Diamond Bonds (15 page)

“But I wanted to eat the food we bought!”

“Okay, that
does
it!” Jem yells as she stands.  “I’m going to explore.  Era, you deal with the pampered princess.”  No one objects as she stomps off, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.

Di frowns at Era.  “Why do you hang out with her?  She’s so mean!”

“Complain if you want, but she’s trying to keep us all alive,” Era contends.  “Not much to complain about when you consider that.”

Di wants to object nonetheless.  Disgusted, she drapes her wet clothes over a dusty wooden chair and sits in Jem’s seat, noting the setting sun streaming through the boarded windows.  “It happens at night, huh?” she says to herself, recalling the local’s words.

“Don’t worry about it, Di,” Era says.  “Nothing’s going to happen.  And if it does, I’ll protect you!”

Di smiles, instantly comforted by his words.  As Era lies on the couch with his eyes closed, she realizes just how much she’s come to rely on him.  ‘
Almost fourteen
,’ she tells herself as she leans back in the chair, her eyelids growing heavy.

*              *              *

Era stirs and awakens in the moonlit room, startled momentarily as he struggles to remember where he is.  Looking over to the chair, Di also apparently gave in to her exhaustion, as she’s curled in a little ball and breathing deeply.  Glancing around, he doesn’t find Jem, so she’s either still exploring or she found a place to sleep.

He swings his legs off the couch, again stirring up massive clouds of dust.  Coughing and waving it away, he leans toward Di and whispers, “Wakey, wakey!”

Di opens her eyes and smiles at her protector.  “Hey there,” she says as she sheepishly wipes away the drool.  “I fell asleep?  Where’s Jem?”

“No clue,” Era answers with a shrug.  “Looks like we both slept, so maybe Jem found a place to sleep as well.”  He stretches and stifles a yawn.  “Let’s go find her, or at least find some beds.  That sure would beat sleeping on this furniture.”

The two start exploring through a couple rooms.  It would be easy to call out for their friend, but the silence is so thick that it gives the house an eerie feel to it, causing each to be hesitant about making any noise.

Di’s heart races as they walk through the abandoned manor.  Despite all the logic she repeats to herself about there being no such thing as a haunted house, she can’t shake her anxiety.  The local’s warning continues to echo in her head.

Era steps on a board that lets out a long and loud creak.  They stop and hold their breath as they freeze in place, but all they can hear is the sound of their own heartbeats pounding like drums in their ears.  After a lengthy silence, the two calm down enough to force a chuckle.

Suddenly, something jumps out and tackles Era.  Di loudly shrieks and stumbles backward, tripping over a footrest to the dusty floor below.  Era manages to grab the assailant and roll over, getting on top.  When he does, he finds his partner under him, giggling uncontrollably.  “Jem!?”

Still laughing, she puts her hand on his shoulder and says, “Sorry Era.  Couldn’t resist.”

Di peeks up from behind the piece of furniture she tripped over, relieved to see Jem in the moonlight.  However, her reassurance quickly turns to anger.  “Jem!  That was so mean!”

“Come on Di, it was just a joke.  Lighten up!”  She looks up at Era, who’s still on top of her.  “Want to let me up, honey?”  Era rolls his eyes and climbs off her, helping her to her feet.  She brushes herself off and offers a goofy grin.  “I guess I let the kid in me take over.  I was walking back when I heard the two of you heading this way.  I just had to do it!”

Era sighs, but he knows there’s little point in continuing to discuss it.  “So did you explore the whole house?”

“Yup!” Jem beams.  “Aside from a very wet basement, there’s nothing scary about this place.  Found us some beds, too.  Oh, and I also found this!”  She withdraws a small cylinder from her pocket and fiddles with it until a beam of light breaks forth from one end.  “It’s a light rune!”

Era whistles at the find, and Di gasps and excitedly reaches for it.  “Let me see it!  Let me see!”

Jem hands it to her, and the schoolgirl starts studying it.  “I can’t believe it!  Light runes are rare.”  She shines it on the wall and ceiling and floor.  “It works wonders compared to a lantern!”

“What’s so rare about a light rune?” Era asks.

Di shrugs.  “Light is the derivative of fire, so that makes it less common than the core elements.  Maybe one in a thousand people carries each derivative element, and even less work to hone it.  That’s all there is to it.”

“One in a thousand!?” Jem exclaims.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re special,” Era says, wishing Di would stop bringing up this particular topic.

“So can you teach me how to make a rune?” Jem asks with a gleam in her eye.  “I’m a skilled elementalist, after all.”

“Sure, you can make a rune,” Di says.  “You just need some obelite, then you program it and instill it with ice.”  Era and Jem each give Di a blank look as she realizes she needs to explain in more detail.  “Obelite is the material used to make runes.  Once you have some, you have to program it by adding symbols to the rune.  See?”

She hands Jem the light rune, who looks it over.  “I know about the symbols on a rune.  So by ‘programming’ you just mean drawing the symbols?”

“Right,” she confirms.  “Each symbol has relevance.  There’s a character on the side for activation, and one on the end for focus.  There are a couple other standard ones on there, and all that together is called programming.”

“And then you just need to fill it up, right?” Era asks.

“It’s called
instilling
,” Di corrects with exasperation, “but yes, you can place about as much of an element into the obelite as you want using capacity symbols.  The obelite holds the element and stores it for future use.”

Era pats Jem’s shoulder.  “See, you could be making ice runes!  You’d make some good money, too.  I’ve seen freezers selling for thousands of venni each.”

“Actually, it takes significant expertise to program something like that.  You can’t just release ice to keep a freezer cold,” Di explains.  “The elementalist is rare, but finding such a skilled programmer can be just as difficult.”

Jem shrugs it off.  “Can’t say sitting around all day pushing ice into rocks sounds interesting, anyway.”  With a yawn, she says, “It’s late and I’m tired.  Want to go see your rooms?”

“I know I do!” Era exclaims.  “It’s been a long day.”  Di nods her agreement.

Leading the way through the old and dusty house, Jem leads them confidently to a staircase.  She goes up a floor and down a hallway, opens a door, and walks in with a “Ta-da!”  The spacious room sports an unlit chandelier, and a large bed fills half the room.

“A guest room?” Era guesses as he walks in.

Jem grabs his shoulder.  “Not so fast there.  The princess gets the room with the chandelier.  Yours is across the hall.”

“Can I light it?” Di asks excitedly.

Jem frowns.  “Remember that whole thing about
hiding
?  Lighting that thing will make the townspeople freak out.”

Di walks into her room, pats the bed, and nods in satisfaction.  Turning back to Jem, she asks, “Will you be staying in here too?”

“No way!  I’ve got my own bed!”  Nudging Era, she adds, “Notice how nice I am, giving you two the rooms on this floor?  Mine is all the way upstairs!”

Era knows full well Jem does little in the name of self-sacrifice.  “Yeah, I’m sure you’re disappointed your room is so far away.”

Di runs over and grabs her arm.  “Please stay?  I’ll sleep on the floor!”

Jem gives her a stern look and says, “Di, you’d better get used to this place.  We might be here for three days!”  She pushes the girl off her arm and leaves with her light rune, turning the room dark with her departure. 

Era turns to leave as well, but Di grabs his arm.  “Please stay with me!”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he says, and he pats Di’s head reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you.”

Jem’s voice echoes from the staircase.  “Don’t lead her on, Era!”

Era rolls his eyes in the darkness.  “You notice she acts so tough and brave while taking the only source of light with her?”  Di smiles as he leads her back into the room.  “I know this old house is creepy, but it’s going to help us get you home.  So think of it in friendly terms.”

Di nods as she squats down to lie on the floor, but Era scoops her up, making her heart skip a beat.  “H-Hey!?”

“The princess should sleep in her bed!  Let the valiant guardian sleep on the floor.”  He carefully sets her down and goes to the door.  “Let me grab the blankets from my room.  I’ll be right back.”  Di grins from ear-to-ear as she lies in the dusty bed, not holding it back since Era can’t see her.  He sneaks back in and places the blankets on the floor.  “This dust might kill us before the monsters do!” he jokes as he lies down.

Di turns to her side.  “Thanks, Era.  You take such good care of me.”

“Naturally, I do!  You’re worth a lot of money.”

Her heart sinks at his words, and she leans over the bed.  “Am I… Am I just a reward to you?”

“I mean, not
just
a reward.  It seems you’re handy in combat, too,” he jokes.

“I’m serious, Era!” she yells, louder than intended.  “Would you be helping me if I had nothing to offer?”

Era quietly ponders the question in depth.  “You’re a sweet girl, Di.  I’m… not the kind of guy that you think I am.  I take from others.  I value money over people.  I don’t risk my life for someone for free.”

“You’re
not
that kind of guy!” Di contests.  “I know you, Era.  I can tell your heart isn’t into being a thief.  If not for Jem and your dad…”

“They don’t control my life,” Era argues.  “I’ve made a decision to do what I do.  I’ve done plenty of bad things to others, and I have no guilt about that.  We all have our calling in life.  You have your studies.  My father is a master thief.  I’m pretty sure Jem just wants to be left alone.  And I… I
choose
to surpass my father.  That’s who I am.”

An uncomfortable silence fills the room as Di rolls away from the bed’s edge, upset at Era’s answer.  “So you wouldn’t have helped me get home,” she mumbles.

Era shrugs in the darkness.  “I pulled you from the train without knowing I was getting anything for it.  Maybe I’d have helped still.”

“So when you have your reward, I’ll never see you again, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.  Canterin is a big city, so I’m sure there are lots of high-profile things to steal.  It could be the perfect place for me to make a name for myself!” he chides.  “I’ll drop by from time to time, and maybe I’ll even come to your house, seeing as you’re the mayor’s daughter and all.  You must have a ritzy room or two in there for me to sleep in.”  Grinning, he adds, “Hey!  Maybe you can even unlock the windows for me!  I wouldn’t turn down the help.”

Di laughs, much to her own surprise.  “Yes, perhaps I could do that.”

The two lie in silence long enough that Era drifts off to sleep.  Di places her hands behind her head and stares at the ceiling, her eyes finally adjusting enough to make it out.  Her guardian’s intentions confuse her, but she’s grateful for his help.  She laughs to herself at the thought of helping Era break into her house.  ‘
I wonder what Daddy would think of THAT
.’

*              *              *

A distant crash jerks the two sleeping travelers awake. Era starts for the door, but Di lunges across her bed and grabs his arm, her whole body trembling.

Era places a hand on her shoulder to both reassure her and separate himself.  He creates a blade from his pouch of sand and opens the door with a creak, and as he steps out into the hallway Di jumps out of bed and runs after him.  He points back inside the room, but she silently pleads with frightened eyes.  Relenting, he walks toward the stairs with Di on his arm. Remembering how angry Jem was when he left her out the last night, he opts to go find her.  They head up a floor and start peeking in doors.

Era finds his sleeping partner in the master bedroom, lying diagonally across the bed with blankets and pillows strewn around the room.  He shakes his head when he sees the luxurious bed, not to mention the size of the room.  “No wonder she wouldn’t stay with you,” he says to Di.  He stirs his partner awake and whispers, “Jem!”

She stares at him with heavy eyelids.  “This better be good.”

“There was a loud crash somewhere in the house.  Probably ground-level.”

Jem listens in silence.  “I don’t hear anything.”

“Might be an intruder.  I’m going to go check it out.  Stay here with Di and I’ll-”

“Forget
that
,” she says as she jumps out of bed.  “I’m going with you.  No way am I missing out on fighting with that… that…”  Collecting herself, she says, “Come on, let’s go have some fun.”

Era wonders what makes her so certain it’s Fire.  Either way, with Di clinging to him, it appears they’re all going for a walk.  Jem energetically leads the way, her dagger in one hand and the light rune in the other as she trots down the stairs, boldly marching straight to the ground floor.  Era remains on total alert, keeping an eye out for a broken-in door or open window.