Pina found her jaw clenched at the blasphemy. She felt rage at the thought that such a wicked child had been gifted such a grand power, and then had abused that power twisting it towards its most evil ends. Something that was beautiful and intended to provide maximum freedom to those who underwent such a ritual as the Reading twisted into its exact opposite. Where there should have been freedom, the child had only ever considered using it for control and tyranny. All to satiate his masters, and his own petty base motivations.
Pina forced herself to take deep, calming breaths. As she did, she found her fingers tracing the white lines that clearly stood out on her marble white and freckled skin. The sorcerer had not learned her True Name, not in full. Though he had come close. She thanked all the Gods above, nature, and Ethria itself that one would need all of a True Name to control another. Partial knowledge of a True Name gave access to information. It granted insight into a person’s motivations, and what they might do in a situation. A partial name might even allow for suggestions to be made, and dispositions to be changed. But they could never use partial names to control someone.
She thanked all the Gods above and below, all the beings that were at the founding of the multiverse, and mother nature herself that she had been rescued when she had. The sorcerer had used suggestions on her. He had started to get her to do things, to change her mind about events or ideas. To influence how she viewed him in subtle ways.
The worst part about it was Pina had known it was happening the entire time, and she couldn’t do anything about it as he slowly molded her opinion of him. Slowly eroding her willingness to fight him. Before the end, before the rescue, before her escape? He had even convinced her to sit and dine with him without her attempting to stab him with the meat knife he had given her. They had eaten dinner twice, both times Pina had raged internally. She had tried everything to force her mind into the shape she needed to stab him. But she had failed. Every time her rage flared she felt a wheedling insecurity that perhaps, maybe, what he did, he did for her own benefit. And that alone was enough to stop her from killing him.
Pina shivered, and not from the cold. Where he had started taking her, what he had begun molding her into, scared Pina to her core and reinforced the traditions of her people in dealing with the Sight as something dangerous. She would have to report what had happened, recount it all to the druidic council. The head shaman of her people, Tar’lac would need to know that somehow the power had slipped from their fingers. That somehow it had been learned or discovered or given to powerful and dark beings. Beings who had used the sorcerer as little more than a pawn in their grander schemes. She would have to…
“Pina?” The voice was soft, merely a whisper, but it reverberated off the small wood with greater meaning, with greater love and concern than her name had ever held from any other person. Pina sighed as Tol’geth’s bearded face filled her vision. He looked down at her as she lay on the dewy grass.
“Yes Tol’geth?” she asked, annoyed at the large man’s presence for no apparent reason she could understand. Her feelings whenever the massive brute appeared near her were mixed, to say the least. He loved her as deeply as any being had ever loved. She knew this for a fact. But she was older than him by several decades. Pina had been there at his birthing; she had been training in midwifery under her master and had helped Tol’geth’s mother. But here he was, totally devoted to her. Yes, he was an adult by any reasonable measure and had been for some time at thirty-eight years old. But Pina was older. Much older. She was pushing into her late fifties, though the magic of nature extended her life, and she was much younger by appearance and youthfulness.
“You left before supper.” The gentle giant held out a small platter of food, a mix of cheeses, meats, and breads. It was little more than travel rations, but to Pina’s angry stomach the food might as well have been a feast fit for a queen. The love on his face turned stern. “The priest said you should eat.” Tol’geth said this as if it were an immutable commandment from the gods themselves. An indisputable fact. After a moment of consideration, trying to think of a way to make him leave her in peace, her body betrayed her. The sound of hunger it produced must have rattled leaves.
“Eat,” he commanded, as he smoothly moved to take a seat next to her in the grass. He held the platter of food out for her to take. His tone left no room for her to maneuver for privacy or seclusion. Surrendering to the inevitability that was Tol’geth’s concern, Pina sighed and sat up as her stomach finished growling in ravenous hunger. She took the plate from him and put it on the ground between them, picking at it. She took the cheeses and a few of the meats, leaving the hardtack bread for the crows that were circling overhead.
As she devoured the food, she found Tol’geth’s quiet company reassuring in a way that she had missed. He was a man, true. And her body would react to that fact by being on guard. Probably would for years, she knew. Trauma of the kind she had been through the last few months would force her body to react in ways she knew were foolish. But to deny the fact of her trauma, the fact of what her body and mind would go through would only exacerbate the problem and slow the healing process.
She knew this because she had guided more than one young warrior, hunter, or woman through such healing. Though she had never been a patient before. So, while Tol’geth sat there watching the crows overhead, she felt both reassurance at his presence, and uneasiness at his nearness. She unconsciously leaned away from him as she ate. Granting herself more space.
The large man reached a hand down and grabbed the loaf of bread, stuck half of it in his mouth, and broke it off. Then, while chewing with sturdy crunching noises and slow jaw movements, crushed the other half into crumbs with his hands and spread them around on the ground in front of them. The crows overhead saw this, and dived as one flock. It wasn’t a very large murder of crows, only a half dozen or so, and the birds all seemed overjoyed by the display of free food.
After a few minutes of them both chewing, her silently and Tol’geth chewing boulders, the large man swallowed the dry, gravelly bread and took a swig from his small flask. Pina rolled her eyes at the metal container.
“You still have that thing? Didn’t you say you were going to quit drinking that stuff?” Tol’geth turned, swallowed, and smiled at her, his beard comically covered in black hardtack crumbs. She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She had seen the brute rip a man in half with his bare hands as punishment for trying to attack a caravan they had been guarding as a youth. And here he was, crumbs in his beard, smiling at her with all the goofy love in the world. “You are a child Tol’geth of Barisel,” she accused, her voice light and filled with amusement. His only response was to wiggle his eyebrows, then his ears, and finally his beard. As he did, crumbs rained down to the ground like snow and ash.
She laughed then, heartily and truly. Her laughter rang through the small glade and courtyard. It ended with a rather undignified snort and more laughter, followed by a sigh of contentment and a realization that the world was back to as it should be. As much as such a thing could ever be true.
Tol’geth beamed at her, and she smiled back as if the world was right. And no evil in it could break this moment of friendship. They sat together for another long, silent stretch as the sun went down. They sat just watching the crows as they ate the bread, and then as they investigated the pair of them. The smart, inquisitive birds quickly grew bored, even when they found Pina could talk to them. Not long after, they took off for more interesting sights.
“Tol’geth I, I have not treated you well. What you said to the wizard, about ages meaning little past maturity among our people, is true. But I have been away from our people for longer than I have been with them. It is one of the reasons that you find me so, appealing.” Her face burned with the words as she spoke them. Tol’geth did not respond, allowing her to continue. “You are what, thirty-two, thirty-three?”
“Thirty-eight as of yesterday.”
“Oh, well happy birthday.” Tol’geth grunted
his thanks, and she continued. “I am, Fifty-seven?” She asked, wondering at her exact age. “Or was it fifty-six? I can’t remember.”
“Fifty-four. As of two weeks ago.” She smiled. He remembered more than she did about herself. It was touching. Even if she still found the entire enterprise slightly absurd.
“Right, thank you. Well, after that battle I am now level thirty-one.” Tol’geth grunted his congratulations, and she smiled to the sky as they lay there side by side. “Thirty-two now, thanks to that wizard’s ability. And I am not likely to grow at a much faster rate. My requirement has turned exponential. So we will see.” Tol’geth grunted his condolences. There was always a point in a person’s growth when their XP requirements for the next level would stop simply doubling. When the multiplier would change from 2, to exponential. She had just hit that cap. It usually meant it was time to return home, that you had gained enough strength to be considered fully grown, and that you had reached your potential. “Is what you said about your level, during the battle, was that true? Or just boasting?” Tol’geth laughed slightly.
“Lying would be dishonorable. And I have nearly reached paragon status.” She whistled. Not just for the fact he was now level 36, but because he had accumulated enough honor points to be considered a paragon candidate. Once he reached that, everything would change. For him, for his family, for anyone who tied their fate to his. She had once dreamed of becoming a paragon, but honor was not something most shamans, let alone druid circle members, concerned themselves with. “I nearly tipped the scale when I left Shoto with the knights. But he had not been in my custody long enough.”
“That is exciting, my friend. Do you know what path you will take?” This was the important question. And often it was considered impolite to ask. But, if Pina was truly considering what she thought she was considering, then she needed to know. It was vital.
“I was thinking of the path of the warrior, but the path of the monk and the path of the totem priest are both open to me as well.” She sighed in relief. He was not considering joining the ranks of the Phoenix Guard or the Eagle Rangers. “Though the rangers might be a good choice.”
“No! You can’t!” She blurted out, sitting up and staring at him.
“And why is that?” He asked, mischief in his eyes. Her face burned, and she stammered for a few seconds before she got it out.
“Because I, I think, maybe we might consider a match. Together, with you.” He grinned from ear to ear. “But I still haven’t decided. My arguments about our difference in age still stand. Though, clearly, you have made up for that in gaining levels to some degree.” She took several deep breaths before she spoke again. “I care for you, Tol’geth. I always have. Though that affection has changed over the years. I am having a hard time allowing it to change over much. And, I have. Well, I will have a lot of work ahead of me to get myself ready for any match.” He reached a hand up to touch her shoulder and she flinched away as if his hand was a red-hot iron. She read hurt in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced with realization and understanding.
“Ah, I see. Well, the people from under the falls live a long time. We have enough to spare for you to heal, I think. There is always time for a match. And a family, should we choose to have one.” She grinned.
“You’ve wanted little brats running around your feet since you were old enough to play with your younger brothers and sisters.” He grinned back and grunted his agreement.
“True. But all of that can wait.” He held a hand out for her and she gently, hesitantly took it. “I will wait for you, as I have been for nearly twenty years since I first decided you were the perfect woman.” She blushed and rolled her eyes, at the same time falling back onto the grass. Tol’geth laughed and followed suit.
“Do you think they think we’re insane?” Pina asked, pointing at the gardener acolytes in the corner. The trio of confused youth were waiting for them to be done with whatever it was they were doing.
“Perhaps. Even more so since they probably can’t understand a single word we have said.” They both laughed, the sound filling the small courtyard. The acolytes grinned at one another, not knowing exactly what was going on.
They were young, but even they could see that something intimate was happening between the two foreigners laying on the grass in the garden they were tasked with tending. And, as every young Pyriate learned quickly, one did not interrupt such moments. For they were rare, and one of the few constellations in life.
THE END OF BOOK 3
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