Chapter 20 Chapter 19 The Lost Soul

Percival's chirping heralded a new dawn, rousing poor Cadderly from a fitful sleep full of nightmares.When he opened his eyes and saw a new day shining brightly, he only vaguely remembered those terrible nightmares, because they must be things of the dark night. The young priest knew, however, that he had dreamed of Danica, and the thought was driving him mad. Because, while he was outside, in the morning sun, his dear Danica was inside, in the library, in Rufo's evil clutches. library. Cadderly could hardly bear to think of the place.It had been his home for most of his young life, but that time now seems like a long time ago.If all the doors and windows of the Mengzhi Library were wide open at this moment, the building would still be a dark place, a place of nightmares.

Cadderly was jolted out of his contemplation by Ivan's gruff voice, the dwarf sitting in a tangle of thick branches below the young priest, giving orders. "We have weapons," Ivan was saying. "Belag has his bottle." "Bang!" Pikel commented, throwing his hands high into the air.This sudden big movement almost caused Yiwen to fall off the branch. Yiwen steadied himself, was about to nod his head, then stopped, and slapped Pikel on the back of the head with his palm. "My brother has his club," the dwarf continued. "Like a rolling tree!" Pikel yelled happily, interrupting him again and making the same big movement as before.This time Yiwen didn't react fast enough. When he came back to his senses, he was already sitting on the ground with a pile of leaves in his mouth.

"Ooh." Pikel moaned, guessing that the action would give him another hand, as his brother began to climb steadily back onto his own branch. He guessed right, and accepted the punishment with a shrug.Yiwen turned to Xuelin. "Like a rolling tree," Pikel said again, this time quietly, without any big movements. "That's right." Yiwen agreed, too angry to argue any more. "And you've got the silver arrow," he said to Xuelin, though he was still eyeing his brash brother, thinking another comment would come. "My sword will be equally effective." Xuelin explained, holding up the delicate and slender elf sword, the silver inlaid decoration shining brightly in the morning light.

Ivan continued to stare carefully at Pikel, who had begun whistling a cheerful little tune of a spring morning. "This is better," the yellow-bearded dwarf said to Xuelin. "And I have my axe, although it wasn't made to hurt those rascal vampires. But it can split a stiff-footed zombie in two!" "Cadderly has his cane," Xuelin said, noticing that the young priest was moving around, looking for an easy route down to their height. "And, there should be more weapons besides that, I guess." Cadderly nodded, then fell hard into the tangle of branches, sending it jerking downward. "I'm ready for Rufo," he said staggeringly when the branches stopped bouncing up and down.

"You should get more sleep," Ivan told him angrily. Cadderly nodded in agreement, not wanting to start an argument at the moment, but in his heart he was glad he hadn't slept much.When the most difficult situations happened, he was quite wide awake and adrenaline pumping.His only enemy now was despair, and if only he had been able to dream of his missing love for a little longer... Cadderly shook his head, dismissing the useless thought. "How far are we from the library?" he asked, looking west, thinking that was where the library should be. Xuelin motioned him to look the other way. "Three miles," she explained, "to the east."

Cadderly did not argue.Running on complex mountain roads is quite confusing, especially for a person who does not have elf night vision.But Xuelin knew where they were. "Then let's hit the road," said the young priest. "Otherwise we'll lose more daylight." He began to climb down the branch, but had to stop for Belag.The alchemist winked at Cadderly, opened his weather-beaten cloak, and took out the vial of shock oil. "Bang!" Pikel yelled from the branch above. Ivan roared, and Pikel quickly jumped onto another lower branch, and Ivan's subsequent palm hit nothing, and the swing was empty, causing the dwarf to lose his balance and fall from where he was .He managed to catch Pikel's green beard as he fell, pulling his brother for company.

They hit the ground together, shoulder to shoulder, Ivan's antler helmet and Pikel's saucepan flying away.They bounced up and stared at each other. Cadderly looked at Xuelin, who was shaking her head in disbelief as she tried to suppress a burst of laughter. "At least you don't have to follow them all the way back," said the young priest.Belag let him pass, and Cadderly jumped down to separate the grappling two.In a way, the young priest was grateful for the distraction.Dangerous missions and ominous possibilities await them, and a little laughter will do them all good.But Cadderly didn't appreciate the dwarven drama, and when he finally managed to pull the two apart, he made it clear to both brothers.

"It's his fault," said Ivan, huffing and resentful, but Cadderly, and Cadderly's accusing fingers, pressed into his face, warning him to stop. "Whoa," Pikel whispered.When Belag came down a moment later, the dwarf leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Boom." Both Cadderly and Ivan turned quickly, but Pikel just whistled again, that lilting, innocent morning ditty. Quickly, surely, and without hesitation, Xuelin led them through the numerous forks and turns of the bewildering trails.The sun has just begun to climb up in the eastern sky, and the dark and cold Mengzhi Library has entered the field of vision. The square outer wall seems to deny the warmth of the day.

The five of them walked down the path side by side, Ivan and Pikel at one end, Shaylin and Cadderly walking steadily at the other, and poor, trembling Bereg in the center.Cadderly didn't really notice their newest companion, the lanky man who wasn't a fighter, when they came to the last stretch of the road and saw the broken gate.The young priest held up a hand to stop the crowd from advancing. "You have nothing to do there," he said to Belag. "Go to Kaladon. Warn the townspeople of the presence of Zirkan Rufo and his creatures of the night." Visello Bellague looked up at the young priest as if Cadderly had just slapped him. "I'm not very good at fighting," he admitted. "And I'm not fully expecting to see Zirkan Rufo soon, vampire or not! But Miss Danica is in it—you said it yourself."

Cadderly looked at Shaylin, who nodded gravely. "The only real weapon against an evil creature like Rufo is determination," interjected the elf. Cadderly put a hand on Belag's shoulder, and could feel the alchemist taking courage from his words.However, as they resumed their steps and approached the door, the man visibly trembled again. This time, it was Yiwen who stopped everyone from going forward. "We should map out a course of action before going in," the dwarf speculated. Cadderly looked suspicious. "We have no idea where Danica might be," Xuelin said, "or where Rufo and his most powerful associates will be found."

"If we go the wrong way, we'll have to fight all the monsters in this place before we can find Danica," Ivan argued, but then, as if he suddenly realized what he just said, especially During the fight with everything in here, the fiery dwarf shrugged as if that was all right, and turned back towards the door. Cadderly took out the lumen and opened the back half of it.He slid the magic disc out, and even in bright sunlight it shone brightly.Then he took off his hat and placed the shiny disc behind the holy symbol mounted on the hat. The young priest looked back at the door and sighed.At least for now they won't be walking into darkness.Still, Cadderly hadn't the slightest desire to fumble around in the gigantic building, with so many enemies to face and so little time.How many rooms can they search in a day?There must be less than half of the cute library. "We'll start on the lower floors," Cadderly said. "The kitchen, the main chapel, even the wine cellar. Rufo will likely take Danica and Dorigen to a dark place." "You assume it's got them," Shaylin said, in a tone that reminded Cadderly that both monks and wizards were capable and cunning. "Let's not forget that Danica might not be here at all." Cadderly didn't think so.In his mind, he knew without a doubt that Danica was in the library and in trouble.He started to answer the elf's question, but Percival answered for him, and suddenly the squirrel jumped wildly on the branch just above their heads. "Hey, you little bastard!" Ivan roared, protecting his head with his stubby arms. Pikel seemed equally agitated, but unlike his brother, the green-bearded dwarf wasn't protesting at all.He pointed at the white squirrel with a stubby finger, bouncing up and down. "What's wrong?" Cadderly and Xuelin asked together. Percival ran along the branches, followed by a big leap, grabbed the edge of the library roof, and bounced along the gutter, somersaulting and squeaking. Cadderly looked at Pikel. "Perscival found them." He stated rather than asked. "Ooh!" agreed the dwarf who was observant (at least in matters of nature). Cadderly looked back at his rodent friend. "Danica?" he asked. Percival jumped high into the air and made a full circle. Ivan yelled in protest. "The mouse found them?" he growled in disbelief.Pikel slapped him on the back of the head. "We don't have a better lead," Xuelin reminds a fiery Ivan, trying to prevent another argument between the brothers. Cadderly wasn't even listening.He had been with Percival for three years and knew that this squirrel was not stupid.It is far from stupid.Cadderly didn't doubt that Percival knew they were looking for Danica. He followed Percival, and his friends followed him, round to the south wing of the library.This part of the building showed fire damage in many places, but the walls and windows near the rear of the building were undamaged.Percival moved gracefully along the gutter, then stepped carefully down the rough, cracked rock.It made a final jump and landed on the ledge of a small second-floor window. Before the squirrel even stopped, Cadderly was nodding. "Where's Danica in there?" Ivan asked suspiciously. "That's the private room of Headmaster Thobicus," Cadderly explained, and it all made sense to him.If Rufo caught Danica, the woman he had longed for, he would probably show her the most comfortable, extravagant room in the library, and nowhere more appropriate than the dean's private quarters. Cadderly's confidence was accompanied by a moment of utter horror.If his logic was correct, and Percival was correct, then Rufo had really caught Danica! "What's the fastest route through the building to get to that room?" Ivan asked, deciding not to continue his useless argument. "The quickest way to go is straight up," Cadderly said, making everyone look skyward.Evan grunted a few times, trying to think of some way to get them all up there.At last he could only shake his head, and the dwarf gave a start when he looked back at the young priest to attack the plan.What had been Cadderly's normal arms and legs were now the limbs of a squirrel, a squirrel with white fur! Not so surprised, Xuelin handed Cadderly the end of a delicate rope, and he began to climb up, easily climbing the wall and sitting on the narrow ditch next to Percival. The windows were only a few inches wide, not much bigger than a square crack in the wall.Cadderly peered in, and the disc on the hat cast a ray of light into the room.However, he couldn't see much of the interior of the room because the windows were more than a foot deep.He did, however, see the end of the bed, and above that, beneath a satin-like cloth, was the outline of a woman's legs. "Danica," he whispered harshly, struggling to find a better vantage point. "What do you see?" Ivan called from below. That's Danica!Cadderly knew it was Danica.He changed back to his original form, ordered the arms and legs to return to their original shape, and entered the song of Denir.He was too close now to be stopped by mere rocks. "What do you see?" Ivan demanded again, but Cadderly, lost in the song, in the magic of his god, didn't hear the cry. He focused on the stone surrounding the window, saw it for what it was, saw its essence.Invoking his god, he took a water bag from his back, sprayed water at several strategic spots, and placed his hands on the suddenly malleable stone to shape the matter. The thick glass of the window fell out, past Cadderly's moving hands in a trance, and nearly hit Ivan, who was standing with his hands on his hips on the ground below. "Hey!" the dwarf yelled, and Cadderly could hear him even under the influence of the song.He looked at his handiwork, and then remembered his friend, and made a small protrusion in the stone where he could secure Xuelin's rope. And then it was done, the windows wide, and Cadderly crawled into the room.The god Denir had left him when he entered this unholy place, a fact that would be clear to him if he kept his attention.Even the light from the disc fixed to the front of his wide-brimmed hat seemed to dim. But this, Cadderly didn't notice now either.His eyes, his thoughts, were all focused on the bed, Danica's figure, lying there too peacefully, too serenely. Xuelin literally ran up the rope, rushed into the room and came to Cadderly's side.Ivan, then Pikel, jerking up and down with a powerful dwarf arm, soon followed, and Pikel paused on the ledge to lift poor Bella up fifteen feet to the window. Cadderly stood by the bed, staring down, unable to find the courage to reach out and touch Danica. She would be extremely cold under his touch.he understands.He knew she was dead. Xuelin couldn't bear to be suspended like this, she couldn't bear to see Cadderly in such agony.She leaned over the bed and put her keen ear next to Danica's tight lips.After a while, she straightened up, staring straight at Cadderly, shaking her head slowly.Her hand moved too, moving Danica's top to reveal the wrinkled gash on the monk's neck, revealing a pair of vampire bite marks. "Woohoo." Ivan and Pikel groaned in unison.Visello Bellague sniffed, trying to hold back tears. The physical proof that Danica was dead, at the hands of Rufo, sent a surge of grief through Cadderly, a ball of spikes that pricked every corner of the young priest's soul. , tearing at his heart and all his sensibility.Danica is dead!His love has been taken from him! Cadderly couldn't stand this.With all the power of the God Denir above, and with all the command of Curious Fate, Cadderly just couldn't let this happen. He commanded the song of Denir into his thoughts, forcing its currents through the murky veil of evil that permeated the place.His head ached from doing it, but he didn't budge.There was no flinching from Danica, his love, lying so pale before his eyes. Cadderly's mind raced into the current, pushing open the closed doors and rushing into the highest level of power.So he left his friends, not physically, for his body stood motionless by the bed, but mentally his soul burst out of its human body into the realm of souls, the realm of the dead. area. So Cadderly didn't hear Shaylin's scream, nor did he respond when a strong hand came out from under the bed and clasped the elf's ankle. ※※※ Cadderly could see what was going on in the room, but they were far away from him, somehow quite distant.Through a thick, foggy gray screen, he saw himself standing very still, and saw Xuelin, who had apparently fallen to the floor for some reason, being dragged under the bed. Cadderly sensed danger in the room, sensed that his fellow elf was in trouble.He knew he should run to her, he should help his friend.He hesitated, however, and did not enter his physical body.Xuelin was a powerful companion—he could see Ivan and Pikel moving, perhaps rushing toward her.Cadderly had to trust them now, because he knew that if he left the realm, he wouldn't find the strength to come back anytime soon, not in the desecrated library.He was looking for a soul, and souls were quite erratic.If he hoped to bring Danica back, he had to find her quickly, before she found a home in the underworld. but where is sheCadderly had entered the Realm of Souls several times, and when he found Avery Shere collapsed and dead, he went to look for the Dean. On a table in the "Dragon's Fig Leaf" inn.Cadderly had entered the Realm of Souls, chasing the spirits of the men he had slain, and before the young priest could call out the assassins, they were dragged down by shadowy things.He once followed Vander into the Soul Realm, and blocked the vicious assassin named "ghost", so that Vander could return to the world through the magic power of his regeneration ring. that ring! Cadderly saw it glowing clearly on Ivendor's finger, the only thing that stood out in the room.He believed he could use it as a door that would bring Danica back to life.If he could figure out a way to get Ivan to put the ring on Danica's finger, he might find an easier way to guide her spirit back into the body. but where is sheWhere is his love?He called to Danica, letting the images of the room fade from his mind, letting his mind wander in all directions.Danica's soul should be here, she can't be dead for long.She should be here, or at least there would be some trace of her passing that Cadderly could follow.If necessary, he would drag her from the arms of a god! no trace.no soul.No Danica. Knowing that he couldn't find her, Cadderly softened.Suddenly, his life seemed to lose its purpose, and there was no reason to even bother getting back into his body.Let God Denir take him now, he thought, and let his suffering be over. He saw a flash of clarity in the turbid world he had left behind, and there was a movement in the room.Then he saw the vampire jumping out from under the bed as clearly as he saw Ivan's ring. The vampire Baguio lunged at a cloudy figure - Cadderly knew it was Xuelin - and bounced to his feet.It was an undead monster that existed on both planes, and was perceived by Cadderly in the Soul Realm, as it was evidently perceived by Ivan and others in the Material Plane room.The vampire paid no attention to Cadderly, however.Bagio's full attention was on the battle ahead, a battle that would kill Cadderly's friends! Cadderly's focus turned to pure anger.His spirit moved swiftly behind Baguio, his will shaped into a thin spear. ※※※ Xuelin was out before the fight really started.She hit the floor beside the bed hard and slid under the bed, the vampire's strong hands hitting her hard on the shoulder as she tried to reach for the dagger. The silver-tipped arrows popped out of Sherin's quiver under the force of the impact, and this saved the wounded elf.By sheer luck, her free hand was placed right over one of these arrows, and Xuelin took it quickly and swiped it without hesitation, driving its silver point deep into the Bagiou in one eye. In a fit of rage, the vampire struck Xuelin one after another, causing the bed to bounce up and down against the foot of the pillar.At this time, Pikel was lying flat on the ground, using the wooden stick in his hand like a pool cue, stabbing Baguio's face, making the vampire unable to deal with it, allowing Evan to drag Xuelin out of the room place. And Baguio also rushed out, screaming and beating, most of the attacks fell directly on poor Xuelin.Pikel hit it hard several times, but the vampire was strong, took the blow, and returned it tenfold. Belag screamed and shivered, and Ivan charged with a ferocious slash, but his ax had no effect on the vampire.Baguio put them on the defensive and trapped them. The vampire lurched suddenly, as if hit by something in the back, when in reality it was attacked, by Cadderly's spirit.The vampire staggered forward, reaching behind his trembling arms, looking for some invisible wound. That's a great goal for the eagerly awaited Pikel.The green-bearded dwarf spat on his hands, rubbed them together to get a tighter grip on his oak stick, then made two full circles, building momentum, before slamming the trunk-like stick into Bajio's face department. The bone-shattered monster flew away, slamming into the far wall.However, Baguio still reached behind his back, reaching for the spear that Cadderly stabbed into his back, which was the concrete manifestation of the young priest's will. Then Cadderly returned to the material plane, his physical body trembling from head to toe.He moves deliberately, relentlessly.He reached for his hat, then changed his mind, and instead reached into a crease of his traveling cloak that he had sewed into the pocket of the cloak during his weeks in the northern caverns of the Snowflake Mountains, and pulled out a thin, black wand.Cadderly shook his head and looked at the object—in the weeks of idleness and the excitement of the past few days, he had almost forgotten that the wand existed.The young priest pressed on Bazio, wand point forward, and said calmly, "Mas Ilu." Countless bright colors burst from the wand, encompassing every color in the spectrum. "Ouch!" Pikel wailed, blinded by the outburst, as were Cadderly's other friends.Cadderly himself saw many dark spots behind his eyelids, but he didn't budge. "Mas Illu," he said again, and his wand complied, releasing another burst of colored light. To his friend, the explosions were visually distressing but otherwise harmless, while to the vampire they were downright excruciating pain.Bagiou tried to duck out of the blast's light, to curl up into a ball to hide, but to no avail.The shower of light clung to him, attacking its undead body with fierce, fiery sparks.To a living creature this rain of sparks would be mere blindness, to an undead monster it would be like burning. "Mas Illu," Cadderly said a third time, and when the last outburst was over, Bagio slumped against the wall, glaring at Cadderly with pure hatred and pure helplessness. Cadderly retracted his wand and tore the holy symbol from his head.He stepped forward and stood in front of the injured vampire, calmly and methodically placing the radiant holy emblem on Bajio's broken face. The vampire raised a trembling hand to block Cadderly's wrist, but the young priest didn't budge.Gripping the holy symbol firmly, he chanted a prayer to the god Deniel as he struck repeatedly with the ram's-headed staff, completely destroying the monster. Cadderly turned to see his four friends staring at him incredulously, marveling at the utter audacity of the act. Pikel groaned, and the end of the stick in his hand dropped limply to the ground. Xuelin looked at Cade and immediately wrinkled her face in pain.Her right shoulder was badly scratched, and the gasp in her voice let Cadderly know that Bagio's attack had probably broken several ribs and collapsed one lung.He came to her at once, said nothing, and set out to find the distant song of Denir. The melodic flow wasn't strong this time, and Cadderly couldn't find a higher level of priestly energy.It was early in the day, but he knew he was tired, so he accepted his weakness and turned to lesser healing spells, reaching lightly but firmly on Xuelin's ribs, then on her shoulders. When Cadderly came fully to himself, he found the elf resting more comfortably, the magic healing the wound. "You didn't find Danica," Xuelin reasoned, her voice determined but trembling with pain and weakness.It was obvious to all that she needed to rest and could not go any further. Cadderly shook his head, confirming the elf's concern.He looked mournfully at the bed, the peaceful figure of his dead love. "But she didn't become an undead monster." He said that the elements that support his beliefs are more than others. "She got away," Xuelin agreed. "Danica shouldn't be here," Cadderly said.He looked at each friend firmly. "We have to get her out of here." "The mausoleum has been cleared," Xuelin said. Cadderly shook his head. "Go further afield," he said. "We're taking her to Kaladon. There, away from the darkness of Zirkan Rufo, I'll be better able to heal your wounds and bury Danica." His voice cracked as he finished the last thought. "No!" Ivan said unexpectedly, drawing Cadderly's attention. "We can't go yet!" argued the dwarf. "Not now, not while the sun is still in the sky. Rufo got her, and if we just go away, he'll get someone else. If you must, go by yourself, but me and my brother stay .” "Ooh!" "We'll get justice for Danica from that guy, don't doubt it!" Ivan finished. Get justice from that guy.The emotion raced through Cadderly's mind for a while, growing stronger, empowering him.Get justice from that guy!Yes, Cadderly would seek justice from Rufo.He found himself thinking of revenge. "Take Danica to the mausoleum," he said to Bereg and Sherin. "If the Dwarves and I have not returned to you when the sun begins to sink, set out far from this place, to Simista or Karadon, and return not." Xuelin, like all her friends, angry at losing Danica, wanted to argue, but when she tried to answer, sharp pain ripped at her side.Cadderly had done everything possible to heal her wound, and she needed rest. "I'll go to the mausoleum with Belag," she agreed reluctantly, acknowledging that in her current weakened state, she would only be a drag on her friends.She clutched Cadderly's arm as Cadderly started to move away from her, her violet eyes locked into his gray ones. "Find Rufo and destroy it," she said. "I will not leave the mausoleum unless it is to return to the library to join you." Cadderly knew there was no way he could convince the heroic elf of other possibilities.Danica was like Shailene's sister, and there was no way the elf would just walk away from her sister's killer.Cadderly understood the emotion, because, unless Rufo was destroyed, there was no way he would leave the place himself.So he nodded understandingly, accepting her pledge.