Heirs of Hyarch

After rounding the corner, Hamond came to a complete stop.

Of all the possible scenarios for encountering Kalvarel he'd thought of, seeing him standing in the middle of the street was not one of them. An ambush, yes, but just randomly running into him on the way to...wait. Kalvarel was staring in the direction of Morgivel's house, his back turned to where they were.

So where were Edeline and Nela? Hamond started to worry. Then again, there was no sign of any of the town watch, or of anyone near Kalvarel. The people passing by were, in fact, staying clear of him, creating a circle of empty street around him.

"What are you..." Myron said from behind him, then trailed off as he too saw Kalvarel. A couple of gasps from the Elefae women following them indicated the same.

"I'll handle it. You just keep them safe." Hamond slowly walked forward. Unlike with Bradan, he wasn't about to make Myron deal with the matter. Besides, it was not out of the question Kalvarel had other spells, ones more suited to combat. At the moment, only he was in a position to counter such spells.

"Kalvarel!" he called out.

Kalvarel's shoulders slumped, and he slowly turned to face him. Looking at his former friend's face, Hamond was a little surprised to see it bruised and battered. In his work as a healer, he'd seen the aftermath of enough drunken brawls to recognize those injuries. Someone had gotten to Kalvarel first, and let him have it.

Of course, it was also telling that Kalvarel was here, and they apparently were not.

"What do you want?" Kalvarel sounded resigned.

"You know why I'm here." Hamond already had a particular spell in mind. Of course, any spell would destroy any possible excuse of just being a healer, but he'd come to conclusion continuing as such would be a living a lie. Doing that would make him no better than Kalvarel.

"What, you want to show me how fast you throw away friendship?" Kalvarel stared hard at Hamond. "I trusted you."

"No, you didn't." Hamond let out a low sigh. "But that's fair enough, since I didn't really trust you either."

"Trying to make shit up?" Kalvarel laughed. "You believed in me when I recommended you to Morgivel. You took time every month to come to every single night at the tavern to play cards. You can't just come up and say we were never friends."

"I never said we weren't." Hamond didn't even flinch. He'd been thinking about what to say to Kalvarel all morning, going over it in his head, perfecting every word. "But you hid the truth about yourself from me, just as I did the same. Your bathhouse was always just a cover story, wasn't it?"

"So you spoke with Bradan, I take it." Kalvarel shook his head. "Should have known he couldn't keep his mouth shut."

"Bradan's dead," Hamond stated.

"What, so you turned on him and killed him? And now you're-"

"I did not kill Bradan." Hamond said, "You did. Just as you killed Alexios. Just as with all those other people. Whether it was ending lives on the blades of the men you controlled, sending those same men to fight and die, or dooming them to a slow death of their mind breaking under your spell, it all amounts to the same thing. Everywhere you go, everything that you touch, dies."

"Like shit it does." Kalvarel's face reddened with anger.

"I know that spell. I've seen it first-hand. You knew I was from western Hyarch, after all. The moment I arrived in Hallowscroft set all this in motion. Sooner or later, I would have recognized the signs. It was only a matter of how many suffered and died before I did."

"Thing is, people die for less than what I'm trying to do," Kalvarel said, "So, are we fighting then?" He pulled a thin knife from a pocket, waving it in the air.

"I wanted to be a healer. I may not be a very good one. Probably better at cards, honestly. But there is one thing I know for certain." Thinking briefly of Nela's words, Hamond raised his hands towards Kalvarel, calling forth the energy for his spell. "An important rule for when healers treat a patient who's fallen ill."

"And what's that?" Kalvarel narrowed his eyes.

"Never give the disease a chance to fight back." Hamond swept his arms wide. "Ventus decipit!"

The faint breeze began to intensify, as the air rushed past Hamond, spiraling towards Kalvarel. Puffs of dust grew, picked up off the street, only to be swept away in the increasing wind. Highlighted in brown shades by the dust, a vortex formed, surrounding Kalvarel, pinning him in place before starting to lift him up.

"Shit! No!" Kalvarel begin to spin, first gently, then rapidly as the winds whirled faster. Even if he tried something like throwing the knife, the winds would just sweep it away. Most of the people - many of them Elefae - scattered at this display of power. A few lingered, watching cautiously from a distance.

And now, to finish it. "Tetra lithoistos!" Four stony spikes materialized in front of Hamond, all pointed straight for Kalvarel. A moment later, all four missiles converged on their target. A garbled grunt, which could barely be heard over the sound of the whirling air, was Kalvarel's only response before he went limp.

Hamond sighed with relief, and released the vortex spell. The wind swirled one final time before fading, dropping Kalvarel with a thud. All of his plans, all of his lies, lay broken along with his body sprawled out on the street.

"Be joined with Aether," Hamond muttered, images of Kalvarel, Bradan, and Alexios playing out his mind. Memories of a happier time, of rounds of drinks and card games, of witty taunts and shared experiences. All now tainted, all now behind him.

They were gone, and he remained.

"That's it, then," Myron said, coming up behind him.

"Yes," Hamond answered, feeling suddenly drained.

"I don't see Edeline." Myron's statement of the obvious reminded him this wasn't quite over. They still had the Elefae women to look after, and of course there was the matter of Lord Hallowscroft himself.

"Let's check on Morgivel first. Hopefully they're probably in there too." Hamond bet that was why Kalvarel was here in the first place. If he was wrong...well, then they'd have an entire town to search.

Myron gestured to the three women to follow. Hamond led them down the street up to the house's door. He knocked twice on the door. After no response, he decided to call out. "It's me, Hamond. Are you alright?"

A brief pause, then the door slowly opened. Standing there was Nela, face pale and tight.

"Nela? What's wrong?" Myron asked.

Nela immediately pushed past Hamond, flinging herself at Myron and wrapping her thin arms around him. "I'm sorry," she said hoarsely.

"What happened?" Myron asked. Nela didn't answer, just burying her head into Myron's chest.

Pushing back his own fears, Hamond turned and stepped inside. The first thing he saw was Edeline seated, resting her head and arms on the table, her back turned. She seemed unharmed at the least.

Laying on the floor nearby, turned awkwardly on his side, was Morgivel. Hamond paused a moment, then saw the old healer still breathed. He couldn't relax, though. Something had clearly happened here. He just needed to find out what it was.

Even after his death, it seemed like Kalvarel had held one last card he had yet to play.

"Edeline," he said gently, reaching out to touch her shoulder, see if she was conscious. She flinched away from his fingers, clearly hearing him. After a moment, she slowly raised her head and turned to look at him.

Hamond saw it instantly. Opening and closing his mouth, he tried to find words that would not come. Of course, this was what Kalvarel had done. The very thing he'd been after this whole time, everything leading up to this point, was to make sure the leadership of Hallowscroft belong to the Elefae.

And now one of Edeline's ears bore the mark of that plan.

As far as he knew, there was no ritual, no spell that would undo it either. He'd never heard of anyone renouncing the Elefae, and if someone had, reshaping their ears again probably would be far from the last thing on their mind. Unless they took a blade to it...no, he couldn't do that to Edeline.

"Do you know what...Aether's blood!" Myron, having come in behind him, had also seen Edeline's ear. "That...no..."

Bracing herself on the chair, Edeline stood up. "I'll be fine," she said, her face betraying the lie. "But you need to wake him up." She indicated Morgivel.

"He was under the spell too, and...we didn't remove it yet," Nela added.

While he would rather see to Edeline first, Hamond saw no reason to raise any argument. He knelt down beside the Elefae, laying one hand on the healer's shoulder. "Katharsis logos." With the spell gone, all there was to do was wait.

"Edeline...what happened to you?" Myron said.

Edeline said nothing, but Nela was more open. "Kalvarel happened," she told them, "He'd been lurking here. Probably guessed we would come and wanted to ambush us. And then..." She broke off, tears forming in her eyes.

"Don't worry." Hamond doubted the news would comfort them, but it was really all he could do. "Kalvarel is dead. I made sure of it."

"Good," Nela said, "Wish I could have done more than just punch him in the face, but..."

So she'd been the one to do it. Thinking about it, Nela was likely the main reason that Edeline hadn't ended up with both her ears pointed. Not that saying as much would do any good now, in front of either of the two. Both Edeline and Nela looked miserable.

"What...what happened?" Morgivel said groggily from where he lay. He slowly sat upright, looking over each of them in turn. His eyes went wide when he saw Edeline. "By the Fae...what have I done?"

Hamond had no response.

Edeline did. "We need to talk."