Part 5
Rising and Falling

Chapter 5-1

"I swear, out of all the things I could lose," General Mitchell of the Benjas mutters as he fervently looks around his study, picking up and putting down books and pieces of paper. The dog tags are warm against his skin and his favourite dagger is at his side like usual, but it is not that that he is concerned about. The Amulet that was missing.

He had been looking for close to half an hour around the study and had decided that wherever the Amulet was, it wasn't in there. He leaves the study and swiftly goes down to the training area. Nad'ij is full of activity as he quickly walks through the main streets, appearing calm and unhurried to those who wander the city or run errands.

The storage rooms located near the training grounds are perhaps the busiest of all as multiple people with leather vests over their beige cotton shirts move this way and that, hammering and sawing and bolting things that Mitch can't even name into the roof of the rooms. The General pauses for a moment, watching the inventors work like workers in a beehive before shaking his head and continuing on.

As a newer batch of warriors watch with gaping mouths as experienced warriors duel using wooden practise swords, Mitch scans across the racks of training weapons, his hand lightly skimming across them. He can't see the gold casing or the purple gem and he glances around the training grounds, wondering if the Amulet somehow fell off while he was helping train warriors. It seems unlikely, however, as his dog tags have never fallen off and the Amulet, with its heavy gem, would be less likely to fall.

"What are you looking for, sir?"

Mitch starts at the voice and turns, breathing out a sigh as he sees Senior Commander Duncan standing next to him with a slight smile on his face. Not very many people manage to startle the Benja General and those who do get unofficial bragging rights.

"I've misplaced the Amulet," Mitchell tells Duncan quietly. Due to the tentative peace between the Pack and the Squids, Mitch has kept the Amulet hidden from his warriors, telling only his three Senior Commanders that he has it and stressing the importance of its secrecy.

Duncan's face becomes serious as he thinks. "You took it off when you were demonstrating the disarming move to Division Tiger," he says slowly. "It was hanging on the fence post under your jacket, but it was gone when you left, so I had assumed that you took it with you."

When Duncan mentions it, Mitch remembers the situation. He shakes his head, saying "I never picked it up, it wasn't under my jacket."

"So someone took it then."

Mitch rubs his chin slightly. Only four people in this camp knew about the Amulet, but Mitch was certain that none of the Senior Commanders would take it. After all, they have no reason to. But who els...

A sigh escapes Mitch. "You didn't happen to see the Sorcerer General around during that demonstration, did you?" he asks Duncan.

"He was hanging around. I didn't keep track of him during the demonstration though."

"What about afterwards?"

"He was walking back towards the main street." Duncan frowns. "You're not thinking that he took the Amulet, are you?"

"Amulets don't just disappear into thin air," Mitch says. His pace is fast as he goes back to the main street of Nad'ij. It's the weekend today, and the various farmers from near Nad'ij are putting on their weekly market, displaying apples and fresh bread and vegetables of all shapes and sizes. Mitch makes his way up to one of the stalls selling strawberries and cherry tomatoes and leans slightly on one of the poles that hold up the tent-like roof.

"Hey Joe," Mitch says when the farmer manning the stall finishes serving the customer.

"Oh, General Mitchell," the farmer says, turning with a smile. "What can I do for you today?"

"I'm just wondering if you happened to see the General of the Sorcerers passing by," Mitch says. "Brown messy hair, long cloak, bit shorter than average. Might have been carrying a necklace of some sorts."

"I think I saw him pass through not too long ago," Joe says, frowning a little. "If it is him I saw, he went east. Can't tell if he was carrying a necklace."

"That's great, thanks, Joe."

"Wait, wait," Joe says before Mitch can move off. He swiftly scoops some strawberries into a paper bag and hands them out to Mitch to take.

"No no, don't worry about it," Mitch says but Joe never takes 'no' for an answer.

"Just take it, I've got plenty."

Mitch sighs and does so, but not before he slips a $5 note on the table. He disappears into the crowd before Joe can force him to take back the cash, but the farmer's cries of "I don't want your money!" are not lost so easily.

The strawberries are quite delicious and Mitch finishes them before he reaches the stables in the east of Nad'ij. Mitch sighs at the thought of the multiple places Seto could be but as it turns out, he finds the inventor almost immediately. After all, it is quite easy to spot someone who is standing on the wall and is not wearing armour.

The steps that go to the top of the wall bring Mitch out several metres to the right of Seto. As he closes the gap, he sees that Seto does indeed have the Amulet hanging from his wrist. In his hands, he holds his silver keychain and the deep green gem, having obviously just taken it out of the case.

"Seto," Mitch says, causing the man to jump, "next time, just tell me when you're going to take the Amulet, I thought I had lost it for good."

Seto grins, slipping the keychain into a pocket of his pants. "Sorry, Mitch. You were just busy. I thought I wasn't going to take long but I got caught up in that storage room upgrade for a while."

"What are you doing with it?"

The Sorcerer General sighs. "Look. We need to help the Sky Army and Adam. It's our fault that they ended up in the Capital. If we had just gone straight there instead of working our way around village by village, they wouldn't be in that mess."

"I know," Mitch says. It's something that he had thought about a lot over the past several days. "But a lot more lives would have been lost if we attacked the Capital straight away. We would probably still be there now and the Squid warriors from the other villages would have attacked our back. I'm not saying that what's happened is any better, but we can't change the past."

"But we can change the future."

The Benja General glances between Seto's determined eyes and the gem he holds in his hand. "What does this have to do with those gems?"

Seto smiles and takes the gem out of the Amulet, also putting the case in his pants pocket. "You have no idea what these are," he says.

The Sorcerer General turns the gems a little so that the jagged edges line up. This time, instead of keeping them apart, he puts them together. Like Mitch had suspected, the gems fit together perfectly and for a moment, nothing happens. Both the gems start glowing as if from an inner light and - unless he is imagining it - Mitch hears a sort of high ringing sound.

"And now we wait," Seto says quietly, taking apart the two gems.

Mitch is silent for a moment, then he gives Seto an accusing glare. "You lied to me. You totally knew what you were doing the other day."

Seto shrugs and grins. "I'm not really supposed to let you know what these are, but since you're kinda looking after one, it's only fair."

SHAZAM!

Anyway.

I do quite like those 'Character list' things that Wattpad has. Very useful for listing the people who will play an important role in your book.