Daylight illuminated the bloody imprints of the slaughter that had taken place during the night. Dried and congealed spots of blood alongside human bones and scraps of clothing lay strewn all over the quarry grounds.
Artemus carefully stepped past the skeletonised body of a victim as he scanned the area for ghouls. There were none in sight because the monsters were all hiding away from the sun. They were inside the cabins and in the shadows of the forests. He could smell the rot surrounding the quarry and warning him of stepping out of the sunlight.
The little girl whom he had stashed away under the house was only nine years old but braver and more sensible than anyone her age had any right to be. When Artemus had told her to stay quiet while he explored, he had seen fear swimming in her eyes. She hadn't wanted to be left alone but nodded anyway.
Artemus couldn't see a way out for them without taking drastic measures. If they waited like sitting ducks, the ghouls would eventually find them one on one of the nights they ventured out. But if they tried escaping into the forest, they would run into the ghouls he knew were hiding in there. The anti mage had sent his signal to Alka and was confident that rescue would come for them, but would they survive until then?
___
Mid-afternoon came upon the quarry. Artemus was quietly stacking dead wood around one of the biggest cabins in the area. He had peeked inside through the window of the cabin only to see nearly twenty ghouls hiding away from the light. The dead bodies of the old talkative man and his family members were grotesquely posed inside the cabins. He tried not to think too much about it. They were already dead and gone.
The anti mage quietly placed the last few pieces of wood without waking up the monsters. Their senses were dulled during the day but he had to be careful because though the ghouls feared the sunlight, they would still attack him if woken up from their sleep.
Artemus took a flint out of his dimension bag and struck a small flame. The red-orange tongue of flame licked across the dry kindling that began to let out smoke and burn. In no time, there was a huge bonfire around the cabin. There was no doubt that the cabin was going down in flames so Artemus retreated back to where the little girl was waiting for him.
____
"Sebastian, I'm afraid I have some bad news," Alka told the mage after locating him at King Hill.
The sandy-haired mage would have been an idiot to not realise who this was about. There had been no news from Artemus for over two weeks and now Alka was here telling him there was bad news.
"Please tell me this isn't yer brother," he told the plant mage.
"Artemus' life is in danger and I need your help to convince the Sanguine to hand over information about his location."
Sebastian took off his teaching robe and gestured for Alka to follow him. "Explain on the way to HQ."
___
By the time Sebastian left the HQ, he didn't just have information, he was in possession of the very ring that had pricked Alka. The members of the Sanguine had been setting up a small elite force to retrieve Artemus, either dead or alive. Sebastian and Alka were lucky that they had arrived at the HQ before the team had departed Elysium.
At the manor, Lucien, Magnus and Akida were waiting packed and ready at the gate. Salem had been persuaded to stay home because the siren and the selkie were a danger to each other if left alone.
"Akida, how is Riaku?" Lucien asked the avian as they waited for Alka and Sebastian to arrive.
The avian shrugged. "He's currently the ruler of Nua. Riaku is under a lot of stress and he is most definitely not enjoying the fruits of his hard labour."
Red had been very interested in the half-demon avian. Lucien now wondered if he would feel the same way upon meeting Riaku a second time.
"I'd like to visit Nua after we bring back Artemus," he told Akida. "I sure hope his majesty isn't married or anything."
The avian made an amused sound. "Riaku rations the time he has for himself and spends all of it looking for a way to rid himself of the cursed sword. He has neither the time nor the energy for marriage and romance."
"I should really visit him them," Lucien replied as he thought about how the sword had spoken to him. "Sounds like Riaku desperately needs an intervention." He was the seed of the apocalypse, it had told him. Lucien was starting to think the sword had been bullshitting him.
Akida and Magnus did not know about Lucien's connection with the sword. To them, it sounded like the redhead intended to spice up Riaku's life in a romantic way.
"Aren't you a bit too young?" Akida lightly asked.
"What?" The redhead turned to the avian with confusion. "What does age have to do with anything? If I'm competent enough to solve his problems then that's all that should matter."
"How old is Riaku again?" Magnus inquired.
"I dunno. Twenty-eight, maybe?" Akida answered.
That had the redhead realising there was a misunderstanding going on, not that he was going to say anything about it.
"Twenty-eight? That's a good age," he told the avian. "I wish I was twenty-eight. Being seventeen has its perks but it limits my dating pool."
Magnus too wished Lucien was twenty-eight.
"Akida, do you think you'd be interested in me if I wasn't seventeen?" He curiously asked the avian.
Akida raised his brows at Lucien. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm trying to understand something."
The avian glanced at the fire mage who also seemed interested in what he had to say.
"You're just as attractive as that annoying brother of yours. If you weren't a shrimp then I'd say you're physically pretty enough to pique my interest." His reply was honest if not too complimentary. "Are you fishing for compliments, Lucien?"
The redhead laughed. "Yep. I've been feeling a little insecure about my ability to attract someone. Anyway, I see Alka and Sebastian arriving. Guess it's adventure time then."
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