Marduk’s Mark [16]
Star-Crossed?
Dana stood outside the main doorway to her home. She stared at Thomas, who walked briskly away from her place, down toward the streets that lead out of the Deelamn district and out into Incantirl proper. She’d just known him for two days, but really enjoyed his company. She even bared her soul, telling him about the unfortunate destiny of her husband, a Deelamn that was taken into the Asylum because of the Mark. For a moment she felt the same loneliness, the same sadness as when Reben was taken from her. Just for a moment though, she thought to herself as she went back into the house, closing the door.
She went to an empty room in front of hers, one as messy as a child’s room with used up palettes, charcoal sticks on the ground, and a great big white armoire. She opened its doors, exposing five drawers on the left side and multiple white, unused canvas boards on the right. She opened the third drawer and took out three different brushes of varying width and an unused palette. She rummaged around the drawer until she found a painting knife and took it out. Now all she needed were some colored oils and some fresh memories to inspire her, she thought to herself.
No use looking for too much oil at first though. She grabbed a piece of soft charcoal and started tracing on the canvas. She found herself making out the outline of a person’s face at first. A finely chiseled visage, with extremely angular features, a stylized portrayal of a man she had met just two days ago.
Dana’s subject, Thomas, was feeling much more confident about the way the streets intertwined in the Deelamn district of Incantirl. He had already reached the first of the two markets that needed to cross when returning from Dana’s home and was sure he was heading the right direction for the second one. He was sorting what Dana had told him, and noticing the empty stalls where there used to be so many Deelamn coming and going, buying and selling really made him realize just how far this inspection thing went.
It occurred to Thomas that there were a lot less guards than he expected for such a supposedly important day. He’d see the odd guard here and there, standing between particularly big intersections, but nothing to suggest possible dissent or protest from the Deelamn being subjugated. Then he saw someone else on the streets that caught his attention. He noticed the soft features of a woman atop the body of a young girl, perhaps in her mid-teens. He was still some hundred steps away from her, but he saw that she used a cowl to cover part of her face.
They were walking in opposite directions, so he made eye contact with her as they walked across each other. White sclera in her eyes, so she’s not a Deelamn he thought to himself. Odd that she’d be out and about on such a loaded day, but to each their own, he thought to himself.
For a moment Reysha’s nerve faltered. She thought that man was going to discover her secret, but it seems like he didn’t notice. It’d be a very bad thing to blow her cover, especially as she had no clue on where to find Gerhalt and Xandra. The thought that they’d been found already by the guards really scared her, but then she realized that if the guards had indeed found them, they would have already visited their home. That thought renewed her confidence in her objective, which caused her to speed up her stride along the streets, towards the pier. She didn’t really think they’d be there, but Gerhalt always felt a special attraction to the sea, so she decided to gamble on the possibility that he’d be close to it.
She kept a good stride and reached the piers. She looked off into the distance, towards the Palominos and beyond. They couldn’t have possibly tried to reach the islands, could they? The thought crossed her mind. She knew Gerhalt could possibly swim across to the first island on his own, but she wasn’t sure if Xandra could make it in her condition. She also knew he wouldn’t abandon her so he wouldn’t have gone there on his own unless something would go wrong. Perish the thought Reysha Neeves!
She turned her gaze, looking around and noticed the unfinished lighthouse. It was meant to replace an older lighthouse that was going to be converted into a museum, but of course, they couldn’t stop using it until the new one was ready. It was quite tall and some of its walls were still exposed as they had some trouble with the odd plaster they were using and it was surrounded by multiple wooden platforms and scaffolds used by the workers. Workers who were all Deelamn, so the place would probably be completely empty for the day. That was as good as any place to hide, she thought to herself as she climbed the steps towards the half-finished building.
Gerhalt hadn’t moved from his current location, hoping that they’d make it until nightfall and to use the dark cover of the night to sneak around. He still hadn’t considered how to regroup with Reysha and Karlos, but he didn’t plan to stay where he was forever. Thankfully, the whole inspection thing worked out in his favor, since no Deelamn were allowed outside during the ordeal and it were Deelamn that were working on the lighthouse.
Unfortunately, Xandra was growing restless. She was looking fiercely at Gerhalt and he couldn’t quite figure out what could be going through her mind now. All he could tell is that she seemed to be judging him from that stare, and he was not comfortable with that.
“Try to remain calm,” he told her with a lowered tone in his voice. “I know this must be too much for you, but I assure you that I am trustworthy and that I am acting in your best interest,” he said.
Xandra stood up, tall and proud. Gerhalt felt somewhat intimidated; after all, she had a powerful body with visible muscle fibre. She didn’t say anything and her stare became blank and empty, which worried him even more. She kept that blank look in her eyes for what seemed like an eternity, but then looked at him once more, focused on his eyes, then closed hers for a moment. She opened her eyes after a few seconds, a spark of recognition within them.
“Gerhalt?” Her question took him by surprise. “I feel as if I blanked out somehow,” she said. “I feel like several hours have passed, but I don’t know what happened in that time span.” Gerhalt, overjoyed, immediately went over to her and gave her a hug. Tears welled in his eyes, but he held back as much as he could. She wasn’t expecting the hug, but she hugged him back. “Well now, I don’t think you’ve hugged me since your tenth birthday!” Gerhalt closed his eyes for a moment and hugged tighter.
“I’m sorry I’ve not been a good son,” he told her. They relished the moment for a few minutes and then released each other. Xandra looked around after stepping back from the hug.
“How did we get here?” She asked.
“It’s a long story and we don’t have much time to discuss it.” He peered around and paid attention to any sounds. He was pleased that he could only hear the waves crashing against the half-built lighthouse and the odd seagull squawking. “I don’t know if we’re lucky this happened on this particular day,” he said. Xandra looked at him straight in his eyes, with that piercing stare that Gerhalt knows so well as her most effective weapon against him and Reysha: the look of authority.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” she said.
He sighed. “I guess you deserve an answer; it may help us gather our thoughts and figure out a way to get out of this predicament. Suffice to say that we probably have every guard and the odd mercenary company or two looking for us in Incantirl,” he said. Xandra nodded at him.
“It can’t be that bad if they haven’t found us yet,” Xandra replied.
Gerhalt paused for a moment. “You’re right; it makes no sense that they haven’t,” he said.
“They’re not looking.”
Gerhalt was taken by surprise as he recognized Reysha’s voice. He breathed a sigh of relief as her appearance removed one worry from his mind.
