Wolf Rawrrr
Wolf-Knight
Chapter VI: Eye of the Storm
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
- Abraham Lincoln
As soon as the blazing light of the portal receded, the girl and the drakkar were no longer in the Maker's shrine in Dunn. Their surroundings were very green, a place where well groomed cypress-pines cast their elongated shadows in the late afternoon sun while arrays of colorful flowers bloomed in every direction. A garden, enclosed by walls on all sides. But this otherwise heart-moving beauty was easily overpowered by the sheer horror of what just happened. Xenthriss, who had been mysteriously missing since the expedition in Zvern Azna, suddenly reappeared in Dunn; murdering several temple priests and making off with Dina through a portal. For what purpose she did not know, but was probably going to find out soon...
The drakkar stood right next to her - a towering heap of black scales that reeked of death. He grunted something incomprehensible and licked his sharp teeth. His smoldering red eyes spelled nothing nice for the young girl that they rested on at the moment. Behind Xenthriss the stone path led to a great double gate in the side of a very large structure. Some castle, surely. Where could he have taken her, and why? It seemed like a never-ending stream of complications. Just as she had found out a little more about the current threat she faced, a new one appeared. Over and over again.
Dina fought two impulses inside of her: to scream in rage, or to fall to the ground in tears. She chose neither. Her eyes darted all around, taking in the scene as quickly as she could. Her heart beat a deadly rhythm against her ribs still, but the neatly kept garden was helping her calm her nerves. She couldn't say that she ever liked Xenthriss. The very look of him made her question the deal he must have made with her captor. If she didn't prove interesting enough to keep around, he would surely make a meal out of her.
He must be enjoying this. Just look at him. Dina fidgeted in place. I must not let him think me helpless, or I'm done for. She took a few stabilizing breaths. One more, another. Her jaw tightened, her back straightened, her eyes focused ahead. Back straight, shoulders low, neck rigid and chin held high. All good. This is a good posture. She looked over Nature's children, preparing to establish first contact. I greet you and ask if you know whose words bring about the keepers of this garden. Fear me not, I bear the taint but am green to the core. You can trust me. Dina addressed the plants as she waited for her uncertain fate to play out now that she has been brought out of her trusted circle of friends. Xenthriss would lead her, present her like a prized new pet for his master.
The drakkar produced another grunt-like puff of a snarl. For a few moments he seemed annoyed. "Nothing to say? What's the matter, nargyen got your tongue?" he grinned, proudly displaying his two rows of deadly sharp teeth. "You have no idea where you are or what's going to happen, do you?"
"Green!" another voice said, completely in contrast to the drakkar's deep, rough barking. "Green to roots! And sings!" it said again, with unhidden excitement and happiness. The sheer innocence that emanated behind it made Dina feel a pleasantly warm sensation in her mind.
And then a second voice joined in, somewhat deeper and drenched in concern. "Green taint! Foolish roses!" it accused and mumbled in fear: "Dark waters in disguise..."
But the first voice - the nearby roses, Dina felt - argued, if something so gentle and buzzing with happiness and joy could ever argue, that is. "No! She smells green!" it said. "Green and singing, green and singing, green and singing!"
"Silence!" the second voice silenced the roses. "Do not trust. She will wither you."
This gave the roses pause and they grew quiet in confusion. Dina was able to read their emotions perfectly, because they still reached towards her with their delicate mental tendrils, still trusting despite the apparent danger. "You... you sing?" the roses asked shyly. "Please don't wither us! We love your scent. Are you Singer?" At the mention of that name, all Nature's children in the garden went quiet in anticipation.
Dina spared Xenthriss only a sideways glance before giving her full mental focus to the plants. I am Singer, the one who would speak to Gaean and help cleanse Tellurn, who drank from both springs. She tried to persuade them, to let her determination show clearly through their bond. She had nothing to hide from them nor did she want to. For being human made her see one thing clearly: Every person had a choice - to nurture what felt right and true, or to give in to the easier path of power born from malicious lust. Her choice was made more apparent, made visible to the world around her. The powers of Taint and Nature mixed together and she could call on whichever one she preferred.
"Yes! We knew, we knew! Singer!" the roses readily accepted, already wrapping their gentle mental vines around Dina's in acceptance.
With this connection made she could feel them stronger than ever before. She could read them like a book. A book whose recent pages were full of fear and loneliness. The opposing voice belonged to a hazel shrub, she suddenly realized as well. Hazel was now murmuring incomprehensibly, radiating uncertainty more than anything else.
"This garden was kept by the great ones among your kind." said the cypress-pines that had kept stoic until then. "Those that are now only roots in the ground and nothing else."
"How did you get here?" the roses asked. "You didn't grow here, or we would know!"
Faintly aware of Xenthriss impatiently staring at her, Dina decided to give him something to look at. More visible... I should make it obvious. It never hurts to appear as threatening as one can when in company of those who only understand that language. Dina thought and pulled from within, bringing both powers to the surface. Readily crawling just beneath her skin. It was not a pleasant sensation, but she endured it. The prickling of the Taint like acidic bites against her skin, every hair on her body rising like an antenna. She was after that menacing look that she had the night she arrived to Dunn, when the spirit possessing her called on the full power of the Taint and her eyes glowed purple. Dina wondered if her touch would make a bud open in bloom or wither. She indeed felt both her powers at her fingertips. It would probably depend on whether or not I can separate the two for long enough that the other does not affect the object I'm focusing at.
Unfortunately, calling on the Taint like that scared away the children of Nature. Especially the poor roses. They were the first to withdraw their tendrils in shock and fear, and the girl could feel the sting of their broken trust as they probably thought she decided to wither them after all, even though she merely readied the power inside her and not actually used it yet. The cypress-pines returned to their stoic behavior and the hazels whipped her with accusing tones. "We knew! The Taint stirs!"
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Xenthriss' draconic growl snapped Dina from focus, but it was all the same. After the display she just pulled off, it wasn't likely that she would get much interaction from anything in this garden without much persuasion, for which she didn't have the time. "Oh, I see!" Xenthriss growled, clearly taking notice of what the girl was doing, even if he didn't fully understand it. "Up to something after all, are you? You're lucky I am to deliver you alive... and unharmed." The drakkar pushed her towards the nearby gates to make sure she gets the message.
I didn't mean it that way. I should have asked more clearly... Who cut your branches and gathered the fallen leaves would be closer to home. Dina mused. There is no need to fear, I am just rustling my leaves to scare those who would hurt me. The same ones who took me and brought me here. She gathered all the softness she could and given it to these thoughts as she sent them to the plants. And as for Xenthriss, she thought of threatening back but instead just let the Taint crackle like static electricity where the drakkar pushed her, hoping to give him a little zap of a warning. As she walked she made sure to center nature's power at her feet. She would not risk spreading the Taint's influence here.
Something about Dina must have relayed the warning message well, for the Drakkar did not push her again. Instead, he opened the door for her and let her walk ahead while following a short distance behind in silence.
*** *** ***
Dina felt a growing sensation of familiarity. The hallways and their intricate tapestries and artworks hanging off the walls seemed like a distant memory. A memory suddenly brought to life when the two finally emerged into what she immediately recognized as the throne room of the kings and queens of Asgard! She was in Alicante! And on her right, still far across the huge chamber, stood the ancient throne of the royal Tenárus bloodline... currently occupied by a woman clad in red. That is all she could make out at this distance.
She apparently came through a side entrance about halfway through the chamber, and the actual main gates were some distance on the left. There didn't seem to be anyone else present. Dina gave Xenthtriss amused glances while he walked behind her, not meeting his eyes but observing the way he maintained a safe distance from her. This is what being a Songstress feels like, hmm? Dina couldn't deny that it was somewhat pleasurable. She let the purple hue recede from her eyes, along with any outer sign that the tainted powers still danced just under her skin. But she kept them there, at the ready, not knowing if she would have to use them at a moment's notice.
Alicante... Ilhirel! That was surely her sitting on the throne. Dina's mind was racing. How much did she know? Why was only she here? Did the drakkar tell her everything? In a fit of sudden rage she stopped short and brought the Taint back into her eyes. "Say one word to her while I'm here and you will be a beautiful sculpture." Dina growled low, a storm in her eyes biting at Xenthriss. This was all that she would say to him. Her fingers moved at her sides, every muscle of her arms tense as she took a deep breath. She was where she belonged. Why don't I just take it? Turn the both of them into silent guardians at the gates. Malice danced through her. Her fingers moved in waves, so close to juggling tainted lightning. Dina curled them into fists and forced herself to calm down. She pushed the Taint back down. Her jaw was never clenched so hard as when she started walking again.
The great, dreadful drakkar was too astonished to mount a reply in time. He'd never seen Dina like this and she had never seen him like that. He was visibly tense, holding himself back and reducing his reactions to a barely audible growl. He kept up with the girl all the way to the end of the trip where he barked: "That's far enough!" She stood but a dozen feet from the throne.
And the woman sitting there stood up. She was no more than average height, had medium length blonde hair and green eyes that she could discern even at a distance. Quite beautiful, altogether. The red robe that she wore was woven with golden runes whose meaning Dina couldn't even guess at. She held herself proudly and smiled politely when she finally spoke, looking directly in Dina's own eyes. "I am Ilhirel. Welcome. You must be Dina Tenárus. I have been waiting for you." She spoke slowly, stressing Dina's last name with an odd fascination. In fact, she seemed to be studying the whole of her with the same fascination, unnerving and uncanny.
From that moment, Dina started feeling something immense emanating from the Sorceress, an aura of sorts, on the bare edge of tangible. It made her feel somehow. It was like it mixed the girl's thoughts and feelings all together in a bowl, resulting in a mixture that had no proper name. One thing was sure - Dina never felt the way she did in her whole life as she did standing before Ilhirel then. And you are the one who killed my family? Or... Ailsa. I'll be Tenárus when I take my throne from you. Dina couldn't decide on how to start. Why would she stand up? If it were me I would stay sitting on the throne. Why would I even try to understand her? Like it matters. But what she said out loud was: "I'm curious. What is it you know about me?" And why are you so fascinated?
Ilhirel smiled. It was a real, beautiful smile that made it seem very improbable that this person was responsible for the fall of a kingdom and the plotting of a world's destruction. She took a few more steps towards Dina until the two of them were separated by only a few feet. And she didn't take her eyes off her once. The Sorceress looked at the girl as if she were the most precious thing she'd ever seen. "I know who you are," she said slowly, relishing every word, "Heir to the throne that I conquered. I did not even know you existed until recently, or anything else about you, but this one has told me everything since." She didn't have to point out Xenthriss. Apart from there being no one else around, the drakkar made another low growl. "You've been a good boy, Xenthriss. You delivered Dina as promised, and you shall have your reward. As promised. For now you may go." the Sorceress dismissed the drakkar as if he were a pet.
But Xenthriss cleared his throat to speak first. "My Queen, she... There is something wrong inside of her. The thing I mentioned before, I have seen it now. She -"
"Xenthriss." Ilhirel said, a whole lot less lovingly. "You have told me enough. I shall see the rest with my own eyes. Go. Now. I wish to be alone with Dina."
No guilty conscience what so ever. Sign of a true monster. Dina clapped her hands together, bringing the Taint right out - out of her eyes, her skin, everywhere. Making an aura of her own, one could say. "You will. Care for a demonstration?" Dina purred and turned her focus to Xenthriss who was just about to turn and leave, summoning crystals to trap him, enclose him, suffocate him. The effect was immediate, but less accurate than what she had in mind. Dina felt the earth itself tremble ever so slightly as one, two and finally three crystal spikes burst through the ground in all their corrupted, dark purple glory like bloodthirsty hounds answering the call of their master. They rose in a circle around the drakkar, one of them halting its sharp tip a mere inch from his face. He wasn't trapped or even injured, but he was paralysed with shock at least for the moment, staring death in the face with disbelief. It gave Dina satisfaction to see the indomitable Xenthriss vulnerable like this, faced with his own mortality.
The Sorceress clapped her hands a few times, slowly, standing right where she was in genuine amazement. "I am impressed." she said, nodding her approval like a mother to a child. "There seems to be a lot more to you than meets the eye. So these are the mighty powers of the mysterious Taint I've heard about? Aimed at poor Xenthriss at that, though I suppose he does deserve it." she smiled, this time a more devilish smile. "Leave us, drakkar, before I let her have you."
Xenthriss stared in disbelief some more and then finally bowed his head. "Yes, my Queen..." After saying that, he turned around and began carefully maneuvering between the jutting crystals to leave. It was shocking to see him so obedient. After all, his betrayal probably took place mere days ago after the Chosen left the temple in Daskárd, and he was a completely different person back then. The question was what did the Sorceress to do break him so effectively, and so quickly?
Ilhirel looked at Dina with satisfaction and a leftover measure of the same fascination that was there all along. "You have great potential, Dina." she said. "Without proper guidance it will be wasted when you meet your untimely demise, I fear." Ilhirel stepped even closer, walking up to stand right next to Dina until their faces were inches apart. Their minor difference in height was most visible then, because Ilhirel had to look up, even if only slightly. "But I could help you, if you like."
"And what is it you could do to help me with something you obviously experienced for the first time... Your Highness?" Have me use it in a way that would prove favorable to you? Naturally. She knows power in general so she will play on it for sure.
Dina's reply drew a knowing smile on Ilhirel's face. "Power is nothing without measure and direction." she said authoritatively, turning her back on the girl and walking away a short distance while continuing. "And I'd say you lack both. That's something I could help you with. You are young still, your powers - both of them - recently acquired. You can only get so far on your own. What you really need... is a tutor."
Having said that, the Sorceress faced Dina once more and shot her with a cunning, intelligent look. But there was something else there. A measure of satisfaction, no.... desire, perhaps? It was hard to read those tempting green eyes, Dina realized. I have tutors. Nature itself, the Spectrals. Was I not in a fast paced, moving mess they would be more than enough. Dina had a few quiet moments of contemplation. But here I am. If I want to drag this out until I can think of a way that'll get me out of this mess, then I have to play along.
Finally, the girl bowed and said: "If you would, please teach me."
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