The next day, Xera had managed to set up his lab in a
building on the far reaches of town on the path to the mines. Although he had initially
wanted to pick one of the more odd shaped buildings such as the spherical
building made out of tessellating metal plates but none of the other buildings
had enough light for him to grow without being seen. He had spent most of his
time tucked away there away from the rest of the villagers. Eryn on the other
hand had already started to become bored within a couple of hours on the first
day. He had taken it upon himself to make sure every house that had been abandoned or whose
doors had been left wide open, was empty.
This not only passed the time but allowed him to see how many villagers
were left and what the rumours were around.
Most of these were the same, the people that were left were
unsettled and did not look too kindly on the Purple Order. There was unrest
with a few individuals slowly turning towards confronting the Order. They,
on the other hand, were completing their
final packing tasks and finishing up checklists. Eryn had thought about going
over to the Hawk-Eye building but the gate up to the entrance was locked and he
was tentative about giving them the wrong impression, given his current
circumstances. Apart from the walk around the village he kept mainly to himself
in his room, ready for when Lina would be in need.
Three days passed by since Eryn and Xera's arrival, and the
mysterious affliction of Lina had not left her. Similarly neither did the old
man and his son, who Eryn now considered them to be family, or at least part of
an extended one to her. The father was
called Begron Jenor, and his son of the same name. From the fleeting conversations they had,
Eryn had found out that they were previously slaves working in the mines. The
owner had since vanished and nearly everyone returned home, he and his son and few
others remained and continued with the settlement. and it was his voice that
woke Eryn from his sleep around four o'clock in the morning. His voice was
angry and assertive, interspersed with a similar fire from his son. Both of
them were backed to the sound of a young girl crying and the soft mumbles of
Mavis
.
.
Eryn looked over towards Xera, who had finally gone to bed, and
dressed then tiptoed out of the room as not to wake him. As he reached the
stairs down, he saw another bedroom opening, a bedraggled and weary man
stumbled out. He seemed to be in his early twenties , but Eryn was unsure in
the light and hoped for the same when he glanced the man's fingers that were
reaching down to his knees with hoof-like
nails. Eryn quickly recognised the stench of the aftertaste of the local ale
and shook his head and headed down.
In the centre of the bar the young girl from the corner of
the room was crying in a collapsed heap. Mavis was by her side, periodically fetching
more cloth to wipe the girls tears. It was however the Jenors who had Eryn's
attention. They both seemed ready to tear into each other and Eryn knew he had
to stop them before things escalated. He leapt over to them and placed himself in
between as quickly as he could. They both protested, continuing to fight over
and around him. That was until the man with unnatural hands stumbled down the
stair case and also tried to separate the fight.
The distraction provided by the new arrival caused the
Jenors a momentary pause and allowed Eryn to force Begron Sr into a seat. Eryn
went to talk to the man's son. Begron Jr, without even noticing what had happened,
waved towards the new figure shouting his greetings to the man called Jarvi.
Eryn turned around and noticed that Jarvi had gone over to Begron's father and
had set himself beside his chair. Eryn shook his head and turned back to Begron
Jr. He asked what their fight was about. Begron replied that he needed to go
into the mines to rescue the villagers but his father wouldn't let him. He was
countered with the argument that he didn't need to be reminded of the disappearances
that had happened after they had questioned the Order. The young girl wailed
out again. Xera by now had awoke with bloodshot eyes and kept to the back of
the room while he was passed on the stairs down by an elderly gentleman in fine
black tailored garments. Xera could just about see the man put on white gloves
before withdrawing a note book and a thin black tube and started to write
notes. He was not looking at the girl, Xera noted, but at Eryn instead. He
didn't recognise this man, or the man with the mutated fingers.
Eryn quickly shifted his focus to the young girl who was now
sobbing over her hand, twiddling her ring with her fingers. Eryn breathed
slowly, lowing his tone to a more empathetic level. This was impeded by Jarvi
who was now bartering his Hawk-Eye services with Begron Sr. Eryn turned around
and glared over the man. Eryn hoped this wasn't his contact. What bothered him
more was that the mutant was also blind, with brilliant white eyes scarred with
red. He hoped even more that this blind
drunk wasn't official, that the Hawk-Eyes could employ such a man. He turned
back to the girl who had continued telling her story without Eryn's attention.
The latter part he could only catch a few important pieces of information. Her fiancé
had argued with the Purple Order that morning and had only just disappeared
while they both slept. The timing was also apparently similar to that over a
week ago when a young girl with a sparkling dress accompanied by four women was
taken to the mines.
Jarvi at hearing the
distress of a young child bounded out of the inn towards the mines. As he left
Mavis shouted to him that it had been over a week but even she knew it was a
lost cause, commenting on his mental capacity. Eryn had noticed the slowly
dwindling numbers but he had put that down to villagers being members of the vacating Purple Order, not the ones who
had questioned them. He decided he too
had to head for the mines, partly to stop the fool in front from hurting
himself, and partly to prove himself. Xera and the black suited man returned
upstairs. He started to fumble around in the dark for a machine he had been
working, but realised he had left it in the lab. He grabbed his coat and headed
towards the lab and the mines, quickly realising the suited man was with
another, slightly shorter but more richly dressed young man. Xera realised there was something not right
and after grabbing what he needed from his lab, kept a careful watch from the
shadows.
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