Author's Note: Hm, what have we here? ...Some drama at first, then down to business. Yes, poor Daine is encountering… obstacles. Short one, too. I'm sorry updates are slow lately. I'll have to get moving, though; I want to finish all my fics before school starts.
Chapter 13
Sinking into a dark abyss, something deep, deep down seemed to waken, as though the gravity of the moment allowed it to rise to her awareness. A long-buried secret, returning to taunt her.
It was Savagni. Something about his words and nature was far too familiar. Dimly she knew she'd seen him before, or even more – that she'd known him, somehow, in another lifetime or plane. She struggled to place it – when else might he have appeared in her life? – but the answer stayed beyond her reach.
She was losing her grasp on the world. She tried to gasp, but she was too tired to cry out in protest, much less to keep fighting. She was slipping away. No! she thought desperately. I must hold on. I can't let go… I am….
Who was she?
Furious at herself for losing sight of her identity, she cried out as fiercely as she could, albeit only in her mind, I am Veralidaine Sarrasri, daughter of Weiryn of the hunt and Sarra the Green Lady, Wildmage of Tortall, friend of the People, beloved of Numair Salmalín…. She repeated it over and over.
The still-remaining puzzle poked through her frantic assertions as she slipped into darkness. Foe…what name did I know you by when last we met? By what name did I call you…
~~~~~
…when last our paths crossed? The words echoed in her head a thousand times over, scattering harshly throughout her being like the shards of a broken promise.
The darkness dissolved. Daine opened her eyes.
She was in a forest, standing fully dressed on a dirt path that sloped up to a cottage. Sunlight filtered through the canopy above, dappling the ground; tree leaves rustled softly in the breeze; birds chirped merrily. She felt none of the People. Not a single one.
Up the hill, the cottage door slammed. Two people rushed out to stare at her – a sweet-faced blonde woman with her hair pinned up, a tall man with antlers planted in his curly hair. They were her parents.
"Daine?" her mother called.
Daine stood rooted to the spot, numb and trembling, staring at her surroundings. She'd been here before. And given what had just happened, it could mean only one thing.
She found her voice. "No!" She clawed at her surroundings as if to make this place release her. The trees and sky and summer-fragrant air only seemed to press closer, swamping her. She doubled over, stricken, still trying to somehow escape from the forest around her. She curled up on the ground, convulsing, knees drawn up to her chest. She clapped her hands over her mouth, but broken sobs burst through.
Gentle hands gripped her forearms; Sarra looked anxiously into her eyes. "Daine, sweet –"
"No!" she shrieked again, pushing her mother away. "No… please…." Her head spun. Her insides bucked; bile pushed up her throat.
"Daine, listen." Sarra put an arm around her daughter; this time Daine merely curled up again, head down on her knees, eyes squeezed shut, still wracked with sobs. If she closed her eyes and wished hard enough, surely she would wake up back home with another life, another chance. Surely one mistake could be forgiven, one grievous mishap revoked.
"Dearest, please calm down," Sarra pleaded. "It's going to be all right. You're going to be fine here –"
Damned if she was going to settle for an eternity in the Divine Realms, living happily with her parents like a good little demigoddess. She pulled out of her mother's embrace and half-rolled, half-crawled away, leaning on her hands, lost in grief.
"No," she whispered, suddenly exhausted. "I can't… I just can't…." Her words were cut off by sobs. This time no one approached her; her parents both watched her intently from a few paces away, Sarra kneeling where she'd held Daine, Weiryn standing. Neither spoke.
Daine tried to control her voice. "Numair… and Tortall… and the People…." How could she explain that she couldn't die, she was too needed – and she needed too much? And she hadn't finished the battle. If she died, he would become the Wildmage – and she couldn't let that happen.
At the thought, the outrage of what had happened came back to Daine, and her strength returned in a flood of anger. She turned back to face her parents, breathing hard. "Did you see what happened?" she demanded. "Did you see what he did?" Savagni's words echoed in her mind, taunting, triumphant: You, unfortunately, have failed to deploy your magic to your own benefit… and so you are paying the price. She'd stayed true to her principles – she would never sacrifice her friends, not like him – and he'd used it against her.
"Yes," Weiryn said heavily. "We saw."
"And?" Steaming, Daine rose to her feet, keeping her distance from her parents. Her hands clenched into fists. "Are you going to let it happen? It's not right – it's foul, and you know it well."
"Daine, I'm sorry." Tears filled Sarra's eyes; she too stood. "I'm so terribly sorry, sweet. But we can hardly do anything about it now – now that you're here…." She trailed off awkwardly.
Daine snorted. "Mouse manure. I've been here before more than once, and I went back easily enough then."
"Yes, but those were accidents, grievous ones –" Sarra was twisting her hands in her apron.
"So you're saying that now I'm stuck here for good, dead and gone as far as my friends are concerned, because – what? Because Savagni beat me fair and square? Is that what you're saying?" She found herself angrier than she could ever remember being with her parents. Her temples throbbed.
"Veralidaine… the matter is complicated," Weiryn said hesitantly. "You understand, he is the son of our brother Cianto."
"I heard. So, Cianto lets his son run wild in the Mortal Realms, making the People his playthings and slaves and killing other wildmages so he can make the most of his own power – and no one objects to it?" Daine's lip curled in disgust. "And we humans look up to the gods to set justice on the world. Fine job they're doing."
"Daine, please calm down –" Sarra began.
"I will not calm down! I have a fair deal to do down there, and now I'm dead because that – that thing challenged me to prove myself a friend of the People, and when I did, he killed me for it!"
"Daine –"
"And now you're telling me none of the gods will lift a finger about it, because Savagni's one of your own! Well, so am I, and what just happened is the most twisted thing I've ever seen Fate and the gods allow, and I am not going to quiet down and settle in like you all seem to want me to until someone does something about the fact that I just got murdered for protecting the People!" Her voice rose shrilly.
"Veralidaine –" her father's voice was stiff. "Listen to me –"
"No, Da, you listen to me. Eight years ago, we were standing in front of Mithros and he said that I was a problem because I was godborn, and godborn tend to cause trouble wherever they go, especially me. Right now there's a half-god down there who is causing a fair deal more trouble than I ever did, and you can see that he means to cause more now that I'm – out of the way, so I think it would be the wisest thing for the gods to do something about him!"
Her parents fell silent, Sarra clearly on the verge of tears, Weiryn watching Daine gravely. She stared back impudently, refusing to back down.
"She's right, Weiryn," said a gravelly voice. A large, striped badger waddled into the family's midst, bringing his familiar musky scent. He nodded at Daine. "Hello, kit."
"Hullo, badger," she replied. "Good to see you, though I wish it weren't such a bad time at the moment."
"Can't blame you," he agreed, then turned back to her parents. "It's time the Great Ones did something about Cianto's boy. And Daine –" he glanced back at her – "shouldn't have died."
"Thanks," she muttered.
"Look at things from her point of view," the badger continued. "It was nasty down there – you saw for yourself that Savagni plays dirty. I think you'd see things clearer if you weren't so set on keeping Daine here with you."
"It's not such a horrible fate," Sarra said defensively.
"Ma –" Daine sputtered. "Maybe you've forgotten what it means to die. I – I am not going to stand for what Savagni did. And I'm fair young for it!"
"Very true," added the badger. "And think of what she'd be leaving behind."
Daine bit her lip as she thought of Numair. Don't get killed, Daine… I love you. She had promised….
"Badger," argued her father, "it's not as simple as it's been before. We can't send her back without the Great Ones' permission. We would have to call Cianto into court, and present the case…."
"Then let's get started," the badger suggested. A definite note of disapproval had entered his tone. "In case you haven't noticed," he added gravely, "it's an important case here at hand." He looked pointedly at Daine.
Weiryn sighed, absently fingering his antlers. "You're right," he said after a moment. "It's just – going to be trouble, sure enough. Cianto…." He trailed off.
"Has his own ideas," Sarra supplied grimly. "And he's in a fair position with the Great Ones – he's always been the finest vassal. Like when they were fighting Uusoae." She nodded at her daughter.
"Well," Daine said quietly. "I think he'll have to do some explaining about this one. The Great Ones give a care to justice, I'd think."
"Daine," Weiryn said gravely. "I'm sorry. I apologize for not taking the matter seriously at first. We will certainly speak with the Great Ones and Cianto, to get his son in order, and you back in the Mortal Realms."
Daine found herself at a momentary loss for words; it seemed less than fitting to thank her father. "Good," she said simply after a moment's hesitation. Then she sighed and looked down as the burden of the task before them weighed fully on her shoulders. There was a long way between her and her life in the Mortal Realms.
"Weiryn," said the badger, "let's you and I go tell the Great Ones what's amiss, and request an audience with them and Cianto – with Daine – to work it out."
"Very well. Daine, Sarra, we should be back in an hour's time." With that, white fire gathered around Weiryn and the badger; when it faded, both had vanished.
Daine set her jaw. Too much could happen in an hour. But then, she doubted her father and the badger could manage much faster.
"Daine?" Her mother touched her arm gently, sweet blue eyes filled with concern. "Are you all right?"
Aside from the fact that I'm dead, Daine thought darkly, and we're all going to have to fight to get me alive again, I'm as well as can be expected. Aloud she said, "I'm fine." She sighed impatiently, looking at the lush trees and brush around her, then had an idea. "Ma –" she looked eagerly at her mother – "you can see things in the Mortal Realms when you wish, can't you? Through fire, and water, and such?"
"Why, yes, we can."
"Good." Daine was already striding up the hill toward her parents' house. "Then show me what passes down at Ravenpeak."
