"Convincing her to help us shouldn't be so difficult... We are not enemies," Mortagon curved his lips.
"Moreover, she doesn't like the Queen. She cares deeply for Wild Wood. If we wanted rebellion, she doesn't have a reason to be against us. ...As for the archmage... What could her relation to the archmage be? I don't think it's so important. The only problem is he wouldn't like to let go of her. We have to be careful about how we're going to convince her... " he kept thinking.
Mage Mortagon from the Morana clan decided to stay in the library of Vahara Arta too. And he had time to relax in the mineral springs while waiting for some other mages from the Morana clan to come and assist him in his task. It was good he'd accidentally met Elyre in an inn even before he came to the city of Vahara Arta. He'd seen her for the first time. He'd also left a good impression on her.
***
Someone knocked on Elyre's door early in the morning. It was a young man, almost a boy,
"I bring a message from Heliona. I am Tarrin, Heliona's apprentice," he said.
He had something better than book titles to offer. Heliona had actually found a written legend!
Elyre closed the door. She couldn't believe! The more she read, the more fascinating it seemed. It described in detail what symptoms the forest had, what herbs Princess of the Wood-Nymphs Nymphica had used... Nyphica had experimented a lot and she'd had a talent for finding new medicines.
One of the illnesses described really looked like maginopia.
Elyre went to the main hall to wait for Phabian. She saw he was already there, sitting at a table.
She showed him the piece of paper.
"The cure is so strange," she thought. "I've lived with the wood-nymphs for so long but I can't recognize the names of many of these herbs... Are they herbs at all? Maybe they aren't indigenous to Wild Wood."
This main hall was like a café full of people, especially in the morning when everybody came downstairs from the dormitories. She was speaking quietly enough so that only he could hear her.
"What are you going to do then?" he asked.
"First, I am going to ask at the local marketplace if they have the herbs. At least some of them should be popular and should be available, right?" she shrugged.
Suddenly, silence set in.
Too many people were too quiet all of a sudden. Strange.
Elyre looked at the entrance unwittingly.
A mage unlike other mages came into the hall.
He wore a very beautiful white cloak with many details on it.
Elyre was sitting down calmly. Her gaze like that of many others followed the figure of the newcomer as he walked down. Aristhaeus also glanced at him carelessly as he rest his elbows on the table.
Aristhaeus never caught so much attention normally as he did not wear his extravagant archmage attire in public places.
He bent toward Elyre and whispered,
"He's handsome, isn't he?"
Yes, that was true, the newcomer was handsome but that wasn't the reason why she'd stared. She answered,
"Yes, he is. But should you notice such things? Who is he?"
"Mage Orbelus," Aristhaeus answered.
"You know them all," Elyre noticed. "Orbelus," she repeated. "Why is he wearing white?"
"All mages who serve the Queen wear black. When he wears white it's as if he's saying 'I don't work for the Queen!' loudly and clearly," Aristhaeus answered in his usually calm tone.
"So he is rebelling," Elyre exclaimed. "Then he is very brave, isn't he?"
"Why?" Phabian asked.
"Nobody else dares to do it," Elyre explained. "Maybe he is strong."
"But not enough to actually annoy the Queen," Aristhaeus said. "Because if she perceived him as danger, he wouldn't be able to walk around dressed like Snow White or any other princess, for that matter."
"Do you know his name actually means 'snow white'?" Elyre smiled. "I was not looking at him because he's handsome," she added.
~Though it seems you were looking at him because of that,~ she thought funnily.
"Anyway, I think I will have to be buying some herbs today."
"I want to look something up this morning," Aristhaeus said as he remembered what had happened with the spirit guardian this night. "But I may join you in the afternoon."
***
Aristhaeus was determined to gain as much information as possible about the spirit guardian's amulet. The object belonged to the Unseen so he had to go there to investigate.
This didn't pose a problem. There was another trouble – the protective spells. Some protective spells were more dangerous in the Unseen. They could remain powerful even if the amulet had been given to someone voluntarily -- and it was not given voluntarily! He had to be careful.
This amulet reacted strangely to the Seventh Fire's magic just like Elyre's. It didn't seem to be affected by other types of magic in the same way.
Elyre's amulet had also hidden Elyre's presence when they'd encountered the gorgons and the dragon.
~Could it be that the amulet hides Elyre's presence when it senses her fear or strong emotions?~
If the amulet was indeed emotionally "intelligent" in this way, then very, very intricate magic was at works.