Chapter Twenty
From a completed epic fantasy novel told across two time periods.
Lydee
Her reaction to Yara’s announcement that the university would be closing had surprised her. She thought she would be distraught. Instead, it had given her motivation. Her cause was to find Woller, and without her classes to tie her down, she could relentlessly pursue this new obsession. Lydee knew the reality of her dismal situation would hit her hard eventually, but until then, she would focus all of her energy into a cause she believed was increasingly critical.
The difficulty she was having now was in forming any type of connection between what Iniko had told her and a conceivable reason for Woller’s disappearance. It was well within the realm of possibility that there was no link. As unlikely as it seemed to her, there was a chance that the rumor surrounding Woller’s sudden departure was in fact the whole truth. She intended to start there.
The student’s name was Fayvin. She had taken two of Lydee’s classes before graduating, the second one after Woller’s exit. Lydee had done her best not to signal to the young woman that she knew about the rumor, remembering how uncomfortable she had been as she looked out over the class, taking pains to look the young woman’s way no more or less often than her other pupils. She doubted that her efforts at subterfuge had succeeded, and more likely than not, they had been sniffed out on the very first day of class. Vea always said even a child of three could read my emotions on my face.
The university records still listed an address for Fayvin, and with any luck, she continued to reside there. Lydee took a long route to the Concord district where Fayvin lived, attempting to delay the intrusive and overly personal interrogating she was about to conduct. She walked down a street crowded with market stalls and vendors hawking local produce. It was late in the afternoon and the swarms of insects were nearly as vexing as the repetitive droning of the salesmen. She swatted at a cloud of gnats and scratched at her neck, unsure of whether anything had actually bitten her, or if the visual stimuli had provoked the feeling of irritation on her skin.
The stalls were mostly empty of product at this late hour, save for overripened breezeberries and cactus fruits which made the swarming insects all the worse. As she turned a corner which led to Fayvin’s neighborhood, she was startled by the abrupt ending of merchants. She stopped and looked around there. On both sides of the street, the walls were covered in papers. Notices, or warnings, depending on one’s perspective. All displaying the same message: His second prophecy, the prophecy of trust, would be fulfilled soon. The sky would alight in a display of his glory and foresight. Whoever had placed these had been bolder than usual, plastering the papers high enough up one wall to cover a mural of the Divine King.
As isolated as she was now, she felt as though she was being watched. A trap? To catch followers of The Path? If the royal families had believed those who walked The Path had been defeated, the magnitude of that ignorance had been revealed since the start of the year. The divine monarchs would not sit idly by and be humiliated, which meant retribution of one sort or another. She hoped the faithful were prepared for that inevitability. She did her best to continue in the direction she had been headed, careful to walk at an unhurried pace.
The jeweled had acted out of fear when the first prophecy was completed, for they knew their stranglehold on the continent’s population would falter if The Path could be proven true. She worried that this year would see more violence, and worse atrocities considering the prophecy would be even more public than the first one, four decades earlier. Revealing the truth comes at a high cost. And doesn’t that prove one of the integral messages of the faith? That humans commit horrendous acts, even against good people. Especially so, even.
Once again unmindful of her surroundings, her thoughts had taken her past Fayvin’s house. When she finally realized where she was, she looked up and blushed at her own aloofness. Still feeling as though she may be being watched, she nervously turned around and casually walked back to the row house whose address matched the one she had acquired from the university. At the door, she paused, sensing that something was amiss. Scanning the exterior of the house, she found the proof of her uneasiness. The door was standing upright, but the hinges had been broken off. She looked down and saw splinters of wood on the ground. Her eyes widened as she took a step back and turned to see if anyone was watching her. What has happened here? What, and when?
Seeing that there was no one in sight, she knocked gently on the door. When, after an excruciatingly long wait, there was no reply, she knocked again, louder. Still no sound from the other side of the door. Again she looked around her and could see no one. Biting her lip, she moved the door to one side, squeezing through the opening. Once inside the house, she shifted the door back to cover the empty space.
There were no signs of a struggle, except on the floor directly in front of the door, with more splinters lining the entrance rug. This is too much of a coincidence. The same day I look for Fayvin, there are signs of a forced entry.
A cursory search of the house showed nothing else of note. She did not know of any way to determine when the break-in had occurred. She knew that Fayvin worked as an accountant; perhaps her employer had seen her that day. Maybe she was still at work, and was unaware of the violation that took place. Lydee wanted to believe that was the case. More than she could articulate, she wanted to believe that this was in fact a coincidence. A coincidence. That is what the royals will say when the prophecy is fulfilled. But who will believe that? Who believes in the innocuity of coincidences? She knew she did not.
A few hours later, Lydee was walking alone across the university campus. Fayvin’s supervisor had informed her that the young woman had missed work that day, a rare occurrence, she assured her. On the grounds of the abandoned campus, Lydee felt vulnerable in a way she had never experienced. She did not know where to go or what to do to rid herself of the sensation, but she did not want to go home yet. She did not want her feeling of being watched to follow her into her private residence. After a half an hour of aimless roaming, she decided to head to her office, where at least she would be in an enclosed space. And, truth be told, she needed to begin clearing it out anyway.
She lit a lantern in the lobby of her department’s building, and went up to the second floor. Looking behind herself as she unlocked the door to her office, she double-checked to make sure she could not see anyone in the gloom.
Inside the office, she was pricked by the now increasingly familiar feeling that something was not right. Her growing sensitivity to that sensation frightened her. She did not see anything that had been moved, and nothing was missing from the shelves. The dim glow from the moonlight, and the brighter light from the lantern were more than sufficient for this personal setting she had memorized long ago. If something was out of place, she would notice it as soon as her eyes passed by its location. Everything was as it should be. Nevertheless, the dull pain of dread remained with her.
After checking the shelves and the chairs, she went to her desk. She carefully slid open the drawer, not wanting the force of the motion to unintentionally shift an object’s position. She had been looking for slight adjustments, an object which had been lifted in a search and then returned so that it sat in a new direction. The condition of the drawer sent her heart racing. Pens, papers, stamps, all scattered haphazardly. What to make of this cavalier display?
The office was searched, and no effort was made to cover that up. Because they rushed out in fear of being caught? Or they found what they were looking for and do not believe they can be tracked? Or, worst of all, they want me to know they have been here.
The last option struck her as the truth. She could come to only one conclusion; Fayvin had been kidnapped and her own office had been searched, all for the same purpose. She also knew who she was up against. The royal councilor, Yara. And she is ahead of me. Woller, I am failing you.