“The dog… jumps the… fe-fence?”

“That’s right!” I smiled, looking down at Elora as she read the sentence out loud. I had been spending the day teaching Elora how to read. I wanted to teach her everything I could. She hadn’t had the chance to learn much of anything so now was the best chance, when we were on the road. I pet her head and continued to help her with her reading. I couldn’t help but I feel overwhelming pride as she continued to learn fast, she was smart and a quick learner. Was this the joys of Motherhood? I wondered.

I noticed that Cinda was watching us without saying much. All three of us sat in the back of the wagon as it trotted along the road. I helped Elora a bit more and finally sat back to take a break. Elora went to sit up front with Sarya and Zephy. I knew I needed to say something, so I figured to ask her a question.

“Well Cinda, I’m just curious how you and the Princess met.”

I was simply trying to get something going as I wanted to know more about her.

She didn’t so much as react to my question.

“I met her when she was younger, she would try to get me to play her. Her father however, was always telling her to stay away from me.”

I winched, it wasn’t that I didn’t expect her to not experience such a thing. The incident back at the room where she had been chained to the wall was enough to tell me that she wasn’t exactly liked among the other people besides the Princess.

“I see… so she would try to get you to play with her huh? She was quite the free spirit?”

Cinda nodded.

She certainly wasn’t giving me much to work with in terms of things to talk about.

“Well she seems like a nice person who thinks of your best interests. It’s good to have someone like that.”

I smiled, she however was quiet. It really was hard to talk to her; I suppose that she was use to not talking so I doubt it bothered her much. I sat back waiting for us to arrive at our destination. An hour passed before Cinda spoke up.

“Why… do you need to know about this place we’re going to?”

I blinked in surprise as she finally spoke up; I hadn’t expected her to ask anything.

“Well… because I’m curious as to some of the secrets the Qwarnell have. I’m surprised that you aren’t more curious yourself.”

She didn’t answer, instead she just looked away.

Did I hurt her or bother her?

“I’m not interested because… there’s no point anymore…”

I frowned. “There’s no point anymore? What do you mean?”

She didn’t answer so we all stayed quiet for the duration of the trip.

…………

We had arrived the next day early in the morning, just at daybreak. Or at least I think, it was hard to tell because of all the fog. When we entered the town the first thing we noticed was how dense the fog was, dense enough that it we couldn’t see more than twenty meters. The town sign was burnt so it was impossible to tell what the town was called. In fact… the entire town was destroyed, charcoal and burnt buildings was all that dotted the ‘landscape’.

“What happened here? Are we in the right place?”

“We are…” Cinda answered.

I was expecting her to say more but she stayed silent. We had continued to walk down a broken road, looking around and trying to get our bearings.

“Cinda… where do we go…?” I looked behind me and blinked in confusion. She wasn’t behind me…

“Cinda…?” I suddenly looked in front and seen her walking towards a large building ahead. I looked at the others and shrugged. Gripping Elora’s hand I walked towards her, I didn’t want to leave Elora by herself so I had taken her with us. We trailed behind Cinda, towards the building.

“Hey…. Cinda?” She continued to walk as if she didn’t hear me so we could only try to catch up to her. As she entered the building we ducked inside as well. Despite the burnt buildings outside, they didn’t even compare to how burnt the inside of this one was.

As we followed Cinda, we noticed that it seemed to be some sort of bar, until she pushed aside some bookcase which showed us a stairway that was led underground.

“Is this a… wine cellar?” I asked. She shook her head and walked down the stairs leaving us to catch up again.

When we stood on the landing we were looking around for Cinda, before I could call out to her she lit a match which she used to light two lamps. She gave me one and kept the other. We continued again walking in the basement. They were desks and notes scattered all over the place, while the upstairs was burnt, down here was untouched. Cinda moved to a corner to stare at something, when I moved closer I could feel my breath taken away when I seen a cage in the corner. She looked at it for a few moments before walking away; moving closer it suddenly hit me: The cage looked to be a perfect size to hold a human being.

“Cinda…is this…?”

I turned to see that she was gone.

“Cinda….?”

Sarya and Zephy were looking at some notes or the equipment around the basement and Elora was still holding my hand but I couldn’t see Cinda. I knelt down near Elora.

“Hey, I’m going to look for Cinda, can you stay here with auntie Sarya and Zephy?”

Elora was nibbling her finger as she nodded. I placed a kiss on her forehead and she trotted off towards them. I picked up the lamp again and moved around, spotting a door in the far corner. I walked through it and could feel a chill run down my spine as I seen that there were cages, square cages that lined up on both sides of a small hallway. A quick count showed me that there were ten of them; I could also see Cinda at the end of the hall in another room. I walked down the hall and peek at the cages; they looked like they weren’t well taken care of even before, with rust and dirt smearing the metal and floor of them. Entering the room I looked over Cinda’s shoulder, she was only looking at some documents that lay on a desk.

“Hey Cinda… What exactly is this place?”

She dropped the documents and turned to me.

“It’s… where they experimented on people to find the secrets to the Qwarnell.”

I blinked at her answer and looked at the floor.

“So… I guess you were part of this?”

She nodded. So I could only guess why she didn’t want to come here, I doubt she had any good memories of this place and now I just brought her here to relive all those memories that she didn’t want to think about. I sighed as is picked up some of the documents, skimming over them. I wasn’t sure on how I should fell about this reveal but I still had many questions for her, and one that I had to ask.

“Cinda… when did this take place? How long ago?”

She looked at me with dead eyes. “Ten years ago…”

Ten… years? But then….

Suddenly Zephy burst into the room with a look of concern.

“Teela, Cinda. We have company.”

“Who?” I asked Zephy but Cinda was the one to answer. “The Magic Founding Society most likely.”

………………

We had all ran up the stairs, Sarya and Elora were hiding behind a window peeking over it. I ducked near the window as well and looked over the edge to see a bunch of figures in the fog. It was impossible to see who they were through it.

“Are you sure they came this way? It impossible to see anything through this damn fog!”

I could hear them cursing and grumbling through the fog, I spotted a figure raise his arms up and not a moment too soon the fog disappeared for us to see. I could now see all of them; a quick head count told me there were fifteen of them. Ten had weapons ranging from maces and swords, plus some spears. The other five had staffs; mages most likely.

“Staffs huh? So it looks like the Magic Founding Society is indeed interested. But why?” Zephy was voicing her concern. I was more concerned on how we were to get out of this situation. Fifteen men was too many for us four to handle. We couldn’t exactly run through them and running away could possibly be suicidal because of those mages. I didn’t know what kind of magic they had but they I didn’t want to find out the hard way. It seems like we were boxed in. Suddenly a man pushed forward and stood before the others, I immediately recognized him, the man back at the Coliseum. The one who said that Cinda didn’t deserve her freedom. Marak. He was pulling someone with him, I cursed under my breath as to who it was. Kale, the pretty boy.

The man stepped forward and looked at the bar we were sitting at. 

“TEELA! I KNOW THAT YOU’RE IN THERE! COME OUT AND GIVE US THE QWARNELL! IF YOU DON’T THEN I WILL KILL YOUR LOVER HERE!”

I jaw slacked at his threat. My lover? That guy? I could suddenly hear Zephy curse under her breath.

“To think…. My wife is interested in both men and women…” My glared at her, before I could say anything Sarya was muttering under her breath as well.

“To think that he is someone she likes…”

I could only look at them with a stoic expression as they voiced their worries. Seriously…

“I’m NOT interested in that guy! Why would you guys believe that asshole!?”

They both turned to me with stoic expressions of their own. Zephy only reason was:

“Because you went easiest on him during the Coliseum so I am willing to believe some of it.”

Sarya was puffing her cheeks and nodding in agreement. They were both agreeing to this!? Why was I the one on the receiving end of this? Why would I-

“SO YOU COME OUT BY YOURSELF? AREN’T YOU BRAVE?”

Huh…? I looked over the windowsill to see that Cinda was standing outside face them alone.

“What the hell is she doing!?”

I was about to move before Zephy grabbed me and pulled me back down.

“What are you doing Zephy!? I need to-“” Wait a moment…” She cut me off.

We both looked outside to see that the man moved closer to Cinda, before he could reach her she put her hands behind her back and slowly pulled out… two short swords that were hidden under her shirt. The man immediately recoiled and placed his hand on his staff.

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“You would still challenge us? Even when we have a hostage?”

Cinda said something that I didn’t hear, one of the mages cursed and raised his staff. Another mage, who looked to be older, said “WAIT” But the spell was cast, its blue light impacted Cinda causing an explosion.

“CINDA!!!” I cried out. Cinda… why did she…

I looked back at the smoke and noticed… a silhouette in it. The person slowly moved outside of the smoke and revealed it to be Cinda… how did she…?

She slowly walked towards the men and they all showed signs of distress as to what they were witnessing. How did she survive such a thing? I suddenly remembered what Marak said when we clashed our weapons.

‘They will not stop marching. Eyes that show the emptiness of their souls. Death surrounds them, guides them. They are the monsters of old. Nothing can stop them, the blade, the spell or the arrow. They are the enemies of the world.’

The legend… certainly matched up. She just took an explosion to the face and was still walking as if nothing happened.

“KILL HER!” The man cried.

I told Elora to stay here as we rushed out to help her, before we could stand by her side a sudden voice called out.

“HALT!”

We all stopped near Cinda to see more figures coming out of the fog behind the group of fifteen.

As they made the clearing we could all see that there were five knights sitting on horseback, one of them waved a banner that showed they were from Boncre.

Why were they here?

“You mages are from the Magic Founding Society are you not? We are here under suspicion of kidnapping a Qwarnell. I’d say after hearing everything our hunch is conformed.”

All the knights got off their horses and approached the group and added one more thing.

“…and you mercenaries or bounty hunters. You joined them in these crimes so you’ll be also coming with us.”

The bounty hunters looked ready to start a fight but one of the mages stepped forward.

“You knights have no order over us, only the king or arch mage can order us!”

“That maybe so but I can order you.” The voice that challenged them sounded feminine… and familiar. One of the ‘knights’ removed their helmets to reveal… the Princess! All the men, excluding the other knights, exclaimed in surprise at the reveal. Why was the Princess here?

“All of you are under arrest for attempted kidnapping, so come quietly.” The Princess laid her threat out in a calm voice, instead of listening; one of the bounty hunters told her off and fired his crossbow at her. One of her knights threw himself between her and the bolt and it bounced off his helmet.

“So… you wish for death instead? Very well…” She put her helmet back on. “TAKE THEM HEAD ON!” All the knights drew their swords and charged at the bounty hunters and mages. I looked at the other three with concern but they all looked ready, battle it is I guess. I drew my swords and charged at the group from the rear.

Two of the hunters noticed us before we made it, Zephy had one with her battle axe and I took the other. He swung his sword at my head, ducking under it, I shoved my cross guard in his face and tripped him. Not giving him a chance, I kicked him in face knocking him out. I saw that Zephy had just killed the other hunter, now we had some of the attention of the group. Cinda pushed past me and charged at the mages, ramming her sword through the back of one of them. Another hunter with a spear started poking at me, I defected two of them but the third one connected in my stomach. The wound wasn’t deep enough to be fatal, but it hurt. I grit my teeth and snatched the spear. I thrust my sword into his throat, embedding it right through. He chocked and gasped as he fell over and soon died.

Tossing the spear aside I looked around the battlefield. The knights and Princess were taking on most of the bounty hunters, Sarya was helping Cinda take on the mages and Zephy was locking it with the largest hunter. I suddenly spotted a bounty hunter take aim at Cinda, rushing over I grabbed her and pushed her aside just in time to feel the bolt cut my cheek and zip pass me.

Cinda looked at me for a moment before getting back to fighting the mages.

I spotted Kale in the midst of it, getting tramped. I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd and knelt next to him.

“M-Miss… Teela…” I didn’t answer him; instead I used my sword to cut him free. Without a word, I turned back to the fray.

I charged at another one and threw him to the ground, before I had time to finish him off a sudden voice roared out.

“THAT’S ENOUGH! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS OR WE WILL KILL YOU!”

The entire fight stopped in a matter of seconds and all the bounty hunters started to drop their weapons, I looked over to the knights to see that they had beaten most of the hunters so I guess I now knew why they gave up.

Cinda, however, wasn’t done. She had a mage, the one that had told the others to stop, by the collar and looking at him with murderous intent.

“You…. You… you!”

I moved beside her and was about to ask her what she was talking about before she roared: “YOU DID THIS TO ME!”

……………

The battle had ended with four hunters captured and four mages captured as well. All other s were killed in the battle.

Me, Zephy, Sarya, Elora, Cinda and the Princess took the oldest mages away from the others to interrogate him. Cinda looked ready to tear his throat out.

“So… you were one of the people in charge on restarting the Qwarnell project?” Despite the Princesses young age she was still asking questions in a professional manner.

The old man sighed.

“Yes… by order of the King.”

The King? I could see that the Princess was less then pleased by this information.

“Why… would my father ask you to do this? And why did you agree?”

“He asked because he wanted to make Qwarnell for research. We wanted to know this about them, specifically, how they were capable of surviving with so much magic inside them. I wanted to know more about them as well, and plus how did they manage to build such things.”

I grimaced as to how he put that. ‘How did they manage to build such things’ But I remained quiet to let the Princess continue.

“Why was my father interested in such things?”

The old man glared at the Princess. “The hell if I know, he had us gather in a hall to ask us this. We didn’t care why he wanted to do this, we just took the coin he offered and found this place, away from prying eyes.”

“What did you find? Were you satisfied with your ‘research’?”

He scoffed.

“We found out… more then we could have hoped for… plus the secrets to how they managed to become such a force to be reckoned with. It starts with the Dareen Stone.” (Pronouced Dar-ee-nn)

I frowned and asked: “The Dareen Stone.”

Cinda was the one to answer this question.

“This…”

She started unbuttoning her shirt, my face flustered, I was about to ask her what the hell was she doing before she tugged the top of her shirt down to reveal … something. In between her breasts laid a small crystal, it looked to be emerging from inside her.

“That’s the Dareen Stone. It’s planted inside the host to best help them merge with it.”

My eyes widen, before I could ask what he was implying the Princess asked.

“Through… surgery?”

He nodded. “That’s the only way.”

I was about ready to tear him a new one.

“So… you just take anyone and placed it inside them?” Zephy asked.

“More or less, it wasn’t… compatible with everyone so many subjects died. So many, in fact, that people started to get nervous in this town. Soon, people from other towns started to call out on this town and gathered to burn it down. We gathered what we could and left this town. After such an event we disbanded and never brought it up again.”

He looked at Cinda for a moment before continuing.

“There were other things we found out. With the Dareen Stone, it gave the user the ability to numb their nerves, increase their recovery rate, even revive them from near death and of course, absorb magical energies. When they were struck by spell it would give them fuel by absorbing magic and fueling it for their own cause. It has a down side though… because it numbs the body it also shortens the life span of the host…. And…. It also prevents the host from having children.”

I blinked at his information, revive them from near death? That sounded… impossible. I could suddenly remember seeing a scar on Cinda’s stomach. Don’t tell me…

Sarya stepped forward. “What are you saying? Don’t tell me Cinda was pregnant during the operation…”

He nodded. “She was out for most of the operation. The child was also fully developed so we gave it to an orphanage.”

Cinda rushed the mage and picked him up.

“You lie! I don’t remember having a child!”

I tried to wrestle Cinda’s grip off of the man, he managed to croak out: “Because the effect of the Dareen Stone is affecting you. It slowly eats away at you.”

She dropped the mage and stepped back.  He coughed and groaned.

“The Dareen Stone eats away at the host, that’s why they never lived long. It eats your memories, your emotions and even who you are as a person. In the end, the Qwarnell become nothing more than a husk, deprived of anything. This is why magic is dangerous to tamper with, when mixing it with the flesh of the body it can have lasting results. Through this prossess, people can only live for about ten years, twelve if their lucky.”

Ten years… if I remembered right, Cinda said that the experiments took place ten years ago so… was she going to die? Did this mean that she could die at any time?

The Princess spoke out.

“If what you say is true… then I think it is time I had a talk with my Father.