Chapter 15 Hounding

Marith looked up from the cot where she had been placed to recover from the battle and smoke inhalation. The rest of the party had searched the dungeon for the Darren and the humanoid and other creature, but they had disappeared into thin air and they had been forced to give up and charge out through the smoke again. Marith laid back again as thoughts turned through her head over and over again. Darren was alive but… there was something different about him, he had barely recognized her and the power he had wielded was beyond what a living human could contain.

Marith sat up and drew her knees to her chest and felt a tremor run through her body as she suppressed a sob. She knew she had sensed darkness in Darren but despite that, she longed to run to him again and then return to the temple and get their children.

“Fesla, please tell me, what should I do?” Marith prayed looking heavenward. She heard no voice, felt no reply and another sob racked her body. She heard footsteps and forced herself to calm down and stood up.

Aura stepped into the room and Marith felt something else grow in her, jealousy. She knew who the father of Aura’s child was now and the war of emotions once more threatened to consume her but she pushed it down and forced a false smile.

“Aura, how are you?” she asked.

“Good,” Aura said with a nervous smile noticing something different about Marith’s attitude toward her. “What happened? No one has said anything did you stop him?”

“No, he disappeared again,” Marith answered turning her back to Aura and pulling off the flimsy nightgown exposing herself to the cold air. She quickly pulled on a shirt and a pair of trousers and then her gambeson and strapped on the plates of her armor. She picked up the Warhammer, but its weight didn’t have the familiar comfortable weight that it normally did.

“What will you do now?” Aura asked.

“I don’t know,” Marith replied a bit more coldly than she had intended. Then she stopped and turned to Aura and the slight swell of her belly. “But perhaps you could help.”

Marith and Aura ascended in the bubble back to the flying wizard tower. They entered the tower and stepped to the side as the screaming wizard fell past them and vanished. They entered the ritual room where the rest of Marith’s party waited.

“Who is this woman?” the high-wizard asked looking at Aura.

“She may be our key to tracking the Asternosis Tome,” Marith replied.

“How so?” Herbalt asked.

“The man who has the tome is the father of her child,” Marith said.

A deep flush crossed Aura’s face, but she nodded to the questioning looks she was given. The wizards began nodding understanding what Marith had in mind.

“Yes, a blood tracking spell could give you an easy way to continue following them,” the high wizard agreed.

“Can you enchant a compass then?” Carl asked eagerly.

“Oh no, we would have to put the spell on the mother,” the wizard said. “The blood on a compass would quickly dry up and become useless.”

“Then we will have to take her with us,” Marith replied.

Herbalt looked at Marith with concern. “Marith we will be marching into danger, are you sure that is somewhere we should be taking a pregnant woman.”

“The destruction that will be caused if the Asternosis Tome isn’t put back in order out ways the cost of any of our lives,” Marith replied.

“I must agree, we have heard many reports from divination wizards and oracles that a great and powerful planar disturbance is imminent,” the high wizard affirmed.

There was a sigh then the rest of Marith’s party nodded.

The ritual went underway as Aura lay stretched out in the center of the ring of chalk circles as candles lit the room and incense burned. Wizards chanted from their spell books and walked counterclockwise around the circle. Aura cried out and clutched at her womb pulling back the loose nightgown she wore to reveal runes being scrawled in black runes around her stomach.

The Wizards entered their ritual and a wind blew through the room and the candles all went out. Aura stood shakily and Marith went over to her and helped her walk.

“Which way do we need to go?” Marith asked.

“East,” Aura said pointing.

“I’ll arrange for an airship,” the high wizard replied.

The party stood at the rails of a fast clipper as it caught the high wind and moved east eating the miles by in a matter of a few minutes. Soon they could see the ocean in the horizon and the ruins of a tower on the edge of a cliff.

“Land here!” Marith shouted, “I want to move up on them undetected!”

The ship landed and the party climbed down the ladder to the ground and the party took a minute to regain their balance. They followed a narrow trail and Sel’van knelt to the ground examining the trail his pointed ears twitching as he sniffed the earth.

“They are ridding carcar, based on their tracks it looks like there are two more of them. We should proceed with caution now,” he advised. “Sila and I should scout ahead in case they have set a trap or ambush.”

“Agreed,” Herbalt said.

The rogue and ranger moved silently forward along the trail and signaled a minute later with a whistle for the rest of the party to continue. They continued up the cliffside and came to the top where nearly a dozen carcar were tied to trees as they pecked at the earth. Marith moved up and searched the saddlebags but they hadn’t left anything of interest behind.

“We should set up an ambush here,” Sel’van said. “We have already weakened Wraith, he won’t have had time to have had his arm regenerated by magic if he even has that ability.”

“I think there is something different about him,” Marith said, “he doesn’t seem fully human to me.”

Carl looked at her oddly, “You called him something didn’t you during the battle, I hadn’t thought on it much since then, you called him Darren didn’t you?” he asked.

Aura looked up when he said that. “Darren? Wasn’t that…”

“Someone I used to know,” Marith said cutting her off and giving Aura a look that only she could see and Aura withered under her glare. “I was mistaken, it wasn’t who I thought it was.” The half-truth came easily to her lips surprising her at the ease of the deception. “We don’t have time to waste we should get into position, they could come back any minute, Aura you should get back to the ship you’ve done your part now it's our turn to finish the job.”

Aura nodded turning and descending the trail. Marith sighed and hid in some evergreen bushes over the mouth to the tunnel below.

“Ready when you are Darren,” she whispered stilling the beating of her heart and readying herself to fight her husband.