Ashyn moved swiftly towards the foul waterline and without thinking plunged his hand into the foul murk. Instantly Rizen’s thoughts touched his. Far too calmly for the situation demanded he said, Your kind seems bent on the destruction of each other.
Yes. The wizard agreed.
Ashyn looked back to see Uriel dragging Macky’s limp form across the rocky surface. The larger man was clearly exhausted, and it was only hatred that was fueling him now.
Ashyn projected his thoughts to the shaman, Can I communicate with others through the water, as I speak with you?
If you learned how, yes.
Ashyn shook his head, he had no connection to magic like that, and he didn’t have the time. Could you connect me to another person?
To emphasize this point, he looked away from the duo and towards the gaur. The large beast scrutinized him for what felt like an eternity before answering, If the other person is cooperative, perhaps.
And if they are not?
The large bull shook his head. They have to be adaptive to the idea first. Think of your shock the first time we communicated. Since then as we have talked I have come to see you have a clear understanding of how the spirit energy around us works. If you lacked that understanding, you shall have no such true connection.
Even if they understand my voice? Ashyn pressed.
Your mind does not carry the same pattern that comes from your mouth. It does not use the same muscles.
Ashyn hadn’t thought of that. He had hoped that his voice might dissuade Uriel from his act. But it wasn’t his voice at all. It was his thoughts and his mind. Still he had to try.
This would expose me as well, the gaur projected. One of their nature wielders is very near, and if this human begins to panic once he is exposed to the water, and they see me in the water…
The gaur didn’t need to finish. Ashyn’s mind reeled. He turned back just to see Uriel dragging Macky right to the water’s edge. He was cajoling the unconscious priest. Telling him how he would join the rest of the worthless shit in the water.
Let them see me instead, Ashyn told Rizen.
The gaur cocked his head in confusion.
They are in constant fear of my abilities returning at any time. If anyone is to be questioned for the act, let it clearly be me. Lay as far away from the waterline as you can, with only your hoof in the water. I will walk knee deep into it.
It is waste Ashyn, Rizen direly warned. Touching this filth with the hands you eat with is foul enough. To wade into this murk, you could get deathly ill. There are many ways this poison will pollute your body. You still have cuts. Many of your wounds have yet to properly heal even with all of our aid. If this gets into your blood stream there is little I can do to aid you.
I must try, or many will die, Ashyn said determinedly.
If you die, then we all die, Rizen countered. You are the one thing that ties us all together. Our lives are all braided around you now, totem-brother. If you fray, then the strand that binds us will fall apart.
Ashyn followed the gaur’s line of sight to the druid who was only interested in fight happening in the skewer pen. If someone need be sacrificed for this, it should be your friend Macky, or me.
I will not let Macky be the few for the many, Ashyn persisted.
Then I will do this.
Ashyn felt the conviction behind his thoughts. The bull turned away from everyone, as if oblivious to the fight. Try to act interested in the goings-on in that cell.
That shouldn’t be hard, Ashyn thought. His friend was about to drown.
Tell me what you want me to say, and when to say it. I don’t know if we will get through, or if we do, if it will be in enough time. But I will do this. Also there is a risk with the aggressor’s emotions. I will feel them; I am uncertain how that will affect me. Last time, the emotions almost made me end your life, Rizen said plainly.
Ashyn nodded. He understood. Thank you for this. Ashyn told him sincerely.
Don’t thank me, yet. Rizen cautioned. This may end badly for all of us.
~ ~ ~
It had been a long time since Pan, now named Rizen, felt truly alive. Given that second chance by his totem-brother he was compelled to offer the same measure of life to the creature Ashyn called Macky. Though to his culture, Macky’s soul would simply enter the great Cycle to be born a new, fresh and away from the worries of imprisonment, Rizen saw how this moment mattered to Ashyn, his own savior from unlife.
So he would try, at least, to reach out to the angry human and stop it from murdering its own kind. Rizen snorted in displeasure at the very idea of hurting his own herd. It seemed so obtuse to him. It was against everything it meant to be a gaur. The gaur did not hurt each other. They thrived together. Humans at their very nature seemed built for conflict. Rizen would have never thought to find himself allied with such small, angry creatures. But he never thought he would have wound up losing his life and gathering salvation either.
He pushed the thought away, for he did not want Ashyn to feel his own displeasure at the acts of his herd. Instead, he focused on the crud that floated past his hoof. As he did, he felt the life within the soiled waters.
As always, Rizen could feel their suffering. The choking bloat that toxified the fish, and the crustaceans that speckled the contaminated waters. He could feel the poison that ate at their scales and devoured their insides. He sensed the great tree’s displeasure. Did these pointy-eared cretins not understand how cyclical this filth was? Did they not realize the harm they were causing their own icon? The ones Ashyn called druids surely must. They had strong ties to the nature. How could they condone such a thing?
Again he pushed these ponderings aside and instead focused on the moment. He felt Ashyn in the water only a few steps away. Like his first interaction when they shared the totem, he marveled at the uniqueness of the beast within Ashyn. It was powerful, this part of Ashyn’s soul. It was a beast, and it was primal. That was why he connected with the totem. It was why he connected so easily with Rizen in the waters. Far easier than it was going to be to reach out to a human. Still he would try.
Rizen waited for another fresh being to enter the polluted pool. It didn’t take long.
There was a wake of water and the life went scattering away. With his ears he clearly could hear the splash as the beaten and unconscious man was thrown into the lake. Were the waters frigid like the cool springs he was used to in the mountains, it might be enough to bring the man to sudden consciousness, but they were not. The waters were tepid.
Luckily, Macky’s unconsciousness actually served him well. By nature of his body, it protected him while he was dormant. His own internal defenses shut his body off from drawing water into his lungs, at least for the moment. He would last far longer in this state than if he were conscious and panicking. But, he would also offer no resistance to his assailer. It was only a matter of time, internal defenses or not, that his body would crave the oxygen that it was being denied, and then it would be over for Macky.
Rizen felt the foot of another penetrate the briny waters. Immediately the waters were assailed with such anger and such hatred, that it sent him reeling. These were feelings he had not had since the witnessing of his herd’s massacre, and losing his soul to the unlife.
He knew the emotions of the human would batter him, but he felt confident in his spiritual connection with nature to overcome the onslaught, but he didn’t have his totem to lean upon for guidance and strength. The power of such raw emotion wrestled with him and stirred up memories of the dark time. It made him feel lost like before and long for a death he thought he couldn’t receive. The man in the waters wanted to either kill this Macky, or be killed. He wanted nothing else.
There is too much pain. He told Ashyn. This man will not hear me, even if I try. I can call to him and call to him, plead for him to stop his actions but it will not matter. He is committed in this act Ashyn. Fully with his very soul.
His name is Uriel. Ashyn’s mind flooded into his own. There has to be a way in. Something that will make him see reason. Macky used to be his best friend! Surely that means something? The gaur shook his head, and though he knew Ashyn did not see it, he would feel the act mentally.
Now that it was absolutely clear that the human was intent on murdering Macky, Rizen could hear the commotion of the people in the pen with Uriel. Almost a half dozen people in the muck and grim trying futilely to get the large miner off the scrawny priest. The range of emotions tried to latch onto Rizen but he was able to deflect them far easier than those of Uriel.
And like with his own powerful emotions, Uriel had more strength than they did, even as tired as he was. He was driven by rage and not nearly as starved as those in the cell.
Rizen felt Uriel fling the people away, one and two at a time as they pulled at his body. Each distraction from the pen-mates gave Macky a little more time as the unconscious form bobbed to the surface allowing his face to just break the surface of the water. Though they would wear quickly, they kept Uriel from pushing Macky further underwater.
Again, Rizen reached out to the man. He tried to send his thoughts through the water and seep into the pours of the violent human. He tried to enter the blood vessels and ride the journey into Uriel’s mind. But at every turn he was only met with feelings of despair and the desire for murder.
Rizen felt his hands begin to shake as the violence filled his own mind. Once more, the loss of his Pundit wracked his own spirit. Reflexively he reached out to one of the posts for support. He grabbed onto it so tightly the wood splintered, and vines shot forth and pecked at his fur viciously. But he couldn’t let go, otherwise he was afraid the rage might consume him too and he’d revert to the same bull he as when he had hunted Ashyn for days on end.
Unable to keep his mind sheltered from Ashyn, Rizen poured his thoughts into the wizard. To warn him, if anything.
~ ~ ~
Rizen was losing. Ashyn could feel it. He was losing the battle with what he had become when he had gone mad. The wizard couldn’t afford to have that happen again. There would be no way he could stop Rizen again. No way could he save Rizen, not from the Ferhym, and not from himself.
Don’t succumb, Rizen. You are stronger than this!
The only other time he felt this, was when they had held the totem together, and he had needed power. Then, with the help of such a powerful artifact, he used it as a conduit to pull the essence of it all into him. The act allowed him to save Jenhiro’s life, and even Rizen’s. Without the totem though, he felt disconnected from it. Like the Exemplar told Brodea, it was there, but too far way. It was across a chasm that he had no way to cross.
It was frustrating and infuriating to know that he was defenseless. He could feel the magic, touch it, but he couldn’t connect to it without aid.
But the Exemplar could touch the magic within him. Did that mean Rizen could too?
In me. He told the gaur. Dump the emotion into me; let me be your aid!
~ ~ ~
Rizen heard the words in his mind and responded. Immediately, he shifted all the anger, pain, and fury away from himself, and directed it into the powerful receptacle he marveled at.
Ashyn was like an open basin, and the hatred and bitterness poured into him far less forcefully than with Rizen. Immediately it began to lift, and Rizen started to feel the meaning behind the raw wound of pure emotion.
Within that unbridled fury that was coiled in the human named Uriel, he felt the pain of utter loss and despair. He felt the emptying of everything he cherished. Everything he loved. He felt an aching pain of separation from his daughter. He felt the worry of whether or not she was okay. The turmoil that shifted around within him like a whirlpool. The betrayal of the woman he loved desperately to a man he once thought was his closest friend. He felt the brutal sting of being told she was dead. He felt the utter hopelessness at the loss of his wife…
~ ~ ~
Ashyn looked up suddenly at this. His eyes focusing on Uriel and the murder he was committing. Of course! That was why the two didn’t talk anymore. That was why, even after countless winters of friendship, they didn’t even like to mention the other’s name. Avrimae left Macky for Uriel and then became his wife!
She then betrayed Uriel by siding once more with her former lover! Uriel thought she was dead. Uriel believed Avrimae was killed and he blamed Macky because she rallied against the elves with the priest. They had both said that she was the first to stand beside him!
Ashyn knew what to do. What to say. He knew how to get through.
~ ~ ~
The rage was strong. The hate pulled at the shaman so much that he knew he was teetering close to oblivion. Even with everything he was dumping into Ashyn, it was not enough. He wanted to let go. He needed to let go or become lost in the hate once more. Become a creature of malice and violence. Everything his people were against.
She’s alive! Ashyn’s mind flared into his. Listen to me, he repeated. Just push with everything you have and repeat over and over that Avrimae is alive!
Rizen focused on those three words, and those words alone. The pecking at his hand faded into the distance. The pain of the repeated stabs became little more the pinpricks to his subconscious. The screaming coming from fifteen feet away evaporated into white noise. The boiling rage within him kept him hot and ready to spill blood. He desired it, craved it, but he tried to focus on those three words. Though they meant nothing to him, he knew to Ashyn they carried weight and they would to Uriel, too.
He repeated them over and over in his head and he felt the roaring fury in his ears subside. He felt the vibrations of his body settle. Again, and again, and again he said it. And Rizen knew that somehow, someway it was helping him. He released his grip from the post not needing its support any longer. As he repeated the words he heard them echoed, and soon he realized why they were helping him. They weren’t just his thoughts any longer, but Uriel’s. He broke through.
Rizen dared to look at the man, though he was supposed to be masking himself.
Uriel was no longer pushing down on Macky, but holding his jaw just above the waterline. He wasn’t looking at Rizen, but at Ashyn. The two were staring at each other. There was a terrible ire still in Uriel’s expression, but there was also comprehension, and unbelievably, hope.
Rizen felt the heartbeat within Macky. He was still alive.
They had done it.
The towering gaur collapsed next to the side of the water, exhausted. This was in Ashyn’s small hands now.
~ ~ ~
Ashyn stood up, broke his connection from Rizen, and walked to the bars. Ashyn felt heat radiating off his body. His vision was painted in an ocherous glow. He felt the anger. He felt the righteous rage within him.
“Pull him from the water,” he commanded Uriel.
All around the large man, the other people scattered away. He watched as Uriel drug Macky out of the water and dropped him unceremoniously on to the rocky ground. Uriel was afraid of Ashyn, but at the same time he was reckless. Ashyn knew it was because he thought he had nothing to live for. The large, dark-haired human walked to the bars and stared hard at Ashyn .
He growled at him, “Ye better be right, witch.” He stepped closer. “Ana’ I want proof!”
“Your wife is alive, Uriel.” Ashyn told him. He saw the man’s face contort in shock. “And you’ll have your proof soon enough. It is the very reason you are here.”
“Ye will git her now!” Uriel threatened and reached through the bars for Ashyn. “I don’t care what ye are!”
Ashyn, expected that. Uriel moved so slowly. With little effort, Ashyn took a single step backward, avoiding Uriel’s strong grasp. Vines came alive from the bars and quickly wrapped around the surprised miner, pinning him in place.
“Soon,” Ashyn said and he turned away. He felt the power of all the hatred Rizen poured into him ebbing. It was leaving him, spent, physically and emotionally.
“I will kill ’em, I swear it!” Uriel spit.
Ashyn stopped and turned back around to face the angered man, calmly telling him, “Then you will have to get in line. Because if you kill him before they get to,” he pointed upward, “I’ll tell you who will take his place, and it won’t be you. They are using you, Uriel. They are using all three of you.”
Uriel looked away from the council and back at Ashyn. “I dunna understand. Why?”
Ashyn sat down with a sigh. The color of everything around him returned to normal. “To hurt me, Uriel. To hurt me.”
Uriel writhed in anger, shouting, “Then ye are the one who needs to die!”
Ashyn shrugged. “You may be correct. But the fact is we need to work together if we want to survive. That means all of us. We all have to do our part and whether I deserve death or not, it is of moot point until we can leave this place.”
The wizard watched as small beaks slithered from the vines Uriel was struggling in. “You’ll want to stop moving, or things will become extremely unpleasant for you in a matter of moments.”
Uriel stared at the moving vines in alarm. He whispered, his voice growing from aggressive to panicky, “Call them off!”
“I can’t.” He watched the man a moment. “I’m not that kind of ‘witch,’ though I doubt someone like you would even pay attention. Wizards don’t have that kind of power. Neither do witches, which are girls, if you remember. Only Creation-wielding druids can manipulate nature as they do. And that means these Wild Elves. So I suggest you hold very still and they will let you go.
“Also don’t touch Macky again, and I promise you, you will see Avrimae.”
Ashyn turned his back on the lumbering man with finality. It wasn’t to reject the man, or to show him who was in control. It was to hide the tears that were beginning to tumble down his face. Ashyn may have taken in all of Uriel’s anger and his hatred, but he also took in all of his despair. Right now Ashyn’s friends were being hurt and mentally torn apart.
Uriel’s inner pain coupled with his own sorrow. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take. Ashyn wanted to be strong for Julietta, but everything was taking its toll.
He took a deep breath so he wouldn’t sob and let Uriel know just how deep his anguish ran. He just let the tears flow in silence. Jenhiro was on his side. So was Relm. In two days it was going to happen. He only had two days left and it would be all over. One way or another, Brodea wouldn’t be able to use Julietta or his friends against him, anymore. That thought brought him a small measure of peace.
Moments later the vines released the angry man, and he stormed away, ignoring Macky completely.
~ ~ ~
Quiet over the passing weeks since he followed Ashyn into Feydras’ Anula, Xao looked up from his hiding spot and stared with wide yellow eyes at his charge. He felt him! For the first time in months, Xao actually felt Ashyn again through their connection in magic! The boy was finally healing, not just physically, but mentally. Ashyn was growing stronger, even if he didn’t realize it yet. Soon the elves would be in for a reckoning.
The Watcher smiled a toothy grin. Though terrified of his own impotence in deciding to let things play their own course with the Ferhym and Ashyn, his patience paid off.
The only time he had interjected was when Ashyn had been thrown from the Great Elm. Xao had risked it all, interjecting on Ashyn’s behalf. The dragon had flown up and guided the young wizard down, shielding himself around Ashyn like a protective cocoon. Xao was the first one to hit the water, and soften the way for Ashyn. After that, everything had proceeded well. Ashyn had a plan when he entered the Shalis-Fey, and now he was finally going to see it through.
When Xao’s mother asked him to watch the Rune family, she had stated the whole family. Xao thought he had failed when he made the choice to only save Ashyn, clearly the most self-destructive of the bunch. It turns out, he was wrong.
Ashyn was going to save Julietta, and Xao would be ready to help in any way he could. He stood up and stretched out his muscles, his orange fur rippling as he did so. He wondered how the elves would act when they found out Ashyn Rune had the aid of a dragon?
Xao looked away from the boy and to the other inhabitant of the cell. He found the creature merely staring at him, as it always did.