Not once had Caellach paid her any mind. He just looked out the window, forever into a sunlit oblivion that Veleria failed to comprehend.
“Are you mad at me?” She asked, her voice nearly a croak.
Silence was his only response. Caellach was still as a statue. She closed her eyes in frustration, her fists clenching at her sides. This was too childish for her.
“So, the goddess Istvar got a look at your past.” Veleria noticed that one of his fingers twitched. Good, she had hit a nerve. “Why does it matter so much? We have serious trouble coming our way, and if Raker finds us before Caed can get to the border we are going to be in deep shit. Get over yourself. Aren’t you supposed to be a god or something? Why are you acting like a petulant child?”
Finally, the golden-eyed man spoke. He barely turned his head enough for her to see one eye peering at her hatefully.
“Mortals deemed me a god. I am no such thing.” He stated.
Veleria pursed her lips, “so now you just sit here seething? What do you hope to accomplish?”
He did not answer her. Instead, he merely returned to his view. Veleria would have pestered him further, but before long she was awake again, only to find Caed with his arms around her.
They had decided to save water and take a bath together. She did not realize that she had dozed off, though when she looked up at Caed she found he was also asleep. As such, she shook him. They needed to get going soon.
“Ya certainly keep the water warm.” Caed beamed at her with one eye open. “Made me real comfortable. I could get used’ta this, ya know.”
Veleria was annoyed by how easily this made her smile. She started to get up, though the sorcerer gently took her arm and ran a few kisses down the length of it before letting her get to it. He followed soon after.
“Have you ever been in love, Caed?” She asked, dressing herself. Multiple knives found hidden spots while she did so. This did not escape the sorcerer’s notice though he began to find it endearing.
Caed dried his hair and threw on his usual attire. He grabbed his glasses before turning to her.
“Never had the chance. After the whole affair with my master went tits up, I wandered a while and eventually got scouted by Alk’Hath’s goons. Paid for a decent time once or twice while out and about, but love? Nah.” He watched her strap a belt around her chest. Another knife found its place there. “With you, though, maybe I could reconsider…”
Caed tensed when he heard it. A low, familiar whistle. He snapped his head to the door before looking back at Veleria with wide eyes. Her own pupils had narrowed into slits. With a curse, the sorcerer placed his hat on his head.
He should never have waited so long to tell her about Valcoth seeking him out.
“Go out the back and take a left. My horse should be in her stable.” He said, keeping his gaze from her. It was almost too painful to look at her now.
“Wait, just me? What are you…”
“Go on, get out of here. Time’s up.” He sighed, moving towards the front door. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry for the choices I made. We could have met under better circumstances.” As he neared the door, he heard Veleria leave. She was cautious, careful, and it frustrated Caed to no end when she hesitated. The damn woman had looked back at him.
Another whistle, this one more drawn out, caused him to pause with his hand hovering over the knob. He closed his eyes, breathed in through his nostrils, and opened the door. No one was outside waiting for him. The trees were still, the moonless night lifeless. But he knew better. One predator was out there, and while he allowed himself to relax in an attempt to look unfazed, Raker dropped down in front of him.
The man was massive. Caed managed to remain still while the hulking beast sniffed the air and inevitably the sorcerer in front of him. Scarred lips peeled back over bloodstained, crooked teeth as Raker grinned.
His breath was rank with the sweet, nauseating smell of human rot.
Caed merely looked up at him. The evidence was clear that Raker had hunted before coming here. Not only had he done little to clear himself of any gore, but his long, wild black hair glistened with blood and sweat, his eyes glowed yellow in the darkness of the night, and his muscles bulged against vein-addled skin. He wore a giant coat that barely kept still upon his shoulders. The only other clothing he wore was a pair of pants with strings that were mostly undone.
“Hello, Raker.” Caed greeted him. There was no emotion underlying his voice.
The guttural laugh Raker gave in response made him sick to his stomach. Just the smell alone threatened to put Caed on his ass. Even so, he remained stone-faced.
“Caed now, is it?” Raker brought one of his large hands to his beard, stroking it. The claws he had for nails scraped along through his hair.
“Yeah, that’s right. We can skip the introductions and the pleasantries. What does the Lady Alk’Hath need me for?”
Raker chuckled a low, horrible sound as he pushed past Caed to enter the cabin. He sniffed around a bit before finding a solid enough chair to sit down in. Caed closed the door behind them. He remained beside it.
“Ha, an interesting scent in here. So I was right. You found yourself a woman?” Raker shook his head. Caed winced. “I can forgive that. A man has needs, and I must say that I’m pleased to see that you’ve finally fulfilled some of those.” He cleared his throat. “Now then, before Valcoth ruins our fun, let’s get down to business. We found something real interesting.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” Caed leaned his back against the wall. He folded his arms over his chest.
Raker leaned forward with one elbow on his leg, “a bit complicated, but turns out Vos’iin was never ordered to kill that girl Lady Alk’Hath liked. You know the one. Veleria Garris?”
Caed would have blanched if he wasn’t deliberately trying to remain emotionless. Instead, he merely nodded.
“So, not only did Vos’iin go and murder my mistress’s prized doll, but someone in Rachdale claims he saw Veleria walking around with Adrian Giarmund of all people! Can you believe that?”
“No.” Caed replied calmly.
“I couldn’t either. After we grabbed that guy we went poking around in Dovetail to see if Vos’iin hallucinated the entire affair. The pit he threw her in was full of ash.” Raker rolled his eyes. “All the bodies were burnt. Shit, now that we couldn’t confirm or deny if Veleria was dead, we went snooping around. Couldn’t get into Almor with that Meredith bitch around, but I ended up with a few more snakes willing to divulge information about Giarmund. He went towards the elves, then someone saw him not too far from Oakridge with a cute side piece.”
“Sounds wild. What do you need from me?” Although he was managing himself, the revelations before Caed were starting to unnerve him.
“Tell us what these folks saw. That’s all. You can do that with your eye, can’t you?” Raker stood up then, wandering the cabin while Caed carefully reviewed his options.
This was far worse than he hoped it would be. Depending on what the onlookers Raker mentioned had seen, it was entirely possible Caed himself was somewhere in them. Unlike some of her servants, he also knew full well that Alk’Hath was capable of forcing the truth out of people. It was one of her more dangerous spells. If she hit him with it, which she probably would given how flighty she became since Veleria disappeared, then he would vomit up his entire involvement and give up everything Istvar had shown him.
She had probably used it on most of the people Raker found. They just hadn’t seen enough to give her details. With his abilities, though, Istvar could place him directly in the past moment. That was likely what Alk’Hath wanted.
He looked up to see Raker staring at him.
“Yeah, I can do that.” Caed said, turning to the door. “Do you have horses? Mine was hurt a few days ago.”
Behind him, Raker stood with a hand suddenly appearing on Caed’s shoulder. It completely dwarfed the joint.
“Come now, you should know other animals don’t like me much. We’ll have to walk, but I can carry you.” He chuckled again, following Caed outside. The idea did not comfort him. To be held by this monster was the last thing he wanted.
Once they were outside, Caed allowed himself to breathe a bit. Nothing too obvious. He still kept his cool. Internally, however, his mind was racing. There was no denying that he couldn’t go back to the temple. If he did, he would likely be killed, or Alk’Hath would imprison him for later use. Worse, she would learn about Veleria and Caellach…As would that thing below her temple. At that thought, an ache in Istvar’s eye told him his goddess’s opinion on the matter.
Istvar, a goddess of neutral temperament, needed Veleria and her passenger to continue forward. So long as that happened, all of Caed’s concerns with the leylines and their diminishing returns would have a chance to be amended.
He was still greatly empowered. As he rarely used his sorcery these days for everyday tasks, any magic stores in Caed’s body naturally remained full.
“We can get you another horse in that backwoods town nearby.” Raker said, ahead of Caed now. He was headed towards the road past the forestry that surrounded his cabin. “Can’t stay too close though, or it might buck you—“
Raker suddenly found himself slammed into the tree nearest to him. He could feel immense pressure pushing him into it. All ten of his clawed fingers were pulling behind the hands they were attached to and, as the first broke, Raker exploded into uproarious laughter.
Caed frowned, his hand held out in front of him. Rarely did he have to use any aids with his sorcery, but Raker was such a large target he needed something to help ground him. He tried to speed up the process by pushing back into the fingers he was breaking, but a shattering sound in his mind caused Caed to lose focus.
The damn shapeshifter conjured a counter spell. For a moment, while Caed recovered, Raker fell to the ground on all fours. Dark hair began to sprout from his exposed skin. His legs twisted beneath his clothing, and the broken fingers on his hands produced even greater, more fearsome claws. Blood leaked out from his mouth where jagged fangs protruded.
“Here I thought we could do this amicably.” Raker’s voice was distorted, echoing. “Not that I’m complaining. I do find that I prefer this over being polite.” As he stood, a full foot taller than before, Caed could have choked on the saliva in this throat. He hit Raker again, but while his shoulder cracked, another sound filled Caed’s ears. It was healing. Instantly. He could actually hear it reforming.
“Shit,” Caed mumbled, pulling Raker’s legs out from under him before turning to run.
That was a mistake. Raker was on him instantly, having jumped several meters to land behind him and grab Caed around his waist and right arm. One of the clawed hands gripped him by the elbow.
Then, Raker snapped his arm in half.
* * *
Veleria untied Caed’s horse with shaking hands. When she got to the stable she heard something land on the cabin. Something big. It had to be Raker. She looked back towards the cabin, then went inside the stable to get Caed’s horse.
At some point she realized that she wasn’t actually getting anywhere. She had slow walked the horse towards the road, but then she heard a loud sound, as if Caed or Raker had hit the cabin with their entire body. She left the horse, sparing no thought for it, and rounded the side of the cabin to find Caed with his hand outstretched towards the utterly massive form of what she assumed was Raker.
They were actually fighting. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Why didn’t Caed just go with him? Unless…
When Raker broke Caed’s arm, Veleria found herself on the move. She didn’t know why. Only, from the belt around her waist she flipped a knife between her gloved fingers. The two of them were facing away from her. She ran up to the beastly form of Raker and dug the knife into his exposed back.
With a grunt, Raker released Caed and slashed at the woman behind him. His claws tore into her front. A pained sound erupted from the beast then, yellow eyes scrutinizing his claws while Veleria’s blood wore them down. Veleria hit the ground with a breathless gasp. The belt around her chest had been torn off, her blouse rendered a tattered mess that exposed her. Held up by his left arm, Caed watched in amazement as Veleria’s wounds closed. The foliage surrounding her smoked from contact with her blood.
“You…” Raker’s voice trailed, surprised. His eyes locked onto her chest. The scar held a subtle glow. The woman herself, did, too, but it was more like she was just on the verge of catching fire. Embers glowed within her black hair. Her eyes were twin suns inlaid with narrow pupils. “It couldn’t be…Veleria?”
Veleria stole another blade from the belt on her waist. She held it in front of her, eying Raker cautiously.
“Let him go.” She said, briefly nodding towards Caed whose mouth dropped at the inclination.
This time, Raker glanced between the two of them. The eyes this woman held were confusing him, but the scent was no different than the one he initially smelled on Veleria when they met. It was different in some ways but similar in others. There was also the fact that her chest was perfectly healed other than the jagged scar between her breasts. It made him pause, remembering what Vos’iin had described.
Veleria had actually been murdered. Yet, here she was before him. Alive. More than alive. She could heal like he could. He then took another look at his wounded claws. The keratin had melted down. Thankfully it had cooled before reaching too far into the quick, but Raker found that he was rather intrigued by the unlikely situation before him.
Without bothering to check him, Raker kicked Caed back down before approaching Veleria. The talon-like nails in his grown feet ripped into the other sorcerer’s back, while the force knocked Caed’s glasses off. They shattered a few feet from him. The woman did not move. Her hands shook the knife, unreliable. She was alive by some miracle, but Raker delighted in the fact that she had barely changed. A scared little girl with occasional bouts of bravery.
Oh, he liked it very much.
Veleria made to back away, but Raker fit an entire one of his clawed hands around her waist. He was careful not to pierce her skin while he squeezed. Then, he lifted her and pulled her close to his snarling visage.
“It’s been a while, Veleria. My mistress’s favorite pet.” With each word blood-tinged saliva spotted her cheeks. This form he was using was hardly fit for civilized wordplay. “I promise you I had no intention of crippling him too greatly. A useful tool should not go to waste. Ohh, and you, I will be quite gentle with.”
He said that with a shuddering breath. Veleria grit her teeth, looking away as Raker rolled a long tongue out from between his elongated, canine jaws and tasted the scar between her breasts, then her neck, and moved up to her cheek.
“Fuck off, Raker. Let go of me!” Veleria flipped her knife to drive it down into his shoulder, but the beastly sorcerer merely squeezed her. She gasped, nearly vomited up nothing, and dropped the blade. Breathing heavily, she recovered quickly, garnering an interested look from Raker though she wasted no time. The only other knife she had access to was the one she hid under her right bracer. She pushed her bracer down against the hand that held her, dislodging the knife. When it shot out, she caught it, and then drove it straight into Raker’s neck.
This only delighted him further. He flexed the muscles in his neck which popped the knife out, much to Veleria’s chagrin. She despaired when she saw how smoothly his wound closed.
“Since when did you have this much spunk?” He relaxed his grip then squeezed her again. “I’d love to investigate this all myself, but I do know how fondly my mistress thinks of you. I suppose I’ll just have to behave this one time.”
Sputtering, Veleria coughed, doing the only thing she could think of. She could not return to Alk’Hath as she was now.
“Caellach, please…Please help me.”
Caellach? The sorcerer cocked his head, yellow orbs glistening while he watched Veleria firmly grasp his wrist between both her hands.
Danger.
He could feel a force converging on the woman in his claws. It was strange, perhaps otherworldly; whatever it was, Raker had never used such extremes before in any of his sorceries. This had to be what spooked Valcoth beforehand.
Raker looked Veleria into her golden eyes and realized that her pupils had disappeared. They narrowed, her skin grew hot to the touch. Too hot. From the starting point that was her scar, molten gold lined her skin like veins, before converging back into Veleria’s chest. He made to let go of her at the first sign of flames arcing between her fingers, but in the same moment an arrowhead pierced Raker’s flesh.
Then another.
He howled, bursting Veleria’s eardrums. Within moments she was on the ground, unsure of what had just transpired, but finding Raker backing away. Three arrows were lodged into his back. He pulled each one out, loudly puffing air through his nostrils while flipping his head around to find the source of the disturbance. Now that he was distracted, Veleria went to Caed’s side and felt his pulse. Weak, but steady. She propped his head on her lap. Her fingers came back bloody when she touched his back.
Close by, Raker geared to jump towards her. Before he could, a bright blue flash shot through his chest. She followed the origin to find a three-eyed bird flying back around and towards a cloaked, bow-wielding figure with a twin bird on their shoulder. The twin took flight, collided into the other creature, and their merging formed the ghostly figure of a robed, armored individual. A mask with four eyes burned with eerie blue fire.
“Cromwell!” Raker shouted, a myriad of voices intermingling into one. “You would dare interfere? This one belongs to Alk’Hath!”
Veleria belongs to herself, and no other. Leave, shapeshifter.
The voice pierced her mind. With a small groan, Veleria held Caed close to her. Raker and the figure—Cromwell—appeared to hold a stalemate until she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. Beside her, Adrian leaned down and removed the mask from his face.
“I’m here, Vel.” He said, scowling then at Caed. The latter was in no position to argue or defend himself, so Adrian relented when he noticed Veleria protectively shield him. He wasn’t happy about it. However, he could deal. For her.
Raker spat into the ground beside him. Baring his teeth, he left Cromwell and the others with one final message.
“We’ll see each other again soon, wizard. Count your days.”
He ran, then, and Adrian sighed in relief. In his summoned image, Cromwell appeared in front of them.
We finally meet, Veleria Garris.
“Ugh…Is it you doing that? This…This is going to be hard to get used to.” She grimaced.
Unfortunately I am lacking the biology for a voice, and so I can only communicate in this way. I am glad to see you are safe.
Veleria glanced between the ethereal being before her, and then back down at Caed. It hurt Adrian that she didn’t spare him a thought.
She said, “Caed wanted to make a deal with you. He needs urgent medical attention. His arm is broken, and his back…It’s still bleeding.”
It is good that he is willing to negotiate. To bring an end to Istvar’s chosen would have been unfavorable. I can stabilize him and support the afflicted bones, but he will need to be seen by one of my doctors in Ashvale to set correctly.
“That will work, thank you, Lord Cromwell.” She kept Caed on her lap while the lich appeared to cast onto the man. The arm moved somewhat, and Caed sucked on his teeth while he worked. After a short moment, the sorcerer breathed more steadily, and Veleria asked Adrian to help move him. Once they were ready, with Veleria and Caed on the latter’s horse, and Adrian on his own, they moved on from Caed’s cabin while Cromwell returned his familiar to its original avian form.