Firia awoke in a cold sweat, struggling against the frozen grip of hands that she could still feel clasping her limbs. But the hands weren't there, despite the ghostly touches that whispered against her skin. In that confusing moment sandwiched between dreaming and waking, clarity suddenly doused Firia's nerves with ice water. She was incarnar, distanced from Lafitte and Edge in a way that physical increments could not measure.
She scrambled up, trying to summon both orientation and sense in one awkward lunge. Tangled in sheets and blankets, Firia fell on top of Xelloss' sleeping form. Careful! She summoned a bit of calm into her, picking herself up slowly. Xelloss was still cold but he no longer felt like a frozen corpse. This touched Firia's nerves and soothed them, certainly the biggest relief of this crazy, trying day. She welcomed the good news, letting it seep into her tense muscles and beating heart.
Okay. She was out of the bed now. She was creeping along the floor, her steps as soft as the fall of snowflakes. Firia paused before the doorway to the bathroom, reminding herself to breathe. Then she slowly leaned her head around to peek inside, her nerves drawing tight again.
It looked just like a normal bathroom.
Firia swallowed, her throat dry and sore. She forced her legs to move, ordered her body to proceed into the room. Her eyes traced every corner and curve in here. Her neck tingled. At any moment, she expected an icy hand to clutch her throat.
Nothing. No creepy monsters, no evil demons. The bathroom was just as she left it, a bit messy but nothing...terrifying...in the mess. The knife stared up at her from the bathtub, surrounded by solid ice. It had completely frozen the bathwater.
It looked so innocent, like some curio for display. A pretty bit of glass that might possibly serve as a letter opener. A novelty.
Firia hated it even more now.
Ice? It wanted to turn its resting place to ice? Well. Firia was fine with that notion.
She drew in a breath, the air in here warmed from the merrily crackling hearth. Inside her chest the air heated. The sensation was comforting, like she was drinking a mug of hot tea. Within her breast the warmth kindled into fire, the burning even more welcome. It rose in her, rushed through her veins, seeping into her heart and blossoming into a thermal core. This was what love felt like. This was anger and passion. This was what moved her blood to beat every second of the day. Firia embraced the heat, felt it embrace her, and then let it go in a gasp of molten fury.
Steam rushed around her face. Her skin was brushed with wet heat and then left to cool, beads of moisture collecting in the strands of her hair. Firia's eyes cut through the fog as it cleared. The ice was gone. The water was gone. The bathtub was gone.
But the knife was still there.
In a fit of rage that drowned out rationality, Firia grabbed the knife. Her roar of anger muted the pain in her hand as the knife tried to claim in frost what touched it. She darted out of the bathroom and lunged across the bedroom, half blinded by hatred for the vile thing in her grasp. She wrenched the hot grate of the hearth open with as much regard for the searing pain in her fingers as she had given the frozen agony that wracked her other hand.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Firia flung the blade into the fire and slammed the grate closed.
* * *
Lafitte had lost the strength to give a proper struggle as Edge's strangling fingers attempted to squeeze the ether out of him. He hung limp in the knife's grasp, thinking somberly about his impending future. Was he going to die? He didn't want that. As a surinni, he was ever ready to be reunited with his Chaotic Mother. But as it went with many of his kind, ready was not the same as eager.
"I'll kill you! I'll wring your worthless astral hide into nothing and then take out the rest of my frustrations on your beloved master! You surinni are NEVER worth the trouble of grooming into proper pets! Your only worth is in the mild entertainment that results from your pitiful death!" Edge was livid, his words screamed through Xelloss' voice and punctuated with the priest's enraged face.
It was kind of funny, Lafitte mused. Firia was a clever girl. He hadn't given her enough credit. He would never have expected anyone who had just now discovered the principles of astral reality to make the conclusions she did. It was perfectly logical to assume that holy energies would break the seals this chamber imposed on her and send her back incarnar. But even with that grand leap of sense, he was more shocked at her amazing control over astral force. She must have known how that light could hurt Xelloss. She had brought in just enough energy to free herself without poisoning him.
Very, very impressive. Lafitte wished that he would be alive long enough to tell her that.
"Do you hear me? I will gorge myself on your pain and then cleanse my palate with my Master's servant's last fluttering gasps of agony. You'll be dead! He'll be mine! And that blasted dragon bitch will die at this priest's hands when Lord Dynast possesses his loyalties fully! She'll scream for mercy-"
Xelloss let out a scream of agony so piercing that the glass around the room vibrated along with the keening resonance.
The chains around Lafitte's body grew slack, the fingers losing their grip as the icy mass of links convulsed. As Edge's web of frost shuddered, Lafitte slipped from his bonds and floated nearer to his friend. Xelloss was silent and perfectly still, Edge's voice piercing the chamber with no tongue to craft it. The knife was shaking in the priest's back, a fracture cleaving its handle.
Lafitte leapt quickly, darting to pull Xelloss from Edge's failing grasp. He dragged his master away from Edge's weakened grip and glided away to a low corner. As the last of Edge's cold fingers parted from Xelloss, Lafitte grabbed the knife's handle and pulled it from its living sheath. As the blade finally left Xelloss' back it crumbled into burning dust. Lafitte crouched in the corner, his body shielding his master's as Edge's labyrinthine coils burst into a spray of freezing shrapnel.
It was a long time before Lafitte could bring himself to move again. He finally lifted himself away from Xelloss and looked around the chamber. Nothing. No trace was left behind of Edge. The room was even beginning to feel warm, curiously enough...
"Firia? Is that coming from you?" Lafitte caught Firia as she fell before him, her astral form matching her physical one in abrasions and in heat. "What the hell did you do?"
Firia slumped against Lafitte, her senses reeling from the quick departure surinnar. She hadn't been ready for it, but waiting for recovery wasn't even a possibility in her mind. "I burned Edge into ashen frost. How is Xelloss? Are you okay?"
Lafitte shook his head and leaned Firia back, laying her beside Xelloss. "You shouldn't have come back here as hurt as you are. These things carry over."
Running her hands over Xelloss' face, Firia willed some of her warmth into him. The priest looked much more ill here than incarnar. His face showed his fatigue so much that it almost appeared aged. The faint blue tinge of his skin was marked by dark purple bruises. There were scratches on his body where sharp fingernails had clutched him too eagerly. But the abrasions were secondary to the aura of weariness that consumed Xelloss. His torture on this plane had been very prolonged and acute. Dynast obviously had given Xelloss a rough time incarnar, but this was where all the worst damage had really happened.
Lafitte watched Firia's hands smooth his master's hair and realized that it would be a long time before the dragon would put aside her concern for Xelloss. And he really didn't blame her. He was just as worried for the incarnt. But someone had to take care of the practical things, like-
Firia glanced up at Lafitte as he gently touched her arm. His eyes were dark with anxiety. "This may seem like the end of our troubles, but they are far from over. You and Xelloss are in extreme danger right now. I can't explain as much as I should because this is too urgent. You two have bodies laying around incarnar, and it won't take Dynast long to follow Xelloss to your home. When he does, he musn't find anything important left behind. Incarnt can stay entirely incarnar or surinnar as they please. But you and I are different. As a dragon, you're lucky enough to be able to do as much surinnar travel as you have. You cannot completely cross over on your own. And I, as a surinni, am usually bound to this plane. But if you agree to trade your incarnar nature for my surinnar aspects, then I can move both you and Xelloss completely surinnar. After I do so, I will hide incarnar and wait for Xelloss to return us to normal. You must agree to this. There is no other way that the both of you will remain safe."
The words caused a thousand questions to assault Firia's mind, but she let her curiosity go. She knew that this situation was too urgent for that. "If I do this, what next? I'm injured and Xelloss' condition is beyond my healing abilities. I won't have a guide without you here, and I'm too much of a novice to do guesswork with his situation this critical."
Lafitte realized that Firia was absolutely right. Even if she was safe, she and Xelloss were too vulnerable like this. "You've seen the stars outside, right? They are the limitless possible destinations on this plane. Have you traveled to any?"
Firia nodded. "I've journeyed to some by myself, and Xelloss accompanied me on a few expeditions."
"Excellent. Look for the golden star. You won't have seen it before, because it only appears to those who purposefully seek it. But you cannot miss it. After you feel your body settle completely onto this plane, take as long as you need to get oriented properly. After that, go quickly to the golden star." He paused, an inner debate apparent on his face for a moment. After his features resolved, he went on. "Tell them that you were sent by Rahanalili." He took her hands in his. "Now give me your body. Please."
Firia summoned her courage, and intoned, "You may take of my incarnar nature what you wish, if I receive an equal gift."
"You are truly a gem, Firia. I'm glad I could meet you again." Lafitte pulled with an astral grip, tugging himself onto the physical plane as Firia blinked at his words.
She scrambled up, trying to summon both orientation and sense in one awkward lunge. Tangled in sheets and blankets, Firia fell on top of Xelloss' sleeping form. Careful! She summoned a bit of calm into her, picking herself up slowly. Xelloss was still cold but he no longer felt like a frozen corpse. This touched Firia's nerves and soothed them, certainly the biggest relief of this crazy, trying day. She welcomed the good news, letting it seep into her tense muscles and beating heart.
Okay. She was out of the bed now. She was creeping along the floor, her steps as soft as the fall of snowflakes. Firia paused before the doorway to the bathroom, reminding herself to breathe. Then she slowly leaned her head around to peek inside, her nerves drawing tight again.
It looked just like a normal bathroom.
Firia swallowed, her throat dry and sore. She forced her legs to move, ordered her body to proceed into the room. Her eyes traced every corner and curve in here. Her neck tingled. At any moment, she expected an icy hand to clutch her throat.
Nothing. No creepy monsters, no evil demons. The bathroom was just as she left it, a bit messy but nothing...terrifying...in the mess. The knife stared up at her from the bathtub, surrounded by solid ice. It had completely frozen the bathwater.
It looked so innocent, like some curio for display. A pretty bit of glass that might possibly serve as a letter opener. A novelty.
Firia hated it even more now.
Ice? It wanted to turn its resting place to ice? Well. Firia was fine with that notion.
She drew in a breath, the air in here warmed from the merrily crackling hearth. Inside her chest the air heated. The sensation was comforting, like she was drinking a mug of hot tea. Within her breast the warmth kindled into fire, the burning even more welcome. It rose in her, rushed through her veins, seeping into her heart and blossoming into a thermal core. This was what love felt like. This was anger and passion. This was what moved her blood to beat every second of the day. Firia embraced the heat, felt it embrace her, and then let it go in a gasp of molten fury.
Steam rushed around her face. Her skin was brushed with wet heat and then left to cool, beads of moisture collecting in the strands of her hair. Firia's eyes cut through the fog as it cleared. The ice was gone. The water was gone. The bathtub was gone.
But the knife was still there.
In a fit of rage that drowned out rationality, Firia grabbed the knife. Her roar of anger muted the pain in her hand as the knife tried to claim in frost what touched it. She darted out of the bathroom and lunged across the bedroom, half blinded by hatred for the vile thing in her grasp. She wrenched the hot grate of the hearth open with as much regard for the searing pain in her fingers as she had given the frozen agony that wracked her other hand.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Firia flung the blade into the fire and slammed the grate closed.
* * *
Lafitte had lost the strength to give a proper struggle as Edge's strangling fingers attempted to squeeze the ether out of him. He hung limp in the knife's grasp, thinking somberly about his impending future. Was he going to die? He didn't want that. As a surinni, he was ever ready to be reunited with his Chaotic Mother. But as it went with many of his kind, ready was not the same as eager.
"I'll kill you! I'll wring your worthless astral hide into nothing and then take out the rest of my frustrations on your beloved master! You surinni are NEVER worth the trouble of grooming into proper pets! Your only worth is in the mild entertainment that results from your pitiful death!" Edge was livid, his words screamed through Xelloss' voice and punctuated with the priest's enraged face.
It was kind of funny, Lafitte mused. Firia was a clever girl. He hadn't given her enough credit. He would never have expected anyone who had just now discovered the principles of astral reality to make the conclusions she did. It was perfectly logical to assume that holy energies would break the seals this chamber imposed on her and send her back incarnar. But even with that grand leap of sense, he was more shocked at her amazing control over astral force. She must have known how that light could hurt Xelloss. She had brought in just enough energy to free herself without poisoning him.
Very, very impressive. Lafitte wished that he would be alive long enough to tell her that.
"Do you hear me? I will gorge myself on your pain and then cleanse my palate with my Master's servant's last fluttering gasps of agony. You'll be dead! He'll be mine! And that blasted dragon bitch will die at this priest's hands when Lord Dynast possesses his loyalties fully! She'll scream for mercy-"
Xelloss let out a scream of agony so piercing that the glass around the room vibrated along with the keening resonance.
The chains around Lafitte's body grew slack, the fingers losing their grip as the icy mass of links convulsed. As Edge's web of frost shuddered, Lafitte slipped from his bonds and floated nearer to his friend. Xelloss was silent and perfectly still, Edge's voice piercing the chamber with no tongue to craft it. The knife was shaking in the priest's back, a fracture cleaving its handle.
Lafitte leapt quickly, darting to pull Xelloss from Edge's failing grasp. He dragged his master away from Edge's weakened grip and glided away to a low corner. As the last of Edge's cold fingers parted from Xelloss, Lafitte grabbed the knife's handle and pulled it from its living sheath. As the blade finally left Xelloss' back it crumbled into burning dust. Lafitte crouched in the corner, his body shielding his master's as Edge's labyrinthine coils burst into a spray of freezing shrapnel.
It was a long time before Lafitte could bring himself to move again. He finally lifted himself away from Xelloss and looked around the chamber. Nothing. No trace was left behind of Edge. The room was even beginning to feel warm, curiously enough...
"Firia? Is that coming from you?" Lafitte caught Firia as she fell before him, her astral form matching her physical one in abrasions and in heat. "What the hell did you do?"
Firia slumped against Lafitte, her senses reeling from the quick departure surinnar. She hadn't been ready for it, but waiting for recovery wasn't even a possibility in her mind. "I burned Edge into ashen frost. How is Xelloss? Are you okay?"
Lafitte shook his head and leaned Firia back, laying her beside Xelloss. "You shouldn't have come back here as hurt as you are. These things carry over."
Running her hands over Xelloss' face, Firia willed some of her warmth into him. The priest looked much more ill here than incarnar. His face showed his fatigue so much that it almost appeared aged. The faint blue tinge of his skin was marked by dark purple bruises. There were scratches on his body where sharp fingernails had clutched him too eagerly. But the abrasions were secondary to the aura of weariness that consumed Xelloss. His torture on this plane had been very prolonged and acute. Dynast obviously had given Xelloss a rough time incarnar, but this was where all the worst damage had really happened.
Lafitte watched Firia's hands smooth his master's hair and realized that it would be a long time before the dragon would put aside her concern for Xelloss. And he really didn't blame her. He was just as worried for the incarnt. But someone had to take care of the practical things, like-
Firia glanced up at Lafitte as he gently touched her arm. His eyes were dark with anxiety. "This may seem like the end of our troubles, but they are far from over. You and Xelloss are in extreme danger right now. I can't explain as much as I should because this is too urgent. You two have bodies laying around incarnar, and it won't take Dynast long to follow Xelloss to your home. When he does, he musn't find anything important left behind. Incarnt can stay entirely incarnar or surinnar as they please. But you and I are different. As a dragon, you're lucky enough to be able to do as much surinnar travel as you have. You cannot completely cross over on your own. And I, as a surinni, am usually bound to this plane. But if you agree to trade your incarnar nature for my surinnar aspects, then I can move both you and Xelloss completely surinnar. After I do so, I will hide incarnar and wait for Xelloss to return us to normal. You must agree to this. There is no other way that the both of you will remain safe."
The words caused a thousand questions to assault Firia's mind, but she let her curiosity go. She knew that this situation was too urgent for that. "If I do this, what next? I'm injured and Xelloss' condition is beyond my healing abilities. I won't have a guide without you here, and I'm too much of a novice to do guesswork with his situation this critical."
Lafitte realized that Firia was absolutely right. Even if she was safe, she and Xelloss were too vulnerable like this. "You've seen the stars outside, right? They are the limitless possible destinations on this plane. Have you traveled to any?"
Firia nodded. "I've journeyed to some by myself, and Xelloss accompanied me on a few expeditions."
"Excellent. Look for the golden star. You won't have seen it before, because it only appears to those who purposefully seek it. But you cannot miss it. After you feel your body settle completely onto this plane, take as long as you need to get oriented properly. After that, go quickly to the golden star." He paused, an inner debate apparent on his face for a moment. After his features resolved, he went on. "Tell them that you were sent by Rahanalili." He took her hands in his. "Now give me your body. Please."
Firia summoned her courage, and intoned, "You may take of my incarnar nature what you wish, if I receive an equal gift."
"You are truly a gem, Firia. I'm glad I could meet you again." Lafitte pulled with an astral grip, tugging himself onto the physical plane as Firia blinked at his words.