Darkness & Light (6 page)

He wasn't fast enough. All of his training,
all of the reflexes he'd sweated and hurt for weren't a match for
the deadly speed of a born predator. As a set of massive claws tore
into his right arm, I'rone felt himself surrender to fate and the
strange, but somehow welcome, agony inside his head.

Death felt like a welcome release from duty,
but suddenly the snow leopard wasn't moving so fast. I'rone was
still trying to grasp what had changed as involuntary reflexes took
over and he threw himself to the side.

The snow leopard spun around in an effort to
track him, but it wasn't up to the task of adjusting to I'rone's
sudden burst of speed, and he dispatched it in return for an
additional pair of gashes to his left side.

I'rone felt a stab of worry when he looked up
and saw Betreec motionless on the cliff above him. It wasn't until
the water trickling off of the rocks sped back up that he realized
what she'd done. Between one heartbeat and the next his arms grew
too heavy to lift, but that fact somehow paled in significance in
comparison to the feeling of Betreec leaving his mind as the last
of the augmentation melted away.

##

Betreec watched I'rone lay down inside the
small way tent and wondered if Jasmin would ever allow anyone to
pry her away from him. With only one traumatic exception, she'd
refused to be separated from I'rone from the moment he'd convinced
her to come out of the small rock tube she'd taken refuge in to
escape the snow leopard.

Other than getting her name from her, Betreec
hadn't managed to get Jasmin to speak. Even when she'd probed the
poor child's twisted ankle, Jasmin hadn't done anything more than
hiss in pain and grip I'rone even more tightly.

Of course I'rone had been even more silent
than normal. He'd silently rebuffed each of her attempts to begin a
conversation, and she could only assume he was angry with her for
having broken a host of rules by linking with him. It made no
sense. Even with her augmenting his speed and strength he'd still
taken severe wounds. If she hadn't acted, the snow leopard would
have surely killed him.

She would have thought he'd been seeking
death if not for his efforts to keep the three of them alive over
the next few cycles. As soon as she'd finished speeding the healing
process on Jasmin's leg and done the same on his wounds, I'rone had
set up their way tent and motioned her inside. The tent had been
wet and the bundle of soggy clothes she'd used to keep her body off
of the cold rock hadn't been much better than sleeping on the floor
would have been, but there had been two heat stones inside the pack
On'li had sent with them, and the tiny spheres had been
exceptionally powerful.

Under normal circumstances even that
magically generated heat wouldn't have been enough to allow Betreec
to lapse into sleep, but between searching for Jasmin, linking with
I'rone and healing them both, she'd been too tired to do more than
stretch out on her makeshift bed before falling asleep.

I'rone had wakened her a cycle later as the
light sphere had shifted towards a darker blue. It was obvious he
hadn't slept, but Jasmin had been peacefully curled up on his lap
enjoying the first sense of security in nearly a day.

The climb back up to the main part of the
river had been more frightening than she'd expected, but they'd had
no choice but to attempt it before hunger left them too weak to
have any chance of success. Even I'rone's undeniably impressive
strength had seemed all but spent by the time he finally reached
the top, but he'd waited only a few moments before bracing himself
against a large rock and then hauling her and Jasmin up.

It had been all they could do to convince
Jasmin to let I'rone make the climb without her, and she'd keened
the entire time she'd been separated from him. Once all three of
them were safely to the top of the cliff he'd taken Jasmin from
Betreec and made soothing noises until she'd calmed down enough for
them to attempt the trip upstream.

Again it was only I'rone's determination and
strength that allowed them to make the journey against the current.
Every time Betreec's grip had slipped he'd steadied her, seemingly
unmovable despite having to help her while still carrying Jasmin in
the modified sling they'd rigged up out of the larger of the
cloaks.

They'd fought their way upstream step by
nerve-wracking step until they'd finally rounded a corner and
rediscovered the point from which they'd ventured out into the
water.

Betreec would have like nothing more than to
have remained in that cavern for however many cycles it took for
help to come find them, but while I'rone had set the way tent up at
her request, and even brought Jasmin inside where she could finish
drying out, it was obvious he was uncomfortable.

When Betreec awoke a little more than a cycle
later she found him still awake, dagger out and ready for whatever
threat might appear out of the darkness. It seemed ludicrous that
anything could threaten them all the way down here, and Betreec
nearly lost her patience and scolded him into resting, but then
thought better of it.

By any rational explanation they should be
completely safe and in no need of a guard, but then again he'd just
killed a snow leopard where there shouldn't have been anything but
cold rock and icy water. Maybe he was right to refuse to let his
guard down until they'd returned to the inhabited portions of the
Capital.

Faced with the knowledge that I'rone wasn't
going to be getting any sleep, Betreec hadn't been able to sleep
herself. They'd taken the light tent down a short time later and
headed back through the warren of tunnels and caverns.

Exhausted from a long day of activities even
before the search had been called, fighting the cold for endless
cycles and performing more magic than she usually did in an entire
week, Betreec had been too numb to do anything more than put one
foot in front of the other.

When they walked around a corner and found
themselves face to face with Javin and On'li, Betreec had been so
astonished she hadn't said a single word as On'li had hugged I'rone
and then handed the three of them food. As soon as I'rone had
finished his portion, On'li had ordered him and Jasmin into the
blessedly-dry way tent Javin had erected while they ate.

It was the first time Betreec could remember
being alone with I'rone's sponsors. She tried to suppress the sense
of discomfort as she finished her meal, but it was obvious she
failed. Javin took in her uneasiness, loosened his sword slightly
in its sheath and then walked a little ways down the tunnel, giving
them the illusion of privacy.

On'li took in Betreec's appearance for the
third time since I'rone had crawled into the tent and then shook
her head. "Maybe you should tell me what happened."

Betreec took a deep breath and then recounted
the bare bones of what had happened, carefully skipping over the
snow leopard, the fact that they'd linked, and her feelings for
him. On'li stopped her several times for clarification, especially
around their trip down the river, but otherwise listened
attentively.

Once Betreec had finished up her story, On'li
sighed. "She must have fallen into a river and been carried all
that distance before being washed over the ledge and landing in the
pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It's an amazing story, and had
the pool been the slightest bit more or less shallow she probably
wouldn't have survived the fall. I should have known the two of you
would end up neck deep in the avalanche."

Betreec felt a flicker of annoyance flash
through her, "It was hardly our fault."

"I didn't say it was child. Mind you there
are those as who would tell you what the two of you did was
extremely irresponsible. By all rights the pair of you could have
drowned in that tunnel without even having been headed in the right
direction. It was a huge risk to run."

Betreec tried to meet On'li's gaze defiantly.
She could have done it as recently as that morning, but having
lived through the last several cycles she knew the older woman was
right. She felt her gaze drop as she imagined just how many ways
things could have gone wrong.

On'li reached out and placed a hand on
Betreec's chin, pulling her face up. "That being said, I thank you
for keeping I'rone alive. Not many would have had the power to
augment him sufficiently to defeat a snow leopard all by himself,
and none but you or I have earned enough space inside his heart for
him to have allowed it to happen."

Betreec felt her face turn wooden. "I never
said anything about a snow leopard."

"Of course you didn't. You'd have been
woefully stupid if you had, but I recognize the tears made by snow
leopard claws, and he's got them on his clothes and flesh
both."

Any further denials that Betreec might have
offered up died stillborn upon meeting On'li's knowing gaze.
"You're wrong. Not about the linking, but about him caring about
me. I told him I'd wait for him to finish his training, that I'd
turn down all of the proposals I might get between now and then if
he'd just confirm he felt about me the way that I feel about him.
He turned me down."

Of the two admissions, the one that was going
to get her in all kinds of trouble wasn't the one that made it feel
as though someone was reaching inside her and tugging on things
never intended to move. She half expected to break into tears, but
somehow they wouldn't come, something inside her was stopping them
up.

On'li wrapped her in a hug that was
surprisingly fierce for such a small individual. "Now you listen to
me and you listen good because nothing could be further from the
truth. I'rone is more special than you realize yet. The Stephens
men always are, but he's the kind as comes along once in a century.
He always does what's right no matter what it may cost him. That's
just who he is."

Betreec's mind was whirling as she tried to
fit On'li's words with what she already knew of I'rone, but the
older woman was still speaking and she hauled her mind around like
an unruly gurra so as not to miss anything else.

"...I fear that kind of strength is going to
be needed greatly in the days to come or the Goddess wouldn't have
sent him to us. All of which means you need to pay more attention
to the fact you were able to link with him than him refusing to
break the rules and promise himself to you. You and I know it's one
of the most winked at rules out there, but for him it's a rule and
therefor important."

Betreec was suddenly grateful for On'li's
arms around her, she wasn't sure she could stand on her own right
now. The boy she had thought I'rone to be had been desirable, but
she knew him to be even more now and her heart ached at the thought
of the hurt she'd put him through by pressing for something he
wasn't capable of giving.

"But if that's all true then he'll tell that
we linked. It was all my fault, but he'll get in trouble. Nobody
will believe we didn't plan it from the first."

"Hush now child. I'll deal with that, but
you'll have to keep your mouth shut for it to work. He can't ever
know we spared him the punishment or he'll seek out a greater one.
It's up to those of us who love him to spare him from as many of
the sharp corners of life as we can."

##

A cycle later On'li finished healing I'rone's
shoulder and side. The poor thing had been so exhausted he'd slept
through the entire process, Jasmin curled up at his side the entire
time. Betreec had crawled in next to him shortly after recounting
their tale, and now slept just as soundly on his other side.

They'd both returned older than they'd been
when they set out a few cycles ago. Betreec wasn't the flighty
thing that spared no thought for anything other than her own wants,
but it was I'rone who really worried her, he was already too old
for his age.

Javin was waiting for her when she finally
sighed and crawled out of the tent. He wrapped her in hug that was
exactly what she needed, and she idly wondered once again if he
could read her thoughts. Maybe reluctance to speak came from some
pact he'd made with the Goddess's handmaidens. A lifetime of few
words in return for actually communicating better than most people
could with a day's worth of speech.

"I worry for him. It seems like every good
deed he does results in something that will make someone want to
punish him. Stephen's is the only bloodline as could have taken
him, but sometimes I wonder if he's not too much for us."

"Was the right thing to do."

"You're right. It's not as though I regret
our decision to sponsor him, I just worry what life holds in store
for him. What could have possibly caused the Goddess to send him
down here to us? Are things really going to get that bad in his
lifetime?"

"The alternative is even worse."

It took On'li several seconds to realize what
her husband was getting at, but when she did, she felt a chill run
down her spine. If I'rone's destiny wasn't to accomplish some
heroic undertaking during his life, then one could only assume that
the Goddess was going to use him to pave the way for someone else,
someone vital to the People's survival, but who was so unusual, so
terrifying that only I'rone and the women who loved him could be
depended upon to sponsor him.

On'li returned Javin's hug absently, she even
managed to smile at him, but inside she worried how history would
view her beloved I'rone. Would he be looked upon as a savior, or as
the man who'd destroyed himself doing a deed so terrible that
nobody else would have had the courage to attempt it.

Author's Note:

"Absence" was my first real short story. I
toyed with the idea of writing when I was younger, not because I
had anything approaching ability in the area, but just because I
loved the way that writers could make me feel.