Chapter 9: the chapter in which stuff happens and thus progresses the plot.

Talia sighed. She could feel the young trainee's distress, and was stunned by the depth of his fever dreams. Normally she felt very little from the comatose residents of the House of Healing, yet what she currently felt from him was distress, pain, and fear. She wondered whether the new trainee was prone to night terrors, particularly since his distress seemed to heighten the longer Dolan was touching him. She gently placed her right hand on his forehead, focusing out and down, reaching out with her gift and tried to sooth the boy.

For a moment it seemed to be working, the boy was calming down.

Abruptly what she was feeling from him changed—he'd noticed what she was doing. She felt a brief moment of confusion as the boy realized she wasn't who he thought she was, before she had the most curious sensation of being pushed away. It wasn't very strong – more like what one would feel if a really small child or a baby attempted to push them away.

Fetching, she realized absently, the boy had the fetching gift. She couldn't begin to guess at how strong it was, but she did know it took a great deal of power to do what he'd just done. She was mildly surprised—she could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times people had actually noticed the gift of empathy at work, and still have several fingers left over.

He whimpered, and struggled vainly against the thin sheet covering his nude body. His distress was plain to her, even without the aid of her empathy. She moved to sooth the boy again, only to be shoved aside by a red haired whirlwind. She staggered briefly, and collided with Selenay before Alberich caught and steadied them both.

"Alright, are the both of you?" Alberich asked as he settled Talia on her feet.

"I'm alright Alberich." Selenay and Talia said in unison.

Talia turned and took in the sight before her—the red head, Yozak, if memory served, had settled himself down on his friend's bed. One hand rested lightly on his friend's naked shoulder, the other gently carded through the younger man's mahogany locks. He was talking quietly, his tone soothing, and laced with something more. From the feel of it, she suspected the young man had the gift of Empathy.

To her immense surprise the younger man calmed almost immediately at his touch. Yozak sat there for a moment longer, gently stroking his friend's hair. Finally he turned, his hand still resting in the brunette's hair, and started asking rapid fire questions in a tongue she couldn't even begin to comprehend.

~~~***~~~

Yozak was beyond annoyed, he leaves Conrart unattended for a few minutes and these people somehow manage to screw things up. Even unconscious he could feel his friend's distress.

"What the hell happened?!" he demanded sharply of the nearby people. "What did you do to him?! Why is he panicking?! And why in the name of The Great One, is he naked and draped in a sheet?!! He's sick; can't you ruddy idiots see that?! Do you want him to catch his death?! Answer me, damn it! Why won't you answer me?!!"

Predictably, nobody answered his inquiry.

Oh that's nice, talk to them in a language they can't understand! He mentally scolded himself. To be perfectly honest, he was really too angry to care; Conrart was sick, injured, and had been through – quite – enough in the past few days! He didn't need this shit!

Closing his eyes briefly, he took comfort in the feel of his friend's soft hair and focused his mind. He wanted answers and he wanted them now! In order to get those answers, unfortunately, he was going to have to be a bit more intimate with these people than he was really comfortable with. He reached out with his mind and attempted to speak with them the same way he normally spoke with Conrart – without words.

: Would you kindly tell me just what happened, to make my – to make Conrart panic? : He mentally growled.

A new voice entered his mind, and Yozak felt himself bristle at the placating tone. : I assure you, in the name of my own Companion that we have done nothing to harm your friend. I believe he is simply feeling the effects of his fever. Has he many horrors in his life that would account for these night terrors? :

Yozak had never understood the human practice of proving their honor by backing it with the name or honor of something or someone they held dear. It struck him as being just as absurd as if he'd used Conrart's name to bolster his own honor and pride.

: Chosen, to a Herald, swearing falsely on any Companion's name, let alone your own is considered one of the greatest blasphemies: Jissa's mental voice was calm and gentle as she attempted to soothe him. : Don't take it lightly. :

Yozak sighed, feeling his hackles lower at his Companion's words. It was strange; she'd Chosen him less than a day ago, yet her very presence was enough to calm him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before reaching out with his mind again.

: Conrart's past is his own tale to tell. Jissa tells me you are to be trusted; on her judgment I will give you that trust. :

The tall slender man inclined his head, the first traces of grey flashing against his dusty blonde hair. : Is there any other question you need answered, trainee Yozak? : He asked.

Yozak blinked, startled by the use of his name. How could a man he'd only just met know his name? Long years as a spy dragged him immediately back to the alert, as warning bells sang in his head. Again Jissa was there, with a gentle soothing touch to his mind, calming him, comforting him. This man was Daren, Chosen of Companion Jasan, and King Co-consort to the throne of Valdemar. He knew his name apparently because Jissa had told Jasan. They all knew his name.

He sighed and gathered his concentration before reaching out with what Jissa had informed him was a gift called Mindspeech. : Jissa tells me that you are Herald Daren. So, Daren, would you mind telling me why my fevered friend is naked but for that flimsy sheet? :

The man was a King, his new king, and yet he found he could not see him as such. It was to Yuri he'd given that honor, and he could not bring himself to defile the name of his Maoh by giving the title to another. He shifted his stance and met the other man's hazel-grey eyes with his own blue. To his surprise, Daren didn't seem even remotely concerned with the absence of his rank and title in the address, and Jissa informed him quite candidly that the Heralds didn't stand on ceremony when it came to each other.

Daren smiled, and took a few steps forward, until his hand rested lightly on Yozak's shoulder. :Your friend is naked because his clothing is wet, and Healer Dolan is currently examining him. He informs me that your friend has a badly broken left arm; apparently, two of the bones were broken and came through the skin. He's also suffering from a fractured clavicle. Dolan is checking the way both of these were set, and is making sure that the journey here caused him no more damage than the cold dunking.:

Yozak nodded, and fished around in his belt pouch, looking for the vial of goo he'd lifted off of Gisela. He briefly wondered if her arm was alright; he hadn't meant to twist so hard. Dismissing the thought as irrelevant given the rather large dimensional chasm currently between them, he held the vial out to Daren.

: I managed to get a vile of this from Gisela, our healer at home. She mistook Conrart's gift for a mental illness and drugged him. This is what she gave him; I was hoping maybe one of your healers could at least identify it. Years ago when Conrart first got his gift, he was injured during the war and not thinking clearly. Then he mentioned 'voices' to Gisela, and she thought the stress of war had gotten to him. He was too young to go in the first place, but Stoffel sent him anyway! The bastard wanted him to 'prove his honor on the battlefield'!

She drugged him for it, and since Conrart never mentioned it again she thought him 'cured'. When she heard Conrart tell Lord Von Voltaire to strengthen the castle guard because something had taken information about the castle and its grounds from his mind, she decided to experiment with different herbs to find something that worked. I have a list of the different herbs and their uses and side effects if you need it. :

Daren blinked, and yelped : War? He's just barely a man; does this Stoffel make a habit of sending infants into the field to fight a war?! :

Yozak shifted his weight and met the man's eyes, feeling strangely gratified if a little amused at the horror in Daren's mental voice. : Conrart is older then he looks, but still, even by the standards of our own people he is young. And no, Stoffel would cringe at the mere thought of sending either of Conrart's brothers to war at so young an age as he sent Conrart! When presented with the opportunity to slay Conrart while he slept, however, well . . . let's just say I have a scar that proves the bastard would take it. And don't tell Conrart, he doesn't know. :

~~~***~~~

Daren was completely horrified by that little bit of information. How could anyone be so callous as to attempt to slay a boy while he slept? : How old was he? : He inquired, dreading the response.

:Conrart was only just sixty winters old. : Yozak replied, confusing him even further.

Sixty? How could a boy who looked like he'd only just turned nineteen be older than sixty? He wondered idly, before deciding the simplest thing to do would be to ask. : I beg your pardon; did you just say he was only sixty? : He asked, after regaining the ability to string words together into sentence form.

Yozak blinked at him, looking mildly surprised by his shock. : The human equivalent would be a little younger then twelve, assuming humans here age the same way they do in my world. :

Daren briefly wondered if the young man before him really wasn't human, before dismissing the thought as something to be pondered later. He nodded his head and passed Healer Dolan the vial, telling him that it was what the boy's healer had given him for his Mindspeech gift, since she thought he was losing his mind; he also informed a horrified Dolan that the drug itself was 'experimental'.

Dolan pried the cap of the vial off and inspected the contents, raising an eyebrow as a sickly yellow bubble appeared in the green goo, and gagging a bit on the sulfuric smell.

~~~***~~~

Selenay sighed, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Well, she'd wanted some excitement to get her away from the mountains of paperwork that had piled up on her desk. Lord and Lady had she gotten it! First two Companions, one of them a five year old colt who just happened to be her many times great grandsire, go off to an entirely different world in search of their Chosen, then the catastrophe with the council finding out just how young Vanyel actually was. Another uproar occurred when yet another Companion had Chosen the young servant boy Justin this morning, when the boy had run into Companion's Field in pure terror after accidently setting something on fire with his gift.

Add to that the fact that the newest batch of Trainees was older than normal. Sandra, who's Companion had brought her in a good forty minutes after the return of Jissa and Vanyel, was nearly fifteen – and the youngest of the lot. At sixteen trainees Justin, Victoria, and her twin sister Valentine, weren't much older. Austen was a bit older. The nineteen year old, was actually quite pretty in an effeminate manner. Then came the - not so young -trainee currently lying in the House of Healing. Conrart looked to be about 19, though Yozak had informed them he was only about 135, and apparently still very young by the standards of their people. Yozak himself was the Mazoku equivalent of 20 at the tender age of 143. The last was trainee I'Ryn, a Journeymen bard who had interestingly enough, been Chosen the moment she set foot inside the border of Valdemar.

She wasn't exactly happy about it either.

She was 22.

Selenay emitted a small squeak, and just about melted, when Daren started rubbing her shoulders. She leaned back into his strong body, gratefully accepting the massage. "I wonder if the ages of the newest group of trainees has anything to do with what Valdemar will face in the future." She mused aloud.

"They aren't that much older than what we have come to expect and we've had older trainees before. Wasn't Alberich a man grown by the time he was Chosen?" Daren replied mildly, as he worked a particularly bad knot out of her shoulders. "What I'm really worried about is the number of new trainees. Isn't eight kind of a large class?"

Selenay considered her husband's words. While it was true that each year group usually consisted of five to six trainees. Seven wasn't that much bigger of a number, but eight however was pushing it. She said as much to Daren, even as she began to run the implications of the numbers over in her mind. Her mental debate was cut short by Caryo.

: It is true Companions do not Choose if there is no need, Chosen. However did it not occur to you that the need may not necessarily be Valdemar's? Given five years time Vanyel would have left to search out his Chosen, and brought young Conrart home to us, just as it is true that Jissa would have left in a few months time and brought us Yozak. However in this case it was the NEED of a Herald that called his Companion to him, years before the bond was to be forged. :

Selenay blinked. She honestly had never even considered that.

Caryo's voice was smug. : I thought not. A word of advice, sister of my heart, when that boy wakes I suggest you have somebody teach him to shield properly. :

Selenay's own reply was cut off by one of the guards stationed at her door, announcing the presence of Healer Dolan.

She gave him permission to allow the man entrance, mildly curious as to the purpose of the healer's visit. Daren took a step away from her and moved forward to stand calmly at her side, while Talia, who'd been busy pacing the room, moved to stand slightly behind her.

Dolan bowed slightly as he entered the room, "Forgive the intrusion, your Majesties, Queen's own." He said calmly addressing each of them briefly. "However, I find myself in need of a few moments of your time."

He paused briefly, obviously awaiting their reply.

"I see, and how may we be of service to you, healer Dolan?" Daren replied for them both.

Dolan sighed and shifted from foot to foot looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Highness, forgive me, but I need to know where you got your information about the trainee currently in my care. Particularly where you got the information about his being 'forced' to drink the drugs currently in his system and whether or not this source is trustworthy."

Daren blinked in mild surprise, before answering calmly. "I got the information from Trainee Yozak. May I inquire as to why you ask?"

Dolan shifted nervously. "My lord, it is not unheard of for a man to protect his friends, even if it means painting things in a somewhat more favorable light."

It was Talia who answered him, her tone short but inquisitive. "You accuse a Heraldic trainee of dishonesty. To what end?"

"Is it not possible that the boy feared your reactions?" Dolan replied quietly. "Frankly, there is enough of that drug in his system to be lethal, and the herbs in that mixture are volatile at best and have to be picked fresh. In addition to that some of them are of the variety that taken too early they are poisonous, or taken too late they cause hallucinations."

Selenay felt as though the man had physically struck her as she realized what he meant, with the force of Caryo's previous words behind them.

"In this case it was the NEED of a Herald that called his Companion to him" she had said.

She took a deep breath. "You think Conrart attempted suicide?" she asked mildly.

"It is one explanation, my lady."

Selenay sighed, and wondered just how to reassure the man; she didn't think he was right since the first thing Caryo had told her about the boy was that a healer mistook his Mindspeech for a sign of insanity. But still she couldn't get Caryo's words about need, out of her head.

Abruptly she felt the presence of another in her mind; the presence was both young and old, in addition to being decidedly male, if a bit effeminate. It wasn't till he spoke that she knew him for who he was…Companion Vanyel.

: My Chosen needed me and so I was called to him, it has happened before. The only reason they question it is because I am so young. The bond between Conrart and I may not be fully formed, and I have yet to actually Choose him, but I can assure you that he did not attempt suicide. He's not the type to ever consider it. I felt his fear when they pinned him down to force-feed him that goo. He was terrified, and less then pleased with the fact that the healer was forcing him to drink a medication he'd already refused. I bashed in three solid wood doors to get to him, and then I had the dubious pleasure of kicking a man off of my Chosen. He didn't drink it voluntarily.:

Selenay blinked, and slowly a smile spread across her lips. She looked up at Dolan, her eyes warm. "Would you take the word of the boy's Companion then? Vanyel has given me the events from his point of view. He confirms what trainee Yozak has told us."

Dolan inclined his head. "Then I am well satisfied my lady." Abruptly he seemed to focus on something else, and Selenay wondered whom he spoke to.

He paled. "I hope young Conrart is a fighter," he said simply before adding, "Or we may find ourselves laying him to rest before he ever dons his grays." With that he turned and fled the office at a run.

She caught Talia's eye. "He's afraid." Her Queen's Own said simply, before adding "for someone else."

Selenay reached for Dolan with her mind, and sent him a questioning feeling.

: The boy just started to vomit. : was all the answer he gave her.

~~~***~~~

Vanyel reared, screaming his fear as he felt his Chosen struggle for breath, his body convulsing in a desperate attempt to rid itself of the medication he'd been given earlier. Van felt the shock of his hooves striking the ground; he could feel his Chosen as the boy fought for his life, and was pulled deeper and deeper into darkness. He flung out a mental line for Conrart and only just managed to catch him. He held the line firmly as something else dragged the boy further and further out of his reach.

Damn it! He'd only just found the boy! He refused to lose him to the Shadowlover's embrace!

: Chosen, You must not surrender! :

His words seemed to jolt his Chosen into action. He fought, struggling vainly against the enclosing darkness.