The Wheel - Part Four
Sep. 9th, 2005 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
new_kateTitle: The Wheel
Author: Newkate
Fandom: Saiyuki
Warnings: Reincarnation fic. This part is maybe PG-15. 1st person POV, crude language, violence, questionable grammar and elves.
Heroically betaed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hibem.
Part One: Shift
Part Two: Dance
Part Three: Experiment
Part 4: Party (Ch. 2 of 4)
Ch.1
The townspeople moved the elf into the town jail for the night. The cells were in the basement of the guard barracks, and that meant we had to go through most of the town guards to get to him.
“I really don’t like it,” said Soll. “This could turn incredibly ugly.”
“Well, you could always do the Hammer,” I suggested, trying to be useful.
“I’m not doing the Hammer in the middle of a town,” he said. “If you don’t have anything sane to say, keep quiet. How many guards are outside?”
I listened.
“Just the two. Oh, and somebody else.”
“Who?”
I thought the steps were familiar. We were downwind, of course, and after a moment I’d also recognized the scent. But if you told Soll bad news, he’d more than likely smack you, even if the bad stuff was totally not your fault. So I just shrugged and pointed a direction.
We snuck through the alley, crossed a small square and saw the barracks, a large stone building with heavy doors. All the windows were barred, and there were two guys with halberds walking around, looking mostly at the stars. And then, of course, there was that guy, crouching in the shadows behind the empty food stalls.
I pointed him out to Soll. Soll moaned quietly, shook his head and hid his face in his palm. The half-breed thief grinned at us and gave a little wave which I took for invitation to join him in his hiding place.
We were too close to the guards to have a good shout or start banging heads with a staff, which put Soll in an even worse mood. He looked like he was about to choke or break all his teeth by grinding them together.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he whispered in thief’s ear. The thief giggled and squirmed, pretending to be tickled. Soll was nowhere close enough for that!
“Ooh, slow down, your holiness. I’ve missed you too, but this is not the time or place…”
Soll moved to grab him by the throat, but he ducked and raised his palms, calling for truce. He kept smiling and smiling. All his wounds had long healed, and he looked almost as he did when we first met him, only thinner.
“I’ve found my friend,” he said. “He’s alive. Hey, what are you doing here? You look like thieves on the job, and I would know.”
Soll closed his eyes and breathed, slowly, chanting a calming prayer under his breath.
“Would your friend, by any chance, be an elf?” he asked. “And while we’re at it, another question: are you planning to charge all of the town guard by yourself?”
“We were going to save him, too,” I explained, while the thief blinked and gaped. Soll glared at me, but didn’t say anything.
“Why?”
“I have my reasons,” said Soll. “Now shut up. We need to figure out how to overpower them all without too much bloodshed…”
“That’s easy. Here, sleeping bombs,” the thief opened his bag and pulled out several shimmering purple orbs. “Chuck them into windows and everyone inside will be out in a blink, for hours. I can take both outside guards quietly, no bother. It’s what to do next I can’t figure out. The town gate is heavily guarded.”
“Ten guys is not heavily,” I said. I’ve counted them as we entered, just in case.
“You sure?” asked Soll. “Can you do it alone?”
I nodded and ate something the thief gave me. It looked like a forest berry, except it burst on my tongue in a strange way and was bitter like tree bark, but I swallowed it anyway.
“Stop eating everything you see, moron!” hissed Soll so loudly that one of the guards broke a stride and looked around for a while before shrugging and resuming patrol. “What was it?”
“Something to help us stay awake if we breathe in the smoke,” said the thief, popped another one in his mouth and offered the third to Soll. “I’ll owe you an awful lot after this.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t do it for you the last time, not doing it for you now,” said Soll and carefully wiped the berry on his sleeve before swallowing it. “We go together on three. I take the left one.”
“Wait, wait…” started the thief, but he was grabbing his bag and drawing his dagger anyway. Soll was always hard to argue with.
“One, two…”
The thief ran across the square, darting from shadow to shadow, fast as a rat, completely quiet; the guard just about sensed a movement nearby when a dagger sliced through his throat and cut off all sounds except a tiny short gurgle. Soll threw a silence spell on the other one, ducked the halberd, punched the guard in the temple and knocked him right out. The thief beamed and ran along the barrack wall, hurling the sleeping bombs in every window. I heard soft crashing noises, voices, moans, and then – quiet.
We went in, stepping over sleeping bodies that littered the floor, with the thief opening lock after lock on our way, made it to the basement and had to wait while he struggled with the cell locks. Every time he glanced at the elf through the bars he fumbled or dropped his tools, and by the time he succeeded I was sure I could have bent those bars much faster.
The elf was asleep or maybe unconscious, still bound and gagged. We freed him; Soll and the thief slung his arms over their shoulders and together we ran straight for the town gate, not hiding any more.
It was not far. I crashed into the guards as they we rising up to meet us, ran one through with my blade, shoved the rest aside to get to the gate’s release lever, chopped through the ropes holding it down and returned to the battle as Soll and the thief dragged the elf past me and disappeared into the night.
I still had four enemies left standing – the gate I was blocking was a bit too narrow for my better moves, - when I heard bows being drawn above me. I charged the swordsmen, making them back off, saw the stairs and bounded up them as fast as I could, thinking only that Soll’s golden hair can be visible even in darkness, even at a distance.
There were three archers on the wall. I didn’t see them when we came in - it was so unbelievably stupid of me not to check for something like that. They’d had time to shoot two rounds before I got to the top, gutted the one closest to me and lopped off the second one’s arm. That was enough to make the last one lose his aim. I breathed easy and finished them off, waited for my abandoned swordsmen to catch up to me, killed them and jumped from the wall to run after Soll. They had gotten quite far away, I could hardly see them, and there was no smell of fresh blood in their wake.
We made it to the forest long before sunrise. Nobody was chasing us yet, and they were losing their chances fast.
We found a stream and stopped for breakfast.
*-*-*
We didn’t have time to re-supply properly, so the food was dwindling at a scary pace. I was getting more worried with every bite I took, and the thoughts of running out of stuff to eat were making me even hungrier.
So I was eating and Soll was watching the half-breed who just sat there, lightly stroking the elf’s dark hair.
“He’ll be waking up soon,” he said finally. “I don’t really… Ah, hell, I’ll just go. Will you look after him?”
“Whatever,” said Soll. “If you want to be a spineless coward, you by all means should, it suits you. Want a blessing to go?”
He never offered blessings for free to anybody but me, and that was only for fighting. I frowned, but the thief just shrugged as if it was nothing: “Couldn’t hurt, I suppose.”
Soll pressed his fingers to the thief’s forehead. Faint blue glow I learned to see not that long ago travelled from his chest under his skin, poured from the fingers, pooled inside the thief, flooding his chakras.
“Wow,” he said, staggering back. “I actually felt that.”
“Well of course. Zana deals some good shit. Now go away.”
“Give this to…” The thief pulled that pendant thing out of his pocket, looked at it and put it back. “Actually nah, I’m pretty sure he wanted me to have it.”
“Soll,” I said when he started to walk away, and Soll understood but shook his head:
“Everyone must walk their own path. Leave it. He’ll be fine.”
Soll crossed the clearing, knelt next to the elf and turned his face to the side to have better look at his bruised eye.
“Kasen,” said the elf, caught Soll’s wrist and brought it to his lips. Soll flinched and pulled away, and the elf opened his eyes and sat up abruptly.
“Oh,” he said. “My mistake, forgive me.”
Soll didn’t say anything, he hardly moved. The elf looked at him, then all around, frowning and confused, rubbing his wrists bruised by ropes into purple and black. When he saw me, his eyes lit up even brighter, and he really smiled this time, such sweet, light and beautiful smile that I felt it all the way along my back.
“Hello again, young man. My name is Hathal. What’s yours?”
I shrugged. Hathal kept his eyes on me for another breath and then turned back to Soll.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Did you bring me here?”
“Yes. I’m Soll. My goddess, Zana the Merciful, extended her benevolence upon you or some such and compelled me to free you,” said Soll. “I take it you’re not too happy about it.”
Hathal thought about it for a while, still rubbing his wrists. The skin under his fingers was quickly turning healthy pink, and I scooted closer to try and figure out how he did that.
“I’m not upset about being spared,” he said. “I was resigned to accept this fate, but pain and helplessness do wonders for one’s will to live. It’s just that I’m rather at a loss as to what to do with this life now.”
“Well, our job here is done,” said Soll, getting up. “For all I care you can go back to that town, or jump off the cliff, or return to your little elf treehouse and bitch about rude humans with your little elf friends. But if you want to do something useful, you could come with us. I’m in need of a guide and a mage.”
Hathal looked up at him, shaking off his healed hands, not smiling any more:
“You don’t even know me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“And I don’t really want to listen to your life story. My swordsman seems to think you’re not too evil. If you know the mountains and can at least heal and shield, you’ll be handy. If you betray me, I’ll kill you. Simple as that. Are you coming?”
“Mountains? What is it you intend to do there?” asked Hathal.
“I don’t really know yet,” admitted Soll. “I think Zana wanted it to be a surprise. She’s annoying like that. But I’m sure it will be about saving the world, that’s her thing, after all.”
Hathal laughed, softly, like the sound of birds singing before the dawn.
“How can I possibly refuse an offer like that? Give me some time to mend my clothes, and I’ll be ready to go. Would you happen to have any spare shoes I could use? Clearly, the humans think the magic is all in the footwear.”
“Yes, they are probably pounding nails into your footprints as we speak,” sighed Soll. “World is full of idiots, but what else is new.”
We went through our bags and gathered needles and threads for Hathal to use. He pulled off his torn shirt to sew it up, and I forgot to breathe. His skin was very white and smooth where it wasn’t bruised, but it had those markings, shaped almost like leaves, that ran all over his back and chest in thin winding ribbons, so fine and delicate.
“Wow,” I said, touching them and tracing them in spirals from his neck to his waist. “These are amazing! How did you get them, Hathal?”
He squirmed under my fingers and laughed, looking embarrassed.
“Ah, these are my elf marks. We all have them. If you don’t mind, I’d like to finish mending and get dressed soon, I really shouldn’t expose them to sunlight.”
So I just sat next to him and stroked the marks on his back and neck, not at all interrupting his sewing. He was pretty bad at it – he kept jabbing the needle into his own fingers.
“Oh, leave him be, we don’t have time for this nonsense,” said Soll to me. He pulled my old boots from the bag and offered them to Hathal. “So, who’s Kasen?”
Hathal dropped his outstretched arm and looked down at the uneven stitching on his shirt.
“A memory,” he said. “That’s all.”
*-*-*
I thought Hathal was nice, but I didn’t know the half of it.
He was actually stronger than Soll, so he took Soll’s bags and carried them himself. He knew all the best roads and shortcuts, and what he didn’t know he could divine with magic spells that sprang form his palm without any effort, fast, bright and shiny. When we stopped for a night, he took one look at our supplies and led me to the nearby river to help him find something healthy and tasty.
That night we had fish stuffed with herbs and baked in clay, and mushrooms roasted on sticks. Hathal wrote Soll a list of things to buy in the next town: pots, spoons, spices, and when Soll started to protest, Hathal said that eating dry scraps is not good for a growing boy, which made Soll sigh and agree. And then Hathal let me hug him.
Before bed he folded his fingers the way Soll did when he looked at my aura to check for injuries, and offered Soll to heal his blisters. The argued about that for ages, but in the end Soll pulled his boots off, and Hathal sat next to him and touched and stroked his feet until all the blisters were gone. It must have been very pleasant, because Soll went all pink on his cheeks and around his ears like he did when he drank too much mead. I even felt a little jealous and wished I had a wound so Hathal could heal me. Soll’s healing spells were pretty painful to take and left scars, too, but elf magic seemed to be much milder.
We only had two blankets, and although Hathal said he’d be fine without, I managed to talk him into sharing with me. I cuddled up to him, put my head on his shoulder, and he was so warm and smelled so good that I slept better than ever. I was even a little upset when Soll made a detour to get to the nearby village and bought a third blanket there in only a couple of nights.
While we walked, Hathal liked to talk about the strangest things – he’d smile and say what a nice day it is, or that it looks like the weather will be fine for some time, and then he’d look at us as if expecting an answer. So I would agree and say something unimportant as well, that I liked yesterday’s dinner a lot and that I couldn’t wait to find out what he’s cooking next or something. At first Soll would shout at us to stop the useless chatter, but then he got used to it.
Sometimes Hathal would talk to Soll, and although I could never quite figure out what they were talking about, I loved to listen. Hathal’s voice was clear and smooth, like the song of a forest brook, and Soll’s voice was the best sound in the world.
“When one loses everything, one is set free,” said Hathal once. “That’s what I was taught, and I had no reason to question it. But…”
“I was taught the same.”
“But, Soll, what if… When you lose everyone you ever loved, everyone who knew you, when your every accomplishment is rendered meaningless and your every strength is a dead weight, and you finally realise who and what you really are...”
“You are a prideful, snooty elf.”
“Well, yes,” smiled Hathal. “And, look, that’s one of my best features! What do you do when you come to realise you despise the real you?”
“Accept it. Change it. Stop moaning, in any case,” said Soll. I though he was being mean, but Hathal kept smiling, so maybe I misunderstood.
“Oh, I’ve tried. See, if you have nothing, you have no fear. You can do anything. So what do you do? Omnipotence is paralysing. Everyone needs a purpose, and if the purpose is all you have, it becomes an end in itself, distorting your initial intentions, making you into something even more loathsome.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” groaned Soll.
“And if you reject the purpose and try to live your live as it is, your heart betrays you. It starts reaching out. The heart needs to love, like the lungs need to breathe. So you give in, you love. And here comes fear.”
Soll gave him a strange glance, quickly, from the corner of his eye, but I think Hathal noticed: his ear twitched in that nervous way he had sometimes.
“But,” he added. “As a dear friend of mine used to say, one doesn’t need love to, ah, be sociable.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” grunted Soll.
“The meanings of words are born in the space between the speaker and the listener. It will mean what you want it to mean, Soll.”
Soll stopped abruptly; Hathal turned to face him. I stepped closer, just in case they were in a middle of an argument, but they both ignored me.
“You better explain yourself and it’d better be good,” said Soll.
“Why did you save me?” asked Hathal, softly, quietly. “And please, don’t give me that line about mercy. You’ve killed innocent people to…”
“Mercy isn’t justice. Mercy isn’t Karma. It’s not for those who deserve it. Also, I do need a guide and a mage.”
“You have your own magic, Soll.”
“It’s not mine!” he cried out. “I’m a human, if you haven’t noticed. I can only wield divine power, and what Zana giveth, Zana can taketh away any time the mood strikes her. I have no intention to be caught with my pants down in the middle of the elf lands, helpless as a kitten.”
That picture stayed in my head far longer than it should have, so I would have missed the next words had they spoke, but they were both silent for a while.
“Forgive me,” said Hathal, lowering his head. “I shouldn’t have presumed.”
“Just shut up,” said Soll and started walking again. We followed. “I don’t want that kind of gratitude.”
“Oh, Soll, honestly, I’m not that grateful. I’m selfish and weak, and… Do you believe in rebirth?”
“I don’t believe in anything. I know – or I don’t. This I don’t know. Why?”
“Oh, no reason. Just – I would love to think we’re getting another chance. That I can try to be someone better,” said Hathal with his face tilted up to the tree crowns.
“You’re alive. Your chance is right here,” said Soll, sounding really pissed off. “When will it penetrate your thick skull?”
“Am I making things harder for you?” asked Hathal, and I jumped on him right away, making him drop the bags, hugged him and told him that he’s helping a lot, taking really good care of us, and his cooking is the best, and that Soll really likes him, even if he’s a big jerk about it, and that Hathal made everything much better. He just sounded so upset, and I didn’t trust Soll to be nice enough to cheer him up. Hathal hugged me back, thanked me, and we carried on walking.
“It’s not really about how I feel,” said Soll. “I’m a priest of Zana the merciful, so…”
“Oh,” said Hathal. “How embarrassing. I didn’t know that entailed purity.”
“Hardly,” huffed Soll. “But she might have an issue with it.”
They didn’t talk any more that day. Only late at night, when I was almost asleep, they started to exchange little whispers.
“Forgive me, Soll, I understand it’s a delicate matter, but I’m curious. I don’t know that much about your goddess or how one serves her…”
“You are a lucky, lucky elf.”
“But if she does not demand purity of you, what are her wishes?”
“Hmm. Sometimes I think all she wants is entertainment. But in this case – I’m just worried she’ll get jealous.”
Hathal tried to stifle laughter so hard I got worried he’d suffocate.
“Oh, Soll. That’s adorable.”
“Shut up.”
“No, it’s so sweet of you to think of her divine feelings…”
“I said,” started Soll, and then he moved: I heard a rustle of his robes, sensed a deepening of his smell, and then Hathal’s voice was cut off abruptly, as if he choked.
I tensed, but there was only silence. Their breathing and heartbeats were quickening as if they were running, but they were hardly moving at all.
“Let’s take this somewhere else, I don’t want to wake him up,” said Soll after a long pause.
“Of course. Have you done it before?”
“Oh yes, I’ve been Zana’s priest for years now.”
“…There is so much I don’t understand about that goddess…”
They left the clearing and went so deep into the forest I could hardly hear them. For some reason I couldn’t fall asleep for hours after that.
*-*-*
Things changed after that night. I couldn’t really say why, the routine stayed pretty much the same, except Soll and Hathal would sometimes leave in the middle of the night, but they never again stayed away till dawn and normally came back in about an hour, wrapped in thick, unsettling smells. I thought about following them, but the thought of what I would see terrified me, so I never did.
Really, things changed for the better. Soll looked much happier. Not that he smiled, or stopped frowning, or became any nicer, but I knew him, so I could tell anyway. Hathal was calmer too, he never seemed lost and shaking inside any more. Everything was better; it’s just that somehow I had this feeling that Soll no longer belonged to me, and it was eating me up like a hunger I could not satisfy.
One night, after they came back and settled on the opposite sides of the fire, I got up and walked over to look at Hathal.
He looked so pretty lying there with his cheeks still flushed, lips swollen, hair sticking to sweaty forehead and temples. His shirt was open, showing his marking winding downwards and the outline of his sharp collarbones. I could see his pulse beating in a soft dip between them, and I suddenly thought how easy it would be to kill him. I didn’t know why I thought that. I really liked Hathal.
He opened his eyes and looked at me, and then he pushed the blanket aside and opened his arms. I lay down and cuddled him, like I had maybe three weeks ago. He seemed smaller now. He smelled of Soll all over, and it was wonderful and so, so wrong at the same time.
He hugged me closer and rubbed my back, just over that knot I seemed to have had in my chest for days now. I’d never cried before, although I’d seen people doing that, and I thought to try, but decided it would hurt too much without practice.
“If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask, I will do my best to explain,” he said.
I couldn’t ask him, so I just shook my head and matched my breathing to his. With all the maddening scents it was almost like Soll was there tangled with us, too.
“You’ve grown a lot,” said Hathal. “You really need a name. I have no idea how the two of you managed without. Would you like me to give you one? It could be elfish or human, or we could find something suitable from ancient myths, if you prefer.”
“No,” I said. I didn’t feel like I needed a name, and if I ever did, I was sure Soll would name me then. Hathal didn’t argue and soon started to fall asleep for real. In the end I had to go back to my own blanket, because the smells and the heat of him next to me were keeping me awake.
We were getting closer and closer to the mountains. The forest was now mostly pine, there were hardly any flies and mosquitoes around, the rivers were getting colder and faster, and one day I even caught an eagle while I was up on a tree looking around. Hathal said they weren’t tasty, so I let it go.
Soll said that elf land started on the other side of the mountain range, but Hathal explained that all of this forest belonged to his people long before the humans came. There were still a lot of them living here and there; all towns in the shadow of the mountains had elf quarters and nobody thought twice about trading or even being friends with elves. Hathal finally could go into town with us and stay at the inn instead of hiding in the forest on the outskirts while we bought what we needed and talked to people. It seemed like a great place for everybody; I was worried that over in elf land Soll would be the one who’s never welcome anywhere. But he said we had to go, so we kept going.
He wanted to make it over the pass before the rains started, which meant we had to walk faster and longer. By the end of each day the hunger was killing me, and when one evening I smelled something tasty in front of us, I couldn’t wait a second longer and ran for it, with Soll and Hathal yelling at me to be careful and trying to catch up. The smell was definitely one of a rabbit, a big juicy roasted rabbit, a rabbit roasted over the fire built from juniper branches, a rabbit roasted by…
“Hey! It’s you!” I screamed, running onto the clearing. The half-breed thief was sitting on the grass bank of a small river, bathing his bare feet in clear cold water, and was just about to bite into his dinner. The hot fat was still bubbling over crispy golden rabbit skin, making my mouth overflow with drool, and I was really hoping he’d be nice enough to share.
“Fuck, it’s like a recurring nightmare,” said Soll behind me.
“Kasen!” gasped Hathal in a small, strangled voice. “Kasen…”
The thief flinched and dropped the rabbit right into the river, and fast current dragged it away in a blink of an eye. By the time I caught up with it, fished it out and returned to the clearing, still trying to decide if I should tell them I didn’t find it or be good and share the last hind leg with everybody, they’d already finished their argument I could just about hear over the river noise. Soll looked pissed off, Hathal was smiling like he’d never smiled before, and Kasen had joined our party.
He caught two more rabbits with a rope noose, and Hathal stewed them with tasty sweet roots. They both fussed over the pot and giggled as if the meal was a really funny joke only the two of them understood. It was still very tasty, so it wasn’t like I cared. I snatched the last piece right from under Kasen’s nose while he stared at Hathal with a stupid grin, and Soll had a sly smirk listening to the thief’s angry screams. Hathal laughed, said we should get bigger cooking pots in the next town and made me and Kasen help him clean up. It was already dark by then, and we all settled down to sleep around the fire - Kasen had his own blanket, so nobody had to share.
In the middle of the night I got woken up again by Soll and Hathal quietly leaving the camp. I waited for them to be gone before I opened my eyes and saw that Kasen wasn’t asleep either.
“So this is how it is, huh?” he said. “How long has this been going on?”
“For ages now,” I said, shivering. I didn’t want to think about that, but if it was bothering Kasen I probably needed to be worried, too.
He looked at me and then reached out and ruffled my hair. It was pleasant yet annoying, so I giggled and lightly punched him in the ribs.
“Hey, kid,” he said, trying to punch me back and feigning all over the place too slowly for me to fall for it. “If you wanna ask me something, go for it. I won’t tell them.”
So I asked, and he told me everything. Really everything. I didn’t throw up in the middle of it only because I hated the idea of wasting food.
“No way am I ever doing any of that!” I said. Even the thought of it was making my skin crawl.
“Yeah, you have to be grown up to enjoy it,” said Kasen. “It’s not for kiddies, that’s for sure.”
That made me think.
“When do you think I’m going to be grown up?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But you have grown about seven inches since I first met you – how long has it been? Four, five months? So my guess – any time now.”
“Really? I was that short?”
“Yup. You will be taller than that slut of a priest soon, maybe you’ll even get to be taller than Hathal, because, damn, your ugly feet are freaky huge.”
“Are not!”
“Are too! Huge like seal flippers!”
I tackled him and tried to pull his hair, but he used his weight advantage and got me into a ground hold. I could probably get out of it, but fighting while trying not to kill and not to break bones was new and hard, so I just kicked at his shins and let him tickle me till I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe.
“Shut up,” said Soll, walking out of the forest. “You can be heard for miles around. There are bears in these woods, you know.”
As we all crawled back into our blankets, Hathal also came back and sat next to the half-breed.
“So you’re not asleep,” he said, smiling so hard his eyes were narrowed to slits. “Are you all right, Kasen?”
“Of course I am. Sure,” said Kasen, smiling back. “What about you, man? Are you all right? You know… happy?”
“Yes.”
“Good then,” he hugged Hathal’s waist and pressed his face against the elf’s thigh. “Everything’s cool.”
“Ah. Well, I’m glad. Good night, Kasen.”
I didn’t think anyone slept that night. Everyone’s breathing was too calm and even. The next day Kasen kept picking on Soll, and Soll was quietly stewing at first, but as soon as he snapped and started to scream and chase laughing Kasen around with his staff, everything finally began to feel fine, like it was just how it was meant to be.
Next Chapter
Author: Newkate
Fandom: Saiyuki
Warnings: Reincarnation fic. This part is maybe PG-15. 1st person POV, crude language, violence, questionable grammar and elves.
Heroically betaed by
hibem.Part One: Shift
Part Two: Dance
Part Three: Experiment
Part 4: Party (Ch. 2 of 4)
Ch.1
The townspeople moved the elf into the town jail for the night. The cells were in the basement of the guard barracks, and that meant we had to go through most of the town guards to get to him.
“I really don’t like it,” said Soll. “This could turn incredibly ugly.”
“Well, you could always do the Hammer,” I suggested, trying to be useful.
“I’m not doing the Hammer in the middle of a town,” he said. “If you don’t have anything sane to say, keep quiet. How many guards are outside?”
I listened.
“Just the two. Oh, and somebody else.”
“Who?”
I thought the steps were familiar. We were downwind, of course, and after a moment I’d also recognized the scent. But if you told Soll bad news, he’d more than likely smack you, even if the bad stuff was totally not your fault. So I just shrugged and pointed a direction.
We snuck through the alley, crossed a small square and saw the barracks, a large stone building with heavy doors. All the windows were barred, and there were two guys with halberds walking around, looking mostly at the stars. And then, of course, there was that guy, crouching in the shadows behind the empty food stalls.
I pointed him out to Soll. Soll moaned quietly, shook his head and hid his face in his palm. The half-breed thief grinned at us and gave a little wave which I took for invitation to join him in his hiding place.
We were too close to the guards to have a good shout or start banging heads with a staff, which put Soll in an even worse mood. He looked like he was about to choke or break all his teeth by grinding them together.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he whispered in thief’s ear. The thief giggled and squirmed, pretending to be tickled. Soll was nowhere close enough for that!
“Ooh, slow down, your holiness. I’ve missed you too, but this is not the time or place…”
Soll moved to grab him by the throat, but he ducked and raised his palms, calling for truce. He kept smiling and smiling. All his wounds had long healed, and he looked almost as he did when we first met him, only thinner.
“I’ve found my friend,” he said. “He’s alive. Hey, what are you doing here? You look like thieves on the job, and I would know.”
Soll closed his eyes and breathed, slowly, chanting a calming prayer under his breath.
“Would your friend, by any chance, be an elf?” he asked. “And while we’re at it, another question: are you planning to charge all of the town guard by yourself?”
“We were going to save him, too,” I explained, while the thief blinked and gaped. Soll glared at me, but didn’t say anything.
“Why?”
“I have my reasons,” said Soll. “Now shut up. We need to figure out how to overpower them all without too much bloodshed…”
“That’s easy. Here, sleeping bombs,” the thief opened his bag and pulled out several shimmering purple orbs. “Chuck them into windows and everyone inside will be out in a blink, for hours. I can take both outside guards quietly, no bother. It’s what to do next I can’t figure out. The town gate is heavily guarded.”
“Ten guys is not heavily,” I said. I’ve counted them as we entered, just in case.
“You sure?” asked Soll. “Can you do it alone?”
I nodded and ate something the thief gave me. It looked like a forest berry, except it burst on my tongue in a strange way and was bitter like tree bark, but I swallowed it anyway.
“Stop eating everything you see, moron!” hissed Soll so loudly that one of the guards broke a stride and looked around for a while before shrugging and resuming patrol. “What was it?”
“Something to help us stay awake if we breathe in the smoke,” said the thief, popped another one in his mouth and offered the third to Soll. “I’ll owe you an awful lot after this.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t do it for you the last time, not doing it for you now,” said Soll and carefully wiped the berry on his sleeve before swallowing it. “We go together on three. I take the left one.”
“Wait, wait…” started the thief, but he was grabbing his bag and drawing his dagger anyway. Soll was always hard to argue with.
“One, two…”
The thief ran across the square, darting from shadow to shadow, fast as a rat, completely quiet; the guard just about sensed a movement nearby when a dagger sliced through his throat and cut off all sounds except a tiny short gurgle. Soll threw a silence spell on the other one, ducked the halberd, punched the guard in the temple and knocked him right out. The thief beamed and ran along the barrack wall, hurling the sleeping bombs in every window. I heard soft crashing noises, voices, moans, and then – quiet.
We went in, stepping over sleeping bodies that littered the floor, with the thief opening lock after lock on our way, made it to the basement and had to wait while he struggled with the cell locks. Every time he glanced at the elf through the bars he fumbled or dropped his tools, and by the time he succeeded I was sure I could have bent those bars much faster.
The elf was asleep or maybe unconscious, still bound and gagged. We freed him; Soll and the thief slung his arms over their shoulders and together we ran straight for the town gate, not hiding any more.
It was not far. I crashed into the guards as they we rising up to meet us, ran one through with my blade, shoved the rest aside to get to the gate’s release lever, chopped through the ropes holding it down and returned to the battle as Soll and the thief dragged the elf past me and disappeared into the night.
I still had four enemies left standing – the gate I was blocking was a bit too narrow for my better moves, - when I heard bows being drawn above me. I charged the swordsmen, making them back off, saw the stairs and bounded up them as fast as I could, thinking only that Soll’s golden hair can be visible even in darkness, even at a distance.
There were three archers on the wall. I didn’t see them when we came in - it was so unbelievably stupid of me not to check for something like that. They’d had time to shoot two rounds before I got to the top, gutted the one closest to me and lopped off the second one’s arm. That was enough to make the last one lose his aim. I breathed easy and finished them off, waited for my abandoned swordsmen to catch up to me, killed them and jumped from the wall to run after Soll. They had gotten quite far away, I could hardly see them, and there was no smell of fresh blood in their wake.
We made it to the forest long before sunrise. Nobody was chasing us yet, and they were losing their chances fast.
We found a stream and stopped for breakfast.
*-*-*
We didn’t have time to re-supply properly, so the food was dwindling at a scary pace. I was getting more worried with every bite I took, and the thoughts of running out of stuff to eat were making me even hungrier.
So I was eating and Soll was watching the half-breed who just sat there, lightly stroking the elf’s dark hair.
“He’ll be waking up soon,” he said finally. “I don’t really… Ah, hell, I’ll just go. Will you look after him?”
“Whatever,” said Soll. “If you want to be a spineless coward, you by all means should, it suits you. Want a blessing to go?”
He never offered blessings for free to anybody but me, and that was only for fighting. I frowned, but the thief just shrugged as if it was nothing: “Couldn’t hurt, I suppose.”
Soll pressed his fingers to the thief’s forehead. Faint blue glow I learned to see not that long ago travelled from his chest under his skin, poured from the fingers, pooled inside the thief, flooding his chakras.
“Wow,” he said, staggering back. “I actually felt that.”
“Well of course. Zana deals some good shit. Now go away.”
“Give this to…” The thief pulled that pendant thing out of his pocket, looked at it and put it back. “Actually nah, I’m pretty sure he wanted me to have it.”
“Soll,” I said when he started to walk away, and Soll understood but shook his head:
“Everyone must walk their own path. Leave it. He’ll be fine.”
Soll crossed the clearing, knelt next to the elf and turned his face to the side to have better look at his bruised eye.
“Kasen,” said the elf, caught Soll’s wrist and brought it to his lips. Soll flinched and pulled away, and the elf opened his eyes and sat up abruptly.
“Oh,” he said. “My mistake, forgive me.”
Soll didn’t say anything, he hardly moved. The elf looked at him, then all around, frowning and confused, rubbing his wrists bruised by ropes into purple and black. When he saw me, his eyes lit up even brighter, and he really smiled this time, such sweet, light and beautiful smile that I felt it all the way along my back.
“Hello again, young man. My name is Hathal. What’s yours?”
I shrugged. Hathal kept his eyes on me for another breath and then turned back to Soll.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Did you bring me here?”
“Yes. I’m Soll. My goddess, Zana the Merciful, extended her benevolence upon you or some such and compelled me to free you,” said Soll. “I take it you’re not too happy about it.”
Hathal thought about it for a while, still rubbing his wrists. The skin under his fingers was quickly turning healthy pink, and I scooted closer to try and figure out how he did that.
“I’m not upset about being spared,” he said. “I was resigned to accept this fate, but pain and helplessness do wonders for one’s will to live. It’s just that I’m rather at a loss as to what to do with this life now.”
“Well, our job here is done,” said Soll, getting up. “For all I care you can go back to that town, or jump off the cliff, or return to your little elf treehouse and bitch about rude humans with your little elf friends. But if you want to do something useful, you could come with us. I’m in need of a guide and a mage.”
Hathal looked up at him, shaking off his healed hands, not smiling any more:
“You don’t even know me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“And I don’t really want to listen to your life story. My swordsman seems to think you’re not too evil. If you know the mountains and can at least heal and shield, you’ll be handy. If you betray me, I’ll kill you. Simple as that. Are you coming?”
“Mountains? What is it you intend to do there?” asked Hathal.
“I don’t really know yet,” admitted Soll. “I think Zana wanted it to be a surprise. She’s annoying like that. But I’m sure it will be about saving the world, that’s her thing, after all.”
Hathal laughed, softly, like the sound of birds singing before the dawn.
“How can I possibly refuse an offer like that? Give me some time to mend my clothes, and I’ll be ready to go. Would you happen to have any spare shoes I could use? Clearly, the humans think the magic is all in the footwear.”
“Yes, they are probably pounding nails into your footprints as we speak,” sighed Soll. “World is full of idiots, but what else is new.”
We went through our bags and gathered needles and threads for Hathal to use. He pulled off his torn shirt to sew it up, and I forgot to breathe. His skin was very white and smooth where it wasn’t bruised, but it had those markings, shaped almost like leaves, that ran all over his back and chest in thin winding ribbons, so fine and delicate.
“Wow,” I said, touching them and tracing them in spirals from his neck to his waist. “These are amazing! How did you get them, Hathal?”
He squirmed under my fingers and laughed, looking embarrassed.
“Ah, these are my elf marks. We all have them. If you don’t mind, I’d like to finish mending and get dressed soon, I really shouldn’t expose them to sunlight.”
So I just sat next to him and stroked the marks on his back and neck, not at all interrupting his sewing. He was pretty bad at it – he kept jabbing the needle into his own fingers.
“Oh, leave him be, we don’t have time for this nonsense,” said Soll to me. He pulled my old boots from the bag and offered them to Hathal. “So, who’s Kasen?”
Hathal dropped his outstretched arm and looked down at the uneven stitching on his shirt.
“A memory,” he said. “That’s all.”
*-*-*
I thought Hathal was nice, but I didn’t know the half of it.
He was actually stronger than Soll, so he took Soll’s bags and carried them himself. He knew all the best roads and shortcuts, and what he didn’t know he could divine with magic spells that sprang form his palm without any effort, fast, bright and shiny. When we stopped for a night, he took one look at our supplies and led me to the nearby river to help him find something healthy and tasty.
That night we had fish stuffed with herbs and baked in clay, and mushrooms roasted on sticks. Hathal wrote Soll a list of things to buy in the next town: pots, spoons, spices, and when Soll started to protest, Hathal said that eating dry scraps is not good for a growing boy, which made Soll sigh and agree. And then Hathal let me hug him.
Before bed he folded his fingers the way Soll did when he looked at my aura to check for injuries, and offered Soll to heal his blisters. The argued about that for ages, but in the end Soll pulled his boots off, and Hathal sat next to him and touched and stroked his feet until all the blisters were gone. It must have been very pleasant, because Soll went all pink on his cheeks and around his ears like he did when he drank too much mead. I even felt a little jealous and wished I had a wound so Hathal could heal me. Soll’s healing spells were pretty painful to take and left scars, too, but elf magic seemed to be much milder.
We only had two blankets, and although Hathal said he’d be fine without, I managed to talk him into sharing with me. I cuddled up to him, put my head on his shoulder, and he was so warm and smelled so good that I slept better than ever. I was even a little upset when Soll made a detour to get to the nearby village and bought a third blanket there in only a couple of nights.
While we walked, Hathal liked to talk about the strangest things – he’d smile and say what a nice day it is, or that it looks like the weather will be fine for some time, and then he’d look at us as if expecting an answer. So I would agree and say something unimportant as well, that I liked yesterday’s dinner a lot and that I couldn’t wait to find out what he’s cooking next or something. At first Soll would shout at us to stop the useless chatter, but then he got used to it.
Sometimes Hathal would talk to Soll, and although I could never quite figure out what they were talking about, I loved to listen. Hathal’s voice was clear and smooth, like the song of a forest brook, and Soll’s voice was the best sound in the world.
“When one loses everything, one is set free,” said Hathal once. “That’s what I was taught, and I had no reason to question it. But…”
“I was taught the same.”
“But, Soll, what if… When you lose everyone you ever loved, everyone who knew you, when your every accomplishment is rendered meaningless and your every strength is a dead weight, and you finally realise who and what you really are...”
“You are a prideful, snooty elf.”
“Well, yes,” smiled Hathal. “And, look, that’s one of my best features! What do you do when you come to realise you despise the real you?”
“Accept it. Change it. Stop moaning, in any case,” said Soll. I though he was being mean, but Hathal kept smiling, so maybe I misunderstood.
“Oh, I’ve tried. See, if you have nothing, you have no fear. You can do anything. So what do you do? Omnipotence is paralysing. Everyone needs a purpose, and if the purpose is all you have, it becomes an end in itself, distorting your initial intentions, making you into something even more loathsome.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” groaned Soll.
“And if you reject the purpose and try to live your live as it is, your heart betrays you. It starts reaching out. The heart needs to love, like the lungs need to breathe. So you give in, you love. And here comes fear.”
Soll gave him a strange glance, quickly, from the corner of his eye, but I think Hathal noticed: his ear twitched in that nervous way he had sometimes.
“But,” he added. “As a dear friend of mine used to say, one doesn’t need love to, ah, be sociable.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” grunted Soll.
“The meanings of words are born in the space between the speaker and the listener. It will mean what you want it to mean, Soll.”
Soll stopped abruptly; Hathal turned to face him. I stepped closer, just in case they were in a middle of an argument, but they both ignored me.
“You better explain yourself and it’d better be good,” said Soll.
“Why did you save me?” asked Hathal, softly, quietly. “And please, don’t give me that line about mercy. You’ve killed innocent people to…”
“Mercy isn’t justice. Mercy isn’t Karma. It’s not for those who deserve it. Also, I do need a guide and a mage.”
“You have your own magic, Soll.”
“It’s not mine!” he cried out. “I’m a human, if you haven’t noticed. I can only wield divine power, and what Zana giveth, Zana can taketh away any time the mood strikes her. I have no intention to be caught with my pants down in the middle of the elf lands, helpless as a kitten.”
That picture stayed in my head far longer than it should have, so I would have missed the next words had they spoke, but they were both silent for a while.
“Forgive me,” said Hathal, lowering his head. “I shouldn’t have presumed.”
“Just shut up,” said Soll and started walking again. We followed. “I don’t want that kind of gratitude.”
“Oh, Soll, honestly, I’m not that grateful. I’m selfish and weak, and… Do you believe in rebirth?”
“I don’t believe in anything. I know – or I don’t. This I don’t know. Why?”
“Oh, no reason. Just – I would love to think we’re getting another chance. That I can try to be someone better,” said Hathal with his face tilted up to the tree crowns.
“You’re alive. Your chance is right here,” said Soll, sounding really pissed off. “When will it penetrate your thick skull?”
“Am I making things harder for you?” asked Hathal, and I jumped on him right away, making him drop the bags, hugged him and told him that he’s helping a lot, taking really good care of us, and his cooking is the best, and that Soll really likes him, even if he’s a big jerk about it, and that Hathal made everything much better. He just sounded so upset, and I didn’t trust Soll to be nice enough to cheer him up. Hathal hugged me back, thanked me, and we carried on walking.
“It’s not really about how I feel,” said Soll. “I’m a priest of Zana the merciful, so…”
“Oh,” said Hathal. “How embarrassing. I didn’t know that entailed purity.”
“Hardly,” huffed Soll. “But she might have an issue with it.”
They didn’t talk any more that day. Only late at night, when I was almost asleep, they started to exchange little whispers.
“Forgive me, Soll, I understand it’s a delicate matter, but I’m curious. I don’t know that much about your goddess or how one serves her…”
“You are a lucky, lucky elf.”
“But if she does not demand purity of you, what are her wishes?”
“Hmm. Sometimes I think all she wants is entertainment. But in this case – I’m just worried she’ll get jealous.”
Hathal tried to stifle laughter so hard I got worried he’d suffocate.
“Oh, Soll. That’s adorable.”
“Shut up.”
“No, it’s so sweet of you to think of her divine feelings…”
“I said,” started Soll, and then he moved: I heard a rustle of his robes, sensed a deepening of his smell, and then Hathal’s voice was cut off abruptly, as if he choked.
I tensed, but there was only silence. Their breathing and heartbeats were quickening as if they were running, but they were hardly moving at all.
“Let’s take this somewhere else, I don’t want to wake him up,” said Soll after a long pause.
“Of course. Have you done it before?”
“Oh yes, I’ve been Zana’s priest for years now.”
“…There is so much I don’t understand about that goddess…”
They left the clearing and went so deep into the forest I could hardly hear them. For some reason I couldn’t fall asleep for hours after that.
*-*-*
Things changed after that night. I couldn’t really say why, the routine stayed pretty much the same, except Soll and Hathal would sometimes leave in the middle of the night, but they never again stayed away till dawn and normally came back in about an hour, wrapped in thick, unsettling smells. I thought about following them, but the thought of what I would see terrified me, so I never did.
Really, things changed for the better. Soll looked much happier. Not that he smiled, or stopped frowning, or became any nicer, but I knew him, so I could tell anyway. Hathal was calmer too, he never seemed lost and shaking inside any more. Everything was better; it’s just that somehow I had this feeling that Soll no longer belonged to me, and it was eating me up like a hunger I could not satisfy.
One night, after they came back and settled on the opposite sides of the fire, I got up and walked over to look at Hathal.
He looked so pretty lying there with his cheeks still flushed, lips swollen, hair sticking to sweaty forehead and temples. His shirt was open, showing his marking winding downwards and the outline of his sharp collarbones. I could see his pulse beating in a soft dip between them, and I suddenly thought how easy it would be to kill him. I didn’t know why I thought that. I really liked Hathal.
He opened his eyes and looked at me, and then he pushed the blanket aside and opened his arms. I lay down and cuddled him, like I had maybe three weeks ago. He seemed smaller now. He smelled of Soll all over, and it was wonderful and so, so wrong at the same time.
He hugged me closer and rubbed my back, just over that knot I seemed to have had in my chest for days now. I’d never cried before, although I’d seen people doing that, and I thought to try, but decided it would hurt too much without practice.
“If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask, I will do my best to explain,” he said.
I couldn’t ask him, so I just shook my head and matched my breathing to his. With all the maddening scents it was almost like Soll was there tangled with us, too.
“You’ve grown a lot,” said Hathal. “You really need a name. I have no idea how the two of you managed without. Would you like me to give you one? It could be elfish or human, or we could find something suitable from ancient myths, if you prefer.”
“No,” I said. I didn’t feel like I needed a name, and if I ever did, I was sure Soll would name me then. Hathal didn’t argue and soon started to fall asleep for real. In the end I had to go back to my own blanket, because the smells and the heat of him next to me were keeping me awake.
We were getting closer and closer to the mountains. The forest was now mostly pine, there were hardly any flies and mosquitoes around, the rivers were getting colder and faster, and one day I even caught an eagle while I was up on a tree looking around. Hathal said they weren’t tasty, so I let it go.
Soll said that elf land started on the other side of the mountain range, but Hathal explained that all of this forest belonged to his people long before the humans came. There were still a lot of them living here and there; all towns in the shadow of the mountains had elf quarters and nobody thought twice about trading or even being friends with elves. Hathal finally could go into town with us and stay at the inn instead of hiding in the forest on the outskirts while we bought what we needed and talked to people. It seemed like a great place for everybody; I was worried that over in elf land Soll would be the one who’s never welcome anywhere. But he said we had to go, so we kept going.
He wanted to make it over the pass before the rains started, which meant we had to walk faster and longer. By the end of each day the hunger was killing me, and when one evening I smelled something tasty in front of us, I couldn’t wait a second longer and ran for it, with Soll and Hathal yelling at me to be careful and trying to catch up. The smell was definitely one of a rabbit, a big juicy roasted rabbit, a rabbit roasted over the fire built from juniper branches, a rabbit roasted by…
“Hey! It’s you!” I screamed, running onto the clearing. The half-breed thief was sitting on the grass bank of a small river, bathing his bare feet in clear cold water, and was just about to bite into his dinner. The hot fat was still bubbling over crispy golden rabbit skin, making my mouth overflow with drool, and I was really hoping he’d be nice enough to share.
“Fuck, it’s like a recurring nightmare,” said Soll behind me.
“Kasen!” gasped Hathal in a small, strangled voice. “Kasen…”
The thief flinched and dropped the rabbit right into the river, and fast current dragged it away in a blink of an eye. By the time I caught up with it, fished it out and returned to the clearing, still trying to decide if I should tell them I didn’t find it or be good and share the last hind leg with everybody, they’d already finished their argument I could just about hear over the river noise. Soll looked pissed off, Hathal was smiling like he’d never smiled before, and Kasen had joined our party.
He caught two more rabbits with a rope noose, and Hathal stewed them with tasty sweet roots. They both fussed over the pot and giggled as if the meal was a really funny joke only the two of them understood. It was still very tasty, so it wasn’t like I cared. I snatched the last piece right from under Kasen’s nose while he stared at Hathal with a stupid grin, and Soll had a sly smirk listening to the thief’s angry screams. Hathal laughed, said we should get bigger cooking pots in the next town and made me and Kasen help him clean up. It was already dark by then, and we all settled down to sleep around the fire - Kasen had his own blanket, so nobody had to share.
In the middle of the night I got woken up again by Soll and Hathal quietly leaving the camp. I waited for them to be gone before I opened my eyes and saw that Kasen wasn’t asleep either.
“So this is how it is, huh?” he said. “How long has this been going on?”
“For ages now,” I said, shivering. I didn’t want to think about that, but if it was bothering Kasen I probably needed to be worried, too.
He looked at me and then reached out and ruffled my hair. It was pleasant yet annoying, so I giggled and lightly punched him in the ribs.
“Hey, kid,” he said, trying to punch me back and feigning all over the place too slowly for me to fall for it. “If you wanna ask me something, go for it. I won’t tell them.”
So I asked, and he told me everything. Really everything. I didn’t throw up in the middle of it only because I hated the idea of wasting food.
“No way am I ever doing any of that!” I said. Even the thought of it was making my skin crawl.
“Yeah, you have to be grown up to enjoy it,” said Kasen. “It’s not for kiddies, that’s for sure.”
That made me think.
“When do you think I’m going to be grown up?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But you have grown about seven inches since I first met you – how long has it been? Four, five months? So my guess – any time now.”
“Really? I was that short?”
“Yup. You will be taller than that slut of a priest soon, maybe you’ll even get to be taller than Hathal, because, damn, your ugly feet are freaky huge.”
“Are not!”
“Are too! Huge like seal flippers!”
I tackled him and tried to pull his hair, but he used his weight advantage and got me into a ground hold. I could probably get out of it, but fighting while trying not to kill and not to break bones was new and hard, so I just kicked at his shins and let him tickle me till I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe.
“Shut up,” said Soll, walking out of the forest. “You can be heard for miles around. There are bears in these woods, you know.”
As we all crawled back into our blankets, Hathal also came back and sat next to the half-breed.
“So you’re not asleep,” he said, smiling so hard his eyes were narrowed to slits. “Are you all right, Kasen?”
“Of course I am. Sure,” said Kasen, smiling back. “What about you, man? Are you all right? You know… happy?”
“Yes.”
“Good then,” he hugged Hathal’s waist and pressed his face against the elf’s thigh. “Everything’s cool.”
“Ah. Well, I’m glad. Good night, Kasen.”
I didn’t think anyone slept that night. Everyone’s breathing was too calm and even. The next day Kasen kept picking on Soll, and Soll was quietly stewing at first, but as soon as he snapped and started to scream and chase laughing Kasen around with his staff, everything finally began to feel fine, like it was just how it was meant to be.
Next Chapter
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Date: 2005-09-10 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-17 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 05:13 am (UTC)I hope it's okay if I add you to my friend list so that I don't miss any.
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Date: 2005-09-17 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-18 01:26 pm (UTC)извини за столь долгое неотвечание,
Date: 2005-09-14 01:03 pm (UTC)Как же ты жонглируешь стилями, жанрами, мирами и эмоциями читателей! И все - одинаково легко и непринужденно. Даже не верится, что все это писал один человек.
Первая часть, оскаленно-реалистичная, мрачная без тени условностей. Черно-белая документалка. Хм, кажется, я понимаю, почему там клиффхэнгер. Так остается хоть какая иллюзия, что любовь таки спасет мир.
Вторая - феерическая, искрящая, Квиров напомнило. Отдохновение после первой. Это ведь авторская концепция, да? (буду держаться за это предположение, тогда выходит, что последняя часть тоже должна закончится хорошо :) )
Третья - спорные чуйства. Я прохладно отношусь к НФ, то есть я понимаю, что это мастерская стилизация под американский НФ-мувик со слэшным поворотом, перед мастерством в создании пастиша склоняюсь, но именно этот антураж меня не цепляет. Зато как же меня цепляют твои герои! Эххх, "ну ладно бы, если бы Армагеддон грянул, потому что я просчитался, но если он грянул только потому, что у моего парня занижена самооценка..." - это определенно цитата века! И эротическая сцена там просто потрясающая. Я тебе уже когда-то, кажется, говорила, что меня всякий раз торкает, как ты характеры выводишь через секс. Ты рулишь.
А финал меня убил. Отчаянно цепляюсь за мысль, что это такой клиффхэнгер, вот сейчас снова поднимется занавес, все отряхнутся и пойдут дальше.
Последняя часть - наверное, лучшая юмористическая фэнтези из читанных мною за последние года два. Этот милый наивный детеныш-Гоку, эта легкая абсурдность бытия, эти совершенно по-анимешному доведенные до крайностей характеры... (о да, Санзо, который так орал, что бедолага-жулик отдал им плащи и крольчатину - это достойно быть запечатлено в каноне!) (и, да, знаково, что каноническую условность соблюдают только в юмористических фиках. В остальное время мы ломаем голово над Внутренними Конфликтами Героев :) )
Буквы ТВС бередят мою душу. Как же мне хочется, чтобы здесь был глобальный хэппи-энд.... здесь же будет глобальный хэппи-энд, правда? Это ведь сказка-без-подвоха?
Как продвигается твое чтение Death Note?
А я борюсь с семинарами (эхха, эти ангстовые соревнования за звание супер-семе :( ) и смотрю Саюк (да-да, тот самый человек, считавший, что Алхимик - слишком долгое аниме :))) ). Диски таки твоего происхождения, их привеза от Хэлен267 Йениллор. Мир удивительно тесен!
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Date: 2005-10-05 04:12 pm (UTC)Спасибо огромное. Просто - вообще. Перечитываю твой комментарий и глупо хихикаю от счастья. Охх, обалдеть просто. Ура! *скачет по комнате от полноты чувств*
(А любовь однозначно спасет мир, только, может быть, не в этой жизни. Но рано или поздно)
Хэппи-енд - это обязательно. У длинного фика должен быть хеппи-енд! Ну тут он скорее будет такой... открытый. Кхм. Бедная бета, я ее и так уже затерророзировала, жалко ее пинать. Но думаю, скоро отбетает концовку. Там совсем немножко осталось, меньше половины части. Зато экшн, секс и метафизика...
Death Note я прочитала пока где-то главы до 62, эххх, после 58й это уже не то что до 58й, прямо скажем. Хотя поглядим, как мелкие себя покажут. Но! Зато теперь я могу смело читать все подряд Lские фики! *радостно потирает лапки*
А как продвигается просмотр Саюк? А Алхимика ты посмотрела уже? Я тут упорно качаю мувик, недавно вышел. Ой, ты знаешь Йениллор! Передавай от меня привет!
Спасибо тебе еще раз. Огромное человеческое *душит в объятиях*
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Date: 2005-10-11 04:37 am (UTC)С Саюками я торможу - у меня ведь концентрация внимания, как у чайной ложки. Мне ведь Хикару но Го принесли, вот и разрываюсь. Там герои то ли шизофреники, то ли японцы. Возможно, и то и другое одновременно Кааайф. Алхимика мне еще не прислали, и слава Богу, а то если бы я и его пыталась смотреть... Зато мувик мне уже проспойлерили :)
Привет Йен передам :)
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Date: 2005-09-21 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-05 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 03:37 pm (UTC)