Note: This story is not anti Daine. She's not as bad as in TT part 2, and I am in the process of forgiving her. No flames, please, I got enough in TT2 to last eight lifetimes. I just got sick of all that soppy D/N stuff. You know? You say Daine would never do such-and-such, I say TP's wouldn't, but my Daine WOULD. On we go, and thanks to everyone who reviewed…
I forgot the Disclaimer last time: I didn't create any of TP's stuff.
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Chapter 3: Weiryn's Chosen
He moved silently through the forest, slipping in and out of shadows. You could never see him clearly; he moved so smoothly and quickly. If you saw him clearly, on first glance he would look human. On second glance, you would know he was anything but. He had antlers growing out of his curly hair, and his skin had a slight green tinge. He wore only a loincloth of rabbit skins, his chest smooth and tanned. He was yet young, probably thirteen, but he moved with the confidence of one twice his age. He darted behind a tree; a deer emerged.
Another deer came out of the forest. "Rowan!" It called.
The deer called Rowan followed his father lithely through the trees, not pausing a second. Rowan seemed like a deer; but he was not. His mother had been human, and he knew her name. He knew why she had mated with Oak, his father, and he knew why she had left as soon as he was born. He was the Chosen of the god Weiryn, his grandfather, and a wildmage. Not as strong as his mother, perhaps, but well enough for his own ends. He could turn into a deer and to his natural form at will and with ease, other forms came harder. He only used his magic when necessary, and it tired him. He was brought up by his father and his father's kin, but he had spoken with Weiryn and knew his true maternity. Weiryn was a lesser god and could only come on solstices and equinoxes, but Weiryn was friends with Ganiel, master of Dream, and his dreams told him much. But he felt alone, so alone…
He had friends among the deer: Holly, Maple, Spruce and Pine, but they knew only the simple pleasures of deer. His father was different, he was wiser and seemed more intellectual. But Rowan wanted to leave, he seeked something else, some more meaning in life than eating, sleeping, mating, and hiding from predators. Then he met Farrah. Farrah was… different.
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Narrated by Rowan…
The first thing I should say is that Farrah looks like a centaur, but she is not. She hasn't got the body of a horse, like a centaur, but the body of a deer, and the torso of a human. She is also mortal, she can die of old age, which does not happen to true centaurs. She calls herself a diataur, but she just made that word up. She is the only one of her kind.
When I first met her she was running away from something, covered in scrapes and bruises, and scared to death. She lived the life of the hunted, with the constant possibility that tonight might be her last. She was chased by men of the Regent, who wanted to preferably capture her, or if they had no luck to kill her, stuff her and mount her on a wall. A remarkable specimen, they called her. Assholes.
I easily outwitted the hunters, and, drawing my small, recurved bow, shot and killed three of them. My aim is perfect; even better than my mother's, some say (***And that is damned good***). The other two ran away, their dogs barking and baying behind them, I did not pursue.
"Are you all right?" I asked her.
She looked at me as if I was her savior, still panting heavily. "Thanks. Really, thanks. I Farrah."
"I'm Rowan." I held out my hand. She seemed unsure of what to do, so I dropped it. "What happened to you?" I asked.
She looked troubled. "I run. Hunters chase, they try to kill. I not know why, I not hurt them. They got me once." She turned to show a large scab in her human shoulder. "I run, I scared. Thank you."
What Rowan did next, he could never justify. She just seemed so scared, so he wanted to comfort her. Forming a picture of what he wanted in his mind, he turned himself into a diataur. It wasn't really hard, he could turn into a deer easily enough. But he had antlers, too, whatever form he took, he always seemed to have them. Even if he changed into something like a mouse, he still had little lumps of antler on his head. Except when he shed them in fall, of course.
She seemed startled. "I only diataur. I alone." She looked up. "Magic?"
"Yes, I am a wildmage, even though not a strong one," He said. "my natural form was what you first saw, but I am just as comfortable as a deer. My father was a deer."
"My father was human," she said, "My mother deer. They call father halfwit, bastard. They say he stupid. He run away, not know hisself, he mate with mother. I only diataur."
Rowan nodded. "I take after my grandfather." He blushed. "My grandda was a god, on my mother's side. I look like him, Weiryn. My mother abandoned me. She went insane, she had so much magic she forgot she was human. She mated with my da. Then she started to remember, and she left. I don't know how I feel about her," he admitted.
It was the start of a friendship. They, who thought they were alone, now had companions.
They formed some plans, a lot of them were far fetched. By being with Rowan, Farrah picked up more language and spoke more fluently. They got around, and found out more about the country they lived in. The humans called it Carthak, and it was in war. The true heir, a girl, but the heir nonetheless, was in battle with the Regent, and she had a vast army of giant insects and immortals. The Regent, though, had the army of Carthak- the largest standing army in the world. Farrah and Rowan just watched and waited, wondering what would happen. They stood in the forests beside battlefields, watching the slaughter. They thought it repulsive, disgusting. How could you kill one of your own kind? There was enough trouble between species without fighting your own.
One human in particular caught Rowan's eye. She was clad in yellow, a beacon on the black beetle she rode. She fought savagely, without mercy for her foe. Beside her always was a strange woman with steel wings sprouting from her back. They shone in the sun, blindingly bright. But the two did not go unnoticed.
"Jaunne!" called Tekkiake. "There's somebody over there- in the woods!"
Now was the time for battle-pickings, collecting any usable armor and weapons from dead friends and foe, and collecting anything to bent or broken to be melted down and forged again. Giant termites had huge sacks that they filled with things: right hand sack for good, left hand sack for scrap. Various mortals and immortals, those with hands, took the things off the dead and then put them in the sacks. Then large spiders carried away friends to be buried, foe to be saved as fodder for the bugs. Any bugs that died returned to their original size, so there was no need to bury them.
Jaunne squinted harder at the trees. "There's something there, all right. We don't know if they're on our side or not, so let's go with an ambush, and don't kill them if you don't have to."
Jaunne drew her sword and took the route behind them, motioning for two of her men to follow. Tekkiake would surprise them from the front.
A burst of light, and the steel wing woman jumped through the trees, wielding a spear. She pressed it against Farrah's throat, while Jaunne leaped from the bushes and pinned Rowan. Her two men guarded both captives with arrows cocked, ready to fire.
"Who are you and what are you doing on my lands?" Jaunne asked.
Rowan answered. "I am Rowan and this is Farrah. We are interested in what happens with humans, but we are disgusted with your wars." He said frankly. "We have no idea why you would slaughter your own kind."
"Because it's war, boy, it's war,' whispered Jaunne. "You do it to overthrow the enemy, the usurper. You fight, and if you die you die. It is not glorious, not for honor. It is war."
"The enemy is the hunter," said Farrah. "The enemy is the one with the bow who shoots you. The enemy is the wolf he hunts you, but he is not evil. He is not bad. He needs to eat, like all creatures. Can you honestly say that you eat everything you kill here? Except for your machines of war, your insects, which you changed just to kill. Is this war?"
"This is war," Jaunne said, and sheathing her sword, she walked away.
"Come," said the steel wind woman. "I am Tekkiake."
Rowan and Farrah hesitated. "Do we have to fight for you?" Rowan asked.
Tekkiake laughed. "No, we're just offering hospitality. I trust you'll accept?"
"I do not think they will welcome us," said Farrah.
Tekkiake turned serious. "Jaunne is not biased. She makes sure all are treated fairly. Look at me. I was abandoned in the woods by my human mother, my father was a stormsing who seduced her and then left her. I was then held in a cage in the Regent's menagerie, until her Imperial Majesty set me free. I owe her everything. She is my half-sister, I would give her my life, and she would give me hers."
Farrah and Rowan accepted, following Tekkiake to the Palace.
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I love this fic, I just love it. Please review, I want to know what you think! Spare me flames, a few are okay but a lot is just depressing…