Chapter 15: The Grishan Liberation Front

The Grishan Liberation Front? And someone wants to meet me? What do I have to do with the Grishans, and how do they know of me?

"Don't hurt yourself over there," the woman said, sheathing the sword and placing it by the chair. My face was strained while I tried to digest everything going on. I took a breath and focused. "And before you ask, your handsome friend with the blonde hair is going to be alright, but he's back in Telenor."

"Who are you? How long was I out for? And who wants to meet me?" Those weren't supposed to come out in sequence. Good to know Cal is alright, though.

"I'm really no good at this sort of thing." She started, scratching at her eyebrow. "Look, kid. I know you're probably really confused, but you have less to worry about than you think."

Nice way to not answer a single question. I picked up the glass of water and took a sip, still cautiously eyeing the woman.

"That's nice, but you didn't answer my questions," I responded. She frowned.

"You don't remember me?" She said, feigning shock. Her body released a subtle aura, and mana began to swell, and she raised her hand, palm facing upward. The mana pooled into her hand, and a topaz colored ball of light slowly rose from her palm. Spinning and stretching out into a wand shape. So she's a mage. The light solidified into a wand that looked like it was made from sun stone and a silver material.

Her aura flexed again, and the wand matched with its own pulse of energy, creating a sort of resonance, and the wand then extended into the shape of a blade. The colors and materials shifted like water, forming the familiar one-sided silver sword with orange highlights. I couldn't hide my shock. The earth mage from the attacks?

"Couldn't recognize me without my hood, eh?" She said as she brandished the sword. "The name's Reese Auryn. As for your other questions, I don't think the big guy would like it if I spoiled the surprise, so you'll just have to wait." She said as she dispelled the sword.

"Is there a reason this meeting couldn't be in Telenor? I assume something happened, since I couldn't have been your original target. You must know me somehow as well because you knew he—whoever this mystery person is—would be interested in seeing me, at the very least. Enough to rip me away from my family."

"Pretty sharp there, for a kid," She said, chuckling. "Of course, I know who you are. Canaan Alcroft. And don't worry about Marin, we left her a note." She sat in the chair and rubbed her head. How does she know so much? Do they know Elise?

"You're going to be stuck with us for a while. Are you ever going to drop that guard? I saw the look in your eyes when I activated my wand's phase. You're not going to ask?" I took the tray and very carefully put it back on the bedside table, then sat back up against the headboard, and crossed my arms.

"Ok, I'll bite," I responded.

"How much do you know about wands?"

"Not much really. I plan to go to the military academy since I haven't awakened yet." A faint smile played at the corner of her lips.

"You move pretty well for someone with no affinity."

"Well enough to land a blow on you."

"Careful, kid. I was taking it easy on you. I recognized you in our first little scrap. I just wanted to see what you were about." Recognized me from where?

"Plus, as a sword saint's son, you should have a few tricks up your sleeve." She said, inspecting me on the bed.

So she knows I'm Dean's son as well. I wonder if I should tell her about the way I can manipulate mana in my body. No, I should probably keep that a secret. I flashed her a nervous smile.

"Back to the wands. They typically have one or two forms. Since the wand is born of a mage's mana, it manifests itself in the form that best suits its user or partner. For me, I was a devout swordsman, so my wand, Gaia, took the form of a sword."

"You're an earth mage, right?"

"Yeah, stage three earth mage to be exact."

"Stage three?"

"…Yeah…" She crossed her arms. "Three of five. You really don't know this?"

"No, I've done some studying on the magic arts, but not enough to know everything. What does stage three mean?" The books in the library didn't mention anything about stages.

"That I'm pretty awesome. But look, kid, I'm no teacher." She stood and motioned for me to do the same. "Let's go meet the others. You'll have time to learn about everything later…and not from me."

I swung my feet off the bed and delicately placed my foot on the ground, testing for any pain. There was minimal discomfort but a little soreness, and my body felt sluggish.

"How long was I out for, really?" I asked

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. About two weeks." She responded, heading into the hallway.

TWO WEEKS! I should be happy to be alive, I guess. I followed Reese into the hall. It was plain and undecorated, made mostly of wood. There were a few other doors on either side of the narrow hallway and a staircase at the end of it. Panels of wood leaned against the walls, like the building was still being worked on.

We descended the stairs to an open room with a few circular bar tables placed around it and a U-shaped bar against the wall to the left of the stairs. The place wasn't fully furnished, and I couldn't tell if it was a bar or an inn. Different groups of strangers were huddled around the tables. Talking, but the chatter died down when we entered the room.

"He's alive!"

"Would you look at that?"

"Welcome back to the land of the living, kid."

A moment passed while I stood confused by the warm welcome. They acted as if they were greeting one of their own. Most of them were dressed the same as Reese, must be part of their uniform or something. They raised their tankards and returned to their conversations.

"So this is the little milk drinker that almost took me out?" A tall young man with short, dark blue hair that was shaved down at the sides said, reaching out to throw his arm around my shoulder. My eyes narrowed into a cautioning glare, causing him to hesitate.

"Easy there, we're all friends here, right?" He said, straightening himself, holding his hands out in front of him in playful surrender. "What was it? Cane, Right? That's what your friend from Telenor called you during the fight." Safe to assume he was another one of the hooded liberation front members.

"He's not much of a talker, this one," Reese added, reaching into her pocket. She pulled the orb out. "Say, what is this thing, kid?" She extended her hand towards me.

"I'm not sure, I got it from a close friend." I lied, not ready or willing to trust anyone here. Hopefully, it won't draw too much attention.

And then it lit up…

The orb started to glow. The soft, cool blues danced around like a fire, glowing brighter as if it was slowly waking up. Two lines of intersecting white light manifested, crossing over the orb in an X, shimmering and then quickly solidifying into the familiar, strange writing.

My pulse quickened as I glanced up at Reese to gauge her reaction. I had this feeling I couldn't let them hold onto it. Her frown lines creased with a mild curiosity.

"That's some pretty detailed mana script." She remarked. The young rebel eyed the orb cautiously. So the text on it is called mana script.

"What's mana script?" He asked. "Oh, and I'm Stefanos by the way." I retrieved the orb from her hand before either of them had any more time to become weary of it.

"Yeah, it does that," I said with an awkward chuckle, not acknowledging Stefanos. My eyes swept across the room, and I noticed a woman in the back quietly sobbing. The others seemed to be giving her space.

"It's a mana routing system invented by the Yarden family. Stef, you should know this." He scratched the back of his neck nervously and flashed a wry smile. Reese must have also noticed the woman, she started heading towards her with no warning. I followed close behind.

"So, Cane, how do you move the way you do? I'm seventeen, and you were giving me a run for my money." I continued behind Reese, silently.

"I was the fire mage, see?" He lifted his pointer finger, and a few sparks flew before a small orange flame appeared hovering above his finger. I looked at him from the corner of my eye, unamused.

"Fine, be like that." He crossed his arms and looked off over his shoulder. I noticed a few passing glances directed at me as we made our way to the woman in the corner. Suddenly, it felt like I was in high school again.

"Rella, let me take you to your quarters, please," Reese asked as she placed a hand on the table, drawing the woman, Rella's, attention.

"No…No, I'm fine. I want to move forward. I want to be here." She responded, wiping the tears from her amber eyes with her sleeve. She was dressed in plain clothing, unlike the others.

"I know, and you're doing great," Reese's tone changed to something more consoling. "But no one would blame you for taking a little more time."

"Are you any closer to finding out what turned him into that monster?"

"Even if we were…I'm afraid there's nothing left we can do for your brother."

"Captain!" Stefanos began to protest, his expression twisting into conflicted indignation.

"Would you prefer I lie to her? You heard her. She wants to move forward."

"I-I…yeah, but it's only been two weeks…" He responded, shrinking slightly.

"No, she's right, although thank you, young man," Rella responded through a snivel. She pounded her closed fist into the table, and her eyes lit up with a forced resolve. Her face still quivered, but the tears welling in her eyes didn't fall.

So she was related to that beast? Speaking of, what even was that thing? And that…transformation. It looked painful and had a similar signature to the one the tremors were giving off. And if we're all alive, does that mean Reese was able to take that thing down?

"Sometimes sparing people's feelings only helps yourself," Reese said, turning to face Stefanos.

"Yeah, sorry for speaking out of turn, Captain." He said, lowering his head. Reese sighed and smiled at him.

"Your heart's in the right place. Keep your head up."

She then took me around to the different tables so everyone could introduce themselves. They seemed pretty close-knit, and some of them I recognized from the brawl on the street. The morale was high, and there was a sense of resilience to them that almost started to endear me to the group.

I started thinking about Marin and Emry. They must be worried sick. Did Reese actually leave them a note? I still need to be on guard until I figure out how they know so much about my family. I wonder if they could be working with Siva somehow.

"Hey, where's Kari?" Reese asked with her head on a swivel. We were at a table now with Stefanos and three others. Leah, a short, silver-haired woman, Galen, a physically imposing, square-jawed Grishan with shoulder-length medium brown hair, and Alex, a younger GLF member with blonde hair.

Stefanos's shoulders bobbed while the others looked around, as well. "Last I saw her, she was upstairs on watch for Canaan," Galen responded, picking up his mug and eyeing the inside.

"I'm sure she's fine," Reese said, dismissing her worry.

"So where's this person I'm supposed to meet, or have I already met them?" I asked. Everyone paused and looked around at each other until all eyes fell towards Reese.

"He speaks!" Leah chimed in. That is going to get old fast. It's almost like they forgot they stole me away from my home. Reese smiled at the others and winked, lifting a finger to her lips to silence any response from the others.

"He won't be here for a few weeks. So you'll have time to heal, which you'll need. Like I said earlier, you're going to be here for a while, kid, so get comfortable." Another rebel came with a pitcher and tankard for Reese.

"Am I a captive or a guest?" I started, scanning the room. "I appreciate the not letting me die on the road, but as you know, I have a family. A sister and pregnant stepmother that are both alone now." I rubbed my bandaged arm. "So you can give your friend my best, but I don't have time to be sitting around here. And am I really to believe you left her some note? She's already lost enough. At the very least, she should know I'm alive." I started to get frustrated, the hand of my uninjured arm tightened into a fist. Reese's eyebrow rose, and the others wore poorly hidden smiles as they pretended not to hear.

"You're not even old enough to drink yet? What do you know about taking care of a family?" She responded, lifting her tankard and sipping it with her eyes closed. She placed it back on the table and turned to face me.

"Do you know Marin's family name?" She asked plainly. I shook my head no, my temper slowly starting to rise.

"It's Auryn. As in my little sister."