Savior of the Damned

May 3rd

The ’ship landed in the clearing with a thump, causing Phaedra to sway a little from the impact. She looked at Torin, who was unfazed. A glance at Luca showed the big elf scowling. Typical.

“What are we looking for?” Phaedra asked as deck hands prepared to lower the gangplank. “Because I don’t recall getting any additional orders.”

Torin looked at her, his face passive. “I was told to stop here and not tell you.”

Phaedra narrowed her eyes at Torin. “Oh yeah? Why? Because I’ll make a fuss?”

One of his eyebrows arched up, but he said nothing, instead turning around and walking away.

Phaedra scoffed and followed him, Luca right behind her. Torin walked along, head down, hands shoved in his pockets. “Shouldn’t you pay attention?”

“No threats here,” he said. “Nothing to fear.”

Phaedra stared at the center of his back but said nothing, instead following him to a wooded area with a small cottage in the middle of it.

“Stay here,” Torin said. “I got stuff to do.” He looked at Luca, who huffed, but followed him towards the cottage.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll run off?”

Torin turned around and made eye contact until Phaedra looked away. “I’m actually not. Where are you going to go if you do?”

Biting her tongue, she turned around to check out the surroundings. Nearby there was another clearing. Phaedra stepped into it and saw a fairy circle of white mushrooms. Her heart rate sped up, and she looked over her shoulder at the cottage, obscured by the tree line, before looking back at the fairy circle. All she had to do was step into the center, and she’d be free.

Phaedra paused with her foot over the circle. She didn’t know where it would take her, and Aurelius could still find her. Plus, there was Demeter. Scowling, Phaedra walked along the edge, careful not to step over the circle of mushrooms. Her head itched, and she scratched it, but the sensation was still there.

She took a step towards the wooded area, and the itch turned into a buzz. Her eyes widened, and she looked around again, but still didn’t see Torin or Luca. Looking around, she spied a tree that had a small bowl. It was ringed with more mushrooms, these red and white, and held some water. The water would be poison, she was sure, but it held a secret Eldren had told her about long ago.

Making sure she was alone, she pulled her sleeve up and thrust her hand into the water. At the bottom, she felt something, and the buzz in her head quieted. She pulled her hand out and shook it to get the water off before opening her fist. It was a silver locket. Eyes wide, she opened it, gasping to see a lock of short, bright red hair. Her eyes teared up, and she pocketed it, turning around to go back towards the cottage.

A few moments after she stepped through into the other clearing, Torin and Luca emerged. Torin glanced at her and something passed over his face, but said nothing.

“What were you here for?” Phaedra asked as they walked back towards the ’ship.

“Aren’t you nosy?” Torin said. “Not everything involves you, you know,” he said, poking her in the shoulder.

Phaedra glanced at him. The words held no malice, but whatever it was, Torin didn’t want to say anything. Phaedra glanced at Luca, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze, which made her wonder even more.

Once back on the ’ship Torin dipped into the captain’s cabin, leaving Phaedra with Luca. “Whatever you do,” he said, “if it’s not an order, make sure you’re not caught.”

Phaedra looked at him, face hard, as her palms started sweating. “And what are you going to do about it?”

“If I see nothing? Then I’ll do nothing.” He gave a sniff as if offended.

Phaedra blinked at him a few times, but he said nothing else, just walked away as the deck hands started preparing to go back. She had no idea where she stood with both men, and she didn’t know how she felt about them, either.

Phaedra rolled her shoulders and disappeared below deck to find somewhere to sit and think. She didn’t know if Aurelius could read emotions, but he only seemed to project things. It made her nervous, not knowing how much she could hide. Paranoia gripped her, and she held her breath, trying to get a grip on it. There was no way he could know possibly everything at once. Could he?

Her thoughts turned to the locket. Phaedra reached into her pocket and grasped it, winding her fingers tightly around the newfound treasure. Maybe they could pass messages back and forth with this. Looking to make sure she was alone, she hunted down some paper and wrote a quick note that read, “Alive. Looking for an out.” Folding it up, she inserted it into the locket and closed it, saying a brief prayer to the dead gods as she pocketed it.

“We’re heading back now,” a voice said behind her. Phaedra jumped and spun to see Torin eyeing her. “You don’t startle that easily.”

“Sorry. Was thinking.”

Torin didn’t look like he believed her, but looked away. “Anyway, we have to deliver the box you found and see what our next move is.”

“Need me to open it?”

Torin shook his head. “I sent the report. Aurelius asked us to wait on that. Since it’s a magical lock, Cristiano wants a chance to look at it and have you show him how to disable it.”

Phaedra felt the color drain from her face. Torin didn’t look at her. “I can do that.”

Torin looked at her then; it was an expression of sympathy. “Sorry,” he said. “I know that doesn’t cover having to deal with him.”

Phaedra waved her hand. “Can’t be helped,” she said, her voice jumping. Torin’s mouth twisted, and he turned to walk away.

“Torin?”

He stopped and turned to look at her. “Yeah?”

“If you got the chance, would you escape?”

His face was flat. “There is no escaping hell,” he said.

“But if you got the chance? What then?”

Torin hesitated. “I haven’t let myself think those thoughts in a long time. But if someone could break his hold on us . . .” his face twisted with grief, and he turned to walk away.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He paused mid-step. “All of us have tried and failed. I’d need certainty that it was real this time. Trying to escape once was enough for me.” And with that, he walked away, leaving Phaedra to her thoughts.

***

As soon as they were back, Torin escorted Phaedra to a room she hadn’t seen before. It looked like a throne room, which she realized it would have been if it was truly a King’s castle. Whatever its original purpose, Aurelius seemed to use it as his meeting room. Tables were strewn throughout, with various maps and peices of equipment on each one. Chairs were scattered around, too, though no one sat at one. Eyes turned to Phaedra, unfamiliar to her, and silence descended as Torin walked her up to a table where Aurelius and Cristiano were. Toward the back, Phaedra spied the man she had fought with when she first woke up, Edmund, and suppressed the urge to wave. He snarled at her, but the man standing next to him, with long, medium brown hair, put a hand on his arm and pulled him back.

Phaedra turned to Aurelius, standing at the largest table, with Cristiano at his right-hand side, and froze.

“Oh, good, you brought it intact,” Cristiano said.

“You’re sure this is it?” Aurelius asked.

“As I’ve never even seen a Godstone, no,” Phaedra said. “But it was the only thing I could find that might be it.” She thumped the box down on the table, Cristiano coming over to poke and prod at it.

“Oh, I see. That’s a fascinating locking spell.” He looked at her, something greedy in his eyes. “Is this Temple’s handiwork?”

Phaedra opened her mouth and hesitated.

“Spit it out, girl,” Aurelius said. “Is it, or isn’t it?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve only ever seen a few besides this, but I can’t say if it’s Temple specific.”

Aurelius looked at her. “At least you’re honest,” he said.

“And it will destroy whatever’s in there if it’s tampered with, correct?” Cristiano asked. At Phaedra’s singular nod, he tapped a finger on the table. “Why don’t you show me how to disable it, my dear, and we’ll go from there.”

Phaedra’s heart thudded in her throat as she traced the sigil that would unlock the spell. Looking at Torin, whose eyes showed white all around, he passed over the keyring. Phaedra took it and touched each one, looking for the key with the right symbol on it. Finding it, she inserted the key and pushed through a drop of her own power before turning the key. The tumbler unlocked, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The chest snapped open as Phaedra pulled the key out and she stared down at the Hellgems in the box.

“Damn, I’d been hoping,” Aurelius grumbled. “You seemed sure this was it.”

Phaedra shrugged. “I’d hoped. I knew Temple kept their most valuable artifacts in boxes just like this at Sanctuary. Though I’ve only learned how to open dummy boxes.” There was something at that Temple that needed protecting, and Phaedra wasn’t about to give it away. It was nothing she could quite point to, just a quiet whisper at the back of her mind. But she couldn’t let them get it.

Aurelius looked like he didn’t quite believe her, but eventually nodded. “Can’t be helped, I suppose.” He thought for a moment. “Maybe we should use your powers instead, dear Phaedra.”

“I was only taught how to suppress it,” she said. That wasn’t a lie; Temple had tapped Demeter for that purpose, not Phaedra, though Phaedra didn’t know how much they’d actually taught her sister.

“I can do it,” a voice said from behind the men gathered around. Phaedra jumped back as Demeter stepped up. “Sight was never a part of her training, but it was for me.”

“Demeter,” Phaedra uttered, crestfallen, as Aurelius laughed.

“Good,” Aurelius said. “Find the nearest one and get back to me.”

“I’ll need some regents for the spell,” Demeter said as Phaedra gaped at her. “Don’t look so shocked. We’re going to get out of this if you find it, right? Let me help you.” Demeter turned back to Cristiano, who looked pleased. “I need a specific type of incense and either a mirror or a bowl of water,” she said.

“Of course,” Cristiano said, gesturing broadly. “Right this way.”

“At least one of you obeys me,” Aurelius said. The men and women clustered around Aurelius remained silent. “Phaedra, you did well enough. You and Torin can go.”

Torin’s hand snapped up and encircled Phaedra’s upper arm, dragging her away. She found her footing and shook him off right before they reached the tall double doors. Once they closed behind them, Torin let go and leaned over, looking more pale than usual.

“What’s—”

“Not here,” Torin said, tone clipped, and grabbed Phaedra’s arm to drag her away again. He led her to a room they had only walked past before, deep in the heart of the fortress. “Did you know they were only Hellgems?”

Phaedra looked him in the eye. “I was going based on the radiating power.” It wasn’t a lie; Phaedra had only handled them a couple of times in her entire life. She had no idea that the box contained ’gems. But if they had been anywhere in that Temple, she had figured one of the magical lock boxes would have contained them. And she had needed something to explain the strange energy signature. a box of ’gems was no small amount of power, either. A magus with less than altruistic intentions would go drunk with power on the few actually in the box.

Torin gritted his teeth. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I gave you something I thought would be useful. It’s not my fault it wasn’t what he was looking for.”

Something passed over Torin’s features, something suspicious. “You’re being awfully evasive.”

Phaedra threw her hands in the air. “Am I? I’ve certainly never seen a Godstone. I just knew those boxes hold the most precious of Temple’s artifacts.” Maybe it had been a mistake to claim the box had a Godstone in it, but the words stuck in her throat. Something had been there, and it was something Aurelius couldn’t get his hands on. Promise be damned. She had to get herself out.

Torin wasn’t convinced. That much was clear, but he sighed instead of pushing the issue. Phaedra relaxed a little when he deflated, running his hand through his short hair. “It is what it is.”

Something tight in Phaedra’s shoulders eased at his words. “What next?”

“We wait for our next orders.” Torin looked at her, unblinking. Phaedra had the feeling he was sizing her up again. He looked away first. “Maybe I can help you start to flex your Sight muscles,” he said, hands shoved into his pockets and slightly hunched over as if cold.

Phaedra hated how vulnerable he looked in that moment, and something small unclenched in her chest. “We can do that.”

Torin turned around to walk off, leaving Phaedra to trail after him with more questions than answers.