A Soft Chime

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Xekai pulled from Akirio's dreams with a pained wince. The world wobbled around him and his whole body ached. He'd used too much magic again. It never did seem to agree with him. He put his head in his hands as his dizziness increased making him nauseous. A hand was placed on his shoulder to steady him.

"You alright, Xekai?" The voice was low and gravelly.

"Just give me a second." He took a deep breath, trying to still the world around him.

"Can you still see?" A more feminine voice asked. Her concern for him was almost touching, but Xekai spurned most concern. Last time he Dreamwalked he had almost lost his sight.

His eyes flicked open. Gray stone walls, curved ceiling, stalactites everywhere, yes, he could still see. The cave they were in used to be an old monastery. Pillars stretched out of the rock here and there and a couple of cots could still hold his light weight. His eyes flicked to the first speaker.

Khirs Nifhsif was by no means a small man. He towered over Xekai by at least a foot. He was of a muscular stocky build as was appropriate for the mighty greatsword he swung around with ease. Khirs was a Stinaltan, a rare breed of humanoid whose kind looked an awful lot like sea creatures. He was supposedly a shark man, fierce as his namesake. He had joined the Three once Xekai had offered him a chance for people to look up to him with respect instead of down upon with revulsion.

"You gonna be alright?" His eyes, black with no discernible white or iris, looked at him with concern.

"Yes," Xekai stood and the world twisted violently causing him to fall back to the cold stone floor so that he was staring at Khirs' gray feet clawed in thick black talons, the same for his fingers. He managed to break the fall mostly with his hands letting his elbows buckle under the shock so the impact only rattled his skull.

"You don't seem okay," the female spoke again and a cool hand was on his shoulder.

Syrena Felocaron was a woman of average height at the age of twenty two. She was lithely built with curves in all the places a woman should have curves. She currently wore a vibrant scarlet dress with a plunging neckline. She must have gotten back from a kill recently, the hem was stained a bit and the dagger on her thigh, revealed by a slit up that thigh, was red with blood. Xekai remembered then. She had been at some lord's party earlier, tasked with the assassination of...he couldn't remember.

"The world...it is spinning," Xekai struggled to his feet, but Khirs and Syrena pushed him down again.

"Just stay there for a second and breathe. It will pass." said Syrena, long blond strands almost falling in her dusky violet eyes.

He inhaled deeply, sitting up as he exhaled. The dizziness faded and he felt normal once again. Popping a sugar cube into his mouth from the inside of his robes helped; the sweet focusing him, making his mind clear and his head stop whirling. He sat up straight.

"How'd it go?" Khirs asked.

"Easily, His mind is not well protected, the magus has put a simple ward on him. I disabled it. His arrogance knows no bounds. It is as you feared, he is hunting us."

"Continue." he made a "go on" gesture with his hands, the long flared sleeves of his green tunic fluttering around them.

"Akirio Valderez has decided to enact vengeance on us for the murder of Ikasagan Ado."

"So Maybelline really did follow through on blaming us for the kill."

"Yes. I do not know where she may be, but she is our first priority. It may be a bit difficult because of Akirio Valderez, but we have evaded much worse."

"As if the city watches weren't enough, now we've got this little twerp breathing down our necks." He growled, running a hand through his hair. "What's our next move?"

"We set north for Reistoffhaven tomorrow at dawn." Xekai instinctively reached for the chain at his neck as a fidget when he thought, but found nothing. His eyes widened slightly in surprise, a rare expression from the adamant assassin.

"What is it?" Khirs inquired, seeing his accomplice's bewilderment.

"My Bloodstone is gone." He responded blatantly.

"If Akirio gets his hands on that he'd be able to track us."

"I am certain that he would not be anything other than a mild nuisance, still, even that would slow us down."

"Just kill him and get it over with."

"No, Khirs. He is powerful, in more ways than he thinks. He would make a strong ally."

"Whatever you say," Khirs growled in disappointment.

"Is there any news on Rollistar?" Syrena interrupted.

"Yes, Reginald is dead. The Triquetrian army is heading south as we speak." Xekai said.

"Great," she sighed, sarcasm dripping from her words, "now we're all dead."

"Not necessarily, he does not know that we still exist. He believes that we are dead already."

"Wonderful. When's the coronation?"

"A month from now, after the festival of Jarkko."

"Do we have a plan?"

"I was hoping that you could help me with that."

Khirs smiled broadly, flaunting his sharp teeth, "Intimidation. That's what we did with Caliph what's his face?"

"Caliph Sayim. I do not know if intimidation would work."

"Why not? Come on, it's a good idea," he pressed.

"I do not know! He has the most powerful army in the world as an ally?" Xekai's normally cool composure wavered for a bit as his voice gained a sharp edge and he threw his hands out with a snap of cloth and a chime of bells. He blinked for a second before regaining it, "I am sorry." he hesitated a bit on the word sorry, as if he didn't quite mean it. "I did not mean to do that. I have a sense that my master now walks this world, and it is rattling me."

Syrena gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know that wasn't you. Why is your master here?"

"He is hunting me." He turned away from the group. "Get some sleep. We leave early tomorrow," Xekai laid down on one of the many bedrolls scattered around the floor and fell into a light slumber befitting of a murderer.