Arise, Preview 2

Sarah nodded, but it was clear that his words did little to steady her.

Maravek walked beside her, and placed his hand on the small of her back.  “Did you know that everything happens for a reason?  Sometimes it isn’t one we understand.  For instance, we’re here in this room, but I don’t know why.”

Despite the tears that streamed down the woman’s face, that statement elicited a weary chortle.  She dragged her wrist across her cheeks and shook her head.  “That’s my father’s sister out there, but she’s no family of mine.  When she found out he passed, she showed up here almost immediately.  But there was no sympathy, no compassion.  She’s trying to take everything.”

“But you’re his daughter,” Maravek said.

“An illegitimate one,” Sarah revealed.  “My father never married.  In fact, I never knew my mother.  But he was always such a wonderful man.  We had our struggles, of course, but I never truly wanted for anything.  He must have left a will to protect me, but I’ve been too out of sorts to even begin looking for it.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what.  You let me do the worrying about his nightmares.  I’ll find out why he went down such a dark path.  If you don’t mind, I’d like to start investigating his room.  This is it, right/”

The young lady took a deep breath.  “Yes.  It’s one of the only places I still feel… comfortable.”

Maravek arched his eyebrow at that statement, but placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her to the side so that he could pass her.  He opened the door, and saw Enzo upon the settee, making his best attempt at avoiding eye contact with Wylas’s sister.

With a smile on his face, the dreamwalker snapped his fingers.  “Would you come here for a moment?”

He had never seen someone so eager to leave a room.  Enzo sprung up from his seat and made his way down the short hallway.  He received a pat on the back for his hasty efforts.

“Miss Sarah, this is my dear friend, Enzo.  He was the one who told me of your plight, and he’s also the reason that you were my first stop.  I’ll need to concentrate while I’m looking about, but he shall keep you company while I work.  No one should have to be alone at a time like this.”

She offered up a weary smile, but couldn’t maintain eye contact with the bartender.  His gesture was just as sheepish, and neither was lost to Maravek, who sorted through the items atop the tables and dressers.  Most were nondescript papers and scraps, just trash that appeared to be the remnants of a herald’s illumination.  There was one symbol that Maravek saw more often than the rest though: a red diamond—and it was often found beneath other stacks of scraps and baubles.

That discovery seemed all the more unnerving in the silence of the room.  He turned to the others, who were sitting beside one another on the bed then.  “Enzo, why don’t you tell Miss Sarah how you and I came to know one another?”

The bartender’s eyebrows went up as he grew enlightened to Maravek’s plan.  “You, yes.  Of course.  Well, I… when I was younger, a little over ten years ago, I grew terribly ill.  I passed out along the harbor and hit my lip on the way down.  When they fished me out of the river, I was a bloody mess—”

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Michael DeAngelo

Michael is the creator of the Tellest brand of fantasy novels and stories. He is actively seeking to expand the world of Tellest to be accessible to everyone.