The Timeless One

by Lexy Wolfe

  Mureln and Ash looked on helplessly. Their hearts nearly stopped when Skyfire tripped Storm, the woman falling on her back. Just as the warrior reversed his blade to stab downwards, the woman rolled out of the way and smoothly onto her feet, driving her shoulder into his ribs as his blades buried themselves in the ground to knock him down. His escape was no less narrow as he avoided her killing blow.

  There were no taunts, no insults. No words at all were traded as the two Githalin Swordanzen battled on. Dodging and ducking lethal blows, the effort to maintain the intensity of the battle was beginning to show, but neither would back down, each driving the other to inhuman efforts to survive.

  "How long can they keep this up?" Mureln asked helplessly, looking at the mage’s profile. "The fight itself will kill them if they don’t kill each other."

  Ash shook his head slightly, awed despite himself. "I had no idea," he whispered. "How could I have been such a blind, arrogant fool?"

  Mureln squinted at Ash. "What? What are you talking about?"

  "Look at them, Mureln," Ash said, voice hushed as the strikes came slower but with no less effort to succeed. "Their minds, their hearts, their bodies... they are so perfectly aligned. This battle has nothing to do with anger or hatred or anything. It is purely..."

  Tyrsan briefly looked away from the battle as the warriors paused, regarding the Illaini Magus with a look of sympathy. "You never considered the Swordanzen arts comparable to the magus arts. Even with Storm being your lifemate, you saw them as less than you."

  "I should not have. If I had been objective, kept my mind open... I just... I couldn't bring myself to accept... anything not born of Forentan magic could rival its strength." Mureln put his hand on Ash's shoulder at the shame in Ash's voice as Storm and Skyfire resumed, moving slower but with just as much focus.

  "Skyfire said you were the only man to witness the Final Dance," Mureln commented during another pause in the sword fight. "And live to speak of it. How could you not have seen then?"

  "Because I refused to see. I nearly died, pulling Storm back from the brink of death, and thought myself stronger because I kept her alive. But I dismissed her near death to her wanting to die out of the shame and grief she held for what she considered her failures. I would not accept that the focus and design of the dance was truly meant to kill her." All three men reflexively flinched, restraining themselves from interfering when the pair rebounded from one another, stumbled and fell to the ground.

  He closed his eyes tightly as both Swordanzen staggered to their feet, panting heavily, holding the swords as if they had grown infinitely heavier. "I finally understand the balance within the Path of the Sword. No Swordanzen would dare use the Final Dance unless sacrificing their own lives would preserve the balance they protect. To fight until all their enemy had fallen, no matter the wounds they would sustain before that moment, until the battle fury consumed them completely."

  Mureln's eyes went wide. "This isn't... the Final Dance?"

  Ash shook his head. "No. They bleed. Storm did not until she stopped." He managed a sad, proud smile. "But it is two equally matched Githalin Swordanzen facing one another. That is dangerous enough."

  Tyrsan said in a low voice, "A contest between equals is the only true test of mastery of one's skills. Any other contest only compares their opponent to themselves but does not prove themselves."

  The two warriors crashed into each other, blades crossed between them, and remained paused that way, each propping the other up as they panted. They touched foreheads, their breaths rasping painfully. "Aelia," Skyfire whispered. "I do not know if I can go on."

  Storm’s answer was long in coming. "You can, Radisen. You have to."

  "I do not want to kill you!" he hissed, opening his eyes to look into hers.

  "Who says I will not kill you?" the woman replied wearily, looking up into his eyes.

  Skyfire blinked, and then smiled sadly. "Kailee’s tail, I wish you could have been mine. Our young would have been the most fearsome warriors."

  Storm laughed weakly. The two shoved away from each other, bracing themselves as they prepared another attack. As one, they raised their weapons, putting everything they had left into their final strikes that the other blocked again. Falling to their knees in exhaustion, they both collapsed onto the thick grass.

  The three men ran to the fallen Swordanzen, desperately checking for signs of life. Mureln sagged in relief next to Skyfire. "He lives still."

  Ash put his hand against Storm’s throat, anxiously trying to locate her pulse. Feather light, he finally found it. "Thank gods," he whispered fervently. He held her tightly, unable to let her go.

  Tyrsan shook Ash's shoulder until he finally was able to get his attention. "It seems they had the foresight to bring their cloaks, despite it being summer."

  Ash reached for Storm's cloak, remembering when he first gave it to her. "It was not planning. They always have their cloaks with them when they go train. Compared to Desantiva, if the day doesn't threaten to bake you, they think it's cold." With the Dulain Unsvet's help, he got the cloak wrapped around the unconscious woman.

  After helping Mureln get Skyfire's cloak around him, Tyrsan crouched near the fallen warriors, his expression grim. "Given their injuries and exhaustion, they could go into shock still. We will need to watch over them until they regain consciousness. Moving them too far right now could be risky."

  Mureln smiled wanly. "There is no way we could easily carry Skyfire back. For someone who eats so little, he's as solid as a rock."

  "Take a chance that anyone else sees them in this weakened state?" Ash asked wryly. "I'd rather risk her father's wrath first." Tyrsan arched an eyebrow, but refrained from asking. He helped Mureln get Skyfire moved to the hollow of Issonia's roots.

  Ash carried Storm to the hollow, settling her as comfortably as he could with tender urgency. The mage put a hand on the tree and murmured something in Forentan. Branches rustled in response and bent towards the ground. Roots snaked up to meet branches to produce a small protected area.

  "That didn’t sound like a spell," Mureln observed.

  "It wasn’t. They would never forgive me if I forced Issonia to do anything." Ash looked up at the ancient tree, putting a grateful hand on the trunk. "I asked Issonia if she would give us shelter until they awoke."

  Mureln laughed quietly as he stood to help Tyrsan gather rocks and dead branches and leaves to make a small fire. "Asking instead of demanding? Our Desanti have certainly had a profound effect on you, Illaini Magus Ash Avarian."

  "Only one has." Ash looked down at Storm, tenderly brushing his fingers along her cheek. "Only one."

  Chapter 8

  Storm whimpered quietly as she awakened to every fiber of her being screaming in agony. Even the soft glow of the evening sky forced her pain-hazed green-gold eyes shut again. She turned her face away when she sensed Ash rouse. Putting soothing fingers along her chin to urge her to look at him, he searched her face, his touch warm and soothing in the wake of the battle. Too weak to deny him, she could not refuse when he whispered, "Aelia, look at me."

  Ash's relief was plain the moment he saw the awareness in her eyes. "Welcome back to the land of the living," he said wryly.

  "I hurt," she whispered simply. Her eyes closed as he gently caressed her hair.

  "I can imagine. Tyrsan, Mureln and I have been watching over you and Skyfire." She blinked at him quizzically. "We saw the battle. At least, I saw part of it. Tyrsan says he watched from first to last blow. You both fought well."

  "We fought... to a draw?" She sighed heavily when he nodded. "Oh, thank gods."

  He smiled faintly. "Did you really think either of you could have defeated the other? You both mastered the Guardian sight well enough to anticipate each other’s moves." His smile faded when she looked away. He cupped her cheek, turning her back to look at him. "Why, beloved? Why take this risk?"

  Storm closed her eyes again. "I had no choice. To compete, to prove ourselves, is in o
ur blood. I delayed it for as long as I could, praying I could somehow avoid it altogether. I did not want to lose you. My tribe. But I could not. It was starting to make me ill," she whispered, coughing slightly. "I am glad my th'yala lives. I could not... Lyra would have hated me. She cares for him so much."

  "I am glad you live, my lifemate. I could not live without you." Ash took one of her hands, clasping it in his and pressing his lips to the back in a gentle kiss. "Nor could I have lived with myself without having the chance to beg for your forgiveness."

  Green-gold eyes opened again. "My forgiveness?" she echoed in puzzlement. "You did nothing wrong."

  "No, beloved. I have wronged you since we first came to our understanding..." Closing his eyes briefy, he confessed, "I lied to you. I deceived myself into doing the same thing that my people had done to yours for untold generations." Ash sighed heavily. "I failed to give the Swordanzen arts the respect they deserve. I failed to give either you or Skyfire the respect you deserved."

  Storm squeezed his hand weakly. "You are not at fault."

  "No, I am at fault. You tried to teach me. As a mage, especially an Illaini, we are supposed to view the world objectively, to accept new knowledge so others may learn what we have." His azure eyes closed as he looked away in shame. "But I refused to hear you. I would not accept the truth of your words. I was a hypocrite and would tell my people that Forentan and Desanti arts complemented each other. But in my heart, I did not truly believe my own words. I had always considered my arts and my people superior to yours. I even convinced you magic was stronger. But I was wrong. So very wrong." With heartfelt sincerity, he asked, "Please, forgive me, Aelia."

  "I never blamed you." Trembling, Storm pulled their clasped hands down to hold them over her heart. "The path I walk is not an easy one. Even among Desanti, few can fully give themselves to the Path of the Sword." She closed her eyes, turning her face against their clasped hands. "To give up the comfort of family, of tribe, of belonging. To ceaselessly train. To feel every living thing's birth and death. To be willing to die protecting them all. Alone."

  Ash squeezed her hand comfortingly. "You were not given much choice, Aelia. Your path was chosen for you when Sumalen killed the na'Zhekali."

  "Were you given any choice to become what you are? You have not told me the story, but I know your family was stolen from you, too. I have seen the pain of their loss in the depths of your eyes." Storm's voice was hushed with both sympathy and exhaustion. He shook his head, pressing his lips together. "So you understand the sacrifices I made. You made the same ones."

  "Storm," he began and stopped at her agonized expression when she could not suppress the pain any longer. "Oh, Aelia." He shifted to pull her against him, cradling her as he draped his robe around her as well. Gently, he kissed her forehead. "My beautiful Swordanzen."

  "Don’t," she said, vainly trying to push away from him, but too weak to do so. "Don’t call me that."

  Ash frowned slightly, bewildered as she struggled to push him away. "Don't what? Call you what? Beautiful? I am not going to start lying to you now and call you ugly," he informed her matter-of-factly, trying to elicit a smile from her with his tone, though his words were honest.

  "Don’t say I am yours," Storm begged, tears in her eyes. "Swordanzen must forever be alone, because the Path must come before everything and everyone." Hugging his hand to her cheek, she whispered harshly, "It will come before you as this had come before you. Before us. Before everyone I love. And you will hate me one day because it will kill me, and I could not bear knowing it was what I am that hurt you."

  "We are already lifemates," he pointed out reasonably, keeping his arm around her tightly despite her vain attempts to push him away. "I am yours as much as you are mine." Caressing her cheek, he murmured, "I love you."

  "No! Please." She struggled to push away from him, succeeding briefly but too weak to push herself up. Tears streaked her cheeks as Ash gathered her back into his arms. "I cannot allow myself to love. I should not have given in to the fantasy of love... I was selfish. I didn't want to lose you. I did not want to lose my tribe. I wanted to believe I could choose a new pattern... It hurts so much to be alone, but--"

  "Aelia, listen to me," Ash said intently, trying to stop her from upsetting herself so much while still so weak. "Aelia! For the love of all the gods, would you listen to me?" He squeezed her hand as she stopped, trembling more from emotion than the exertion her momentary outburst required. "You said once I loved you in spite of what you are, not because of what you are. And you were right, because I did not understand. I didn't want to understand. All I could think about was how I could lose you. I never considered what you wanted or what you needed, only what I believed you should want or need."

  He kissed her knuckles as she closed her eyes, looking away slightly. "In Desantiva, when you performed the Final Dance, I could have understood then. I should have understood." He smiled wanly. "I would still have fought to keep you alive. Fought to keep you with me, because I had only just found you. But I was too proud. Too arrogant to see the truth that the children of the heart and the children of the mind could be equals. I saw you as my possession, not as a companion at first. Even though that started to change over time, there was some small part of me that... put myself above you."

  Intently, as she looked back up into his eyes, he vowed, "Though I will always fear losing you someday, I promise that I will never ask you to be anything other than what you are. Just as you have never asked me to be anything other than the man that you see me as. And still you accepted me, flaws and all. I love you for that. I love you for standing up to me, right or wrong. I love you for your brutal honesty. You are the only one who understands me, who doesn’t judge me as everyone else has judged me all my life." He smiled ruefully. "The only one who dares not only to believe she can protect an Illaini Magus, but who has repeatedly done so with terrifying success. You are my Swordanzen. Do you understand me? Mine."

  Ash's voice was hushed as he caressed her cheek. "I love you, my beautiful Desanti."

  Storm stared into Ash’s eyes as he spoke, then closed them when he went quiet again, trembling. Holding her closer, he brushed her hair back soothingly. "Rest, Aelia. If you cannot love me in return... I understand. But it does not change the fact I love you."

  After several moments, Storm broke her silence. "I am... afraid," she confessed. "I am too weak to protect myself--"

  Covering her lips to quiet her, the mage tightened his arm around her; her admission of weakness was a deeper declaration of love and trust than any other words or actions. "Rest. I will protect you." Murmuring softly, she finally relaxed as the quiet, carefully crafted words of magic brought her the healing sleep she so desperately needed. "I will always protect you, Aelia." He rested his cheek on her hair, and looked over to meet Mureln’s eyes unashamedly.

  Having heard everything, the bard said nothing as he sat up, adding more wood to the small fire. He glanced outside to where Tyrsan stood watch several paces away, and smiled.

  Chapter 9

  The common room was brightly lit with the fire in the central fire pit and several lamps, flickering with the breezes that gusted in from the night-enshrouded outdoors. With Taylin withdrawn to her bedroom to try to keep Izkynder calm, the rest were left at a loss about what they could do.

  "We should be out there, lookin' fer them!" Emil stated belligerently, his hands on his hips as he stood nose to nose with Bella, the Vodani Unsvet mirroring his hostile posture. "They all been gone since b'fore the sunrise! They may be needin' a healer t'mend 'em."

  "We cannot go anywhere until the Dulain says otherwise!" Bella shouted back. "He ordered Jaison and me to wait here, and that is what we're going to do."

  "An' if he be somewhere out there, bleedin' t'death?" Emil demanded. He caught Lyra's reaction from the corner of his eye when she muffled a sob and covered her face. "Don't cry, Lyra, girl. I ain't sayin' anyone be dead. I be sure they be alive. We just need ta find them t'make
sure no one bleeds to death, ye know?" Lyra looked stricken and ran to Emaris who put his thick arms around her in awkward comfort.

  "Oh, you are such a comfort," Bella said sarcastically. "Want to try to make someone else cry now?"

  Emil scowled and balled one fist. "If ye weren't a woman, I'd sock ye in the teeth."

  "Don't let that stop you, gypsy," Bella snapped, mirroring his posture.

  Both stopped when Jaison moved between them. "Knock it off! The mountain has been quiet, so we know the Dulain must be fine. Trust me, there is never any doubt when the mistress is upset or grieving. And if the Dulain is alive, the others have to be because he will not allow any Adept he is responsible for to die."

  "You are giving me far too much credit, Jaison," Tyrsan said as he entered the room. "But I appreciate the vote of confidence." The others started speaking at once, falling silent when Storm and Skyfire hobbled in, leaning heavily on Ash and Mureln to stay on their feet.

  "Skyfire!" Lyra ran past Terrence and Ophilia, the younger Illaini unable to catch her. She flung her arms around Skyfire in a fiercely tight embrace. Skyfire bit back an inarticulate sound of pain, leaning more heavily on Mureln as he staggered back a step.

  Giving Skyfire a sympathetic look, Mureln put a hand on Lyra's shoulder. "Easy. He needs a few days to heal up from the shli'zarii before you go and manhandle him too much. They both do."

  Perplexed, Lyra looked at the bard, then up at a sheepish Skyfire. "But... everyone said Dusvet Almek said they would die if they... I thought you stopped them from..."

  "The shli'zarii had been well started by the time we reached them," Mureln explained, keeping his voice calm and even. "The Dulain reached them just in time to see the first engagement. You know how they are when they are focused. It was too late to try stopping them."