair with finding Sága!" I quipped back.

"You should have told me you were going with him! Nobody knew where you were apart from Bhaltair! And you lost him and then nearly died!" She stood up and took a step towards me.

"As you can see I'm fine!"

"Thanks to me! If I wouldn't have found you-"

"Why do you even care so much?" I yelled as I stood up as well and glared directly into her eyes.

Valeska took a step back. She seemed surprised, hurt, even, by what I just said. "You know why."

"I don't think I do! Tell me."

She looked at me, her breathing heavy, her eyes searching mine. "Because I love you." She said quietly.

I stood in front of her, frozen in place as her words echoed through my mind. Love. The last time someone said they loved me I ended up being abused. Never again would I allow that to happen. "Val... I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I was just scared for you." She took a step towards me and took my hands. "D-do you feel the same?"

"Val..I... I like you, a  lot. And.. to be completley honest, I think I love you... but I can't be in a relationship. Not after what happened with Sylen... not yet. I'm sorry."

Valeska let go of my hands and looked down. She swallowed before taking a deep breath and looking back up at me with a smile. "Okay. Take your time. Just promise that you will let me help you. I'm here and I always will be. Come." She wrapped me in a warm embrace and my worry left me.
I had feared she would take it the wrong way but she took it just how she was supposed to. "Thank you Val."

"Are you done now? We still need to find Sága and Idunn." Bhaltair leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. We must have both overheard him open the door again.

I let go of Valeska and looked over to Bhaltair. "What do you mean? Have you not found them?"

"No. I followed their footprints but... there were the prints of a third person. They seem to have fought but there is only one track leading away from there. The other two disappeared or something."

"We have to go back out there! We need to find her! What if she's hurt?" Randolf barged past Bhaltair and looked at Val.

"You heard him. There are no more tracks. We can't find her." As Randolf looked at her with pleading eyes she rubbed her temple and sighed. "Leave me, I need to think."

Bhaltair walked toward me and Randolf and gently took us by the shoulder. "Come on kids." He said as he led us out and closed the door. "Now go find something to do."

Randolf was very visibly distressed and Bhaltair pat him on the shoulder. "You know her. She's a strong woman. Don't worry too much about her. I'll go patrol around the house, just to be safe." He nodded to me before walking off.

"I'm sure there's still a lot of moving in to do, how about we do that?" I suggested to Randolf and he nodded. We spent some time carrying crates into various rooms, rolling out carpets and doing a bit of decorating and cleaning.

"Hey Randolf, there's axes and saws in here, where do those go?" I asked as I opened one of the crates.

"They belong in the shed outside, with the firewood."

I picked up the crate and carried it outside.
"You're still out here?" I asked Bhaltair as I saw him patrol around the house.

"And I will be for a while."

I opened the door to the shed and placed the crate on the floor before making my way back. Bhaltair saw me exit. "Kaya. Stay where you are. We are not alone." I stopped and looked over to him. Bhaltair was kneeling on the ground, a body in front of him.

"Is that..?"

"Idunn has been killed. He's still warm." He replied quietly.

Like a frightened deer I turned and looked around. I thought I saw something moving in the corner of my eye and turned my head to check, freezing in place.

A tall man with wavy, black hair and familiar robes stood in the snow.
It was him.

My heart was racing but I couldn't get myself to move. I just watched as Sylen got closer and closer, but for some reason he didn't look directly at me. He also didn't say anything. He was just looking around and walking. Why was he not doing anything?
Then it hit me.

My head shot around as Bhaltair drew his sword behind me and walked past me towards Sylen. I stopped him. "Wait! Don't go any further!" I looked at him desperately as I whispered. "He can't see us." I swung my arms through the air but Sylen didn't react in any way.

Bhaltair looked from me to Sylen and back to me. "How?"

"I will explain it later but now we need to go back inside. If he gets too close it won't affect him anymore!" I explained as I tried to push Balthair towards the house. I could barley make him move, though he walked back inside himself, making sure I was walking in front of him and closing the door behind us. I looked through the window to watch what Sylen was doing as Balthair stood behind me and asked what in the world was going on.

"Get Valeska. Quick."

As Balthair returned with our Alpha, she walked up to me. "What is going on? Bhaltair said Idunn is dead?"

As I saw Sylen turn around and walk away I looked at Valeska. "It's Sylen."
Her eyes widened and she quickly but gently pushed me away from the window to look herself. She then turned around and held my shoulders. "Did he do anything?" She asked as she searched me for any injuries.

"No, he didn't even notice us." I placed my hands on top of her's. "Val. The circle upstairs. It's a protection spell!"

Valeska seemed to relax a little, though she was still upset. She turned back around, looking at Sylen as he walked further and further away. "We can't just let him go.  We should attack him."

"No! He's way too powerful. Attacking him like that would be suicide."

"He has to pay for what he did to you!"

"Valeska, please. He will pay. But not today."

She looked back outside,  Sylen was now barely visible. Gripping the windowsill tightly, she looked down. "He killed a family member. I can't let him go." The look in her eyes was a sinister one as she swung the door open and went outside.

I ran after her and  pulled at her arms. "No! No no no Val, please, listen." I desperately tried to stay quiet in my attempt to stop her, positioning myself in front of her. "I promised to let you help me, so help me. Let him go."

Valeska's hands formed into fists as she kept her gaze on Sylen. "I hope this isn't a mistake,  Kaya. If he ever shows up here again, I will personally rip his head of."

I gently took Val's hand as she looked at me. "Thank you."

Her look towards me softened, though I could still clearly see the worry and anger in her eyes. She was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath.

Val knelt in front of Idunn's corpse and whispered something, placing her hand on his forehead. Then she stood back up. "Bhaltair, if you would please lay Idunn to rest. He deserves a proper burial." Bhaltair nodded and tended to the body of the dead man.