We settled down and I slept early for once. As a result, I found myself waking when it was still dark out – only the slimmest bit of light to the east hinted at the coming dawn. Lyre had the last watch, and was awake and maintaining a fire – now that we were out of the desert, the night didn’t cool as dramatically as it had, but the fire still looked warm and inviting. I stood and stretched, went through my brief morning routine, and then walked over to sit near where Lyre was keeping his watch.
Lyre was staring back towards the desert. I studied him in the shifting firelight. His hair had gotten longer over the course of our trip and he had tanned a little under the desert sun, but was still very fair skinned. I realized he looked thinner too, and wondered if we all looked the same after so many days of walking and rationing our food.
I started to rub absently at the peeling skin on my shoulder, and then forced myself to stop. To distract myself from my discomfort, I asked, “What do you plan to do when you reach the Empire?”
His eyes shifted to me as I spoke. “I promised you I would protect you,” he said. “I’ll go where you go.”
I frowned. “You’ll finally be free, Lyre. I’m not going to hold you to that promise. You should do what you want.”
“That is what I want.”
I stared at him, and he gazed back at me so intensely that I wanted to avert my eyes, but forced myself not to. “Why?” I asked.
He hesitated for a moment, seeming to search for the words, and finally averted his gaze as he began to speak. “As a slave, I learned not to form deep attachments. I’ve… fathered children in breeding agreements. Children I’ll never see, with women I’ll never meet again. I’ve never made deep friendships. The humans never saw me as an equal, and my fellow elves could be sold off or killed on a whim. I could have been sold off or killed on a whim.” He paused for a moment in contemplation before continuing. “I admit, I made the promise to protect you quickly. Because I knew I wouldn’t be beholden to it for long. I did not feel any true responsibility to you. You were another human that would use me and then move out of my life.” He turned his eyes back to mine, the firelight almost making the pale blue glow. “But you weren’t… just another human. You freed me. For the first time… I can fight to keep a person I care for in my life. I am free to do that. And I want to go with you. You’ve become important to me.”
I stared at him, feeling a little breathless at what he was saying. I opened my mouth to speak – feeling that I should say something, but not knowing what – when his eyes shifted out past me toward the desert again. “What is that?” he asked. I turned, almost relieved for the distraction. It looked like there were three balls of fire hurtling towards us out of the dark. With a growing unease, I realized I could just barely hear distant barking.
I watched the glow envelope Lyre as I shouted, “Larina, Silden! Wake up!” I also reached for my own magic, standing to move forward to protect our other companions as the fiery figures bound toward us quickly.
They looked like dogs, almost like Rottweilers if Rottweilers were made of flame. Silden and Larina were awake, but looked groggy and confused and completely unprepared for the flaming figures that set upon them with vicious growls. I could hear Larina screaming, but before I could do anything my attention was taken by the third dog that came barreling straight at me. I uttered a surprised squeal as it launched itself into the air at me. I attempted to dodge, but my injured leg tightened in pain and I ended up falling to the ground instead.
I twisted to look at the dog that had just jumped at me, saw that it had turned and was preparing to jump again. I also saw that Lyre had raised a hand to summon a ball of fire to blast at it. Internally I screamed at the idiocy of fighting fire with fire, but the force of the blast did catch it off guard and send it hurtling back past me several feet – I cried out as embers and sparks from the impact fluttered in the air around me. The flame hound did not appear to be hurt by the blast. As I pushed myself up, I raised one hand, summoning a wave of water to douse the creature.
The flames sputtered away, revealing an almost skeletal looking dog underneath, thin flesh pulled tight against the gaunt contour of its frame. It steamed and smoked and sizzled, but did not appear any more harmed by my efforts than Lyre’s – it pulled back the thin skin that covered its muzzle, baring sharp teeth at us as it growled. I immediately went diving back to where I had left my pack, intending to grab my dagger and cursing myself for not keeping it on my person. The hound lunged at me, and Lyre moved between us.
I could hear the sizzling of contact, and Lyre cried out in pain and terror, seeming to forget his magic for a moment as he struggled to push the snapping jaws away from his neck. I was panicking and having a hard time pulling the dagger free, but finally managed to unsheathe the blade and lunged forward with it.
The dog squealed and growled in pain as the blade pierced its flesh, and I cried out in surprise at how hot it was to touch. It felt like I was burning wherever my flesh met its flesh, and I was trying my best to pull away from it without losing my dagger. It turned to snap at me, but Lyre had a hold of its head between his hands. He spoke a series of words I didn’t fully recognize, and with a crystalline flash the entire head froze in a block of ice.
Lyre quickly pushed the still hot body off of him, letting the frozen head fall to the ground with a sickening thump. The body struggled for a moment longer, but then stilled and stopped. We stared down at it for a moment, both panting, when the screams and cries of our companions reminded us of the remaining dogs.
Silden was just finished freezing his attacker in a huge block of ice, but had been mauled badly, blisters rising up his chest and face from where contact with the fire hound had burned him. Lyre had his rapier out and, seeing that Silden was safe, moved forward to slash at the last dog, which had gripped Larina’s arm in its jaw and was viciously shaking its head as she screamed. It yipped and howled angrily, turning on him with snapping jaws. I moved forward to quickly heal Larina, watching the deep bites close over, the angry welting burns on her flesh fade back into clear fresh skin. I attempted to place my hands on Silden before he ran past me, but he broke contact in his haste – I watched in fascination as half of his burns seemed to vanish, but the healing was incomplete.
However, the third fire dog turned to run. We watched it go – the sun was rising now, the day brightening. We could hear more distant barking, more howls. “There’s more of them,” Larina panted as she handed me my pack. I took it absently, squinting to see if I could make out fire anywhere on the horizon, but even with the sun at our backs, it was hard to see in the bright morning light. We quickly gathered the remainder of our supplies, and made our way south along the edge of the ravine, keeping an eye out for a safe way down.
We froze when the figure stepped out ahead of us, Lyre throwing an arm out protectively in front of me as we recognized the lithe form of the Hunter, still dressed in black leathers. “There’s a way down over here,” he said. Confused, we continued to stare at him for longer than we really had time for. The sound of the dogs grew nearer – they were close now, nearly on us. “Are you coming?” he hissed at us angrily. He glared at each of us, and then with an annoyed sigh he began pulling out his blade.
I could hear Larina, Silden, and Lyre turning to face the dogs, summoning more ice to encase them. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the Hunter, not entirely trusting him, and I tensed as he approached. But he ran past us to help in the battle. I watched as he went sliding under a leaping hound and sliced up at it, then was quickly on his feet, swinging his blade at the next hound. Watching him fight, I understood why the Hunters were considered fearsome. We had nearly half a dozen of the flame beasts on us now, and he moved like a whirlwind through them with his sword, hardly touched by flames or teeth at all. I watched in awe as he used the symbol on his blade hilt to extinguish the flames of one of the hounds – their fire was magical.
Rousing myself, I realized I had to help. I summoned water to douse the flames of the nearest dog, and laid a hand on Lyre to help heal him of some of his wounds. The dog I doused growled and stepped forward, and I brandished my dagger and backed away from it, wishing I knew the ice spell the others were using. As I backed away, I nearly lost my footing – glancing back, I realized I had allowed the dog to back me up against the cliff face. The height was momentarily dizzying, and I almost felt like I was going to careen over the edge just staring at it.
The dog jumped and I tried to move out of the way, but it bit hard on my arm, causing me to drop my dagger. I cried out in pain and struggled with it briefly, when a blade suddenly pierced it – looking up, I could see the harsh, beautiful features of the Hunter’s scowling face and mismatched eyes. The dog slipped over the edge.
The Hunter had grabbed my other arm to steady me, but the dog still had its jaw locked on me and still weighed down the Hunter’s sword. His scowl slipped into a look of concerned surprise as he realized the animal on his blade had overbalanced him and was pulling him over the edge. In one heart fluttering moment, I attempted to lean back, to push us both toward solid ground. But my wounded leg gave way and the three of us went over the side of the cliff face.
It all seemed to happen in frightening slow motion. The dog finally died, its jaw loosening on my arm, its body slipping off the blade. The Hunter’s eyes – one black, one white – stared at the cliff face as it slipped away, his hand letting go of me as he reached helplessly up toward it, his mouth opening in silent surprise. I heard Lyre shout my name, saw his concerned face appear at the cliff as he watched us fall.
I grasped at my magic. I had a spell for this. I could survive this. I turned and watched the Hunter slipping further from me. And as I prepared to cast my spell, a voice shouted in my head. A new voice. Louder and deeper than any voice I had heard yet, and demanding. RESCUE HIM! it screamed in my head, echoing with such ferocity and volume that I winced in pain. And I realized from the look of shock on the Hunter’s face that he had heard the voice too.
I paused for a long moment, maybe too long. I stared at the quickly approaching ground below – we’d be bouncing off the cliff face soon if I didn’t do anything. I reached out and grabbed his hand, and cast my spell.
The glow wrapped around both of us and instantly our fall slowed. I watched the remains of the fire hound scatter across the rocks below, like a water balloon filled with visceral red, and closed my eyes at the gore. We shifted with the breeze, drifting away from the face of the cliff. When I opened my eyes again, I realized we were going to land in the water of the river. The Hunter sheathed his sword, his arms gripped me tightly as he stared at me, his eyes full of questions. But for now, he remained silent.
The spell gave out when we were still several feet up. I cried out in surprise as I found myself hurtling down to the river again. The water was deep enough that I wasn’t injured in my fall, but I lost my grip on the Hunter as the current pulled me along, surprisingly fast, surprisingly strong. I struggled to orient myself, hoping to aim myself at the shore, but I couldn’t break free of the tumbling water. I gasped desperately, flailed helplessly. I didn’t see it coming, but I could hear the crack of the rock against my skull, felt it jar my senses, saw a brilliant flash of sparks behind my eyelids.
I had a dream of drowning.
When I woke, I blinked slowly at a ceiling of low damp rocks. I could hear the murmur of the Hunter’s voice nearby, low and angry, like he was arguing with someone. I started to sit up, but the flashing pain behind my eyes stopped me. I gasped, reaching my hand up to my head.
I felt truly awful. My injured leg throbbed, and I wondered if the wound had been opened while I thrashed in the river. My arm felt bruised where I had been bit, and just glancing at my hands as they came up to my face, I could see that I was covered in scalding burns, blisters running up my arms where I had made contact with the fiery monsters before. I was still damp from the river, and my head…
I gasped again, barely able to process the pain. “Lay still,” the Hunter said quietly, his voice very close now.
“I’m going to die,” I gasped. I did not feel that was at all dramatic to say.
He was quiet for a very long moment. Then he placed a hand on my head, very near my wound, causing me to wince. My vision was blurred, but there was no mistaking the familiar glow of magic that enveloped him.
The pain in my head subsided. My vision cleared. I stared at him in shock.
I sat up slowly, gingerly – I wasn’t fully healed. My head injury was gone, my leg didn’t throb as badly. I had the feeling my bite wounds were no longer bleeding. The burns weren’t blistering, but still made my skin shiny, and my arm still felt bruised, and I was still generally sore all over. I stared at him, trying to wrap my head around what any of it could mean.
“You,” he said, his voice low and angry. The water from his golden curls fell on my face as he leaned in close. “You hear them too! Explain the voice to me at once. Why am I able to do this?”
I laughed. I couldn’t stop myself.
mehryment 