The Wheel - Part Four returns
Oct. 11th, 2005 11:31 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. 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 *glomps muchly*
Part One: Shift
Part Two: Dance
Part Three: Experiment
Part 4: Party (Ch. 3 of 4)
Ch.1 Ch.2
The higher up the mountain we went, the more worried Hathal became.
“We’ll be fine as soon as we reach one of the bigger settlements,” he kept saying, although none of us needed cheering up. “Well, you’ll be detained, of course, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to appeal to the elders and negotiate our safe passage. We are pilgrims on a holy mission, after all. Possibly even out to save the world. They’ll listen. It’s just that here, in the wilderness, so close to the human land, we can run into, ah, less savoury characters.”
“We’ll just kick their asses if we do,” Kasen would say then, throwing an arm over his shoulders. “To introduce ourselves properly. And you never know, it might be cool. Look at us, we’re like a shining example of peaceful coexistence and shit. They might get inspired.”
And Hathal laughed in that brittle, shaky way that was embarrassing to listen too, and we went further west, higher and higher.
I smelled them coming even though they were downwind. On the narrow mountain paths there wasn’t much we could do but choose a good position and let them come at us. They were all elves, more of them than I’d seen so far, all thin, graceful, long-eared, and very unfriendly looking. I didn’t see any weapons though, so I figured it was all right.
Hathal moved forward and gave them a long, low bow. Their leader sneered, looked at Soll, walked up to Kasen, peered into his eyes and parted his hair to bare the ears. Kasen let him look and touch all he wanted, meekly staring down.
“We heard about this,” said the leader. “We couldn’t quite believe it, of course.”
“We are pilgrims on a holy mission,” said Hathal. “Zana the merciful compelled us to undertake this quest.”
“Of course she did,” the elf stepped in front of Hathal and touched his chin. “Look at me.”
He did. His face was smooth, and his eyes were so calm, like very, very deep water.
“Aren’t you the one from the Orosoya village? Wasn’t it humans who did all that? Have you forgotten?” asked the elf.
“They were humans, yes,” said Hathal quietly. “And I’ll never forget.”
“And now you serve them.”
“This one isn’t given to prejudice, so he deserves the same from me. Short of annihilation of humans as species, this is the best I can do to nurture peace and save lives. I serve my people.”
“At least you still talk like an elf,” nodded the leader. “Well, I suppose we could let the holy pilgrims pass, but no human will be allowed to bring weapons into our land.”
I didn’t think having no weapons would make that much of a difference for us, so I thought Soll and Hathal would agree to that and we will be able to go. But the elves didn’t move a bit, still blocking the pass, and the leader started walking all around us again.
“We’ll need to search you to be sure, of course,” he ran his hand down Soll’s back and I could hear Soll’s teeth grinding together hard. “And that thing will stay here. It’s a mockery of all we are.”
“Pardon me?” asked Hathal in unnaturally high voice.
“The bastard child,” he nodded at Kasen. “It’s an abomination. It’s filthy. It doesn’t even have magic.”
“See, this is why I didn’t want you to come with,” whispered Soll to Kasen. Kasen’s ear jerked angrily, but he didn’t say anything.
“Will all due respect,” said Hathal. “There but for the grace of gods... If the women of my village lived…”
“No good elf woman would choose to live after that,” said the leader harshly. “But you wouldn’t know anything about honour, would you, whore? You stink of human flesh. You disgust me.”
Soll and Kasen were vibrating like bowstrings, about to start moving at any moment, and I kept at the ready as well, waiting for a sign from Hathal, but he only smiled faintly and bowed again. The elf leader seemed to have lost all interest in him after that, so he turned to me, and I tried to copy Hathal’s nicest smile, only I clearly didn’t succeed, because after one look at my face the elf hastily stepped back, blinking.
“All right,” he said. “The elders should decide what to do with these three. The mongrel will not enter the elf land. We’ll keep him entertained here - he’s pretty ugly, but…”
“Oh, enough,” said Hathal mildly and snapped his fingers.
A tall, wide wall of flames came from nowhere and rolled forward, swallowing the elves one by one. It was beautiful, even though the screams and sounds of the eyeballs popping were distracting me from tracking the survivors through the roaring of the fire.
“Zana, bless your warriors, now!” yelled Soll, and the power crashed into me from above, making me feel light and invincible. Next to me Kasen grunted, trying to adjust to the feeling, but he already had his sling ready and started shooting as soon as the first charred silhouettes sprang from the blaze. From this distance his lead pellets were going straight through bone.
“Close combat! Don’t let them cast!” commanded Soll, but it was too late. Magic arced through the air, crackling and making my skin itch even before the impact. I saw strings of fire laced with weird blue-white spiky flames, and then everything blurred into one glowing blast, warded off by the shield Hathal had put up.
“Be ready to go,” he said. “I’ll provide cover.”
He tore down the shield with a flick of his wrist and hurtled the shards of force into the attackers. They didn’t do any damage, got smeared over shields and shot down by counterspells, but we were already running at the elves, backed by Hathal’s fire, high on Zana’s grace: me, with the sword, Kasen, drawing his long daggers, Soll, already setting the ends of his staff alight with deadly curses.
There was so many of them; wherever I turned I had a target. Elves knew how to fight, the weapons they cast out of nothingness hurt for real and didn’t break. The air was thick and thrumming with magic, and although I was enjoying myself, Soll and Kasen smelled not just angry, but scared, too.
“Too many!” hissed Soll. “I’m doing it, cover me!”
He rushed back out of the fight, ducking friendly fireballs, and dropped to his knees behind Hathal.
“The fuck he’s doing?” gasped Kasen, almost missing a mark. “Shit, kid, behind you!”
I didn’t turn fast enough, caught a faceful of ice shards and fought blind for several heartbeats, seeking bodies by smell and sound. Kasen moved impossibly fast, faster than any of the real elves, I could hear his daggers slipping into the tissue, scraping on bones, but I could also hear his breathing getting strained. The curses that had hit me were taking their toll as well – the sense of being blessed was almost gone, pushed away by heavy weariness. I strained my ears to hear Soll’s chanting – he was getting there, but he still needed time…
My vision cleared up just in time for me to see a stray arrow of magic slip past Hathal and hit Soll head-on. He was far enough into the chant to be protected from damage, but he still could feel pain, and losing his concentration now would ruin everything. Soll shook, absorbing it, still not breaking the rhythm; spell wavered but held. I knew this chant by heart already. Soll was starting the final stanza.
“Kasen!” I finally realised that we were in the wrong place, but the enemies were so many that I couldn’t push through them and get away in time. “Hathal!”
Hathal looked over his shoulder, saw the energy strands coiled over Soll, swore like I didn’t know he could and rushed toward us. We hacked and blasted our way to each other, and he grabbed us pretty much at the same time as Soll was wrenched up by the invisible force that filled all of his body. He held it, twisted it, aimed it as well as something like that could be aimed, and let go.
We lay there, clutching Hathal as he held a shield above us, and looked up at the sky painted black, listened to the sounds of bones crunching, tree trunks snapping, stones being ground to sand. I’ve never been inside of a spell like that before, and knowing we were safe while everything around us was getting chewed up to pieces made me feel all cosy, like staying at the warm nice inn during a storm. The aftershocks rolled over us, and Hathal moaned through his clenched teeth, struggling under the pressure. His outthrust hands were shaking badly.
“Almost done,” I said. “Just a little more.”
He didn’t even manage a smile, so it must have been bad, but luckily the spell finally came to a halt and sunlight poured down on us again. The shield popped above us like a soap bubble; Hathal unlocked his arms and curled up, trembling.
“What in the fucking hell was that?” asked Kasen reverently.
“Hammer of the Dark Sky,” explained Soll, poking us with his feet. “Enough lounging about, let’s loot and run. I can’t do the Hammer twice in one day.”
“They’ll leave us be for a while after this,” mumbled Hathal. He seemed too wiped out to move a finger right now. “Elves are cautious. They might try to open up a dialogue next.”
“Hey, Hathal, buddy, you look like shit,” said Kasen and pulled Hathal up a little. “Do you need to throw up? Or maybe you fancy a nice drink?”
“Both sound good,” said Hathal weakly, nestling in Kasen’s arms. “I also want to devise a more sound battle plan for the future, if I don’t pass out right now.”
“Here,” said Soll and pressed his open hand into Hathal’s. “Take what you need.”
“I couldn’t possibly…” started Hathal, but caved under the glare and started to seep out Soll’s power, slowly, gently, in tiny cautious pulls. It melted from blue-gold into warm jade as soon as it entered his aura, and that was so exciting to watch. Kasen obviously didn’t know how to see energies, because he looked away. I decided to teach him one day.
While Hathal was still catching his breath we started with the looting. Soll found some charred scrolls on the bodies and declared that the use of fire spells should be restricted from now on. And Kasen dug up several lightweight flasks full of the strongest mead I’ve ever smelled. When I said that, everyone looked at me and decided that it was time I was allowed to drink with the rest.
Mead floated up into my head from my burning throat and made the whole world bright, hot and blurry. Soll got even moodier; Kasen hugged everybody in turn and attempted to sing all the time. Hathal talked and talked, cutting everyone else off.
“No, we will not find any untouched old ruins in the elf land, Soll. We’ve already found and plundered them all.”
“We will. This one is a hidden underground fortress…”
“We’ve found all the hidden underground fortresses too. Used the floor and wall linings for our houses, melted the metals into tools, harvested chips for trade, studied the inscriptions, grabbed everything we could. Really – how many untouched ruins are left in human lands? And we’d been here for countless generations before the humans came, and it took them generations more to progress beyond small bunches of inbred, illiterate cattle...”
“Yeah, we saw plenty of your enlightened elf sophistication today. Anyway, I have the location of this fortress, so we’re going.”
“Ah, but wouldn’t it be simply wonderful to actually uncover a well-preserved monument of the past? Maybe come a touch closer to unlocking the wisdom of the ancients? To think that after all this time and research we still know close to nothing about our ancestors…”
He suddenly grabbed my foot and hugged it to his chest.
“Like these boots, for example! They are hundreds, maybe thousands of years old, yet time left no marks on them! There are hardly any signs of wear, and the work is so delicate and precise that it’s hard to believe they were crafted by mortal hands!”
“What are they made of, anyway?” I asked, weakly trying to get my foot back, while Kasen took unfair advantage and gave me a noogie.
“Oil,” said Hathal a little uncertainly.
“What, like, nut oil? The stuff you fry with?”
“Uh, I guess. The ancient inscriptions are very hard to interpret. But such was the arcane power those people wielded, that even simple cooking oil could be turned into a sturdy pair of boots!”
“Hathal, will you tell that story again?” I asked, and he nodded, but Kasen butted in, twirling some of our loot in his fingers.
“Hathal, is that a good chip?”
“No, see, Kasen, this pin is damaged; it’s next to worthless in elf land. Humans will buy it, though, so you should keep it. And look at the chips! How tiny they are, how elaborate! Ancient technology…”
“Mmm, how does this song go… Some day…”
“So what do elves need good chips for? What do they do with them?” I asked Hathal. Chips looked pretty ugly to me, gems were at least sparkly.
“Nothing, it’s just a currency. Money has no intrinsic worth, its only value lies in the fact that it’s limited and impossible to fake. Good chips are rarer than broken, therefore…”
“I heard,” said Soll. “That someone in the elf land is buying good chips at high price. Could be that someone has figured out what they were for.”
“Hmm…”
“Some daaaay…” crooned Kasen.
“No, no, like this: ooone day, youuu’ll find…” started Soll. His singing voice was softer and even more melodic than his shouting voice.
“No, wait, I know the words. Sooome day you’ll know, I was the one… Hathal, come on, you know this song, don’t you?”
“Ahhaha, singing isn’t really my forte, Kasen.”
“Come on! It’s fun! Aaand now the time has come, and so, my love…”
The tree tops were slowly spinning above me, Soll’s voice was pouring inside my chest like honey. Hathal was still holding my foot. I crawled up a little and put my heavy buzzing head on Soll’s lap, and he didn’t push me away, but instead put his hand in my hair and stroked a little and I felt so happy I started singing with the rest, although I didn’t know any of the words.
“…To see I’ve gone…. For tomorrow may rain, so…”
“So… All together now! I’ll follow…”
“I’ll follow…”
“…The sun.”
*-*-*
And later Hathal told us the story.
“A very, very long time ago, elves and humans were the same people,” he said, and paused as if he expected us to argue.
We didn’t, so he breathed in and carried on.
“They were wise, strong and all-powerful. They lived in the towers built of pure, clear crystals that reached the very sky; they could fly among the clouds; they touched the heavens and walked on the moon, brushing stardust off their feet.”
I closed my eyes and tried to picture that, but I didn’t even know where to begin.
“And the gods were most upset with them.”
I had to ask, I felt like I needed to know.
“So why didn’t the gods just tell them to cut it out?”
He shrugged. Yes, I thought so.
“Gods. You never know. They were upset, and they decided to show their wrath to the sinners. They made the sky fire, and they made the air poison, and they made the water run heavy with death. Most of the people died, and their blood painted the sands black, and made stone paths slick and sticky, and made the forests spring new bushes, and made fields yield their largest crop ever.”
He took a breath, shifting slightly. I knew he’d made some parts up; I also knew he’d never seen a stone path in his life, so that one must’ve been true. I imagined bare stone wet and shiny with blood spilled in vain – not in a fight, not in childbirth, - and had to bite down on my wrist guard to brace for what was coming.
“Some of the people knew they were sinning, and they were prepared. They had built hiding places – deep burrows in the rock and in the sand, caves full of food, water and air; soft, white and clean. But they kept it secret, so only some could enter.”
“And the rest…” I mouthed without making a sound, and he must have noticed, because his voice got even clearer.
“And the rest stayed behind to bear the wrath of the gods. They were stripped of all they had, twisted, tortured, deprived. They were made warped, ill, weak, insane. Their children were cursed: their wombs bore monsters that died soon after birth, or killed soon after birth, or killed before birth. For generations, their small camps lived in fear that every new life might destroy them and every new death might end them. But they suffered, and persevered, and atoned. They were granted absolution and a power beyond what they could have wished.”
“The magic,” I breathed, and I knew his story might have been an elfish lie, but I didn’t think it mattered.
“The magic,” he nodded. “Their children’s children were given the spark, and the will, and the lore. They are the blessed, and one day they will touch the stars again. But when the curse was lifted off the land, the ones who hid were released and joined the blessed ones, and saw them changed, and since they were not cleansed, their hearts filled with hate…”
“You know, Hathal,” said the half-breed, rolling closer to the fire. “I used to live in this human village where they told the exact same story. Except the humans were the chosen ones, and the elves were the unclean. The tainted. I still can’t decide who to believe. Not that it matters to me, hell, however you look at it, I’m half dirty, but maybe that’s the whole point, maybe I was born to find out.”
They were both quiet for a moment, staring in each other’s eyes, and I could feel Soll getting antsy behind my back. I really, really wanted to twist around and look for an opening; maybe I could touch his shoulder, or his ankle, or…
“I don’t think so, Kasen,” started Hathal, and Kasen raised his chin like a hunting dog, not even sniffing, just being all nose. “I think it’s actually…”
“Shut up,” grumbled Soll. He’d pulled one of the trophy scrolls from my backpack and was studying it intently; his robes were pushed so low down I could see his navel. It was a deep, dark dimple, and I was so betraying his nipples by not even looking at them…
“We have a job, a clear mission,” he said, not shifting his eyes from the scroll. “That’s all we need to know for now. Go to sleep.”
And we did, without another word. I placed myself to be best aware of the forest. Hathal took the second best strategic spot. Kasen curled carelessly near him, back to the trees, confident that he’d be awoken by Hathal’s change in breathing.
Soll rested in the centre, well protected, safe. I could hear his heartbeat, steady, even and slow, as I fell asleep.
Last Chapter
Author: Newkate
Fandom: Saiyuki
Warnings: Reincarnation fic. PG-15. 1st person POV, crude language, violence, questionable grammar and elves.
Heroically betaed by
hibem *glomps muchly*Part One: Shift
Part Two: Dance
Part Three: Experiment
Part 4: Party (Ch. 3 of 4)
Ch.1 Ch.2
The higher up the mountain we went, the more worried Hathal became.
“We’ll be fine as soon as we reach one of the bigger settlements,” he kept saying, although none of us needed cheering up. “Well, you’ll be detained, of course, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to appeal to the elders and negotiate our safe passage. We are pilgrims on a holy mission, after all. Possibly even out to save the world. They’ll listen. It’s just that here, in the wilderness, so close to the human land, we can run into, ah, less savoury characters.”
“We’ll just kick their asses if we do,” Kasen would say then, throwing an arm over his shoulders. “To introduce ourselves properly. And you never know, it might be cool. Look at us, we’re like a shining example of peaceful coexistence and shit. They might get inspired.”
And Hathal laughed in that brittle, shaky way that was embarrassing to listen too, and we went further west, higher and higher.
I smelled them coming even though they were downwind. On the narrow mountain paths there wasn’t much we could do but choose a good position and let them come at us. They were all elves, more of them than I’d seen so far, all thin, graceful, long-eared, and very unfriendly looking. I didn’t see any weapons though, so I figured it was all right.
Hathal moved forward and gave them a long, low bow. Their leader sneered, looked at Soll, walked up to Kasen, peered into his eyes and parted his hair to bare the ears. Kasen let him look and touch all he wanted, meekly staring down.
“We heard about this,” said the leader. “We couldn’t quite believe it, of course.”
“We are pilgrims on a holy mission,” said Hathal. “Zana the merciful compelled us to undertake this quest.”
“Of course she did,” the elf stepped in front of Hathal and touched his chin. “Look at me.”
He did. His face was smooth, and his eyes were so calm, like very, very deep water.
“Aren’t you the one from the Orosoya village? Wasn’t it humans who did all that? Have you forgotten?” asked the elf.
“They were humans, yes,” said Hathal quietly. “And I’ll never forget.”
“And now you serve them.”
“This one isn’t given to prejudice, so he deserves the same from me. Short of annihilation of humans as species, this is the best I can do to nurture peace and save lives. I serve my people.”
“At least you still talk like an elf,” nodded the leader. “Well, I suppose we could let the holy pilgrims pass, but no human will be allowed to bring weapons into our land.”
I didn’t think having no weapons would make that much of a difference for us, so I thought Soll and Hathal would agree to that and we will be able to go. But the elves didn’t move a bit, still blocking the pass, and the leader started walking all around us again.
“We’ll need to search you to be sure, of course,” he ran his hand down Soll’s back and I could hear Soll’s teeth grinding together hard. “And that thing will stay here. It’s a mockery of all we are.”
“Pardon me?” asked Hathal in unnaturally high voice.
“The bastard child,” he nodded at Kasen. “It’s an abomination. It’s filthy. It doesn’t even have magic.”
“See, this is why I didn’t want you to come with,” whispered Soll to Kasen. Kasen’s ear jerked angrily, but he didn’t say anything.
“Will all due respect,” said Hathal. “There but for the grace of gods... If the women of my village lived…”
“No good elf woman would choose to live after that,” said the leader harshly. “But you wouldn’t know anything about honour, would you, whore? You stink of human flesh. You disgust me.”
Soll and Kasen were vibrating like bowstrings, about to start moving at any moment, and I kept at the ready as well, waiting for a sign from Hathal, but he only smiled faintly and bowed again. The elf leader seemed to have lost all interest in him after that, so he turned to me, and I tried to copy Hathal’s nicest smile, only I clearly didn’t succeed, because after one look at my face the elf hastily stepped back, blinking.
“All right,” he said. “The elders should decide what to do with these three. The mongrel will not enter the elf land. We’ll keep him entertained here - he’s pretty ugly, but…”
“Oh, enough,” said Hathal mildly and snapped his fingers.
A tall, wide wall of flames came from nowhere and rolled forward, swallowing the elves one by one. It was beautiful, even though the screams and sounds of the eyeballs popping were distracting me from tracking the survivors through the roaring of the fire.
“Zana, bless your warriors, now!” yelled Soll, and the power crashed into me from above, making me feel light and invincible. Next to me Kasen grunted, trying to adjust to the feeling, but he already had his sling ready and started shooting as soon as the first charred silhouettes sprang from the blaze. From this distance his lead pellets were going straight through bone.
“Close combat! Don’t let them cast!” commanded Soll, but it was too late. Magic arced through the air, crackling and making my skin itch even before the impact. I saw strings of fire laced with weird blue-white spiky flames, and then everything blurred into one glowing blast, warded off by the shield Hathal had put up.
“Be ready to go,” he said. “I’ll provide cover.”
He tore down the shield with a flick of his wrist and hurtled the shards of force into the attackers. They didn’t do any damage, got smeared over shields and shot down by counterspells, but we were already running at the elves, backed by Hathal’s fire, high on Zana’s grace: me, with the sword, Kasen, drawing his long daggers, Soll, already setting the ends of his staff alight with deadly curses.
There was so many of them; wherever I turned I had a target. Elves knew how to fight, the weapons they cast out of nothingness hurt for real and didn’t break. The air was thick and thrumming with magic, and although I was enjoying myself, Soll and Kasen smelled not just angry, but scared, too.
“Too many!” hissed Soll. “I’m doing it, cover me!”
He rushed back out of the fight, ducking friendly fireballs, and dropped to his knees behind Hathal.
“The fuck he’s doing?” gasped Kasen, almost missing a mark. “Shit, kid, behind you!”
I didn’t turn fast enough, caught a faceful of ice shards and fought blind for several heartbeats, seeking bodies by smell and sound. Kasen moved impossibly fast, faster than any of the real elves, I could hear his daggers slipping into the tissue, scraping on bones, but I could also hear his breathing getting strained. The curses that had hit me were taking their toll as well – the sense of being blessed was almost gone, pushed away by heavy weariness. I strained my ears to hear Soll’s chanting – he was getting there, but he still needed time…
My vision cleared up just in time for me to see a stray arrow of magic slip past Hathal and hit Soll head-on. He was far enough into the chant to be protected from damage, but he still could feel pain, and losing his concentration now would ruin everything. Soll shook, absorbing it, still not breaking the rhythm; spell wavered but held. I knew this chant by heart already. Soll was starting the final stanza.
“Kasen!” I finally realised that we were in the wrong place, but the enemies were so many that I couldn’t push through them and get away in time. “Hathal!”
Hathal looked over his shoulder, saw the energy strands coiled over Soll, swore like I didn’t know he could and rushed toward us. We hacked and blasted our way to each other, and he grabbed us pretty much at the same time as Soll was wrenched up by the invisible force that filled all of his body. He held it, twisted it, aimed it as well as something like that could be aimed, and let go.
We lay there, clutching Hathal as he held a shield above us, and looked up at the sky painted black, listened to the sounds of bones crunching, tree trunks snapping, stones being ground to sand. I’ve never been inside of a spell like that before, and knowing we were safe while everything around us was getting chewed up to pieces made me feel all cosy, like staying at the warm nice inn during a storm. The aftershocks rolled over us, and Hathal moaned through his clenched teeth, struggling under the pressure. His outthrust hands were shaking badly.
“Almost done,” I said. “Just a little more.”
He didn’t even manage a smile, so it must have been bad, but luckily the spell finally came to a halt and sunlight poured down on us again. The shield popped above us like a soap bubble; Hathal unlocked his arms and curled up, trembling.
“What in the fucking hell was that?” asked Kasen reverently.
“Hammer of the Dark Sky,” explained Soll, poking us with his feet. “Enough lounging about, let’s loot and run. I can’t do the Hammer twice in one day.”
“They’ll leave us be for a while after this,” mumbled Hathal. He seemed too wiped out to move a finger right now. “Elves are cautious. They might try to open up a dialogue next.”
“Hey, Hathal, buddy, you look like shit,” said Kasen and pulled Hathal up a little. “Do you need to throw up? Or maybe you fancy a nice drink?”
“Both sound good,” said Hathal weakly, nestling in Kasen’s arms. “I also want to devise a more sound battle plan for the future, if I don’t pass out right now.”
“Here,” said Soll and pressed his open hand into Hathal’s. “Take what you need.”
“I couldn’t possibly…” started Hathal, but caved under the glare and started to seep out Soll’s power, slowly, gently, in tiny cautious pulls. It melted from blue-gold into warm jade as soon as it entered his aura, and that was so exciting to watch. Kasen obviously didn’t know how to see energies, because he looked away. I decided to teach him one day.
While Hathal was still catching his breath we started with the looting. Soll found some charred scrolls on the bodies and declared that the use of fire spells should be restricted from now on. And Kasen dug up several lightweight flasks full of the strongest mead I’ve ever smelled. When I said that, everyone looked at me and decided that it was time I was allowed to drink with the rest.
Mead floated up into my head from my burning throat and made the whole world bright, hot and blurry. Soll got even moodier; Kasen hugged everybody in turn and attempted to sing all the time. Hathal talked and talked, cutting everyone else off.
“No, we will not find any untouched old ruins in the elf land, Soll. We’ve already found and plundered them all.”
“We will. This one is a hidden underground fortress…”
“We’ve found all the hidden underground fortresses too. Used the floor and wall linings for our houses, melted the metals into tools, harvested chips for trade, studied the inscriptions, grabbed everything we could. Really – how many untouched ruins are left in human lands? And we’d been here for countless generations before the humans came, and it took them generations more to progress beyond small bunches of inbred, illiterate cattle...”
“Yeah, we saw plenty of your enlightened elf sophistication today. Anyway, I have the location of this fortress, so we’re going.”
“Ah, but wouldn’t it be simply wonderful to actually uncover a well-preserved monument of the past? Maybe come a touch closer to unlocking the wisdom of the ancients? To think that after all this time and research we still know close to nothing about our ancestors…”
He suddenly grabbed my foot and hugged it to his chest.
“Like these boots, for example! They are hundreds, maybe thousands of years old, yet time left no marks on them! There are hardly any signs of wear, and the work is so delicate and precise that it’s hard to believe they were crafted by mortal hands!”
“What are they made of, anyway?” I asked, weakly trying to get my foot back, while Kasen took unfair advantage and gave me a noogie.
“Oil,” said Hathal a little uncertainly.
“What, like, nut oil? The stuff you fry with?”
“Uh, I guess. The ancient inscriptions are very hard to interpret. But such was the arcane power those people wielded, that even simple cooking oil could be turned into a sturdy pair of boots!”
“Hathal, will you tell that story again?” I asked, and he nodded, but Kasen butted in, twirling some of our loot in his fingers.
“Hathal, is that a good chip?”
“No, see, Kasen, this pin is damaged; it’s next to worthless in elf land. Humans will buy it, though, so you should keep it. And look at the chips! How tiny they are, how elaborate! Ancient technology…”
“Mmm, how does this song go… Some day…”
“So what do elves need good chips for? What do they do with them?” I asked Hathal. Chips looked pretty ugly to me, gems were at least sparkly.
“Nothing, it’s just a currency. Money has no intrinsic worth, its only value lies in the fact that it’s limited and impossible to fake. Good chips are rarer than broken, therefore…”
“I heard,” said Soll. “That someone in the elf land is buying good chips at high price. Could be that someone has figured out what they were for.”
“Hmm…”
“Some daaaay…” crooned Kasen.
“No, no, like this: ooone day, youuu’ll find…” started Soll. His singing voice was softer and even more melodic than his shouting voice.
“No, wait, I know the words. Sooome day you’ll know, I was the one… Hathal, come on, you know this song, don’t you?”
“Ahhaha, singing isn’t really my forte, Kasen.”
“Come on! It’s fun! Aaand now the time has come, and so, my love…”
The tree tops were slowly spinning above me, Soll’s voice was pouring inside my chest like honey. Hathal was still holding my foot. I crawled up a little and put my heavy buzzing head on Soll’s lap, and he didn’t push me away, but instead put his hand in my hair and stroked a little and I felt so happy I started singing with the rest, although I didn’t know any of the words.
“…To see I’ve gone…. For tomorrow may rain, so…”
“So… All together now! I’ll follow…”
“I’ll follow…”
“…The sun.”
*-*-*
And later Hathal told us the story.
“A very, very long time ago, elves and humans were the same people,” he said, and paused as if he expected us to argue.
We didn’t, so he breathed in and carried on.
“They were wise, strong and all-powerful. They lived in the towers built of pure, clear crystals that reached the very sky; they could fly among the clouds; they touched the heavens and walked on the moon, brushing stardust off their feet.”
I closed my eyes and tried to picture that, but I didn’t even know where to begin.
“And the gods were most upset with them.”
I had to ask, I felt like I needed to know.
“So why didn’t the gods just tell them to cut it out?”
He shrugged. Yes, I thought so.
“Gods. You never know. They were upset, and they decided to show their wrath to the sinners. They made the sky fire, and they made the air poison, and they made the water run heavy with death. Most of the people died, and their blood painted the sands black, and made stone paths slick and sticky, and made the forests spring new bushes, and made fields yield their largest crop ever.”
He took a breath, shifting slightly. I knew he’d made some parts up; I also knew he’d never seen a stone path in his life, so that one must’ve been true. I imagined bare stone wet and shiny with blood spilled in vain – not in a fight, not in childbirth, - and had to bite down on my wrist guard to brace for what was coming.
“Some of the people knew they were sinning, and they were prepared. They had built hiding places – deep burrows in the rock and in the sand, caves full of food, water and air; soft, white and clean. But they kept it secret, so only some could enter.”
“And the rest…” I mouthed without making a sound, and he must have noticed, because his voice got even clearer.
“And the rest stayed behind to bear the wrath of the gods. They were stripped of all they had, twisted, tortured, deprived. They were made warped, ill, weak, insane. Their children were cursed: their wombs bore monsters that died soon after birth, or killed soon after birth, or killed before birth. For generations, their small camps lived in fear that every new life might destroy them and every new death might end them. But they suffered, and persevered, and atoned. They were granted absolution and a power beyond what they could have wished.”
“The magic,” I breathed, and I knew his story might have been an elfish lie, but I didn’t think it mattered.
“The magic,” he nodded. “Their children’s children were given the spark, and the will, and the lore. They are the blessed, and one day they will touch the stars again. But when the curse was lifted off the land, the ones who hid were released and joined the blessed ones, and saw them changed, and since they were not cleansed, their hearts filled with hate…”
“You know, Hathal,” said the half-breed, rolling closer to the fire. “I used to live in this human village where they told the exact same story. Except the humans were the chosen ones, and the elves were the unclean. The tainted. I still can’t decide who to believe. Not that it matters to me, hell, however you look at it, I’m half dirty, but maybe that’s the whole point, maybe I was born to find out.”
They were both quiet for a moment, staring in each other’s eyes, and I could feel Soll getting antsy behind my back. I really, really wanted to twist around and look for an opening; maybe I could touch his shoulder, or his ankle, or…
“I don’t think so, Kasen,” started Hathal, and Kasen raised his chin like a hunting dog, not even sniffing, just being all nose. “I think it’s actually…”
“Shut up,” grumbled Soll. He’d pulled one of the trophy scrolls from my backpack and was studying it intently; his robes were pushed so low down I could see his navel. It was a deep, dark dimple, and I was so betraying his nipples by not even looking at them…
“We have a job, a clear mission,” he said, not shifting his eyes from the scroll. “That’s all we need to know for now. Go to sleep.”
And we did, without another word. I placed myself to be best aware of the forest. Hathal took the second best strategic spot. Kasen curled carelessly near him, back to the trees, confident that he’d be awoken by Hathal’s change in breathing.
Soll rested in the centre, well protected, safe. I could hear his heartbeat, steady, even and slow, as I fell asleep.
Last Chapter
