6

"Right here is where the seal was broken," Bella said, pointing to the gash in the bottom of the metal container. There was a strange circular symbol on it, whoever punctured it had broken the circle.

"What does that symbol mean?" I asked.

"I actually don't recognize that symbol. It has some sort of ancient arcane binding spell though. That would explain why the spirit was released when it was broken," Bella said.

"Okay so what do you plan on doing with this container?" I asked.

"Yeah, and your plan better not involve picking this thing back up," Teresa said with her arms folded.

She had a point. It must have weighed 300 pounds. Just getting it out of the wall was a struggle, trying to haul it somewhere would probably kill us.

"No, I'm going to watch the memories," Bella said. She rubbed her chin with fingers as she stared at the container.

"Just how hard did that spirit hit you? This is a box; boxes don't have memories." Teresa said. She spoke slowly as if she was speaking to a young child.

"Shut up, simpleton. I'm not talking about the container," Bella said. She waved her hand at the container, the top of it curled backward and exposed the inside of it.

I'm not sure what I expected to find inside the container, but I was relieved when gray dust was all that we found.

"Well, this was a bust, time to go get that deed!" Teresa said and turned to walk away.

"Stay put you idiot. This is the body of the man that was trapped in here. His memories will tell us exactly what happened," Bella said as a tiny red flame appeared in the palm of her hand.

"How does that work?" I asked. The more I saw Bella do, the more I wanted to know about magic.

"Well, extreme emotions like love and hate are created and fueled by memories. In situations like this one, where the person becomes a vengeful spirit, those memories become so powerful that they become a part of the person. If that happens, any mage with enough levels in divination, can extract those memories and view them," she said and let the flame roll from her palm.

The flame hit the dust and a thick dark smoke started rising from the container. An image started to appear in the smoke. I was amazed when it was a still image, when it started to move, I was completely blown away. Teresa must have shared my feelings because she stepped close to me and squeezed my hand.

The image was of a woman's face. She was standing over the man. There was a concerned look on her face. Her eyes were a dazzling shade of green with her pupils outlined in gold.

"I know those eyes from somewhere" Bella said and scratched her head.

"That's impossible, if we knew someone with eyes that amazing, they would already be mine," Teresa said.

"I didn't say I knew someone with her eyes, I said I've seen them somewhere." Bella said.

"Oh good, you're alive now, we just need to stabilize you,'' she said.

The man shifted his focus from face to his own chest. There was a long, wide slash covering most of his abdomen. Apparently, seeing that was too much for him because the image went dark after he saw it. The next image we saw was the naked breasts of a woman.

"Now it's getting good," Teresa said and grinned.

"Be respectful, this is a person's final memories. It's all they may have left behind for the world to remember them with," Bella said.

"I'm respecting how sexy this memory is;" Teresa said, defending herself. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

The man's focus traveled up the woman's body slowly. We could hear them both breathing heavily. When his eyes landed on her face, we realized she was the woman who had apparently cared for him.

"Well, that's one way to repay her," Teresa said and nudged me. I ignored her.

"What is it about those eyes that is so familiar to me?" Bella asked herself.

We watched three more memories, in the last one the man walked into his home and there was a soldier holding a sword to the woman's throat. The man started to move toward her and then suddenly stopped.

"Let her go" He screamed without moving. He looked to his left and there were 2 mages binding him in ropes made of light.

"Those guys are definitely from the mages guild," Bella said as concern set into her face.

"Tell me where you hid the sword and she's free to go?" The man said. There was a sick pleasure in his voice.

"Laura!" was all the man yelled in response. He grunted and somehow moved closer to her before stopping again.

This time he looked to his right and there were 2 more mages with ropes.

"You're all going to die for this," the man said. The determination in his voice lit a fire in me.

"I like this guy," I said before I could stop myself. Teresa gave me a look that confused me. I wasn't sure if she agreed with me or not.

"Well, anyone who would go this far for their love is good in my book," she said.

Silver tears fell from the woman's face as she spoke up.

"I can take you to the sword if you swear you won't kill him," she said.

"Laura no!" The man screamed.

"Somebody calm him down," The man with the sword said.

"Everything is gonna be okay Elias, I love you," the woman said just before a brilliant light flashed and the memory ended.

We waited for the next memory to start for several minutes before anyone spoke.

"So, it's over I assume?" Teresa said.

"Yeah, apparently that's all he left us," Bella said. I could hear the disappointment in her voice.

"So now we go get paid right," Teresa said and rubbed her hands together.

"Yeah, I guess we're done here," Bella said before she took a vial from her pocket and scooped up some of the ashes.

"What do you plan on doing with that?" I asked.

"If I can view his memories again, I may be able to gather some clues to better understand what happened after his last memory," Bella said.

We left the mine and returned to Mr. Ward's house. I almost didn't knock on the door because it had gotten so late since we left. Teresa didn't hesitate at all though, the moment my hand paused over the door she banged her fist on it. The door sprang open as if someone was standing behind it waiting for us to knock.

"Is it done; did you kill it?" Mr. Ward asked as we walked into his parlor. He spoke so fast it was hard to fully understand him.

"Yes, the job is done," I said."

"Okay, good I had total faith in you. So, as we agreed, I'll sell you the Tav..." Teresa's sword touched the tip of his nose before he could finish his lie.

"What did we agree to?" I asked as if I didn't hear him correctly.

Bella stared at the art on the walls as we spoke. The painting of Mr. Ward's wife seemed to have her attention.

"You know, now that you mention it, we did agree that the Tavern would be your reward for completing the quest. The deeds on the table," he said with both of his eyes pointed at the sword.

I picked up the folded piece of paper and looked at it. It had the word deed at the top and stated that it granted full ownership to the holder of it. It looked real to me.

"Who is the woman in that picture?" Bella asked without looking away from the portrait.

Teresa still hadn't removed her blade from his face.

"That's my wife Karol Ward," he said. He attempted to move his nose away from the blade and Teresa pressed it harder. A small cut became visible where the sword pressed.

"What was her family name?" Bella asked.

"It was Delmoore, why?" Mr. Ward asked.

"She just looked familiar," Bella said and walked away from the painting.

Well, we have everything we need," I said, and we walked back toward the entrance.

"Sir, shall we bury the body now?" a servant woman said as we passed her.

"Yeah, it's dark enough, no one will see you." Mr. Ward said.

Teresa spun around and gripped him up by his collar. His feet dangled as she held him in the air.

"Are you truly so corrupt that you're going to toss this man, who died defending you, in some random hole in the ground? All to keep from paying his family a few coins every month? What about his family? What about his legacy? I'll die before I let you erase him like that." Teresa fumed.

"He didn't have any family; I only hired people no one will miss. I'm simply trying to avoid a scandal by burying him this way," Mr. Ward said. His eyes had grown several times their normal size.

"If he truly has no one then let us take him and give him a proper burial. It will be somewhere off your property, where no one will know he worked for you," Bella said.

"Fine take him, just make her put me down," he said and wriggled in Teresa's grip. She dropped him and walked out of the house carrying the dead soldier.

"What was all that?" I said when I caught up to her.

"You wouldn't understand how people treat us, they use us up and then discard us when we are no longer useful," she said.

"Well the good news for this guy is that he is about to become more useful than he could ever have imagined," Bella said.