Sage stayed where he was for a long while watching the companion in the field below. Slightly he shifted his position on the branch. He sat down, with his legs dangling, then he gripped the branch and with both hands and flipped himself over backwards, until he was hanging by his hands, one last glance round to make sure he was alone he dropped out of the tree and walked towards the companion.
His bare feet made no sound on the grass as he approached, the companion had no idea that he was there, after talking to Firesong,
Sage had put his shields back up. He stopped a few feet from the companion he coughed so it would know he was there. The companion looked up startled.. Sage sank to his knees, so they would be eye to eye.
"Hello old one" Sage said carefully, trying not to stammer. "It has been a long time, I was told I would meet your kind again, but then you all looked so very different" He went on.
The companion Eran to his credit had not backed back with fright when he recognized Sage. This was a meeting of equals, Eran knew what Sage was, and Sage knew something that not even the heralds knew, when and were the companions had come from. And in that instant Eran knew what it was Anda has said he felt, Eran blocked all contact with Anda for the moment telling him he wanted to think privately for a while. Anda had barely noted he was so busy arguing.
"So its you that's causing the disturbance" Eran mindspoke, with a mental smile. "It has been so long that we never thought we would see you again, we thought you had forsaken what he made you for, we thought you abandoned the people or worse been destroyed when explosions happened" .
Still kneeling Sage bowed his head, "I never would have forsaken what I was made for, if I had known. As for destroyed, no Urtho gave me very strong and special shields, to make sure that magic didn't destroy me or I become to powerful.". Sage raised his head and looked at Eran.
"I wandered around away from the tower I walked a long way and was eventually taken by the mercs from across the sea. I have been away since the tower fell I have missed so much"
He looked up and tried for a brighter smile and changed the subject.
"I never would have guessed this guise" he added with a smile of his own. "Why chose a horse? When your other guise was" he paused "Well more like me"
Eran bowed his head this time, "We thought since we had been ignored and passed over before, we picked this form and devised a way we could help people. Although unlike you, we forgot some of what we should remember, so we picked people, people who would listen, people who had gifts. Gifts that could be used to help, then we got healers and bards people to help and remember all that should not be forgotten, then when they died we embrace them into our race, to be born again as a companion. Many companions are born again heralds. When we Choose, our bond is unique." the companion told Sage stopping to let all that sink in.
Sage sat back on the grass and thought for a long while, Eran stood and let him think. Sages mind was racing, the companions, it was still strange to think of them by that name, and well in this form. They had looked so different then, so more like him, human looking. They were a pure race, not made by any mage like him, but by magic its self. But unlike him they could and would die, if only to be reborn. And they one thing he wished he could have above all else, the ability to forget.
Sage looked up again "Do they know what you were?" he asked.
Eran shook his head, "No, we didn't tell them for fear history would repeat itself. Do they know about you and what you are for?" Eran returned the question.
Sage looked up. "They know that Urtho made me, but that is it. What I am for, and what I can do" Sage shrugged "The latter, I am scared myself to tell them, and the former, I do not know. Urtho barely had time to teach me to talk, he was away so much." Sage stopped talking.
It still hurt inside for him to talk about Urtho.
Suddenly Sage looked round, every muscle tense. "Someone is coming,
your Herald I think and that noble. I have to go" Sage leapt nimbly to his feet he was about to run, but he stopped and turned crouching he bowed his head to Eran, "please old one, do not tell them, him, anyone that I am here. I need time please. They will learn of me when I can be of use"
Eran bowed his head in return "I will not tell, your secret is safe until you are ready to tell them, they will not hear about you from me" Eran promised. Knowing that the companion would keep his word.
Sage turned and fled back into the trees.
As nimble as any squirrel, though maybe a little less graceful considering his limited use of one arm. He swung into the tree and vanished into the branches. After a short while he drew to a halt,
something was following him. He crouched in his branch, a rather thin one, but seeing as he weighed next to nothing it didn't matter. With one hand on the branch for balance he watched. He frowned listening,
something was following him through the trees. He froze what, could it be, this high up in the trees, then he recognised the sounds.
He smiled. "Kuari I am here" he called softly into the trees, after a few minutes he was rewarded with Darian's bond bird hopping into view.
And it looked as if the bird did not appreciate having to hop through the trees. The look the owl gave him could have soured milk.
When the owl was close enough Sage reached out a hand and petted Kuari on his chest and ear tufts. The large owl closed his eyes in bliss.
"I am guessing that Darian or Firesong would like to see me" He said softly to the bird.
"Yes we would" said a voice, it took Sage a moment to realize that the voice was Firesong's and the voice had come from below. Sage took his hand away from Kuari and stood on his branch and walked forward till the leaves below him cleared. There standing looking up was Darian, Firesong, Starfall and to Sage's surprise Snowfire and Wintersky. Sage peered down, looked back to check that Kuari was out of the way. And then to all appearances he threw himself forwards and fell out of the tree,
only to land on the ground in a graceful crouch.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that" Darian said with a weary voice,
"It takes years off me when you do"
Sage rose and grinned at Darian, "My arm is not to strong, it was the quickest way down." Sage stood waiting for whatever they wanted him for to be revealed. Whilst he was waiting, he looked at their clothes,
Darian and Firesong were both dressed, in many layered costumes,
Firesong was wearing blue shirt, tunic, trews and boots, with silver stitching and a blue and silver mask decorated with Aya's feathers.
Darian was wearing a tunic and shirt in different shades of brown, his trews were a more golden shade and his boots, a darker brown.
Snowfire, still wore the dyed costumes of the scouts, his hair was dyed in a mottled pattern of brown and green. Sage thought that if Snowfire stood still near a tree he would be invisible.
Sage thought how funny he must look to the Hawkbrothers. He was wearing simple linen trousers and a loose long sleeved tunic partially laced, both in a pale brownish beige color. He wore no boots, he didn't like the feel of them on his feet. He preferred to feel the earth under his feet.
It Didn't take too long for them to get to the point of why they had been looking for him, Starfall led the way to a clearing, hidden from view by a curtain of vines. Starfall lifted the vines out of the way and motioned for the others to go through, when all were in the clearing and either sitting on tree stumps or standing. They all looked to Sage, he had a bad feeling about this, they all looked so serious at him he wondered what they were going to say.
"Sage we wanted to talk to you about several things" Starfall started,
"You know that a Herald came here a while ago"
Sage nodded, silently.
"Well he said that he and his companion have been feeling some very unusual magical surges recently, mainly at night. Now we know that there are no trainee mages here at the moment and Herald Anda, knows its nothing in the village or at the keep. This Herald is a mage so he knows that we are hiding something from him" Starfall paused "The question is, is it you he can feel?"
Sage looked away, no wonder they all looked so serious. He had never thought that they would have another mage somewhere else. How could he have been so stupid.
"Sage" Darian prompted when he did not answer.
Sage looked put his head up but he could not meet anyone's gaze. "I am so very sorry, I know I should not have gone out but I wanted to practice, I did not think I would bother anyone"
All of the Vale mages and the one scout looked to each other. "Sage there is no rule about you having to stay inside the Vale, we never offered to take you out because you still seemed to be unsure, we never meant to make you feel you had to stay" Starfall said, unable to disguise the shock in his voice. Sage looked up slowly.
"You mean I have not done anything wrong?" he asked slowly.
Darian laughed "Of course not, you are free to come and go"
Sage smiled slowly but he still looked worried, "I did not tell you because I did not want to seem ungrateful for all you have done, I am very grateful. Like I said I wanted to practice somewhere where there was no magic to either distract me or for me to corrupt by accident"
"Practice what?" Snowfire asked he too knew of Sage's reluctance to use active magic."I will show you if it pleases" Sage offered. The others nodded. Sage sat down on the floor where he was, relief flooded through him when he had found out what they had wanted. They seemed happy enough, he dreaded to think what would happen if they asked him to leave. That was one of the reasons he had not told them why he didn't want to use magic other than to help.
He sat on the floor and crossed his legs, arms on his knees. He meditated for a second, and then let his shields up, in his mind he saw them as a shimmering silver wall. He had been practicing this every night since Darian and the others had been teaching him. He would Leave the vale and pick a spot in the forest where he was not likely to be found . Practicing at night meant he had less time to sleep, less time for nightmares.
When he was happy that the shield was right, he mentally left it in place, a shimmering wall all around them. Then he moved his hand taking something out of his pockets and putting in his hand, then holding his hand palm up, he concentrated on his next bit. Slowly he pushed magic into the tiny object into his hand, it was a seed he had picked up from one of the flower beds, suddenly it sprang into life, flowering in his hand. Carefully he placed the flower onto the earth by his legs, and urged it to take root. It did happily flowering until it was in full bloom, its roots thrusting deep into the earth. Slowly Sage held his hand over the flower and moved it sideways.
Suddenly lots of little seeds fell from the flower and began to take root, happily flowering away. Stopping his hand stopped the flow of flowers. His eyebrows creased with concentration, he could feel a pulse of magic, tapping away at his mind, it was very distracting. He was just about to stop and take down his shield when Darian's hushed voice spoke to him.
Darian, the other mages and Wintersky had been watching intently, both with mage sight and with normal eye sight in Winterskys case. All could feel Sage concentrating on his magic, then they saw his shield go up. Literally go up, a column of slivery light sprang up behind Sage, and then moved spreading until it was all around them. This was the first time any of them had seen a shield like this. The first time they had seen this from Sage, all the other shields had been mental ones not physical.
All of them watched with bated breath as Sage took something out of his pocket and made it sprout. All were further still amazed when he made the flowers, spread along following his hand movement. When it had appeared he had finished Darian spoke to him.
"Sage open your eyes if you can" Darian near whispered, he could feel how much control the boy was using for his shield, an unusual amount for something so small really. The look on Sages face showed he had no idea of what his shield looked like.
Sage opened his eyes slowly and carefully. What he saw made him gape,
a really silvery wall all round. "Is that really me?" he whispered.
Starfall and Firesong nodded. "Oh" was all Sage could think of to reply. He shut his eyes again and willed all the left over magic back into himself. When all was back he let go of his shields willing them back into the ground and back into himself. When he could mentally see no more he opened his eyes again.
"I can do some more things but something here is distracting me,
something big and magical, I could not feel it in the forest" he said shyly. They were all looking at him funny. He wasn't sure why.
"Sage, we have something to ask of you" Starfall started, he sounded so serious Sages heart began to sank fearing the worst. "We have all talked about it and well, If you don't mind we would like you join our Vale". It took all of Sage's, years of training in manners to keep his jaw from dropping and gaping.
"You what, really" he began happily, but then he suddenly thought, "I thank you but what about My Masters, what if they come to look for me"
He said sadly. "I would not want to bring them down on you." he felt gutted, the first time in a long time he felt wanted and somewhere where he was useful and his past was there ready to ruin all.
"If these people come looking for you, we will make sure that they understand, one way or another, that you are with us now" The way Wintersky said that, and the way his hand dropped to his very long and very sharp knife, made Sage believe him.
"Besides, we have Kel. He likes to chase armies" Added Darian with a half smile.
"And if you say yes, then we can get down to the real teaching and learning" chimed in Starfall. All of them had been amazed by what Sage had just shown them. And if they had not decided it before then they would have then. There was no way they could let him go. He had so much to offer and so much to give. Starfall had cursed Urtho for making something and not telling it what it was for. They would find a job for Sage, they would show him that not all people were hurtful and needed to be feared.
Sage was glad he was sitting down, for he would have fallen down with shock. He was wanted. Truly wanted and needed, he could feel it. These people would help him and he could help them. His heart sang. He almost wished his Master was their now, to see these people, people he could not scare. Remembering his manners Sage stood slowly. And bowed to them all, as he straightened he had a smile on his face.
"In that case, I accept, thank you, thank you so very much" he told them all.
Good then, that's settled, we can tell the others later" Starfall said. Stepping forward and tying a talisman round Sages neck. Sage craned his head down to look at it. It was a bird of prey shaped in some silvery metal.
"That means you are one of us now, and no one can contest that" Darian said showing Sage his own Hawkbrother talisman. It was all Sage could do to smile. As they walked off down the path to find and tell the others. And prepare for the ceremony to make Sage a wing brother. That would please the Hertasi, they loved to plan for things like this, and there hadn't been a good celebration in a long while.
((so there we go, I hope you liked this part. Please review I love them all)
