Questing Sucks! Book II (37 page)

“And we shall discuss them, brother, but another time. For now, I have come with a gift from the Kingdom.”

Saerith’s eyebrows rose. “A gift?”

“A very special gift indeed.” Saerina smiled. “You may think that the Kingdom has abandoned you, but think again, for Patrick has sent to you the greatest gift of all—one that, I assure you, will be worth more to you than ten-thousand of the finest Kingdom soldiers.”

Saerith blinked. “And what gift is this?”

“Allow me to show you.” Saerina clapped her hands together, and then shouted, “Reveal yourself!”

His curiosity peaked, Calen looked around for any sign of change. Aside from the flames of hundreds of campfires springing into existence as the soldiers began cooking their evening meal, there was nothing that struck him as out of the ordinary.

A quiet settled over the three of them. Calen wondered what “gift” this could be. Short of an Item or some new form of weaponry, what could be worth ten-thousand soldiers to them? Calen forced himself to be patient, reminding himself that he dealt with the royal princess, and it would not do to present himself as anxious and wanting.

“Reveal yourself,” Saerina repeated.

Calen’s curiosity grew. A minute of silence turned into two, and Saerina’s face visibly changed. Her calm confidence gave way to irritation, which in turn confused Calen, as well as Saerith, judging by the prince’s blank stare. What was wrong?

Saerina’s right eye twitched in what Calen took to be anger. “Is everything all right, sister?” Saerith asked.

“No, no it is not,” she said, anger in her words. “You see, your gift was supposed to be here with me, but I suspect it has gotten itself drunk again and is now among the fighting men.” Saerina frowned. “I will return shortly. I must seek out your gift. But so help me if I discover that it is harassing the female elven soldiers again. Eww! I will call forth fire from the heavens! You cannot imagine what I have had to put up with to bring this gift across the land to you.”

As she spun on her heels and marched away, anger in her step, her regal presence faded and, for just a moment, she reminded Calen of a woman about to give one heck of an earful to a poor, unfortunate man.

“Well, that was certainly odd,” Calen said.

Saerith nodded but said nothing. He merely hummed quietly to himself before fetching his bedroll and preparing his campfire. Calen decided to get some rest as well. It would only be a few more hours before they resumed their march to Elvar. So much for finding out what that "gift" was.

Night had fallen. Darkness settled over the city of Hahl, and yet still Sehn refused to quit his search for the children. Although forty-eight hours had passed since he’d last slept, Sehn refused to rest until he had found them. Not that it mattered, of course, for the Great Sehn did not require such a trivial thing as “sleep.” His divine body, which had been forged from the remains of fallen Gods, knew no such thing as exhaustion or fatigue.

Sehn stared vacantly at his surroundings; he was not far from the northern gates, which had miraculously remained sealed despite the guards’ claims that the city would reopen by nightfall. Though he wasn’t sure, he held a suspicion that Patrick had something to do with the unexpected—but appreciated—extra time.

Lanterns lit both sides of the street. Aside from the occasional wine merchant leading a horse slowly down the narrow pathway for late-night deliveries, the area was mostly quiet, although there were still a few people outside up to various activities; most sent distrustful looks towards him and Cah’lia, but none said a word whenever they passed by.

Sehn had allowed Cah’lia to take the lead, and he kept close behind her. The others had gone in separate directions, splitting up their search, which made this the first time in a while that the two of them were alone together. It caused Sehn to feel a strange sense of disappointment. He wished he could be alone with her under different, better circumstances.

“See anything?” she asked.

Sehn shook his head. Despite his best efforts to remain optimistic, deep down, he knew that the situation was hopeless. The city was huge, the children could be anywhere, and there was no real way of covering the whole place. Not to mention that if the children were hidden away in the cellar of an inn or home, he would never find them.

Then there was the issue of Patrick, whom Sehn knew would refuse to be pushed any further than he already was. Not that…not that Sehn cared or anything. After all, what power could the foolish prince ever hope to have over Sehn?

I’m not afraid of that pathetic human
.

Still, Patrick had been a good servant, and it would be best not to test the limits of the man’s kindness—especially not when it came to matters of protecting his kingdom. If there was one thing Sehn had come to understand about Patrick, it was that the prince had two entirely different personalities: the way he normally was, and the way he became when his home was threatened.

I must find Nero and Rina
.

Cah’lia paused as she rounded a corner that led onto a rising hill, at the top of which sat a solitary, two-story dome-shaped building with crescent-shaped windows. She glanced up at the structure—likely a temple of some kind—then looked back towards Sehn.

“Another dead end,” she said, her voice sounding shallow, exhausted, and defeated. “We should get some rest. We’ve been at this nonstop for several days. Maybe we should give ourselves the chance to recover and continue looking tomorrow morning.”

Sehn stared at her in disbelief, the sudden request taking him by surprise. “Are you mad?” he asked. “You want us to just…give up? What has gotten into you, Cah’lia?”

“Nothing!” she snapped, more sharply than she seemed to intend, as a moment later she lowered her eyes and softened her voice. “It’s just that if we collapse from exhaustion, we’ll be even worse off than we are now.”

Sehn, ignoring the ache in his muscles, raised his shoulders and laughed. “Luckily for you, the Great Sehn is incapable of collapsing from anything. If you must rest, then do so. But I will not stop looking. I will rescue my child-minions at any cost.”

“Ugh, will you ever ease up on that? We’re alone right now, you know?”

“Give what a rest?”

“Nothing, never mind. Look, are you sure you don’t want to stop? I’m in just as much of a hurry to find my brother and Rina as you are, but maybe
it’s
best if we take at least a few minutes to regain our strength.”

“No!” Sehn shook his head. “There shall be no rest. Those two brats have to be somewhere in this Gods-cursed city, and I will find them.”

Cah’lia rubbed her eyes. Lines of stress and frustration formed wrinkles on her forehead. “All right, fine, have it your way, but I don’t know where to look. I feel like we’ve been everywhere. I’m completely out of ideas. I just…I don’t know what we’re supposed to do anymore. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Of course I have suggestions.”

“Well, let’s hear them then.”

Sehn pointed to somewhere in the distance. “Let’s go that way.”

“And why that way?”

“Because it’s better than standing here and wasting time. Pull yourself together, Cah’lia. My superior logic skills have figured out the solution to this problem.”

“Has it?” she asked. “And exactly what
is
the solution?”

Sehn pounded his left fist against his right palm. “We know the children are somewhere in this city. We know that they won’t be for much longer. So, as long as we continue to look, we have at least
some
chance of finding them.”

Cah’lia smiled weakly. “I know that, Sehn. And that’s what we’ve been doing. But…it’s not working.”

The words stabbed at Sehn, because he knew she spoke the truth. More than likely, they’d continue searching through the remainder of the night to no avail. And even if by some miracle…by some incredible act of kindness from Patrick the gates to the city remained sealed off for another day or two, or three, or ten! None of it would make a difference. It was truly a case of finding a needle in a haystack the size of a city.

What surprised Sehn the most, though, was how quickly Cah’lia was resigning herself to their fate. She grew visibly more defeated with each passing minute, and Sehn worried that she would soon give up hope. It was unlike her. This was
not
the Cah’lia he knew. But it wasn’t her fault; he suspected the nonstop physical and mental drain of the search played a large part in the way she was acting.

“On second thought,” Sehn began, “perhaps we
should
rest a few moments.”

Cah’lia shot him a cynical look. “Oh? And why’s that? What’s with the sudden change of heart?”

Sehn wasn’t sure why she gave him such a doubtful stare. Had he said something wrong? Probably. Anything was possible when it came to women.

“It’s like you said: a bit of rest may be just what we need to—”

Passion returned to Cah’lia’s eyes like a lit flame. She spun around on Sehn and poked him in the chest with her finger. Something had definitely riled her up.

“You’re doing this for me, aren’t you? Because you think I’m getting weak. Because you think
I’m
the one holding us back.”

Sehn took a few moments before responding. He needed to do that sensitivity thing that everyone was always bitching to him about. He needed to respond in a way that would be least likely to insult her feelings or cause offense. After another few seconds, he dropped his chin and tried his best to look outraged.

“W-what? Who, me?
Wh—
what are you saying? Of course not, Cah’lia! I absolutely do
not
think you are getting weak or slowing us down. That is in no way the reason I think we should rest. Oh, and I’m also not just saying that to spare injury to your pathetic woman-feelings, either. I am truly upset by this accusation!”

Cah’lia’s raised one of her fingers as though she had something to say in response, but for a moment she said nothing. Then she rolled her eyes. “You suck, you know that?” She surprised him with a smile; it was a relief to see she could still show even a trace of happiness. “But I’ll let that one go. And you’re right: I
am
growing weak. And I’m disgusted with myself.”

“Then the answer is clear,” Sehn said. “Let’s keep looking.”

“You’re right. We should keep going. It’s the only way we still have a chance of finding them.” Cah’lia turned away from the hill. “There’s nothing up this way. We may as well head back the way we came. We should spend the rest of the night searching through the northern marketplace. They could be stowing the children in one of the shipping wagons.”

Without saying another word, Cah’lia began back down the road in the direction they had come from. Before following, Sehn took a moment to admire her curvy figure under the moonlight. Then he took another moment to growl at himself for actually “admiring” something under the moonlight. What in the Gods was wrong with him?

Foolish Cah’lia
,
how dare you make the Great Sehn notice the shape of your hips
?
Especially at a time like now
.
You will pay dearly for this later
.

Sehn spat on the gravel beneath him then prepared to take off after her. But first, he needed to take one more look at her. Not because he wanted to or anything, but because he feared there might be assassins or whatever following after her. A smile snuck its way onto his lips. Curses be to the Gods for giving him emotions, because he could no longer deny to himself just how much he liked Cah’lia.

Sehn snapped out of his pathetic trance as Cah’lia reached the end of the street and began to leave his sight. He was falling behind and needed to hurry after her. But before he could take a single step, something registered in the corner of his eye—something fast. He turned around and looked upwards at the dark building that sat atop the hill, which he assumed was an old temple. No candles or lanterns had been lit, giving the impression that the place had been abandoned.

“Hmm?”

Sehn lingered another moment, staring up at the hill before deciding it was probably his imagination. As he began to turn back around, his eyes detected another hint of motion. This time, he saw it more clearly. It was a fast-moving shadow, barely visible in the scant light. It appeared as a form of flickering darkness. It—whatever it was—moved quickly inside the temple, flowing from the left side of the structure to the right before “bouncing” back the way it came. At least, Sehn assumed that was the case, as the shadow was only visible when passing by one of the windows.

One thing was for sure, though: Sehn had never seen anything like it. It was almost as if a person holding a candle was running around the place, except that a candle shined light, and whatever this was managed to create more darkness. This lasted for several more seconds, and then the shadowy movement came to an end. Sehn waited around a bit to see if it started up again, but it appeared to be over with.

Now I need to know what it is
, he realized.
How dare something unexplainable happen and then I don’t get to know what it was
?
That
,
too
,
is a violation of my divine law
.

Curiosity took hold, and he decided to investigate the temple. Judging by its size, he guessed that it was a place of worship for one of the lesser Gods, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he got a closer look. But should he call after Cah’lia first?

Sehn decided against it. He could catch up with her later, and it wouldn’t be wise to waste any more time over what was probably nothing. Hoping to be quick, he set off at a brisk walk on the gravel pathway that ran up the hill leading to the old temple. He grunted at the squishiness beneath his boots. After a few steps, the gravel turned to dirt, the ground became damp, and now he left shallow, muddy footprints behind him wherever he walked.

When he was halfway to the top, a strange chill traveled down his spine, and he paused in his step. It only then occurred to him that this was somewhat creepy. After all, he was sure he’d seen something inside the dark temple, and judging from the place’s appearance, he was also fairly certain that the temple had fallen into disuse. So what, then, could be inside? Better yet,
why
would anything be inside?

Sehn tried to continue the rest of the way up the hill, but the sight of the old temple waiting at the top caused his feet to remain planted into the ground. He swallowed nervously. What if…what if something horrible was inside?

Perhaps I’d better call for Cah’lia after all
.
It could take a while to search the place
,
and it would be useful to have someone assisting me
.
Such a shame
,
though
.
I would have enjoyed being all alone in that dark
,
creepy temple
.
Damn
!
If only there was some way that I could search it without her help
.

Sehn nodded to himself. The place was
clearly
too large to go inside alone. Oh well. It was time to call Cah’lia. He sucked air into his lungs, and then shouted, “Hey, Cah—”

“I’m right behind you.”

Sehn shrieked and jumped away, shock traveling through his body. He lost his footing and fell hard on his back. He groaned, his heart pounding furiously against his chest. He lay still for a moment, stunned. Then, realizing what he’d done, he soared back up to his feet and dusted himself off.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” Cah’lia asked. “I noticed you weren’t following me so I came back.”

“S-scare me?” Sehn asked, laughing, his legs jittering as if he were standing barefoot in a puddle of freezing water. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was practicing a new defensive maneuver. It’s called
the ah
…the fall of doom. You’re lucky you weren’t hit with it. This new attack is capable of decapitating ten enemy heads simultaneously.”