She didn't know how long she had been running. Her breath was ragged, her throat burned terribly to the point that every breath she took was agony. Her legs were shaking from the effort, her muscles aching from her long run. Her knuckles were whitened by the pressure she exerted on the small vial containing a small, hot blue orb, her golemic hand clenched around her staff. Unable to continue at her frantic pace she slowed down, first trotting and then walking more and more slowly. She felt that her legs would soon give out on her. She leaned against a trunk and slid down it until she was sitting on the ground.
With each breath, the fresh night air burned her lungs, it had been a long time since she had been in such a state of exhaustion. She could feel the cold wet grass through her tunic, the pain from the countless small wounds and abrasions was starting to hurt. Gradually her vision cleared up as the adrenaline wore off. No sooner had her breathing calmed down than the memories of the evening came back to her. The feeling of raw power that had flowed through her veins. The satisfaction of seeing her dozens of arrays working in harmony and taking down the enemies that had come to attack her and Anna. The exhilaration in the midst of battle. The black magic and white magic that had mingled within her, the intoxication, the madness, the power. Until she lost her mind. That all that mattered was the vision of cursed fire crashing uselessly against her void shields. The fire, lightning and iron of her magic crushing those who dared to oppose her. Finally, to see her spell, one of her greatest achievements in black war magic, activate. Pure power had coursed through her veins, and before her, everything returned to dust.
And, at its most powerful, drugged by the sheer amount of magic used in far too short a time for a soul as young as hers. She had not realised that the course of the battle had changed. And this simple mistake. A mistake that Sonya and Kav-deb had warned her against on several occasions, had cost her mother her life. Many times Kav-deb had told her that she was too young to use such magic. Sonya had often told her to be gentle with her soul. Her body? She could one day change it. Her soul? She would have to deal with it until she died. How many times had she been told that what killed most young mages was the overuse of magic in their arrays, that many had gone mad from it?
And Aster. Just a few hours ago. Under the stress and adrenaline, she had flipped. At the beginning of the battle, she had kept her composure. She had been able to keep control. But as time went on, she let herself get carried away. The intoxication of power, the destructive madness had gradually taken control. She should have realised that seeing the alchemical silver of her arrays on her staff, red and steaming, was not normal. But it was too late. Anna had saved her life by standing between her and the spells of those vile wizards. And now Anna was in a small vial, clutched to her breast. A small, helpless little blue flame. If Aster had not reacted in time, Anna's soul would have gone to the edge and then... it would have been too late.
Tears began to roll down Aster's cheeks. As she clutched her mother's soul. Why did she have to be so foolish and reckless, so arrogant. Anna was her mother in everything but her blood and her own stupidity had caused her death. Aster was guilty. Had she been more careful and measured, Anna would have exhausted Adamar and eventually won. Then they would have routed the other attackers before fleeing. By this time she and Anna should have been at Kav-deb's house telling their story and perhaps even laughing about it. But no, because of her the result was quite different. She was alone, in the middle of a forest, completely exhausted, covered in scratches, her muscles aching. But above all, Anna was dead because of her, her only glimmer of hope: the little vial glowing with a soft bluish light, warm against her chest. Between choked sobs, Aster swore to herself that if the major demons hadn't made mincemeat of the body, soul, essence, of Adamar and his counterparts in at least five other realities, Aster would do it herself. But now was not the time for anger. Sadness perhaps. But above all she had to decide what to do. In her hands was Anna's soul, her top priority was its protection and resurrection as soon as possible.
Aster leaned her head back, letting it rest on the trunk of the oak tree she had leaned against, and sighed. She was exhausted, in the throes of coming down from the unbridled use of far too much magic. She looked down at her arms and hands in the moonlight and winced. Charcoal black lines ran across her skin over her veins. She had gone far, far too far. With such an overload it was no wonder she had lost her concentration like that. This kind of symptom, the stabbing pain in all her limbs, the feeling of deep burning... She would not be able to do normal magic for at least two weeks. She sighed. She would be restricted to unbound dark magic until further notice. Which limited her greatly. Lagaelis' blessing gave her very limited access to dark magic and she had no intention of accepting any more gifts or making another trade for a long time.
She would resurrect Anna, that was for sure. But how? Aster realised that she was not able to think clearly, too tired, too down. The tears still fresh on her cheeks. She had to find a place to hide if a search was ever launched to track her down. Painfully, Aster tried to stand up, tried to lean on her staff. She frowned, there was something strange. Her arm didn't respond. She tried again, but nothing happened. Hesitantly, she turned her gaze to the arm that had served her so loyally so far. The first gift Anna had ever given her. Sonya had repeatedly offered to reform an organic arm for her through a blood alchemy ritual. But Aster had refused each time. In addition to the strength and resistance of this arm, it was a link with Anna. The runes patiently engraved, the intricate weave of magic within him. It was as if a little bit of Anna went with her everywhere. And Aster couldn't give that up.
She sighed and concentrated again on her arm, trying to make it move. Nothing, a void. Something was wrong. With her good hand she carefully placed the soul vial in her inner tunic pocket and inspected her arm. There was nothing wrong, it didn't seem to have been damaged in the battle. With trembling fingers she opened the cover of the power stone to take it out. No sooner had she opened the small compartment than a fine dust escaped. Rock dust, completely inert. Even her Lagaelis eye could not see the traces of magic that must have remained in the dust even after it had been fully used. Aster's eyes widened as the realization hit her. For the thousandth time tonight she called herself an idiot and a fool. Her black magic, which she had used more than liberally only hours before. She had forgotten the most important rule of this type of magic. Black magic is indiscriminate. It drains the life from enemies and allies alike, from everything that lives, from everything that is dead but still contains magic, the only exception being the mage himself using his blessing. But the stone was not really part of herself. Her dark magic had drained the stone of all its energy to the point of turning it to dust.
In her frantic flight she had not realised that her arm had been frozen like that. This cursed day was going from bad to worse. What would be the next catastrophe? Was a dragon going to come out of the bushes and finish her off? With her able-bodied hand she loosened the fingers of her inert hand still clasped around the stick before grasping it. She leaned on it and this time finally managed to stand up.
Illuminated by the glow of her staff, still red from the overheating caused by her unreasonable use of magic, she set off through the woods, each step a torture, her feet bruised from her long run, her whole body a vast, painful bruise. But she had to find a place to hide for the night, as this forest was not safe, far too wild.
Distracted by her exhaustion, the distant howling of wolves echoing through the trees, the mournful hooting of a few owls nesting nearby, her footsteps lit only by the fading light of her arrays now glowing like red-hot embers. Aster noticed her only too late. The ultimate enemy of the traveller, the black beast of the mushroom hunter. When her eyes finally landed on the thing, the die was already cast. In the midst of the grasses, a clump of herb, slightly bluish and larger than the others, seemed to move. Its root, with its almost carnal colour and texture, protruded slightly from the ground. A hideous face with distorted features and a sadistic smile, with small, malicious eyes, was watching her. Aster recognised the threat immediately. Anna had warned her many times about them. Before Aster could react, the Tormentine had already started to spin around faster and faster.
The world around Aster seemed to distort, green and bluish glows floating around her in a violent, frenzied dance, the Tormentine's high-pitched, discordant laughter ringing in her ears as the world finally seemed to take shape around her. Exhausted, bruised, unable to use direct magic, her magecraft array either overheated or in an unknown state. And she had to come across a bloody Tormentine. The bloody plant had at best just completely disoriented her and cursed her with a reverse path spell or two and it was better not to move until morning or she'd get completely lost, at worst she'd been teleported who knows where. The option of the dragon hidden in a bush seemed strangely more attractive to her now. Between the dragon or the Tormentine, she would have chosen the former without hesitation. At least her death would have been quick.
Praying that she had only suffered a curse or two from the evil little shit, Aster looked around and grunted in despair. She was still in a forest, but in the middle of a circle of strange, brightly coloured mushrooms and wildflowers, a witch's circle, and between the tall oaks and beeches surrounding her she could make out large monoliths covered in moss and etched with strange runes giving off a faint blue aura. Her Lagaelis eye confirmed her fears, the place was saturated with ancient, wild and esoteric magic. Not the complex and precise arrays of mages who had dissected the deep rules of magic to give it form. Not the runes of wizard symbols that had real power only in the belief of their user that they meant something. No, she was in the middle of a witch's circle surrounded by monoliths engraved with ancient runes that were intrinsically magical, those engraved by offering her body, mind and soul into the hands of the universe to accomplish a higher will. True ancient sorcery that even kav-deb seemed to respect. A nervous, tired laugh escaped her lips, the only thing worse that could have happened would have been to find herself in the middle of an active ritual, or in contact with Naashian atomic runes.
Damn that Tormentine. The next time she came across one, it would be used as an ingredient for a potion. No, more humiliating! She'll be served as a salad! Aster scanned the magic around her with her Lagaelis eye. Fortunately, the old magic seemed to be in a dormant state. There was no way she was going to stay there too long. If there was one rule Aster had learned to follow to the letter it was not to play with ancient ritual magic or even get too close to it without knowing the details.
She moved cautiously out of the witch's circle, passing between the trees and going as far around the monoliths as she could, keeping an eye on them. She shouldn't linger, the air around the large monoliths was saturated with magic. Either a ritual had taken place here recently, or something extreme had happened and Aster had no desire to find out what. Simple survival instinct.
Once out of sight of the monoliths, Aster collapsed to the ground. She could feel her eyelids growing heavy, all her senses fogging up, but she must not faint, not yet she had to do one last thing before she fell into unconsciousness. Aster didn't have time to build a proper array, not the right surface, not anything. She had to fall back on the little knowledge of witchcraft runes that Kav-deb had given her "just in case". Painfully she clenched her fist around her staff and painfully traced the few runes she needed in the humus and dead leaves. These rudimentary wards were not going to save her if anything serious ever happened. But she would be unnoticed and have a shield to buy time in case of an emergency.
Now she had to activate the runes, her vision was blurred, her breathing erratic, but she had to make this last effort. There was no way she could use her body to convey her magic, the risk of serious injury was too great. But thank God black magic didn't just work that way. She traced the last runes, the symbol of Lagaelis coupled with absorption in Norse. Then she put down her staff, the arrays having now cooled down enough not to start a fire by burning the dead leaves. She drew her dagger and clenched her jaw and sliced open her hand in a gesture as sharp and precise as possible, that is to say slow and hesitant in her pitiful state.
Finally she whispered the words of power as her blood flowed and soaked the earth and her runes. "Ved mitt blod og min vilje påkaller jeg din gave. Lagaelis innfrir løftet ditt til herolden din. Overfør gaven din til det som bærer mitt blod."
The blood permeating the earth glowed for a moment with a reddish light, while her eye seemed to vibrate for a moment with power, giving her a stabbing pain in her head on top of everything else. Aster had used her black magic loosely and freely many times but the sensation was still unpleasant. For a long time now she had felt something strange inside her and with her eye but she couldn't define it and when she asked Kav-deb or Sonya they would look at her with a smirk before changing the subject. She hoped it was nothing serious. The runes lit up in turn for a brief moment before she felt the magic and life of the trees and plants around her being gently drained away by her runes as the effect took hold, a translucent dome covering her. Finally in some semblance of safety Aster let go, all the stress, pain and sadness of the day that she had managed to ignore so far, hitting her all at once. Before she could bandage the wound in her hand, she lost consciousness.
Her body was aching, her eyelids were heavy, her arm was unresponsive to the warmth of the sun's rays and the sound of birdsong had just woken her up. She could feel the damp earth and dead leaves under her body curling up on the ground. On the ground? The sound of birdsong had never been heard so loud in the house. She was obviously not in her bed. A flash of pain in her natural hand made her grit her teeth and wince. With great difficulty she sat up and looked down at her hand. A nasty deep cut opened her palm, the blood had thankfully clotted and the absence of suspicious heat indicated that the wound was thankfully not infected. What the hell had happened? She looked around in a daze. She was under a dome of translucent mist in the middle of a forest of beech, oak and hawthorn. Around her, dug awkwardly into the ground were several faintly glowing runes. Suddenly all her memories of the previous day came back to her.
The attack, the fight, Anna's death, the Daemons, the frantic flight, the Tormentine... It all fell apart. With a trembling hand she traced the salt marks on her cheeks, soon joined by fresh, uncontrollable tears. Shaking with sobs she desperately searched the inner pocket of her tunic. Her hand closed around a small vial of warm content. In the vial, in the palm of her hand, danced a small blue flame. The vial gave off a soft comforting warmth, a smell of cinnamon, linden and earth after the rain. Aster knew this aura well. She had lived with her mother for years, after all. The dam of fighting spirit and determination she had built around her mind, heart and soul since the events of last night gave way.
That day, in an unknown place, in the depths of a forest, for several hours the sobs of a young girl could be heard.
Aster awoke again, still curled up on the ground, her hand clasped around the vial preserving her mother's soul. She had cried uncontrollably until her exhaustion and despair caught up with her again. She felt much better, as if those tears had washed her heart clean, freed her from an oppressive weight. The guilt and sadness was still there, yes. But a new feeling had been added. Hope. Now her mind was clear, a new determination was born in her. All was not lost. Sonya would return one day. She would find a way to contact Kav-deb... She would resurrect Anna. After all, as Sonya said, in necromancy, the hardest part was getting the soul. And here, that step had already been taken. The question was how? Aster shook his head. It would be useless to think about it now, with an empty stomach, under a protection as weak as her few hastily traced runes.
Sighing, and taking a deep breath she placed her hand over her Lagaelis rune and whispered "Plikten er oppfylt, la båndet smuldre." at these words the Lagaelis rune flared up leaving only a burnt earth mark on the ground. She struggled to get to it and ran her foot over the other runes to erase them. Not the safest way to hide her tracks, but the easiest. She would be magically limited for a while anyway. She glanced at the black marks covering her arm and winced. She had gone, really, really too far. Lost in the middle of the woods, her array unusable without injury... She had to find a safe place and build temporary, more solid wards while she healed herself and decided what to do in relative safety. Her stomach rumbled. And also to find food. But that wasn't the immediate priority. Anyway, she doubted she could hunt or fish until she had healed herself. That said, she wouldn't spit on a few edible roots or leaves. Bless Anna's herbology lessons.
She set off, step one, to find a river and a quiet, hidden place. Given the presence of the large ritual site nearby she was clearly in a magical reserve. One of the many places hidden by The Status. The vegetation was also familiar to her, so she must be in Europe, but beyond that... nothing could tell her more precisely where she was... Except for a divination ritual but she had neither the resources nor the energy for that.
After about an hour of walking in the woods avoiding bramble bushes and enchanted or cursed places (difficult to tell the difference sometimes.) and having crossed a bear. Fortunately the bear had neither seen nor smelled her. Aster was divided. On the one hand she had found some rough bolets and bolets of hornbeam, as well as blueberries, raspberries, burdock roots and comfrey leaves (she would not die of hunger tonight.) On the other hand she had still not found any river, spring or other water point. She continued walking, keeping an eye out for any place that could potentially serve as temporary shelter. A few minutes later she saw the light between the trees. Aster hurried on, eager to finally get out of this damned forest. She reached the edge and had to hide her eyes behind her arm for a moment to get used to the light.
Before her lay a vast open plain covered with umbels and dotted with a few solitary trees. In the distance she could see a wide river and behind it a high mountain with wooded sides and steep, snow-covered rocky peaks. A river, water. Finally, some good news. She pulled her houd down over her head and pulled the edge of her scarf up in front of her mouth to protect herself from the sun. There was no way she was going to get sick for underestimating the difficulties inherent in being a vampire in such a precarious situation. Seeing the light, the white of the umbels and the vast space was like a soothing balm on her battered soul. Where the sun was anything but good for her, getting out of the oppressive space of the forest could only do her good. She arrived at the river without too much trouble except for the beating sun hurting her eyes and the lack of a path to follow. Once there she walked along the river until she reached the foot of a large weeping willow leaning over the water. The presence of water, shelter and shade seemed the best she could find in the area.
Without further ado she began to set up camp, repeating her little black magic ritual from yesterday, but this time with the aim of transfiguration in addition to creating stronger wards. With the help of a few runes quickly drawn in the soft, damp earth of the riverbank she changed the shape of a stone found nearby into a rudimentary bowl. She cleaned the wound on her hand in the clear water of the river before tearing a piece of her tunic with her dagger and bandaging her hand as best she could.
An hour later, Aster sat with her back against the trunk of the weeping willow. In the transfigured stone bowl on a runic fire in front of her was simmering her previous finds. It had been a difficult hour, redirecting an untied dark magic ritual several times was not easy, especially when it came to splitting the objective. But after all his efforts the willow was now surrounded by basic wards and a fire of dark magic was boiling the improvised soup. Aster sighed. Now, at last, she could think clearly.
She pressed her hand to her forehead trying to concentrate. She had to organise her thoughts. Yes, the order of most urgent to least urgent would do. Finding food, drink and a relatively safe place to stop was already accomplished. Now she had many other problems. In order. The power stone in her arm had been completely drained of energy and now she literally had one arm missing. She would have to find a replacement for the stone soon, having a dead weight hanging off her shoulder could prove worse than having no arm at all. Especially if she was where she thought she was, a magical reserve where there was no shortage of dangerous animals and beings. Running into trolls in her situation would be her downfall.
Unfortunately, she couldn't solve this problem with dark magic without screwing up the complex mechanics of her arm enchantments. Aster frowned and thought. Finding another power stone in the wilderness even with a Lagaelis eye would be at best extremely difficult, at worst a waste of time. Moreover, power stones could not be used pure, straight from the ground. They had to be refined and initialized before they could be used. Impossible in his situation. Her thoughts drifted back to the book on power stones she had read the day before the attack. Yes, she had done the ritual with Sonya before. She could create a bloodstone. One of the few ways to create power stones artificially other than black stones, soul stones and rift stones. A bloodstone could only hold a much smaller amount of usable energy than a natural power stone, but it would do until she found a more durable solution.
Her second huge problem was that she was now literally defenseless. There was no way to use white magic or bound black magic without risking injury or fracturing her soul. She had to give her body time to repair her damaged magic veins. And in her situation, in the absence of the care normally required for this kind of problem, it would take time. And even if she did manage to heal, she still hadn't checked the condition of her arrays. She first inspected her staff. Fortunately, despite the overheating it seemed to be intact. For this she could thank the Osmore's ability to absorb and redirect the overloads. She opened her tunic and pulled out her belt, to which all her other arrays were attached. She winced. Her magical stabilization and control array was half melted and fractured in the middle. No wonder she'd lost her mind in magic overdose towards the end of the fight. Her Void Shield array was also completely destroyed. Adamar's and the other five mages' attacks on her after Anna's death must have far exceeded her tolerance. Completely unusable like the other one. Only her emergency healing array and aegis seemed to have survived. Her daemonic amulet had been left behind (no way would she take an amulet with her that would have immediately started draining her magic to recharge. She would have died, and there was no time to destroy it either). Her mask had apparently fallen off during her escape. This made her heart ache. It had been a gift from Sonya. And more than useful.
Yes she was now completely defenseless, well not quite, her training that Anna had insisted on putting her through would serve her well in the not so unlikely event that she was in danger, ... in the middle of a magical reserve no doubt filled with a whole host of creatures and magic perfectly capable of doing her hide. Physically she'd be fine, but if bigger or more dangerous creatures fell on her she'd be finished. Especially since her soul vial was currently occupied.
What would Anna do in her place? Not much without access to ley lines or power stones. However, she would tell her to do something... a little trick to keep her in a desperate situation. A dangerous and volatile magic but so mastered, the kind of little trick that would save her life against a troll, a Rübezahl or a Fougre. In short, the kind of creature she couldn't run from or fight without magic. She remembered how Anna had taught her the trick. How she'd said it had saved her life more than once. Her version was made of power stone but Aster could get away with her unbound black magic. The name was supercharge ball if her memories were correct. Simple to do and devilishly effective if lacking in subtlety. It was a matter of finding a material with high magical resistance, granite or quartz, and then over-saturating it with magic. Heat the stone with magic to increase its tolerance and then saturate it with energy to the limit while the material is hot before letting it cool. That's it! You have a bomb. All you have to do is to set off the bomb with a little bit of magic and the thing will explode violently in the face of whatever it's thrown at. The only problem is to make sure that the thing doesn't explode in her pocket. Given the sheer violence of the thing, it should be avoided.
She leaned forward and pulled out her dagger, sticking the tip into one of the burdock roots simmering in the boiling water. And to her satisfaction it sank in without resistance. She diverted the energy of her dark magic runes to the wards, the procedure was still complex to do, especially in her pitiful state of inability to let magic flow through her body without injury. But with a good dose of concentration and a slight modification of the runes, she managed to do it, which extinguished the fire under the improvised pot so that the stone could cool enough to grab it without burning herself.
Meanwhile she grunted and got up, her legs still aching and sore, to head for the river. A wide and deep river with fortunately not very steep banks. Numerous stones and pebbles of all kinds littered the ground, some sunken in the mud, others clearly in view. She began to look for quartz pebbles or other stones strong enough for her little project.
Now that she had a clear plan for surviving in this hostile environment she needed a longer term plan, she wasn't going to live indefinitely in the shade of the big weeping willow and that wasn't how she was going to resurrect Anna. She would have to get out of here, find civilisation and forge a new identity or something. The best way out would be to use space magic, but that was impossible in her condition. Create a distress beacon to call a Fahri yujul craft passing by. No, at best she would have to incur a debt or something and at worst her beacon would attract Khres yujul and frankly she had no desire to deal with the Koxhkoxh dynasty empire, especially after the way their last encounter had ended when Kav-deb had literally insulted the emperor of "son of two" before running off. The moment had been hilarious and what followed was downright epic, but right now it wasn't working in her favour. If any of the koxhkoxh got their hands on her, the experience would be really, really not pleasant.
There was still the option of making a rift to the edges, but not only would that be very complicated and time-consuming, but above all she could not predict where the portal would take her. In the years after her first experience of the edges she had realised how lucky she had been. If she had arrived anywhere other than on a path her fate would have been worse than death. She could also try to contact Kav-deb, but for that there was no other way than through the edges, and considering what was lurking far from the paths she didn't want to take any chances. She just had to hope that Kav-deb would soon realise that something abnormal had happened with the rift in Anna's house. But even if he realised soon enough, the changing nature of the edges would delay their next contact. It could be in a few months or in a few years depending on the stability of the edges. And after the encounter between the Radiant and Sonya the edges had been particularly unstable. In short, she would bet on a few years rather than a few months.
That left her with the non-magical option of walking the route back to civilisation. She wasn't too happy about it, but it was the best option. (She could defend herself against a few trolls, not an arrest warrant from the Koxhkoxh dynasty. If she was caught she could perhaps seek political asylum in the great Fahri caravan but that would screw up her plans for Anna's resurrection in the short term). As sure as the non-magical option is she'd have to get out of this mess within a month. The last time she had drunk blood was three days ago during her and Anna's last hunt. After a month without blood especialy as se was already weakened, she was going to start to feel very bad before she slowly died. And with her soul vial currently occupied that wasn't an option. Worse, if she died her soul might enter the vial with Anna's and probably merge. She shuddered. Her mother was already dead because of her stupidity and inexperience, she wasn't going to make her a strange fusion of mother and daughter's souls.
Having spotted some quartz pebbles (lucky her) she crouched down to pick them up. Suddenly, she felt something in the surroundings. As if she was being watched. A sound like something falling into the water. She looked around, stared at the river, nothing strange except the waves spreading on its surface, probably a fish. Nothing to worry about, and her Lagaelis eye did not indicate any magic or anything special in the water. She looked around the bank and started to ponder.
One month. She had one month to get out of this. Plenty of time if she didn't do anything too stupid. Once she reached civilization she would go to a magical bank. A Goblin bank or one of the Svorak Hanse banks. Not a human-run bank. No way would she be caught as Anna Karrasinqi's sole heir by the ICW. The goblins would let her access Anna's coffers. So would the Hanse. She could not take the name Aster Karrasinqi for obvious reasons. Maybe Legravallina after Sonya's name. Yes, that would do it. A name with no links to anyone in the wrong light, but which would give her instant respect from those who know who Sonya is. Yes discreet, but would open doors to the really important people. Once she found a more stable position she would have to get her hands on a copy of the Codex Anima. Anna had a copy, but the cursed fire that the ICW people seemed particularly fond of would surely have destroyed it. Perhaps Anna had a duplicate in her vaults if she was lucky. Once she got her hands on one of these tomes she would see what she could do.
Aster sighed, thinking of plans over so much time and with so many variables would not get her anywhere. First she had to rest, regain her strength, arm herself and get out of this bloody magical reserve.
While thinking about this, she had picked up a dozen small quartz pebbles. One or two more and that would be enough for her overloaded marbles
Suddenly, accompanied by a crystalline laugh, a wave rose from the river and struck Aster's side without warning. Surprised and unbalanced by the watery assault, Aster fell to the ground, soaked and disoriented. Searching for the threat with her eyes she clenched her fist around the hilt of her dagger. The icy river water felt like her bones would freeze. Her teeth began to clatter from the cold. Fortunately, the air was warm this time of year and she would dry out quickly enough. But more importantly. What? She scanned the river water, looking for the culprit. She struggled to her feet, staring at the stream.
Aster raised her voice. "Whoever you are. Show yourself!"
Only silence answered her, she took a few steps back to the bank, still staring at the surface of the water. She was about to leave for fear that it might be something really dangerous, when a movement in the reeds nearby caught her eye. She was being stared at by two large yellow eyes. She froze, waiting to see the thing to decide if running away was really the best option.
The creature emerged from between the reeds. Green skin, big yellow eyes, leather boots... A water lily on its head? A Houzier... Aster dropped the handle of his dagger. Just a Houzier. Passionate pranksters, but not dangerous. Emerging from the water a few feet from her, the Houzier spoke up.
« Bonjour, que fait une jolie petite fille. Perdue ici, sans pairs ni famille ? »("Hello, what is a pretty little girl doing. Lost out here, with no peers or family?")
Aster sighed, and the bloody thing had to speak French. That said, if it was any indication of where she might be, it was to her advantage. After all, the number of magical reserves in France of this size was quite small. She had never come across a Houzier outside of her books but their language game would soon tire her. In her best French she replied (praise Anna for her language lessons.) « Perdue, oui, mais je ne suis pas une petite fille. Et pourquoi la grosse vague ? » (" Lost, yes, but I'm not a little girl. And why the big wave?") She said, wringing out the edges of her tunic, causing an almost comical amount of water to fall to the ground.
The Houzier cocked his head to the side in disbelief, as if she had asked something particularly obvious. « Pourquoi m'embêter à proposer mon aide à toi, 'non enfant' ? Si je ne puis m'amuser à te mouiller avant ? »("Why do I bother offering to help you, 'no child'? If I can't enjoy getting you wet first?")
She had forgotten how mischievous some pixies and fairies could be and enjoyed laughing at the unfortunate ones who crossed their path. Before Aster could answer, the Houzier resumed.
« André le Houzier, autoproclamé, maître des marais. Comment puis-je vous appeler ? »("Andre the Houzier, self-proclaimed master of the marshes. What may I call you?")
Aster hesitated for a moment, giving her full name to any fairy or elf could be dangerous. But she doubted that a Houzier would want to harm her. Their peaceful, if playful, ways were after all well known. But let's not take any chances. "Aster."
the Houzier seemed satisfied with this answer and nodded. « Et que fait jeune Aster, Perdue ici, si loin de sa demeure ? » ( "And what is young Aster doing, lost here, so far from her home?")
Aster frowned. « Qu'est ce que ça peut te faire ? » (" Why do you care? ") she paused for a moment, hesitating, then, seeing no harm in it, she added. « J'ai eu le malheur de croiser une Tourmentine. » ("I had the misfortune to come across a Tormentine.")
Andre, she was going to try to think of him by name. He squinted his eyes and smoothed his moustache. « Il se trouve que je suis disposé, en ce jour à aider, la 'non petite fille' égarée, à la condition qu'elle partage ce qu'elle à fait longuement mijoter. » ("I happen to be willing, on this day, to help the 'no little girl' who has gone astray, on the condition that she shares what she has been stewing on for a while.")
Finally... This was the elf's true purpose. To have access to her dinner. She suspected, this kind of creature never offers their help for free without something to gain. Aster stared at him for a moment. « Et quel genre d'aide est-ce que vous proposez ? » ("And what kind of help are you offering?" )
A big, too-innocent smile spread across his face. « J'ai des information, qui pourrait vous aider, et je peut être votre pont, quand vous voudrez traverser. » ("I have information that could help you, and I can be your bridge, when you want to cross.")
Aster nodded reluctantly. "Suivez moi" ("Follow me.")
The Houzier, smiling as ever, followed her lead. When she reached the edge of her wards she held out her hand to André so that he could cross them. She was still a little anxious to take the risk, but this kind of imp was used to keeping their promises as long as the other kept his part of the bargain. André took her hand and they both walked through her wards. Once they arrived, without a word Aster concentrated and redirected some of the energy from her black magic rune back into her flame runes to reignite the fire. The exercise was still as difficult as ever, but she felt that she would soon begin to get used to it. Once the fire was lit again she grabbed the stone bowl, still warm but not hot enough to burn her fingers, and placed it on the ground next to the fire. She stood still for a few seconds in front of the runic flames feeling the warmth warm her poor water-chilled bones, and her clothes slowly begin to dry. She turned back to Andre who meanwhile had sat on the other side of the fire and asked. « Tu as un bol ? Ou quelque chose ? » ("Do you have a bowl? Or something?")
He shook his head no and said. « Mangez d'abord, laissez m'en la moitié, et notre accord, seras respecté. » ("Eat first, leave me half, and our agreement will be fulfilled.")
Before starting to eat Aster said. « Si je décide de traverser, je te donne ceci, en plus. » ("If I decide to cross over, I'll give you this, too,") she pulled one of the prettiest quartz pebbles she could find from her pocket. The Houzier squinted again, seeming to appreciate the beautiful stone and weight its worth.
"Très bien" ("Very well,") he said, holding out his hand.
« Je vous la donne après avoir traversé. Si c'est ce que je décide de faire. Si ça se trouve je peu décider que la forêt de l'autre côté et le meilleur moyen de me sortir de là. » ("I'll give it to you after I cross. If that's what I decide to do. I may decide that the forest on the other side is the best way to get me out of here.")
Le Housier looked disappointed for a moment before his smile returned and he nodded.
Aster began to eat, the broth was quite bitter, not surprising considering the ingredients but the burdock gave the whole thing a little sweetness. Aster really didn't like food that was too bitter or spicy. No matter how hard Anna called for it, she couldn't. Once Anna had taken her to a Thai restaurant and Aster had been in trouble. The food was delicious but far too spicy. She had finally opted to force herself to finish her plate, crying all the way. It was one of the strangest meals she'd ever had. After that Anna never took her to Thai again. At the moment Aster was having a bit of trouble, but the burdock root and mushrooms made it bearable. And she had to eat anyway, if only to get the energy to get through it. While Aster ate her share the Houzier began to speak.
« Dans ces contrés, que j'admets fort reculé. Je n'ai pas l'honneur de croisé beaucoup de voyageurs ou de visiteurs. Des nymphes, des esprits, des congénères et autres habitants ordinaires de la contrée , j'y suis habitué. Mais des humains, cela faisait bien longtemps que je n'en avait pas croiser un. » ("In these lands, which I admit are very remote. I have not had the honour of meeting many travellers or visitors. I am used to nymphs, spirits, fellow creatures and other ordinary inhabitants of the region. But humans, it's been a long time since I've seen one.")
Aster raised an eyebrow, waiting for the Houzier to get to the point, taking another bite of burdock root.
« Et non mademoiselle, vous qui n'êtes pas un enfants, n'êtes pas la première belle, à envisager de braver le courant. » ("And no, miss, you who are not a child, are not the first beautiful, to consider braving the flow.")
Aster's interest was piqued. If she had interpreted what the Houzier had just said correctly, things would be much simpler than expected. She swallowed and said, « Vous voulez dire que vous avez croiser un autre humain il y a peu ? » ("You mean you ran into another human a short time ago?")
The Houzier's smile widened, « Il y a deux nuit de cela, une fille de peu plus vieille que toi, a demander mon aide pour traverser l'eau, Elle a payer de cette broche, et de mon rire dans son dos. » Dit il en sortant de l'intérieur de sa botte une petite broche dorée. Son il pris un air pensif un instant avant d'ajouter « Elle semblait savoir ou elle souhaitait aller, vers la grande montagne, déterminé, ses pas la menait. Elle ne semblait pas égarée, juste incapable de traverser. Si votre chemin vous souhaitez retrouver, peut-être qu'elle saura vous aider. »
("Two nights ago, a girl a little older than you, asked for my help to cross the water, and she paid for it with this pin, and my laughter behind her back. He said as he pulled a small golden brooch from the inside of his boot. He looked thoughtful for a moment before adding, "She seemed to know where she wanted to go, towards the great mountain, determined, her steps were leading her. She did not seem lost, just unable to cross. If you want to find your way back, perhaps she can help you.")
Andre was not wrong. If indeed someone else had passed through. A young witch or mage according to André's description. Inexperienced enough she hadn't offered more than she'd asked for. Maybe she knows how to get out of this magical reserve. And even if she doesn't. Travelling with her would guarantee that she wouldn't risk starving to death after a month in case her journey through the place took longer than expected. Change of plan. She would find the young witch first and hopefully she would tell her how to get out of there.
After eating half the soup as agreed she handed the bowl to André. He grabbed it and began to drink greedily. Aster smiled, for the first time since the previous day's misfortune. A thin, tired smile that did not reach her eyes, but a smile nonetheless.
« Merci André, je prend votre offre, j'aimerais traverser la rivière demain matin. Je vous donnerais le quartz comme promis juste après. » ("Thank you André, I'll take your offer, I'd like to cross the river tomorrow morning. I'll give you the quartz as promised right after.") The Houzier simply nodded, more interested in the food than what she could say. She thought for a moment. What if she gave something more? It wouldn't hurt to build up a good reputation among the beings of the reserve in case she was stuck longer than expected. She hadn't taken much from Anna's house. Her staff, her knife, her clothes, the mask (broken and lost), the daemonic medallion (lost), her scarf... She had dressed for battle, not for travel. She had obviously not put on any ornaments or jewellery... What more could she give. An idea came to her. Her void shield array was damaged beyond repair. Moreover, even if it wasn't so destroyed, it would be impossible to use it to recreate the magic it supported, as the array was so complex and supported inferential webs (like all her other arrays, of course) to avoid being reproduced. She detached the void shield array from her belt and examined it for a moment. It looked like a structure similar to both a spider's web and a snowflake, with each branch branching out in an infinite fractal (at least to the naked eye.) It was made mostly of pure alchemical silver, though some branches were streaked with pure alchemical gold. Although cracked in several places and slightly blackened in others, it was still shiny and beautiful to look at, especially the fractal aspect.
She looked again at the Houzier, who was apparently enjoying her wild improvised cooking skills. Yes, she was going to give him the damaged array the next day after crossing the river. It would be seen as a gift of good faith rather than an extra insurance against being the victim of another bad joke that was too cold and wet for her taste.
After a final swig of soup the Houzier wiped his mouth elegantly with a white cloth napkin he had just taken out of... from where? Not important. The action was completely at odds with his abysmal table manners of a few seconds ago. He placed the transfigured stone bowl delicately beside the fire. (The little white napkin had apparently disappeared from this reality. How? The Houzier was completely naked except for his boots, no pockets... no need to think about it. )
André bowed politely and said. « Bonne route demoiselle, vous qui n'êtes pas une enfant. Demain matin la rivière, sera facile à traversé. Vous vous laisserez faire et emporter, et sans problème arriverait de l'autre côté. Je vous souhaite bon voyage et bonne chances et ses contrés cruelles. » ("Have a nice trip, miss, who is not a child. Tomorrow morning the river will be easy to cross. You will let yourself be carried along, and without any problems you will arrive on the other side. I wish you a safe journey and good luck in these cruel lands.") With these words the Houzier hopped down to the river before plunging into the water with hardly a splash. Leaving only a few circles stretching across the water in its place.
Aster stared for a moment at the water of the river where the Houzier had just disappeared before returning her gaze to the runic fire. She was almost dry now, and well warmed. For August the river water had been devilishly cold. Now she had to get to work right away if she wanted to leave in the morning. Making the blood stone and the surcharge marbles would take her at least a few hours.
She quickly made her decision. She would start with the bloodstone, which would need the most time. She stood up, picked up her staff and the bowl of stone which she rinsed in the river beforehand, then set off in the direction of the umbel plain. She would need an open space to perform her two rituals. And since the powerful black magic would scare away all the creatures in the area, she might as well do it away from the Houzier's habitat.
A few minutes of walking later she was a good mile from the river and far enough away from the forest to disturb as few creatures and beings as possible. She looked for a bare patch of earth to trace the Lagaelis rune. Luckily it didn't take long. Once the rune was written in the ground with the tip of her staff she grimaced, opened her hand again and drew the few drops of blood that were needed. If using her black magic in a unbound manner became a habit she would eventually become anaemic. And now the cut in her hand was going to be more than difficult to heal and would leave a nasty scar. She spoke the litany and the rune began to glow. Good. A temporary absorption rune drawn beside it would do the trick. As soon as the two runes were joined, Aster quickly moved back a few dozen meters, waiting for her runes to take effect. Her speed of reaction was rewarded by the fact that less than a second after she moved away the umbels and grass around her rune began to blacken and rot. The air seemed to freeze on the plain as even the wind seemed to be devoured. After a few minutes what remained of the plants was a fine grey dust. Now. Around his two runes, now glowing much more intensely, lay a wide circle of bare earth covered with this fine dust.
The wind began to blow again and Aster nodded. The first step had gone smoothly. She moved forward in the circle, each step making a mark in the fine dust. She stepped over the all-white bones of an unfortunate rabbit that had been caught in the ritual. She crouched in front of her runes. Her absorption runes emitted a strong white light. A good sign. Without further ado she began to dig into the ground with her dagger, until she could fit the bowl into the bottom of the hole so that its edges were level with the ground. Then the really tedious step began.
Engraving an array was always a difficult thing, requiring a lot of knowledge, precision and concentration. Fortunately. What she was doing was not particularly complex. But it was enough to make sweat bead on her forehead as she carved the curved, tiny lines in the ground with her dagger. The most difficult part of making an array was that the mage always had to know exactly what he was doing. Unlike 'normal' runes where their meaning and the wizard's intention was paramount here, Aster had to really understand how the magic was going to work and what form it was going to take as its flows followed its intricate network and took the desired shape. How each intersection and curve would influence how the magic would act on the world. How its underlying rules would intermingle and give the desired result. One mistake and when the ritual would be activated... Let's just say it was better not to be close.
Fortunately for Aster, this array was a stable and invariant array. No need to go into details like with the arrays of her staff to give her magics a certain adaptability. She wasn't embroidering a fabric that she wanted to be able to bend and twist as she pleased. She was working with stone, giving shape to a rock. Which was a thousand times easier. At least for that, she didn't need an acoas. The structure of her array would support itself and would not need to interact with other arrays.
Line after line engraved in the soil hardened by black magic, the web took shape. Hour after hour the details became clearer. The magic in the air seemed to tremble with anticipation as the sculpture came to life. Finally, the last little stroke of the dagger, and Aster ran her arm over her forehead wiping away the sweat. The sun had declined towards the horizon by evening. But working in the sun for a vampire was still a bad idea. Even if she covered her whole body in cloth and pulled a hood over her head. She inspected the complex array one last time, as it seemed to vibrate with magic. Then, deciding that cutting her hand open again was not the best idea, she took her dagger and gingerly sliced her wrist. She watched as the scarlet liquid flowed slowly into the stone bowl until it filled it halfway. The loss of blood made her feel light, distant, as if she were a spectator of the world around her sitting deep in her skull, distanced from reality, as black butterflies flitted before her eyes.
Not wanting to take any more risks she sliced the bottom of her tunic again and hastily bandaged her wrist, wedging the cloth against her chest and pulling one end with her teeth. This precarious bandage would do for now. Finally she drew the last line with her dagger. The one connecting the entry point of her array with the absorption rune. Then she stood up and ran as fast as she could away from her array.
Aster remembered all too well the first time she had tried to create an array by herself. A simple levitation array, a stable array with no variables, one purpose, one use. To keep the object placed on it ten centimetres in the air. She didn't remember what happened when she activated it. Her memories of that moment were hazy and imprecise. Only a strong light and an indescribable pain remained. She woke up a week later lying down and covered with bandages. Kav-deb, despite his extraordinary knowledge of medicine and blood and life magic, could only keep her alive in an artificial coma and let the dark magic of Lagaelis take effect and bring her back little by little. She had never seen Anna cry like that before and she had not let her out of her sight for a month after the incident. Even at night she had to sleep with Anna, who apparently had an irrational fear that she would disappear. Not that sleeping with her mother really bothered her. At first the physical contact had been difficult, and unpleasant, but after a while she had gotten used to it and even started to like it. Not that she had much choice, Anna and Sonya had been particularly touchy.
But here in a valley in a remote magical reserve, there would be no Kav-deb to save her, and this was the first time she'd done this array and didn't have the luxury of doing the series of tests she'd normally do for any new array she hadn't practiced. After a hundred metres she stopped, out of breath, and turned around. A reddish light was rising from the ground above the array. Well so far everything seemed to be working as planned. Where the bowl was supposed to be (she was too far away to see) the light intensified. Again the wind seemed to stop blowing over the plain. As if the world was holding its breath. Then a small red sphere. Appearing tiny because of the distance, rose above the bowl. The sphere stopped rising about two meters high before thin threads of light began to emanate from it and scrape the ground around it, appearing and disappearing. Like fine pseudopods leaving burning trails in their wake. Aster frowned. Fortunately the filaments stabilized like a dozen long legs planted in the ground around the array. Aster had feared for a moment that the place would be too poor in earth magic for her ritual. But it seemed to work well.
Aster turned and walked away. Tomorrow morning her bloodstone would be ready. And nothing would be foolish enough to interrupt the ritual. If anything happened the result would undoubtedly be a great smoking crater and blood, sweat and hours of unnecessary work. And an arm that would continue to hang uselessly from her shoulder.
The hardest part was done. All she had to do now was to make the overload balls and she would be able to sleep in the branches of the weeping willow. Oh how attractive that prospect seemed to her at the moment. The blood loss was still being felt. What she wouldn't give to immediately climb the tree and let sleep take her. Or at least to have a blood replenishment potion with her. She was still a little dizzy as she walked back to the willow tree slowly. Better to walk slowly than to take a chance and end up on the ground and if luck wasn't with her, to reopen her hand and wrist.
She arrived at the willow, in relative safety behind her wards and sat cross-legged in front of the fire, took out her blade, the quartz crystals and set to work.
This minor ritual did not take long. Just a few runes of witchcraft. From the Norse Raido Naudiz and Othala as a basic segment. Then just a Bjarkan rune engraved on the quartz crystals to give them more stability and prevent them from exploding in her hands. Then simply leave the crystals in the runic fire and redirect some of the magic drained by her Lagaelis rune to the crystals. The operation took a good hour. Once this was done Aster stood up and stretched, stretching her arms over her head and closing her eyes. Staying still for so long was not her forte. She could do it, of course. But not being able to stretch her legs was torture.
The sun was almost completely below the horizon. The sky was tingling with red and purple. The first stars were appearing in the sky. Aster was exhausted. This day and yesterday had been horrible. She climbed up the weeping willow, using its low branches, until she found a comfortable position nestled in its bark. Aster finally let her concentration and focus on what she needed to do now to survive slip away, her mind wandering to the horrors of the previous day. The smell of smoke from burning flesh, the house and garden she, with Anna had made their own after years of living there peacefully. It was indeed a pike. She thought, the memory of her arrival coming back to her. Anna's screams as the spells hit her, her eyes soft in that moment as if she would never regret making that choice, as death took her in her arms.
Aster closed her eyes, reached into the inner pocket of her tunic and grabbed the soul vial. It was what gave her the strength to go on, the light at the end of the tunnel, a hope. She clutched the vial to her chest, its gentle warmth seeming to embrace her. As if Anna were really there. Soothed by the warmth of the small flame dancing in the vial, Aster let sleep take her, lulled by the sound of the wind in the willow leaves and the song of the river running over the pebbles and through the reeds. Tomorrow will be the start a long journey.