A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 07

Vadren was pleased and decided to give the boy a little test. "Very good. Quickly now - as fast as you can, The Power of the One."

Sariel muttered quickly.

"The Virgin's Devotion."

"The Ice Dagger."

The others stopped to stare at the boy and how fast he was able to say the words.

"The Blessing of Sanctuary."

"The Power of the Bane."

"The Stones of the Hanged One."

"The Curse of Doom."

"Death's Armor."

"The Way of Entanglement."

"Spot of the Hated Sun."

"The Parted Flanks of the Maiden."

Azrael spit out his mouthful of tea and began to cough. "The what?" Cha'Khah demanded.

Sariel stopped and looked at Vadren, "You didn't teach me that one."

"No, I, uh, ... I guess I didn't. Never mind then," Vadren chuckled.

"I think that I am seeing a glimpse of some of the reason for your prowess with innkeeper's wives," his cousin chortled as she watched.

"Now," Vadren smiled, "as quickly as you can, and separating your hands widely in between them, show me the motions for each of those spells in that order, but do NOT say the words."

A minute later, and the boy stood smiling as he received the praise of his tutor. "Well done, Sariel. And now, I think that you have earned the right to use one of the invocations in a practical way."

He nodded off in the distance. "Do you see what comes? This skunk has been coming here most nights looking for something to eat, but we leave nothing out to get. Construct a badger now as I have taught you. The timing is important, Sariel. This badger must be in place before the skunk reaches the glade or we will all be unhappy if the skunk sprays his aroma around."

"Is my badger to kill the skunk?" the boy asked.

"A fair question," Vadren smiled, "No, see to it that the badger only harasses the skunk so that he leaves, and then dispel the construct of the badger. Do you think that you can do this?"

Sariel nodded and his brows knit together in concentration. The upset skunk was last seen a few minutes afterward as it hustled off out of sight.

"Dispel the badger," Vadren reminded, "or none of us will like you very much if it comes here smelling the way that it does now."

Sariel nodded and the badger vanished.

"But when can I-"

Vadren held up a single finger. "Careful," he smiled, "Alright. Since you have learned all of your lessons so well, you may begin with a wand that you and I will make for you tomorrow. After that, and if my staff decides that you are worthy – as I think that you are, you will get a new wand, one which does not need so much thought as the one that we will make. I will think about you having a staff at the end of the summer as we travel."

Sariel nodded, obviously pleased to have an answer at last.

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It was raining, though it was a gentle and warm summer rain.

Rachel moved her wet hair out of her eyes as she looked up. "Rain again," she said a little disgustedly.

"I do not mind it," Cha'Khah smiled, "It wets my hair, it is true, but the sun does not hound me today. I can abide this light easily. It is my favorite light, outside of the darkness."

"I'm sorry, Cha'Khah," Rachel said, "I keep forgetting that you both have trouble in full sunlight."

"Do not trouble yourself. You were raised in it. I was wondering when Azrael would begin to teach the drowling, I am pleased that he begins it." Cha'Khah said to Rachel as they sat with their feet in the stream. They talked together watching as Azrael taught his son some basic casting of a different sort.

"We've spoken about it. He told me that he wanted him to get started with what you and Vadren had to teach," Rachel said. "That learning needs thought, where what we have to teach him requires mastering what he knows lies within himself. If it's not brought out in a controlled way, then one of our kind only becomes what everybody fears and hates, something which only reacts to how it feels and not the other way around. It's hard to grasp, but that's about the best way that I can explain why we're not off ripping up the landscape like a lot of others."

Azrael smiled down at his son, "Now, show me your fire again, Sariel."

The boy held his fist tightly and thought. After a few seconds, he opened his hand to reveal a very small fireball that wobbled there, and then quickly extinguished itself. He looked to Azrael hopefully.

"Very good, but I think you opened a little too quickly, so it was not steady, and you opened too far, so there was no protection. Try again, please."

Sariel nodded, and this time the little ball stayed.

"Don't look away, son," his father said softly. "It needs you to think on it still. Now, can you feel any heat?"

He nodded.

"Good, but this means that it's too low in your hand. Try to lift it only a little until you feel only warmth," he said.

"This is fascinating, "Cha'Khah said.

"I guess," replied the Rachel," but it's now the start of a lot of trouble as well. He'll want to light everything that he sees. But it's better to show him now, than have the house burn in a surprise. All day long now he'll beg me to let him light the fire and I'll have him bring in what pieces of wood he can carry so that he sees it's not all fun."

Azrael leaned closer to the boy, and whispered; "Now it's time to learn to control this. Can you make it bigger? Good, not too much now. Again, have it close enough to your hand to feel the warmth of it. This way, you don't always have to look. You'll know that you have it. Not too big now. Don't look away. We all see what you're doing, so there's no need to look at anyone. Raise your hand in front of you, until you can see the stream past the ball, and stop there.

Very good, Sariel. Now, gently toss the ball into the water. Be careful of the trees on the other side, and the grass here. Think that you want it to go in the water, closer to us than the other side. Try now."

The little fireball left his hand and slowly arched out into the river where it was put out. Sariel beamed and everyone applauded.

"Just remember," Rachel said, "You're not to practise this unless your father or I are there. We live on a mountain covered in trees, Sariel. Just keep that in mind."

"So you've got the beginnings of a good fireball. What else can you do, Sariel?"

"I can make a spark, I think," he said with more hope than certainty, "but it doesn't always work."

Azrael snorted, "That is maybe not a bad thing, sometimes. Come here, and I'll tell why you may have trouble." They walked together closer to the water's edge. "Try to spark here," he said, "It'll be a bit harder today because of the rain, but try anyway."

Sariel looked at his hand and snapped his fingers several times as quickly as he could. Azrael shook his head, "Watch, me one time. See what I do with my hand."

He crouched next to the boy and snapped his fingers, opening them immediately to cup a sparkling lightning ball inside a cage of fingers. "You must begin to open almost before your middle finger reaches the bottom of your thumb. If you wait to hear the sound, then you're too late. And you must have the cage ready as soon as the ball appears. Like the flame, if you can just feel the tingle, it's the right height and size, but with this ball, the strength of it comes from outside your mind. Try now." The ball in his own hand went out with a sizzle as he closed his fingers.

Sariel was trying too hard, and his father stopped him for a minute as he explained further, "A very important thing to know with the spark is where you are. To hold one, you must stand on the dry ground, and you will feel the tingle in your feet a little. Try again."

He had it right the first time, and laughed as it twirled in his hand. Azrael instructed him on how to put it out. After three successful tries, he told Sariel to step just into the river, and try again.

He couldn't get any action in his hand at all, and looked to Azrael.

He smiled, "You see how important it is where you are? The spark wants to go to the dirt. The water takes it from you into the ground faster than you can make it, and it's important to never make one while you sit on the ground, unless you have a fur or a blanket to sit on. Again, the spark will leave you too quickly. Come back out now and try some more. We won't try to throw it today. You need to learn to size it and control it more."

"What good is this?" Cha'Khah asked, "I have never seen you use this, other than the little ball as a toy to tease me with sometimes and laugh at how it makes my hair stand out. What is the purpose of teaching this?"

"You have seen me use this, just not in this way," Azrael smiled, "This is just the first step." They walked away a bit before Azrael snapped his fingers and without holding up his hand, threw down a small bolt that ploughed a long smoking furrow into the ground with a bang. Cha'Khah jumped and stared before looking back to him. He regarded her with a questioning expression.

"I have seen this before," the Drowess laughed, "only never this small." She looked at Sariel and nodded, "Be sure to learn this well," she chuckled, "I have seen your father knock buildings apart with it."

Rachel had a passing thought as she looked at Azrael's tail and bottom. She winked at Cha'Khah and reached out to caress him just under his tail so that her son couldn't see the gesture from where he stood. Azrael turned back to look and saw her hopeful smile and the way that she waved her head toward the trees. Cha'Khah took it as her cue.

"Come and sit with me, Sariel," she said, "Do you have your blade? I think it is time for you to show me what you have learned."

The boy looked at his parents as they walked off holding hands. "Where are they – "

"Sometimes grown ones wish to be alone and have a little time to themselves," the Drowess smiled, "Come, show me what you know."

He had the blade in hand an instant later and it spun and flashed in the light of the overcast afternoon.

"That tree there," Cha'Khah said, pointing, "use no enchantments."

She was impressed, since he threw it underhand and the blade whizzed to thud squarely into the center of the trunk. It was obvious to her that her young charge no longer needed to aim but had integrated his other abilities to guide his throw.

"Magnificent!" she crowed proudly, "Now, can you get it back, or must you walk there now? You had trouble catching it on its return yesterday."

Sariel grinned a little. He had no intention of needing either of them to heal him today. He'd spent a lot of the morning working on only calling the knife back to his hand. He hadn't cut himself once. Cha'Khah watched as the blade sailed spinning back to his hand.

"So well done, my young fighter! Bring it to me and I will unlock another ability for you," she smiled proudly. She hadn't told him, not wanting to swell his head, but though he'd been far behind where she'd have expected him to be as a drowling back home when he'd begun, he was now at the same point as the best of the ones that she could remember, almost as proficient as she'd been back then. Just a little more time, she thought, and she'd have made him into the best. She hoped to find him a small sword and Vadren was already working on a bow for him just his size. Teaching him to use her small crossbows would take a little more time.

"This one causes the blade to frost over," she said quietly. "It will take some practice, but when we are done, you will be able to send it on its way before the frosting begins, so that your opponent will not be prepared for what you send to him or her. Whatever it hits will feel the bite of the coldness. Even the strongest warrior will be slowed and in great pain."

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"Where are we going?" Azrael smiled.

"Well I was thinking that, counting my days, today is about the last chance we'll have to fool around before I hit the fertile time of my cycle. I'm assuming that you don't want to give Sariel a little sister or brother, of course. That, combined with us leaving soon, and the way that it's cooling off heading for winter," she smiled, "I thought that we ought to maybe take a little time to enjoy each other. Besides, it's raining just right.

And of course, it's our turn to make dinner tonight, so all told, I decided that right now was a good time. Why, aren't you in the mood or something?"

He laughed at the way that she was justifying this. Her reasons were all there, but still, he knew her so well. "Am I breathing? Then I'm in the mood."

"Well that's what I thought," she chuckled.

They walked to one of their favorite places, a small glade with the same stream upstream from where they lived. It offered a little shelter, but mostly it was open and it was raining softly. They'd always enjoyed making love in a gentle rain. Their kisses began and it still took so little time, once they were in a private place. It had always surprised them a little.

The kisses became more urgent and Rachel sank to her knees, "I can never get enough if you," she growled just before she opened her mouth and he felt her teeth grazing him as he hardened. There were days when she did this several times for him – or herself, since it never failed to make her wet to have him in her mouth for only minutes. She often joked that doing this was the quickest way to turn her mind to it. When they were younger, all that it took was one look at him naked and she'd just smiled and ask him to bring that to her and that began it all over again.

Rachel let him go and turned away from him, moving her tail aside. Azrael mounted her and they began to grunt and moan in their way, deep in their throats to encourage each other, but also it was a way to acknowledge what they were inside. They could live in the human world and even pass themselves off as human, but underneath it all, far below the civility, this lay there waiting and wanting.

She felt his clawed hands gripping her hips and turned to look back, admiring what she could see of her male. It never failed to make her feel thankful. She was a beauty and she knew it, though she never let it get to her head, she just knew. It was a stroke of good fortune to her, but more than that, there was the other thing. The male for her had turned out to be her brother – the closest person to her in the world, and though it wasn't accepted, when they were like this Rachel didn't care. She knew who she needed, and he knew his need as well.

"You're grinning," he grunted, "What's funny?"

"About this – about us? Nothing, I'm thinking that Cha'Khah must be trying to explain our noise to Sariel, that's all," she said, "Come on, ... harder, are you getting old or something?"

It was the challenge that she always threw at him, knowing that no male of their kind could let it by. He withdrew and she felt herself being lifted. Azrael threw her and she knew where he really wanted to take her, so she spun in the air and spread her wings to show him what she had for him. Azrael spread his own wings and they met, joining in midair as they screeched.

She knew where this was going and she welcomed it as she felt him force her back. There was a rock outcropping that he'd drive her to, but she wouldn't make it easy for him. He wouldn't have it any other way, anyway.

She clamped down in him inside her and pressed herself against him momentarily. Rachel had daydreamt about this all morning and had it all planned out. She moved her hips just enough as her hand slipped between them before she turned it and squeezed his balls just so – just enough to make him gasp, before she let go both inside and outside of herself to pull away as though she'd turn to run.

It was the furthest thing from her mind.

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After Cha'Khah was satisfied with Sariel's progress and seeing as the others hadn't returned yet, she smiled, "I guess that today will be a day of testing you, Sariel. Show me what you know of the silent speech of the Drow. Do this now, please."

Sariel squirmed a little, but he complied. It was used in tactical situations requiring silence, but also, it was used when what was said was not intended for the ears of outsiders.

Sariel did his best, and his tutor was evidently very pleased with his progress as he found himself in her arms being hugged and praised. "I will make you into a scholar in the ways of the Drow people," she grinned, "You make me very proud, child."

"I like to learn things," the boy said, scratching his ear for a moment, "but what will I ever use it for?"

"You should learn from us only for the knowing of it," she said, "One never knows where one's path might lead. I would never take you to any Drow city where the spider faith rules, but I have heard that there are a few cities where the Dark Maiden holds sway and those are friendlier places. Even still, you should always know what is spoken around you.

Drow do not teach the silent speech to outsiders. My life is already forfeit for what I teach you, so you should understand that it is important to know. You may be faced with guards – even in those friendlier places. They will speak among themselves silently. You would need to know what is said then. It might save your life."

Sariel listened and he knew what she was saying and why, though he doubted that he'd ever need the knowledge. He just loved to learn, and he knew that what he was being taught was far from what any boy his age would have revealed to him. That was what he liked and why he tried so hard to learn.

"Besides," the Drowess smirked, "while I doubt that girls of any sort could hold your interest for longer than it took you to be annoyed if you tripped over one now, this will not always be so."

She chuckled, "I see how I fascinate you sometimes. Where we come from, there are many young females, some of them quite lovely. One day, you may find yourself there wishing to meet one. Since you are not one of us, it would place you at a large disadvantage. But if it was seen that you knew our ways and our speech, well then, my young friend, your skills and abilities – not to mention your fine and handsome self, ..."

She laughed a little, "Then, Sariel, I can tell you that they would seek you out to know you better. They could not help themselves. You would be a wondrous walking mystery to their young and already jaded eyes. You would be different; polite and respectful, and yet, you could hold your own anywhere. And if there is one thing which Drow females cannot resist, drowling, it is a handsome mystery."

Sariel was trying to understand all of it when Vadren threw his offering in, "They would seek to tame him, cousin. What is the good of that?"

"Oh, use your head, Vadren," she snapped good-naturedly, "Think a moment. What if he knew the tongue as he is learning it? What if he could hold his own and even beat them at their play-fighting with blades since he knows the real thing at such an age? What if he possessed more power than the mages of half of the houses there? You know that he will be fine to look at. Add this to the heap in your mind. Now, what if he could see it plainly when they sought to charm him?"

The mage's eyes opened as he considered it. He began to laugh. He gripped Sariel's shoulder gently, "They would fight each other to be seen with him. You should listen to Cha'Khah, Sariel. You already possess the greatest weapon possible in her."

Cha'Khah grinned evilly as she chuckled, "Better still," she smiled and tousled Sariel's hair, "their mothers would kill each other trying to arrange the right to present their daughters to him. It would turn their normal way of doing things on its head. I would pay gold just to watch it happen."

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She'd given him a good run and one hell of a mating fight, but now Rachel lay back on the wet and smooth inclined rocks in just the right spot, her legs splayed wide as he pounded into her. Her eyes went with a fair bit of pride to his chest and she looked up at his face.