Tarrin Kael Firestaff Collection Book 3 - Honor and Blood by Fel ©

by James Galloway (aka Fel)

  "How do you think I feel?" Miranda asked. "I'll break my neck looking up at him now."

  Tarrin looked down to the unbearably cute mink, and for the first time, he could feel it about her. The same thing that attracted him to her, made him like her, that sense of peace and friendship she seemed to radiate towards him, he could sense it as something outside of her own self now. An aspect of the power given to her by her gods, what made her an Avatar. He could feel it in her clearly now, could feel it as a mortal-bound piece of the energy of a god. Miranda was truly a daughter of the gods, albeit a mortal one. Her supernatural aspect was very subtle, very gentle, meant only to grant her the intelligence and patience to be the companion to Keritanima that she was literally created to be. Miranda had literally been created to be Keritanima's friend. Since the goddess that created her was a goddess of the moons, it caused her to have an effect on Tarrin as well, since he was so keenly attuned to the forces of the heavens.

  What he did not expect was Jasana. Keritanima set her down when she started to squirm, and she marched right up to the mink Wikuni and tugged on her dress. She looked down at the Were-cat child warmly, hands on her knees and tail slashing back and forth. "And you must be Jasana," she said with that adorable cheeky grin.

  "Why do you have a glowing rope in you?" she asked immediately and directly.

  Miranda blinked, standing up straight and looking down at her strangely. "Excuse me?" she asked in confusion.

  "There's a glowing rope that comes out of nowhere and goes inside you," she said calmly. "I don't know where it comes from, but I can see it."

  "Whatever are you talking about, child?" Miranda asked, but Tarrin realized that Jasana had immediately sensed what took the Goddess revealing to him to understand. Since Miranda didn't know that she was an Avatar, she had no idea what Jasana meant.

  "That," Tarrin said quickly, scooping up his daughter, "is nothing that concerns you, cub," he told her sharply. "Leave it be. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, papa," she said obediently, though he had no idea if she meant to really leave it alone. If it interested her, Jasana would disobey him as quickly as water poured downhill.

  Miranda gave Tarrin a strange, searching look, but he waved her off. "Ignore Jasana, Miranda. She's still very new to her power, and doesn't entirely understand things yet."

  "Oh, alright, I guess," she said uncertainly.

  "I can feel it about her, Tarrin. She's like a bonfire," Keritanima said seriously.

  "She pulls at the Weave," Allia agreed. "Just like you do, my brother."

  "That's part of the story I'll tell you," he said, handing Jasana over to Jesmind. "Alright, let me change."

  And with that, he shifted into the human shape, making sure to will the backpack holding his prize to return. The gnawing ache immediately sprang up inside him, but Allia's training allowed him to more or less ignore it. Jasana looked at him, and then giggled.

  "You look funny, papa," she told him.

  "It feels as funny as it looks," he told her absently, taking the backpack off his back and then returning to his natural form. "Well everyone, this is it. This is what the Goddess sent me to recover."

  And with that, he pulled the ancient tome out of the backpack.

  It looked just as he remembered. It wasn't all that remarkable. It was a plain black book, about four spans long and three spans wide and about two spans thick, bound in that strange black leather. It had no writing on its cover, nothing that would make it recognizable as one of the most complete repositories of knowledge that existed in the world. Within those uncounted yellow pages, pages he still had not opened and perused, was the key to translating the written language of the Sha'Kar. Somewhere.

  "So that's it," Keritanima breathed. "I've been dreaming about looking inside it."

  "So, we will find what we need within?" Allia asked.

  "Not exactly," he replied. "Inside we'll find a key to translating the written language of the Sha'Kar. We'll find the location of the Firestaff somewhere in the books and scrolls we stole from the Cathedral of Karas."

  "You're serious!" Keritanima gasped. "You mean we had what we needed the whole time?"

  "Yes, but without this," he said, holding up the book, "we couldn't read it. Now we can."

  "Or at least we'll be able to soon," Miranda said absently, putting her hand on the book. "When do we start looking?"

  "Tomorrow," he replied. "The Goddess already told me to ignore the coming army. My job is to learn the Sha'Kar written language and find the information we need. But I'll definitely need help," he told them.

  "I've gotten everything more or less set up," Keritanima snorted. "They'll have to do without me from now on. I think the Keeper can handle things."

  "You can't do this without me," Miranda said fiercely.

  "We'll need Allia as much as we'll need you, Miranda. And Dar."

  "Dar? Why Dar?"

  "Dar's a very smart young man, Miranda. Smarter than you think. And he'll be able to remember the glyphs of the Sha'Kar writing more easily than we can. His memory is amazing when it comes to things he sees. Just look at the Illusions he creates. They're absolutely perfect."

  "You have a good point, brother," Keritanima agreed.

  "Have you taught him Sha'Kar?"

  "He's fluent," Keritanima assured him. "He still has the accent you corrected in us, but I'm working on that."

  "If you have to ignore the army, then what are we going to do?" Miranda asked insightfully. "Kerri figured your powers into her defensive strategy."

  "Jenna will take my place," he replied with a grunt. "I don't like it, but it came straight from her. I'm not to leave the Tower grounds once the army gets here and the fighting starts. She said they're going to be looking specifically for me, so I can't allow myself to get cornered."

  "I can't imagine what could corner you, Tarrin," Miranda laughed. "But if those are orders, then they're orders."

  "Can Jenna handle it?" Keritanima asked.

  "She's almost as strong as I am, sister," Tarrin replied. "She can also circle with the other katzh-dashi. That's something that I can't do. She'll be able to do it. Not that I like it, but like I said, orders are orders."

  "With me and Allia, we could build quite a large circle," Keritanima speculated. "Twenty-one humans and the two of us. If Jenna's leading it, she could pack a serious punch with the power she could generate."

  "That's probably true," Tarrin agreed. "But you'd better find out if that actually works, Kerri."

  "We already have," Allia chimed in. "We experimented with it when we arrived. As long as either I or Keritanima are in the circle, we can build a circle greater than seven." She looked at the Wikuni. "Kerri was right. So long as seven are led by a non-human, we can exceed the normal limits."

  "That was a dangerous thing to do," he accused.

  "Dangerous or not, it had to be done," Kerri said dismissively. "Since there are only two of us, it wasn't like we could use some patsy to find out."

  "Well, that was a nice thought," Tarrin said with a slight frown.

  "I guess it's the queen in me," she said with a toothy grin. "You're awfully quiet, Jesmind," she noted.

  "I don't have much to say about all this, mouse," she replied smoothly. "This is all things that don't really concern me."

  "That's Queen Mouse to you," Keritanima teased.

  "That title means about as much to me as the dirt between my pads, mouse," Jesmind told her flatly.

  "True, but it makes me feel better," she countered. "Alright, put that away, Tarrin," she said, tapping the book. "Then sit down. It's time for you tell us the whole story. All of it, everything you wouldn't tell me when you were projecting yourself."

  "Alright," Tarrin chuckled. "Have your Vendari close and guard the door, and I'll do just that. It may take a while, though. It's a long story."

  "Szath, defend the door, if you would," Keritanima called to the Vendari, who was still standing beside the open doorway.

&n
bsp; "As you command, your Majesty," he said in a rumbling bass voice, closing the door with a surprisingly light touch, and then moving to stand directly before it, using his back to keep anyone from opening it.

  "It's too bad the others aren't here," Tarrin sighed. "I'd rather only go over this once."

  "No, you'll have to do it twice. I'm sure there are things you'll want to leave out when you tell it to Phandebrass and Camara Tal. We can fill in Dolanna and Dar."

  "True," he admitted. "Well, let's sit down so I can get this overwith."

  They sat down, and then Tarrin began. He started just after he left Allia, since Allia would have told Keritanima about everything up to then, and he left nothing out. He went over things as best as he could remember them, from the flight from Dala Yar Arak and the Cat-induced depression he suffered, through the dusty plains of Saranam and the human-shaped ploy Sarraya thought up to get them past the ki'zadun. About the brief excitement at the trading post, and his rescue by Anayi. He went into great detail about the desert, about how it felt and smelled, about how it always made one uneasy, as any place of great danger could. He told them about the dreams, and how they had plagued him during that time. Jesmind held his paw while he reopened that old wound, and he found her touch and her presence comforting. He told them about his first encounter with Var, and the short fight they had had. He told them about the massive kajat that had attacked him, describing the huge beast with all the respect it was due. He told them all about Druidic magic, and how Sarraya had started training him in the ways of that magical order. But when he got to the part where he battled Spyder, Keritanima and Allia both finally interrupted him with questions.

  "The Spyder?" Keritanima gasped when Tarrin spoke her name.

  "That cannot be!" Allia gasped with Keritanima.

  "It was, believe me," he chuckled. "I didn't realize why she was there at first, and it shocked me when she attacked me. She thoroughly kicked my tail all over the desert," he grunted. "I've never been outclassed like that before. It was like a child trying to kill a Giant with a stick."

  "Why would she attack you?" Keritanima asked curiously.

  "Because she was told to," Tarrin said evenly. "She was there to make me lose control.

  "Why?" Allia asked pointedly.

  "Because it turns out that that's what had to happen for me to progress any further in my power. It was her that incited me into gaining the powers of a Weavespinner."

  "What do you mean?" Miranda asked.

  "It's how Sorcerers become Weavespinners," he answered. "You have to completely lose control, and right before you're Consumed, you have to find the Heart. If you can, you lose all your powers for a time, then after you readjust, you gain new ones. If you fail, you die."

  "That's quite a penalty," Miranda said with a humorless chuckle.

  "So that's why you wouldn't tell me!" Keritanima realized. "You were afraid I'd try it, and then lose my powers right when they're needed for the defense of Suld!"

  "Precisely," Tarrin told her. "Besides, it's very dangerous, Kerri. It's not something you should try until you gain total mastery over your powers. When you literally run out of things to learn, then you should try it. But not until then."

  "I'm no second-rate Sorcerer, Tarrin," she said with a slight flare.

  "I'm not saying you are," he said mildly. "But remember the price of failure, Kerri. That's why it's something you should not try until you feel absolutely certain you can succeed. Because your life literally depends on it."

  "I wouldn't call you a master of Sorcery," Keritanima accused.

  "By no means," Tarrin agreed. "But I'm different than you, sister. I'm what Spyder called a sui'kun. I was born a Weavespinner, and was always meant to be one. For the others, they're what Spyder called da'shar. You can become a Weavespinner, but it's alot more dangerous for you, and Spyder said that da'shar still can't use High Sorcery without circling."

  "Huh," Keritanima sounded, tapping her chin in thought. "What I wouldn't give to pin her down and interrogate her. She's probably forgotten more than we'll ever know."

  "We are drifting off the story here, sister," Allia reminded her. "Continue, deshida."

  "Alright." He continued, describing the aftermath of the battle, and his curious newfound immunity to heat. He went on to describe meeting Denai, and how she had managed to worm her way into their group, and then told them about how he strove to regain his magical powers even as he strove to conquer the Cat and accept Denai without fearing her. He continued on, telling them about how Var joined them, and how the two of them guided him through the Desert of Swirling Sand's dangers. He told them about how they got sweet on each other, and then he described in great and attentive detail his adventure climbing into the city above the clouds, and what happened up there, including his regaining his powers of Sorcery.

  "So that's how you met the Aeradalla," Keritanima chuckled.

  "I told you they lived in the desert, sister," Allia told her mildly.

  He then went on, telling them about how Ariana flew him well away from Var and Denai, about how he knew Jegojah was coming for another battle. He related the story of that fight in the abandoned dwarven city in some detail, including, with a few sniffles, how they had animated Faalken's dead body and used it to create a second Doomwalker, and how that had caused him to find High Sorcery once again. He told them about how he freed the souls of Faalken and Jegojah, and how Faalken's soul managed to escape into the Realm Beyond and find peace. That caused all four of them that knew the cherubic Knight to shed a few silent tears as they remembered their deceased companion, and how his loss had affected them all so greatly.

  "Hold on," Miranda said after a moment of silence. "You missed something, Tarrin."

  "What?"

  "How did you get to be so tall?"

  Tarrin chuckled under his breath. "I thought that Triana would have told you about that."

  "She doesn't tell us anything about anything," Keritanima said sourly.

  "Well, I got this way from Shiika," he explained. "When we had our fight, she tried to drain me of my energy. She managed to do that, but it couldn't kill me. It caused my body to age, and I think I've told you that Were-cats only grow taller as they get older. This," he said, holding out his paws, now with fetlocks on the outer wrists, "is because of Shiika."

  "Oh. Alright, that explains it, then," Miranda nodded.

  Tarrin continued, telling them about Jegojah's warning of the ki'zadun, and the meeting with Andos and Var's promise of bringing in his clan. Then he rushed a little telling them about how they moved quickly out of the desert. He didn't go into great detail about the Elemental, concentrating instead on his haste to get back to Suld as quickly as possible. There was little to tell about what happened until he reached Aldreth, but when he got to that part, he went into some detail, occasionally elaborated by Jesmind, about how he came to meet his daughter and rejoin his long-parted mate.

  "It was real touchy there at the beginning," Jesmind said with a smile at him. "He was very angry with me, but I knew I could wear him down. I know all his weak spots."

  "I'm sure," Tarrin drawled. "To say I was angry was an understatement. I was furious. But it all worked out," he said, patting Jasana on the shoulder gently.

  He went on to talk about the fighting at Watch Hill, and the brief spat between Jesmind and Rahnee, but he was deliberately curt about what happened in Torrian, only stating that he burned down the city to protect their armies from destruction. That was still a raw wound for him, and the others seemed to sense it, because they didn't press him or ask any questions. "After I recovered from that, I summoned an Elemental to bring us to Suld," he said in a tone that told them that he was done. "And here we are."

  "Here we are indeed," Miranda nodded.

  "That's quite a story, Tarrin," Azakar told him. "I feel cheated that we weren't there to share in your adventure."

  "It didn't feel like an adventure from my side, Zak," he sighed. "It was very hard on me
."

  "It wouldn't be an adventure without hardship," Azakar shrugged. "That will make the memory sweeter down the line."

  "I hope so," he said without much enthusiasm.

  "Well, the important part is that you're here," Keritanima said calmly. "That the family is back together again. And with some new additions," she added, nodding in the direction of Jesmind and Jasana. "I hope you're over your bout of peevishness, Jesmind, because you have to share him now."

  "You're not trying to steal him, so I have no reason to be peevish," she said simply. "What happened between me and Rahnee was a matter of protecting what's mine."

  "I love it when she talks about him like he's an object," Miranda said with a cheeky grin.

  "He is," Jesmind declared. "He's mine."

  "Down, Jesmind," Tarrin chuckled, patting her leg fondly.

  "I'll give him the time he needs to do what he has to do, but don't think I'm just going to give him to you," she told them all in no uncertain terms. "He knows what will happen if I think he's ignoring us."

  "Mama said she'd drag him home by the hair," Jasana giggled.

  "She would," Tarrin said with a straight face.

  Keritanima laughed. "I'm starting to think that Camara Tal is going to try to do the same thing," Miranda noted with a sly expression. "Those two are as bad as you two. They'll throw punches at each other, and then you'll see them huddled up in a corner somewhere kissing. If there's ever been a defining love-hate relationship, that one has to be it."

  "I never thought I'd hear someone say that a pair of humans are as bad as us," Jesmind said with a laugh.

  "I wouldn't doubt it," Tarrin speculated. "I know Camara Tal loves Koran Dar, and I know how adamant Koran Dar would be about staying here. If he went back to Amazar, he'd be little more than a slave. He won't leave here, no matter how hard Camara Tal tries to either lure him out or drag him out."

  "Well, since Tarrin and Jesmind aren't going to be any more fun, we'll just have to watch them," Keritanima said with an evil smile.

  "It's getting late, and Jasana here is about to fall asleep," Jesmind announced. "You've heard the story, and now it's time for all of you to go."