Original: To Fire It Shall Return

Chapter 6

Their arrival was met with a cheer as the badlanders of Kaladar streamed out of the buildings, surrounding them. One pair cheered despite tear-streaked faces. Only an hour before, they had delivered their son to the tower. Kelden greeted this news with hidden relief. If the Dark Knight was still receiving children, that meant that it hadn't left at the same time as the last one. They wasted no time dispersing the crowd and making their way to the tower.

The tower, as always, stood silent and forbidding against the twilight sky. They moved over to it as quickly as they could, their hearts pounding as images of what may have happened to the children flashed across their eyes. They rushed up the stairs, their sandled and slippered feet making only soft slapping sounds which nonetheless seemed magnified a hundred times until the sound was an irregular thunder that assaulted their ears. Over the deafening noise, the wail of a frightened child rose and fell, spurring them onward.

Breathing heavily, Kelden again repeated his rolling dive into the upper room, but again, the Knight was nowhere to be seen. A single badlander child sat huddled in a corner, sobbing, his eyes puffy and red from tears of fright. The Knight was long gone, and there was no sign that it intended to return. Alainna moved over to the child, making soothing noises that, with the aid of The Touch, so named because it was a calming, magic spell communicated through contact, quickly reduced the cries to whimpers and then to nothing.

Kelden realized that the Knight had probably left at the same time as the last one, but the village hadn't known. The poor parents of this child had delivered him into the hands of death - when there had been no one here to receive him. Most likely, when they had defeated the first Knight, a message had gone out, warning the others. They had caught the second one before it had left, but this one had had lots of time to make its escape.

Alainna picked up the child, only five or six years old, and began to carry him down the stairs. The others followed, but Kelden had a bad taste in his mouth; they had lost a total of seventy-four children now, and they still had no idea why they had been taken or where they had gone. Kelden's certainty crystallize in his heart. They would waste no time in heading for the Black Wizard's fortress. Horses or no Horses, they would confront him, and find out if he was behind this. If he was, he would personally complete the job that Alainna had begun, one hundred years ago.

After taking the child to his understandably overjoyed parents, and delivering the bad news to the rest of the village, the five of them gathered in front of the tower. The quickly waning moon still cast enough light to allow them to see each other.

"We must make our way to the Black Wizard's fortress as quickly as possible, without Horses," said Alainna. Norath started to shake her head, but the Sorceress arrested the motion with a glare. "It will take about a week to get there from here. I'll send Sharra to the Guildhall for new Horses, but I have no confidence that she will make it back with them before we get there. We wouldn't be able to get within three days' walk of the fortress without Koldar detecting us, so we'll actually be gaining time, not losing." Kelden nodded as if he had been expecting this. Lelahn inspected her hands with studied indifference, as if she didn't care how they got there, so long as they did. Norath was still looking doubtful.

"But Sorceress, the ground is dangerous. It would be much safer to wait."

"I know Norath, and thank you for your concern, but we have a great deal of power at our disposal to protect us. We have no choice. Seventy-four children are waiting for us to save them."

She turned her attention on Sharra, ignoring the others for a moment,

"All right love. Hurry. If you get back early, I'll let you know when it's safe to approach. I'll try not to cast any complicated spells that I'll need your help for without warning you first."

"I appreciate that." The smile in Sharra's mental voice was evident. She took off from Alainna's shoulder without another word, pushing great sweeps of air behind her with her gleaming white wings. Alainna stepped forward, moving toward the badlanders. She took one of each of their hands in her own,

"Thank you, both of you, for your help. I'm sorry we couldn't do more to help you. I promise we will do everything we can to recover your lost children." She released their hands and the diplomatic, reserved look in her eyes vanished, replaced by a friendly concern. "Will you be able to make it back to Garothan safely?"

"Yes," said Norath, "We have something that will get us back safely and quickly." Alainna was looking at Norath, Lelahn was still engrossed in her knuckles, and Kelden was following was following Sharra's progress, so no one saw the shadow pass across Ferris' face. "You are going south, correct?" asked Norath.

"Yes, to the Black Wizard's fortress."

"You may see The Lady, then. She is silent, but beware of her. The people of this city believe she can be vengeful."

Alainna looked thoughtful, "Will she attack us?"

Norath chuckled, "No, of course not. But she carries a terrible sickness that will burn you from the inside out."

Alainna looked perplexed, "Well, we'll be careful. Thank you." She paused, "Is there anything else?"

"Not that I know of." Norath shook her head, "Things change quickly in the wilderness."

"Then we should leave. There's no use delaying our departure just because it's dark. Be sure to come to me again if you ever need help."

The three travelers hefted the bags that had survived the battle in the forest and departed, heading due south, toward the Black Wizard's fortress. When they had disappeared into the dark forest that lay beyond the village, the citizens of Kaladar came out of their buildings, gathering in a semi-circle around Norath and Ferris, and blocked their entry into the village proper. They moved silently, like misshapen wraiths, the mass of the crowd growing like a cancerous tumour. Their eyes were blank and their faces, granite. Ferris' gaze flitted from face to face nervously. The crowd continued to grow, and still Norath and Ferris stood their ground. Unrest flickered like a growing flame.

One person, an anonymous, faceless woman in the crowd shouted, "Get home Garothan!" That broke the spell of silence, and a murmur of agreement ebbed through the mob.

"Gladly," said Norath calmly, just loudly enough to be heard. "May we use your Vanisher so we can oblige you?" The crowd parted, allowing the two intruders to make their way toward the centre of the village. The crowd closed behind them and followed as they approached the firepit. Norath called out the ancient words, her voice ringing with an authority that made an uncomfortable ripple run through the crowd at her back. "Open. Enable." A sigh rose up as a loud hum began to drown out the murmur of the crowd. The firepit moved aside, sliding on invisible runners to reveal a gaping hole. Stairs led down into the black pit. This was the Badlands' greatest secret, held for millennia due to the certainty that if Normals knew, they would end their enforced solitude as prejudice was overridden by the need to possess. Norath moved forward reverently before the firepit had even stopped moving and descended the stairs.

They reached the bottom, and the door above clanged shut. As the sound rang through the space, the hum reached a fever pitch and the lights came on. White, garish light glowed from behind clear panels in the ceiling and boxes on the floor came alive with blinking lights of every colour imaginable. A platform beyond the boxes glowed from lights underneath. Norath stepped onto the platform, which was easily large enough to hold ten people.

Ferris stepped up to one of the boxes, which just reached his waist in height. He pressed on small squares with his fingers with quick, darting movements. The squares had strange symbols on them and he pressed eight of them in a pattern that he had been taught since birth meant 'Garothan', though he didn't know why. He pressed a red button and quickly moved around the box and onto the platform. After a moment, both badlanders vanished, heading home.

At that crucial instant, the ancient console, a relic from a time long forgotten, allowed a single speck of dust to breach its carefully constructed defenses. The speck of dust floated into the power stream and was instantly vapourized, but the bright beam flickered slightly. The variation was slight, but noticeable.

The lights went out.

The forest closed in around Lelahn, Kelden and Alainna. The trees were strange giants with thin, twitching limbs that seemed to shake and shiver in the anticipation of tearing at their clothes, ripping them into shreds, and rending the strangers to the bone. The birds had fallen silent and the ground crunched like ice under their thin sandled feet, despite the southerly warmth of the air. They had come very far south over the course of this voyage, leaving the snows of the Anata behind, and even in October the air was comfortable, even warm. As they walked, Lelahn moved abreast of Kelden and Alainna. The sparseness of the forest made this possible, as long as one was not opposed to dodging trees every once in a while.

"What's this Guild you keep mentioning?" she asked suddenly. An uncomfortable look passed between Kelden and Alainna. Lelahn picked up on it and her interest grew, "What is it? You keep talking about it, but I've never heard of any Guild."

"Well," Alainna sighed, "I guess there's no harm in telling you. It's the organization of good wizards and sorceresses. At least, the White Guild is. There is also a Black Guild that is run by Koldar. The members of the White Guild meet periodically to discuss what's happening in the mortal world and how to solve any problems that have arisen since the last meeting. Isak and Chenam will be Presiding for another ten years or so." Kelden wasn't looking at them, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. It was a long-standing custom never to tell the mortals the details of the life of a sorceress.

Lelahn was growing excited, "You mean you don't rule alone?"

Alainna laughed, "Oh no, I'm really sort of a figurehead, except all decisions need my final consent. Certainly I couldn't hope to make informed decisions without people like Kelden."

Lelahn's eyes narrowed slightly, "What does Kelden do?"

"He poses as a mortal and lives in Koranna. He lets me know if there's anything wrong there. We have a wizard or sorceress in every town in Anata."

Kelden grinned, beginning to warm up to the subject, "I'm kind of a spy." I should have known, thought Lelahn coldly.

Alainna turned to Kelden, a light of amusement transforming her face, "Remember when Isak was first campaigning as a Presider?"

Kelden nodded, "Yes, he was such a blustering fool then; it's a miracle he got any votes at all."

"Do you remember when he insulted his opponent, Dorrana?"

"Yeah, that was a long time ago. He sure was a persistent little bastard." Despite herself, Lelahn was beginning to feel a smile stretch her face.

"What happened when he insulted Dorrana?" asked Lelahn.

"He insulted Dorrana while giving a speech; said she was a superficial girl who didn't know ice from fire or some other nonsense. He wasn't specifically referring to her, but we all knew who he was talking about. When she go up to give her speech, she stepped on his toes as they passed each other," said Alainna

Kelden broke in, his enthusiasm reducing the wise light in his face to that of a child. "It started this war between them. Even after Dorrana was elected as Presider, they would still throw insults, trip each other, and generally try to humiliate each other at every opportunity."

Alainna resumed the story, "Fifteen years later, they were still at it. The elections were coming up again so we were going to have a week-long meeting to campaign, and Isak wanted to really get her. So, he went to the meeting and - ignored her. The entire time, she insulted him, and he didn't respond. He never once tried to trip her or insult her. By the end of the week, she was so nervous she could hardly speak. She mumbled her way through her speech, and then crept away like a mouse, expecting Isak's masterpiece humiliation to fall from the sky any moment.

"Of course, we had no idea what was going on and when they counted the votes, he had won. When he had made his acceptance speech - the usual self-serving arrogance - he said 'I just won in this election because I didn't do anything, and that is the best practical joke of all!'"

"What a bastard!" Lelahn exclaimed.

Alainna smiled, "Yeah, but then Yannic, the man who had counted the votes stood up and informed everyone, while Isak stood there on the platform looking like an idiot and an absolute jerk, that Dorrana had told him to miscount the votes and she had actually won. Isak had to get a two month suspension to cool down." Lelahn couldn't help but laugh at the image.

"He's mellowed a little since though," added Kelden. He raised a hand, holding finger and thumb a centimetre apart, "A very little."

The rest of the night was uneventful, and hours later, as the reddish glow of dawn began to drive the shadow away, the travelers stopped under a tree to sleep until the next night.

After a time, the bright, sleep-destroying sunlight deepened to a reddish hue as the sun sank toward the horizon. The night-birds came out and shattered the blissful silence with loud chirps and whistles. At the first call of the night, Kelden's eyes popped open, his lithe, muscular body stiffened in surprise. Alainna, whose body was just close enough to brush his with light silk softness felt him move and opened her eyes, rolling over to look at him. He sat up and she stared up at him, so innocently, unconsciously sexy. He forced himself to look away, into the darkness, lest his expression betray the pain he was feeling. Would he never get over this silly attraction? Three-hundred years of this and he still hadn't learned. After a beat, she spoke, her soft voice cutting through his carefully-tended defenses.

"What is it?" A simple question, but his mind was so clouded with unrequited love that he could hardly frame the words to answer her. He swallowed firmly, pushing the feelings back, as he always did, and forced his mouth to move.

"I don't know, I guess those birds just startled me. It's easy to get jumpy in this place."

"I know," she said, sitting up beside him and smiling into his face. A moment later, Lelahn sat up as well.

"I'm thirsty," she remarked, and got smoothly to her feet. Kelden stretched, working out the kinks in his back that had developed over the days of sleeping on unforgiving surfaces and marveled at Lelahn's ease of movement. I suppose she's used to it, after five years, he thought, not without a twinge of sorrow. She moved over to the packs and opened one, looking for the canteen. As she did so, Kelden saw a huge black shape rise up in the shadows beyond her. His body was moving before his mind had even fully registered what was happening. He leapt to his feet, stiffness forgotten, and charged toward her. He bore her down, landing square on top of her as knife-sharp claws swiped through the space where she had just been. She fought him, screaming and biting, drawing blood, but he didn't have time to notice. He turned his attention on the monstrous shape and it burst into flames. He grabbed ahold of Lelahn's hands before her fingernails could bury themselves into his eyes and tried his best to shield her from the intense heat. The flames illuminated the entire area and he caught an impression of a long snake-like neck and hooves beating a rapid rhythm on the ground as the monster - easily the height of a tree - tapped out its death throes. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.

A moment later, the creature collapsed on the ground, still flaming, and was motionless. Kelden got to his feet, examining the back of his left hand, which was bleeding sluggishly from a crescent-shaped bite mark. Lelahn was very quiet; the biting, screaming animal was gone. He looked down at her concernedly, afraid he had hurt her. She lay on the ground, staring blankly up at the star-filled sky. Kelden pursed his lips, not knowing what to do. He got down on one knee and leaned over her, trying to get into her line of sight. She didn't move, not even to avoid his gaze.

"Uh, Lelahn?" he said tentatively. "I'm sorry I had to do that, but I had to protect you from the fire. You okay, kid?" No response. Alainna moved over toward them, but Kelden waved her back. I broke it, I'm going to fix it, he thought determinedly. He tried again to get a response. "Lelahn, I'm not the Black Wizard. Do you understand me? I'm the one who helped Alainna to defeat him all those years ago. Just because I happen to look a little like him, doesn't mean I deserve to be treated like him," he sighed, sitting back a little, "We are going to his fortress now, you know that. And when we get there, I'm going to do my best to kill him. I'm going to help you kill him. Do you think I would do that if I was in league with him, or whatever it is you think I am?" He laid a tentative hand on her shoulder, ready to pull it back instantly if she showed any sign that she didn't want it there. She didn't move, not a muscle in her face twitched. She may as well have been dead if it weren't for the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. "What can I do to convince you that I'm not the enemy?" he asked her hopelessly. Karim chirped quietly in his place in the branches of a nearby tree.

Give it up. You tried. This just isn't your specialty. Let the mother, mother, he said.

You're right, I guess. I just don't want her to hate me. I saved her life, for magic's sake! He walked slowly away from Lelahn, allowing Alainna to move in. She spoke in low tones to the girl, who finally shifted as Kelden sat down on the cold ground, a few metres away. That was when the others attacked.

Ferris groaned, and sat up painfully. All of his joints seemed to be on fire. He looked around in surprise into the darkness surrounding them, the sun was just beginning to hoist itself over the horizon. Not only had the teleporter knocked them unconscious, but he was at least a day's travel north of Garothan. Luckily he had done a lot of exploring in his younger days, before a close brush with a Longneck made him think twice about the wisdom of going beyond the boundaries of the city. As it was, he recognized the place and knew how to get home. Now if he could only get there before they were attacked and killed…

Norath was sleeping peacefully on the ground, and Ferris leaned over her, gently shaking her awake. She moaned. "What happened? Where are we?" she mumbled groggily.

"About a day north of Garothan, almost beyond the border to Anata. I guess the teleporter made a mistake."

"How can that be?"

Ferris shrugged sadly, "They're from The Time Before. We don't know how old they are. Maybe they're finally breaking down." Norath struggled into a sitting position, concealing the pain she was feeling, as usual. Ferris smiled fondly, she was always so strong, a perfect balance for his timidity.

"I hope not. How will we get from City to City without them?"

"I don't know. Let's discuss this with the Chief when we get back. For now, we should leave here as soon as we can. Can you walk?"

"Of course," said Norath as she got to her feet. Ferris accepted the proffered hand and got to his feet as well, smoothing his fur automatically with a few swipes of his hand. They began walking south, the pain of each step diminishing slowly.

Three more of the huge creatures burst from the trees encircling the clearing, black shapes moving against black foliage. The first creature was still burning brightly, which helped Kelden to see the other creatures as they moved in and out of the circle of light. They were big, at least twice the size of a horse. Their skin was cracked and rough, and a small, triangular head perched on top of a long, slender neck. Long, dagger-sharp claws that protruded from giant hooves gripped the soft earth. Except for the claws, they didn't look like normal predators - too clumsy looking. The smell of burning flesh, however, seemed to madden the creatures, who danced around, snorting and roaring. Lelahn drew her short sword and rushed at one of the creatures, her boots pounding on the springy grass of the clearing. Kelden had just leapt to his feet and pointed at that creature, sending his fire magic at it, when he noticed Lelahn. Just before the creature burst into flames and incinerated her as well, he moved his hand slightly, pointing at her. A red strand of energy leapt out of the tip of his finger and wrapped around her waist, then it retracted, pulling her out of the way as the monster expired noisily. She was pulled off her feet by the force of Kelden's magic, and flew through the air into Kelden's arms. One of the creatures froze in place as Alainna's magic found their mark, and thankfully, didn't explode.

Kelden supported Lelahn, who was trembling violently, as he pointed at the final creature, who also burst into flame. The smell of burning flesh was overpowering, and the entire clearing was now brightly lit. No other monsters disturbed the circle of trees.

Kelden released the tight hold he had around Lelahn's waist and stepped back. She stood unmoving, glaring at him. He gazed at her helplessly, not knowing how to handle this, any more than he had before.

"Lelahn," he began, raising his hands, palm upward, to indicate surrender. "I don't know what to do about this. I know he hurt you, and I don't blame you for having this reaction to me, but we are going to have to get along. We may be together for a while yet, and I don't want this to continue." He took a breath, gauging her reaction. She stared at his hands in contempt. He was distantly aware of Alainna moving toward them, of Karim climbing up his leg, headed for his shoulder, but he ignored them. "Is there nothing I can do to get you to trust me? I just saved your life twice in less than five minutes and you're still looking at me like that." He put on the most wide-eyed, pleading look he could muster, but Lelahn just turned and walked away, as if he hadn't said a word.

She ignored even Alainna's outstretched hand and went back to the bags, where she proceeded to root through them again, finally producing a canteen. Alainna looked after her a moment, and then moved to a position beside Kelden, who was still looking at Lelahn, a pained look on his face. She slipped her delicate hand into his larger one, prompting him to come out of his reverie and look down at her. Again, the feeling of her soft flesh against his excited him - even though it was just her hand. She looked up at him, a single streak of soot marring the perfect whiteness of her forehead. Kelden longed to rub it off, kiss it off, something, but he restrained himself. She smiled reassuringly.

"Kelden, it's not your fault, and there is really nothing we can do about it. She has gone through an incredible trauma at the hands of that man." The word was nearly spit from her mouth, as if he didn't even deserve the honour of being human. "She has only been away from him for a few days, and now she is going back there, it's only natural that she react the way she is. Just give her some time, and a lot of space."

Kelden sighed. "I'll try, but I reserve the right to save her life again in the future."

"I'll agree to that." Alainna smiled, "I'm sure she didn't really mind that part." She leaned against him familiarly, keeping a watchful eye on Lelahn. Kelden looked around the clearing, wrinkling his nose.

"In any event, we should vacate this area. The smell is giving me a headache."

"Agreed," said Alainna, "but I'll suggest it to Lelahn. At this point I'm afraid she'll just refuse any suggestion you make out of principle."

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