14 #2
“We virkin are attuned to magic,” Arch replied in his now-familiar silent speech. “We know its many flavors and scents. This one feels…unnatural. Not evil, necessarily. But wrong. It pulses through the land like a song out of tune.”
“And you can trace it?” Malea asked, her voice hushed with wonder.
Keera swooped lower and banked around them, gliding in perfect tandem with her green companion.
“We can. That’s why we wanted to go with you.
The magic felt wrong, even from far away.
It has a sour note, as Arch said. Like someone bent the melody.
All virkin in the city heard it and felt it.
When we heard you two were going north, it made sense for the two of us to go with you.
Everybody in the city is counting on us to fix the strange magic coming from up here so we can all rest easier. ”
Kurt frowned. “I had no idea something this far away could affect virkin in the city.”
Keera swooped in front of him on her next pass. “We’re very sensitive to magic. It’s one of our jobs. To put things right in the magic of the world.”
Kurt looked over at Malea and found her expression was as dumbfounded as his own.
Had the virkin just intimated that they had some higher purpose?
That was the first he’d ever heard of such a thing.
He tucked away that knowledge to report back to Isolde and the General when he got back to the city.
Surely, they should know if such a thing was true.
“Is that why you came to Valdis to begin with?” Malea asked, pushing for a bit more information since Keera seemed in a mood to disclose secrets.
“We did a lot of good work in Elderland, but that place didn’t need so many of us anymore,” Keera replied offhandedly. If she’d been human, she sounded as if she would have shrugged. Meanwhile, Kurt’s eyes widened at the small creature’s admission.
“Then we heard about the alchemists and what they had done to the Blind King, and our elders thought we could help cleanse the magic in Valdis. Those alchemists make turbulent magic, some of them, but they won’t let us near enough to soothe it.
Virkin wouldn’t like living near such chaotic magic, in any case, so it’s better our parents chose to come to Valdis. ” Arch’s tone sounded a little peeved.
“For what it’s worth, I’m very glad your families chose to come here. My life is richer for knowing you,” Malea said with care that shone through her words.
“I agree. I never thought virkin would go beyond the borders of Elderland,” Kurt concurred.
“We didn’t always live there,” Arch offered.
“Our elders tell us that they all gathered there ages ago because that’s where they were needed most. That’s where the last great battle between wizards took place, and it left ripples in the flow of magic for leagues around that were dangerous to the fabric of the world.
We fixed it, and now, we can go other places to fix other things,” Keera added.
“Wait a minute,” Malea said, almost stopping her plodding horse as she reared back in the saddle.
“Why are you suddenly telling us all of this now? Virkin have been in Valdis now for years, and it’s always been a big mystery as to why you came and what you wanted to do here, if anything.
Now, suddenly, you’re giving us the answers to everything everyone’s been wondering all this time? I want to know why.”
Keera giggled in their minds. It was a joyful sound that took Kurt off guard, but he said nothing. He wanted to see what the virkin would say in response to Malea’s blunt questions.
“It’s time,” Arch answered simply.
“When we accepted this mission from our elders, they told us we could explain a few things to you now because you’re probably going to be needing our help and seeing a lot more of what we can do when we find what we’re looking for,” Keera explained.
Kurt didn’t know how what to say. He was both astounded and honored to be one of the two people that were privileged to learn secrets from the virkin.
He had always suspected they were more than they seemed but hadn’t thought he’d actually be gifted with the truth of their abilities.
Or at least part of it. He was pretty sure they weren’t telling him everything they could do, but even this was groundbreaking information.
“Well, we’re honored that you would choose to tell us,” Malea said, bowing her head to the virkin. “Thank you.”
The virkin flew ahead, effectively ending the conversation for the moment. They were like that sometimes. When they had finished speaking, they just flew off. Kurt had learned their ways being friends with Arch all these years. Virkin did as they pleased, and that was the truth of it.
A while later, the trail narrowed as they crossed a frozen stream, icicles clinging to the rocks like teeth. Kurt’s instincts stayed on high alert. With each step, he could feel the energy of the land subtly shift. They were closing in on something, though he wasn’t yet sure what.
“How much farther?” he asked Arch, who was perched momentarily on a nearby rock.
“By sunset, I think. We’re getting close now,” Arch replied.
Kurt exhaled slowly, guiding his horse around a fallen tree. The growing tension in his chest wasn’t fear. Not exactly. It was the weight of knowing they were finally getting close to the answers he sought. The mine. The mage. The truth.
And maybe a way to stop the madness before dragons began to fall from the skies to evil weapons crafted by evil men.