On the bright side, I finished Part 5! I should really use some more punctuation! ... I'm bored of exclamation mark point thingies now.
Anyway, here goes - the really recently as in just finished story...
The Tale of Alexandra Stormrider (Part 5)
by Alexandra Stormrider
I didn’t know what to say. Besides having not fully comprehended the full horror of the statement, I couldn’t really comfort Nat knowing full well that I was on the verge of bursting into tears myself. I tried to make my mouth form a sentence – a word even.
“I… She…” I shook my head. This couldn’t be happening. “What?” Nat gave me another look of despair.
“Malistaire captured Autumn! And no one knows what to do about it and we’re all gonna die!” He began to sob again.
I patted his head awkwardly, searching for something not-too-awful to say. I was sad that Autumn had been taken…
Autumn had been taken! I think that was when it really hit me, like a full-on punch in the stomach from Mythstrider.
“We’re not all gonna die…” I tried to comfort Nat.
“Yes we are! He said so!”
“Who said that? Ambrose?” I didn’t really need to ask.
“Malistaire! He was here, Alex, right here!”
I felt sick. “You saw him?”
“Everyone did! Everyone came back from their quests, because they all got a whisper chat from Ambrose!”
I felt sick again. “I didn’t. And neither did Matt.”
“But it wasn’t really Ambrose, at least he said it wasn’t – he said it was Malistaire playing mind games…” Nat shuddered and buried his head in my robe.
I shook my head. That was impossible. No one could whisper chat to just anyone… Unless they manipulated the laws of magic. Even Malistaire couldn’t do that. At least, as far as I knew, he couldn’t.
“It’s okay, Nat. We’ll be okay.”
How could I say that to the poor kid? If Malistaire had come here personally, it was bad.
********
I was still in Ravenwood long after everyone had gone to their dorms, thinking. Autumn Willowbreeze – I’d known her for longer than I’d known anyone here, other than Nat, of course. I tried to recall our last conversation, realizing that was a bad idea too late to erase the memory from my mind.
“If you’re gonna be like that, then don’t talk to me.” I’d been hateful, really, snapping and walking away. I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. It was all I could do to not start crying there and then, when a noise from Bartleby distracted me.
Reed Mythstrider, with a few other Myth cronies, stalked straight out of Bartleby. Why had he only just returned? On any normal night, this would be when most of the adepts would be coming home from Marleybone, but – to say the least – now was so not a normal night. Besides, any normal night, if he’d come into Ravenwood late when no one else was around, I’d have walked straight up to him and asked him why. But what with everything that had happened in the past few days I was simply too dazed and tired to care.
I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop when I heard their conversation. They just didn’t see me.
“Where in the Spiral is everyone?” Reed sneered. Even when he was asking a question he still managed to sound snotty.
“Ambrose knows,” replied Blaze Dragonrunner, a cocky conjurer who seconded in Storm.
“Well, it’s not like it’s late or anything… I must have lost track of time. Always night and all that.” His companions snickered. How was that even funny? The Mythstrider kid stalked over to the boys’ dorms muttering something unintelligible.
I sat there, not really thinking about their conversation. I was still wallowing in regret. Why had I been so stressed out? I was tired, true. But that’s no excuse to be rude as heckhound to Autumn! What was I thinking?
I don’t know how long it was before a familiar figure appeared from the boys’ dorms. Matthew Fireshard walked over and sat down beside me.
“I figured you’d still be out here,” he said, quietly. His voice lacked his usual humor.
I gave him a long look.
“I heard about Autumn.”
“Well, obviously.” I bit my lip. Where had being snappy got me? “Sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
He tried to smile at me. “It’s okay. I know you’re stressed out now. Heckhound, I’m stressed out! I came to see if you were okay, actually.”
“Thanks, Matt,” I said. “I mean, I really appreciate it.”
“Thanks, Matt,” I said. “I mean, I really appreciate it.”
“Any time.”
There was a short pause. “It’s kinda cold out here.”
“I didn’t really notice. Diviner and all.”
“Well, pyromancers do!” Matt snapped his fingers and a little flame appeared in his hand.
“Well, pyromancers do!” Matt snapped his fingers and a little flame appeared in his hand.
I stared at it in amazement. “Can all pyromancers do that?”
“Some,” Matt replied, shrugging. “My mom can. I must have inherited the gift.” He grinned at me.
“See? You are talented,” I said, referring to earlier that day, when I’d found a sheet about the prophecy with his name on it.
“Yeah, well, a couple of others can do that too, I think.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t put yourself down. You’re the fire teacher’s son. You’re meant to be good at it!”
Matt gave me a huge smile. “You don’t have to be the professor’s kid to be good at stuff. I mean, Liam’s not half cow, is he?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Exactly. Now, with that pleasant image in our heads, how about we get some sleep?”
“Exactly. Now, with that pleasant image in our heads, how about we get some sleep?”
“Sure.” Matt stood up and offered me the hand that hadn’t just been on fire. “Thanks,” I said, taking it and standing up.
I’d allowed myself to relax while Matt was there, and the full reality of how horrible everything was suddenly hit me again. I held back. Matt turned around, tilting his head.
“What are we gonna do about Autumn?” I said miserably.
Matt frowned. “I don’t know,” he said, serious again. “But I’ll think of something. I promise.”
“Thanks, Matt,” I said, though I didn’t trust his plans at all after breaking into the Headmaster’s office.
“Now, sleep. It’s not like you got a lot last night!” Matt was grinning again, but I could tell he was tired too.
“Alright then.” I was about to head to the girls’ dorms when I stopped and suddenly gave him a hug. “Thanks for coming out here, Matt.”
He hugged me back tightly. “That’s what mates are for, right?”
“Right.” I said.
“Right.” I said.
********
I woke up the next morning a little more refreshed than I had the day before. At least I’d woken up before Nat.
I walked to the Life School slowly, still thinking about Autumn. I was barely watching where I was going, and as a result, I promptly bumped into a young thaumaturge.
“I’m so sorry,” I gushed quickly. “Are you okay?” Her head turned quickly, and to my surprise I recognized her face; it was Kymma Frostleaf, an ice kid in Matt’s kid sister’s class.
“I’m fine.” Her voice and stare were typically frosty.
“See you, then,” I said, awkwardly. She stalked off, nose in the air.
There was something about that kid.
“ALEX!” I whipped around. Nat was running towards me.
“Hey, little guy,” I said.
“Do you know where my new vampire treasure card is?”
“On your bed?”
“Huh?”
“It’s back in the dorm. Go get it if you have to.”
“It’s back in the dorm. Go get it if you have to.”
“Thanks, Alex.” Nat started sprinting towards the dorm. Why didn’t he just teleport? Kids.
Clearly, Nat had already forgotten about last night, and I didn’t want to remind him. It was painful just to think about it. Where was Autumn? In Malistaire’s fortress? Was she okay? Was she hurt? Was she… Was she even alive?
No, I told myself. Don’t think that. She is alive. She has to be.
I tried to get to classes quicker than usual. Maybe lessons would help me take my mind off things. I pushed the door to the Life school open.
“Hey! You didn’t wait!” I turned to see a slightly confused Jake stumbling over one of Bartleby’s roots.
I felt slightly guilty. I always met Jake, Liam, and Matt before class. I really had been thinking. The idea kind of worried me.
“Are the others already in there?”Jake frowned. “Usually we—”
“Nah,” I said, speaking over him. “I just wasn’t thinking, that’s all.”
Jake shrugged. “Might as well go straight in then.”
“Might as well.”
We sat in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for Professor Wu to begin the class. No one seemed to be in a very chatty mood, not even the small group of excitable level 15 theurgists who had just been moved into the journeyman class. There was a surprisingly dead atmosphere. I didn’t even notice when Matt and Liam arrived.
“Students of life,” said Moolinda Wu, looking melancholy. “I understand you may have been shocked by yesterday’s events.” She tilted her head and seemed to think about what she said next. “I know that the Spiral needs life more than ever now, when there is a shadow over us. However, due to recent events… classes today have been… temporarily cancelled.”
There was another miserable silence for a moment before the class began to pack away their spellbooks. I sighed. So much for lessons taking my mind off things.
********
I didn’t want to quest, so I headed straight to Triton Avenue, which was, as I expected, empty but for a few overly-eager apprentices. I didn’t realize I still had my backpack and spellbook with me until I’d sat down on my usual ledge under a particularly stormy patch of clouds.
I’d like to say I contemplated the events of the past day and came to terms with Autumn’s capture and Malistaire and every other terrifying thing that happened and decided on a plan of action to make everything right again.
In actual fact, I just sat there moping. There was nothing I could do to save her. It wasn’t like anyone – least of all me – was going to go to Malistaire’s castle and—
“Hey Alex!”
My head whipped around quickly before I had realized that the voice was in my head. “Matt?”
“I’ve had an idea!” I could practically see him bouncing off the walls. “Can I port?”
“Sure.”
The air beside me exploded into tiny flickering flames in a sudden burst of heat. Matt appeared, somehow looking excited and serious at the same time. Then his expression looked comically surprised.
“Do you always hang out in such miserable places? It’s freezing here. And wet. You’re nuts.”
“You haven’t been to Colossus Boulevard lately, have you?” I raised my eyebrows. “You’re going to have fun in the Krokosphinx. Lots of ice. Nice and cool.”
“Funny. If you wanted to wind me up, I’ll just go then.” He started to turn away.
“Wait up. I thought you had an idea.”
“I do.” He tried to look important.
“What is it, then?”
“Well, we aren’t good enough to go to Malistaire and get him ourselves, are we?”
“Thanks. You really make me feel good about myself.”
“Cut the sarcasm. I’m trying to help you here.”
“Sorry. Just tell me the plan already.”
“Fine. If we can’t get to Malistaire, we get some other people to do it.”
I stared over the grey river, under grey clouds, probably covering a grey sky. Who did he mean? Ambrose? Heckhounds, the headmaster was probably already out searching – with the rest of the faculty.
“The teachers are looking for her already. There’s nothing else we can do.”
“Not the teachers!”
I sighed. “Who, then?”
“Well, I was thinking… How about those lovely little prophecy twins?”
“Jake and Liam?”
“Who else?”
“Well… It’s just…” I hesitated, not quite sure how to put it.
“Well, what?”
“They’re not exactly qualified, are they? They’re not like the professors. They’re the same level as us. They can’t do anything we can’t.” I could hardly suppress an eye roll.
Matt looked at me pleadingly. “They’re our best bet.”
I thought about it. When he said it like that, who else could – or, would – go save Autumn? And, sure as heckhounds, she needed saving. We couldn’t exactly go up to a bunch of grandmasters and tell them to go defeat Malistaire and rescue our friend. I didn’t want Jake and Liam to go, though. What was I afraid of? That it was too dangerous? It was dangerous, but they could handle it. Matt was right. They were the prophecy kids, after all. I sighed.
“There’s no harm in asking,” I grumbled reluctantly.
********
“You have got to be kidding me.” Jake shook his head. “No way, you guys.”
“Aw, come on, Jakey,” Matt pleaded. “I’ll give you a meteor strike treasure card.”
“Noo.” Jake shook his head firmly. “You can’t bribe me into this. And don’t call me Jakey.”
Liam, who was standing next to Jake, was staring at us blankly and hadn’t said a word yet.
“What do you think?” I directed my question to him.
“Seriously?” he said. “You expect us to find Malistaire? And… get past him, to get Autumn back? Please. We barely even know who she was.” He folded his arms.
“What’s to lose, you guys?” Matt was persistent, I’ll give that to him. But it was clear that it wasn’t going to work.
“Our wands?” Liam suggested. “Our sanity? Our lives?”
“Matt. No. Way. Ever.” Jake was adamant. “Why don’t you do it?”
“Well, you guys are the prophecy kids. You’re the big cheeses…” I shrugged. Matt glared at me. Oops. I wasn’t meant to mention that, was I?
Jake looked irritated. “As if that stuff makes a difference. You’re the same level as us!”
“So… You are part of a prophecy, then?” I asked, incredulous.
Jake looked worried. “Um… No.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Duh. I mean, no offence, you guys, but did it really take you that long to work it out?”
“We’ve known for a while actually.”
The twins narrowed their eyes simultaneously. “How?”
Matt and I exchanged a nervous glance. I responded, “err…”, and Matt finished for me.
“We sort of… found out. We broke into Ambrose’s office.”
There was a stunned silence. Well, not silence, obviously, because the rest of the kids in the Commons were still chatting noisily.
Jake glanced around nervously. “You what?”
“Never mind,” Matt said, hastily. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, the point is, we all know that you’re part of a prophecy, and are therefore the best qualified to defeat Malistaire. I mean, isn’t that what all prophecies are about? Beating Malistaire?”
“Well, all it said was that they would… Fight fights on which the Spiral will depend, so that might not mean Malistaire, I guess,” I contemplated.
“Whoa. You’ve read the prophecy?” Liam asked, looking more and more puzzled.
“Yes, but that doesn’t matter now. We’re having a completely different argument.” I added hurriedly.
“Which we’re winning,” added Jake, looking somewhat frustrated. “We can’t do this. We’re not ready. Ambrose said so.”
I sighed. “Just because Ambrose said something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
There was a short silence. Suddenly, an icy breeze blew over the Commons and I saw each wizard hesitate for just a moment. “What’s up with that?” I said.
Then the Commons erupted into terrified conversation.
“It’s like before!” I heard someone gabble anxiously.
“Get out of here quick!” someone else added. Almost everyone was looking around frantically, as though they expected Malistaire to appear at any—
Oh.
“Was this what it was like the last time Malistaire appeared?” I asked the twins, who were looking as confused as I felt.
“I don’t know,” shrugged Liam. “We weren’t here.”
“Neither were we,” I said, referring to Matt and I. “Strange how everyone seems to know, though, isn’t it?”
Neither Jake nor Liam answered, because by the time I had finished my sentence they had both teleported away. “Charming,” Matt muttered under his breath. Meanwhile, the rest of the Commons were busy shrieking in fear, or what I assumed was fear, seeing as I had no idea what had happened to make people this agitated.
I turned to Matt. “What was with that?”
He shrugged. “Probably some sort of twin prank on us. Or they were both whisper chatted by someone who said they needed help.” He seemed to think about what he had said. “Ah.”
“Ambrose whisper chatted?” I said. “He can’t whisper chat to students, can he?”
A death pupil nearby – she couldn’t be older than eight, and was dressed in black and red starter robes – stared at me in confusion. “What?” I snapped.
“Of course he can! Don’t you remember when he called us back to Ravenwood yesterday?” the necromancer asked me.
“Umm…”
“Everyone got a whisper chat saying to come back from whatever quest they were working on!”
“They did?”
“Geez, were you born yesterday or something?” She ported away in a flash of white.
Matt was staring at where she’d been in disbelief. “That’s why mom was so confused about why I wasn’t already home! She must have got the whisper as well!”
“So why didn’t we get it? And obviously Jake and Liam didn’t get it either…” I frowned. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Yeah, and what else doesn’t make any sense is why everyone’s quit worrying.”
I looked around. Everyone in the Commons was happily going about their business as they were about ten minutes ago, as though nothing had happened at all.
“Weird,” I said. I was, sure as stormzillas are storm, baffled out of my brain.
********
I sat on my bed in my dorm, still mulling over the events of the day. Most likely classes would be cancelled tomorrow as well. Maybe Matt and I could go work on some quests in Krokotopia. We could start on the Throne Room of Fire. Everything would be back to normal. We might even be able to check out the Krokosphinx – get a couple of spells from Niles. Or, if we didn’t get there, we could ask Autumn to—
Autumn.
Autumn!
What with all the strange events that had happened today I had completely forgotten about what we’d been arguing over in the first place – which happened to be the most important thing to me right now – finding Autumn. And in the end we hadn’t even got Jake and Liam to agree to it! I groaned loudly. Did that mean there was no hope? That we’d never find her? I dismissed the thought immediately. We had to save Autumn. Whatever it took.
I leapt up, full of energy.
Then I sat back down again. How? I was too impatient to sit around waiting for an idea to hit me from out of the blue…
“Matt?”
“Alex?”
“What are we gonna do about Autumn?”
“Er…”
“I’d completely forgotten as well.”
“I’d completely forgotten as well.”
“Oh.”
“You got any ideas?”
“Nope…”
“Oh.”
There was a little pause. “This is going nowhere,” I added.
“We could go get her ourselves,” Matt suggested tentatively.
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m serious. How else?”
“Get someone else to do it.”
“Get someone else to do it? Isn’t that the easy way out? Can’t you be bothered to try?” Matt paused. “She’s you’re friend, after all. You’re the one who wants to rescue her.”
I sighed. “Look, this is stupid. We’re way too low leveled to even try.”
“We did tell Jake and Liam to go.”
“They’re in the prophecy.”
“They had a point though. They’re still the same level as us. We’re further ahead than them with quests, as well.”
“Yeah… but...” I struggled to think of a way out of this. When I really thought about it, there was a pretty insistent voice at the back of my head.
Why not? Who better to do it than you?
“Well? You up for it?”
“Sure.”
********
It was all very well saying that we were going to head to Mailstaire’s hidden fortress in Dragonspyre and rescue Autumn and come out unscathed. Actually putting this plan in motion was going to take a lot of planning. For a start, how we were going to get into Dragonspyre. Easy enough. Only, there were two things stopping us.
Firstly, in light of the recent events, all students had been banned from visiting Dragonspyre, as this was the place where they were most likely to be at threat. I knew for a fact, though, that the Spiral doors couldn’t stop anyone going to a world so long as they had the key to get there.
Which lead to our second problem. We didn’t have the key.
I was just about to whisper chat to Matt when his voice spoke in my head.
“Let’s go. Port to me.” I frowned.
“Whoa,” I said, confused. “Now?”
“Yup.”
“You’re kidding. How?”
“Through the Spiral door in Ravenwood?”
“Yes, but for a start, we don’t have the key.”
“We do. Just port already.”
“We do. Just port already.”
I reluctantly teleported to Matt, who was, as I suspected, inside Bartleby.”You have the key?” I asked.
“Yep. Come on.” Matt started towards the Spiral Door.
“Wait. The Spiral Key? To Dragonspyre?”
“The?” Matt frowned. “There are hundreds of the things. Everyone who’s ever been to Dragonspyre has one.”
“Yeah, except we’ve never been to Dragonspyre. So we don’t have one.”
Matt sighed. “Yeah we do,” he said, exasperated. “How many times do I have to tell you?” He pulled out a large key from his robes.
My mouth metaphorically fell open. “How did you… Where did you…?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Now come on!”
********
Unsurprisingly, Matt had slipped the key from a master pyromancer who had gone to see Dalia Falmea on a level 42 spell quest. “I guess it doesn’t suck that much having a professor for a mom,” he’d grinned.
He was smart when it came to swiping things – I’d give him that – but I wasn’t sure whether that was a good trait or bad. Then again, it would probably come in useful again someday.
We’d arrived in Dragonspyre by that point, and were facing a little challenge. Knowing where to go next. We were in a reddish brown area, with strange arches that led seemingly nowhere. And, other than for Prospector Zeke and Eloise Merrywether, it was completely empty.
“Heckhounds,” I said, miserably. “This is gonna be harder than I thought.” Matt nodded thoughtfully. He was staring at the massive world which seemed to be exploding as we looked at it with narrowed eyes.
“We need to get there,” he said.
“Nah,” I snapped sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
“And we can’t get there the normal way.”
I sighed. “You know, you could be a grandmaster in stating the obvious.”
Matt suddenly looked up, brightening instantly. Obviously he’d thought of something.
He sprinted over to Prospector Zeke and began gabbling away to him nervously. Zeke was frowning when I’d followed Matt over to him.
“You sure? They ain’t too good for speed, y’know. I’d recommend a permanent, maybe even a seven day… ‘Lot better for getting around. ‘Lot more comfortable, ‘s’well.”
“No, no, I’m sure. One day enchanted broom, please.” Matt nodded, looking impatient.
“Awright, then… You sure you don’t want a nice stallion? More comfortable. Be’er lookin’, too.”
“The broom.”
“That’ll be 1429 gold, then.”
Matt rummaged through his pockets frantically. “Er…” He took out his gold bag, throwing me a helpless glance. I sighed.
“Here,” I said, adding 500 gold to Matt’s pile. He gave me a grateful look. Zeke looked over the gold critically, and then handed over a dusty looking broom.
“Thanks,” muttered Matt, starting to head away from Zeke.
“Eh, you kids tell yer friends to come visit ol’ Zeke here in Dragonspyre. It’s sure been quiet today. Some sorta gatherin’ you’re having, eh?”
“Something like that,” I invented before following Matt.
“So, you bought a mount for…” I shook my head. “You just bought a broom. Why?”
“To get over there.” Matt gestured towards the main part of the planet.
“How?!” I argued in vain. He was already sprinting back towards the world gate. “Hey!” I ran after him.
“Get on, then.” I gave him my best ‘you-have-got-to-be-kidding’ look. He grinned. “Come on. You’re a diviner. You’re meant to be the impulsive one.”
“Yeah, and you’re meant to be the intelligent one.” I rolled my eyes, then gave him another ‘you’re-kidding’ look. “You want me to get on the same mount as you, and then…” What did he want to do then, anyway?
“Yeah, and you’re meant to be the intelligent one.” I rolled my eyes, then gave him another ‘you’re-kidding’ look. “You want me to get on the same mount as you, and then…” What did he want to do then, anyway?
My question was soon answered.
“To get over there.”
I figured my look was getting a bit overused at that point, so I awkwardly positioned myself on the broom behind my absolutely crazy pyromancer friend, who may or may not have been about to kill me, before I could talk myself out of it.
“One thing before we go,” I said hesitantly. “What happens if we fall off?” I looked somewhat anxiously at the seemingly endless blackness that stretched below.
“I don’t know,” Matt admitted. “But we’re not going to find out.”
And then we took off.
Just being on a mount was the biggest rush I’d had since… Well, ever. Just a little more speed makes a huge difference.
But when you’re zooming through what I assumed was space (and yet I found that we were able to breathe, so I wasn’t quite sure), miles (or at least, what I assumed was miles) away from the nearest object other than the thin wooden stick that’s supporting the weight of two people… Well… It’s the best thing ever. Which wasn’t what I expected, but heckhounds, I wasn’t complaining.
Matt managed to steer the broom towards an open area that seemed to be creature-free – for now, at least. You never knew with Dragonspyre. Actually, you probably did, if you were a grandmaster and had run through the quests before and were sick and tired of the sight of the place… Things that we, of course, were not. We happened to be complete novices when it came to Dragonspyre exploration. We hadn’t even finished the Pyramid of the Sun!
I sighed. Why were we here?
I forced myself to think of Autumn, stuck somewhere dark and miserable that usually cropped up in a typical theurgist’s nasty nightmare. We were just lucky we weren’t trapped. Yet.
“So,” I said conversationally, despite being in the situation I was in. “Where next?”
“My thoughts exactly,” replied Matt, frowning. “It’s a big place.”
“Too right. Hope Marleybone won’t be as big as this when we get there.”
“No. Actually, I’d say Marleybone is rather small compared to this.” I turned to Matt, ready to ask him how he knew, when I realized that his voice was nowhere near as deep or ominous as that. Matt was staring at me, in shock. Nothing had registered with either of us yet.
“But I think that’s the least of your worries now.” Both our heads snapped around to the speaker simultaneously.
Who else could it possibly be? It just couldn’t be someone who would actually help us out for once, could it?
********
Malistaire had teleported – somehow bringing us along with him – to a long labyrinth of hallways stretching for miles, probably underground. We’d been dragged along countless miserable dark corridors by a wraith, which was a heckhound of a lot scarier than you’d think, because it was at least ten meters tall with a really bad attitude.
“Geez,” Matt mumbled uncomfortably. “You’d think he’d get an interior decorator in here. It’s too depressing.”
I giggled in spite of myself.
“Silence, novices!”
I resisted the urge to snap back, because, let’s face it – that would probably end up with me either dead or turned into some sort of gross monster that was hanging around here… That said, staying here, in this gloomy nightmare, would probably kill me in itself.
And then, there we were, behind bars. I would have thought that with all that magic, Malistaire could have come up with something a little more original than the iron cage things similar to those back on earth. I hated the place.
On the bright side, at least Matt and I were in the same cell. I don’t know what would have happened to me if we’d been separated. I’d probably lose track of all reality.
“So much for our plan, then,” he’d said, miserably, after the wraith had disappeared.
“Oh well. At least it saved us the strain of finding it ourselves.” I was trying to see the bright side.
“It’s all my fault. I said we should do this.” Matt was staring at the floor angrily.
“I agreed to it.”
“It wasn’t your idea.”
“Whatever. We’re closer to finding Autumn now than we ever could have been, alone and most likely completely lost in a world we barely know!” It struck me as odd that we hadn’t even had the chance to acknowledge that we were lost when we were there. Malistaire obviously had every corner of the world covered.
So where were the teachers looking for him? They couldn’t be here, otherwise they would be… Well, here – in a cell, with us. So that would have to mean they thought Malistaire was somewhere else…
“You’re saying that you still think we have a chance?” Matt’s voice cut into my thoughts.
“Yes. Of course we do.”
He looked up, grinning. “Then we’ll get out of here.”
We didn’t say much else to each other. I didn’t know what was going on. Would we be fed? Would Malistaire kill us? Where was Autumn? Would we be able to find her? How? Was she even here?
All the questions circled in my head seemingly endlessly. Matt had sparked a small flame in his hand and was staring at it intently. All I remember is watching the flickering light until I finally, peacefully, drifted to sleep, too exhausted to puzzle over our situation any longer.
********
Jacob Ravencloud was worried.
He hadn’t seen Alex – or Matt, for that reason – all day. Liam knew how worried he was, and probably felt the same way. But every whisper chat and teleport had been futile. Normally it was the other two who were trying to contact them all the time, and to be fair, that was understandable. These days Jake and Liam never got a chance to quest or just hang out. It was all intensive training from Ambrose about how to fight, how to act, how to not fizzle.
And now, on the first day they’d had completely off in ages, Matt and Alex were refusing to talk to them.
It wasn’t fair.
Jake sat down on his bed. With his nutty family – there was a reason he didn’t let anyone visit his family’s castle – this was the one room in the house where he could get a bit of peace without being irritated by his older siblings. Well, it was Liam’s room as well, but being a theurgist, he preferred being outside.
His family was a bit mismatched. There was a sorcerer, a conjurer, a thaumaturge, a pyromancer, two theurgists and himself, of course. Well, he did have four older siblings, if you counted Liam, who was born before him. What could he expect? Of course his family was going to be a mixed bunch.
He did miss having diviners around, though. His brothers and sisters were constantly fighting, and, yeah, at first it was nice being able to make a blood bat fight with a fire cat and see who would win, but after a while it was just plain boring to always be seeing spells cast left, right, and center. It was nice to just see storm creatures once in a while.
He wished Alex would respond. He hoped that she wasn’t annoyed because he was reluctant to travel to Dragonspyre when she and Matt had suggested it the day before. Maybe they were both ignoring him because of that.
It didn’t seem like them to be so petty, somehow.
Why wouldn’t they reply, then? Had something happened to them? Jake shook his head. No. He would have been told by now, surely. Nothing that bad could have happened, so they couldn’t respond. How would it have happened anyway? After what had happened to Alex’s friend, security in Wizard City was tighter than ever, and no one was allowed any further than Mooshu to quest.
Going any further would just be beyond common sense, wouldn’t it? It’s unthinkable, unless you were crazy. Malistaire crazy. Which would mean crazy because someone close to you was gone and you wanted to save it. Like if you cared strongly enough to need to go to find something, regardless of the consequences.
Something? Someone.
“Port, twin,” Jake whisper chatted to the only person who could help him solve this right now.
There was a swirl of green leaves as Liam teleported next to where Jake was sitting and looking increasingly anxious.
“If this is about Alex and Matt, I haven’t heard a—”
“It is. But it’s not that.” Jake took a deep breath. “Do you think they might have gone to try to rescue Autumn?”
“Those two?” Liam frowned. “They were asking us to go yesterday. They wouldn’t have gone them…” He tailed off, thinking. “Heckhounds. Those two? Yes. Knowing them, they probably have.”
“What do we do now?” Jake asked desperately.
“We should tell Ambrose. He’ll know what to do.”
“Ok. How?”
“Ah.”
There was a long silence.
“Whatever. Let’s just nick Jessie’s key and go.”
Liam Dawnbreeze raced down the stairs.
“Heckhounds,” mumbled Jacob Ravencloud, as he followed his twin.
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Any thoughts? Please tell what you thinketh!
I know it's probably not my best part so far, and as I may have mentioned a lot before, I have put in a lot of conversation. I'm not so good with the whole 'deep believable character' thing.
Anyway, that's all for now! I'll try and post more... *guiltyness*
Diviner OUT!
