Deliverance (4 page)

With pouches in hand, Tessla shut their houses’ door behind her. Quickly, they made their way down the street to an alleyway.
Where are we going?
Tessla wondered as they went the wrong direction of the town gates. Approaching the dead end of the alley, she looked around curious to what the plan was inside a creepy and unpleasant dark alley.

Illadari hiked up his robe slightly, and then crouched down over a manhole.
Ahh
she thought to herself. Shifting the manhole cover off the sewer entrance, Illadari moved it just enough for them to drop in.

“Ladies first,” Illadari said bowing slightly.

“The sewers? Why? It’s dark and stinks. Let’s do the town gates,” Tessla said.

“No, we can’t be seen,” Illadari said insistently.

“Fine… I’m not going first though. Last time we got in a dark hole you were dragged off by a spider!”

“I’ll go first,” Illadari said rolling his eyes. Climbing down into the sewer, Illadari motioned for her to follow after him. Before she came down, he casted a sphere of light for them to see in the dark. “You grabbed the black diamonds, right?” Illadari asked.

“Yes Illadari…” Tessla said as she stepped off the ladder. The smells of the sewer overwhelmed her senses as she began to gag. “This place is rancid!”

“It is a sewer,” Illadari said with a smile. Glancing down the sewer tunnel, he said, “The sewers should line up with the streets if I recall properly from seeing the map once before.” Grabbing Tessla’s hand, Illadari led them down the sewer tunnels, until they made it to below the town square. “East,” he said as he continued leading them with the sphere of light nearby.

Glancing at the tunnel walls, Tessla saw green slime ooze from the crevices causing her to become slightly queasy. The sound of water droplets echoed through the empty sewer tunnels as they walked. Arriving at a solid stone wall, Illadari looked up and said, “This should be the town gate.”

“Looks like a wall more than a gate,” Tessla said.

“Ha – funny,” Illadari said looking to the south. Noticing a gap between the tunnel and a stone wall, they ventured over to the opening and squeezed their way through. As they shimmied their way through, the thick green ooze coated their clothing.
Lovely,
Tessla thought to herself as they found themselves in another tunnel. Venturing farther east, Illadari stopped when he noticed a wall with a piece of wood on it that seemed out of place.

Bringing the sphere closer, he began to inspect the wooden plank on the wall. Grabbing with both of his hands, he attempted to dislodge the piece of wood out of place. It was firmly fastened to the stone wall and his strength was not sufficient to remove it.
I’ll fix this,
Tessla thought to herself retrieving her mandolin from their pouch.

Suddenly Tessla began playing a song behind Illadari, which startled him as he was trying to inspect the plank. Turning, he began backing up as he watched the dark red notes travel through the air, heading for the wood on the stone wall. “Thanks for the heads up,” Illadari said with a slight irritation in his voice.

As the notes hit the plank of wood, miniature fires erupted. Then the final gold infused red note struck, igniting an explosion and a fire. As the fire burned, Tessla looked at Illadari, “I’m sorry for not warning you… I just want my little boy back quickly!”

Walking up to her side, Illadari put his arm around her shoulder as the fire kindled. “I know my love… We will find him,” he said kissing her on the cheek as the reflection of the fire danced off his face.

The plank soon burnt away to ashes, and thus revealed a small hole, the hole, while small, was big enough to climb through. Climbing through first, Illadari turned and helped Tessla up in and through the hole. Landing in a pile of rubble, Tessla glanced up at the hole she had come through, and began to feel a little bit lost.
We’ve been going deeper into this sewer with not much hope,
she thought to herself.

“Up ahead!” Illadari exclaimed as he had already started walking onward down the tunnel. Running back to Tessla, he said, “Thanks be to Omad! I was beginning to get a little worried!” Grabbing Tessla’s hand to help her up from the rubble, he pointed down the tunnel to a faint light in the distance.

“How do you know that’s an exit?” Tessla asked.

“The light is coming from the top part of the tunnel… it has to be an exit!” Illadari said whisking her down the tunnel by the hand. The sphere of light began to putter out as they got closer to the faint light. Illadari glanced at the sphere and said, “We won’t be needing it anymore, so I won’t cast another one.”

Making it closer to the light, they found it was indeed an exit. A ladder sat attached to the sewer’s tunnel wall and provided the freedom they had been seeking. Tessla climbed the ladder first and watched Illadari climb up after.

“I don’t want to live like this,” Tessla said as Illadari came out of the sewer and stood up on the forest floor. He looked around curiously to see how far into the Darkwood Forest they were, and then turned to Tessla.

“I agree, we will have Ada help us find a more permanent way to live,” Illadari said glancing at Tessla’s blouse. Looking down, she saw the green slime trail down her blouse and even onto her leggings. The smell was pungent as she directed her focus on it.

“Sick,” she said turning her head away.

“Look,” Illadari said pointing to a small pond. “Let’s clean our clothing off in there so we don’t appear filthy.”

The two of them went over to the pond and cleaned their clothing the best that they could. Looking through the moonlit woods from the pond, Tessla could see a dirt path off in the distance. “There’s the main path out of town over there… Do you remember where the Great Tree is?”

Illadari stood up from the pond and proceeded to climb over a log, to get a better view of the path. Turning back to Tessla, he said, “I kind of remember its location. I know it is east of Silvermeer somewhere in the Darkwood Forest.”

Stepping incorrectly on a log, Tessla slipped and cut her foot open. “Ahhh!” she shouted grasping onto a nearby tree. Running back to Tessla, Illadari kneeled and lifted her foot delicately. Removing the torn slipper, he looked up at her as he healed her with a minor healing spell. Tessla felt the warmth of his love by the tenderness of his touch.
I love that man,
she thought to herself with a smile.

“We will let it heal up for a moment,” Illadari said as he took a seat on the forest floor.

“Isn’t it strange?” Tessla asked, as she used a thread and needle from her pouch to sew up the slipper.

“What?” Illadari asked looking around curiously.

“We were just a few days ago arguing about who was going to go get the gymer bread from Tilvo’s, and now we are off traveling through sewers on a quest to find our son and find a witch that lives in a giant tree out in the forest.” Tessla began laughing as she slid her slipper back onto her foot.

“Strange in deed…” Illadari said as he appeared to think about it. “It is strange how life can change so quickly in an instant.” Tessla’s foot appeared to be healed as she put pressure on it, and was able to walk. They continued their journey in search of Ada and the Great Tree.

Arriving at the path that they had spotted coming out of the sewers, Illadari and Tessla began to journey farther east, down a winding path. The farther they went, the more it began to swing northward.

“We are going too far north, let’s cut into the Darkwood Forest to the east now,” Illadari said as he came to a stop. The moonlight lit their path up until this point, but the lighting was not sufficient for the thick and dreary Darkwood Forest that lay before them.

“Love,” Tessla said looking at him as she grasped his arm.

“I really don’t want to do this…” she said softly. “I remember the Darkwood Forest and I did not like it one bit.”

Illadari looked her in the eyes and grabbed her arm that was latched to his. “I’m going to protect you. We need to do this for Kessler.”

Quickly nodding in agreement, Tessla peered into the forest confidently. “I trust you,” she said looking up at him and resting her head on his shoulder.

“Just a moment dear,” Illadari said pulling away from Tessla. Illadari casted a sphere of light, then tugged on the sides expanding it to light their path into the thick forest.

“Won’t someone see us?” Tessla asked.

Illadari looked up at the night sky and then over at Tessla. “Like who?”

“I don’t know… the Vul? Ada said they would stop at nothing to find me… maybe they are behind this all?”

Illadari looked around and then back to Tessla. “I doubt anyone is out here. We should be fine love.” Illadari felt his energy depleted from the casting of the sphere of light. “Could you be a darling and cast your Song of Mana Regeneration? That last sphere zapped me pretty good.”

“Of course,” Tessla said with a smile. Illadari returned the smile as she retrieved her mandolin from one of their pouches.

Tessla played the Song of Mana Regeneration and as she played, the notes floated around both of them. With the last note, it fused with electricity and exploded, causing a dusting of white shimmering sparkles to descend over the both of them.

“Much better,” Illadari said as he felt his energy return to his body.

Turning to the woods, Illadari put out his arm for Tessla to grasp onto, and they took their first steps off the path and into the Darkwood Forest. Bats screeched overhead as the sphere of light followed closely illuminating everything nearby. Glancing down, Illadari could see worms, bugs and rodents scurrying about as the light fell upon them. Tessla jumped as she stepped on something that moved causing Illadari to let out a soft chuckle.

“What?” she asked quickly looking over at him.

Attempting to contain his laughter, Illadari covered his mouth with a hand. “Nothing.”

“Were you laughing at me?” Tessla asked.

“Maybe a little bit,” Illadari smiled.

“Be kind to me! Do not show me rudeness,” she said smacking him in the shoulder.

“I’m not… It just reminds me of where we came from, you know?” Illadari said as they pushed through a patch of tall grass.

“Where we came from? Like me and the castle?” she asked.

“Exactly... I’ve had creepy and crawling things beneath my feet for the majority of my life before we came to Silvermeer. You on the other hand…”

“I get it. I was born with a golden turtle soup ladle in my mouth,” Tessla said as they came out of the thick grass. Stopping for a moment, Illadari turned to her.

“You were indeed born privileged dear, but you gave it all up for a life together,” Illadari said taking her hand and resting it on his chest. “For our love.”

Smiling, Tessla couldn’t help but kiss him. “And I would do it all over again if given the choice,” she said smiling as they turned and continued to walk.

**

Coming to a small lake, they decided to setup camp for the evening to rest for a few hours. Sitting down with their backs against a moss covered log, they had an amazing and clear view of the lake. The moons and the great Unknown reflected off the still and chilled waters.

“It sure is beautiful…” Tessla said. Just then a bat flew over and startled her. “Well… almost if it wasn’t for the creepy things out here.”

“It is,” Illadari said as he got up and began to gather wood to build a fire. Tessla opened up a pouch, and retrieved waterskins and gymer bread along with Illadari’s Hilted Banes Leaf. As she handed him the leaf, he sighed heavily.

“I was hoping you would have forgotten to bring those vile leafs…” He said softly.

“Enough,” Tessla said in annoyance. “That’s the one thing that’s going to help you with your heart problem. You need to accept it as part of your life until you get better.”

Illadari remained silent as he chewed on the bitter tasting leaf.

“You complain almost every time you have to take it. I want you alive, and Kessler needs you alive. He needs a father and a man of strength more than anything in this world, and you should know that better than anyone.”

“What about a mother? He needs you also,” Illadari said.

“True. But if I have learned anything over these last ten years in Silvermeer and outside the walls of my parents castle, it’s a father, above all else, is the single most important thing for a young man to have.”

Illadari knew she was right, he had a better sense of what a fatherless childhood looks like than anyone he knew.
What I wouldn’t give to have my father,
he thought to himself. “That is true… I agree,” Illadari said.

“Thank you,” she said taking a bite out of her portion of gymer bread. As they ate their food, Illadari noticed Tessla seemed to be bothered by something suddenly as her eyebrows furrowed.

“What is it?” Illadari asked concerned.

“Kessler…” she said frowning. “I just hope he’s safe…”

“I’m sure he’s okay,” Illadari said as he finished chewing his leaf and building the fire. He sat next to her against the log and kissed her cheek as he took a bite of gymer bread.

“How can you promise that?” Tessla asked.

“I have hope and trust in Omad,” Illadari said as he looked across the lake. “In times of trouble and in times of peril; we have to hold onto the hope we have.” Snuggling up to Illadari, Tessla leaned up and kissed his cheek.