Of Bonds Forged Ch. 05

Sylanna waited until they were well away before she began to pace them by heading in their general direction. The pace and solitude gave her time to think, which was as much curse as blessing. She didn't like any of this. In the days of her old self all that would have mattered is the talisman and getting it would be a relatively simple matter when she could weigh everyone in her path as, at best, either a witting or unwitting accomplice, or, if need be, collateral damage. If she could act as she once had, she would have the thing by morning.

But other things had value in the new Sylanna that could not be denied or dismissed. She felt for those women taken by a fool playing with things he was too stupid to comprehend. They didn't ask for what happened to them, and to condemn them to a life of slavery without even making an attempt to free them or at least determining if freeing them was possible wasn't an option. Life was so much simpler when I didn't have to care.

What was done was done, so what mattered now was knowing what they faced. And, as Vale saw it as an advantage to have the more learned mage on the outside, it was better to have Vale where she was if they weren't going to just attack. These people were prepared to meet aggression and it was probably to their advantage to meet them with someone not already spoiling for a fight. Who knew, Vale might be able to talk her way to the thing and the fool out of it because stupid, greedy people were stupid and greedy. Offer them a sack of gold or what's in the empty box, and, if you talked up the box, or made it clear you didn't want them to choose the box, depending on the variety of idiot, you could get far too many to take the box.

There were simply too many unknowns as she rode ahead, still plenty of day to be had and it was warm enough now that she could barely see her breath. Her mind went to little things like that to keep from worrying too much about Vale. Softness. Stop it. Fretting over the favorite would keep her from doing what needed to be done.

There were reasons she was favored though. She was kind to the new initiates, eager to know them and help them discover and hone their skills. Each one was precious to her and it looked to her that Vale almost fawned over them and they gravitated toward her for that acceptance. But she demanded of them, too. In her own quiet, calm, almost sweet way, she demanded commitment and she demanded improvement. "Your best is all the guild demands," she would tell them and take them to task in her gentle, sweet, immovable, 'Vale' way, if they failed in that.

She had found a balance. She was open and kind, but by no measure weak. Sylanna remembered when they first met. Their fight had been brief, but Vale was quick on her feet and quick to counter. And when she looked into those eyes then, she saw a ferocity that she could respect because in that moment it mirrored her own. If anything happened to her, something important would be lost.

Stop it.

No one would be lost, at least not through her action or inaction. The problem was that she didn't have enough information to decide what which needed to happen at just this moment. She had a path to Vale, but she restrained herself from using it right away. Give her time to use her skills, such as they are. In the meantime, with the setting sun, Sylanna, decided that since she now had an idea of where to go, she should probably stop closing on that place, lest their be roving patrols looking for slaves or other signs of life that it simply would not do to interact with.

She picked a hill far enough from the path not quite wide or worn enough to be called a road that she wouldn't be easily spotted, but gave her a good view of the land and the chance to at least partially obscure the horse. Gathering rocks to heat when the time came rather than risk an actual fire, she promised herself that she would wait until nightfall to be contacted.

If not, she would touch Vale and see what there was to see, then do something about it.

* * *

The sun was about to set again and the young woman stopped to look at it, mainly to try again to take her bearings. It was really something to look at when she could do it as a free woman. She couldn't say she'd paid it a lot of attention before, and maybe that was a mistake. The disc was a bright orange and its cast gave the clouds closest to it a pink and purple hue. She didn't know how many more she would see as a free woman or at all, so she may as well take it in as she tried one more time to get some sense of her position in the world, not that she expected it to help anymore than it had any of the other times she'd tried. She had no idea of what she was trying to make her way to. If I get to go home, I'm going to watch a lot more of them, I swear. Goddess, help me.

She had been taken so far from home, moved mostly at night so that no one would see, least of all her and those like her. Nothing was familiar. Once they opened the gate for her, she ran and didn't stop until she felt like she couldn't run anymore. Once the excitement of freedom wore off, her body began to remind her of the position she was in as the cold iced the sweat on her skin, the wind whipped through the nothing she wore, and the snow and the forest floor bit at her feet. Add to that the fingers of bare and gnarled trees randomly trying to scratch her eyes out, she really didn't know how she lasted the night.

The sun came up and she thought that might be her redemption, but, as the day went on, it only served to show her how dangerous her situation was. There was so much sameness around her that, for all she knew she'd spent the night spinning in circles. She tried to follow the sun, but that just seemed to take her deeper into the woods. Even so, she stayed on the path unless reason came to leave it.

She found her body leaving it though. She was tired and the cold was just enough to leech her life from her a bit at a time. It was no small miracle that she'd made it as far as she had, but the feeling in her toes was gone and her fingers weren't that far behind. She thought that her pursuers would intentionally drive her in the direction she needed to go just by trying to stay away from them, but there had been none. By morning it was clear that they'd just let her go to die out here far from home. As miserable and sad as that was, at least she'd die free. It really was better than the alternative.

She'd stop moving, stop shivering, stop feeling, fall asleep, and that'd be the end of it. But she'd have to stop moving first and to the depths with that. She pressed forward with something between a shuffle and a walk, using that star as her guide for as long as she had left to see it. Who knew, maybe that was what going to the Goddess would be like. She pressed one step at a time until she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She stopped to look. In the approaching dusk and with the spots in her eyes, she wasn't even sure of what she saw. A horse? She didn't know for sure, but it wasn't too far away and it was at least a certain destination. A rational shred within her wondered if it was the next step in a breaking mind that spent a night and day wandering in circles in the cold.

She used the cover of the trees and walked a wide arc around, keeping her thin frame against the trees to steady her as much as to give her a place to hide if the one that came with that horse was on the hunt for her. Her heart beat faster which dispelled the tiniest sliver of the cold as she came to the realization that she was being hunted. She hunched down, suddenly thankful for the impending night. Each step forward was as measured and as quiet as she could make it. If s stick poking above the snow snapped, she froze to make sure none of the lengthening shadows moved suddenly in response. One horse, but it was stupid to think there weren't others out there to hunt her. Maybe the rider of this one was just scouting looking for hints of her.

Forward, step by precious, careful as she could manage, numb step. She had to reach it while sight of them was clear enough and she still spotted nothing but the horses. If they were out there looking for her they'd be back soon because they weren't going to hunt her in pitch black. The big one might, but it didn't change anything for her.

If she could make it to the horse, she at least had a better chance of living than now. If she could run the last half a dozen steps she had a chance at it. How she could do that when she couldn't feel her feet anymore was its own problem, but there was no other chance. With still no one in sight, there was no better time than now for the only chance she had. She took another step closer to a chance at a chance.

The hairs on the back of her neck jumped.

The rest of her followed as she felt two fingers at the back of neck, pressing to the back of her skull with a touch so faint it scared her more than if an arm had hooked around her throat.

Before she could gasp, the sensation of falling forward took her. Sleep followed well before she could hit the ground.

* * *

To see at night as clearly as the day never stopped being beneficial. It was one of the greater gifts resulting from Sylanna's experiments on herself, if certainly not the only one. She could work unimpeded and not compromise herself or the care of the woman in slave rags. She gathered more rocks, the smallest of which were the size of her open hand, forming a ring around her. This one needed heat and needed it quickly. Drawing the magic to her hands in a soft orange glow and transferred that power to the stones even as she used her mind to further excite the air over the woman, creating a bubble of warmth around her.

Malnutrition. Abuse. Exposure. If the weather had been any worse, she probably wouldn't have made it this far. Her feet were in bad shape and would take more effort than Sylanna had time to spend. Honestly, the last thing she needed was this little thing to care for just now that fell into her lap. She quickly debated whether or not the girl was some sort of lure or trap.

The latter seemed unlikely because there was nothing that marked this girl as anything other than she appeared. If it was the former, while Sylanna found a new awareness of people and a new empathy for them, she was not fool enough to to risk everything by letting this woman lead her somewhere. Slaves were captured and sometimes, despite the best efforts of slavers, they escaped. The mage spent time putting together bits of nature in the ways that she knew how from what surrounded her and from her pack. What she put under the girl's tongue would aid the effectiveness of the healing spells, while what she put down her throat would temporarily restore her strength.

Passing her hand over the woman, Sylanna waited patiently for the woman to be drawn back to the now. When those eyes opened to look upon the silhouette of a person blocking out part of the sky, panic tried to pull her upright only to be stopped by a deceptively strong feminine hand and the words, "You're safe, but stay quiet."

"What? Who..."

"Do you not know what stay quiet means? Lower. Your. Voice. Because I told you to. Who are you?"

She laid back and whispered. "Ani."

"I am Sylanna. I assume you came from the place ahead of me on this path. You are a slave?"

"Sort of."

"What does that mean?"

"That's what they had planned for me, but fuck them. I'll never do what they want," she spat. "If you're with them you can fuck yourself too, I'm not..."

"If I were with them, you would be back where you started. You being calm will help us both here. I assume you escaped."

"Sort of."

Sylanna's exasperation was plain. "What does that mean?"

"It means that he let me go so he could hunt me down, but no one came looking. He let me out so I could die in the woods."

The mage filled in the blanks with her own instincts. "I suspect he became preoccupied with other things." There's no point in letting her out just to die. Slaves were money and if one is so much trouble they have to die, they'd gut them wherever they were and not risk them escaping.

"We have to get out of here," Ani hissed. She thought she'd long ago cried out her anguish at all that had happened to put her here, but the pain wracked her as though it was the first time she woke not knowing where she was. "Please. We have to get out of here. I want to go home."

"Right now that's problematic. The good news for you is that I found you before you died. The bad news for you is that I don't have time get you anywhere safer than here. I'm in the middle of something and can't leave."

"In the middle of something? In the middle of the woods in the dark? Bullshit. What could you be waiting for other than for them to find us out here?"

"What I'm waiting for isn't your concern. Just be glad that it isn't you. As soon as I am able, I'll..."

Things touched her mind. Fear. Panic. Confusion. Anger. They all flashed through her, washing over her in an instant. Her own heart began to pound in her ears at the intensity of it and she gasped. She found herself looking off in the direction of the source. Sylanna closed her eyes and, with some effort, tamped the flood of emotion that threatened to sweep her away, though she couldn't close herself off completely. She needed to touch it in order to track it.

"You'll what?"

She closed her eyes, concentrating her will and her power forward, hoping to see through Vale's eyes, but it was nothing but a wash of color and blur. That told Sylanna enough of what she needed to know. Vale's mind was under attack by powerful magic. Sylanna weighed her options. She could try to lend her power to Vale and aid her in resisting if not fighting back. But if she failed and the magic was too powerful for both of them together, both could be taken. And if that happened the situation would become much worse.

So Sylanna did the only thing she could. It was something the old her would have done without hesitation, but now it pained her. If Vale lost her battle, Sylanna would have to contend with whatever the aftermath would be. If Vale were to die, how would she explain it? Who would believe that Sylanna wasn't responsible for it? Mistress would, but no one else in the guild would. That actually bothered her very little. They already hated and distrusted her and, as a backhanded benefit, perhaps she could be left alone after all.

But if they had to battle, Sylanna was certain of her ability to end Vale if need be. What she wasn't certain of was her ability to live with it afterwards. Others could think what they wanted as to the why of it, but Sylanna would have to live with that. Feel it. Another ghost for the collection.

Stop wallowing in emotion and act.

"You'll what?" Ani said more loudly than before. Alarm bells that had been going off in her mind before were blaring now. "I'm better off in the woods."

"Hardly," Sylanna countered. "The alternative is little better. I'll have to take you with me."

"Where?" She wanted to scream. She lifted herself from the ground and reminded of the cold surrounding her that felt hungry to leach her life away. "Back there? No." Before she could protest further, it died as a whine in her throat as Sylanna's hand touched her and sleep took hold again.

It was the only option, not that it was a good one. Ani couldn't be left here in her current state and there wasn't time to try to heal her only to leave her in the woods, hoping to come back to this spot for her. But she would have to be protected as well, which added another level of difficulty, as if she needed one. Putting the woman over her shoulder as though she weighed nothing, she draped Ani across the back of the horse and threw a blanket over her for warmth and concealment.

Lashing her securely to the beast, Sylanna joined her and began moving at a rapid but measured pace towards Vale, resolving to save her horse's energy for a potential getaway over a rapid arrival. She tried to reason with herself that it wasn't all that far relatively speaking, so she could afford the judgment call. It didn't make her feel any better. All it really did was make her wish she could return to the indifference that once defined her.

* * *

"Come with me."

Solos led Vale out of his rooms and down the upper hall where a simple change in the color and texture of the wood on the walls marked the shift from his private spaces to the common areas. The guards were behind her again and kept their same pacing from her as before. One broke away after Solos looked to one and said simply, "Bring the next one to the communal room."

Solos spoke as they walked casually. "Young lady, I have no great love for magic or the people that wield it. It openly defies natural law, and for a man like me that tries to have a respect for it, it's strange. That said, I don't hate it either. It's here, and people can make use of it, so it's meant to be a part of things."

"A wise position, Lord."

"What I generally don't like are the people that wield it, though I've made use of them before and will again. I don't like the airs that they put on. They think they're better than everyone else and that they're lowering themselves to deal with you at all."

Vale knew this well, particularly of late. "Would it surprise you to know that I often find myself feeling the same way? Too many of my kind allow pride in a skill to decay to arrogance."

"That's understandable," he agreed. "That, I suppose, is true of all of us," remembering more than one evening of drinking and boasting with others of his kind, whether they be hunters or peers in his other ventures He patted his big hand on the warm metal, reassured by it. "But, I have to say, I understand your kind a little better right now. Put me at the edge of a cliff yesterday and I'd be worried. Right now, I feel like I could fly."

"Which is why you should allow me to have it now before you grow to like that power much too much. I know it clouded the one who came before because I know that's how it works. Lord, I give you my word the help I bring, if you allow it, will not attempt to take the talisman from you. We will focus solely on Delvine."

He finished the line of thought for her, "And if you can restore her, I give this up, is that it?"

"That makes you whole again, does it not? she said smoothly, "It puts you in the exact place you were before it arrived." Here she paused for effect. "Also, to be as you were before it arrived at your gate, I would like the women he brought with him returned. They are victims of the magic taken from their homes, families, and lives."

He snorted. "What about the rest of them? I take people from their homes, families, and lives, and it provides me a good living to do so. What about them?"

"If you would be willing to deal for them, I would certainly be open to that. My guild has resources enough to allow you to turn a handsome profit, but that deal would be a separate beast to this one."

"Are you going to keep buying what I sell you? That could be lucrative for me. Not only do I have a reliable client with deep pockets I could sell, cut loose, and resell the same batch." It was said only half in jest.

"No. This would only be a deal for those here now."

"What about the poor souls who come after?"

She dismissed his pouting tone and there was an undercurrent of anger in her own. "I detest slavery. If it could be undone throughout the world I would wave my hand and do so, as I would for all the ills of the world, but I cannot. However, these people are here before me, and there is a reason that that's so if I can help them, I will."

He stopped to look down upon her. She spoke to him firmly and without fear. Looking into those eyes that didn't flinch, he thought for a moment that her fearlessness came from her own magic, but he realized that it was within her. She had a keen sense of right and wrong and the possible and not.