Missteps V.2
Chapter 56 – Red Knight Fight
The second group; consisting of Jun, Iados, Lia, and Kerri, made their way through the servant's door into the first floor. From the kitchen came the sounds of pots, yells about knife cuts, and general cries of exasperation.
Iados looked over at Jun as the four of them crowded in the doorway. "I say we just skip the first floor." He nodded towards the stairs that curled up to the next floor around them.
Jun and the others nodded. Quietly they hurried up the narrow staircase to the second floor. The main floor was deserted. Directly across from the stairs, was an elaborately carved set of double-doors.
Kerri pointed at the doors and mouthed 'church' to her companions. She ran over, her blonde, braided wig bouncing across her shoulders. The door was unlocked, and swung open easily. They all hurried inward.
Inside the sanctuary, a layer of dust was clearly visible over the abandoned pews. Dust could be seen in the sunlight as it shined in through the large stained-glass windows. Their dusty footprints were visible as they walked down the aisle towards the altar and pulpit, both covered in the same layer of dust. There were no signs, banners, or symbols anywhere in the room to suggest to which deity the room belonged to. Not even the windows gave any hints, as the glass had been arranged in mosaic patterns with several different colors on each of the four windows.
Behind the pulpit, two doors led out of the sanctuary. Lia and Kerri took one, while Jun and Iados took the over.
The girls discovered a small bedroom, with a bare bed, an empty trunk, and a single moldy armchair.
The second room was an office, with a desk in the middle of the room, two chairs in front, an empty bookcase behind the desk, and a threadbare rug under their feet. Iados rummaged through the two drawers on the desk, but all he could find was a small ledger about church finances. They met back up in the sanctuary.
"Don't think we're going to find anything here." Lia advised as she gave a small cough from the all the dust they had disturbed.
Iados nodded. He'd already pulled out a small rag from a pants pocket and wiped off his hands. "Ordinarily I'd be wary of leaving such obvious signs that we've been here, but honestly I don't think people would care." His voice faded out as he watched Kerri kneel down and start wiping dust away from a spot under a pew. Both Lia and Jun turned to watch her as well.
"What are you doing?" Jun asked.
Kerri didn't answer. She pulled out a small knife from her pocket, and jimmied it under part of the stone. The stone tile came off easily, exposing a small hole. She reached in and withdrew a small blue bag. After she replaced the tile, she stood up and opened her find. A black eye patch with silver stitching along the edges fell into her hand.
Iados whistled and went over. "Now how did you see that?"
The young bard grinned. "I glanced over and happened to see that the floor looked raised." She shrugged. "Dumb luck."
Iados shook his head. "Either way at least we found something in this place."
"Too bad it's not what we're looking for." Jun headed back towards the door. "I guess the next place to search would be the third floor."
"Are you sure we shouldn't check the other rooms on this floor?" Lia asked.
"The only other rooms are the four sitting rooms in front of the entrance, and then the meeting hall." Kerri reminded them. "I spent time in two of the four sitting rooms, and neither of them had any books or a place to hold a very expensive piece of jewelry."
Iados raced ahead of the group and very carefully peeked out the door and down the other side of the dimly lit main hall. The staircase to the next floor was on the other side of the palace, across from the meeting hall. He gave the 'all-clear' to the waiting group. The group clung to the walls as they headed down the very long hall, passed the main door and the sitting rooms. As they came up on the meeting hall, they saw a single guard stationed out front. One of the two doors to the meeting hall was open behind him.
Iados turned to the group, a twinkle in his eye. He reached and pulled up the hood of his cloak. "Stay here, I got this." He whispered. Alone he stealthed closer to the guard, keeping low to the ground in the shadows, and finally hiding behind one of the many suits of armor stationed along the walls.
In the shadows, Iados's grin got bigger. His mind flashed back to his days as a child, when he and his brothers would play tricks on the temple's tenants. He felt the tips of his finger begin to tingle. He brought his hand up and rung a small invisible bell. From behind the guard, the sound of a bell began to sound. A look of confusion crossed the guard's face as he looked over his shoulder. The bell continued to ring, with small pauses in-between. After a few moments, the guard walked into the room.
Once he'd crossed the threshold, Iados stopped the ringing. His pupils flared with a bright red light as the door slammed shut behind the guard. He ran forward, and quickly turned the key that was still stuck in the lock. He pulled it out, and used it to motion the rest of his party forward.
"What happened to being sneaky?" Lia asked. There was a pound on the locked door.
Iados shrugged. "It's an old castle that people seem to regularly die in." He dropped the key on the ground. "Third floor anyone?"
Jun kicked the fallen key under the door into the meeting hall. "Let's hurry." No one argued as they all ran, quietly, up the lush carpeted staircase.
To their surprise, the third floor was brightly lit. Large chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, each lit with several small candles whose light bounced off the embedded mirrors. The hall here was lined with several more doors on either side, and a few pristine and polished suits of armor. Landscapes of snowy hills, ocean cliffs, and mountainsides hung on the walls. There was no sign of dust or disuse anywhere that they could see, but it was also deserted and deathly quiet.
The group's first stop, was the door directly across the stairs. The door opened into a nicely appointed bedroom, with a large four-poster bed, wardrobe, and heavy velvet curtains across the window. They split up to search the room, but didn't find much. The wardrobe was empty save for a small jewelry box under a stack of extra linens that held a single silver-banded ring. Iados slipped the box into a pants pocket. Under the bed, Jun discovered a black canvas bag with two gold-plated buckles on the shoulder straps. When he opened the bag, it appeared to be empty. Even so, he handed it off to Kerri who swung it onto her back.
The next two rooms were also nicely appointed bedrooms, but none of them had anything besides furniture and linens. Iados did make a point of mentioning his desire to clear out the wardrobes before they left.
Across the hall they found the library. In the middle was a large wooden desk with an intricately carved chair. Along the walls on either sides were bookcases, with cabinets built into their lower halves. Like all the other rooms, this one was well-lit by sconces on the wall, and a candle on the desk. As a whole, the group spent several minutes searching the room. Lia and Jun browsed the books, while Iados went through the desk. Kerri busied herself with the cabinets. None of the books seemed to have anything to do with family trees or the Haskin family, while Iados equally struck out with the desk contents.
"All I'm finding in here are boxes full of marked up papers." Kerri sighed and closed the cabinet. She turned to look up at Lia, when something about the sconce behind the elf caught her eye. She stood up, moved the desk chair over to the wall, and stood on it. Very carefully she reached into the sconce that was affixed to the wall behind the desk. Her fingers clasped around a glass orb that was cool to the touch. When she pulled out the orb, the light of the sconce didn't change.
"You my dear are on a roll." Jun grinned as he helped Kerri down off the chair. "What is it?"
"No idea." Kerri's eyes roamed over the smooth surface of the orb. She could see a line of runes that encircled the orb, but they were faded and hard to read. "Whatever it is, it's mine now." She handed it to Jun, who dropped it into her new canvas bag.
Next door, was another bedroom of sorts. This one held three small beds, each with a small trunk at their foot. On a pedestal in the middle of the room, was a toy version of the castle. Iados ducked down and peered in through one of the miniature windows on the third floor. He saw a dining room, with a family of five porcelain dolls sat down for a meal.
Iados shivered and stood up. "Do doll houses creep anyone else out?"
"What's creepy about them?" Kerri picked up a doll that sat on one of the beds. "I had one when I was kid and I loved it. It let me play out all my fantasies."
"Good for you, but when I was kid my mom took us to see a puppet show. In the show, the evil witch trapped the hero in a toy house." He crossed over to a different bed and peered under it. "Ever since then mom always said that we'd end up like that if we misbehaved."
Jun laughed. "Did the threat actually work?"
Iados shook his head. "Not really, but it did cause one of the Triplets to have nightmares for a week."
"There are much better ways to imprison someone than a dollhouse."
Everyone froze at the unfamiliar voice. They turned towards the doorway.
A woman with fiery red hair that cascaded down her shoulders stood leaning against the door frame. She was dressed in a silky green dress the billowed down to the floor.
Jun's hands immediately went to the warhammer at his waist. "Who are you?"
The woman grinned and pushed off the door frame. "I believe that I should be the one asking that, as you're the ones sneaking around my home." She held up her hand, where a silver disk was held between two fingers. She slowly passed it over all of them. "Lucky for you, I'm willing to overlook this breach. Come with me." She turned and went into the hall.
Iados, Jun, Lia, and Kerri all shared wary glances, but followed her out into the hall.
The woman entered another room across the hall. The members of M.A. were stopped from following by the large armored individual that stood by the door. It wore a red tabard, with lines of red runes that crisscrossed its helmet and torso.
"Don't mind my little watch dog." The woman smiled and gestured at the red knight. The knight took several paces away down the hall. She looked back at the group. "Better?"
No one answered, as they hesitantly made their way forward. Lia and Kerri were the first ones into the room. The woman settled herself down into a chair. "Actually, I only want one of you." With a flick of her hand, Lia felt herself forced back out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her, trapping Kerri in with the mysterious woman.
"Kerri!" Lia pounded on the door.
Jun rushed forward. The Red Knight rushed as well and Jun barely managed to dodge its longsword as it attacked.
Iados, who had also started to run, whipped out the quarterstaff that was attached to his back. He'd opted for the staff over his sword, as he thought the staff seemed more 'stealthy'. He slammed the staff into the knight's knee before he twirled and kicked out. Both attacks hit the body, their sounds echoing in the seemingly hollow body of the armor.
Out of the corner of her eye Lia saw movement that wasn't Jun and Iados. She barely managed to duck out of the way of the backhand that whooshed over her head. To her horror, two of the suits of armor that had just stood at attention along the walls, were now smoldering and attacking. She was shaken out of her thoughts by a second fist. She dodged again, and the fist impacted into the door. She danced out to the side, out of the way of the smoldering suit of armor as it struggled to free its hand.
Lia looked over at Jun, just in time to see the second set of smoldering armor slash his side twice with a longsword. Jun grunted in pain. He met Iados's eyes for a split second, before he lashed out in a verta-kochen towards the Red Knight.
As Jun and the Red Knight traded blows, Iados did his best to distract the suit of armor and lure it away.
The elf's attention was pulled away by a sharp pain in her temple and a force that sprawled her onto the ground. With a groan she reached up to her head, her hand coming away bloody. A foot away from her, laid a sword with a bloody pommel. With wide eyes, she watched as her own suit of armor wrenched its hand out of the door and stalk towards her. Its empty eye holes focused on her, as it reached down and picked up its blade.
Lia held up her bloody hand, and the blood began to pool in her palm. With a venom-laced word, the liquid jutted out and froze into an icy shard. She flung the shard out at her attacker. With a shriek it sliced into the armor, but the smoldering armor didn't seem to notice, even after the shard exploded and caused small dings all over the back of it. The armor instead sliced down with its sword. Lia rolled out of the way. When she came out of the roll, she was a large dire wolf. Bitey pounced at the armor, but it used its sword to block her teeth as she tried to bite it.
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Behind them, Jun still traded blows with the Red Knight. To his dismay his physical attacks didn't seem to do much damage. The radiant light that burst forth from his weapon with every hit was a different story as it seared off bits of the runes that were inscribed upon the dark armor.
To add to his frustration, the Red Knight was faster than his bulky build would lead one to believe. For every one of his attacks, it seemed that the Red Knight could get two in. Jun could feel the warm blood as it oozed out of the slices in his skin. The verta-kochen meant that he couldn't fully feel the pain.
Jun went to attack the Red Knight, but had to change at the last minute and block a longsword from the suit of smoldering armor.
"You were supposed to get this off of me." Jun grunted as he managed to block a second attack.
"I did!" Iados yelled back. To prove it, he punched the suit of armor he was currently occupied with. He spared a glance over towards the berserker, and groaned. "Damn it, we've got a third one."
"That's just gr-AGH!" Jun's eyes closed in pain, as the Red Knight landed a deep gash to his abdomen. Unbidden, one of Jun's hands reached down and clasped the heavily bleeding wound.
Iados ducked under his own suit's sword. He ran towards the berserker, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a red vial as he did. He jumped onto Jun's back and clung to him. Iados tore the stopper out with his teeth, and forced the potion into Jun's mouth. The bleeding slowed, but didn't stop. "Lia, we need your healing over here!"
Bitey whipped its head over to the two of them. She watched as Iados was grabbed off of Jun's back and thrown into the wall behind them. In almost a single bound, the dire wolf made it to Jun's side and transformed back into her elf-self.
"I hate to say this, but I think we need to retreat." Lia reached out and grabbed Jun's forearm. Her hand went warm for a moment as she poured her strongest healing spell into him.
Jun shook off her hand and blocked another attack. He might have had two enemies on him, but it worked in his favor as the suits tried not to hit each other. "We don't leave without Kerri." His voice was gravelly as he felt a new surge of verta-kochen enter his system. He knew he'd pay a price for relying on this power so much, but against the Red Knight he didn't have a chance.
With gritted teeth, Lia nodded. She grunted as a sudden searing pain arced across her back, and she was forced to her knees. She turned her head and saw that her own suit of armor had followed. She reached out, touched Jun's knee, and gave him one more healing spell, before her body lit up again, and she transformed for a second time into a large Bitey.
Not only her own, but also Iados's smoldering suit and the Red Knight were forced back by the sudden presence of the large body in a small space. The Red Knight was flung back into the locked door, its helmet falling off and exposing the emptiness inside.
Jun advanced on the fallen Red Knight, but even prone it managed to dodge out of the way of his attack and get to its feet. The two of them traded fierce blows, the light from Jun's attacks rubbing away more and more of the enchanted runes.
Jun felt his body get heavier as he had to work twice as hard to dodge or block the attacks from his two attackers. He managed to cleave off one of the Red Knight's arms, but it didn't seem to even slow down the animated armor.
Behind him, both Bitey and Iados were absorbed in their own battles. Both of them knew that Jun was fading, but it was taking all of their strength to stop just one of the suits.
Iados jabbed out with his quarterstaff, and punctured a hole in the armor's breastplate. As the smoldering armor stumbled back, he twisted around and landed a heavy kick to its midsection. The armor fell to the ground, and scattered into pieces.
As he ran to Jun's aid, he watched as the Red Knight landed a final blow to Jun's clavicle. The berserker collapsed onto his back, warhammer still in his hand. Iados jumped and positioned himself above Jun's body, his teeth clenched as he straddled the fallen body.
The akudaem grunted with exertion as he barely managed to knock aside the Red Knight's attack. He was so focused on the Knight, that he didn't even register the suit of armor as making an attack until he felt the searing pain on his shoulder.
"We need a miracle!" Iados yelled over in Lia's direction. He swung out with his quarterstaff, and barely hit the Red Knight in the shoulder. That was enough. The runes blinked out one after another, and it collapsed in on itself. He didn't have time to revel in the small victory as the still pristine smoldering suit of armor pressed its attack on him.
A few feet away, Lia's wolf form was bloody and favored its left side as she did her best to fend off her opponent. The dented suit landed another hit on her, and she was forced back into her already injured elven form.
She shakily came to her feet, holding on to her staff to keep her balance. She felt the power pulse in the staff. "Trying to tell me something are you?" She whispered to it. Though she'd had the staff for a few months now, she still didn't know all that it could do. She felt the staff pulse again. "Well, why not see what you can do. Probably won't have a chance to if I don't." Lia turned and ran towards Iados. She felt the sword cut into her back again, but she didn't care.
She ran up and placed her back against Iados. "One miracle coming up, I hope." With the next pulse of power, Lia jammed the staff into the ground. Green tendrils exploded out of the bottom and raced along the ground around them. Iados kicked out at the suit of armor, and caused it to stumble back. Ten feet on either side of them, the tendrils suddenly stopped. Thorny vines twisted up towards the ceiling. The vines intertwined within themselves. Those inside could hear the crunch as the vines buried themselves into the ceiling, and the metallic scratch as they pushed back the smoldering suits. The trio inside the thorn wall, were completely cut off from the enemies, and the door to Kerri.
Lia collapsed to the ground, her breath coming in heavy gasps. She reached out and gave even more healing to Jun, saving just enough to heal some of her own wounds.
Jun's eyes fluttered open and he groaned. Iados helped him sit up.
The akudaem looked over at Lia. "How long will this wall last?"
Lia shrugged. "About ten or so minutes, as long as I don't lose concentration." She lightly petted the wood of her staff. A lone green tendril was wrapped around her hand.
Iados narrowed his eyes. "We've still got two enemies out there."
"What about the Red Knight?" Jun asked, his voice soft.
"I finished him off for you." Iados clapped a hand on the berserker's shoulder. "Do you still have a healing potion from Elaine?"
Jun nodded and dug out the vial. Lia did the same with her own vial.
Iados reached out and grabbed Jun's vial. "How are you feeling?"
"Not like death." Jun pushed the vial towards Iados. "Take it."
Iados drank the potion, and saw that Lia drank her own. Iados wiped his mouth. "When this wall comes down, what's the game plan? Do we push through the last two of them, or run and get the others?"
"Jun won't leave without Kerri." Lia advised, and Jun nodded.
Iados groaned. "Listen, I understand the whole 'no one gets left behind', but we don't know if she's even still alive. We have no idea what that the woman wants, but it's obvious she's not opposed to violence. We'll have a better chance if we run and get the others."
"What about that guard you locked up downstairs? Do you think he hasn't gotten free by now and gotten reinforcements? They're probably waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs." Jun shook his head. "No, we can't take that chance. Until we know if she's alive or not, we fight for Kerri." The two men shared an intense glare.
Lia sighed heavily. "How about a compromise?" The both turned to look at her. "The suit that attacked me practically punched a hole in the door already. You two hold off the last of them, and give me a chance to punch through. Then I can see if she's still alive. If she's not, then we can run. Deal?"
Both of them nodded.
Kerri's guard was already up before she entered the room with the woman. When Lia was thrown out and the door was slammed shut, she wasn't surprised. "So, now what?" Kerri forced her voice to stay calm, even as her heart beat fast within her chest. This was just another performance, and all she had to do was wait for Jun to break down that door. All she had to do was stall.
The woman crossed her legs. She reached for a teapot that was in the middle of the table, and poured herself a cup of tea. "Tell me more about this mark."
Kerri felt herself stiffen. "What do you know about it?"
The woman took a sip of her drink. "Nothing, but I can see that it's your greatest desire to know all about it. I was just wondering if you've gotten any answers at all about it."
"Some," Kerri answered.
The redhead smiled and leaned back in her chair. "But obviously not enough. What would it be worth to you, if I could help you get the rest of the answers?"
"You? What could you possibly know about something like this?" Kerri gestured to the room around them. "You're stuck in this place."
"Ah, now that is where you are wrong." The woman waved her hands and the curtains along the far wall flung open. The room was suddenly bathed in warm sunlight. "This entire palace belongs to me. As I said before, this is my home. I am not stuck, I am right where I want to be." The woman stood at the window, her back to Kerri. "Long ago I lived in nothing more than a shack in some no name swamp. Slowly but surely I traded up, trading favors and fortunes with anyone and everyone who came my way." She turned and looked at Kerri over her shoulder. "You see me alone now, because I chose to be that way."
Kerri moved and put the table between her and this woman. "So you kill those who invade your privacy?"
The woman turned around and leaned against the glass windows. "Not all have died. Some of them instead struck a deal with me, to attain their greatest desire." She took a drink. "That is what I'm offering you now, a deal."
Kerri gulped. "No offense, but I'm going to have to pass. You're not really coming across as someone I can trust."
Laughter filled the room. "My dear, I would be a fool to expect you to trust me. Any deal we make, would be magically bound. You need not trust me, just the magic."
"What would you get out of this deal?"
With a smile, the woman reached into a small pouch that was secured at her waist. She pulled out a glass bead. With slow and deliberate steps, she approached the table, and then rolled the bead towards Kerri.
Kerri took it. The bead was warm to the touch. She brought the bead closer to her face. For a brief moment, she thought she saw the face of a man, but it disappeared before she could be sure. "What is this?"
The woman took another sip of her tea. "In my world, it is a form of currency. Trapped within is just a small part of a mortal soul." She set down her cup and moved around the table towards the entranced girl. "This is what I want from you." Her voice was soft. "As payment for the answers you so desperately seek, you will give me just a pinch of your soul. A small itty bitty pinch, so small that you won't even feel its absence."
Kerri looked up, and was surprised to see the woman standing right next to her. "You want my soul?"
The woman smiled softly. She reached out and took the bead from Kerri. "Just a small pinch. A piece so little that you won't even miss it." She sat on the table. "In reality, it's such a small price to pay for such big answers. Answers to questions that plaque your mind, keep you from sleep, and weigh you down."
Kerri squeezed her eyes and shook her head. She took a step back from the table. "No, I can find the answers on my own."
"Perhaps," The woman's voice was still soft as it entered Kerri's ears. "But how much time will you waste looking for those answers? Time that would be much better served looking for a solution, a plan, a way to negate whatever that mark is? If you had answers, you wouldn't be living in this limbo of uncertainty. Tell me, isn't that piece of mind worth it?"
Kerri felt herself freeze. This woman was right. How much time would she waste trying to find the answers on her own? By the time she'd found them, there might not be anything she could do to stop the change that Oohgac said was happening. Hell, she didn't even know what kind of 'change' was happening. Already it felt like this whole ordeal, this mark, was nothing but a weight on her soul. Why not make the deal?
She opened her eyes and looked up at the woman. "How do I know that you can give me the answers I'm looking for?"
With a grin, the woman hopped off the table and approached Kerri. She encircled the woman, and embraced her from behind. Kerri glanced down at the hand that held on to her shoulder, and saw that no longer was it a petite pale hand. No, now it was mottled green in color, with long thin fingers and pointed nails. Kerri felt the warm breath of this creature on her ear. "I am so much more than what you see. I am one who grants the wishes of kings, in exchange for their castles. Do you truly believe that I would even propose a deal that I could not keep? Do we have a deal?"
Kerri's mouth was dry. She shut her eyes, and blocked out every rational part of her being. "Yes." Kerri heard the woman's mouth curl into a smile.
"Good." The woman whispered into the girl's ear. The woman twirled Kerri around. She backed off a few paces, and held out her pinky.
Kerri reached out and held out her own pinky. The woman gestured, and waited till Kerri had taken the mottled green appendage with her own. With supernatural speed, the woman reached out with her other hand, and pulled Kerri's hand up to her own, their thumbs touching. "With this our deal is sealed, and magically bound." She released the hand. Kerri looked down at her thumb. On the very top was a dark five-tipped star that soon faded from view.
Gently, the woman led Kerri over to a chair that she pulled out. "Where is the mark?" She asked. Kerri gestured towards her shoulder blade. The woman instructed Kerri to sit backwards on the chair. The young girl shivered as she felt the tipped fingers slide down her spine to the bottom of her shirt. Kerri felt the woman's other hand reach up and gently stroke her head.
"I'm going to pull up your shirt now." The woman said. She waited until Kerri nodded before she followed through. Kerri's stomach began to twist into knots as she felt the fingers trace the boundary. "You may feel some tingling as I examine the mark, but there should be no pain." Once again she waited for Kerri's nod before she continued.
For several minutes, the only sound in the room was from the woman as she muttered in a language that Kerri did not recognize. There was indeed a tingling sensation as she worked. At times the tingling became so intense that it caused Kerri to wince. When this happened, the woman would reach up and stroke Kerri's head. Finally, the woman stopped. She pulled Kerri's shirt back down, and then walked around and settled herself back in her chair. Silently, she reached out and refilled her cup of tea, and then poured one for Kerri.
"Drink," She said as she pushed it towards the young girl.
"So, what's the verdict?" Kerri took the tea and sipped at the sweet tea.
The woman didn't answer immediately as she slowly stirred her drink. "What do you know about it?"
"I was told that it would lead me to an artifact, and if I didn't get the artifact, that the mark would kill me. I was also told by a being named Oohgac, that the mark would change me."
The woman was silent again as she mused over Kerri's answers. Finally, she sighed. "This Oohgac spoke the truth. The mark is changing you as part of its enchantment. To be honest this is only the second time I've seen an enchantment like this, and this one is much more powerful." The woman pushed her tea away and leaned towards Kerri. "The ultimate goal of this enchantment, is to prepare your body for another soul to inhabit it."
Kerri felt the air leave her lungs. "What do you mean?"
"The mark is changing your body physically. Not so much on the outside, but on the inside. Specifically it's changing how magic flows and interacts within you. It's making tiny little adjustments so that another soul can just slip in and claim your body as its own. If I had to guess, this artifact that the mark will lead you to, is the current container for the soul set to inhabit your body."
Not only was Kerri unable to breathe, but her hands started to shake. Trembling, she set down the teacup for feat of dropping it. "Why me?" She rasped.
The woman reached out and covered Kerri's hands with her own. "Honestly, it's a miracle you would have survived having this kind of enchantment placed upon you in the first place. From what I can see, for the types of adjustments it has to make to your magical pathways, the host would need to fulfill certain requirements."
Kerri's mind filtered back to when she awoke and saw the Queen's confused face. "There were others before me that died. I was the first that survived."
The woman nodded. "Unluckily for you, your magical pathways are already similar to what the mark needed. They're open, so that you can take in magic from the world all around you. Anyone who wasn't open to that kind of magic, or had pathways that were strict and rigid, would not have survived."
Kerri looked at the woman, her lips trembling. "Can you remove it?"
She shook her head. "No one can. The first thing this mark did, was attach itself to your magical pathways. To try to remove the mark, would be to kill you. I'm afraid there is no way to stop the enchantment. It will change your body to suit someone else's needs, and eventually it will try to lead you to the artifact where the soul resides. I do not know how long it will be until it reaches that point." The woman stood up, and took the young girl in her arms. "I am so sorry, I know that these aren't the kind of answers you were hoping for."
Kerri had no words, at least on the outside. Inside, her mind raced and traced all of her decisions that lead her to this point. She wondered what exactly she'd done to deserve this kind of fate. She was so distracted by her own thoughts, that she didn't see the glass bead that was pressed against her breast bone.
For a split second, Kerri felt an icy cold pass through her. She looked down, and watched as the clear bead turn cloudy as the woman took her payment. The mottled green hand reached out, took the bead, and placed it in her pouch.
The woman stood up, and once again petted Kerri's hair. As she did, Kerri felt her eyelids become very heavy. "Sleep now in a dreamless sleep. You will need your strength as you face the world with these answers that you no longer seek."
With those words in her ear, Kerri slept.