Kashmere didn't hold the Tablet when Kellia vanished. She took a deep breath and touched her lips. She smiled as a chill coursed through her body. She loved Kellia. She loved all the members in her clan, but Kellia held a little extra spot in her heart, after all, she'd probably be hanging at the end of a rope if it weren't for her.
She crawled into the hut, reaching for her bag with anticipation. It was empty. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked at her mates.
Valektt was awake, looking at her, still bundled with all but Whaymick.
"He just took it and left a moment ago," Valektt said.
Kashmere felt relieved, but not entirely. She knew the mating ritual was an extraordinarily strong bond, but it wasn't unbreakable.
"When the seed of darkness is strong within one,"
her mother said to her once,
"even the strongest ritual may not be enough."
She examined the surrounding to locate Whaymick, but he wasn't in sight, nor was he making any noise.
Walking towards the river, she thought of calling him out with a roar, or a scream, but she thought it could attract other creatures to their location. It could also reflect the little doubt she still had within.
"I shouldn't expect the worse,"
she thought, stopping to inhale deeply.
"Trust in the bond..."
Whaymick was sitting in lotus position with the Tablet in his lap when she finally spotted him through the branches. He was chanting in a foreign language while waving his hands around the Tablet and making figures and symbols with his fingers.
She watched for a moment, the little doubt she had left fading away completely.
'He said he wanted to find out more about it,"
she thought.
The others were awake when she returned to camp. They shared some of their food with her as if they had always been together, oblivious to the fact that they tried to kill each other a day earlier.
"Where's Kellia," Lupra asked. "Does she need to eat?"
"I don't think she does, no," Kashmere said. "Same as sleeping I guess."
Kashmere watched all of them eat. She had a grin on her face, reflecting the feeling she had. As a pirate, she did feel she belonged with the crew, mostly a handful of them, but as much as they were friends and they trusted each other, it was nothing in comparison. She had always been ready to give her life to save her friends, although she knew some of them wouldn't have done the same for her.
This new clan was much more than friendship and she felt any of them would give their life for hers, not because she was a Crystashan, but because they had performed Shan'Rreea. The sacred mating ritual of the Cathorian.
She touched her tummy and clenched her lips. She never really wanted to bear cubs, but the thought of it, at this very moment, crossed her mind and made her feel happy.
Ashkyy brought her cape and gear. "Whaymick's back," he said. "We're getting ready to leave."
Kashmere took her gear and dressed up.
She walked to Whaymick and watched him dress. The Tablet was on a stone next to him.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted to be the one to summon her back," he said.
"I don't mind," she said," as long as she is ordered to act freely."
"I think you should be the one to summon her so there will be no confusion, and we'll learn from what you say."
Kashmer smiled and took the Tablet. "Did you find anything?"
"I did," Whaymick said, following her out of the hut. "There are other Tablets. They radiate a humongous amount of temporal energy, and I could easily tap into them to fuel powerful time related spells, such as Dimensional travel, Teleportation and much more."
"Each Tablet contain a creature as powerful, maybe even more powerful than Kellia," he continued. "I couldn't find out more about those other creatures, but there is a set of rules that binds them to the Tablets. They can't attack anyone holding the Tablet in their hands. They can't attack, disobey, or harm their master. They can't touch, carry, or use the Tablet directly or indirectly. They must truthfully answer and obey orders, requests, questions, and commands given by their master. Their body will not regain energy potential to fuel their powers or their spellcasting abilities, but their body will regenerate wounds as normal. When unsummoned, the creature may not be called again for twenty-four hours, but it's ten days if they are killed."
"It's not possible," Kashmere said. "I summoned Kellia three times in the same day, and she got killed twice."
"I'll get to that in a moment," he said. "The creature can only reach as far as five hundred meters away from the Tablet. Pain will force them to get back closer and if they can't, the pain will eventually kill them. The Tablet can't be Teleported away by anyone other than the master and it can't be carried further away than five hundred meters from the Master when the creature is active. Each creature can sense another Tablet within five hundred meter if that Tablet is not active. The range increases tenfold if it is, so five kilometers. The creature's memories are altered. They will not remember how, why and who caused them to be imprisoned in the Tablets and they will not know how the Tablet works, nor how to get free. Their powers are affected, and they may or may not have access to certain powers or spells, which is related to their memories that are being influenced."
"So, what about that twenty-four-hour thing?" Kashmere said.
"All those rules should apply," Whaymick said, "however, each creature has one of those rules altered, such as the range they can sense one another may be increased, or they may be able to attack their master, or in Kellia's case, be summoned up to three times per day, but she will return to the Tablet every morning at sunrise, as you already knew. If we find other Tablets, they will merge. The rules may change, their memories may change, and different exemptions may apply."
"We should summon her back," Kashmere said, looking at the Tablet.
"Would it be safe?" he said. "What if another of them is active and its master want to find all the Tablets to rule the world or something?"
"It's a chance I'm willing to take. Kellia is a member of our clan, and I will not abandon her to avoid being attacked. She'll sense the other just as much, so we'll know when they'll be coming, just like I knew you were."
"Yeah, about that... How did you know we were coming?"
"When you use that spell to track my bond with the Crystal, my marks glow, so I know someone's getting close."
Whaymick bobbed his head a few times with his eyebrows raised. "Good to know."
"Is there anything else I should know about the Tablet?"
"Yes, but it will apply only if we find another one," Whaymick said. "When the Tablets are combined, the range each creature can move away from the Tablet as well as the range they can sense each other increases exponentially. Their memories and powers may be unlocked or repressed depending on the combination. If someone has three or four of those Tablets, they could probably sense Kellia from half the world away."
"When they enter Kellia's range, we'll still know they're coming," Kashmere said.
"Yes, we will," Whaymick said. "Kellia isn't really one of us, is she?"
"What do you mean?" Kashmere frowned.
"She's not a Cathorian," he said, standing up to press his hand on her cheek. "Kellia is a supernatural creature with great powers. I'm not sure if she's a real creature that was imprisoned or a construct produced by the magic of the Tablet."
