There was a cluck of a chicken and Eldion turned towards the sound. He found a small rusty cage in the corner of the kitchen and inside was a chicken, looking scared and agitated.“I didn’t realize there was a chicken in here,” commented Eldion. “Are we going to cook it?”Mira craned her neck and found the chicken clucking in the corner. “It does look frightened,” she said.“One of Remuel’s men came barging in here and brought it, expecting me to know what to do with it,” said Sela.“Maybe you’re supposed to cook it for dinner,” suggested Eldion.“I haven’t had chicken in a while,” said Mira.Sela looked at the remaining firewood in the stove and the covered pots above it. “Well, the broth is almost done and I suppose we’ll need to have more food with you three joining in.”Mira stood from where she was seated and approached the closed cage with the frightened hen. She unlocked the cage door and took out the chicken. Surprisingly, the chicken went silent when Mira held it and even issu
Remuel chuckled as he took the chicken from Mira.“Ha! So, you already know. Beats me how were you able to know whose chicken this is,” said Remuel.“Mira recognized the chicken,” answered Eldion.“You recognized this one from so many others? I thought all chickens looked alike,” replied Remuel with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. He looked at Mira and produced another smile.Eldion, hearing what Remuel said, suddenly turned his face to Mira and smiled as well. “I told you they all look alike,” said Eldion.“Men,” said Wen’s voice and Mira imagined her sister rolling her eyes. Mira merely shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly.“Where are you taking it?” asked Sela. “I was just about to cook it, but Mira stopped me.”Remuel turned to Mira and said, “Oh, did she?” Remuel turned to Mira. “I’m glad you stopped Sela. She can b
Eldion returned his gaze to the man who was tied to the large wooden apparatus in the middle of the cavern. There was blood streaming down a cut from the man’s left eyebrow. His body was tied against the apparatus while his arms hung limply from the thick beam where his hands were secured with thick rope. The man’s chin was resting on his chest that moved with his labored breathing. Eldion could only place the man’s face at the ancient temple in Alanca when he attacked and was able to subdue Verna, but he could not remember him before that. No other memory was triggered upon seeing the man in front of him. Eldion knew who the man was, Mira had told him who he was. Mira told him how that man placed magic-imbued slugs on his temples and how Eldion screamed in pain as the psylugs did something to him. Yet, Eldion had no memory of it all. Everyone around him was probably thinking that he should feel anger or hatred against the man, but instead of feeling animosity at the man who was respo
Remuel held the chicken in front of Lankko’s face, but the keeper turned his head and tried not to look at the frightened chicken.“Ha! Seeing you flinch when I haven’t even pulled a single feather from this worthless looking chicken just confirms how much you value it. Is it possible that it’s even more valuable to you than your master?” Remuel toyed with Kora, shaking the chicken from side to side. Kora clucked nervously and seemed to have gotten dazed after the vigorous shaking that she received from Remuel.Remuel continued with his questions. “Now, tell me, my dear Lankko, keeper and protector of chickens. How did you get this one to grow into a giant bird that flew you over the fortress walls and over the
Remuel led Casser out of the cavern and they walked through the narrow tunnels until Remuel came to a closed door. He fished a set of keys in his pocket and unlocked the door. Then, he took a torch from the recess on the wall and entered the cavern with Casser.What Casser saw inside the small storage room made his jaw drop. There were amulets hanging on the walls and artifacts of different shapes and sizes were placed on open shelves. Remuel lit a torch inside the room before placing the one he held on an empty socket on the wall.“Hey, Casser! Close your mouth before the flies could enter.” Remuel chuckled. “I did not really intend to show you this room, but I need your help to select the right pieces for that experiment the keeper talked about.”Casser looked around him at all the glittering objects that sparkled even more with the torches’ flickering light. He then approached the amulets that were hanging from a wooden peg that
“Well, how do you know? Don’t they look like the real thing?” asked Casser.“That’s what they all told me. They do look like the Pearl of Sorrelia when it was still displayed high on the fountain at the place where water had sprung from the desert, but I was just a boy when I saw it last and I couldn’t quite recall how it looked like,” admitted Remuel.“They’re right, you know. These do look like the real thing,” said Casser as he dropped the fake pearls back into the box. “But how do you know that these are all fake?” asked Casser.“Because of the rumors that the real pearl surfaced in Alnoc. And for Dalik to come to Alnoc, it must mean something,” said Remuel.“Do you think Enzir or Lankko knows where it is?” asked Casser.“If they do, they’re not telling. After what I’ve made them go through, I don’t think I can get anything el
Lankko stepped inside the room and found a small space lit by the two torches installed on the walls. There was a large table in the middle of the room along with a couple of chairs. There was a recess on the far wall next to a stack of firewood. Lankko saw that it was a fireplace yet to be lit. Nearby there was also a large jug that Lankko guessed contained drinking water. There was a small wooden bed at one side, but it was bare and looked hard and uncomfortable.Suddenly, the door swung shut behind Lankko and he heard the lock being turned. He found himself imprisoned inside the room and thoughts began to race inside his head on what he was going to do when a small window on the door opened and Remuel peered in.“I hope you like your new accommodations, Lankko. I reserve this room only for my most important guests.” Remuel said with a raised eyebrow. “I have two of my men stationed outside your door. You’ve met them already when they got bett
Lankko watched the pot that he hung above the fire and saw how the disguise stone’s power slowly leached into the boiling water. It was a slow process and Lankko knew from his previous experiments on magical artifacts of the same nature that it could take hours, sometimes days, to attain sufficient concentration of magic in the water that would be viable as magical elixir. The disguise stone given to him by Remuel was not as powerful as the Pearl of Sorrelia and it could only give so much of its magic. At the end of the process, Lankko knew that the amulet would lose its color until it faded into dull gray or black. Such was the fate of magical artifacts imbued with lesser magic or those that could not channel magic directly from its source.There was a loud knock and Lankko turned from the pot of boiling purplish water to the small opening on his door. Pong’s face withdrew from the opening and another face appeared. It was Remuel.Remuel peered inside the