Okay so this fanfiction is set during episode thirty of deltora quest "the mysterious ols", which is the episode where the trio first learns about the existence of ols, when two of them pretend to be little girls drowning in the river. Dain then saves them from the ols, but is wounded by Lief, who didn't recognize Dain with his hood up, and only saw a stranger attempting to kill two little girls. Lief, Barda and Jasmine then take the wounded Dain to the resistance stronghold.
This is for all those people out there who, like me, think Dain is just the cutest, and was really upset he turned out to be an ol. Personally, I believe that there was a part of dain that really did feel human, and he wasn't completely evil. So this is a fanfic about that J
PS: in the series, they were only a day away from the resistance stronghold, but for the purpose of this fic, im gonna pretend they were actually three days away. Also, I'm just assuming ols do feel pain and need to sleep :P
"I'm sorry." Dain, having just finished tying off the sling on his arm, looked up with a little puzzled sound at Liefs soft words. "I wounded you, and you still saved us". Everyone looked across the fire to Barda as he added in a hoarse voice "its true. If it weren't for you, I don't know if I would've-" he broke off to cough. Dain ignored their thanks, clearly more concerned with Bardas damaged throat. "it'd be better if you don't try to talk right now" he said seriously, before turning and rustling in his bag (bag? Cloak? I'm not really sure where he kept it) and coming up with a small bottle. "here. You should add a little of this honey to your tea. It'll take away some of your pain and give you strength" he added confidently, holding out the bottle. "they don't make much of it, so just a bit okay?" Lief took the bottle and looked at it curiously, reading the label aloud. "quality brand homemade organic nurturing energizing yummy? That's a pretty long name for some honey! Do you think it'll help?" Dain smiled and replied knowingly "yeah."
The mood was comfortable as barda drank his honeyed tea. Jasmine asked dain to explain more about the ols, and he did so, hiding his pain well enough that nobody noticed him put some of the honey in his own tea. Of course, this wasn't his real body so his broken arm and ribs didn't hurt him as much as they would if he was human, but they did still hurt. "theres a lot of ols around nowadays, they go in and out of western deltora all the time. It wasn't always like this you know…" finished dain, sounding wistful and looking into his mug sadly. He took a sip, then appeared to cheer up and change the subject. "so you guys are from the east, aren't you?" he asked in a friendly way. They didn't answer, and wouldn't meet his eyes, seeming ashamed by the necessity of their caution. Dain didn't seem bothered by this, and the look on his face suggested he understood the reason for their silence. "well ANYWAY," jasmine said a bit rudely, "you never did answer my question about what you're doing here. Although I have to admit, I think I trust you a bit more now." Dain replied in a reassuring tone "that's alright. I wasn't following you, if that's what you're wondering." He told them how he had been returning to the resistance when he had spotted the two ols and decided to follow them.
"I'm impressed" jasmine announced, "you're pretty clever aren't you?" dain gave a pleased smile and confessed "well I have to admit, I learned a lot from Doom. He's the one who trained me". At this, you could almost see the suspicion settle back in upon lief, jasmine and barda's faces as they remembered that dain was doom's protégé, and so they should be wary of him. Barda however, quickly seemed to come to a decision, and looked dain in the eyes, asking him to forgive their suspicions. Dain was calm, "I understand. Best to be cautious"
There was a pause. When nobody else said anything, dain rose and turned to leave, giving one last warning to beware of ols.
"dain, wait!" dain looked back "huh?". "its dangerous around here, and you cant defend yourself with your arm like that!" lief cried, a determined expression of his face. "besides, its late, and you should get some rest."
"thanks, but I'll be fine" dain dismissed the idea. "the stronghold im going to isn't that far from here."
"why don't you just stay with us tonight" lief pushed, "tomorrow we can travel with you as far as you want us to". Barda agreed with lief, adding his voice to liefs to convince dain to stay. Dain however, still looked uncertain, almost as though he had another motive for wanting to be away from them. "that's very kind of you" he said, then added something that almost sounded like a warning, like he was trying to tell them something but couldn't come out with it. "you know its that kindness that ols take advantage of". Jasmine seemed to take this as her cue to let everyone know that she was NOT okay with this plan. The ol that was Dain was recalled to himself at this, as he realized that an all too human part of him was glad she was insisting on him leaving, they were safer away from him.
Having realized that as a servant of the shadow lord, he ought to be sticking with the three, and trying to find out their plans, dain remained quiet as lief turned to jasmine and said persuasively; "I agree, but at the same time, im the one who hurt him. I cant just let him go off alone when hes unable to defend himself! It just wouldn't be right"
Seeing that the tide was turning in his favour, but that jasmine was still holding on to some of her suspicion of him, dain made one last effort to help them, in spite of the overriding compulsion coming from the shadowlords brand on his heart. "shes right" he said, to everyones surprise "you should. You cant trust anyone. The type of ols we fought today are crude, and cant hold their shape for long, but some ols are far more advanced, and you'd never be able to tell." That was the most he could do to try and warn them of his nature.
As soon as he finished speaking, the shadowlords mark began to feel like it was burning him. He made a pained sound and stumbled a little, eyes closed in a wince. Barda told him to "please, sit down, you're in pain" in a firm but concerned tone. "after what you did, we're not just going to send you out into the forest!" dain hesitated for a moment before giving in. "thank you. In that case I think I will stay the night. My arm is still hurting". He slowly lowered himself back to the ground, clutching his injured arm with his free hand. "and if its alright with you, tomorrow we can all head for the stronghold together" he added. The pain in his chest began to ease as he told the others the resistance stronghold was southeast of there, and asked if that would be a problem, since gathering information like where they were going was in keeping with his orders, although to be honest, he hadn't really asked with that in mind, he really just meant it as an innocent question. "I don't want to mess up your plans, since its out of your way", he said anxiously. "…wait a minute!" cried jasmine suspiciously, "how do you know its out of our way?!"
"i- I don't know!" backtracked dain quickly, looking scared and upset. "honestly I was just guessing"
barda ended the discussion telling them "it doesn't matter" and distracting everyone with a request to dain for more information about ols.
A few hours later:
Night had fallen by the time dain finished telling the adventurers everything he knew about ols. "seriously, three days?" lief said, absorbing the implications of having to watch someone constantly for three days to know if they were an ol. "that's right- ah!" replied dain, sounding a bit strange and ending with a sudden cry and a small gasp of pain. "you're hurting. Is there anything I can do?" lief asked gently, then included the other two in his statement "I think we should call it a night. You better get some rest." Dain looked up at that, not wanting to be a burden. "don't worry about me, im- fine" the little grimace he made at fine belied his words and his attempting to smile did little to convince anyone. The others ignored this and they all got settled under their cloaks, banked the fire and went to sleep.
The next day they set out for the western stronghold of the resistance. It was an uphill walk, in rough rocky terrain, and it soon became clear that dains injuries were taking a toll. They were still three days from their destination, and dain was lagging behind, his breath coming faster and his steps getting more and more wobbly as he struggled to keep up. He was walking along behind the others, eyes glazed and clutching his injured right arm when all of a sudden his knees gave out, he made a small sound as he crouched to the ground panting. Lief, who had been walking ahead of him, heard and came running back. "are you alright? Dain!" at this, barda and jasmine turned back as well "whats wrong?" asked barda, seeing only that they had stopped. Lief replied "we should stop for a bit, I think he really needs a break" sounding concerned. Dain however, objected "no, its fine, I can go on" and staggered back to his feet. He felt so weak in his human form, with his injuries and the increasing pain from the shadowlords mark that was his heart, but he didn't want to hold them back if he could help it. "I'll be able to get plenty of rest at the stronghold" he said a bit desperately, trying to convince himself as much as reassure the others. "its not too hard a trip, we just follow the path, and when we come to the cliff, to get through we simply follow the-" his voice got fainter and fainter as he spoke, until his eyes rolled up and he collapsed forwards midword. Lief, who had already been helping dain remain standing, caught him and lowered him gently to the ground. "dain?! Dain, follow the what?!" cried lief, realizing they couldn't continue without dains knowledge of the path. But it was too late, dain was unconscious.
"well, at least he told us part of the way before he passed out." Said barda philosophically. "come on, we might as well at least get as far as the cliff, I'll carry him on my back." They helped hoist dain onto bardas broad back, his arms draped loosely around bardas neck and his head resting limply on bardas shoulder. Dain was very light for a boy, and he didn't even seem to notice the extra weight as they continued up the path. Dain still hadn't even stirred by the time they reached the great cliffs.
The cliffs were a good forty metres tall, too steep to climb, and the path had petered out a little while before, so there was no clear indication of a tunnel of any kind which might allow them to get through. "hmm, this is very strange…" murmured barda, peering intently at the cliff face, having left the still unconscious dain leaning against the side of a large boulder. "great. What do we do now?" grumped jasmine. Lief walked over and knelt in front of dain, calling softly "dain! Dain? What do we do now? We're at the cliffs! Dain?" and shaking the boys uninjured shoulder gently. Dain slept on, a slight frown on his face. "give him some of that honey" suggested barda.
"This is the last spoonful" Lief poured it slowly into dains mouth. They all looked at him expectantly for a minute or so before lief said "its not working" sounding very worried and upset. Barda added regretfully; "if only we still had some of the nectar from the lilies of life!" over by the bare cliff face, standing a bit apart from the others, jasmine looked to the side shiftily. Lief caught the look and rushed over to her. "jasmine! You don't still have some do you? He needs it! We have to help him! He saved our lives, and now hes hurt!"
Jasmine tilted her head stubbornly "well I was saving it for an EMERGENCY!" she yelled back at lief defensively. "besides, im still not totally sure I trust that guy…" she added in a mutter. Barda, seeing this brewing into yet another argument between the two, interceded. "jasmine, I understand how you feel, and its good to be cautious and try to keep things for when you really need them, but lief is right, dain is helpless right now, and it would be dishonourable of us not to do whatever we can for him, especially since he saved my life!"
"yeah yeah, okay. I would feel kind bad leaving him like this." Jasmine sounded resigned, and she came over to where barda still stood with dain at his feet. Her gentle hands belied her words however, as she lifted dains head and poured the last of the nectar down his throat.
There was a pause, then dain made a small whimpering sound, curling up into a ball on his side. All of a sudden he screamed as though in agony, clutching the right side of his chest, and his whole body convulsed on the ground, before momentarily wavering and losing its shape, just like… "AN OL!" cried barda! They all took a step back in alarm, and drew out their weapons. His cry woke dain, who sat up and looked around to find the three of them pointing their weapons at him expressions astonished, horrified and mistrustful. "lief…? Barda? Whats going on?"