Chapter Twenty-seven
From a completed epic fantasy novel told across two time periods.
Lydee
The psychological damage had been too much for her to withstand. For the third consecutive day, Lydee had remained in bed, only leaving the false comfort of the sheets to relieve herself and take a bit of water. She had no appetite. Her negative thoughts fueled her brain activity in a cruel cycle.
She no longer felt safe in her own home, but there was nowhere else she felt secure either. Her office had been broken into, and when she had returned home that night to see that her house had been similarly violated, she had collapsed on the floor and wept. She was still able to go through the motions of living for the next two days. Then she heard about her sister. That blow was one too many.
There were an infinite number of ways she was able to make herself feel guilty. She had not given Veabella a proper goodbye. She did not show her that she cared about her enough, not just in the last meeting, but maybe never in her life. It was undeniable now that she had never supported Veabella’s decisions, and had always acted as though she knew what was best for her younger sister.
Then again, if Veabella had listened to her, she would not be an outlaw. In which case, Lydee had no trouble blaming herself for not pushing hard enough. Perhaps she could have presented her reasoning differently. She could have tricked her into doing what she wanted. But that would be diabolical and condescending. Though Veabella would be safe now.
She should have taught classes on self-pity and how to hate yourself. There were better historians than she, but who could maneuver so deftly through any argument to find inescapable guilt?
Veabella was not the only one she was failing. Woller may already be dead. That was her fault as well. She did not reach him in time. If he was still alive, then he would not be for long. Instead of helping her friend, she lay in bed all day.
That sinister miasma of thoughts paralyzed Lydee until the fourth day of self-imprisonment, when a knock at the door brought her out of her trance.
She approached the door with a lack of caution that spoke to her extreme self-hatred, and opened it to see Richard standing before her. He had puffy bags under his eyes that made him look older and heavier. Behind him, the sun was just rising.
“You’re alive. I was worried,” Richard said softly.
“Why were you worried about me?” Lydee asked, genuinely confused.
“Last week I came to speak with you. Someone was in your house, but he or she left when I called your name. Over the past few days, I’ve come to talk to you about that, but regardless of the hour, you’ve not answered the door. Have you been out?”
“Not in a physical sense.”
“There was someone in your house, wasn’t there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why were you looking for me?”
Richard looked back to the street. “Woller,” he whispered.
“That is why they were here, I believe.”
“Do you think it was Gregorich?”
“Who?”
“The man from the royals who is investigating Woller’s disappearance.”
I need to think. I need to sit down.
“Come in, Richard. Let’s discuss this away from the street.”
Lydee nearly fell onto her sofa. She felt as though her legs could no longer support her weight, even diminished as it was after days without eating. Richard elected to sit in a chair across from her, his eyes constantly darting around the room, then seeming to fix on arbitrary locations. Head spinning from having been upright for so long, she breathed out and closed her eyes for just a moment.
She awoke to find Richard nudging her. “Are you okay?” he asked, his gaze penetratingly intense.
“How long was I out?”
“Not even a minute. Are you ill?”
“No,” Lydee said, readjusting herself into a sitting position. “I have just… not been myself.”
“I heard about your sister. I’m sorry. I’m sure she and her company are innocent.”
“So I am. I only wonder if that will matter.”
Richard hesitated a moment, then went back to his seat. “I do not mean to rush you, but I do not have much time. You see, I have been conscripted, as it were, by the royal herbalist, Esther. I will be tardy already as it is. I hope to avoid too severe of a castigation.”
Lydee felt tears welling up in her eyes, a sensation that now felt as integral to her life as breathing. “What has happened to us, Richard?”
“Our lives have been taken from us. By Yara.”
“Who is under orders from Oslian. The one who dictates everything. Why is Esther so demanding of you? Because of Oslian Vinredor, the Divine King of Vinredor.”
“The most powerful man in the world has us under his velvet slipper.”
“The most powerful man in the world…?” Lydee said under her breath. No doubt he believes he is. But The Hero lives. The truth of that will shake the world.
“You do not look well,” Richard said. “Promise me that when I leave, you will get some fluids in you.”
He waited until she nodded, then he continued. “You have not been visited by Gregorich?”
“No. You said he was investigating Woller’s disappearance?”
“That was what he told me. Do you find it strange that someone is interested in Woller all of the sudden?”
“Only partly,” Lydee admitted.
Richard leaned forward, eyes intensely focusing on her again.
“Woller came up while I was being questioned by Yara before she closed the university,” she said. “She showed interest in his disappearance, though I do not know why. Gregorich must be working for her, looking for hints as to where Woller may have gone.”
“If the Crown is looking for Woller, we need to find him first. He was not just a colleague to me. He was a friend of my grandfather’s as well. He is a good man, Lydee. The rumors about him… they never fit together for me.”
“I feel the same. Woller is in trouble and I’m going to help him. Their intimidation tactics have worked to perfection though, haven’t they? They wanted to scare me, and they did. I apologize, Richard.”
“Your response was reasonable, Lydee. I’m sure I would have done the same. We’re not used to being the subject of intimidation and threats.”
Richard had begun to move in his seat, switching the leg he had crossed and rubbing his thighs. “I have a lead I will follow today,” she told him. “I will get in contact with you when I know more. You should go now. We don’t want to raise even more suspicion.”
“Thank you, Lydee,” Richard said, standing.
“For now, just try to stay alive,” Lydee said, only half joking.
“You as well. In fact,” he said, reaching into a pocket in his robes, “I want you to have these.” He held out three glass vials containing a greenish liquid. “Just in case you find yourself in an unfavorable circumstance.”
“One of your recipes?”
“No. One of my grandfather’s.”
“Even better,” she said under her breath.
When Richard left, Lydee forced herself to start a fire and put on a kettle of water for tea. Her body demanded that she go back to bed, but she did not give in to the allure of sleep.
Sipping the tea, she ran through what she knew and what she could possibly do to get ahead of Yara, and evidently that man Gregorich as well. Though she still did not see the relevance of what Iniko had told her of Woller’s research, it nagged at her that she had done nothing with the information. The library would be her next destination.
Another knock on the door. Dread swept through her body. She knew without any semblance of a doubt that this later caller was unwelcome. I do not want to answer that. But what will happen if I don’t?
A second knock, this one louder than the first. Lydee looked over the room for an object she could use to defend herself. A fire poker leaning against the fireplace seemed the best option, but when the image of her fighting off a sword-wielding guard with a fire poker came to her mind, she decided she would be better off unarmed and therefore unassuming.
She opened the door after the third knock to find a short man with large, dark eyebrows standing in front of her. He did not look armed nor particularly dangerous.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Good morning, professor. My name is-”
“Gregorich. You work for Royal Councilor Yara.”
The man straightened slightly. Had she been in a better physical and mental condition, Lydee may have noticed a nearly imperceptible tremor in the man’s face. “Yes,” he said. “Then, I assume you know why I have come today?”
“I do. Let me ask you, Gregorich, is this your first time at my residence?”
“It is.”
“I see. What does Yara want to know exactly?”
A brief moment, then Gregorich replied. “I am hoping to find some detail which may assist in locating your friend. As of right now, there is still not but rumors, and you know how those are. I would like to ask you some questions regarding what Woller was working on just before he disappeared. What do you know of his research? Is it possible that his studies required a visit to another region?”
“I do not know.”
“That is too bad. You see, I do not want to assume the worst for your friend. He could be traveling, and that would make my job as an investigator somewhat silly, would it not?”
“You believe he is traveling?”
“I wish I did. I apologize, but as of this moment, I do not know much about the man. It does appear as though he vanished magically.”
Silence passed between them. Lydee maintained eye contact with Gregorich, the man giving a forlorn smile.
“Do you recall the last conversation you had with him?”
“I do not.”
“Could it have been regarding his research?”
“It could have. I do not remember.”
“I am only attempting to help.”
“Of course.”
“He was a distinguished professor. I have spoken to many people during my investigation, as I do my best to be thorough. Not one person I have spoken to has had a negative word to say about him. Do you think someone could be hiding something? Is it possible the professor had an enemy?”
“You would know better than I.”
“Well,” the man said, taking a step back. “I know these conversations can be uncomfortable. Perhaps we will speak again. Oftentimes, a chance encounter or event will cause a memory to loosen and a case gets some much-needed assistance. If you remember anything at all, it could be useful to the investigation, even if it appears unrelated. Until then, thank you for your time, professor.”
Lydee watched the man walk away until he was out of sight. Still weak, she returned to her sofa and sat down, a nagging feeling growing in the back of her mind. Closing her eyes, she attempted to focus on the source of that sensation. It was not long until it came to the forefront of her thoughts. He did not give me any manner of making contact with him.