Rough Seas

21 - Help

"My Lady." A purple haired woman stood a few feet away from them, bowing to Ianite. Katherine shifted nervously, and glanced at Jordan, who gave her a small shrug and a confused face. He didn't know who this lady was either. After the hole in the temple had been patched up, and all those injured were carted off, Ianite called upon one of her most powerful followers. Ianite had told the two of them that this woman would be able to help them track Rupert, using magical means. Katherine hoped that she was right. The thought of her brother scared and alone made her feel sick.

"Please Martha, there is no need for that." Ianite smiled as Martha straightened, her dark blue eyes darting between Jordan and Katherine in confusion.

"What did you call me for, my lady? I mean, besides the fact that there's a giant hole in one of the temple walls." Crossing her arms over her chest, Martha cocked her head to the side, looking at Ianite expectantly. Ianite sighed and spoke.

"My brother, Dianite, had attacked our temple so that he could get his champion back." At this, Martha's brows furrowed and she looked confused. "My captain and champion, here," Ianite motioned towards Katherine, and then to Jordan, "Were able to capture the Dianitee champion, Thomas Syndicate. He was brought here, so that I could try and get Dianite to cease in his attacks before war broke out. Unfortunately, not everything went to plan. As you can see, we now have no Dianitee champion, a large hole in our walls, many injured civilians, and Katherine's brother has been taken by the Dianitee's. We have no hope in knowing where he will be taken, and I was hoping that you could be able to track him." Ianite explained. Martha nodded slowly, taking it all in.

"No offense my lady, but why couldn't you just track her brother?" Martha asked, jerking her head towards Katherine. "It would be much easier than getting me out here to do it."

"My brother was smarter than I thought. He has created a veil between myself and Rupert, and I can't track him, or feel his presence. I have no way to tell if he is alright or not." Ianite fiddled with the hemline of her purple robes nervously. "That is why I called you here."

"Alright." Martha replied, uncrossing her arms. "I can do that." She turned to look at Katherine, who straightened slightly. "It was Katherine, was it?" When Katherine nodded, she continued. "I need something that had value to your brother, something that he would have held close to his heart. Essentially, something personal. I'll be using that object when we are able to do the ritual, but it won't be destroyed." Martha explained, watching as Katherine nodded. Alright. Something personal. She could do that.

-

Katherine sighed as she unlocked the door to what had previously been her and Rupert's home. Now that she lived with Jordan, Rupert had renovated the space to make his bedroom a little larger, using Katherine's old room as a guest room. She had spent many nights with him in this house, and stepping inside of it just brought them all back. A few tears came to her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away, sniffling slightly. She needed to find this object, and then they would be able to find her brother. Then they could save him, and Katherine wouldn't let him out of her sight for weeks. That, and she would find Tom and slap him again, or not, depending on the shape Rupert was in. Really, she knew that wasn't fair, because Dianite could override any decision that Tom made, but she couldn't just slap a god. Well, she could try.

"Kathy?" Jordan murmured, placing a hand on her lower back. Katherine lent into him, resting her head on Jordan's shoulder. He had come in behind her and closed the door. The two of them making the short trip to Rupert's home. They had walked in silence, just holding hands as they walked. Now, they s

"I miss him." She whispered, breaking the silence. Jordan kissed the top of her head, resting his cheek on her hair.

"I do too. It's so strange having him gone." Jordan had gotten used to Katherine's older brother being around ever since he had met Katherine, back when she was fifteen, himself sixteen. Rupert had been so protective over her even then, making sure to attend every date that the young couple had, always a few table's away. When Rupert finally started trusting him to be around Katherine, Jordan had felt honoured, knowing that Rupert trusted him enough to leave the two of them alone, and even letting Katherine sleep over with him a couple of times. They had bonded, and Rupert had told Jordan that he was like his brother. Jordan was snapped out of his memories when Katherine started speaking again.

"I just want him to be safe. I... I told Tom to keep him safe but... I don't know how long Tom will be able to do that." She confessed, before pulling away from Jordan slightly. "C'mon. Let's look around before we both start crying." Jordan nodded, and the two began their search. The bottom floor yielded nothing of sentimental value, so the two of them headed upstairs. Jordan was looking under Rupert's bed, while Katherine was digging through his closet. There had to be something in here, right? Katherine frowned when she felt a box beneath her finger tips. Why did he have a box in his closet, of all places? Pulling it out, she dusted off the top and opened it. To her surprise, there was simple leather bound book. She pulled it out and dropped it to the side, before turning back to the box and freezing.

"Kathy? I don't think anything's under here besides dust. "Jordan called out from under the bed, trying to wiggle out. When he got out, he frowned at Katherine's still figure. "Kathy?" He asked quietly, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. Jordan moved closer to her and swallowed when he saw what was in the box. There was a photograph, one with four smiling faces. There was a dark-skinned man with his arm around the waist of the woman beside him. Two beaming children, one boy with red hair, the other a young girl, where sitting in front of the adults. This was definitely something personal, something so connected to Rupert and to Katherine. They could use this picture to track him.

'That's us." Katherine whispered quietly, tracing her fingers over her mother and father's face. "That was us before we were attacked." A tear trickled down her cheek, and Jordan wiped it away with his thumb. "I didn't think that anything had made it out of the fire."

"We'll get him back, Kathy. I promise."

(We're so close to 30,000 words for this fic and I'm happy)