*Content Warning: This chapter does contain child and spousal abuse I have marked the parts of the chapter as (Woodsman scene) and where it ends. If that is upsetting or triggering please skip.*

"Will you need assistance?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to say no, but she was tired. Her wounds may have been healed, but she was not back to full working order. And if their enemies were around, she would have to be cautious. Her gaze briefly rested on the young knight. She would watch her back where that one was concerned.

"Yes, I'm still weak from the arrow." And as a second thought she added, "Get his Grace, Duke Baird as well. It will be wise to have a second healer in case something happens to me."

A young squire was summoned into the room and told to fetch Numair and Duke Baird. The lad nodded wide eyed as he tried not to stare at Arie's strange hair. She stiffened when she saw the boy make the sign against evil. It stung, but at the same time it was amusing. Making signs didn't prevent evil from getting you. He turned to leave and tripped. The squire glanced at Arie accusingly. She was about to snap that she had nothing to do with it when one of the people behind her snapped,

"Get moving lad," Lord Wyldon's barked order caused the boy to scramble away with less dignity.

Arie couldn't help a sigh of relief. She now sat silently as all the important people of Tortall stared at her. Judging. Weighing her worth. Blessedly, it wasn't long before the squire returned with Numair was dressed in nice robes and Duke Baird dressed in plain clothes with a clean smock over it. Maybe he had been about to go to the clinic. Arie bowed to the two men and greeted them properly. She explained quietly to Numair her plan. He listened and after an initial gripe about how she said she wouldn't use her power; he asked questions of more technical nature. All of which she answered as best as she could. She noted however he didn't like the idea of her performing magic while she was still so weak. Everyone else listened, whether anyone noticed Numair was truly upset by the idea Arie couldn't say. Eventually she turned to everyone to explain what was going to happen.

"My magic will reach out to you. All you have to do is flow your Gift into your hand and grab a strand of magic. Those who are Giftless a drop of blood will do. Prick your finger or your palm. That way I have your essence and I can flow the memories to you through that."

Raoul, Garth the younger, Wyldon, and Myles drew daggers. The queen drew a sharp hair pin from her thick locks. Sir Wyldon shook his head sharply.

"Your Majesty, we cannot risk you or the heir," he said to the Queen. She looked angry and about to argue, but the king put his hand on her. Roald however was not satisfied with this.

"As the heir, I have a right to know what my people face."

"As the heir, it is your duty to remain alive and s-."

Before the argument could reach shouting proportions Arie interjected. "It is not my place to speak, however."

The knight Jorrey looked like he was going to strangle her.

"Are the rumors about Numair and the King's power just that? Or aren't they some of the most powerful people in the land?" Arie saw the approving looks that Garth and Alanna gave her. It gave her courage. "The Queen and the Prince could wait and have Numair or the king show them what I have showed them. It shouldn't be hard for them to pick it up. Then the royal line is not endangered, but everyone knows what I know. Would that satisfy everyone's pride and duty?"

Sir Wyldon rubbed his chin thoughtfully and nodded. The prince receded back into his chair, crossed his arms, and said, "That is acceptable."

Arie smiled and to herself thought, men! She caught a look of amusement on Sir Alanna's face and Arie couldn't help but wonder if the woman's thoughts weren't that far from her own. Arie nodded to Numair. The taller man laid a hand on her shoulder and his black and silver gift flowed into her. It was like a sludge hammer to her tired system. She suddenly felt like a ripe fruit that was about to burst. Stars burst across the back of her vision, making it take a moment for her to be able to focus on her own Gift. Once she found the well inside her, she dragged the power out.

There was a gasp as Arie's Gift drifted out of her body, down her arms and sides. It then formed several blue green arms that sprouted out below her actual arms. A truly bizarre sight to see six extra arms under her normal ones that flexed and moved independently. One arm reached for Duke Baird who took it without hesitation. Raoul stared at the arm that reached out to him for a moment before grabbing it. Very curious. Garth the younger fumbled with his dagger making the cut bigger than need be. When Arie's third hand took his wounded one the cut sizzled and sealed; instantly healed. It wasn't wise, but Arie couldn't help the instinct to help. Sir Wyldon reached out a grabbed her fifth hand, wary but confident; a small cut across his palm. The fourth hand reached out to Myles who chuckled and clasped the hand as if it were the hand of a close friend. Her last magic hand reached for the king. He took it with a wry smile. Remembering her earlier comment. Alanna's purple gift flowed over the table and wrapped around Arie's left hand. Arie reached out to Jorrey with her right hand. The young knight simply crossed his arms. His right hand dropping down to his sword.

"Be careful knight. If you strike at me while I am connected to so many people it is possible everyone will die." She smirked. "Or, more likely, the force of your sword clashing against so much magic and so many strong lives will result in you flying out that window and possibly destroying your sword. Shame to waste a Raven's Armory sword."

The knight gritted his teeth, but Arie was already lost in the sudden flood of voices. Everyone else's thoughts were like voices in her head and they were starting to tangle in her mind.

Silence. Everyone's mind was stilled. She saw each person for who they were. Who they were meant to be. Warriors, all of them, though some fought differently than others. And one that shined above all. King. Somehow, in her desperation last night she hadn't noticed it, but now there was no way to not see it. Arie forced herself to ignore the eyes of everyone on her and went to work. She built clear walls between everyone and herself. This way their thoughts, memories, and secrets would remain theirs alone. This would also prevent her memories from spilling over like they did when she first merged with the king. The walls built, now she focused on the memories she wanted them to see. This time they weren't jumbled and fragmented.

It flowered above her. The image of a man being dragged away by guards. Arie was too far to hear what was being said. It had been a chance glance that she had recognized his face. A neighbor. Mand was his name. He was a day laborer, paid to work fields. She had healed his broken ankle not long before this memory. Not someone prone to violence, but he did drink himself silly a little too often. If she remembered correctly that was how he had broken his ankle. Arie was moving before she even realized what she was doing. Already reaching into her bag for medicine that would ease Mand's hangover. She got a few feet from him and Mand's head shot up. He snarled, screamed, and fought like a monster against his guards. Blood shot eyes swung around and found her own eyes.

Then he shrieked, "She's dead! She died because of you! WITCH! YO-" The rest of his words were cut off by one of the guard's striking Mand on the temple with the butt of his dagger. Arie tripped and just sat where she landed, just staring at Mand. She was shocked to see the usually quiet man acting this way. Other memories tried to surface, but she clamped down on them.

"Sorry miss. You shouldn't come near. We think he the ale sickness. He vomited earlier."

"Maybe I-." Arie realized her hands were shaking. She had been so startled that for a moment she had flashed back to being hunted. The guards looked on her with pity, they thought her some frightened little rabbit.

"He is probably just had a little too much to drink. Let him sober up in one of the cells and you can come by in the evening to check on him." The second guard was staring at her in a way that made her skin crawl. Maybe that was the reason she had let them go without giving Mand the medicine. She didn't even check to see if something else could be wrong. She left. News came the next morning that Mand had attacked the guards nearly killing them. Mand had been killed later in a struggle with a knight.

The image shifted becoming a dusty road leading to one of the small villages Arie traveled to. Sea King port was a tiny fishing village that was walled in. Arie approached the gate already excited to see the two men who man the gate. People always thought they were brothers by how similar they looked; they weren't. They were always challenging each other in races and wrestling, and the occasional mock battle. It always seemed harmless. Afterwards they were always laughing and smiling and they'd buy each other drinks. This time when she came upon the gate it was open and the two men were brawling.

At first, she rolled her eyes and was about to yell at them for being childish. Then she saw the blood on their clothes, the torn clothing, already massive bruises had formed on exposed skin. Then she saw their faces. They weren't smiling. Both men were in murderous rage. Without thinking Arie dropped her bag. Her Gift welling up in her as she stepped between the two men. Still neither of them seemed to see her. Her foot lashed up knocking Ren's punch wide and sending him stumbling off to the right. Meich's first swing was blocked, but his second punch clipped her upside the head. She saw stars and pain reverberated through the memory. Thankfully, the walls would keep the pain to herself. She blasted Meich full on in the face with her Gift sending him to sleep. Ren was back on his feet and advancing on her. She moved quickly this time, keeping the bigger man distracted from Meich and maneuvering around to behind him. Once she got an arm around his neck it took seconds for the lack of blood flow to the brain to drop him as well. She used her Gift to insure he would stay asleep until she could figure out what in Mithros's name was going on. Then she began to examine them physically. Lots of bruises and scrapes. By a stroke of luck nothing was broken.

Looking through her Gift she saw thick black gunk inside them. It seemed to flow through their bodies without causing harm, but Arie knew better. Several other guards were approaching. Arie enlisted their help getting the two men some place she could treat them. She warned the guards to stay away from the blood as they carried the two men to the resident healer.

The hedge witch that lived in the town opened up her home. Together her and Arie went about pulling the black stuff out of Meich and Ren. But from the moment they started the men would wake up and scream in pain. As she drew the poison out from their bodies, she caught glimpses of the men themselves. Ren was proud and he didn't want anything to tarnish his family; not even Meich. However, Meich was more charming and liked better by the people. Meich however was jealous of Ren's family's wealth and the ease in which he did everything. Slowly Arie begun to realize she was drawing out the men's flaws and both of them were fighting her. Like a child who knew stealing a sweet before dinner was wrong and fought his parents spanking them. But this was worse. So much worse. Hours went by and both women's Gifts were used up. The two men now slept peacefully with the blackness was gone from their bodies.

Arie went to the tavern later that night and ordered a drink. Water. Ale was too dangerous for her to have. She was about to sip the water when she felt violently ill. Looking down the water looked clean, fresh, and cool. She touched it with her Gift and saw blackness in the cup. The same thing that had poisoned Ren and Meich. She jumped up from her chair and accidentally knocked her pitcher over. The innkeeper's daughter came over and fussed, Arie apologized to the innkeeper and left quickly. She made her way out to the well. Inside she found more of the poison. Quickly she went to the hedge witch again and showed her what she saw in the well. They cleaned it, only for it to be poisoned again the next day. Together the two women went to the mayor. He would not listen. They warned anyone who would listen and eventually Arie was cast out of the town for causing a disturbance. She swore and cursed.

Months went by and Arie worked tirelessly trying to stop the spread. Working by night. Soon the town was infested with victims. Arie watched and helped where she could. Ren, Meich, the hedge witch Zee and a few others listened to her. Even helped where they could. All the while the town decayed into a sewer of mankind and the graveyard doubled nearly in size. The band of those who had chosen to help Arie, were finally forced to leave to avoid the violence.

(Woodsman Scene)

The memory shifted to days after they had been forced to leave. Arie was collecting medicinal plants in the forest to sneak back into Sea King when she wondered if the Woodsman would be willing to trade some of his stock for food. Arie realized she hadn't spoken to the little family in months. Worried gnawed deep in her mind and without thinking Arie turned into the forest and ran down the deer trails. The closer she got to her destination the stronger the feeling of wrongness got. Her pace quickened as she tore through the forest and almost stumbled into the clearing. The feel of death clubbed her the moment she stepped close to the small cabin.

Cautiously Arie moved around to the door of the tiny wooden house. The door was left open like some had just left. Stealing herself, Arie stepped into the main room. Her stomach rolled and churned at the sight and smell.

Flies buzzed insistently over the bloated corpses. The smell of putrefaction was enough to make Arie gag horribly. Instinctively she turned to step back and flee, but something in her balked at leaving them like this. Besides she needed to know what happened to them. Arie forced herself to turn back and breath through her mouth as she moved to inspect the four bodies.

First, she went to the dog. The black and white fluffy creature was the closest to the door and from the looks of her, she had been the first to die. Arie bent over the body and looked at the knife wounds on her side, stomach, and muzzle. Most of the blood was dried and matted in the poor dog's fur. A look at her teeth showed that she had gotten a good bite or two of their attacker. Arie glanced at the other three bodies huddled together. The dog had died to protect her family.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," she choked as she ran her finger gently over the dog's ears.

Next Arie moved to the other three bodies. The woodsman's wife and two kids; Arie couldn't remember their names, were huddled in the corner. A small hole had been started in the wall they had been leaned up against, but it was still too small even for the youngest to squeeze through. Arie noticed the bruising around the wife's neck like a thick rope of black and blue. Older bruising dotted her arms and face. There was skin under her nails where she had fought back against her attacker to give her children time to escape. Moving on Arie looked over the children. The elder of the two still gripped a small knife in his hand. Probably what they had been using to chip a hole in the wall. There was blood on the knife, but not as much had been on his shirt and his little sisters. Arie counted dozens of knife marks on their tiny bodies.

Whoever had done this had been angry. Crazy angry. Arie just there in the carnage and shook. She wasn't sure if she had been so absolutely furious ever before in her life. These people hadn't deserved to die, they certainly didn't deserve to die this way. She was so distracted by her anger that she missed the telltale signs of someone's approach.

Arie turned to find the woodsman in the door way. She was about to start to explain her presence when she saw his eyes. There was absolutely nothing left of the quiet man she had briefly known. In his eyes was only emptiness and something sinister. Something that made Arie's skin crawl.

He drew his knife with deliberate slowness. A leer forming on his lips as the blade pulled free from its leather sheath. Arie didn't wait for the attack she simply released the knives hidden at her wrist. Five small blades found their marks in the arm that held the knife and both his legs. The woodsman screamed in rage and tumbled to the ground. He struggled to get up but Arie didn't give him a chance to rise. She dove forward and tackled him. Her Gift wrapped around him and she peered into his body.

Blackness. It choked his veins; it ran so thick.

Arie gasped and nearly lost her concentration as she desperately searched his mind and memories for even a hint of the man who he had been. Nothing but blackness greeted her. Memories flashed by her. Arie witnessed some of the things he had done. Beating his family, torturing a traveler, then Arie stumbled across the murder of his family. She swallowed back the bile that rose when she realized he had done it. He killed his family. On and on she searched his mind until she found a small scrap of a memory. The first before the decent into this madness. He had bought a spiced wine from a merchant ship to share with his best friend. Arie latched onto the memory and tried dragging out the poison.

It was starting to work; she could feel it. He was responding to her, working back through the memories and dragging out this vile creation. Then they came to the murder of his family. Arie felt the moment his soul just shattered like glass smashed against a rock. Her magic lost its grip as the man died. His soul drifted out and his ghost simply turned and ran from the place before she could even think to try to stop him. Arie sobbed helplessly over the bodies. She hadn't been able to save even one of them.

(Woodsman Scene End)

After what was hours Arie regained herself, she set to work preparing graves for the family. Her anger was renewed as she worked. This family had died but not before they had given her a clue of where to look for the source of this curse. A merchant's ship.

Time moved forward again and Arie took a deep breath trying desperately to settle the rage that was starting to distort the thoughts and memories, making them less coherent. She bit her lip and let the pain drag her back from that yawning pit of rage.

She found the merchant ship. The band had moved onto a safe place out of harm's way. She boarded the ship while SandStorm waited quietly, if not patiently. From her hiding spot she listened to the captain whine about carrying dangerous cargo. He didn't seem to care about his men, just himself. Another voice spoke, assuring him that as long as no one drank it nor touched anyone infected with open wounds they would be fine. The captain whimpered like a dog and asked if they were done. Arie scooted through the partially open door to watch. The other voice shrieked no.

Arie saw a silhouetted shape.

A man, mage, and evil. She wanted to lunge from her hiding spot and rip him to pieces for what he had brought to her people. Their deaths demanded his blood and they would have it once she knew all there was to know. She would not risk someone else having the knowledge and letting it lose on more innocent people for their own benefits.

Arie heard someone address him as Apostate. She waited, wanting to know more. He mentioned a woman's name. Josiane. He said her name with such reverence and madness that it made Arie shuddered. Then the man went on a rant, some of it revolving around revenge on the king, his champion in particular. Another part was about Roger, the king's cousin; that he would show him. Last part was about the Dominion Jewel and how it would work for him of none at all. He would get and he didn't care if he had to break the world to do it. The anger from the memory spiked, Arie rushed out from her hiding spot, and lunged for the man. Only to pass right through him. She had enough time to swear before the captain was charging at her with a saber. Rolling to safety she got up and bolted. She didn't bother to move silently with the captain was screaming behind her. Leaping off the boat and onto the dock jarred her knees badly, but she kept going. The swoosh of arrows ripping past her spurred her on faster.

Pain exploded in her back as an arrow sent her staggering, still she forced her body to keep moving. The only thing she could think is 'They have to know'. She repeated that over and over as she mounted SandStorm and urged the horse on to Corus. She let the memories fade and slowly this time she withdrew her Gift from the different people so as not to have a repeat of the last time she had tried this. When she opened her eyes, everyone sat in stunned silence, many of them looked queasy.