It was not normal for a Lord to spill his thoughts to random mages. They were supposed to be proper and full of honor and yet here was Lord Loratyk, openly complaining about his son to them. He must have felt that after surviving such an ordeal with them at his side, he had to have trusted them to keep everyone alive.
“His mother is kind. Everyone in our household values respect and compassion, but him.” The lord waved his hand toward the carriage. “He’s just incredibly disrespectful and selfish.”
Eloise sighed. “We can’t control our children. They are their own people.”
“My other two are sweet and innocent. My youngest, she is worried about the bugs that come in the house. She doesn’t want the housekeeper to squish them, so she collects them in jars and then releases them in the garden.”
Kaden smiled at the thought of a little girl catching and releasing bugs when her maids were trying to squash them. It was adorable, even in his mind.
“My other son, he is enthralled with learning. He wants to learn everything from everyone. He is excitable and respectful. All he wants to do is talk your ear off so he can learn from your experiences,” he said as he shook his head. “But Anders? Anders couldn’t give a care in the world to what others thought and said. I don’t know where I went wrong.”
Iratoi laughed and said, “it’s not your fault. Everyone has to make their own choices in life, my lord. All you can do is show him the best example.”
Kaden didn’t think the Lord was trapping anything but his feelings. He wouldn’t have sacrificed himself so the mages and his people could pass over a flood. The man before them could not be trapping and injuring dragons.
His eyes flicked back to the carriage. The son, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have an ounce of compassion in him. It would not surprise Kaden at all if the son was the one in charge of the runes.
The Lord let out a deep sigh before slowly picking himself up. He brushed off the mud that was caking on his clothes before he said, “I thank you all for your help today. I would not have been able to get my people to safety if you were not here. It was by chance we ran into each other, but fate that you stayed near.”
They all bowed their heads to him before he limped off to check on the rest of his people. Kaden helped pull Eloise and Iratoi to their feet and they all walked away from the carriage, out of earshot of Anders.
“You know his son had to have heard him complaining about him,” said Jaxtor.
“How could he not? He said it right outside the door of the carriage,” Eloise said as she shook her head.
Kaden shrugged and said, “so we’re all thinking the runes came from the son, right?”
Iratoi laughed, “yeah. I don’t think the Lord has anything to do with it. Why did it have to be family drama?”
“You think the Lord is upset with his son now? Imagine how he’ll be when he learns of this treachery,” Jaxtor said as he rubbed his temples.
“I don’t know,” Eloise interjected. “A man who wouldn’t even get his boots dirty? You’re going to tell me that guy is the one who is trouncing through forests, setting up rune traps?”
“Well, it’s either him or his men doing it for him, but I’m pretty sure he’s involved in some way,” Iratoi said with a frown.
Jaxtor scrapped mud off his boots before saying, “are you sure or pretty sure? Because only one will convict a man.”
Iratoi rubbed her eyes and let out a groan of frustration. “This is totally out of our league. You know they’re going to defer all opinions to us.”
“What do you think Loratyk is going to say to us after we reveal we knew the runes were from his household this whole time,” Eloise added fuel to the confusion fire.
Iratoi groaned again and said, “I hope he understands why we didn’t reveal this.”
Kaden shrugged and said, “who knows, maybe it’s neither of them and it is someone of Enderton’s court impersonating Loratyk. I know I don’t know of the actual politics that happen around here, but you never know.”
“That could be a possibility,” Eloise said with another one of her thoughtful hums. “People have to know about the conflict between father and son. This could all be a setup.”
“Honestly,” said Iratoi, “I think it ended up a good thing that we ran into Loratyk and he summoned Enderton for us. We get to have both lords there fairly quickly, so this matter can get settled and we can get back to welcoming our new recruit.”
Kaden gave them a sheepish look in response. They agreed to no longer discuss the issue until they reached the temple. They didn’t want any prying ears to hear before they could get the other mages involved. There were too many variables involved, they had to include those with more power.
Fortunately for them, there were enough carriages for them all to get some rest. Kaden, having not had to exert any magical energy, kept watch while sitting atop Zuma. He had promised he would try to stay alert to avoid any incident.
He watched as father and son argued again off in the distance. He had been unable to make out what they were saying. After that, Anders did not share a carriage with his father. At this point, Kaden believed their whole partying adventure was over.
The only reason Loratyk was continuing on was to get to the southern water temple to represent the king in their accusation. Flood waters would be subsiding by the time Enderton’s caravan came by, so it wouldn’t be too terribly long for them to wait for the event.
Kaden wondered how that was going to go for him. The entire fact that he had become blessed was specifically because of the actions of some noble. His destiny was already intertwined heavily with the Loratyk household, and he hadn’t even known it. He knew it was going to be a long and arduous relationship.
Evening fell once more and the whole caravan stopped to make camp. Exhaustion was pulling at his senses. Outside of his small nap he had after the twister, he hadn’t slept much at all for days. He was still terrified of doing so.
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His head kept nodding as he sat there, leaning next to Zuma around a fire. Every time his head would droop down, he’s whip it back up, eyes widened. Kaden tried to blink away the sleep that was pressing in. Shaking his head, he looked to his left to see the Lord staring intently at him.
“Why won’t you let sleep take you, young sir?”
“I can’t, I have to stay alert until…” he trailed off, not realizing he was telling the lord what he was.
“Until what?”
He swallowed hard. Kaden was still unsure about the whole situation. He didn’t know what would be okay for him to tell and what wouldn’t. Taking a deep breath, letting it fill his lungs to give him courage, he said, “I’m having issues controlling my powers.”
The Lord’s eyes opened wide in surprise and he smiled, “and the darkness keeps creeping in, correct?”
The rest of his companions had dozed off around him. They had had a much harder day and while they all had stated they were going to stay awake with him, every single one had let the warm heat from the fire and the hum of the evening forest lull them to sleep. Only he and the Lord were still awake.
He wasn’t even sure why the Lord was out there around the fire with him. His carriage was more than capable of being turned into a bed. That’s where his son was residing, but he was out there, not with his people, but with them, the mages.
“Yes.”
Nodding, he said, “I understand more than you know… So you’re going back to the temple to get consultation on this?”
He nodded in response, not acknowledging that it would be the first time he’d even have gone there.
“When did this start? Was there a change in your powers?”
Panic welled in his chest, but he took a deep breath, thinking his answer through, and said, “Zuma got lured into that storm. It did something to both them and myself.”
“Ah yes, it was a powerful storm. I’m surprised you two came out unscathed,” he looked down at a cup he had been holding. He swirled it around and said, “and the darkness, it gets worse when you are sleeping, correct?”
“Yeah, and my connection to Zuma… they suffer too when I let it creep in,” he said as he looked back to Zuma, who was sleeping themselves.
“You do know what this means, don’t you?”
Looking back to the Lord, he shook his head.
He smiled and said, “you’re more powerful than you know. You have the capability to absorb more magics.”
With a flick of his hand, a small gust of wind, a mini version of the twister that had swallowed Kaden up the day before, appeared in the Lord’s hand. He grinned before twisting his hand and swiping the wind away.
With his mouth agape, Kaden said, “You have more than one magic in you!”
“Just the one,” he said with a smug look on his face. “Only those who have the capability to discover another have to deal with the darkness.”
Kaden looked at his companions and then back to the Lord. They hadn’t known much about the darkness, but here the Lord was telling him more details than he expected.
Looking down at his own hands he said, “the… capability?”
“Your companions have all already been on their own pilgrimages. They would have got the magics then when visiting foreign lands. They all only use water, though. So, of course they were unable to help you. I’m assuming this is why they’re taking you back to the temple.”
“They said they’d be able to help me there,” he admitted. “It almost got me when I slept, and it nearly froze Zuma. I can’t let that happen again.”
The Lord looked Zuma up and down and said, “but they aren’t frozen. Did you thaw them?”
“I…” he hesitated and said, “I did my best. It took a long while, but I just kept pushing my will toward them. Eventually they came to.”
He didn’t want to tell the Lord how quickly it actually happened. If he was truly capable of more things, he didn’t want the lord to know how capable he may be. Lord Loratyk seemed to know more than the others, and he wasn’t about to lay all his cards on the table for the man who had a connection to the rune traps.
“Ah. I’m glad then. There are so few dragon riders left, it would be a shame if you lost yours that early.” He set his mug down and said, “you have an advantage over the darkness because of them you know.”
“I do?”
“Yes! It will require you to be closer when you sleep but, their innate magic will help protect you. I’m assuming there was some distance the last time?”
“Yeah, I was inside an inn and they were, of course, not.”
Leaning back, he said, “you are probably fine drifting off right next to them. I could give you some tips but it would require actual training, which is not appropriate right now. The temple will need you to do more than I can currently.”
“I hope,” he said with a sigh.
“Get your rest, young mage. We have a long trip tomorrow but we should arrive at the temple in the evening. It’s going to be an interesting night if your group is presenting what you’ve said to the council.”
He needed no more permission before he turned his head and let the sleep take over. Falling deep into slumber, he didn’t have a single vision or dark thought. Sleeping on Zuma seemed to be the key to not succumbing to the darkness. Lord Loratyk was correct. For all he knew, it would only happen on the rare occasion anyway. He hadn’t had them before when he first got home, before the mages arrived. Speaking with more experts was what he needed.
The sun rose, shining light directly into their eyes. There was only so much sleep you could get when a light shined directly on your face. He groaned and wiped away the exhaustion still pressing in. They all had needed the rest as he noticed his companions stretching and groaning themselves awake.
Lord Loratyk was nowhere to be seen.
Eloise tossed something at Kaden, smacking him in the face. “You weren’t supposed to sleep!”
Looking down, he noticed it was one of her gloves. He tossed it back to her and said, “I snoozed with Zuma. It was fine. They protected me.”
It didn’t take them long to get back on the road. Everyone was eager to get somewhere that wasn’t the roadside. The caravan as a whole got it together quickly, and they were on the path toward the temple once again.
The trees were changing. The types were no long oaks and birch that frequented the lands he was used to. These had long draping branches and roots that twisted and wrapped around the edges of the water. He watched as the pathway narrowed and large pools of water were on each side.
They went under a great stone arch that had a large dragon carved into it. The road changed from dirt to a similar stone as the arch. The farmland to their left was tiered and covered in water, with the sun reflecting off the surface, creating a dazzling display. They were growing some type of plant that needed a lot of the liquid.
The further they went, the more buildings they saw. The pathway they were on was now elevated, higher than the water below. As the dirt below them disappeared, the stone turned into a large walkway towering above the water. He saw people traveling beneath them by boat.
Homes were built right on the water itself. They must be like Lord Loratyk’s home and were able to float and move across the surface. Some were standing well above, pillars of stone supporting them that ran deep into the water.
The stone reminded him of the platform deep in the azure dragon’s nest. The carvings and style were the same. Whoever had put it there had been part of the water temple. He knew that now. The carvings that decorated them looked old, as if it had been there for longer than could be remembered. He wondered if the mages still knew about the nest then.
There were several levels of buildings built above the water all the way to the water’s edge. It was beautiful to him. They had built gardens above that the hanging trees grew upon, their roots reaching down into the water. Hanging plants carried vines across the white stones, coloring them with green.
Windmills pulled water from below and carried it around, splashing down on statues and into fountains, allowing the higher buildings to still have access to it. The further they walked, the more in awe Kaden was at the complex city that was growing above the lake.
As they continued their trek, a large part of Lord Loratyk’s caravan branched off and went another direction, head to wherever their original destination was. He remained atop his own steed, though, leading them down the stone path.
A large tree with pink flower petals colored a plaza as a breeze blew it lightly. The buildings started to shorten, and the path opened up, leaving only the road headed straight to the temple. His eyes widened as he got a better look at it.
It was massive and water was being pulled in from below, only to spill out of large holes in the side of the towering building. The entire building was pulling in and moving water about. It being called the southern water temple was no joke. It really was all about water.