DISCLAIMER: X-Men: Evo belongs to Warner Bros. And Marvel Comics. I have never, and shall never own them, no matter how much I may want to. I've simply warped them to fit my own twisted mind. However, this fic and any original work herein is officially mine, and anyone trying to steal it will find out how painful a weapon a computer mouse can when used by someone with imagination.
WARNINGS: This is an AU (Alternative Universe) fic. Everything has been transplanted into a fantasy universe of my creation. Inspirations, despite what you might initially think, aren't actually from a certain Peter-Jackson-esque film project, since I started work on this before I ever *saw* those movies. Influences rather include InterNutter's spiffy fic 'Mein Teuful' (if you haven't yet read this then go do it *now*!) and various other sources I'll explain later.
CODES:
Hello = Narration
~ Hello ~ = Thought
"Hello" = Character Speaking
*Hello* = Bold
//Hello// = Psychic communication
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okey-dokey then. Did everybody have a good Christmas? Thanks to a very well chosen present from my mother, I'm now obsessed with the manga 'Sorcerer Hunters', and loving every minute of it. January can't come soon enough for Chapter 13, even if it does mean my exams lumber up, too!
This instalment of OBAB took me a while to tweak because my muse has been fighting me for a while. Pretty much ever since InterNutter's site went down, actually. But anyway, it's here now; so I'll shut up and let you get on with reading it. Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, and I hope you can find it in your hearts to do it again this time around, as well. art is still greatly welcomed, and for anybody who's even remaotely interested, the fanfic challenge I launched not so long ago *is* still running. Just post any entries here at ff..net until further notice about a finishing date, or, failing that, send them to me and I'll post them for you if there's a problem. Remember, there's a prize involved courtesy of moi, so go on, you *know* you want to enter. ^_^
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'Of Beast And Blade' By Scribbler
Chapter Eight ~ 'The Temple of The Way'
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'In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us' -- Flora Edwards
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Kurt sank to his knees, then onto his tail with a soft 'flumph'. He barely even noticed the pain from both ends of the dexterous appendage - the tip where the skin was torn and bleeding from the Displacer Beast's teeth, and the base where he'd sat on it at a painful angle. His hands draped uselessly on the damp, churned ground, and his mouth moved ceaselessly in an inaudible plea.
"No. Oh gods, please no. Not again. Bitte, don't let it happen again. Please, no."
Kitty sat, wide-eyed, at a loss for what to do. She stared at Rogue. The older girl lay unresponsively, her pallid skin nearing translucency. Now and then her eyelids flickered, but this hopeful sign was kowtowed by an accompanying gasp as poison slowly seeped around her system and constricted her lungs.
The young Changeling's mind was a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions.
~What *do* we do? I've never dealt with poison before. Oh, Rogue, please.... please don't die.~
Her mind immediately snapped back on itself at this request. ~Why am I pleading for her life? She's The Rogue. An assassin. A trained murderer! She tried to *kill* me before.~ She bit her lip. ~But then again, she, like, saved me too when I was falling off that building. And now she defended me and Kurt against the Displacer Beast. So should I be, like, upset that she's hurt or.... or pleased? This is too confusing. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to *do*! I don't know what to *DO*!~
Confused tears pricked at the backs of her eyeballs as despair and gladness warred behind her eyes. She drew her knees up to her chin - for all the world like a frightened child - wrapping Kurt's overly large shirt around her nude body as best she could, and shivering in the stark, cold moonlight.
The trio stayed this way for several minutes, both cognisant teenagers lost in their own mixtures of prayers and remonstrations. Finally, the tense silence was broken when Rogue emitted a low groan of pain that found a voice even through the barriers of unconsciousness that held her.
Kurt's head snapped up. "We have to get help," he stated at last.
Kitty looked up at him, blue eyes large. "But from where? If you hadn't noticed, we're, like, in the middle of nowhere."
"I.... I don't know. But we have to so *something*. It's not going to do anybody any good just sitting here. Especially with that thing still around." He gestured out into the river where the Displacer Beast corpse lay, all but consumed by the darkness. "We have to at least *try* to find help for her. She'll.... She'll die for sure if we don't."
"But where should we go?"
Kurt had to admit it was a valid question. Where did they start? They were miles from any city or town that might possess a healer, and neither he nor Kitty had any inkling as to where they should go to find an independent one who may be closer. He opened his mouth, and then shut it again in the manner of a fish, all words escaping him as he mentally sought for an answer to give the expectant girl.
For so long now Rogue had been their unofficial 'leader'. The two meeker adolescents had followed her for various, oft-conflicting reasons, but now she was no longer capable of giving directions they were marooned on an island of indecision in a sea of uncertainty. Now more than ever they needed a guiding light, but it appeared that the one they'd come to rely on was about to be snuffed out, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Nothing.
//Follow the river.//
Kurt jerked as if bitten. What was that?
//Follow the river downstream.//
A voice. He thought he heard a voice. Yet Kitty showed no signs of noticing it. Rather, she seemed genuinely puzzled at his sudden jolt.
//Follow the river and you will find what you seek.//
There it was again, but it was strange. He couldn't hear it through his ears. Instead, it seemed to be coming from *inside* his mind.
He shook his head. What a foolish notion. Voices inside his head?
Then again, so much had been strange to him of late. So many new creatures and experiences he'd erstwhile only committed to storybooks and fairy-tales. Chimeras, Wolverinnen, Displacer Beasts - why should a voice speaking inside his head not fall into the same bizarre category?
//Why not indeed?//
He jumped again, eliciting another curious glance from Kitty.
~Who are you?~ his internal thoughts piped up.
//A friend. That's all you need to know at present,// the strange silent-voice replied.
~How do I know I can trust you?~
//You don't. But what other option do you have?//
That was true enough.
Kurt heaved a deep sigh. "We'll follow the riverbank and see what happens," he said firmly: more decisively than he felt.
"But - " Kitty began. However, Kurt held up one tridactyl hand to silence her.
"Just....trust me on this one, Kätzchen. I have a feeling." He spread his arms wide. "Besides, what other options do we have?"
She looked as if she were about to protest again, but then dumbly nodded. "How do we move her?" Common sense shone through the haze of emotions cluttering her brain.
Kurt scratched his furry blue head. "I guess we should remove her armour first. That way one of us can carry her, whilst the other carries the metal. We'll be a lot faster that way."
Awkwardly, and rather inexpertly, the pair proceeded to remove the metal protection encasing their companion. Worry made their fingers clumsier than usual, as did the pressure of her running out of time, but soon the steel garments were gone, and between them they divided the chores that accompanied their preferred course of action. It was decided that Kitty would transport the armour, whilst Kurt - being more sure-footed - bore Rogue herself.
The ensuing journey along the edge of the Danub was arduous to say the least, but the atypical duo battled on regardless. They carefully avoided any patch of land that looked even slightly unstable or dangerous, aware of their precious burden and how cautious they must be now they were completely responsible for her well-being. It was odd to think how, not long ago, they wouldn't have cared what happened to her, but now found themselves protecting Rogue like she actually meant something to them.
At last they reached a fork in the river. The waterway branched off in two separate directions - one to the sea, and the other, smaller stream ran off inland, far into the distance until it was lost from view. Here they paused, weary and unsure of their next move.
Kitty looked expectantly to Kurt, and he in turn wondered if the bizarre voice in his head would help them again, or whether he was just going mad and sending them on a deadly wild-goose-chase. He chanced a look at Rogue. She couldn't afford games of that sort.
However, his luck held out.
//Travel the path of the smaller fork,// the voice said smoothly. //And no, you're not going insane, and this is most definitely *not* a wild-goose-chase.//
"This way." Kurt started off down the commanded route, Kitty trailing dutifully behind him.
A thousand and one questions burned in the brown-haired girl's mind, but she kept her tongue and allowed Kurt to concentrate - although how he knew where to go was still a mystery to her. The heavy armour kept her occupied most of the time, but often an errant question would find its way to her lips, and she'd have to bite it back before it escaped into the open air.
~Trust him, Kitty,~ she reminded herself. ~Just, like, have faith in him. He's never steered you wrong before, has he?~
Eventually the forest petered out into a sparsely grassed plain. The land became hilly, punctuated here and there by large swelling ridges and rocky outcrops. These caused havoc for the two teenagers' weary legs, but neither of them offered any complaint. Somehow, Rogue's fate made their own problems seen insignificant and petty, and they were loath to admit to their own shortcomings in the face of what she'd done to end up in her current situation.
Kitty puffed and panted as they climbed what seemed to be the millionth embankment, slipping a bit under her intense load. Rogue was a considerably hardier individual than she, and consequently the armour was proving quite a strain for the younger female to carry, especially in her already-weakened condition.
Kurt glanced back at her, taking in her reddened face and harsh breathing with worried golden eyes. It wouldn't do them any good if Kitty collapsed too, which she looked on the verge of doing, though she had yet to whine of tiredness - a commendable feat for her.
He forced his mouth into a smile. "Come on, Kätzchen," he encouraged. "Just to the top of this hill and then we'll stop for a moment. You can have a rest there."
"No.... mustn't.... stop," Kitty wheezed. "Hafta keep.... going.... for her sake."
"But what about *your* sake, Kleines? You have to rest or you'll make yourself ill."
His comment was met only by gasps for air and muted protests of being 'fine.' Kurt shook his head. Kitty was a stubborn as they come, and he doubted she'd stop if she'd set her mind to continuing onwards. Admirable as her campaign was, it was dangerous for her to persist that way, and would do them no good in the long run.
He glanced at the lightening sky. Morning was approaching fast. How many hours now since they'd first bedded down in that Oak tree? How many hours since all this started?
Inadvertently he glanced down at Rogue. Her face was haggard and bleak, like she was valiantly fighting some great battle.... and losing. Her cheekbones jutted angularly beneath her pale skin, and for the first time the furry boy realised just how glaringly thin she was. Her near-corporeal anger at the world and ever-present hood had concealed something he'd never really considered The Rogue as. A tired, hunted teenage girl.
~Life's been hard to you, hasn't it?~ he thought sadly. ~What would you be doing now if you'd been born as someone else? Where would you be if you'd been born a peasant like Kätzchen, or a Zanninsan? What kind of person would you be? Would you still be so harsh?~
Inadvertantly, he sighed. ~You're so cold, Rogue. I wish you'd drop the disguise and let us see the real you. The you I glimpse whenever you move. Disjointed from your own emotions. Isolated. The you I see behind your eyes. You think I don't notice, but I do. *We* do. We see how a fight rages inside of you whenever you make decisions. We notice how you hesitate when speaking to us, afraid that you'll let something slip. What don't you want us to know, Verstecktes? What is it about you that intrigues me so?~
If he expected answers, then the ex-assassin gave none, and he sighed. She seemed so helpless, lying there in his arms. So defenceless that it scared him. Rogue was strong. Rogue was indestructible. Rogue didn't get sick, and she most certainly didn't die.
Except that she was. As much as he hated to even think it, the words pierced his brain like some cantankerous tumour, laughing at the two teenagers' puny rescue efforts and mocking their chances of success like a vengeful, all-powerful god.
Rogue was dying.
Death.
Such a final word. All-encompassing and ultimate. Somehow 'the end' just didn't have the same impact. It was like a full stop at the end of a page. Such a small thing - monosyllabic - and yet it held so much weight it was soul-crushing to think about. All ideas about the afterlife and the 'great beyond' seemed meaningless when confronted with actual physical evidence of a person's own mortality. That someone so forceful, so powerful as The Rogue could be taken down by such a tiny word was inconceivable, but shockingly, tangibly true.
Death.
The ultimate full-stop.
Suddenly a voice cut into his contemplations. Breathlessly, Kitty cried out: "Look!" slicing a verbal path through his reflections and causing him to jerk up his head in interrupted surprise.
They'd crested the ridge, and now had a clear view of the rest of the plain from this vantage point. It stretched out before them, vast and barren. In the far distance a line of trees were barely visible. Barely. And in the misty beyond mountains sprouted into the clouds, disappearing from sight in the heavens, so tall were they. Other than these and the odd scrubby sprout of grass, the landscape was desolate and inhospitable, belying the lush and verdant river-scenery they'd just left behind. Watery sunlight filtering overhead only served to add to the feeling of natural despondency.
But it was not this that Kitty was excitedly indicating at. On the horizon, standing imposingly against the diluted skyline, was the tall squareness of a building surrounded by a wall of some sort. It was large, one could tell even from this distance. Large enough to comfortably house a city.
A city?
Kurt's face creased into a poignant smile. A walled city perhaps, like Zanninsa? And if so, maybe it contained a healer. Maybe there was hope after all for them. He turned to Kitty excitedly.
"Kätzchen, perhaps - " but the words perished on his lips.
Kitty knelt on the ground, Rogue's armour still clutched possessively to her chest. Her cobalt eyes were wild, and her breath was short and heaving. Every muscle perceptibly trembled, and it was clear that she was utterly spent. There was no possible way she could make the long journey to that remote place across the plain.
Kurt shot a crestfallen glance back at the distant construction.
~So near.... and yet, so far.~
His shoulders slumped, and he hunkered down next to Kitty.
"It's OK, Kätzchen. We'll take a break until you're ready to travel again."
"N.... no," Kitty replied resolutely. "We can't, like, afford any stops. Rogue's.... Rogue's life depends on getting to.... that.... place."
"But Tapferes, it won't do any good if - "
"No buts!" the Changeling girl snapped, hauling herself to her feet. However, almost instantly her legs buckled, , and she would have collapsed into the dust had Kurt's tail not snaked out to catch her arm.
"You're not going anywhere in this state," he said decisively.
Kitty gazed at him, locking his golden eyes with her own. "But what.... what about.... Rogue?"
Yes, what about Rogue? So helpless and vulnerable, relying on them to either get her to aid or watch her slowly die. Eaten away from the inside out by the Displacer Beast's caustic last gift.
Kurt was suddenly and implacably struck by how unfair the situation was. Here they were, within sight of help, and yet they were denied it lest they incur yet more, even greater harm to their party. It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! Rogue had saved their lives, but in doing so she'd consigned herself to join the ranks of the dead. It was unjust, but there was nothing they could do about it. Absolutely nothing.
Inwardly, he seethed. Kurt didn't usually get angry, but now he felt justified in feeling irate. Rage at the Silver Sword bubbled up in his gut. How could that coward condemn her so carelessly this way? He didn't even have the honour to face Rogue in battle. No, he had to send his little *pet* to deal with her, and damn anyone else who got in the way. What would have happened if Rogue hadn't defeated that thing? The Silver Sword didn't care. He was too busy sitting in his fancy fortress to worry about such trivial things as that.
She'd tried so hard to get to Belvedere. To get to.... whomever it was there that she needed to see, and now it seemed she never would. Even though he knew very little about her past, Kurt fumed at this treatment of the ex-assassin. It was ignominious and unwarranted, and it made his blood boil.
Then, quite suddenly, he felt very strange. A curious niggling had started up at the back of his mind, tickling his brain and trying desperately to come to the fore as he thought about the Silver Sword. Somehow, for some inexplicable reason, Kurt was sure that this feeling was important, and he tugged at it, drawing it out as best he could, despite not really recognizing what it was. It niggled at his mental fingers, twisting around them and attempting to drag itself free that way, but it was no use. Something was missing. Some catalyst that would release this odd energy building at the rear of his psyche.
Kurt's tail froze where it had been comfortingly rubbing Kitty's shoulder, and the younger girl looked up at him in alarm. His face was set in a mask of concentration, and his eyes were distant and unseeing.
"Kurt?" she whispered. "Are.... you, like.... OK?"
"Ja," he mumbled. "More than OK."
What was this strange feeling manifesting inside him? It reminded him vaguely of the nothingness that accompanied Kitty's powers when she'd used them with him in tow, but there was something different about it. It was.... more personal. Wilder. It all but enveloped him, but pulsed just out of his reach. Tantalizing, calling him to free it.
But how?
Almost by itself his sight flickered to the building that sat on the distant horizon. Anger still bubbled inside him, but now it seemed muffled and hushed, like something was clogging his ears. Yet still he felt the longing to reach that inaccessible place; to find the aid they so desperately needed. Yearning tinctured his sight, revolving around inside his mind, constantly murmuring the longing he fostered.
He wanted to be there. He *needed* to be there.
Gradually, his ears began to pound. A low shushing noise that only he could hear, but he ignored it. All he could think about was how much he wanted to stand outside that place; to help both Kitty and Rogue by getting them there. They had to get there. *He* had to get them there. He had to....
He had to....
Had to....
Had....
At once, the world exploded around him. Or rather, it imploded; folding in on itself in a burst of brilliance and collapsing white light. Kurt heard Kitty scream, but the light consumed his senses, robbing him of all but the knowledge of its vividness. He smelt the acrid stench of brimstone, but there was no time or chance to sneeze. His stomach lurched as his feet felt like they were being pulled from under him, and it was with a grateful heart that he touched down on solid ground again. Dancing spots covered his vision, and blood pounded in his ears, making him feel distinctly nauseous but at the same time, strangely exhilarated.
Gradually the numbing spots and pounding abated, and Kurt blinked confusedly. Something was wrong. He could no longer see the horizon stretched out before him, and instead of grass beneath his bare feet, he sensed gravel and thousands of small, sharp pebbles.
He appeared to be standing in front of a large wooden panel, and by craning his neck he could see that it was in fact one of two massive doors embedded into a sturdy whitewashed wall, much bigger than that of Zanninsa, but with a similar feeling of durability and magnitude.
It couldn't be, could it?
Could it?
~I didn't know I could do *that*.~
Kurt whirled round at the sound of a wheeze beside him, and found himself gazing at Kitty's hunched form. Slowly she sat up, eyes still squeezed closed. A bead of sweat traced its way down the side of her head, and she gritted: "What. Was. That?"
"Kätzchen.... Kitty.... We're here. We're actually here!" Kurt babbled, smiling fit to make his cheeks hurt.
Kitty opened one eye. "Here? Where's here? What are you, like, talking about, Kurt?"
"Here!" he said emphatically. "I mean, we're there.... I mean, I did it.... at last, I think I did it.... Something happened.... I felt strange and then.... poof! Here we are!"
"Wait a minute." Kitty shook her head, as if clearing a persistent fug from her brain. "*You* did that? All that spinning and bright light and nausea, that was *you*."
Kurt nodded.
"Kurt, listen to me very carefully, now. Don't you *ever* do that.... whatever-it-was-that-you-just-did without warning me again!"
"I'm not sure what I did," said Kurt, some of the delight fading from his voice, but then it returned almost immediately. "My powers must be growing in."
"Your.... excuse me?"
"I'll explain later, Kätzchen. But for now, we're here."
"And I say again, like, *where* is here?" Kitty replied, looking blearily up at the huge wooden gates. "Hey, those weren't there a minute ago. Where'd they come from?"
"It's not them that have moved, Kleines, it's us. Somehow we've been transported to right outside that building we saw in the distance."
Kitty's jaw dropped. "Really? Like, wow!"
"Ja."
"It doesn't look much like a city, though."
Kurt turned back to the doors, a slight frown creasing his features. "You're right. It doesn't," he was forced to concede.
Rogue stirred weakly in his arms in faint retaliation of the venom slowly devouring her, and the elf snapped to attention. "But we can't afford to be picky. Rogue needs help, and quickly. Perhaps somebody inside can give it."
He walked forward, but stopped. There was no sign anywhere of a Gatekeeper's Booth or anything equivalent to it. How were they supposed to alert people to their presence? No smaller doors had been cut into the wood, and any knocking would surely go unheard due to the sheer immensity and obvious thickness of the gates.
Kurt turned back to where Kitty still knelt, opening his mouth to ask her about their dilemma, when another voice abruptly cleaved through the early morning air.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
Both teenagers tilted their heads upwards towards where the voice had come from. High above them, atop the very wall itself was a small cubicle made of thatch and wooden planks. It was a tiny construction, no more than a few feet wide, and the figure leaning over the side at them was dwarfed almost to invisibility. The voice called again. It was evidently male.
"I said, who goes there? Answer me!"
Kurt cleared his throat. He was the only one of their number even capable of replying.
"Please, we need help."
"State your purpose, stranger," the person - Kurt assumed it was a sentry or a guard of some kind - snapped.
"Our friend has been injured," Kurt yelled loudly. "We seek assistance from a healer. We were hoping we could find one here. We thought this place was a city."
"Yeah right!" shouted the person, in a most un-guard-like manner. "Like I haven't heard *that* one before!"
Kurt was surprised. "No, really. She's been poisoned. She may be dying. We need to find help for her, fast. Please. Won't you let myself and my companions inside?"
"Inside?" The voice sounded incredulous. "Are you joking? Be off with you, before I call for assistance of my own. Take your filthy lies somewhere else. They won't work on me."
Incredulity showed plainly in Kurt's requests. "Bitte, I beg you. Let us inside if you have a healer in this place."
"Beg all you want, scumbag. You're not getting past as long as I'm guarding these gates."
"We've never done anything to you. How can you just let someone die like this?" Kurt shouted angrily. "It's heartless!"
"The same way you and your armies just 'let' my village burn and die, you filthy lying bastard! You and your Silver Sword soldiers never showed my people any compassion. Why should I show *you* any?"
"Silver Sword?" Kurt blinked, puzzled. "We're nothing to do with the Silver Sword. It's because of him that our friend's hurt."
"Liar! I can see right through you. Leave this sanctuary before I call someone who'll make you *really* sorry you passed this way!"
Kurt couldn't believe it. Not only was this 'guard' denying them entrance, but also he was accusing them of working for the Silver Sword. The one who'd done this to them in the first place. The cause of so much pain and misery for so many people. Them....
Kitty swallowed loudly behind him. "They're.... they're not gonna, like, let us in, are they?" she said softly. It was more of a statement than a question, and was spoken with quiet sorrow and pained resignation.
No such acceptance existed in Kurt's voice. "How can you do this? We're *not* part of the Silver Sword's army. How can you just accuse us without any proof? Please, our friend... she's.... she's.... dying."
"Save it for someone who cares!"
The body leaning over the side of the cubicle vanished. No doubt to fetch the 'someone' he'd spoken of. Kurt stared after him, fresh anger welling inside his chest.
"Kurt?"
Kitty's voice slid into his ear, despondent and poignant. The elf's shoulders slumped. What was the use in pretending, or getting angry? Anger didn't help things; it only sapped emotions dry. Tarnishing them.
"No, Kätzchen. They're not."
"Then Rogue..."
"Ja." The words came out broken, stained with grief. To come so far and then be turned away at the final barrier.... he felt numb. Beyond sadness. It was too much. All too much. Something, or someone of a higher power had decided long ago they would be doomed to failure, and it seemed there was nothing he could do to change that, however much he wanted to.
Rogue shivered in his arms, but even this inadvertent movement was weaker than usual. She was fading fast, slipping through their fingers, and they couldn't save her. This place had been their final hope. She couldn't hold out until they found somewhere else. He had to face it. Rogue was going to.... going to....
He turned away from the gate, angry tears stinging his eyes.
"Come on, Kätzchen. Let's go. We're not wanted here."
Kitty struggled to her feet, swaying unsteadily. She uttered no protest, but cast a miserable glance back over her shoulder as they began traipsing away from what they'd hoped would be deliverance, but had turned out only to be the final nail in Rogue's proverbial coffin. An unhappy sigh caught in her throat.
Kurt didn't look back. He strode away as fast as he could, with a purposefulness and strength he didn't possess. Where were they supposed to go? He couldn't deny the inevitable, so what were they to do with the.... the body? With the husk that had once been Rogue.
~No, I can't think like that! It's not over yet!~ he mentally berated himself. Yet the cold voice of reality persevered. It *was* over. And there was nothing left for them to do but pick up the pieces and carry on.
Carry on....
//Stop!//
The silent command struck him like a bolt of lightning. Kurt froze, paralysed. Kitty hurried over to him, worried, but halted herself as a similar order sliced into her mind, forcing her to obey it.
//Stay exactly where you are.//
The pair stood taciturnly. Kurt recognized the voice from earlier, but for the Changeling this was an entirely new experience.
"Kurt?" she whimpered. "What's going on?"
"It's OK, Kleines," Kurt soothed her, wondering himself if it really was. With the sudden manifestation of his birthright-powers and ensuing argument with the sentry, he'd almost forgotten about the outlandish, gender-less voice that had directed him to this place. He wet his lips, wondering what was about to occur.
He didn't have to wait very long. Another, physical voice, female this time, called down to them from on high. Both adolescents whipped round at the sound of it.
"Please, wait! Don't leave!"
A slender figure stood in the cubicle, waving frantically at them. Her face was indistinguishable, but Kurt's sharp eyes could make out a flash of vibrant pink as she moved.
She yelled again. "Please, tell me, why do you seek passage into this temple?"
Temple? Kurt shouted back. "What use is there in telling you? You'll only send us away again."
"No I won't!" The individual answered. "If you have a valid reason then of course you'll be allowed in. What on earth makes you think.... Oh wait; I know why you say that." She turned away, calling over her shoulder. "Ray, what exactly did you say to them?"
Neither Kurt nor Kitty heard any reply, but apparently there was one, because the female then said crossly; "Oh honestly! Did you have any proof? No? Well then what right did you have to.... fine, be that way! You can be so stubborn sometimes!" She turned back to the waiting duo. "I'm sorry, can we please start over from scratch? Why do you want to come inside?"
Kurt sighed, weary of explaining himself. "Our friend has been injured. We hoped to find a healer or someone who could help her."
The female seemed to consider this for a moment, then said; "One of the priorities of this temple is to give aid to those who need it. I suppose you fit the bill, and there are only two of you.... Wait right there whilst I sort out the gates. And I apologise again for how my.... 'friend' treated you." Her voice dripped sarcasm.
The flash of pink vanished, and Kitty turned hopefully to Kurt. "Do you, like, think she means it?"
"Ich habe keine Ahnung. I don't know, Kätzchen, but I certainly hope so."
They watched the great doors with bated breath, and sure enough, after a few minutes a loud creaking ensued from one's hinges and it opened a crack. An adolescent head popped out of the gap. It was topped with a length of dark brown hair, and had a grin plastered on distinctly oriental features that seemed to literally stretch from ear to ear.
"Hey there. You waited." They recognised the feminine voice that had called to them from the cubicle. Curious hazel eyes regarded them, and a slender hand beckoned for them to enter through the opening.
Kitty shot Kurt a wary look. "Reckon it's like, safe?" she hissed.
Kurt shrugged. "How should I know? But Rogue needs help quickly, or we'll lose her. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll try my powers again to get us out of there."
Kitty seemed dubious - she'd neither truly understood nor enjoyed Kurt's 'powers' the last time - but acknowledged the urgency of the situation. Obediently the two pattered forward, sliding through the crack after the brown-haired female.
They found themselves in a large courtyard inlaid with cobbles. To their right was a small structure they assumed was used to house the mechanisms for operating the gates, and before them was a stretch of ground leading up to a magnificent set of tall, stone buildings.
Despite themselves, both teenagers gawped. The buildings were beautiful, reaching up into the very sky itself, and covered in creeping vines and gaudy flowers. They were very old, as the crumbling masonry showed, but gave off an aura of tranquillity and wisdom that only comes with age. Truly a breathtaking sight.
Standing between the gates and them was a small platform on top of which was a wooden construction that held a sizable bronze bell. The metal flashed in the early sunlight, making it appear burnished by the gods themselves.
The girl who'd let them in waved to someone standing in the mechanism-booth, and the crack in the gates sealed shut behind them with a hollow boom. Then she turned to them, beaming. Kitty noted with some disgust that she wore a garish pink robe that brushed the floor, covering the hem in a thick layer of grime and dust.
"Sorry about that." The girl stuck out a hand in welcome, then retracted it in embarrassment when she realised neither guest was able to shake it. "Oops." Her eyes fell upon their tattered appearance, taking in Kitty's near-absolute nudity and Rogue's still form. "Man, you really weren't kidding!" she exclaimed.
"Nein, although your 'friend' declined to believe us," Kurt replied, somewhat tetchily.
She rubbed at the back of her head, embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. You'll have to forgive him. Ray's village was plundered and burnt down by the Silver Sword's army not so long ago. He was the only one to survive, and now he doesn't really trust anybody he doesn't know anymore. But I'm gabbling. Your friend needs medical attention. Follow me."
She set off at a brisk pace, and both Kitty and Kurt tried their best to follow her, but still found themselves trailing behind.
"Please, wait," Kitty called out. "We, like, can't keep up with you."
The girl halted and slapped her forehead. "Gah, how stupid of me. You both look all in. Let me get someone to help you." She ran to the bell, climbing the dais and taking the thick rope extending from within it in both hands. Resonant tolling rang out loudly across the courtyard as she expertly pulled, making the ground vibrate with each booming knell.
Almost at once, crowds of people spilled from the stone buildings, running down the staircases and clustering around the platform. Many of them were still half-asleep, and they milled about blearily, voicing their anger at being awoken at such an ungodly hour. All of them wore the same magenta robes as the bell-ringer girl.
"What? What is it?" cried one woman, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Who rang the alarm bell?" demanded another boy angrily.
"What's going on?"
"Is this another drill?"
"No, look," a small boy with closely cropped black hair pointed at the bell. "It's Jubilee. She rang it."
"Jubilee?"
"What's she doing, waking us like this? Doesn't she know the rooster hasn't even crowed yet?"
"I was in *bed*!"
"Which is where I'm going back to right now."
"Too right. Who does she think she is, anyway?"
"So rude!"
"Just like her. No respect."
"You said it."
The girl atop the platform stopped her tolling and held up her hands for silence. Even so, she was forced to raise her voice just to be heard above the indignant chatter.
"Brothers, Sisters, please, can I have your attention." Then when nobody took a blind bit of notice, she reverted to yelling. "OI! LISTEN TO ME!"
A hush fell over the assembled, more-than-a-little-disgruntled people, and one by one they stopped talking to stare expectantly at the teenager who'd so violently roused them. For her part, she gazed around at them, took a deep breath, and continued in a slightly more dignified fashion.
"Brothers and Sisters, I'm sorry for waking you, but we have an emergency on our hands! Only moments ago, three visitors were admitted into the temple, and now I need aid to get one of them to the infirmary. She's desperately sick, and needs to get there as quickly as possible. Will anybody help me?"
There was a muted rumbling for a moment, and then someone pushed their way through the crowd to stand on the podium steps. He had longish, shaggy blond hair down to his shoulders, and was quite tall, making the magenta robe seem doubly ridiculous on his gangly frame.
"Ah'll help. Where are they?"
"They're...." The one known as Jubilee cast about for her guests, and smiled as she caught sight of them at the back of the crowd. "There they are."
As one, the mass of faces swivelled to look at Kurt, Kitty and Rogue, and they shrank back under the collective discerning gaze, conscious of their ragged appearances.
The masses parted, allowing the blonde youth to pass through. He stopped in front of Kurt, and - curiously - seemed not in the least surprised at the elf's demonic exterior. Instead, he simply smiled benevolently and said in a kindly southern drawl akin to Rogue's own: "Here, let me take her."
Kurt hesitated a moment, wondering whether to trust him. A quick glance at Rogue's drawn face made the decision for him, and he deposited her as gently as he could in the obliging stranger's waiting arms. The blonde boy lifted her easily.
"Light as a feather," he commented. "Stand back, Ah wouldn't want y'all to be hurt now."
"Hurt?" Kurt repeated, puzzled.
"Just do as he says," called Jubilee, "And try not to be frightened."
Kurt took a step backwards, muttering to himself. "Frightened? Of what?"
His answer came forthwith. In a burst of blinding light, the tall youth suddenly lifted off from the ground and flew into the sky. The resultant shockwave knocked Kurt onto his behind, and he and Kitty gaped as the iridescent figure soared easily towards one of the buildings - the tallest one - and hovered outside a large window several floors up. He kicked it with his foot, alerting those within of his presence, and presently the shutters banged open, allowing him easy access to the room beyond. Both he and his precious cargo disappeared from sight, leaving Rogue's companions gawping after them in surprise.
"Did he just...." Kurt started, pointing one shaky finger into the sky.
Jubilee jostled her way through the crowd and knelt beside him. "Now, don't be scared. I'm sorry; I'm such a scatterbrain. I guess I should have warned you better."
"Entschuldigen Sie mich?" Kurt turned round golden eyes upon her. "Warned us?"
"Sam's a Changeling. Um, that is to say.... um.... a Changeling is.... kind of like a... a.... well, a few years ago..." Jubilee didn't seem to know how to explain properly, and stumbled over her words; but Kitty cut her off.
"It's Ok, we like, know what Changelings are."
A blink. "You do?"
"Uh-huh. You see; I'm a Changeling too."
"You are?" The strangely clothed girl seemed taken aback, and a surprised murmur ran through the throng of people behind her. Jubilee turned back to Kurt. "And you?"
"No, no." Kurt held up his oddly shaped hands. "I'm no Changeling. Just a freak."
"Hey, we're all 'freaks' here, according to usual perception, so don't do yourself down," she chided.
Now it was Kitty's turn to be startled. "Then you're a Changeling?"
"Uh-huh."
"And them?" she looked pointedly, and with her usual lack of tact at the assembled crowd.
"Mostly. It's a long story." Jubilee sighed and shook her head.
Kitty opened her mouth to ask undiplomatically what this 'long story' was, when suddenly an expression of pain crossed her face and the utterance transformed into a sharp intake of breath. The armour clutched in her arms clattered to the cobbled floor as she wrapped her arms about her chest, falling ungracefully to her knees and causing several members of the crowd to blush at her imprudent attire.
Kurt whipped round, twisting his tail painfully beneath him. "Kätzchen!"
Jubilee stood up, instantly business-like. "Someone get some clothes, quickly. We have to get both of them inside and warmed up."
A few people started forward, though many hung back, unsure of what to make of their strange visitors. Kurt found himself hauled to his feet by strong, yet gentle hands.
"Let go of me! Kätzchen!" he called, watching as she too was helped upright. A tall man with sandy brown hair caught her as she toppled over again, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her off into the large building Rogue had been taken too.
Kurt allowed himself to be led there too, more because he wanted to follow Kitty than because he went voluntarily. He still wasn't sure of these people enough to completely trust them, but knew he had to stick close to his companions as much as possible just in case a quick exit was called for.
He was aware of Jubilee being near his arm, coercing him along and up the stone steps into the huge building. Several other individuals also walked beside him, but the majority dispersed in the courtyard, returning to their beds and other posts amid copious yawning and low-key grumbling. Kurt watched them all through questioning eyes. Just how much could he trust these folks? They'd done nothing hostile as of yet - although the boy identified as the surly 'Ray' had come pretty close.
Well, whatever happened, his main concern was the welfare of Kitty and Rogue, and as they seemed to be guiding him to where those two had been taken, he supposed he'd go along with them for now and ask questions later.
"The armour...." he mumbled, and tried to point. Jubilee heard him and shouted hurriedly over her shoulder.
"Someone get the armour that the girl dropped and bring it along. Take it to the Infirmary."
"Danke," said Kurt with genuine gratefulness. Rogue would definitely not be pleased with him if he lost her armour and weaponry. Not one bit.
That was, if she woke up.
~No, no, not if, when!~ Kurt reminded himself vehemently. ~Rogue'll be all right. She'll survive. She *will*! She *has* to!~ He clenched his fists. ~She just *has* to!~
"No problem," Jubilee returned, jerking him from his thoughts. "We'll take care of everything. You just come with us to the Infirmary and we'll fix you up, OK?"
Kurt could see no reason to argue. This 'Infirmary' was where that Changeling boy had taken Rogue, and presumably Kitty too. It made sense that this would be his destination also. Best just to go along with it for the time being. If it meant they got the help they needed.... well then, Kurt was willing to take a chance if it meant the well-being of his two female companions.
"Lead the way."
*******************
From an upstairs window of a neighbouring building, two sets of eyes regarded the trio's arrival with interest.
This particular building was off-limits to most of the temple Initiates. Those Brothers and Sisters who had not yet passed the Divine Tests and proven themselves worthy of high office. These rooms contained secrets divulged only to the highest-ranking individuals of the Temple of The Way and those selected by a greater authority, and right of entry was the most sought after privilege an Initiate could hope for. They were private and enclosed, and few ever gained access, no matter how hard they tried.
Consequently, the building had been imbued over the years with an air of mystery, and more than a few stories wee passed around the tables at supper concerning what went on inside and concerning those who inhabited them.
The figure closest to the glass-less slit of a window watched as Kurt and Kitty were borne away by the crowd summoned by one of the underlings. Jubilee, some of them had called her. A Changeling, brought here years ago as a child when the magical fabric of the lands began to shift and the first Changelings appeared. She'd been one of the earliest to be brought here. Blue eyes viewed her as she spoke to the masses she'd assembled, ordering them around like a true diplomat. That one showed promise as a peacekeeper in future, which was a useful trait in war-torn realms such as these.
Yet despite these musings, it wasn't the oriental girl that truly interested the watcher. Rather, the three guests she'd welcomed into their midst snagged her attention and held it firmly.
The figure gazed at them. One so weak she couldn't walk, another reduced to unconsciousness by sickness. The third was strange. He walked as an upright animal might, and had a tail to support this assumption; but the fur that covered his half-naked body was powder blue, and he acted distinctly human and not at all like a wild beast.
The eyes narrowed. There was something familiar about him, a memory that played about the realms of forgotten recollections; but it remained out of reach for the moment.
"Are these the ones from your visions?" she asked in a husky, distinctly female voice.
"Yes," replied her companion, who stood a little way off. She apparently wasn't quite as entranced with their visitors, and her own eyes constantly flickered from them to the inside of the room with obvious agitation. "They are."
"Such strange beings," the blue-eyed woman contemplated. "Not at all what I expected."
"What *did* you expect?"
"I'm not entirely sure *what* I expected. Perhaps someone a little.... stronger. More like saviours than these three."
"Appearances can be deceiving," reminded her companion, shifting her feet slightly as she leaned casually against the wall next to the window in a most unceremonious fashion. "As we know only too well."
"Quite." The cerulean orbs turned away from the window, sending an idle reproving glance at her comrade's untailored stance. The smaller, and ostensibly younger, female hastily straightened up, clasping her hands in front of her in the manner of a naughty child caught doing something unpleasant.
"Sorry."
The older woman's expression softened and she waved a careless hand at the apology. "Don't be. Just my strict upbringing raising its ugly head again. I'll have to keep that in check. After all, what's the use of being allowed into these rooms if you can't act as you wish whilst you're in them?"
The younger girl said nothing. It hadn't been very long that she'd been authorized to come to this place, and she still wasn't sure how to act. Really, it was only a fluke that she was here at all. A glitch in the Powers That Be's judgment that had sent to her images of the future through her Changeling power. It still amused her that she, a lowly Underling who'd not long been at the Temple, should be given such a gift.
Or was it a curse?
She still wasn't sure.
Her superior shot her a sidelong glance, noting her silence and uncomfortable demeanour. She gestured to an ornately carved chair in the corner. "Please, sit down."
The girl did as she was bade appreciatively. At least sitting down she was likely to make fewer mistakes. Tucking her feet carefully under her, she clasped her hands in her lap and breathed deeply. The smell in here was pleasant, like incense mixed with honey. Sweet, bordering on sickly, yet with a soothing edge that instantly relaxed all those who scented it. Thrice she'd been in this room now, and thrice the aroma had intoxicated her senses with its headiness. She could sit here and drink in that smell forever.
The older woman remained at the window, transferring her gaze back to the courtyard below. She sighed.
"Tell me again what your visions foretold. Perhaps your words will enlighten me as to the saviour qualities of our three guests, because at the moment I fail to see them."
The seated girl cleared her throat, wondering where to begin. Nervously, she twisted a lock of red hair in her fingers. "But I already explained my visions as best I could to you. I.... I wouldn't know how to do it again."
"Then answer me this," the other woman replied. She was an adept at extracting information with the minimum amount of fuss. "What did you see? I don't want to know what you *think* you saw, or what any of it meant. I want to know the exact images you witnessed in your trance. Everything, down to the tiniest detail you can remember. Anything could be important."
The girl licked her chapped lips. "Um, well, I was standing in the courtyard. I don't know if it was day or night, because whatever hung in the sky was a horrible blood red, and the clouds around it were crimson. The Temple itself was in ruins, and I could hear sounds of some great battle raging about me, but saw nothing of the sort. The place was completely deserted. It was as if ghosts of a long-passed war were still fighting, half in and half out of this world." She paused.
"Yes, go on."
"I.... it's hard to explain what a vision is like for someone who's never had one. I was there, but I had no physical body. It was like I was merely a spirit. An observer who couldn't alter or take part in events."
"An astral body," the older woman supplied.
"I suppose you could call it that. But it was more.... I don't know.... more intimate. I was everything, and yet I was nothing. I saw all that happened, but I knew nothing about any of it. It was.... unique.... I don't know how else to put it. "
"Be that as it may, try your best to explain to me what you saw next."
"Well, what I saw next wasn't in the Temple at all. I didn't recognise the place, but I knew from the first that something was wrong with it. It was too dark; too eerie to be anything crafted by mortal hands. At first I thought it was a stronghold of one of the Seven Hells, but then I saw two figures huddled in the far corner. I couldn't make out whom they were, but they seemed frightened of something. In front of them stood a lion, with its front paws raised, clawing at the empty air. Then this beast became a sword. It... it didn't exactly *change* per se. There was no transformation process, at least. It was just a lion one moment, and a blade the next. The metal of the sword seemed to be wreathed in fire, and as I looked at it, it seemed to speak to me. I know it sounds stupid, but I heard a voice, and somehow I *knew* it was coming from the sword."
"And what did it say?"
"I.... I can't remember everything, but I remember the first part very clearly. It said, 'Seek not those who walk in the light, for it is she who is pursued by wraiths of darkness who shall come. The cat of shadows shall bring deliverance with flimsy paws, and he who crawls through thickest night to reach the dawn of salvation shall redeem us all with the wicked blow of purity. Through death shall come life, and through life, death. Murder will beget the world's release, and past sins shall be forgotten in the face of loving sacrifice.' There.... there was some more, but I.... I'm sorry, but I don't know what it was!" she blurted, ashamed of her own forgetfulness and mentally cursing herself. What was the use of being given a vision if afterwards she couldn't recall what it said?
Not for the first time, she wondered why she had been chosen to bear this burden when she knew so little about her burgeoning powers. It would have been wiser to send them to someone who'd known about being a Changeling for more than a month. What had The Powers That Be been thinking?
"There is no need to apologise," the rich, fruity voice of her elder answered. "I'm impressed that you managed to remember all that you did. It all seems a bit like gobble-de-gook to me. But don't let me put you off. Please, continue."
The girl stared for a moment, caught between relief that her lapse in memory had been waived so easily, and hearing someone as important and stately as the Temple Mother use the colloquial phrase 'gobble-de-gook.' She checked herself and carried on; pausing here and there as she searched her memory for all the details she could muster.
"I.... I went towards the figures in the corner. The sword came towards me, and for an instant I could see an image reflected in it. It was of a girl with strangely coloured hair, running forwards with a facial expression I can only describe as pure fury and hatred. She had a cape that billowed round her with a life of its own, and wielded a blade streaked with fresh blood. Then in an instant she was gone, and the sword dissipated into a thousand shards around me that dusted the ground and made it appear encrusted with diamonds and precious stones.
"I stopped, then... I mean, the spirit that was me stopped, and looked up at the falling debris. Truly, they seemed like Heavenfire - I mean, the teardrops of the gods themselves. Then, with the same lack of interest one might feel in a proper dream, I saw things in each of the fragments. Strange images of people and places I didn't recognise, but somehow.... somehow I knew they were important."
"And what did you see in them?" asked the older woman, gazing out of the window as the last few Brothers and Sisters of the Temple dispersed from the cobbled quad. She gave off an air of indifference, but the girl's words had captured her curiosity and seized her securely in their grasp as a cat does a mouse. She didn't push, for fear of flustering the already nervy teenager, but dearly wished to know all that she had to tell. Some of what had been said had slotted into her mind with ease, filling in parts of a deadly puzzle to which she already held several pieces. Perhaps the rest of the vision could provide a few more.
The red-haired girl bit her lip. "I.... they were very random. I couldn't see any connection between them, and I can only remember a few."
"Nonetheless, proceed, my child."
"I saw.... I saw a horse, thundering across an empty plain, its rider shrouded in shadow. I saw a snarling beast, taller than a man, but horribly human. It.... it lunged at a smaller figure, and I heard a girl scream. Then I saw the Temple. It was.... it was burning, and people were.... were running around in a blind panic. Some fell; their clothes aflame, and others tried to fight the blaze but were either beaten back or burned to a crisp. It was.... so horrible. I can't even begin to describe how terrible it was. So many bodies. And the screaming.... the screaming." She began to shiver, and her voice tailed off at the haunting recollection she would much rather have forgotten.
The woman turned at this abrupt hiatus, eyebrows arching into sympathetic arcs at the sight of the trembling girl. She crossed room and laid a hand on the youngster's shoulder.
"You don't have to continue if it pains you."
The girl's head jerked up at this unprecedented tactility, but her brow creased again as she stared up at her superior.
"No, I have to go on. You said it yourself, my visions may be important." She took a deep breath and nodded, as if telling herself as much as anyone else. "After the fragments had scattered, I found myself in a darkened room. It was small, like your study, and had a musty aura about it, like it was very old. A figure was bending over a desk to one side, and somehow I was then looking over his or her shoulder. I don't even remember crossing the room to get there; but on the desktop I saw a ream of parchment, yellowed with age and covered in strange writing I couldn't understand. Next to it was a sheet of newer paper, which was headed only 'Calorsiel Texts.' The figure was reading this, and when I turned to look I realised that it was the same girl I'd seen reflected in the sword. I recognised her white and brown hair, and she was wearing the same clothes, albeit a little less tattered. As I watched, she seemed to melt away before my eyes, and then I saw three people standing in a shaft of bright light, hemmed in on all sides by absolute blackness." She paused again, unsure of how to continue.
"Yes?" the older woman waited with bated breath. "Did you recognise them?"
"Not at the time," she admitted, "But I do now. They were the three we've just seen in the courtyard. But, they were different somehow. Wiser. More.... worldly. Like they'd seen things they shouldn't, and done things that.... I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense."
"On the contrary, you've made a substantial amount of sense. Was there anything else?"
"Just a few words that sort of popped into my head just before I woke up. I don't know if they were related to the vision, or whether they were just the result of something I ate." She smiled wanly at her half-hearted attempt at a joke.
"What were they?"
"'From whence shall our saviours come? From three, rendered two, to unite as one. Love, Hope and Death.' Does.... does that make any sense to you?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact it does." The older woman aimed a quick glance out the window, though she could see little of the outside world from where she stood. "Who would have thought it? They seem so frail. Such power...."
"Power?" The redhead was more than a little confused. To her, the visions had seemed nothing but unrelated, arbitrary images thrown together into a messy clump in her head. Yet the woman beside her was acting as though she'd just spoken pearls of innate wisdom.
"Yes." She looked down at the puzzled teenager. "Forgive me, I'm getting ahead of myself. You see; those three are the key."
"The key?"
"To peace. I know we don't really recognise outside events in our sect, but the fact remains that The Silver Sword grows more powerful day after day. Soon he will not be content with our continued presence here. Such an amassment of power from so many assembled Changelings he'd undoubtedly see as a threat to himself and his rule. He is ruthless, you understand, and he won't allow anything to remain that may oppose him in his quest for power. He is utterly merciless."
"I.... I know," the girl bowed her head in quiet sorrow. When she spoke, her tone was that of deep grief and sadness, tinctured with a knowledge one of her tender years should not have to possess. "He destroyed my village, remember? His armies came and ransacked everything. I still don't even know why he did it. We weren't a large place by any means. No more than a hamlet, really. Worthless to a warlord. Perhaps he thought of our destruction as sport. His men certainly seemed to enjoy themselves." Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
The blue-eyed woman crouched beside the teenager, long magenta robes brushing the floor and sending up a diminutive dust-cloud of ashes from spent joss sticks and incense. She rested her hands on the arm of the chair, and gazed up at her charge with a look that spoke of empathy and profound regret.
"I'm sorry, my child. I should have held my tongue."
"No, it's alright. I'm probably being too sensitive. It's just.... it still hurts."
She nodded sagely. "And it will do for quite some time. I won't lie to you. I don't see the point in sugarcoating the truth. But I do hope that your decision to stay at this Temple will help with the pain."
The girl sniffed. "You've already helped me more than you can ever know. Taking me in, teaching me about my powers. I thought I was possessed before I came here. News didn't travel easily to my village. We didn't really know about Changelings until I came her and found out I *was* one." She wiped her nose ungraciously on the back of her hand. "I suppose, what I'm trying - very inarticulately - to say, is.... I.... thank you. For everything."
"It is I who should be thanking you." The blue eyes sparkled.
"Excuse me?"
"You've provided me with information I couldn't have found on my own."
"I don't understand."
"You see, going back to what I was saying, much as I hate to admit it, it is only a matter of time until The Silver Sword extends his reach to even this remote land. His clutch creeps further every day. He even has the Guild of Assassins under his thumb now, so I hear. He will not be content until he rules all the realms as one, and you know better than anyone exactly what that would entail for the people living in those conquered places."
"It'd be a complete massacre," the redhead breathed.
"And most probably, those left in its wake would be little more than slaves to his whims. But not everything is doom and gloom. There's a ray of hope to be found amongst all these depressing thoughts."
The girl blinked. "What do you.... oh, you mean the 'saviours' from my visions?"
"Precisely."
"But that would mean," she turned to point out of the window, "That those three kids.... You mean *they're*.... but...."
"Now you can see why I was a little surprised at their appearance, they do not seem the, ah, 'saviour' types." The woman stood up, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking backwards on her heels. "You see, I already knew there were three redeemers who would come to challenge The Silver Sword, I simply was unaware of their identities until now."
"But.... but how could you know?" the girl asked. "My visions...."
"Were only the second part of my knowledge. An accompaniment, if you will, to what I already knew. For you see, the parchment you saw - The Texts of Calorsiel - they *do* exist. They contain in them an ancient prophecy that speaks of the rise of a 'glittering darkness' and the emergence of three consequent saviours. I think you can guess who this 'glittering darkness' is, and now, thanks to you, we also know who the saviours are too."
"But how could you...."
"The Silver Sword thinks he is the only one with a copy of the Calorsiel Texts. He has the original manuscript, and few - if any - copies were made because, at the time, the one who wrote them - a seer known as Ramnet Calorsiel - was widely ignored, and any prophecies pooh-poohed by contemporaries and unbelievers alike."
"Why didn't people believe her?" the redhead wondered. She assumed Calorsiel was female, since it was a truth universally acknowledged that all seers were women. Men held more offensive and combat-orientated abilities.
She assumed wrong.
"Because Ramnet Calorsiel was a he. A man. By some quirk of nature, he was born with the gift of prophecy and insight, powers usually held, as you know, only by women. As a result, few took him or his words seriously, and from the start he was doomed never to be believed by anyone when he professed or warned them of coming danger. Many thought he was making things up simply because he was male. If only they could have seen the truth behind his words. If they'd only listened, then perhaps all this could have been avoided."
"But they didn't," the girl rose from her seat, "And it wasn't."
"Quite." The older woman nodded her assent. "And now it is up to us to make sure that these saviours he foretold about fulfil their destiny and face the Silver Sword. Whether they will win or not is a different matter. The outcome was never presaged. All that we can do is protect them whilst they need help, and aid them on their long journey. They may not yet know of the roles they must play, but they will soon."
"And until then?"
"Until then...." her face assumed an expression of gravity, "All our order must assist them in any way they can. Those three have a mammoth task ahead of them." She sighed. "I just hope they can bear it." There was a fleeting pause; just a small hesitation, but it spoke volumes. "And survive. Because if they don't, then we're all doomed."
*******************
To Be Continued....
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*TRANSLATIONS*
GERMANIC:
Kleines ~ Little one
Verstecktes ~ (roughly) One who hides things/ Hidden one
Tapferes Brave one
Ich habe keine Ahnung ~ I have no idea
Entschuldigen Sie mich? ~ Excuse me?
WARNINGS: This is an AU (Alternative Universe) fic. Everything has been transplanted into a fantasy universe of my creation. Inspirations, despite what you might initially think, aren't actually from a certain Peter-Jackson-esque film project, since I started work on this before I ever *saw* those movies. Influences rather include InterNutter's spiffy fic 'Mein Teuful' (if you haven't yet read this then go do it *now*!) and various other sources I'll explain later.
CODES:
Hello = Narration
~ Hello ~ = Thought
"Hello" = Character Speaking
*Hello* = Bold
//Hello// = Psychic communication
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okey-dokey then. Did everybody have a good Christmas? Thanks to a very well chosen present from my mother, I'm now obsessed with the manga 'Sorcerer Hunters', and loving every minute of it. January can't come soon enough for Chapter 13, even if it does mean my exams lumber up, too!
This instalment of OBAB took me a while to tweak because my muse has been fighting me for a while. Pretty much ever since InterNutter's site went down, actually. But anyway, it's here now; so I'll shut up and let you get on with reading it. Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, and I hope you can find it in your hearts to do it again this time around, as well. art is still greatly welcomed, and for anybody who's even remaotely interested, the fanfic challenge I launched not so long ago *is* still running. Just post any entries here at ff..net until further notice about a finishing date, or, failing that, send them to me and I'll post them for you if there's a problem. Remember, there's a prize involved courtesy of moi, so go on, you *know* you want to enter. ^_^
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'Of Beast And Blade' By Scribbler
Chapter Eight ~ 'The Temple of The Way'
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'In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us' -- Flora Edwards
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Kurt sank to his knees, then onto his tail with a soft 'flumph'. He barely even noticed the pain from both ends of the dexterous appendage - the tip where the skin was torn and bleeding from the Displacer Beast's teeth, and the base where he'd sat on it at a painful angle. His hands draped uselessly on the damp, churned ground, and his mouth moved ceaselessly in an inaudible plea.
"No. Oh gods, please no. Not again. Bitte, don't let it happen again. Please, no."
Kitty sat, wide-eyed, at a loss for what to do. She stared at Rogue. The older girl lay unresponsively, her pallid skin nearing translucency. Now and then her eyelids flickered, but this hopeful sign was kowtowed by an accompanying gasp as poison slowly seeped around her system and constricted her lungs.
The young Changeling's mind was a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions.
~What *do* we do? I've never dealt with poison before. Oh, Rogue, please.... please don't die.~
Her mind immediately snapped back on itself at this request. ~Why am I pleading for her life? She's The Rogue. An assassin. A trained murderer! She tried to *kill* me before.~ She bit her lip. ~But then again, she, like, saved me too when I was falling off that building. And now she defended me and Kurt against the Displacer Beast. So should I be, like, upset that she's hurt or.... or pleased? This is too confusing. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to *do*! I don't know what to *DO*!~
Confused tears pricked at the backs of her eyeballs as despair and gladness warred behind her eyes. She drew her knees up to her chin - for all the world like a frightened child - wrapping Kurt's overly large shirt around her nude body as best she could, and shivering in the stark, cold moonlight.
The trio stayed this way for several minutes, both cognisant teenagers lost in their own mixtures of prayers and remonstrations. Finally, the tense silence was broken when Rogue emitted a low groan of pain that found a voice even through the barriers of unconsciousness that held her.
Kurt's head snapped up. "We have to get help," he stated at last.
Kitty looked up at him, blue eyes large. "But from where? If you hadn't noticed, we're, like, in the middle of nowhere."
"I.... I don't know. But we have to so *something*. It's not going to do anybody any good just sitting here. Especially with that thing still around." He gestured out into the river where the Displacer Beast corpse lay, all but consumed by the darkness. "We have to at least *try* to find help for her. She'll.... She'll die for sure if we don't."
"But where should we go?"
Kurt had to admit it was a valid question. Where did they start? They were miles from any city or town that might possess a healer, and neither he nor Kitty had any inkling as to where they should go to find an independent one who may be closer. He opened his mouth, and then shut it again in the manner of a fish, all words escaping him as he mentally sought for an answer to give the expectant girl.
For so long now Rogue had been their unofficial 'leader'. The two meeker adolescents had followed her for various, oft-conflicting reasons, but now she was no longer capable of giving directions they were marooned on an island of indecision in a sea of uncertainty. Now more than ever they needed a guiding light, but it appeared that the one they'd come to rely on was about to be snuffed out, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Nothing.
//Follow the river.//
Kurt jerked as if bitten. What was that?
//Follow the river downstream.//
A voice. He thought he heard a voice. Yet Kitty showed no signs of noticing it. Rather, she seemed genuinely puzzled at his sudden jolt.
//Follow the river and you will find what you seek.//
There it was again, but it was strange. He couldn't hear it through his ears. Instead, it seemed to be coming from *inside* his mind.
He shook his head. What a foolish notion. Voices inside his head?
Then again, so much had been strange to him of late. So many new creatures and experiences he'd erstwhile only committed to storybooks and fairy-tales. Chimeras, Wolverinnen, Displacer Beasts - why should a voice speaking inside his head not fall into the same bizarre category?
//Why not indeed?//
He jumped again, eliciting another curious glance from Kitty.
~Who are you?~ his internal thoughts piped up.
//A friend. That's all you need to know at present,// the strange silent-voice replied.
~How do I know I can trust you?~
//You don't. But what other option do you have?//
That was true enough.
Kurt heaved a deep sigh. "We'll follow the riverbank and see what happens," he said firmly: more decisively than he felt.
"But - " Kitty began. However, Kurt held up one tridactyl hand to silence her.
"Just....trust me on this one, Kätzchen. I have a feeling." He spread his arms wide. "Besides, what other options do we have?"
She looked as if she were about to protest again, but then dumbly nodded. "How do we move her?" Common sense shone through the haze of emotions cluttering her brain.
Kurt scratched his furry blue head. "I guess we should remove her armour first. That way one of us can carry her, whilst the other carries the metal. We'll be a lot faster that way."
Awkwardly, and rather inexpertly, the pair proceeded to remove the metal protection encasing their companion. Worry made their fingers clumsier than usual, as did the pressure of her running out of time, but soon the steel garments were gone, and between them they divided the chores that accompanied their preferred course of action. It was decided that Kitty would transport the armour, whilst Kurt - being more sure-footed - bore Rogue herself.
The ensuing journey along the edge of the Danub was arduous to say the least, but the atypical duo battled on regardless. They carefully avoided any patch of land that looked even slightly unstable or dangerous, aware of their precious burden and how cautious they must be now they were completely responsible for her well-being. It was odd to think how, not long ago, they wouldn't have cared what happened to her, but now found themselves protecting Rogue like she actually meant something to them.
At last they reached a fork in the river. The waterway branched off in two separate directions - one to the sea, and the other, smaller stream ran off inland, far into the distance until it was lost from view. Here they paused, weary and unsure of their next move.
Kitty looked expectantly to Kurt, and he in turn wondered if the bizarre voice in his head would help them again, or whether he was just going mad and sending them on a deadly wild-goose-chase. He chanced a look at Rogue. She couldn't afford games of that sort.
However, his luck held out.
//Travel the path of the smaller fork,// the voice said smoothly. //And no, you're not going insane, and this is most definitely *not* a wild-goose-chase.//
"This way." Kurt started off down the commanded route, Kitty trailing dutifully behind him.
A thousand and one questions burned in the brown-haired girl's mind, but she kept her tongue and allowed Kurt to concentrate - although how he knew where to go was still a mystery to her. The heavy armour kept her occupied most of the time, but often an errant question would find its way to her lips, and she'd have to bite it back before it escaped into the open air.
~Trust him, Kitty,~ she reminded herself. ~Just, like, have faith in him. He's never steered you wrong before, has he?~
Eventually the forest petered out into a sparsely grassed plain. The land became hilly, punctuated here and there by large swelling ridges and rocky outcrops. These caused havoc for the two teenagers' weary legs, but neither of them offered any complaint. Somehow, Rogue's fate made their own problems seen insignificant and petty, and they were loath to admit to their own shortcomings in the face of what she'd done to end up in her current situation.
Kitty puffed and panted as they climbed what seemed to be the millionth embankment, slipping a bit under her intense load. Rogue was a considerably hardier individual than she, and consequently the armour was proving quite a strain for the younger female to carry, especially in her already-weakened condition.
Kurt glanced back at her, taking in her reddened face and harsh breathing with worried golden eyes. It wouldn't do them any good if Kitty collapsed too, which she looked on the verge of doing, though she had yet to whine of tiredness - a commendable feat for her.
He forced his mouth into a smile. "Come on, Kätzchen," he encouraged. "Just to the top of this hill and then we'll stop for a moment. You can have a rest there."
"No.... mustn't.... stop," Kitty wheezed. "Hafta keep.... going.... for her sake."
"But what about *your* sake, Kleines? You have to rest or you'll make yourself ill."
His comment was met only by gasps for air and muted protests of being 'fine.' Kurt shook his head. Kitty was a stubborn as they come, and he doubted she'd stop if she'd set her mind to continuing onwards. Admirable as her campaign was, it was dangerous for her to persist that way, and would do them no good in the long run.
He glanced at the lightening sky. Morning was approaching fast. How many hours now since they'd first bedded down in that Oak tree? How many hours since all this started?
Inadvertently he glanced down at Rogue. Her face was haggard and bleak, like she was valiantly fighting some great battle.... and losing. Her cheekbones jutted angularly beneath her pale skin, and for the first time the furry boy realised just how glaringly thin she was. Her near-corporeal anger at the world and ever-present hood had concealed something he'd never really considered The Rogue as. A tired, hunted teenage girl.
~Life's been hard to you, hasn't it?~ he thought sadly. ~What would you be doing now if you'd been born as someone else? Where would you be if you'd been born a peasant like Kätzchen, or a Zanninsan? What kind of person would you be? Would you still be so harsh?~
Inadvertantly, he sighed. ~You're so cold, Rogue. I wish you'd drop the disguise and let us see the real you. The you I glimpse whenever you move. Disjointed from your own emotions. Isolated. The you I see behind your eyes. You think I don't notice, but I do. *We* do. We see how a fight rages inside of you whenever you make decisions. We notice how you hesitate when speaking to us, afraid that you'll let something slip. What don't you want us to know, Verstecktes? What is it about you that intrigues me so?~
If he expected answers, then the ex-assassin gave none, and he sighed. She seemed so helpless, lying there in his arms. So defenceless that it scared him. Rogue was strong. Rogue was indestructible. Rogue didn't get sick, and she most certainly didn't die.
Except that she was. As much as he hated to even think it, the words pierced his brain like some cantankerous tumour, laughing at the two teenagers' puny rescue efforts and mocking their chances of success like a vengeful, all-powerful god.
Rogue was dying.
Death.
Such a final word. All-encompassing and ultimate. Somehow 'the end' just didn't have the same impact. It was like a full stop at the end of a page. Such a small thing - monosyllabic - and yet it held so much weight it was soul-crushing to think about. All ideas about the afterlife and the 'great beyond' seemed meaningless when confronted with actual physical evidence of a person's own mortality. That someone so forceful, so powerful as The Rogue could be taken down by such a tiny word was inconceivable, but shockingly, tangibly true.
Death.
The ultimate full-stop.
Suddenly a voice cut into his contemplations. Breathlessly, Kitty cried out: "Look!" slicing a verbal path through his reflections and causing him to jerk up his head in interrupted surprise.
They'd crested the ridge, and now had a clear view of the rest of the plain from this vantage point. It stretched out before them, vast and barren. In the far distance a line of trees were barely visible. Barely. And in the misty beyond mountains sprouted into the clouds, disappearing from sight in the heavens, so tall were they. Other than these and the odd scrubby sprout of grass, the landscape was desolate and inhospitable, belying the lush and verdant river-scenery they'd just left behind. Watery sunlight filtering overhead only served to add to the feeling of natural despondency.
But it was not this that Kitty was excitedly indicating at. On the horizon, standing imposingly against the diluted skyline, was the tall squareness of a building surrounded by a wall of some sort. It was large, one could tell even from this distance. Large enough to comfortably house a city.
A city?
Kurt's face creased into a poignant smile. A walled city perhaps, like Zanninsa? And if so, maybe it contained a healer. Maybe there was hope after all for them. He turned to Kitty excitedly.
"Kätzchen, perhaps - " but the words perished on his lips.
Kitty knelt on the ground, Rogue's armour still clutched possessively to her chest. Her cobalt eyes were wild, and her breath was short and heaving. Every muscle perceptibly trembled, and it was clear that she was utterly spent. There was no possible way she could make the long journey to that remote place across the plain.
Kurt shot a crestfallen glance back at the distant construction.
~So near.... and yet, so far.~
His shoulders slumped, and he hunkered down next to Kitty.
"It's OK, Kätzchen. We'll take a break until you're ready to travel again."
"N.... no," Kitty replied resolutely. "We can't, like, afford any stops. Rogue's.... Rogue's life depends on getting to.... that.... place."
"But Tapferes, it won't do any good if - "
"No buts!" the Changeling girl snapped, hauling herself to her feet. However, almost instantly her legs buckled, , and she would have collapsed into the dust had Kurt's tail not snaked out to catch her arm.
"You're not going anywhere in this state," he said decisively.
Kitty gazed at him, locking his golden eyes with her own. "But what.... what about.... Rogue?"
Yes, what about Rogue? So helpless and vulnerable, relying on them to either get her to aid or watch her slowly die. Eaten away from the inside out by the Displacer Beast's caustic last gift.
Kurt was suddenly and implacably struck by how unfair the situation was. Here they were, within sight of help, and yet they were denied it lest they incur yet more, even greater harm to their party. It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! Rogue had saved their lives, but in doing so she'd consigned herself to join the ranks of the dead. It was unjust, but there was nothing they could do about it. Absolutely nothing.
Inwardly, he seethed. Kurt didn't usually get angry, but now he felt justified in feeling irate. Rage at the Silver Sword bubbled up in his gut. How could that coward condemn her so carelessly this way? He didn't even have the honour to face Rogue in battle. No, he had to send his little *pet* to deal with her, and damn anyone else who got in the way. What would have happened if Rogue hadn't defeated that thing? The Silver Sword didn't care. He was too busy sitting in his fancy fortress to worry about such trivial things as that.
She'd tried so hard to get to Belvedere. To get to.... whomever it was there that she needed to see, and now it seemed she never would. Even though he knew very little about her past, Kurt fumed at this treatment of the ex-assassin. It was ignominious and unwarranted, and it made his blood boil.
Then, quite suddenly, he felt very strange. A curious niggling had started up at the back of his mind, tickling his brain and trying desperately to come to the fore as he thought about the Silver Sword. Somehow, for some inexplicable reason, Kurt was sure that this feeling was important, and he tugged at it, drawing it out as best he could, despite not really recognizing what it was. It niggled at his mental fingers, twisting around them and attempting to drag itself free that way, but it was no use. Something was missing. Some catalyst that would release this odd energy building at the rear of his psyche.
Kurt's tail froze where it had been comfortingly rubbing Kitty's shoulder, and the younger girl looked up at him in alarm. His face was set in a mask of concentration, and his eyes were distant and unseeing.
"Kurt?" she whispered. "Are.... you, like.... OK?"
"Ja," he mumbled. "More than OK."
What was this strange feeling manifesting inside him? It reminded him vaguely of the nothingness that accompanied Kitty's powers when she'd used them with him in tow, but there was something different about it. It was.... more personal. Wilder. It all but enveloped him, but pulsed just out of his reach. Tantalizing, calling him to free it.
But how?
Almost by itself his sight flickered to the building that sat on the distant horizon. Anger still bubbled inside him, but now it seemed muffled and hushed, like something was clogging his ears. Yet still he felt the longing to reach that inaccessible place; to find the aid they so desperately needed. Yearning tinctured his sight, revolving around inside his mind, constantly murmuring the longing he fostered.
He wanted to be there. He *needed* to be there.
Gradually, his ears began to pound. A low shushing noise that only he could hear, but he ignored it. All he could think about was how much he wanted to stand outside that place; to help both Kitty and Rogue by getting them there. They had to get there. *He* had to get them there. He had to....
He had to....
Had to....
Had....
At once, the world exploded around him. Or rather, it imploded; folding in on itself in a burst of brilliance and collapsing white light. Kurt heard Kitty scream, but the light consumed his senses, robbing him of all but the knowledge of its vividness. He smelt the acrid stench of brimstone, but there was no time or chance to sneeze. His stomach lurched as his feet felt like they were being pulled from under him, and it was with a grateful heart that he touched down on solid ground again. Dancing spots covered his vision, and blood pounded in his ears, making him feel distinctly nauseous but at the same time, strangely exhilarated.
Gradually the numbing spots and pounding abated, and Kurt blinked confusedly. Something was wrong. He could no longer see the horizon stretched out before him, and instead of grass beneath his bare feet, he sensed gravel and thousands of small, sharp pebbles.
He appeared to be standing in front of a large wooden panel, and by craning his neck he could see that it was in fact one of two massive doors embedded into a sturdy whitewashed wall, much bigger than that of Zanninsa, but with a similar feeling of durability and magnitude.
It couldn't be, could it?
Could it?
~I didn't know I could do *that*.~
Kurt whirled round at the sound of a wheeze beside him, and found himself gazing at Kitty's hunched form. Slowly she sat up, eyes still squeezed closed. A bead of sweat traced its way down the side of her head, and she gritted: "What. Was. That?"
"Kätzchen.... Kitty.... We're here. We're actually here!" Kurt babbled, smiling fit to make his cheeks hurt.
Kitty opened one eye. "Here? Where's here? What are you, like, talking about, Kurt?"
"Here!" he said emphatically. "I mean, we're there.... I mean, I did it.... at last, I think I did it.... Something happened.... I felt strange and then.... poof! Here we are!"
"Wait a minute." Kitty shook her head, as if clearing a persistent fug from her brain. "*You* did that? All that spinning and bright light and nausea, that was *you*."
Kurt nodded.
"Kurt, listen to me very carefully, now. Don't you *ever* do that.... whatever-it-was-that-you-just-did without warning me again!"
"I'm not sure what I did," said Kurt, some of the delight fading from his voice, but then it returned almost immediately. "My powers must be growing in."
"Your.... excuse me?"
"I'll explain later, Kätzchen. But for now, we're here."
"And I say again, like, *where* is here?" Kitty replied, looking blearily up at the huge wooden gates. "Hey, those weren't there a minute ago. Where'd they come from?"
"It's not them that have moved, Kleines, it's us. Somehow we've been transported to right outside that building we saw in the distance."
Kitty's jaw dropped. "Really? Like, wow!"
"Ja."
"It doesn't look much like a city, though."
Kurt turned back to the doors, a slight frown creasing his features. "You're right. It doesn't," he was forced to concede.
Rogue stirred weakly in his arms in faint retaliation of the venom slowly devouring her, and the elf snapped to attention. "But we can't afford to be picky. Rogue needs help, and quickly. Perhaps somebody inside can give it."
He walked forward, but stopped. There was no sign anywhere of a Gatekeeper's Booth or anything equivalent to it. How were they supposed to alert people to their presence? No smaller doors had been cut into the wood, and any knocking would surely go unheard due to the sheer immensity and obvious thickness of the gates.
Kurt turned back to where Kitty still knelt, opening his mouth to ask her about their dilemma, when another voice abruptly cleaved through the early morning air.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
Both teenagers tilted their heads upwards towards where the voice had come from. High above them, atop the very wall itself was a small cubicle made of thatch and wooden planks. It was a tiny construction, no more than a few feet wide, and the figure leaning over the side at them was dwarfed almost to invisibility. The voice called again. It was evidently male.
"I said, who goes there? Answer me!"
Kurt cleared his throat. He was the only one of their number even capable of replying.
"Please, we need help."
"State your purpose, stranger," the person - Kurt assumed it was a sentry or a guard of some kind - snapped.
"Our friend has been injured," Kurt yelled loudly. "We seek assistance from a healer. We were hoping we could find one here. We thought this place was a city."
"Yeah right!" shouted the person, in a most un-guard-like manner. "Like I haven't heard *that* one before!"
Kurt was surprised. "No, really. She's been poisoned. She may be dying. We need to find help for her, fast. Please. Won't you let myself and my companions inside?"
"Inside?" The voice sounded incredulous. "Are you joking? Be off with you, before I call for assistance of my own. Take your filthy lies somewhere else. They won't work on me."
Incredulity showed plainly in Kurt's requests. "Bitte, I beg you. Let us inside if you have a healer in this place."
"Beg all you want, scumbag. You're not getting past as long as I'm guarding these gates."
"We've never done anything to you. How can you just let someone die like this?" Kurt shouted angrily. "It's heartless!"
"The same way you and your armies just 'let' my village burn and die, you filthy lying bastard! You and your Silver Sword soldiers never showed my people any compassion. Why should I show *you* any?"
"Silver Sword?" Kurt blinked, puzzled. "We're nothing to do with the Silver Sword. It's because of him that our friend's hurt."
"Liar! I can see right through you. Leave this sanctuary before I call someone who'll make you *really* sorry you passed this way!"
Kurt couldn't believe it. Not only was this 'guard' denying them entrance, but also he was accusing them of working for the Silver Sword. The one who'd done this to them in the first place. The cause of so much pain and misery for so many people. Them....
Kitty swallowed loudly behind him. "They're.... they're not gonna, like, let us in, are they?" she said softly. It was more of a statement than a question, and was spoken with quiet sorrow and pained resignation.
No such acceptance existed in Kurt's voice. "How can you do this? We're *not* part of the Silver Sword's army. How can you just accuse us without any proof? Please, our friend... she's.... she's.... dying."
"Save it for someone who cares!"
The body leaning over the side of the cubicle vanished. No doubt to fetch the 'someone' he'd spoken of. Kurt stared after him, fresh anger welling inside his chest.
"Kurt?"
Kitty's voice slid into his ear, despondent and poignant. The elf's shoulders slumped. What was the use in pretending, or getting angry? Anger didn't help things; it only sapped emotions dry. Tarnishing them.
"No, Kätzchen. They're not."
"Then Rogue..."
"Ja." The words came out broken, stained with grief. To come so far and then be turned away at the final barrier.... he felt numb. Beyond sadness. It was too much. All too much. Something, or someone of a higher power had decided long ago they would be doomed to failure, and it seemed there was nothing he could do to change that, however much he wanted to.
Rogue shivered in his arms, but even this inadvertent movement was weaker than usual. She was fading fast, slipping through their fingers, and they couldn't save her. This place had been their final hope. She couldn't hold out until they found somewhere else. He had to face it. Rogue was going to.... going to....
He turned away from the gate, angry tears stinging his eyes.
"Come on, Kätzchen. Let's go. We're not wanted here."
Kitty struggled to her feet, swaying unsteadily. She uttered no protest, but cast a miserable glance back over her shoulder as they began traipsing away from what they'd hoped would be deliverance, but had turned out only to be the final nail in Rogue's proverbial coffin. An unhappy sigh caught in her throat.
Kurt didn't look back. He strode away as fast as he could, with a purposefulness and strength he didn't possess. Where were they supposed to go? He couldn't deny the inevitable, so what were they to do with the.... the body? With the husk that had once been Rogue.
~No, I can't think like that! It's not over yet!~ he mentally berated himself. Yet the cold voice of reality persevered. It *was* over. And there was nothing left for them to do but pick up the pieces and carry on.
Carry on....
//Stop!//
The silent command struck him like a bolt of lightning. Kurt froze, paralysed. Kitty hurried over to him, worried, but halted herself as a similar order sliced into her mind, forcing her to obey it.
//Stay exactly where you are.//
The pair stood taciturnly. Kurt recognized the voice from earlier, but for the Changeling this was an entirely new experience.
"Kurt?" she whimpered. "What's going on?"
"It's OK, Kleines," Kurt soothed her, wondering himself if it really was. With the sudden manifestation of his birthright-powers and ensuing argument with the sentry, he'd almost forgotten about the outlandish, gender-less voice that had directed him to this place. He wet his lips, wondering what was about to occur.
He didn't have to wait very long. Another, physical voice, female this time, called down to them from on high. Both adolescents whipped round at the sound of it.
"Please, wait! Don't leave!"
A slender figure stood in the cubicle, waving frantically at them. Her face was indistinguishable, but Kurt's sharp eyes could make out a flash of vibrant pink as she moved.
She yelled again. "Please, tell me, why do you seek passage into this temple?"
Temple? Kurt shouted back. "What use is there in telling you? You'll only send us away again."
"No I won't!" The individual answered. "If you have a valid reason then of course you'll be allowed in. What on earth makes you think.... Oh wait; I know why you say that." She turned away, calling over her shoulder. "Ray, what exactly did you say to them?"
Neither Kurt nor Kitty heard any reply, but apparently there was one, because the female then said crossly; "Oh honestly! Did you have any proof? No? Well then what right did you have to.... fine, be that way! You can be so stubborn sometimes!" She turned back to the waiting duo. "I'm sorry, can we please start over from scratch? Why do you want to come inside?"
Kurt sighed, weary of explaining himself. "Our friend has been injured. We hoped to find a healer or someone who could help her."
The female seemed to consider this for a moment, then said; "One of the priorities of this temple is to give aid to those who need it. I suppose you fit the bill, and there are only two of you.... Wait right there whilst I sort out the gates. And I apologise again for how my.... 'friend' treated you." Her voice dripped sarcasm.
The flash of pink vanished, and Kitty turned hopefully to Kurt. "Do you, like, think she means it?"
"Ich habe keine Ahnung. I don't know, Kätzchen, but I certainly hope so."
They watched the great doors with bated breath, and sure enough, after a few minutes a loud creaking ensued from one's hinges and it opened a crack. An adolescent head popped out of the gap. It was topped with a length of dark brown hair, and had a grin plastered on distinctly oriental features that seemed to literally stretch from ear to ear.
"Hey there. You waited." They recognised the feminine voice that had called to them from the cubicle. Curious hazel eyes regarded them, and a slender hand beckoned for them to enter through the opening.
Kitty shot Kurt a wary look. "Reckon it's like, safe?" she hissed.
Kurt shrugged. "How should I know? But Rogue needs help quickly, or we'll lose her. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll try my powers again to get us out of there."
Kitty seemed dubious - she'd neither truly understood nor enjoyed Kurt's 'powers' the last time - but acknowledged the urgency of the situation. Obediently the two pattered forward, sliding through the crack after the brown-haired female.
They found themselves in a large courtyard inlaid with cobbles. To their right was a small structure they assumed was used to house the mechanisms for operating the gates, and before them was a stretch of ground leading up to a magnificent set of tall, stone buildings.
Despite themselves, both teenagers gawped. The buildings were beautiful, reaching up into the very sky itself, and covered in creeping vines and gaudy flowers. They were very old, as the crumbling masonry showed, but gave off an aura of tranquillity and wisdom that only comes with age. Truly a breathtaking sight.
Standing between the gates and them was a small platform on top of which was a wooden construction that held a sizable bronze bell. The metal flashed in the early sunlight, making it appear burnished by the gods themselves.
The girl who'd let them in waved to someone standing in the mechanism-booth, and the crack in the gates sealed shut behind them with a hollow boom. Then she turned to them, beaming. Kitty noted with some disgust that she wore a garish pink robe that brushed the floor, covering the hem in a thick layer of grime and dust.
"Sorry about that." The girl stuck out a hand in welcome, then retracted it in embarrassment when she realised neither guest was able to shake it. "Oops." Her eyes fell upon their tattered appearance, taking in Kitty's near-absolute nudity and Rogue's still form. "Man, you really weren't kidding!" she exclaimed.
"Nein, although your 'friend' declined to believe us," Kurt replied, somewhat tetchily.
She rubbed at the back of her head, embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. You'll have to forgive him. Ray's village was plundered and burnt down by the Silver Sword's army not so long ago. He was the only one to survive, and now he doesn't really trust anybody he doesn't know anymore. But I'm gabbling. Your friend needs medical attention. Follow me."
She set off at a brisk pace, and both Kitty and Kurt tried their best to follow her, but still found themselves trailing behind.
"Please, wait," Kitty called out. "We, like, can't keep up with you."
The girl halted and slapped her forehead. "Gah, how stupid of me. You both look all in. Let me get someone to help you." She ran to the bell, climbing the dais and taking the thick rope extending from within it in both hands. Resonant tolling rang out loudly across the courtyard as she expertly pulled, making the ground vibrate with each booming knell.
Almost at once, crowds of people spilled from the stone buildings, running down the staircases and clustering around the platform. Many of them were still half-asleep, and they milled about blearily, voicing their anger at being awoken at such an ungodly hour. All of them wore the same magenta robes as the bell-ringer girl.
"What? What is it?" cried one woman, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Who rang the alarm bell?" demanded another boy angrily.
"What's going on?"
"Is this another drill?"
"No, look," a small boy with closely cropped black hair pointed at the bell. "It's Jubilee. She rang it."
"Jubilee?"
"What's she doing, waking us like this? Doesn't she know the rooster hasn't even crowed yet?"
"I was in *bed*!"
"Which is where I'm going back to right now."
"Too right. Who does she think she is, anyway?"
"So rude!"
"Just like her. No respect."
"You said it."
The girl atop the platform stopped her tolling and held up her hands for silence. Even so, she was forced to raise her voice just to be heard above the indignant chatter.
"Brothers, Sisters, please, can I have your attention." Then when nobody took a blind bit of notice, she reverted to yelling. "OI! LISTEN TO ME!"
A hush fell over the assembled, more-than-a-little-disgruntled people, and one by one they stopped talking to stare expectantly at the teenager who'd so violently roused them. For her part, she gazed around at them, took a deep breath, and continued in a slightly more dignified fashion.
"Brothers and Sisters, I'm sorry for waking you, but we have an emergency on our hands! Only moments ago, three visitors were admitted into the temple, and now I need aid to get one of them to the infirmary. She's desperately sick, and needs to get there as quickly as possible. Will anybody help me?"
There was a muted rumbling for a moment, and then someone pushed their way through the crowd to stand on the podium steps. He had longish, shaggy blond hair down to his shoulders, and was quite tall, making the magenta robe seem doubly ridiculous on his gangly frame.
"Ah'll help. Where are they?"
"They're...." The one known as Jubilee cast about for her guests, and smiled as she caught sight of them at the back of the crowd. "There they are."
As one, the mass of faces swivelled to look at Kurt, Kitty and Rogue, and they shrank back under the collective discerning gaze, conscious of their ragged appearances.
The masses parted, allowing the blonde youth to pass through. He stopped in front of Kurt, and - curiously - seemed not in the least surprised at the elf's demonic exterior. Instead, he simply smiled benevolently and said in a kindly southern drawl akin to Rogue's own: "Here, let me take her."
Kurt hesitated a moment, wondering whether to trust him. A quick glance at Rogue's drawn face made the decision for him, and he deposited her as gently as he could in the obliging stranger's waiting arms. The blonde boy lifted her easily.
"Light as a feather," he commented. "Stand back, Ah wouldn't want y'all to be hurt now."
"Hurt?" Kurt repeated, puzzled.
"Just do as he says," called Jubilee, "And try not to be frightened."
Kurt took a step backwards, muttering to himself. "Frightened? Of what?"
His answer came forthwith. In a burst of blinding light, the tall youth suddenly lifted off from the ground and flew into the sky. The resultant shockwave knocked Kurt onto his behind, and he and Kitty gaped as the iridescent figure soared easily towards one of the buildings - the tallest one - and hovered outside a large window several floors up. He kicked it with his foot, alerting those within of his presence, and presently the shutters banged open, allowing him easy access to the room beyond. Both he and his precious cargo disappeared from sight, leaving Rogue's companions gawping after them in surprise.
"Did he just...." Kurt started, pointing one shaky finger into the sky.
Jubilee jostled her way through the crowd and knelt beside him. "Now, don't be scared. I'm sorry; I'm such a scatterbrain. I guess I should have warned you better."
"Entschuldigen Sie mich?" Kurt turned round golden eyes upon her. "Warned us?"
"Sam's a Changeling. Um, that is to say.... um.... a Changeling is.... kind of like a... a.... well, a few years ago..." Jubilee didn't seem to know how to explain properly, and stumbled over her words; but Kitty cut her off.
"It's Ok, we like, know what Changelings are."
A blink. "You do?"
"Uh-huh. You see; I'm a Changeling too."
"You are?" The strangely clothed girl seemed taken aback, and a surprised murmur ran through the throng of people behind her. Jubilee turned back to Kurt. "And you?"
"No, no." Kurt held up his oddly shaped hands. "I'm no Changeling. Just a freak."
"Hey, we're all 'freaks' here, according to usual perception, so don't do yourself down," she chided.
Now it was Kitty's turn to be startled. "Then you're a Changeling?"
"Uh-huh."
"And them?" she looked pointedly, and with her usual lack of tact at the assembled crowd.
"Mostly. It's a long story." Jubilee sighed and shook her head.
Kitty opened her mouth to ask undiplomatically what this 'long story' was, when suddenly an expression of pain crossed her face and the utterance transformed into a sharp intake of breath. The armour clutched in her arms clattered to the cobbled floor as she wrapped her arms about her chest, falling ungracefully to her knees and causing several members of the crowd to blush at her imprudent attire.
Kurt whipped round, twisting his tail painfully beneath him. "Kätzchen!"
Jubilee stood up, instantly business-like. "Someone get some clothes, quickly. We have to get both of them inside and warmed up."
A few people started forward, though many hung back, unsure of what to make of their strange visitors. Kurt found himself hauled to his feet by strong, yet gentle hands.
"Let go of me! Kätzchen!" he called, watching as she too was helped upright. A tall man with sandy brown hair caught her as she toppled over again, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her off into the large building Rogue had been taken too.
Kurt allowed himself to be led there too, more because he wanted to follow Kitty than because he went voluntarily. He still wasn't sure of these people enough to completely trust them, but knew he had to stick close to his companions as much as possible just in case a quick exit was called for.
He was aware of Jubilee being near his arm, coercing him along and up the stone steps into the huge building. Several other individuals also walked beside him, but the majority dispersed in the courtyard, returning to their beds and other posts amid copious yawning and low-key grumbling. Kurt watched them all through questioning eyes. Just how much could he trust these folks? They'd done nothing hostile as of yet - although the boy identified as the surly 'Ray' had come pretty close.
Well, whatever happened, his main concern was the welfare of Kitty and Rogue, and as they seemed to be guiding him to where those two had been taken, he supposed he'd go along with them for now and ask questions later.
"The armour...." he mumbled, and tried to point. Jubilee heard him and shouted hurriedly over her shoulder.
"Someone get the armour that the girl dropped and bring it along. Take it to the Infirmary."
"Danke," said Kurt with genuine gratefulness. Rogue would definitely not be pleased with him if he lost her armour and weaponry. Not one bit.
That was, if she woke up.
~No, no, not if, when!~ Kurt reminded himself vehemently. ~Rogue'll be all right. She'll survive. She *will*! She *has* to!~ He clenched his fists. ~She just *has* to!~
"No problem," Jubilee returned, jerking him from his thoughts. "We'll take care of everything. You just come with us to the Infirmary and we'll fix you up, OK?"
Kurt could see no reason to argue. This 'Infirmary' was where that Changeling boy had taken Rogue, and presumably Kitty too. It made sense that this would be his destination also. Best just to go along with it for the time being. If it meant they got the help they needed.... well then, Kurt was willing to take a chance if it meant the well-being of his two female companions.
"Lead the way."
*******************
From an upstairs window of a neighbouring building, two sets of eyes regarded the trio's arrival with interest.
This particular building was off-limits to most of the temple Initiates. Those Brothers and Sisters who had not yet passed the Divine Tests and proven themselves worthy of high office. These rooms contained secrets divulged only to the highest-ranking individuals of the Temple of The Way and those selected by a greater authority, and right of entry was the most sought after privilege an Initiate could hope for. They were private and enclosed, and few ever gained access, no matter how hard they tried.
Consequently, the building had been imbued over the years with an air of mystery, and more than a few stories wee passed around the tables at supper concerning what went on inside and concerning those who inhabited them.
The figure closest to the glass-less slit of a window watched as Kurt and Kitty were borne away by the crowd summoned by one of the underlings. Jubilee, some of them had called her. A Changeling, brought here years ago as a child when the magical fabric of the lands began to shift and the first Changelings appeared. She'd been one of the earliest to be brought here. Blue eyes viewed her as she spoke to the masses she'd assembled, ordering them around like a true diplomat. That one showed promise as a peacekeeper in future, which was a useful trait in war-torn realms such as these.
Yet despite these musings, it wasn't the oriental girl that truly interested the watcher. Rather, the three guests she'd welcomed into their midst snagged her attention and held it firmly.
The figure gazed at them. One so weak she couldn't walk, another reduced to unconsciousness by sickness. The third was strange. He walked as an upright animal might, and had a tail to support this assumption; but the fur that covered his half-naked body was powder blue, and he acted distinctly human and not at all like a wild beast.
The eyes narrowed. There was something familiar about him, a memory that played about the realms of forgotten recollections; but it remained out of reach for the moment.
"Are these the ones from your visions?" she asked in a husky, distinctly female voice.
"Yes," replied her companion, who stood a little way off. She apparently wasn't quite as entranced with their visitors, and her own eyes constantly flickered from them to the inside of the room with obvious agitation. "They are."
"Such strange beings," the blue-eyed woman contemplated. "Not at all what I expected."
"What *did* you expect?"
"I'm not entirely sure *what* I expected. Perhaps someone a little.... stronger. More like saviours than these three."
"Appearances can be deceiving," reminded her companion, shifting her feet slightly as she leaned casually against the wall next to the window in a most unceremonious fashion. "As we know only too well."
"Quite." The cerulean orbs turned away from the window, sending an idle reproving glance at her comrade's untailored stance. The smaller, and ostensibly younger, female hastily straightened up, clasping her hands in front of her in the manner of a naughty child caught doing something unpleasant.
"Sorry."
The older woman's expression softened and she waved a careless hand at the apology. "Don't be. Just my strict upbringing raising its ugly head again. I'll have to keep that in check. After all, what's the use of being allowed into these rooms if you can't act as you wish whilst you're in them?"
The younger girl said nothing. It hadn't been very long that she'd been authorized to come to this place, and she still wasn't sure how to act. Really, it was only a fluke that she was here at all. A glitch in the Powers That Be's judgment that had sent to her images of the future through her Changeling power. It still amused her that she, a lowly Underling who'd not long been at the Temple, should be given such a gift.
Or was it a curse?
She still wasn't sure.
Her superior shot her a sidelong glance, noting her silence and uncomfortable demeanour. She gestured to an ornately carved chair in the corner. "Please, sit down."
The girl did as she was bade appreciatively. At least sitting down she was likely to make fewer mistakes. Tucking her feet carefully under her, she clasped her hands in her lap and breathed deeply. The smell in here was pleasant, like incense mixed with honey. Sweet, bordering on sickly, yet with a soothing edge that instantly relaxed all those who scented it. Thrice she'd been in this room now, and thrice the aroma had intoxicated her senses with its headiness. She could sit here and drink in that smell forever.
The older woman remained at the window, transferring her gaze back to the courtyard below. She sighed.
"Tell me again what your visions foretold. Perhaps your words will enlighten me as to the saviour qualities of our three guests, because at the moment I fail to see them."
The seated girl cleared her throat, wondering where to begin. Nervously, she twisted a lock of red hair in her fingers. "But I already explained my visions as best I could to you. I.... I wouldn't know how to do it again."
"Then answer me this," the other woman replied. She was an adept at extracting information with the minimum amount of fuss. "What did you see? I don't want to know what you *think* you saw, or what any of it meant. I want to know the exact images you witnessed in your trance. Everything, down to the tiniest detail you can remember. Anything could be important."
The girl licked her chapped lips. "Um, well, I was standing in the courtyard. I don't know if it was day or night, because whatever hung in the sky was a horrible blood red, and the clouds around it were crimson. The Temple itself was in ruins, and I could hear sounds of some great battle raging about me, but saw nothing of the sort. The place was completely deserted. It was as if ghosts of a long-passed war were still fighting, half in and half out of this world." She paused.
"Yes, go on."
"I.... it's hard to explain what a vision is like for someone who's never had one. I was there, but I had no physical body. It was like I was merely a spirit. An observer who couldn't alter or take part in events."
"An astral body," the older woman supplied.
"I suppose you could call it that. But it was more.... I don't know.... more intimate. I was everything, and yet I was nothing. I saw all that happened, but I knew nothing about any of it. It was.... unique.... I don't know how else to put it. "
"Be that as it may, try your best to explain to me what you saw next."
"Well, what I saw next wasn't in the Temple at all. I didn't recognise the place, but I knew from the first that something was wrong with it. It was too dark; too eerie to be anything crafted by mortal hands. At first I thought it was a stronghold of one of the Seven Hells, but then I saw two figures huddled in the far corner. I couldn't make out whom they were, but they seemed frightened of something. In front of them stood a lion, with its front paws raised, clawing at the empty air. Then this beast became a sword. It... it didn't exactly *change* per se. There was no transformation process, at least. It was just a lion one moment, and a blade the next. The metal of the sword seemed to be wreathed in fire, and as I looked at it, it seemed to speak to me. I know it sounds stupid, but I heard a voice, and somehow I *knew* it was coming from the sword."
"And what did it say?"
"I.... I can't remember everything, but I remember the first part very clearly. It said, 'Seek not those who walk in the light, for it is she who is pursued by wraiths of darkness who shall come. The cat of shadows shall bring deliverance with flimsy paws, and he who crawls through thickest night to reach the dawn of salvation shall redeem us all with the wicked blow of purity. Through death shall come life, and through life, death. Murder will beget the world's release, and past sins shall be forgotten in the face of loving sacrifice.' There.... there was some more, but I.... I'm sorry, but I don't know what it was!" she blurted, ashamed of her own forgetfulness and mentally cursing herself. What was the use of being given a vision if afterwards she couldn't recall what it said?
Not for the first time, she wondered why she had been chosen to bear this burden when she knew so little about her burgeoning powers. It would have been wiser to send them to someone who'd known about being a Changeling for more than a month. What had The Powers That Be been thinking?
"There is no need to apologise," the rich, fruity voice of her elder answered. "I'm impressed that you managed to remember all that you did. It all seems a bit like gobble-de-gook to me. But don't let me put you off. Please, continue."
The girl stared for a moment, caught between relief that her lapse in memory had been waived so easily, and hearing someone as important and stately as the Temple Mother use the colloquial phrase 'gobble-de-gook.' She checked herself and carried on; pausing here and there as she searched her memory for all the details she could muster.
"I.... I went towards the figures in the corner. The sword came towards me, and for an instant I could see an image reflected in it. It was of a girl with strangely coloured hair, running forwards with a facial expression I can only describe as pure fury and hatred. She had a cape that billowed round her with a life of its own, and wielded a blade streaked with fresh blood. Then in an instant she was gone, and the sword dissipated into a thousand shards around me that dusted the ground and made it appear encrusted with diamonds and precious stones.
"I stopped, then... I mean, the spirit that was me stopped, and looked up at the falling debris. Truly, they seemed like Heavenfire - I mean, the teardrops of the gods themselves. Then, with the same lack of interest one might feel in a proper dream, I saw things in each of the fragments. Strange images of people and places I didn't recognise, but somehow.... somehow I knew they were important."
"And what did you see in them?" asked the older woman, gazing out of the window as the last few Brothers and Sisters of the Temple dispersed from the cobbled quad. She gave off an air of indifference, but the girl's words had captured her curiosity and seized her securely in their grasp as a cat does a mouse. She didn't push, for fear of flustering the already nervy teenager, but dearly wished to know all that she had to tell. Some of what had been said had slotted into her mind with ease, filling in parts of a deadly puzzle to which she already held several pieces. Perhaps the rest of the vision could provide a few more.
The red-haired girl bit her lip. "I.... they were very random. I couldn't see any connection between them, and I can only remember a few."
"Nonetheless, proceed, my child."
"I saw.... I saw a horse, thundering across an empty plain, its rider shrouded in shadow. I saw a snarling beast, taller than a man, but horribly human. It.... it lunged at a smaller figure, and I heard a girl scream. Then I saw the Temple. It was.... it was burning, and people were.... were running around in a blind panic. Some fell; their clothes aflame, and others tried to fight the blaze but were either beaten back or burned to a crisp. It was.... so horrible. I can't even begin to describe how terrible it was. So many bodies. And the screaming.... the screaming." She began to shiver, and her voice tailed off at the haunting recollection she would much rather have forgotten.
The woman turned at this abrupt hiatus, eyebrows arching into sympathetic arcs at the sight of the trembling girl. She crossed room and laid a hand on the youngster's shoulder.
"You don't have to continue if it pains you."
The girl's head jerked up at this unprecedented tactility, but her brow creased again as she stared up at her superior.
"No, I have to go on. You said it yourself, my visions may be important." She took a deep breath and nodded, as if telling herself as much as anyone else. "After the fragments had scattered, I found myself in a darkened room. It was small, like your study, and had a musty aura about it, like it was very old. A figure was bending over a desk to one side, and somehow I was then looking over his or her shoulder. I don't even remember crossing the room to get there; but on the desktop I saw a ream of parchment, yellowed with age and covered in strange writing I couldn't understand. Next to it was a sheet of newer paper, which was headed only 'Calorsiel Texts.' The figure was reading this, and when I turned to look I realised that it was the same girl I'd seen reflected in the sword. I recognised her white and brown hair, and she was wearing the same clothes, albeit a little less tattered. As I watched, she seemed to melt away before my eyes, and then I saw three people standing in a shaft of bright light, hemmed in on all sides by absolute blackness." She paused again, unsure of how to continue.
"Yes?" the older woman waited with bated breath. "Did you recognise them?"
"Not at the time," she admitted, "But I do now. They were the three we've just seen in the courtyard. But, they were different somehow. Wiser. More.... worldly. Like they'd seen things they shouldn't, and done things that.... I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense."
"On the contrary, you've made a substantial amount of sense. Was there anything else?"
"Just a few words that sort of popped into my head just before I woke up. I don't know if they were related to the vision, or whether they were just the result of something I ate." She smiled wanly at her half-hearted attempt at a joke.
"What were they?"
"'From whence shall our saviours come? From three, rendered two, to unite as one. Love, Hope and Death.' Does.... does that make any sense to you?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact it does." The older woman aimed a quick glance out the window, though she could see little of the outside world from where she stood. "Who would have thought it? They seem so frail. Such power...."
"Power?" The redhead was more than a little confused. To her, the visions had seemed nothing but unrelated, arbitrary images thrown together into a messy clump in her head. Yet the woman beside her was acting as though she'd just spoken pearls of innate wisdom.
"Yes." She looked down at the puzzled teenager. "Forgive me, I'm getting ahead of myself. You see; those three are the key."
"The key?"
"To peace. I know we don't really recognise outside events in our sect, but the fact remains that The Silver Sword grows more powerful day after day. Soon he will not be content with our continued presence here. Such an amassment of power from so many assembled Changelings he'd undoubtedly see as a threat to himself and his rule. He is ruthless, you understand, and he won't allow anything to remain that may oppose him in his quest for power. He is utterly merciless."
"I.... I know," the girl bowed her head in quiet sorrow. When she spoke, her tone was that of deep grief and sadness, tinctured with a knowledge one of her tender years should not have to possess. "He destroyed my village, remember? His armies came and ransacked everything. I still don't even know why he did it. We weren't a large place by any means. No more than a hamlet, really. Worthless to a warlord. Perhaps he thought of our destruction as sport. His men certainly seemed to enjoy themselves." Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
The blue-eyed woman crouched beside the teenager, long magenta robes brushing the floor and sending up a diminutive dust-cloud of ashes from spent joss sticks and incense. She rested her hands on the arm of the chair, and gazed up at her charge with a look that spoke of empathy and profound regret.
"I'm sorry, my child. I should have held my tongue."
"No, it's alright. I'm probably being too sensitive. It's just.... it still hurts."
She nodded sagely. "And it will do for quite some time. I won't lie to you. I don't see the point in sugarcoating the truth. But I do hope that your decision to stay at this Temple will help with the pain."
The girl sniffed. "You've already helped me more than you can ever know. Taking me in, teaching me about my powers. I thought I was possessed before I came here. News didn't travel easily to my village. We didn't really know about Changelings until I came her and found out I *was* one." She wiped her nose ungraciously on the back of her hand. "I suppose, what I'm trying - very inarticulately - to say, is.... I.... thank you. For everything."
"It is I who should be thanking you." The blue eyes sparkled.
"Excuse me?"
"You've provided me with information I couldn't have found on my own."
"I don't understand."
"You see, going back to what I was saying, much as I hate to admit it, it is only a matter of time until The Silver Sword extends his reach to even this remote land. His clutch creeps further every day. He even has the Guild of Assassins under his thumb now, so I hear. He will not be content until he rules all the realms as one, and you know better than anyone exactly what that would entail for the people living in those conquered places."
"It'd be a complete massacre," the redhead breathed.
"And most probably, those left in its wake would be little more than slaves to his whims. But not everything is doom and gloom. There's a ray of hope to be found amongst all these depressing thoughts."
The girl blinked. "What do you.... oh, you mean the 'saviours' from my visions?"
"Precisely."
"But that would mean," she turned to point out of the window, "That those three kids.... You mean *they're*.... but...."
"Now you can see why I was a little surprised at their appearance, they do not seem the, ah, 'saviour' types." The woman stood up, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking backwards on her heels. "You see, I already knew there were three redeemers who would come to challenge The Silver Sword, I simply was unaware of their identities until now."
"But.... but how could you know?" the girl asked. "My visions...."
"Were only the second part of my knowledge. An accompaniment, if you will, to what I already knew. For you see, the parchment you saw - The Texts of Calorsiel - they *do* exist. They contain in them an ancient prophecy that speaks of the rise of a 'glittering darkness' and the emergence of three consequent saviours. I think you can guess who this 'glittering darkness' is, and now, thanks to you, we also know who the saviours are too."
"But how could you...."
"The Silver Sword thinks he is the only one with a copy of the Calorsiel Texts. He has the original manuscript, and few - if any - copies were made because, at the time, the one who wrote them - a seer known as Ramnet Calorsiel - was widely ignored, and any prophecies pooh-poohed by contemporaries and unbelievers alike."
"Why didn't people believe her?" the redhead wondered. She assumed Calorsiel was female, since it was a truth universally acknowledged that all seers were women. Men held more offensive and combat-orientated abilities.
She assumed wrong.
"Because Ramnet Calorsiel was a he. A man. By some quirk of nature, he was born with the gift of prophecy and insight, powers usually held, as you know, only by women. As a result, few took him or his words seriously, and from the start he was doomed never to be believed by anyone when he professed or warned them of coming danger. Many thought he was making things up simply because he was male. If only they could have seen the truth behind his words. If they'd only listened, then perhaps all this could have been avoided."
"But they didn't," the girl rose from her seat, "And it wasn't."
"Quite." The older woman nodded her assent. "And now it is up to us to make sure that these saviours he foretold about fulfil their destiny and face the Silver Sword. Whether they will win or not is a different matter. The outcome was never presaged. All that we can do is protect them whilst they need help, and aid them on their long journey. They may not yet know of the roles they must play, but they will soon."
"And until then?"
"Until then...." her face assumed an expression of gravity, "All our order must assist them in any way they can. Those three have a mammoth task ahead of them." She sighed. "I just hope they can bear it." There was a fleeting pause; just a small hesitation, but it spoke volumes. "And survive. Because if they don't, then we're all doomed."
*******************
To Be Continued....
*******************
*TRANSLATIONS*
GERMANIC:
Kleines ~ Little one
Verstecktes ~ (roughly) One who hides things/ Hidden one
Tapferes Brave one
Ich habe keine Ahnung ~ I have no idea
Entschuldigen Sie mich? ~ Excuse me?