Aftermath 38.

The Kaldel Plains...

"Any sign of Davon?" asks Pallen the blademaster "Nothing" replies Sasha the former mercenary who has just come back from the village green, where work is being done on two of the airships there now. With nearly twenty of the wreckers working on each ship, as they continue to strip down and take apart the airships.
The couple who are originally from the kingdom of Girdane, where they first met on opposite sides of a battlefield between a pair of noblemen.
Are standing outside the long building used essentially as a tavern, near the middle of the village.
"He'll take a bit longer to come back after he's found any potential buyers" says the good looking woman with just one eye, and a gnarly looking scar down one side of her face, all courtesy of her lover Pallen.
"He can't travel as quickly or as far as either Samiel or Sara" adds the former mercenary.
"That's if he comes back" dryly says Pallen the blademaster, who rather hopes the wizard doesn't show up. As that will give an explanation of what's happened with Mac and the theft of a large chunk of the wreckers fortune.
"That's true" murmurs Sasha as she looks around the center of the village, which is pretty quiet, as some of the wreckers this afternoon have returned to working on breaking down two of the three airships on the village green.
While most of the rest are still out and about searching for the missing dwarf, and the missing chests of gold and gems.
"I think summer is pretty much over" says Pallen who changes the subject, the tall plainsman who is a blademaster continues with "It's been fairly cool pretty much all day".
His lover, and fellow Girdanian nods her head in agreement, then as Sasha is just about to say something, they hear a shout from near the village green.
The two of them glance at one another, then take off running. They make their way through the center of the village, and hurry to the wide open, circular area on the west side of the village.
The two of them, the former mercenary and the dangerous blademaster head straight across the village green, to the northwest corner, where Arvelle's house is located.
Out the front of the two storey house, is the leader of the crew of illegal wreckers himself. He's with two of the other wreckers, larger men. Who between them, hold an irate looking Davon the wizard between them.
"Inside" says Sasha as she hurries up to those just out the front of the two storey house.
"No arguing Davon" adds the good looking woman from the kingdom of Girdane.
The spellcaster looks at Pallen, who nods for the two wreckers firmly holding the wizard between them, to follow Arvelle inside.
Once they're all inside the two storey house, and as Arvelle heads to a backroom to get something.
Sasha says to the two men holding Davon "You can let him go". When they release the wizard, the former mercenary tells them "Go back outside on guard".
After the two wreckers exit, and they shut the door behind them. Pallen the blademaster points at a chair and says to the spellcaster "Sit".
The wizard frowns, though he takes a seat, and when he goes to say something, Sasha quietly tells him "Just be silent for now Davon" followed by "We'll explain everything soon".
Still frowning, the spellcaster who has just returned to the village, nods his head, and remains silent.
He's just thinking about casting a spell to see what's going on when Arvelle returns to the main room, and says to the wizard "Here take this, and hold it".
Looking at what's offered to him, Davon the wizard frowns and says "A spell gem?".
"Just take it and hold it Davon" says Sasha, who continues with "And like i said, remain silent".
The spellcaster sighs, then takes the small gem and holds it in his right hand, looking at it Davon says "A truth spell?" as he senses the spell within the gem, he follows that with "Did Samiel cast it in here?".
"He did" says Arvelle, who then adds "Now be quiet" the tall plainsman with the shaved head who leads the crew of illegal wreckers then asks the wizard "Where's Mac?".
"Mac?" says Davon who then adds "I have no idea".
The other three wreckers, Arvelle, Sasha and Pallen look closely at the small gem in the right hand of the wizard, it doesn't glow, which they were hoping it would, as that would make things a whole lot easier.
The leader of the crew of illegal wreckers looks over at the couple from the kingdom of Girdane and sourly smiles, Arvelle then sighs and looks back at the wizard sitting on the chair, and asks him "Did you help Mac to steal the gold and gems?".
"What?" exclaims Davon in shock, quickly followed by "No". Once again the small spell gem doesn't glow.
"Fuck" mutters Arvelle in disgust, who walks away and kicks over an empty chair.
Sasha and Pallen share a look, then the former mercenary from Girdane says to the wizard "You can put it on the table" as she nods towards the spell gem Davon is holding.
After the spellcaster puts the small jewel on the table, he asks "What the hell has been going on?".
He looks over at Arvelle who is looking out one of the windows, staring at the activity in and around two of the airships on the village green. Then the wizard looks at the couple from the kingdom of Girdane.
"Might as well tell him" says the blademaster Pallen to his lover Sasha, who nods her head, then explains to Davon what's happened since he's been gone. How Mac the dwarf is gone, and so is a sizable chunk of the illegal wreckers fortune, almost a quarter of it.
"Fucking hell" murmurs the wizard in shock once the good looking woman with one eye explains to him what's happened.
"How did that happen?" asks Davon "We're not sure" replies Sasha, who glances towards Arvelle, who is looking more than a little moody as he looks out a window to the village green.
"Since it's pretty certain no one else helped him" says the former mercenary from Girdane, who continues with "There's a good chance he had outside help".
"I can't believe of Mac" murmurs the wizard, who looks over at Arvelle and slightly winces, as he realises it's their leader's best friend who has betrayed them.
"Outside help you say?" then says Davon as he looks back at Sasha, she nods her head to that, and the spellcaster quietly says "Wonder who could of helped him?".
The wizard who is from the kingdom of Nastell, shakes his head then says "Not really" in reply to Sasha asking him "Anyway you can find out what happened?".
"What about finding him?" asks the good looking one eyed woman "If i don't know where he went, it'll be impossible" says the wizard who continues with "It's a lot easier to find and locate other spellcasters than those who don't know magic".
Davon who is quiet for a few moments, then says "If i knew the area he's in, i might be able to scry him out". Sasha nods, as that was Sara the sorceress said too.
The wizard quietly says "He'd go south to that town quite a lot, when we'd sell stuff there" the spellcaster continues with "Maybe he got help down there?".
"We've thought of that" says the former mercenary from the kingdom of Girdane who continues with "Samiel and Gorlic have gone down there to check things out".
Arvelle sighs, then turns from the window, and makes his way back to the table, picks up the chair he kicked over, and sits down on it.
"Were you able to find any potential buyers?" asks the leader of the crew of the illegal wreckers "I did" says Davon who then adds "They'll be here in three or four days".
The wizard, who has been with the wreckers longer than Pallen and Sasha, says "Forget about that" he continues with "What are we going to do to find Mac?" followed by "And get back the gold and gems he stole?".
Narladene the ground pixie frowns, and drifts away from those in the main room of the two storey house who she's been watching, and listening to.
The naturally magical creature who is invisible to them, goes outside. Simply by flying through the door, as she can pass through any inanimate object.
The tiny winged creature pauses and continues to frown as she magically senses to the south.
"Shit" Narladene the ground pixie mutters to herself, for she thought she sensed something away to the south heading this way.
Not directly, it's heading more to the east of here. And Narladene knows exactly where. The naturally magical creature dives down into the ground. And takes off to where the four of Tamric Drubine, Lisell Maera, Tovis the war engineer and Beldane the cleric are observing the village, and it's inhabitants.
"They haven't come out of the house" says Tamric Drubine the field commander as he continues to look through his brass, cylindrical eyepiece as they watch the village that's less than a quarter of a mile away from where they're lying on a slight rise.
"They're definitely still in there" adds the nobleborn teenager who is originally from the feudal kingdom of Sarcrin.
"Hopefully they're blaming that wizard for what's happened" says Beldane the cleric who is holding his power within himself.
"Hopefully" says Lisell Maera the messenger, next to her, Tamric Drubine nods his head in agreement.
Then the young field commander in the armies of Farque is about to say something, when he suddenly falls silent.
As he listens to Narladene the ground pixie hurriedly explain something to him.
Tamric Drubine or Tam as he's more commonly called by those who know him well, winces then hurriedly says "Quick" hastily followed by "Back to the spot in the trees east of here".
"Why?" asks Lisell Maera, the attractive young woman who hails from the city-state of Brattonbury continues with "What is it?".
"No time to explain" says field commander Drubine who is crawling backwards off the rise.
The others hurriedly follow the nobleborn teenager originally from the kingdom of Sarcrin. Then once they're off the rise, and standing, Tam looks at Beldane and says "Hurry".
The powerful cleric quickly says "That wizard in the village might sense me". After a moment, the young field commander says "He's not sensing at the moment".
Beldane lifts his eyebrows in surprise, then with a shrug of his shoulders, the fighting cleric says "If you say so".
The member of the church of Glaine stops holding his power within himself, and hurriedly casts a gateway spell.
It forms relatively quickly as it doesn't have to go that far. And Tamric Drubine is the first one through after the invisible Narladene rushes through it just after it forms.
Lisell Maera is next, followed by Tovis the war engineer, and lastly Beldane himself. A moment or two after the powerful spellcaster has gone through the gateway, it vanishes.
"What are we doing?" asks Beldane the cleric when they're amongst the trees where they're camping out.
"I'm not too sure at the moment" says Tamric Drubine, who nods his head as he listens to the invisible ground pixie who is hovering next to his head.
After a moment, the young field commander says "We have to get the chests out of the ground".
"Why?" asks Lisell Maera with a frown upon her face "Because there's a mageglobe heading straight here" replies Tamric Drubine.
"And how do you know that?" asks the fighting cleric in the church of Glaine who looks around and senses.
"Sense to the south, southwest really" Tam tells the powerful spellcaster, the nobleborn teenager then adds "You should be able to sense it coming from that direction in a little while".
Field commander Drubine says "But for now, get those chests out of the ground" followed by "We need to get them away from here quickly, and preferably as far as possible too".
"Hell" mutters Beldane who thinks he can feel a mageglobe away to the southwest, but they're notoriously difficult to sense, and he knows he won't be certain about it until it's much closer.
Without asking anymore questions, and taking the young field commander's word for fact. The member of the church of Glaine quickly gets the stolen chests out of the ground with a series of dig spells.
"Gateway out of here Beldane" says Tam as Tovis the war engineer picks up one of the larger ship's lockers by himself.
Then as the powerful cleric casts a gateway spell, which takes a while to form as the otherside of it is to a spot he knows well over a hundred miles further to the east on the plains.
Beldane mutters "Damn" as he suddenly senses a mageglobe heading this way from the southwest. It isn't moving especially quickly, but it is moving at a steady pace, heading in a straight line, directly here.
The gateway forms, and Tovis is the first one through with a ship's locker, while Lisell Maera goes through next with one of the two small barrel casks.
The field commander and the powerful cleric pick up the other ship's locker, and head through the magical doorway.
A couple of moments later and Tovis followed by Lis come back through it. And the young engineer picks up the renaming chest, while the messenger picks up the other barrel cask.
The two of them hurry back through the gateway, as Narladene the ground pixie after quickly telling field commander Drubine something, comes out of it.
A moment later, the magical doorway vanishes, as on the otherside, Beldane the cleric drops the spell.
When it vanishes, the naturally magical creature originally from the Sunreach Mountains, who has spotted the mageglobe through the trees. Sees it suddenly stop in midair about thirty yards away.
Then it moves again, moving far quicker than it previously was as it hurries to the spot where the chests of gold and gems were buried.
The ground pixie studies the living piece of magic which is ignoring her as it noses around, so to speak, the holes in the ground.
Narladene grins, then wings her way to the mageglobe, coming to a stop infront of it, causing it to come to a halt in it's investigation of the holes in the ground.
"So you're looking for chests of golds and gems are you" says the ground pixie to the mageglobe which is basically staring at her as she's got it's attention.
The naturally magical creature who can communicate with living pieces of magic like mageglobes, continues with "Well, i know where some are".
Narladene starts moving away, and says "This way" to the mageglobe. The living piece of magic gives a little hop, and follows after the tiny winged creature. Who grins as she leads the mageglobe westwards to the village about five miles away.
Narladene knows it's task is to find five chests, and their specific descriptions. Well, there's still five exactly like the ones Tam and the others stole, still amongst the fortune the illegal wreckers have stored in the two storey house in the nearby village.
And as she and the mageglobe get closer to the village, the living piece of magic picks up the image of five of those chests that were described to it by it's creator the mage Samiel when it was formed.
The mageglobe which found the stolen chests fairly easily when it got in the area because they were isolated and away from similar things.
Hurries up, and almost overtakes Narladene as she leads it to the nearby village . . . . . .