The Epic Tale of Cregan

Chapter 14: Gamble

Reela keeps her head down where she sits on the ground, too ashamed to look Cree or Hu'Nisha in the eyes. The Tus'Felnis keeps her hands over Regan, continuing to work on stabilizing him while Cree questions the child.

"Reela...?" Cree says cautiously.

The girl sniffles and stares at the ground. She doesn't say anything and just starts lightly crying and her body begins to tremble.

"You didn't know?" Hu'Nisha asks without glancing back at the two.

Cree shakes his head, not looking away from Reela. "No. I didn't," he says.

"Doesn't surprise me too much, seeing as you haven't been in Aramora long. And the incident revolving around that kid was only a couple weeks ago, so word hasn't really gotten around much. The Dev'al Ordon seems insistent on keeping pretty hush-hush about it. Can't say I blame them, considering what happened," Hu'Nisha says. Reela shrinks into the corner.

Cree kneels in front of her. "What incident?"

Reela timidly meets his eyes and shakes her head sporadically. "It wasn't me! I—I didn't mean to! I didn't hurt them!" she cries.

Cree tilts his head and turns back towards Hu'Nisha. The woman still has her focus on Regan, but her cat ears are turned in their direction so she can still listen and contribute. "What incident? What happened?" he asks.

Hu'Nisha sighs. "I'm sorry, kid. But you're gonna have to explain this," she says.

Reela stares at the ground and grips the rim of her dress tightly to calm her shaking. She has to take a deep breath to briefly stop crying.

"My father had one of those crystals in his lab..." she starts. "He studied it... He worked for the king of our city, Whiteridge..."

"Arrick Minex'mar. Your father was his Court Mar, mage," Hu'Nisha adds in.

Reela meekly nods. "One day, I was playing in his lab... I thought the crystal was pretty and I picked it up... But I dropped it, and... It broke... Then everything hurt... My father was yelling... but then I went to sleep... When I woke up... I was surrounded by... bodies... Of the soldiers with the bad guys..." Her eyes flood with tears again and she resumes crying. "I didn't do it!" she sobs.

Cree looks back at Hu'Nisha again. "What the hell happened?" he asks.

The Tus'Felnis sighs. "I remember Athemar got word from Whiteridge about a Schism Fragment breaking and latching onto the Court Mar's child. He sent a patrol out there to take the girl and bring her back to the Dev'al Ordon. He sent a disciple of Life Magic with them to stabilize her, but none of them returned. The child went missing near Balmoral and the Order's been looking for her ever since. It's possible that the Tene-Medeis in her recognized the soldiers as a threat before she even woke up. And, well, I did say that it is volatile and dangerous. You can put two and two together," she explains.

"I didn't kill them!" Reela shouts.

Cree sighs and moves closer to Reela. The child tries moving away, but he wraps his arm around her and pulls her against him, gently stroking her hair. "It's okay, Reela. I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. It wasn't your fault," he says softly.

Reela wraps her arms around him and burrows into his side as she silently cries, her tears soaking into his shirt.

He returns his attention to Hu'Nisha. "How long will it be before he's better?" he asks.

She shrugs. "Give me a couple hours. That should be enough to force his body to strengthen itself against the magic. With any luck, he'll be back on his feet by tonight," she explains.