Demiourgos (8 page)

“Fear not lovely little Rose.” Merik whispered as he crouched down before her and ran a hand across the fine fur of her cheek. She was beautiful, of that there was no doubt. His heart went out to her; he could not just leave her unaware. With a wink he continued in a whisper just near her ear. “Nina wanted me to tell you that not all is as it seems.”

Rose looked up at him for a moment then nodded her head, not fully understanding what was going on. She felt as if she had been sucked into events far beyond her control and comprehension. Her eyes watched as he left the room and spoke a few commands in the elf language to the guards. “I’ll have to learn that someday.”

She had no books nor anyone willing to converse with her so Rose decided to try her hand at gathering her energy for ether an invisible escape or whatever else she could form in her mind. She crossed her legs and let her back rest against the wall. She took one last look at the stars above her and closed her eyes. Rose tried to slip into the same meditative trance that Nina had shown her, this time trying to limit the power she drew in. Her first lesson had been painful as she had not been able to stem the flow of energy she had been absorbing from the earth, people and objects around her.

At first Rose felt nothing but a keen sense of disappointment but gradually a soft tingling enveloped her and she felt the telltale signs of her body storing magical energy. Her mind began to wander, she felt herself drifting as if she were floating through the air with no bonds to hold her. Her longing to be free and out of the cell was so keen she unconsciously began to manifest a spell. It was frightening at first but she opened her eyes to find herself looking down at the ruins around her from a bird’s eye view. Experiencing some minor disorientation she closed her eyes again for a moment in an attempt to get the world to stop moving.

“Okay, this isn’t too bad.” She whispered to herself. “Now how do I go down?”

The sudden introduction of magic into her life made her feel very strange and she knew not why. Down below her she could see the small blobs that were elves milling around and going about their business. The few areas that had a ceiling were blocked off to her view but she imagined the ruins were teeming with elves. Being so high up in the air was becoming disorienting for her; all she wanted to do was descend so she could feel a little more grounded. A rush suddenly hit her as she began falling at a rapid pace, for a moment she thought she was going to fall straight into the wall of her cell but she suddenly halted and hovered over the stone cage that had been encapsulating her. “Okay I get it. If I think about it I move.”

Once she was back near the ground Rose was startled to find that she was staring at herself from up above. She tried to lift her hand and look at it but found that she didn’t have limbs to move in her current state. All at once she fought the growing sense of dread and calmed herself down; it wouldn’t do her any good to panic. Once again centering herself she drifted up above the ruins just a bit and floated along watching everyone make preparations of some sort. She wasn’t experienced with much outside of the palace walls but it seemed as if some of the elves were preparing for battle and others were just going about their duties.

Her curiosity had always been one of her most prominent features so she drifted closer to one of the groups of elves to listen. She wasn’t sure if any of them could see her or not so she merely peered over the side of the wall. Below her were three elves that seemed to be of the younger persuasion: each of them had the bounce of youth in their step but usually Rose couldn’t tell because most elves looked young. Sitting near them, however, was an elf that looked as if he had seen one too many suns pass. The strange man was obviously ancient from the lines that creased his skin.

“Why are we the only ones aware of the queen’s plan, revered father?” One of the young elves said to the older elf while peering out of the cloth they had draped over the open doorway. It was obvious that he was anxious and overzealous from the fact that he couldn’t stand still.

Rose found his fidgeting amusing and listened to the old elf speak. “Because the queen has found trust within those present in this room, you should be honored.”

“Oh I do revered father, I just dislike withholding information from my brothers in arms.” He replied as he finally leaned against the wall right below Rose. “It feels wrong.”

“As it should but from time to time subterfuge is something that will be required of you, not everyone is concerned with honor and a fair fight young Markel.” The old elf known as ‘revered father’ said with his aged voice.

The old elf suddenly looked up at her, staring directly into her eyes. Rose froze immediately, knowing she had been found out. She smiled awkwardly but didn’t know if the gesture would go through in her current state. The old elf stared for a moment; his eyes were black, blacker than the darkest polished obsidian and lightless as if they could not absorb any amount of illumination. He returned her smile and winked once then chuckled when the younger elves looked up to see what he was looking at.

“What were you looking at?” The chatty young elf said as he looked directly at Rose and then around the top of the room.

“Nothing, focus on your duty young sunblade!” The old man snapped quickly causing each of them to stand at attention and ready their weapons. “It’s distractions such as this that the enemy will use!”

“My apologies sir!” The sunblade replied quickly.

Rose drifted back over the wall with a smile on her lips and climbed a bit higher to look over at the next room. Movement to her left caught her eye and she turned in that direction, peering over the wall. To her surprise a man dressed in fabrics the same color of the desert sand crept along the face of the stones quietly. Knowing that this wasn’t something in the norm she observed for a moment. Her delay caused her to spy at least ten more men all creeping slowly along the stones and sand. “Oh no, I have to warn someone!”

It was obvious that most of the people below her could not see her in her current state so she drifted back to the room with the older elf and came low to the ground near his ear. “I know you can see me but if you can hear me there are men outside the walls of the ruins all wearing concealing clothing. At least ten of them.”

She watched the elf’s eyebrow arch upward but he didn’t move a muscle the entire time she was next to him. He whispered something under his breath and made a slight, almost imperceptible motion with his hand. She knew not if he had heard her but she had to return to her body and attempt to warn someone.

A sudden voice in her head, definitely the old man’s, startled her so bad that she cried out audibly. “Ease yourself young naarabi. I am speaking to you with my mind. We are aware of the impending attack but thank you for the early warning.”

“I am not entirely familiar with the ways of magic, you startled me is all.” She looked over at the old man sitting next to her in wonder for a moment before she realized she was staring. “I’m sorry I don’t mean to stare, I’ve not been in the outside world for more than a few hours.”

“A late bloomer then young Rose?” She watched his lips smile just a bit and she wondered idly how he knew her name. “My daughter Mira told me about you, she failed to mention you were a mentalist though.”

“Mentalist?” She echoed, not familiar with the term. “Nina taught me how to use magic one night in the harem.”

“Magic?” He replied with just as much curiosity as she had mere moments ago. “You can work magic as well?”

“Is this not magic?” She asked and looked down expecting to see a body but finding nothing. “What else would it be?”

“Amazing, you are performing complex spells merely by chance then?” He looked over at her suddenly and his face screwed up in alarm, he dropped the mental communication and startled not only her but the elves around her all at once. “Are you the one building your focus? Rose you must stop now! You’re drawing far too much energy for one mortal to handle! Return to your body immediately and cease!”

“I don’t know how!” She cried in alarm as a wave of terror washed through her being. She did not know how to return let alone how to turn off the flow of magic without Nina around. She had thought she was maintaining control over it. Her eyes went wide as he put his palm out toward her and barked a few words that sounded guttural and fluid, the power in them caused her ears to ring. Seconds after he spoke the last syllable she felt a red hot pain searing through her and a tugging sensation pulled her through the walls and back into her cell.

Rose was startled back into consciousness and a great burning was racing through her veins. Unable to contain it she reeled and emptied the contents of her stomach, crying out in pain. The world around her began to burn as the power she had been gathering threatened to consume her. The scream of hurt and fright that escaped her lips was primal and unintelligible and it echoed into the still night.

~~~~

The guards standing by Rose’s cell had not the voice to call out in alarm, nor could they ready their weapons. The last thing in their vision was a point of white-hot light burning itself permanently into their eyes before they crumpled to the ground in a smoldering heap.

Not far away Merik got a start and leapt to the aid of his fallen comrade, he watched the white fire pulse outward and pour itself over the high walls of the prison cell. He had feared that an attack would occur and Rose would be the target. He had also advised against this course of action, he felt cowardly using a young girl as bait under any circumstance. A wave of pure energy hit him and forced him back against the stones hard enough to blast the air from his lungs. “Rose!”

“Everyone back!” The older elf cried out as he raced toward the room.

He heard the voice from behind him and turned to find the revered father hastening toward him holding his staff in one hand and the bulk of his robe in the other hand. The old man rushed past and into the fire head first with no regard for his own safety. “No! Do not approach!”

“I said back captain of the guard, this is a matter for one of my skill not yours. Attend to the battle starting in the common room!” Leonidus Sunmane leapt forward into the raw magic exploding from the makeshift prison room and breathed heavily as the wards of his personal mantle flared to life and strained against the raw power around him. Rose was at the center of the magical fire, her knees on the ground and her arms around her torso she was curled up in a tight ball sobbing hard.

“Twin dragons above.” He whispered in awe as she looked up at him. Her eyes were white-hot with unrefined magical energy and the air around them was alight with more power than he had ever seen gathered in one place. He flung his arms out wide and mentally called out to his staff, the ancient weapon began drawing in the fires around them even as they began to burn hotter. The stones around them were starting melt and bubble and the sand covering the floor had already turned into glass. Shouting arcane syllables as he worked he released the staff and let it float at his side and gestured with his hands, turning them in long circles as the language of magic rolled off his tongue like sand drifting down a dune.

He was good with magic, that was no secret but she was straining even his considerable ability to drain and contain the magic that her body could not handle. Sweat beaded on his brow and he could feel a searing burn forming on his skin as the deadly fire turned from white to silver and grew in strength. His voice was becoming hoarse as he shouted loudly trying to keep his concentration over the ethereal roar of the mage fire.  He felt his wards wearing down; protected by just a thin sheet of magical force he called out his final effort to contain the raw destructive force. “By the twin gods above and below I beseech aid. Scale of light and scale of dark heed my call!”

Time slowed considerably all at once and the silvery fire that had begun to show shades of gold began to subside and shrink back from Rose’s body. Her eyes cleared and she slumped down to the ground hard still holding herself tight. Her new clothing had burned instantly and she lay naked in the center of a spherical pockmark burned into the very earth itself. She was otherwise outwardly unscathed. “Rose!”

Falling to his knees from weakness he crawled toward her and took the still-sobbing girl into his arms.  He held her tight and removed his robe, draping it around her body. The tunic and breeches he wore underneath were the same as hers, plain and nondescript. Silently he chanted a basic spell and cringed as it felt like a great effort to get the words out. The spell confirmed that she was unaffected by the raging fire. “Thank the dragon gods, you’re alright.”

“My whole body hurts.” She whispered as best she could with the raspy whisper that was left of her voice. Rose felt as if she had been plunged into a lake of boiling lava and pulled out after a long submersion. She opened her eyes a bit and regretted it as they stung, she clamped them tight in an effort to curb the pain. “Thank you.”

“Shush now, don’t talk little Rose.” The old man gathered her into his arms and used his robe to cover her body up fully. Once he stood up he called for his staff which still hovered nearby. He marveled at the change in the wooden weapon. It had gone from being a light brown to an almost obsidian color, which was odd for just absorbing magic. He scolded himself and made a note to check on it later. Walking as lightly as he could he stepped out of the doorway and into the hall, creeping over the unfortunate elf that lay burned to his bones in front of the door.