Chapter Eight

Muriel was on her way to Istelle's home when she saw the tracks. Boot tracks. A human, or other, two legged creature, who clearly wasn't being very careful about showing where they'd been. Muriel knew she was on land where the only humans who lived there served to fight for the Akeefa. Nobody here left tracks where they went. And it wasn't ashies, who usually didn't even wear shoes, let alone big boots like these. Why did every little thing bother her so much? So what there were boot tracks?

But then she heard a sound. And there, maybe a hundred fifty feet away, and a little off to the left, was the source of the tracks, tramping away.

A young man, from the looks of it, though it was hard to tell because he was wearing a cloak. As quickly and quietly as she could (which was very quick and very quiet, after so much practice and training), she snuck up closer to him, sneaking up to his right…

Young. Tall. Light brown hair peeked out of the cloak's hood. Was carrying a sack. Exactly the description that ashy boy Zarnieth had given for the wizard they had been trying to find. The one who had supposedly poisoned someone. He could be a hazard. Muriel decided to follow him. Sorry Istelle, you'll just have to wait a little longer, she thought, grimacing as she followed the sack bearing wizard.

He, and Muriel after him went farther and farther...closer and closer to the border. Where was he going?

She had been following him for quite a time now, and had traveled much ground when he finally entered a huge field, somewhere closer to then end of the kingdom and nearly on the borders. Muriel had never been here before. The grass in the field was very thick and very tall, and Muriel crawled through on hands and knees, carefully, trying to move when the wind did, so that the grass didn't move in patches and give her presence away.

The young man walked through the tall grass until it ended somewhere in the middle of the field, revealing a clear area blanketed in moss in the middle of which there was a lake surrounded by willow trees on one side.

The man removed his cloak and set it by the edge of the moss by the tall grass, walking over to a white marble slab in the ground by the lake.

Oh Spirit of Veiled Lake, come forth unto me

He recited. His voice suggested he was about twenty one years old.

As he said the words, the water rippled and a creature emerged from the water. Muriel figured it must be a water spirit, though she was larger and more beautiful than Muriel had imagined them to be, though she'd never actually seen one before. She had only heard about them, they were very rare.

Besides beauty, this woman, composed entirely of water, held an heir of intimidation, an attitude of ownership, as if she was a queen.

"Ah Altair, you have returned" she cooed.

Shivers ran down Muriel's spine when she heard the woman's voice. It had a certain pitch, and a hollowness to it...it sounded like glass, that was the closest description Muriel could think of. Like when someone tapped glasses to make music, but this time it made words instead.

"I have," replied Altair

"And? What have you for me?"

"I...I was not able to capture the girl, though I came close."

"Istelle...that is her name?"

"Yes Cyan."

In the grass, Muriel's eyes widened and she tried to listen harder.

"You came close you say…"

"I had several thugs go after her, they were on her, but then some friends came to her rescue, and they escaped."

Cyan didn't seem pleased "What else did the thugs tell you?"

"Nothing else."

The woman studied him carefully, then sighed "you've heard this story many times, but maybe you need me to tell you again.

Once upon a time, I was the greatest enchantress on this earth. I took on a quest for myself, a quest for power, I was going to unite this planet under my rule, or as much of it as possible, when I was stopped by a wizard. He sprung a trap for me and trapped me in this lake, where I was unable to use my powers, or even rise to the surface of my cage, that is, until you came along." She cooed, "do you know the next part of the story, Altair?"

"I- I do Cyan," he said, "I arrived here one evening, and you communicated to me by drawing words on the surface of the water...you said that if I wanted to be great, to rule, to have power, I must bring to you the Symbol of Air from the Akeefa territory and drop it into the center of the lake. When I finally accomplished that after many, many weeks, you were able to rise above the surface in this form, having mastered the element of air. You told me why you were here, and that if I was able to collect for you the other three symbols, you could regain your power and continue your quest, and richly award me once you had completed it. Since then, I have embarked on a mission for the powerful emblems. But it has become more difficult, as a war has started since the Akeefa have decided to blame the Lette for the disappearance of their valued treasure."

Muriel couldn't believe her ears. This? This was the reason for this war she had been fighting in all this time?

Cyan spoke "Now, you still must bring me the Emblem of Earth from the Czeltzc, the Sign of Water from the Friil, and Istelle from the Akeefa, that I may kill her and obtain the Mark of Fire."

She did remember now, the mark of fire. She'd seen it so many times, embedded on the skin of the next in line Akeefa chief, right now that person was no other than Istelle...the only way someone could take it from her, was by killing her. Muriel's heart beat harder No. No. You. You started this war, now you want to kill my best friend. No.

"I have a plan to make all this easier"

"I am listening."

"It's very simple. You will poison the wells of the town Atzigul where the Akeefa warriors live. When the girl dies, the mark of fire will be mine, as I was the maker of the poison, and therefore the killer of the girl. "

What? Muriel was having a harder and harder time believing what she was hearing.

"But Cyan, the water could just poison the others in the town and the witnesses could stop the girl from drinking from them once they realized they were poisoned."

Muriel slowly started working her way out of the tall grass, back into the forest. She'd heard enough.

"I already made the poison, poisoning the wells isn't that difficult a mission. It's worth a try. Just do it won't you?" Cyan was getting annoyed.

"I- yes, okay."

"Good. Transport yourself to the edge of your town then, here, take this—"

Cyan dove under, probably to get the poison.

Muriel was already running.

Where? Why?

She had to warn them, she couldn't let this happen…but he was a wizard. Altair was a wizard. He would just go and transport himself to the village magically as soon as he had the poison.

Depending on the type of poison, countless Akeefa warriors could already be dead by the time she finally reached her Atzigul. She couldn't let that happen. She had to do something, quick, before Altair took the poison.

Muriel stopped running, taking a knife off her belt. She didn't have time to think, only to do. Only time for action. This was the only way she could think of, in her state of insane panic.

She closed her eyes. She slashed the knife. And she screamed.

Muriel dropped the knife, staggering and clutching her left arm with her right hand as blood gushed from the place where her left hand used to be. She screamed and screamed, never in her life had she felt such pain. Her eyes closed. She staggered more, then fell to her knees, clutching her hand to her chest, soaking her shirt with blood, screaming and screaming.

She heard a rushing of footsteps. Muriel forced her eyes, watering in pain, to open.

There he was. The wizard, Altair, rushing towards her, his face a mix of panic and confusion.

She forced herself to stop screaming, throwing her head back, then forward, keeling over aaaaaaaaaah why had she done it? Lopped her own hand off, why? To save her friends. The damage was done, she had to continue.

"What- who are you? What are you doing here?" Altair spoke harshly, surveying the scene before him.

"I- Istelle" Muriel choked out. "I- I am I- Istelle."

"Wh- what?" Altair looked at her. Red hair, pale-ish skin...tall, Akeefa warrior outfit.

Everything fit. Except what was she doing here?

"My m- my hand" ghasped Muriel in agony, h- he took it from m- me. He l- left me t- to d- die." Tears of pain rolled down her pale as a ghost face.

"Who?" Asked Altair. He grabbed her under her armpits and forced her to her feet. "Come here. This way."

She walked, no staggered, with him to the lake.

Cyan was waiting there, looking extremely impatient. Her clear blue eyes widened in surprise when she saw Muriel, also, like Altair recognizing the description of Istelle in this blood-soaked, red haired teen.

"You! What's your name girl?"

Muriel collapsed on the soft moss, keeling over once more "I- Istelle"

"And what happened to your left hand?"

Muriel nodded her head in the direction Altair had found her "he took it a- and left me to die"

Cyan thought quickly. If this girl really was Istelle, the daughter of the Akeefa chief who's left hand bore the Mark of Fire, she couldn't risk letting her die at the hands of someone else.

But if she wasn't the girl she claimed to be, then why waste time on her when Altair could be poisoning the real one right now.

Better just kill her now.

Muriel could guess Cyan's thoughts. These might be the last moments of her life. She summoned her remaining energy For Akeefa! Leaping to her feet, and with as much force as she could muster, she executed a perfect kick, the heel of her boot making contact with Altair's face.

The wizard staggered backwards, clutching his face, now gushing blood. Muriel had broken his nose, she now took off for the woods, running, running, leaving a trail of blood in her wake

"After her! Get her, Altair!" Cyan was shouting, but the wizard didn't seem to be cooperating. Cyan took matters into her own liquid hands.

Muriel was running, clutching her poor arm, leaking tears, face a mess, stumbling, falling, getting back up again. She had just entered the forest went a tiny shard of broken quartz flew through the air and sunk into her right thigh.

Cyan's arm was still extended from throwing it. She'd acted quickly, grabbing it from the side of the lake's wall and dipping it into the little bottle of poison…

Muriel made it a few more steps, then crashed to the forest floor. She dragged herself forward until she was no longer in sight of the lake, then she collapsed, shaking uncontrollably.

Two young mages, boys aged fifteen were taking a stroll through an Akeefa forest.

One was chocolate skinned, the other tan white, and both bright and happy to be done with the day's learning and out exploring the woods together. They were passing a swampy bog area.

The dark skinned one, Alekzavier, climbed up a young tree and used magic to leap lightly from one tree to another like a large squirrel.

His friend, Jake, magically lifted himself a couple inches above the forest floor and skidded along it, raising his legs occasionally to avoid hitting logs.

The young mages enjoyed playing around with the magic they knew.

But because skidding was faster than tree leaping, Alekzavier soon jumped down from his tree and joined Jake on the ground.

He had to jog to keep out since his friend was already ahead and moving fast. "Wait up!" Called Alekzavier. Jake landed lightly on the ground but kept walking. As his friend neared, Jake began to run. Alekzavier ran after, but skidded to a halt as Jake suddenly sunk into the ground ahead of him "Aaaaaaah!"

"What the—" Alekzavier jumped to the left, narrowly avoiding a muddy hand that had come out of the swamp to swipe at him. He ran towards his quickly sinking friend. Jake was now chest deep in mud, struggling to pull himself out "Th- there's a hand pulling at my ankles!"

"Wha—"

"I'm free!"

Jake pulled himself out of the mud and the hands that had been swiping at Alekzavier suddenly disappeared, muddy heads popping out in their places and childish laughter rang around the mages.

It had all happened so fast, neither of them had been able to process what was going on. Now that Jake was free and the panic was over, they were able to register four muddy creatures with small but distinctly human shapes , crowding around and laughing at them.

The boys began to back away, unsure what to make of these creatures until one stopped laughing and spoke "Hey, I'm Rocky." He was male, the tallest of the group, he looked maybe eleven years old. He had straight hair that grew almost to his shoulders, though like the rest of the creatures, he was covered in mud so it was impossible to tell his hair color or any such details.

"And I'm Cornelius," said a particularly tiny one with very pointy ears,

"I'm Cady," said a girl with a short haircut and a sharp nose,

"Ethel" a long haired, big eyed female introduced herself.

"I'm Jake"

"Call me Zavier."

"And like," said Jake "what's wrong with you guys, whatever you are? Dragging me into the mud for sport? That's not cool."

He turned around and started walking away.

Alekzavier shrugged, "he has a point," and followed him, leaving the little bog monsters behind, wondering what to do next.

As soon as they were away from the swamp however, Zavier burst out laughing, "you were really scared weren't you, should've seen your face!"

"Dude, little hands just grabbed me and pulled me under—"

"Can't let Cygnus see you like th—"

"Aaah!" Jake yelped, interrupting Zavier.

"Oh dear."

Both boys stopped walking, surveying the horrible scene in front of them.