Unseen part 3

Hazen raced through the woods. Had there been a direwolf he’d missed? Had it stolen the bodies? He ran and ran, ripping through roots rather than tripping over them.

He went through every corner of the forest, covering a square footage that made even him tired.

If an animal had taken them, where were they?

He propped a forearm horizontally across a tree and leaned in to rest. What if…

What if they were alive?

Hazen had checked the pulses and felt the wounds when he’d set them done, but Rosalia was a mage. She could have been better at healing than she’d said, or maybe it was all an illusion, a prank to laugh at him struggling with invisibility.

He walked back to Harwich with a hand curled up against his forehead. He could try the Order of the Half Moon- he was visible now. But there were a couple locations he knew he should try first.

If they were alive, they’d congregate where they always had. Hazen pushed the door of the Fortress open. There was a popping sound- it had opened because it was in terrible shape, not because it was unlocked.

Hazen noticed a number of bottles strewn across the floor, and a plate of half-eaten dried meat. Someone had been here.

There was a rustling sound in the back. Hazen slipped on his green cloak and went invisible- he’d get them for this prank. He didn’t bother walking stealthily- he trusted the enchantment.

But if Rosalia cast it, maybe she could see past it… he countered the doubt by leaping behind the counter-

-and landing on a scrawny man wearing brown rags. The man yelled and squirmed beneath him. Hazen ripped off his green cloak and the man screamed.

“Is that you Rosalia?” Hazen asked. “Is this another disguise?”

“I’m sorry for stealing,” the man sobbed, rubbing his back. The enchantment hadn’t dimmed the impact enough for him to not feel any pain. “No one was here and… I locked the door behind me.”

“Eat as much as you want,” Hazen said, lowering his head despondently. “Just tell me. Did you- did you see anyone come back earlier? Was the place like this when you came?”

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“What? Uh, no” the man said, scratching his grimy head. “I been here, before and it’s always messy. But the food was me.”

Hazen’s stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten since fighting the direwolves. He looked at the meager scraps of dried meats and not-quite expired vegetables in Tano’s pantry. He picked a few items up. It wasn’t stealing- it was borrowing from a friend. He’d tell Tano as soon as he found him.

***

Hazen walked into the Guild hall with a rising feeling of suspense in his chest. He readied the word “aha!”

What came out instead was “oh…”

His heart sank. Aside from the clerk at the counter, the guild hall was empty. “Did you, did you see my party?” Hazen asked. “Did they stop by to claim the reward or anything?”

“Hmm,” the clerk said. “You’re from the group that went out for the direwolves?”

“That’s right,” Hazen said.

“Yes…” the clerk said checking his notes. “Leader was Titus and you’re… anders?”

“I am,” Hazen said. He was regretting choosing his master’s name like that.

“Yeah… honestly no one has come in since you all left,” the clerk said. “Wind blew the door open, but it’s not a great time for the guild. In fact, some local physicians have been raising a fuss about a flower! Got a note slipped through the door. Even they didn’t bother coming in.”

“No one from my party came?” Hazen asked again.

“No, sorry. Did you get separated?” The clerk asked. “I should let you know, you all did sign those forms when you registered. The guild bears no liability for anyone getting killed or hurt. And only the leader under whose name the party is registered can collect a reward- that rule was added to prevent mutinies. It’s happened, back when things were more active.”

“The guild’s not liable if anyone gets hurt or dies,” Hazen repeated. “Is it my fault then?” His eyes began to water. He hadn’t looked everywhere yet. They could have skipped town, or been confused.

But he said it anyways- whispered it. “Is it my fault that they died?”

Hazen caught a whiff of rancid meat, and a hint of peppermint. He swerved to the side and the desk the clerk was sitting at was crushed.

Hazen reached out into the open air instinctively. He felt fabric, pulled, and ripped the insivible green cloak off of Tano.

“You’re alive!” Hazen declared with an enormous smile on his face. The water in his eyes trickled down, but the saltiness was flavorful, not sad.

Hazen ignored the ruined desk and the clerk’s terrified sputtering. “You’re alive! I can’t believe you-“

“You killed them,” an even-toned commanding voice declared.

Hazen looked around for the source of the voice. “Anders. You killed my friend- my student.” It said again. His eyes settled on Tano, the source.

And only then did he notice how Tano was missing the mahogany eye and a chunk of his face. How larvae were chewing his exposed flesh. How the wound on his chest, the bite, marks were impossible to survive.

Hazen ran before he could process, scream caught in his throat as his way out the door. He kept going till he left Harwich and was far behind it. He’d grown up in a funeral home and was used to corpses. But he’d always been terrified of ghosts and ghouls. The day his sister had used strings to make a body prepped for burial rise right when he was supposed to carry it had scared him for life. He’d looked down on the Magicker, but he knew the shopkeeper’s fear better than anyone. It wasn’t heroic, but some battles from before he began to train would always remain loses.

He was panting on unfamiliar streets by the time it occurred to him that he’d heard that voice that wasn’t Tano’s before. It had been younger and softer back then, but no less commanding.

It was the voice of his sister, Grace. The Archmagus of the Order of the Half Moon. Who is father had said was a necromancer.

She thought he was a killer, abandoning bodies. But she hadn’t recognized him.

She’d said Anders.