Chapter 27 – Aftermath

“Shit.” Cobal kicked over the bench where his brother sat earlier. “What do we do now?”
“There are a few things, but let’s start by making sure Grac is alright. I’m confident that with that flashy exit they’re not coming back anytime soon so that shouldn’t be one of our worries.” Eliana seemed to have recovered very quickly from her restraints. One of her arms looked to be bent in a strange way. She walked over to Mana and said, “hold my arm here and don’t let it move.”
“What are you going to?” Cobal asked, but he couldn’t finish the question as Eliana yanked hard on her arm. A weirdly wet sounding pop indicated that her shoulder went back into its proper position. “Thanks, good as new.” Eliana said. The sweat dripping down her forehead indicated that she was all but fine.”
“You’re right though, let’s check in with Grac. It’s quiet at the front of the manor right now and that can be good or bad news.” Luckily for the gang, it ended up being good news as they met up with Grac in the main hall. The lifeless body of one of the cultists was bent in such a strange way that Cobal winced when he spotted it. The big man must have had a lot of anger left in him.
“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Cobal remarked.
“You alright, big guy?” Eliana asked.
Grac nodded. “I dealt with them, how did it go on your end?” He looked at Cobal who shook his head. “It turns out that they didn’t kidnap my brother. The hunch that Mana and I had for a long time was unfortunately right. He is one of them.”
“And he’s going to kill me,” Mana added.
“I won’t let him,” Cobal said, surprising himself with how quickly he reacted to this.
The Irkan grabbed the trio and pulled them into a big hug. “Each of you will forever have a place at my dinner table for what you did for me today.”
Cobal smiled. “You helped us just as much as we helped you, big guy. Without you this would never have worked. You’re welcome in my home as well.”
“I don’t know if I’ll fit into your homes.”
Cobal laughed. “I live in a palace, we’ll figure something out.”
They all laughed, the tension finally going away a little bit. “I don’t know how well I’d feel at home in a palace,” Grac said.
“You get used to it,”Mana replied.
“I’ll have to take your word for it.” Grac looked past them and Cobal turned around to see Selvia standing at the top of the stairs. “It got quiet suddenly so I came to see what was going on,” she said.
“Who is that?” Grac asked.
“Grac, this is Selvia, a friend of mine who happened to be caught up in all of this. While Eliana, Mana and I go through this place to figure out if there are any clues left, would you be so kind as to bring her to the Phantom Homestead in town? If you tell Clara she’s a friend of ours she’ll make sure a room is available.”
Grac nodded. “I can do that.”
Selvia looked a bit nervously at the big guy and then turned to Cobal. “Will you explain what’s going on when you’re back?”
Cobal nodded. “Most of it, at least.” He looked at Grac and nodded. “The Irkan put his big hand on Selvia’s back. “Let’s go, I’ll make sure to get you back to town safely, you can count on me.”
Selvia nodded but didn’t seem fully convinced.

Cobal turned his attention back to Mana and Eliana. It was once again quiet in the manor although the many torches that were still burning throughout betrayed the life that had just been here a few moments ago. “Let’s see what we can learn from this place before we return back to Marsolin. We still have work to do.”
Eliana nodded. “We’ve at least figured out a lot more than we knew before we came to Marsolin. Heading to this place was the right choice.” They stepped back into the manor and through the doors into the main hall where they’d encountered Ada and Sapher but a few moments ago. There were still some traces of blood where Eliana had managed to hit Sapher in his leg. The first place of interest to them was obviously the stairway that went into the cellar. That’s where the other cultists had come walking out of, after all. Eliana once again took out her lantern but after turning a few of the strange buttons on the side the brightness of the light went up significantly and with much more light at their disposal the trio descended into the bowels of the manor. The stairway was cramped and they could only walk down it single file with Cobal in front and Mana in the back. Cobal held the lantern that Eliana handed to him as he descended and soon they found themselves in a long hallway. It didn’t look like it was dug out of the ground but instead constructed. It seems that whoever built this manor a long time ago – probably a member of the Solin family – knew they were going to hide things down here and prepared for it. The function this place served might have changed over time though. The hallway curved slightly and after a minute of walking it widened into a larger chamber. Cobal hadn’t realized they’d walked at a downward angle but the room they found themselves in had too high a ceiling for that not to be the case.
“This must be what the Solin family was hiding,” Mana said.
“I don’t know,” Eliana replied, “the entrance didn’t seem that well hidden to me.”
Mana nodded. “You’re right, but when we walked down the stairs there were signs of magic. Runes carved into the wall that had been slightly destroyed. I would guess that this magic is what prevented people from finding this place easily. Now that the magic has been nullified it’s just a regular old cellar.
“That does make a lot of sense,” Eliana said.
Cobal carefully lit a few of the torches in the room and put the lantern down on the ground. They now had a proper view of the room.
The room was not all that large, perhaps only fifteen feet in each direction. At the center there was a raised platform with runic writing on it. Not in a circle, but written as normal text. Without saying a word, Mana took out some paper and started copying the runes onto it. Meanwhile Cobal inspected the different pillars that decorated the corners of the room. They also had similar looking runic symbols inscribed on them but these looked more decorative than anything else. The way they were drawn was different and there seemed to be less structure to them than the circles and the runes at the center of this room.
“Does any of this mean anything to you?” He asked Eliana and Mana. Neither of them answered.
“Look at this,” Eliana suddenly said. Cobal walked over and saw that in the far end of the room there was a large slab missing from the wall. Beyond it was a small alcove and when Cobal looked closely with the help of Eliana’s lantern he saw that it was covered in scorch marks. Most of it at least, for there was a square that was completely untouched by fire. The size more or less matched up with the chest they took with them so the connection wasn’t difficult to make. “Now what was it that was hidden here that the cultists so desperately wanted to find?” Cobal said out loud. He then walked over to see how Mana was doing. She was still copying the runes onto paper but he noticed she was shaking. He put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re doing great, we’ll be out of here shortly.”
Mana nodded but didn’t say a word. Eventually she finished copying the text and put the paper away. “Let’s get out of this creepy place, maybe we can ask Lysa for some insight on what we found. Worst case scenario we can also run it by Dionil.” She smiled. “It would be great to see him again, after all.”
Cobal agreed. “Although I don’t think it’s likely, that would be nice.” He hardened his resolve. “First we need to cure Dylon and find Mirgia and Kimi. We also need to inform my father about what we learned here. Maybe then we can finally go and see Dionil again.”
“We also owe Miyara a visit.”
Cobal thought back to the old woman in Arana and the crazy adventure they had after only just meeting each other. “I would like to go back there as well, and I need to speak with Diana Vadier as well when we have the chance.” He sighed. “So much to do.”
“One thing at a time,” Mana said.

After thoroughly looking through every party of Solin Manor, the trio finally decided it was time to go back to town. Cobal held Mana’s hand as they walked back. She seemed to appreciate the gesture. It was hard for him to see her so stressed. It reminded him too much of their early days, before they became friends. Now she felt much less like a stranger and much more like a big sister to him. That thought hurt especially considering what he just went through with his brother.
“I hope we can figure things out soon,” Cobal said.
“If not I have a lead at least,” Eliana commented, her face grim.
“Oh?”
“Rafah. If that woman went to Rafar with me that means she had a reason to do so. Perhaps we’ll learn more when we speak with Larach.”
“That’s the arachnaya you mentioned in your story right? The one you and Kayzel met?”
Eliana nodded. “It was a brief visit but it’s the only thing I can think of.”
“Let’s talk with Lysa first and send out some letters,” Cobal replied.
The lights of the city soon came into sight and as they got closer two large shadowy figures approached them. “I’m glad to see nothing happened after we left,” Grac said, his wife two steps behind him.
Cobal smiled. “We’re tough.”
Mesra stepped forward. “I haven’t properly introduced myself yet but I am Mesra, Grac’s wife. I owe my freedom to the three of you from what I understand.”
“Just friends helping friends.”
“Well friends of my husband are obviously friends of mine too.” She smiled. She was quite attractive, Cobal realized when he saw her smile. Some people just had that charisma. His mind drifted off to Salandra who had a similar charisma.
“So what’s next for you two?” Eliana asked.
“We’re leaving for Tas’Irkan in the morning. It’s been an exhausting and traumatic experience and we could really use some peace and quiet for a while.”
“Then this is where we say goodbye,” Cobal said. “Did Selvia get to town safely?”
Grac nodded. “I brought the young lady to the inn you told me about and Clara said she would take it from there.”
“Thank you so much.”
Grac reached out his arms, squeezing all three of them in a big hug. “I’ll miss you, friends. Make sure you come and visit sometime.”
“We will, I promise you,” Mana said.”
“Good, Tas’Irkan is a beautiful place and you would be remiss to never see it.”
Mana laughed. “Maybe Cobal can take Salandra there on a date.”
Grac and Eliana laughed and Cobal felt his cheeks redden, but also smiled along with them.
Mesra shook each of their hands and after a few more moments of lingering they waved each other goodbye.
Too tired to do anything else, the trio made their way back to the Phantom Homestead. The guards at the wall raised an eyebrow at the late entry they made but luckily didn’t ask too many questions. They got a quick drink at the bar and when Cobal and Mana realized that Eliana had snuck off somewhere with Clara they decided it was time for them to head to sleep.