Hindsight is a wonderful thing. In our case we really should have known that staying in one place with the Unicorn for too long was a really stupid idea but then again how long is too long. Things might have been different if Allagahn had bothered to help us but he was obviously doing something far more important, where ever he was.
However, I get ahead of myself.
The last couple of days have been rough on most of us, Alfred and Sorcha in particular, and Allagahn far less than I. Sorcha and I have means of dealing with out wounds to a greater or lesser degree respectively, but Alfred in refusing to acknowledge his heritage hasn't progressed that far and Allagahn doesn't possess the genes so can't. All this has taken its toll and Alfred certainly was in no fit state to travel. Sort of by consent we therefore decided to spend a day resting. Its strange how two people can spend time in each others company and not really talk to one another. Thus Sorcha and I spent the day in the kitchen drinking tea and wine and not really talking. Alfred joined us early in the afternoon for something to eat, purloined a chair and headed in the direction of the stables to talk to the unicorn. I wished him luck.
He'd been gone about an hour when the warning struck me. Even then I barely made it to the door before the demon walked through it - a decision it won't be making again; although it's reactions were surprisingly quick for it's size. Shoving his falling body out through the door gained enough ground for Sorcha to pass behind me and intercept the demon attempting to flank from the right.
This proved to be a bad move on her part for their combat skills were better than hers and I had no choice but to assist her. This severely reduced the rate at which we could kill them, although they seemed more interested in attempting to kill the Unicorn in the barn.
I'd just managed to deliver a killing blow to the demon in front of me when my danger sense flared big time. Instinctively I dived sideways as a black globule of nothingness passed through the space I had just occupied and impacted the farmhouse. There was a small explosion and a hole about 3 feet in diameter appeared. The angle of the dive meant that if I completed its execution in the space I was in I would slam into the house wall. I was forced to blink into the area in front of the bunkhouse corridor. It must be the first time lady luck has smiled on me in a long while for I ended up behind the pair of demons from which the ball had originated. I was wrong.
It all happened in slow motion. I came to my feet and swung the sword. As it bit home I could see the second ball impact Sorcha and the rushing change as she reverted to her primal form to escape the worst of the damage. The problem with shape shifters is that their primal form does one of two things, it either frys everyone in the vicinity leaving them hopefully alive and alone, or it enables then to leave the scene at a high velocity. Sorcha's form was mostly the latter, although she did sufficient damage to the demon she was fighting to render it senseless as she shot skyward.
As the demon crumpled, and its companion turned, I saw a second form exploded through the roof of the barn. Logic told me that that form was Alfred. What I now realized was that Allagahn hadn't made an appearance. I flicked the sword and the second demon began to crumple. That just left the one on the the other side of the courtyard and any that were in the collapsing barn. I blinked again almost in time with the roof timbers hitting the floor, to reveal the Unicorn standing there apparently unscathed. The sword flashed again and a figure floated into view beyond what remained of the barn. It was Allagahn. So nice of him to join us now its all over.
Somewhere in the distance I heard the Unicorn laugh and realized I wasn't concealing my feelings regarding Allagahn's late appearance. What was worse I now had two primal shifters to find. Allagahn's initial remarks did little to cool my anger and I vented some of it on the Unicorn, who'd now stopped smirking. Allagahn still didn't understand the ins and outs of Psychic discerpline, which meant he missed the subliminal broadcast of what was going to happen to the Unicorn if he didn't find Sorcha, and having missed it failed to completely understand my remarks about him finding her. In hindsight, he wouldn't have understood anyway as he's in the position I was several weeks ago. There is more to magic than initially meets the eye and it relies on a number of very ancient principles as I'm slowly discovering. At least I was sure of one thing. Since the Unicorn was still bound Sorcha must still be alive.
One of the side effects of saving reality is that the "little people" get overlooked or crushed as a side effect. As I sit here now I can see the Carter wondering how he is ever going to repair the damage and resurrect his business from the ashes we left it in. When this is all over, assuming I'm in a position to do so, I'll have to go back and compensate him.
I returned to the bunkhouse and retrieved my pack. Alfred's bag and the sword of mine he'd adopted lay on the trunk at the end of the bed he'd been using. I picked the bag up and checked that Selheim's journal was inside. I returned to the courtyard and noted that Allagahn was talking to the Unicorn again. He wanted to know where I was going. I told him in search of Sorcha. He wanted to know what was happening about Alfred. I told he wasn't my concern at the moment. He then did something sensible, thats twice in a week - he must be ill. he volunteered to go and find Alfred. I wished him luck, grabbed the Unicorns bridal and set off after Sorcha.
Locating her was not actually that difficult - the Unicorn could sense where she was and it was a simple matter to walk across the shadow to where she was hiding. Finding her and coaxing her out of primal form are two different things and the presence of the Unicorn was not going to help. He didn't like being ordered to wait but there wasn't much I could do about it, and I covered the last 5 miles to the head of the ravine on my own.
Having not made a study of primal forms Sorcha's seemed to be both functional, lethal, and elegant. She was also sitting several hundred feet up the cliff face, and I wasn't in the mood to try climbing it. The only option therefore was to wait. The environment was restful and having made myself comfortable I entered a meditative state.
As I surveyed my surroundings, the golden hues of the trees and rivulets stood in contrast to the greys of the rocks. There was a lot of natural positive energy here. There was also a dark black sink located where the primal form of Sorcha was sitting. I decided to try something, and began to push energy towards the sink. At first nothing happened, which was a good sign at least, but after an hour or so the sink appeared to be slowly brightening. I decided to continue.
I cannot tell whether it was my efforts that caused Sorcha to return to her normal form or not but some 10 hours later I was roused from my meditative state by a flux in the energy flow as she returned to human form. Her armour and body had suffered badly from the impact of the energy bolt and the left half of her upper torso and left arm were devoid of clothing and looked red and raw. Her left arm hung like a lump of rubber from a rubber shoulder. I doubted she could get down unless she could transform into something more demonic.
After 10 minutes of fruitless shouting, I got out the Trump Deck. I'm not even sure she could see what I was doing but I showed her her trump anyway. This was going to be a big risk. If Brand was paying any sort of attention we'd be dead but I could see any other way, other than waiting the 27 hours till the next 13th Hour. I wasn't sure she'd survive that long.
Thankfully she answered the call quickly and I pulled her off the cliff face and ended the call in less than 20 seconds. As far as I could tell there'd been no Brand involvement. What I hadn't expected though was the Unicorn to come boldly trotting up as if nothing had happened involving him in the slightest in the previous 72 hours.
Sorcha seemed too tired to put up more than a token of resistance as I hoisted her onto its back. He started to protest profusely when I got up behind her, but she ordered him to shut up and take us to Elysium.
The journey was incredible, shadows blitzed past at a rate I could hardly follow, and I failed to work out how he achieved what he was doing. In the end I stopped trying and four hours - yes thats four hours Amber time - we found ourselves in an Elysium markedly different from the one we had left. Even the Unicorn appeared impressed.
| Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |