Entry 6- Setbacks and Uncertainty

             I brought the staff down hard. It busted through the wood, weakening the bar that held the door in place and as I pulled it out, I fell into the basement, onto the first step. I had accidently destroyed the whole door, cracking the lock in half. I looked up at the sky and said, “thank you.” Whoever was watching after me allowed for me to enter this place, so I went into the basement, ready for almost anything.

            The basement was dark and damp but there was a small lamp aglow. With small pieces of parchment with charcoal drawings all scattered around a pallet. There was a rustle behind me and I quickly put my staff up and blocked a guy lumbering towards me. I moved so that he fell and then I straddled him. He held up his arms. As the light cast it’s orange glow over the guy I noticed one arm ended on a stub. I took a breath.

            “Don’t hurt me!” he said.

            I looked down at him. He looked back with blue eyes and matted brown hair. His body was chunkier. I could feel tremors from being knocked on the ground unexpectedly. I took a breath and said, “I won’t hurt you. If you don’t hurt me.”

            He nodded. So I got up and extended my left hand for him. He clasped it and I brought him up. I looked at his arm and noticed that he had been living down here. I could smell it on him. The damp of the cellar was his home.

            I ask, “How’d you get injured?”

            “Injured? No. Not Injured.” He responded.

            “Deformed at birth?”

            “Yes, I think. Where’s mommy?”

            “At the healers hut. The hunt was cut early because the party was injured. She is fine though. Do you have a name?”

            “Yes. I’m Hidden-Bevan.”

            “Pleased to meet you. Now…why are you hidden?”

            “I…I can’t say.”

            “Come on Bev. I promise I won’t tell!”

            “Alright. I’ll tell but…You need to do something for me…bring mommy back to me…”

            “She will be back—”

            “No Now. I don’t care if she’s still sick. I’ll take care of her…like she does for me. I’m her buddy!”

            “Alright, want to come with me to the healers hut.”

            “Mommy said I can’t leave the basement. People will see me and know what I did. Or the ghost will come back and hurt me again.”

            He gasped and put his hands over his mouth. I looked at him and then remembered the salt. I then backed away.

            “Alright, I’ll go get your mommy.”

            I left the way I came, through the broken basement door. Rain began to fall, forming little riverlets throughout the hill of steadfast. The sounds of drops in water echoed all around. I felt lost. I felt pulled in two directions. The person wasn’t mentally sound. That person in the basement was trouble. I could feel that. He was the one who created the haunt. But on the other hand…he was someone’s son. He cared for his mom. I understood that. If Ithella had told me to live my life in secret because she divined something troublesome in the public eye, I would have done it and might have ended up exactly like him. I was walkng in the heavy rain, mud splashed on my snake skin boots. I wondered around the village, thinking, until I found a dry spot to record these thoughts. I am currently writing this under an awning and don’t know what to do. Hurt this Bevin or betray the nameless ghost. I am at a crossroads it seems. Ithella needs to know about this murder. I took out the charcoal drawing and it was a smudged mess. I dropped it onto the ground and sighed.

*****Time has passed****

 

The rain stopped coming down so heavily. I walked back to the healing hut. The lady was sitting up on her bed, drinking some tea. I sat down next to her and let out a heavy sigh. She looked over to me. I looked at her, then said, “Sorry…that drawing you gave me was destroyed by the rain.”

She tilted her head, “Drawing?”

“The one Bevin drew you.”

Her face went pale. She looked at the far wall and said, “How-How’s he doing?”

“Missing you, wanting you home, and why don’t we know about him?”

“Racha does…”

“Yes…but” I took a breath, “I need you to tell me what happened and where? Why is he ‘hidden-bevin’? What did he do?”

“Did you ask him?”

“No. So please tell me.”

“No. I can’t. Nothing happened.”

I put my head in my hands. Then got up. Her hands were shaking and her face was pale. I felt my rage boil and then sighed.

“Alright, one last time. You can tell me what I need to know or I will take your son and let the Haunt of the Abandoned House take it’s blood price on his head.”

Racha walked up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and she looked disappointed in me. She shook her head and then sat in the chair beside the woman’s bed.

“Bevin is hidden for a reason Tallyden,” Racha said. “My time here as healer has taught me that most people can be redeemed. Bevin is my ward and under my protection. His murder was an accident.”

Ithella walked into the healing hut followed by someone else. I looked at her and she was furious. She walked up to me.

“Tallyden! You broke and entered. I need to relieve you of your staff.”

I sighed and gave it to her.

“Has this trial been too much? I told you to solve the trouble growing in the village!” She shouted. Her voice silencing the entire healing hut. “You have caused more trouble by breaking into this woman’s house. Bothering her son. Breaking her door. Now you’re throwing accusations on a situation you’ve got no information on! How about you deal with the haunt? Get rid of it. Then we’ll see about giving you back your weapon.”

She stormed into the back of the healing hut and Tallyden heard a loud crack. He had tears in his eyes. He looked at Racha, who had turned her attention to helping the woman in the bed.

“Fine, you want me to take care of this haunt. You’ll get it.”

I left the room in a rage. The door slammed behind me in the wind. The storm clouds were being blown out to sea I could smell the havens on the wind. I looked around and began asking around for where Parkik was. The first couple of people pointed me into the direction that he had gone off to. He was in the storehouse. I walked over to it and saw him through the open door. I walked in, probably looking like a Sodden incarnate, with my wet cloths, wet face and dishovaled look.

“Parkik. Show me where you’ve been fighting those Marsh Rats. I’m going to show you the cause of my reputation…”

He lead me to the swamp rat nest and I nodded. It was dormant because they were nocturnal. I knelt near it and looked at Parkik. “Don’t ever try this.”

I pulled out a small loaf of bread that I had swiped from the warehouse. I set it outside the den and told Parkik to back up. He squatted and stared closely. I looked at him, with his red curly hair in his eyes. As I was looking at them they widened and then I looked at the next. In the entrance a large rat had poked it’s head out. I wasted no time and lunged for it.

I grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. It squealed and four more came out of the den. They swarmed me and then left without harming me. I did feel my pockets lighter though and no food or herbs left within them. I also noticed the bread was gone. I shook my head and then looked at my caught rat. I kept a strong grip on its neck and smiled.

I began whispering into its ear.

“You’re going to find me the body of the haunt in the house over there.” I jerked it to face that house. “You’ll use all the rat networks possible. You’ll find the information I need and I won’t destroy your home!”

There was an electricity between us. It chattered a bit then went limp and gave a weak nod. I set it on the ground and it scurried back into its home. Then out came a swarm of Marsh Rats. Half went to the house then the other half began scurrying through the village.

I looked at Parkik, “I guess your daggers weren’t needed. I still have my ability to control an animal.”

He gave a small clap. “I’ve never seen that! That was a lot of Marsh rats.”

I shrugged. “You must have killed a few. This looks like a young colony. I don’t see any Elder Rats.”

“Interesting. Now what magic did you use?”

“None really. Except that I’m linked to animals for some reason that we’re not quite sure. Might have something to do with me being left beside a pillar as a child.”

Parkik nodded. “You’re a weird one.” He said. “What’s next?”

“Now, we get the information we need from the rats…”

I spent about an hour waiting for the information. The rats came and went from the den and kept coming back with a little more information. A few were hanging around the healing hut listening to the chatter going on from Ithella and Racha. I was using a form of magic even they didn’t have access to. Controlling the animals was my special skill, very few mystics could be considered animal-kin but I was because of my origin in the mist. In fact I was so good at gathering the information the rats came back with an exact location for the body, preserved in the swamp waters to the west of the village.