~cat stumbles in and flops on a cushion on the floor~ Aiieee! I hate not having proper net access!! ~cat sighs~ well….it's taken a while but, ta da! Chapter four had arrived…what with university, sketi-ed up net access and the like ~evil-cat helpfully points out the writer's blocks~ thanks for that evil, it's taken me a while...but…hey, here 'tis! Have fun! ~evil-cat wonders when exactly this chapter became fun since last time she looked her valium stall was about to double it's profits~ Evil! What am I going to do with you?! ~cat stalks off, totally forgetting the disclaimer~

Chapter Four- Burns the Sapphire.

Black. Deep and velvety. Endless and infinite and all-encompassing. Or was it? As Saff hung suspended there in the darkness she became aware of a sensation. Warmth.

How long Saffri had floated in the bottomless pool of night she didn't know. She did know that the unseen blow to her head had catapulted her there, whenever that had occurred.

~The clearing. The silence.~ The small part of Saff that was still awake and aware drifted back over the crystal sharp memories, viewing again the fight.

~I don't understand…What happened?~ Saffri thought as again she Felt the strange heat. As if the viewing of the memory called it, the warmth around her intensified and the darkness rippled and shifted, taking on the appearance of flames.

Black on night, the flames danced around Saff's mind, leaping and sparkling.

~Eesh… How odd…~

Before Saff could complete the thought the flames spasmed and colour suffused them. Burnt oranges, searing yellows and glowing red-purples sparked and leapt, distillations of light that chased away the blackness.

~Fire. Why fire? What happened? What did I do?~

Bemusedly, Saffri stared at the fire that was cavorting around her mind. ~I…now I want to wake up…this is scary… People shouldn't have fire in their head…it…it-~ With this Saffri tried to back-pedal away from the flames, but for once her mind seemed to be obstinately complete and absolutely refused to split, to scatter.

The heat from the fire grew, becoming almost unbearable. With a mental whimper Saff flinched away from it. As she tried to huddle down small and avoid the flames they belched and spasmed again. Instead of yellow, red and orange, the flames now burned purple, rust and green. With each passing moment the jarring colours faded and were consumed. A new colour swallowed them up and burned brightly.

Saff gaped, craning her 'head' back to gaze at the sapphire flames that now surrounded her. Warming, and at the same time, protecting, the sapphire fire enveloped her mind and drew it upwards and outwards.

Cold black replaced warm blue and the dull ache in her head announced that Saff was back in her own body, in a state approaching consciousness.

With an inaudible moan Saff cracked open her eyes. To immediately close them as twin beams of golden light lanced into her brain. The brief glimpse had shown a stone floor, many candles and ranks of wooden pews.

~So I'm in the church. On the floor, which explains the cold. Now how in Havens did I get here?~ Saffri thought muzzily as she sat upright. Attempted to sit upright. All that happened was a rather clumsy flailing of her limbs.

~What the-?~ She thought confusedly. ~Why do I feel like someone poured lead into my arms and legs? And what is that taste in my mouth?!~

Saff gave up on co-ordinated movement and swallowed experimentally.

~Ugh!~ Her mouth seemed to be coated in some bitter tasting syrup that also seemed to be down the back of her throat.

A whisper of sound off to one side.

"Ah, I see that we have woken up." The voice was smooth and even. Familiar and different at the same time. "I see that you're having some difficulty recognising my voice." The unseen person continued, footsteps indicating that they were moving towards Saff's line of sight.

Saffri squinted at the blurred grey shape in front of her. Her eyes refused to focus and her stomach appeared to have joined her head in sending pain messages to her brain.

~Father Jaric?~

"Fffrr?" Was all that Saff managed to produce.

~What on…did the blow to my head give me a brainstorm or something?~

The indistinct shape chuckled sinisterly.

"How astute of you my dear. I am glad to see that I haven't addled your brains." A brief pause, during which furious blinking on Saff's part cleared her eyes somewhat, allowing her to focus on the Priest. "Not that that will be a concern for much longer."

~I hope this is a dream…It's making as much sense as a dream. That must be it- I'm still unconscious and imagining all of this.~ Her confusion must have shown clearly on Saffri's face, eliciting another stone cold chuckle from the Father as he crouched down in front of her, grey robes flaring round him like giant wings.

"I suppose I really should explain, we do have a while yet after all."

"W-what?" By whispering, Saffri could get the words out.

"All of this, of course. None of this," Jaric gestured round at the Chapel, "would have been necessary if you had just gone mad like the others."

As the Father continued talking Saff became aware that there was something different, wrong, about the Chapel. Strange symbols adorned the walls and floor around the altar, and the altar itself looked different. The simple wooden structure seemed to have gained symbols itself. Her attention was dragged back to the Father by those last words. "Gone mad? What do you mean?" Even to her own ears, Saff's weak whisper sounded frail and scared.

"Gone mad. Insane. You were supposed to go insane. Nine Hells only know that I tried enough. Even turning the whole village against you and tearing down your shields didn't work. You stayed sane, just about and I really can't be having with that."

"That was you?" Saffri's voice broke and she coughed. "But you- you're a priest!"

"Not quite," Swish of fabric as Jaric straightened up, brushing himself off, "I have been posing as priest to this village of idiots, true, but only to get close to you, to get into your head. To make you mine." The inflection and almost hissing tone of that sent a trickle of ice cold fear down Saffri's back.

"Wh-?"

"Why? Well. Though not a priest I am a mage, and you, my dear, are Gifted. I want those Gifts and I will have them." Jaric paced up and down as he said this, before stopping and looking at Saffri, still collapsed on the floor, taking in her frightened and confused face. "I am a Bloodmage you young fool, I increase my power by stealing it from others. In your case I want your Gifts." Seeing she was still blank faced, Jaric growled. "Thoughtsensing you blind child. How else do you think you can hear what people are thinking?"

~Thoughtsensing? I have Gifts? I'm not mad!~ The thoughts fleeted through Saff's mind.

"Of course, I prefer my usual methods. Insane people are so easy to break into, and if I destroy their pathetic minds, who will notice or care? They were mad anyway…" His voice faded away for a moment as he fixed Saff with a piercing glare. "Since you decided not to co-operate with my plan I shall have to be somewhat more direct. The poison should be well on it's way to working. Soon you will be dead, and just before you die your mind will be open to me and I shall have your Gifts." The last came out in a grating voice and Saff choked back a sob, tasting again the sour syrup in her mouth. Frantically she tried to spit, much to Jaric's amusement. "I really don't think that will do much good. I got most of it down you while you were still unconscious. It shouldn't be long now."

~Oh, Gods! What do I do? I don't want to die. Help, someone help me!~

While these thought scrambled round her head Saffri put everything she had into convincing her arms and legs that they would work, they had to work. Much to her surprise they did work, after a fashion and she managed to lurch to her hands and knees, then, Lord and Lady only know how, she found herself on her feet, clutching at the altar for balance, vision blurring and lungs burning as if she had just outrun a racehorse.

This seemed to amuse Jaric. "Well well you certainly do possess spirit… I think that is why I couldn't take you like the ones before." He regarded the trembling, pale figure in front of him. "I imagine that I could have broken you eventually, however that was not meant to be."

"Why not?" A harsh whisper. "You've taken your time up 'til now, why rush things if you're enjoying yourself?"

"Because you, child, started to actively use your Gifts. As that little display with the village brats showed before."

"Use…?" Saffri faltered, not sure what the mage meant.

"The fire, idiot. You are a Firestarter. It was latent up until now, and I wanted it kept that way. I can shield my magics and your demented mental ravings from prying eyes, but if your other Gift manifests fully I will not be able to hide the aura and magical auras like that have the unfortunate habit of attracting those damned Heralds. The last thing I want is a white clad moron and his familiar nosing around."

~Fire…I am a Firestarter?! Oh my…Heralds? A Herald could help! I wish there was one here…~

Jaric glared at her as these thoughts and more ran through her mind. "Don't even think of crying for help, my shields will block you." He paused and looked at her closely. "I think that it is time for us to proceed. I would say that this won't hurt, but I'd be lying." With this the mage advanced on Saffri, who cowered back against the altar and raised a hand to ward him off. Instead of slapping it away, as she had expected Jaric caught her arm in a vice like grip, the pain of which was lost in the sudden storm of lightning and pain that assaulted her senses.

With a snap Saff found herself in her mind, surrounded by her pitiful wall. It looked worse than before, if that was possible, parts seemed thin and insubstantial, as if the parts of her that maintained them were not working. ~Or if they are dead. Oh, Gods. I'm dying.~ Shadows flickered around her and Saff was aware that somewhere far away her heart was racing and her vision was fading as she lost her grip on life. Outside of the wall prowled a dark shape.

~Is that him?~

The shape leapt at the wall, breaching it easily. Saffri suddenly found herself in the grip of hands, tentacles belonging to the shadow shape. Hard-soft, gluey and razor sharp the thing gripped at her, trying to smother her. A terrible pressure built up around Saffri as the shadow-that-was-Jaric concentrated all his strength on squashing her out of her own mind. The thing suddenly changed tactics, reaching into Saffri and laying hold of something it tried to pull her apart.

Saff screamed in pain, at least, she thought she screamed, whether the message reached her body was another matter, and battered at the thing to try and drive it back.

~I need something to help me…what?~ Saff sought around desperately for aid. ~The fire!~

With a last, frantic 'kick' Saff broke free of the thing and struggled outwards, straining to see the chapel again through her real eyes. Sensation returned to her, shadowed, as if a smoky veil was over everything. It was enough to let her see the candles grouped about the stiffened, sweat soaked bodies of herself and Jaric in front of the altar, looking for all the world like a bizarre sculpture. Panting, Saff Reached for the flames, calling to them as hard as she could. At first, nothing. Then, just as she was losing hope the little fires bobbed and flickered then grew, spreading upwards, reaching greedily for the nearby wood of the altar and walls. And for the edge of Jaric's robe. The flames that had reached the wood needed no encouragement so Saff ignored them, and the intense pressure in her head as the Jaric-thing tried to rip her mind apart, concentrating instead on the smouldering flickers on the robe.

~PAIN!~ Saff Felt something tear in her and cried out desperately. The fire answered and the whole bottom edge of Jaric's robe flared up.

"Aaiiieeeeee!!!" The voiced scream threw Saff away from the fire and she collapsed backwards as Jaric stumbled away from her, flailing furiously at his robe. It was only them that she realised that the whole chapel was in flames, the bright light and desert dry heat pressing in on both of them.

~I have to get out!~

Evidently, the mage had had the same thought and was already stumbling as fast as his burned legs and still smouldering clothes would allow towards the main door. Saff followed as best as she could, battling off the waves of nausea and darkness that threatened to engulf her. Nearing the door, she became aware of the sounds of a crowd. A large crowd. ~Of course…the whole village. Probably waiting for the 'Holy Priest' to cleanse me of my demons or something.~

Saffri's guess proved nearly correct, it was pretty much the whole village, illuminated in sharp relief by the wash of colour from the merrily burning church, watching the fire with fear, except for a small group who were tending the burned and collapsed form of Father Jaric.

"No-." A bout of coughing from the smoke prevented Saffri from voicing more than that. It was enough to attract attention from a few villagers, who nudged their neighbours in a steadily spreading ring outwards until the entire crowd were staring at her.

Just as Saff was about to try to speak again one of the women tending Jaric let out a shriek. "Tis the demon! First it burns down our church and tries to murder our Holy Father and now it was come to kill us!!"

Saffri stopped dead with shock as an angry rumble ran through the crowd and a rustling sound resulted in an alarming number of weapons being produced.

"Wait!" Saffri's voice spiralled upwards in fear as four grim faced men advanced on her, boar spears and pitchforks held in front of them. Saff tried to scramble backwards, but she seemed frozen in place.

~I can't… they're going to-!~ Without thinking Saffri linked with the flames behind her and a lick of flame leapt over her head towards the men. A concert of yells and the now red hot and smouldering spears and forks clattered to the ground.

~If I can just keep them back-~ The thought was interrupted by a thudding impact in her right thigh, followed immediately by a jolt of pain so intense Saffri couldn't even scream, only moan and grasp at the gash in her leg, caused by a throwing knife that skittered along the ground and came to rest behind her.

~I'm going to die. They're going to rip me apart.~ Saffri thought with sick fear as she focused on the hate filled faces of the villagers through tears of pain. With a sob, Saffri closed her eyes. ~Please let it be quick.~ The thudding pain she was expecting didn't happen however, instead the air was rent by a battle scream and a thundering sound. Hard on these sounds came the screams and shouts of the villagers and another scream, this one much closer. Opening her eyes, Saffri was confronted with the sight of the villagers nearest her cowering away, weapons dropped forgotten on the floor. Not form her, but from the white horse that was in front of her.

~That's no horse…it's a Companion! That means that there must be a Herald! I'm safe!~

The Companion reared up to its, her, full height and crow-hopped forwards, lashing out with wicked looking silver fore-hooves at the group of men in front of her, as she voiced a third scream of defiance.

Saffri had never seen a Companion this close before and the sheer breath-taking beauty of the creature awed her. The pure white coat and silver hooves were complemented perfectly by the odd looking blue tack that the Companion was wearing. Without realising it Saffri had taken a few steps towards the Companion as it lashed out warningly at eh people surrounding the both of them. The Herald was nowhere to be seen, most probably in the crowd somewhere, calming people down. As the ashes from the fire drifted down across the village square, the Companion returned to all four feet with a clatter, continuing to bear her teeth at the villagers.

The impact sent vibrations through the ground and up Saff's leg, reawakening the pain that had been forgotten in the glory of the Companion, and Saff moaned with pain. The creature backed up towards Saffri, and, for some reason she couldn't explain she found herself using the last shreds of her strength to clamber approximately into the blue dyed saddle. Saff was barely in the saddle when the Companion wheeled and headed straight for the crowd, who scrambled out of her way. Once clear, the Companion aimed herself at the road leading away from the village and took off at incredible speed, kicking up clumps of snow, as Saffri tried desperately to hold onto the saddle and consciousness.

~***~

How long they had been running, Saffri couldn't tell. The pain in her leg and the insidious darkening veil that was the poison coursing through her veins made it feel like candlemarks as the countryside flashed past in a blur and flecks of sweat and blood flew off the Companion and Saff.

Saff raised her head and tried to focus as the Companion slowed beneath her and turned off the main road, heading down a smaller track, that non-the-less, had a clear path of beaten down snow on it.

The rhythmic bunching of muscles beneath Saffri slowed again and the Companion slowed and came to a halt in what appeared, from what little Saff could see through her blurred and shadowed vision, to be a small clearing. Saffri slid from the saddle, leaving a bloody smear down the side of the Companion and stumbled away from it, trying desperately to keep her balance as ever darker waves of blackness assaulted her. Fighting the urge to retch, Saffri wobbled, and collapsed to her knees as she tried to turn to look at the creature that had brought her here.

As if from a long, long way off Saffri heard a voice echoing towards her. It sounded female.

:Are you-?:

Darkness.