Author's Notes:
Disclaimer: Characters in this chapter are mine, except for Vanyel, Stefen and Treven. Settings and anything else you may recognise belong to Mercedes Lackey.
Finally. Finished the third chapter. Only got 1 review so far and that's from silverbrillance. So, this chapter is dedicated to silverbrillance, with thanks.
Chapter 3 Dark Happenings
Pain flashed brilliantly in a rolling sea of red waves. Tendrils of darkness surrounded her as lightning crackled maniacally across the stormy skies that represented her psyche. A glutinous, stifling cloud of blackness threatened to envelope her in its suffocating embrace; she refused to surrender. Bright, silver agony raced through her mind even as she battled. Again and again, she fought off the evil, all-encompassing fog around her, until she could fight no more, until her very marrows were exhausted.
Then, she felt a vise-like grip trap her mind in its hold, taking over her will and her body. Slowly, it sent a thin stream of consciousness through her mind, exploring all her secret and private memories, taking in her worst fears and nightmares. The grip tightened, and she found herself doing things that she normally would not even have thought of, much less act out. Walled up somewhere in the corner of her mind, her consciousness realized what was happening and tried to break free, but all to no avail.
Sobbing silently, she gave up and begged for released from the torment. She could no longer stand watching what the evil presence was making her do with her body, so perverse and disgusting they were that the hardest soldier would have flinched upon seeing it. Her actions sickened her, but the evil presence just laughed tauntingly and forced her to watch some more.
Dawn broke. A few hours had passed, and she was moaning and wailing uncontrollably, her sanity almost gone. A few more minutes and it would have been over. Just as she neared the breaking point however, the evil presence faded and retreated out of her mind, no doubt because it wanted to keep her mind whole for some other time. But by that point in time, she did not care, could not care, could not even form a coherent thought as darkness took hold.
-LS-LS-LS-
Shuddering, Liritia wrenched her mind from the memory with a cry of deep anguish. Blindly, she stumbled from the rock she had been perched on and ran away, as fast as her long legs would carry her, away from the pain, away from the memory of the attempt at influencing her mind.
"'Ritia!" A shocked outburst sprang out from the usually reticent Kerrayrlia. Numbly, she stared after her best friend's fast disappearing figure. Then, as snow fell more heavily, swirling with the wind, she came out of her trance.
It was not because she had overcame her shock; it was because another thing had happened to shock her again. Thwack! A snowball, hard and packed tightly, had hit her left hand, exactly at the spot where her wrist was. Swiftly, she turned around, her shocked expression melting into a blank mask even before she saw the thrower.
She fought to maintain her blank mask when she saw who the thrower of the snowball was, but it was quite difficult. Golden hair speckled with snow flashed in the dull morning light and grey eyes sparkled cheerfully. "Good morning, Kerri," a polite greeting emerged from Zarien, at odds with his mischievous expression and actions.
Yet, it was not the playful actions of Zarien that surprised her, for she had known all along that he could be as playful as he was serious at times. Rather, it was the person walking next to Zarien that drew out a mental gasp. Long, dark auburn hair streaked with silver framed a triangular face covered with stretched out flesh and piercing hazel eyes drew Kerrayrlia's attention away from the prominent high cheekbones and the lean, wiry body of the middle-aged man.
Havens, that's Bard Stefen! The lifebonded of the legendary Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron. Famous as he is, he's rarely seen at Havens...I wonder why he's with Zarien. But her face betrayed none of her surprise or delight at seeing the most famous living Bard. Instead, she returned Zarien's greeting with an inclination of her head. "Good morning to you too, Zarien, Bard Stefen."
The famous Bard nodded at Kerrayrlia and inquired, "You know me, Trainee - ?" "Kerrayrlia, Bard Stefen." She twitched her lips slightly in what might have been a small smile. "And no, Bard Stefen, I have never seen you before, but I am sure that the entire population living in Havens have heard of you, and would know you simply by virtue of your looks." She did not mention the fact that Bard Stefen's fame existed, at least in part, because of his lifebonded and the work he had undertaken in said lifebonded's name. Vanyel Ashkevron. The last Herald-Mage, who had died even before Kerrayrlia was born. Kerrayrlia might not be the most tactful of all people, but she did know better than to mention the long-dead Vanyel to his lifebonded.
Stefen laughed. "Well, that's probably an exaggeration, but it sure does flatter." He paused, then continued with some hesitation. "Trainee Kerrayrlia, may I ask what happened to that Healer Trainee just now? She seemed to be...in distress..." He trailed off when he noticed that Kerrayrlia's expression of cool blandness had hardened almost imperceptibly. Trying not to stare at the striking Bard, Kerrayrlia wondered if she should continue the conversation, or if she should leave Stefen and Zarien to their walk. She did not feel like talking about Liritia's "distress" to anyone, since she herself did not know the cause of it. Moreover, she was, by nature, an extremely private person; as a result, she did not think that Liritia would appreciate having her behaviour remarked upon behind her back since she herself did not like it when others did it to her.
Before she could open her mouth to say anything however, she was saved having to do so by the sudden appearance of a young page. "Milord Bard Stefen." He panted a bit, round eyes wide with exhaustion. "The King requires your presence in Council. A situation has occured…" The young child trailed off, still panting.
Stefen narrowed his eyes with worry. "Do you know what the nature of the situation is, boy?" Eyes wide, the child shook his head. Without waiting for further prompting, Stefen turned in the direction of the Palace and started off in a trot. He called back to Zarien, " 'Rien, we'll continue our conversation some other time, alright? Send my regards to your father…" The voice faded as Stefen got further and further away from them.
Kerrayrlia turned to the page. "What's going on, child?" Her voice, usually cold and aloof, had unknowingly gentled. The young page smiled up at her. He had finally stopped panting, but was still recovering from what must have been a long search in the grounds. "I, I don't know…milady..." He faltered. Then, without another word, he started to run off again.
She felt a hand land softly on her shoulder and stiffened. Whipping around, she saw that it was just Zarien and relaxed slightly. But she still couldn't keep from repressing a shudder at the thought of a male standing so close to her. Zarien must have felt something, because he immediately took his hand away.
"I do apologize for my presumptious expression of familiarity, Kerri. For one moment, I thought you were just another friend." Unspoken were the thoughts that he had forgotten that she was uncomfortable around males. Kerrayrlia took a deep breath and managed to answer without her voice trembling.
"It's all right, Zarien. But do you know what's going on? The summons from King Treven sounded urgent." Zarien met her eyes and shrugged. He replied truthfully, "I don't know, but whatever it is, it's sure to be serious." Kerrayrlia just nodded. Was Valdermar going to face another series of dangers? The last time Valdermar had faced a threat, it had taken the death of Herald-Mage Vanyel Demonsbane to save her. But there weren't anymore Herald-Mages in Valdemar. Would they survive if another wave of darkness threatened to invade and drown out the brilliant spark that was Valdermar?
Kerrayrlia decided not to worry about it. There was nothing she could do about it anyway, and worrying accomplished nothing. Instead, she focused on another question. "How are you related to Bard Stefen? You seem to know him very well."