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HON’HIN ARRIVED BACK at the village with Lye-Ashe in tow. Ila and her followers had already left before the dawn. Those that remained were amazed to see Hon’hin return with an exotic looking woman. They gathered around them both as they went to the center of the town.
Hon’hin raised his arms to speak. “People, fear not, for I have brought our salvation to us. Her name is Lye-Ashe. She is one of our Crythl and she has agreed to help us. In return she asks that every spring festival we honor her by sending her a Chreuthecal to serve her for one year. In return for this we are to be granted her magical powers to use here to protect ourselves.”
Cheers rang out in the village. All the remaining villagers lined up to be touched by Lye-Ashe swearing their allegiance to her and the allegiance of all their blood.
After all of the villagers had received their powers it was up to Lye-Ashe to figure out how they would work with the human flesh. Lye-Ashe’s power as a Narkurru was the ability to control any spirit bound to her, but she was weakened now even with the new alliance. She was not sure how her weakened magic and the flesh she now controlled would affect the power she was able to share. She put many of the villagers through a battery of tests to see if they could bind spirits to them and control them. Unfortunately, none of the villagers passed the trials. They were beginning to think Lye-Ashe had tricked them into swearing their allegiance to her. While Lye-Ashe was busy trying to figure out how to further test the powers of the village screams began to come from the west end of the village where the grave yard was.
A young girl stood in front of an open grave jumping for joy. In front of her stood the decaying body of her recently deceased mother reaching out to hold the child.
“Come see father! Mother is alive! I wished for her to rise up and hold me and here she is.” Laena cried with joy.
Her father quickly grabbed her and pulled her away from the body. The girl’s concentration was broken and the body crumbled into the grave once again. The village was outraged at the girl. They immediately began calling her a witch when Lye-Ashe and Hon’hin appeared.
“Stop!” Lye-Ashe ordered. “This child is not a witch. I think I have just figured out how your powers work. The transfer of power was not fully pure due to your human flesh. I am able to control spirits bound to me, but it appears you all may be able to control the flesh and bone after the spirit leaves.”
With that a new test was derived. One by one the villagers realized that they could animate anything that had a spirit that moved on to the other realm. They knew now that they could march against the Amazons.