Storm of Prophecy: Book 1, Dark Awakening (17 page)

Karl stared at the ground while his long blond strands hung around the sides of his face. He was still too engrossed in the discussion to notice that Vincent was standing further down from them. “But once the elementals are infused with a life of their own, they become extremely potent combatants as well as loyal servants,” he pointed out, “they hardly require any effort from their owner at all.”

The old Dwarf shook his head. “Throw that nonsense out of the window and out of your mind. Even though elementals are useful, they are only pets and nothing more. A geomancer’s true strength comes from the rocks around him and the ground beneath him. You will never have a more powerful weapon than that. If you reach the level of skill where you can levitate and manipulate vast amounts of stone and earth, an army of a thousand elementals could not stop you. That is why the focus of this class is on levitation and control, and why it is so important for all geomancers to stress these aptitudes first and foremost.”

“Fascinating,” Karl remarked, his own rock still skidding and tagging along from behind, “I always thought that…oh hi, Vincent.” He looked back toward his teacher. “Now, if that’s…” The full realization of Vincent’s unexpected presence came fully to him and he jerked his head back with a jostle of his hair. “Whoa! You’re looking pretty good. I didn’t think you would be out of the infirmary so soon. I was planning to come visit you again. How are you feeling?”

“Our healers are quite talented,” Vincent replied, “I feel fine, thanks.”

He turned to the Dwarf while gesturing with a hand toward Vincent. “Master, allow me to introduce my cousin, Vincent.” He turned to look back at Vincent, “Vincent, this is Master Gautrek, my instructor for this course.”

The two shook hands while the master geomancer seemed to make the same recollection that Vincent had. “We’ve already seen each other once before: this morning when you were submitting your report. It’s nice to meet you again under different circumstances. I didn’t know you were Karl’s cousin.” Vincent gave a polite half-smile.

“Oh I see,” Karl began with an incriminating tone that was meant more in jest, “so you’ll tell the masters what really happened, but you won’t tell your own cousin.”

Vincent didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. “You’re going to be hearing it very soon. That’s part of why I came to talk to you.”

On that note, Master Gautrek decided to part company discreetly. “Well gentlemen, since I’m old and weary, and I’ve already heard it, I think I shall be turning in for the evening.”

Both Karl and Vincent bowed their heads in respect after Vincent stepped out of his way. “Goodnight, master,” Karl voiced. Vincent kept waiting to speak even though Gautrek was well up the stairs. Karl was less eager to wait. “You normally have guard duty during this hour. This has got to be the first time you’ve come to wait for me outside of a class in years.”

Vincent turned away from the stairwell to look back at him. “Master Clemens gave me the week off,” he explained, “I’ll tell you the rest later. Right now we should go find Rick.”

“Why?”

Chapter
VII

T
hey proceeded through the halls and up the stairs until they exited the keep and stood within the courtyard just in front of the gatehouse. Karl’s rock followed him the whole way there as he kept trying to get Vincent to say more. Vincent kept refusing and promised that as soon as Rick was with them, he would. They chose to wait just inside the keep’s walls near the gatehouse because neither knew the exact location within the campus of Rick’s last class, only that it ended at about the same time as Karl’s.

Rick passed under the raised front and rear portcullises, dripping with sweat, exhausted, and looking to be in as sorry a state as either of them had ever seen him in. As they all headed inside with him toward the well so he could drink, he explained that he had just gotten out of a flame intensity class with Master Magnus. They were forced to compress hotter and brighter flames into as small a space as they could and then keep going, building up heat while continuing to shrink the size. He said that he was sweaty not from the heat, which he was well shielded from, but from the incredible amount of effort.

Vincent needed to talk with them alone and was unable to think of a better place than his own quarters. After they entered, he took his cloak off and threw it on top of the chest. He sat down near the head of the bed and merely pushed his scabbard out of the way instead of taking it off. Out of sympathy, he invited the exhausted Rick to take a seat near the foot of the bed. Rick accepted and didn’t bother to smooth or adjust his red robes before plopping down. Strands of his short red hair matted his forehead while he twitched his mustache. Karl preferred to stand, and his flat wide rock chose to stand with him.

Before Karl could ask Vincent why he had brought them there, Rick asked Karl a another question first. “Why do you have that with you?”

Karl tried to answer quickly to get it out of the way. “It’s an assignment from Master Gautrek to teach us to constantly be aware of our surroundings and what we have that we can use. It’s also builds strong focus and mental discipline.”

Rick was still curious. “Why do you need to carry around a rock to teach you that?”

Karl seemed annoyed and tried to answer as best he could in very little time. “So that we learn to never forget these things for an instant. Part of the assignment is that we never leave our rock anywhere. He says that if any of us leaves it somewhere without bringing it with them, and he finds out, he will fail us and we’ll have to take the class over again.” He turned to Vincent. “Now are you going to tell us what this is about or not?”

While he still feared that they would reveal to the masters what he was doing, he decided to trust them. Vincent looked down and began to tell them everything. He started with his own personal investigation, then held his composure as he discussed the incident in the vault. Lastly, he told them what Stan and Craig had been able to offer. “…maybe they’re some kind of dark cult, we still don’t know.” Vincent’s voice was grave as he continued looking down. “Whoever they are, I think they’re also responsible for the missing people and the devoured remains of children.” He looked up as he finished.

When Vincent lifted his head, he noticed that both looked uncomfortable. Rick’s eyes occasionally glanced to the side, but neither looked entirely unwilling to accept the possibility. Even though he hadn’t told them that his actions were forbidden, they seemed to know just by looking at him that he had pursued this even when instructed to do otherwise by a higher authority, taking actions on behalf of Gadrale that were not sanctioned. They knew that those officially commissioned to look into it had long since given up.

Karl folded his arms and spoke first. “I take it that you have been doing all of this, alone, even against my better wishes or that of the masters?” Vincent nodded slightly. “The last time you and I had a talk about it, you even promised me that you wouldn’t go out there.” He slowly looked up at the wall above Vincent and took a deep sigh. Gradually, his eyes found his way back down to him.

Vincent held his ground. “I couldn’t have very well declared openly my intention to seek out the killers. How far do you think I would have gotten if I did that? No matter what I said to appease you that day, I still believe this bears greater consideration than it has been given.” They continued to glare at each other. “And so should you,” Vincent added.

Realization seemed to creep over Karl’s face along with disdain. “You just want to rescue Jessica Valens’ brother,” he accused. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? You’re trying to get under her skirt.”

“And what if I am in love with her?” Vincent shot back.

Karl buried his face in his hands with a groan. “…oh gods.” He turned to Rick. “Can you believe this?”

Rick smirked. “I think it’s cute.”

Vincent felt his ears burning. “Look, Harold wasn’t the only one. How many more have to disappear before we realize that we’re all being threatened by this.” He sternly held Karl’s gaze. “I went because I wanted to try to rescue them before it’s too late.”

“What you did still wasn’t safe,” Karl scolded, “you could have been killed, or turned up missing like the others. That was foolish.”

“With what happened to me down in the vault, it doesn’t appear to be that safe over here either,” he countered.

Karl closed his mouth and let out a small sigh through his nose. “I know you meant well,” he said patiently, “I’m just worried about you. What do you think would have happened if you had been attacked out there instead of here at the keep?” Vincent didn’t have a good answer. “My point exactly,” Karl finished.

“I just had a thought,” Rick said. They both redirected their attention to him, seeming to have forgotten him in their quarrel. “What if there are others besides Jeanette who have betrayed us?”

“I considered that,” Vincent replied, “but Stan and Craig’s story doesn’t support it. She was the only one they saw leaving with that strange man. And I have to admit that I don’t think they’re lying this time.”

“Even so,” Rick pressed, “it might be possible that others left to join that…ceremony or whatever before he came to get her. We shouldn’t rule out the danger.”

Karl began recriminating his rashness again. “See? You were careless. How do you know that Rick and I aren’t with them? You could have invited two potential cultists right into your room!”

“I made no mistake about that,” Vincent maintained.

“How so?”

“Karl, I know you far too well for that. I know that you couldn’t be one of them because you’re my cousin, and even though we argue sometimes, I really think you’re far too busy keeping pet rocks and learning about strata to be dabbling in that sort of thing.” Rick chuckled.

Karl looked enticed. “What about him?” He asked, pointing at Rick.

Vincent looked over at Rick, who sat staring at the ground with a smile on his face. “He is one of the few people I know with absolute certainty to be on our side. If he was on theirs, why would he destroy one of his own?”

Karl considered it a moment. “For show, there could have been other people around.”

Rick shook his head as he looked up. “There weren’t,” he said, finally coming to his own defense, “and I raised the alarm, remember? You can ask anyone. No one else was there to do it for me. Some may have heard my compressed fire spark go off, but that was about it.”

“Fair enough,” Karl relented, “but what do we do now?”

Vincent answered, “follow the one lead we have, search for that word’s meaning, and hope that it leads us somewhere useful.” He shared a deliberate look with Karl. “And yes, it might even take us somewhere dangerous.” When he considered the next part he had to say, he felt a wave of fear go through his gut over his own status within the keep; he still didn’t know if either would report him. “It must also be kept secret unless we want to face a hearing before the masters, after being charged with stepping outside our jurisdiction.” He looked back and forth between Karl and Rick. “Are you two going to help me, or was my bringing you here a mistake?”

Karl folded his arms again, his tone condescending. “You’re my cousin, Vincent. You know that,” he said, thinking it a sufficient answer.

Rick nodded while he looked off, seeming lost in thought again. Vincent didn’t think he had ever seen Rick tired. “We have to. The keep is at risk. Countless innocents are also.” Vincent was silent and when their gazes met, Rick felt the need to explain further. “We’re you’re friends. You didn’t honestly think we were just going to let them get away with what they did to you? Or with stealing from us for that matter.”

“Thanks, Rick,” Vincent replied, feeling heartened by their outpour of support. “I have to warn you both that things might not go as planned. We might end up finding nothing at all. The word could mean ‘fruit basket’ for all I know. If something like that happens, we might have to search the wilderness again, starting where Stan and Craig claim to have seen them last. We may never find the people we seek.”

They were all quiet for several moments.

“At least we know one other thing about them,” Rick said, breaking the silence.

“What’s that?” Vincent asked.

“That they had no idea you were on to them or that you’ve been secretly investigating them this whole time. Their running into you at the vault was a coincidence. You just happened to be the one guarding it.”