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Chapter 11: Sun, Shine Eternally

Khaba was sitting on Lucille's back as they were standing at the harbor and waiting for everyone to finally come. The otter was focused on the sea ahead of them, looking to where Altradia was lying. "Soon we will reach to the other side of the sea. Are you nervous Khaba?"

"Not as much as I should be," the fruit bat replied as he looked around the different ships that were filling the harbor. "Mourning my own fate won't help, if we are to step towards the future. We take the gem, and try to neutralize the threat it poses. Everything else is unimportant."

"Very pragmatic. I like that," the otter said as she patted the bat's head and walked along the pier and to a small spot, where she could sit down to let her legs dangle over the salt water. "I will hate the hot climate of Altradia, I am sure of it. Sometimes I wish I had a temperature magic affinity like Leofwine."

"You know, I have only spent so little time with them," Khaba said as he got off from her back and sat down next to her. "It is strange how I ended up with you guys. But, I am honestly thankful. Thankful that Leofwine let me get to know so many people."

Lucille chuckled at the bat's remark. "Leofwine is annoying, if you ask me. Constantly breathing down one's neck and trying to be protective. You already saw how he was when we went down that ruin."

"Which makes me wonder." Khaba now perked his ears and looked into Lucille's gray eyes with a bit of hesitation in his voice. "Your fighting style. I doubt someone without real training could actually do something like you could."

The otter laughed at the nervous bat and pulled him into a hug. "Gaius taught me whenever he told Leofwine that we were out to collect herbs and mix potions. After a while I developed some tricks to fight people larger and heavier than me."

Khaba now made an excited noise as he stood up, still only reaching up to Lucille's face. "By now I think the correct way to describe it would be to say, well, you can take on anyone really."

"I would not be too cocky about it. Someday I may actually face someone, who knows how to use a weapon," the joked as she suddenly could catch a scent coming closer to them. "Not sure, if that match would be you, Tychon."

The fox chuckled as he sat down next to the otter and the fruit bat, holding a basket in his left hand. "Certainly not, young mistress. I was simply send here to wait while my master talks to your friend Gaius."

"Care to tell us why?" Lucille now arched an eyebrow as she got up and let Khaba climb on her back again. "Since I doubt you are simply giving us a gift basket for the travel."

Tychon now looked down at his basket and chuckled nervously. "That basket was actually something I put together for myself. They are currently talking about selling me to him."

"It really is more like buying your freedom, considering we are talking about Gaius," Khaba now said as he had his head lying on Lucille's. "I think he may even have some clothing that fits your size. Oh, you will love it!"

The fox glanced nervously at himself and looked around the area. "Well, the reason of this is, I do have a rare elemental trait: Space. Which would allow us to travel to Altradia more or less instant. Since I have been to Xandros, I can picture it in my head and create a portal to it."

"Wait a second," now Lucille crossed her arms and looked over the fox with a suspicioning look on her face. "That is an ability, which Septimus was capable of. If we weren't sure about you being here for a longer time already, I would definitely call this obvious, but all things considered, it is just strange."

Being a bit scared by the otter, Tychon moved a hand into the basket and took out some dried meat to put it into his mouth, as a way to relief the tension of the moment. "I might overstep my boundaries, but I would ask you kindly to not compare me to that Septimus. After what I could hear from your talk outside the door, he is someone whom I don't want to be compared with."

"Yeah, sorry about that," the otter apologized as she glanced over the fox one last time and sighed. "Great, we will have to wait for them to finally finish their boring business talk."

Meanwhile Crawford was sitting in the garden of the building they have been staying in Pantepolis, and assembling a few small metal part with each other. As he was finished, he held up his new construction and held it up towards the sunlight. It was shaped like the construction he built several weeks ago, just with only a fraction of the size. Next thing he did was taking his crossbow and inserting the ball into a hole he scrapped into it. He aimed for an apple hanging from a tree, loaded the weapon, and fired the bolt, resulting in the bolt exploding in a burst of light on impact, destroying the entire apple, and setting the tree ablaze. "Oh, darn it," Crawford murmured as he swiped his hand and let a gush of water extinguish the flames before they could spread. "On the other hand, definitely lethal."

"Planning on massacring apples," a rough, yet somewhat gentle voice said from the building. Harshad and Ayontunde were standing together, as they watched the young tinkerer building himself a weapon, both looking rather amused about it.

"Amongst other things," the otter said as he got up from the ground and put his crossbow on his back again. "Considering the potential threat, I think if I can shoot one of those in general direction of this Seleukos, he will at least lose a leg in the process."

The tiger laughed and kissed Ayontunde on the cheek. "We will be going to the harbor now. Gaius is still talking with that cat, though."

"Sure, I will be going with him, once he finishes already. How can people talk for hours, upon hours, upon hours," Crawford said as he sat down under the tree and saw the two felines wander off. "So much time wasted that one could use

for oneself. Talking should be shorter."

"Oh, too bad. I wanted to talk to you, boy," someone said from the other side of the tree, and Crawford jumped up to look around himself. A lion, wearing a rather fine set of orange clothing, and holding a guitar in his hands, was sitting there and humming a tune. "Crawford, right? You followed Gaius to this place so far, yet I do wonder. Is it the wish for adventure that your sister has, or is the thirst for knowledge that Gaius had when he went to your village all those years ago?"

Crawford arched an eyebrow at the stranger as he got his crossbow ready to aim and fire. "Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

"Ah yes, the name is Vadden," the lion said as he stood up from the ground and looked down at the otter. Size-wise he was around the height of Harshad, his golden eyes focusing on Crawford. "And I am just seeing how are doing."

Now Crawford crossed his arms and thought about the stranger's name. After a few moments he realized whom the lion claimed to be. "You mean you are a sovereign, right? Vadden, the Granter of Knowledge or so."

"In the flesh, if I actually had flesh on me rather than being just an elusive form of a being that exists outside the universe," Vadden replied as he stretched out his left hand. "Not that it is an easy to explain concept. It will take centuries before people can even grasp the idea of what I just said."

"Yeah, it actually is not that complicated. Basically that means your body is only a puppet for the real deal," the otter concluded as he stashed away his crossbow and looked the lion in the eyes. "And? What can I do for you?"

Vadden chuckled a bit as he was pulling on the strings of his instrument, playing a melody, which was rather strange to Crawford. "Ah nothing, just wanted to join the fun Danica and Yishai had. You know, helping out some mortal souls and such."

Grinning in a mix of confusion and unspoken sarcasm, Crawford shook his head and was about to turn around. "Yeah, and how do you plan to do that?"

"How about a nice little hint?" the lion suggested with a smug expression as he pulled out a small bound booklet from under his shirt. "Or a manual. You seem to have a bit if understanding of mechanics, so maybe some extra information could be helpful for you."

Now Crawford's eyes lightened up as he took the manual and immediately opened it. "I may have to take some time to get behind all this, but thank you."

"No problem," Vadden said as he took his guitar and disappeared into thin air. A soft sound went through the garden, and faded into nothingness after a few moments.

Crawford now walked into the building, grabbed his modal blade, and walked outside where Gaius and the master of Tychon were still talking. "Hey Gaius, we should get going already. Are soon done?"

"Well, we were already done with the formalities, but then started some small talk," the wolf said as he began rubbing himself at the back of his head. He then turned to the cat and bowed down formally. "I have to say my farewells. We will take good care of Tychon, so don't worry."

The otter sighed as he and Gaius now left the building behind and walked down the street. "You seriously got trapped in small talk when we try to prevent the end of the world?"

"Yeah, sorry about that, I got a bit carried away," the wolf answered with a bit of embarrassment in his voice and stature. "In any case, the thing that is most important now is that Tychon will allow us to save a lot of time. I never imagined to find someone, who was able to perform space magic."

"Essentially we will have a shorter trip to Altradia, so that is good," Crawford said as they entered the harbor and stepped towards the place where his sister and Khaba were waiting with the others. His eyes then wandered to Tychon, and a thought now went through his mind. "Just like him. Oh well, whatever."

Now the fox was looking nervously around himself and wandered a bit away from the group to a spot that was more open for him. "I may have to concentrate a little bit for this. The portal will be open for five minutes, but it will lead right to the massive palace of Xandros." He now put his hands together and closed his eyes. A massive wave of energy went through his body, and sparked up behind him. It formed a vortex-like anomaly, which he then stepped through.

Harshad and Ayondtunde followed with a big chest full of their clothing, while Albanus and Rufus took another through the portal and Khaba and Lucille went through casually.

Gaius hesitated a little bit, and stood still in place as he looked at the portal. His eyes were wandering left and right, as if something struggled in his brain to come up. Eventually he stopped and just walked into the portal.

"What was that about?" Crawford asked himself as he jumped through and landed into something cold and wet. He looked around to see that everyone had just gone through, while he jumped right into a well that he could not have seen from the other side. "Okay, at least it is nothing else," he said and got out of the water to look at the massive palace that stood before them.

Albanus was now approaching several people standing at the entrance and soon after several slaves came to get the items of them inside. The young wolf then went to his cousin and gave him a hug. "Okay Gaius, we will take care of preparing things here, while you guys may should go to Rahotep and talk to him. It should not take long to find his house; it is in a richer district alongside the coastline."

Gaius nodded and gestured Lucille, Crawford, and Khaba to follow him into the city, leading them right outside the palace area to a larger space between the palace and the actual city. "Hum, I probably should have read a map of this place before."

"Yeah, I guess that it can't be worse than, ouch," Crawford jumped up in pain as he was touching the hot sand with the soles of his feet and quickly realized that the area of the palace must have been enchanted to keep heat from storing in the construction. "Okay, I think we should use some boots."

"Just in case you have not seen it brother, most of us did already take them," Lucille told him in amusement as she pointed at her feet, which were wearing a special type boot that was made from a light and soft material.

"Kind of wish Leofwine was here, he can cool down things rather easily," Crawford said as he went to the box, that Harshad was about to lift, and took out a pair of boots that were comparable to those of his sister. "Okay, now we can go. Lucille, Khaba, would you kindly use a shadow spell to keep the sun from burning us to crisps?"

As asked for, the fruit bat and female otter focused their magic energies together, and a darkening aura was now resulting in the sunlight being reduced to less extreme amounts.

Now Tychon, having taken a set of boots and a set of dessert fit clothing for himself, came closer to them and nervously looked at the four. "If you don't mind, I would like to accompany you."

"Shouldn't you try to recover after the spell?" Gaius said with a genuine concern in his voice as he stepped to the fox glanced into his tired eyes.

"I can do so later on, Gaius. For now, we should try to do what we are here for, shouldn't we?" Tychon said with a smile, that was trying to cover his severe lack of energy. "Also, I have been here with me former master, so I know the layout of the city."

"Fine, but after we took care of that, you go to bed, alright?" the wolf demanded as they went towards the city of Xandros. It took about ten minutes to reach the gates and step through into the massively crowded streets. It was almost as big as Pantepoli, yet the crowds of merchants, travelers, and regular citizens filled the streets even more.

Crawford was getting somewhat nervous as he tried to push himself through the small gaps people left, almost losing Gaius in the process. With great discomfort he found that a few shady figures looked at his bag. It got better as they entered a less filled street, and then stopped at a house that had peculiar Old Altradian hieroglyphs plastered on the façade, which stood out from the usually Helan designs of the surrounding buildings. "So, this is the place?"

Gaius nodded and pointed at an inscription on top of the door. "Rahotep is written in hieroglyphs on this. Now we only have to see, if he is willing to hear us out," he now glanced over to Khaba and sighed weakly before he knocked at the door.

Moments later the door was opened by someone, whose appearance made Lucille and Crawford look with curiosity at him. It was a man glad in scales, and a rather simple set of clothing. Unbeknownst to them, it was a crocodile. "I am welcoming you. Do you have any business with my master?"

Noticing the surprise on the otter's faces, Gaius chuckled a bit. "We are here by order of Imperator Augustus Caesar Caelus. Information tells us that he is in possession of an item, which holds a certain danger to it," he said and pulled out a scroll from under his toga to give it to the crocodile.

The reptile bowed and went inside the house. A few moments later he returned and looked at everyone. "My master will be seeing you in a minute. Please, follow me," he said and went back inside.

Khaba, now entering the building on Lucille's back, began to shiver, and he climbed a bit back to hide his face behind Lucille's head. His heartbeat was unnaturally fast for his usual attitude.

Lucille noticed the fruit bat's discomfort and let her fingers go around Khaba's ears and head fur, as they sat down on one of four cushioned benches placed around a rather large table. "It is alright Khaba. We don't need to deal with more than necessary."

"It is okay. I do want to have a certainty," the fruit bat replied as he got off her back and leaned next to her on the bench. "Anxiety hinders us, but I cannot afford myself to stand still."

Before Lucille could give Khaba another encouragement, two other fruit bats flew into the room, and took place on the couch that remained empty. "So, you are the guests from Urbulchem? I only see one togatus, two barbarians, and two freed men," the elderly of the two said as he looked around, with his eyes being fixated at Khaba for a few seconds.

"Rahotep, I am here because of a gem, which you acquired a while ago in Pantepoli. We are in belief that it might be a gem, which has a rather problematic background. A group of people has already killed to acquire them for their nefarious plot," Gaius explained, ignoring the rather unfriendly nature of the bat.

Rahotep remained motionless, as the fruit bat next to him spoke up, "We are aware that the guards all over the empire are seeking those gems. If we had it, we would give it to them. My father acquired nothing of those sorts."

"I am not sure, if I can trust this statement after all the evidence we have," Lucille now interjected as she stood up from the bench and crossed her arms. "We have gathered all the information about the gem, and everything is sayinf that you have it."

"A bold barbarian girl," Rahotep said as he looked at his son. "Ammon, let me handle this," he told him and looked at Lucille with a burning hatred in his eyes. "Young girl, I am not sure who told you that, but be aware that I have never acquired a gem when I was in Pantepoli. With that, I wish that you and your friends leave my home at once!"

"It would seem that it is good I met Khaba, because you two would have made an awful first impression," she spat out and then sat down again. "We are not leaving till you tell us the truth or give us the gem."

"You want those things so badly?" Ammon asked sarcastically as he looked at Khaba and chuckled wickedly. "Considering you dragged an unwanted child into our home, I am more so inclined to believe a fraud, so you could take the gem and sell it for money. Else you would have to sell yourself as a whore, now wouldn't you?"

Now Crawford jumped up from his bench, where he sat solitarily, and his fists were clenched in a manner that told he would have hit the middle-aged fruit bat in the face, if he would lack the self-control. "How dare you talking to my sister like that?! You impregnated a slave, and let her child end up with a master that would beat him constantly," he screamed out in anger. "If anything, you are someone who should be hanging from a tree, with a string around your neck."

Everyone was looking in shock at the exploding otter, except for Lucille, who gave him two thumbs up and a cheerful smile. "Isn't he the best little brother? Anyway, we will have that gem, or I will tear off those wings, and grind them to something that I can feed the fishes at home."

Gaius now stood up and looked over to Khaba, who was covering his own face with his wings, and shivering even worse than before. "That is enough for now, we are leaving." Still angered about the situation, Crawford stormed out of the building, with Lucille following as soon as she got Khaba on her back again, leaving Gaius now alone with Rahotep and Ammon. "I am utterly disgusted by you. You don't even deny that you abandoned a child into slavery," he said sternly before he went out himself, Tychon following suit.

"You guys return to the palace, I may stay in Xandros and see, if I can get some supplies for us," Crawford said as everyone was outside. "Mainly mechanical things, because there are a few things I would like to try out."

"Alright, but do try to come back to the palace before evening. Dinner is going to be pretty good with the regional spices, I can tell you." Gaius told the otter and led the others with him back to the palace.

Having now some time to do things of his own, Crawford went along the walls of the building and snuck closer to a window. He then focused and the humidity in the air around him concentrated before him to a few liters of water, which then turned into an icy platform a moment later. With determination he stepped onto it and looked around to make sure that the street was empty. Then he concentrated and ascended slowly to the upper floor, before he jumped through the window into the room that smelled the most of Ammon. Looking carefully around and perking his ears, he slowly went to a jewel casket and created a small spark of light between his right thumb and index finger to burn through the keyhole and open the small box.

Inside a familiar shape was lying, shining in blue light, and holding a distinct aura to it, which Crawford remembered from the previous gems he got in his possession.

Quickly he snatched it away and went to the window as he could hear approaching claws and flattering wings approaching. Before he could be discovered he already was through the window, and landed painfully on his feet. With a snip of his fingers he managed to fix his bruises magically, and he quickly ran into cover at the front façade.

"Those thieves!" was heard from Ammon's room soon after the otter left, and the sound was shrieking. Soon the noise of flattering wings was heard, forcing Crawford to run quickly behind an unguarded cart, and hide till he saw Ammon flying somewhere towards the Agora.

Being now safe to leave, Crawford ran in direction to the sea, and made sure that he wasn't followed. As soon as he reached the harbor, he unbuckled the crossbow of his and put the gem on a prepared bolt. He then aimed towards the horizon in a forty-five-degree angle and activated the magic mechanism of his weapon and overcharged it. Pulling the trigger, the bolt flew with a burst, which shattered the crossbow and pushed the young otter backwards as the gem was disappearing onto the distance. "Success," he said as he got up with a lot of pain going through his body from the recoil. "in one way or another."

And before he could use a recovery spell, something rushed right at him, and pressed its claws right on his throat. Ammon was looking furious and his muzzle showed an anger foreign to Crawford, who was used to Crawford's nice and content attitude. "You dirty thief! I am going to kill you right here!"

Crawford tried to push off the fruit bat, but was unable to as he found that the body of Ammon was surprisingly strong considering the size of the bat. He struggled for breath and felt his lungs were already begging for the oxygen to come in, as something tackled Ammon and pushed him several feet away from the otter.

Khaba was now standing right next to Crawford and spreading his wings like a shield as he looked at his father without moving nor saying something to him. "Are you alright, Crawford?"

"Considering the circumstances, a bit," the otter replied before he could feel someone helping him up. He glanced to his side and saw that Lucille had come to his aid as well. "Thanks, you two."

"Argh, gods shall damn you, you dirty barbarians!" Ammon now yelled as he got off from the ground and spread his own wings, forming several spheres of light around him. "Die!"

Focusing solely on what was ahead of him, Khaba now focused and closed his eyes. As Ammon unleashed his own spell, his was forming a powerful aura around himself, causing the light spheres to dissolve as they came close. "Don't dare to touch them!"

"You little bastard child," Ammon exclaimed with a dripping hatred in his voice and unleashed another barrage of projectiles, this time concentrating them directly at Khaba.

While the shield dissolved the spheres again, it was no longer withstanding the impact and Khaba was pushed to the ground. His heartbeat got faster, and he casted another shield upon himself.

"You can't do this indefinitely, idiot," the older fruit bat said with an evil grin on his face. He spread his wings further and focused for another assault on the otters and his son, intending to end it.

"Halt!" a voice from somewhere said, as a group of guards approached the scene and surrounded Ammon with their weapons pointed right at him. Their leader, a female spotted hyena, was looking furiously at him, and grabbing him by his throat. "Attacking the imperial delegation will not be allowed on my watch! Go back to your house, or I will put you in the darkest dungeon we have available."

Ammon grinded his teeth, but eventually relaxed and let himself be carried away, not without glancing with unrelenting hatred at Khaba however.

"Sorry about that. We would have dealt with him, if we knew about this earlier," the hyena now said as she turned towards Crawford, Lucille, and Khaba. "But as we could see, it is over now. You should celebrate your victory tonight."

"Ah yes, celebrating." Crawford now dusted himself off and bowed to the hyena guard. "We thank you for your help. For now, I think we are going to relax at the palace."

An hour later everyone found together at the palace and was celebrating Crawford's bold victory in the city. The young otter was chuckling nervously as everyone was focusing on him, but thanked the gods for the more reserved audience, which allowed him to soon sneak away and pull out the book he got from Vadden that morning. As he opened the first page, he already felt overwhelmed my seeing the imagery of objects that were not all too familiar to him. And the more he went through the pages, the more insecure he became about the subject matter. Nonetheless, he returned to the first page and started to read with the attempt to comprehend it as best as he could.

"Hey Crawford," Khaba, who flew over to the otter, said with a cheerful tone in his voice. "What do you have there?"

Crawford knelt down and showed the fruit bat the manual in his hands. "It would be a book about technologies from the time of the Old Ones," he told him and looked more through the pages of it. "So far I only understand that they used electricity for everything, but I have to figure out how."

"Well, there is a way, definitely, so you may discover it," the fruit bat said in a cheerful manner. "But, where did you get that?"

"Some visit from the divine sphere. It seems for some reason Vadden wanted me to have it," Crawford told and got up again, scratching his head while wondering about it.

Khaba however just yawned and flew off to his room, leaving the otter to ponder by himself as he entered through the window.

And as he had the time, Crawford sat down on the ground and leaned against a wall to continue reading the book. While it did appear complicated at first to him, after a while he began understanding the basics, and soon applied his already existing knowledge to those new principles. "I see, so that it is all about. Now I just need to figure out the advanced parts."

"Sounds like you are having fun," the approaching Gaius said as he was wandering around with a bit of a tipsy walk. "You saved the world, so I guess you can do have a break now. But, what are you going to do now?"

"Don't know," Crawford replied truthfully as he looked back at the day he had to leave his home behind after Leofwine killed Durandt. "Guess that I have no long term plans now, do I? Maybe I will try to make a living in Urbulchem or go to Diamond Lake."

The wolf chuckled a little as he supported himself by leaning against the wolf and looking down at his legs. "If you were more about philosophy, I think Hela could suit you. Maybe you come to a decision once we are back in Urbulchem."

"Sure, I think right now I have other things to think about as well," the otter said as he got up and walked back up to his bed chamber. Closing the door carefully behind him, he laid down on the bed and casted a small sphere of light above him as he opened the book again.

Meanwhile Lucille was going away from the commotion downstairs and walking to the door that led to Khaba's chambers. She opened them slowly and took a deep breath. "Hey, I hope today was not too bad for you."

Khaba, who was lying peacefully on the bed, turned his head towards her and tilted it slightly up. "It is okay, I had to confront it eventually. Did not expect to use a shield spell for that, though."

"To be honest, it was good that we remained in close proximity of the area, else I am not sure what would have happened to Craw," Lucille said as she got closer to the fruit bat and sat down next to him on the bed. "You did protect him, so thank you for that."

Smiling about that compliment, Khaba got up again and sat down next to her in order to get up close. "I could not just do nothing while that, demon I want to say, was about to actually kill him. Trust me, I was scared of him, because in the end, he was just like Incitatus."

"The brother of Tacita you mean? I heard a lot about him, so I can imagine the issues you have with your family," Lucille replied as she looked out of the window towards Xandros. "We have met so many people on our journey. Some were nice, others corrupt, most somewhere in between. Eventually you have to deal with all types of people."

Now Khaba chuckled a little bit and blushed slightly as he averted his eyes from Lucille for a moment. "Out of all the people I met, I think you are the one that has grown closest to me. You know, I want to not just walk a separate path from you after all this. I want to stay with you, to be with you. As long as the gods allow us."

Lucille looked at Khaba for a while, not saying anything. Then she smiled and put her arm around him. "Yeah, I think that sounds good to me. We have been through a lot while we met in Topaz Lake, and we have been a perfect duo so far. I think we can go a step further."

Now Khaba blushed a bit more and snuggled closer to the otter. "Lucille, even when we went to that place today, I was not feeling nearly as nervous as I do now. But, I am feeling happy to be with you. I love you."

"I guess that is natural considering that I usually beat up people, rather than showing them affection," Lucille said and chuckled into herself as she put her other arm around Khaba and gave him a nose kiss. "No need to be though, I think I easily can say to you now, I love you, too."

Before the two could exchange more signs of their affection for each other however, Gaius busted through the door with a drunken laughter. "Hey you two, we are now serving a huge cake for everyone!"

The happiness in Lucille's face ceased instantly as she got up from the bed and cracked her knuckles as she gave the wolf a deadly gaze. A moment later her feet rushed right for Gaius' groin before she slapped him in the face as he was trying to shield himself. "Try to knock next time, we are having a moment here!"

Trying to get himself to safety, Gaius quickly run downstairs again, slipping somewhere on the way and crashing into a case.

Khaba laughed out loud and spread put his wings to embrace Lucille again after the short distraction. "Yeah, I think I like that part about you."

Now Lucille had to laugh and put her arms over the bat's shoulder in order for his wings to have free space to go around her. "I love that about myself." She now was pushing herself on the bed and closed her eyes. "How about we are going to just rest and get some cake tomorrow?"

"Sounds nice," the fruit bat replied before he closed his eyes as well and rested his head on Lucille, soon falling asleep peacefully with her.

Crawford meanwhile closed his book and was still completely awake as he got up from his bed and walked out of his room. As he headed back downstairs again, something felt off to him as he saw that everyone was sleeping peacefully in the garden area, except Lucille and Khaba. Wondering about it, he went to the wine amphorae and examined it closely with his nose. "Seems someone has an interest in herbs."

"A concentrate of hops and a few dozen not so legal ingredients, rather potent," a voice said from behind Crawford who turned around to see that Rahotep, accompanied by his slave, was standing there calmly. "Unlike my son, I lack an issue with my temper. In the end it is easier to achieve a solution with diplomacy and some pressure," he said as he walked closer to the otter. "You know what I want, don't you?"

"Too late to ask for it. It would be in the bottom of the ocean by now," Crawford said sternly as he took a look around and grabbed the sword he once made for Gaius from its owner's sleeping body. "There is nothing to talk about anymore. It is gone forever!"

Rahotep only chuckled at that remark. "Then I demand a compensation at the very least. And I got an idea for that," he said as he stepped closer to Crawford. "I want your elementals."

"Elementals? You mean you want my magic abilities?" Crawford now tightened his grip on the blade of Gaius and pointed it right towards the bat. "I refuse. Now go!"

"What a shame," Rahotep replied as his eyes focused on Crawford. "It would have been so much easier for you, if you would have just obliged."

As the fruit bat stepped closer to him, Crawford pressed the button on his borrowed weapon and it changed itself into a spear that he held fiercely towards Rahotep. "Another step and I will pierce through the void in your chest!"

Rahotep only laughed as he opened his wings, with their movements being magically enhanced to cause a powerful wind gust to blow over Crawford. "It is about time that you learn humility, young boy."

Now the crocodile slave got over to the otter and forced a vial into his muzzle, which soon caused Crawford to fall asleep as well. "Master, you can't take his water elemental. It is linked to his body and soul alike."

"Ah yes, the side effects of that. I am not a monster, so alright," the bat said and walked closer to the now unconscious Crawford and channeled his and the otter's magic.

Soon three spheres appeared above Crawford's head, one blue, the other two brightly white. The blue retracted back into the otter, yet the other two were now getting closer to Rahotep and sunk soon into him.

Having reached his goal, the fruit bat now channeled more of his magic and chuckling wickedly as he was backing off from his victim and flew right up to the sky, back to the city of Xandros.

His slave meanwhile looked down at Crawford and took his body to lie down on the softer grass of the garden and then turned away from the scene and left it all behind. "May you forgive me."

As Lucille slowly woke up the next morning, she smiled at the sight of the sleeping Khaba on her and stood up with great care to not wake him up, till Gaius run into the room like yesterday, only this time sober and greatly distressed. "Lucille, Crawford, he is, just follow me!"

Slightly irritated Lucille put Khaba gently on the bed as she ran downstairs to see that her brother was sitting on the grass and surrounded by Harshad and Ayontunde. "Crawford, what is going on?"

"My magic," he was saying those two words with a shaky voice. "I can no longer use, not at all."

"What are you trying to say? Your magic is gone?" she asked in disbelief as she looked on her brother with a worried expression. "How did that happen?"

Her brother chuckled softly and shook his head. "Someone worked on my memory and sealed away that information. And that spell is hard to break."

"I bet it was that bastard Ammon. Oh, I am going to tear of his wings," Lucille said as she went closer to her brother and embraced him in a reassuring hug. "Wait here, I am dealing with this," she said as she got upstairs to get her chakram and boots before she rushed out of the palace and run towards the city with her anger rising up indefinitely. A lot of people had to evade her, as she just rushed through the streets towards the house of Rahotep, her chakram already out to cut throats and necks. She did not even show any curtesy at the door as she blasted it open with a fire spell and stepped in with a dark intend.

However, only a single person was sitting inside. The slave of Rahotep and Ammon was looking at her and standing up from the bench he was sitting on. "You are here because of what happened to your brother, correct. My master has left the city."

"I see. Well, I know how it goes with slaves and the spells placed upon them. You are not going to tell me anything," the otter concluded as she put her chakram away and was about to go.

The slave however put his hand on her shoulder and looked with a saddened expression into her eyes. "My name is Cepheos, I have been serving in this house since I hatched from an egg. I know Rahotep as someone, who uses intrigue and manipulation to achieve his goal, while Ammon suffers from a bad temper. It was the former, who took revenge on your brother, took his ability to use magic."

"And I will take them right from his corpse. Though I want to know what he did to take it in the first place," she asked calmly and with her expression easing up a little to not intimidate him.

Cepheos glanced on his feet and took a deep breath, and began shacking. "There are processes that can take and seal elementals from the soul, which have been mastered by Rahotep and a few others. In fact, he made an illegal," he stopped at that word and put a hand on his face showed some pain. "an illegal trade with several of those."

Now anger returned to Lucille's face as she was already looking around the house with her eyes. "So he wants to make profit with them? Where?"

"Island of the Eternal Sun," the crocodile said hastily as he clenched more into his chest, and cutting through his own scales, which caused him to bleed into his shirt."

Lucille pondered around the information she got and then shook her head. "They had to allow you saying that. Otherwise the seal would have activated and caused immense pain, which eventually could cause lethal damage."

"Exactly," the crocodile said as blood began dripping from his nostrils and mouth before he collapsed on the ground, only allowing him a weak chuckle. "This is the price I pay for my actions."

For a moment Lucille felt pity for the reptile as she went over to his body and checked his vitals. "Nothing," was her conclusion as she closed his eyes and turned him on his back to grant him a more respectful position. "In another life you may find better luck." Having finished her business in the house, she now turned back and saw that outside the guards were already waiting for her.

The hyena from the day before was waiting for her, and crossing her arms. "We expect an explanation for your violent trespassing and destruction of private property."

"That whoreson assaulted my brother last night and did something to his ability to use magic," the otter replied calmly but determined. "Their slave Cepheos told me about it, but he worked against his own seals and paid for it with his life. A minor role in the play of this world."

Nodding at Lucille's statement, the hyena stepped aside and let her pass. "We will come back to this later on. So, return to the palace for now."

"Thanks," Lucille said as she went away from the house and went back to the palace, fighting herself through the masses of people in the streets and eventually passing through the small dune into the massive complex.

The others were already sitting around in the garden and looking at each other, with expecting glances going towards the now arriving otter. Only Crawford and Khaba were missing.

Gaius was the first to speak up, "So, found out anything? Have they done something to him?"

"Yes, their slave told me on cost of his own life," she replied as she took a seat in the grass herself and looked at the sky above. "It was Rahotep who assaulted Crawford, and took his abilities. We need to go to the Island of the Eternal Sun to find them."

The wolf nodded as he glanced over to Tychon. "This island is, to put it bluntly, not located. We can assume it is close by, but it can take days to find."

"So what? We are going to take those days, take back Crawford's magic, and then we can return back to Urbulchem," Lucille said as she held her head low and stared at her chakram. "So, how is Craw?"

"Rather fine," a voice from the building could be heard as Crawford was running out with something in his hand that looked like a mace, which was covered with something around the hilt. "I may not have magic to help me out anymore, but I still got my brilliance."

Lucille smiled as she saw her brother back in high spirits again and took a glance at the weapon of her brother. "So you have made yourself some utilities then. Good, then we are almost ready to go."

"Ready to take them all on!" Crawford exclaimed and the palace was filled with the cheer of everyone, determined to do what it needs to put Rahotep to justice.