Lina sighed as she about the situation with Saturos and Menardi. She had to reluctantly agree with Kraden's plan to go along quietly, but one thing she was going to exploit was her hearing. She calmed herself and listened to Saturos and Menardi talk to merchant.
"Master Hammet, we will give you two thousand gold for the Shaman's Rod," Saturos said.
The merchant gave an amused snort and shook his head.
"If it was mine, I would sell it you," Master Hammet replied. "It was given into my care to give to Ivan when he sets out on his journey to Contigo to find his heritage and destiny. It's his and I can't sell it to you."
Menardi shot up to her feet and was about to say something when Saturos grabbed her hand and shook his head.
"Master Hammet, when will Ivan be leaving on his journey?" Saturos asked.
"Soon. He is to leave sometime this week," Hammet answered.
"Thank you for your time," Saturos said.
Master Hammet stood up and left the table.
"Why did you let go of it so easily?" Menardi hissed.
"Consider where Contigo is. There is a very good chance that we'll run into Ivan later and we can deal with the actual owner of the Shaman's Rod and convince him to sell it to us. I'd rather let Hammet complete his duty. It's not really going to cost us any time. We'll just have to be aware of our surroundings when we head for Jupiter Lighthouse. We still have Mercury Lighthouse and Venus Lighthouse to deal with first."
"I don't like it," Menardi said with a lot of force, while slamming her palm on the table. "For two thousand gold we could have had the Shaman's Rod, but now we have to wait."
"I don't like it either, but there is nothing we can do about it right now. We're starting off for Bilibin tomorrow. I did get one piece of information form Hammet that is useful. There is a very well hidden mountain pass that will allow us to go over the Goma Mountains and not go through the Goma Cave. That information he gave us saves some time," Saturos said.
Menardi gave an annoyed sigh and fingered her drink. "What of our new companions?"
Lina tensed up, but kept her calm outward appearance.
"If Kraden has studied Alchemy as much as the stories about him says he has, he probably wants to see the lighthouses lit as well. Jenna will keep Felix honest and Felix keeps Jenna from running off, since she wants to know why her brother is still alive. As to the Water Adept, Lina is resentful of being held hostage, but is going along with us to keep Jenna from being harmed. She might not be as strong as Alex, but she gives us an option in case Alex turns against us."
"There is something off about her. The only Water Adepts I've seen have blue, green, or blue-green hair," Menardi stated.
"If a person is an Adept and has blond hair, they are usually a Wind Adept," Saturos said, raising a mug of ale. "Isaac has blond hair and is an Earth Adept. Despite having a variety of hair colors, our clan is all Fire Adepts. She's just from some place where Water Psynergy is stronger than the other three."
"I guess so," Menardi reluctantly acceded.
"Lina gives us a bit more flexibility, since Alex keeps going off on his own. There might be times when we do need a Water Adept on hand. We're still going to need a Wind Adept and that's another reason I gave up on the rod. We might be able to get Ivan himself to join us later."
Lina stopped eavesdropping on the two and bit her lower lip. 'Those two aren't acting like world conqueror types. I'm still going to have to play the Water Adept role. I'm going to have to be careful, since my magic has been crippled. No Dragon Slave or Gaav Flair to use if things get rough. I've got that spell, but I haven't tried it out yet. If only Sis could see me now: Lina the Healer being held hostage. She'd laugh long and hard.'
Lina looked over to where Jenna was trying to get her brother to talk to her. She decided against listening in and started eating the meal that Saturos and Menardi had bought for her.
'For kidnappers, they do go out of their way to keep us well fed. I'll just watch them and see how their Fire Psynergies work. I might be able to get a handle on some new spells. I had better keep my wits about me with Alex around.'
What Lina failed to notice was a group of three men talking to themselves as they looked from the Prox natives to Master Hammet. The three of them snickered, as they huddled a bit closer and whispered to each other.
_______________________________________________________________________
In the hour of dim twilight before the sun rose, the group left Vault and headed towards the Goma Mountains. Lina took a glance back at Mt. Aleph and shuddered.
'That's a big volcano.'
The group soon fount the mountain pass and started up it. During the hike, Lina had amusedly watched Kraden wheedle Saturos and Menardi into letting him see the Elemental Stars. They only allowed one Star to be held by the scholar at a time. While that was going on, Lina did a bit of work on the bracers on each of her wrists.
"Since we're being held, can Jenna and I hold each Star for a bit?" Lina asked.
"As long as you give it right back," Menardi said bluntly.
Like Kraden, she was given each Elemental Stone in turn. However, she superstitiously and slowly scraped each orb across her bracers as she studied them. The Mercury Star was scraped along the thumb side of the left forearm. The Venus Star was scraped across the thumb side of the right forearm and the Jupiter Star was scraped against the pinky side of the right forearm.
'These things are quite powerful, but inert,' Lina thought. 'Bets are the lighthouses activate them. Looks like Isaac and Garet were quite rough when they pulled them out of the statues.'
"Hey, aren't these scrape marks going to cause problems when you try to light the Lighthouses?" Lina asked.
"So, you figured out what we wanted the Stars for," Saturos said, while shaking his head. "No. As long as the Stars aren't shattered, they can have a minor amount of wear."
After Lina handed back the stones to allow Jenna to examine them, she felt underneath her bracers and the three flecks hidden underneath.
'Tonight, I'll remove them. In Bilibin, I'll get started on something to help us in case we need it. I'll have to make allowances to have a fleck from the Mars Star be added to it.'
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(Posted Thu, 20 Apr 2006 07:54)
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