Talem rested his head on Delarn's shoulder as he hugged her tightly and murmured in her ear, "I do not believe this is something that you're meant to do, that you're the only one meant to do it, but I know that it would not sit well if I denied you this. Are you certain?"
"I don't know," she answered, "but we're here and the longer we take discussing it, the more likely he'll get away or something worse."
"I'll be here with you," he said softly. "You're not going in alone."
She nodded, and he reluctantly let her go and turned toward the door. He took the door handle, and before it was completely open, she was already squeezing through. Her face was red, and she didn't quite want him to see how flustered she was.
He called out to her, the door not quite heavy, but heavy enough that he wasn't right behind her and he wanted to be.
"There she is. She's been infiltrating this tower for all these months. I tried to warn you, but I just couldn't figure out who it was," Glen-she couldn't see him as anyone else at this point-said to Reffalk, the only head wizard there at the time. "She's responsible for the monster that's been wandering around Yanille at night as well."
"Is that so?" Reffalk said, bristling. "I knew there was something strange about her when I heard rumors of her wandering the halls with that young man that we brought in recently. That man has something terrible about him—a terrible fate. It's a shame he's been so misguided."
"Terribly unfortunate," Glen answered, pointing at Delarn. "It's best if we take care of her now before she causes any more damage, don't you think?"
"I believe so as well," Reffalk replied, pointing his wand at Delarn. Talem heard what had been said and held back so she could retreat as she started to backpedal. She wasn't fast enough, and a beam of light arched across the room and struck her in the chest. She gasped as something was wretched from her, being dragged out of her like a thread, her knees growing weak. She did her best to remain standing upright. She thought she was dying, so when it was over, and she wasn't dead, she felt relieved and timidly resolved.
As Glen also saw she wasn't dead, he lifted his want to point at her as well, and her eyes were drawn toward the motion, and she took another step back. Reffalk noticed as well and reached out to hold Glen's wand in his shaking hand that would assure it wouldn't shoot straight. Delarn couldn't make it out from here, but she already knew that Glen was giving him a terrible look and she felt suddenly afraid for him as well as herself as Reffalk said, "That won't be needed."
"Please sir," Delarn pleaded cautiously. "You've made a mistake. I'm not a threat, and I'm not an intruder. You've been misled, and you must give me a chance to speak for myself."
"Then lay down your wand and step forward and we'll have a hearing for you to discuss what has and hasn't been said," Reffalk answered.
Delarn head went from one man to the other again and again as she started to crept towards them. Reffalk was calm until he realized that she still hadn't laid down the wand that she had been clutching at her side. "Put down your wand," he repeated.
"Not until he does," Delarn barked back, shaking as she could make out the wand pointed at her still with a red, dim light glowing from its tip that seemed to shiver with the effort of being aimed.
Reffalk seemed to notice that Glen still had it raised as well and looked up at him. Glen immediately said, "See, she's trying to trick us into lowering our guards and taking her side. Are you going to let her?"
"We don't need to use any sort of violent force against her. She's going to put down her wand if we do, won't she?" He asked, looking at Delarn. She stopped and looked at Glen again, her eyes wide, uncertain how to respond to that.
Glen responded first, catching sight of Talem who was slowly making his way closer behind Delarn, intending to catch them by surprise. He wretched the wand free from the old wizard's grip, shoving Reffalk to the floor. The old man cried out, and Delarn could hear something break in him, a snap of bones as he must have broken something. She thought little of her next action, pressing forward and intending to help him.
"Delarn!" Talem cried out as Glen shot off his wand and its red light hit her. This time she didn't feel anything, and she froze, fearing the worse, but Glen frowned as from his perspective he could tell that nothing had happened to her and he wasn't sure what the wand had done as he had borrowed it from Reffalk, to begin with. He began reaching for his runes, intending to freeze her to death instead, but paused. He could see figures starting to take shape, incorporeal beings that appeared to be much like animals that were beginning to form in the corners of the room.
"The guardians," Reffalk rasped, whimpering in pain. "If she hasn't a place here, they'll find her."
The beings, appearing as little more than shades of light and smoke, moved toward her, walking across the ground as if on solid paws or feet, the creatures of all shapes and sizes. She stared in horror and tried to rush for Glen, but he moved back quickly and shoved her hard against the shoulder before retreating toward the far door where the high wizards stayed in the tower. She started to chase after him, but Talem pulled her back.
"Look," he hissed. "They'll corner you. We need to go."
The beings were, in fact, coming closer and closer, and Talem was dragging her back towards the door they came from as they started to lope after her, twisting and turning in disturbing patterns, as if hungry to catch her. She looked back at where Reffalk was on the floor, hoping that maybe he would be able to stop them, but he didn't seem to be moving anymore. Talem shoved her through the door and slammed it behind them quickly. Even then, the figures appeared to simply ooze through, though they definitely seemed slowed by the barrier.
"I've been in the tower for a while," Talem told her. "They won't enter a resident's room even if they're being hunted. We have to go back to yours as they'll come after you in mine."
He looked at her expectedly, expecting her to take them back to her room, but she was confused and disoriented and didn't make a move. There were too many doors around her to know which one to go through. Talem then was aware of what happened and began leading her along instead as the beings were almost about to form on this side of the door. He closed as many doors between them as possible between there and her room.
"I don't understand," she said, uncertain as to why she couldn't find her way.
"That first strike must have been to take away your sense of direction in the guild. I can't imagine what that slippery serpent told him, but I know that it must have been enough to turn Reffalk from you," he answered.
"He seemed reasonable enough," Delarn replied.
"Perhaps," Talem answered, turning for a moment to close another door, "but that just means that he was curious about your destiny. Certainly, you seem to have the lion's share, no?"
After a moment even she started to recognize their surroundings as they came upon her door to her room. She was almost afraid that it wouldn't be the same, would be sealed against her, but it opened. She was glad this was a door that she felt welcome opening. He gently pushed her in as soon as it was opened as she seemed a bit stunned and confused still. He entered quickly behind her and immediately closed the door behind them, knowing that they were cutting it close.
The guardians, a moment after the door was closed, screeched and slammed against the door so that it vibrated threateningly. Purple and blue smoke oozed around the edges like when they went through the other entries, but this time they came no farther.
She turned around and watched past him. After she knew she was safe after a long, long time staring at the door, Delarn let out a breath and whimpered softly.
"Delarn," Talem said, and it startled her as it was louder and harsher than she expected. Her eyes were wide and startled as she looked directly at him, and he seemed to stumble for a moment before plowing on, "that was absolutely reckless. You were shot twice. You could have died twice. Do you realize that?"
She nodded slowly and replied, "Yes, I know. I could have. I never really thought of the-"
She paused for a moment, considering what she was trying to say.
"The consequences of dying? The chance that we could have lost you?" Talem put in, his hands folded.
"No one really—that is to say that usually—people didn't care before," she said, trying to justify herself, tears starting to brim in her eyes.
"There are definitely people that care whether or not you die," Talem told her sharply. "I care. Am I not enough or would you like me to say the other woman does as well—Reeva. She cares very much about you. Would you care if one of us died?"
"Of course I would," she answered quickly. "I wasn't thinking. I just thought—please don't be mad at me. I know I don't think about others. I know I don't know how to—"
Before she finished, he was hugging her again, rocking her gently. It felt much like when Ronvile was doing it when she was a wolf, but there wasn't any admonishment in it despite what he had been saying to her.
"I don't mean to upset you, Delarn," he told her softly. "I just want you to be aware that there are people that care about you. You're not a tool, and you're not meant to die like this. You shouldn't have to, and definitely not alone. In fact, if I knew you would let me, I would do it all for you myself."
"That's not fair either," she answered. "I would be worried about you too. I would be more worried about you than I am about myself. Please don't. Can't we do it together? Evenly?"
"Yes, evenly," he answered softly, "but you have to remember that we're acting evenly. You can't stand in the way again or leave me behind. You have to remember to let me help too. Can you promise you'll do that for me?"
She sniffled, and said, "I can't promise that. I can't promise you anything like that because you're so important to me and I don't know how I'll act when things start happening again, and I don't want you to be mad at me."
"I won't be mad at you," he promised. "Just do your best for me, will you? Just take care of yourself so I can feel just a bit more at ease."
"Of course I will. I always do my best one way or another. I haven't died yet. I can't imagine dying if I'm honest." She smiled weakly at him, "but I've seen plenty of people I've come to care about die. Please don't blame me for being a bit less careful with my own life."
"It's funny," he told her softly, murmuring it in her ear, "I could say the exact same." He laughed and hugged her a bit tighter, feeling almost sorry that he did as he could feel her tearing up –he knew what that felt like quite well.
"I'm so sorry I haven't known you sooner," Delarn told him, her voice cracking, and Talem suddenly felt a bit teary as well. He opened his mouth to answer, but the next moment they felt the tower tremble. It trembled again and both looked nervously around the room, wondering if they should leave or stay. He immediately let her go and went to fill the basin with water to start a scrying pool.
"I thought you didn't know how to do that," she said as she went to join him quickly.
"No, I do know. I simply do not typically care to do it. Watching things and people from afar does not appeal to me," he replied with a genial smile, wiping his eyes as they peered into it and the image of the outside of the tower began to form. Great winged beings that were more snakes than dragons seemed to spawn from dark clouds that were forming above the tower. From those, lightning struck the tower, and that's what appeared to be making it shake. It didn't look as if it would destroy it, but it did make it seem as if it would be too dangerous to leave, the air crackling with a strange grey and gold haze. They could see people on the ground scrambling to take cover as the winged snakes dived and barely missed them with their reaching talons. Another heavy bolt hit the tower, and they braced themselves as the tower shook again.
Talem swallowed heavily and looked at Delarn, already feeling as if teleporting out was no longer an option. "It looks like we're not going anywhere quickly. It looks like someone definitely should do something about that."
"Perhaps we should wait and see," Delarn answered casually. "Why should it be our problem to solve?" She took a deep breath and Talem watched her as she went to sit on the bed, and after a moment he shrugged and smiled delicately, going to sit beside her.