Chapter 51
“And you’d know that from experience?” Helsket eyed Mikel with a wry expression, “This knowledge coming from all of your collected travels, eh?”
Mikel’s face flushed against the oppressive heat, and he was thankful for the cover the heat provided.
“I do read,” He said, “How do you think I found out about all of the world outside the estate? I had to do something to pass the time which wouldn’t draw attention to myself, or my plans. Reading seemed the most efficient course - I could plan and learn at the same time. I -”
Helsket cut him off with a wave and a laugh, “I’m just tugging your chain, lad.” He laughed as Mikel flushed again, mollified he’d fallen into a joke he had no idea had been coming.
“Reading is the next best thing to doing, I suppose, although I’ve always been more of a doer, than a reader. I think the lich told you something like that.”
Mikel shivered at the thought of the undead thing that had confronted him in the library.
“So you think… we'll stop at the ruins tonight?” Excitement rose in Mikel - it was true, Helsket had hit the nail on the head. He hadn’t done much in his life, but he meant to change that… and fast. He figured the best way to learn was, as Helkset had said, to do. He reasoned the ruins of Kar’Xet would be a safe stop for the night and a safe first entry into exploring. The ruins were on a well-traveled path, between Stennin, Farraway and it connected to the Capitol as well - although the latter was nearly two weeks walk from the crossroads where the ancient city lay.
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Helsket interrupted Mikel’s internal dialogue, “It’s not ghosts I’m worried about in the old city,” He said quietly, “It’s something… of the living persuasion I’m afraid of.”
Mikel reflected on the statement for a moment - images of things stalking the night played through his mind like shadow puppets in a carnival show. At the moment, like the shadows to the children, he felt relatively safe in their presence - the difference between himself and the children was that the shadows he imagined could very easily come alive and storm his world without warning.
The feeling raging through him wasn’t one of peace or consolation. It was one of a ticking clock in the darkness, counting down to some horrid end he couldn’t even fathom.
He cleared his throat and asked, “Will it take this long to get everywhere whenever we travel?”
Helsket shrugged, “Depends on the trek - some will be quicker, most longer. Stennin is close - less than one hundred miles. If we’re heading to the Capitol next… Well, unless we hire a carriage, we’ll be on the button for a bit.”
Mikel’s thoughts turned from shadows to reality - and the fact that his dad was dying a cruel death - trapped in a body betraying him further by the day and he could only walk on into the murky future with a hope as vague as the shadow puppets he’d been thinking of.
They had to hurry - even if he had to walk one hundred miles a day to do it - he would save his father. He would save him and save his household from the promised ruin foretold on the day Erik Raithson lost Crest of Evening to the Time Demon now stalking Mikel.
Yes. He would do it - he would find the Panacea, and he would return, victorious to save his father and his house.
There was no other way forward. Success or death - those were the two paths for Mikel and as he walked in the dim, murky heat, he accepted his fate and prepared to face what was to come with his shoulders back and his head up.
He was a Raithson - The Raithson, the only one left, and it was all on him.