118 The Mark of Kakos

It was the middle of the night, Tyr and Macha just returned to the apartment from their nightly training session. Recently he wanted her to practice running over and along uneven surfaces. In the Outer-Reaches the terrain was often uneven, and he did not want her to get used to the flat city floors.

As Macha helped him undress, she ran her fingers along his inner thigh. They did not have any appointments in the morning so they could sleep in tomorrow morning if they wanted to. She gave Tyr a seductive smile when a loud knock sounded on the door.

Disappointed, he rushed to put a shirt on and opened the door. In front of him stood Sierra. All the desire he had earlier immediately extinguished because he knew a visit from her at this hour meant trouble. Tyr opened the door and let his old comrade in. In a clear voice, he called down the hall, "Sierra's here." He needed Macha to understand that they had company. The last thing he wanted was for her to come out in the living room naked.

Sierra stepped into the apartment. She had not been here since the remodel and found it dark and depressing. It did not seem like Macha, and she suspected Tyr chose the color scheme. The visit was not a pleasant one which made her avoid sitting. Right now she felt too high strung to relax.

When Tyr finished calling down the hall, she skipped the pleasantries and explained, "Jarnvid escaped. I'm positive it was an inside job. I'll investigate who helped him, but I need you to find him. Not many people we trust can fight him and I have to stay with Freyr in case he seeks revenge. We'll pay you of course." After a pause, she added, "I understand he'll refuse to come back, but it would be better if you can bring him back alive." She highly doubted Tyr would try to bring Jarnvid back alive, but she needed to add that part in.

Macha was coming down the hall and heard what happened. She gave Tyr a worried look. At the tournament, he and Jarnvid had a very intense fight, so she understood that this was an extremely dangerous request.

Aži finished molting, and he had grown bigger and stronger. Despite his increase in power, the mission was still dangerous.

A wicked smile spread across Tyr's face and he turned to hide it from Macha. He wanted to kill Jarnvid so this request had been a blessing in disguise. After everything the man did, there was no way he would bring him back alive. His eyes burned with anticipation, "Of course."

Tyr showed Sierra out the door and prepared to leave. He asked Macha to inform Krystof, Luna, Mathis, and Aila to leave within the hour.

Macha worried because Tyr did not seem like his usual self, but she did as he requested and informed the others of the situation. Jarnvid was now a criminal and if they failed to find him, it could be dangerous. Every moment they spent not looking for him, was a moment that Jarnvid remained free to do as he wished.

The thought of revenge consumed Tyr. He understood Macha was concerned, but he had not experienced the desire to kill someone so intensely since the war. Although Jarnvid escaped, for now, he did not have much of lead.

When Macha came back to the apartment, she begged him to be careful. The anticipation of killing Jarnvid drowned out her words and Tyr barely heard them. His mind remained focused on the upcoming task. In the end, his thoughts were so consumed with the mission, that he forgot to kiss Macha goodbye.

Tyr met the others in the courtyard. Everyone already understood the situation and had grim looks on their faces. This was not an easy mission. They all understood, when faced with death, people always fought harder and stronger than during a duel.

Sierra's griffon landed in the courtyard. For the past half an hour, she gathered as much information as possible from her men about what transpired. The information Sierra's people were able to uncover was that Jarnvid paid for his escape and Fenrir assisted him. She did not discover who else aided him.

The fact that Fenrir assisted Jarnvid worried Sierra. That woman shared a history with Tyr and she fretted it would influence his performance. While it seemed as if her old comrade moved on, she was not certain. In the past, he had been like a broken stallion. She did not know if he could control the years of training that Fenrir forced upon him.

The streetlights reflected off of Sierra's armor as she assessed Tyr. After she had explained the information, she asked, "You sure you can do this? I can ask another guild if you feel your feelings for Fenrir will compromise the mission."

Ice dripped from Tyr's voice and the night seemed to get colder. "I can handle this. If that woman gets in the way she's as good as dead. Nothing will stop me from getting to Jarnvid. I swear," he seethed. He did not want to waste any more time and summoned his hippogryph mount.

Sierra could tell that he held too much hatred in his voice. As she handed him the tracking device, she warned him, "Remember, keep your emotions in check. You need a clear head for this fight."

The tracking stone was tied to the mark on Jarnvid's forehead. It was an intricate spell that could not be erased because it flowed through his blood. The only way to escape The Mark of Kakos was to outdistance the spell's range which is why speed was important.

They all used hippogryphs for this mission because the animals offered the party the speed they needed. No one expected to bring Jarnvid back alive, so they did not worry about doubling up with him on a return flight. The man had nothing to lose and would probably fight to the death.

Tyr activated the tracking device. A red light pointed from the small geode in the direction that Jarnvid fled. The group flew off into the night to pursue the chase.

When Tyr left, Macha looked around the living room. The last hour flew by like a whirlwind and the apartment felt empty and lonely. After Sierra's visit, he did not act like himself and she hoped he would return safely.

That night it took a long time for Macha to fall asleep. When she finally did, her dreams were full of nightmares of Tyr dying and Jarnvid raping her.

Not wanting to face the nightmares, she went to the kitchen. She decided to keep busy and worked on making the hard candy that Aierim taught her how to make.

While Macha waited for the hard candy to cool, the sun rose in the sky and the city stirred. She laid down on the floor and stared at the sky gradually change colors as the day broke. She wondered if everyone would be all right. While lost in her thoughts she drifted to sleep.