The Fenimeldiyaan: Rogue Time - Chapter 4

"Next time, don't summon a demon to solve the problem," The man growled.

Ben's jaw had slackened as he stared at the man and the shimmering sphere surrounding him. He now understood what the spirit had meant. This man used dark magic like him. But, this man had not used the spectre, but sent it back, and now he was repressing that ability.

Ben's head tilted to the side as he pondered over the ability to have two kinds of magic. He could only work with the dead, but this man had that beautiful sphere thing which not of a darker element in the slightest.

He walked around the rubble and motioned for the zombies to join them. "Go on, choose a good place," Ben said while frowning at the broken wall. The demon was only supposed to break the bars, but it had disobeyed. Ben would be sure to lecture it later and cancel its contract.

While the zombies found places to rest, Ben approached the sphere and crouched in front of it. The tail of his suit flapped in the small breeze, and his red hair brushed over his golden eyes, obscuring the view of this wizard.

"Who are you?" Ben asked.

"Hey!" Someone else yelled. Ben ignored the voice and continued staring at the magician. He really wanted to know about this dual magic stuff.

"How do you do that?" He poked at the sphere, nearly touching it. The man's grimace twisted further.

"What are you doing?!" Someone yelled, his voice much closer.

"... castle Albion..." Albion! There it was! Lias smiled, his mouth opening slightly, which was quite a distance. Just perfect! This was an Albionite! Although, by the looks of it, he appeared quite similar to the Hindustanis.

Lias curled up in front of the cave and shifted back into a form more proper for speaking. Once he was on his two feet, he smiled at the Albionite and flicked his tongue, tasting fear and shock. So Albionites were the fearful sort?

"No shoving aside, Albionite," Lias said. "Tell me, why you killed the chickens, well what do I care about motive? Tell me... what exactly are you?"

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Iereth groaned. He was going up and down in a rhythmic way, the sound of feet... hooves hitting the ground... just as if he were riding a horse!

His silver eyes flashed open and he stared at Will, running right in front of him. He then twisted about to see a man in an odd suit before he slipped out of the man's hands and tumbled onto the hallway.

"What's... where are we?" Iereth asked, rubbing his head. It ached terribly.

Will stopped running and helped the other man pull Iereth to his feet. The man in the suit's mouth moved quickly, framed by a droopy moustache. "No time for talking, run!"

Iereth tilted his head, but joined the others, running as quickly as he could, but staying behind so that he would not get lost. However, his head ached terribly, and his sense of direction seemed to have worsened. The stone ceiling looked so much like the floor. Or maybe that was the floor?

Will's hand grabbed Iereth's silver cloak and tugged him to the side before he ran right into a wall. Iereth blinked and stumbled after them, feeling horribly confused the whole while.

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"First of all," Gerald said, "I didn't kill no chickens. Period. Second, I be a mercenary and an assassin, here on vacation with two blokes named Andreas and Morgan." As if the snake hadn't been creepy enough, the snake turning into a man was even worse. Wincing, Gerald went on, "What do ye want from me? I ain't got nothing against snakes, or--chickens. And all I really want is to get the devil out of here and back to the others so I can get back home. Is that enough for ye?" He couldn't keep the annoyance out of his voice. Was the snake really only curious about him? Absently, he scratched his aching leg and waited.

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Morgan batted the young man's hand away when he went to poke his magic prevention spell again. "Stop that!" he complained. "That feels weird!" Ignoring him, the boy went to poke him again.

An arrow sliced the air between them. The boy rocked backwards, looking surprised. Morgan grabbed his arm and dragged him behind him, pulling him behind one of the crypts. "Listen to me," Morgan whispered urgently. "Those men want me to use my dark magic, which will make me summon a demon army, which will be bad news. I need you to listen to me. This--" he motioned to himself.

"Glowing orb?" the boy suggested.

"Yes. Glowing orb," Morgan answered, though he wondered how the boy could see it. Even he couldn't see it. "It's preventing me from using my magic, which is just wonderful for not turning evil but not so good when I really need it to fend them off." He pointed in the general direction of the men coming to attack them. "So, I am probably going to hate myself for asking you this, but could you get rid of them? With... whatever you do?"

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Will was in pain. He was fairy certain he'd cracked a rib when the soldier had tackled him against the wall. And the dragons had been a bit much. Neither did he protest when Elaine brought them to another room with no exit, although he did have to wonder when she ripped the sheets off the bed and started tearing them. "What are you doing?" he asked, sitting Iereth down on the floor before going over to her. The last thing Will needed was his friend wandering off and getting lost. 

"Every window is an entrance and an exit," Elaine answered, holding out her hand. Will placed his knife in her palm and she started tearing through the sheets. "Even with Elspeth and Ramsey distracting them, the guards won't be kept away forever. We have to get out of here. And I think it's safe to say that Gerald and Morgan aren't here. Someone must have sent them somewhere else, perhaps not even in Albion."

"I've heard that saying before," Will said. He hadn't heard anything after Elaine's first sentence. "It's a thief's saying. Are you a thief?"

"I'm the twin sister of the greatest thief who ever lived," Elaine answered. "Elsa Silvereye."

"Robin Hood is the greatest thief who ever lived," Will said.

"Let's not argue about that," Andreas interrupted. "Ye said something about an escape?"

"Yes," Elaine said. She started knotting the sheets together. Andreas and Will quickly helped her, and soon they had a sturdy enough rope. "Andreas, you first. Then we'll lower Iereth and Will after that."

Andreas went down first, and Will helped Elaine tie Iereth to the rope, holding on to the semi-conscious man as he gripped the rope. "Iereth's going to hate this," he said with a grin. Then he jumped off the window sill while holding on to the rope.

Elaine's eyes widened, and she ran to the window. Somehow, Will made it to the bottom and waved after untying Iereth.

Elaine tied the rope around her waist, hesitating when the door slammed open. A woman pointed at her. "Stop her!" she shrieked.

Forced into action, she jumped from the window and hurtled towards the ground. It was only when she was halfway did she realize that the rope was not going taut. Sure enough, the cut piece fell past her, and she started screaming in panic as she realized she'd jumped out of a window and was going to hit the ground.

Something roared past her, catching her in its claw and landing on the ground. It was only when the dragon morphed back into human form did Elaine realize it was Elspeth. "Oh, thank you!" Elaine cried, throwing her arms around the woman and sobbing with relief.

Will had his arm under Iereth's, trying to support the green-haired man. "Well, I'm off, then," he said casually.

"Off?" Elaine pulled away from Elspeth and looked at him. "Off to where?"

"Look, I'm sorry about your problems, and I'm grateful to you for saving us," Will said, "but I've got a cracked rib, a wounded apothecary, several packages of food to pick up, and a mute girl, a noblewoman, and a suspicious old crone to take care of back at Iereth's house. As you can see, I am quite busy. Farewell." Inclining his head slightly, Will turned around and walked away.

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River turned away from Dorrie and Rachel, her book lying on her lap, refusing to take part in any conversation. Agitated, Rachel went to the window, frowning when she saw that Iereth and Will had not yet returned. Something's gone wrong. Focusing with her mind, she managed to touch Iereth's for a brief moment. He was semi-conscious. That couldn't be good. Neither of them should be sleeping yet. 

Rachel turned, opening her mouth before remembering she didn't trust Dorrie. Making a face, Rachel sat down next to the window, twirling a curl of her hair around her finger for a moment. Then she jumped to her feet, startling River and Dorrie. She grabbed her cloak off one of the piles of book. "I'm going to look for them. If they come back while I'm going, tell them I'll be back soon." Without waiting for a response, she opened the door and went out, breathing a sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her. She felt a little guilty for leaving River by herself, but she had to find the other two.

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Andreas looked at Will, then back at Elaine. “I be coming with ye. Gerald and Morgan be good friends of mine and I refuse to abandon them”. He gave a slight chuckle. “By the way, I could’ve gotten down without the need for a rope. That wall be easy to climb and besides that, I can fly during the hours of darkness”.

He looked at the expressions of surprise and shock on their faces. He was about to say something else when a strange feeling came over him. Images flooded into his mind. He saw a young girl with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing bedraggled clothing. She was sitting in a chair, clutching a book, an expression of confusion on her pale face. He got the impression that he knew her from somewhere but he could not place her.

“Ye look like ye’ve seen a ghost or something” Ramsey commented, peering curiously at the little Spy Master.

Andreas shook his head. “Ah, tis nothing. Forget it. Let’s get on with our search, eh?”

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While Morgan waited for the boy’s answer, a female voice spoke inside his head. “You can’t hide from yourself forever, Morgie. By hiding, you’ll only make matters worse. I can help you”.

“What?” he muttered, looking around in alarm. “Who are you? Where are you?”

A shimmering apparition hovered in the air above him. It was a young woman with pure white hair and glowing silver eyes. “I am your saviour. My name is Jaekatha Love-in-Idleness-Curiosity. It’s probably best not to speak out loud, because no-one else can see me. Now, do you want my help or not?”

Morgan hated these moments, recalling many times in the past when he had accepted dubious offers of help. Unfortunately, their help always came with a price, and things never turned out the way he hoped. “What will it cost me?” he enquired, projecting telepathically.

She gave a tinkly musical-sounding laugh. “Oh, Morgie, you wound me. I never discuss such ugly concerns as finance or favours. Let’s just say I’m feeling particularly altruistic and it’s your lucky day. Now, will you accept my most generous offer? I can get you out of this mess and off this planet, you know”.

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After Rachel left, Dorrie and River sat in silence for several minutes. The only sounds were the crackling of the logs in the fireplace and the turning of pages as River reviewed the recent conversations with Rachel, Dorrie and the mysterious Jae-whatever-her-name-was. 

Eventually, Dorrie broke the uncomfortable silence. “It might help if ye talk about yer restored memories, ye know. I get the impression they weren’t happy ones. A problem shared be a problem halved, as the old saying goes”.

River flicked to a blank page in her book, but wrote nothing. She stared at the old woman, wondering what to do.

Dorrie spoke again. “I got a daughter, ye know. She be pretty like ye. Works as a dancer, she does. Gets to travel around a bit. I worry about her when she be on the road, even though she can take care of herself. Me maternal instincts be telling me that ye want to share, but ye be afeared of the memories. Sharing them will take that fear away”.

River picked up the pencil and started writing. She felt that she had nothing to lose by telling the woman about the restored memories. Perhaps Dorrie could help her make sense of them.

Dorrie did not wait for her to finish writing. She got up and dragged her chair over, positioning it so that it was touching the chair in which River was sitting. She then settled her bulk down and leaned in uncomfortably close, watching while River scratched away with the pencil.

“They ain’t yer memories, dear!” she exclaimed, when she had finished reading River’s vivid descriptions of the beatings and the privileged life in the vast elegant mansion. “Although I’ve never been to Vara, I know enough to tell that ye were seeing the inside of a Carpathian mansion. Ye ain’t Carpathian, not even Varathusian, so tis obvious the memories be false. Told ye them Chronomages be a tricky lot, didn’t I?”

River turned to a fresh page. “If they’re not mine, then who do they belong to?”

Dorrie gave a harsh chuckle and shook her head. “I’ve no idea, but they be most interesting memories”.

The pencil scratched across the page again. “So how do we find out whose memories they are? And how do I get my own memories back?”

Dorrie grinned and patted her on the arm. “Tell ye what we do. We wait til that Chronomage returns, if she returns, which be by no means guaranteed. Then ye let her give ye some more memories. The more memories we get, the easier twill be to identify who they belong to. Then we seek out that person. They’ll have a link with ye via their memories and from what I know about Carpathians, they’ll not be best pleased with that Chronomage for meddling. Mayhap the Carpathian will help us get yer real memories back from the Chronomage. Tis worth a try, eh?”

River nodded. She was not sure whether or not she wanted the Chronomage to give her more memories, especially if they turned out to be as disturbing as the ones she had previously given.

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Elspeth pulled on her floral robe, still rather distraught at the fact that the young woman - Elaine, her name was - had given her a hug. It was such an unexpected - and usually unwelcome - phenomenon, that it had rendered the old woman speechless for a time.

"Elspeth, what do you think?"

The dragon blinked, adjusting her eyes to the brightness of day; it had been so dark in that castle. "What do I...?"

"We've got to get going," Andreas said, "and we could use yer help if ye choose."

Elspeth's lips curled into what could possibly be defined as a smile, but was rather awkward nonetheless. She glanced at her husband. "I suppose we could think about it." This little outing, dangerous as it had been, had given Elspeth feelings she hadn't felt in ages: freedom and exhilaration.

"Where to?" Ramsey asked.

Elaine nodded. "Yes, where to begin? I don't have the slightest idea where Gerald and Morgan could be. If I ever catch the one who did this..." The thief narrowed her eyes, allowing her words to trail off in anger. Andreas' spell was beginning to wear off, and Elaine's bright red locks were beginning to emerge once again, her eyes regaining their illustrious silver. Ramsey found that he couldn't look away from those eyes; they held such mystery. Mystery of a time many years ago…

Andreas sighed, scratching his head in thought. "Don't look at me. I've not the slightest idea either. Mayhap we should think back to the moment they disappeared. What type of magic was used? Have ye ever seen anything of the like?"

"The room went black," Ramsey said slowly.

"I was pushed back. I couldn't move. Whatever it was, it was powerful." Elaine sighed.

"And there was a voice," Andreas offered, a little hesitantly.

Elaine glanced at him. "Yes. It accused you of being a Hindustani spy."

"Not only that, but it took some of me power for its own," Andreas said darkly.

"Who could've done such a thing?" Ramsey inquired. He wondered if this being had knowledge of his and Elspeth's powers, and if so, could he or she manipulate them? It'd be a terrible thing for such evil to take hold of a dragon; those around may not come out of it alive. But then again, Andreas seemed to contain a great power too. The four of them really were at this being’s mercy.

"One word comes to mind, but mind ye, it may be a long shot." Andreas began walking, despite not knowing if this was the right way to go. He was tired of standing around and thought it best to keep moving.

"It's better than nothing," Elaine jogged a few paces to catch up with the Spy Master.

Andreas nodded. "That it be. The darkness and the manipulation of pressure, of time even-"

"Andreas," Ramsey began, narrowing his eyes in thought, "ye don't mean to say that it could have been..."

The Spy Master stopped in his tracks, whirling around to face his companions. "Exactly so. This type of magic could very well have been produced by a Chronomage."

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Lias had nothing against Albionites, especially not this one. He wasn't the chicken killer, possibly. But, something the Albionite said bothered him greatly. He stepped forward, and the Albionite moved his arm for the handle of his sword.

Lias stopped and spat, "I am not a snake!"

The man paused, brows knit, and said, "Ye sure looked like one."

Lias rolled his eyes. He was a far greater being than some scaly worm. But getting in a fight over a term would get them nowhere. "I want nothing in particular," Lias said, looking at the dreary pond behind the man.

"But, I am curious about these Albionite friends of yours," he said, eyes narrowed. "Mind showing me them?"

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"But could you get rid of them? With... whatever you do?" the man in the orb said.

Ben looked back at the others. Getting rid of possibly meant killing them, and Ben was not inclined to kill anyone. But, there were other methods...

"What? Who are you? Where are you?"

Ben looked back at the man. "I'm Ben," he said and stopped. The man seemed distracted as if talking to a ghost. But Ben didn't see any spirits about them. Well, possibly it was hiding its presence. Oh well then, Ben couldn't judge anyone for talking to spirits since they were his primary companions.

He looked back at the men and felt an arrow hit his shoulder. He grunted, but ignored the pain, allowing that whole limb to become lifeless. Now, that was unpleasant.

Ben waved his other arm and yelled at the nearest zombie who was getting ready to attack the men, "Stay put!" Zombies had terrible, magical diseases that did not need to get spread.

Ben instead withdrew into himself and then left himself. His physical body collapsed on the ground in front of the other man, while his spirit drifted towards the first archer. He waited until the arrow was strung before he flew into the man.

The man was surprised and did nothing to fight it. Ben quickly aimed the arrow at a companion and shot him in the shoulder. "What are you lazing about for you fungus infested knave?!" Ben taunted before leaving the archer. The other man groaned and turned to look at the archer.

Ben's spirit quickly retreated from the archer and drifted towards another man, but some magical aura blocked him. Better not mess with him. He looked to the others, there weren't that many, and possessed a few others, only to launch out a series of colourful insults.

He then returned to his own body, picked himself up, and whispered, for his body had weakened greatly from the arrow, "Now, what to summon?" He chuckled darkly, thinking of that nasty spirit he had just released moments ago.

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Iereth walked with Will until he focused enough to walk on his own. He would have performed some magic to make his injury heal, but he'd get too exhausted from the spell and likely topple over. It was never good to heal oneself with magic. Thinking of magic, he made sure to pull his hood over his head.

"Will, what happened?" Iereth grumbled as they returned to the market square.

"A lot," Will said before rehashing the events, tossing in a few coarse words here and there. He panted and paused every so often, and Iereth expertly noted the paler of his skin.

"Where are you injured?" Iereth asked.

"My ribs," Will said as they came to the stall. The merchant greeted them and handed the stack of packages and food. Iereth took the bulk of them, not wanting Will to strain himself. 

They started their way out of the market place, when a very irritated woman called, "WILL!"

Iereth craned his neck around the packages to see Rachel standing there, her hands on her hips and a fretful expression over her beautiful face. He glanced at Will and smirked at his blushing friend, that is, until Rachel came closer and growled, "Where have you two been? Did Will steal something? Did Iereth get lost?" She looked at the two of them and they looked at each other.

"Something like that," Will and Iereth admitted.

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River chewed her lip, thinking about what Dorrie had said. It didn't seem likely that Jaek would come back if she knew that Dorrie had told River the memories were false, but who was telling the truth? They didn't feel like her own, that was true, but would she know if they were hers?

Dorrie was talking again, but a sudden feeling overcame her. Doubling over, River watched images dance in front of her eyes. A little man with a moustache was walking beside two older people and a short girl with red hair and silver eyes. Seeing the images so clearly was disorienting and made her feel ill. With a silent cry, the sound of shattering glass woke her from her trance. Looking up, River saw that the shelf full of vials near her was now covered in shattered glass and spilled potions. 

Dorrie was watching her with a unique expression, and River was momentarily shaken. Then she started scribbling in the book, and before long had turned it to show Dorrie. "I just saw multiple images of a man with a moustache. He's short, skinny, and he's got a moustache. Do you know who he is?"

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Elaine was taken by surprise when Andreas whirled around to face them. Immediately after his announcement about the "Chronomage", he'd started walking at a quick pace once more. Although she was the same height as him, she was struggling to keep up with his quick strides.

Feeling confused and more than a little out of her depth, she tried to keep pace with him. "Andreas," she said, panting a little. Being married to a king was not made for keeping in superb shape--she was feeling the exhaustion of her long day. "Andreas, what's a Chronomage, and why would they kidnap Gerald and Morgan? What could they possibly want from them?"

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Rachel was annoyed with Will and Iereth, but her irritation evaporated somewhat when she saw that Will's face had lost the entirety of its pallor. "Will, what's wrong?"

Normally, Will would have grinned and teased her at the attention she was giving him, but this time, he squirmed. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"Iereth?" Rachel turned to him, concerned. He didn't look so well either.

"His ribs," Reth answered.

"I'm fine," Will insisted. Rachel, however, was just as stubborn as he was. She took the packages from him and pulled him into an empty side street. Sitting him down against a wall, she knelt beside him, laying her hands on his abdomen and feeling the bones. 

She glared at Reth, who was hovering behind her uncertainly. "You idiot!" she snapped, her voice cracking like a whip. He flinched. "He's broken a rib!"

"Broken?" Will croaked. "I've never broken a rib before!"

"Shh," Rachel said. Turning to Reth, she sighed. "I hate to ask you to do this, but could you heal it? Broken ribs can be troublesome."

What Rachel didn't know, and what neither Will nor Reth were inclined to tell her, was that Iereth had a concussion. Since Iereth had the strange desire to impress her, he knelt beside Will and spoke his spell—

… and ended up casting it horribly wrong.