Teeand was comparing weapons with Hackort and exchanging battle stories. It had been many seasons since the two warriors had fought side by side in the failed rescue attempts on Bellesea and the hunting trips that followed, and there was much to catch up on between them. Failed attempts to rescue me, Gin thought. If only they hadn’t bothered, if they had just left me there, none of this would have come to pass. Elysiam was sitting across from them, meditating. Gin had done all that she could do to heal the wounds inflicted by Taeben, but at a point Elysiam had called for her to stop.
“How are you feeling, Elys?” she asked, reaching over and touching her friend on the knee to rouse her from her meditation. Elysiam raised her blonde head and smiled at Gin, but the smile didn’t extend to her hollow hazel eyes.
“I’ve been better,” the other druid mumbled. “Would have made me feel right as rain if Sath hadn’t taken that kill.”
“He should be back by now, shouldn’t he?” Gin asked. Jolted from his reverie with Hackort, Teeand looked up, his face creased with worry. “He and Tairn should be…” Her gaze met Teeand’s and she stopped talking. He looked away quickly, but then again met her now fiery gaze. “Tairn isn’t coming back, is she?” She glared at the dwarf who shook his head sadly. “Sath is going to kill her, isn’t he Teeand? Was this part of the plan?” Teeand looked down at the floor.
“Not officially part of Sath’s plan, Gin,” he said. “At least I don’t think it was, but he is holding on to some right awful pain. But Gin, you should be very proud of Tairn. She has owned up to what she did to lead to his sister’s death, and is ready to meet whatever fate brings. From what I remember, she has not always been the strong female that she is now.” He took a moment to clear his throat. “You know what she went through at the Keep because you experienced the same thing. It changed her, Gin.”
“Yes, I’ve heard all of that already,” Gin said, tears of frustration pricking the backs of her eyes. “But that’s just it, Tee! She’s made up for what she did, many times over. I just hope that Sath can see that.”
Teeand moved over to sit next to Gin and she leaned against his shoulder, like a child with its father. “He can’t. I’m sorry, Gin, but he can’t this time. Everyone has a breaking point and I’m afraid he’s well past his.” He covered her hand with his rugged one and gave her fingers a squeeze. “That’s why he didn’t want you there. He doesn’t want you to see what he’s become. He doesn’t want you to ever have to see the Bane of the Forest again.”
Meanwhile, back at the spires, Sath was closing in on the last scraps of his patience with Tairn. “Talk fast, elf.” Tairn took a deep breath but remained steady, arms still folded and feet planted, as she looked Sath in the eye.
“I have no excuses for what I’ve done,” she said. “I was changed by my time in the Keep. You have to believe that what I did for Taeben, I did because I didn’t think I had a choice.” Sath moved in close to her, growling. Tairn stood her ground. “Okay, maybe you don’t HAVE to believe anything, but I know that I was wrong. I did have a choice and I took the easy way out. Whatever you want for me to do in order to make this right, I will do, Rajah,” she said, finally opening her arms and kneeling, “even if that means I have to die.” Sath raised a clawed glove above her head, poised to strike. Tairn took one last look up at him and then bowed her head. Sath sighed loudly, conflicted emotions waging war in his soul and an image of Gin’s face as Teeand hauled her away in his mind. He leaned down next to her ear before he spoke.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you, Tairn?” he hissed.
“Because then she couldn’t cast that lovely butterfly spell again?” Taeben said from behind them. Blue flames shot from his fingertips and Tairn was alight. She howled in pain, turning on him and unleashing mind scrambling magic that knocked the wizard to his knees before she collapsed into a heap, writhing about and trying to put out the magical flames that clung to her skin. Sath turned on the wizard, his arm still raised.
“I’ve waited a long time for this,” Sath roared. The Qatu took advantage of Taeben’s attention still locked on Tairn, and advanced. His hands - made more lethal with the addition of the gloved weapon and its razor-sharp claws - fell with deadly accuracy and sliced through the skin and bone of Taeben’s wrists as though they were made of butter. The wizard screamed and fell to the ground, holding his bloody stumps close to his chest in an attempt to stop the blood that was pooling under him on the hard ground. “Now then, for your accomplice,” he said, turning to Tairn. She was curled up on her side, her arms wrapped around her knees. Her red hair was streaked with black, and the singed parts of her cobalt robes showed blistered patches of burned skin through the tears.
“Just make it quick, please Sath,” she whispered, and then swallowed hard. Taeben howled in the background as he tried to open a healing potion he had kept concealed in the sleeve of his robe. Sath moved closer to Tairn, squatted down next to her and grabbed a handful of her scarlet hair, pulling her head close to his face as she cried out in agony.
“You don’t deserve my mercy,” he hissed at her. She fell silent and shook her head, tears rolling down her sooty cheeks. “You don’t deserve a quick death. LOOK AT ME!” His teal eyes bored into her blue ones. “Kazhmere didn’t deserve what she got from you, Tairn. She was a good sister with a perfect soul. Do you know how she died?” Tairn closed her eyes and Sath shook her. “LOOK AT ME,” he thundered, and she obeyed, her face betraying the misery she felt. “Do you know how she died? She died on the floor of the throne room, her head cracked open and bleeding, all the time babbling about HER MISTRESS which I can only assume was you. Her blood still stains the floor; it won’t come clean.” His voice cracked a bit. “I can’t clean it up, it won’t go away.” Tairn choked down a sob and Sath shook her again. “Don’t you dare cry for her!” he shouted, dropping Tairn to the ground. She whimpered in pain. “You are the reason she died! Why shouldn’t I kill you?”
Just a few feet from Sath and Tairn, Taeben was growing weak, and he still hadn’t managed to get the cork out of the healing potion. He cried out as he managed to position the bottle between his two bloody stumps and then take the cork in his teeth. He quickly popped the cork, spit it out, and then grabbed the bottle in his teeth, turning it up and swallowing the contents as the fluid rushed into his mouth and onto his face and arms. He rolled over onto his side, laughing and catching Sath’s attention. The Qatu strode over to Taeben and kicked him soundly in the chest. As darkness creeped in around Taeben’s vision, he smiled. The potion was already starting to work…
Tairn sniffled and cried out again, and Sath returned to her side. He studied her for a moment as he removed the clawed weapon and ran a hand over the top of his head. The Rajah demanded blood. Gin’s shade in his mind demanded mercy. Sath sighed loudly in frustration as he retrieved a healing potion from his pack and carefully held the bottle to Tairn’s lips, urging her to drink it. She complied, and in a few minutes a bit of normal color returned to her cheeks under the layer of soot. “I’m not going to kill you yet,” he said finally. “But I’m not going to let you go free, either. Damn that druid for making me care… I need you to prove to me that I’m not making a mistake.” Tairn nodded carefully. “Can you stand?” he asked, and he stepped back. She tried to roll over onto all fours to stand, but the blast from Taeben’s spell had fractured bones in her legs and feet. Tairn crumpled with a throaty gurgle. Sath cursed under his breath and gingerly scooped her up off the ground.
With infinitely more care than he had shown her when she was disguised as a pair of gloves, Sath placed her over his shoulder and ran to the great spires, trying not to jostle her broken body too much as he did so. Once there, he carefully set her down in the grass and then knelt beside her, only pausing to look over his shoulder at the motionless body of the wizard. “I’ll take you to the Outpost to let Gin heal you first, and then I will decide what to do with you,” he said. Tairn nodded, her eyes rolling back in her head and lids closing. “TA
IRN!” Sath said, not wanting to shake her to keep her conscious. Her eyes fluttered open. “Can you turn yourself into something smaller so that I won’t hurt you while I carry you?”
“I would have thought that you would have enjoyed that, Sath,” she said softly, raising an eyebrow before her eyes began to close again.
“You’re either a brave one or just stupid, I’ll give you that,” Sath muttered. “Now wake up, you can’t be sleeping on me.” Her eyes popped open again and met his gaze. “Can you transform yourself into something small so that I can carry you?” She nodded and struggled to remove something from a pocket on the inside of her robe. “Here, let me,” Sath said, frustrated. Averting his eyes, he moved his hand carefully along her arm until he found the pocket and retrieved the single glove that she had mirrored before. Again, the image of a disappointed Gin filled his mind as he remember wadding up the glove and tossing it into his pack and he frowned.
“What’s wrong?” she said, her voice barely audible.
“Nothing. Glove it is,” Sath replied and handed it to her. In a moment, there were two gloves resting in the grass. Sath quickly picked them up and then gently folded them, placing them in his haversack. “No sense making more work for Gin,” he said under his breath before taking off down the path that lead to the Outpost at a dead run.
The journey would take a human or an elf more than an entire day to complete, but when Sath was free of companions, he could run as fast on two legs as his ancestors could on four. He also found that he didn’t need to stop and rest as often as he had been forced to do when traveling with the Fabled Ones. After about three hours of continuous movement, Sath slowed his pace and then stopped just outside of the tree line that divided the Outlands from the Great Forest. He had a few hours run southward left before he made it to the Outpost.
It occurred to him while running that Tairn might die in glove form and he would never know anything had happened, so he thought it best to check on her even though that would mean she would have to re-cast the illusion spell. He carefully removed the pair of gloves and put them down on the side of the road, unfolded and carefully smoothed out, as he searched his pack for another healing potion.
“I didn’t expect to see you this soon,” Tairn whispered from behind him as he rummaged. “Did you change your mind?” She coughed and then cried out, and Sath turned to face her. “Did you decide to kill me after all?”
“Not yet,” Sath replied flatly, his back to her concealing the smile on his face at finding out she was still alive. He had found a tiny vial of what he hoped was a healing potion in the very bottom of his haversack and, after holding it up to the setting sun to have a look at it, he held it out to her. “I hope that this will help but to be honest, it can’t really harm you at this point.”
Tairn laughed sadly and then coughed, and this time she had to wipe a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. “No, you are wise, Rajah, there is not much time left for me without more magical intervention.” She took the potion from him and struggled with the cork. Sath again sighed loudly and took it from her, uncorked the bottle, and then handed it back. At least this time she could drink it on her own. Tairn downed the contents in one swallow and they both waited. Soon the color of her skin on her neck and arms began to change, becoming a bit rosier and a bit less pallid. The scorched areas on her skin remained, but they were no longer open wounds. She put the bottle in her lap and then flexed her wrists, smiling as she clearly felt no pain at the movement.
“Can you stand now?” Sath asked cautiously. Tairn rolled to one hip and attempted to push herself up off the ground but failed. With a muffled cry, she rolled back and shook her head.
“The bones are still shattered,” she said as a tear escaped her eye. Sath turned his back and picked up his haversack. “I’m sorry…Rajah,” she said, and there was a flash of light. Sath turned back to find the empty vial resting on one of two identical gloves on the ground. He carefully picked them up and folded them before replacing them in his bag.
“So am I, Tairneanach,” he whispered. “So am I.” He was surprised to find that he meant it. After taking a deep breath, he resumed his pace, running down the path as fast as he could. Sath tried to clear his mind as he ran, focusing his mental energy on watching for rangers hiding in the trees that might recognize him. He had no idea if the citizens of Aynamaede still feared war with the Qatu, but he did not have time to find out.
It would not be long now before he reached the Outpost - another hour or so at the most - so he stopped searching for hidden danger and tried to focus on landmarks. He ran past the druid circle - his mind filled with images of the warrior’s tribute for Lairky - and veered a bit more west to make sure he didn’t run up on a lift to the tree top city. As he ran, Sath made a mental list of the things he had to do: Find Gin and Elysiam. Heal Tairn. Return to Qatu’anari and Khujann. After that point, every time he recited his list, he paused. What would become of Gin? Sath would take Tairn back to answer for her part in Kazhmere’s death, of course…or would he? He would have to avoid Gin; that was certain, because she would beg for Tairn’s life.
Sath wondered what Gin’s reaction to Taeben’s death would be. If what she said in the Keep about him being ‘in her mind’ was true, perhaps she knew the moment he died? He wondered if he should have brought the wizard’s body with him to prove to her that he was dead, just in case. He wondered if Gin still loved Taeben…or if she had ever loved him. Sath shook off that final train of thought as the familiar sight of the outer wall of the Outpost came into view. He had run for most of the night, and yet it was still a few hours before sunrise, give or take.
He ran through the gates but the group was nowhere to be seen. Of course, they weren’t out in the open - they had probably gone to the Great Hall. Sath changed course and in a matter of moments was holding the gloves in one muscled hand as he tripped the locks on the door with the other. “Wait, Tairn,” he whispered to the gloves, hoping she could hear him. He entered, moving on silent feet through the entry corridor and then turned a corner and saw them huddled together. Before they spotted him, Sath removed the gloves from his pack and whispered to Tairn to return to her regular form. Soon she was looking up at him from the marble floor and he scooped her up in his arms and resumed his trek toward the others, though admittedly slower and with more care.
Elysiam was in the middle, her spell book opened on the floor in front of her. Teeand and Hackort had a map unrolled in front of them and were plotting courses across the map. The gnome looked up and his face split wide into a grin. “Sath!” he shouted, sprinting across the room and hugging Sath’s knees. “Is the wizard dead? What about the…oh.” He looked up and saw Tairn clinging to Sath’s side. Sath carefully put her down on the ground and waved Elysiam over. He looked around for Gin but she was not with the group.
“Taeben is dead. Where is Gin?” he asked, his voice pinched. “Elys, can you help her?” Elysiam started to make a comment but thought better of it, and nodded. She knelt quickly by Tairn’s side and placed her hands on the high elf’ body, speaking healing words and focusing her will into Tairn’s singed skin.
“My sister…loved you…like part of our family…” Tairn whispered to the druid. Elysiam held still a moment, slowly turning her head around to look at Tairn. “Nel spoke of you often. She wished that Gin would be more like…you. More brave like you, Elysiam.”
“Shut up and let me heal you, ‘Red.” Elysiam made eye contact with Tairn and smiled down at her. “I loved your sister as family too, and there is not a day that passes or a battle that rages when I don’t think of her, and wish she was by my side. Thank you for telling me that.” She held her tiny hands over Tairn’s leg. “Oh, bad break there. We need to move her to the healing water first.” Tairn shook her head and Elysiam sighed loudly. “Fine, have it your way, but this will hurt,” she said. “Are you ready?” Tairn nodded and then grimaced as Elysiam went to work to knit her bones back together properly. As she floo
ded Tairn’s legs with magical healing, Elysiam looked back and Tairn’s face - eyes squeezed shut and jaw set - and smiled. So much like her sister, she thought. Nel would be proud of you, Red. So proud.
Sath watched Elysiam work with a morbid fascination for a moment and then remembered that no one had answered his question. “Hey, Tee, where is Gin?” It wasn’t like her to avoid her responsibilities, and Sath felt certain that Gin knew she had to answer for her own part in Kazhmere’s death even if he was no longer sure about what that part was.
“She…um…she…” Teeand got up and walked over to Sath. “She said she needed some time, Sath. She said you would know where she had gone, and mumbled something about sunrise?” Sath closed his eyes and balled up a fist, his knuckles cracking. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s gone to the tower at the eastern garrison wall, Tee. We used to…we watched the sunrise many a morning from there. Oh, Gin…It’s also where she…she told me that she built up her tolerance to pain by…by jumping off the top and casting a healing spell on herself on the way down.” Elysiam stopped what she was doing and stood up, spinning around to face him.
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