The Whisperer in the Wind (Part 2)

Another JP Written by Rosmary and Nim

Kalena was nearly every bit as shocked as Solandriel. She had never thought to see this strangely eccentric, enigmatic individual again. Not in this life at least. But though taken off guard by his stunning reappearance, she managed to maintain a calm professional facade.

“'Not supposed to be here' is quite the understatement, Maelwin,” she said, keeping her voice deceptively light. “I was rather under the impression that you and your entire kind had ceased to exist. Up until meeting Solandriel yesterday, Lafayette and I had even speculated that all knowledge of the fey might have been magically wiped from the minds and memory of every living soul in this universe besides us. Would you care to explain where you have been for the past hundred years, and just what the hell is going on?”

"Ah, Miss Kalena!" the fey smiled, "I knew I could count on you to stick your beautiful nose where it wasn't asked for, but your arrival is most fortuitous. To answer your questions, I have been doing what you and your fiery redheaded friend, what was his name… ah Lafayette!.. had been doing until you arrived at this place, only I've needed to do it much more discreetly, and tragically, less impressively, than you due to my 'extinct' status. As for why I am here, well, I couldn't stand by any longer as my best friend lies on her deathbed due to the misguided actions of your replacement, not when there is still a chance to save her."

"You're going to save her!" Solandriel injected before Kalena could pry any further.

"Unfortunately, I do not possess such power," Maelwin sighed, "but I know of a being that can, and will, help you. There was one other of my kind that escaped our extermination, ironically by being held captive in a magical artifact by a most foul necromancer."

"Him?" Solandriel shuddered.

Maelwin nodded. "Thankfully, she has escaped that prison, only to wander into another one. This one, I believe, you should be able to break her out of with the help of her friends whom I suspect to be in pursuit, redirect them here, and she will save Gerda from that terrible curse."

Kalena had raised an elegant dark eyebrow in fascination. She was most interested in learning the truth behind the fey's mysterious worldwide disappearance and a lot more about this so-called replacement who bore responsibility for the debacle that went down at the warehouse. But for now she decided to accept his incomplete explanation with good grace, especially seeing as there was a far more pressing concern at the moment.

“I applaud your loyalty to Gerda and I'm inclined to see this whole matter brought to a positive resolution, but then you knew I would be.” Even though her voice remained serious, a fond smile played about Kalena's lips. She had always found Maelwin oddly charming. “Who is imprisoning this fae woman? The Verdish Inquisition? Sarnian Witch Hunters? And this isn't Avara, is it…?”

“The Avatar? No, not her,” Maelwin said. “No, the fey I speak of is someone else you know.”

“And who might that be?”

“My dear cousin, Orla. I am most confident that she will be able to do for Gerda what I cannot.”

“Orla?” Kalena said, with a dismissive snort. “I've always assumed you were far more powerful than she is...”

“Power is a relative matter,” Maelwin explained. “Whilst I have devoted my arcane studies to mastering chronomancy and delving into other obscure fields of magic, this has been at the cost of neglecting the more traditional fields such as enchantment and life energy manipulation, or developing my innate psionic abilities. My talents in these areas therefore are quite limited. Orla on the other hand is a fourth-level adept as I recall. She is more than capable of undoing the damage that has been inflicted on Gerda's psyche.”

“Well, let's go save your cousin then so she can save Gerda!” Solandriel said excitedly. “Where is she being held prisoner?”

“I have traced her to the city of Ohamet in Zatar,” Maelwin told them.

“Zatar?” Kalena said, stiffening slightly. “That place is on the interesting side of dangerous.” She glanced at Solandriel. “We would want to get in and out of there as quickly as possible.”

“You have operated there before if I'm not mistaken,” the fey remarked.

“I have, but as you can imagine my local contacts are long dead. And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm also not really at my best just now,” Kalena said sourly, indicating her broken arm.

Maelwin grimaced. "Yes, that might be a problem…" he stared at her arm for a moment. "How much do you trust that splint?"

“Trust it? What do you mean?” Kalena said, frowning at the question.

"While I am no healer, I should, hypothetically, be able to 'fast forward' so to speak, your body's own regenerative capabilities, which will work great if that splint is holding your arm in the appropriate position," Maelwin explained as he tentatively reached toward her arm and eased it out of its sling. "If it isn't, then your arm probably won't reform correctly, which will probably require us to re-break it and re-splint it, which I don't trust myself to do."

Kalena's face twisted into an uncharacteristically squeamish wince at such a scenario; she'd forgotten how painful a broken bone could be. “That should not prove necessary as I'm quite certain Prespa set it properly,” she said after a moment's consideration, “as I'm equally certain you won't 'fast forward' too much and make my arm old and wrinkly. For all our sakes’, most especially your own, Maelwin, I know you'll be very careful...”

The fey smiled at the friendly threat. "I am always careful. Now, hold still," he murmured before he began incanting a spell.

Kalena saw some kind of an indefinable bubble form around her arm, and to her consternation, she began to feel her arm weakening as Maelwin continued his incantations. Shakily, she took several deep breaths. “If I didn't know better I might think you were draining the life out of me...”

“I should have warned you that you might feel faint.” Maelwin wore a look of concentration. “The metabolising process requires energy and certain food nutrients to build new cells to reconstruct the damaged bone and tissue. So as I speed up months of healing time... I am accelerating the consumption of your body's energy reserves and exhausting them rapidly...”

“It's a good thing I had a full Karvossian breakfast then,” Kalena replied, trying her best to stay standing.

Eventually Maelwin pulled his hands away and panted, "How does it feel?"

“What the...” Kalena said, unwrapping the splint. With a troubled frown, she tested and flexed her restored arm that was healed and functional but to her dismay now looked pale and rather puny, her once toned biceps having lost all their definition.

"Ah, muscular atrophy," Maelwin winced. "I guess your arm won't quite be back to normal for a while, but it should certainly be more useful than it was a few minutes ago."

“Yes, that's true enough. All things considered, it's a vast improvement. Thank you Maelwin,” Kalena said, though she continued to not sound entirely pleased at the results and pulled down the sleeve of her blouse to hide the slight disfigurement. “Now I suppose our next order of business will be getting into Zatar, which is currently embroiled in civil war.”

Maelwin frowned. "I was not aware of any such conflict. Who's fighting who?"

“You mean you really don't know?” Kalena blurted, taken back. She probably never met anyone more knowledgeable than Maelwin, who had been so clued into what was happening around the world and behind the scenes he could have easily made a fortune as a high-level information broker. That he didn't know now about something that practically everyone else did beggared her belief.

“Let's just say matters most urgent have caused me to focus my attention elsewhere,” the fey said cryptically. “So, if you would care to explain the situation...”

“Well,” Kalena began, absently adjusting her trademark cloak with both hands. “News out of Zatar is pretty sparse, but what's generally known is there is a mass uprising underway by the native elves against their human slave owners. The rebellion is led by a sinister figure called the Iron Queen who is said to want to wipe out the Zataran establishment and all of humanity as well. So far none of the fighting has spilled across the borders, but there is real fear of that happening at some point.”

“The Iron Queen is inspiring pan-elven solidarity, elven ultra-nationalism, and the idea that we share a collective struggle against our historical oppressors,” Solandriel explained, mouthing the unfamiliar words like sweet toffee.

"I had no idea you were into politics, Sol!" Maelwin remarked.

“I am only repeating Gerda's take on it all,” Solandriel admitted with a smile, his pride in his learned wife evident. “She also thinks there is more to it than that. That there is a hidden power behind the Iron Queen...”

Maelwin nodded thoughtfully. “Gerda is almost certainly correct. Being located in the desert, Zatar is a hydraulic society, you see. The government has full control over the people's access to water and are therefore literally holding their citizenry by the throat. That framework can endure for millenia if left on its own. Revolution cannot grow naturally from within, but only be spurred by an external influence.”

“Do you have any notion of what or who is responsible?” Kalena asked.

Maelwin scratched his chin. “I may have one or two ideas, but that's neither here nor there. What is important is how this rebellion may influence our rescue mission. Border control will naturally be far more stringent, but that shouldn't become an issue considering my plans for getting you there and back unless that plan fails. However, historically, the vast majority of elves in Zatar have been slaves, but now it seems that the majority of elves are now slaves or rebels, and it would be far safer to be considered the former than the later…"

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Solandriel sighed.

"Yes, Sol, I believe it would be best if you pretended to don your old mantle, with Miss Kalena being your new 'master' until you safely return," Maelwin responded.

"Well I guess I have no shortage of experience with that," the elf grimaced.

“This is not a difficult role for me to play either,” Kalena said with considerably more enthusiasm than Solandriel as pleasant memories surfaced in her mind. “The scale of my manor in Opra Dale required a significant number of household servants, and it was absolutely de rigueur for the nobles and gentry to have scores of slaves at their beck and call. I owned about two dozen —and treated them all with kindness and dignity,” she quickly added for the dour elf's benefit before turning back to Maelwin. “Yes, this is a good cover for us when we're moving about, but security as you say will be tight. Just how do you intend to get us into Zatar past all the border checkpoints?”

“Oh, that should be the easiest part,” Maelwin answered, indicating the two gnarled trees that stood on either side of him.

It took a few moments for them to discern their view of the building behind Maelwin had been replaced by a silver glaze Kalena knew all too well, something so evanescent to human senses that it flickered in and out of her awareness, making it difficult to tell exactly if it was real. She had never cared for travelling by magical means, and fae portals were particularly unpleasant in her experience.

"This will take us to Ohamet?” Kalena asked, regarding the portal with some trepidation.

“Thereabouts,” Maelwin replied, unfurling a map that depicted the Sultanate of Zatar. As they drew up to him, he tapped a finger on a spot in the south of the nation. “You should arrive around here.”

Solandriel squinted down at the faded vellum, trying to make out the stylised Zataran script. “Gord?”

"Well, yes, I think that's how it's pronounced,” Maelwin frowned. “The town of Gord, or so it was once called at least. This map is about eight hundred years old I’m afraid.”

“Eight hundred?” Kalena exclaimed with exasperation. “Oh you're really on the ball.”

The fey man shrugged apologetically. “It's the best I could obtain on short notice. Granted it's a bit out of date, but these oasis roads would not have changed too much over the course of centuries.” With a finger tip he traced a southerly route until he stopped on a black dot. “Gord lies on the main road to Ohamet where you'll have to travel the rest of the way on foot or camel.”

Kalena sighed. “What is the scale of this map, do you know?”

“It should only be a day or two's journey,” Maelwin assured her, but she could tell he was just guessing. He handed her the map and next produced a bag. “Here are also a few items I anticipate might come in handy. Zatar is a place full of terrible magic and sorcerous power, and sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, to coin a cliche.” He handed the package to Solandriel. “I wrote a note for each describing what they do and how to use them.”

Kalena tucked the map in her cloak. “I've slain plenty of mages, but from previous encounters I know just how dangerous Zataran wizards can be, so I'll not turn down any advantage you can offer.”

“These items were blessed with power by the Avatar herself,” Maelwin told them. “Still, I would advise avoiding any direct confrontations.”

“I usually eschew the direct approach with mages unless I know the odds are firmly stacked in my favour,” Kalena replied. “I take it that one of those items will help lead us to Orla's present location?”

Maelwin nodded. “You assume correctly. I wish I had time to go over the finer points in person, but like I told you, I'm really not supposed to be here, and time is very much of the essence. Gerda's soul needs to be restored to her body as soon as possible, and Orla's situation is perilous as well.”

“You may leave the matter of Orla's rescue in my very capable hands, Maelwin. Solandriel and I will fetch her from where she is being held as quickly as we can. You said you had a plan to retrieve us if we cannot reach that portal again?”

“I'll monitor your progress as best I can from a safer place using my particular brand of magic," Maelwin explained, "and if you run into any insurmountable obstacles, I'll cash in some favors with an old friend. She'd be able to get you to the Crossroads, and from there I could return you to our current location. Any other concerns? If not, I urge you to set off straight away before this portal is detected and I am discovered here, the consequences of which would be disastrous.”

Kalena could see the worry lines on his brow speaking to the truth of his words. “All these vague and ominous statements of yours. I trust you have a good reason for being so unforthcoming, but given the relationship I once enjoyed with your deity, surely I am entitled to some explanation?”

The eccentric fey gave her a pained look, as if he wanted to say more yet knew he'd said too much already. “Even if that were so, Miss Kalena, there is simply no time. As it is, this portal has been open far too long for my peace of mind. If you manage to return to it I will activate it again for you all, although Orla knows how to do so as well. They are part of a fixed transportation system constructed by our people aeons ago that has since fallen into a state of disrepair, but the ancient magic has not completely worn away and under my guidance it will right now safely take you where you need to go. If you have no more questions that I can answer, I suggest you be off without further delay.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Solandriel said and most eager to save his wife, he hurriedly turned and stepped into the spectral doorway.

Kalena watched the elf be swallowed up in the shimmering energies of the portal and vanish from their sight. “Well, I hate to not leave any word with Lafayette where I'm going, but all right, let's get this show on the road, shall we?”

She gave Maelwin a parting nod and bracing herself as best as she could, followed Solandriel into the screen of silvery blue-white light, and together they went tumbling through the magical vortex toward Zatar.