Airie

The room reminded Dusan of Tobias’s study. Here, too, there were jars and bottles, standing on the table and on the shelves. This was the biggest room on the second floor, and it seemed strange it was used for storage. Some of the other rooms contained beds and furniture that hinted that people had occupied them in the past, but now, the building seemed desolate. This room was likely the only one that was still in use.

“What’s this?” Dusan said, eyeing a glass jar on the table, unable to make out its contents in the dark.

“We need more light,” Tobias said from the window behind which the steady sound of downpour was gradually growing quieter. “Bring it here.”

Dusan picked one of the jars—quite heavy, with some liquid sloshing inside—and took it to the window, placing it on the sill. Outside, the wall of rain was thinning. He twisted his neck to look up and saw a few breaks in the clouds. From one of them, the moon peeked out.

Tobias stood still, looking at the sky. It didn’t seem like he was doing anything, but he probably was. Dusan wondered what it felt like, to be able to disperse clouds and summon moonlight as easily as one could light a torch from a fire. Airies looked so much like regular humans, and yet they were so different, so incredibly powerful, and just as vulnerable at the same time.

He picked the jar again and brought it to his eyes, studying the object inside in the weak light. He had never seen anything like this. It was shaped a like a walnut, but much larger, perhaps the size of two fists put together, filling most of the jar.

“Interesting,” said Tobias, taking the jar from him.

“What is this?”

Tobias hummed. “A brain.”

“What?”

“A human brain.” Holding the jar in one hand, Tobias tapped a finger on Dusan’s forehead. “A female’s or a child’s, judging by the size.”

Dusan stifled a gagging reflex. He had no idea what human’s internal organs looked like, but Tobias, being a healer, clearly did.

“Why would anyone keep a brain in a jar?” he said. “Whose brain is it? Who put it here?”

“Given that the only person who has free access to this place is the king, I guess we have the answer to the last question.” Placing the jar on the windowsill, Tobias walked over to the table to look at the other objects. “As for the other two, finding the answer might be more complicated.”

Dusan followed him in the semidarkness, peering at the strange objects in the jars and the bottles. There were little metallic boxes, too. Tobias picked one of them and opened it. Glancing over his shoulder, Dusan saw what looked like sand, or perhaps some kind of powder. Tobias touched it, then smelled his finger. He took a pinch of the powder and rubbed it between his fingers, then put some on his tongue.

“What’re you doing?” Dusan said, startled. “It could be poison.”

“I don’t think so,” Tobias said, spitting. “It seems more like grinded bones.”

Dusan stared at him. Then, an unwanted memory came to him—Reijo standing in front of the king, awkwardly answering his questions.

I can feel it in my bones, your majesty.

“Is this what he did to the ‘special people’?” Dusan blurted out. “To those he invited here? Had them dissected to see what made them ‘special’?”

“Hmm.” Tobias placed the metallic box back on the table, replacing the lid carefully as if it were a coffin—which, in a way, it was. “Perhaps he wanted to gain their abilities, to be able to do what they could do. He didn’t know how, so it stands to reason that he tried different approaches. There are tribes on distant islands who eat brains and flesh of their enemies to gain their strength and experience, so the idea is quite ancient, actually.” He looked around the room, at the jars and the boxes, and shook his head. “Just to think that he once offered me to join the Special Ones! It was pure luck I convinced him that I’d be of more use if he kept me outside. Apparently, the fool was inviting me to my own death.”

“But what about Reijo?” Dusan said, trying to keep his panic at bay. Reijo had only been taken today, after the king had left for his hunting trip. Surely nothing had been done to him without the king’s presence—or could the madman have left precise instructions of what he wanted done? Had he expected to come back to a new bunch of jars with internal organs in them, or a box of grinded bones? The idea of Reijo being beyond help was unbearable.

“Reijo!” Dusan yelled, and then swat away at Tobias’s hand that he raised preventively. “Don’t stop me!” he snapped. “He could be around here, somewhere!”

“Keep quiet.”

“Reijo!”

Tobias let out an exasperated sigh and turned away as Dusan strode towards the door. They had been quiet at first, but now that they knew there were no guards here, and no inhabitants in any of the rooms, the precaution could be abandoned.

“Reijo!”

There was still the basement, and probably some kind of an attic, so there was still hope. He would just go there and call for him, and if nobody answered, he would just…

“Shh!” said Tobias behind him, and Dusan stopped in the doorway, and listened. It was quiet for a moment, and then, through the thundering noise of his own heartbeat, he heard a muffled, distant sound of someone calling his name.

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