The closer they were to their destination, the further away Grantalo felt from his reward! He gnashed his teeth whilst thinking, he knew that it wouldn't be long before the other party moved in on the ledger, and they must surely be powerful if they can move across the continent in such a manner! His mind raced as the wagon slowly passed by the hilly landscape and the large trees and boulders. Out of nowhere he yelled out loudly!
"Cousin Sietila!" the sudden yell grabbed the attention of the Fremont and the other party in the other wagon.
Miinitalo spoke up next to her father with feigned ignorance, she wasn't sure what he was playing at, but she knew enough to play along, so she answered ambiguously "Yes of course!" she slapped her leg, whilst shaking her head.
"Talaitha!" Grantalo yelled, thanking the heavens that his daughter was sly as a fox.
Talaitha peeked out from the wagon next to Fremont, she had heard the commotion, and was just about to ask, when she heard her travelling companion asking for her.
"It completely slipped my mind, but this year it is our turn to pick up cousin Sietila from Mjörkriver Trading Post, I'm afraid that if we don't know turn around now with haste, we'll miss the celebrations completely!"
Talaitha was somewhat dumbfounded, she didn't know Grantalo and his family relations well, and she didn't remember them mentioning a cousin, but then again, if they had forgotten about the poor fella it made sense "Okay, just a moment, I'll come over" she responded somewhat deflated, the foreigners were all quite lively company, in comparison to her companions.
"No need my dear!" responded Grantalo "You had to meet your mother correct? We'll catch up at the festivities, if our friendly company don't mind you should simply go ahead" He said with a smile whilst he pulled the wagon to a stop.
Talaitha looked apologetically at Fremont and the others.
"Sure you can come along, right guys?" Avicia spoke from next to Fremont with a friendly smile. It didn't take long for them to agree.
Not long after when the wagon was out of sight Grantalo finally heaved a sigh of relieve "Thank the gods that we split ways, who knows what disaster might have followed" he wiped a thin layer of cold-sweat off of his forehead.
Miinitalo spoke up "How will you explain this one to Barsali?"
"Him? He is well to dumb to put two and two together, when he wakes up we'll just tell him that they had a different path in mind than us"
The daughter's fingers tapped lightly against her leg "And Talaitha? What if something happens to her, she is one of us after all..."
"That bitch can die for all I care! We would have succeeded out mission already had it not been for her!" he sneered angrily, all that Miinitalo could do was shift her gaze towards the forest next to them, a hint of sadness in her weary eyes.
. . . .
"Something is off!" Spoke Barandir calmly whilst rocking the baby, he had on eye trained at the old lady, who as far as he was concerned, pretended not to notice, he refocused his mind on the task at hand "You see, and please do not take this personally Miss Talaitha, but I think that something is in store for us, and that Grantalo knew about it..." He proceeded to relay his thought process, much to everyone's surprise, even the old lady acted surprised and scared, yet he noted that she never asked to leave the carriage. A lifetime's worth of assassination plots and plans, infiltrations and scheming in a never-ending war, had earned him a sceptical outlook, even though these senses had dulled somewhat after merging with Barandir, he hadn't turned daft, his gut was screaming from the highest peak that something was wrong.
. . . .
Two days later whilst the wagon was exiting a tunnel that had been drilled through an outstretched piece of mountain it was consumed by fire! A spout of green hellfire had erupted underneath the wagon in a sudden outburst, the green light reflecting almost like an aurora on ground-level when it hit the thin layer of snow and ice around it. Nothing was left except the ashes and the magical diagram that the wagon had passed over.
Three figures appeared from thin air, each wearing a black dark cloak, they circled the ashes, seemingly looking for something, upon finding nothing, they left as quietly as they had appeared.
. . . .
"They had the ledger, they had it!!" Grantalo yelled as he ran through the forest, leaving a bloody trail behind him, his consciousness fading, regret was the only emotion to be seen on his face as he collapsed, he didn't know if his daughter had lived or died, perhaps the only person he had ever cared about, and he had brought about her demise? The possibility alone was harrowing.
A cloaked figure walked up to the man slowly, and began examining his belongings, eventually leaving empty handed, no attempt to cover up the crime.
. . . .
The 26th of Klodia.
A young man stood in a large wooden hall, wooden carved pillars in dark iron mahogany contrasted against the light birch that the ceiling and floor was made up of. Many people were gathered in the minimalistic room sitting along long wooden tables, magic candles lighting up the space. A resemblance was seen amongst many of the faces. And at the table facing the long tables sat ten people, at the centre, the young man who was standing up, next to him a young woman and man obviously still in their teens, the woman had teary eyes, and the young man was holding his sister's shoulder with a hardened gaze, confusion evident in it.
Finn spoke up loudly "Tragedy! After Tragedy!" he began, leaving the sentence hanging, empathising the words. He half shook his head in feigned anger.
"To think that dear Lonkar, my uncle, on his way home after finally giving up on the search for my dear cousin, was ambushed!" he slammed his fist in the table, knocking over his goblet "rest assured we are still investigating..." he heaved a heavy sigh, as his eyes cleared from the feigned anger "and although it is my sweet cousins birthday, I still feel that we should have a moment of silence to show our respect to both Lonkar and Barandir..." The hall quietened as the murmur stopped, quiet sobbing was heard from some, Melasindra, and her mother who was seated next to the siblings both subdued their grief.
Finn was standing with his eyes closed, when he felt a sudden gust of cold air, flakes of snow entered the room as the wind whirled through.
"Why so quiet isn't this a birthday celebration" Laughed Lonkar as he entered the room, his companions close to him, especially Barandir and the baby caught everyone's attention.
Finn opened his mouth to speak, but his throat too dry to comment.
Melasindra instantly stood up "Barandir!"