The Fenimeldiyaan: Rogue Time - Chapter 5

Rachel hit the ground, the air driven from her lungs. For a moment, she laid in the dirt, furiously stewing. How could Iereth be so stupid? Why couldn't he get even a simple spell right?

Rising to her feet, she shouted, "IERETH!" It was only after she had yelled did she realize that Iereth and Will were nowhere to be seen. Blue eyes going wide, she knew she had made a mistake in yelling. That was not good.

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At the word "Albionite", Gerald paled when he realized the snake/man thought he was a native to Albion. What would he do if he found out otherwise? Even worse, did he only want Gerald's friends as a snack?

Stubbornly pressing his lips together, Gerald prepared to try and run past the snake--man, whatever it was. "Aye, I'd mind," he said. "I ain't showing them to ye just so ye can eat them!"

A shout interrupted Gerald — probably for the better. "IERETH!" The man hesitated, his eyes narrowing even further as he turned back to Gerald just a moment too late. Gerald's shoulder collided with his chest, knocking the snake/man off-balance as he grabbed up his broadsword and ran past. 

Gerald risked a glance behind him as he fled. There was no sign of pursuit yet, which was good ...

"Hey, watch where you're going--hey!" The frantic cry was interrupted as Gerald slammed into someone, bringing them both down to the ground.

The blonde girl kicked out at him. "Get off me!" 

Thankfully, Gerald had returned his broadsword to its cradle and hadn't impaled the beautiful girl. Unfortunately, he was all too aware that he was covered in chicken blood and snake drool. Also, one of the girl's blonde curls was now caught on one of the buttons on his leather jacket, and he was beginning to feel frantic. Grabbing a knife off his hip, he expertly sliced through the rogue curl and grabbed the girl's arm. "Come with me," he told her urgently. "Ye don't want to stick around!"

He could only hope that they hadn't taken too long and the snake wouldn't catch up with them.

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River was nervously at the window, waiting for Dorrie to gather her thoughts. Then her eyes widened, and she ran out the door. Dorrie waddled after her.

Iereth was on the ground outside, groaning and wheezing as if someone had kicked him in the ribs. River slid to a stop beside him, seeing the clumped-up blood on the back of his head. Tenderly, River laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. Her other hand was on his head, gently, barely touching him.

Her hand glowed, bathing Iereth's green head in a golden light. When at last River had pulled away, the wound was healed, and Reth's hair had returned to its natural black colour. Sitting back on her heels, River scribbled out her words on her borrowed book, turning it towards him. "Are you alright?"

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Morgan started to tell Ben not to summon anything, but he was too late and a spectre started attacking the men. Turning his attention away from the attack, Morgan concentrated on communicating with Jaekatha. "I'll accept your offer if you find Andreas and Gerald for me. I won't be leaving without them."

His attention was distracted by the attack ending abruptly, and the spectre returned to Ben. All of the archers and other men attacking them were unconscious. Only a red-haired boy stood in the midst of the chaos, his eyes wide. Blinking in confusion, the boy surveyed the destruction before settling his eyes on Morgan and Ben.

Then he did the only natural thing. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

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Andreas gave Elaine a sympathetic smile and patted her on the arm. “Chronomages be specialist sorcerers with the ability to manipulate time, memories and the entire fabric of the universe if they so wish. They can travel backwards or forwards as they choose. Tis like a regular translocation, except they can interface with the equations which make up the entire multiverse, a bit like dipping yer hand into a pool of water. Only ye gotta know where ye be dipping, if ye get me meaning. There be a code of conduct drawn up by the High Council of Chronomages that they be bound to and they ain’t supposed to interfere in peoples’ lives unless there be some kind of emergency. But ye know how these things go. There will always be a few rogues who go it alone and disobey the Council. As for why the rogue has an interest in Gerald and Morgan, I got no idea”.

“How do you know so much about them?” Elaine asked.

Andreas chuckled. “Apart from the fact that tis me business to know, being a Spy Master and all, one of me granddaughters happens to be a Chronomage. If the communication pathways around here weren’t so messed up by the rogue, I’d be able to contact her”.

He broke off abruptly, his dark eyes hazing over as if locked in a daydream. “River Meer” he muttered. “Aye, that be her name. River Meer, Queen of Corttann. Only she weren’t Queen when I first met her. She were wanted for murder, then rescued. After that, she were taken away by …”

“Andreas!” Elaine tugged at his sleeve, bringing him back to reality. “What’s happening? You went into some kind of trance!”

Andreas blinked and swiped his hand over his eyes. “Ah, tis nothing. Probably to do with the glitches in the equations. Future memories leaking into the present and other twisty stuff. Pay it no mind, me dear. Anyways, to business. Since we ain’t got any idea where Gerald and Morgan might have been taken, would our new dragon friends be willing to conduct some surveillance from above? I can fly alongside, but only when it be dark. Rest of the time, I be land-bound like most folks”.

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“Tis some rare talent ye got there, River, dear” Dorrie stated, having observed the miraculous act of healing which the young girl had performed on the injured healer. “Now, we should all get back inside”.

She leaned down and picked Iereth up, hoisting him in her arms effortlessly as if he were a small child. She took him inside and laid him down in one of the chairs, muttering an incantation under her breath. River followed her inside.

“He’ll be fine” Dorrie pronounced. “He just needs to get some rest, tis all. And ye too, River. Healing like that takes a lot out of ye. Now, what were ye showing me afore he returned?”

River held up the page where she had written about the peculiar little man with the moustache. Dorrie’s face creased up with concentration while she read it and tried to make sense of it.

She was silent for a while, pondering how best to reply. Eventually, she spoke. “That little man ye saw, he were the one whose memories the Chronomage gave ye. It all makes sense now, the bullying, the fine Carpathian mansion and all. He be some important Carpathian Lord. Chances be that when we catch up with him, twill turn out that he’s got some of yer memories. Ah, that Chronomage be playing with us, going against the Minestrian Code as well as defying the edicts of the High Council of Chronomages. She be heading for a whole heap of trouble when the High Council catches up with her, ye mark me”. She paused, screwing up her face again. “By the way, what happened to Will and Rachel?”

Iereth lifted his head, still feeling weak after the misfired spell which he had cast. “Gone” he spluttered. “One moment they were with me, the next, they’d vanished”.

Dorrie pursed her lips and shook her head. “That cursed Chronomage! She got a lot to answer for, so she has! Meddling in things which don’t concern her. And I’ll lay odds that the Carpathian will be wanting strong words with her too. Mayhap not just words. Ye know what Carpathians be like”.

River held up her book. “So what should we do?”

Dorrie grinned and patted her on the arm. “Stick to our original plan. Find the Carpathian, tell him what’s been happening and appeal to him to join us. I’ll need to merge minds with ye so that I can get a feel of his mind signature. Once I’ve got that, it should be an easy matter to track him wherever he goes”.

River nodded her consent and the old woman initiated the mind merge, doing what the Chronomage had previously done. It felt different this time, gentler and less invasive. She could feel an outpouring of concern and affection from Dorrie, whereas she had felt nothing but an icy prickling sensation when the Chronomage had merged with her.

“Got him!” Dorrie announced triumphantly, breaking the merge. “He be with others, so we’ll have to bide our time and try to get him alone. Anyways, we’ll need food and rest afore we go after him. Let’s eat, then turn in for the night. We’ll start our search in the morning”.

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Jaek planted a cold kiss on Morgan’s cheek and stroked his hair. Since she was only an apparition, he had not expected to be able to feel her and the sensation shocked him. “Lord Andreas Cesario and Fitzgerald Hunt” she murmured, stroking the side of his face tenderly, like a lover might. “A Carpathian Spy Master and a down on his luck mercenary. Why do you care so much about them, Morgie? Are you sure they reciprocate? They’re hardly employed in the caring professions, you realise”.

“We’ve been through a lot together” Morgan tried to explain. The effort of projecting telepathically was giving him a headache, for he was unaccustomed to it. “Maybe they didn’t start out caring about me but they’re my friends now. And they’re probably trying to find me”.

Jaek laughed. “Well, they’re not trying very hard. Lord Andreas is off exploring with a girl thief and a pair of shapeshifting dragons, while Fitzy is cosying up to a shapeshifting serpent-mage. Doesn’t seem to me as though they’re overly concerned about your well-being, Morgie dearest. Now, follow me and I’ll get you out of here”.

Morgan’s attention was diverted away from the white-haired woman. Ben had sent their attackers into some kind of trance and a red-haired man had appeared as if from nowhere. The red-haired man stared around for a few moments before collapsing to the ground.

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Lias frowned and slowly followed the Albionite. He stayed at the mouth of the cave and watched the man talk to some blonde woman. "Come with me! Ye don't want to stick around!" the Albionite said before pulling the girl away from the cave.

Lias's frown deepened. Why not stick around? The man could have cleaned himself in the pond if he so chose, Lias wouldn't have minded. But, Lias wasn't going to stick around either. He morphed into a smaller silver snake and quickly slithered after the duo, easily following the Albionite's delicious scent.

Ben's jaw dropped. A new person appeared! A living person! He had never summoned a living human before, but maybe this was the first time? Ben looked at his hands and then at the last bit of dark smoke from the vanished wraith. He didn't remember summoning anything else, and he didn't need anything else. All the angry people were out cold, as well as this useless new being.

Ben looked back at the other man and shrugged before prancing over to the red haired boy. He looked very similar to himself, however Ben had a darker shade of red hair and was not as nearly as tall. Although, he also gave off an aura of death.

Something about the boy told Ben he was close to death. Maybe it was his ghastly skin, covered in a film of perspiration, or his breathing coming out in tiny bursts. But something told Ben this person would die if left alone.

Ben sat down in front of the kid and mused over what to do.

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Iereth was stunned. His spells often went wrong. Any mispronounced vowel could mean something else, and it was so easy to slip up. But he never made people vanish before. And, if it weren't for Dorrie, he'd be sure he had killed Rachel and Will. But, if she was right, someone else had meddled with his spell.

"Food," Iereth muttered. He managed to carry some of it back, and with Rachel and Will gone, it would be more than enough to feed the three. He glanced at the walls of potions and herbs and then the spilt potions River had broken earlier. his eyes widen and he groaned.

Iereth stood and nearly fell back down. Once he was oriented, he looked over at Dorrie. She appeared more than capable. "Would you help me please?" he asked.

They immediately went to work, and soon, the hearty scent of soup drifted throughout the house. Iereth added in a few herbs as well to help magical recovery. He was quite curious about River and her healing abilities. He looked over at her and asked, "Where did you learn magic like that?"

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"Forget that!" Elspeth scoffed. "We could get shot at by them guards! They'll certainly be on the lookout fer dragons-"

"Elspeth," her husband told her condescendingly. "We have to find those two lads somehow. We go high enough, no one's going to see us. I didn't spend decades in the line of espionage to be deterred by a few buffoons."

"But-"

"Me eyesight's still sharp as it was in me twenties. Ye can stay here. I'm going to be helpin' our new friends," Ramsey stated, crossing his arms. Elspeth gaped at him.

"Ye're flippin' stupid, Ramsey. Ye know that right?"

Elspeth's husband only smiled, eyes flashing with the fire inside. He vanished into a copse of trees. Though the other three searched the foliage, they could not see the blur of red scales that rushed up into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.

"What's he doing in there so long?" Elspeth asked.

"Ramsey?" Andreas whispered, taking a step towards the trees. "I don't hear him."

"There!" Elaine's mouth twisted into a smile as her sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a red speck high in the sky. "He's faster than I thought."

"That he is," Elspeth said proudly. She brushed off a nearby stone and plunked herself down upon it. "So," she began, turning towards Andreas, "ye said yer daughter's one of them Chrono-whatevers."

"Chronomages," Elaine whispered. "And he said his granddaughter."

"That's what I said," Elspeth frowned deeply.

Andreas chuckled. "'Tis true. And it has been such a long time since I've spoken with her ..." His voice trailed off once again, causing Elaine and Elspeth to lean in closer.

Elspeth finally cleared her throat, her short patience getting the better of her. "And she was some kind o' murderer, was she?" The old woman asked, narrowing her eyes and placing her hands on her hips.

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Ramsey let out a low growl as the wind whipped against the scales of his face. High in the clouds, he could hardly see a thing, but that didn't matter. Soon he would be out of the fluff and peering down at the ground below. His hawk-like vision could easily pinpoint the location of anyone he sought. He just hoped he'd gotten familiar enough with those two lads - Gerald and Morgan, their names were - to be able to recognize them. And it would take a great deal of hunting to do so. Ramsey wondered how long it would be before Elspeth started yelling at her companions. He resolved to hurry up his search, if only to spare the feelings of his new friends.

After what felt like hours, Ramsey's peripheral vision caught something rather out-of-place. It was a man - rather small, though everything looked small this far up. His head was bald, and he seemed to have a definitive reptilian aura around him. Ramsey couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such an aura; dragons were scarce in this part of the kingdom. But he was sure something was up with this puny human...

Ramsey's eyes widened as the man's body suddenly elongated and shrunk down. In a matter of seconds, his form had been replaced with that of a small silver snake. The snake then disappeared into the underbrush.

"What'sss thisss?" Ramsey's words were drowned out by the wind, but all he cared about was following this little snake-man. Having been unable to find neither Gerald or Morgan within the enormous throng of citizens, Ramsey had decided he'd earned a break.

Who was this snake-man, and what was he up to?

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Gerald dragged the blonde girl along for several minutes before she ripped her wrist from his grasp. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, glaring at him. "How dare you bring me here?!"

"Wh-what?" Gerald blinked. "I didn't bring ye here! Ye just done and showed up!"

"You expect me to believe that?" she snapped. "Now send me back! Will could be dying now because of you!"

Gerald's head was spinning. The girl was frighteningly angry, almost as angry as Elsa was constantly getting with him. And he hadn't even done anything but save her life. "Listen, there was a snake--serpent--whatever it was, and he's probably going to come after me 

and--"

"I really don't care," she said, turning her back on him and walking away. 

Gerald sighed. He could leave the girl to her own devices, but she was exhausted, out of sorts, and emotional, a bad combination. She'd either get herself abducted or killed, and her problems would be his. Tramping after her, Gerald rubbed his lame leg with a certain amount of irritation. Andreas, where the devil are ye? he wondered. 

The girl spun around, aware that Gerald was following her. "Just leave me alone," she said.

"Ye don't even know where ye be going, love," Gerald called.

Her clear-blue eyes blazed with anger, and she marched up to him. If she hadn't been two heads shorter than he was, he might even have been intimidated. Her hands were bunched into fists. "I've had enough of you," she growled. "If you won't stop following, I'll have to make you stop."

The idea of the short girl stopping him made Gerald laugh. He was still laughing when the girl punched him in the face and he blacked out.

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Rachel viewed her handiwork with some misgivings. He'd be out for the next hour or two, from the weakness of her magic, but it didn't seem right to leave him out in the open, even if he was annoying. With some effort she dragged him off the path and covered him with leaves. It wasn't a very good job, but she wasn't willing to waste any more of her time with him.

With the man with the limp out of the way, Rachel closed her eyes and attempted to communicate with either Iereth or Will. Iereth wasn't sleeping, so he was out of the question, and Will's mind was closed, almost like he couldn't answer her. That alone filled her with concern, but she forced it down and kept walking.

So distracted was she with trying to communicate with Iereth or Will, she didn't see the trap until she was on top of it--and by then, it was too late to do anything about it. The ground seemed to open up beneath her, and she gave a shrill cry as she tumbled into the hole.

Rachel hit the bottom and grimaced. Her landing could have been more graceful. She moved to stand and found that her limbs refused to move. They appeared to be caught in a sticky net. Oh, great. This is just perfect. This must be a Hindustani trap designed for Albionites.

She cringed. And I walked right into it.

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River drummed on her book for a few seconds, considering how best to reply to Reth's question. She was still wary of him, but he seemed only curious. She opened the book and wrote, "I don't know. I don't remember." After thinking for a moment, she crossed out the words and wrote, "I think I've always known how to use it. Healing magic is easier than the other kind."

After another moment, she added, "Shouldn't we be looking for Rachel and Will? What if something's happening to them?"

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Morgan looked from the two redheads to Jaekatha uncertainly. Then he motioned to the girl. "Give me a moment." Hurrying over to the boy on the ground, he quickly determined that he was suffering from a broken rib that hadn't been tended to and had pierced an internal organ. In other words, he was bleeding to death on the inside.

Had Morgan not spent so much time with his healer friend, he might not have known what the problem was. Breathing a quick prayer of thanks for Apollo, he laid his hand on the boy's abdomen, hearing the sharp intake of breath even in the boy's unconsciousness. 

Retrieving his spell book from his cape, Morgan consulted it until he found the mending spell. It worked on plates and torn clothes, why not ribs and torn vessels and organs?

Murmuring the spell, Morgan very carefully tapped into his darkness to cast it. He felt the mend spell take effect and stood, pocketing the book. "Take care of him," he told Ben before turning back to Jaekatha.

The young woman cocked her head. "Have you made your choice?"

Anger bubbled up inside of him--anger at Gerald. If Andreas found Gerald first--and Andreas had always seemed to care more about Gerald than Morgan--they would leave without him. Gerald always got the best of everything. Like ... like Elsa.

That did it. "Fine," Morgan said. "Let's go."

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Will kept his eyes closed. His stomach was in a turmoil, feeling like he'd eaten a barrel full of bad fish. Moving seemed like a terrible idea. Forcing one of his eyes opened, he met the strange eyes of another red head. Vaguely, he wondered if this one's luck was as bad as his own. He considered speaking to him, but even opening his mouth was beyond him. Instead, he stared at the boy in bewilderment.

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Now this was interesting. Lias licked the air, catching the scent of the Albionite around a bush. The Albionite was very much like a human, so he doubted he would just be sleeping there for the fun of it. Humans always wanted the finer, comfier things to be as lazy as possible. Although, they also rarely ever got what they wanted.

Lias slithered up to the bush when he heard a sharp cry not so far off. Half his body jerked in the direction. It sounded like the woman, and he could smell her flowery scent there. He debated between scents. Flowers or chicken blood. Well, the chicken one didn't look like it would move any time soon.

Lias shifted his length to roughly ten feet long before he slithered towards the flowery scent. And there she was. He dipped his head over the edge and looked down at the woman, trapped in one of those obnoxious holes with her limbs stuck on some kind of web.

The woman looked up at him in terror. "Oh don't eat me," she groaned. Lias let out a snort- which was more like a curt hiss. Eat her? The very thought made his sails shudder and coil. She yelled, "I'm warning you! Stay back!"

Stay back? Fine then. He wasn't obligated to help her anyways. Although, if the Hindustanis came here and saw the woman, they might kill her. Not fond of pointless killings, Lias hissed and turned back into a human, so to speak.

"Listen here, woman," he hissed, still leaning over the edge with his golden eyes narrowed. "I can either help you out, or you can worry about the humans nearby catching you... Or something worse."

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"Oh right!" Iereth said, grabbing his forehead. He felt like such buffoon. Surely the two weren't dead, but they needed to be found, and he had a few scrying tricks up his sleeve. But, Iereth wasn't keen on casting another spell. He already felt woozy, and if he wasn't careful, he'd be out of commission for a week if not longer.

"Let's first regain our strength," Dorrie said as she filled a bowl with the soup and passed it to River.

Iereth nodded and received a bowl as well. Regain their strength, find some little man, and then find the others. He looked at the bowl, wondering how much time they really had as he wondered if Will had been healed or not.

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Ben stared at the kid. The aura of death had left him, making him rather boring. But the man had said to take care of him. So, Ben stared at the kid for awhile longer until his eyes opened and they stared at each other.

"Hmm," Ben mused over what to say. He wasn't used to speaking to ordinary people. But then again, it was his fault the person appeared here due to a horrible summons... if he summoned him.

'Talk to him,' a ghost floating behind him said. Ben nodded. He could treat him as if he had summoned him.

"Tell me who are you, what are you, and what you want, and what you can do... oh and how are you?" Ben felt odd asking the last question. Ghosts only felt dead, and this was no ghost. Or at least, not yet.