Oh yes! ~cat dances around in circles~ Look at what I've just written from start to finish this evening! ~cat struts her funky stuff~ ~evil-cat raises an eyebrow and attacks cat with a big red Censored stamp~ Ow!! Owww! Alright, already! ~cat stops~ So anyway….my laptop's still knackered and I can't afford to fix it. I have umm…. £30 pounds of overdraft left 'til January and my meals at the moment are variations on the theme of pasta or noodles……I'm going to look like a Durham wheat product soon…. ~noodle-cat wanders past and waves~ …but I've managed to purloin typing time on my mate's computers eheh heh heh ~flicks an ear back at the sound of muffled banging and shouting~ What do you mean 'did I lock them in a wardrobe?' What do you think I am?! ~flutters her eyelashes and looks innocent in that uniquely feline way~
~evil-cat skips past and shouts~ Disclaimer! The world of Valdemar and the concepts therein, such as Companions, Heralds, psychotic Bloodpath mages and the like are not in any way the property of the etcetera-cat. So don't sue us, please! ~evil-cat pokes cat and they both grin winsomely~ (I am just me, one person, but I like writing as multiples-of-cat…I should probably stop as I'm now automatically using 'we' and 'us' instead of 'I' and 'me' ~cat shakes her head~
A big fat fuzzy feline (alliteration! Yay!) thank you to all my reviewers, please continue to review! ~throws cyber-chocolate and sugar at everyone~ and without further ado….. read on, read on…..
Chapter 5- Of Heralds and Healers.
Herald-Mage Lexa shifted her weight ever so slightly from foot to foot and listened intently to her internee, Derran, as he presided over the final judgement in the village of Asten that required Heraldic intervention.
Lexa was about thirty summers old and her ash blonde hair was faintly streaked in places with grey, due to both her age and to the effects of wielding mage energy.
~Not that I'm exactly the modern day equivalent of Vanyel Ashkevron, or, for that matter, any match for Elspeth.~ she thought with a silent chuckle, her grey eyes sparkling slightly as her Companion, Jass, picked up her amusement and sent a curious thread of consciousness in her direction.
:What's so funny about sheep rustling?: Jass asked.
:Nothing much dearheart.: Lexa assured him with amusement. :You'll be pleased to know that Derran is nearly finished.:
Sent impression of a snort. :Good. All very well for you humans in the nice warm hall. What about us poor Companions left standing about in the snow? Zirri tells me to inform you that her tail is about to freeze off, and I am inclined to agree with her.:
Despite the lecturing tone, Lexa knew Jass was teasing her by the yellow hint of humour that coloured the Sending.
:Well,: she pointed out mildly, :I wasn't the one who insisted on a lie-in this morning. If we had left when I suggested we would already be on the road, rather than about to leave when the farmer arrived about the sheep.:
Jass sighed into Lexa's mind and silently agreed.
The mayor trying to attract her attention called her mind back to the present. The man smiled broadly at her and spoke.
"Thankye indeed Herald. Methinks that next time we see Derran he'll be in Whites, hey?"
"Ah, now, that could well be true." Lexa smiled as she said this as Derran blushed slightly. "Anyway good sir, it really is time we made tracks to our next stop, Bolten, I believe."
The mayor nodded as he fussed over the front of his (somewhat moth-eaten) robes.
"Of course, of course." He said. "Far be it from us to detain you any further, and many thanks for sorting out the mess with Rolf's sheep."
The man continued to chatter inconsequentials at her as Lexa made appropriate noises and headed towards the main door to the hall. Extricating himself from a knot of chattering villagers, Derran caught up with Lexa as she reached the door.
"Herald Lexa, was that alright?" He asked eagarly as they left the building and the bitter winter wind clawed it's way across their faces.
Lexa hissed slightly at the cold washed across her before replying to the trainee.
"That was fine Derran. All of the people were involved were satisfied, weren't they? And I certainly thought that you handled all the judgements here well."
Derran flushed slightly at the praise as they crunched their way across the glittering snow, towards the house that served as the home and hospital of the village Healer.
Lexa knocked on the door and called through to the inside. "Yarrin, it's time to go."
The Healer emerged, bundled up in so many layers of clothing that it was impossible to tell that he was in fact a stick thin, heron like man, his six feet easily dwarfing Lexa's five and a half. Rearranging his outermost coat, he chuckled at Lexa's raised eyebrow. "My dear Lex, surely you remember my aversion to the cold from out days together at the Collegia."
"Aversion? More like absolute hatred!" Lexa snorted with amusement.
Yarrin had arrived at the Healer's Collegia as a wide-eyed child with potential for Healing at the same time that an equally wide-eyed Lexa had been deposited at Heraldic Collegia by a sarcastic talking white horse. The pair had gravitated towards each other within a few days of their arrival and had been firm friends ever since. They'd always kept in contact, mainly by letter, since they had both finished training, until recently, when Yarrin had moved to a new Healer's outpost and Lexa had failed to get the name of the village. It was hard to say who had been more surprised when Lexa and Derran had arrived at Asten five days ago as part of Derran's Internship circuit.
The tall, green-eyed, dark complected Healer and the short brown eyed and blonde Herald had renewed their friendship and had been catching up on gossip with each other when ever they could, to the extent that Jass had taken to jokingly complaining to Lexa that he couldn't sleep of a night for the incessant chatter from the pair of them.
Together the trio moved across the frozen ridges of snow on the village square towards the waiting pair of Companions.
As Derran mounted his Zirri, Jass lipped at Lexa's hair and she scratched his nose in greeting. Yarrin handed her his healing bag and she attached it to the back of Jass's saddle, next to her travel packs.
"I must thank you for offering to take me to Bolten with you." Yarrin said to Lexa as she swung up into the saddle. "They have no proper Healer there and I have been meaning to do my rounds there for a while, and the prospect of walking for near enough a mark in this weather is not appealing." Yarrin said this with a chuckle as Jass turned his head round and looked reproachfully at Yarrin with one sapphire eye.
"Oh, I know! You still have to walk, and I'm glad that you are taking me Jass." Yarrin bowed extravagantly to the Companion who snorted with amusement at his antics, a cloud of warm vapour swirling from his nose up into the blindingly blue winter sky.
:Tell the stork-man to get on now or he has to carry me.:
Lexa choked down a laugh and Yarrin raised a quizzical eyebrow at her, then looked at Jass who blinked innocently back at him.
"I don't think I want to know what Jass is saying about me." He commented with some amusement, as he scrambled up onto the pillion pad behind Lexa.
"I think you're wise in that respect dearling." Lexa replied to Yarrin. "Jass is now insulting your riding abilities." She dissolved into weak laughter as Jass bobbed his head and whickered with amusement.
"Some things don't change then." Yarrin observed with a sigh. "Shall we be off Lex, dear?"
In reply, Lexa signaled to Jass who moved off at an easy trot, closely followed by Zirri.
Derran sat easily on her back, still elated at having successfully dealt with all the judgements in Asten. The trainee was of medium height, nowhere near as tall as the stork like Yarrin at any rate, and had short, dark brown hair and brown eyes. In physical appearance he was nothing more than average, except for the fact that his good nature and life-loving spirit shone through his face and coloured everything that he did.
:See.: Zirri sounded as satisfied and happy as Derran felt. :I told you that everything would be fine.:
:Indeed you did, remind me to worship you later sweetie.: Derran grinned as Zirri snorted slightly at him. :Really, I mean it. I was so nervous last night when Lexa told me that I'd be doing all of today's judging.:
:Yes, well, like I said Chosen. You were fine. Better than, in fact!: Zirri looked back at Derran, her eyes sparkling with amusement and he grinned back at her.
Looking up at the chattering Herald and Healer riding in front of them Derran smiled. :They really are good friends, aren't they?: He asked his Companion.
:Yes,: she replied, :Jass says that they've known each other practically since they both arrived at Haven.: She stretched her head forward slightly and tested the breeze for a moment. :We'll be at the final village soon.:
Derran 'mmm'ed in agreement and pulled off one glove to rub at his forehead. Sparkles of light were beginning to dance in front of his eyes.
Zirri swivelled both her ears back, towards her Chosen. :Derran? Are you ok?: she asked, a faint tinge of worry overlaying her voice.
:I—I'm fine Zirri.: Derran's Mindvoice faltered as the shimmers of light intensified, culminating in a sharp flash.
Darkness, quickly followed by light, burning light.
Flash.
Fear! Fearfearfear! Panic! Sour taste of terror, overlaid with the insidious canker of evil.
Flash.
Soft thumping sound and a wash of heat. Fire, all around him burned the fire, clawing it's way skywards like a demonic creature.
Flash.
Strange faces, twisted with hate, mouths moving, but no sound.
Flash.
Thudding sensation, followed fast by white heat of pain, throbbing in time with the hellfire that convulsed behind him.
Flash.
A scream, the only sound, glaring white and blue. Anger, terrible anger.
Flash.
Derran let out a groan as he found himself suddenly back in his own body, hands convulsed into fists on the pommel of the saddle, Zirri repeatedly calling his name in Mindspeech, Lexa and Yarrin, still on Jass, who had stopped next to Zirri, doing the same vocally.
"I'm fine, really—" Derran croaked and then coughed harshly.
"What is it?" Lexa demanded, her face taunt with worry. "Was it your Foresight?"
Derran straightened himself in the saddle. "Yes, something—someone, I was seeing through someone else's eyes. They were in danger, terrible danger. There was fire—it looked like one of the hells…" Derran shivered as he remembered the threads of evil that he had sensed along with the vision.
"'Ran," Lexa called his attention back to her, "think, where was it? Could you see where it was?"
"It was close, very close. I think, I don't think there's much time." Derran lapsed into silence as the Healer looked at him with concern.
Lexa opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, her eyes widened and she whipped her head around to stare blankly up the road, towards the village of Bolten, an action mirrored by both Companions.
A deep roar echoed around the slumbering forest and a belching cloud of smoke writhed it's way into the azure sky. Sooty sparks swirled out from the rapidly expanding miasma, showering down on the trees in the distance.
"Hydatha's tits!" Lexa swore. :Jass!:
Both Companions launched themselves into a full gallop and pounded down the snow covered road, and icy cloud of crystals dancing in their wake.
:Derran!: Lexa's Mindvoice made Derran start, it wasn't often that his mentor Mindspoke him.
:Y—yes?:
:Is this what you Saw?:
:I think so.:
:Hells.:
Jass and Zirri were now in their full stride, near enough flying over the snow, almost as if they were reincarnations of the Windrider himself. Lexa clung grimly to the pommel of the saddle, normally she would have been fine, but poor, unbalanced Yarrin clinging onto her combined with the fact that her Mage senses were now screaming warning at her was keeping her off balance.
Jass's head was down and his ears were pricked forwards as he thundered along, the thudding of his and Zirri's hooves causing the local birdlife to clatter into the air, shrilling in alarm.
:Help me—us!: The unknown Mindvoice, almost unintelligible with fear screamed across Lexa's mind. Judging by Yarrin's yelp of pain, he had also heard it.
:HELP!: The voice spiralled upwards in volume, and a surge of raw fear accompanied it.
Jass stumbled slightly and jerked his head up. :Kara?!: His Broadsend was loud, and incredulous.
The unknown mind locked onto them, Lexa could feel it focusing on them, trying to identify them. :Jass? Jass! Help me! Help her! She's dying I—:
The Sending faded into a garbled wash of fear and panic. Jass squealed and dug his hooves into the ground, turning so fast that he almost unseated Lexa and Yarrin, he darted down a half hidden side track. Lexa was half aware of Zirri performing a similar manoeuvre and Derran clinging desperately at the pommel of his saddle to stay with her. Lexa shook her head and tried to right herself as Jass flashed along the track.
:Jass!: Lexa almost had to shout to get her Companion's attention, his concentration was on getting them –where-ever—as soon as possible.
:What?:
:Who—what was that.:
:Kara.: Jass said grimly. :My sister.:
Lexa cursed silently as Jass turned his attention back to the headlong gallop. This time he gave her slight warning before he threw himself into another twisting turn, without losing a beat. Now they were running down a narrow track. Lexa noted with foreboding that the snow ahead of them was already churned up by hooves and was in places speckled with a bright red, fading to pink.
~Oh, Gods.~
Before anything more could form in Lexa's mind Jass locked his legs and stopped, hips slewing sideways, kicking up clouds of snow, dumping his momentum as he entered the clearing before the Herald's Waystation.
Zirri followed hard on his heels. :Hang on.: she warned Derran as she also slewed to a halt.
Derran prised hands that felt like they were welded to the leather off of the pommel of the saddle, simultaneously looking around for his mentor. Lexa was ahead of him, scrambling off Jass's back and stumbling over the snow, closely followed by the green clad Healer. They were running towards a third Companion, who stood shivering in the clearing before the Waystation, head down, eyes glassy and almost black, sides streaked liberally with—no—sides liberally streaked with blood.
Derran almost fell out of the saddle in his haste to reach the apparently injured Companion. The Healer reached the mare, but instead of helping her, or even looking at her, hesagged to the ground and reached for something on the ground.
As Derran scrambled closer, closely followed by his worried Companion, he could make out what the Healer was bent over, it was a person, sprawled across the snow, which was dyed a bright red.
"We need to get her inside." Yarrin's voice was shaking, and sounded abstracted as he reached over the prone form, which Derran belatedly noticed was a girl, and picked her up. Red snow showered off her sodden clothes and the blood streaked Companion moaned slightly.
The Healer lurched over the snow and thudded against the door of the Waystation, forcing it open. Once inside, he laid the injured girl on the bed and began stripping off her blood and ice soaked clothes as the two Heralds and three Companions crowded in behind him. Lexa glanced around and ingnited the already laid fire with a touch of her mage gift.
The mare bulled her way to the head of the bed and looked at the Healer with terror filled sapphire eyes.
:Please. You have to save her—: The Mindvoice faltered as everyone stared at her in shock. The mare was Broadsending to the entire room.
:I can't hold her here much longer, she's dying. Heal her. Please.:
Yarrin nodded at her. "I'll do all I can, lady, just hold her for a bit longer, Lexa—"
The female Herald moved forward at Yarrin's call. "Derran can feed you as well." She stated. "Derran, come here please."
The trainee moved towards her and looked at her with worry and puzzlement. "What can I do?" He asked uncertainly.
Lexa took hold of his hands. "Drop your shields and link with me." She ordered. "And just feed me power, I'm going to feed to Yarrin so he can Heal her."
Jass moved up beside the mare. :I can help Kara hold her Chosen.: He stated.
Yarrin nodded once. "Good." He said shortly, then fell into a trance.
Derran followed Lexa's instructions and lowered all but his most personal shields, she Reached out for him and joined them together. :Start feeding me now.: She ordered.
Derran began to push a steady stream of energy towards his mentor, and felt Zirri add her strength to his, turning their combined energy to a pure blue-white. Through his meld with Lexa, he was aware that she was taking the energy that they were giving her and was adding her own golden-yellow energy to it before feeding it to the Healer. 'Ran could dimly sense that Yarrin was doing something to the energy, changing it to a golden green colour and saturating the injured girl's body with it.
Flesh healed and knitted together under the coaxing of the Healer until only a silver scar remained on the girl's leg. Instead of stopping at that, as Derran, and Lexa too, expected, Yarrin continued pouring Healing energies into the girl's body, he seemed to be chasing after something.
Lexa brushed lightly against his mind. Knowing that he had a slight Mindspeech Gift. :Yarrin, what is it?:
:Poison. It's what's killing her, not the wound.:
Once again, Lexa began reciting curses under her breath.
~***~
Every bone in Lexa's body was aching, and from the look of it Yarrin and Derran were feeling pretty much the same. Cleansing the girl's body of the insidious poison had taken candlemarks of exhausting work, but they had eventually been successful, and now the girl was asleep in the bed, bundled up in many blankets to keep her warm, her Companion laying on the floor next to her, nose touching her Chosen.
Jass and Zirri were standing against the front wall of the Waystation, basking in the heat from the fire that Lexa had magically ignited when they arrived. Derran finished throwing more kindling on the fire and settled back on his pile of bedding on the floor, giving his Companion an imploring look. Zirri complied by moving over to him and folding her legs beneath her, settled on the floor behind him, allowing him to lean against her.
"I just feel the need to be in contact with her." He explained.
Lexa nodded. "I know what you mean."
"Who is she?" Derran nodded at the girl.
Jass raised his head and looked at his Chosen. :Her name is Saffri and Kara has Chosen her.:
"Jass says her name is Saffri. Kara has Chosen her, Kara is Jass's younger sister." Lexa repeated out loud for Yarrin and Derran's benefit.
"Was she the one who I was seeing through in my vision?" Derran asked with a shiver at the remembered evil.
Lexa paused for a moment. "I believe so, yes."
Yarrin cleared his throat. "Then she has something to do with—" Yarrin nodded in the direction of Bolten.
"Yes." Lexa stared worriedly at the wall, as if she could will a view at the village to appear on it.
:Chosen, whatever has happened, we will get to the bottom of it. We are all too tired at the moment. We can go in the morning, whatever evidence or explanation is there tonight will still be there tomorrow.:
:I know Jass, that's what I'm almost afraid of.: Lexa replied broodingly, switching her gaze to the hearth where the fire snapped and crackled, sending glowing sparks up the chimney.