Josie gasped in surprise and pulled away, Jess now gently caressing the back of Josie's head, enjoying the silky-smooth feel of Josie’s lush blond tresses, even as she gently whispered words of soothing reassurance into Josie’s ear. “You have to drink it. I have to be one with you, Josie. A part of you. Only then will I have Claimance upon you sufficient to pull you free of this place.”
Josie shuddered only a moment before drinking Jess's kiss, crying softly as their embrace tightened, and Jess kissed her fiercely, passionately, feeling her blood slowly trickle and flow down Josie's throat before she broke off the kiss, Josie left flushed and breathless, gazing into Jess's eyes with awed intensity that left Jess suddenly speechless.
Josie lifted a trembling hand, brushing away locks of hair slipped free of braid and helm. She blinked madly, swallowing, hunting for words she just couldn't find.
Jess forced herself to smile, being the first to say it. "Yes, I love you, Josie. And would fight fiercely to protect you against all foes." She stroked Josie's soft locks, gazing warmly at her friend. "I know you love me in your own way, and how fiercely you regard Raphael, aching for his arms about you even now."
Jess winked. "Raphael is a lucky man. And I am honored to be your knight protector, me and Malek both, leading you back home so you may embrace the love of your life, knowing that your dear sister will always have your back."
Josie grinned, tears flowing freely. "I love you, Jess. You really are my hero. I could never, ever ask for a better friend." She turned to Malek. "That goes for you too, Malek. I can never repay either of you for saving my life. For caring enough to brave nightmare itself, for my sake. From the bottom of my heart... thank you both."
Malek flourished a bow. "We're all members of the Circle of Midnight, the best band of friends one could hope to find anywhere. Naturally if hideous abominations are going to drag you into nightmare, Jess and I will pull you out again." Malek winked. "After all, who else would bother making sandwiches for the likes of us, if we didn't keep you safe?"
Josie's laughter was rich and strong. It took every ounce of will to resist kissing Josie once more. Flushed, Jess looked away, chilled by what she saw.
The cat then turned his gaze to the source of Jess's shock. “Ooh, look at that. The tower is fading to mist.” Twilight yawned. “We will have to leave here shortly, I fear. The turning of the seasons can be delayed no longer. Come, my queen. Best we return and finish Winter's tale."
Jess swallowed at that, feeling the dire weight of her familiar's words, knowing she was taking a terrible gamble, praying that her flash of intuition was accurate. "Do you think it will work?"
Twilight grinned. "Only one way to find out. Come, Jess. You have made your choice. It is time for us to see how it all plays out."
Malek’s eyes widened as he glanced back to see that the massive tower that had so dominated the sanctuary of the grove was now no more than a mist-cloaked structure wavering oddly through the fog. The tower's once solid and foreboding presence was now ephemeral, dissolving before his very eyes. And the mist appeared to be expanding.
Come on, shieldsister. Let’s go!” Quickly donning their gear, Malek and Jess did a speedy check of their armaments, making sure all straps were tight and secure, before slipping both their tabards upon Josie's naked form.
"Sorry, Josie, I would give you my gambeson, but..."
Josie's gaze was one of growing panic. "But that hideous fog is closing in on us. I know, Jess, let's just go!"
Holding hands, moving as one, the three young students of Highrock solemnly entered the dark forest serving as the border between the realms of dreams and reality, the grove behind them fading once more into the mists of what could have been.
56
Jess felt a cold chill trickle up and down her spine as they made their way through the strange woods. Thick pine having morphed somehow to gigantic lichens of vast size, the cry of strange beasts could be heard in the rooftop canopy arching far overhead. Jess, still carrying the rune-covered sack, gazed worriedly at a heavily panting Malek looking back at her with haunted eyes, even as he did his best to help support Josie, understanding that Jess's own burden was far greater than it might seem.
Jess groaned, feeling as if the weight of Winter itself was crashing down upon her.
“Not an easy transition, is this?” Malek cracked a grin.
Jess mutely shook her head, forcing herself onward, feeling the power echoing and surging through her dream form boil within her. In some indescribable way, she compelled herself to hold tight, imagining that she was like a sheep’s bladder stuffed with the power of dreams boiling away in a cauldron of darkest shadow. She felt set to burst, grimacing painfully as she imagined placing massive hands around herself, holding her skin and all the terrible energies trapped within her frame tightly together with every fiber of her will, even as it all tried to burst free.
Josie, so happy and effervescent but moments ago, fell to the ground with a shudder.
“Josie!” Jess cried, Malek catching her fall with an instinctive grace that made him so deadly on the battlefield, now carrying their fallen companion in his arms, for all that he looked ready to collapse himself.
"Keep it together, my friends," Jess urged. "We will make it, I know we will!"
Josie tried to smile but started to cough and groan. Malek holding her tight, eyes filled with panic. "Jess, what do we do?"
"We push on!" Twilight snapped. "We are caught between a past that never was and a future we are in danger of losing altogether. This is not a good place to linger!”
“Bloody know-it-all cat,” Malek wheezed, for all that he picked up his struggling pace as best he could.
Over an endless moment that seemed to stretch for eternity, the forest once again morphed back to the familiar beech, pine, and oak that covered the hills around Highrock. Jess eased a sigh of relief as the fierce currents that had sought to pull them under, to hurdle them all into the vast and terrible Abyss that was in some unspeakable way beneath all creation, at last receded.
“One final push, my friends,” Jess said as they came at last upon that final barrier between the realm of the living and the Shadowrealms in which they had dared to tread.
With a deep breath, Jess held the sack covered helm tight and pushed through, feeling the weird icy cold membrane resist her at first as if she was being pummeled by all the weight and fury of Winter itself. Crying out with a final heave, Jess at last popped through, collapsing to the snow-covered ground, instantly chilled, caught in a storm of shrieking winds, blinded by endless snow.
“Malek?” she instinctively called, relieved to feel the weight of Twilight as he leaped off her shoulder, knowing that her cat, at least, was safe.
She felt a tug on her arm. Her friend’s fierce grip. She clenched her companion’s wrist firmly and gave a mighty tug. Josie suddenly appeared, heaving and gasping, eyes filled with unspeakable terror as a heaving Malek suddenly burst into existence, carrying her still.
“Thanks, Jess,” Malek gasped, laughing weekly. “That barrier just didn’t want me to pop back through! Took all my effort, for I refused to let go of Josie, no matter how the much the damned shadows howled and begged for her soul."
Malek gave a satisfied nod even as Josie paled at his words. "By the gods, we did it!”
“Yes, we did!" Jess cried out in fierce triumph, holding her shieldbrother close. "Thank you, Malek. Together, we did it. We made it, with treasure to show for it. We are adventurers in truth, and finally free!" Her laughter was filled with a sense of exhilaration, and Malek's eyes twinkled with suppressed mirth before he too chuckled.
“It’s good to see you in high spirits, Jess. Damn, but that was an adventure.”
Josie gazed admiringly at them both. “Adventurers and heroes beyond compare. And never have I been so grateful to have such friends as you two.” She gave Malek a hug and a kiss on the cheek "Thank you for pulling me through, Malek. I know you could have let me go at any t
ime, but you didn't. No matter how those foul voices taunted, you refused to let me go."
Jess swallowed, suddenly struck by how close they had come to losing Josie during that perilous escape.
Malek held Josie close, smiling even as the shrieking wind tangled his curls, pausing only long enough for Jess to free him of his priceless bronze breastplate as chilly snow swirled about them.
Josie frowned, even as she shivered in Malek's arms. "That's solid bronze, Jess, and worth a fortune! It will get lost. And why in the blazes is it snowing? It was summer when we left!"
Jess curtly shook her head. "It matters not what season it was when we first entered dream, right now we are in the middle of a blizzard! You, Josie, are shivering half to death with only two tabards protecting you. Malek has to hold you close, and metal between you two does not serve you now. We can always replace the breastplate. We can't replace you."
Josie shivered, now feeling the wind bite through her, shaking even as she forced a nod. "You're right. Thank you. I know Raphael will make it up to you just, please, let's find shelter, okay?"
Jess gave a curt nod, sensing their peril, looking towards the woods she could sense flowing endlessly behind her, as much brilliant evergreens as spindly snow-covered trunks shorn of all leaves, knowing that if there was ever a time for her to embrace her gifts at finding shelter warm and dry, it was now.
"No need, my mistress," Twilight soothed. "If you but turn to your left and head just a few hundred yards, you will be out of the trees and just a field's distance from the school. And do not worry about frostbite claiming fingers or toes. If you didn't already note, you are far stronger than what you once were."
Jess swallowed and nodded, realizing that as much as the howling storm left her chilled and miserable, she did not shiver uncontrollably, and no part of her was going numb. Not yet.
"Step just behind me, Malek. Twilight knows the way to the school."
57
Malek nodded, chilled and awed by all he had scene and experienced, still feeling the odd connection he had with his shieldsister, so akin they had felt in body and mind in the depths of darkest dream. He grinned despite the bitter cold, finding Josie's body almost weightless, filled as he was with the heady rush of having escaped the horrors of living nightmare, while reveling in the sweet taste of victory and power he had savored that night, having faced unspeakable adversity and triumphed.
“So, Twilight,” he said almost offhandedly, his eyes focused upon Jess's brilliant hair, golden locks now interspersed with strands like crimson fire, somehow bright enough for him to see even through the howling storm as he strove to keep up. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that little conversation you had with the lich before Jess finished it off. Twilight?” He looked around, wondering if Twilight had turned invisible once more before registering the inky blackness that seemed to smother the very heavens above.
Eyes blazing with the fires of dying suns locked upon his own.
Malek stumbled, desperately holding onto Josie, struck by visions of madness and horror, the screams of countless lost souls. His mind blazed with endless images of fierce struggles, flashes of horrific blood-soaked battlefields, entire cities exploding in terrible maelstroms of light, heat, and flame. He collapsed before crimson skies billowing toxic fumes, a hideous howl echoing through the burning heavens, lightning crackling from horizon to horizon.
Death of Stars. Endless Night.
You and I have destroyed worlds, my brother.
Malek blinked and gasped, finding himself splayed upon the forest's edge, Jess gazing down at him with alarm, shaken to his core. For he recognized all too well the pitch and timbre of the voice that had roared through his skull, grateful only that he had already forgotten the words that had been said.
“Don’t do that again, okay Twilight? Whatever that was? If that was you and not a figment of my imagination? Damn. What a night,” he muttered, even as he heard voices up ahead.
"Malek, what are you talking about?" Jess's voice, harsh and urgent. "Thank the gods you didn't drop Josie. Are you all right? Come on, we've made it to the forest's edge. We've got to keep moving and get you both to shelter fast!"
“Hail travelers! Any lost souls out this night?” Cried a guardsman holding a lantern up high with one hand, other on sword hilt, both of them wearing thick cloaks and clearly shivering in this, the first winter storm Jess could remember seeing at Highrock for ages... for all that it could only have been a year since the last time the fields had been painted a glorious white.
Malek blinked those confusing thoughts away, focusing upon the pair of guards below, both doing a cursory patrol on the very outskirts of the line of trees, separated from the college proper by a vast tract of grasslands kept bare of woods both for defensive purposes and to serve as training grounds for the students.
Of course they wouldn’t be so foolish as to enter the woods proper, a bemused Malek noted. Though what good they thought they could do just skirting the edge, save serve as prey for enemy scouts, their bright torches raised up high, yet giving little visibility in this awful storm. Malek could only wonder if the torches had somehow been enchanted, not to have been immediately extinguished by the storm.
Malek gave a sad shake of his head, well able to imagine what Eloquin would have to say if he were in charge of patrols, having trained his elite students in how best to strike and kill their enemies in just such a situation. For that matter, Malek wondered, why were they not just safely in the college that was built into the side of a vast mountain and as well fortified as many a castle? It was then that Malek heard the exasperated voices of his friends and it all became clear.
“That is hardly necessary, sir,” insisted a much-missed Alex, he and Jera both standing by the guardsman’s side, both wrapped tight in cloaks, shivering in the winter gale. The sight of them filled Malek with immeasurable relief, as if to signify that they had truly made it. They were finally home. And, just as importantly, their friends that had been snared in the lich’s binding magics had indeed made it safely back. Malek noted the odd pulsing globe of light now hovering over Alex’s right hand, and Jera by his side was holding a crackling ball of energy that hissed with arcane potency.
“Alex, Jera! Over here!" Malek cried excitedly, waving at them from the tree line. "Don't fire your spell globes, it's us!"
The guards looked a bit spooked, before blinking, smiling ruefully, and sheathing their swords, even as Malek rushed over to grip his friends in a fierce bear hug. "By the gods above, it's good to see you guys! What an adventure. What a bloody adventure we had! Are you two all right? Did everyone else make it back okay?"
Jera, her firm, composed demeanor broken with a tearful grin, hugged Malek back fiercely. "Oh by the gods, it's good to see you again, Malek! We had feared you and Jess eternally lost in that tower. And you found Josie!"
Jera raced to a once more upright Josie's side, the pair of them both sobbing with relief, even as Alex gently enfolded Jera in his arms, kissing the top of her head.
“It's okay, Jera. We all survived. That's all that matters," Alex whispered soothingly into her hair.
Jera shuddered once more and nodded her head. “You are right, my love. That really is all that matters.”
Malek cracked a grin. “Finally saying it aloud, are we? It’s about time.”
Alex just smiled, holding Jera and Josie both as they all took comfort in one another, the warmth around Alex making it clear that his elementalist magics were keeping the worst of the bitter cold at bay.
Jera, Malek thought, had never looked more at ease than when she was in Alex's arms. "I realized something tonight," Alex said at last. "For all our work and desire to forge our own destinies, all my striving for knowledge and power, and yes, prestige; even my unspoken need to make a name for myself in the annals of scholarly history? Doesn't mean diddly in the face of death."
Malek laughed, giving his friend an affectionate clap of approval.
Alex gr
inned “Life, my friend, is too precious to waste not embracing it to the fullest. And the thought that our pursuit of knowledge almost cost us our lives, the realization that Jera almost…” He shuddered, hugging Jera fiercely. “I know what matters most, now. I will present myself to her family come this spring, and we will decide our destinies, together.”
“Oh, Alex!” Jera’s eyes were shining and their kiss was fierce, filled with their love and longing for each other.
One of the guards cleared his throat in bemused embarrassment.
Jera broke off her kiss, smiling into her lover’s eyes, before turning back to Malek. “But enough on that! Why's Jessie just standing there?"
Malek blinked, catching her sister's gaze, understanding in that moment the terrible burden she bore.
But one heartfelt glance, and he knew exactly what he had to do.
"Alex. Jess can't enter the college. She dare not. Not yet."
Heart hammering, he swallowed and said what he must. "We need to get Eloquin. He needs to stand with us."
Alex blinked. Eyes widening with disbelief. "Surely you can't mean to stand out here in this storm? It is madness! Expelled or not, the dean dare not force you to endure this weather, it will be the death of you!"
"You must come back to the keep," Jera gushed. "Why, from what I understand, you two are proven Delver's now. No matter past indiscretions, you are immune from censure and would be coming as guests as Highrock. More than that, saviors even."
Alex nodded. "Bards have actually entered our keep, Malek. The whole school is alive with celebration, the cook whipping up a grand feast! It's like they can sense things unfolding, the weave of the story we tell. They are here to record it. As if they knew you and Jess would make it!"
And much to Malek's surprise, Jess nodded her agreement. "You are right, Alex. The bards need to be told. It's time for this tale to come to an end."
"But Jess," Malek hissed, "what about what's in the sack?"
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