Disclaimer: Don't own anything you saw in the Immortals Quartet. Own Zircah Bladewing and the extra bits of storyline. That's it.
A/N: Apologies for the state of this chapter. It never helps when you're on a crappy PC and FF.Net dies, too. Anyways, sorry for how long this took. It's kinda hard to write eight things at once.
Chapter Seven
Confronting Fears
Zircah's eyes snapped open as soon as the mortal woman entered the Stormwing roost. "What do you want?" She demanded, fully awake, and regretted her harsh question as the mortal let out a startled shriek and jumped back, hand on her heart. There was an immediate chain reaction as every Stormwing in the roost came suddenly awake and brought their wings up to cowl their heads defensively.
Zircah sent out a quelling calm with her wild magic. More than half the Stormwings' eyes fluttered closed again. With a snort of contempt, Zircah turned her attention back to the servant woman, who had still not built up the courage to venture back inside. "Well? I asked you a question, ground-pounder."
The servant steeled herself and stepped inside again. Timidly, she bobbed into a curtsey. "Excuse me, Lord Rikash, Lady Zircah. I've been asked to speak to you by Lady Maura's nurse and Cook Sara."
Zircah stared at her and glanced to her side to find that Rikash had not been sent spiralling back into the dream world by her magic. She was almost impressed with his will, but that vanished once she remembered that his name had come before hers when the mortal addressed them. She knew he was the leader for this mission, but she was far superior to him in everything else. She sneered as Rikash eyed the mortal somewhat wearily.
"Well. You've spoken. Is that it?" His voice was wry. Zircah could tell he was tired, but apparently it didn't stop him from thinking he was the funniest thing in the world. Her lips twitched into a smirk for a split-second and then back into her customary disapproving pout.
The servant, too, cracked a smile. "She told us you were funny." She took a deep breath. "She's... Lady Maura is missing. The nobles don't know yet, and we were wondering if you could try to find her and bring her home. Before Yol-- before milady notices." Zircah cursed silently. She hasn't returned yet?
Rikash frowned, a hint of concern showing in the bright green eyes. "Missing? For how long?"
"Since yesterday afternoon." Zircah replied before the servant could. She bated in annoyance and thinly veiled anxiety. "I saw her leave. She asked me to say nothing, so I have. I expected her to return before evening, though - she is but a mortal. She could not possibly get through the Barrier. She must still be in the valley."
Both the mortal woman and Rikash turned on her, but the woman got in first.
"You mean to tell me that you let a little girl ride off on her own with no supplies?" The servant's voice was a whisper that rose slowly to a hoarse shriek. As several Stormwings stirred again, Zircah reached out with calm once more, carefully avoiding Rikash's consciousness. "There are wolves in these woods!"
Rikash raised an eyebrow at the woman, pausing in his anger with Zircah for a moment. She stands alone in a Stormwing roost and yet she worries about wolves? "Calm down." He heard himself tell her coldly, condescendingly. "We'll look for her today. We'll bring her back."
"Alive?" The servant made bold to hiss. Zircah almost laughed.
"Of course alive." She sneered. "I have an affinity with the Beasts, mortal, and they do not touch your kind unless you provoke them. However this valley might have been disturbed lately, they would not attack a child. Mortals don't taste very nice, especially not to the wolves. That's why any human that attacks them first is left to rot until your kind finds them - they don't like your flesh. Maura will be fine. I would have heard had any wolf pack - any creature at all - caught a human. The news would have passed through the valley as a warning to stay out of sight." The servant seemed shocked by her fervour in cleaning the apparently dirty slate of wolves and other Vicious Beasts of the woodlands. She nodded, silent in her surprise. Rikash took the opportunity to cut in.
"When we find her, we will deliver her to your kitchen door so that she is not seen by the nobility." The servant nodded, curtsied gratefully and fled. Rikash turned to Zircah with his eyes closed and a pained expression on his face. His green eyes opened to stare at her with mingled fury, panic and resigned calm.
"Don't ever let her go off on her own again. Patrols might have destroyed her. They would not have known who she was. They don't commune with humans more than they have to. Never let her go off alone again. Understood?"
Zircah opened her mouth to let out a childish retort, but ended up letting out a scream when an oppressively loud ringing sound echoed cruelly across he valley. It pressed on her eardrums, made her lungs vibrate to the sound. She recoiled from the inescapable clang, sagging in relief when it stopped. It sounded again, and this time all the Stormwings around her were awake to shriek in pain and attempt vainly to cover their ears. When it stopped for the second time, Zircah remained tensed, waiting with her eyes screwed shut for the agonising sound to repeat. When it didn't, she stopped cringing and tried to look as though the sound had not bothered her in the slightest. It wouldn't have mattered had fallen off her perch (as several of her companions had) as no one had moved besides herself. Jakaal, she noticed, was still, face screwed up as though expecting further punishment. Rikash was the next to open his eyes, head ducked slightly in apprehension. The sound did not repeat itself a third time.
Rapid footsteps approached and one of the mages, Gissa, appeared at one end of the roost. "Stormwings! Find whoever did that and silence him!" She snapped. Zircah stared for a moment at the stump where one of her long, graceful hands used to be. Gissa must have noticed the inspection, for she pointed to the skies and screamed, "NOW!" Rikash gave her a level look, but took off. Zircah followed him.
"All of you come with me!" Rikash ordered. There was a rush of silver toward the skies and the entire roost full of Stormwings wheeled to the south. Zircah nearly smiled - it was good to have a nation's numbers around her in the air again. She was sick of patrols with just one or two Stormwings. She shook her head minutely as she acknowledged this. She had loathed the surrounding Stormwings in her nation in the past - when had she changed? She scowled, shaking her hair back to whip its tinkling feathers about in the wind. She smiled as the Stormwings trailing her veered away. They learn so quickly nowadays. She thought with misplaced glee.
Rikash's brow was furrowed as his green eyes scanned the land beneath him hastily, watching for any sign of the mortal child he had grown so attached to. Zircah's euphoria abandoned her suddenly, and she set to searching for Maura, too. The rest of the nation could look for the mage who had assaulted the Barrier. As they neared the western entrance to the valley, Zircah could feel the presence of the girl. That in itself was reassuring. She was about to tell Rikash when she sensed something entirely strange - a basilisk. It must be the same creature that Jakaal saw. She decided. She searched around the basilisk's mind-signature and discovered with surprise that she could feel the mortal with wild magic, too. It worried her. If Daine sensed them coming... they would never catch her by surprise. But by the strange, drifting quality of the signature burned into her magical radar, Zircah knew that the girl was in a trance of some sort. With luck, she wouldn't notice the approach of an entire Stormwing nation.
Some hopes! The more cynical side of her mind scoffed. She didn't get the chance to reply, as Rikash picked up the pace of his flight. She followed him, faster and faster. He was going to fly around the perimeter - he was going to fly right past them, for Mithros' sake! Zircah scowled and pushed upon his mind with hers. You will veer right, you will veer right, because if you don't I will forever regard you as a stupid blockhead who is immune to suggestion! Rikash veered right. Zircah smiled, pleased with the efficiency of her power, and followed him. Maura's blip in her radar was getting closer. She should be able to see her... she should have been able to see the girl a way back. She scanned the undergrowth with something approaching impatience. She certainly isn't dead... where is she? Where in the name of the Graveyard Hag is Maura?
Her question was answered as Maura suddenly ran out into the open, waving her arms delightedly. She stood on top of a rocky outcrop some way to their right. Zircah nearly grinned with relief and went as fast as she could to catch up to Rikash. Once she reached him, she plonked both her clawed feet on his shoulders and turned him roughly. She could feel his annoyance as he looked up at her in confusion and surprise.
"Bladewing, what do you think you're--"
Zircah tightened her talons briefly. "Maura at twelve o' clock, fool. Keep your lime-peel eyes open!" Not that she would have spotted the girl had she not been sensitive to her presence, but there was no need to turn down an opportunity to mock Rikash. She let go of his shoulders and he wheeled away toward Maura, obviously rating the safety of the mortal child high above whatever Gissa's problems might have been.
The girl looked absolutely delighted to see them, but Zircah could sense the conflicting dread of something to come. The female Stormwing enforced a command in Rikash's mind to hover, not land. With the press of the child's nervous apprehension, Zircah was not surprised when Maura's first words were, "Lord Rikash, you have to leave! You mustn't stay around here - you'll be hurt!"
"Hurt?" Rikash was puzzled. He couldn't sense the urgency behind this as Zircah could, and Zircah could feel that Veralidaine was coming closer... yet Rikash still continued to hover like an imbecile! "By whom?"
"Go away!" Maura's voice tried to be forceful, but she sounded too reluctant to speak harshly to her friends to convince Rikash entirely. "Please."
"Moonsword -" Zircah began, feeling the danger to them grow as Veralidaine came uncomfortably close. Then a pony burst from the trees. Veralidaine rode it, bow held high, already aimed.
"Maura, get down!" The other mortal bellowed, aiming for Rikash, whom Veralidaine had obviously perceived as the biggest threat to her younger charge. Several things happened at once. Zircah plunged to knock Rikash out of the way, Maura cried "NO!" and leapt at Veralidaine, skewing her aim so far that her bow pointed directly at Maura's ten-year-old heart.
REAR! Zircah commanded the pony, fear rising in her throat for Maura's safety. The pony obeyed, more out of surprise than of listening to the command. Rikash slammed feet-first into the ground, landing less than gracefully. Zircah, who had managed to correct her flight after shoulder-barging the blond male, set down behind him. Her mouth formed a grim line as silver blood ran down his tanned back from the nicks she had given him with her wings. She had to be more careful when she wasn't aiming to kill.
Veralidaine was muttering to a shame-faced Maura as the rest of the flock landed around them, blocking the trail all around. Some perched on the outcropping to allow themselves better visibility (and an easier take-off if there was real trouble). Veralidaine's scowl grew blacker until she could almost rival those of Zircah herself. She levelled her crossbow at Rikash once more. Zircah's eyes narrowed. Rikash merely looked annoyed for a moment, then looked expectantly at Maura.
"Tell her we mean you no harm, Lady Maura."
Veralidaine looked as though she'd been ambushed. "You're on speaking terms with them?"
"Only some." The younger girl glared at a few of the Stormwings. "They visit Yolane and Belden a lot. He is Lord Rikash, and that's Lady Zircah." Maura gestured to the two Stormwings she knew. Zircah smirked, keeping a little way behind Rikash.
"And she is a Stormwing killer! She slew one of our queens last year!" Ludahn screeched. Zircah rolled her eyes and glared at the ugly brunette.
"Do we care?" She muttered as Daine yelled a heated reply. Her attention snapped back to the plainly mad Rikash as he skirted Maura carefully with his feathers, regarding Veralidaine and the bow pointed at his throat contemptuously. Zircah felt the tickle of wild magic at the same time the mare's ears dropped even flatter to her skull in hatred and fear of the Stormwing. Surreptitiously, she stepped on Rikash's tail to stop him from moving any further forward. "She'll bite." She hissed to the male, lips barely moving. Rikash's eyes were still cold with rage, but he acknowledged her with the slightest of nods.
"You are quick to judge us, Stormwing killer. Too quick, for a human. You come from a race that spends more time murdering your own kind than do all the immortals put together, yet you insist you are better than us." He spat at Veralidaine's pony's hooves to show his disgust before some of the bitter anger faded from his mint green eyes and his attention returned to Maura. His voice was much gentler as he said, "You cannot leave Dunlath and you must not stay here. Come home. Yolane doesn't need to know you were away." He added, recalling the servant.
Maura's voice was bitter when she replied. "You mean she's hasn't noticed I'm gone. Has anyone?"
"That is unjust." Zircah interrupted, sensing the hurt that had risen in Maura. "You know very well that the cook and your nurse are frantic you've vanished."
"I left them notes. I told them not to worry."
Rikash took up the argument again as the other Stormwings murmured insults among themselves about the softness of their leaders. This soon stopped with one piercing glare from Zircah. "They still worried, apparently, enough to make them come to us."
As Maura looked frustrated and tried to explain, Zircah's attention was drawn away from the conversation by the call for help being sent out by Veralidaine. Within minutes, the mind-signatures of hundreds of starlings riddled the forest around them. Zircah realised with a half-grin that they were surrounded. "Do you know what they do?" Veralidaine was asking. "They befoul the dead who fall in battle. They live on human fear and anger. They're monsters!"
Maura shrugged casually, but her tone was colder as she replied, "They can't help how they're *made*, Daine."
Rikash shook his head in exasperation. Less than a month he had known her, and she was already arguing for him. "Maura - you can't just run away from home. And you shouldn't encourage her! You're old enough to know better!" He turned on Daine like an angry parent. Cloud snapped at him warningly and he danced gracelessly back again.
"I already know better!" Maura retorted childishly as Daine looked indignant.
"I haven't been encouraging her. I tried to make her go back. You're the one with the wings - you take her!" Zircah thought it was fortunate that Maura interrupted when she did, because Zircah wasn't confident that Rikash could have argued his way out of that one.
"I won't go back and you can't make me." Maura's voice was cold, hurt. She refused to go home, and the person she was relying on for food and protection was obviously trying to get rid of her. "They're traitors. I won't stay under the same roof as them. My father would haunt me all my life if I did." Rikash stiffened at Maura's blunt words. Zircah's glee only grew - if Daine made it out of here alive, she could ruin everything! Take that, Jokhun, and all your stupid plans!
"Let us talk of this away from prying ears." Rikash spoke coolly but carefully, lips barely moving to bare his silver teeth.
"We can speak of it now. Daine can't tell anyone. She's stuck here, too." Maura refused to let it go, but Rikash refused to be responsible for the escape of careful plans. Zircah saw the muscles of his jaw tighten in anger.
"Quiet! You're a child! You do not understand what is taking place, and you must not speak of matters you cannot comprehend." Rikash shouted. As he spoke, Maura's eyes took on glassiness, and Rikash's voice softened so that she wouldn't burst into tears, taken in by those huge brown eyes. Zircah could have slapped her forehead. Showing weakness, even to a ten-year-old, was dangerous. She sighed. Pathetic. There go all those respect points he'd earned... Zircah knew perfectly well that Maura was bluffing. Seeing its effectiveness, she made a mental note to try it on Jakaal some time.
Daine apparently noticed this, too. "Go on, shut her up. I never thought to see you stinkers baulked by anyone, let alone a ten-year-old." Many Stormwings whooped in appreciative amusement, headed by Jakaal, who was cackling wildly at the misfortune of his usurper. Zircah smiled nastily as Rikash looked back at his supposedly loyal nation. The blond male turned slowly red with humiliation.
He spoke through grit teeth to the witty mortal girl. "It is hard for us to bear young. That being the case, we value others' young, particularly when they are neglected." He shot a dirty look at Maura. "Affection has led me to indulge Lady Maura more than is wise."
"Awwww." Jakaal mocked, making the Stormwings burst into laughter again.
Maura sighed resignedly, obviously touched by this admission and his loyalty despite the amusement of his peers. "All right, Lord Rikash. I'll hush. Only I'm not coming back with you. You don't have to tell them you saw me."
Rikash blanched. Like hell he was going to tell that serving woman he'd seen Maura and not brought her back. "If you were mine, I would beat you." Empty threat. He would do no such thing.
Zircah couldn't resist snorting derisively. "As though a female would accept him." She stage-whispered to the rest of the flock. They dissolved into cackles once more. Rikash didn't even bother turning to apprehend her. She could feel the ice of his heart as he next spoke, and knew that she would catch holy hell for that slight later on. He had withdrawn from her entirely, without even realising he could do such a thing. Zircah reached instinctively, but was blocked by something she didn't quite recognise. He had turned his attention from the rest of them to Daine. "As for you-"
Daine grinned and the Stormwings cringed as the starlings hidden in the trees began to shrill and whistle loudly. "Go on, take me in." The smug mortal girl challenged Rikash. "You might last two or three minutes in the air with my friends going for your eyes."
Rikash looked furious at being thwarted. Zircah just looked annoyed - these dratted birds were giving her a headache. As those who surrounded her tried to cover their ears, she looked around at the trees angrily. "Be QUIET!" She bellowed with both her voice and her mind. The starlings shut up, stunned by the power of the blast. Rikash turned, eyes cold and empty as he left Maura on the ground.
"The gods help you if I catch you in the open! Maura, you had better re-think your choice of friends!" At Daine's behest, the starling started to jeer and whistle again, but a little more quietly because of the simmering fury of Zircah Bladewing. The flock took off after Rikash, leaving Zircah alone on the ground as they flapped away, recalling the true reason they had been sent here.
"But what about your friend?" Maura cried, concern welling from her attempted coldness. "It was him making the noise, wasn't it? They might hurt him!"
Daine eyed Zircah contemptuously before turning her attention to the Barrier. "I don't think so." She said softly. There was a loud crack of magic, and within the seconds the entire flock was fleeing back to their roost, wreathed with an onion smell and covered in soot.
Zircah made a soft sound of disgust in the back of her throat. "Oh, wondrous. Do thank your mage friend for me - I have to fly behind them, you know." Even now the scent was getting to her as Daine explained the Stormwings' hatred of onions. Zircah blinked frantically as she tried not to let the evil odour overwhelm her calm exterior. She failed miserably, sneezing hard thrice in a row. Daine looked smug. Zircah sneered and spoke as though she had a cold.
"I'd be careful, were I you. You especially, Maura. Take care." She winked with the good humour she usually showed around the child. "Graveyard Hag Bless!" She leapt into the skies, flapping away and sneezing pathetically with the weakness of her entire species.
"Goddess Bless..." Maura murmured, looking after her.
***
A/N: ^^ Well, a super-long chapter (for me) should appease those of you who were ready to kill me for taking so long. Sorry! I really wanted to finish Fuyu. But this fic be my priority now, so you'll be getting many more updates, I believe, and probably longer chapters now that everything's getting more convoluted. ^_^ Please review to let me know what you think.