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The Adventures of Moth and Flame, Chapter 13

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Published: Jul 30, 2013

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A Snake among Mice
After Ewlys knocked on the door to Maribelle’s magic shop, she let them in and they went to the backroom where Ryker had appeared with her teleporting book.
“This is where I make most of what you see in my shop,” Maribelle said, starting to cut a blue root vegetable into small pieces. She used her wand to light a fire beneath the cauldron. “In order to have a two-way connection to your team, I have to make a little brew.” Once she finished chopping up the vegetable, she took out a few other ingredients from the cabinets around the room and threw them in together into the cauldron.
While Maribelle flipped through her spellbook for the right incantation, Ewlys said, “This seems like quite a lot of work just to speak with these people.”
“Yes, well there are other ways,” Maribelle said. “But this requires the least amount of magical power, and the ingredients necessary aren’t that hard to come by.”
“I see.” Ewlys nodded. “I was only curious because one of the team members, a dryad woman, had the ability of astral projection. It seemed to require no effort at all.” He then pursed his eyebrows. “Come to think of it, she said she would be the one to keep me up to date on their progress, but I haven’t heard from them since they left. I’m surprised they haven’t contacted me yet.”
“That is odd.” Maribelle found the page she needed and held it in place with her thumb. With her other hand, she held out her wand in front of the cauldron. “You can ask why as soon as I contact them. They’ll probably be startled to see us, coming unannounced like this.” She then recited the incantation, waving her wand with each sentence. When she finished, she swung up her wand and white smoke burst from the cauldron. It settled into a spherical form and the shape of three people appeared in the haze. A moment passed, and they gasped at the clear image.
Of the three, only one was conscious.
“Jaeger, what happened?” Ewlys asked, wide eyed at a brown-haired man. His shirt was in tatters and he was covered in dirt. Beside him, lying down, was a woman that looked like she was made of plants. Her hair had wilted and her skin had a dead brown tint. Next to her was a gargoyle man that had frozen into a statue, and his features were riddled with cracks.
“Adder and Osiris betrayed us,” Jaeger answered. “They killed Isiel, and Carne will be next by morning. I…” He covered his eyes, grimacing. “I couldn’t do anything.”
“It’ll be all right, Jaeger,” Ewlys said. He turned to Maribelle. “Can you bring them back now?”
She nodded quickly, still in shock. “Yes. I just need a moment, to find the right summoning.” She flipped through the pages in her spellbook, having to go back and forth a few times. When Maribelle found it, she said to Jaeger, “Be prepared for a bit of vertigo.” To the others, she said, “Please stand back.” Taking out a bit of chalk from her pouch, she quickly drew a large circle on the floor and marked it with runes. She then held up her hand over the edge of the circle and recited a paragraph in a foreign language.
Through the image in the smoke coming from the cauldron, they saw Jaeger and his companions dissolve into light. A minute later, they reappeared within the circle. Jaeger held a hand to his mouth, trying to not throw up.
Ewlys went to Jaeger’s side while Maribelle bent down next to Carne. “Can you tell me what happened?” Maribelle asked. “I can heal him, but only if I know what caused this.”
Jaeger took a deep breath to settle his stomach. “He was stabbed by Adder. She can generate all kinds of toxins, and uses her nails to poison foes. She probably used something acid based against Carne. Anything less wouldn’t have harmed him.”
“That’s not good.” She got up and started searching through her cabinets, muttering to herself about what would help or not.
Ewlys watched her for a moment before facing Jaeger again. “Can you explain in detail what happened? How come you’re all right?”
“I’m fine because I fully changed into my beast form,” Jaeger answered, hanging his head. “Everything happened so fast, I couldn’t control it.”
Ryker jumped down from the table to Ewlys’ shoulder. “Beast form?” Ryker asked.
“It’s my ability. I can turn into something that looks like a minotaur, but I can’t completely control a full transformation. I usually only transform one arm.”
“So what happened before that?” Ewlys asked. “Why did Adder and Osiris betray the rest of you?”
“They wanted the Moon Dew for themselves. Right after we arrived in the forest, Osiris used one of his amulets to detect its trail, and Isiel went ahead in her astral form to see where it was. As soon as she described the place and the terrain of the path there, Adder…” Jaeger trailed off and looked at Isiel’s body. “Well, that’s when she killed her.” He turned away to face his hands. “After that, Carne jumped on Adder and Osiris went for me. I don’t remember much after that, since I transformed.”
“I see.” Ewlys clenched his hand into a fist. “Please forgive me. I should have seen their true natures when I hired all of you.”
“Ewy, don’t blame yourself,” Ryker said. “You couldn’t have known this would happen.”
“Don’t make assumptions to quell my guilt. I will accept full responsibility, regardless of whether I could or couldn’t have done anything more.” He sighed and stood up. “I need to be leaving now. I have to report what happened and speak with Isiel’s family. Ryker, discuss what you know with Jaeger. With any luck, you two can decide what to do from here.”
“Okay.” Ryker jumped off of Ewlys’ shoulder and landed on the ground beside Jaeger. After Ewlys told Maribelle that he was leaving, Ryker looked up at Jaeger. “Well, I hope you’re not tired, because I have quite a story for you.”
“That’s fine.” Jaeger had been watching Maribelle, but he turned to face Ryker. She found the ingredients she needed and started grinding something inside a mortar.
By the time Ryker got to where he spied on Kinsley, he remembered that he said something about someone named Adder and told Jaeger. “Think it’s a coincidence?”
“It’s not a very common name,” Jaeger said. “If they’re the same person, it’d make sense considering Kinsley’s accomplice thought of her first in relation to the Moon Dew being stolen from them. I’m also willing to bet that Adder and Osiris are the ones that took Evaline, while she was trying to get away from Kinsley with that boy, Emmet.”
“So, do you have any idea where those two went with her?”
“I don’t have a clue. I never met either of them before yesterday. The only one I knew personally in the team is Carne.”
“Then we need to talk to Kinsley. He must know something about Adder, since they clearly have some kind of history.”
Jaeger nodded. “Agreed. What happened after you spied on his conversation?”
Ryker ran a hand through his hair. “In short, Andromeda fought with him and got arrested for property damages. Kinsley was arrested for stealing Partchwin’s inventions. The police know nothing about the Moon Dew, which is for the best, I suppose. The less the humans know, the better.”
“Yeah. Their arrests complicate matters, though. We can’t question Kinsley as long as he’s in the justice system. And because I don’t have a team any more, I’d like to get Andromeda out as well. We’ll need all the help we can get.”
“I’m glad you say that.” Ryker half smiled. “I was afraid you’d take Ewlys’ side in thinking she’s useless.”
“No one is useless,” Jaeger answered somberly. “You can always do something. Honestly, though, my other reason for wanting her help is because I don’t think we have time to find anyone else who’s even remotely qualified. At least we know we can trust her.”
Ryker was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I guess so.”
A chalky smell filled the air, and Ryker and Jaeger looked over at Maribelle as she started slathering a grey-brown paste onto Carne. She paid special attention to the heavily cracked areas, making sure to fill in the crevices. Noticing their stares, she said, “This will nullify the toxins in him and repair his skin too. He should come out of hibernation as soon as his strength returns.”
“Thank you for your help,” Jaeger said. “I’ll always be indebted to you.”
Maribelle smiled sadly. “Oh, poppycock. I just wish we contacted you people sooner. I would have liked to save the lady as well.”
Jaeger sighed. “Unlike Carne, Adder’s poison took Isiel within minutes.”
“Then at least her passing was swift.” Maribelle finished covering the cracks on Carne. “I suppose we can leave him here, unless you have somewhere to take him and a way to move him.” Despite that Carne had frozen while sitting on his knees, he was still taller than Maribelle and at least three times as wide.
“I could move him, but his home is too far away from here to bother,” Jaeger said.
“All right. So what will you two do now?” Maribelle asked, cleaning out the remaining paste from her bowl. “I could send you back to the forest, but it sounds like you’ll need help getting this guy and Andromeda.”
“I know a guy in Human Relations,” Jaeger said. “He owes me a favor, so I can get him to pull a few strings.”
“Human Relations?” Ryker raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t that part of the government?”
“Yeah. I was part of the military, but I was discharged after a failed mission.” At a questioning look from Ryker, he added, “Someone provoked me into doing a full transformation, and it didn’t end well. I was a liability they couldn’t ignore anymore.”
“Oh.” Ryker wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“It’s not such a big deal anymore,” Jaeger said. “Aside from yesterday, I haven’t had a problem with it.”
“Okay. That’s good to know.”
“Yeah. Anyway, it’s getting late now, isn’t it?”
Maribelle finished cleaning her bowl and looked over at them. “Last I checked, it was a little after nine.”
“I should head home then.” Jaeger stood up. “Tomorrow we’ll talk with the guy I know and then we’ll continue our search. Where should we meet?”
“You two can come back here if you like,” Maribelle said. “You’ll need to come back anyway to go back to the forest.”
“All right.” Jaeger nodded. “It’s settled then. Thank you again for all of your help.”
“No problem.”
They bid each other good evening. When Ryker left, he returned to his home in the Lepiswing village behind the temple. Though he felt certain that they’d be able to get Andromeda, guilt from having to leave her behind weighed heavily on his mind.

A tale of action, wit, and the unlikely friendship between a cynical girl skilled with fire-based magic and a tiny but daring moth-like boy.

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The Adventures of Moth and Flame, Chapter 13

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