Fallen Star

by Steven Drake

  Darien walked forward gracefully and grimly. Mirisa tensed as an inexplicable sense of dread washed over her. Something awful was about to happen, something that terrified her beyond reason. She had to stop them. She had to do something, but still she was unable to move or speak. The dread turned to an urgent, desperate panic. She felt powerless, and it drove her nearly to madness as she struggled to do something, anything.

  Just as she felt her mind would break, this scene too faded into darkness. She felt again the strange sensation of falling, but in reverse. A moment later her senses returned, and she found herself once again looking into the eyes of the white winged faerie. Nothing had changed, and it suddenly felt as if no time had passed. What happened to me? Was any of that real? What was I seeing? What did that faerie do to me?

  When the winged woman turned back to Darien, Miri felt a wave of relief as the immense force relented. She trembled weakly, still shocked from the sudden visions. She no longer paid much attention to the conversation, instead fixed on the white winged faerie. The conversation continued for a few more minutes, until the faerie turned once again towards her. Mirisa felt an overwhelming urge to get out of sight, ducked behind the boulder, and then shut her eyes tightly.

  A few minutes passed, then she heard footsteps pass by her, and move on down the hill. She opened her eyes to see Darien walking rather unsteadily down the path, though she remained far too frightened to move. She could hear her heart beat against her chest, the soft hissing of her strained breath in the cool darkness, the soft lapping of miniscule waves of water against the gravel at the edge of the spring. Darien disappeared down the hill, moving quickly but awkwardly, as if weighed down by some invisible burden.

  She waited for a long time in the silence as the visions echoed in her consciousness. Why? What did it all mean? Who were the people she had seen, the yellow-winged faerie, her elven lover, the terrifying man in black with the sword that so resembled Darien’s? What was the red stone she had seen, and why was it important? Who was the terrifying monster in her vision who seemed so impossibly powerful, and who were the people who stood against it? The only person she recognized from the visions had been Darien, the strange man she had found in the snow high on the slopes of the Leaning Mountain. All of them must be related, but how? One question stood out above the others, the only one she had any hope of answering, who was Darien? Where did he come from? Where had he gotten that odd sword? Most importantly, what made him important? What had been just a feeling, a vague hunch, had now solidified into a conviction. He was important, and she would eventually find out why.

  Slowly, by ponderous increments, the visions faded to vague recollections, like half remembered dreams, and as they faded, her composure returned, and she eventually gathered the strength of mind to move from the shelter of the rock. How much time had passed in the darkness, she could not guess, but finally, she stood and shivered to rid herself of the lingering disorientation. She turned toward the softly rippling spring, thinking again of the frightening power of the faerie, but the pool was now dark and empty. Not a single trace of that power now remained. She took a deep breath and then started down the hill.

  She set a steady pace, eager to return to Exire, but mindful of the darkness. As she walked, she began to ponder the questions again. She had learned nothing useful about Darien, save that he was apparently acquainted with an immensely powerful faerie, who had filled her head with visions that made no apparent sense. Indeed, instead of answering questions, this trip had only raised new ones, and besides that, it had been frightening. Mirisa almost regretted following the stranger, but even so, her determination to find answers remained.

  When she had made it about two thirds of the distance back to town, she saw a dark shape in the path. She approached cautiously, uncertain what it might be. It did not appear to be alive, and the darkness seemed to gather around it, a deeper blackness that repelled the moonlight. As she drew closer, the darkness seemed to shift and swirl, as if moving. Then she knew exactly what it was. Darien had collapsed on the path.

  She hurried up to him. The darkness seemed to part for her, as though reluctant to touch her. With some considerable difficulty, Miri rolled Darien over and felt his forehead, icy cold, but wet with perspiration, the same unnatural state that always accompanied a resurgence of the wound. She lifted Darien’s shirt to check the mark. It had grown quite large again. He shouldn’t have exerted himself so much. Why must he be so stubborn?

  Darien shook his head back and forth, struggling with some imaginary monster of his nightmares, while Miri tried to hold him still. She had seen it many times before as she watched him sleep. He whispered a name, “Rana”, then shook violently. It had happened many times before. Whoever Rana was, she must be very important to him.

  Miri placed her hand over the wound and poured her magic into it. She felt the peculiar sense of being opposed by some invisible force that always accompanied her healing. She pushed back against it, and the force broke against her will, unwilling, but not strong enough to oppose her. It had grown easier to fight the thing, whatever it was, over time. Whether that could be attributed to her gaining experience or a weakening in the wound, she did not know, but it yielded far easier now. The dark mark on Darien’s side slowly receded again, but not entirely. As it did, Darien’s aura grew stronger, and the light within the darkness rekindled. The wound seemed to affect the invisible energy in this stranger even as it weakened his body. Miri wondered to herself if she could ever fully heal it. After she had finished, she sat down against a tree next to the path to wait.

  After a few minutes, Darien stirred, and then sat up. He rubbed his head, and looked around. At first, he seemed not to even realize where he was. In fact, the half-elf was so bewildered, he failed to notice her presence, and started to stand.

  “Feeling better?” Mirisa asked. Darien reacted immediately, leapt to his feet, and turned toward her voice.

  “What, where, why are you here?” The confused look on his face gave away the fact that he had not noticed she had followed him until that moment.

  “I followed you, obviously.” She smiled warmly.

  She half expected him to explode in anger. After all, spying was generally not welcome, especially in Exire. However, there was no outburst, as Darien’s face shifted into a blank, inscrutable non-expression. “I collapsed. You had to heal me again, yes?”

  “Yes. You know you shouldn’t be out yet, at least not alone.”

  “My apologies. I had business to attend to. Tell me how long were you following me?” Miri couldn’t help but flinch. She knew what he meant. Would he be angry that she had spied on his conversation? “So, you saw the faerie then?” He had picked up on her anxiety immediately.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have spied on you. I was just, curious I guess. I couldn’t understand anything you said though. Were you speaking in another language?”

  He paused and rubbed his chin. “No, the faerie queen must not have wanted you to hear. Pay it no mind.”

  “She’s the queen of faeries?”

  “Yes, her name is Lucca.”

  “What was wrong, it looked like you were angry with her?”

  “That’s none of your concern.”

  “Why not? I saved your life, again.”

  “You should listen to your brother. Didn’t he tell you I was dangerous?”

  “You’re not dangerous.” Why is he so determined that everyone be afraid of him, Miri thought to herself?

  “You don’t know anything. I’m more dangerous than you can imagine.” Miri felt the aura around Darien shift. The darkness seemed to grow deeper and cloud around him. She felt his energy focus on her. It might have been frightening, perhaps it should have been, but there was no force behind it, no intent. The darkness was restrained, held back by something far greater, like a dog pulling futilely at the end of a strong chain, barking to appear threatening, when all it really felt was fear. She peered through the shadows that hung around Da
rien to look into his eyes. He looked terribly stern, fierce, aggressive, and even violent, but his face was just as hollow as his energy. He is trying so hard to frighten me, but it’s all for show, Miri thought with an inward giggle. He probably doesn’t realize how funny this looks.

  Miri tried to hold it in, but she couldn’t. She laughed, first a half-stifled giggle followed by a few seconds of uninterrupted laughter. When she refocused her vision, the darkness had faded, and Darien was staring, open mouthed, by all appearances completely and utterly flummoxed at the situation.

  “I’m sorry,” Miri tried to apologize. It was rude to laugh at another person, after all. “It’s just, you were trying so hard to scare me, but you don’t have any intention of hurting me at all. I just found it kind of… silly I guess.” Darien still hadn’t moved, or even closed his mouth. Mirisa started to get embarrassed. “Look, I said I was sorry. You’re probably used to being able to scare everyone else but that won’t work on me. I see things no one else can. I can tell when people are lying. I can tell when people have bad intentions, and when they don’t, so you may as well stop trying to scare me, alright?” Still, no reply but silence. Miri shrugged. Perhaps he was too stunned to say anything. What could this stranger be thinking? Was he insulted? Was he angry? “You know when someone apologizes, it’s polite to accept their apology, or at least say something anyway.”

  “I’m… sorry, I was just…” The words seemed difficult. His voice was quieter, less poised, but seemed more real. He shook his head and continued. “I accept your apology. Your reaction was… unexpected.”

  “I could tell.” She smiled warmly again, and he actually smiled back, a nervous and tenuous look. He was off balance, and on some instinct, Mirisa decided to press for information. “So who’s Rana?”

  For just the flash of an instant, less than an eye blink, there was something new on his face, a profound pain, a hurt that cut him deeply, then he recovered, once again returning to his default blank expression. “How do you know that name? You said you couldn’t hear my conversation.”

  So, he was talking with the faerie about Rana. It sounded like a woman’s name. Who was she, a sister, a friend, perhaps a lover? “You talk in your sleep. You repeat a lot of the same names. I’ve been caring for you for weeks you know. I couldn’t help hearing.”

  Darien raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, letting out a sigh. “Aah, I see. I should have realized. My apologies if I frightened you. I have nightmares.”

  “I wasn’t frightened.” Mirisa cocked her head and smiled. Darien seemed again momentarily bewildered. “So, who is Rana?”

  “No one you need to know about.”

  “I’m just going to keep asking until you tell me, and until that wound heals, you’re stuck with me.”

  Darien growled in frustration, but Mirisa only smiled. He was only annoyed, and still had no intention of actually doing anything really threatening. Finally, after he had finished expressing his irritation, he spoke. “Rana was a friend, a better and truer friend than I deserve, to be honest.”

  “Was?”

  “She was killed by that creature you found with me. Her death made my victory possible. I did not expect to survive, but fate it seems is not finished with me yet.” He tried to hide it, but there was something else in his voice, a weariness, a despair.

  A new realization hit Mirisa quite suddenly. Darien had not just expected to die, he wanted to die. He really had been perfectly content to die on the slopes of the Leaning Mountain. As she realized that, she felt a profound sense of confusion and pity. The concept baffled her. It seemed unspeakably wrong. What happened to him? What could leave someone so wretched, so miserable, so broken? The question worried her, but left her all the more curious, all the more compelled to illuminate the shadows surrounding the mysterious stranger.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have pried.”

  Darien narrowed his eyes, and the sternness returned to his face. “No, you shouldn’t have,” he said darkly. “You should stay out of my business. It was foolish to follow me. No good will come of your curiosity. I may not seem dangerous to you, but my enemies are, and even some of my allies. The faerie you saw, for example, claims to be an ally, but has manipulated me and others to serve her own ends.”

  Mirisa paused a moment. The visions had come from the faerie queen. Was she trying to manipulate me? Should I just forget what I saw? Should I tell Darien? Would he understand? No, I’ve pushed him too far as it is tonight. I’ll try again later. “We should be getting back before someone notices.”

  “Yes, I don’t want to upset your several guardians.”

  Miri bristled at the statement. She was a grown woman, and didn’t need her brother, Garok, or anyone else to protect her. She was no longer a princess, and never really wanted to be one in the first place.

  After a few moments, she stretched her arms, then stood and started back towards the city. After she had taken a few steps, Darien rose and followed. They spoke no more on the short journey back to town, and arrived with just a couple of hours before dawn. The night had been a long one. Miri stayed up just long enough to make sure her patient returned to bed, then returned to her own bed.

  She still couldn’t quite make sense of what she had seen. She had followed hoping to answer some of her questions about the stranger, but returned with even more questions. She had learned one thing at least. The stranger could manipulate the energy around him. He had tried to intimidate her with that power, unaware that she could see through it. He seemed surprised, so perhaps her powers were somehow different from other magic. She had to know more, and she knew Darien would have answers. She was now more certain of that than ever.

  Unfortunately, judging by his reaction it seemed unlikely her patient would volunteer any information. He seemed determined to keep her and everyone else out of his business. Nevertheless, she was not about to give up. He might be stubborn, but so was she. He might be determined to keep his secrets, but she was determined to find out the answers. She had to find out the answers. She fell asleep with that certainty in her mind.

  Chapter 6: Settling In

  Darien lay awake for the remainder of the evening, restless, troubled, confused, and thoroughly uncomfortable. Mirisa’s girlish, giggling laughter rang sharply in his ears. She had seen through the shadow haze, the same spell that Darien had used to intimidate countless enemies, the same spell that had easily frightened Darien’s apprentice when the younger half-elf wasn’t even the target. This woman saw through it as if it were nothing, but how? How can she be so sure I’m not a threat? She has no idea what I can do, what I have done. If she knew who I was, what I was, she would have let me die on that mountain.

  Darien the Executioner used fear as a weapon, just as all Shades did, and it was among his most effective. He had become used to manipulating the fears of others to his benefit. It gave him an advantage, and without that advantage, he felt exposed and vulnerable as never before. No enemy had ever left him so disarmed. Even his friends, Jerris, Rana, Tobin, had regarded him with a certain level of appropriate trepidation, spoken cautiously lest they push him too far, stepped carefully to avoid his wrath. This woman seemed able to read his mind, or at least his intentions, so she could push the boundaries as far as she wished, a disturbing possibility.

  Unable to sleep, Darien spent the remaining hours of the night regaining his composure. He breathed slowly, in and out, focused his mind as Kirin had taught him long ago. He pushed away his guilt over Rana’s death, his anger at the faeries, and all the other emotions that clouded his judgement, each cycle of inhalation and exhalation burying them further, pushing them deeper into the background, where they could not corrupt his consciousness.

  He lost track of time as he meditated in the darkness, until the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall caught his attention. Shortly after the footsteps ended, Darien heard a heavy thump followed by the creaking sound of wood bending under a great weight. The ogre was obviou
sly outside, manning his post as usual. Mirisa entered a moment later.

  “It’s time for me to check your wound,” she said smoothly, without mentioning the events of the night. She was obviously keeping her expedition a secret from her guardians.

  “Very well.” Darien nodded and lifted his shirt. The mark had grown since last night, not the worst he had seen it, but still, it had regenerated by a disturbing amount since his collapse earlier in the morning.

  “Alright hold still.” Miri began the healing process, and leaned in close. She was just inches away, close enough that he could feel her deep breaths as she channeled the magic into him, and that closeness disturbed him. He remained uncomfortable allowing anyone so close to him, but he could not deny that he needed her healing power, so he endured by shutting his eyes. She surprised him by whispering softly into his ear. “I didn’t tell anyone about what happened last night, and I would rather you didn’t either. I’m sorry again for spying. I’ll stop bothering you.” Darien breathed an audible sigh of relief, but Mirisa giggled, and it sent chills up his spine. “As long as you promise not to wander off alone again until you’re fully healed. I don’t know what Kellan, or my brother for that matter, would say if I told them you were summoning faeries. I’m sure they would have plenty of questions.” Her voice carried a playful, almost teasing tone. He guessed she didn’t really intend to blackmail him into silence, but she could have. The inconvenient fact of the matter was that he was completely dependent on this woman for the time being. His only other option was to use the Demon Sword, and between two unpalatable choices, the irritatingly curious woman remained the lesser evil. He let out a soft growl of frustration, just enough to remind the woman that he did not like this situation in the least.