Seekers of the Stone Maker

Medusa didn’t have any visible weapons on her. Like a makeshift cloak, she kept the fur around her and led them through the tunnel. As the light faded, Mr. Muffins grabbed and ignited a torch from his pack.

It only took twenty minutes to find the first one. A humanoid figure stood in the middle of the tunnel, frozen in time and place. They all stopped momentarily, taking in what they saw, then passed by it and kept walking. Five minutes later, they found the next, a dwarf woman. As they continued, the number rose of petrified victims. With each one, Medusa would turn her head toward them but kept her face down, as if the remorse of what happened became her blame. Eventually, making it more than ten feet became difficult without moving around another.

Near the front, Mr. Muffins stopped and raised his hand to signal to the rest of the party. Lyla watched as he carefully moved forward, Jimbo out before him as he called out. His voice echoed in the tunnel.

“Whoever you are, you better be showing your faces, or things might worsen for you.”

“Please, don’t hurt us!” A male voice whispered.

Two humans pulled themselves out from an alcove surrounded by two figures who were guarding the space. One was an older man, his clothes and face scratched and covered in dirt. He held a small girl, no older than six, in his arms. The little girl turned away, clearly scared, and tucked her face into the man’s chest. The man lifted his hand slowly, showing he had no weapons on him.

“Please, we’ve been down here for just a few days and didn’t know what to do.”

“Wait…” Lyla stepped closer as she spoke. “You were in Aramore. The ones taken the other day.”

“Yes! It was me and my daughter and…”

He turned and looked at the two figures in front of the alcove. One was a woman. The other looked like a younger man.

“This is my wife and son. Please help us. They aren’t mages. I’m not a mage. My daughter, she just…”

“She’s a sorcerer, isn’t she?” Medusa asked.

“Yes,” He replied. “It just started last week. She wouldn’t harm anyone, I swear.”

“I need you to travel back up the path. Stay at the cave entrance, and when we return, I’ll see what I can do for you and your family.”

“Thank you.”

The man turned and went to walk up the path. He stopped and looked back at everyone.

“I don’t suppose you have an extra torch?”

From his chest, his daughter raised her hand. A small flame appeared just enough to make out a couple of feet around them. He stared at it for a moment, shocked by her child’s ability, then turned back to the others.

“Looks like you’re in good hands,” Ana stated.

“She’s the best,” He said, holding her close.

He moved quickly, going back through the tunnel. When they were far enough away that it was difficult to see the light from the girl’s hand, Ana turned back to the group.

“We have the antidotes. Why didn’t we help them?”

“Because it would be unwise to waste them until we know how many we need,” Medusa answered.

“There are only seven antidotes. Even if we all use one, we’d only have one left, and we don’t know what happened to Trista,” Myla jumped in.

“I know!” Leaf exclaimed. “You should send a message to Darion. He would be able to reach out to other healers, and we could get people to come here and help.”

“I would, but I’ve already spent most of my magic today.”

“How?” Lyla asked.

“I’ve been talking to my family the past few days and Mikella.”

“Who?”

“I wanted answers about who my true father was, and I didn’t know we’d leave today.”

“Did you find out anything?” Rhokhishi questioned.

“Not a lot. Mikella is on her way, though. She’s gonna stop at Aramore and then try to find us.”

“Until then, we need to keep moving. Let’s go,” Muffins added.

We could have waited to leave if we knew others were coming. Lyla told her sister.

You’re not wrong…

I know, I know. We are limited on time and daylight; who knows what will happen if we don’t move now?

It is challenging that she didn’t tell us. I get your frustrations.

Right!?

She’s young, Lyla. Younger than all of us. She didn’t have the past that we did.

Still…

She’ll get better at it, or we’ll talk about it. We need to find this Trista and get out of here right now.

Medusa had already started moving further down the trail. Lyla waited a second, letting some of her friends pass by, then followed behind.