Gvera Cross - Blackheart Ravensoul (books for 9th graders .TXT) 📗

was most likely killed." He deduced.

" I think it might have been that woman we found dead by the gate." The girl said

" There was no body in the house and no blood, so the person wasn't killed here, but somewhere else."

"Probably true, but what was the creature doing here? If it didn't kill the woman, why was it here?" Solean wondered

" Maybe, because of the letter, maybe the woman wrote it for someone and the skeleton was here to kill whoever came to pick it up." The witch offered her theory.

" Or maybe it was here to steal it, but couldn't leave until dark" the magician guessed

" Either way , the necromancer doesn't want the Order to know about this" he concluded.

"And they will most likely never will, unless someone tells them. But we don't know where the order is or who they are. We can't find them ." Gvera said

"Can't you do it?" he asked.

Gvera shook her head :

" For the spell to work, it would have to be a lot more specific than "The Order", I need a name, or a face, or a personal item, or an approximate location of the person, to locate them. The house if full of the persons presence so it was easy. " she explained.

" This is not good" Solean said " I don't suppose, you would just give up on the idea and forget this ever happened?"

She calmly shook her head

" I already got involved, I mean I destroyed the death creatures and I think the necromancer noticed it, so running away is no longer and option, besides, we know about things we shouldn't know about. The letter was not meant for just anyone. We found it and we have to do something, it's our responsibility, what if it really meant the end of this year? "

"You're right" he gave in "if the world gets destroyed because we did nothing that would be bad. But if we can't inform the Order, and we have no means of finding them, and if we just wander round looking for them, the year could end before we find them." He said.

" So what are you saying? That we should give up?" she wasn't sure she liked the sound of it.

" No, the only other way is if we fight it ourselves. You can destroy death creatures, so you could take down the king."

" Well, I don't know about that" Gvera was scared of the idea of facing a horrible monster all alone

" I'm not saying that you do it alone" Solean said," but we need to get much stronger if we want to fight."

"We have no idea where this king is located" she objected

" I think I know" the boy answered " in the letter, sea is mentioned, a frozen sea. It has to be Kalmer. The Middland and Kalmer are separated by the Ice sea."

" So, the place the king is sealed in, is in your homeland" Gvera wanted to see a foreign land, but under different circumstances.

" It's the only place I can think off. So I have a plan." He said" the end of the year isn't until three months from now, so we still have time. I think we should split up."

"What?" the girl couldn't believe that he wanted to leave her, but a part of her told her that it was to be expected.

" Once we leave the forest, we should split up, cover more ground, look for the Order, gather information, train and become stronger. You need to master that power you have, it could be our best weapon against that monster. I need to get stronger too, my illusions are useless against death creatures"

"Alright" she agreed" but how will we meet again, when we need to?"

He sat there thinking for a while

" Darlakus! The port of Darlakus! We meet there on the first day of winter. Ships from Darlakus sail to Kalmer. We could go there next and look for clues there while we still time."

"Sounds like a good plan" Gvera agreed.

They went to sleep, since it had gotten late. There were two small rooms, each with a bed, so they said goodnight and agreed to call out if anything happened. But Gvera couldn't sleep, doubt was eating at her: was Solean really trying to be helpful or was he just trying to get out of the situation. He didn't seem like he wanted to fight, then again she herself didn't feel up to the task. If he really was on her side only time would tell.

Spirit Mountains

 

Gvera found herself in a cold and dark place. Slowly the darkness began to take shape, multiple shapes, formless black and purple smoke swirling around in all directions, gloving black and red symbols running along the smoke. She looked at her hands and saw that they were giving off a bright golden light. It was a strange feeling, being in that place. Movement was different, it was more like swimming rather that walking, her body felt so light almost like air. The girl extended her hand and touched the strange symbols, she had never seen them before and yet somehow they felt familiar. The symbols floated up into the air and began changing, one symbol turned into lines of symbols forming words and sentences. No matter how hard she tried to make sense of it, in the end she couldn't read a word.

" I want to get out of here she thought. I don't like this place"

. She wandered the darkness looking for a way out, until she saw a bright light. The closer she came the more it looked like a pyramid; it gave off a light similar to her own body. There was a warm kind of air coming from it. When she touched it the air around her moved and everything around her was spinning for a moment. Suddenly Gvera found herself standing in the forest, right next to the pyramid of the gate.

"How did i..?"

Something touched her, there was no one there but she got the feeling, as if somebody was holding her by the shoulders and for a moment she could swear she hear name being called. The forest began to dim and for a moment wooden planks of the ceiling flashed before her eyes. Gvera opened her eyes; she was in the forest house where they spent the night. Solean was in her room, holding her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"Finally, you're awake" he looked scared

" Did something happen?" she was confused

" I couldn't wake you up, you were so cold and you wouldn't wake up, I thought you were dead"

"No, I just had a really weird dream"

"Another one of them came" he said still looking at her strangely

"Did you beat it all by yourself?"

"It was some kind of skeleton, it wasn't very strong. Probably wanted the scroll".

"I see" she said. "We should leave here, more  of them might come".

The magician agreed, the forest house was not a safe place to linger in.They ate on the road. Gvera was still thinking about the dream she had. Solean seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. The day passed without any incident. By dusk they had reached a small village at the edge of the forest, unlike the last one they stayed in, this one was full of people. Solean used the money he took from the other town to get them a room in the inn. People eyed them with suspicion , it made her feel uncomfortable, in her clan she only interacted with other wizards, only adults would go into towns if the clan need supplies. There were rumors about magic haters and even witch hunters in the West- lands, it was safe in Midland, at least for the moment, but tension seemed to be building. Not many travelers came this way, the new road, connecting Darlakus, Newguard and the Eastern Kingdoms, avoided the villages and towns in the woods. After the old trade route closed, many moved to the cities or to towns closer to the main road. Two young people traveling to this part of the woods along the old road was definitely something people would consider suspicious, especially this close to the Spirit Mountains. Trying not to attract any more attention they mostly stayed in their room.

" So, do you know where you're going to go?" Solean asked looking into the darkness outside.

" Not yet, but I think I will try to find my mother. " she replied.

" I'm going to the islands" he said" I heard of a former war hero who works as a blacksmith, and that he takes on students. A group of boys is leaving tomorrow morning to try and become apprentices; I think I'll join them. Do you have any leads on finding her?".

"No, not really. I was hoping my father would know." Gvera just felt silly.

"Maybe you should look around the Spirit Mountains." The blond suggested. " I heard some rumors about the dead coming to life around here, people claim to have seen them more than one. That's why they don't like outsiders.".

" You don't think, that the necromancer is here, do you?" she looked at him." There are rumors and stories about the dead but not about death creatures. From the looks of things these people are scared of legends and ghost stories, not any actual monsters. ".

" Well that's good, the necromancer is probably further up north -east ."

"Looks that way, but it doesn't mean it will stay quiet forever." Solean, sighed "All of this reminded me of something. It happened in Kalmer, around ten years ago. An entire village was killed over night, not killed with weapons but with magic. They all had these weird marks on their faces, shaped like a spider and the bodies were all shriveled up. No one ever found out who did it. I don't know if it's related to what is going on now, but it sure is creepy."

 "Yeah, I hope something like that doesn't happen here" she said looking at the mountains in the distance, illuminated by the full moon.

"It's late, we should get some sleep" he said.

Solean seemed to fall right asleep but she stayed awake, thinking about everything for a while, before drifting off into sleep. When the morning came so did the time to say goodbye. He stayed behind to wait for the boys going to the islands and she left the town heading for the woods, using spells in public was a sure way to invite trouble. When she was far enough from the town or anyone who could see her Gvera called her Guide. The orb of light flapped it's wings and circled her a few times.

"Where is my mother?" she asked, the question had plagued her for years but she feared the answer to it.

It was easier to consider her mother dead than that she simply left them both, and it was certainly easier than thinking that maybe her mother was a villain, maybe even the one they were facing. The answer was merely a green glow, indicating the person was alive, no location, the person was far away, too far to be detected. She then asked about her father, strangely she got the same green glow. If she recalled when she left the clan was in  the