The Spirus

by JB Trepagnier

  She flapped her wings higher and soared above what he was sure now was Idric. He was no longer afraid to look down and could make out roads and huts. She seemed to know where she was going, but stayed high when she was above the houses. She only started to descend when they came upon a large clearing. Leodos could see that was where the army was camped and there were several tents set up.

  She moved towards a large tent and he knew that was where Autar and the other generals would be. He expected another shriek from her to announce their presence, but what she did surprised him and could have put everyone on her back in danger. There were men outside tents diving for cover when they saw her. She made a sharp dive and finally let out the shriek he heard before when she swooped low enough to pull the tent cover off with her claw and fly off with it. If she wanted to make an entrance, she just made it.

  He couldn’t turn and see what happened because she flew off a little away from the clearing and finally set down. She didn’t change back into a girl where she could talk like she told them she intended to do and no one on her back knew what to do. She craned her head behind her with smoke trailing out her snout and made a small motion with her head that they should get off of her.

  Autar and the other generals were now spilling out tents with swords and bows drawn, but they wouldn’t come close to them. Autar never let his eyes leave her, but he called to Leodos that he wasn’t surprised to see him taking up with this lot after what he had refused to do. He demanded to know where the girl was. Leodos could see he was hiding fear because he was sweating and the people behind him had their swords out and their bows notched, but they seemed unsure of themselves.

  He felt heat coming from Esylle and she whispered to all of them they needed to start what she had taught them. While they were building up heat, Lisana still hadn’t changed and a volley of arrows came at them. Leodos braced himself and didn’t think their heat wall was hot enough yet. A large spray of fire came from the serpent and every single arrow exploded and fell before it came anywhere near hitting any of them.

  Autar began to taunt both Leodos and Joron, that they must be stupider than he thought to come here with so few people and a serpent. Autar called that his army would easily kill them and they would find where they were hiding the girl.

  Leodos ignored him and when he felt the heat around them get to the point it was at while they were on the beach, Lisana finally turned back into a girl and faced Autar and his army. It wasn’t like before, where it caused her pain and she needed to be healed. It looked like a normal tribe transformation. Autar looked taken aback when she changed because he assumed she didn’t have magic here. Leodos saw doubt cross his face that this would be an easy victory and capturing her would be simple. He also saw confusion that it had been her the entire time the serpent was before him. This was new to all of them, as it had been new to Leodos when he first met her. He knew they would be afraid at first.

  “Yes, I have magic here,” she called. “I always have. You won’t be capturing me today, nor studying me. We are not here to fight you, nor am I here to kill any of you, even though I easily could. I’m here to talk to you.”

  “What makes you think we want to hear what you have to say, little girl?” Autar called to her. “You don’t want to fight, but we do. We outnumber you and this will be an easy win. Your gifts didn’t help you in the first war and with just so few of you here, they won’t help you now either.”

  “This is not like the first war. I was not here then. I’ve already brought new gifts to the tribes. You want to fight them because you don’t know where you came from. If you will lay down your swords and bows long enough to listen, you won’t want to fight and I can gift you what you’ve always wanted. You don’t have to capture me; you just have to understand and change.”

  “We don’t have to do anything. We outnumber you,” Autar called to her. He called for the men behind him to notch their bows and hit everyone behind her and wound the girl long enough for him to tie her up.

  Leodos knew the arrows wouldn’t hit them, but he worried about Lisana. She still didn’t have flames coming off her like on the beach. She stood in front of them and he didn’t feel heat coming from her, nor did he feel fear. He finally saw her react right before they let their arrows sail. She leapt into the air and now she was another creature from human myth.

  He looked into the air and saw a large bird engulfed in flames with a colorful plume atop her head and matching colors on the long feathers that trailed to the ground. She was the bird that was reborn from the ashes now. She was much bigger than what he had imagined when his mother told him that story and her wingspan covered everyone lined up behind her. He didn’t understand if she was trying to scare them into listening to her by taking this form since she couldn’t talk as the serpent. He could only see her back and was surprised to hear her voice. It was magnified and the deeper voice she used at Inanos sometimes that always commanded everyone to do as she said.

  “You still understand so little,” she called. “Your history is a lie. If you knew where you came from, you would know who I am and why I’m here. You would know why you’ll never capture me and none of these people with me will die. We can do this the easy way where none of you will die either if you will just put your weapons down and listen.”

  Autar was sweating even more and Leodos could see more doubt clouding his face. He gave the order to charge with swords and every single person behind her sent heat at their swords. He felt a heat swell from her as well and tried to hold on. Every single one of the men dropped their sword, screaming in pain, holding their sword hand. Their bows were strung from wood and he thought they would be standing there burning arrows until Autar gave up and listened to her when they eventually ran out of arrows.

  He felt another heat surge from her and he was now holding more heat than they ever did at the beach. He was trying to concentrate while holding on and still trying to watch what she was doing. He was amazed when the heat surge she sent caused every single bow to splinter and rendered it useless. Some of the men holding them turned and ran away. The ones who stayed cowered behind Autar and his generals.

  “Now that I’ve taken your weapons away, are you ready to listen? If you pick up those swords again, instead of just sending enough heat to make you drop them, I’ll completely melt them and take away all your weapons. I’m only asking you to listen. We didn’t come here to fight you.”

  Autar glared at her, blowing on his burned hand. “What could you possibly say to us that would change anything?”

  Leodos thought she would change back and deliver her message with her human face, but she started to tell the same story she had told the tribes about how they were created and she made the same images with fire and light as she did before. She went more into the human’s history than she did before. Because the Spirus gave them free will and thought, they became fearful of things that they shouldn’t have feared and wanted things that weren’t theirs to have. She showed them how the tribes came to be and told them they had no reason to distrust them because they were distant brothers.

  She finally changed back into the girl he knew and opened her arms and addressed them.

  “Being like the tribes was not yours to envy. You have your gifts as they have theirs. You did what you shouldn’t to try to gain their gifts and became bitter because you are not like them. Today, I will give you a choice. I can gift you what you killed to gain, but you will not use those gifts to cause pain. I can gift you the ability to be like any one of the tribes, but you will have to become a part of them and learn to live like them. If you cannot accept this, you can stay on Idric, where you were created, but you will never come back to the mainland. You will accept what you are as humans and just live as you are. You will stay here and never return to the mainland.

  “There will be no Lords on the mainland anymore. If you wish to come back with us and stay human, I will allow you that. You will become part of the peace that will happen. You will c
ontribute to the growth of a new society. You will no longer be Lords or soldiers. You will work. The ruling class will now be as I am and will take input from the tribes and any council elected by those humans that choose to come, but you will not rule from behind the scenes and no one will fear you anymore. Everyone is to be the same.”

  Leodos stared out at all of the humans and was surprised to see that they all looked deep in thought, like they were considering what she had just told them. Leodos knew she thought this was supposed to happen, but deep down, he kept thinking that talking to these men would not work and they would have to fight. She would end up doing what she didn’t want and have to hurt them.

  Autar called her to again, but he looked like he no longer wanted to fight. “If you created us when you were here before, why were we never taught this? Why does our history not mention you at all?”

  “Because you came to fear me so much, you killed me. You wanted nothing of you to come from me, so your ancestors gave you a different history without me in it. Think of everything you have seen today. How could I be anything you’ve seen today? You’ve known Leodos for years. How is he now making fire? How are any of these men that aren’t Tempris able to make you drop your swords?”

  “I don’t know anything except fighting and fearing those like you. I don’t know how to do what you say comes next,” Autar called to her. He looked like he was softening towards her and may be believing what she had just told him.

  “You fear them because you don’t know them. There’s a place for warriors among all of the tribes. I will not make you Tempris, but there’s a possible place for you among the Theran, Tark, or Farkhi, should you choose there to be.”

  “How, when they don’t trust us either and everything we have done to them?”

  “I brought all four kings with me. My mother is here and she will rule with Leodos by her side until it is my turn. Everyone is here to talk out the past and for you to learn about the tribes and which would best suit you if you want to join. If you will leave your swords where they are and walk away, they will stop making fire and everyone can talk.”

  “How do we know you won’t just kill us when our backs are turned?”

  “If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. If I wanted you dead, why didn’t I do it as the serpent? Why did I only sent enough heat to take away your weapons so you would listen and not enough to burn you alive? We only came to talk.”

  “If you came only to talk, you destroyed our tent for that.”

  “I only took your cover off. You can put it back up and we can talk. You can send men to come get it and set the tent back up. You’re stalling.”

  She turned and gave them a look and they all knew to let the fire slip away. She said to not let them know anyone was tired and Leodos was exhausted after the heat waves she had sent. They held more fire than they had at the beach and being Tempris was so new to him, he wasn’t used to it. He could tell Esylle was also tired.

  He could feel Lisana was exhausted and hiding it, but she turned her back on Autar and all of the generals and held both of her hands out. She sent light to them that he knew she couldn’t spare and he was no longer tired. He could see everyone with them as their chests heaved as they were energized. He wasn’t watching the humans and was watching her now that he could feel how tired she was. He wanted to take her back to the house she grew up in to sleep, but she gave them her light because they needed to talk next. He wanted to pull her aside and ask if she needed to be there while they talked and if he could spirit her away to sleep. He didn’t think he needed to be there.

  She turned her back to him as about eight human men were approaching cautiously to get the tent cover. Autar was watching from the distance as if he expected her to kill them. Leodos saw the surprise on Autar and all the men’s faces as she picked up a corner of the tent cover and held it out to them. They came closer like it was the last thing they wanted to do and snatched it from her. They hurried back and kept looking over their shoulders like they expected her to burn them. He was surprised at the amused look on her face as they all turned and ran from her.

  As the men ran back to Autar, Leodos and the rest of them swarmed around her. Only he and Esylle could feel that she was hiding how tired she was, but Joron already suspected it from using fire the longest. She asked them to hide it, but Volaris leaned down to whisper in her ear to ask if she needed to be there while they talked and if Leodos could take her somewhere to sleep. Leodos knew they couldn’t feel her, but they had all watched him carry her from the beach at first and she used more magic today than she ever did at the beach.

  She hissed at him to stop looking at her like he was worried. “They are listening to me, now they need to trust not just me, but all of you. When the tent is up, you will both be able to air out your grievances with each other. I need to be there because there are other things I still need to do.”

  “You didn’t want them to see you weakened. You’ve already done what I thought you couldn’t and I saw how you got on the beach.”

  Leodos couldn’t imagine what else she still had to do. They listened and no one got hurt like she wanted. She asked everyone to just sit and rest while the humans set the tent back up. They sat in a circle without speaking. Leodos was surprised when he felt something come from her like after he watched her painfully transform into the serpent. The light must have healed her again because she was no longer tired and ready to continue with what must come next.

  Joron

  Joron knew Esylle trusted her daughter, but he had been among these humans longer than everyone here and thought this entire thing would end with his granddaughter doing what she didn’t want to and having to kill every single human at Idric. He came because he was expected to, but he didn’t want to watch her kill those men because he knew what it would do to her. Despite everything she could do, she was a gentle soul who didn’t want to hurt anyone. He knew it would change her if she had to kill so many men.

  Everything he had seen since they went out to the beach after eating shocked him. The creatures he watched her become, the fact that Autar was willing to talk to them. He had a thought in the back of his head that they would get to the tent after it was set up and be slaughtered. He was sitting across from her on the ground and she didn’t seem worried at all. He knew he needed to trust her, but he also knew she had to be weakened by what she had done earlier today and may not be able to protect them if anything happened in the tent.

  He was surprised when Esylle finally smiled. “I didn’t like the mark on your back at first, but I felt what it did to you on the beach after you hurt yourself becoming the serpent and I felt what it did to you just now.”

  When the girl noticed they were looking at both of them with confused looks on their faces, she explained to everyone that they should stop trying to pretend like they weren’t worried about her. She was refreshed now for what she needed to do next. He didn’t think she would explain, like she hadn’t explained anything else, but she said Autar needed a little more help trusting her and she would give that to him. He didn’t ask what she meant because she would reveal it when she was ready, like everything else.

  Joron thought Autar would send men out to them when he was ready to talk, but he came out himself and approached slowly. He said everyone was ready for them when she stood up and faced him. Autar was at least as tall as Leodos and much bigger than Leodos’ lanky frame. He worried as she walked right up to him like he didn’t previously intend on capturing her and doing awful things to her.

  “Your hand is blistered from when I burnt your sword,” she said, looking at the cloth bound around his hand. “I only wanted to talk, not hurt anyone, but that was the only way I could get your swords away. If you will let me, I can take the pain away.”

  “My physician put a poultice on it.”

  “Do you want to deal with a poultice and pain until it heals and have a scar or will you just trust me that I can make it stop now?”

  �
�Why would you make my pain stop after what I wanted to do with you,” he asked her suspiciously.

  “Esylle is my mother. Part of her is human like you. So is part of me, no matter what I can do. I’m like you the same way I’m like these four men. I’m also different. I’m supposed to make the pain and fighting stop. Will you give me your hand?”

  Joron watched him as he looked down in confusion at this small girl, but he reluctantly held out his hand. She warned him it would feel uncomfortable at first, then he would feel no pain. She had small, delicate hands like Esylle and she took his large rough one in hers. Joron saw him draw back and he knew it was the flames dancing her her eyes. She warned him to stay still and even though she was so much smaller than he was, she managed to keep hold of his hand. She had never healed Joron before, but Esylle told him in private that Sono told them it was like unbearable itching while it was healing.

  Autar began to struggle with her and ask what she was doing to him. He seemed surprised he couldn’t get away from her. She finally released him and he recognized the smile she gave him. It was the same teasing one she gave when she did something that surprised them. The first time he saw it was when she came back to the fire and saw Esylle and Leodos together for the first time. Autar demanded to know what she had done and if she cursed him.

  “Will you calm down and take off your bandage? I keep saying I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Autar kept one eye on her and one on his hand while he unwound his bandage. When he finally looked down at his hand, he was shocked. He flexed his hand in front of his face several times and finally laughed.

  “There’s not even a scar! I only half believed you when you said who you were supposed to be, but if you can do this, you must be who you say you are!”

  “And if I’m who I say I am, then you have to reason to distrust these men I brought with me. All of you need to talk and come to an understanding with each other. The tent is set up. Are all of your men ready to listen?”