Chapter 25

He was impressed at how well Lynna was behaving. The girl was treating everyone with a magnanimousness that would likely serve her well in later years.

When this is all over she will have to choose a future for herself. She may settle back here one day, but this town is going to be too small for her soon. A bigger decision than most make at her age, but whether she likes it or not I suspect that her childhood is officially over.

At the moment she was going back to those less wounded, and healing them as well. Stott was following her around protectively. Some of these people had directly rejected her not all that long ago. Agmar could see the worry in the boy's face. Whatever she decides, he will follow her.

It frustrated Agmar that the most prominent feelings he was getting from most of his body were pain and discomfort. He knew he was not that damaged, but he also knew that the nerves were still damaged and confused. Not all of them were reconnected very precisely. That would correct itself in time.

It was time. He carried himself closer to the group, moving all the parts so he would appear to be walking normally. He had controlled another person's body that same way once, but it felt very odd to be his own puppeteer. He explained to them that they would go to Mary's first, and see how many could stay there.

They would also get something to eat and drink, which likely everyone needed. He got nods and other forms of agreement from that. He also organized everyone forming new groups of four. There were thirty-five of them, so there was one group of three. If they couldn't all stay at Mary's he would keep groups together.

He had also not forgotten that Bentz had somehow escaped. He had been keeping alert for movement around them, and now scanned the surrounding buildings for any life. What he found was not what he expected.

"Lynna, watch over them. I will be back momentarily," he said, frowning. Lynna gave him a curious look, but merely nodded in response. Agmar made his way towards the life, confirming his suspicions that it was not only a woman, but Emilee Rayton, Lynna's friend. The woman felt familiar to him after the amount of time he'd mentally watched over her the day before, when she was giving birth to her son. It concerned him that he didn't feel the life force of the child with her, and she felt weak to him, as if she was injured. He quickened his pace once he'd pinpointed her location in a shed next to one of the warehouses.

The shed wasn't locked, and the door banged open and closed repeatedly in the wind. Agmar looked to the sky briefly, noticing that the wind had picked up around him, as if the evil force had increased its presence here. He moved through the door, raising a small globe of light to help him see, and quickly located Emilee, who blinked in the sudden light from the corner she'd been cowering in. He was relieved to see that her eyes were clear of any redness other than that which came from crying and fatigue.

"Emilee?" He moved closer and made himself kneel down beside her. She was heavily bruised, and covered with scratches and scrapes. She whimpered at him, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. There were small twigs and dry grasses caught in her hair, and he saw a couple of sticks that had somehow been lodged into her skin. He noticed a couple of pebbles embedded in her face, the skin around them swollen and bruised from the impact.

"It appears as if you have been through a terrible windstorm," he said, giving her a small smile. Her eyes were wild and scared and they didn't seem to focus on him or anything else for more than a moment before flitting off to something different. He put his hand up and concentrated, trying to be gentle as he willed the debris out of her skin. Her heartbeat quickened and her whimpers grew louder as he placed his hand on her cheek and let his mind flood through her body, searching out and healing the various hurts. He found that her ankle had been broken in a couple of places and he moved his hands, setting it into the correct position before melding the bones back together again. He ignored her wails of pain as he moved it, and they died down again once he had finished with the healing.

"There now," he said, moving his hands away. "You will need to be gentle on that ankle still, but it will be good as new in a couple of days. You should be with the others, where it is safer."

"I lost him. I lost him! I can't remember. I have to find him!"

"Who, Emilee? Who is lost?" He asked the question, but his heart already knew the answer.

"I just set him down for a moment. I had to think. I couldn't stay there. I couldn't stay with Josh. It didn't feel safe. It didn't feel right. I took Jeremy and ran. Josh wasn't... he wasn't acting like himself..."

"Emilee, slow down and tell me what happened." He put his hand on her arm, trying to seem reassuring. She looked at him, as if suddenly realizing he was there.

"You have to find him. Please. You have to find my son before... Before something awful happens. I set him down for a moment. He was crying and I was frustrated and afraid, so I set him down on the armchair. I was in Judy and Harold Batner's house. I know Judy doesn't lock her door and wouldn't mind if I took refuge there. I set him down and then... I don't know, it's all a blur, as if it wasn't really me anymore. I left the house without him! When I went back, he wasn't there anymore! I've been searching, and it's like the wind is fighting me, and then I broke my ankle and crawled in here." She put her head in her hands, her body shaking with ragged sobs.

"Come with me, Emilee. You need to stay with the others, where you will be safe so we can start looking." He stood up and helped her to stand. "You can walk on the ankle, just take it slow and gentle. Follow me." He led her outside and scanned the nearby buildings as they walked, finding no signs of the newborn in any of them. He watched for spots that the evil might be shielding from him as well, but nothing shifted strangely close by. He suspected that much of the town would need to be searched, and wondered how the evil had managed to move the baby. Unless it has someone. Bentz? Or someone else? he wondered.

As they neared the group of survivors, Agmar cringed when Emilee saw the warehouse, still smoking heavily as the ashes cooled and stirred in the wind.

"Josh?! Oh Gods, NO!"

He grabbed her arm quickly, barely preventing her from running off towards the building. He was thoroughly greatful when Lynna came running up and took over, hugging the woman tightly.

"Oh, Emmy! I'm so sorry! Josh didn't make it out. I checked," Lynna said while Emilee sobbed into her shoulder. "Emilee, where's the baby?"

"The baby has gone missing," Agmar said quietly. "We shall have to organize a search. We need to get her somewhere safe. Her ankle was broken and could break again easily if she walks on it for too long."

"I'll search. Stott can help me. You can keep everyone else safe and get them to Mary's," Lynna said, in a commanding tone. "Stott, I need you!" she called out.

"Lynna, you and Stott should not go off alone..." Agmar started to say, feeling somewhat taken aback at her using that tone with him. Maybe a little too much of her father in the girl sometimes, he thought with some frustration.

"Agmar, no. They need you more than they need me right now. I know this town, and I know that baby. I've been watching him grow since before he was born. I stand a better chance of finding him quicker. Once these people are safely to Mary's you can get a normal search pattern going with several groups of people. I'm sure my father can organize the right people to do a proper search. I'll let you know if I find him first though, in case we don't need to sweep the whole town."

"Lynna, somebody had to move that baby. This could prove very dangerous. I do not know that you're ready to -"

"I have to try!" she interrupted. She stood there, here eyes brimming with tears and her arms around her friend, looking at him with such earnestness, he was finding it difficult to argue with her. "She's my best friend, Agmar. I'll be careful, and Stott will watch out for me too. We're wasting time arguing about it." She pushed away from Emilee and looked the crying woman in the face.

"I'm going to go look for Jeremy now Emilee. You go with Agmar to Mary's, okay? I'll bring him to you when I find him."

Agmar closed his eyes in an uncharacteristic moment of prayer. Please let her find him alive.

"Go, then. I am only a thought away. Be very careful," he finally told her.

Stott had come up to them, and Lynna didn't waste a moment. She turned and grabbed his arm.

"C'mon. We have to find Jeremy." She turned and ran down the road, without waiting for him to say anything. Stott turned and gave Agmar an inquisitive look. Agmar nodded at him and the young man sprinted off to catch up to her. Agmar sighed heavily before leading Emilee back to the crowd of people waiting and watching in the road near the burned-down warehouse.

Emmilee looked like she was trying to hide, and the rest of the crowd was similarly somber. Too many of them looked...defeated.

"Alright, everyone. It is time to move."

They moved along in a herd. Agmar felt odd playing the shepherd. He was a stranger leading the townsfolk to safety, or the closest thing to it to be had. He started to think about the other towns he would have to head to next. He forced the thoughts out of his mind. Now is not the time.

Agmar, I'm not finding him!

The boy is alive. The evil will not have gone to such lengths to move it just to kill it. The boy is probably intended as bait. You should not be doing this alone, Lynna.

I'm not alone. Stott's with me. Besides, I have light, so we can watch for trouble. I know what to look for.

Does she? Agmar asked himself with a sigh. Come join us at Mary's. We are nearly there. Then we can help you with the search and you can cover ground faster. He could feel her frustration through the link between them. She was too determined to be afraid just then. It gave Agmar pause to wonder who the trap was being baited for. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Lynna, come back quickly. Something is not right.

The wind had picked up around them again, increasing Agmar's feeling of unease. People were starting to pull collars up and shield their faces with their eyes against bits of debris being tossed about in the air.

"Just keep moving. We are not far now," he told them. "The sooner we get there the sooner we shall be out of the weather."

He felt the hairs on his body stand up, as if lightning were about to strike, and then lightning did strike, only a few feet off from the group. It seared across the sky and struck the ground with a loud cracking noise, leaving a charred mark behind once it was gone. People screamed in alarm at the proximity of the strike. Agmar realized he'd have to put out more fires before they were through this, and as if in answer to his thoughts another strike came halfway down the road, setting a tree alight. Agmar focused, having imprinted the location of the bay in his mind, and brought a fresh column of water forth, dousing the tree entirely. How am I going to deal with this in towns where there's no water source to draw from? he thought to himself.

People were crying and they had slowed their walking again. He could tell they were afraid to move, despite the fact that Agmar could see Mary's inn down at the end of the road they had just turned onto.

Lynna, we are almost to the inn. Are you nearly here? I could use... he realized with a sudden horror that he couldn't quite reach her. The distance between them felt like a sponge, absorbing his message before it got to her. He could still feel her, but she couldn't hear him. If she tried to send a message back, he doubted it would reach him either.

"Keep walking! We need to get inside! Go!" His patience with the slow-moving crowd was thinning. He made a little wind of his own, and pushed it at them, encouraging them to get going again. He felt some measure of relief when he got halfway down the road and saw Syred and Avern standing in it, with the two young men that usually worked with Syred and the large bearded man Agmar had seen at the Surf and Sleep. Avern was waving, and it seemed as if the group's pace picked up just at the sight of them. As they drew close, Agmar saw Mary waiting on the front steps of the inn, holding a glass-enclosed candle up and watching. Agmar moved to the side of the crowd and went quickly to join Avern and Syred.

"Where's Lynna?" Avern's question came before Agmar had a chance to even begin speaking.

"Emilee's child is missing. We need to organize a search. Lynna and Stott have started looking already."

"Is that wise?" Syred asked.

"No. It is not. She would not take no for an answer, however. I am very concerned. My messages to her are no longer getting through either. It has found some way to block the path so that she cannot hear me." He watched Avern's face go white. "I can still feel her presence, Avern. She is still alright at the moment. But I fear she is headed into some kind of trap."

"I'll organize search parties to sweep the town for the infant. You should go after Lynna," Syred said. "She'll be fine, Avern. Let's get these people inside and let Agmar do his job." He gave Agmar a nod that spoke volumes of the man's prior experience in dangerous situations, before he steered Avern towards the inn and started giving orders to the other three men to get the survivors inside.

Agmar turned and headed towards where he could feel Lynna was located. He was glad he had kept linked to her this time.

I have not explained to her about the way the evil has been shielding things. She doesn't know to look for the odd emptiness. It is probable that the baby will be hidden behind one, as well as whomever the evil is using. He chided himself for not having let her know what to watch for. He scanned the buildings as he went, watching for signs of that as well. He tried to be sharp, precise, as he probed each building, and between that and forcing the movements of his own body, he could feel the effort of it wearing on him. A small part of his mind thought back to the discussion at the Surf and Sleep, and wondered again just where his limits really were. How much is too much? he thought, as he drew heavily on the power that almost seemed to weigh the air around him down. At what point will I break at the effort? How much can I channel through me before I shatter my own mind? He tried to put that thought away, focusing on the task at hand. So far, his only limits had ever come from sheer will and fatigue. He knew he could handle more power if he needed to, but he was feeling enough fatigue that precision was becoming an issue. He needed to be reasonably precise in moving his body, and he knew it was effecting everything else he tried to do.

"Wizard, wait," a heavily accented voice said from behind him after a second block of buildings. It was the bearded stranger.

"None should be out alone this night. I will come with you," the man said. His speech was very rhythmic, almost poetic in sound. It intrigued Agmar's scholarly side because it was an accent he had not heard before. It was similar to Syred's but not quite the same. He had not noticed an accent when he had first encountered the man, but the man had said very little then. The specifics were a little vague in Agmar's memory, which was not usual. But now was not the time to figure that out.

"Very well. Thank you."

He continued along, scanning buildings as he went. "Be alert for surprises, we are most likely walking into a prepared trap," Agmar warned.

"I know. I have been list'ning."

"Good."

Another building empty, another corner to turn. It was clear.

"My name is Yilmack."

"Agmar."

"I know. I have been list'ning." Agmar did not have to see the grin on the man's face. He could hear it in the man's voice. Agmar wished dearly for something to grin about. Nothing came.

Checking each building, searching for darknesses within darknesses, was tiring. Find Lynna, he decided, the evil's helper and the child will be near her wherever she is...

The wind ebbed and surged, coming and going too irregularly. A dog barked frantically for a moment and was cut short abruptly. The dog was off in another direction. A diversion? Could a dog have moved the baby? There were too many questions and not enough time to worry about them.

He focused on Lynna, continuing his path towards the girl. He was relieved to find that she still felt strong and unharmed, but she continued to move further away from Agmar's postition. He stepped up the pace, trying to be careful to keep the fragile nerve endings from moving too much and coming back apart. His sense of self-preservation kept him distinctly aware of how stretched and fragile the connections still were, despite the fact that they were technically intact. He'd seen firsthand how the body could heal itself, given enough time, but he also knew that he could undermine Lynna's healing if he pushed too fast or too hard. The limitation was frustrating him to no end. Even now, he was still only moving at a brisk walk.

Suddenly his connection with Lynna was tainted with fear for a moment and then cut abruptly off from his reach. A cold chill ran over his body, and the wind suddenly picked up and drove at them, raining a hard hail of twigs, pebbles and other small debris at them hard enough to make both men throw up their arms to shield their faces. Bits of rock tore through clothing and lodged themselves into skin. Agmar stopped walking to throw up a barrier around them, and it shimmered as debris impacted it.

"Are you alright?" he asked Yilmack.

"Aye. Not'ing hurt that can't wait fer later."

"Right." Agmar replied, reminding himself to heal the man later. He had some healing to do on himself as well, to remove bits of rock and other debris from his skin, but it was not a life-threatening injury. He gave up on trying to force his body to move naturally for the moment, and floated himself just above the ground, pushing the barrier forward against the wind. He found himself having to pull from the power in the air around him, his own somewhat weakened from recent use. He shoved back against the wind, which blew even harder to stop him, but he refused to yeild, putting most of his concentration into a forward momentum towards Lynna's last location known to him.

"We have to hurry. Lynna is in trouble. I felt it." It seemed as if the harder he pushed against the wind, the harder it pushed back. He felt like he was coming to a standstill.

"Move in there fer a moment." The man pointed at one of the houses they were about to pass, it's porch door banging loudly in the wind. Yilmack started towards it without waiting for Agmar to agree and the wizard followed him, reluctant to waste precious time.

"What for?" he asked loudly, trying to be heard over the roaring howl of the wind. Just then he envied the man his naturally booming voice.

Yilmack went through the porch door and tried the front door. When he found it locked, he kicked hard near the lock, breaking through so that the door swung open. He moved inside and started looking around, grabbing a couple of thick fur rugs off the floor and inspecting the bottoms of them. The wind beat against the house, but was considerably quieter in here. Agmar lowered the magical shielding and looked at the man with some confusion as he handed one of the rugs over.

"What...?" he trailed off, feeling somewhat lost and frustrated.

"You hold it out in front. Like so." He demonstrated, holding the fur in his fists and putting the back of rug out in front of him like a shield. The rug was almost as tall as he was. "Save the magicks for the more impor'nt things then. This should go the distance. I think it's knowing how to fight you." He turned and headed back out the front door, his rug held out in front of him as he moved off the porch and back into the wind. Agmar, feeling somewhat dumbfounded by the man, suddenly had to hurry to keep pace with him. He continued floating, to not risk further damage to his back.

"Which way?" Yilmack yelled.

Agmar pointed in the direction he'd last felt Lynna and they moved quickly towards it, Agmar's stomach churning with worry that they would arrive too late.

The furs did have the effect of softening the wind, breaking it to reduce its blustering power. They pushed through it. Yilmack moved through it more easily, and Agmar wondered again about the heavy sword the man carried. Where is he from, anyway?

The wind kept trying to get stronger as they advanced. They followed the path of greatest resistance. Agmar worried that they were having to fight there way into the trap. Usually it was the easy route that was used to herd people into traps. Perhaps there is a greater cunning at work here than I gave credit for...

Eventually they came to a house that Agmar could not sense within. It was a larger two-story house. What is it hiding from me? He called out for Lynna, both physically and mentally. Neither approach got any response.

"Here?" Yilmack asked. Agmar nodded.

Yilmack kicked the door and it crashed open. He drew the heavy sword like it weighed nothing.

"Who first?"

"Me," Agmar said, making a light as he floated himself over the threshold. The scene he found inside was chaos. Every piece of furniture had been knocked over.

A few pieces of the furniture were smashed, one large bureau looking as if a body had struck it. A great deal of blood marked the splintered ends and the floor there, and there were pieces of glass and ceramic strewn about the wreckage of it, along with some silverware.

He could see a pair of woman's legs coming out from behind a large chest near the fireplace. It was clear to Agmar that the woman there was dead. His attention was drawn more immediately to the infant boy, swaddled in blankets and crying, as he lay in the center of the room on the floor. Agmar moved forward and bend himself down to pick up the child, confirming that it was Emilee's son, Jeremy. He quickly inspected the child, magically, and confirmed that there were no injuries to the baby. There was a slip of paper between a couple folds of the blankets, and Agmar plucked it quickly out and opened it. He read the writing that had obviously been hastily scrawled across it.

She saved the baby, but the evil has Lynna now. She's badly hurt. I'll try to keep her from hurting anyone. Please hurry. She's extra strong but doesn't seem to use magic right now. I think Lynna's still in there fighting it, but she'll die from her wounds in time. - Stott

Agmar let the note slip from his fingers with a heavy sigh. He had truely hoped to avoid allowing Lynna to fall under the evil's control. She seemed so young to him. Yilmack came back from checking the woman's body, and picked the note up off the floor, reading it himself.

"The wom'n over there is dead. Someone ran her through with a fireplace poker, not too long ago. Body's still warm," he said once he'd finished reading.

Agmar nodded silently. He found himself praying to gods he'd long stopped believing in, hoping Lynna would not be lost.

"We'll need to get the baby back with the other folks. Then we'll go aft'r the girl, yes?"

"Yes." Agmar reached out with his mind, searching for Syred or Avern back in the direction of Mary's inn. He hadn't touched Syred's mind before, but he still recognized the man's mind easily. It felt different from the others, as if it were spiced differently by his adventures in other lands, and Agmar got a vague impression of how well-traveled the "Captain" really was just from the brief contact. It wouldn't be the first time someone had contacted him mentally, which was a relief to Agmar.

Captain Allder, please pardon this mental intrusion, but we have found the child and I need someone to collect him from me so I can continue the search for Lynna, he told the man.

"I am contacting someone to meet us and collect the child," he said aloud, for Yilmack's benefit. The man nodded silently back at him, peering down at the baby in Agmar's arms. The child still cried pitifully. Agmar suspected it was hungry.

Can you show me where you are? he heard Syred say in his mind. He could tell that Syred was already calling a couple of people to accompany him, as well as calling off the search party. Agmar sent Syred a mental picture of what it had looked like just outside the house that he and Yilmack were in. He felt Syred's recognition of the place.

You might want something to shield you against the wind, Agmar added. It has been strong. We are using rugs at Yilmack's suggestion. It fends off the debris caught in the wind.

I understand. We'll be there as soon as we can.

Thank you. I shall withdraw from your mind now. He pulled away, bringing his focus back into the room.

"Syred will be coming for the child," he told Yilmack. "We have a moment, so I should heal our wounds from the wind."

"Very good," the man replied, stepping forward. Agmar righted one of the cusioned armchairs and set the baby gently down upon it, towards one corner. He placed his hands on Yilmack's broad shoulders and concentrated. It didn't take much to expel the small bits of debris and heal the tiny wounds. It took even less to heal his own. Afterwards he picked the baby up again, and inspected it magically a second time, reassuring himself that the child was merely hungry and not harmed in any way.

Agmar sat in the chair, allowing himself some rest while they waited. Yilmack found another intact chair and sat, as well. Every minute they waited bore down heavily on Agmar as another minute he wasn't searching for Lynna. But they could not search effectively while carrying an infant around. No, the boy had to get to safety.

"Where will she go? Where will the evil take 'er?" Yilmack asked.

"I do not know," Agmar said, shaking his head briefly before wincing at the pain the movement elicited from the wound in his back. Yilmack said nothing about it, but was looking down, and perhaps had not noticed.

He felt like he had let Lynna down. I am making too many mistakes. He especially did not know what he would tell Avern if he found Lynna too late. He tried to search around for her with his mind, but was unable to find her with a general sweep. The evil still had her; her mind was buried out of immediate sight.

Then he remembered that Stott would be following her. Him he should be able to find. He swept the town, and found him just as Syred and some others arrived.

He stood up, forcing his body to move as if he were walking normally again as he headed to the porch to meet them. Syred had two others with him. Agmar recognized them as Steve and Jeff. The three of them carried heavy woven rugs with them, although Agmar noticed that the wind had died down again. He wondered if that meant that the evil wasn't currently paying any attention here. Syred handed his rug over to Steve, before coming over and taking the baby from Agmar's arms. Agmar saw a tenderness in the man's face as he peered into the blankets at the infant.

"Your mother's worried sick about you," he said, smiling at the infant. To Agmar's amazement, the infant stopped crying and stared up at the Captain with big, curious eyes.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," Agmar said. "I have to find Lynna now, if you will excuse me."

"Is she alright?" Syred gave Agmar a wary look, as if he already knew something was amiss.

"Not exactly," he sighed, handing Syred the note. "You might not want to mention this to Avern until I have better news, or at least more information. I can feel Stott, and he won't be far from her."

Syred scanned quickly over the note and frowned, nodding.

"Do you want assistance?"

"We may need rope once I find her if she cannot break free of its hold on her. Perhaps you could join us once you've delivered the child?"

"Consider it done." Syred nodded before turning to the other two men. "You heard the man. Let's get this baby back and collect some rope." He turned and headed back down the road at a brisk pace, the other two having to work to keep up with him while carrying the heavy rugs.

Agmar stepped back and grabbed the rug he'd been using before. Yilmack hadn't set his down, but hefted the rug over one broad shoulder while he waited, and then fell in alongside Agmar as he started to head in the direction he now felt Stott Jacobs in.