The Tribrid | Book 1

Chapter Five

Aerwyna made it to the room, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and steadied herself before chanting thrice; "Alohomora"

Upon reaching the threshold of the door, Aerwyna paused contemplating. The contemplation vanished as soon as the thought of Eldric came to her mind. She opened the door way quicker than she intended out of her eagerness to find Eldric. If she could see Eldric again, then why not?

The interior of the room caught her attention, asides all the dust and cobwebs in almost every nook and cranny, it still left her amused. Different potions in a sundry of uniquely shaped bottles in glass and skin. Various books; supposed spell books were on the shelf, their spines were covered in so much dust, the titles were unreadable. Aerwyna was filled with awe.

"Wow..."
Was all Aerwyna could say. She wanted to touch all, everything. The room and it's contents aroused her thirst for curiosity, itching her inner cat in the right way. Aerwyna used two fingers to wipe the dust off a book's spine and the words revealed were, 'Book Of Rich Spells' She smiled, eyes glinting with excitement. She reread it until the she noticed the 'h' of 'Rich' was still partly covered in dust, all that was left was 'Ric'.
Subconsciously, she said the words, "Eldric."
She remembered, no time for snooping around, but to do as the woman had told her.

First, the box. She looked on shelves, drawers, tabletops, she paused. There was a necklace dangling from the table. She picked up the necklace and put it on without a second thought knowing it was the necklace the woman spoke about. She found it on the table in the left side after all.
"Now, for this woman to arrive. I need her help around here, cause I can't find that box!" Aerwyna mumbled to herself as she fiddled with the necklace.

A minute passed and Aerwyna realized the woman wasn't coming. "Just great. This woman isn't even here! I don't have time, where's that box..." Her eyes surveyed the whole room until she saw an old box covered in dust right beside the door. "Aha! Silly me." Aerwyna smacked her forehead and swiftly took the box.

As the woman said, there was a secret passage. The floor there was a trapdoor and she pushed it open. The staircase was there. Relief washed over her when she saw it. Her time wasn't up yet. She touched the necklace around her neck and clutched the box tighter before descending the staircase in haste.

Once her feet had reached the ground out in the forest, she staggered and almost lost her grip on the box but quickly recovered it. Aerwyna began to feel slight tremors in the ground. It became more turbulent as the seconds passed. She turned back to face the house and saw it shaking like it was about to collapse. She found herself wobbling and fell down backwards with the box resting on her torso.

"What is going on? Did that woman trick me! Whatever it is, I have to get out of here." Those were Aerwyna's thoughts.

She propped her right elbow and used her left to hold the box in place. Standing up would be futile given all the shaking. She used her elbow and legs to drag herself away from the place. Aerwyna was about to turn to try crawling on all fours but she stopped when she heard a voice boom throughout the forest.

"Make a wish. Where is it you desire to be?"

Her hope was rekindled maybe the woman didn't send her on some fool's errand. She might just find Eldric.

"I..." She breathed out shakily with a small smile on her face. "Take me to where Eldric is. Now." And she vanished.

Agnes was in her room pacing about, pondering on her next move now that Eldric was out of the picture when she felt the ground shake slightly.

"Aerwyna?"

No impromptu response came as it usually did. Agnes thought it could be because Aerwyna was still upset about Eldric. So she decided to go and check up on her. She reached the room when she called out again.

"Aerwyna. Aerwyna open the door."

The door remained shut Agnes carefully opened the door only to find no one. She feared that Aerwyna could have ran away and began to raid the whole room. When it was futile, she growled in frustration and then took a deep breath to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and reached out to sense Aerwyna but not only was she unable to sense Aerwyna's presence and magic but she felt something was off. There was a mystic aura she knew she was familiar with but couldn't quite pinpoint. So she followed it till she reached the room. She could feel it. The room had been opened not too long ago.

Her features widened in fear and shock before they became contorted with anger and disbelief.

"No... Not possible! Impossible! Aerwyna!! Aerwyna!!!" She screamed.

Panting she stared at the room in disbelief.
Her breathing became ragged as she asked herself a series of questions.
"How could she have known? How... how did she know the spell?"

She opened the door and noticed the box was missing. The necklace was not there as well.

Agnes gritted teeth, in vain attempts to calm down. She knew what she had to do. Who she had to see.

She needed to get to Aerwyna, and Eldric was the only way to do so.

A huge painting, the size of a door was hung right beside where the box was and Agnes roughly tossed it aside to reveal a dungeon. Agnes walked in with majestic strides, opting for an intimidating rather than forceful approach.

Bound to the wall in shackles and heavy chains was a bony physic. Probably starved for weeks. Behind a curtain of long unkept and dirty locks of hair was a pair of tired blue eyes. As they landed on Agnes they were filled with fear. The chained female shivered in fear.

"It's been a while." Agnes grinned menacingly.
"I need your blood." Agnes stated in a commanding tone.

"Never." The blue eyed woman wheezed. This just irritated Agnes and made her sigh.

"I'm not going to ask nicely again." Agnes warned edging dangerously close to the figure in shackles and chains.

Agnes quietly said a spell and the shackles and chains fell to the ground, freeing the woman from the bondages. She grabbed the black skinned figure and dragged her out of the dungeon.