Tablet Master Ch. 14

Kashmere sat by the lake and gazed in awe for a long moment. It looked like the moon was resting at the bottom of the lake, casting its light through it, and illuminating all the threes around. It was like looking at a giant mirror and with her head cocked in the right angle, she saw two moons. She smiled.

Kellia rushed to her side and startled her. "I can sense another Tablet," she said. "It's coming from this direction and it's getting closer."

"Be ready everyone," Kashmere said. "Kellia has detected another Tablet coming towards us."

"Does it mean they also know Kellia's here?" Valektt asked.

"Most likely," Kashmere said, taking cover behind a tree. "Let's assume the worst and see what happens."

Everyone waited for several minutes before they finally saw movement on the other side of the lake. From that distance, roughly two hundred meters, it was exceedingly difficult to identify who or what it was, but they all saw the movement.

'Kellia's weapon," Kashmere thought.

"She's alone," Kellia said before Kashmere could say anything.

Kellia held her weapon aiming towards the creature, and she was looking through the spying glass sitting on top of the weapon.

"It's a humanoid female," Kellia said. "She's wearing a light-colored fur cloak with a similar bikini outfit, probably white, with dark stripes, like a tiger. She has long pointy ears and long dark hair. I'm not sure how short she is, but unless the plants on the other side are a lot bigger than the ones around us, I'd say she's barely one meter in height."

"She's alone?" Whaymick asked.

"She's holding a Tablet," Kellia said. "I don't see anyone else around."

"Let's go," Kashmere said. "Be quiet."

They prowled around the lake to get closer to the small creature. They were about ten meters away when the small creature began dancing and chanting in a foreign language.

"Does anyone know what she's doing?" Kashmere whispered.

Everyone shook their heads.

She continued to move closer, confident they hadn't been detected yet, but after a few more steps, the roots from plants and trees reached out from the soil and wrapped around her ankles.

She tried to break free in vain and realised everyone had been caught the same way. Some tried to cut the roots, but more would coil up their legs and they couldn't hack through fast enough.

The small creature walked closer, her eyes glowing faintly, her arms moving as though she was controlling the vines from a distance, making them creep up their legs to strengthen their grip.

Kashmere noticed Kellia was able to move forward one step at a time, using all her might to rip the roots off before more would grab her foot back as soon as she put it down in front of her.

"Use your weapon Kellia," Kashmere said as she drew her pistol and took a shot at the small creature.

The bang echoed through the night, accompanied by a loud cry of pain.

The roots stopped moving for a moment when the small creature fell on her back and out of sight.

Everyone but Kashmere used this moment of respite to break free.

Kashmere chose to reload her pistol instead.

Lupra was the first one to reach across the bushes. "She's not here," he said, looking about.

Kashmere heard chanting but it was already too late.

A large tree branch slammed Lucas head like a nail into the ground. It was unclear if all the cracking came from the branches or from his bones, but when the branch returned to its original rigid position, Lupra was lifeless.

"Nooooooo!" Kashmere cried in shock, expecting the worse.

The creature's chants echoed from all around them, as if her voice were projecting through and from every trees around.

Kashmere braced for impact, but the blow didn't come at her.

A large branch moved slightly above Daxhk's head, but Whaymick muttered something, and the branch stopped.

Kellia flew by. Kashmere turned her head to track her path and saw Kellia punch the creature right in her face.

The small girl crashed into the trunk of a tree behind her but instead of bouncing off it, she stuck to it violently. The pain was noticeable on her face, but the trunk swallowed her before Kellia could hit her again.

The bark cracked under Kellia's fist, but the creature was gone.

"She's a Wood Fairy," Whaymick said. "I can try to counter her spells, but we're at a disadvantage around here, this is her element, and she is powerful."

"I wish you no harm," the fairy's voice said, echoing from all the trees. "Why are you attacking me?"

"You attacked first," Kashmere said.

"You were prowling towards me," the fairy said. "I merely tried to ensnare you and then you shot me."

"You-" Kashmere began to say.

"This is your last chance to a peaceful negotiation," the fairy interrupted.

"There can be no peace," Whaymick said. "You killed one of ours."

Kashmere looked at where Lupra was and saw Kellia already had her hands, glowing on his chest.

"He's not dead," Kellia said with her teeth clenched. "But he's unconscious. You know what that means."

"Why did you try to creep on to me," the fairy said.

"We know you have a Tablet," Kashmere said. "We needed to know more."

"I will not give you the Tablet," the fairy said, her voice booming all over the place. "Leave!"

"I didn't mean to steal it," Kashmere said. "To be honest, I'm not sure what I wanted to do with you or your Tablet, all I know-"

"Leave! Now! Or I will kill you all!"

"Fine, we'll leave," Kashmere said. "I was just trying to know more about the Tablets. Maybe you know something we don't."

Kashmere waited for a moment, but the fairy didn't speak.

Kellia fell to the ground as Lupra gasped for air.

"Valektt, cut me out of those roots," Kashmere said. "Lupra, grab Kellia and let's get out of here."

"Wait," the fairy said. "Your Tablet's creature is called Kellia?"

"Yes," Kashmere said, stepping out of the roots as her mate cut them off.

"I have her mother and twin sister in my Tablet," the fairy said. "Come back here tomorrow at noon and we can talk."

"We don't have time for this," Whaymick said.

"He's right," Kashmere said. "We must hurry back to our capital."

"My Tablets can't be summoned until tomorrow morning," the fairy said. "I'm powerful here and confident I can defeat all of you, but I'm not sure about your slave. If you unsummon her now, I will talk with you."

"This won't happen either," Kashmere said. "Kellia is free, but right now she's unconscious so I will not decide to return her into the Tablet without her consent."

"You shouldn't fear this mischievous fairy," a voice said. "She's probably used up all her tricks and energy already. She's no threat to you, but I could be."

"Who are you," Kashmere said.

"My name is Naäthani," he said. "You can call me Nate."

"I won't give you back the Tablet," the fairy shouted.

"I'm not here to steal it back," he said. "I'm here to tell you what we did so you can decide if you'll help me or not, because without the Tablet, I'm as good as dead."

"Listen fairy girl," Kashmere said. "I'm going back to our camp on the other side of the lake. You and Nate figure things out and then, if you want to share knowledge about the Tablets, feel free to come see us. I have no intention of stealing your Tablet. I only want to free Kellia."

"You just said Kellia was free," the fairy said. "I'm confused."

Kashmere sighed deeply. "I have to summon her every morning and when I do, I order her not to obey my orders, so this way, she's as free as it gets, but I want to free her completely from the Tablet, so she won't go back every morning."

"Mine doesn't go back every morning," the fairy said, walking out from a tree as though it wasn't there.

The fairy's skin was silver, and it was sparkling. Her white tiger fur bikini didn't cover much, but although she was barely a meter high, her body was athletic and beautiful. She wore a cloak made from the same tiger fur as her bikini, a single dagger on the left side of her belt and a pouch on the other, and she clutched the Tablet under her right arm, but nothing more. She didn't even wear shoes.

"Show yourself Nate," the fairy said, walking up to Kashmere and offering her small hand. "I'm Thea."

Kashmere shook her hand. "Nice to meet you Thea, I'm Kashmere. This is Whaymick, Ashkyy, Daxhk, Valektt, Hrrako, and this is Lupra with Kellia in his arms."

They each nodded in turn, mumbling a "Hi" at the same time.

A stunning Elf appeared. He stood out of arms reach from everyone and didn't hold any weapon. He wore a strange outfit the likes Kashmere had never seen until Kellia's pants. A similar pattern, but instead of a grey and red pattern, it was dark green and brown, like the forest. It had even more pockets than Kellia's pants and his belt was made of hard leather and had so many pouches and strange things on it Kashmere didn't know what any of those were.

He gazed at her with his bright emerald eyes and smiled. "Please to make your acquaintance Kashmere, and same to all of you."

Most of the males nodded, but each remained ready to defend themselves, staring at the fairy and the elf in turn.

"First thing first," Nate said, taking a few steps to kneel before Thea. "I'm sorry I stole your Tablet the other day. Please forgive me."

Thea stared at him.

Kashmere raised an eyebrow after a whole minute had passed and then looked around to try and distract herself from the awkward silence.

"I forgive you," Thea finally said. "I'm still not giving it back."

"Thank you," Nate said, getting back up. "As I said, I don't want it back. I want you to help me."

Kellia moaned slightly.

Everyone's attention shifted.

She slid off Lupra's arms and dusted herself up. "What did I miss?"

Kashmere reached into a warm hug. "Everyone's fine," she said. "Nate was apologizing to Thea for stealing her Tablet the other day, and Thea just forgave him."

"And... this elf would be Nate I presume," Kellia said.

"Yes. He was invisible," Kashmere said.

"What now?" Kellia asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Let's all get comfy, and I'll explain what's going on," Nate said with a smile.

They all sat around the campfire, back at the Cathorian's camp.

Thea placed the Tablet on the ground and sat on it.

Nate made a gesture while speaking a few words to produce a large chair that looked filled with straws, but it wasn't straws.

"It's a couch, and it's made of foam," he said as everyone stared. "It would be hard to explain, although Kellia probably know what that is."

"Yeah, I do," Kellia said. "But I'm pretty sure they don't have that in this dimension."

"Indeed, they don't," Nate said. "I can make more if anyone needs one, try it."

After a long round of testing and awe, Nate ended up making a couch for everyone. He even made a smaller one for Thea and she sat on the Tablet, on the couch.

"Please keep your questions for the end. I'll try to be brief, but clear," Nate said. "Keyfay met a Dragon called Bahk. He was wounded and asked for her help to save a race of creature called the Khavi. I was the Tablet Master at the time, but she was in control. Somehow, being merged with Thea's Tablet, which contains a white tiger creature called Saïna, they are freer than not, and they don't have to follow orders. I think, she can also hurt or possibly even kill the master. We went up against a powerful Wizard called Balzamir. He's the one who poisoned all the Khavi and we needed to get a cure from him. I pretended to be a Weretiger merchant and offered to sell him either Keyfay or Saïna. The plan was to unsummon her after we'd get the cure, but he saw through our ruse. He still made the bargain, and he did give us the cure, which Bahk used already, but when Bahk came back to pick me up, Thea had already stolen the Tablet from me. The Khavi needed him, so he went back while I came here, chasing after her to explain everything."

Nate looked at Thea with his head bowed slightly. "Balzamir said that if I didn't bring him Saïna tomorrow, he would find me. I'm not sure what he intends to do with me, but I'll probably end up being his slave for the rest of my life, which for us elves, can be awfully long. I need to give Saïna to him."

"Are you out of your mind?" Thea said.

"I'm not," he said. "Look," Nate took a deep breath, "as soon as it will be possible, you can summon them both and we can ask them. Maybe they can find a better solution to my problem."

"Yeah," Thea said with a scoff. "It is 'your' problem. You're nothing but a thief, why should I care? As far as I'm concern, you deserve what Balzamir will do to you."

"That's a bit harsh," Kashmere said. "He could have taken the Tablet back from you. We were all fighting, and no one knew he was there."

"Then he'd have stolen it again," Thea said. "That only proves my point. He's a scoundrel."

"Nuance, he would have been," Kashmere said. "What have you got to lose by granting him a little compassion?"

"Everything," Thea said, standing up with the Tablet in hand. "Humans are destroying my forest. They're chopping down every tree at an incredible pace and they've already obliterated a quarter of our precious forest. I need Saïna to make things right and kill all those humans. I'm sure Keyfay will be of great help too."

"She will definitely help you Thea," Nate said, his voice milky all the sudden. "Keyfay is an amazingly good-hearted creature."

"You say that like you're in love with her," Thea said.

Kashmere thought the same thing, but something else was boggling her mind since Nate mentioned it in his speech.

"I am," Nate said, blushing.

"Can we get back to the Tablet," Kashmere said. "It seems we all need them. Whaymick studied the Tablet and found out many interesting things, but none that would help free Kellia. Nate said Keyfay and Saïna were free because the two merged into one Tablet. Kellia, unlike the other Tablets, can be summoned up to three times per sunrise, but she returns into the Tablet at sunrise. According to Whaymick, every Tablets have rules, but each creature has one of those rules altered or voided. When merged, those rules also change."

"Amazing," Nate muttered. "If we merge all three together, we could summon them all back out, three times per day, and they'd be almost free."

"You don't seem certain of the outcome," Thea said, "but even if it did work the way you think, we'd only have one Tablet. Nate needs Saïna to hand her over to Balzamir, I need Saïna to stop the humans from destroying more of my forest, and Kashmere seemed to need Kelia for something too. I'm not versed in Tablet lore, but last I recall, they can't go any farther than five hundred meters."

"I think that limitation increases when combined," Nate said. "Keyfay went much farther than five hundred meters this morning."

"We'll still only have one Tablet," Thea said. "Whose problem is more important to everyone if not each our own?"

"Is it possible to split the Tablets?" Kashmere said, looking at Whaymick.

"I believe so."

"Problem solve," Kashmere said. "Thea can split the Tablet and give one back to Nate. Nate can then try to save his skin, while Thea saves her forest, and we continue to our capital where I intend to save my people. Everyone wins."

"I'm not giving the Tablet back to this scoundrel," Thea said. "I'll double my chances against the Humans."

Nate sighed deeply and looked down.

"Wouldn't you rather triple your chances?" Kashmere asked.

"I thought about it, but I'm not a thief," Thea said. "I won't steal Kellia from you. I'll deal with Nate, he's not your problem, he's mine."

"What if we all help each other instead," Nate said. "Wouldn't it be easier to save your forest if you had, not only Saïna and Keyfay, but also Kellia, Me and them?"

"It would," Thea said. "But I'm confident of my success even if I only have Saïna and Keyfay to help me. You're saying this only because you're the only one who can't handle your problem without a Tablet."

"What about you?" Nate said to Kashmere, his eyes pleading.

"I'm confident too," Kashmere said. "Although it would increase our chances greatly if we had an Elf, a Fairy and two more powerful supernatural creature to help us deal with a council of power hungry Cathorians."

Thea sighed. "Okay then," she said. "Let's consider joining all our forces for a moment. How can we trust each other with only one Tablet, knowing that whoever controls it can obliterate everyone else on a whim?"

"There are many ways we can get to trust each other," Kashmere said. "But first, we need to make sure the Tablet can be split before we even consider merging all three into one. Can you at least try to split your Tablet?"

"I'll try, but if he tries to steal it from me, I will kill him."

Thea held the Tablet with both hands and looked at it intently. A crack of energy formed in the middle, and she tore the Tablet in two. Both parts grew back the missing half and she now held two Tablets.

"Excellent," Kashmere said. "Now we know for sure we can split them back."

Thea's hand began to shake, and the two Tablets merged back.

"I didn't want to do that," Thea said.

"The Tablets will merge if they are close," Nate said. "It looks like you'd have to give it to someone other than you to prevent them from merging, or possibly if you were very strong."

"If I drop it to the ground, it will try to merge with Kashmere's Tablet?" Thea said.

"Most likely," Nate said.

"Okay," Kashmere said. "Now that we know for sure we can split them, given whoever does it has to give it to someone else, how about we try to merge all three and then figure out what new rules there are, and which rules are altered?"

"All right," Thea said. "Give me your Tablet and I'll merge them."

"Wouldn't it be safer if Kashmere held them," Nate said. "I think you-"

"No worries Nate," Kashmere interrupted. "I trust Thea. She's still cautious about all of us and I can relate, but one of us must show good faith if we want to establish that trust. Off course, Kellia must agree to this. It means you'll have to return into the Tablet Kellia, and probably come back out in pain again."

"It's okay," Kellia said. "Whatever we discover from this experience will be worth it."

Kashmere took the Tablet out of her bag and handed it to Thea.

She held both Tablets, but nothing happened.

"I think you must first return her to the Tablet," Thea said.

Kashmere took the Tablet back and looked at Kellia.

Kellia nodded.

"Kellia-Millaradÿss," Kashmere said, reluctantly.

The Tablet merged as soon as Thea took it back.

Thea gawked.

"What? What is it?" Kashmere asked.

"There's only Kellia's name on it."

"Try summoning her," Kashmere said.

"Kellia-Millaradÿss!"

Kellia appeared, fists and teeth clenched.

"What is your order, Mistress," Kellia said, hissing in pain.

"Do you remember anything," Nate asked.

"I remember all of you, and I know what we're doing," Kellia said. "What have you discovered?"

"So far," Kashmere said, "nothing more than the fact that we can summon you back. The other two names were not on the Tablet."

"They weren't before the merge either," Thea said. "I think it's because it hadn't been a day yet."

"The day rule would still apply then," Nate said.

"What if it only applies to the other two?" Kashmere looked at Kellia with her face crumpled.

"Go ahead," Kellia said.

"Kellia-Millaradÿss!" Thea said.

Kellia vanished once more.

"Kellia-Millaradÿss!" Thea said again.

Kellia reappeared. "What is your order, Mistress," Kellia said, hissing in pain once more.

Kashmere went to her side to hold her, rubbing her arms in a warm embrace. "Sorry Kellia. Thanks for doing this."

"It's okay Kash," Kellia said with a smile after the pain was gone. "What have we found out?"