The Broken Sigil

Chapter 14: Aldus

   Katrina gasped after hearing what she heard, she stood up a bit from the chair ready to shoot about a thousand questions towards the both of them, and she was about to do it, until all of them got distracted by the voices that came from the outside, the soldiers were shouting and calling for somebody, whatever who or what it was caused a disturbance. They could be under attack, it could finally be happening the thing they’ve been dreading for a while now. The three of them came outside the tent, it was dark again and cold, the air was coming like steam from their mouths, they wore thick capes and leather gloves, the ash fell and it felt like it was raining snow, but it wasn’t snowing at all.

    “But…” Katrina opened her mouth, there’s no way this could be happening right now, Marcus was their professor back at the academy? Where did he come from? And who exactly was he? What made him write the book? And then there were questions like why Cristopher and Raoulin never talked to each other, or why has Raoulin never mentioned being together with her brother and Lucius, after so many years of servitude as a general to the White City army, he never mentioned he was a Protector, nor that he ever was at the academy, everything was revealing just now and Katrina had just started learning things, she must get to the bottom of this, but it might get more complicated than she previously thought. The soldiers kept making a ruckus, it wasn’t a serious thing either, it was just a horse that was passing by the Ashen Fields, but why would a horse just be passing by the Ashen Fields? One of the most dangerous places even the animals learned to fear it.

    “What is going on here!?” Cristopher was annoyed the soldiers ruined his peace at the tent, just for a horse.

    “Look sire,” the soldier pointed to the horse that was approaching from the dark. Cristopher squinted his eyes and looked in the direction as Lucius stood next to him and concentrated on the horse. On the horse, there was a boy, about ten years old with long dark hair, and a structure that Lucius immediately recognized.

    “Aldus…” mist came from his mouth in the dark. He took a harder look and he was more certain than ever that was his nephew, but what is going on? Why is he here? He knew that Frederic would never let his son nowhere alone, never mind the Ashen Fields. Then again forget the thought that Frederic wanted his son to join Lucius and the Protectors since Frederic wasn’t very fond of the Protectors after all. So what is going on here? Lucius ran up to the horse, trying to help his nephew get off the horse, but before he could even get close to the horse the kid fell off and thumped on the ground, exhausted, starved, and thirsty.

    “Aldus!” panicked Lucius falling down on the ground as well, shaking the kid's body, but it was futile the kid was unconscious.

    “Lucius! Quick! To the tent!” spoke Cristopher behind him. Lucius picked up the kid and carried him towards the tent with his bare hands. Cristopher entered the tent before Lucius and threw everything off of the table to make space so the kid could be laid down. Lucius placed him on the table and it felt as if he carried a ragdoll with no bones, he was completely unresponsive and motionless. He leaned on his chest with the left ear and stood quietly for a moment Katrina and Cristopher standing aside starring at him.

    “He has a pulse, and he is breathing,” concluded Lucius.

    “What’s wrong with him?” asked Katrina looking frightened, as Cristopher looked outside the tent window and saw as the horse fell to the ground exhausted, no matter the efforts of the soldiers the horse just wouldn’t budge from the place it chose to rest.

    “Must be exhausted… If it rode all this way from Celvin without any pause,” suspected Cristopher. Lucius knew that the kid was going to be alright, but his concern was dehydration, he detached the flask that he had on his waist belt and opened Aldus’s mouth just slightly so that he could pour water inside, Cristopher picked the boy and held him in an upright position so it wouldn’t choke on the water.  

    “Don’t you know like a healing magic or something?” Katrina spoke from the corner. “You are Protectors, after all, you must know some enchantment that could heal him,” Lucius just looked at her and attached the flask back on his waist after laying the kid back down. He just gave Katrina a look and went outside the tent.

    “It doesn’t work that way!” Cristopher looked at her with a warning look, reminding her not to say things that she does not know or understand. “Healing and bringing back to life is dark magic, evil… What nature wants to claim will claim, and there’s nothing we should do about it,” he finished making Katrina feel guilty for what she just said, maybe she offended their code by asking them to use dark magic when she should have known that they are not even allowed to speak about dark magic let alone use it. Cristopher knew there was something on his mind and followed Lucius outside, he looked around but he wasn’t there beside it wasn’t like he could see much in the dark, and with all the ash falling, there was no bother in calling out to him since he just won’t respond. However he had an idea of where he might be, if he knew his friend well enough, he will know what he is doing right now and Cristopher took a couple of steps forward disappearing in the darkness. Sure enough there he was, Lucius was standing on a ledge of a cliff that overlooked the world towards the west and beyond, behind the Ashen Fields and behind all the evil, because of the dark, and the thick mist he couldn’t see very well what was happening at Celvin, but he would need to know, he heard someone approaching from behind and didn’t even bother turning around.

    “Something has happened…” he spoke, still starring at the distant darkness hoping to catch a blurry glimpse of Celvin. “I need to know, I might need to leave from here.”

    “You can’t leave now…” Cristopher slowly approached him. “Not with all those things happening,” he pointed back towards the mark.

    “What is happening exactly!?” Lucius turned angrily. “The second I leave something happens to Celvin and my nephew who wouldn’t leave the courtyard has come halfway across the world just to see his uncle?” Lucius didn’t want to seem stupid in front of Cristopher, but it wasn’t Cristopher's idea to make him look stupid either, the main concern for him was everything that was happening here and the Mark opening, it should have been both of their concern but now this? Where did this come from? Who caused it? 

    “I need to speak to them…” Lucius looked at Cristopher determined and confident in his stance.

    “Speak to them?” Cristopher was caused by surprise, he never would have expected Lucius to resort this low, but then again Francis was their friend and maybe he could shed some light, the problem was that Raoulin was there too and he could listen to everything they are speaking even if they are in different parts of the world. “You know he will be listening,” Cristopher warned him.

    “It’s the only way I could at least try to get some answers, I can’t wait for Aldus, who knows when he will wake up and if he does it’s a question of what a kid his age will remember.”

    “Alright…” Cristopher nodded hesitantly, knowing that this was the only solution not the best solution, but the only one. “At least let me join you…” he looked at Lucius.

    “Alright,” he nodded as they got down on their knees as if to meditate and closed their eyes inhaling deeply, calming the atmosphere so there was nothing else but the slight sound of the wind blowing on their faces, other than that nothing but quiet, quiet and concentration, it was like they entered a bubble of their own apart from the world, a different dimension and they were ready to speak to Francis.