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Frost in return just nodded and left. “Can he even register what I said into the thick head of his?” she asked herself. She looked at his retreating back; she hoped her intuition was wrong. However, she decided to put those worries aside; her stomach is grumbling vigorously.
Chapter 11
The landing was, fortunately, not painful. Slowly, she pushed herself up from the marble-tiled floor. She lifted up her head and scanned the room. The room she flew into was actually the foyer of the palace. Sunlight beamed into the palace through the crystal wall giving the confined space a clear view of everything that was in it. The simple floral motive and swirls that was carved upon the wall creates a serene atmosphere into empty foyer. In front of her was a flight of marble stairs leading to another door. The wooden door was also carved with floral motives and swirls but this time, the swirls were tinted with blue crystal that resembles the material that made her necklace.
She climbed up the stairs and stopped abruptly when she reached the wooden door. She realized that there was no door knob; carefully she observed the wooden door and the carvings on it. When she reached out her hand to touch the door, the carvings glowed. Before she could give the door a push, the door creaked open revealing another surprising sight.
-break-
All five of them are in the study; Greg is behind the desk, Frost was opposite him, Jean and Dean was comfortably deposited themselves on the couch and Clara was beside the fireplace desperately searching for warmth in the windy night. Greg had dropped his cheerful expression and substitute in with the serious brows.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Jean
“Since Dean had already discovered the missing piece, he and one of you shall proceed in searching for it. Do you know where it should be?” asked Frost.
“My guess would be with the Companion,” answered Dean.
“I’ll go with Dean,” volunteered Clara.
“Alright then. Jean, have you found her brother?” asked Frost.
“No, no news from the underground yet. I’d spread the search to a wider scope” replied Jean. He is a person with a wide social network comprising of different people from different level of society. The underground comprises of the outcast of the four clans. They are the people who are involved with the black market and have their certain way to get information that was not known by many.
“Alright, keep searching. He may know the real identity of Parker. Tomorrow, Dean and Clara, both of you will be heading to the area near the farm house earlier to search for the Companion. Jean, as discussed earlier, you shall meet me at the appointed rest house. Once both of you got the Companion in your hand, meet up with father. We’ll join you after we wipe off the impostors who are also after the Soul,” said Frost before he rested his chin of his hand.
“Very well then, everybody has their task; then, I shall begin the preparation too. Alright, it’s late, Clara you should head home now. One of you please send her home. Oh yes, before you guys leave, I hope that next time you guys want to meet, please choose somewhere less dirty. I have a hard time getting the souvenirs you boys brought home off your clothes,” added Gregory Frost.
“Tell the one who suggested the place,” said Clara looking at Jean.
“What?! It’s a place where no one will see us having a meeting talking about some weird plan,” said Jean in his attempt to defend himself.
-break-
She stood there, stoned. The door just opened a second before this and nobody in the room actually realized her presence. The first thing that struck her was the melody that was emitted; it was the melody she heard in her dreams. The room was a long one. On the right hand corner, a lady was sitting there playing a piano. She was facing the door so Lynn had a good look at her features. She has long and wavy silver hair. He eyes was grey and gentle. Her smile was hanging on her face gracefully. She had a blue and silver robe that was long enough to cover her entire body. Beside her was a tall man with black hair and black eyes. He wore a black overcoat, green turtleneck, black pants and boots. He also has long hair that was tied up in a neat ponytail.
Though their smile was a small one, the happiness was so contented that even Lynn could fell it at the door. She took a step into the room but both the strangers have not yet noticed her presence. She was about in the middle of the room when both the strangers looked up at her. They nodded at her with the same smile and the next thing she knew, everything turned black.
-break-
There was a light rap on the room door of Howard Frost. He was still widely awake pondering on tomorrow’s journey. It was something that had been awaited for nearly three hundred years by the Warlocks; whether those exiled or those remained in this land. The war took place between the five clans was erased from the history. Nobody knew what happened; those who knew had already settled in their grave. The government did it to ensure eternal peace in this once segregated land. The memories of the war were passed down from generation to generation in the three families that mingled among the ally that won the war. He knew all too well that no mistakes are allowed to happen. The rap on the door shortened his train of thought. “Come in,” he answered.
“It’s me,” said the person as he opened to door. Jean came in and sat down leaning against the wall. He is right opposite Frost now; this way, he could look into his face.
“It’s late already. We have a long journey to accomplish tomorrow; so, sleep early,” said Frost. He had enough of ‘heart-to-heart’ talk for today. Not that he actually participated.
“Tell that to yourself. No worries, I’m not here about Lynn Parker. I want to ask about his brother.”
Frost raised an eyebrow and kept quietly. Jean saw the cue to prompt him to keep talking said, “You are planning to use her brother to threaten her in case she finds out what we are after, aren’t you?”
“That, is one of the reason. I truly believe that he left because he knew something about the Soul,” answered Frost calmly.
“So is that what you are going to do if I found Cyrile Parker. You’ll use it against Lynn Parker? And what if he is not going to tell anything?” asked Jean. He was slightly raising his voice.
“Yes. By all means, if I had to resort to extortion, I will. I will use her brother against her if the situation calls for it.”
Jean stood up and glared deep into the other’s eyes, “I never though that I would have to hear this from Howard Frost. Have the revenge blinded your eyes? To use such degrading methods to achieve our goals?!”
“Or else?! Do I have the option? I don’t. Jean. We have been waiting for this for three hundred years. We have no idea how’s our exile comrades are out there? Without their energy, they might as well live a soulless life,” retorted Frost as he also joined Jean standing facing each other.
Jean could not find anything to retort. He understands well the circumstances around the Warlocks exiled; however, his conscience could not allow him to do or acknowledge the method Frost was having in his mind.
“Even so, I won’t allow this to happen,” he said in defeat. He left the room after that.
-break-
Lynn woke up and found herself lying on the floor. She sat up and recall her dream or imagination or whatever it is. She herself was not sure what the scene she saw was. She shook off the confusion, grabs her towel and went for a shower. She definitely needed something to cool down her mind.
-break-
“Seems like you’ve lost,” said Dean as Jean dropped himself on his bed.
“How did you know?” asked Jean looking at his older twin brother whom he though had fallen asleep.
“I know you went out because you are my brother. And I know you lost because you looked like you’ve just lost,” smiled Dean.
“Very funny,” said Jean sarcastically.
“Don’t worry. Trust me, Frost knows his boundary well. Plus, who knows if something else that came up in between so that he doesn’t need to use what you don’t want him to do”
Jean nodded and went to sleep.
-break-
Two figures quietly sneaked into the abandoned farm house. Inside the farm house was scattered with hay. No living things were seen except for spiders and their home. Both stood still and surveyed the surrounding before proceeding further.
“You seriously thinks that the Companion is here, hidden in this shabby place unguarded?” asked Clara.
“Unguarded? Isn’t it too early to say? Have you noticed there are never footsteps leaving the farm house except for Frost’s and Parker’s and yet there are so many signs of people visiting here?” questioned Dean.
“Just stay close,” continued Dean. They began searching around closely. Every thing that lies in the farm house was covered with dust. When they were searching at the left corner, Clara noticed some out of place marks carved on the wooden pole. She traced the marks with her finger. The marks made a vague trace that was covered with dust. Slowly and carefully she traced the marks and it led her to the table nearby.
“What is it, Clara?” asked Dean following Clara.
“Shush, just look,” she said.
They continued tracing the marks from the pole to the ground then to the wooden table nearby. The marks stopped at the table leg. Clara shifted to lift the table but was stopped by Dean, “Don’t!”
However, he was too late, a snap was heard and the roof came crushing down to them. Clara shut her eyes close waiting for the hit but was only met with am embrace. When she opened her eyes, a translucent red field surrounded her. She realized it was from the person who just saved her. The fallen roof was stopped from crushing them by Dean’s powers.
It was not the first time they saw each other’s powers. They practiced using their powers during the night in the underground chamber. However, this is the first time Dean used his powers outside practice. Another wave of powers was emitted; Clara could feel how strong it was and the roof was blown aside.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied.
“Be careful, what just happened proofed that the traps here are unexpected,” he warned. She simply nodded and they continued searching.
-break-
It was a windy day. They are heading to the rest house near the border to pick someone up. Apparently, it is one of General Frost’s subordinate outside the Guardian HQ. They both were dressed in thick coat. The temperature has dropped quite a bit since last week. Lynn huffed out the cold air; she knew winter is coming soon. She mentally counted the days to Holy Day; it is approximately a month and 11 days more.
In front of her, General Frost seemed to be descending. She realized that they had reached their first destination; she too descended accordingly. Both of them parked their air vehicle at the given parking slots. The rest house was a shabby one. There’s no sign of any human other than themselves. There is two toilet cubicle and a small hut to provide shelter during rain.
She took off her helmet and left it with her air vehicle. The wind blew her hair vigorously. How much she wished that she still had her only hair band with her. Using both her hands, she held her hair in place to stop it from irritating her eyes. She walked over to the hut and sat at the bench while Frost was standing facing the landing area. Quietly, she wondered who the person her superior is waiting.
From the corner of his eyes, he was staring at the girl sitting on the bench. She was looking out at the grassy boarders with a distant eye. He knew her mind was occupied with something. Secretly, he wished that he knew what it was.
It was not long before the sound of an air engine was heard descending. Both the Guardian looked over to find a guy with messy ebony hair looking at them. He switched off the engine and walked towards them.
Her first impression of him is that he is a very sloppy and cold guy; as cold as General Frost. “This trip is going to be real cold,” she thought.
Frost walked over and shook the new comer’s hand. Lynn followed behind him and greeted his with a smile. “Glad you came to join us. Let me introduce you to Lynn Parker, my secretary. She’ll be coming with us for this trip. This is Jean Fideru,” introduced Frost.
The guy moved forward and shook Lynn’s hand, “Pleased to meet you Mr. Fideru,” she greeted with her trademark smile. “Jean would do it,” the other said.
-break-
The search was unfortunately fruitless. Other than another few more traps, nothing unusual was found. They stepped out of the abandoned farm house and walk towards their air vehicle. When they are already up in the air, ready to leave, Clara looked back again and she realized something then she had not realized before, “Hey Dean, wait.”
“Huh? What’s up?” he asked.
“Isn’t it odd that a farm house appear out of nowhere in the middle of the damp field?” said Clara voicing out her thought. It was like a light enlightening a dark room, Dean felt the same too. He replied, “Well if you don’t say it, I wouldn’t have thought of it. Wanna do some research at the nearby village?”
“Sure.” So there they went, heading off to the nearby village to find things out.
They went to a farming village about 5 miles away from the farm house. Deciding that they might need to stay overnight, they rent a room in one of the motels. The motel is not a big one; a double storey with five rooms to be rented out. There were not many occupants in the hotel. Only two rooms including theirs were rented out. During dinner, they went down to have the dinner provided. There, they spoke to the owner of the motel, Mr.Afrentico.
“Well what brings you here to our small village?” asked Mr. Afrentico as their conversation led from ‘How is the dinner?’ to their journey.
“We’re actually touring around in search of crops wholesaler. We wanted a credible crops wholesaler to provide crops for our company’s usage,’ answered Dean.
“Oh I see. Well, perhaps you came at the wrong time. Winter is coming soon; our villagers are saving our crops during these cold days you see. The extra crops are already sold out to the farmer’s regular customer,” said the owner.
“Oh that would be a great disappointment. We received the same answer from the other few farming village we visited. By the way, we saw a farm house about 5 miles away. It looks like a warehouse to me. Do they store the crops there?” asked Clara trying to accomplish their purpose.
“Oh that farm house. It has been there for some time already. There are a few buyers who are interested but the owner; our respected Elder would not sell it,” explained Mr. Afrentico. The owner’s explanation stirred up both Dean and Clara’s interest.
He then continued, “I really don’t understand that old man, he is respected by our people for his wisdom, but his stubbornness in this issue really made us think that he is really getting old. He’s already 93 this year and yet, he still wants to hog that land and the house. It’s not like as if he has someone to leave it for.”
“It would be a nice place to keep the crops if we are getting our supplies here in the future, wouldn’t it Dean?” asked Clara hinting to Dean.
“I bet it would but it seems like the owner wouldn’t be interested in selling it to us. And I thought that I won’t have to keep the Sale and Purchase anymore,” said Dean playing along.
“Commission you say?” asked Mt. Afrentico.
“Well, yes. We’re giving commission to the middle person who’s going to help us on getting the crops and also the warehouse to store the crops,” she answered.
“Well, I can always bring you to the Elder and discuss about it. There’s no certainty in this world,” the owner said enthusiastically upon hearing the word ‘commission’.
“That would be great,” said Dean. Both of them laughed inwardly on their successful play.
-break-
After the appointed meeting at the rest house they made their way to the 2nd Precinct. They did their cover up job in the afternoon and later in the evening; they were led to the black market in disguise by Jean.
They were all in their casual clothes. Frost in his usual sleeveless turtle neck and pants, Jean in his usual attire; tank top, shirt and baggy pants while Lynn has her
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“What’s a spare part of an air engine got to do with a brothel?” asked Lynn slightly amused by the stoic face of her two companions even with sexy chicks surrounding them as she stood by the side.
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