by Lexy Wolfe
Skyfire gritted his teeth, looking towards the rock, then back to Morria. "I have not been trained to do such things," he stated tersely. "I cannot."
"You cannot or you will not, Desanti?" Morria demanded sharply. "You have seen it done before. You know what needs to be done. Now do it."
"It is unfair to ask someone untrained to--" Ash began, standing up.
"Silence, Adept! If the Desanti will not perform, he does not belong here," Morria snapped. "And he can crawl back under the rock Almek found him under."
The others stood, speaking over each other in protest of the excessiveness of Morria's demands. Except for Storm, who closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Listen," she stated in Swordanzen. "I know you can hear them."
"Do you know what you are asking of me?" Skyfire growled back to her. Storm merely leveled a look at her th'yala. He sighed heavily in resignation. Holding up one hand to silence their companions, Skyfire tilted his head as if he were listening to someone they could not see. "Guide me," he whispered in Swordanzen as he held his other hand over the rock.
The others gaped as the rock slowly melted into sand, then softened until it was the softest powder. Lowering his hand, Skyfire held his head as he grimaced in pain, his knees buckling. Emil was the first to reach his side, giving the Desanti man his shoulder to lean on. Skyfire managed a faint, grateful smile through the pain, his eyes an unnaturally vivid true gold color that started fading back into his normal brown gold. "Thank you, my friend." Emaris caught Skyfire by the other arm when his knees buckled, the pair of gypsies helping him to one of the benches.
Morria drew back, her surprise naked on her features. "How could you--? Never mind," she said briskly, shaking off her shock to turn towards Storm. The smaller woman stood defiantly as the Dahla held her hand over her, unmoved. "You block my vision, Desanti."
"Perhaps not everyone is laid bare before you to pick into pieces, Dahla Unsvet," Storm responded tersely. "Now you can justify the lies about my people to yourself, and the lies you plan to tell Dulain Tyrsan."
Morria's pale features flushed with anger. "You accuse me of intending to lie to the Dulain?"
"I can see your heart, Dahla Unsvet. You justify your hatred because of some wrong you blame me and Skyfire for. I will not play such games. Judge me how you will." Storm crossed her arms defiantly. "All of us will know the truth. My tribe's opinion means more than anything you will say."
Morria scowled darkly. "Very well, Desanti." She turned to reach for something behind the table, bringing out a small cage with a rodent desperately trying to free itself. "Your test is to age this animal until it is dust."
Storm reached out to the panicked rodent. It calmed at her touch, pressing itself against the bars of its prison to be closer to her. "No," Storm stated flatly. "Desanti do not kill without cause. If that means I cannot be a Guardian, then so be it."
"A killer who won't kill? Do not make me laugh," Morria said coldly. "You think just because you can cloud my vision, I cannot see you for the murderous soul you are? That you can try to lie and pretend you are not? You may have Tyrsan fooled, but you cannot fool me. You speak of truth? He will know the truth."
Terrence jumped over two benches to get to Storm's side, catching her arm before she drew her sword. "Tlisan," he whispered intently in Swordanzen. "Do not let your anger feed into her bigotry."
"I cannot willfully slay this creature, Sumyr. You know that. I only kill the helpless when it would be merciful," Storm growled. "There is no purpose in taking this creature's life." She added, "And I cannot wield magic. It will kill me. I am not that strong."
Shaking his head sharply, Terrence murmured, "Yes, you are that strong. I know you are." He finally released her wrist when the tension left her arm. "Look within yourself, Storm. Desantiva lives within you and your bond to Thandar. You are the only one who can bring Desantiva here." She glanced at him, uncertainty in her eyes. "I believe in you, tlisan. We all do. Show us all what the true heart of Desantiva really is."
As Terrence stepped back and crossed his arms, Storm looked back at Morria who waited with a smug, superior look. The Desanti sighed and reached for the cage, opening it. "Come, little one. I need your help." The rodent quickly crawled into Storm's hand and she held it up, looking into its eyes. "Will you give yourself to Desantiva?" Black eyes blinked as the creature chittered, lowering itself in her palm with utter trust, chin on the inside of her wrist.
Morria's jaw dropped, the others staring in awe as the creature seemed to melt. Its round body stretched and elongated. Iridescent ruby red scales replaced receding fur. Nubs of flesh erupted from its back, unfolding into bat-like wings. When Storm finally looked up, the former rodent raised its head, chittering. "You are free, little friend. Thank you." The creature hissed as it took wing to land on the table and proceeded to attack its former prison, tiny metal bars snapping in its jaws.
Sickly pale, Storm looked at Morria, jaw tight. "For all your vision, you are as blind as most outlanders. True children of Desantiva will never kill needlessly. Tell the Dulain your lies." Without warning, Storm collapsed, Terrence barely catching her to ease her to the floor. Ash was at Storm's other side, touching her cheek worriedly.
The Dahla reached out a shaking hand towards the former rodent, crying out when it bit her finger viciously. It took wing to circle the room with a shrill, high-pitched scream of defiance akin to the much larger drizar's challenges. It dove to land on Storm's hair, clinging to the top of her head by her braids. Holding her wounded hand, Morria stared at the group. "Dulain Tyrsan will have my assessment within three days."
Mureln glared at the Dahla's back and stated, "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see." The woman paused for a heartbeat. Then, without another word, she left the room, the door closing with finality.
"Feckin' ow! Gods damn it all, what be that thing?" Emil asked as he drew his hand back, blood appearing where tiny, needle-like teeth had sunk in.
Skyfire squinted to look, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples in a vain attempt to suppress pain. He blinked with surprise. "It is a chitan. They live in rocky places of Desantiva and prey on stingtails and other insects." He groaned softly. "Kailee's tail, my head hurts."
Taylin gently pushed Terrence to one side as she knelt by Storm. When the chitan snapped at her, she flicked its nose lightly. It hissed again, but did not snap at her as she touched Storm's brow. "Stubborn pride will get her killed yet," Taylin grumbled. "She overtaxed herself again. But the chlayxin is nothing like when we left Forenta. The backlash is not causing injury."
Ash sighed and carefully gathered Storm into his arms. "Couldn't you have just done something easier on you?" he asked rhetorically. He eyed the tiny winged creature that glared balefully at him with iridescent red eyes. "Is everything born of Desantiva so ill tempered?" He glanced at Skyfire. "Present company excepted."
Skyfire laughed weakly. "Have you forgotten my temper from when we first met already?" He sighed, looking at the unconscious woman sadly. "Storm will always do what she needs to prove her point so no one can question her, even if it risks killing herself." He grimaced as Emaris moved to lend his shoulder to support the tall Desanti. "No wonder she has been so reluctant to touch time magic again. Dear gods, this hurts." He held up his hand when Taylin reached towards him. "No, I'll survive. I think. Not that I want to right now. Save your strength for your son. Storm and I... we cannot give much more right now and our connections to our Totani are... muddled."
"Come on, let's get these two back home." Mureln helped Taylin to her feet. "I confess, I am rather looking forward to seeing Dulain Tyrsan, Jaison and Bella's expressions when they see the chitan." Laughing bitterly, the bard added, "If nothing else, the Dahla cannot lie about the Desanti."
Moving to take Emaris's place supporting Skyfire, Terrence looked at the Desanti man. "Who were you talking to when you aged the stone?" he wondered.
Skyfire pressed his lips together before he answered. "Onl
y the living Desanti left Fortress, Sumyr. Otherwise, Fortress would have collapsed when the others left."
Terrence's eyes went wide. "It was a Desanti Guardian you spoke to?" he whispered in awe. "But I thought you weren't a spiritwalker?"
Skyfire grimaced, looking to the side in shame. "I left my tribe to become Swordanzen to escape being forced to train as Su'alin. It did not erase the inborn ability of the Su'alin." He growled under his breath. "If anything, my becoming Githalin has attracted the spirits' attentions even more than before. Especially those here who have not seen another living Desanti for so long. They refuse to be ignored. Even Storm could sense their presence."
"You are as much a bridge between worlds as I am," Terrence mused, drawing Skyfire's eyes to him. "My worlds are Forenta and Desantiva. Yours are the living and the dead."
The man frowned at Terrence, then closed his eyes, pressing the heel of his hand to his temple. "When you say it like that, I feel as if I failed my people when I chose the Path of the Sword instead of the Path of the Spirit."
"Not if your people's spirits are still here," Terrence pointed out. "Dzee told me Su'alin are very reclusive. Would your path have crossed with Storm's if you had walked the Path of the Spirit? Would you have left Desantiva at Storm's side if you were not Githalin Swordanzen?" Skyfire squinted at Terrence, saying nothing.
Chapter 5
Expecting the group to be shaken from their first meeting with a Dahla, Jaison and Bella gaped in shock, their smiles evaporating the moment they saw the Desanti's state. They rushed over to Storm first, skidding to an abrupt stop when the tiny creature clinging to Storm's hair flared its wings and hissed then held a sustained, tiny growl in its chest. Needle-like teeth sank into Bella's finger when she tried to touch it.
Jaison blinked at Bella, then held his hand out to the chitan. Still growling, it stretched its head out, sniffed, then finally climbed to the offered perch, flipping its wings back. Ash gave a mute look of gratitude before heading to his and Storm's room to lay her down. "A chitan? Where did he come from?" Jaison wondered, holding the tiny, jewel-like creature up. "I thought the drizzen were the only creatures of Desantiva to come with you."
"That little beastie did na exist until a lil while ago," Emil pointed out, pouring the strongest alcohol he could find to offer to Skyfire. "Stupid Dahla insisted on impossible tests t' make th' Swordanzen look bad." With a defiant, proud smirk, Emil crossed his arms. "But they showed 'er but good."
The Unsvets looked up sharply, glancing between each other and the other members of the group. "You went to see Morria, didn't you?" Jaison asked. "She's the best of the--"
Mureln held up a hand to silence Emil before the gypsy went off on an expletive-laden tirade. "She may be the most skilled, but she is not the least bigoted. She wasn't going to assess them at all at first. The Illaini both shamed her into including them."
Taylin rubbed her swollen abdomen worriedly as she sat, taking a cup of water that Emaris offered to her, covering his hand with hers briefly in thanks. "She didn't think they deserved an assessment. I always knew there was anger towards the Desanti here, but I did not think I would ever see it manifest like that. Not in one of the Dahlas especially."
Catching Taylin's words as he entered, Tyrsan scowled as he looked over the group, noting the absence of Ash and Storm and the debilitated state of Skyfire. "What happened with the Desanti?" he demanded, but not unkindly.
Terrence stated flatly, "Morria demanded Skyfire turn a rock to dust, which by a miracle he did manage." Before Tyrsan asked for more details, he added, "But when she could not scry Storm, it was a rodent, not a rock, she wanted Storm to age to dust. I think to prove that Desanti are cold-hearted killers." He put a hand on Jaison's shoulder, indicating the small, winged reptile. "Such rodents had become chitan during an event after the Great War called the Changewinds."
The three Guardians stared at the reptilian creature in utter silence. The chitan, aware of the observation, fanned its wings and squealed, an action strongly reminiscent of the currently somnolent drizar's constant challenges. It then proceeded to preen between its toes, cooing when Jaison tentatively scratched his back. "I... don't know what to think," he said numbly.
Bella, holding a rag to her bleeding finger, asked sourly, "What I want to know is why isn't it trying to take your fingertip off?" She unwrapped her finger to examine the wound, then covered it again and glared balefully at the creature. "It's just sitting there, happy as a lark on your hand, but it tried to take a piece out of everyone else."
"Probably because he is na'Zhekali tribe," Skyfire replied, still pale but no longer near blinded by the backlash from the temporal energy manipulations. "The people of the na'Zhekali had always had an affinity for the land and the creatures in it. And that one is now a creature of Desantiva."
"But how could Storm have known what that creature had become in Desantiva?" Tyrsan wondered, coming closer to examine the creature but wisely keeping his fingers back. "Those events occurred long before the oldest of the living Guardians were even conceived."
Skyfire looked at the chitan sadly. "The Great War twisted everything that lived in our land. The Totani Thandar told Storm through her bond to him what the creature its kind had become after the destruction."
"But why is it staying here?" Jaison reached up to scratch it with one finger. The chitan raised its tiny lizard-like head to bump that fingertip with a sound like hiccups. "It is a wild beast! I would think it would flee."
Skyfire shrugged, accepting the refill from Emil and taking a long drink. "All things born of Desantiva gravitate towards Desantiva. While Storm is here, so is the Heart of Desantiva." He managed a smile for Jaison. "And through the na'Zhekali tribe. It had always been so."
"I am surprised she didn't just kill it as the Dahla demanded," Tyrsan murmured. "It was merely a rodent."
The Swordanzen man's mild if pained expression melted to one of annoyance. Draining the glass, Skyfire got to his feet, words terse. "None of you understand the price Swordanzen pay for their prowess. What all born with Desanti blood must suffer. But I have no patience to try to educate ignorant outlanders right now." He leaned down to kiss Lyra's cheek before turning his back on them all and crossed the room to approach Ash and Storm's bedroom door. The door opened just as he reached for the handle, Ash emerging. Skyfire nodded to the mage in greeting. "How is she?"
"She needs rest. So do you." Ash moved to one side. "Go. Sleep with your th'yala. Lyra and I will ensure you are both safe." Wordless gratitude filled Skyfire's eyes as the Desanti man put a hand on the Forentan's shoulder for a moment before disappearing into the room.
Tyrsan regarded Ash as the mage took the glass of wine Lyra brought him, waiting until Ash settled wearily into the chair. "I gather that Adept Storm will survive?" he asked neutrally.
Ash nodded, savoring the wine before speaking. "She will neither die nor suffer the catastrophic blunting of her senses as she had after we opened the portal from Ithesra to Fortress." The man's expression soured. "I suppose I should be grateful that she had the benefit of having her capacity for wielding time energy expanded considerably from that incident. She is exhausted, however."
"That is to be expected," Tyrsan stated dryly. "Both of the Swordanzen will need to practice wielding Guardian magicks so they are not so debilitated in the future. I will prepare a list of exercises that should not offend their sense of duty to the living things around here." He pressed his lips together. "I do not need the Dahla to tell me the necessity of that. It bothers me that Morria would have been disloyal to the edicts of neutrality."
"Dulain, that reason was a significant factor in my decision to keep my heritage concealed," Jaison said. "Just knowing I was born and found there had been cause of bias against me. What was not stated outright about the feelings towards the Desanti was obvious in people's behaviors. There are many who could be convinced to see them the way you do, but Desanti supporters are far less numerous or certain than their detractor
s."
"Why does everyone hate the Desanti so much?" Lyra asked sadly. "They are not the terrible monsters everyone seems to expect them to be."
Tyrsan studied the slight woman, arching an eyebrow in surprise at both her innocence and the unexpectedness of a Forentan's concern over Desanti welfare. "Some people do not need any more reason to hate than the fact someone is different from themselves. There are many factions of Sevmanen, and thrice as many reasons they will find to fight amongst themselves. It was not so long ago there had not been at least one war raging within Sevmana's borders."
Emil grunted as he reached for the bottle, claiming what remained instead of filling a glass. "Aye. He's got the right of that. Gypsies know it all too well. S'why we share information 'bout our travels wi' other gypsy clans, t' protect ourselves." Emil scrutinized the tall Sevmanan-born Unsvet. "Ye look like ye had been one of them war soldiers back in th' day."
Tyrsan coughed. "I had learned better since I came to Fortress." Shrugging one shoulder, he added, "Many will lay the blame of things from the past on the descendants' shoulders. Even the Desanti would admit to doing that."
"But the Desanti hadn't done anything to Fortress!" Lyra exclaimed, cheeks flushed, not quite able to meet the Dulain's eyes. "The war was between Forenta and Desantiva. Fortress was never involved in it!"
"In the war? No." Tyrsan looked over the adepts that watched him. "As a neutral party, Fortress has never been involved in any war, but the after affects of the Great War were most definitely felt. While the world still shook with the reverberations of the Second Sundering, all things Desanti vanished from Fortress. Every person, Guardian or mundane left. Nearly every mention of the Desanti around that time vanished, even outside of their domain within Fortress. The exodus shook Fortress's stability quite literally. Stories say the mountain trembled for weeks. Several tunnels had collapsed and many died. Trying to clear the rubble has proven impossible."