Strange Powers

Numair kept walking, following the steady ribbon that extended, seemingly endless, in front of him. The Badger had returned and he had waited for several hours. Once again growing restless, he had decided to move on and when the Badger decided to reappear, he could find him. He had no idea where he was headed; the ribbon of light made random twists and turns, now on the path, now not, making it impossible for Numair to figure out any pattern or direction. But part of him was grateful for this, he was too upset and enraged to trust his instincts or knowledge, he was better off just mindlessly following the set path of his locator spell.

Over and over in his mind as he walked, Numair killed the, as yet nameless fiend who had been so cruel as to take his love. He imagined slow suffocating spells, and beatings with his own hands, soon he had made a game of it, trying to decide, just how he would make the villain pay.

So engrossed with images of his victory, Numair did not see the rather large rock that jutted out in the path until it was too late. Tripping over it, he went flying, spreading his arms wide in an attempt to break his fall. They did to some degree, but not much. He landed face first in the dirt, his arms wide on either side. Bracing his hands on the ground, he tried to pull himself up. But when he lifted his head the sight that met his eyes was enough to make him collapse again.

Looming up before him was a gigantic mass of what appeared to be black, shiny, smooth stone, and his ribbon of light led right to it. He shuddered involuntarily, what force could make a fortress such as this. Getting up at last, he went to examine the place. He walked the perimeter twice and was unable to find any entrance. A tried a third time, this time running his hand along the wall, testing it with his gift.

It appeared to be composed of a magic he had never encountered before, yet somehow it seemed faintly familiar. But even with his magic, he could not find any sort of entrance. About to go look around the surrounding area, the hand that he had been resting on the wall suddenly gave in. Numair turned startled to see a huge black hole, black than the stone itself, expanding quickly. That's odd, he thought I never saw that, and my gift didn't detect it either, what kind of magic is this.

Part of him knew that this was probably a trap, but the part of him screamed that Daine was in there, so it didn't matter if it was a trap he had to go. Squaring himself to the wall, he took a deep breath and put his hand out in front of him, and began to walk forward.

Just as his form began to disappear into the hole, the Badger god appeared behind Numair. He too knew this was a trap, but he also knew that if Numair went in there without knowing what he was about to face, it could ruin their plans. At the top of his lungs, he screamed for Numair to stop, but Numair couldn't hear him, and disappeared into the black expanse without another thought.

+++

The Badger kicked the dirt with his paw. Stupid mage, couldn't wait could you, could exercise just a little patience or prudence. NO! Had to rush right in and be the big hero. Kicking the dirt once more, he said aloud, "well, I'd better get back to Weiryn, we'll have to act fast."

+++

Numair found himself in a dark, dank hallway. Lit by feeble torches, the walls dripped an unpleasant colored looking liquid. Steadying himself, he continued ahead, trying not to look back at the place where the hole had been, there was not question about it he couldn't turn back now.

As he got further in, he thought he heard soft murmurings, but he couldn't tell for sure, he was very tired, he'd been almost three days without sleep and was not as sharp as usual. But as he got closer, the murmurings grew louder and louder until he couldn't deny it any more, there was a great number of people of beings up ahead.

This place, whatever it was, was making him uncomfortable. The walls around him, which seemed to be getting decisively narrower, pulsed with the strange magic he had detected on the outer edge. He had a feeling reminiscent of being suffocated and felt like he was getting very claustrophobic, think of Daine, he thought as he gritted his teeth, she needs you now, don't let her down.

+++

The Badger appeared in Weiryn's doorway, his face clouded with rage. "That impertinent, idiotic mortal! No more patience than a Nat! Just barges right in there, no thought to anything else going on!" Using language that made even Weiryn look up, the Badger cursed Numair as he waddled across the floor to the Hunter god.

"What has happened now?" Weiryn asked, with a voice that sounded like he already had an idea.

"That stupid man went in before I could tell him what was going on. He has no idea what he's going to face, and to salvage the situation, we will have to move quickly." The Badger was already making for the door again, and without another word, Weiryn and Sarra both got up and followed him.

They walked out of the house and down the road to where a large pool stood in the air, it's expanse rippling in the breeze. Weiryn looked down at the Badger, his face grave. "You're sure this will work Badger, we won't kill him, or her, or us for that matter?"

The Badger examined his claws critically, "if we do it right, it should work, but I have never done this before, there will be some risks, no matter how careful we are."

Weiryn turned to Sarra, his eyes full of concern, but she only nodded gravely. "Well, I never got to be much of a mother, I guess this is the least I can do for my child." But behind Sarra's resolution, Weiryn and the Badger could detect a note of fear in her voice.

"Right then, let's get ready, like you said Badger, we don't have much time now." Weiryn said, turning back to the pool that stood in front of them. Looking in, they could see the dark halls and Numairs back. They could also see that up ahead, the light was growing stronger.

"Nearly there," Sarra muttered softly.

+++

Numair could see light ahead. He hesitated for a moment, trying to gather himself. He had no idea what was waiting for him beyond that archway. "Daine," he mumbled under his breath, "just think about Daine." And, measuring his steps as though they were his last, Numair slowly covered the distance between himself and the archway. Reaching it, he hid himself behind a pillar carved out of the wall, trying to get a look around to find out where Daine was.

+++

Daine sat stiff in her cage. She'd been awake for several hours after the odd incident with the walls. Though she had not been threatened by it. She didn't feel safe trying to get back to sleep either. Whatever had caused the walls to shake and pulse like that must have been pretty powerful, and if they were trying to get in, who knew what they would try next?

Hugging her knees to her, she thought about what she had had planned for her life. She had just made up her mind a few days earlier to accept Numair proposal. For more reasons than one, she'd been ready to fully commit herself. She thought bitterly back to the very morning of her capture. She'd been imaging her life, as it would be. A wife, possibly a mother, happy, at peace. Yes, she was ready for that; she was ready to spend the rest of her life with the only man she'd ever loved.

But all those hopes and dreams had been shattered the moment she'd seen Ozorne's face looming smugly before her. Now there would be no marriage, no children, and no happiness. Just darkness, fear, and death. Bowing her head over her knees, she wept bitterly. She wept for all that she had lost, and all that she would loose. It wouldn't be long now. Ozorne would manage to trap Numair some how, he attack was too well planned to miss. Numair would fall right into his net, just as she had. Then she would have to watch him die, watch them be separated once and for all.

Daine was so caught up in her thoughts of misery and defeat that she didn't even notice the miniscule pebble that hit her bare arm. However, when she felt a sharp jolt to her arm, she looked up, looked up into deep brown eyes, ringed with red from crying or lack of sleep or both. She let out a gasp that made Ozorne look up. His eyes evilly suspicious, he crossed from his chair over to her cage at the center of the room. Quickly, she drew back from the bars, trying to keep as much distance between herself and Ozorne.

+++

When Ozorne left his chair to come and stand next to Daine's cage, Numair knew this was his chance. Jumping from behind the pillar, he threw his hands out and let all his magic pour out of his hands and he chanted in the ancient language he'd been taught in his younger years in Carthak. But what poured from his fingers almost frightened him into stopping. For what should have been gray, pearly color magic was, instead, a large braid of pearly gray, white, silver, and deep green.

But before he could do anything about it, the braid of power hit Ozorne, square in the back and he arched back, letting out a shriek of pain. Daine too screamed, shoving herself so far back in her cage that she pressed against the bars and in a moment had passed out cold, her hand dropping lifeless of the edge of the cage.

When Numair turned his attention back to Ozorne, he saw something very odd happening. His whole body glowed, but right down the middle of his front, from his forehead to where his torso split, a deep line of blood red light shone brightly. There was a flare of light, and Ozorne seemed to have exploded from the inside out, leaving nothing but a thick patch of red smoke in the air where he'd been.

Numair dropped his hands, his face and shirt drenched in sweat. He used the last of his strength to rush over to Daine who was lying limp on the ground, her cage having disappeared along with its creator. Kneeling beside her, Numair cradled her in his arms. Slowly, he stood up, Daine in his arms, and headed back toward the hall from which he had come. He knew the way he had come in was blacked now, but he had no where else to go, and something deep inside him told him he had to get Daine out of there.

So he retraced his steps along the grimy, dim hallways, praying he'd find another way out. But as he continued down the hall, he subconsciously noted that the hall seemed to be getting lighter, instead of darker, but took real notice of it.

That is, until he turned a final time a found himself face to face with a vast hole, large enough for him to walk through without even ducking his head. Not thinking twice, he stepped through and out into the afternoon sun. Turning back, he looked at what had been the large black mass that looked so towering when he had first found it, and saw, to his amazement that it was vanishing right before his eyes.

Normally, Numair would have been fascinated by this and would have stopped to investigate, but now all he wanted was to get Daine as far away from this place as possible. But she was still unconscious, and he had very little strength left. So he settled for getting about a mile and a half away from the place in a small forest. Laying Daine on the ground, he took off his shirt and put it under her head to support her, as he had no supplies or anything else with him, since he'd left all the bags with Spots and Spots had trotted off when Numair had left him to go inside. Settling down next to her, he hugged her close and breathed in the scent of her hair, oh how I've missed you, he thought as he buried his face in the nap of her neck, I'm never going to let anything happen to you again, and that was his last thought before he drifted into a much-needed sleep.

Author's note:

This is NOT the end, there's much more to go yet, so please don't stop reading. And as always, I love comments and suggestions, so please feel free.

Thanks for reading