The Tome of Agrimar

Chapter Nine

A druid. Olivia had called Talon a druid. Twice. And he had not denied it. Why had he not told Kendra he was a druid? It was as if he was trying to hide it. Normally, this would send Kendra into a flurry of questions, but Talon had been so very evasive in the two days they’d wandered this city looking for Thradris. He refused to tell her anything informative. So, Kendra had resorted to her imagination, concocting her own tales that would explain his father’s encounter with a night-elf. There were millions of possible scenarios, but she had no idea if any of them were anywhere near the truth when Talon remained so tight-lipped.

Now though, Kendra had another clue- that Talon was a druid. This narrowed the possibilities. Her most prevalent scenarios followed that Talon’s father had probably made some kind of deal with the dark elf and when unable to live up to his end of the bargain, he’d been killed. Or perhaps Talon’s father and Thradris had some sort of bloodpact which bound the night-elf to come to his aid, but when he came upon trouble and needed that aid, Thradris had been impossible to find. Neither of these made much sense now though, and it was quite difficult to think of anything that made sense as druids typically followed scholarly pursuits, nothing that would bring them in contact with a dark elf.

Unless… Talon’s father could have been unraveling some deep, dark secret. Some secret Thradris had the answers to, but the evil night-elf had murdered him rather than reveal that secret. Perhaps the reason Thradris was so hard to find was because he was in hiding, and Talon’s father had been killed to keep him off the trail of this secret. Now that Talon had taken up the pursuit, he could end up dead if he wasn’t careful. Of course, any quest for vengeance could end in the quester’s death if they were not prepared to meet their aggressor. Was Talon really ready to battle a night-elf? Kendra glanced at him, her brow furrowed with concern. Talon did not seem to notice her gaze, already deep in conversation with the potions master.

“My father was in the process of writing a tome,” Talon was explaining. “A history of Rokhr and its races. He was in the middle of his section on the elvin races when the lack of recorded information left him needing to seek out firsthand accounts. He was killed while looking for Thradris, an elf he seemed to believe would be the key to wrapping up his history.”

“Hmmm,” the blind woman seemed to be staring off into the distance, as if there was something she could see that the others could not. “I do not know much about Thradris before he lived here. Elves are so very long-lived. Who knows where his travels took him? But he has been a shadow of this city for as long as I can remember. Few have ever actually seen him, as he sticks to the woods. Though there are some who tell tales of how he saved them on the road. These aren’t widely shared, you know. Most hate the fact that a night-elf lives so close to their borders, but no one is brave enough to enter his wood and try to send him away. He would have remained nothing but a whisper to the people here if his son hadn’t decided to venture into town.”

“Melonzriel, you said?” Talon asked.

Olivia smiled. “Yes,” she replied. She brought Talon a cup of hot water which he accepted, placing a pinch of the crushed ephedra inside and gently stirring as he listened. “Such a bright and curious lad. My granddaughter is quite taken with him, though she won’t admit it.”

“Thank you for letting us wait here for them,” Talon took a sip of his drink and leaned back in his seat, tension seeming to flow out of him as he became lost in the comfort of the surrounding greenery. “You’ve no idea what a relief it is to finally have a lead.”

Kendra found herself growing board with the conversation and the waiting. She had been right. Talon’s father had been killed seeking information. That knowledge seemed to make her current adventure much less exciting. It seemed she knew everything she could know about the situation, and though Talon seemed unusually calm speaking with the old woman about his father’s killer it was not riveting enough to hold her attention. The room seemed to stifle her with its heat and humidity, the many plants crowding in on her like a jungle of foliage. She began wandering around the little hut from plant to plant, testing her memory of those her father had told her about. Olivia and Talon paid her no mind as she stooped and reached, examining and sniffing to her heart’s content.

As Kendra leaned in to examine the inside of a large bromeliad, she thought she saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. Was that a tail? Following the movement, Kendra found herself crawling between potted plants, ducking under a shelf and almost losing her pack as she delved into a dark corner of the room. Just beyond her was a door which appeared to connect to a greenhouse, an extension of the potion master’s supplies no doubt. Slipping into the greenhouse, she caught a glimpse of a dark furry tail. Intrigued, Kendra followed, slipping through the cracked door in her pursuit.

A streak rushed past her, making its way clear to the other side of the greenhouse. Kendra gave up crawling and dashed after it. Whatever she was following seemed to know she was close and sought to make its quick escape. Kendra only caught a glimpse of a large reddish cat chancing a peek over its shoulder before slipping through an opening between the boards of the floor and the glass wall. Though Kendra was small, she was not small enough to follow any further. She could only watch through the glass as the strange cat disappeared. It had been far too large to be a housecat, and it had looked rather exotic. Its tail had been short, its ears long with black tufts of fur, and its eyes a vivid gold. Did the cat belong to Olivia? Kendra couldn’t be sure.

However, in the direction of the cat’s disappearance, Kendra thought she saw movement in the trees. The potions hut was on the very edge of the city, the greenhouse testing the edge of the forested tree line. Anything could be out there in the woods. A loud knocking brought her attention back to the front door of the little hut, and she dashed back to her druid companion to see what was going on. As she reentered the hut, Kendra saw Olivia standing in the doorway speaking with someone. A customer, perhaps?

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” came the sound of a deep authoritative voice. “I was wondering if you might help me find someone. A young man traveling with a raven. He escaped the city prisons a few days ago.” Kendra found herself freezing in place and trading a glance with Talon. Who was this looking for Talon? An old friend, maybe? Or, judging from Talon’s sudden tension, the man who’d attacked him on the road? Perhaps there was more excitement to this adventure yet.

“I have not seen any such person, I assure you,” Olivia replied, with a gentle smile.

Kendra could see the eyes of the man at the door narrowing as he tried to look past the potions master and get a glimpse inside. He seemed to be smiling inwardly at the blind woman’s joke. “There is a raven on your roof, and I was told you have a visitor.”

“There are always birds on my roof, good sir. How am I to know one from the other?” the old woman answered mysteriously, maintaining a firm stance in front of the man. She was clearly covering for the young druid and must have sensed some kind of hostility from the questioning man.

Kendra signaled Talon, trying to direct him toward the greenhouse. There had been a door at the end of the greenhouse they could use to sneak away. The young druid nodded his understanding and attempted to slip after Kendra. The movement, however, caught the man’s eye.

“You there!” he shouted, attempting to shove past the old woman. “Stop!”

Not two steps into the hut, the plants seemed to come alive. Vines twined around the man’s ankles and arms tripping him up and holding him back as the leaves by the greenhouse doorway began rustling fervently, forming together behind the druid as he exited, creating a wall-like barricade. Kendra stood in the middle of the greenhouse in awe and likely would have remained, if Talon had not snatched her hand to drag her away. “Come on!” he shouted, making a mad dash out the backdoor of the greenhouse. He glanced from side to side, fleetingly, trying to decide which direction to go.

Kendra saw Luscious swoop down into the trees, heading the same direction she’d seen the cat depart. “This way!” she called, guiding Talon away from the greenhouse.

The pair hurried into the woods in a mad dash away from the town, not stopping until they were certain they’d lost their pursuit. They did not have to venture far, as it seemed the man did not even make an attempt to follow. Kendra found this rather odd and glanced back the direction they had come. What had that been all about? They found themselves in a small cove along the edge of a hill and surrounded by dense tree coverage. Talon cursed under his breath, Luscious settling lightly on his shoulder and cackling his concern.

“What’s wrong?” Kendra asked.

“I was so close!” he shouted, now pacing the open ground. “Now, how will I find Thradris? We can’t go back to look for Melonzriel.”

“Calm down, Talon,” Kendra sighed. “We’ll find Thradris eventually. We got more information from that woman than we’ve been able to get in our whole two days of searching. I mean, he has to live around here somewhere, right? He can’t be far if his son comes to the town all the time.”

“The longer we spend looking the more time he has to find me,” Talon replied. “If we don’t hurry this will all be for naught.”

“The man at the potions hut?” Kendra asked.

“Of course, him!” Talon shouted in exasperation, pointing back toward the town. “Who else do you think would have been looking for me?”

“Talon, you need to explain what’s going on,” Kendra probed, trying to make sense of her companions ranting and sort out her own confusion. “You haven’t told me anything about a man looking for you. I thought we were just on a quest to avenge your father, but you aren’t telling me anything about how your father died either. Was what you told Olivia back there true? Or are you a liar like the jeweler? You told me Thradris killed her father, but you didn’t tell her that. You didn’t seem willing to tell her you were going to kill Thradris since she seems to like his son. You’re acting like a crazy person, and I can’t stand liars. I won’t go a step further with you until I know the truth.”

“He. I…” Talon stopped his pacing and looked down at the small woman who stood in front of him, tapping her foot on the ground with her arms crossed in front of her chest. The look on her face was, well patronizing. Talon sighed, raising a hand up to rub the bridge of his nose. “Look. Thradris killed my father. I’m sure of it.”

Kendra’s eyes narrowed, “You don’t sound very sure.”

Talon frowned in thought before offering further explanation, “What I told Olivia was true. My father was working on a historical tome. He was gathering first-hand accounts to fill in the blanks where our records had no information. While he was gone, someone came to the Druid Conclave asking questions about him, wanting to know where he’d gone and what he’d been working on. I thought his questions sounded suspicious, and I snuck away to find my father. That man at the potions hut? That was him.”

Intrigued, Kendra leaned forward. “Go on.”

“When I caught up with my father it was only to find him dead.” There was a pause as Talon glanced searchingly at Kendra then seated himself on a fallen log. “I was able to ask the trees what they’d seen. Their only response was ‘The Darkwalker’.”

“The Darkwalker?” Kendra asked. “What does that mean?”

Talon continued, “It was the name given to a night-elf who turned the tide of the Elvin Wars. That elf was rumored to wield a sword with a silver dragon carved in the hilt. Thradris.”

“Are you sure it’s Thradris?”

“Yes,” Talon answered.

“A silver dragon…” Kendra mused. “You don’t think it’s of Vex, do you? Like your ring and my statue?”

Talon nodded.

“Talon, this must be something bigger than just your father!” The young woman bounced on her feet in her excitement. “I mean, no offense, but how important is it that a night-elf killed a druid? Night-elves kill people all the time. But for all three of us to have something linked to Vex? You said yourself you don’t believe in coincidence!”

“No, I don’t,” Talon agreed.

“Then we need to find Thradris!” Kendra jumped to her feet. “Come on!”

“We were just looking for Thradris, remember?” Talon sounded exasperated. “Melonzriel was our chance to get to him, but now that man is here. Now, we’ll never find him.”

“Never say never,” Kendra smiled mischievously. “We just have to be sneaky. Now, follow me.”