Felix looked back to see Kyle kneeling over Lydia’s still form, crumpled on the ground. Abandoning the dead monster, he ran toward them.
“Lydia!” he cried, dropping to his knees beside them. Kyle was holding her, weeping. “Let me see her.”
Kyle refused at first, but seeing the conviction in Felix’s face, relented and lowered her back to the ground. Felix carefully felt over her, finding no major injuries. He checked her vitals, finding a pulse and rhythmic breathing, although faint.
“I need to look at her abdomen,” he said respectfully.
Kyle nodded his assent.
Felix raised her shirt, finding her stomach area pink, but not firm or distended.
“I think she’ll be okay. Stay here a second.”
He sprinted back to his cottage, retrieved the canteen, and hurried back to Lydia.
“She should drink this,” he said to Kyle, who furrowed his brow in confusion.
“Trust me.”
Felix opened the wooden stopper and placed the mouth of the canteen to her lips, spilling a slight amount inside. The liquid passed over her lips as her mouth moved slightly. She breathed deeply, her form tensing momentarily before relaxing.
Lydia’s eyes opened slightly.
Kyle grabbed her, holding her in a tight embrace.
“We need to get her back to a cabin,” Felix said. “Do you have a stretcher?”
Kyle brought Lydia’s head to his shoulder and stood, effortlessly lifting her, her arms draped over his shoulder. He carefully carried her back to their cottage and laid her on their bed.
Felix went to fetch some boiled water from the kitchen area, using a bucket.
A horn blast sounded in the near distance to the southeast.
Felix dropped low.
Down the river, he could see several horseback riders approaching. Staying low, he made his way back to the cottage.
“There are people coming,” Felix said.
Kyle’s eyes grew wide.
“It’s the clerics. How did they get here so quickly? They shouldn’t be here for days yet.”
“Well, somebody’s here now.”
Without further preamble, a woman’s voice sounded loudly from outside.
“We come in search of the one called Felix Cassian.”
Kyle looked at Felix.
Felix looked back at Kyle.
“They know you’re here. If they think we’ve helped you, they’ll take us all.” His eyes shimmered with fear as he glanced toward the open door.
“WE ARE HERE FOR THE ONE THEY CALL FELIX CASSIAN!”
The voice grew louder.
Felix glanced out of the door to find eight to ten riders in strange armor and carrying lances, surrounding a central cleric in long blue robes.
“Stay here,” Felix said to Kyle as he left the cottage.
He walked out of the cabin with his arms raised—not in surrender, but to show that he was unarmed.
“I am Felix Cassian. Who am I speaking with?”
The woman lowered the hood on her cloak, revealing a striking woman with sharp features and an equally sharp gaze.
“I am Moira Shade of the Delta Clergy. You are summoned to accompany me to the Source Tree of Delta for congress with the goddess known as Z.”
“Z? Who is that to me?”
“The name she gives is Elizabeth Blackwell. She has sent me here to bring you to her.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“She asked me to tell you that you have an interesting music selection, whatever that means,” Moira explained.
Felix recalled the encounter in the gym in Hawaii.
That seemed like ages ago.
“May we enter?” Moira asked. “Is there anyone with you there?”
“Stay. I will come peacefully. I will need my things.”
“Very well. Be quick. We heard evidence of other beasts nearby. We must be off.”
Felix ducked back through the doorway.
Kyle was huddled beside Lydia.
“There’s too many of them. I can’t fight them or escape. It looks like I’ll have to go.”
“You know Z?” Kyle asked.
“If it’s actually her, then yes. Sort of.”
He looked unsure.
“Look, I have an idea. Do you have any of that spider string?”
Felix stepped out from the cottage and immediately noted that Moira was becoming impatient.
“It was said that you murdered one of our clerics. Is this true?” Moira accused.
“She attacked me, and I defended myself. She did die, and for that I am sorry. It was not my intention to harm her.”
Moira looked down.
“And it was also said that two villagers were consummating a vow at the time. Are they with you now?”
Felix understood the implication.
The cleric who escaped two nights ago must have informed on them.
“I must confess that they also attacked me, and I was forced to subdue them. They may need aid. I have tried to care for them, but the female is in need. Please be aware that there are animals at the rear of the village taht are dead. There may be more, and the perimeter has been breached.”
Felix pointed toward the bag, club, and pile of papers scattered across the stone table of the kitchen.
“I will surrender to you on Z’s request. My belongings are here.”
Moira nodded, and the guards dismounted. Spears at the ready, they moved through the gate.
Felix stood with his arms extended as they surrounded him. They motioned him back toward the mass of horses and directed him to mount the mare beside Moira.
Four of the guards stayed with him while the others moved toward the cottage with Kyle and Lydia, roughly shoving his belongings into his bag.
Moira turned to look at Felix.
Her eyes burned with contempt.
She did not speak.
Artavus Quill 