CHAPTER XXI
CONFRONTATIONS
"What are you doing here?" I snarled at my mirror image, "I told you
not to bother me!"
"You still won't admit you need me? Look around you, fool! Your
playing hero is going to get everyone killed!"
"That's not true!"
"Isn't it? Ever notice how you take charge without asking, and no
one questions it? That's your royal blood at work. I told you to kill them
all and be done with it." He gave that mirthless, savage show of teeth
again, "I'm glad to see you've taken my advice."
"I didn't want them to die!" I said, then realized that it sounded
like I was admitting that they were dead. As if he'd read my thoughts, my
alter-ego responded.
"Oh, they're dead all right. You left the elf with that lunatic
wizard, Marse has been dead since you left the tower, also sacrificed to the
wizard, and the rest are dying even as we speak. You didn't really think a
prophesy would save them, did you?"
"I don't believe in prophesy!"
"Good, because it certainly isn't doing you any good. That scream a
little while ago, what would you bet that was Vereek? Sounds like he fell
into the lake. Or, more likely, he saw something that made him jump."
"Isn't that what you're trying to do? Trick me into killing myself?
Isn't that what all of these hallucinations are supposed to do?"
"Some of them, yes, but I'm here for a different reason." He held
out his hand. "You can save some of them still. You can even defeat
Kiaphas, but it will take all of your power to do it. To reach that power,
you need me. With me, you can stop holding yourself back. Do not wait for
the power to come to you, seize it! It is yours by right."
"And why should you care whether I save them or not?"
"I don't, you fool. But if we are to survive, we must survive
together. You know that you need me, much as you may deny it."
"You're right on one count. I can still save them. But first..."
I lunged forward and grabbed two fistfuls of his fur, then brought him up
and over my head. "...I need to stop wasting time with you." I flung him
head-first into the lake. There was no scream, no splash, and I didn't fool
myself with the hope that he'd died. I hurried off up the shore, looking
for my missing companions.
Diana, the closest to me, was facing a different sort of nightmare.
"You aren't real!" She whispered over and over to herself, trying to break
the Mist-induced hallucination. "You aren't real, this isn't happening, you
aren't real!"
A deamonic thing towered over her, a massive shadowy outline of
goat's legs and round jiggling flesh. She continued to chant her denial
like a litany, closing her eyes to block out the sight of the menacing
siloughette. She could still feel it's presence, however, and her fear
ran her words together, until they were a jumble of meaningless syllables.
The deamon laughed, mocking her as it stepped closer. When it spoke, the
sound of its familiar and hated voice brought her eyes open in panic, and
her voice faltered, her mumbled chant trailing off.
"Well, well, bitch. Here we are again." The deamon stepped forward
again, close enough to be seen even in the dim light of the Mists. "What,
you didn't miss me?" Diana struggled to fight back a scream as Shaloc's
face leered at her from atop the deamon's body.
"This isn't real, this isn't happening, this isn't real..." Diana
began again, but the deamon silenced her with a heavy slap across her face.
Diana took a step backward, away from the Shaloc-deamon, a thin trail of
blood running slowly down her cheek.
"It's real enough, bitch. I've been waiting a long time for this.
I sold my soul to find you, and you know how I like to get my money's worth."
He stepped forward again, and Diana took another step back. "Looks like
you've forgotten everything I taught you. Let's see if I can refresh your
memory." His huge, beefy fist knocked her sideways as it slammed into her
ribs. "First, you don't stand while I'm around." Diana looked at him and
spat in his face, her spittle red with blood. Shaloc ignored that, but
struck her again, this time succeeding in knocking her to the ground.
"Second, you don't look me in the eyes." He kicked her with his goat's
leg, hard enough to bring her off the ground and roll her over.
"Not.. real." Diana managed to say between agonizing breaths.
"That brings us to the third rule. Do not speak until I ask you
to." He made to kick at her again, but she dragged herself back out of
reach. He laughed and ran forward to kick her, putting even more force into
his kick than before. Diana curled up in pain, wrapping her arms around her
aching ribs. "Now, the last and most important. What is my name?"
"Mas.." Diana began before she could stop herself. She pushed
herself to her feet, glaring defiance at the Shaloc-deamon. "You are Shaloc.
Nothing more." The deamon loomed even larger than before, seeming to tower
over her menacingly. He swung at her, but again she dodged quickly back out
of reach. He came forward, slowly, confidently, and she maintained the
distance between them.
"Diana!" I called, still out of sight. "Diana, it isn't real!
It's a trap!" Even as this reached her, she was taking another step back,
her paw settling not on the ground but in the deadly-hot water of the lake.
She jerked back her scalded paw with a cry of pain, and realized she'd have
to face Shaloc, for there was nowhere left to retreat to.
"This isn't real." She began again, "You can't hurt me." As she
spoke, the pain in her ribs began to fade.
"I thought I cured you of that, bitch. Listen when I'm talking to
you!" He slapped her again, knocking her to the ground once more. She
quickly regained her feet, and drew herself up straight and proud.
"You aren't real. You cannot hurt me unless I let you. I've been
afraid of you long enough." The deamon kicked her, but he made no impact,
his hoofed foot passing completely through her. Diana laughed, all the pain
he'd inflicted suddenly gone. "Is this what you wanted to do?" She asked,
and laid into him like a rabid badger. He vanished a moment later, dripping
with blood, just as I finally arrived on the scene.
"Diana, what happened?" She looked around and gave me one of her
small, secretive smiles.
"Nothing important." She walked to me, and I noticed her limping
slightly. "Oh, I scalded my paw a little bit. It'll be fine, don't worry."
"Good." I paused for a moment, "I hate to tell you this, but you're
just not that good at lying. We will talk about this later, you do know
that?" She nodded, though she obviously wished I hadn't caught her lie.
"Of course. Later. For now, let's go help the others."
"My thoughts exactly."
We continued up the shoreline until we found Agnon, his dagger drawn
and slashing at the air.
"Get back!" He screamed at the air in front of him, "Fursina take
you, it's mine! I'll kill you before I give it up!" He dodged his unseen
assailant and lunged forward, stabbing. He stood there for a moment, the
pulled his dagger back as though it were lodged in something. Then he moved
as though pulling at something, and his face seemed to sag with anguish.
"No. Oh please, not you. I didn't know... Nieka, I thought..." His voice
broke, "Why?" He picked up his dagger from where it lay in the dust. He
stood there a moment, contemplating it.
"Agnon!" Diana and I both shouted as he brought the dagger up to his
throat, "Stop! It's not real!" He seemed not to hear us. We ran forward to
stop him, and I reached him first, Diana being slowed by her injured paw. I
pulled the dagger away from his throat even as it began cutting into his
flesh. He looked at me with distant eyes, a lost look on his face and tears
on his cheek.
"I didn't mean to," He said, "I didn't know it was her."
"I'm sure you didn't." I told him soothingly, not having the
slightest clue what he meant, "It wasn't real, Agnon. It was a hal-
lucination, brought on by the Mists." He turned and stared at me for a few
moments before finally recognizing me.
"Firemane? Wha... What are you doing here?"
"Trying to keep you from killing yourself." Diana answered from
beside him.
"Kill myself?" His voice said that the idea was ridiculous. "Me?"
"You had the dagger in your hand and it was at your throat. If you
don't believe me, feel your neck. You have a nasty cut there." He felt his
throat and looked shocked as his hand came away wet with blood.
"But... I don't understand."
"At the moment, neither do we. We can sort things out later. Right
now, we need to find Felin and Marse." He nodded, pausing to rip a strip of
his shirt to staunch the flow of blood from his neck before running with us
farther up the shore.
When we caught up with Felin she was a few feet from the edge of the
lake, with Marse lying still unconscious behind her. Now that I had a chance
to look her over, I could see that whatever Jolan did to her had taken its
toll. Her dark skin had an unhealthy gray cast to it and she looked several
pounds lighter, making her skin seem to hang on her as though it were a size
too large. It took a few minutes, but we finally convinced her to stop
fighting the quartet of Skull Knights the Mists had conjured to terrify her.
I had to give her credit for bravery, though. Most people would have been
scared witless by one Skull Knight, and even thinking that she faced four
she'd been holding her ground well. However, she confirmed my earlier
suspicion. The scream I'd heard had been Vereek's, as he leapt into the
lake to avoid his hallucination. Whatever it had been must have been truly
terrifying, because Felin said that instead of leaving the boiling water,
he'd actually been trying to swim farther out.
Meanwhile, back in the city, dawn was still approaching.
"I told you to leave!" Jolan yelled at Palas, launching a bolt of
pure magic in her direction, which she easily deflected. The arch-mage
looked very different from the Jolan we knew. He looked not much more than
twenty, his body strong and fit. His hair held not a touch of it's familiar
white, or even of gray, but was a full, rich brown. His long flowing white
beard had vanished, leaving him bare-faced. His body seemed to pulse with
power, both magical and physical.
"Jolan, I know you're angry. Whatever you saw while you were alone,
it wasn't real. Remember that we're in the Mists." Jolan threw his head
back and laughed.
"You think I'm doing this because of a hallucination? Hardly.
Ensorceling that zombie, seizing control of the Skull Knights, reminded me
how much I truly enjoy the Dark Magic." He gestured behind him at the
legions of the undead awaiting his command. As his hand swept out, nearby
zombies crumbled to dust, and specters and ghosts were swept out of
existence, casually sacrificed to feed his newly rediscovered appetites.
"I've been wasting my time mastering other magics. Necromancy is my true
talent. But that's quite all right, because thanks to the power the undead
are giving me as I throw them into oblivion, I can reclaim the years I've
wasted. Look at me! I'm young again! I'm alive!"
"Jolan, you gave up necromancy for good reason. You're telling me
to look at you, well, look at yourself for a moment! You've tormented these
lost souls and threatened to kill your friends. The power of necromancy is
too dangerous, Jolan. Think about why you gave it up in the first place."
"You have no idea why I gave it up." Jolan said, his voice issuing
from between clenched teeth, "I didn't choose to give up necromancy at all!"
"Then why did you?"
"Because that Hellspawned island tricked me! I was steps away from
having limitless power, and the Blasted fairy magic tricked me into leaving!"
"You mean you went to Ver to try to manipulate the island's magic
for your own use?" Palas asked, incredulous, "That's insane! Do you know
how many people died trying that?"
"I know the three who came with me did. They were too weak to
survive. But I survived. I was the strongest."
"You were stupid and very, very lucky."
"Lucky?" Jolan yelled, outraged, "You call that lucky? I gave up
the secrets of unlimited power when it was at my fingertips, gave up my
strongest powers, and wasted thirty years chasing after 'safer' magic. And
what did I come up with? Little magic tricks based on emotion, tricks any
half-rate sorcerer could do just as well! Do you realize how powerful I
could have been by now? The souls I could control? This mere army of
undead at my command? I could have whole nations bowing before me! With
the power I have now, I could fight Deathlords! Tell me, how much more do
you think I'll need before I am on equal footing with the gods themselves?"
"Now that's the dumbest thing I've heard you say yet! So, suddenly
you want immortality and godhead? Why?"
"So long as there is anyone more powerful than me, I am at risk. I
will not be controlled!"
"You can't make yourself safe from the control of others if you can't even
control yourself! Besides, nobody wants to control you, Jolan."
"Yes they do! They all do! They fear me, so they want me where I
can be ordered about. But I'll show them." Insane laughter bubbled up out
of Jolan, "I'll show them all!"
"But Jolan, we have to get out of the city!"
"And why should I leave? All the power I need is right here!"
"Because as soon as the sun comes up, every living thing in this
city dies and rises as an undead. Are you really so fond of necromancy that
you want to experience it first hand?"
"Why should you care?" Jolan snarled, "I haven't noticed you showing
any concern for me before!"
"Of course I care." Palas said calmly, "Why do you think I stayed
with you, when I could just as easily have left with the others?" A look of
doubt clouded Jolan's face. The massive flow of dark power rushing through
him slowed to a trickle, and the light of sanity returned to his eyes.
"Palas, I... I didn't want things to be like this. It's just..."
His face clenched, as if in pain, and when he looked at her again, the flow
of power resumed at it's former pace. "No!" He shouted, "I see what you're
doing! You're trying to trick me, so you can steal my power for yourself!
And I almost trusted you. For that, you will die." He lashed out again
with a bolt of pure dark magic, which Palas easily shielded against.
"Look at you, Jolan! You talk about having so much deamon-blasted
power, but what good is it? I mean, you can't even focus it enough to make
it into an effective weapon. The power you hold makes you strong, yes, but
it also makes you careless and sloppy. It makes you weak." That was
definitely the wrong line of reasoning to use. Jolan practically howled
with rage as he leveled both hands in her direction and sent a deadly blast
of power lancing toward her.
"Not an effective weapon?" He mocked, as the blast smashed through
her shielding and hurled her backward. "What do you think of that, then?"
There came no answer.
We, on the other hand, were trying to find our way to the safe path
to the lake's interior, where we still hoped to find the Stone and Kiaphas.
Felin produced a rope from her pack, and we tethered ourselves together, to
keep us from getting separated again. While Felin was tying the rope around
Marse's waist, he finally began to stir.
"Look out!" He yelled, sitting up suddenly and scaring the Hells out
of everyone, "Jolan's gone mad!" Just as suddenly he folded over, clutching
his hands to his head. I imagine he had quite a headache. I waited until
he seemed to have recovered a bit before questioning him.
"Marse, what happened back there?"
"Well," He began, still rubbing his head, "I was resting near the
stairs, and Jolan was holding the Skull Knights at bay. After a while,
though, it seemed like he was taking less effort to do it. One of those
flashes of insight came to me, and I remembered that Jolan was struggling
not with the Skull Knights, but with himself. When I realized that he was
binding them to him instead of just holding them in place, I tried to call
out and warn you, but he used a LeechLife spell on me, which, in my already
weakened state, forced me to lose consciousness. After that, all I remember
is getting bounced around a lot, and then waking up here."
"You knew something of this earlier, didn't you?" I demanded.
"Yes," He answered, quiet and sad, "But I was hoping it would turn
out differently."
"You seem to be saying that quite a bit, Marse." I growled.
"I know," He sighed, "but I have to choose between respecting
everyone's privacy and warning you about every possible thing that could
happen. If I told you everything that came to me, you'd never trust anyone
again. The things I see are things that could happen, and many things that
are unlikely are entirely possible." He lowered his voice a bit. "For
example, would you like me to tell everyone exactly what I see as possible
in your future? Would you like me to tell them that, had you given in to
your most recent vision, you'd have killed them all, then gone after
Kiaphas, and then Jolan?" I could see his point.
"You're right, I suppose. Everyone has the right to wrestle with
their inner deamons privately."
"But it still makes you angry, right?"
"Yes!" I said, a touch more emphatically than was necessary. We
continued on our way without further comment, though Agnon muttered to
himself quite a bit, rubbing the cut on his neck.
I heard a wailing scream from my right, and I turned to find a band
of specters heading straight for us. I yelled a warning to everyone else.
However, at the same time I was warning them about the specters, they were
calling out warnings themselves. Marse saw a Deathlord, Felin an entire
company of goblins, and Diana saw a swarm of deamons. When we realized that
we were once again the victims of illusion, the attacking creatures vanished.
"These Mists are really starting to get on my nerves." I commented,
which occasioned wholehearted agreement from my companions. I noticed that
for once, the visions had occurred while we were together. I presumed that
our nearness to the Source was the cause of that. In similar fashion we
dealt with three more hallucinatory intrusions, until finally we found
ourselves faced with a narrow bridge of black rock jutting out into the lake.
There was just room enough for two to walk abreast without worrying about
falling into the lake, and we proceeded in pairs, Agnon "volunteering" to
bring up the rear.
At the end of the rock path we found a small island, in the center of
the lake. On this island we found an altar, formed of the same black rock,
and embedded in the center of the altar was a glowing ruby-like gem, the
Stone of Fire. Agnon pushed forward and produced a few small tools to pry
the Stone out.
"You just leave this to me." He said. He had hardly begun, however,
when there was a tremendous splash, and a gigantic reptilian head shot
up out of the lake, spattering everyone with the scalding water. The serpent
opened it's maw and roared, sending gouts of flame into the air above us.
'LEAVE USSSSS' It hissed, though it didn't seem to be speaking.
'LEAVE USSSSS NOW' Apparently we weren't complying quickly enough to suit
it, for it snapped forward like the snake it resembled, smashing into the
ground near the altar, sending fragments of black rock flying in all
directions. As it drew it's head back to strike again, I got a good look
at the amulet around it's neck.
"Sweet Shani," I exclaimed, even as Diana was making a similar
statement, "That thing is Kiaphas!"
"Kiaphas!" Marse shouted, "Kiaphas, it's us! We're your friends!"
'NO FRIENDSSSS' The serpent responded, its huge ophidian eyes
glittering red, 'FRIENDSSS DEAD NOW'
"We're not dead!" Felin yelled back, "We're alive! We're here now!"
'FRIENDSSS DEAD NOW' it repeated, then elaborated slightly, 'I
KILLED.' Then it lunged forward again, right in the middle of us, sending
us all sprawling. I was the first to regain my footing, and I leapt onto
the serpent's back. It was a wild ride as I tried to hold on while the
serpent whipped its head back and forth, trying to fling me off. Somehow I
managed not only to hold on, but to reach the amulet dangling just above me.
I reasoned that if I could get rid of the amulet, the transformation would
reverse, and Kiaphas would begin to return to his natural shape.
Unfortunately, I was forced to let go of the amulet and hang on for
dear life as Kiaphas, enraged, began coiling madly, flinging his head back
and forth with such force that I had no time to think of anything but holding
on. Then, with a shriek I felt reverberate through my bones, the serpent dove
back into the boiling lake, taking me with him!
For a moment I felt the unbearably hot water closing in around me,
searing my skin, but my powers once again came to my rescue, throwing up a
protective field around me. I found myself wishing that I had enough control
over my powers to give the serpent a good hard blast, but I had to make do
with other means. My claws slowly began to work their way between the
overlapping scales of the serpent's neck, though certainly not enough to
cause more than mild discomfort. I considered trying to bite, but I decided
that I'd rather not lose any teeth against those iron-hard scales. Finally,
just as my lungs were becoming unbearably painful and darkness was beginning
to creep in around my vision, Kiaphas resurfaced. I took a deep breath,
leapt from my position and grabbed the amulet, swinging on it momentarily
before it snapped off at last. I managed to land in a pile next to the
altar. I was scraped, bruised, battered and severely weakened, but I held
up my prize triumphantly. The serpent hissed and snarled, and for a moment
seemed to ripple inside it's skin. A moment later, it stopped rippling,
completely unchanged. It shrieked, and lunged toward us once again.
"Palas?" Jolan called, "Stop fooling around! Get back here!" More
worriedly this time, "Palas?" Ignoring the walking dead swarming around him,
he picked his way through the debris until he found what he was looking for.
"Oh gods, no!"
Palas lay sprawled across a block of stone, her eyes wide and
unseeing. She was twisted into a very unnatural position and blood bubbled
slowly from her lips. Even as he watched, her shallow breaths slowed.
"NO!" Jolan seized the power he'd gathered, drawing it in and hastily
weaving it into a Life Transferal. Palas's breath regained some of its
regularity and depth, but it did nothing for her injuries. Jolan tried
drawing on his vast knowledge of necromantic spells, but soon realized that
there were no spells to heal another's wounds. He had spells to draw the
life from someone, spells to infuse vitality and strength, and several
spells to draw upon another's health to speed his own recovery, but not one,
not ONE, to heal her wounds. Furious, Jolan reached out, slaughtering the
undead around him in the hundreds, channeling their released energy into the
Life Transferal. Palas's grip on life was strengthened a thousandfold, and
many of her more minor wounds began to close. Color returned to her cheeks,
and her eyes slowly slid shut. However, Jolan still knew that this was
merely a temporary solution. Her back was still twisted and shattered, and
her ribs still crushed. Jolan knew that it was only a matter of time before
she died. Jolan looked down at his hands. His skin was unblemished,
unwrinkled, and they were steady and strong. He felt the strength and vigor
that even yet surged through him. "But what use is it?" He finally asked
himself, "What use is youth and strength, if she dies? What does it matter
if I'm finally as young as she looks, if she's not here for me to share it
with her?" The feverish glistening in his eyes slowly disappeared, and he
slumped as he released his hold on the flow of energy from the undead. He
looked around, seeing at last the destruction he'd wrought, and began to
weep. "Gods, what have I done?" He didn't stop until he heard a small gasp
from Palas, followed by a thick, sickly sounding wheeze.
Looking down at his healthy, youthful hands once last time, he made
his decision. He placed his hands on her head and midsection, and slowly,
carefully began to weave a new magic. As he worked, drawing deeply from his
own powers, her ribs slowly worked their way back into their natural
positions, and fragments of her shattered spine began moving back to each
other. Her body was so broken and damaged that he was barely half finished
when he felt his strength begin to fail. Squaring his shoulders determinedly,
he began to pull energy from a different reservoir, drawing from his own life
force to complete the spell. The miraculous changes he'd worked on himself
began reversing, his limbs losing their firmity, his hair slowly losing
color, his skin slowly losing its youthful appearance. When he finished,
Palas's body was fully healed, as though it had never been damaged, but his
own body was much depleted. He still looked many years younger than he had
when we arrived on the island, with a slight touch of color to his hair
still, but I doubt if that was much consolation. However, he forgot all
about his lost youth when Palas opened her eyes at last.
"Jolan." She said, her voice still slightly faint. "What happened?"
She looked around, "Where are we?"
"You don't remember what happened?" Jolan asked, incredulous.
"I 'member... tower that glowed inside... and after that... don't
know. Where are we?" She asked again.
"Somewhere we don't need to be." Jolan answered, deciding that his
apology and explanations could wait for the moment. He bent down and picked
her up. To his surprise she giggled and snuggled against his chest, curling
up and closing her eyes. A moment later, her felt her breathing slow, as
she fell deeply asleep. Slightly puzzled at her behavior, though not
unpleasantly so, he smiled down at her and carried her through the gates,
leaving the city as the Mist began to lighten. Dawn had come, and it had
been a long night.
Once outside, he turned back to the city and the horde of damned
souls he still held command of. Slowly, one by one, the undead dropped to
the ground, as Jolan untied the spells binding them to their tortured
existence. Jolan drew one last time on the power of the Dark Magic, drawing
the spell's released energy away from the city in a slow trickle, restoring
some of his depleted reserves as he sent the undead to their long-awaited
rest. Jolan felt an ache, a sort of emptiness, as part of him cried out for
the flood of power he'd unleashed before. Then Palas shifted slightly in
his arms, and somehow, the ache vanished, dispelled by a soft warmth
spreading from his chest. He shifted the flow of power, dividing it so that
Palas, too, received a measure of restoration.
When the sun came up and the undead began to fade into the Mists, the
city was over half-emptied, and Jolan began to feel something like his old
self again. The flow of power faded out with the undead, and Jolan lowered
Palas gently to the ground, where, a few moments later, she reached out in
her sleep. Not finding anything there, she made a frustrated sound and her
eyes fluttered open. She stared at Jolan with slightly unfocused eyes for a
moment, a small smile on her face, until she shook a little and she finally
seemed to fully recognize him. She quickly jumped up and backed away from
him, looking considerably upset. Jolan completely misunderstood her
concern, which was probably just as well.
"Palas, I'm sorry. I lost control back there, and I nearly killed
you. I.. I don't expect you to forgive me, but..." Palas laughed, nearly
giggling again.
"Of course I forgive you, silly. Thank you so much." Now Jolan was
really confused.
"For what? I came two breaths away from killing you when you were
trying to help me! I blasted the Hells out of you, just for spite!"
"You did?" Palas asked, clearly very surprised at this news. "Why
did you do that?"
"You honestly don't remember?" Jolan asked, mystified, "I gave in to
the Seduction, and took control of every undead on the island."
"Well, that was silly." Palas said, sounding completely serious,
"Don't do that again."
"Oooo...kay," Jolan finally managed, "I'll keep that in mind."
"Good," Palas said, with a very satisfied note in her voice, "Now,
let's go help the others. They should be trying to get the Stone by now,
and I think our talents might be needed." Palas slowly danced her way
through the Flight spell, and rose into the air.
"Well, it's official," Jolan said, as he cast the spell himself, "As
of now, I'm completely lost." He rose into the air to join her.
"That's okay," Palas said, and this time she did giggle, "You get
used to it." With that, they sped off toward the lake.
My fur was singed by a blast of the serpent's flame, which I just
barely managed to dodge. So far, our attempts to stop him could be cons-
idered laughable. The serpent struck too quickly for Diana or I to seriously
consider attacking it with our claws, and Marse's skills as a cleric were
fairly well useless here. Besides this, he was still too exhausted to do
much anyway, and though Felin kept trying to land a good hit with her ax,
the serpent seemed to be deliberately avoiding her. Agnon was the only one
to do any serious damage, managing mostly through luck to lodge his dagger
between its scales to open a small cut.
That was not, of course, to imply that the serpent hadn't hurt us
instead. We'd all been cut by flying fragments of rock, and I wasn't the
only one who was slightly crispy around the edges. Agnon was bleeding rather
profusely both from a nasty gash across his arm, inflicted when he managed to
plant his dagger in the serpent's flesh, and from the cut on his neck, which
reopened during the course of the battle.
I was beginning to think that our quest would end here, with Kiaphas
and Jolan killing the rest of us. However, at that moment Palas and Jolan
flew into view. Kiaphas suddenly seemed to forget about us as he recognized
Jolan. He hissed a challenge to the Archmage.
'WISSSARD! YOU I WILL KILL' Jolan just barely managed to dodge a
huge jet of flame as Kiaphas began attacking. Instead of fighting back
immediately, Jolan landed in front of the altar, Palas landing just a little
bit after him. Jolan stretched his hand out over the altar, and the altar
cracked open, freeing the Stone, which flew up into Jolan's palm. Kiaphas
sent another blast of dragon-fire at Jolan. The Archmage was engulfed,
vanishing under a torrent of flame that swallowed both him and the altar
and pushed the rest of us slowly back. Kiaphas poured it on, keeping the
rush of fire steady for several minutes. When the smoke cleared, the altar
was a molten slab at Jolan's feet.
The Archmage, however, seemed untouched by the flame. Jolan raised
his hand, and I could see the power flowing from the Stone to surround him.
He was outlined in a bright amber nimbus, which seemed to drink in the flame
that Kiaphas sent to destroy him, growing brighter by the second.
"Either you don't listen very well, Kiaphas, or you've lost your
mind completely." The wizard taunted, "Have you forgotten that Fire is my
element?" The serpent hissed again, and responded by lunging forward to
smash the ground at Jolan's feet, sending the Archmage flying backwards.
Jolan got back on his feet in an instant, and sent a golden bolt of magic
crashing into the serpent's head, knocking it back with a loud smash. The
serpent seemed dazed for a moment, shaking its head back and forth. Then
its burning red eyes focused on the Archmage again.
"Uh, Jolan?" Agnon ventured, "I think you pissed him off." It jerked
its head forward, screaming, as though to smash into the ground again, but
suddenly checked it's motion and instead brought its tail into play, lashing
it out of the water to knock Jolan flailing into the boiling lake. Jolan
screamed, but only for a moment. The serpent screeched triumphantly, and
leapt over the island, in a huge arching coil that seemed to go on endlessly,
giving us an impression of just how much Kiaphas had changed. He truly was a
serpent now, with no limbs, just an impossibly long body and reptilian head.
The water where Jolan fell began to churn, and several times we
saw Kiaphas's head raise above the water just to suddenly strike back down
again. Occasional we'd see a streak of golden light, giving us hope that
Jolan would survive. Minutes later, however, the creature raised its tail,
tightly coiled around a tiny-looking figure, which desperately tried to break
free. The serpent struggled to tighten its hold around Jolan, to crush him,
and Jolan struggled to force them back with his golden shield of magic, all
the while fending off the jaws hanging nearby, waiting for a moment of
weakness to strike.
Then the serpent made a mistake. Growing impatient with the struggle,
and infuriated by Jolan's occasional bolts of magic, he loosed another volley
of dragon-fire. The fire slid harmlessly off his impervious hide, but the
attack was just the boost Jolan needed. His golden glow expanded, forcing
the serpent's coils slowly back. When the coils released Jolan, he plunged
down for a moment before catching himself and gliding back to the island.
"It's too much," He panted, "I don't know that I can keep this up.
He's just too blasted big!"
"Not if you have the right help," Palas said with a grin, "After all,
your element may be Fire, but mine is Earth." She held up the Stone in her
hand so that all could see it.
"But.. how did you... when..?" Jolan sputtered, reaching for the
belt-pouch that had held the Stone.
"When you weren't paying attention, I snuck it off of your belt."
Palas said, making Agnon burst out laughing.
"So the little magess is a pickpocket!" He chortled, "Oh, this is
too good!"
"Agnon, Shut.." Jolan began, but was interrupted as the serpent
caught up with him, smashing into the island in what seemed to be its
favorite tactic.
Jolan brought his hand up and rose into the air. Palas joined him a
second later, her body bathed in a silver light. Jolan held out his free
hand, and Palas took it in hers. There was a flash like sheet lightning,
followed by an ground-shaking crash, as the serpent's head dipped and rammed
forward to attack, meeting with their overlapping shields. When it drew
back, there was a large blackened patch on its forehead.
It shrieked in pain and outrage, and instinctively poured forth
dragon-fire, which merely served to further replenish Jolan's strength. As
one the pair reached out and between their outstretched arms formed a spider-
web pattern of gold and silver threads, which they sent spinning down to
tangle around the serpent. The webbing didn't even begin to cover that
massive body, but they began weaving larger patterns, sending them down in
rapid succession, covering the head first to bind those deadly jaws shut.
They sent the metallic-colored weaves down in such numbers and force that
within moments they covered the transformed draconian from head to tail.
Then, still working as one, they drew the weaves together, forming a single
gigantic net, which they drew slowly in. This draw the serpent into a coiled
mass, which they then began to slowly lift out of the water.
I cannot imagine the amount of power it must have taken to lift that
huge creature from the lake, but even as they lifted it, Palas diverted some
of her attention to bringing Marse up to join them. As she did this, the
silver threads of the weave began to fade, and she quickly returned her
attention to holding the serpent bound. Marse floated there behind them,
and when the dragon-snake was completely clear of the water, he placed his
hands over theirs, allowing them to draw upon his healing skills. Their net
of silver and gold was overlapped with purest white, and moments later the
entire weave flared and vanished, sinking into the massive creature's flesh.
They lowered it slowly back down into the water, where it began to ripple as
it had when I tore the amulet from around its neck. This time, however, the
rippling didn't stop. As we watched, the creature began to diminish, and as
it grew smaller, it also grew wings and limbs, and its body widened in
proportion to its neck and tail. Within minutes, the serpent was completely
transformed into a slightly humanesque wyvern.
"He'll revert to his normal draconian shape soon," Marse informed us
as the trio landed, "But his body needs to rest after making such a huge
transformation."
"That was amazing!" Felin said, and suddenly switched subjects, "Can we go
home now?" Everyone stared down at her for a moment, and she seemed to
become very uncomfortable in the following silence. Then Jolan began to
chuckle. That started everyone else off, and soon we all gave in and joined
in the laughter.
"Yes, Felin," Jolan said when we'd all more or less finished
laughing, "We can go home now."
"Not so fast, Jolan," Marse said, "There's still another matter to
take care of."
"What? We've got Kiaphas, our lives, and the Stone we came here for.
What else do we need?"
"It isn't something we need, Jolan. Don't you remember what Lord
Artirax told us?"
"We didn't find any gold or silver! The prophesy was just nonsense."
Marse just looked at him for a moment.
" Right. You didn't see yourselves up there, but I'll tell you what I
saw. I saw Palas's silver aura and your golden aura shining quite brightly
as you battled Kiaphas."
"So? Our auras almost always become visible when we handle a lot of
magic."
"That's not the point! Gold and Silver, don't you get it? The
prophesy was referring to the two of you!" Palas and Jolan looked at each
other, and shrugged. "But that's not what I meant in the first place. The
people of Kanda will go mad and die when the Mist disappears. We can't let
that happen."
"Oh. Well, I don't see what we can do about it," Jolan said, "With
the Stone gone and the Altar destroyed, the Mist will vanish. Unless..."
Jolan thought for a few minutes, "It's possible we could make a spell to hold
the Mist in place and allow it to diminish so gradually that the people will
have time to acclimate to living without it. It'll take a lot of power,
though. I'll need some help." Palas volunteered her help, and so did I.
Marse joined us and we stood in a circle around the melted altar. Using the
Stone, Palas had no trouble drawing upon the element of Earth to restore the
altar, and Jolan began working his magic. I felt a sharp tug on my mind, and
I allowed Jolan to draw from my latent powers. Marse, naturally, had little
left to give, but he contributed what he could. When Jolan finished his
spell, binding the Mists back to the altar, we all nearly collapsed from the
strain. I got the feeling that none of us would be doing anything magical
for a long while. "Okay, now we can go home." Jolan said "As soon as Kiaphas
reverts, anyway."
"Good!" Felin exclaimed, "I hope I never have to spend another night
on this island!"
I noticed Palas seemed a little... odd. I motioned to Diana and we
went together to talk to her.
"Palas, are you all right?" Diana asked.
"Hmm?" Palas responded, looking up, "Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I'm just a
little tired."
"Well, that's certainly understandable." I said, "Would you like to
tell us what the Hells happened back in the city after we left, or do you
not feel like talking about it?"
"Oh, I don't mind talking about it. I just can't... quite seem to
remember it."
"You can't remember it?" I repeated, shocked.
"The past several hours are hard to recall. I remember arriving on
the island, and being attacked, and... something about a tower. After that,
I remember waking up with Jolan standing over me, and having the warmest
feeling inside." She closed her eyes as she thought back on it. "I'm going
to have to see if I can find out what happened from Jolan."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I almost hope he knows about me now."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because... if he knows about me, then maybe... maybe he can..."
She sat down and motioned for us to join her on the ground. "I don't know.
I'm just a little bit tired of hiding it from him, and it would feel nice to
not have to worry about it anymore."
"Then why don't you tell him?" Diana suggested. Palas looked
seriously thoughtful over that.
"You know, maybe I will. I don't know." We left it at that.
Less than an hour later, Kiaphas rippled again and returned to his
normal form. We thought about binding him again with magic, but we realized
that between us we didn't have enough power to light a candle, much less bind
him. We took the rope we'd used earlier and tied him up with that, hoping
that he'd be sufficiently weak when he woke that the rope could hold him, if
need be. Agnon and Marse picked him up, one at each arm, and Felin held his
feet from dragging on the ground, and thus we began our trip back to the
ship. All things considered, we made very good time getting back. We were
forced to stop and rest several times, but even so we made it back to the
ship just as night was beginning to darken the Mists. Diana surprised me
once again by pausing along the way to gather some of the sparse plants we
passed, though she was secretive about what they were for. The captain
welcomed us back aboard, though the Nyad's Call sniffed and warned us that
we'd have to bathe if we wanted to stay on board. We agreed, but only on
the condition that she allow us time to sleep first. Something along the
lines of a week sounded good right about then.
We staggered back to our cabins and collapsed wherever we could find
a spot. All of us except for Palas, that is. She went over to where Jolan
lay, and sat down next to him. Even as tired as he was, this brought Jolan
very much awake. Palas looked at him with purple eyes that suddenly seemed
large, innocent and vulnerable.
"Do you mind if I sleep here?" She asked, a strange tone in her
voice that I'd never heard there before. Whatever it was, it worked well on
Jolan, who moved over to let Palas lay next to him. With a contented sigh,
she snuggled in close to him, and pulled his arm around her shoulder. In
seconds, she was deeply asleep. I got the distinct feeling that, whatever
else may have happened between them, Jolan still didn't know her secret,
because he looked extremely confused. That didn't stop him from putting his
other arm around her before closing his own eyes and falling asleep.
"She's going to have to do something about him soon." Diana whis-
pered from beside me, "I don't think she can go on like this much longer."
"I agree, but until she decides to tell him, there isn't much we
can do. Now, what do you saw we get to sleep ourselves?" Diana agreed that
that sounded good, and we were both soon dozing peacefully.
I had several dreams, most of them very, very bizarre, though I
suppose that, after the events of the night before, that was to be expected.
Many were unpleasant, dreams of large scaly things and swimming in a stewpot,
dreams of the undead and of my evil side, but several were just plain odd.
Some of them involved Jolan and Palas, and there was one where I watched
Diana playing with a human child. The odd thing was, I was sure the child
was ours. As I said, bizarre.
The next day, we waited our turns at bathing, to please both the ship
and the crew. Afterward, most of us went back to sleep. Palas started to
head for where Jolan was sleeping again, but Diana intercepted her. They
talked for a few minutes in low whispers that I couldn't quite make out, and
headed off together. I asked Diana where they were going, and they both
turned and fluttered their eyelashes and looked so innocent that I knew
something was going on.
"Oh, just a little girl talk." Diana said, "Nothing you'd be inter-
ested in." They turned and walked off to gods knew where, leaving me alone
to find sleep by myself. I was sure I'd find out about it sooner or later,
one way or the other. After all, I usually did, though frequently not in a
pleasant way. I went back to sleep.
Shortly after I woke, Diana came back in, and laid down beside me. I
asked her what had happened, and she told me she'd tell me after she got some
sleep. She surprised me by asking me to hold her while she slept. I agreed
and left it at that, though I was slightly confused and wanted to ask her
why. I decided that I could ask her when she woke.
I woke again when she sat up, though I hadn't intended to go back to
sleep. My left arm was numb from her laying on it, and the pins-and-needles
feeling as blood flowed back into it was most unpleasant.
"Well?" I said, "Do you want to tell me what that was about?" I
hesitated a moment before adding, "If you don't, that's okay, but I would
rather know."
"If you're worried that I have a problem like Palas's, don't be."
The thought had crossed my mind, to tell the truth, and I was somewhat
relieved to hear her say that. "I just wanted to be held." She looked at me
as though considering something, and what she said next took me completely by
surprise. "Firemane, have you ever thought about children?"
"...Any children in particular, or just children in general?" I
asked after a long pause.
"I mean have you ever thought about us having children?"
"I've thought about it occasionally, but never too seriously. After
all, I don't know if the two of us are even capable of having children."
"But if we are... would you mind having a child?"
"No, I wouldn't mind. If I may ask, what brought this on? Don't
tell me this just spontaneously came to you."
"Well, just looking down at Palas while she slept, seeing how
contented and innocent she seemed, I guess it just got to my female
instincts." She looked at me for a moment, then said, "I do still have
those, you know."
"I never said you didn't!" I protested, because it seemed very much
like she was accusing me of saying exactly that. "Trust me, I've never
forgotten for a moment that you are very, very female." I brushed my face
across hers. "In fact, I think being female is one of your nicest
qualities."
She drew herself up, as though indignant. "Oh, so you think I'm
just some sort of empty-headed, obedient girl who'll jump at your every
command and be over-awed by your macho animal attraction?"
"Now, I didn't say that!" She laughed and licked my muzzle,
confusing me even further.
"Good, because I'm not." She paused while looking me over ap-
praisingly. "Though on second thought, what's wrong with macho animal at-
traction?" She grinned at me.
"Okay... I lost track somewhere. Are you angry at me, or not?" She
widened her eyes in false innocence.
"Now why would I be angry with you?" I decided not to answer, which
was probably for the best. Everytime I said something, I only seemed to get
more confused. For the life of me, I simply couldn't understand the conver-
sation, no matter how I looked at it.
"All right, then, may I ask what you and Palas did?" She shrugged.
"Sure. She and I went down to the forward hold, and she curled up
and took a nice long nap beside me."
"Then I can see where my presence might be somewhat... unappreciated."
"Oh, I don't know about that. I don't think she would have minded
much, especially not once she relapsed. To tell the truth, I just wasn't
sure how you'd react to it."
"React to what?"
"Well, you know about her relapses, but it's a bit different when you
actually see her in one. I didn't know if you'd still treat her the same
afterward. I would have talked to you about it before-hand, but I could see
that she was in a bad way. I mean, she told me afterward that she was
getting to the point where if Jolan had made the wrong gesture, he might
have found out about her in a most... abrupt... fashion."
"I understand. Palas is lucky to have a friend like you to look out
for her." Diana brushed her face across mine.
"And I'm lucky to have someone like you. I hope it won't happen
again, but if it does, I'll let you know, all right?" I decided that I could
be content with that.
I was soon drawn from my contemplation, however, as Kiaphas chose
that moment to wake up, which, naturally, proved to be something of a
distraction.
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