Varian
"Will you stop fidgeting and let me heal you? I swear, Varian, you are worse than a child." Vala complained as she attempted to heal a minor burn on my forearm.
We'd had a run-in with a couple of felhunters and I'd managed to get a small amount of blood on my sleeve that I hadn't noticed until it started to burn my skin. We'd neutralized the blood as best we could with some of the water we'd brought with us on our scavenging mission, but my skin still got slightly burned. I'd stubbornly refused to allow Vala to take a look at the wound until we got back to the cave.
It had been almost two weeks since my arrival and Vala and I had started to slip into a routine. Most days we spent in the cave, talking. There was very little else to do. I worked on my polearm technique, since the weapon wasn't one of my strongest and Vala was constantly going over spells in her head. Some involved improving our defenses, others were to improve the quality of our shelter and food supplies and still others were attempts to replicate the portal which brought her here. I could always tell when she was working the latter type, since her frustration was at its highest when working on portals.
Every couple of days we'd go outside on scavenging missions to look for anything left behind by those unfortunate souls sent here who didn't survive their first demon attack, or maybe even find someone still alive, though Vala didn't hold out much hope for that idea. Considering she'd only managed to save one person in five years, I kinda agreed with her. We'd try to save anyone still alive, of course, but most of the time we'd only find bodies. We usually took anything from the dead that wasn't overly damaged or soiled, even if the items didn't seem useful. You never knew when something you thought was useless would come in handy.
"I'm a king. I don't fidget." I replied gruffly, though I did my best to remain still while she worked. Vala seemed to only have a weak connection with the Light, so it took quite a bit of concentration for her to heal. I didn't want to make her job any harder than it already was, since it was lucky she could heal at all. She might not have survived in this place without the talent.
Vala snorted in reply. A few minutes later, the pain from the burn was gone and all that was left on my arm was a very faint scar. Her skills at healing burns were impressive, though it made sense, since burns were the most common ailment she fixed on herself. She'd had many opportunities to practice.
"Fine, you're a king and you don't fidget. You're all healed up, you royal pain in the ass."
I laughed hard at her comment. Vala was an interesting person. She had no filter whatsoever when it came to what she said. Since she'd been alone for so long, talking to no one but herself, now that she was able to talk with another person, she didn't feel the need to sensor anything that came out of her mouth. If she thought it, she said it. I hadn't laughed so hard in all my life, particularly from her good natured ribbing. She could care less that I was a king, never even trying to treat me like one.
"I have to ask, since you obviously have some talent with the Light, why didn't you study to become a priest?" I knew a thing or two about Light magic, since Anduin always had a very strong natural talent. I pushed against his training to become a priest at first, but as he got older and more stubborn, basically more like me, I realized his skills could very well become advantages when he became king. I could only pray they were serving him well now.
Vala sighed deeply. I almost felt bad about asking.
"I tried. The priesthood was my first direction in life. I knew I felt the Light, but when I started studying with our local priest, nothing happened. He described my connection, not so much as a talent, but like a presence. Almost like a magical tumor, which is just kinda squatting inside me. My connection would not grow stronger, no matter how much time I spent studying and practicing. I've gotten better at healing over the last five years, but I'm fairly sure I've developed it as far as it will go. Healing is the only place where I've been able to use the connection."
"I'm sorry." I replied. What else could I say?
"Don't be. My failure made me realize I have a fairly strong talent with the arcane. My training to become a mage actually worked out more naturally for me, ya know, besides the whole being stranded in a demon dimension thing. My mom was disappointed. She'd envisioned me becoming a great priestess. Apparently, she didn't think nearly as highly of mages."
"Magical tumor or not, I'm thankful you can heal, though I think what we found today was worth a few minor burns." I said.
Vala nodded in agreement. "I feel bad we weren't able to save the guy, but the stuff he had on him will make our lives a little better."
We stumbled upon a dead body while scavenging. The poor man must have been dead for several days, since his body was mostly just a dried husk. That was how we found most bodies from demon attacks. Either dried up or torn apart. Sometimes both. This man was either a small human or a larger dwarf and had to have been a salesman, since a large bag of goods was still attached to his remains. Fortunately, demons have no interest in a person's belongings. Inside the bag were several bolts of heavy cloth, a few tailoring goods, like needles and thread, two small daggers, three finely crafted metal goblets, a hand mirror, six books containing short stories ment for children and several bags of dried fruit and sweets.
"I'll be able to patch up our clothes and cloaks and make our beds a little warmer and more comfortable. Not to mention, I haven't had anything like sweets for five years. And the books may have been intended to be read to children, but they should be at least a little entertaining to us."
I picked up the hand mirror and examined it. "This looks almost like the one my friend Jaina gave my son. She enchanted it somehow so they could talk over distances."
"Wait, what did you say?" Vala asked, walking over to me. "Did you just say your mage friend gave your son a scrying mirror?
"If that's what you call them, then yes. It's linked to her own mirror and they can talk, no matter where they are physically in relation to each other." I replied. Vala had an excited look in her eyes.
"This mage friend of yours, how powerful is she?"
I shrugged. "Probably one of the most powerful in her generation, I'd guess."
"And how good a friend is she?"
I looked at Vala, confused. That was a very odd question. "She's like an aunt to my son. I've known her since I was a young man. I consider her family. Why?"
Vala paced back and forth a few times, deep in thought. I didn't press, only watched as she moved. Something about this mirror and my relationships had her very excited.
"Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way." She said, more to herself than me. "I'm not powerful enough or knowledgeable enough to generate a portal, obviously, but maybe I am powerful enough to contact someone who is…"
"Are you saying there's a chance you could contact my friend? Get her to generate a portal for us?" I asked.
"Maybe...I don't know...it's way more complicated than that. We're talking about contacting another dimension, without any kind of preset focal point, but maybe...I don't need one…"
I looked at Vala expectantly. She was mumbling to herself and only a few of her words were decipherable.
"Vala?"
She looked up at me, as if she'd completely forgotten that I was even in the cave with her. "What? Oh, sorry. I think I have an idea. It involves magic I've only ever read about, but I might be able to use that mirror and you as a focus…" She sighed deeply. "...I'd still need to factor in the time variation...that's going to be a bitch, but maybe…"
I stood, standing in front of Vala, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. "What does this mean?"
She looked up at me and seemed to regain her focus. "It means, if I can figure this out, I might be able to use a type of scrying magic to contact your mage friend. The trick is catching her at the exact right time. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that yet. Give me some time to work on this."
"I guess that's one thing we have plenty of. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Vala shook her head. "Not yet, but if I can figure out the spells, yes, this idea would probably only work with your help." She went over to the fireplace, which was completely out and cool, collecting a piece of charred wood, then crossed the cave to the far wall, which was relatively free from markings or scratches and began to write.
I decided it was best that I didn't disturb her. I prepared a new fire, interrupting Vala just long enough for her to light it, then pulled one of the books out of our scavenged bag and started to read. I hadn't read something for entertainment for years, but it wasn't like I had anything better to do. I found myself, for the first time in two weeks, having hope we might get out of this dimension. Not much hope yet, but at least some. It was better than nothing.
To Be Continued...
