64 Luna's Disappearance

Loud iron bells rang in the distance, alarming the city that there was a fire. The flames from Ivan's house lit up the night and billows of black smoke rose into the sky. Now that Tyr released the magic he used to protect himself from the flames, the heat from the fire warmed his face causing sweat to form on his brow.

Sitting on the grass, Tyr admired the flames which danced in the night. Fatigue bore down on his shoulders from spending so much energy. His stomach settled and things began to look normal again. He suspected Ivan had used some sort of hallucinogen to affect his senses. A fight against Ivan should have been easy, but the man was tricky. Tyr remembered that even Freyr had been surprised with a chemical attack as well.

Tyr felt angry because he had failed to capture Ivan. His failure especially stung because all traces of the man burned in the flames that Tyr himself created. Now Tyr could not track Ivan with the Stone of Tracking. There was a chance he killed Ivan in the explosion, but Tyr doubted it. He would let Freyr's men investigate the matter further.

Mages dressed in blue robes rode onto the property. They held orbs of water that contained small water sprites in them. The sprites channeled their powers to form long streams of water that the mages used to extinguish the fire.

Tyr watched the group battle the flames and waited for Freyr to come. He was too tired to bother looking for his cousin and knew he would be here shortly. While Tyr waited, he thought about how he was out of shape. This type of magic used to be easier for him when they were at war. Since he started training Macha, he focused on physical training and ignored his magical training.

The memories of the tournament flashed into Tyr's mind. Macha's battle in the tournament proved that he needed to prepare her for how to deal with and identify magical attacks. She won her fight in the tournament but in an embarrassing way. Tyr recalled the fight, which caused him to chuckle. He still thought it was funny that Macha ran away from Kurbiika to avoid dealing with a magical attack.

A huge white horse with a golden saddle galloped into the property. It ran towards Tyr and dissolved before trampling him. Freyr rolled down onto his shoulder and stretched his arms out to give Tyr a hug. He embraced his cousin and rustled Tyr's hair playfully.

When Aži found Freyr, Freyr had been training with Macha in the garden. Aži brought the Stone of Tracking that Hymir had given Tyr as a gift for founding the Obsidian Dragons. It surprised Freyr to see Aži without Tyr and he grew worried when he received the stone with a dark brown lock of hair. The lock of hair was colored like his own but the hairs were completely straight instead of somewhat wavy.

Freyr had left immediately, not sparing any time to explain the situation. He looked at Tyr, whose hair was now a mess from him ruffling it. "Where the hell have you been? Sierra came back without you and we could not find you at all. What happened?" Not once did he assume his cousin was dead, but Tyr's absence troubled him immensely.

Pushing Freyr's head away, Tyr leaned back onto the grass to stare at the moons in the sky. "What are you talking about? I went back to the guild last night to heal up. Luna should have known. I came to Ivan's house to find something I could use to track him, but it turned out he was waiting for me. I think he got away, but I still need your men to check the basement."

Freyr stared at Tyr. It confused him why Luna did not inform him that Tyr returned. "I have not heard from Luna since yesterday. She asked to get off early because she wanted to do something." After Freyr said this he and Tyr looked at each other with their eyes wide. It was unlike Luna to lack so much communication. It was possible that Ivan attacked Luna as well.

Both men summoned their mounts and raced through the city to the headquarters of the Obsidian Dragons. Tyr got there first because he did not have to worry about traffic on the roads since he used a hippogryph tonight. Tyr ran up the stairs to his sister's room and flung open the door without knocking.

Luna's room was dark. Tyr turned on the lights and searched the room to see if his sister lay sleeping in her bed. Her room was messy, but that was normal. If she had been in a scuffle, he would never know. Tyr ran through every room, not worrying about what he stepped on.

Shortly after, Freyr came up running up the stairs. "Luna!" he called as he entered the open door. Freyr's eyes moved over to Tyr, his voice desperate, "Is she here?" He scanned the room searching for his cousin.

Tyr sat down on a dress covered sofa. His voice sounded brittle as he hung his head in his hands, "No." Tyr worried that Ivan had caught or killed Luna. Stretching his hand out, Tyr demanded, "Give me the stone, I need to make sure she's all right."

The Stone of Tracking was still on Freyr, so he dug through his coat and pulled it out. "Here," he knew it should work unless the person was dead or someone used a spell to hide the target's location.

Tyr strode into Luna's bathroom and took a wad of hair that was wrapped around her hairbrush. Luna rarely cleaned her brushes, so there was a good amount of hair built up on it. Wrapping the hair around the stone Tyr imbued the stone with energy but nothing happened. Tyr tried again with the same results.

Worry creased Tyr's face. He looked at Freyr, his voice shuddering, "What were her words exactly?" It was possible they worried for nothing, but the stone could not locate Luna, which was worrisome.

Freyr paced the room with his arms crossed. He did not get much sleep the night before and a lot happened at the masquerade. Freyr replayed the memory in his mind. He had just finished talking to Tyr about checking the South Garden. He saw Macha by the fountain and he moved to greet her. Luna came up to him. Recalling the conversation, he said, "Her exact words were, 'Can I get off early? Krystof said he would take me dancing.'"

Without waiting for anything else, Tyr ran down to Krystof's room and Freyr followed him. Tyr pounded on the heavy wooden door. When Krystof answered the door, a blue scarf held his blonde hair back, and he had a broom in one hand. "Hey, what's up? I was just doin some cleaning, come in." Krystof found solace in cleaning and would tidy up his apartment often.

Tyr did not bother entering. Instead, he asked, "Did you take Luna out dancing last night?" His eyes trembled, full of worry. If Krystof did not meet up with Luna, he did not know what to do. Tyr was aware that Krystof and Luna usually went dancing once a week, so it would not be unusual for them to want to dance at the festival last night.

This question held more weight to Krystof than Tyr realized. Krystof did not want to tell Tyr everything that happened the night before so he gave Tyr a wary look. He looked to the side, unsure what to say. Tyr was one of his best friends, but he kissed Luna and confessed his feelings to her. He did not want to make things awkward between them like Taylen had, but the kiss happened spontaneously. Krystof owed Luna an explanation after that and he put his foot in his mouth by confessing. "Uh... yeah. We got off early and danced... Why? What did she tell you?" He worried Luna complained to Tyr about the kiss and things would get complicated.

Tyr could tell his friend was hiding something. Krystof had a tell whenever he hid something. He always shifted his eyes to the side before speaking. "What are you not telling me?" Tyr's voice sounded stern and unmoving. He needed to know all the facts.

Krystof opened the door wider and motioned with his head for them to come in. This was a subject he did not want someone passing by to overhear. When Tyr and Freyr entered, he closed the door and leaned against it. Krystof hit his forehead with the broom and admitted, "I sorta kissed her. I didn't mean to. It just happened. Then she looked at me with those big green eyes and I told her about my feelings..." A red mark colored his forehead from the broom and he leaned his head against the door.

Tyr did not care about his sister's love life. He cared about her actual life. His patience wore thin, and he snapped, "Why the hell would I care about that? Where was the last place you saw her? She's missing." He did not understand why Krystof would even inform him about their kiss. Tyr could not care less about what transpired between his friend and his sister.

Krystof tore the scarf off of his head. The blood drained from his face and tossed the broom on the floor. "What? I took her home last night. We got home around three. She said she had a nice time." He grabbed a jacket that hung by his door. "I gotta go. I'm gonna look for her." Krystof slipped the jacket on and ran off, leaving Freyr and Tyr in his room. He worried that Luna was upset about his kiss and confession. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up their relationship. He loved spending time with Luna, she was the only one who shared his interests.

It never occurred to Freyr that Krystof liked Luna. He stared at the door trying to wrap his mind around the idea of the two of them dating. Krystof dated many women and never seemed to be serious about any of them. Freyr did not understand why his friend would risk Luna's friendship for a fling. He looked over to Tyr to observe his reaction.

The last thing Tyr thought about was Krystof and Luna's relationship. He stroked his lips. "If she came home then where did she go?" Tyr knew that security in the headquarters would be good. If someone kidnapped her, they would have to drag her down the stairs and out of the gate. Only certain people were allowed up the stairs, so Tyr always felt safe within his building. "Let me get Macha and we'll see if Luna turns up. Maybe she went out to do some errands." He doubted this was the case because the Stone of Tracking did not work, but he had to hope.