He was back in the tomb of Rothel. The companions saw him suddenly convulse, then collapse onto the stone next to the coffin. The ancient king vanished as the circle was broken by his body crossing over the salt. As they rushed over to him, they could see foam on his lips, and every muscle in his body was clenched as his body seized up. His eyes however radiated a faint white light as he stared sightlessly into the ceiling above them. Selene cradled the Spengur's head, and for a split second she thought she heard the sounds of battle in the distance. The young mage could not scream, but his throat released a keening, wordless whine of pain.
Only seconds had passed before his body relaxed, and he went limp. It looked as if he was in a deep sleep. The Draugnoa decided to carry him out, one at his head, one at his feet, and the third at his side to keep him stable. Joven then took the lead, rushing the group back out of the tomb. They moved as fast as possible down the stone corridor, no longer concerned about traps or monsters within. They exited onto the bridge over the darkness, and as they escaped back the way they came the walkway rumbled as the great door behind them rose back into place again.
Selene looked back, and thought she saw King Rothel watching them sightlessly before the door’s lip rose above her line of sight. She would be glad to be out of this horrible place. Too many bad things had been revealed here, and she didn’t know how she was supposed to react to the revelations.
Taking the stairs up as fast as they safely could, Joven noticed an increase in the trickle of water flowing down the steps. They were almost out of time. They reached the top of the steps, and they carried Endrance out at a run, making it to the last set of steps out of the tomb. Water trickled over the lip of the entrance, and Joven fearlessly leapt out of the tomb, landing knee deep in water. Looking up, he saw the orb of water was raining steady trickles of water from its surface. If it collapsed now, they would be crushed and drowned before they could save the young man.
The three girls bearing the wizard emerged right afterward. The barbarian whirled around the outside of the portal into the tomb and came to the capstone seal. One single square of stone was raised above the rest in the grid where Joven had to first open the tomb, he reached between the iron bars and slammed his fist down on the stone.
The capstone ground slowly over the hole. The barbarian turned back to the women, but they had already begun slogging to the nearest shore of the reservoir. Joven followed suit, pushing as best he could through thigh-deep water and mud that clung to his boots. The spell holding the water was failing quickly now, water was cascading from the sky, and the water level was quickly rising to Joven's waist.
The Draugnoa had managed to get Endrance up on the shore, and were kneeling down at the edge, reaching out to give him a hand up. The reservoir was just deep enough that the barbarian could drown in it, weighed down with his armor like he was. He threw himself at the side of the reservoir and pulled himself up the ledge, his muscles bulging with effort. Bridget grabbed his shoulders and heaved, pulling him the rest of the way out of the reservoir just before the spell failed completely, The last half of the sphere’s volume collapsed in one instant, creating a massive splash and spraying water over a hundred feet into the air, misting the air and raining thousands of gallons across the reservoir.
They watched the water levels equalize, until the water level was only a finger's length from the rim. The rain stopped, and as they looked about it seemed that no one had seen the event at all, save for the four conscious ones present. Selene kneeled next to their Spengur, patting his cheek with her hand.
She opened one of his eyes, and he stared up into the air unfocused, unseeing. His green eyes were brightly luminous, actually radiating green light. Checking his pulse, he was alive, but weak. He had survived a trial so far, and they needed to get him to the longhouse if they were to help him recover. She looked about for Gullin, but didn’t see him in the sky. “Gullin?” she asked.
Anna shook her head. Bridget looked around on the ground, and saw a small lump on the ground a few dozen yards off. She trotted over, and found Gullin crashed into the grass, his wings still splayed, and his feathers ruffled. He appeared to be alive; his legs and head twitched spasmodically. “Found him.” She declared.
“We need to go.” Joven said. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled sharply. Moments later Joven's huge horse appeared out of the dark. It came up to him and nickered. The Draugnoa with Joven's help propped Endrance up onto the saddle, and the barbarian hopped on behind him holding the mage so he could ride hard.
The horse dashed off into the night, carrying the barbarian and his charge to the road towards the higher bowls of Balator. The three women went to their horses, but would not likely catch up to Joven’s powerful steed. Their horses were not of the same sturdy breeding that the bodyguard had.
The sentries on watch that night had been instructed that the Spengur would be working late, and upon seeing him upon the horse with Joven, didn't even attempt to stop them as the two rode up the ramps that led to the next higher bowl. Even on horseback and unhindered, it took over an hour of riding to reach the seventh bowl, and the Spengur's longhouse. The entire time, Endrance did not stir, but hung limply, as if a dead man.
Joven carefully picked up the Spengur, and carried him to the doors of the longhouse. Outside, the guards who had been posted at Endrance's longhouse stood at ready upon seeing one of their superiors approach. Joven looked at the two, and scowled. “You!” he commanded, looking one of the two in the eye. The barbarian straightened up, clapping his hand over his breast. “Find a medicine man, tell them that their Spengur has been injured and they need to tend to him! Hurry!” Joven ordered, and the guard swiftly turned about and took off at a full run.
Joven pushed past the other guard, and entered the longhouse. He set the young mage upon the bed and made sure the fire was going by the time the medicine man arrived. The man tended to the wizard’s injuries, but could not do very much as the man had been struck down by magic and not a sword. He could only suggest letting the man rest and he should awaken in time.
It was not the best news Joven could give the wizard’s Draugnoa when they finally arrived at the longhouse.
Chapter 31
It was dark, but comfortable in the Spengur's bedroom. No candles were lit save one, held by a single woman who kept watch over her husband. The youngest, Selene had insisted on being there when he woke up. Her fellow Draugnoa understood her motivations; Endrance had many things he needed to explain to her. They had left her alone in the room when the unconscious mage’s familiar Gullin had awoken and started dazedly composing itself. The other two knew that Selene and Endrance had been growing close those last few weeks, and they were uncertain what it meant that he labeled her ‘Nephilim’.
Endrance was first aware that he was no longer in the cold, wet tomb of Rothel, but in a warm, comfortable bed. Prying open an eye, the dim light confirmed he was indeed home. He slowly sat himself up stopping suddenly and grabbing his head as he felt it throb anew, reminding him that he should never try powerful magical rituals without some kind of serious protective gear. He didn’t want it to become a habit or anything.
The light shifted, and moved around the bed to the side. Endrance squinted at the light, as even though it was the only candle in the dark, it seemed unusually bright to him. He could make out the form of a woman behind it, and risked venturing a guess. “Eh... Anna?” he asked, unable to see clearly. The woman set the candle on the stand next to the bed, and he could see past the glare of the flame and to the person behind. “Oh!” he exclaimed, “Selene! I'm sorry.” he apologized. “I could not see who you were.” His night vision was slowly returning, and he could then tell that the two of them were alone in the room.
She sat on the edge of the bed, turning her head away from him. “I am starting to think,” She whispered quietly, sadness carrying more clearly through the air than her voice, “That I cannot see who I am either. Or what I am.”
Oh
yes, Half Demon Nephilim. The young mage closed his eyes and recollected his thoughts. There was the tomb, the bridge, the door, and the ghostly king. He opened his eyes again, saddened. “Selene, I-” he began, but she interrupted him.
“What's going on with me?” she exclaimed in a harsh tone, just shy of shouting. “Now I'm some kind of demon? How can you say that?” Tears were running down her face, and Endrance didn't have the heart to tell her that he could see them clearly now in the dim light. “Why would you do that? They could stone me to death on your word alone!”
His head slumped, staring at his upturned palms as he sighed. “Selene, I did not call you a Nephilim to get you killed or out of some form of hate,” he began, “I did not say those things because I wanted to punish you.” he fought with himself about reaching out to try to comfort her, but decided against it. “You know I have an extensive education; I was taught a wealth of things other people could hardly imagine existed. I was taught by Kaelob about the Nephilim, and about how each side raises their children.”
Selene half turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye. “Go on.” she murmured, wiping at her face with her hands.
“Unlike the half angels, when a half demon is born one of two things happen. Either they are taken by their demonic parent into hell, where they would either die quickly or become one of the most dangerous of their soldiers. Or they end up with their human parent. Most of the times they either don't want to take care of the child because they had been raped, or they want to avoid the social stigma of having made one. They usually are thrown away to die or dropped off at orphanages under the cover of dark.” he shrugged. “My master taught me how to identify one by signs of their heritage.”
She sniffed. “How come?” she asked, unsure of his reasoning.
Her husband frowned. “For my safety, he said.” Endrance admitted. “I would have to use magic specifically designed to kill them. Otherwise it would be exceedingly difficult to handle one.”
Selene burst into tears again, crying into her hands. “Is-” she sobbed as she tried to talk, “is that -sniff- what you are going to do with me?” her whole body shuddered with sobs. “Kill me?”
Endrance shook his head vehemently, at this point reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Never!” he said, louder than he intended. “I would never even think about hurting you, Selene!”
“But!” she sobbed, “I'm half-demon! Everyone is supposed to hate me!”
He crawled to the edge of the bed and swung his legs out from under the sheets, sitting right next to her. He pulled her close to him and held her tightly, her head resting against the crook between shoulder and neck. “Selene, while your people may have decided that what a person is can be enough reason to kill them, I cannot abide by the same desire.” he looked her in the eyes as she gazed up at him, her face puffy from having spent much time crying even before her husband had awoken. “I love you, Selene. I would never, ever hurt you. Not ever.”
She stiffened upon hearing those words, and relaxed back into his arms. “Not ever?” she said, though she heard the sincerity in his voice the first time. It was relieving to hear him say it again.
“Never.” he replied.
They both laughed then, wiping away the tears that had fallen. Endrance ran his hand across her upper back as they sat there, feeling for something. He looked at her quizzically. “Have you been feeling any kind of itching or scratchiness along your back?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. It's been three days since the tomb. Am I supposed to?”
He nodded. “I wonder then, why did you start developing your demon half so late? You are already a year older than I, and from what I learned Nephilim develop the most of their abilities around puberty.”
She shrugged, straightening the front of her dress. “I don't know, maybe it was something to do with my childhood like you said?”
“Well that's possible,” the young mage said, thinking out loud. “Demons and more specifically half demons have a strong emotional bond with their abilities. If you had been raised to be a keeper since you were a child, then perhaps the lack of strong emotional stimulus could have done it.”
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Could that be because of you?” she asked.
He smiled. “The most likely reasoning would be that one of your parents was a tempter type of demon. It could be a succubus or incubus. Then it would make sense that we inadvertently triggered your development when we had made love for the first time.”
She nodded. “I had thought the spring had gotten a little too hot to be natural.”
Endrance smirked. “And here I was certain it was just that good.” he joked, getting elbowed in the ribs as a reward.
The door opened and Anna and Bridget entered, having heard enough laughter to know things had been settled. The two closed around the Spengur, climbing on the bed after they had lit some of the oil lamps in the room.
“Dear husband,” Anna said with concern. “Are you well?” He could see the pattern of partially healed bruising around her neck, just the right shape for a skeletal hand.
He nodded, “Just a headache, I guess.” he admitted, rubbing his temples. “I feel tired, but I have work I need to do. The information is in my head now, and I think we should be able to get prepared.” An image passed through his head, of the great hero, in his full glory riding atop the white dragon. He shook his head, trying to clear it away. “Let’s get to work.”
The suns rose the day of the eclipse like any other, the only real difference from any other day was how close together they began. Nearly touching from the start, their path across the sky brought them closer together. Bridget could see from her chair outside the longhouse that the suns would be coming together in the hour before they would set. She also traced the path of the moons, and they would be crossing in front of the suns during the same hour they meet.
She got up from her chair, and relayed her estimations through the window leading into the Spengur’s longhouse. After Anna left to relay the information to Endrance, she went back to her chair and sat back down. She heard someone walking on the rock rubble nearby. The boot steps passed, and she watched the patrol of guards passing the longhouse on their rounds. She waved at the youngest of the guards, who actually looked at her, and smirked when he hurriedly turned his eyes back to the patrol route.
She had been trying to figure out a way to get to spend more time with the Spengur. He had so little time to spend just with them, so the three were competing in one way or another to get some time with him. They had been making a competition out of it; who could steal away more time from the other without letting the mage catch on. While Selene’s motivations may have been different than hers, they all had agreed on it.
Though, lately Selene had been getting the bulk of his time many days out of the week. Bridget mentally shrugged as she thought it over. They weren't even doing anything worth gossiping with Anna about. Most of it was talking something about demons, some kind of religious stuff. She figured that whatever it was going on with Selene gave her an edge in this game; he was interested in what made her different, she guessed.
She had started to recognize that the man had some likeable traits, despite his tragically scrawny build. She was glad to see he was still training with Joven, and had filled out a little, but at this point he was still far less than she would hope. Perhaps she could try talking Joven into increasing the man’s training a little.
As the day marched towards noon the sky grew redder and redder as the celestial bodies began to overlap, until the sky over Balator became as vermilion. People scurried about, finding places to sit safely and watch. No one worked this day, instead taking this as a portent and took shelter within their homes. Those nearing childbirth were moved to the nearby temples, and several armored men kept watch over the proceeding.
Endrance stood within his longhouse in the main room near his chair. Every bit of furniture that could be removed had been, except
for the chair in the back where he usually sat. The men working for him had managed to cram six beds into the room. They were going to fit twelve, but Anna reminded them that there needed to be room for the midwives to work. Any overflow would have to go into the two guest rooms in the longhouse.
Endrance rubbed his eyes as he awaited the eclipse. He had set up preparations in case of an emergency, as well as making sure the room was well stocked. He had instructed his Draugnoa in the major signs to look for, and insisted they act as midwives for any birthing happening in the longhouse. Selene was now busily bringing in water and other supplies needed to take care of the birth. Endrance had been up until a few hours before sunrise preparing for every eventuality he could think of.
Joven stood watch next to him, his brows furrowed as he scanned the room around him. Joven hadn't said anything to Endrance, but he had felt that something wasn't right. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his head that was both familiar and yet alarming at the same time. His experience told him that something didn't add up around Endrance. He looked down on his charge’s head as the young wizard continued to observe the work being done, and knew it wasn't the wizard himself, but that whenever he was around him he felt uncomfortable. Like some kind of bad presence was following the young man around. He squinted at every nook and cranny he could find, probed every shadow that was cast, but could not find any proof to his gut feeling. Sighing, he took up watch over Endrance again, resolved that he could react to any threat towards the young man before they could do harm to him.
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