Chapter 6.

"Start what?" Gavin asked. Rowan hadn't been very specific on what he wanted to test him on, and it wasn't looking like he had much of a choice now.

"Physical fighting," Rowan replied, as if it was the most casual topic in the world. "After you mentioned knowing only one magikal skill, I assumed that magik wasn't your strong point, and thus, it wouldn't be fair to judge your ability based on that alone. Seeing that you're up to this caliber of a task though, must mean you are proficient in physical fighting instead then, no?"

"Physical fighting?" he echoed. He stepped back, shocked. "Oh, yeah, absolutely. I don't have to be good at close-range to count though, right?" He nervously began to unstrap the wooden bow from his shoulder.

"Well, yes and no. Knowing some melee combat is always a plus, but I have the feeling you're the kind of person who prefers long-range." He gestured to the bow.

*{Wow. Wonder where he got that idea from?}* Eldrazi laughed.

"How is this fair?" he whined, ignoring Eldrazi completely. He's a full-fledged Demon, and was even once an Inquisitor for Akasha's sake! He didn't have a chance at long-range, forget mentioning if he wanted to test how good Gavin was up close. He was royally screwed. Not even his knives could save him if Rowan decided to close in with his magik, whatever it was.

"Relax Gavin," Rowan said to him, taking steps back and preparing to start. "Now, get ready. We are going to see what you can do." He clapped once and in immediate response, the plain white room changed to a forest setting. Trees sprung up both short and tall. Thick, wild grass lined their ankles, a cool, damp breeze played with his loose cloak, and light conformed into sporadic patches of shading and sunspots.

All at once, he remembered the training he had done with his dad and brother. If you were fighting long-range, then be sure to be higher up than your opponent. Restringing the bow over his shoulder, he grabbed hold of the nearest tree and climbed up it, twisting his legs around it and sitting up in the highest branches in fewer than twenty seconds. Of course, that would be slow to Rowan, but it was probably impossible to anyone else. Whipping out his bow once again, he strung an arrow, not aiming it at anything. He then sat there, waiting.

"Now, I know you can hear me, so listen up. Anything is allowed, so I will use my powers. That was just so you know; I don't want to surprise you," he smirked, disappearing into nothing. Somewhere hidden, Gavin could hear him whisper, "Your move..."

Closing his eyes, he slipped into his other form, curling his large prehensile tail around the thickest branch for support. His now forked tongue flickered in and out of his mouth, tasting Rowan's position. Without any warning, he flipped upside down, hanging from his tail and shooting his arrow at the base of another tree, where Rowan was hiding.

"{You said anything was allowed. So if I can't see you, then I'll have to smell you,}" he said, his tongue flickering out of his mouth again as if he had a foreign accent, which, he supposed he did sort of have. He didn't have magik on his side, so he could only pray that his other skills could balance out the fight.

But instead of a cry of pain, he heard, "Ahh. A snake Devoln eh? That's interesting. A shame though, you were right on the mark, just too slow," he chuckled.

Put off by the unnerving laugh, he fought the urge to open his eyes, lest he lose his ability to sense Rowan by his heat signature. Pulling himself right side up, he tasted the air again. He could 'see' that a warm, bright red spot named Rowan was circling around the tree, weaving in and out of the violet brush, trying to throw him off. Making sense of the pattern, he instead aimed his next shot fifty paces ahead of him, hoping he would be there when the shot hit.

"{It had better hit,}" Eldrazi spoke, his words coming from Gavin's mouth, just in a slightly deeper voice, "{because you only have ten arrows left.}"

"You know, when I was an Inquisitor, I remember that there was a Snake Devoln that no one could manage to catch. He went by many names: The Slippery Serpent, the Uncaught, some much worse. When you shifted, my expectations of you rose higher in accordance." Rowan's voice pierced the air, "It's a shame though; you only managed to snag my ear." Opening his eyes, Gavin could see him now, but his body was changing. His features contracted and sharpened until he found himself staring into the face of a large, black dire wolf.

*Well, it's a good thing wolves can't climb trees,* Gavin thought, trying to stop his heart from pounding. He remembered the last time he had had to fight a wolf. That very creature had ruined everything; his life, his secret, his family... His breathing began to match the speed of his heart, black dots lining the ends of his vision. Gavin, calm down! This isn't Tachir'! Pay attention to the fight before you get hurt. Focusing on the words inside his head, his breathing began to slow once again. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, pulled back on the string, and let another arrow fly right as the wolf leapt into the air, right at his tree.

For a second, all he could hear was the sound of claws carving deep into the tree's flesh, and then, the sound of it snapping in half, as it began its descent to the forest floor. Falling with the tree, he watched as the ground rose up to greet him, jumping off and rolling away just moments before it crashed. It was only when he stood up that he realized that the wolf was nowhere to be found until he heard a low growl from behind him:

"Hello there."

Nearly dropping his bow in terror, Gavin slung it across his back and scrambled for the next tree. But before he could, he felt three sharp lines of pain race through his clothing and skin, shredding both into red-stained marks. Only holding onto the tree by his tail, he whipped his twin daggers out of his belt and reached to slash the wolf in the face, panic making his reptilian yellow eyes widen in fear.

"Oooookay. Let's end this here," Rowan said, turning back to his normal self, his hand covering his face. The trees began to fade away until the only thing that was left was the two of them standing there.

"{Oh gods! Rowan, your nose! Are you all right? I'm so sorry,}" Gavin apologized, the words flying out of his mouth as he walked over to Rowan, who was now heavily bleeding from two slashes on the bridge of his nose, rivers of blood climbing down his face. "{I'm sorry, I got scared and I... I shouldn't have.}"

But instead of being angry, he just laughed. "Oh, I'll be fine. I've had worse," he glanced at Gavin, "as have you. As for the test, however," he paused, obviously for effect. "You pass. Easily."

"That's a relief," he replied, transforming back to his Human form. "So wait, you're a wolf Demon?"

"Indeed, and not to brag, but one of the more powerful ones at that. Would you like to meet Necromancer, in the instance that we were not fighting?"

"No, thanks," Gavin nervously stuttered, then tried to change the subject before Rowan could ask why. "But aren't you the same person? Why would you have two different names for yourself?" At least with him and Eldrazi, it made sense. They were two different souls, two completely different beings, but before Eldrazi had died, he had had his Human form, and his snake form. All Demons were like that, so having two different names for just yourself…

"Well, much like you, it's one body, but two different Demon souls, so having two names helps. A rather long story though." He looked up for a moment, noticing Gavin's face. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he lied, although his face didn't show it. He was a great liar, and unless you had rock hard proof in front of you, no one would be able to tell otherwise.

At least, no one Human, because Rowan just glared at him. "You're lying. I can tell you know."

"So what if I am?" he snapped, his eyes narrowing. He had no idea how Rowan knew he was lying, but it put him at such unease that he was already slipping into anger, if only to hide it. He knew another with two souls, one of them being a wolf, but it couldn't be…

"Gavin, please," Rowan begged. Please what? Turning straight around on his heel, he walked out the door and shut it behind him, before he could yell at Rowan again. He was hoping that Aeiln would have calmed down by now, and was heading towards the staircase before a voice stopped him.

"Hey," Aeiln said. She was leaning against the newel, having somehow passed him without him even noticing.

"Hey," he replied, breathing out the air he hadn't known he was holding in.

"I know I'm not one to tell you what to do, but you should go back in there," she said, a concerned look on her face.

He shook his head. "Not a good idea," he explained, although it wasn't much of an explanation at all. "I just... don't like wolves. That's all."

"And why is that?" she prodded.

"I think they're scary," he told her truthfully, knowing full-well he sounded like a five-year-old. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough, as Aeiln was still looking at him in disbelief. "You're scared of Rowan?"

He reached for the sleeve of his left arm, pulling the green fabric up to his shoulder. Aeiln could see the whole of his Devoln mark, a large, black snake crawling up his arm. The tip of its tail curled around a large star, with a sun and moon lining each slender curve of its body, but that's not what he was showing her. Flipping onto the inside of his arm, she could see a long, large gash in his flesh. An old, pale scar, and by the looks of it, when he had gotten it, it had been right down to the bone. He still had an indentation in that area, the unfilled line slightly sunken in and soft, the warped areas stretched so thin that it reflected the light, making it appear shiny. "I was attacked by a wolf when I was younger. I know it wasn't Rowan, but they look exactly the same. I know it's stupid, but it's still unnerving."

"What was his name? Do you know?" she asked, concerned.

He sighed, if he didn't tell her, she would just bother him until he did. "Tachir'. You know, the one that destroyed a whole Human village twenty years ago, then came back and did the same thing sixteen years later." He could not believe he was telling her this.

"Hehehe... Oh boy," she chuckled.

"What? What is it?" He hated the guessing games.

*{If she knows about Tachir' she might know where he is!}* Eldrazi practically yelled in his head.

*I know that!* Gavin replied. *Why do you think I'm asking?*

"Well, I might know his brother."

*Faust!* they both thought in unison. "A-and who would that be?"

"Do I really need to point out the obvious here? And you know I can hear both of you, remember?" she reminded them, crossing her arms.

Gavin dragged his hands down his face in exasperation. "You promised you would stay out of my head, and yet here we are. And anyways, I just wanted to know, same as you were curious about the wolf Demon's name."

"Well, first off, it is really hard to ignore it when he is talking to you. Second, you just met him. Necromancer."

"Wait, what?" he shouted at her, shock plainly written on his face.

*{Hehehe,}* he could hear Eldrazi laughing in the back of his mind. *{Looks like you got a new…}*

*Shut it or I will literally go in there and end you!* Then to himself, he thought: *I think Aeiln can only hear when we're talking to each other, not just plain thoughts, but still...* He wanted to be careful. "Necromancer?" *Am I related to Rowan as well then?* The new information was truly mucking up his family tree.

"Did I not just say that? Yes, Necromancer. Why?" Aeiln asked.

"Just a small world, that's all," he said truthfully, wearing his typical crooked smile with one of his fangs slipping out carelessly. When he was still a child, his mother would have grounded him for being so rash, but, when he was around Aeiln, it was nice to not have to worry about every move he made, and just be himself for once.

"So, would you like to meet him, now that you know who he is?" she asked again, as though the answer was going to be any different.

"No, I'm good. I am done with socializing for today," came his reply.

"Well, you still have to make it through dinner, whether you like it or not."

⛤

A few hours later, they walked into the dining room. There was Rowan, back to normal, nose almost fully healed, and Sera, who glared at him as they walked in. In response, Gavin stuck his tongue out at her. He thought he saw her jump back, but wasn't sure, as he had already turned his attention back to Aeiln.

Clapping twice, Aeiln grabbed the food just as soon as it appeared on the table. "I'm taking my food to the Willow Tree and eating there," she explained to no one in particular. Only moments after the words left her mouth, she was already leaving the room, arms laden with food.

Seeing a plate of buttered rolls, Gavin smiled and grabbed at least three, following Aeiln back out to the tree and sitting down. Stuffing the warm, flaky bread in his mouth, he took a large bite, then said, "I guess this really is my last day here." He rolled onto his stomach, staring at her. "So, where are we heading to in order to find the Relics?"

"Oh, they are in the three capitals; I have a map of where they should be. Rowan gave them to me a little while ago," she elaborated, looking at the little stream.

"Yeah, I guess he would know stuff like that... Do you think we're supposed to steal them?" He already knew the answer; of course they would have to steal them. You don't just walk into the capitol building and ask for the empire's most powerful items. Still, he wanted to sound naïve, like he hadn't tried to go after them before, multiple times.

"Well, that would be the idea, though it would be much easier if I was strong enough to cloak the both of us at the same time. And before you say, 'but I can't be cloaked,' yes you can," she said, pantomiming his words in a high-pitched voice.

"I'm not saying you couldn't do it, I would just get violently sick until I die. You could almost say I'm allergic to magik, which is why I can't do it myself." He sighed. He was about to explain a lot more about himself then he wanted to, but if they were going to be doing this together... Well, she probably should know, and it most likely wouldn't hurt.

"Every Devoln has something of their Demon soul, no matter what form they are in. For me, even when I'm in full Human form, I always have my fangs. Someone else could have their eyes constantly transformed, or ears, or a tail, it depends on the Devoln. But... whereas most Devolns can't even reach a full-Demon form, I can while still being conscious, and in control. I'm the only Devoln that's able to do that, as far as I know. But in order for that to happen, one thing has to be kept Human at all times. For me, it's losing magik. In case you didn't know, magik hurts Humans, so unless it's handling peoples' emotions, I can't do anything without hurting myself," he finished. He was pretty sure that was the most he had talked in his entire life. Then again, maybe that wasn't such a surprise as he had had to be silent almost all the time as a kid anyway.

"You can be cloaked, and you won't get hurt. Just trust me," Aeiln disagreed, smiling to herself.

What did I just say? "Sorry, but I can't. I've been cloaked before, by both an Angel, and a Demon. It hurts our body more than if I stay in Human form for too long." Now it was his turn to smile. "But don't worry, as long as I get a good amount of sleep there is no chance of me not being able to stay transformed. Those days are long over."

*{And thank the gods for that.}*

"It will work," Aeiln repeated, as though that would make the idea any more feasible. "I'm almost positive." Done talking, she summoned a thin blanket which spread out underneath them.

Crawling under the blanket, Gavin found that it was surprisingly the softest thing he had ever touched. It was light, and felt like covering yourself with warm air. He didn't know why she was laying on top of it, but to each their own. He put his head down and didn't move, appreciating the warmth around him. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, it simply happened without his knowledge. Aelin glanced over and just shook her head. "What kind of idiot curls up and goes to sleep under a picnic blanket? Whatever."

Time passed and the sun set, the changing in lighting revealing the cosmos that had been there all along. Leaning her head back against the tree, Aeiln looked up to see a rare, falling star pass between two of the opposing crescent moons. She closed her eyes and made a wish that she knew would never come true. And yet, she did it anyway, for the fear of missing that one opportunity to bring them back was stronger than the sorrow of having it fail once again…