Of Bonds Forged Ch. 04

She used the opportunity to peruse the people, too. Vale didn't see anyone she recognized, though that meant little because she was well beyond her usual paths. What she did recognize was the look of those around her. It was, for her, one of those things that showed her that all people were tied together no matter how far apart they could tell themselves that they were. Hunters dressed in layers to protect themselves from the elements, and wore their weapons to be seen, as much as to try to display their prowess as to ward off potential human predators.

Merchants always dressed well as a display of their own prowess, always displaying one or two rare bits, like an ornate ring or a finely-tailored coat. It was advertisement, too; showing others their reach and what they could provide with it.

The oddity was that those with darker needs and intentions all carried themselves similarly as well. They hoped to blend in, be unnoticed, and then forgotten as soon as they left. But, rather than dress to attempt to look like a hunter, a merchant, an herbalist, or any number of other vocations, they tried to dress as, for lack of a better description, nothing.

They dressed in clothes in bland colors that weren't too expensive looking so as to draw attention, usually with no jewelry of any kind. They feigned interest as they milled about, asking questions of the merchants while almost never making eye contact because, Vale surmised, they knew on some level that what they were there for was wrong.

Even most those that simply didn't care about the right or wrong of it for themselves usually cared for the perception of others in places like this. To her trained eye those people stood out more than anyone else, and they were here, too.

If nothing else, she knew she was on the right track. Someone with a stable of women would come here.

And then there was the magic.

She felt it drawing nearer to her even now. It was powerful, but wild and unrestrained, like a waterfall. Such power was not to be underestimated, and she did not. She simply hoped that she did not have to stand against it. Talismans grew in power, sometimes handed down over generations, where each user left the marks of their own understanding of magic on it, which the next with the keys to tap and shape even more power. Life and magic blended in unique ways in such things and it took a deep understanding of magic and a granite will to truly control them. Without the latter, a powerful talisman could overwhelm the user as she suspected happened to the man she sought. He was dangerous, yes, but probably not so of his own volition. For that, her heart went out to him.

"That was fast," a voice boomed. "Where is she?"

Vale turned and saw the man who clearly fit that voice, moving his bulk with unexpected fluidity in the direction that one of her guards had his arm extended. As he approached, she could see how he towered over her. She could also see how he looked at her, sizing her up as a predator might. She'd gotten that look before and knew that the only correct response was to stare it down, so she gave him a glare as though she were weighing whether or not to burn him to the ground. When she did not wither, she thought she saw a hint of approval in his eyes. "You would be?"

"Denna Vale, Lord Solos," she answered with a nod. And you would not be the man I seek. Her eyes lingered on the talisman. For those who knew how to see it, it radiated power like a beacon in pitch black. She could tell by the way the river flowed to and fro within the confines of of the necklace that it was always on the verge of being unleashed. No one had, by accident or design, bound the power after using is so it radiated from him like a blazing fire in a home waiting for someone to open the door so it could burst forth and consume all in its path.

For her, it was another piece of the mystery revealed. This one's will was strong enough to begin to keep it in check despite a lack of training. For a lesser one, the fire would lick through the cracks in the door, their own deepest, darkest desires mingling with it, bringing those desires to the fore almost as whispers. In many ways, magic lived and did so symbiotically with the user, especially stored reserves as with talismans. What became of the other?" The way this one just looked at her, she could guess.

He appreciated the use of the honorific and spoke with pride. "I am the master of all you see and beyond. While my kingdom is small compared to some others, I built it, I control it, and I rule it fairly, but with iron."

"A fair ruler is all that anyone can ask for," Vale said, eager to move things along. "At any rate, I'm told you need a healer. I'm not as skilled as a formal healer, but if I can't help, I can call upon others who should be able to."

"One step at a time, little thing, but I will say that the person I want you to help is very important to me, so we'll see." It was beginning to make sense. The mages were now a factor in things. One of them around here was a rarity. Two was almost unheard of, and more than that to call upon only meant he was missing something important. Maybe he underestimated Delvine's importance to her employers, and they were pulling all the stops to get her back. Maybe the mages caught sight of what he'd built on their own and wanted a piece...or all of it. Maybe they wanted to mount him on their wall.

If that was the case, they would not find him easy prey, especially now that he had some power of his own. So he resolved to see what was what. "Come with me, and I'll take you to her." Vale followed closely behind him, noting that two of those she rode with followed behind her as they made their way into the fort and through the halls. The people that were there didn't exactly part for him, it was clear they knew better than to be in his path just now.

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"Magic was used on her."

"Yours?"

Solos liked this one. She wasn't going to dance around things. "Sense that, do you? I have to tell you that I actually feel this damn thing and it feels very good, like I could run a hundred miles and not break a sweat. Does it always feel this way as a mage?"

Perhaps reaching him could begin now since he was open to discussing it. "Sometimes, but we avoid dwelling on it. If it is seen as a pleasant side effect of what needs to be done, a reward, if you will, that's one thing. If the sensation becomes an end unto itself, it leads to the dark paths. That's why one of the most difficult aspects of magic is learning to properly restrain both it and yourself."

His voice conveyed a shrug. "If one has skill they should be unafraid to use it. If one has power they should embrace it. But, to answer you, sort of. The man I got this from used it on her before he tried to use it on me." He was proud as he made his way up the steps and to his private chambers. "He failed."

"Where is he now? If I can question him, it could help."

"Like I said, he tried to use it on me, so he's in a shallow grave behind the back fence. If he can help you now, you're quite the mage yourself." There were snickers from the guards as he opened his chamber doors. What Vale saw wasn't the opulence of royalty in gold, jewels, or the finest tapestries, but what were displays of wealth for out here where one didn't waste gold by adorning their entry ways with it or encrust something with jewels so that others might be impressed when there were few others who mattered enough to impress. Here, it was size. She could tell that his chambers took up much of the floor. They were appointed in clean, polished, dark woods like a royal hunting lodge. Four pairs of boots clacked on the hardwood with a not unpleasant sounding rhythm as they made their way to his bedchamber.

Behind that door, Vale found a servant girl spoon feeding the one she assumed to be the one who needed help on top of the covers. The servant girl jumped at the sound of the door opening and stood, head slightly down, waiting to be spoken to.

"Any better?" he asked.

"No, Lord. Eats when you feed her, knows enough to hold herself in, and still seems very happy even though she doesn't talk much."

"Find something else to do now."

The girl nodded and passed Vale on the way to the bed. This moment, for her, there wasn't any other problem on her mind than someone who needed her help. "What's her name?"

"Delvine," Solos responded before turning and gesturing the guards out the door with her. They left with her and one of them closed the door behind him.

"Hello, Delvine. How are you today, Delvine?" She looked to him, "Do you know what happened? Be honest. I don't care what happened before, but I can't help unless I know the truth of all of it."

"No one knows," he said truthfully.

"Except the man you killed."

He found that he didn't dislike the annoyance in her voice. "No one was in a position to get the details out of him. I asked him what he'd done...assertively. He attacked, we defended ourselves, he died, and lucky for him that he did."

"But the magic came from that. You're certain."

"Yes. He didn't have anything else on him that feels like this."

"Let me see it."

He laughed. "Oh, no, no, no, no, little girl. No mage is going to touch this little trinket. It's mine now, and it's pretty useful, all things considered.

It was worth a try. Do you know what happened, Delvine? Do you remember who did this to you, Delvine?"

He was suddenly put off. "Why do you keep repeating her name as though it were a hiccup?"

Vale traced the pattern of a spell upon the forehead of the other and didn't take her attention from that, "Do not think of pink dogs. I beg you not to think of pink dogs," she implored. She finished drawing the spell and looked over to him, trusting that her point was made. "I wish to find Delvine and I wish her to think of Delvine so that she might bring forth what the name Delvine means to her."

Solos nodded, as it made perfect sense.

Her hands touched the sides of her patient's head. She closed her eyes. "Think of Delvine. Think of all that there is to being Delvine." Vale closed her eyes and followed the symbols drawn into her and down into her mind.

What there was left of it.

There were many ways into a mind. For the most part almost all of them were unprotected. Even for those with training or with superior will, there were ways to sneak in unnoticed. Or, if the magic was powerful enough, you could force your way in and seize control. But that took more will and control than even some of the other ways in. One had to have the will to stop and the ability to impose that will to draw the power back.

There was no evidence of either here. All there was was the aftermath of brute force. The power had been driven into her with no care that anything be left of her after it was done, and there was little left. There were fragments of memories, the ability to understand some words, even if she couldn't begin to articulate what they meant, and only the most base sense of self. She was a mostly empty thing now and Vale didn't need to be a full healer to know that this wasn't going to be undone. She kept her face a mask even though she grieved for the woman that was no more.

The only question now was how to handle it, and she could only think of one way that would address the only problem that she could do anything about. "Healing her is possible, but it will take a great deal of time, and is beyond me alone. I would have to call for assistance from at least several actual healers."

"No." He was firm. "I'm not bringing more mages in here, especially not friends of those that did this to her to begin with."

She rose from the bed. "Friends of...? No."

"No?" He closed the distance between them in one long stride. He grabbed her arm in the vise that was his hand and pulled her to him so that he towered over her that much more. "You mages think you know so much. You think you're so much smarter than everyone else that you can do the most obvious things and no one will be the wiser because we're all just idiots."

He looked down upon her with a sneer. "Do you honestly believe that anyone with half a brain would think that your being within such easy reach is a coincidence? Someone brings some spellbound women to get through my door, goes straight to the most important person to me just then and melts her down before he tries to kill me and destroy everything I've built here."

"Then, as if an angel was sent from the Goddess herself, you show up offering to help. All it will take is a few more mages and, oh, just hand me the power he tried to kill me with while you're at it. Do you realize how that sounds?"

"No one thinks you're stupid, Lord Solos."

"Is that so, woman? Then how about some truth. What are you doing here? Really."

Vale weighed her options once again and decided that, in the moment, some truth might help her to help him see reason. "I sought that talisman and the man who held it. It has great power. I feel it. You, even as an mu... someone unskilled in the ways of magic can feel it. He left a trail for me to follow, not that he meant to. So, no, Lord, it's not a coincidence that I was close, but I was not with him and, if there was a plot to undo you, that was his and his alone."

His gaze bore into her and, out of reflex, she began to marshal her defenses against it to defend herself fearing he was about to set it loose upon her and she did not know how it would end, for she had never truly been exposed to unbridled power in this sort of circumstance before and she'd guessed that few mages had. Most lessons from the first had been about control and its loss. Vale also did her best to hide her power from him. What little she knew of the events that brought her here and what she could feel now, she knew that once set loose, it acted to control and consume. She would not be its victim without a fight, and she would not end up like Delvine.

He could feel her fear, her anger, and her resolve. He had a good eye for prey. He could see in their eyes what was behind them and the decisions made. He knew the vicious snarls that were lies because the beast had nothing left and wanted to die in peace. He knew the rumbling purrs from their bellies that others mistook for death rattles, but they were really trying to lull the hunter closer.

That sense worked with people, too. In a fight with more than one, he knew which ones would attack first and which would run after the first good run-in with his fist. And he had a good idea when he was being lied to and, so far, this one didn't seem to be lying about anything that mattered.

"That he would come for one such as you, or believe that he could overwhelm you should be lesson enough, don't you think? He thought he could control it and now he's dead. You think you can control it, and, maybe you can in the short term, but you feel it even now, like a bug gnawing in you ear; a whisper you can't quite hear. You want to use it because it feels good. As I've tried to tell you, it becomes its own end. It won't be long, if you just let it run through you for the rush, before the feeling becomes all that you care about."

"So I should just hand it to you to save myself, is that it?"

"There are worse options for you, Lord, but you have something of interest to my guild. You would be well compensated, so, no, I'm not expecting you to surrender it out of kindness or even self-preservation. Surrender it for wealth."

'If controlling it is so important a thing to know, how about you teach me, girl?"

"Because I don't have years to dedicate to it and neither do you. You already like the feeling. I don't need to be a mage to see that. You are a powerful man and powerful men most often want more power. You've tasted it already and you like it. Stop now, before it's too late."

He let go of her arm. She at least believed her words, and power came in many forms. He could give up one for another, but it would have to be worth it and then some, and, right now this thing around his neck was all he had worth anything. "If you can make Delvine there useful to me again, and that works out, then, we can talk about trading this," his hand touched it and relished the warmth, "for a great deal of money."

"If you're lying to me, I'm going to need this."

"For what?"

"To do what I needed her for in the first place: a bit of business expansion. This might make things easier all around, but what she knows could still open doors for me. So, heal her, or at least show me that it can be done, then we'll talk."

"I told you that I cannot heal her myself. Broken bones, heavy bleeding, the worst of internal injuries? I can mend the worst of the most obvious things, but her mind has been undone and it's as much physical as anything else. I am not healer enough for that." As she spoke, she used the distraction of the heightened emotions between them to reach her power outward toward the talisman. He was tied to it enough now to feel her touch it, and would probably react badly if he felt her do so, but that wasn't her aim.

She felt and saw her own power drift towards him, letting it come come close enough to the talisman to demand a response from him if there would be one. Seeing none in his expression or action, she pulled it back and surmised that he was all will and had no real sense of it. The other had been weak and apparently been subsumed by the power at his disposal quickly, probably in a haze of confusion and lust for it. This one would last longer. Perhaps even long enough to convince himself he'd accidentally mastered it, but he would end up in the same place.

"But you know people that are."

Holding on to the bit of lie, "I do. Even so, they will need access to the magic that damaged her, to study it if nothing else. It's not all the same, even if you think it is."

Meeting his eye, her jaw set even if he did see the unease there. This one had some spark. Like that spark, an idea flashed within him. If she was indeed right about the trinket, something would have to be done, and she was the perfect position to be of help.

"Come with me."

To Be Continued...