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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 5491190" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Chapter Thirteen</strong></span></p><p> </p><p> Heat crushed Rivereye and stole his breath, but though he clenched his eyes to keep them from burning away, he saw the firelight intensifying. It was when the lake materialized before him that he realized something strange was happening.</p><p> </p><p> He sat on a broad, parched shore of desiccated fish bones surrounded by blackened rocks, and a perfectly still lake stretched a mile away in front of him, reflecting a smoky sky and endless fire. Pillars of fire surrounded the lake on all sides, and a song pressed through writhing branches in thin slivers, its rhythm full of longing. Hearing it, Rivereye felt heavier, real, even though he knew this had to be a dream.</p><p> </p><p> The surface of the lake parted, and a broad rack of antlers rose up, dripping water for an instant before bursting into flame. An emaciated stag, its shoulders higher than a whole man, emerged from the lake. Two huge wounds pierced its body, at its left front shoulder and its right abdomen, and globules of flaming blood fell and sizzled on the lake’s surface. It stood atop the water, slowly swinging its head from side to side in order to watch him. Wisps of fire burned across its body.</p><p> </p><p> The thing bellowed, but had no voice. Rivereye felt the words in his essence and knew that they were true.</p><p> </p><p> “I am Indomitability. Eternal shall your torment be until you release me.”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye wondered if this thing was a god, and what he had done to call down its wrath.</p><p> </p><p> “Of-, of course we’ll free you,” Rivereye stammered. “Am I dead?”</p><p> </p><p> “None can die who have my power,” Indomitability said into his soul. “But if you do not end the song, you will forever burn in living torment. Free me from this enforced flesh!”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye stammered, and he looked around for help, but the absence of anyone who could aid him was so absolute that he felt it tangibly. He was trapped, impossibly so, abandoned by his kin in this strange, corporeal world, far beyond the Mother’s sight. So long he had been gone, and she would be weak without him. But he could imagine her pain, for oh, the wound in his side ever hurt, the hole through which the fires flowed, fires which would sear his captors until they could no longer bind him.</p><p> </p><p> “Dah,” Rivereye cried. “No.”</p><p> </p><p> For a moment he had been someone else, but he shook his head, and once again he remembered who he was supposed to be. Still, some part of this fire beast Indomitability floated around in his soul, like saliva lingering from an unwanted kiss.</p><p> </p><p> “What are you?” Rivereye asked. “I mean, we <em>will</em> free you, of course-”</p><p> </p><p> “You will not deceive me!” it roared inaudibly. “Come to the lake. Release me, or join my suffering.”</p><p> </p><p> The embers in its eyes flared, and the surface of the lake burst with steam as the stag began to charge him. It swung its head furiously, leaving red and gold trails in the air behind it, and as it bore down upon him, Rivereye shouted.</p><p> </p><p> “I’ll do whatever you want! Don’t hurt-!”</p><p> </p><p> The stag trampled toward him, collapsing at the last moment into a gout of fire that rolled across him like a burning fog. And when it cleared, Rivereye awoke, the sounds of battle fierce and desperate in his ears.</p><p> </p><p> Confused, he opened his eyes and looked around. He still lay atop the rock spur, and the fight was going on below, but the fire forest’s fury seemed to have relented against him. He could breathe again, and though he felt a heat still clinging heavily to his entire body, something new protected him from the power of the blaze. He stood and laughed with relief at the third time he had been saved in as many days.</p><p> </p><p> Shouts from the ground snapped his attention back to the immediate danger. To his left, Diogenes and Torrent scrambled as four Ragesian soldiers tried to encircle them. Out in the road Kathor wrestled with his literal demon, which would be fruitless, since from what Rivereye had heard, only magic could harm creatures from beyond the world. And right in front of the spur, Rantle rushed toward the inquisitor.</p><p> </p><p> The whinny and clomping of a galloping horse drew Rivereye’s attention down to his right as Haddin and Crystin rode in from the back of the spur, joining the battle. Haddin put one hand to his forehead and threw out another in the direction of the inquisitor. From vague rememberings of spell duels he had seen, Rivereye knew it was some sort of mind-affecting spell, and he also knew it was the worst possible thing to use against an inquisitor. </p><p> </p><p> Rivereye pulled out his knife, crinkled his lips in dismay, then shrugged and started down the side of the spur, watching when, as he expected, the inquisitor turned Haddin’s spell and placed it upon Rantle.</p><p> </p><p> Rantle was already turning to look at Diogenes, who was too busy cooly fending off the soldiers to see Rantle coming. The inquisitor laughed at Haddin, and the two were engaged in a contest of magic that Rivereye didn’t care to pay attention to. Haddin was a useless ass, and he only hoped that the old bastard would last long enough to make a good distraction.</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye kept his head down and tried to stay hidden by flaming brush, keeping his gaze fixed on the inquisitor. Invisible forces of magic flew back and forth between the inquisitor and Haddin, and the Ragesian never noticed Rivereye’s presence, not until Rivereye broke from cover, ran up to the man’s side, and stuck a knife in his testicles.</p><p> </p><p> <p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> Rantle wanted to resist, though he had no idea how to combat magic. He stabbed at Diogenes, trying to get a grip on the frantic man while in the corner of his eye he watched Torrent go down with a sword in her chest. Diogenes punched him in the face and weakly tried to hold his dagger hand at bay. Again Rantle was powerless, and he wanted to scream, but the inquisitor would not let him.</p><p> </p><p> Then, as his fist smashed into Diogenes’s nose, Rantle remembered Diogenes trying to explain how his magic worked, telling him that his mind wouldn’t do what it didn’t want to do. He tried to tell himself he did not want to kill Diogenes, and for an instant he actually believed he had a chance of freedom. But he <em>did</em> want the man to suffer for leaving and letting Sorra die, and that was enough to keep him trapped.</p><p> </p><p> Finally he managed to punch Diogenes in the kidney and cut him across the temple with his knife, when suddenly the knots forcing his mind’s motions loosened, and his vision went blurry. Behind him he heard the inquisitor screaming in horrible pain, and a moment later the screams stopped.</p><p> </p><p> Rantle fell back as Diogenes shoved him away, and as he regained control of his body he saw Rivereye finish sawing a small knife across the throat of the weakly struggling inquisitor, who lay in a pool of ashy blood emanating from his groin.</p><p> </p><p> At the same time, Kathor was standing up from the dead body of the horrific pale woman. One of the three remaining Ragesian soldiers ran toward him, and Rantle thought he saw Kathor sigh in frustration as he dropped into a crouch, picked his sword up off the ground, and swung it through both the man’s knees.</p><p> </p><p> Wary of the two remaining soldiers, Rantle rolled and pushed himself to his feet, nearly into the face of one of them. The warrior shoved Rantle back with his shield, and was into a backswing with his axe when Diogenes interrupted.</p><p> </p><p> “Ignore him!” Diogenes shouted. “Kill me! I’m a mage!”</p><p> </p><p> The soldier reacted instantly, unnaturally so, and turned to look at Diogenes, completely ignoring Rantle. The Ragesian started to rush Diogenes, whose eyes widened meaningfully as he glared at Rantle. Realizing the soldier was ensorcelled, Rantle shrugged and stabbed the man up under the back of his helmet. Then he shoved him down and stabbed him enough times to make sure he did not come back up.</p><p> </p><p> Rantle kept his head up, though, since there was one Ragesian left. The herethim man had been chasing after Rivereye, but now he looked uncertain, and backed away as Diogenes advanced on him.</p><p> </p><p> “Don’t worry,” Diogenes said, waving his wand slightly. “Surrender, and we’ll just leave and let you go.”</p><p> </p><p> The soldier already bore a grievous wound in his shoulder, probably from Torrent, and he nodded weakly. He threw down his axe. </p><p> </p><p> “Now,” Diogenes said to the soldier, “go to sleep.”</p><p> </p><p> The Ragesian swayed for a moment, then closed his eyes and fell to the ground. Diogenes turned and grinned smugly at Rantle.</p><p> </p><p> “Tie him up.”</p><p> </p><p> Rantle looked around and saw that no one else threatened them. Still jittery from nearly dying, he moved quickly to tie up their prisoner.</p><p> </p><p> “Sorry for trying to kill you,” he said.</p><p> </p><p> Diogenes’s eyes narrowed, but then he shrugged. “You were under a charm. The fault is mine for not being more careful. Bad form. Though you did seem to enjoy it a little too much.”</p><p> </p><p> “I’m just-,” Rantle started. “I’m sorry.”</p><p> </p><p> Diogenes laughed in a way that managed to be both chiding and comforting. “Don’t take it so seriously. We won, at least. Now make sure the ropes are tight.”</p><p> </p><p> Diogenes moved away to talk with Haddin. As Rantle stripped off the Ragesian’s cloak in order to tie him up, he looked around at all the bodies of the fallen: five Ragesian soldiers, the inquisitor, the strange monster woman, and Torrent. He did not feel much relief that they had ‘won.’</p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p> </p><p> The battle had ended, and they hadn’t <em>all</em> died, but as his fellow refugees regrouped and made plans, Rivereye fidgeted with the inquisitor’s mask, telling himself that he had just dreamed the vision of the stag, and that the voice he could hear in the roar of the forest’s flames was just his imagination.</p><p> </p><p> The mask felt dry, drier than bone should be, Rivereye thought. It wasn’t the first time he had seen an inquisitor without his mask, but it was the first time he’d been able to spit in one’s eyes. He had already spat on the inquisitor, kicked out his teeth, and stolen his mask – in addition to gelding him and slitting his throat – but he was still nervous around the corpse.</p><p> </p><p> He carried the mask with him as he headed over to Kathor, who was watching from afar, tending to the slashes on his horse’s neck. </p><p> </p><p> “How did you kill the demon?” Rivereye asked.</p><p> </p><p> Kathor looked down at him for a long moment before replying, giving Rivereye time to notice the rents in his armor from where the demon had wrenched it out of place, and the claw marks from the demon’s nearly-human talons that scraped nearly every bit of his skin that had been exposed. The knight no longer bled, but even though none of his injuries were individually mortal, Rivereye was sure any reasonable person would have let himself pass out by now.</p><p> </p><p> “That was a demon?” Kathor said.</p><p> </p><p> “Yes. Demons can’t be hurt except by magic. At least that’s what we always heard back at the palace.”</p><p> </p><p> For a long moment, Kathor’s only reaction was a slight furrowing of his brows.</p><p> </p><p> Then he said, “Odd. I had heard that too.”</p><p> </p><p> Then he shrugged and went back to tending his horse.</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye glanced back at the demon’s corpse, which now just resembled a woman who had been bludgeoned to death. He almost felt sick at the sight of it.</p><p> </p><p> “Why am I doing this?” he moaned.</p><p> </p><p> “Ragesia’s become a bad place,” Kathor said after a moment. “You kill the right people, and things will get better.”</p><p> </p><p> Kathor paused, bent slightly, and pulled the inquisitor’s mask out of Rivereye’s hands.</p><p> </p><p> “Good thing you came along,” Kathor said.</p><p> </p><p> He put the mask down over Rivereye’s face. It was the sort of condescending gesture jispin had to get used to – being treated like a child, just because he was short – but somehow when Kathor did it, it gave Rivereye a sense of camaraderie.</p><p> </p><p> The mask was huge on his head. It was, after all, carved from a bear skull, designed to fit a herethim nearly seven feet tall. But there was something odd about it, the way that everything he saw seemed to extend a few inches in another dimension other than length, width, and height, though that distance was twisted into knots in some way that was impossible. </p><p> </p><p> Looking over at Diogenes, he saw a texture of elegant entwining magic in the air between him and the one prisoner they had taken. Haddin’s cracked, wrinkled face looked even more revolting with the array of jagged, tightly-wound threads that stretched out from it toward his daughter, weaving through the air and reaching her in three spots along her back and one on her head. Crystin coughed weakly, but didn’t wipe the blood from around her mouth.</p><p> </p><p> In the air over the bodies of the fallen, threads seemed to hang loose, dangling out above an infinite darkness.</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye took off the mask and shook his head. First a monster talking to his mind, then Kathor apparently being able to kill the demon with his bare hands, and now seeing the fabric of the world coming undone: he was through with magic for today, he told himself. He would just keep his mouth shut and his head down, and within a day or two they would be safely out of this terrible forest.</p><p> </p><p> “Hey, filthy monkey!”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye looked up, seeing Rantle waving him over. He kept his head down and his eyes low as he walked over, but he already knew things were just going to get worse.</p><p> </p><p> Rantle smiled wearily as Rivereye came up. When he spoke, there was pain in his voice, but also sincere relief.</p><p> </p><p> “So, you changed your mind about letting the inquisitor kill you, huh? Nice job on that bastard. Are you alright?”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye shrugged. “I’m fine. Did you-”</p><p> </p><p> Haddin interrupted, “The rat was just hiding until I saved the lot of you.”</p><p> </p><p> “No,” Diogenes said, “the rat was attacked by an inquisitor and still managed to contribute to the battle despite his rather horrible wounds. You, meanwhile decided to ride to our rescue just in time to let the inquisitor defeat every single spell you used. And your daughter was doing her best impression of a slightly crazy woman who stands around staring off into the forest while the people trying to protect her are dying. It was very convincing.”</p><p> </p><p> Haddin started to bristle with anger, but coughed before he could say anything. Rantle stepped into the space between the two mages and spoke over them to head off a fight.</p><p> </p><p> “Are you <em>sure</em> you’re fine?” he asked. “That looks painful.”</p><p> </p><p> When Rivereye realized everyone was looking at him, he said, “What?”</p><p> </p><p> Rantle grimaced. “Alright, you should rest your heels. I think you may be feeble from all the blood you lost.”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye looked around in confusion, then said, “I . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not hurt.”</p><p> </p><p> Haddin growled a laugh and walked away, while Rantle and Diogenes exchanged worried glances.</p><p> </p><p> “If he can walk,” Diogenes said, “it must not be as bad as it looks.”</p><p> </p><p> “I’m no doctor,” Rantle said, “but that looks serious.”</p><p> </p><p> Diogenes shrugged. “He’ll live. Come on, help me with the woman’s body. We owe her at least to bury her out of this damn place.”</p><p> </p><p> While the two men walked over to where Torrent lay, Rivereye carefully reached up to his face. He did remember being clawed by the inquisitor up on top of the rock, but his face didn’t hurt, and he wondered if maybe he had just dreamed that.</p><p> </p><p> He touched his face, feeling sticky blood clotting in four long lines stretching from his left eyebrow to his right cheek. </p><p> </p><p> Just then, Rantle yelped, and Rivereye turned at the sound of a body being dropped to the ground.</p><p> </p><p> “Holy hell!” Diogenes shouted. “She’s alive?”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye backed away, seeing Torrent stirring slightly, despite several obviously mortal wounds. Her breastplate had been hacked through, a huge gash dug into the back of her skull, and she was covered with more blood than any person could lose without dying. But still she moved, albeit feebly.</p><p> </p><p> Kathor came over, and looked to Diogenes.</p><p> </p><p> “Did you do this?” he asked.</p><p> </p><p> “I wouldn’t know <em>how</em> to do this,” Diogenes said. “It’s not healing magic. And she isn’t a ghoul. She’s just not dying.”</p><p> </p><p> Rantle stood up and looked from Torrent to Rivereye. Rivereye cringed and backed away more.</p><p> </p><p> “What’s wrong with him?” Haddin said.</p><p> </p><p> Everyone looked at Rivereye then. </p><p> </p><p> “You know something?” Rantle asked.</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye hesitated, and Diogenes looked up in frustration.</p><p> </p><p> “Just tell us whatever it is you’re hiding.”</p><p> </p><p> “Well,” Rivereye started. “I didn’t think it was important. But now it looks like we’re going to have to do a favor for a monster.”</p><p> </p><p> “What?” Rantle said.</p><p> </p><p> “I’m sorry,” Rivereye said. “I don’t really know what happened. I saw the inquisitor, and he hurt me, and then it was hot and I passed out. I thought I was going to die, but then I woke up on the shore of a lake, and saw a huge deer standing in the lake, on fire. It told me we had to help it, and I said we would, and then I woke up and wasn’t dying anymore. Oh, and there was a weird song.”</p><p> </p><p> “Alright,” Rantle said. “I’m going to try to accept that you’re not hensblooding me, because that,” he pointed to Torrent, “is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. But could someone explain what’s going on?”</p><p> </p><p> “There’s no such thing as monsters,” Diogenes said.</p><p> </p><p> Kathor said, “I don’t think he’s lying. This forest does feel alive.”</p><p> </p><p> Haddin took a break from coughing to scoff.</p><p> </p><p> “Old man,” Diogenes said, “bring your daughter over here. She said she saw something in the forest before.”</p><p> </p><p> Rivereye started, “I don’t think it’s an actual monster in the woods. I only saw it in-”</p><p> </p><p> But Haddin interrupted. “How dare you order me around? You brought me here against my will, and I’m going back before I have to listen to any more of this nonsense.”</p><p> </p><p> Red and orange flames at the edge of the road turned white hot, and a roaring wind burst across them. In the center of the road, Crystin began to flail, and her eyes rolled back in her head, while from Torrent’s body and those of the Ragesians, fire shot out of their wounds, and they all screamed.</p><p> </p><p> A sound like thunder rumbled through the forest, and everyone cowered as words broke through the thunder and the screams.</p><p> </p><p> “None shall leave. Release me, or burn.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 5491190, member: 63"] [size=3][B]Chapter Thirteen[/B][/size] Heat crushed Rivereye and stole his breath, but though he clenched his eyes to keep them from burning away, he saw the firelight intensifying. It was when the lake materialized before him that he realized something strange was happening. He sat on a broad, parched shore of desiccated fish bones surrounded by blackened rocks, and a perfectly still lake stretched a mile away in front of him, reflecting a smoky sky and endless fire. Pillars of fire surrounded the lake on all sides, and a song pressed through writhing branches in thin slivers, its rhythm full of longing. Hearing it, Rivereye felt heavier, real, even though he knew this had to be a dream. The surface of the lake parted, and a broad rack of antlers rose up, dripping water for an instant before bursting into flame. An emaciated stag, its shoulders higher than a whole man, emerged from the lake. Two huge wounds pierced its body, at its left front shoulder and its right abdomen, and globules of flaming blood fell and sizzled on the lake’s surface. It stood atop the water, slowly swinging its head from side to side in order to watch him. Wisps of fire burned across its body. The thing bellowed, but had no voice. Rivereye felt the words in his essence and knew that they were true. “I am Indomitability. Eternal shall your torment be until you release me.” Rivereye wondered if this thing was a god, and what he had done to call down its wrath. “Of-, of course we’ll free you,” Rivereye stammered. “Am I dead?” “None can die who have my power,” Indomitability said into his soul. “But if you do not end the song, you will forever burn in living torment. Free me from this enforced flesh!” Rivereye stammered, and he looked around for help, but the absence of anyone who could aid him was so absolute that he felt it tangibly. He was trapped, impossibly so, abandoned by his kin in this strange, corporeal world, far beyond the Mother’s sight. So long he had been gone, and she would be weak without him. But he could imagine her pain, for oh, the wound in his side ever hurt, the hole through which the fires flowed, fires which would sear his captors until they could no longer bind him. “Dah,” Rivereye cried. “No.” For a moment he had been someone else, but he shook his head, and once again he remembered who he was supposed to be. Still, some part of this fire beast Indomitability floated around in his soul, like saliva lingering from an unwanted kiss. “What are you?” Rivereye asked. “I mean, we [I]will[/I] free you, of course-” “You will not deceive me!” it roared inaudibly. “Come to the lake. Release me, or join my suffering.” The embers in its eyes flared, and the surface of the lake burst with steam as the stag began to charge him. It swung its head furiously, leaving red and gold trails in the air behind it, and as it bore down upon him, Rivereye shouted. “I’ll do whatever you want! Don’t hurt-!” The stag trampled toward him, collapsing at the last moment into a gout of fire that rolled across him like a burning fog. And when it cleared, Rivereye awoke, the sounds of battle fierce and desperate in his ears. Confused, he opened his eyes and looked around. He still lay atop the rock spur, and the fight was going on below, but the fire forest’s fury seemed to have relented against him. He could breathe again, and though he felt a heat still clinging heavily to his entire body, something new protected him from the power of the blaze. He stood and laughed with relief at the third time he had been saved in as many days. Shouts from the ground snapped his attention back to the immediate danger. To his left, Diogenes and Torrent scrambled as four Ragesian soldiers tried to encircle them. Out in the road Kathor wrestled with his literal demon, which would be fruitless, since from what Rivereye had heard, only magic could harm creatures from beyond the world. And right in front of the spur, Rantle rushed toward the inquisitor. The whinny and clomping of a galloping horse drew Rivereye’s attention down to his right as Haddin and Crystin rode in from the back of the spur, joining the battle. Haddin put one hand to his forehead and threw out another in the direction of the inquisitor. From vague rememberings of spell duels he had seen, Rivereye knew it was some sort of mind-affecting spell, and he also knew it was the worst possible thing to use against an inquisitor. Rivereye pulled out his knife, crinkled his lips in dismay, then shrugged and started down the side of the spur, watching when, as he expected, the inquisitor turned Haddin’s spell and placed it upon Rantle. Rantle was already turning to look at Diogenes, who was too busy cooly fending off the soldiers to see Rantle coming. The inquisitor laughed at Haddin, and the two were engaged in a contest of magic that Rivereye didn’t care to pay attention to. Haddin was a useless ass, and he only hoped that the old bastard would last long enough to make a good distraction. Rivereye kept his head down and tried to stay hidden by flaming brush, keeping his gaze fixed on the inquisitor. Invisible forces of magic flew back and forth between the inquisitor and Haddin, and the Ragesian never noticed Rivereye’s presence, not until Rivereye broke from cover, ran up to the man’s side, and stuck a knife in his testicles. [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] Rantle wanted to resist, though he had no idea how to combat magic. He stabbed at Diogenes, trying to get a grip on the frantic man while in the corner of his eye he watched Torrent go down with a sword in her chest. Diogenes punched him in the face and weakly tried to hold his dagger hand at bay. Again Rantle was powerless, and he wanted to scream, but the inquisitor would not let him. Then, as his fist smashed into Diogenes’s nose, Rantle remembered Diogenes trying to explain how his magic worked, telling him that his mind wouldn’t do what it didn’t want to do. He tried to tell himself he did not want to kill Diogenes, and for an instant he actually believed he had a chance of freedom. But he [I]did[/I] want the man to suffer for leaving and letting Sorra die, and that was enough to keep him trapped. Finally he managed to punch Diogenes in the kidney and cut him across the temple with his knife, when suddenly the knots forcing his mind’s motions loosened, and his vision went blurry. Behind him he heard the inquisitor screaming in horrible pain, and a moment later the screams stopped. Rantle fell back as Diogenes shoved him away, and as he regained control of his body he saw Rivereye finish sawing a small knife across the throat of the weakly struggling inquisitor, who lay in a pool of ashy blood emanating from his groin. At the same time, Kathor was standing up from the dead body of the horrific pale woman. One of the three remaining Ragesian soldiers ran toward him, and Rantle thought he saw Kathor sigh in frustration as he dropped into a crouch, picked his sword up off the ground, and swung it through both the man’s knees. Wary of the two remaining soldiers, Rantle rolled and pushed himself to his feet, nearly into the face of one of them. The warrior shoved Rantle back with his shield, and was into a backswing with his axe when Diogenes interrupted. “Ignore him!” Diogenes shouted. “Kill me! I’m a mage!” The soldier reacted instantly, unnaturally so, and turned to look at Diogenes, completely ignoring Rantle. The Ragesian started to rush Diogenes, whose eyes widened meaningfully as he glared at Rantle. Realizing the soldier was ensorcelled, Rantle shrugged and stabbed the man up under the back of his helmet. Then he shoved him down and stabbed him enough times to make sure he did not come back up. Rantle kept his head up, though, since there was one Ragesian left. The herethim man had been chasing after Rivereye, but now he looked uncertain, and backed away as Diogenes advanced on him. “Don’t worry,” Diogenes said, waving his wand slightly. “Surrender, and we’ll just leave and let you go.” The soldier already bore a grievous wound in his shoulder, probably from Torrent, and he nodded weakly. He threw down his axe. “Now,” Diogenes said to the soldier, “go to sleep.” The Ragesian swayed for a moment, then closed his eyes and fell to the ground. Diogenes turned and grinned smugly at Rantle. “Tie him up.” Rantle looked around and saw that no one else threatened them. Still jittery from nearly dying, he moved quickly to tie up their prisoner. “Sorry for trying to kill you,” he said. Diogenes’s eyes narrowed, but then he shrugged. “You were under a charm. The fault is mine for not being more careful. Bad form. Though you did seem to enjoy it a little too much.” “I’m just-,” Rantle started. “I’m sorry.” Diogenes laughed in a way that managed to be both chiding and comforting. “Don’t take it so seriously. We won, at least. Now make sure the ropes are tight.” Diogenes moved away to talk with Haddin. As Rantle stripped off the Ragesian’s cloak in order to tie him up, he looked around at all the bodies of the fallen: five Ragesian soldiers, the inquisitor, the strange monster woman, and Torrent. He did not feel much relief that they had ‘won.’ [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] The battle had ended, and they hadn’t [I]all[/I] died, but as his fellow refugees regrouped and made plans, Rivereye fidgeted with the inquisitor’s mask, telling himself that he had just dreamed the vision of the stag, and that the voice he could hear in the roar of the forest’s flames was just his imagination. The mask felt dry, drier than bone should be, Rivereye thought. It wasn’t the first time he had seen an inquisitor without his mask, but it was the first time he’d been able to spit in one’s eyes. He had already spat on the inquisitor, kicked out his teeth, and stolen his mask – in addition to gelding him and slitting his throat – but he was still nervous around the corpse. He carried the mask with him as he headed over to Kathor, who was watching from afar, tending to the slashes on his horse’s neck. “How did you kill the demon?” Rivereye asked. Kathor looked down at him for a long moment before replying, giving Rivereye time to notice the rents in his armor from where the demon had wrenched it out of place, and the claw marks from the demon’s nearly-human talons that scraped nearly every bit of his skin that had been exposed. The knight no longer bled, but even though none of his injuries were individually mortal, Rivereye was sure any reasonable person would have let himself pass out by now. “That was a demon?” Kathor said. “Yes. Demons can’t be hurt except by magic. At least that’s what we always heard back at the palace.” For a long moment, Kathor’s only reaction was a slight furrowing of his brows. Then he said, “Odd. I had heard that too.” Then he shrugged and went back to tending his horse. Rivereye glanced back at the demon’s corpse, which now just resembled a woman who had been bludgeoned to death. He almost felt sick at the sight of it. “Why am I doing this?” he moaned. “Ragesia’s become a bad place,” Kathor said after a moment. “You kill the right people, and things will get better.” Kathor paused, bent slightly, and pulled the inquisitor’s mask out of Rivereye’s hands. “Good thing you came along,” Kathor said. He put the mask down over Rivereye’s face. It was the sort of condescending gesture jispin had to get used to – being treated like a child, just because he was short – but somehow when Kathor did it, it gave Rivereye a sense of camaraderie. The mask was huge on his head. It was, after all, carved from a bear skull, designed to fit a herethim nearly seven feet tall. But there was something odd about it, the way that everything he saw seemed to extend a few inches in another dimension other than length, width, and height, though that distance was twisted into knots in some way that was impossible. Looking over at Diogenes, he saw a texture of elegant entwining magic in the air between him and the one prisoner they had taken. Haddin’s cracked, wrinkled face looked even more revolting with the array of jagged, tightly-wound threads that stretched out from it toward his daughter, weaving through the air and reaching her in three spots along her back and one on her head. Crystin coughed weakly, but didn’t wipe the blood from around her mouth. In the air over the bodies of the fallen, threads seemed to hang loose, dangling out above an infinite darkness. Rivereye took off the mask and shook his head. First a monster talking to his mind, then Kathor apparently being able to kill the demon with his bare hands, and now seeing the fabric of the world coming undone: he was through with magic for today, he told himself. He would just keep his mouth shut and his head down, and within a day or two they would be safely out of this terrible forest. “Hey, filthy monkey!” Rivereye looked up, seeing Rantle waving him over. He kept his head down and his eyes low as he walked over, but he already knew things were just going to get worse. Rantle smiled wearily as Rivereye came up. When he spoke, there was pain in his voice, but also sincere relief. “So, you changed your mind about letting the inquisitor kill you, huh? Nice job on that bastard. Are you alright?” Rivereye shrugged. “I’m fine. Did you-” Haddin interrupted, “The rat was just hiding until I saved the lot of you.” “No,” Diogenes said, “the rat was attacked by an inquisitor and still managed to contribute to the battle despite his rather horrible wounds. You, meanwhile decided to ride to our rescue just in time to let the inquisitor defeat every single spell you used. And your daughter was doing her best impression of a slightly crazy woman who stands around staring off into the forest while the people trying to protect her are dying. It was very convincing.” Haddin started to bristle with anger, but coughed before he could say anything. Rantle stepped into the space between the two mages and spoke over them to head off a fight. “Are you [I]sure[/I] you’re fine?” he asked. “That looks painful.” When Rivereye realized everyone was looking at him, he said, “What?” Rantle grimaced. “Alright, you should rest your heels. I think you may be feeble from all the blood you lost.” Rivereye looked around in confusion, then said, “I . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not hurt.” Haddin growled a laugh and walked away, while Rantle and Diogenes exchanged worried glances. “If he can walk,” Diogenes said, “it must not be as bad as it looks.” “I’m no doctor,” Rantle said, “but that looks serious.” Diogenes shrugged. “He’ll live. Come on, help me with the woman’s body. We owe her at least to bury her out of this damn place.” While the two men walked over to where Torrent lay, Rivereye carefully reached up to his face. He did remember being clawed by the inquisitor up on top of the rock, but his face didn’t hurt, and he wondered if maybe he had just dreamed that. He touched his face, feeling sticky blood clotting in four long lines stretching from his left eyebrow to his right cheek. Just then, Rantle yelped, and Rivereye turned at the sound of a body being dropped to the ground. “Holy hell!” Diogenes shouted. “She’s alive?” Rivereye backed away, seeing Torrent stirring slightly, despite several obviously mortal wounds. Her breastplate had been hacked through, a huge gash dug into the back of her skull, and she was covered with more blood than any person could lose without dying. But still she moved, albeit feebly. Kathor came over, and looked to Diogenes. “Did you do this?” he asked. “I wouldn’t know [I]how[/I] to do this,” Diogenes said. “It’s not healing magic. And she isn’t a ghoul. She’s just not dying.” Rantle stood up and looked from Torrent to Rivereye. Rivereye cringed and backed away more. “What’s wrong with him?” Haddin said. Everyone looked at Rivereye then. “You know something?” Rantle asked. Rivereye hesitated, and Diogenes looked up in frustration. “Just tell us whatever it is you’re hiding.” “Well,” Rivereye started. “I didn’t think it was important. But now it looks like we’re going to have to do a favor for a monster.” “What?” Rantle said. “I’m sorry,” Rivereye said. “I don’t really know what happened. I saw the inquisitor, and he hurt me, and then it was hot and I passed out. I thought I was going to die, but then I woke up on the shore of a lake, and saw a huge deer standing in the lake, on fire. It told me we had to help it, and I said we would, and then I woke up and wasn’t dying anymore. Oh, and there was a weird song.” “Alright,” Rantle said. “I’m going to try to accept that you’re not hensblooding me, because that,” he pointed to Torrent, “is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. But could someone explain what’s going on?” “There’s no such thing as monsters,” Diogenes said. Kathor said, “I don’t think he’s lying. This forest does feel alive.” Haddin took a break from coughing to scoff. “Old man,” Diogenes said, “bring your daughter over here. She said she saw something in the forest before.” Rivereye started, “I don’t think it’s an actual monster in the woods. I only saw it in-” But Haddin interrupted. “How dare you order me around? You brought me here against my will, and I’m going back before I have to listen to any more of this nonsense.” Red and orange flames at the edge of the road turned white hot, and a roaring wind burst across them. In the center of the road, Crystin began to flail, and her eyes rolled back in her head, while from Torrent’s body and those of the Ragesians, fire shot out of their wounds, and they all screamed. A sound like thunder rumbled through the forest, and everyone cowered as words broke through the thunder and the screams. “None shall leave. Release me, or burn.” [/QUOTE]
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