Episode 10: The Orphan Pt. 3 (Spence)

It was early in the morning, and Spence was not only out of bed already, but he was enjoying the basement pool alongside his dad’s leopard, Jinx. He had already seen to his and Ach’s bedroom – decorating it for the proposal. He had slipped in during Maelvish. He had spent months planning this day out.

For now, Jinx talked him through the jungle. He loved mornings with his dad’s leopard, Jinx, and his serval, Laina.

Jinx’s body slinked through the leafy brush. He saw her crouching, her body shaking in anticipation, and as he came into the part of the corner that brought him next to her, she pounced into the water and submerged him.

He pushed back and wrestled with her, white water flew through the air, until they both were poolside and panting. The water lopped against his feet, still dangled into the pool.

His hand ruffled her fur as he caught his breath.

He wanted to be home with Ach and his kids: Gunnar, Fort, Emma, Ella, and Jax. He had been away most of four days taking finals. He would be with them soon, and he was done with school for now. No one in Sylem, except his immediate family, knew about his kids (or his boyfriend). He wished they could be there at graduation, but he didn’t trust Sylem or the ongoing war. Their safety was more important.

Instead, Spence relied on his Dragon Loew to tell him if anything was going on, if his family needed him back in the Dells.

He relaxed under Jinx’s paws, wishing the day was over and he could be home with his whole family, not just his Sylem half. She licked his face.

His own cat, Laina, slinked over and rubbed against him. She was only twenty three pounds, and she curled onto his chest so Jinx could lick her belly. His family seemed to have a thing for more wild, woodland, animals. His mom had a flying squirrel. His other dad – Sam – who was his genetic dad but had only been in his life since Talise got pregnant the first time, had a crow/raven. His brother, another Sam offspring, had a bear. He was excited to see what Mallory, his younger sister, got in a few months.

As he massaged both cats, he heard Talise calling him.

His heart rate increased. He walked over to a chair to get his shirt. As he walked, he dried himself with magic. Talise didn’t call him often; Dragon babies were strong. If something was wrong, it was huge.

Spence pulled his shirt over his head, the black fabric matched his green tropical shorts.

He took the stairs two at a time and slipped into his dad’s office to grab a few travel packs and transport.

Most of the house was warded against transportation spells, but his dad’s office had a connection to- his office in Elesara. It was a very limited connection and required a travel pack that was initiated by a keyword, Marro, to transport. Sometimes he wondered about the password, where it came from, and what inspired it. The only connection he could come  up with was a Marro Owl, which no one in the family had.

He transported.

It was church day. He tried not to imagine who was hurt and how it had happened. He searched for her with his dragon, Loew. She was in the playroom.

He ran down to the main one. It wouldn’t help if he was anxious, so he took a few moments to get control of himself.

Inside the kids room he saw Talise and Niels sitting at a short table, her legs tucked alongside it. Calm. Smiling. A few feet away, playing on the floor in a mess of cars, trucks, trains, and blocks was a boy with curly brown hair and Alandrial-white skin. Spence had never seen him before, so he must have come from the Lower Dell. He wondered why she was calling for him and not Konrad or Aadya. Jax was there, but none of his four were.

He missed his kids. He spent a few days away every time finals came up, so he could focus, but he preferred being around them.

He opened the door and walked inside, quietly so that the boy wouldn’t notice him just yet unless he was looking around.

Talise’s eyes opened wide, an invitation to come talk about how terrible her birthday must be going. Or some other problem. He was still clueless.

Talise leaned back almost against his shoulder, “That boy is an orphan, captive, and he has a twin that’s going to be in trouble if we don’t find her soon,” she whispered.

The proximity of her reminded him of the two years they had spent together.

Spence nodded.

So she just wanted magic, hours before graduation, for some boy. He could deliver a magic spell to find a sibling. He understood tracking magic from intense games of hide-and-seek.

He stood and walked over beside the boy, careful to make enough sounds so that it wouldn’t scare him when he sat down. Most of the orphans lived in an orphanage in Elbhean, a large village, but not many Salamanders ended up there.

“That’s a cool toy,” he said. Toys were good ways to start conversations, he hoped. He pushed a car and swerved it around the boy’s tower. His hand almost knocked it and the boy held his breath in a gasp until he was confident the tower was going to stay standing.

The boy refocused on the toy in his hand, that he had almost forgotten. He resumed swaying it in the air back and forth across the length of his arm span.

“What is that doing right now?” Spence asked.

“It’s a bird, it’s big and it’s flying. So high!” the boy dove the train car down then swooped it into the air high above his head, “Just like a dragon, watching.”

To Spence, it sounded like the boy had been trained to think that the royal house was spying on him, like there was a fundamental beginning to pushing him into a thought process that made the royal house look bad.

He only thought that because of the idea that the boy was in trouble.

Spence picked up a car and flew it too, and he bumped his arm into the boy’s. He moved his leg to hit the boy’s as he used his other hand to grab a hair from his head. He let his car dive to the ground and skid and roll as he crashed it.

“Oh no! Mine is out of fuel. I may need to get more… do you want a snack too?” Spence asked.

“Dragons need fuel?”

“They need food. I’ll be back?”

The boy looked at him, his mouth tilted a little, then went back to his game with the trains. Spence stood after a moment, then walked over to Talise, “Got it. Back in twenty?”

She nodded again and focused on the boy.

He left through the doors to outside, so that he could swing by the garden. He had made the tracking spell so he knew what he needed: Woodbine, rosebuds, pink verbena, peach blossoms, and zinnia seeds. He found them all without much effort and brought them to the his dad’s room upstairs to chop, grind, and combine. From there, he was able to apply the mixture to a map of the Dells. What he didn’t expect was to see seven specks light up the paper – the boy had seven siblings.

It seemed odd to him, so he took the map to Konrad’s office. If the girl was in trouble, the six others were probably also in some sort of danger. If they were Alandrials then they would need to handle the situation delicately and, probably, to find out where they came from. They could be all children of Jasmine’s… but they seemed too young. Maybe grandchildren of a child she had early on. Or maybe Aadya had another kid out there. Regardless, the situation required more than just his spell.

He called Konrad and asked him to meet in his office, in the dungeon.

Mostly, he liked saying dungeon in his head, ominously, and passing that message on the the dragons. He hoped Konrad didn’t mind the mist that enveloped the dungeon halls or the dimly lit lanterns and shadows enveloped within the mist, that were his imagination.

Once in the office, Konrad at his heels, Spence unfurled the map that was peppered with children- siblings – of Orris.

“The boy has a twin sister. And other siblings,” he stated.

Konrad examined the map. He let his fingers graze each congregation of potion, glowing on the blue and black inked page.

While he did, Spence glanced a the video displays. Konrad had come from deeper within the dungeon, and Orris hadn’t come from nowhere.

On one display, he saw a body mostly melted into a lava like goo. It was too late to salvage the body, so he shifted back to the map and let it be.

“Are they competing with Aadya?” Konrad stated, his voice more shocked than amused.

“Not sure,” he replied. “it’s suspicious.”

Spence nodded the screen; the body was unrecognizable and stood merely as a puddle on the floor. A puddle that marked Orris as al0ne in the world except for the mysterious circumstances of his life. He had seen the way Talise looked at the boy – attached and loving and in the same motherly way she often looked at her own kids. She had inherited it from her mother, who loved all Elesarans and acted as a mother to them.

Spence also knew Talise didn’t need more kids, but he and Ach might never have their own. With the joint apartment it would be like Talise was a third parent often; Orris and his twin were older. It would be easy to add him to the growing expanse of family.

It settled on him, in a deep resolved way that made asking Ach seem terrifying because Ach could say no, that he wanted Orris and Orris’ twin. He wanted them to have a safe place to be loved and protected.

The revelation settled in his soul, before Konrad had a chance to reply.

“She lived in a hole in the ground. Not a pleasant home.”

Konrad watched the screen a moment longer, his body stiff and contemplative and his hand placed on the hilt of his sword.

“Do you think they all live in similar situations?” Spence asked, pulling the attention back toward the children. If the woman had killed herself and the boy feared for his twin, then he wouldn’t waste time investigating the exact method of melting. Plus he had a graduation ceremony to partake in, and a speech to give, in less than three hours.

“I have no way to know. I’d like to say no, but if one does why wouldn’t others.”

Spence looked at Konrad, lost in a daze of pieces that weren’t forming a picture whole enough to act upon. They could spend hours deliberating the Alandrial skin and the family tree, the reason they were here, the logic behind exposing a young boy, the motives…

“I can use some spells and check each location out without making contact,” Spence suggested. “Not that…” he paused, this wasn’t his job or his place. He just wanted to help.Konrad hobble through too many cues and find action, to find Orris’ twin, and to tell Ach his plans for the two.

“Yeah you have people for that,” Spence explained more to himself than Konrad, though it was an apology of sorts. He had trained with Konrad – swords and Tai Chi – but he hadn’t pursued a job with him. He had considered it. Now wasn’t the time to bring it up. “Anyway. Talise wanted some help. So here you go.”

Spence turned toward the door to walk out. He realized he had strapped a belt and sword to his waist while he had been anxiously waiting for a decision to be made.

It felt natural, the way it hung alongside him and swaying with his body as he walked.

“Spence.”

Konrad nodded toward his newly adorned accessory, “I’d like you to help.”

Spence took a deep breath as a smile crept across his face. “Yeah?”

Energy filled his veins as he began planning his route. He could see a future doing this.

“Why did you offer to help?” Konrad asked.

“I want to work here,” he replied. He wanted to be in that office strategizing with Konrad and solving mysteries like the pale kids of the Lower Dell. He wanted a permanent place in the Dells.

“Doing what?” Konrad asked.

“I kind of like this stuff. Missions, feeling important.. Talise needed help and she thought of me.”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He was with Ach, and Talise had been their biggest fan since day one, but before he’d been with Ach he had slept with her, married her, had kids with her. To know what he wanted him to be the one to help her meant a lot.

“Alright,” Konrad replied. “Let’s see how you do today.”

Spence copied the markers on the map with x’s, then he tucked it into his pocket, which were still swim trunks. He laughed under his breath. A sword, tropical dark green leaves set to black shorts, and a black shirt, probably made for a ridiculous tourist-goes-to-a-play outfit.

But it was the outfit that would define his future. The outfit he would remember he wore when he moved away from childhood. The outfit he got a job in, adopted kids in, proposed in if he didn’t find time to change.

He filled his pockets with travel packs. His goal was to go as unnoticed as possible, and rapidly move from spot to spot. He was collecting information, unless someone was hurt.

He left Konrad in the dungeon, with the promise that he would report back soon. He didn’t say or die, but he figured it didn’t need to be said. Konrad would weigh his success on his injuries, in part. It was an interview. He couldn’t mess it up.

The desert air and glowing sun hit him as he opened the door from the dungeon to outside. He transported to the first spot as soon as the door had shut behind him.

The house in question was obvious: the door was wide open and smoke filled the air. The house itself wasn’t on fire, so they must have burned whatever signs of life remained instead of carrying it all. He transported into the house, based on a view through the window, and searched it quickly. No one was there. No bodies or papers or beds.

Spence transported through the other locations and found only the remains of something big happening within the Lower Dell.

He couldn’t decide if it was a plot, bringing Orris to the palace, or a mistake. Either way, whoever they are had fled in an instant.

It wasn’t his job to decide. He transported home and rushed down the stairs, back into the dungeon, to update Konrad.

“They’re gone,” he stated. He glanced back at the original map and every light had vanished except for one.

“That one moved,” he stated.

His heart pounded in hope that it was Orris’ twin. If it was, the melted woman had warned the others of the problem. Spence was certain, because the twin would have been left as a punishment. She might even be injured.

“Can I go?” he asked Konrad, their eyes meeting.

“Not alone,” Konrad replied. Together they set off back up the stairs.

Konrad’s hand met his in a strange sense of union. Not the romantic kind, but the kind that said we’re in this together. The kind that felt like a team.

They transported.

Every inch of Spence’s body buzzed at what he saw before him: a young girl’s pale skin burned and blackened. Sand stretched away from her; there were no other signs of life.

“A child,” Konrad stated. They both scanned the surrounding area before Spence approached her.

He pulled his shirt off and draped it across the girl. He let his water magic cool his hands and radiate through the shirt, but refrained from dousing her.

“Let’s get her to my dad,” Spence stated. He wrapped the shirt under her as he lifted. He would have burns, even through the protective layer.

Konrad set his hand against the girl and pulled all traces of fire from her body, then he set his hand against Spence’s back and they transported to his dad’s office, in Sylem.

“Dad!” Spence yelled.

His dad stepped into the office, and his eyes enveloped the scene then reached for a bag of medical supplies.

“The Dells?” his dad asked, his hands already touching Konrad and him.

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