Macha's Journey

Tyr entered a VVIP room at the expensive hotel. Upon entering, he saw Krystof lying on a fur rug staring at the ceiling. His friend looked bored as he blew spit bubbles out of his mouth. Tyr raised an eyebrow. In a sarcastic tone, he imitated the way Krystof"s mother sounded, "Very fitting of your station Krystof. I applaud your ability to embody what a son from the Lichnowsky family is."

Krystof raised his head and spotted Tyr standing in the doorway. He sprung to his feet and cried out, "Bout time! Do ya realize how boring it is to be in this city while in a relationship? I can"t do anything." All of his usual pastimes were now forbidden to him. He would usually have gone to bars and found dates, but there was not a need to do that because he was with Luna. Not wanting to risk her ire, he even avoided going dancing. In the end, he decided it was best to stay in his room and wait for Tyr to come.

After remembering they were not alone, Krystof looked at Romy who stood beside Tyr. Dusting himself off, he walked over to the desk. He got out a name card and wrote the amount he owed on the back. He then used this thumb to burn a seal onto the back. When he handed it to Romy, Krystof offered, "As we agreed. If you want, we can give you a lift on our airship to Ma.r.s.eille. I plan to leave tomorrow morning."

Romy accepted the card and bowed. She shoved it into a pack that was slung around her neck. "If you don"t mind I would like to take you up on your offer, but I have pups and a family that need to come with me. Would that be all right Lord Lichnowsky?" Romy knew her pups would have a hard time traveling in the Outer-Reaches and it would be safer if they could go with Krystof on his airship.

The knowledge that Romy had a family did not surprise him. She was pretty for an adlet. With a wide friendly smile, he nodded, "Of course. We"re goin" that way, anyway. Meet us at the docks tomorrow at ten." He did not see a reason to force the adlet"s pups to travel through the Outer-Reaches to collect the money he owed her.

Since Krystof did not bring enough money with him, so he had to pay Romy in Ma.r.s.eille. His sudden departure made it difficult for him to run down to the bank and pull out the funds needed for this trip. He came only the cash he had on hand, which by no means was insubstantial. Unfortunately, he used most of it for initially hiring the scouts and the room.

Romy bowed and left. She was thankful that Lord Lichnowsky had been kind enough to invite her family on the airship. The price of using an airship for her whole family would have taken her years to make.

Hearing Krystof"s conversation caused Tyr to cross his arms. "Why do you keep saying WE are going and WE can give a lift? I"m not going back." Despite his earlier thoughts of returning, hearing the decision made for him already cause Tyr to become ornery. Krystof a.s.sumed people"s reactions, which annoyed Tyr. In truth, he would not mind so much, except that his friend was consistently right when he predicted what people would do.

Tyr"s p.r.i.c.kly complaint did not worry Krystof. He crossed the room and poured them drinks. As the liquor flowed into the gla.s.ses, he laughed. "Cause I know you"ll wanna go back. Ya better hope Luna found Macha though." He enjoyed the way his words ruffled Tyr"s usually cool demeanor. Krystof never understood how Tyr could lead such a serious life. Even after Fenrir cheated on his friend, Krystof"s reaction would not have been self-destruction, depression, and self-loathing. In his opinion, if a woman cheated on him, he would say, "f.u.c.k it. That"s life."

Tyr looked out a window to examine the port in the distance. The mention of Macha made him homesick. He gave a snort, as he flopped down into a chair, "Why would I worry about Luna finding Macha?" He could not keep the bitterness out of his voice. It annoyed Tyr that Krystof came to talk to him about her. He thought his friend wasted money for nothing.

Krystof handed Tyr a drink. "Come on, don"t be like that. I have to tell you a story about an idiotic friend of mine." He said his words in a tender, but serious tone. There was no doubt in his mind that his story would upset Tyr. He believed Tyr would beat himself up when he finished explaining what really happened.

****

Freyr kicked open the door to the Cardinal"s office. When he saw the damage to the sigil, he realized there would be trouble. Now he hoped his Cardinal Mage could repair it with haste.

An orange-haired man stood reading a tome. His silky hair flowed down to his waist and his long bangs framed his face. He had a serious face that gave Freyr an offended look when he saw that his door had been kicked in. The man"s deep haughty voice, a.s.serted, "King Freyr, please be a little more civilized." His green eyes skimmed over to Macha, who was still being carried in Freyr"s arms. He did not approve of how the King behaved without dignity and poise right now.

Freyr did not have time to chat casually with Gwydion. "Gwydion, someone broke the Bacadh Sigil," he said with haste.

The Bacadh Sigil was responsible for keeping the creatures and demons out of Ma.r.s.eille. It was deep in the palace and guarded by many people. Freyr never expected anyone to reach that room.

Gwydion"s mouth dropped open. It took him years to come up with the design. He made it out of the highest ingredients and knew many people guarded it at all times. It was a masterpiece that he loved as if it were his child. His voiced raised, "What do you mean?"

Instead of waiting for the King"s explanation, he moved, wanting to inspect the sigil himself. It was imperative that Gwydion a.s.sessed the damage to decide what materials he would need to perform the repairs. With a flick of his wrist, wind wrapped around Gwydion"s body. He sped through the palace, Freyr moving behind him.

When they opened the door Gwydion inspected his workmanship, noting the damaged area. Luckily the damage had been confined to a small portion and was not distributed throughout the entire symbol. His green eyes snapped to Freyr, and he said, "I want a report on how this happened, everything you can find out. I think I can repair this in three days, but the creatures will come. You better prepare your men."

Macha"s body began to hurt from Freyr constantly carrying her. He did not hold her with care anymore but had her slung over his shoulder. She was pretty sure he forgot about her and tried coughing to get his attention. He kept murmuring for her to wait as he fled through the palace, giving various people instructions and ordering preparations to be made.

After a long time, Freyr went to his office. He sat Macha down on a chair and took out a paper. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and picked up a quill. "Macha, I need to know everything you can remember about the person who entered the room and what they did." Later he would have someone interview all the other guards, but Macha had been the only one to see what actually happened.

Macha did not understand the full extent of what the Bacadh Sigil did, but it seemed extremely important. By now she realized the woman who came in was not supposed to be there. She bit her lips and thought hard, trying to remember everything she could. Closing her eyes, she recalled, "The woman appeared young looking, but most of you do. She wore a dark grey cloak and had black hair with dark-brown eyes. She wasn"t very tall. Maybe one head taller than I am. Her complexion was fair and she used a vial of black vitriol on the sigil. I don"t know what her voice sounded like, because she didn"t talk."

The situation made Macha feel guilty. She did not realize that the woman did something unusual. "I"m sorry, I thought she was supposed to be there. The door opened and she entered without any problems. No one told me to do anything if someone entered." Macha squeezed her eyes harder, trying to remember the moment with more clarity. "I remember that she wore some kind of ring on her right hand. I don"t know what it was, but she wore it on her index finger. It didn"t look like it had any stones or anything on it, but that"s all I can remember."

Freyr gave a heavy sigh. No one instructed Macha to do anything if someone entered because he made up the position for her. If everyone else had done their job correctly, she would not have even seen the woman. The position was supposed to give her a relaxing job that kept her out of harm"s way.

He would have loved for Macha to be one of his personal guards, but she took the job too seriously. When she worked next to him, she did not want to joke or talk with him about personal things. Creating a job for her where he would not seem like her boss was his best option.

When he looked down at the paper, he frowned. This did not disclose much, but he hoped with the other testimonies, they would be able to figure out who the woman was. He worried about what to do with Macha during the upcoming attacks. With the impending attacks, being a guard would be dangerous because they would need everyone to help defend the city. "Macha, I"m going to rea.s.sign you. I know you"ve only been in that position for two weeks, but right now I need you to run an errand for me."

Freyr"s words were like hearing angels sing to her. She wanted to find a way out of that lonely job without seeming ungrateful. She could not help but smile, "Anything."

Freyr looked around the room. He tried to think of a job. His eyes landed on a thank you basket an orphanage sent him. He remembered that Macha enjoyed helping people and said, "Ma.r.s.eille is going to be attacked by all sorts of creatures. In the upcoming attack, I want you to help evacuate people. Do not fight, just help evacuate people."

Macha nodded. She liked her new mission and was glad that her skills would be used to a.s.sist the weaker people in Ma.r.s.eille.