Chapter 9
1564 Words
9
We three played cards, and Midge did cheat. There was no other way that bird could be that lucky with his cards. After an hour of playtime there came a knock on our door.
“Beelzebub? Jane?” I heard my grandfather call.
We leapt to our feet and abandoned Midge’s full house for the door. Sage stood outside in the hall with a smile on his face.
“What’s wrong with the poor child?” Bee asked him.
Sage opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the appearance of our host and his nurse. “Well, Sagious?” Mechta questioned him as Fenla wheeled him up to us. “What’s the matter with the boy?”
“The boy appears to be suffering from a mere fever and just needs some rest,” Sage informed us.
The baron smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. If you need anything to make the boy comfortable than don’t hesitate to ask.”
Sage returned the smile and bowed his head. “Thank you. I will be sure to ask.”
The baron looked over his shoulder at his nurse. “Miss Fenla, I’m ready to retire.” He hardly looked sleepy to me, but she nodded and turned them back down the hall.
Sage opened the door to his shared room and took a step inside before he beckoned to us. “If you two would come in here for a moment, there is something I wish to speak to you about.”
We followed him into the room and he securely shut the door behind us. My gaze fell on the bed where Marcus lay beneath the covers. His face was still pale, but his breathing was normal.
Caius sat in a chair by his bedside. I’d never seen him so beaten. His shoulders were slumped and his head slightly bowed. He didn’t look at us as we entered but continued to stare at his little brother.
I walked over to him and set a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
He set a hand on mine and pursed his lips. “I don’t know.”
“I am not so certain about Marcus, either,” Sage spoke up as Bee and he joined us at the bed. “His affliction is most unusual.”
I arched an eyebrow. “A fever is unusual?”
“Your grandfather thought it would be a better idea to stick with a simple lie,” Caius told me.
I frowned as I looked between them. “So what is wrong with him?”
“Blednone,” Caius revealed.
I blinked at him. “Come again?”
“Anemia,” Sage explained as he studied his pale patient. “Though in this world the disease is called blednone, a corruption of a more ancient Gorizon word, but rather more self-explanatory for those not familiar with that language.”
“So how’d he lose the blood?” I asked them.
Sage shook his head. “I am afraid I am puzzled. I can find no wound anywhere on his body save for a few scratches.”
“Not even two marks on his neck?” I quipped.
A crooked smile slipped onto his lips. “I must admit that is the first location I checked, but I found nothing there nor anywhere else.”
“Marks?” Caius spoke up.
I shook my head. “It’s nothing. At least, I hope it’s nothing.”
“Whatever happened to our young friend here, he should make a recovery soon,” Sage assured me as he smiled down at the young lad. “He is made of a very strong constitution, and I am sure by morning he will be himself again.”
Bee set her hands on my shoulders and leaned her face close to mine. “Then perhaps we should get some rest, too.”
I nodded and turned to leave, but paused and looked at everyone. “Did anyone else hear that singing?”
“What you thought you heard prior to finding Marcus gone?” Sage asked me, and I nodded. “I heard nothing.”
“Neither did I,” Caius added.
Bee shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything. Midge?” The bird twittered and bobbed his head. My grandmother’s eyebrows raised. “What did you hear?” Another twitter. “A woman singing?”
“That’s what I heard!” I agreed.
“Was the singer humming or did they speak words?” Sage asked me.
I furrowed my brow. “Words, but I can’t quite remember them. It was something about traveling and finding a home.”
Sage folded his arms and stroked his chin. “Very interesting.”
A stir from Marcus interrupted our conversation. Caius grabbed his brother’s hand as the young boy’s eyes fluttered open. He blinked at us and furrowed his brow. “What are you guys doing in here?” He looked to his older brother’s relieved face. “Is something wrong?”
Sage chuckled. “It appears that even with the good father’s null powers the grayscale in him is very strong.”
“Did something happen?” Marcus insisted as he tried to sit up. He clutched his head and bent forward, but Caius caught him.
“Don’t move too quick,” Caius warned him.
Marcus shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. “I don’t feel too well.”
“Merely a sudden illness. I am sure it will pass by morning, and most especially after a hearty breakfast,” Sage assured him.
“And a nice sleep,” Bee added as she guided me to the door.
We returned to our room and took up our places in the bed, but sleep didn’t come to me very quickly. I thought back to that night’s adventures. The singing, Marcus’ disappearance.
The man in black.
That memory bothered me most of all. I’d seen him for so long over so many parts of the Shifting World that I knew he couldn’t be a shadow as Caius claimed. No, this was something else. My own personal ghost.
I shuddered and threw the blankets over my head. The sun would blot out that spook, or so I hoped.
The morning brought the sun and plenty of rest. Bee and I didn’t rise until the floor was covered and warmed by the sun.
A few minutes later Bee and I slipped out and knocked on the door to the boys’ room. “Come in,” my grandfather answered.
We stepped inside and found Caius and Sage standing near the bed. Marcus sat on the edge of the bed with his legs hanging over. The color had returned to his features and his eyes twinkled with delight.
Sage had the journal open in his palm and there was an eager smile on his lips. “You are just in time for my grand reveal.”
I pointed at the book as we walked over to them. “You had time to read that?”
“A doctor doesn’t fall asleep when he has a patient in need,” he scolded me as he raised the book up. “And I must admit the rumors of treasure piqued my interest, so I endeavored to translate as much as I could manage. I succeeded in reading a great deal, and much of it is rather interesting.”
“Does it say where the treasure is?” Marcus asked him.
Sage chuckled. “And much more, but let me start at the beginning. That is, at the beginning of this man’s life. Aiken tos Levinan was born in the lands that are now the Sylvidia Empire and moved here with his people to worship their god, a being of light akin to a sun god. They settled in the area in the year 3113 of Sorrow and used the great wealth they had brought to build a thriving agricultural community.
“Then this guy isn’t the one who cursed our ancestors?” Caius guessed.
Sage shook his head. “I cannot say for certain. He rarely uses years in his entries, and the calendar system is one unknown to me. For all I could guess they counted a dozen years as one, or perhaps two dozen, or perhaps the reverse.”
I furrowed my brow. “You said the Miamorans were one of the people of the floating cities, right?”
Sage nodded. “That has always been the belief, yes.”
“Then what if the ‘sorrow’ he talks about is when the city was destroyed?” I suggested.
Sage smiled. “That is an excellent suggestion, and perhaps one not too far from the truth.”
“But what about the treasure?” Marcus persisted.
Sage chuckled. “The treasure, my good lad, is mentioned not in plain terms but in a riddle. Or at least I believe he is referring to the wealth they brought with them, for the quantity was so great that he boasted that they could not spend it in a thousand lifetimes.”
“So what’s the riddle?” I asked him.
Sage lifted the open pages even with his face and cleared his throat. “To lie forever among between the two. To lie in private, a leg but no shoe.”
There was silence among us before Caius shook his head. “That doesn’t tell us much.”
Sage closed the journal and smiled. “Perhaps not here, but we might venture to the lost tombs of the leaders of the exiles and investigate that area.”
Marcus leapt to his feet and his eyes grew as large as saucer plates. “Tombs? Like where they put dead people?”
“You know whats tombs are from playing in the graveyard,” Caius reminded him as he pulled him off the bed. He turned to Sage. “Now what tombs are you talking about?”
“A group of tombs somewhere north of Trava, or so I believe,” Sage told him. “The journal also mentions some statues before the entrance that depicted their god and where they worshiped during the winter equinox.”
I looked to Caius with an arched eyebrow. “Nobody knows about this tomb place?”
He shook his head. “Not a tomb, but I know about the statues that the journal mentions.”
“And the author provides some clues as to how to gain entrance,” Sage added as he held up the journal. His eyes sparkled with mischief and his voice betrayed his eagerness. “Now who wishes to go on a treasure hunt?”
- Writer
