Narim didn't need Nassai to return with confirmation of Mallora's arrival. Shortly after the girl arrived with the news Narim felt a strange buzzing in his mind. He was sure it was simply a headache from the long and rigorous training that day but as he lay down to sleep his mind opened more fully and he heard a voice from a long forgotten past.
"Narim are you out there somewhere?" It was Mallora, but her voice was not the once happy voice he had loved in his youth. Her voice was weary and frightened. He could hear the rigors of searching and battle in her voice, making him afraid to even respond at first. Would it be easier for her if she never knew I was here? he thought to himself briefly. Joy, however, overrode his fear and he reached out to her.
"Mallora, Blessed Mother it's you!" he almost cried aloud. "I've missed you terribly."
"Na--" he heard little else. He could feel a wave of relief wash through him emitted from the dungeon below. She was there, it was his Mallora. Without thinking he leapt from his and made his way to the bowels of the keep. He made it in front of her cell and met with her tear-filled eyes before he was torn away by the guards.
"I will find a way to get you out of here and we can be free from this place." Mallora called to him as he was thrust back to his room. His roommates barely turned over before resuming their dreamsongs as Narim tumbled into his bed and sat dumbly.
"I should be the one saying this to you. My beloved Mallora... " Narim wouldn't cry. If it was the only thing he learned from this place it was that his sadness didn't affect just him. He forced himself into stoicism, allowing rational thought to return to him.
"I'm Mallora the Great, remember? We used to play that game all the time in the forest." A tear tracked down his cheek despite all his efforts to calm himself.
" And I am Narim the Brave."
"And how brave you've grown. You're just like a little man these days. They've strengthened you here in ways I never could have. Perhaps this has been a blessing."
"Will you sing that old song to me, the one you said Jawn taught you?"
A voice of silver permeated his tired mind, easing him into sleep.
Si ere e ya toli
Massa ni e ya toli
Cari Duharett ni soh
Manda toli na
Hillsindry e ya
Mori cari da
Manda toli na
Narim woke to the tolling of bells, signifying a trial would begin soon. A shiver ran through him as if he knew for sure Mallora would be tested today. He was almost sure she would defeat whatever challenger she faced, she was Mallora the Great afterall, but it still gave him chills to think of the alternate possibilities.
Narim raced down the halls in search of Sidgal Tun, finally finding him on his way back from the Admiral's study.
"I have tried to stall Mallora's trial, but it seems I've made it worse instead of better. Those bells toll for her I'm afraid."
"I want to see the trial." Narim replied flatly. Never before had he asked to attend a trial and Sidgal wondered what it was about this one that made him so edgy. As they made their way to the trial hall, narim's steps grew more rigid. He knew something, something that was going to happen.
"What do you see, boy?" Sidgal asked.
"Lies, everyone here lies. Even you have lied to me before. But this lie, the one the Admiral will speak will be the greatest lie of all."
So it begins, Sidgal thought, now that he sees everything as it really is he will no longer be the boy I've hoped to keep him as.
People crowded around them, stretching to see the candidates below. Narim, peering through the gauze of a tall woman's gown, saw the tiny form Mallora once inhabitied. How small she looked down there, he thought. He saw gimmers of what was to come. Mallora would face up to a boy of almost 14 winters and strike him down but now before taking a blade across her cheek, marring her beautiful face.
Sure as he saw it, he could make out the figure of a tall boy swinging the rusted longsword. Mallora, armed with the bow and sling of worn arrows, masterfully dodge his close range attacks. Something about the way she moved struck Narim as unnatural. He had been trying since he woke to communicate with her, but she'd closed herself from him. Now, however, he felt the strong need to tell her how she looked from his vantage point. Her movements were giving her away.
The battle finished, just as he had seen. She felled her opponent with an arrow in the throat but not before he gave one last lash with his sword and caught her across the face. As she stood, trembling, holding her cheek with a bloodstained hand, Three War Dogs moved away from the admiral's viewing box and into the ring. Mallora sensed danger and attempted to run from the hall only to be held back by the cheering spectators.
What are they doing?" Narim asked Sidgal in a harsh whisper. His heart leapt in fear. He suddenly realized that his beloved Mallora had been discovered and the admiral wanted her hide.
"FLY!" Narim bellowed so loudly those around them flinched and covered their ears. He was unsure if she had heard him but all the same she began to morph as she dodged the attacks of the soldiers. The crowd gasped as she made a giant leap into the air, spread her wings and circled the hall. THis was the Mallora Narim had spent so many nights dreaming of, her golden mane and tail gleaming in the torchlight. The beautiful equidan's wings pushed air over the crowd, mussing hair and blowing away hats as she passed over them. She finally spotted a window and rose steeply to meet it just as a single poisoned bolt found it's way into her heart.
Narim, bound to his Mallora, sank with her to the ground. He felt the sensation of poison coursing through his body, burning in his veins like the hottest fires of Auurach. His muscles clenched and shivered, teeth grinding against the immobilizing pain. He then felt a cold blade runing along the back of his neck. He knew it wasn't his own neck he felt. She was being skinned alive.
He couldn't hear her, although he could feel the pain from her. He tried to reach out to comfort her as they shared the agony of the blade tearing away skin from flesh. Suddenly he heard a faint humming. Mallora sang the lullaby softly to him, her life ebbing away with each note.
Narim roiled in pain. Mallora's death was too difficult to contain. Sidgal held him upright, protecting him from being crushed by the panicked crowd, holding Narim's pain in with the strongest of his "tarik" powers. One day Narim would learn he was not a real Tarik, just another healer well versed in the energetic arts. Narim's flesh felt cold one moment, and blazed hotly the next. Slowly, Sidgal turned to the gruesome scene below. As the dead equidan's horn was displayed by one of the war dogs, the equidan burst into hot white flames. The soldiers, the hide, the equidan. All were lost in the blaze. Sidgal didn't have to wonder how it happened. As he carried his student away from the chaos of the hall, he saw white flames dancing in the boy's glassy eyes.
Sidgal muttered under his breath as he nodded to a slackjawed Nassai rushing to them.
"Farsden Keep has made a terrible enemy. May the Great Mother have mercy on them all."
"Narim are you out there somewhere?" It was Mallora, but her voice was not the once happy voice he had loved in his youth. Her voice was weary and frightened. He could hear the rigors of searching and battle in her voice, making him afraid to even respond at first. Would it be easier for her if she never knew I was here? he thought to himself briefly. Joy, however, overrode his fear and he reached out to her.
"Mallora, Blessed Mother it's you!" he almost cried aloud. "I've missed you terribly."
"Na--" he heard little else. He could feel a wave of relief wash through him emitted from the dungeon below. She was there, it was his Mallora. Without thinking he leapt from his and made his way to the bowels of the keep. He made it in front of her cell and met with her tear-filled eyes before he was torn away by the guards.
"I will find a way to get you out of here and we can be free from this place." Mallora called to him as he was thrust back to his room. His roommates barely turned over before resuming their dreamsongs as Narim tumbled into his bed and sat dumbly.
"I should be the one saying this to you. My beloved Mallora... " Narim wouldn't cry. If it was the only thing he learned from this place it was that his sadness didn't affect just him. He forced himself into stoicism, allowing rational thought to return to him.
"I'm Mallora the Great, remember? We used to play that game all the time in the forest." A tear tracked down his cheek despite all his efforts to calm himself.
" And I am Narim the Brave."
"And how brave you've grown. You're just like a little man these days. They've strengthened you here in ways I never could have. Perhaps this has been a blessing."
"Will you sing that old song to me, the one you said Jawn taught you?"
A voice of silver permeated his tired mind, easing him into sleep.
Si ere e ya toli
Massa ni e ya toli
Cari Duharett ni soh
Manda toli na
Hillsindry e ya
Mori cari da
Manda toli na
Narim woke to the tolling of bells, signifying a trial would begin soon. A shiver ran through him as if he knew for sure Mallora would be tested today. He was almost sure she would defeat whatever challenger she faced, she was Mallora the Great afterall, but it still gave him chills to think of the alternate possibilities.
Narim raced down the halls in search of Sidgal Tun, finally finding him on his way back from the Admiral's study.
"I have tried to stall Mallora's trial, but it seems I've made it worse instead of better. Those bells toll for her I'm afraid."
"I want to see the trial." Narim replied flatly. Never before had he asked to attend a trial and Sidgal wondered what it was about this one that made him so edgy. As they made their way to the trial hall, narim's steps grew more rigid. He knew something, something that was going to happen.
"What do you see, boy?" Sidgal asked.
"Lies, everyone here lies. Even you have lied to me before. But this lie, the one the Admiral will speak will be the greatest lie of all."
So it begins, Sidgal thought, now that he sees everything as it really is he will no longer be the boy I've hoped to keep him as.
People crowded around them, stretching to see the candidates below. Narim, peering through the gauze of a tall woman's gown, saw the tiny form Mallora once inhabitied. How small she looked down there, he thought. He saw gimmers of what was to come. Mallora would face up to a boy of almost 14 winters and strike him down but now before taking a blade across her cheek, marring her beautiful face.
Sure as he saw it, he could make out the figure of a tall boy swinging the rusted longsword. Mallora, armed with the bow and sling of worn arrows, masterfully dodge his close range attacks. Something about the way she moved struck Narim as unnatural. He had been trying since he woke to communicate with her, but she'd closed herself from him. Now, however, he felt the strong need to tell her how she looked from his vantage point. Her movements were giving her away.
The battle finished, just as he had seen. She felled her opponent with an arrow in the throat but not before he gave one last lash with his sword and caught her across the face. As she stood, trembling, holding her cheek with a bloodstained hand, Three War Dogs moved away from the admiral's viewing box and into the ring. Mallora sensed danger and attempted to run from the hall only to be held back by the cheering spectators.
What are they doing?" Narim asked Sidgal in a harsh whisper. His heart leapt in fear. He suddenly realized that his beloved Mallora had been discovered and the admiral wanted her hide.
"FLY!" Narim bellowed so loudly those around them flinched and covered their ears. He was unsure if she had heard him but all the same she began to morph as she dodged the attacks of the soldiers. The crowd gasped as she made a giant leap into the air, spread her wings and circled the hall. THis was the Mallora Narim had spent so many nights dreaming of, her golden mane and tail gleaming in the torchlight. The beautiful equidan's wings pushed air over the crowd, mussing hair and blowing away hats as she passed over them. She finally spotted a window and rose steeply to meet it just as a single poisoned bolt found it's way into her heart.
Narim, bound to his Mallora, sank with her to the ground. He felt the sensation of poison coursing through his body, burning in his veins like the hottest fires of Auurach. His muscles clenched and shivered, teeth grinding against the immobilizing pain. He then felt a cold blade runing along the back of his neck. He knew it wasn't his own neck he felt. She was being skinned alive.
He couldn't hear her, although he could feel the pain from her. He tried to reach out to comfort her as they shared the agony of the blade tearing away skin from flesh. Suddenly he heard a faint humming. Mallora sang the lullaby softly to him, her life ebbing away with each note.
Narim roiled in pain. Mallora's death was too difficult to contain. Sidgal held him upright, protecting him from being crushed by the panicked crowd, holding Narim's pain in with the strongest of his "tarik" powers. One day Narim would learn he was not a real Tarik, just another healer well versed in the energetic arts. Narim's flesh felt cold one moment, and blazed hotly the next. Slowly, Sidgal turned to the gruesome scene below. As the dead equidan's horn was displayed by one of the war dogs, the equidan burst into hot white flames. The soldiers, the hide, the equidan. All were lost in the blaze. Sidgal didn't have to wonder how it happened. As he carried his student away from the chaos of the hall, he saw white flames dancing in the boy's glassy eyes.
Sidgal muttered under his breath as he nodded to a slackjawed Nassai rushing to them.
"Farsden Keep has made a terrible enemy. May the Great Mother have mercy on them all."
