The Endless Solvent

“Surely you can find some traces,” Dori whispered savagely.

Camaz ignored him and tied the strip of cloth around Raka’s leg as tightly as he could. Perhaps a good healer could help him heal the knee but he’ll probably never walk the same again. If it wasn’t for the unsevered flesh, his leg would have come clean off. Rakas was pale and on the verge of fainting, but handling the situation well despite the fact that he almost lost a limb.

Dori seemed to have lost patience and began pacing the small storage room Moulu and his men had thrown them into. They probably had limited spaces for confining prisons as the village was in shambles. The manus students were all there but Laell was purposely separated from them. From what he could tell from the sounds, she was in the room right next door, unable to make sounds or use her hands, probably. An extremely skilled runist could probably cast an enchantment with nothing more than scratches on the ground - Camaz didn’t know if Laell was that skilled, but it seemed Moulu wasn’t taking that chance.

Then trapping the manus students with him served a duo purpose: first to save space, second for Dori to slowly lose his mind and put the pressure on Camaz to do something. Anything.

“It’s a misconception that every word that comes out of my mouth would be a lie,” Camaz said. “I was truthful when I said I have no idea where she is.”

“Yeah, you think your old friend upstairs believes that?” Dori snapped. “At least think of a way to convince him.”

“You were tasked with this mission, you were explained the dangers. Perhaps it was lucky we didn’t run into any Unseeing - you would have been the first to run with your tail between your legs,” Camaz said.

“We were tasked to aid you. You’re lucky any of us agreed. If I’d known we were looking for some so-called noble of a non-existent kingdom - ”

“You would have been required to follow orders regardless. Even if Aris was the daughter of an unknown beggar, you would be expected to fulfill your duties.” Camaz squared off the younger man. He hadn’t been required to do something like this for a long time. Back in Sekrelli, it was important for young men to know precisely where they stood in life. The Academy, conversely, was an open and accepting place where everyone was equal in the pursuit of knowledge. It was a load of shit, of course. Every place held a hierarchy.

“This… this is insanity,” Dori spluttered. “You expect me to lose a limb or even my life just because you got fucked over?”

He cast a wide-eyed look at Verne, who was sitting next to Raka to comfort the young man who almost had a waxy complexion under his naturally bronzed skin. Moulu’s men had stripped the Sekrelli noble of his weapons and a few of his outer armor, but he still somehow looked poised and regal as if fully prepared to go to war. “I apologize, Dori,” Verne said softly. “But Professor Camaz is right. We’re here to aid him through thick and thin, through any troubles. And this is trouble we were hired to deal with.”

A look of utter fury crossed Dori’s fine features but it quickly dissolved to exasperation. It allowed silence to fill the room they were trapped in, along with Raka’s raspy, pained breathing.

The main problem was that Laell was trapped in another room, Camaz realized. Of course, escape was important but actually that was the easiest part. Between two able bodied manus students, Camaz believed they could break down a door or even a wall if needed even without weapons. ‘Manus’ did refer to ‘hand’ and so their abilities existed within their bodies - their ability referred to their physical abilities. Weapons were just an aid. This was one of the first lessons Yelpa taught.

However they wouldn’t be able to fight Moulu or his men when they had some sort of protection around them, especially while they are outnumbered and weaponless. Camaz couldn’t help if he couldn’t reach their enemies’ solute. Therefore, the main issue was how these men were stopping their abilities from working. It must be some sort of enchantment, some sort of runes inscribed on a charm or on their body. The person on their team who was most capable of fixing this problem was Laell.

Finding out how to communicate with Laell took precedence. In that case, since everyone wanted to find Aris, there was one obvious way of doing that.

"Bring your master here,” he called through the door. There was a long pause before one of Moulu’s strange henchmen answered.

“He is not our master.”

Camaz snorted. “You follow his orders. You obey him. Of course he is your master.”

“We don’t need to explain how we do things.”

Ah, but the man had to point out Moulu wasn’t their boss. Camaz filed away that detail for later. He let the issue rest for now, since it wouldn’t bode well to push these strangers too hard. “You want Aris, I need a healer for my student. Surely we can work something out.”

More silence, perhaps some quiet shuffling behind the door. Bargaining was going to work since they hadn’t killed them yet. Moulu was expecting one of them to strike a deal.

The sun was starting to set when the door finally opened and one of the men gestured for Camaz while three other men filed in. One of them held a bundle of clean bandages and several implements to draw runes on them. Camaz met Verne’s gaze briefly.

Watch them, he thought, hoping the message passed through wordlessly. Verne made no response, but stood next to Raka and watched them work at re-bandaging his leg. Camaz followed one of the plainly dressed men out. They had chosen a larger house, the room situated underground as part of a cellar. They led him to the ground floor of the house. Camaz felt the air grow warmer and became free of the damp musty smell. He was led through a hallway stained with blood on the floor, although any traces of a body was removed. In the large main room that contained a seating area and a small kitchen, Moulu stood next to the dining table covered with maps and pieces of parchment along with the remaining men.

“Do you suddenly remember where Aris is?” Moulu asked condescendingly.

“No. I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t know where she is,” Camaz said. “I thought you were good at telling when someone was lying. It used to be your ‘father’s pride’.” Camaz purposely used the common Sekrelli term for a talent or proficient skill.

“That isn’t going to work.” Moulu cast him a cold look. “If I remember correctly, you were always the one to succumb to emotion, not me.”

“Having a heart is not a weakness,” Camaz said.

“And what do you know about strength?” Moulu unsheathed his short sword and whipped it into stance. Something intense, more intense than anger burned behind his dark eyes. “If you’re going to waste our time, I might as well kill you now.”

“I’ll find Aris as long as you keep my students alive,” Camaz said. “Am I helping now?”

“Good. Now send your pets out and get this over with.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Fine. Then tell me what you need.”

Control. He had to keep controlled. Camaz thought carefully about how to say his next words. “The stick outside in the fields, the one with runes on it. I need that. Then I need my runist student.”