Sorcerer Stabber Orphen Fan Fiction ❯ It's in the Blood ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 5 )

The following morning, Cleo was felt better and was convinced she had misunderstood Mariabella's fiancée. She was ready to get to know him, after all, mother liked him and she wasn't easy to impress. She dressed quickly and went in search of her mother and sister. When she picked up some breakfast, she found out it was later in the morning than she thought. They had already gone into town for a dress fitting.

She followed them to town. After verifying Nerilissa hadn't arrived to work yet, she stopped by the inn to check on Orphen and Majic. She was told that they weren't up yet. Apparently, Majic had been up late studying and Orphen had been out late, with her luck he had probably been with Nerilissa.

Cleo was about to leave, when she overheard two servants in the Montevallo livery talking. Their topic was the upcoming marriage. She felt a faint and light buzz in her ears as she started to listen in.

"You know this could solve all the master's problems."

"Ay…. she's pretty too. She'll look great at all the fancy functions."

"Her dowry's not bad either."

"The old lord's been after the master to marry a proper girl for years. This young lady would be most acceptable to his lordship."

"To think we only came to this out of the way town for that archeology stuff the master is obsessed with. And what does the master find? Not ruins, but his perfect wife."

"Yeah, beautiful, but dumb and inoffensive."

Cleo was about to rise to Mariabella's defense when the servant's next words sent her ears really buzzing and crushed her hopes for the day.

"He'd better get her to the altar quickly, there's not much money left to keep up appearances."

`Oh no, he's broke?! That means he's only marrying Mariabella for her money. It can't be true.'

She knew Agan was staying at the inn, so she went upstairs to ask him about it. When she got to the landing, she saw Orphen and Majic's doors closed, but the door at the end of the hall, Agan's, was open. She walked to the door and lightly knocked. No one was in the room but the buzz that had plagued her before had returned, worse than before. She leaned in to get a better look, when the door felt like it had been pulled in, causing her to fall all the way in the room. She shrugged, and since she was already in the room she looked idly around, when an open ledger book caught her eye.

She didn't mean to, but she was curious to see what it said, if only to get to know more about her future brother-in-law. She started to read, although it was difficult since she was having trouble concentrating. The now strong buzz in her ears had given her a headache. Maybe she should follow her mother's advice and see the doctor because she was starting to feel dizzy, like she was going to blackout again. She just felt silly going to the doctor for a simple headache.

The numbers in the ledger appeared blurry and difficult to read, but the story they told was that Agan really was flat broke. There was also a list of potential heiresses. At the top of the list was Mariabella's name, and hers. As she snatched the book up to take it with her, a couple of papers slipped out. She grabbed those from the floor and stuffed them in the pocket of her pants.

In the room next to her, Orphen came awake with an awareness that someone was using illusion magic nearby. He started to get up to investigate when he heard movement in Majic's room, if he was up that explained the magic residue. The last few lessons he'd given Majic were on stealth and misdirection magic, a type of illusionary magic. Majic was obviously practicing.

Suddenly he heard footsteps running down the hall. He peeked out his door and looked out to see Cleo's retreating form. `Argh…it's too early to deal with her craziness.' He still quickly got cleaned up and dressed to find out what she was up to.

Cleo burst into the dress shop and announced to her family that they had to talk and right then.

"Cleo, what's wrong?"

"Agan's broke! I heard some of his servants talking." When Cleo made her announcement, Mrs. Everlasting broke into a smile, in spite of herself, `When she gets like this, it's like Caro's still alive.'

"I know his family, they are very wealthy, and actually, I think they have more money than we do."

"What do you think you're doing, Cleo?" Orphen came up behind her.

"She thinks she's protecting her sister." Replied Mrs. Everlasting calmly.

"I went to the inn this morning first to check on you and Majic. That's when I heard the servants talking, the usual sort of gossip. I didn't think too much of it; but I thought I'd ask Agan about it. I went upstairs to see him, but his door was open. I knocked and looked in. No one was there. I thought I'd get a better look and I fell into the room." Orphen rolled his eyes when he heard that. Sometimes she was too klutzy for her own good. Usually she wasn't, but if she was distracted or feeling particularly insecure, look out.

She stopped momentarily, gave Orphen a dirty look to let him know she saw him roll his eyes, and continued. "There was a ledger open on his desk. I glanced at it and saw it was his accounts. It showed he doesn't have any money. I even saw a list of potential heiresses listed on the open page."

Agan entered the shop, "Open page of what?"

Mariabella went dashing for the dressing room, "Don't you know it's bad luck to see the bride in her gown before the wedding?"

"My lovely, I find it difficult to stay away. Besides, now you and your gown are out of sight. So what's going on?" He could see and feel the tension in the air between Cleo and Orphen.

"My `partner' has come to the conclusion that you're broke and marrying Mariabella for her money."

Agan laughed out loud. "I'm sorry, that's usually the problem I have, girls who are only interested in my money. No, I'm not broke. I have a ledger where I keep all my finances logged. I'll go get it if you'd like. I was working on a list of names to be added to the guest list for the wedding earlier. It's on the desk in my room."

"It looks like this little busy body brought it with her." Orphen snatched the book away from Cleo and started to return it to Agan.

"Look at it first, to ease her mind. I made a bad investment a while ago, maybe she saw that."

Orphen looked at the book, his frown increasing with each line he read. "Read it, Cleo!"

"I already did, that's why I brought it."

"Read it!"

Cleo took it back and saw something very different from what she'd seen earlier. "What! That wasn't there earlier. I don't understand?" She dropped the book and ran out of the store, and brushed past Majic, crying.

"I apologize for the disturbance." Orphen said as he started to exit.

Agan smiled graciously, thinking, `It worked like a charm.' He turned towards Mariabella and Mrs. Everlasting, "I'm sorry I'm having so much trouble getting along with Cleo. Do you have any suggestions on how I can patch things up with her?"

"Just give her some time. It's quite an adjustment and she's very protective of her family, just like her father was," replied Mrs. Everlasting, as she watched Orphen leave.

Majic had witnessed everything from just outside the store, and he couldn't believe Cleo would really make up something like that about anyone. That wasn't like her. He knew Orphen knew she wasn't like that. `Master why didn't you listen to her. Even when she thought Licorice was some kind of a monster, she told them flat out and never wavered. She may have been wrong but she didn't make it up.'

Then Orphen exited and went another direction. Majic was torn, both his friends needed him and he wasn't sure which way to go. He was about to follow Orphen, when he felt a breeze go past him and suddenly, he felt he had to follow Cleo.

He figured she'd be one of two places; the lake where she first saw him or by the tree where he had watched over the Sword of Baltanders 3 years ago. The tree apparently won out this day.

As Majic approached, he saw Cleo sitting on the branch of the tree with her knees up and her head down. He cleared his throat to get her attention. She looked down and said "Good morning."

"What was that all about?"

"I guess I made a fool of myself again, that's all."

"I'm sure you didn't Cleo, but what happened?"

"I stumbled on something I thought made Agan a fortune hunter, only interested in Mariabella's money. I-I showed it to Orphen but it was different from what I saw. I'd never let it go, how'd that happen Majic?"

"I don't know, Cleo, but if what you saw was real, it wouldn't have changed. Could it just be that you want to believe something bad about Agan so much that you distorted things?"

"I suppose so. I just…. Oh, I don't know. Remember when we were attacked on the road. I got this buzzing and…"

"Don't remind me. That's ingrained on my mind when you fell at the feet of the creature. It was terrifying. So, what about that buzz?"

"I've been hearing it off and on ever since we returned, but most strongly when I've been with Agan or in his room. I keep thinking it means something but I don't know…. It doesn't make sense to me, so I don't even know how to start explaining it to Orphen. And now…. I'm really close to giving up on … "

"Don't Cleo. I'll do some research. I'll try to find out what's going on. Just don't give up on us."

"I'll never stop believing in you. You're going to be a really great sorcerer some day." She started to get down when she put her hand in her pocket. She looked at the sheets and her eyes widened in shock. The papers consisted of a marriage and death certificate for a woman identified as Agan's wife. She jumped down and looked like she was about to go running off when she stopped herself. "Uh…Majic, I picked these up by mistake in Agan's room, what do you make of them?"

As soon as she finished asking that question, there was a whoosh that almost sounded like cursing on the wind. The buzz that had plagued her all morning, quickly vanished.

Majic accepted the papers, started to read them and blushed profusely. "Cleo, why did you ask me to read Agan's love letters to Mariabella?"

"That's not what I saw. Could someone use magic on something to make it appear different?"

"Yes, I think Master said that was possible, but it leaves a residue. Why?"

"Just a bad feeling I guess. Do you know how check for the residue?"

"No, but I can ask Master."

"Don't worry about it."

"I'll keep the pages, I'll check on it."

Cleo gave Majic a quick hug and said "Thank you for trying to cheer me up." She gave him one of her glowing smiles and walked up to the mansion. He always felt like he could take on the world whenever she gave him one of those smiles, so he ran back to town to check some of his books.

When he got back, Orphen was waiting for him, to continue working on his latest lesson.

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At the inn, late in the day, Agan walked in looking for Orphen. "Miss Mariabella was telling me that you have been investigating ruins of the Heavenly Ones across the continent. I thought this might interest you."

He handed Orphen a map, which showed the way to some ruins about a couple hours walk outside of Totokonta. Orphen replied, "I've been in that area before, there's nothing there."

"There wasn't, but a recent landslide uncovered some ruins. I'm a bit of an amateur archeologist and I was looking into the ruins before... err" Agan looked sheepish, "I got distracted by more beautiful things."

"Since I'm not going to be able to do much more research on the ruins for quite a while, I was wondering if you wanted to look into it?"

"Well, it would certainly give us something to do while we wait for the wedding. Besides, if it's really just been uncovered, I want to make sure there aren't any artifacts which might cause trouble."

"I've never heard of any artifacts from the Heavenly ones causing trouble. I didn't see anything more than stone structures and a little writing."

"When you have a few days, I'll relate the story of what just one heavenly artifact did."

"You've been studying them longer, so you are definitely more in a position to know."

"It's too late to go today, but Majic and I will probably start out tomorrow morning."

"Just you and Majic?"

"Don't you think Cleo will probably want to stay here with the wedding this close? Why?"

"I was thinking that maybe some distance from me might give her a chance to gain some perspective. It was bad when we met yesterday, but it just keeps getting worse. She's refusing to talk to me. I'm trying, for Mariabella's sake, because she and her sister are close but… I don't know what I did to make her hate me so. I've been trying to fix it but I haven't been able to get anywhere with her all day."

"I was thinking I would use the time at the ruins to do some focused teaching with Majic, but you're right, distance may help. Just so you know how stubborn she is, it probably won't help. I'll talk to her before we leave."

Just then, they saw Mariabella and Cleo walking past the inn, with Volcan and Dortin carrying many packages behind them.

Orphen shook his head; "She's got someone to shop with, that'll keep her busy for days. She probably won't want to leave."

Orphen turned to a shadowy corner of the room, "Majic, have you been listening?"

"Ahhh, Master, how long did you know I was there?"

"Since you came in."

Agan looked really surprised when Majic's voice seemed to come out of nowhere and he saw him simply step out of the shadows, "Can all sorcerers do that?"

"It's not an easy spell but many can." To Majic, "You were fidgeting too much I heard you moving into the shadows. Even with magic to aid you, that spell is still all about being stealthy."

"Does the spell make the sorcerer invisible?"

"Not completely, but unless someone is specifically looking for something hidden, they will overlook you."