III. The Theft

"I would hide it in the walls." A female voice said behind him.
"Do you like to sneak up on people around here?" Arisen asked amused.
"It has it's charm," said the woman. She was tall and slender with classic features and a wise aura drifting around her. There was something wrong about her, but Arisen couldn't tell what it was. He wasn't perfect, but neither would she be so that evened the odds. 
"I've come to warn you."
"About what?" Arisen asked.
"You will die here if you don't leave tonight." Agnaliz said. This wasn't even bending the truth. The leader Arisen would become if he didn't leave would stay here until he died, so she wasn't lying. Just bending the truth, but she stifled her conscious.  
"Why do you warn me?"
"Do you think I'd trick you?"
"I've learned all comes for a price. I'm not as foolish as I look."
"You have learned much." But not enough, Agnaliz thought.
"So what is your price?"
"Take me with you. I'm not welcome here." Agnaliz said, trying to get into his head.
"Yet you are free to go." Arisen answered, guarding his mind. She was desperate if she tried to plant a thought in his head. The talent was risky even if you used it on common people. Arisen wasn't as common as she'd hoped. He felt a strange kinship with this woman. Through the temporary link she'd opened, he sensed that she was older and wiser than she looked, like he was himself. He also knew this wasn't a talent that came easy to her. 
"I think there is one more thing I need from you before I take you." He said.
"What is it?" Agnaliz asked reluctantly.
"I came here to see the relic and I think you have found it."
Agnaliz froze when he so clearly stated what was true. If he knew this, then did he know that she was deceiving him? Carefully she opened her mouth. She closed it again and gestured to follow her.
Arisen knew defeat when he saw it. Agnaliz had given up the mystery and would take him to the relic. Not that he didn't want to leave already… the place gave him the creeps.

Sermillion passed by the door of the wench's room. She was talking. Sermillion inched forward and put his ear to the door. A man was in there. The voice sounded familiar, but it could have been any from a dozen brethren. 
Almost did Sermillion throw open the door to punish the monk inside. Almost did he throw his head in his neck and walk away, enraged to go find an easy victim. Almost, but not quite. Sermillion did none of these things because he heard one word. He heard his father's name. Sermillion froze and listened to the conversation of the woman and her accomplice. 

Arisen looked around in Agnaliz's room.
"They haven't heard about interior decorators I take it." He said smiling.
"Drop the act!" Agnaliz snarled.
"This stopped to be an act long ago." Arisen said, for a moment reflecting the icy cold of the mountains in his eyes.
"Long ago. Hah!" Agnaliz yelled, "You can't be older than 24."
"Like you can't be older than 30." Arisen bluffed back.
He guessed by the way she shut up that he had achieved the right effect. The woman was oblivious to others of her kind in the universe. Arisen had sensed them, even used a little of their techniques to preserve himself, though it wouldn't make him live as long as them.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Old enough." Arisen said and winked. He had no idea what her age was and he needed to seem older than her for his bluff to work.
"Do you know the spaceport Dazyr X6?" she asked.
"I've been there once or twice." Arisen said truthfully.
"Did you know a woman there? A girl still at the time I'm speaking of. Blonde, blue eyes, pretty. Her name was Riahn…"
Arisen felt guilty when he saw the look in her eyes. He had gone too far. He would have to make it up to her one way or the other.
"No." he said, turning away to think.
Agnaliz shrunk down and continued to talk although she didn't want to: "She was my mother. I didn't get to know her long. They took me from her before I knew how much I would miss her. 83 years ago…"
"How long have you been here?" Arisen asked.
"Only a few months, but I don't know if they will ever let me go." Agnaliz said, then more determined: "I need to go."
"I will help you." Arisen said, knowing promises would be hard to keep around here, "What do you know about the relic?"
"Nothing. I saw it being hidden in the wall by a dark figure about 40 years ago. It isn't particularly powerful. I can't get it to work."
"Maybe you are doing it wrong." Arisen said, "One named Serxes put it there and was killed the following day. An accident, but somehow I think there might be more to this. He apparently knew he was going to die."
"I don't think they encourage seeing here. Not by the looks they give me." Agnaliz said intrigued.
"This Serxes was the leader of the order. It wouldn't have mattered if he kept it silent. What bothers me is that he has a son…"
"Clairvoyance is hereditary." Agnaliz gasped.
"So it is…This Sermillion fellow must be good in keeping it silent."
"Maybe it hasn't outed. Some magic must be earned by suffering." Agnaliz said grimacing at the memories of her own life that flooded her mind.

Outside Sermillion listened with growing disbelief. He wasn't a seer. He had no magical powers. Never had and more importantly, he would never get them. They were obviously in league with each other to get the relic his father had hidden away.
Sermillion now also knew why the voice inside was so familiar. Not an half our ago he had heard it for the first time. The strange visitor that had freaked out Plevinon.

"Is that the relic?" Arisen asked, eyeing the small piece of metal shaped to look like a cylinder.
"It doesn't look the part but it holds power. It was hidden in the fireplace. Hidden well." Agnaliz said.
Arisen held out his hand and waited. As the relic touched his skin he indeed felt power. But the power was locked to him or faded with time. Maybe the magic had oozed into the walls over the years. 
Arisen gave back the relic to Agnaliz. "Leave it." He said, "It's not worth taking. Besides I wouldn't want to rob Aridwen of his protection."
Agnaliz shrugged and put the pendant back where she had found it. Afterwards Arisen put his hand on the knob of the door to leave her. But before he could open the door she stopped him.
"You would help me." She said.
"I did." Arisen said turning around. "Wait for me after sunset and I will get you out. And I have one addition for your quest. There is a race of people, though I'm not one of them, who lives well beyond the normal range of years. They are seers and oracles. Legend says they came from a planet named Ryme, and if legend is right you should be able to get there without my help."
After this statement Arisen left Agnaliz puzzled in her room.

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Lantessama Isle