Episode 8

~ROTIP~

My

body was tied up in some rusty chains and there was no way for me to get out of them without my staff. I regretted not breaking the spells to return to my normal appearance before the

half-breed attacked.

I was a weak old Garius who could do nothing much without his staff but I felt relieved that the real Garius staff was hidden in a place where no mortal can find it. It's been years since the demise of the old wizard. My mission had been unfolding well until the

half-breed showed up to be tailing me outside the gates. I could have destroyed him in the first place, but I stopped myself. And for that reason, I’d have to delay the mission.

He had stripped me off my clothes and disguised himself as me; as Garius, and I wondered if Sofia would be able to pick on the differences. I knew she would break the rules and try to find me. I hoped that he will not end up meeting and hurting Sofia because if he did,

I was going to chop off his head and put it out

on a spike for the birds to feed on.

He left me only a loaf of bread, saying he would be back after three days so I should bear with the hunger before he returns but the third day passed and yet, the half-breed refused to show up. I had finished off all the bread on the second day and the only thing that kept me alive was the water he had left. I was thinking of how to survive through the fourth day, but my last energy drained down when the symptoms of the plague began to manifest on Garius body. My old lips were chapped and I could taste the sour blood in my mouth, my wrinkly hands turned pale white with blotches and spots on them. I looked into the bowl of water in front of me, and Garius’ face appeared pale and scaly with countless number of spots and rashes. I could barely see through the lens of my weak, old Garius eyes.

“Rotip! Rotip!” I heard the voice calling, and I knew it was her’s. She was the only woman who own the same voice I have heard for so many years.

“Sofia…” I managed. But I was sure my voice could not reach her because it was too weak and my vocal cords were badly swollen. I nodded my head into the bowl and sipped some water to help me speak louder but before I rose my head again, I heard her voice in my ears.

“Rotip!” She yelled too close enough to make my eardrums explode. She had always been so loud enough to be constantly giving me throbbing headaches.

“Told you never to leave the cave” I scolded.

“Here. Your staff” She placed the staff into my hand and I barely held it well as my hand kept on trembling. I closed my eyes and chanted the spells and then the chains melted at once. Garius body turned into smoke while my body materialized out of the smoke.

“Clothes!” She threw some of my clothes on me and quickly turned her back “Hurry up let’s leave this place” She urged in a hasty manner.

~SOFIA~

I felt relieved when I found him. He had the plague, but it was nothing to worry about because I knew that Martians were immune to the plague. And after he had transformed, the plague was all gone. The fine Martian Man with the best hair and face i had ever seen, stood in front of me in the perfect clothe I picked for him. I loved Rotip, but we were too different. We were good friends, at the same time, the worst friends who did not have a clear definition of what their relationship meant. He was complicated and too full of mysteries surrounding him. For all the years we lived together, he never shared with me what his mission was all about. Unlike Rikas who poured out everything to me in exchange for his letter, my map and a spell book, Rotip never for once, revealed any of his secrets to me. He trusted Clara much more than he trusted me, probably because I never had a clear background or a family; i was abandoned under a tree, and Clara found me.

“Did the half-breed tried to hurt you?” He asked with his usual serious voice and stony expression.

“No” I flatly answered.

He dropped down on one knee, giving his back to me as his long silky black hair scattered across the multiple big scars on his back “Get on” He ordered me to get on his back like always. Rotip pampered and shielded me too much from experiencing the harsh reality of the world. He’d take the whip and every punishment for I and Clara back in the dungeon when I was younger, and I’d cried and watch him battered in his blue Martian blood and still holding back his painful scream like a Martian adult. Rotip and Clara were my only family, friends, saviors, and everything I ever had.

“You have not eaten something good for days. I cannot get on your back” I stood on my decision.

“I don’t like you being stubborn. Hop!” He ordered again. His terrifying voice had never for once, scared me. It had always been his moody silence that freaked me out the most.

“Listen to me Rotip. You cannot come with me to the Kingdom now that your disguise is broken. We will both be in danger. Even the half-breed was taken away by the soldiers because he acted suspiciously” I lied. “You know me well. I have sneaked outside a few times when you were out so I can handle myself. I promise you I will keep off from harm and wait for you at home. But for now, you have to stay out here for a few more days to think of another way to come back home”

“Be safe” He responded. He did not seemed to have any idea about who the half-breed was, and that worked to my advantage. I could not risk allowing him to come back home only to end up recognizing his little step brother. Because Rotip tends to be very cautious, I knew it would take him a few more days to find another way.

~RIKAS~

I wasn’t going to tell Clara everything about the plan but I ended up doing so because I desperately needed

the map, the spell book and Thalia’s letter. I even told her the location where I had tied up Garius, and before I knew it, she was nowhere to be found. She took the wooden staff which I almost died before obtaining it from the old man.

I sat on my sleeping mat with almost all the tools

neatly displayed on the rocky grounds. A double edged rusty steel of a sword which desperately needed some modification, a handmade bow together with thirteen sharp arrows, my small bronze dagger which Clara had returned to me, and then the mystical potion she gave me to use for emergencies.

The candle light shadows reflected on the map while my eyes continued navigating on the shabby piece of chart.

Everything I had learned from Hemon was a lie... or at least, i could say that half of them slowly unraveled to become silly lies. Hemon clearly said that i would have to cross a black sea before i get to King Iris palace but from the map Clara gave me, it was obvious there was no sign of any black sea or green sea or whatsoever colored sea it could be.

While I was observing the map, my ears captured footstep like someone was coming into the cave. I rose up and picked the rusty sword, forming my most tactical defensive stance as I waited for the figure to emerge.