They slipped through the shadows, silent as secrets. It had cost them a king’s ransom to procure the maps of these mines, and twice as much to bribe enough guards to turn a blind eye or slip a sharpened blade into the backs of their brethren to make this mission possible. Fortunately, the conditions upon the streets of Raam had weakened the noble houses and in light of the waxing moon of Whithall authority, there were plenty of dissatisfied, diabolical, and desperate people willing to help.
They needed to move quickly; the serpent had been emphatic about that. The celestial clock was ticking and all of the pieces needed to be in position by game time. And they needed him as well. That part had been a total shock to Wink. She knew that she wanted to save Toad in an effort to repay the kindness that he had shown to her upon the streets all those years ago, but when the visions inscribed upon the scales of the snakes all begin to tell the same story, practically crying out to her that the time was nigh, she felt that her rescue plan would have to wait. To her surprise however, when she saw the final scale and the battle that awaited them, Toad was there in the fray fighting alongside them. She had had to read it three times to be sure, but it was unmistakably him. And so here they were, Niki, Pakku, and herself, braving the dark mines beneath the Whithall house on a suicide mission to rescue an urchin who should have been dead long ago.
When they finally reached the bottom of the mine she saw him, still crudely shackled and chained, held by pig-faced guard who snarled at them cruelly. At his feet lay the bodies of two guardsmen, blood oozing from grievous wounds where their heads had been bashed in. “’Ere’s yer liddle present,” the guard snarled, snapping the chain and forcing Toad to stagger forward. “Now we’re gunna renegoti…” The words died in his throat as a crossbow bolt birthed itself there. Pakku glided out of the shadows like a wraith and buried a second bolt in one of the man’s surprised eyes. Death’s greedy hands pulled the guard to the floor where he lay motionless and still, held in their cold embrace.
Toad looked down at the dead guard and then at the three figures in front of him, a look of confusion on his face. Wink stared back at him, unable to speak. She had planned on this moment for so long, preparing what she would say and do when the time finally came. But now she just stood motionless and stared at him. When she had last seen him, he had been a shadow of himself, wasted and weak, doomed to spend the rest of his short life toiling away in darkness. But the harsh mines had not broken him down, they had hardened him into stone. Gone was the chubby boy with the wide set eyes, and in its place stood a man seemingly sculpted of steel, all hard edges and sharp angles, ground to razored points until not one shred of softness remained. This man had seen horrors and lived a life harder than most. His once bright green eyes were cold and dark, and they stared at them suspiciously. “What do you want from me?” He asked at last, his voice low and iced over with apprehension.
When she regained her composure, Wink threw the hood back from her head and stepped forward out of the shadows. It took him a moment to recognize her but when he did, he collapsed to his knees in disbelief and she rushed forward to embrace him, tears of relief and joy staining both of their cheeks.
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The tiny silver serpent completed its circuit through her small hands, and stared up at her expectantly through its slitted yellow eyes. Wink was shaking, her teeth clamped tightly and a look of dread settling itself in her dark eyes. Niki, ever the observant one, noted her worried expression and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “What did it show this time?” he asked softly.
“I…I….don’t know,” she answered, still shaking. “But we are needed in Balic, of that I am sure.”
Niki looked over to where Pakku was showing Toad how to mount one of the magnificent, winged steeds and then back to Wink. He hadn’t been to Balic since he had fled all those years ago, running from the Templars that had ruthlessly hunted his family for the heresies of their Patriarch. He hadn’t planned on returning, but then again nothing he had planned had really worked out like he had expected. “Okay, I’ll start gathering provisions. What else did it show?”
Wink thought for a long moment about what to say and what to keep to herself but settled at last upon telling him the truth. He deserved that much, at least. “There is a fight with the King in Red. That purple shit is there too.” Niki scowled in disgust at that, so she pressed on. “Arnia is there, and she glows…she’s a warrior now and man, she can fight. That tribesman is there too, but he is changed. Darker now…like there is shadow over him.”
Wink closed her eyes and powered on. “And there is fire and death. I…I…can’t see it all, I am sure that Pakku dies in one scale,” she stammered, choking back tears. “B…but then he is back and he is just hurt. And then we are all burning and there is all this screaming and pain…I think I am dying but then that one guy from Gardiward…David, I think…he is really far away…somewhere cloudy and gray, but he does something and somehow we are all alive and together again and the fire is gone.”
Niki looked down at her with a look of tender concern and gently squeezed her shoulder, beckoning her to continue. “It’s like the scales are all confused. I read them and they say one thing, and then I read it again and it says something different. I’ve never seen that before. It’s like…like they aren’t sure.” She stared up at him, tears birthing in her soft eyes. “For the first time, the future is…unwritten. It’s like everything hinges on what we are going to do and even they don’t know.”
Niki sat down beside her and draped an arm across her shoulder and pulled her in close. Wink rested her head on his arm and closed her eyes, letting out a contented sigh and allowing herself to relax for a brief moment. An impossible task lay ahead of them, and that was only the beginning. After this impossible task they still needed to find a way to kill a Goddess? Wink let out a small chuckle born out of the sheer insanity of that idea. The chuckle morphed into a choking giggle, and then she was laughing uncontrollably.
Niki started chuckling as well as the contagion spread. Pakku and Toad stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at the pair of them and then they too began laughing at the absurdity of it all. The four of them laughed until tears ran down their cheeks, and for the briefest of moments everything felt right in the world.