Chapter 15.

*It was my seventh birthday, and the village was alive with activity. As is custom in the Human Empire, everyone gathered to celebrate the occasion, which was strange to me as I rarely ever left the house after the 'incident'. All the same, each family had come bearing a single, hand-made present that I was anxious to open, rushing through both song and cake entirely.

The first few gifts were simple, new clothes, carved wooden figures, but what made that birthday for me was the local blacksmith's gift.

"Here ya' go!" the hefty man clamoured, thunking a large, hastily wrapped parcel on the table. "It's not really my area of expertise, mind, but ya' don' seem to be the kinda feller to use a sword." And with that, I removed the bland paper.

It took my breath away. It was a beautifully carved, recurve bow. The sides had ornate, wispy designs etched in them by a simple knife, the dips having been filled with a shining, silver metal, with a handle to match.

I was speechless at the present, and gave the man a hug before running into the backyard to test it out. My father, being an Inquisitor as well as an expert on weaponry, followed me there, and began to teach me straight away.

I missed. Every time. Though we sat there for two hours, his instructions on posture and aim were seemingly overly complicated. Finally, he got fed up with my insolence and asked me how I would do it, since I was such a clever lad. In answer, I flipped the bow and shot, hitting the target. Not the center, for it was only in the inner white ring, but closer than I had been all day. That was when both he and I realized that I was left-handed, something he had not accounted for in his teachings.

As the sun dropped in the sky, and we packed up our things to head inside, I asked my father what the blacksmith had meant by me not being 'a sword fellow.'

"Oh. He simply meant that you are not the kind of person who would use a sword." He must have noticed my questioning look, and so continued. "The kind of weapon a person uses tells a lot about a person. Your brother is very strong and combative, like a sword, whereas your mother likes to be up-close and personal with everything she does, like her knives. You like to avoid confrontation and are weak in body, but cunning in mindset. A bow is the perfect choice for you."

"Oh... okay," I answered. "Daddy? Will I ever be good with the bow?"

My father nodded. "Absolutely. I can tell, you'll keep at it. And you're left-handed. That's very good for fighting. You will almost always put your opponent at a disadvantage. You'll be a bowmaster one day, and you'll work alongside your brother and I."

And I could see it. We would be the perfect team, like we were meant to be. We would stand back-to-back, smiling at each other before attacking enemies... killing... people just like us.

And part of me wishes it could have been.*

⛤

Gavin awoke to find his body being shaken over and over again. "By the gods, you're a late sleeper, aren't ya?" Opening his eyes, he found Talon standing right over him. *That's strange, he thought, as he typically woke up sooner. But wait, then that means…*

"Ugh!" he cried, as he realized that he had forgotten to recoat his weapons with poison. "I'm getting there, give me a minute." As he got off the bed, he saw his two knives resting on the same dresser top Necromancer had been next to, another reminder of last night's events. Tying his leather belt around his waist, he felt a new determination to find Tachir' against what Necromancer had said, and no one was going to convince him otherwise.

“You know, we might not have a minute. There’s a reason I woke your lazy self up,” and Gavin noticed that Aeiln was in the room too. “They’re on our tail again.”

Gavin had just finished fastening his cloak around his shoulders when he caught a glance of a smile on Talon’s face as he flipped down his eyepatch, seeing his other eye snapping into it's pumpkin hue just before the fabric hid it from view. "Ready to start the day off with a little exercise?"

With Talon gliding right above him, both of them made their way out of the house, farther inland from the rocky shores of Ulnter. Though the terrain jutted up and down, at random, sharp angles, he could still see the platoon of Inquisitors coming into sight. They were still far off, but he could tell that they weren’t the same ones that had traced them before. Their robes were still white, but the embroidered emblem of a blood-red sword was unmistakable. These were a brigade of Demon Inquisitors, which meant they had been expected.

“Aeiln!” Gavin called out, pointing a hand behind him at the group. She nodded, knowing as well as he did that they could fight them off, and continuing to run would be pointless. It was better to get themselves all in a better position and simply wait. Seeing a boulder, Gavin swerved his body behind it, staying ducked down, but making sure to peer over its edge every few seconds.

The first few had just begun to step in range, when Gavin pulled out his knife. Deciding to make the first move, he silently threw one, which landed in one of the men's sides. He smiled as the man ripped the blade out and quickly glanced around, trying to find who had thrown it, seconds before falling to the ground. He had seen the effect enough times in his life to know that the blood in the man's veins was clotting together, right next to his heart. Although he hadn't had time to freshen them that morning, it still was effective enough for this small group.

Jumping down from the tree, Gavin landed with his foot on top of the fallen man's heaving chest. "I'll be taking that back," he added, pulling the dagger out of the now dead man's hand. He looked up to the other ten or so people as Talon landed next to him. "Now... shall we begin?"

It really was a pathetically small amount of Inquisitors, twenty at best, and Gavin wondered how anyone in his right mind had thought this would be enough to prevent them from obtaining the Relic. It was strange enough to be expected, as there was no way that the Human sector would ever mention that they were raided so easily to an enemy, not in the middle of a war, but to have this on top of it.

*{Something’s not right here.}8

Gavin was about to answer, when he saw a javelin headed towards him. With Eldrazi talking, he’d forgotten to return to his position behind the stone, and he was still in the mental connection. He could watch every second of the spear moving toward him, but his body would not click back in time. *It’s going to hit my neck. I thought this was going to be easy, but I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated them.* He had just managed to at least close his eyes, when Aeiln suddenly was at his side, placing what he could only guess was a summoned shield between him and the javelin. It bounced off the metal uselessly, making a tinny ring. "Deztern!" she glared, addressing a tall man dressed all in black in contrast to the Inquisitor's stark white. "Why are you here?"

The man made no answer, instead seeming to ignore her entirely as more Inquisitors stepped towards them.

"Hey, Aeiln? Not the time to be making friends." Talon mentioned to Aeiln, who also ignored him. Blasting a small bit of fire to push back an enemy on his right, he shot his shadow at one of the women flanking the man in black, whom Aeiln had called Deztern.

As the creature submerged into the women's own shadow, Gavin could see that she had become completely paralyzed. "Gotcha!" Talon laughed as he began to make signs in the air. Gavin could see that Talon began to move his hand left and right, his fingers dancing in patterns as the woman became his puppet. He lifted his index finger on his other hand up, and the woman unsheathed the giant sword attached to her side, which she swung at Deztern, who seemed to be their leader.

Rushing into front of the man, Aeiln took hold of the same shield and blocked the woman's weapon. She glared at Talon and ripped the sword right out of the woman's hand, shoving the point into the woman's stomach. Removing the weapon slowly, Aeiln pointed the sword directly at Deztern's smug face. She advanced, one step at a time, when she slapped him hard across the face, leaving Gavin and Talon stunned. "There you go. That’s everyone. Why send the weak men? You know it would take at least thirty of your best for me alone."

"I am well aware of what I'd need. You make it very difficult to be loyal to both the King and your brother, you know," Dexter complained, seeming not to care at all about the sword point and the look in her eyes. "Now for as much as you hate me, we both know you would never kill me. You love him too much, so you might as well lower the sword. For you were right..." He put a hand to his face, covering his eyes with a small, strange smile. "It's not like I have any soldiers left."

"You know him?" Talin asked, throwing Gavin a sideways glance. He gave no answer, only managing to stare at Aeiln. Obviously they knew each other, but why would she try and protect him when he was clearly a threat? It wasn't like her to allow survivors.

Deztern smirked slightly, pushing a long, bony hand into his stark white hair. "Aeiln, come now. I'm simply checking up on you."

"That's a lie. Alasdair never told you to check on me," she hissed.

*Alasdair? What does he have to do with anything?* While they were focused talking, Gavin notched one arrow on the bowstring, pulling the cord back to his cheekbone. His gaze was solely on Aeiln, and the second she closed her mouth, Gavin let go, sending the arrow silently whizzing in his direction.

Aeiln put her hand out, catching the shaft lightly in her fingers. "I will ask you once, and only once. Get out of here, you are both outnumbered, and outmatched, and there is nothing you can do to stop me from walking into Ulnter."

Dexter's face hardened in a matter-of-fact look, replying, "For your information, I wasn’t here for you. Alasdair supports your “noble cause” and I’m not about to get myself into any battle over my head. I was here because of him." He pointed at Talon. "He’s exiled from these parts, and I’m simply under orders, but if he's with you, I'll let it go for now. Since there is no one else around, I'll say it once. I don't approve of your company, but I won't get in the way, and I'll call off his capture for now." He pointed a sharp finger in Talon's direction. He seemed to be opposed to even mentioning him by name. "That's all. Send Alasdair my regards." He was gone before the last word left his mouth, vanishing into the wind as quickly as he had come.

"Who the hell was that?" Talon immediately questioned, his shadow slinking to its normal spot as he returned to his Human form. "Why did you protect him from my shadow, and his arrow? He's an Inquisitor, and he's not even family. And I don’t know, he was sent to kill me? Just let him die."

"He is Alasdair's boyfriend, so he might as well be family," Aeiln responded with an aggravated sigh.

Gavin had never seen someone's eyes pop further out of their head then Talon's did at that statement, while he on the other hand, couldn't care less. As long as Deztern wasn't going to kill him, then he was fine with it. After all, he was the last person to judge anyone.

"We should just leave. You're both ready and for whatever reason they are obviously on your tail Talon," Aeiln advised. She looked at them before walking down the path alone.

⛤

They walked in silence, trudging behind her. Gavin couldn't tell if it was because of the recent attack, or more, but decided not to ask.

It took until a large tower, jutting out of one of the many mountains that made up Ulnter grew into view that Talon finally pointed out, "You know, for Alasdair's boyfriend, you seem to hate him a lot." Which was exactly what Gavin had been thinking. She made no response however. As they walked inside the castle, the air temperature dropped by several degrees, making him shiver as he pulled his cloak tighter. Looking over at Talon, he realized that he had glamoured himself, his now sandy-brown hair almost covering up the one, visible eye, now a vibrant green.

*I guess that even Devolns who can use magik can't glamour their one Demon trait.*

Aeiln, now with paler skin, and black wings with the membrane torn to shreds, continued down the hall as her black boots clacked on the cobblestone.

Where is she going? Gavin thought. His teeth were beginning to chatter now, and he just hoped that wherever they were going, it would be warmer.

Aeiln opened a stone door and a blast of warm air hit all their faces in reply. A song sung entirely in Demonican rang out, along with the sounds of laughter and fighting. She closed that door and moved against the wall, pressing her wings together. First checking to make sure that no one was in the room, she motioned for them to be quiet (as if he wouldn't!) and entered the room.

Gavin and Talon followed her silently, and Gavin couldn't help but notice how jittery he was. His easy confidence, the swing in his walk and the look in his eye had completely vanished, and he couldn't help but wonder what must have happened here many years ago for him to act like this. What had made him so unwelcome here?

Gavin stood up on the tips of his toes, stretching to try to tap Aeiln on the shoulder, but only managed her back. He couldn't stand it anymore. "Aeiln! Explain what's going on! What are we doing here? Where exactly are we going. This place is a maze! Shouldn't we be planning a better time for this?"

"Does time seem like something we have right now?" she answered with a question as she opened what seemed to be the last door. It was seemingly empty, minus the line of coats hung along one wall, and a row of vacant tables along the other.

"No, but can you at least explain what’s inside your head? Unlike you, I can’t read minds," Gavin responded as Aeiln began to pace around the room. “Whatever we’re doing, it doesn’t seem all that safe. We’re already being chased, and now we’re out in the open.” The words had barely left his mouth before a small alarm began to sound close by. *Well, here we go again, and we don't even have the Relic this time. Guess I'll finally know what Demon prison looks like.*

*{The only one you haven't been to yet!}*

*This wasn't a personal goal of mine!* Gavin responded, taking hold of his bow.

"I know that! But he was supposed to be here already! Where is he?" Aeiln brought her first down hard on a table top, causing a split to form in the stone, when the door to their left broke off its hinges. Gavin notched an arrow, preparing for whatever stepped out of it.

"Aeiln it's about time you got here,"a familiar mentioned, stepping out of the doorway, which Gavin could see lead down to a staircase if he looked past him. Horrid screams were also coming from that direction, making his stomach turn and leaving him grateful that it was beyond his view. Closing the door behind him, Gavin was surprised to see Necromancer’s ethereal form again, and wondered yet again how it was possible for Rowan to control a seemingly entirely different soul. If he were a Devoln, it would make sense, but for a Demon… he still had no understanding of how it all worked.

"About time I got here? You’re not even supposed to be here! And for your information, I was attacked by Deztern on the way here! Don't go visiting me all ghost-like at midnight like you’ve got some plan if you can’t even make sure it works out," Aeiln shot back, and Gavin realized he wasn't the only one who had gotten a message last night. He wondered if Talon had too, but when he looked over, he was surprised to find a twist look of disgust on his usually happy face. Gavin wasn't very fond of Necromancer, but that was nothing if he compared himself to Talon.

"You!" Talon shouted, pointing a quavering finger in the blue wolf’s direction. In return, Necromancer just raised an eyebrow, obviously not recognizing him in his glamoured form.

Necromancer glanced back and forth between Talon and Aeiln before claiming, "One. I have no clue what he is talking about or who he may be, and two, the point is, whether it was the original intent or not, is that I'm here to help now, and... the other one is also on his way."

"Why should we trust him? I am not taking any help from you," Talon said, holding out his arms in a gesture to Necromancer. However Talon knew him, their past obviously wasn't pretty, and based on his own experiences, Gavin couldn't completely disagree. The problem was the look that Aeiln was shooting him a look in his direction. Even a fool would know it meant, 'Who are you siding with? Him, or me?'

"Well, I truly don't remember you, if I ever knew you at all, but I can either get you through this castle, or leave you here to fight all the Inquisitors. It's your choice," Necromancer offered nonchalantly.

"I’m with Necromancer. We have no reason to start fighting right now, and if we stay any longer we will be surrounded..." Aeiln trailed off, whilst looking at both Gavin and Talon.

"Gavin," Talon whispered to him, "I say we should stick with them for now, but keep an eye on Necromancer. He can backstab us at any moment." Then, louder, "Okay, let's leave before the guards arrive."

"You're a little late," Gavin informed him, his forked tongue flickering out for a moment. "They're already here."

Necromancer smiled at their slight panic. "What guards?"As the sound of Their armed figures drew closer, Necromancer wafted through the door, and the pacing quickly turned into screams of anguish. When Gavin thrust open the door to help him, the only thing left in the room was the floating soul, and empty pieces of armor and clothed skeletons.

Gavin didn't have to use his ability to know that both him and Talon were terrified. Running back after the two others, with Necromancer none too far behind, he could hear Talon muttering over and over to himself, something akin to a chant, but he couldn't make out what it was.

Necromancer led them down the staircase, edging them onward with his snout, then stopped right before the final step.

The dark, cavernous room before them held only a single, wooden door, and was alit by Fireflite, a glowing ore so rare that Gavin was astonished to find that it was growing raw in the cave. Surely the Demonican government should have mined the yellow stone ages ago and sold it at the Crossroads. It would have made them hundreds of ether, and yet here it was.

Aeiln seemed to take no notice in the simple beauty of it, whisking the door open, saying, “All right. With all of us, this should go a lot easier."

The room it led to was coated with an innumerable amount of traps, ranging from trip wires, to nets, to quartz crystals filled with raw flame magik, that would explode the minute they passed.

*{Leave it to the Demon Empire to efficiently guard something,}* Eldrazi pointed out.

*Yeah. The Human Empire wasn't even half as guarded... And I still couldn't steal it on my own...*

Talon grimaced. "I hope you're being sarcastic."

"Aeiln? Sarcastic? Not at all," Gavin replied, taking out his knife and thrusting it into the dirt walls.

“...What are you doing?” Aeiln asked incredulously, beginning to step towards the death sentence before her.

“What does it look like? I’m disabling the traps the best I can. I can’t possibly survive all that,” Gavin answered.

“He’s got a point,” Necromancer agreed. “No matter how agile you may be, the only one guaranteed to walk away unscathed from all this is myself. Let him help.”

“Thank you. Someone with some sense,” Gavin mentioned, ignoring Aeiln’s huff. With his knife deep in the dirt wall, he wrenched it to the right, but he couldn’t feel any wires located there. Another stab didn’t lead to any either. *This could take me all day to find,* Gavin realized, looking around to all the available spots the threads of magik could be hidden. Even with his knack of sensing energy, someone had done a good job hiding it, in more ways than one. *{We don’t have time to guess, but there’s no way I can dodge every trap. Not to mention that if I get hurt, it will be all the harder to escape later.}*

He looked around the room, looking for any possible clue or hint, when his eyes finally settled on Necromancer, sitting there patiently.

“Perfect!” he announced. “Necromancer, you’re able to go through these walls, same as that door before, yes?”

“Correct? Why do you ask?”

“Stick your head in the walls and let me know if you see the threads connecting all of these traps. I can get them from there.”

With that, he got up, his body disappearing for a few moments as he bounded through one wall, the ceiling, until he stopped a few feet ahead of where he had been sawing before. “Here,” was all he said, and Gavin was a bit annoyed at how close he had been. Still he began sawing away at the dirt, his knife running though until it hit something so small, so insignificant, that it almost felt the same as all the other first surrounding it. It was the difference of the air being slightly thickened after a serious conversation, or an awkward moment. Such a minute detail, and yet, when it finally snapped under his added tension, he could hear certain gears grind to a stop, cleavers stop swinging, and a turn around told him that the crystals were toned down, their insides now entirely clear and empty of power.

"There,” Necromancer said, as if he had been the one to clear out the area. “Now, this is as far as I can take you Aeiln. Your friend is on his way, so you shouldn't be alone for long. Good luck," Necromancer whispered as his apparition faded away, no doubt returning to Rowan's body. Though he got on his nerves easily, Gavin was amazed that he could do that, making him wonder if Eldrazi and himself could temporarily separate. But then again, even if they could, they each leeched off the other's energy to survive, and in Eldrazi's case, Gavin's own Life Force, and Gavin doubted that they could stay apart for long without risking death.

Looking over at Talon, it seemed as though he almost fought the urge to spit on the ground Necromancer had once stood, choosing instead to focus his attention on following. "We could have had some fun Gavin, gods," Aeiln complained, walking farther into the room and sighing.

"Oh yes," Gavin rolled his eyes, pointing to a nasty looking pendulum blade hanging from the high ceiling. "When I think of fun, getting severed in half is the first thing that comes to mind.”

Aeiln simply rolled her own eyes in return as she stepped over the last trip wire, huffing with disappointment at the same time Gavin heaved a sigh of relief. With that done, they made their way gingerly over to the opposite end of the hallway.

"Glad that's over!" Talon chirped, when a loud thud shook the walls, causing him to fall. The earthquake, while they were common in the area, seemed strange to Gavin, when he realized the floor was slowly sinking. He grabbed hold of the shifting stone wall, to see Aeiln standing there with a smile, her voice echoing again and again off the hollow stone.

"Well well well..."