Wanting nothing more than to scream in frustration and then punch the ground until his knuckles fractured, Alistar forced himself to meditate in order to clear his mind. He was well aware that he wasn’t thinking straight, but the most recent news had been the last thing that he had wanted to hear after all of the sadness and suffering that he’d gone through, the anxieties, worries and stresses that had tormented him since he’d left Crystellum.
Once he’d finally calmed down, he slipped his limiters back on and stared at his hands for a short while. Contrary to what Mr. Albeck had said, taking them off had made it easier to control his magics, not more challenging. Difficult as it was to describe, it was somewhat similar to the feeling he’d experienced on his first day above ground, when he’d breathed in a fresh breeze after a lifetime of still air and stale, artificial winds.
I need to ask Uncle for another limiter.
Deciding that keeping his energies suppressed would make his training more efficient, Alistar made his way back to the manor house, a bit less affected by the news of Lessa’s leaving than he had been a few minutes before.
Dinner was a short affair, Caedmon, Patricia and Stason all missing out on the meal. A short while later, Alistar found himself in Anice’s room, the two of them moping around with one another as they tried to come up with a plan to prevent Lessa from being forced to go through with the unjust union.
“We could kidnap her,” said Anice, bare feet resting atop the table as she leaned back in her pink, padded chair. “You know, take her somewhere else in the kingdom.”
“What would we do to get by?”
“We could…grow potatoes?”
Following her gaze to a little sack of said vegetables that sat in a corner of the room, Alistar rolled his eyes and reprimanded her. “You’re fourteen now, Anne. How long are you going to keep bothering the field hands?”
“I throw them at the gardeners too,” she said matter-of-factly, twirling some hair that had been frayed by her winter hat. “And I don’t throw them hard. I huck them. There’s a big difference.”
“Well, you need to stop. If you don’t, I’ll tell Uncle how often you do it.”
The servants of the estate were reluctant to complain about Anice to her father, but Alistar was different. Since they had begun living together, he had spent a lot of time reprimanding her and trying to correct her manners.
“Well, we can figure that out later. The point is, we can just leave here.” Sitting up straight, she adjusted her pajamas and gave him an unsuspectingly meek stare. “You’re strong. You can look after us, right? Like you did when Edmun attacked me.”
“I need to stay here, Anne. If I leave too early, then I won’t be able to bring Kaila away from Crystellum.”
“She really means a lot to you, huh?”
“Of course she does. She’s as much my family as you are.”
He hadn’t dreamt of Kaila since that strange, unconscious encounter, something that had added a peculiar sense of worry to his pre-existing anxieties in regards to his old friend. Even if it wasn’t real, deep down he had been yearning for another such dream.
“Then what if me and Lessa go with you? That’s in less than two years, right?”
“Lessa and I,” he corrected her. “And no. If I can help it, I don’t want you two going anywhere near that place.”
“Then does that mean we’ll never see each other again after you leave?” She shuffled her chair closer to him, tugging at his sleeve with sad eyes. “You won’t leave me, will you Alie?”
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Putting on a bitter smile, he said, “Not all goodbyes are forever, you know. It might be a while before I see you again, but at least I’ll know where I can find you and that you’re safe here with everyone else.”
“What about Lessa?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
Perhaps it would be a good idea to attempt to steal some magic crystals while in Crystellum? Such commodities were very pricey, even those of lesser quality. As he began to wonder over his plans for the future, a frightening, petulant aura flared up within the manor house, filling him with instant fear.
Anice rushed over to him and clung to his arm with quaking hands, her entire body racked with similar shivers as she tried to force out a word. As she did so, Alistar was momentarily overwhelmed by a horrific realization. The source of this terrible aura was coming from the basement, specifically his bedroom.
Yelling rang throughout the hallways, the sounds of desperate footfalls creeping into the room as someone sprinted for the nearest set of stairs. Alder, thought Alistar, tracking the man’s aura as it hurried to the lower levels of the manor house.
Don’t tell me… No…
Pushing Anice away from him, he withdrew his mother’s locket from within his shirt, opening it with the eyes of someone that would rather look at anything else. Sudden relief was quickly replaced by rekindled horror as he realized that just before the unexpected development he’d sensed Janine making her way into the basement in order to tidy up his room. What scared him was that no matter how far he expanded the scope of his magical awareness, he couldn’t sense the cheerful girl’s life signal. Or rather, it was rapidly fading.
No sooner than it had started the dangerous sensation suddenly disappeared, leaving the manor utterly silent.
Chest rising and falling as his breathing began to quicken, Alistar made sure that everyone else on the estate was accounted for before he grabbed Anice’s hand and told her to follow after him. Together they ran down the hall with hurried steps, his cousin so frightened that she couldn’t speak.
They encountered Madeline once they descended to the first floor, her modest face warped with worry as she embraced them both as soon as they drew close to one another.
“Thank Lucian you two are alright!”
Calming slightly at the familiar scent of flowers that the woman gave off, Alistar brushed some of her wavy hair from his face and took a step back. Alder was already in his room, but he felt the need to follow after him.
“Madeline, can you take Anice to the dining hall?”
“We need to leave,” she breathed, a bit of sweat on her brow. “Get your coats and meet me back—”
“Mr. Albeck seems to have gathered everyone in the dining hall.”
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, sagging slightly. “You two can sense the others. Is everyone okay?”
“Take Anice to the dining hall. Please, Madeline.”
Alistar rushed away from them without saying anything else, arriving at the stone steps that led to the basement and taking them three at a time before he hurried to the open door of his bedroom.
“Stay there, Alistar!”
Hearing the authority in Alder’s voice, Alistar obeyed, but only for a second. Taking a moment to meditate, he steeled his heart for the worst. A moment later he walked into his room to find Alder standing over Janine’s unmoving form, the girl appearing much thinner in the black and white servant’s garb that she usually wore. She lay beside his dresser, face twisted in fright and indescribable anguish, her eyes wide and unseeing as she stared up at the ceiling as if desperately searching for some sort of savior.
He knew immediately that Janine was dead, her body so shrivelled that it seemed as if she had lost half of her weight, like a grape that had been left in sunlight for too long.
“I told you not to come in.”
Alder’s eyes gaze was firm and calculating as he knelt in front of Janine, reaching down to touch one of the girl’s arms without looking up at Alistar.
“Don’t!”
Alistar rushed over and pulled the man’s hand back, though it wasn’t necessary as he had stopped moving the moment that Alistar had called out to him.
“Did you notice something?”
He pointed at the bottom drawer of his dresser, which was half open.
“What is it, Alistar?”
“That’s where I stored the ring that Uncle Antoine gave me.” Grabbing his practice sword from where he’d left it leaning against the wall, he emptied his mind lest he vomit from the gravity of the situation and used it to prod at Janine’s other arm, which she had fallen on in her dying moments. Pushing her limb as gently as possible with the tip of the wooden weapon, he worked her arm out from underneath her, a pale hand dragging against the stone floor with a clinking sound.
Sure enough, on one of her emaciated, fragile fingers rested the ring that Alistar’s uncle had gifted to him on the day of his departure. Seeing this, he and Alder connected eyes, both experiencing a myriad of emotions. Worst was the guilt that flooded through Alistar at the sight, knowing that if he had put more effort into studying the basic earth-shifting spell that Mr. Albeck had taught him then Janine would never have found the ring. If only he had taken his suspicions more seriously, then the bubbly young house servant would still live to greet him in the morning with that bright, energetic smile that she always seemed to send his way.
***