Dreamwhisper

Chapter 18

Silas woke to Kara’s sleepy smile, looking back at him. She was nestled under his arm with her chin on his chest, both sunk deep within the blankets of the enormous bed.

“Morning,”

He smiled at her and pulled her closer, “Does it have to be? We could stay here all day if we decided it was still night.”

She buried her face in his neck to hide her growing grin, “The others will be wondering where we are soon. We can’t hide forever.”

“Who says we can’t? We will bar the door and have our own adventure here.”

She slapped him playfully on the chest, “I am a lady.”

Silas pulled her closer and bit her on the shoulder, “Only if we decide you are.”

They laughed together and continued to lie in the cozy bed for another few minutes until the connection between Silas and his familiar began to buzz in his mind. Silas’ face went blank, “Master, there is a problem. Meet me in the stables when you are able.”

“Was it something I said?” She asked, concerned.

“No, no. Xavi just reached out and said there is a problem. He wants to meet us in the stables.”

She sighed, “Off to our next adventure then. A gold coin says my brother did something stupid. Mind if I borrow some clothes so I’m not traipsing down the hall in the nude?”

Silas looked up at the ceiling with a large smile. “Now, that would be a sight to see.”

Kara pulled herself free from his arms and stood from the bed to grab a set of clothes from his bag. He sat up on his elbows, watching her.

“I stand corrected. That is a sight to see.”

She giggled and rolled her eyes at him. Once she was dressed, she leaned over the bed and kissed him. “I’ll go and grab my things. I’ll meet you in the barn in five.” Just before she walked out the door, she paused and turned to him, “Let’s see where this goes before we go telling everyone, yeah?”

“As you wish, my lady,” he said with a slight bow of his head.

She laughed as she shook her head and walked out the door.

Five minutes later, after Silas had dressed and gathered his things, he walked into the stables. He searched around but did not find any sign of Thomas or Xavi. He saw the stall that held Yuki, where she was harnessed and ready to leave. The cart had been pulled to the side so she could be easily attached, and they could be on their way. Thomas had gone above and beyond for them, cleaning their cart and bathing her. Silas gave Yuki a loving scratch under her chin and reached out to Xavi in his mind. “I’m here, Xavi; what’s the matter?”

His familiar appeared beside him after he dropped his invisibility spell, “The human male has gotten into trouble. A woman took him while he was intoxicated, and she was not kind when she did so. I am not accustomed to your mating rituals, but this did not seem standard. I followed them to a home not far away where he is being kept. I will take you there when the sister is ready.”

Kara walked into the stall when he said the words, “I’m here. What did I miss?”

Wordlessly, Silas slipped his hand into his pouch and then flipped a single gold coin over to Kara.

After catching it, she pinched the bridge of her nose, “Idiot.”

Thirty minutes later, Silas stood alone in front of a run-down, three-story cabin several blocks from the inn. It had taken him ten minutes to convince Kara to stay with the cart for a quick getaway if things went awry. Reluctantly, she agreed and moved Yuki and their belongings, including the ones left in Antony’s room, to a nearby street they decided upon as a meeting point. Once he retrieved her brother, they would immediately leave the town and continue.

“Hurry, master. She appears to be cutting him. Would you like me to… introduce myself?”

“No!” Silas quickly said through their connection, “he would be killed as well. I’m coming in now. What floor are you on?”

“Third floor. There is a staircase in the back of the house that will take you up. There is only one room at the top. Tell me when you are ready, and I will unlock it.”

He approached the front door cautiously. Something felt strange in this run-down home, something dark to his senses. He crept up the creaking, decaying stairs that led to the entry door. Someone had loosely boarded all the windows, and there were huge gaps revealing broken glass from behind the wooden planks.

The door was unlocked, so he pushed his way through. Inside was even worse than he expected. Huge, crude murals were painted or scratched into every surface of the hallway. Every one of them depicting Antony and a woman doing various activities in varying states of dress. The deeper he went into the hallway, the more erratic the paintings and scratchings became. Eventually, when he reached the end of the hallway, they became so chaotic there was no way to differentiate what they were. That was when the first scream came from the top of the staircase.

Silas bolted up the stairs through the dust-filled streams of daylight cast through the boarded windows. The further he climbed, the louder the screaming became. After he passed the second-floor landing, making his way up the final stretch, the screaming stopped. Because several stairs were missing, he had to jump the last three steps to continue. As he crested the final step and landed on solid ground, he shot to the last and only door on the floor.

“Xavi! Open it now!” He called through the connection. No response. He tried the handle when he reached the door, finding it still locked. He tried shouldering it open, but whoever boarded the rest of the house took far more care here. He circulated stamina essence into his fist, creating a red glow around his knuckles. Then he punched the door, releasing the built-up energy of Fist of the Mountain. The door exploded inward, showering the interior with the splintered remains of the wood.

He followed his swing into the dust-filled room to see Xavi through the haze, holding a struggling woman in his jaw, blood flowing freely down his chest to the ground. With a flap of his beating wings and a twist of his head, he ripped out her throat, dropping her twitching body to the wet floor with a thud.

“I had no choice, master. She was carving a slave glyph into his chest, and it was almost complete. It was crude, but if she would have completed it, he would have been lost for good.”

“Good work, my friend.” Silas patted him on the shoulder as he made his way over to Antony.

The man’s clothing was utterly tattered. His shirt had been removed, and a bloody knife was driven into his left breast, right next to an unfinished glyph. Silas removed the knife and used the torn remains of his shirt as a makeshift compress for the wound. Xavi began healing him as he cleaned him off. Just as Xavi finished his third cast that closed the wound, Antony woke.

“Antony, it’s Silas. You’re safe. Try not to move while we finish.”

He groaned but nodded in agreement. Fifteen minutes later, they were helping him up from the bed.

“So, who was that anyway?” Silas asked as they gingerly made their way out of the room.

“That, my good man, is the outcome of being blessed as an extraordinary lover,” He laughed then winced in pain. “She was Winnie, the old innkeeper's daughter that we spoke of. Someone had to have tipped her off. Just as I was heading to bed after having a little too much of that ale, she struck me from behind. When I awoke, she was carving that symbol into my chest. I thought I was done for until the imp saved the day. I’ll need to thank him for that.”

“You’ll have to thank him later,” Silas explained the plan he and Kara had devised and that they needed to hurry to her. He also described the strange feeling he got when he entered the house. He had no idea what it meant, but the sense of wrongness ate at him as they continued making their way out. Once they reached the bottom floor, Antony stopped moving as they passed one of the crude paintings.

“She was very sick, wasn’t she?” He asked solemnly. “I don’t believe it was my fault, but I still feel responsible in a way.”

“It wasn’t your fault, and it would have happened to anyone. It could have been much worse, too. Let her rest like she did not get in this life. Do not bring her memory with you. Leave it here.”

Antony gave him a nod of acceptance.

Twenty feet from the exit, a thin shadow stepped into the doorway, blotting out the morning sunlight. “Where is my niece?!” It yelled.

The two men stood in utter bemusement. Before them stood the new innkeeper, Mr. O’Henry. “What have you done to her? Where is she!”

Antony pushed off Silas slightly to stand on his own, “You? Did you give me to her? Why would you do that?”

He laughed menacingly, “After you left her, she was lost. She confined herself in this old home and wouldn’t let anyone help her. Because of you!” He shouted. “Right before she killed her father for not finding you, I promised him I would take care of her. When you fell into my lap, I had to try to make her feel better. It was the only way to get her back!”

Antony’s face twisted with disgust, “Do you realize what she was trying to do to me?”

“Who do you think taught her that glyph!” The innkeeper interrupted him before he could continue.

Silas stepped in between the two men and lifted his hand while circulating mana, “We don’t have time for this, BURN!”

The next instant, the man burst into flames, screaming at the top of his lungs. Silas grabbed Antony and pushed him out the door just as the old, dry timber of the unkept cabin caught aflame. They sped down the street to the place where Kara was waiting. Silas threw Antony into the back, using their momentum to propel them forward.

“Go, go, go,” he yelled as they landed heavily inside.

Kara snapped the reins without question and took off down the street.

From behind, they heard shouts as they raced down a narrow alley, “Fire! There’s a fire here! Call the guard!”

She didn’t stop to look back. She focused solely on getting them as far away as she could. Finally, they made it to the main road that would take them across the maze of bridges and lead them to the eastern exit. As she slowed the cart to avoid looking suspicious, she looked back in the direction they came from to see a small plume of smoke rising into the air. Then, she looked down at the state of her brother. She gasped at the sight of him, but before she could say a word, Silas interrupted her.

“He will be fine, and I will take care of him, but you must focus on getting us out of here. We must leave now.” He grasped her hand reassuringly, then returned to Antony. She kept the tears and anger from consuming her thoughts as she forced herself to focus on her task.

A grueling twenty minutes later, they turned onto the final bridge that would take them out of the hunting camp. Several guards were slowly moving a line of people outside the walls. It took some time to make their way to the front, but eventually, they did. The guards asked them basic questions, like where they were headed and when they would return. She answered easily enough, keeping her beating heart in check. When one of the guards noticed Antony covered in a blanket, Silas quickly intervened, telling them he had gotten drunk the night before and was sleeping it off. They all laughed together and let them pass. Not a single guard mentioned the growing smoke cloud in the distance.

No one spoke until they were far enough away to be entirely certain no one would hear them. They had reached the crest of a large hill that overlooked the town. Kara was the first to break the silence after she pulled them to a stop.

“What in the hells happened?”

Silas sighed and told her about the events that had taken place while she was waiting. Xavi continued to heal her brother while they spoke. When he was done, he had to stop her from running back and killing the remainder of the family.

“A fucking slave glyph? By the gods.” She leaned her forehead into her brother’s sleeping chest.

“It’s over,” placing a hand on her back. “They are dead by our hand, and we won’t be returning here. Be with your brother and let it go.” Just as he finished speaking, a loud crash boomed from the town. They turned just in time to see a large section of a burning bridge fall into the raging river.

“Yeah, we definitely won’t be returning this way.” He shrugged.