Reality's Plaything
Page 4
Poor Sarai, how will I explain this? His chest tightened at the thought of his beloved freezing in a metal cage somewhere in the Marin pass. He dwelled on it for only an instant and then glanced at the slow rise and fall of Wren’s chest. I have to go see Sarai again.
How? The power lay in him, but obviously wasn’t triggered by whim. The desire must be focused. What was I thinking last night? ‘Wish I could find out, tell her I’m alive…’
He sat on his bedroll, leaned back and studied the fog eddying through the branches overhead.
I want to be with you Little Star; comfort you. I know it can be done. I simply have to make this blasted power work. He closed his eyes. I wish to be able to travel again. I wish, I wish…
After a long period of trying, he sat up and let out a breath. Nothing. Why can’t I get it to work? Does it only happen when I’m not expecting it?
He prowled around the edge of the clearing, frustration churning in his stomach. Standing by a gnarled tree, he peeled off hunks of bark and considered what he might be doing wrong.
Something’s getting in my way. He rubbed his fingers together, rolling the sticky sap into a ball. Am I blocking myself?
He looked back to the two sleeping women silhouetted in flickering light. How did Wren learn to control her power? The Myrmigynes taught body focus, being attuned with the physical. Mages taught metaphysical awareness.
He went back and sat on his bedroll. Damn it. All I want is to comfort my beloved!
His body tingled and went numb. He barely caught himself before his head smacked against the ground, then relaxed. A cool wind blew through his mind. The vapor writhing through the clearing faded into translucency.
Floating. I did it! Elation rushed through him.
He hovered over himself, the flames licking up through his ephemeral body. His form lay with its arms crossed. He studied the placid face as if it were someone else’s. A wolf’s features; skin darkened from a life spent in the elements, wide-set eyes beneath feathery brows, a prominent nose and broad jaw. Sarai trusted that face. Nothing would keep him from protecting her.
He glanced at Wren and Irodee. Neither stirred. Even asleep, the image of the phoenix faintly outlined the savant. This is risky. The avatars might sense me. I wish I could conceal myself like Wren.
Green light flooded around his astral form. The lanky specter of the great mountain wolf sprang into being around him.
He sighed. No wonder Wren wants me to wait until I get tutoring from a master.
Bannor willed himself to Sarai. He rose through the mists and streaked over the rocky countryside. Clouds dappled the starlit night. A glowing sliver of Pernithius, the harvest moon, peeked between the summits of the western mountains. Icy wind nipped at his face, and sent chills down his outspread arms. Strange that I feel anything without a body.
He covered the distance to the pass in the time it took for three long breaths. A ring of six campfires glowed in the rocks at the base of the ascent.
Why haven’t they moved since yesterday?
Flashing to within a stone’s throw, he discovered the fires weren’t the caravan’s. A dozen hulking creatures walked in patrols around a cluster of boulders. Coming closer he made out two score more lying in scraggly burlap bedrolls. The rank odors of month-old ale, unwashed bodies and urine lingered close to the ground like a poisonous cloud. Bannor rose higher to avoid the noxious stink.
“Orcs,” he muttered, hovering over the largest fire. His presence whipped the flames into spirals of red and orange. They were after something—the caravan. A large tent sat in the shelter of the hillside guarded by two huge orc tuskers dressed in splint armor. The leader is probably up there.
A squealing interrupted his thoughts. One of the creatures had awakened. Its green-skinned porcine face twisted into a mask of fear. The yell touched off flurry of burlap and bodies as gleaming yellow eyes focused on his wolf-shape hovering amid the bonfire.
The tent flap rolled back and a huge man stepped out and bellowed a command for quiet. He towered over the guards and would have dwarfed even Irodee. In the dim firelight his skin looked blue.
Bannor saw the flicker of an astral presence and dived into the cover of the rocks higher on the mountain. The half-giant bellowed for order. A glowing astral outline illuminated the creature’s body, different from Bannor’s own and likely not visible to the orcs. Membranous wings jutted from its back. A reptilian head topped with horns and mounted on a corded neck rose from bunched shoulders. A twitching spike-studded tail extended from the base of his spine. Two other pairs of arms appeared to point and gesture as he spoke.
A demon! Heart racing, Bannor sped toward the caravan. What if it’s after Sarai?!
He found the chain of wagons at the pass summit. Three fire pits burned around each. A score of sentries moved warily around the perimeter. I must have really shaken them up. He smiled.
He found Sarai’s wagon and entered it, this time moving through the wooden roof and not the metallic cage bars. Sarai huddled in a corner nearest a fire, some straw and few pieces of old sacking pulled around her body for warmth. The rank smells of mildew and spoiled hay came back to him like the first time.
“Little Star, I’m here.”
She roused. “Bannor?”
He hugged Sarai’s quaking body. “Odin, you’re so cold.”
Her arms found his neck and pulled tight. “I could never feel cold with my One so near.” Her violet eyes glowed. “You look like a wolf!”
Bannor frowned. “Wren looked like a bird. I look like this.”
Sarai’s body glowed, filling with his astral energies. “All that’s important is that you’re here. Tell me you can get me out of this cage.” At his hesitation, her voice rose. “Please, Bannor, there must be a way with this new magic.”
The rising hysteria in her voice and thoughts of the demon only hours away sent thoughts careening through his mind.
“Maybe there is. Who has the keys?”
She sat up, crawled across the floor and pushed the edge of the tarp aside. After a few moments a hirsute man with blocky features and a stooped bearing passed.
“There is another. He is bald with a black spider tattooed on his forehead. He opens the cage to bring me food.”
Bannor kissed her. “I’m going to get those keys.”
She held him for a moment then let go. “I’ll be ready.”
Concentrating, he dimmed the image of the wolf until it no longer appeared visible. Rising through the roof, he settled next to the wagon. The hairy man continued to pace. He spoke to another who crouched close to a fire. “I say the witch is a banshee. We should let her go before she turns two more men to stone.”
The stooped man turned. The light illuminated his tattooed face. “We free her, and the master will hang us.” Bannor closed in. On the man’s belt, he saw a ring of keys. Dust eddied and the fire flared as he approached.
Damn.
The tattooed man stiffened and the sentry gasped.
“What was that?”
Bannor grabbed the key ring. Pain seared through his hand as he gripped the iron. The fabric of the man’s breeches tore. Bannor juggled the red hot metal. It dropped into a patch of snow with a hissing sound.
Tattoo-face yelped, and the guard blanched.
Bannor snatched a stick from a pile of firewood and speared the ring. Lifting the branch and the keys took tremendous effort, as if he were hefting a boulder. Shoving the ring through the bars to Sarai, he dodged the guard who grabbed for the stick. Bracing, he slammed a fist into the man’s face.
A flash illuminated the clearing like a lightning. The guard flipped and landed face down in the dirt. Bannor’s hand throbbed the way it did after a fight. I don’t have much affect on dead things, but with people it’s almost as if I were physically here.
Tattoo-face yelled, and men swarmed toward the fallen sentry.
Sarai rapidly tried keys in the cage lock.
Have to distract them.
These bastards deserve worse. Picking up rocks and branches he flung them into knots of men, causing flurries of activity.
Bannor pummeled a man hiding behind a wagon, took his vest and cloak, then hurried to Sarai. The elf jumped off the back of wagon and staggered. Catching herself, she ducked down to watch the confusion. Her garments looked like rags, and in the orange glow, he noticed bruises on her arms and face.
He sucked in a breath, keeping a rein on his anger. The accident with Wren flashed through his mind.
“I’m behind you,” he said, wrapping the cloak around her shoulders and putting the vest in the crook of her arm. “Head toward the shadow of the cliff.”
From the sounds, the caravan bosses were getting things under control. He put an arm around Sarai to help support her. Four days in a cage had taken a toll on his beloved.
Out of sight, she put on the vest, pulled the cloak tight and hugged him. Bannor kissed his mate and ran a hand through her silvery hair. He realized that the feelings of the astral form weren’t as perfect as he first imagined. The sensations came to him dully as if thick cloth lay between him and what he touched. Only his expectations made it feel as if he were really there experiencing the embrace of his beloved.
“What now, Bannor?”
“Let’s try one thing first. Hold on.”
He lifted her in his arms and willed himself down the mountain. He felt on fire. Gritting his teeth, he focused hard on moving the two of them. He felt veins bulging in his neck. Arcs of lightning flashed in his vision. With a final groan of effort, they left the ground.
Sarai gasped, clinging to his neck. “I hope you know what you’re doing, my One.”
He couldn’t spare concentration to speak. An inferno burned in his mind as he struggled off the cliff edge and south over the Marin depression. Sarai made squeaking noises and clutched him as they skimmed the tops of needlewoods and bristlebark. Even with supreme effort, he couldn’t rise higher.
Exhausted, his heart feeling ready to burst, he set Sarai down on the southern side of the pass, a league from where they’d started.
“Must rest.” He groaned.
Sarai frowned. “Are you all right? I can’t see you…”
“I don’t know. My astral form can affect people but…” He paused. “I don’t think I should be trying to lift something so heavy.” He waited until the sparks in his vision cleared. “It’s as if I pulled every muscle in my body.”
Sarai tittered. “My One, astral travel is mental, more like you’ve strained your brain. You’re used to swinging an axe, not casting a spell.”
“You know about magic?” He put his arms around her. “Help me.”
She embraced him. “I’m not a mage like my mother; I know the focus to light kindling, clean a hearth, read the stones.”
“I know nothing. Wren, the woman who freed me is Kel’Varan Nola. She says I am Garmtur’Shak Nola, and that we are both in danger.”
Sarai went quiet. A broad-wing cooed somewhere in the trees. “Are you certain she said the Garmtur?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes grew round. “I—”
“Tell me. Please.”
She swallowed and nodded. The look in her eyes made his stomach tighten. Bannor gripped her shoulders. “The Garmtur is a savant of reality.”
“You mean I can make anything happen by wanting it to?”
A rasping voice broke in behind them. “Anything except make me go away.”
Sarai gasped. Bannor turned and stared into the reptilian eyes of the six-armed demon.
* * *
Death is an interesting experience. I think no creature is truly complete until they’ve experienced discorporality. It’s happened to me three times.
Once on purpose, twice by peers who were nice enough to demonstrate certain weaknesses in my defenses that I was unaware of. I have since joyfully returned the favor. I’m not certain they appreciated the opportunity as much as I did.
—From the Dedriad, ‘musings of an immortal’.
Chapter Five
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Bannor stared into the flat, gold eyes of the demon and moved between it and Sarai. He tensed, feeling his distant heart hammering. A chill wind swirled through the trees filled with the stench of carrion.
The creature’s membranous wings spread like a cloak lined with pulsing red and blue veins. The green scales covering its body gleamed in the moonlight like a chitinous shell. Its six arms tensed, hands forming fists, spreading talons and clutching daggers.
“What think you to do, savant, scare me away?” It grinned. Serrated teeth glinted and saliva dribbled down the sides of its elongated jaw. “You are nothing but wind.” It strode forward.
Bannor saw Sarai pick up a tree limb as a weapon.
Can’t let it near her. He shot toward the demon and slammed a foot into a deep-socketed eye.
The monster roared and swung. He dodged. A swath of pain cut through his shoulder as talons as long as his fingers lashed past. He landed another kick on its draconian head and lunged away from the counter attack. Behind him, Sarai dashed into trees.
Snarling, the demon pounded after her.
“Run!” Bannor screamed. He flew at its back aiming an attack at the wings. The behemoth turned and struck with surprising speed. A gnarled basket-sized fist slammed into his midriff. The world exploded into a million pinpoints of light. He careened through some trees and thudded to the ground.
Bannor rolled onto his belly twitching and gasping for air. It felt like the creature had struck his real body! He forced down the pain.
The darkened forest appeared to break up in blurry fragments when he tried to focus. He heard Sarai’s scream and the demon crashing through the trees.
Bannor fought down the nausea and flashed through the woods, crossing streams and over rocks. He sensed the fluttering of his beloved’s heart and the fear tightening her insides. Sarai’s weaving course forced the demon to shred and claw its way through the undergrowth.
By the time Bannor reached her, she’d put a sizable margin between herself and the beast. She already showed signs of fatigue. The green juggernaut would soon run her down.
“I’m behind you,” he told her. “Keep going, I’ll figure a way to stop that thing.”
“Bannor!” She stopped. “Where do I go?”
“This way.” He towed her east toward a confusion of trees and boulders. “Run!” He let Sarai go when she moved without assistance.
The demon splashed through a stream fifty paces away. It roared and the trees in its path shattered. Have to find a way to affect it. A weapon is no use because I’m not really here.
Bannor hurtled after his mate. Once they reached the cover of the boulders he tried to carry her like he did earlier but found himself too weak.
Sarai leaned against the granite. “My-One, I can’t-keep going.”
He put his arms around her. She smelled of exertion and fear. “I won’t let it take you.”
“Hold me, Bannor, give me strength.”
“All of it, Little Star.” The creature smashed through some trees a stone’s throw away. The sound made her jerk. He felt her heart pounding and perspiration soaking through her shredded blouse. He hugged Sarai tight, wishing he were there to fold her in the real flesh of his body.
Strength. The word rang through him. If he couldn’t fight the creature, then Sarai had to. “Come on!” He pulled her from the rocks toward the next nearest cover. “I have an idea.”
The demon reached the rocks behind them and bellowed in frustration. Bannor was glad that the tight co
nfines kept the monster from flying.
“Odin help me if I do this wrong.”
Sarai fell as they reached the cover of a knot of dead trees that lay collapsed against an outcrop. Bannor pulled her to a sitting position and hugged her again. “Strength, all I can give.”
Her arms found his neck and she kissed him. “Bannor…”
Lost in his concentration, he didn’t hear her words. Tip the scales. I wish you…
The smell of dead flesh grew overpowering. Snarling, the creature exploded through the brittle wood, knocked Bannor aside and grabbed Sarai with two of its clawed hands. “Mine.”
The elf screamed and writhed in the beast’s grip.
“No!” Bannor yelled, extending his hands toward her. Sparks whirled around his arms in tiny tornadoes of agony. Sarai’s glowing violet eyes turned fiery red, and the elf let out a howl. She kicked out. The demon staggered. Kicking again she tore loose then shoved the demon so hard it flew backward and knocked a tree over.
Groaning, she held her temples. “Bannor! It hurts!” She glowed as if her bones had become embers in a fire. Waves of pain lashed through him. He blocked it out, focusing on Sarai. He had to contain it.
The demon snarled and lunged at Sarai. She caught the huge form in the air and sent it catapulting overhead. It slammed into the hillside with a ground shaking crash.
Sarai hugged herself as if holding her body together. “Bannor!” Her voice echoed through the valley. The elf convulsed and tendrils of blue fire sparked off her hands, shattering rocks and trees.
Embody the power. Another jolt of pain shocked through him. Violet light surrounded Sarai. The crimson in her eyes faded and the blue sparks subsided. She slumped to her knees as if her bones had lost all their stiffness.
The demon shuddered, apparently stunned.
Bannor swept to Sarai. “Are you injured?”
She shook her head. “Dizzy. I thought I would burst.”
Movement made him look up. The creature’s hands and legs stirred. The landscape jumped around in his vision. “We have to run.”