The Druid and the Igniad Ch. 02

She rested for a while, but did not sleep. She was sore, physically and emotionally. Despair gnawed at her spirit. She knew twilight would come soon, before the dawn. She looked around at her home, now her prison. Barely illuminated by the soft red glow of her lava pool, she spotted the figurine of herself on the stone shelf. A glimmer of hope.

She remembered how Evalyn used it to form the binding with a knotted strand of hair. It was far away, however. Too far to offer her a good shot with a fire bolt. Besides, she feared that the whoosh of her flame would awaken Evalyn, who slumbered not far from the shelf in Lu's nest, under an overhang.

Lu closed her eyes and began to sing to herself. She started softly, then rose her voice in song to a gentle tempo. She sang a song of night-fire to comfort herself and calm her nerves. Her music seemed not to disturb Evalyn's sleeping form.

Suddenly, two fire-sprites emerged from the lava tube and skated across the surface of the pool, swaying to Lu's music. Lu spotted them and abruptly ended her song, her eyes lighting up with hope. The fire-sprites seemed annoyed at the premature end to Lu's song, and skittered over to her, crackling sparks over her skin in protest.

"Please, my friends!" Lu whispered severely. "I am imprisoned by the magic of that statue." She pointed.

The sprites looked at each other in confusion.

"Burn the hair on the little statue," Lu said, "or I will never sing again!"

At that, the sprites darted over to the shelf and sparked at the knot of hair, destroying it. At once, Lu felt the magic around her neck tingle, then vanish. She scrambled to her feet and ran. Fueled by a rush of newfound energy, Lu bounded up out of the crater and down the slope of the mountain.

Twilight illuminated the face of the peak, and she paused on a crag to catch her breath. She looked back, and to her terror, Evalyn appeared at the edge of the crater, waving her hands and speaking some manner of spell.

Lu leapt off the crag just as the air surrounding it snapped with a shockwave that blurred her vision, but she shrugged it off and kept running. Her powerful legs propelled her through the crystal forest, but Evalyn seemed to glide over the ground with a fleetness of otherworldly magic.

It seemed Evalyn would catch her, but the witch's path was suddenly impeded by a burst of growth from the crystal trees themselves, barring the way with new fractal branches. Lu slowed as she looked back to see it, and she gazed in shock as Evalyn angrily broke through the branches with conjured blasts of force. She did not know how it was possible, as she had never seen the trees do such a thing before, but there was no time for questions. The voice of Labolas whispered in the air around her: "Run". At the same time, the trees sang out in a single, urgent note, as if to tell Lu to flee.

She looked back no longer, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her, out of the forest and across the snowy slopes of the mountain, down into the gorges and ravines. She got well past the furthest she had ever been from her crater, but it didn't matter which direction she went, as long as it was away from what lay behind her.

She came into a meadow, and slowed to a jog, her legs aching. The tall, yellow grass at her feet began to smolder and burn, and she feared she would start a forest fire. Indeed, the fire spread with the wind, and quickly sweep up into the bramble at the edge of the conifer forest.

An enormous Thunder Stag crashed out from behind the bramble, startled by the flames. Standing at thrice her height, it shook its rack of dark antlers and bleated, bristling its spiral-stripped fur. Lu called to it in her sing-song voice, and summoned one more burst of strength in her legs to leap up onto his antlers, bracing herself between them with her hands and feet. The stag bucked, but seemed to be soothed by her voice, and she extended an empathic link to the creature. Lu's touch singed her riding cradle of bone-branches, but having long since shed its velvet tissue, the stag felt no more pain than if its hair were cut.

Lu sang in a rapid pattern of vocals, communicating in the Thunder Stag way to spur her ride, and conveyed "alarm, flee", in her link with him. The stag took off at a gallop, leaving the spreading fire and smoke behind. She urged her new friend onward for as long as she could, until the mighty stag tired and resisted her suggestions. The sky had become overcast. The stag had been running for the better part of the day, and the landscape she found herself in was strange to her.

The meadows were quite large, and triangular in shape, separated by walls of willows and shrubs. The stag seemed uneasy, and she felt a fear in him, a desire to return to the deep forest. She jumped down from the stag's antlers, and bade him farewell, releasing her empathic link. The stag bobbed its head, turned around, and made for wilder lands. A light rain began to fall.

Lu tried to restrain her elemental power so she would not set fire to the meadow, but the grass was short, kept low by grazing, and her power was sapped from exhaustion. The rain was cold. She wanted badly to lay down and rest, but she urged herself on a little farther. Near a stand of old nut trees, she saw a stone cottage with a living roof of green grass. Wearily, she approached it.

There was a grey-haired man chopping wood outside the dwelling, and he stopped and stared with wide eyes when he noticed Lu.

"Will you help me?" Lu asked him.

The man did not respond, he only stared at her flowing hair of black smoke, then briefly at her bare breasts, then at her pelvic crystal, then her face. Lu extended an empathic link to him, which was even easier than it had been with the stag. She felt fear, subdued panic, muted sexual arousal, and confusion. She shared her feelings with him, and he seemed to relax, feeling her desire for peace and safety.

"You are...the igniad...of the mountain," the man said as if in a daze.

"Yes, my name is Lu. What is your name?"

"Arkis," he responded cautiously. "Why are you here?"

"I was driven from my home. I had to run away. I must find a druid named Gern. Do you know him?"

Arkis shook his head. Her shoulders fell a little in disappointment.

"Is there a space here where I can rest?" She asked wearily. "I am so tired...."

Arkis looked upon her sympathetically, feeling her sincerity. As well, he was afraid he would invoke her wrath if he turned her away. He showed her inside.

The floor of the cottage was packed earth. Lu curled up on her side beside the hearth, which Arkis fed with seasoned oak. He covered her up to the shoulder with a wool blanket, then watched her sleep for a while, contemplating his guest. She was the most mysterious, beautiful creature he had ever seen. He had not felt such desire since his woman died of a malady, years ago. Though he felt natural arousal at the sight of Lu, he loved his wife too much to ever seek a woman's intimacy again. He had heard that an igniad's bones were made of diamond, but his mind recoiled from the thought of doing her harm.

He threw on his hooded demi-cloak and set out towards the village with a tin candle-lantern.

***********

When Arkis returned hours later, Lu was still sleeping soundly, her covered form basking in the warmth of red coals. Arkis put more flame-food in the hearth, then seated himself in a chair beside his single shutter window, and watched to make sure no one had followed him.

Lu awoke in the light of dawn. She became startled, forgetting where she was. She had never slept anywhere besides her mountaintop. She sat up and looked around, then saw Arkis sleeping in a chair by the window, and remembered. She got up and approached him. He had rested his head against the window frame. She beheld his sleeping face, studying it. There were lines across his features, subtle crinkles in his skin that suggested the prevailing expressions he made. He seemed to her a man marked by grief, and she wondered why he lived alone.

She did not want to startle him, so she backed away before speaking: "Arkis?"

Arkis had been sleeping lightly, and he awoke at hearing his name. He righted himself in his seat.

"Igniad," he addressed in a formal manner.

"Lu," she corrected.

"Ah. Forgive me. Lu. You slept well?"

"Yes. Thank you for giving me shelter." She put one hand over her belly, which ached with hunger. Then she remembered that she was pregnant, and a mix of feelings overwhelmed her. She sat down on the dirt floor, beholding her own body, smudged with dirt and ash and grime, and tried to hold back the sobs.

"What is the matter?" Arkis quickly asked, coming to kneel beside her. He almost put a hand on her shoulder, but feared touching her.

"I...I'm hungry," she said, truthfully.

"Oh. What, um, what is it you eat?"

"I like fruit, nuts, things that nature offers to eat."

Arkis prepared a bowl of dried fruit and toasted walnuts from his larder, and gave it to Lu. She ate with a speed that betrayed her state of hunger.

"I went into the village last night," he said, "while you slept. I told no one of your presence, but I asked about the druid you seek. They say he passed through a fortnight ago."

Lu raised her gaze from her food hopefully.

"Du vu koe wur ee ent?" Lu asked hurriedly with chewed fruit and nuts puffing her cheeks. A smile came to Arkis' chapped lips.

"Indeed I do. Eat, and I will take you there."

***********

After they had both eaten, Arkis took down his hunting bow and quiver from the wall, and prepared for the journey. He packed light, as a hunter would, and took special care tucking away a small bag that was hidden in his bedding. He offered her his cloak, but she politely declined. She explained that when she was awake, she tended to accidentally set things on fire. Arkis gave her a wary look, then held the door open for her, and led the way once outside.

As they began down the trail from the cottage, Lu told the story of how the witch-queen had stolen her mountain.

"The witch-queen?" Arkis asked, whirling around to look at her. "Is this the truth?"

Lu nodded.

"The dread witch of the North..." Arkis gritted, gripping his bow tightly, "...on that mountain. This is very bad. We must make haste."

With Arkis as guide, they kept off the main trails. Lu had no trouble keeping up with him, which was a quick pace, despite the rough terrain. They traveled till dusk, when Arkis brought her to a sheltered nook under a slab of stone in a forested canyon, and built an orderly stack of twigs and sticks for a campfire.

"Here, let me," Lu said, and knelt down beside him. She laid her hand over the stack and blew air through puckered lips. A flame wafted forth from her hand and flared at her breath, setting the twigs ablaze. She removed her hand and smiled at Arkis, who raised his eyebrows.

"By the Treelord," he remarked, "magic is a wondrous thing. I admit, I always feared your power...." he paused, and looked at her uneasy, seemingly searching for the right words. "I mean that in a manner of respect."

"Why are you helping me?" Lu asked blatantly, and tried to extend a mental link to him. She could feel his emotions roughly, as if he were more guarded than before. She felt something that she could only attribute to guilt.

"If Evalyn possesses the powers you described and has taken your mountain, then everyone is at risk. She is dangerous and has many followers."

"But you agreed to help me before you knew that."

"Yes, well...you had said that you were driven from your fire-peak. What manner of man would I be if I refused to help you?"

Lu felt his quelled fear and guilt under the surface, but supposed that he was afraid that she would have been angry had he refused to help her. She had not counted on fear to work in her favor, and felt a little guilty herself that her reputation might have coerced him.

She felt the pain of loss in his heart, and sat down, leaning against him. She focused on a gentle warmth that reflected the gratitude and compassion she felt for him, confident that it would not burn him. Arkis took a breath, and put his arm around her shoulders. He seemed to relax some.

"Why are you so lonely?" Lu asked him.

Arkis told her. He told her the story of how he met his woman, that they became wealthy, though he skipped over exactly how. Before she could ask about it, he went on to tell how they had a child, raised him, then lost their son to war. He told of how his woman became depressed after the loss of their only child, how she became sick, and eventually died. He had spent much of his fortune trying to cure her, to no avail. After that, he realized his wealth could not make him happy. Ever since he had lived simply and hunted alone.

Lu fell asleep, cuddled against Arkis. He draped his cloak around her, and, still in his sitting position, fell into a light slumber until dawn. The next day, Lu was careful to control her power and skipped across the ground in spots least likely to catch fire, but her elemental fire seemed to be subdued, and was getting weaker the further they traveled. They made good time, and by sunset had arrived at last at the edge of the glyphwood forest.

Large trees seemed to be marked with elegant glyphs, such was the way that their bark swirled and knotted. The forest floor was faintly lit in the shadows by multi-colored, luminescent fungus that had begun to glow with the onset of night.

"We are almost there," Arkis said. The trail they followed was little more than an animal trail amongst hundreds of others. Lu trusted Arkis to know the way, and became blissfully lost in the thought of seeing Gern again. Suddenly, Arkis stopped, and she almost bumped into him.

"Arkis?" Lu asked.

He did not answer, and his eyes swept across the area, watercolored with twilight and bioluminescence. He stood up straight and raised his bow above his head.

"I am Arkis," he called out, "of Silverwood! The igniad with me seeks Gern!"

After a moment, two hooded figures emerged from the screen of the forest. Their garments were simple cloth and leathers, and Lu thought the figure on the right looked feminine. The strangers looked at one another, their expressions hidden, then looked back to Arkis.

"Come with us," the one on the left commanded, his voice baritone and masculine. Lu and Arkis followed the figures, and were led to a large village built against -- and up -- a dark stone bluff. The buildings below were stone with thickly thatched roofs; above they were carved out of the stone of the cliff, their facades carved with scenes depicting plants, animals, sex, birth, battle, death, and other forces of nature. An imposing building stood out above the rest, extending out from the bottom of the stone bluff, its size and ornate nature intended to be both beautiful and intimidating.

The two hooded figures jogged ahead through the open palisade gateway and into the ornate building. Arkis and Lu came onto the main thoroughfare in the village, and immediately drew attention. Most of the attention was directed at Lu.

Lu looked around at the throng of people accumulating at a cautious distance. She saw how the women were dressed in clothing ranging from elaborate to rustic, in robes, dresses, or breeches. She saw how in contrast to her own, the women all had their breasts covered. She thought it might put them more at ease if she mimicked them, and slid her hands over herself, conjuring a dress of flame. It took considerably more mental effort than she was used to.

She was confused when arrows were notched and pointed at her when her body became smeared in fire. Arkis stepped in front of her and held out his arms to both protect her and show submission.

"She means no harm!" Arkis announced firmly.

"Lower your bows!" A familiar voice shouted from beyond the crowd. Lu knew it to be Gern.

"Gern!" Lu called out.

The crowd parted for Gern's advance. He was dressed in a his leather kilt, and though it had only been a little more than half of a moon's cycle, he embraced her in a hug that made them both feel as if they had not seen each other in years. His stubble-rough cheek rubbed against hers. The flames of Lu's dress were snuffed out where their bodies touched, but the rest of her fiery attire glowed a pinkish red and wafted leisurely, as if their embrace slowed time around them. The crowd murmured in astonishment.

"So it's true," one man remarked.

"I did not believe it," a woman admitted.

"I told you," a soot-smudged man asserted, "Gern speaks no lies! All that he claimed was true!"

Gern ended the embrace and looked in her eyes, said: "Lu, what are you doing here? You left your grove?"

"Gern..." Lu began, trauma surfacing in her voice, "it's Evalyn. She's back."

***********

A council meeting was held in Glyphwood Hall. Torches lined the stone walls, and massive, carved tree-trunks supported the roof. The rafters were made from bundled spears, which were so numerous that it could have equipped an army.

Lu stood before the council and explained what had happened, leaving out the part about her being pregnant and Evalyn's intentions for the child. After she had finished, stern faces hung over the stone table. There were as many women as men, of varying age, but all apparently above thirty. Arkis leaned against a stone column nearby.

"How could this happen?" Asked one elderly man dressed in green robes. "We just celebrated the death of that accursed witch, and now she controls a crystal grove?"

"I warned you, Ongus," a middle-aged woman remarked. "I advised us to wait to confirm that she was dead based on the actions of her followers."

"Does Nualla doubt the word of Gern?" Ongus reprimanded.

"But she really was dead!" Lu interjected defensively.

"I never doubted the truth of Gern's tale," Nualla retorted. "I meant that we should be vigilant for her return, and now you should see the wisdom of my advice. The witch-queen did not rule the frozen north for generations because the cold preserved her flesh."

"Baleful magic has brought her back from the dead," Gern said grimly.

Lu cast her eyes down, feeling shame that she played a part, however unwilling, in the magic that returned Evalyn to mortal form.

"What happens next?" Another councilman asked open-endedly.

"The witch will gather her armies," Nualla said. "A forward legion will likely already have been dispatched in a forced march to secure the mountain pass to the fire-peak."

"We have thwarted her schemes before," Ongus said, rubbing his white stubble. We can cut off her supply lines. Starve her armies."

"It's different this time," Gern declared. "That mountain will provide her with enough magic crystals to equip her forces with protections and enchantments that will make each warrior count for a hundred. It also makes her wealthy enough to hire every mercenary in the world. The longer we wait, the more powerful she will become."

"Then we must send messengers to the other tribes," Ongus asserted. "We will call a summit to be held here so we can elect a marshal for our forces."

Lu tried to hold back the tears of torment at the knowledge that her trees were being broken and corrupted. At once sad and angry, she excused herself from the assembly, and padded over the flagstones to the arched exit. Arkis came after her.

"Are you alright?" Arkis asked.

"I will be well, Arkis," she responded tensely, "thank you."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"You have done much for me already." She turned to face him. "I appreciate that you care. I am just...overwhelmed." Just then, Gern came out to check on her. He and Arkis locked eyes.

"I am grateful to you for bringing her to me, ranger. There is no further need for you to remain."

"I am grateful for your hospitality, Archdruid Gern," Arkis said in a measured tone. "I shall remain to help as I can...if I am not unwelcome."