IDWTBTHQ Chapter 83 - Hand Holding

Felix and Klara arrived at Oakfell late in the afternoon.

A weird mix of emotions surged in Klara's chest as soon as she saw the village. Nostalgia, regret, pain, restlessness and yet others that she couldn't even name. It wasn't really pleasant, but at the same time it felt necessary, like changing the bandages on an old wound.

Luckily, she was in a rather good mood at the moment. The trip with Felix had been very pleasant, as they had spent hours discussing with each other, reminiscing about their shared past, joking, talking about their plans for the future and generally renewing their friendship. As a result, Klara felt much better while Felix looked incredibly cheerful, just like he used to be.

Of course, there was still the proverbial troll in the room. The girl still hadn't managed to gather enough resolve to speak about her new feelings for the young man, and as a result she couldn't really look at him in the eyes. She did, however, look at him elsewhere... especially in the chest area. The shirt Felix was wearing was an old one, one that used to be rather large on his lanky frame but that now was an extremely tight fit, clearly revealing the muscles bulging underneath it. That made Klara feel rather uncomfortable, as she had to consciously restrain herself from touching those muscles, and tracing their profile with her finger...

“Klara, is everything alright?” Felix suddenly asked, distracting the girl from her fantasies.

“Uh? Oh yeah. I'm fine!” She replied, feeling really flustered. “Totally fine. Yep. Never been better. Why do you ask?”

“Well... you look kinda tense.” The boy said, raising an eyebrow. “And you've been biting your lips for a while now. Is there something that's bothering you?”

“Nope!” She said emphatically. “Everything is fine! Completely fine! Don't worry about it! Besides, we're almost arrived... so we've got to focus on that. Yeah, let's focus on that.”

“Ok then.” Felix said, still looking pretty confused, but he said nothing else until they passed through the gates of Oakfell.

The village was awfully quiet for that time of the day and the streets were completely empty. If not for the smoke rising from a couple of chimneys and the guards at the gate, Klara would have thought that the town was deserted.

“What's going on?” Felix wondered. “Where is everyone?”

“I don't know.” The girl replied after studying her surroundings. “Most houses have their doors and windows closed and barred, so I guess that the inhabitants have left.”

“But why?” Felix wondered. “What could have made them leave?”

“Probably the prospect of an orc invasion.” Klara shrugged. “I mean, we're right at the border with the Caligare forest, and if the orcs are really coming Oakfell would be one of the first villages to fall.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” The young men agreed. “Still, it's pretty sad to see the village this desolate.”

“Not for me.” The girl replied. “In fact, the fewer people I see, the better.” Her face became cold and hard. “I haven't forgotten how they treated me.”

“Yeah.” Felix grimaced. “I can't blame you for not wanting to see them. Although...” He paused and his expression got pensive. “There is something that doesn't add up about it.”

“What is it?”

“That's the odd part: I can't remember.” The young man narrowed his eyes. “I feel as if it's something important, though...”

“Well, if you can't remember it, then it's probably not that important.” Klara shrugged. “Anyway, you should stop the cart. We've arrived.”

Felix looked to his right and noticed that they were indeed in front of Klara's home, so he stopped the cart and the two got down.

“Well, at least it is nice to be back.” The apprentice sorcerer said. “This house is full of memories.”

“Yes, it is.” Klara replied, taking out a big key from her pocket and opening the door. “And it's full of all of my things too. So I'm gonna take...”

She stopped mid sentence, as the sight of what was inside the house left her completely speechless. Felix noticed her sudden change, and peeked through the door.

The living room was dark, as all the windows were shut, but it was clear that it was completely empty. All of the furniture was missing.

“What the hell is this!?!” Klara cried in outrage. “Where is my stuff!?!”

She stormed inside of the house, running from room to room in search of her belongings, but she found that the place was absolutely empty, and by the time she got out of her own bedroom she was outright screaming in frustration.

“Gods freaking dammit!” She cursed, her face red with rage. “What in the Four Hells happened here!?! Who took my stuff!?! I swear I will rip off their legs!”

“Uh... Klara, maybe you'd better calm down.” Felix said. “Maybe we can find out what...”

But, as the young man was about to find out, telling a furious woman to calm down wasn't really a smart thing to do.

“Calm down? CALM DOWN?” She interrupted him, screaming those words at the top of her lungs. “All of my things have disappeared and you tell me to calm down!?!” She bared her teeth. “The only thing that is going to calm me down is either finding where my stuff is or finding the culprit so that I can tear their eyes off!”

“Well... uhm...” The apprentice sorcerer started to say, but then his voice died down. Despite being much taller than the girl and extremely powerful to boot, couldn't help but cower in the face of that primal fury.

Luckily for him, a familiar female voice coming from outside of the house distracted Klara.

“Is anyone there?” The voice asked. “Who is inside?”

Both Klara and Felix recognized that voice.

“Gertrude.” Klara murmured to herself, spitting out the name as if it tasted bad on her tongue. “What does she want now?”

Nonetheless, she walked down the stairs and quickly reached the door, finding herself face to face with the owner of the emporium.

“Good afternoon,  ma'am.” Klara said immediately, seemingly in a polite tone but putting as much venom into those words as she could. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

But the old woman didn't answer. Instead she stared at the girl with her eyes wide and full of many, contrasting emotions.

“Klara... it's you. It's really you.” She said in a trembling. “You're alive.”

“Yeah, sorry to disappoint you.” The girl replied sarcastically. “Now that we made that clear, please get off my porch. I have important things to do and no time to waste on those like you.”

And without waiting for a reply, she slammed the door in the woman's face.

“Wait!” Gertrude cried behind the door, and she started knocking at the door. “Klara! I need to speak with you! Please!”

The girl didn't answer, and pointedly turned her back to the door. But Gertrude kept desperately knocking, and after a while Klara grit her teeth and went back to open the door.

“Stop knocking at my door Gertrude!” She shouted as soon as she was face to face with the woman. “You've already spoken to me enough last time we met. Remember when you tried to rip me off and then kicked me out of your store? Now get off my face, before I make you!”

“Klara please!” The old woman said with a broken voice. “Listen to me! I'm sorry! I'm terribly sorry about how I treated you!”

“You're... sorry?” Klara said softly, but that was clearly the quiet before the storm. “You're sorry?” She said louder, as her face grew redder. “You and the others treated me like dirt and insulted me for months and you say you're freaking sorry!?! Well I sure hope you are!” Her voices raised by many octaves. “But that doesn't change what you did! You put me through hell! You left me alone! I thought you were my friend but not only you turned your back on me, you also spit on me while doing so! And you say you. Are. Freaking. Sorry.” She paused and grabbed the door handle once again. “Get out of my face Gertrude. I don't want to see you.”

But this time, Gertrude grabbed the door before Klara could close it, and looked at the girl with eyes full of tears.

“Please... I'm so sorry. What I did was terrible. I... I treated you horribly. And I regret it with all of my heart!” She started sobbing. “I... I love you like a daughter, Klara. I've known you ever since you were but a small child, and I helped Karl raise you.”

“So much for that motherly love!” Klara cried. “You ripped me off, treated me like dirt, accused me of getting Ulric killed and kicked me out of your store! If this is how you loved Ulric as well, it's no surprise that he ran off to the forest to get killed! No one would want to live with a mother like you!”

Gertrude winced at those words and even Felix was surprised, as that was a really low blow for Klara's standards, even after everything the villagers had put her through, but maybe she just had enough after her furniture had disappeared.

“Klara.” The young man said. “I get it that you're still angry about what happened, but you shouldn't let your rage control you.”

“What if I want to let my anger control me then?” Klara replied in a defiant tone. “Gertrude and the other bastards all have it coming.”

“Yes, I agree on that.” Felix nodded. “They definitely have it coming, after what they did to you. But lowering yourself to their level isn't going to do you any good.”

Klara paused for a second, repressing the scathing reply that naturally came to her lips. Instead she looked at her friend in the eyes, took a deep breath and turned to Gertrude, who was pale as a ghost and looked incredibly distressed.

“Get out, Gertrude.” She said coldly. “I'm sorry to have said those things about Ulric, but I want nothing to do with you anymore. Get out of my house and never come back.”

“I... I understand.” The old lady replied, barely restraining herself from bursting into tears. “I'm going to tell you just one thing before I go then. There is no excuse for how I treated you. I should have protected you, and I didn't. But despite that... I want you to know that I'm terribly sorry. I don't know why I acted the way I did... but I don't mean anything I said to you back then. I love you dearly Klara, and that's going to be true even if you don't want to see me ever again!”

Klara stared at Gertrude coldly for a long moment.

“So, what happened about all those things you said?” The girl asked. “Am I supposed to ignore how you accused me to be responsible for Ulric's death? How you kicked me out of your emporium? And how can I trust you after you said that you did those things and don't even know why?”

“I... I don't expect you to forgive me, or trust me.” The old lady replied. “And I can't blame you, either. I don't know if I'm going to trust myself after what happened. I had that inexplicable urge to hate you and treat you poorly back then, and I couldn't resist it.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “I don't know what caused it. All that I know is that other people were also affected... I talked with a few others and they also felt the same unfounded hate towards you.”

These words made Felix narrow his eyes, as a glint of recognition flashed in his eyes, but Klara was just too angry to care.

“Sharing the same guilt with others doesn't make you any less guilty yourself, Gertrude.” She said in an icy tone. “You've treated me like crap, and I'm not ready to forgive you for it. I don't know if I ever will.” She sighed. “But I'm not going to let this grudge interfere with my life either. I'll be on my way, and I just don't want to have anything to do with you anymore.”

“I understand.” Gertrude conceded. “We shunned you and abandoned you when you needed us the most. We deserve nothing but your scorn and contempt. I'll leave you alone, and pray that you'll be able to  forgive me one day.” She was about to turn away and get out, but then she stopped and turned back and added: “Oh, and another thing... I've got some of your belongings in my warehouse, if you want to have it.”

“What!?!” Klara asked in a suspicious voice. “You have my stuff? How? Did you and the others raid my house when I was away?”

“No!” The old woman cried. “We would never do such a thing. It's Vicker who did it. He and his lackeys took possession of the house when... when you went missing, and they took everything from it.”

“Then how come you have some of my stuff?”

“I bought it.” The woman replied. “I... couldn't stand watching your personal belongings being taken like that, so I bought them. Mostly to have something to remember you by, since we believed you were dead.”

Klara's expression became rather puzzled at that revelation, and she stared at the old lady for a few seconds before speaking again.

“And who did you buy it from?” She finally asked.

“From Vicker.” Gertrude said. “He and his lackeys came to take possession of your house right after you were left for dead. He took basically everything from your house before shutting it down... and I bought a few things for him. Mostly things with sentimental value, like the portraits of your family.”

Klara remained silent, slowly digesting this information. When she spoke again, her voice wasn't cold anymore. It was brimming with barely controlled fury.

“Vicker!” She spat that name out like a curse. “That damn vulture! Of course it's him! But this time he got ahead of himself! I'm still alive, and I'm gonna get back my stuff from him with interests!” She turned to Gertrude. “We're far from being even, but that's a start, at least. I'll come to pick my things before leaving. But for now... I need to think about this situation. So, I'd be glad if you leave, so that I can discuss a few things with Felix here.”

And she gestured towards the young man, causing Gertrude's eyes to go wide with surprise.

“Felix!?!” She gawked at the apprentice sorcerer. “That's Felix Agner!?!”

“Yup. That's me, Gertrude.” The boy replied. “Nice to see you again.”

“My, you've grown so much!” The old lady said. “I didn't recognize you at first!” She paused, and then she sulked again. “But... maybe now it's not the time for this reunion. I'll leave you two alone. And if you want to take your things back, Klara, you can come to the emporium anytime you want.”

And with these final words, she left, closing the door behind her.

Klara, who had been left emotionally drained by this encounter, leaned against a wall and let out a long, tired sigh, while Felix caressed his chin with his hand with a pensive expression on his face.

“That was... peculiar.” He mumbled.

“Peculiar? More like completely infuriating!” Klara said in an exasperated voice. “Back then she told me she hated me and wanted me dead and now she cries and tells me that she loves me and that she regrets what she did! And to top it all off, she says that she never had any reason to actually hate me... she just had the urge to do so! I can't even begin to wrap my head around it! Am I supposed to believe that she and all the other villagers just had some sort of contagious madness that made them hate me or something but now they're healed?”

“That may actually be the case.” Felix replied with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“What!?!” The girl cried. “Are you serious? Do you really believe that?”

“In a way, yes.” The young man said. “My old master hinted about a spell to control people's emotions once. He actually used it as an example of the kind of spells that are absolutely forbidden.”

“And you think that someone could have used one such spell on the villagers to make them hate me?” Klara asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don't discount the possibility.” The apprentice sorcerer nodded. “What Gertrude and the others experienced seems to match the effects of a Suggestion spell. The inexplicable and sudden urge to hate you, the fact that they came back to their senses afterwards and even the fact that they all experienced the same thing. You must admit that it seems as if they were manipulated.”

“Yeah... that kind of makes sense.” The girl agreed. “But who could have used that spell? And why?”

“Well, I'm pretty sure Vicker did bribe Ludd to try and kill you.” Felix replied. “And if he did that, then he wouldn't hesitate to hire a sorcerer to cast the Suggestion spell on the villagers either.” He paused for a moment and then added: “And now that I think about it, there was a sorcerer in the village during that time... it was the same one that accompanied our expedition and betrayed us to the goblins. Zeno, I think he was called.”

“Yes, but why would Vicker do that?” Klara asked. “Sure, he's ruthless, but he's not stupid. And getting my house doesn't seem worth hiring so many people and partaking in serious criminal activities. I mean, the reward doesn't nearly justify the risks!”

“I don't know.” The young man shrugged. “The only thing that I think could justify this whole scenario is something of huge value... maybe some kind of treasure that was inside of the house.”

“That'd make sense.” The girl nodded. “If it's something of great value, then Vicker wouldn't stop at anything in order to get it... but in that case, why didn't he just kill me and steal the bloody thing?”

“No idea. We'd have to ask Vicker personally.”

“Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do!” Klara said in a hard voice. “I'm going to have to meet him anyway in order to get my stuff back, and if he's really responsible for everything I went through, I'm going to make him regret it!”

“Well... in that case, maybe it's better if I or some of Marcus's drones accompany you.” Felix suggested. “You know, since Vicker is always accompanied by that minotaur bodyguard of his... not that I doubt your ability to defend yourself, but that guy seems really strong.”

“And you think you can deal with him?” Klara asked jokingly, since she already knew the answer. After all, she had seen Felix training, and she didn't think that anythig short of an Aura Master could give him pause.

“Well, if that bullman tries to do anything to you, I'm gonna turn him into roast beef.” The apprentice sorcerer said with a confident smirk, and a small sphere of fire materialized in his hand to underline that concept.

“Whoa, careful with that!” Klara said, suddenly feeling alarmed. “I don't want you burning my house down by accident!”

“Don't worry.” The boy said, and with a quick gesture the fireball disappeared. “I've got six months to learn how to control my powers, so your house is safe by now!”

“Yeah.” Klara said, not completely convinced, but then she realized something. “By the way, speaking of the past six months... why didn't you tell me about the Suggestion spell before? We could have already denounced Vicker by now!”

“Well...” Felix mumbled, suddenly looking distressed. “I don't know. Mostly, it's because it came to my mind only now... even though I feel as if I had these suspicions before.” His eyes widened slightly. “It was during the battle in Brettholz... when I went to defend the barricades. I met ol' man Kruger in there, and we spoke about how the people in Brettholz felt sorry for how they treated you. He asked me to tell you about it, before he... before he...”

Felix stopped talking, as a fiery rage suddenly flashed in his eyes, and in response to this, small wisps of smoke started rising from his clothes, while sparks suddenly materialized all around him.

“Felix!” Klara cried, scared by that sudden manifestation of power.

The young man winced and the spark disappeared. He then took a series of deep breaths before turning to his friend with a guilty expression on his face.

“Sorry Klara... I almost lost control for a moment.” He said in an apologetic tone.

“Are you all right?” The girl asked, still worried.

“Yeah... I just remembered Kruger's death.” Felix replied.

“Sorry to have made you remember that.” Klara said.

“Don't worry. It's not your fault.” The apprentice sorcerer reassured her. “Somehow, I had completely forgotten about it, and I was just a little overwhelmed when that memory resurfaced.”

However, despite that reassurance, he still looked a little shaken, so Klara decided to take initiative and try to calm him down.

“Well, for now I'd say it's better if we sit down and rest a bit then.” She said. “The trip has been quite long, and we've both faced our share of distress by now.”

“Fine. But where are we going to sit?” The young man said, with a dry smirk on his face. “Last time I checked, you have no chairs left in your house.”

“Not a problem.” Klara replied, sitting on the floor with her back leaning on the wall. “We'll just have to sit on the floor. Come here. Let's rest a bit. After that, we can go to Gertrude's emporium and get my stuff, before we head back to Stonebarrow.”

“Wait, didn't you want to spend the night here?”

“Well, that was before I knew that all of my beds were taken away.” The girl smirked.

“Fair enough.” The boy conceded as he sat right next to her on the floor.

The two remained silent for a minute or two, just taking solace in each other's presence. Then, Klara suddenly spoke.

“You know, I'd have thought that coming back to Oakfell would have brought us back to the way we used to be.” She said. “But now that we're here, I can't help but feel that things are never going to be the same.”

“That's life, sadly.” Felix replied. “I'd wish that we could go back to the way we were before too. I'd wish your grandpa was still alive, and that we'd still be children trying to steal cookies from the kitchen.” He sighed. “But I don't think there is enough magic in the world to turn back time. So we've got to deal with the changes, somehow.”

“I know.” Klara nodded. “It's just that sometimes it's hard to do so. Especially when the changes to your life are so drastic.” She paused and turned to her friend. “However, I have to say that I'm glad that we're facing this together. Going through this all alone would... well, I think it'd be overwhelming.”

“Hey, that's what friends are for!” Felix said with a smile. “And as for me, I'm definitely glad that I have you. I doubt I'd have recovered from my awakening without your help.”

“As you said, that's what friends are for.” The girl smiled back.

The two didn't speak further but, slowly and timidly, Klara grabbed Felix's hand, and the two remained sitting on the floor for another few minutes, holding each other's hand.