Once the officials had been sufficiently satisfied, the stone chamber vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.
One moment, they were still standing before Lady Ilyra and her ring of officials, the air still and quiet. The next, they were back in the village square, the chill of early morning biting through their clothes.
For a brief second, Arin had to steady himself.
Siel did the same, blinking once, then twice, before straightening as though nothing had happened at all.
Arin pursed his lips. The ground beneath his boots was smooth, packed earth. The dim blue-grey light of early morning had spread across Silvershade, the sun starting to peek over the treetops to the east.
And the officials were nowhere to be seen.
Arin had a feeling madam Seren was being invited to join a very in-depth discussion at that very moment.
Oh, well.
As long as she stuck to the version she'd promised, none of that was any of their concern anymore.
Siel let out a quiet breath beside him.
'So, that's that,' he said, voice somewhat quiet.
'Mm-hmm.'
'Sirs - '
Just then, a familiar voice spoke up from behind them.
Arin raised a brow as sir Veylor walked into view, with another couple of volunteers by his side.
'What... May I know what happened, with those officials? When you vanished from here, people waited for a while, before leaving to deal with their other responsibilities. So -?'
Siel switched on his lovable smile once more, as he bounded over to the few men.
'It is fantastic news!' the younger tower magician exclaimed. 'You see, the officials - with all their expertise - have already concluded that the matter wasn't related to a distortion at all!'
'Not...?' The men exchanged looks.
'A powerful curse, with some particularly clever cloaking magic added to it...' Arin offered from the back.
Siel nodded. 'It made use of the village head's weakness by attaching itself to his child, twisting his mind and creating a misunderstanding to force his obedience. Of course, that was what caused us all to misunderstand, and fear the worst. But, it was a curse after all.'
'After all, a... curse...?' Sir Veylor didn't look very convinced. 'But, that begs the question why such an intricate, high-grade tool was deployed to target our village at all! After all, outside of this region, Silvershade is merely one among thousands of insignificant little settlements. Even at the lesser city where I work, no one has even heard of -'
'Oh, stop with your unnecessary thoughts!' exclaimed one of the men by his side. 'Is this not a good thing?'
The other man laughed. 'Didn't I say already - didn't I? - that the talks of there being a distortion were nothing but exaggeration? Would we all still be here - and alive - if it really had been one? No! And I already said that!'
'We should thank those officials for making the trip, and sorting things out, eh? Leave them to handle things, and do what we can for the poor folk who are only now awakening.'
'I - I suppose you are correct,' mumbled sir Veylor. 'Leave them to their...'
The man frowned, looking up at Arin. 'What are they dealing with now? Where have they gone?'
'To question the old maid, from Willowshade, I suppose. Yes, the very one who had been detained by us earlier,' he answered. 'The officials believe that she'd had as much a hand in covering things up as sir Grif.'
'Terrible, terrible...' A volunteer shook his head. 'The things they did, the deaths they caused, and all for the sake of saving the life of one who...'
'Of the young lady, who was still killed in the end. Destroyed, along with the curse entwined with her being.'
'It would do well for the villagers to learn that she was as innocent a casualty of all this as anyone else,' Arin added in a firm voice. 'The young lady Elara had already been lost, as soon as the curse had first targeted and become attached to her. She played no part in any of the hurt and harm that came after.'
'Yes. Yes, of course,' one of the men nodded. 'I had only ever heard good things about that child.'
'Then again, hadn't people only had good things to say about her father, that damned Grif, too?' muttered his companion. 'But of course! -' he added hurriedly, catching Arin's eye, 'Since that is what you say, and what the officials also believe, that leaved no reason for anyone to cast doubt upon the matter!'
Sir Veylor nodded. 'We shall see to it that things are made clear, sir Rin,' he said.
'Good.'