Scion’s Sacrifice

by R. Michael Card

  He stood, pulling up his breeches. “I was going to,” he said, his voice still thick with emotion. “But then you began to glow.” He swallowed a lump. “The light was so pure. It reminded me of the darkness still within me. After that I couldn’t, no matter how much I desperately wanted to.” He moved to the far wall, leaning against it. She guessed that for him, as it was for her, the distance separating them helped quell the desire.

  All of this had been a little much for her: the swelling of her passion, the odd glow of her skin, his ability to resist when she couldn’t. Her emotions were a whirlwind inside her. Fear and doubt about her ability to control herself around him mingled with her love and longing for him. Added to that was the great urgency of their mission and the desperation of all of the things she needed to do before next summer. It was hard to keep it all in. All she knew right now was that he’d saved her from herself.

  She rose and went to him, a light kiss on his cheek. “You’re truly an amazing man,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

  He drew in a few more steadying breaths as his hand caressed the length of her arm, coming to hold her hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I had trouble controlling myself after…" He shuddered at some unsaid thought.

  “What?”

  “My dreams,” he said. “They grow worse. I’ve never had nightmares before, but now with my soul free from so much darkness, they’re getting to be terrible. My only respite from the nightmares is dreams of you, very… intense and intimate dreams of you...and me.”

  “Oh,” she said, understanding. “And when you saw me here…"

  He nodded. “I couldn’t control myself, not at first anyway.”

  Her respect and gratefulness at his ability to stop himself only intensified her love. “Thank you.” She laughed lightly. “I know I keep saying that, but I mean it.” She brought her fingers to his lips and he kissed them lightly. “And know that our time will come. Soon I hope.”

  “So is my hope as well.” He stroked her hair. “You should probably go though. I’ll see you in the morning after your rounds.”

  “No more rounds for me, just you and Starsong.”

  “Oh?”

  She drew back slightly. “High Sister Olinda came to me tonight and told me we have to be ready to attack the Blacklord by the summer solstice, in roughly nine months. You and the sword are my priority now.”

  “More time with you, I can’t complain about that.” He smiled briefly, but then it faded. “But things are getting tougher.”

  “We’ll get through it,” she said patting his chest. “Then we’ll have our time together. Let that thought spur you along.”

  The smile returned. “I will.”

  She kissed him lightly and left, returning to her room. Her body still tingled from her time with Davar. She had to admit she was highly motivated to finish her work with him. She'd never thought she'd want a man like that...now she was quite certain she did. She wanted Davar and she too would use the anticipation of their time together to help get her through the rough time she knew still lay ahead.

  Chapter 14

  And so the days for Cassine became a blur of Davar, Starsong, and sleep. Weeks could pass without her seeing the light of day. And those weeks turned into months as her work with both man and sword grew more and more challenging. Davar’s ancient memories could now take more than a week to cleanse, and still she struggled to unlock the secret of how Starsong had become Shadowfang.

  The Winter Solstice came and went.

  The monks of Embreth celebrated the solstice differently than Cassine was used to. In her village in northern Hallania the winter solstice was a time for light, celebration, and the giving of small gifts to loved ones. There were ten days of festivities. It was a time to dispel the seemingly ever-present darkness with candles, a time of joy and hope for the coming year and the longer days to come. The monks however, had five days of restriction and seclusion. They ate a diet of only bread and water and every free moment was spent in quiet contemplation of the past year and the year to come. On the sixth day, they all came together for a great feast and bonfire, as if in one great moment of celebration and light they would dispel all darkness and despair.

  The Blacklord’s army no longer attacked at night, or at all. They sat like a lesion on the plains below St. Antin. Scouts reported that reinforcements arrived daily. Most likely, the army was waiting for better weather and reinforcements before attacking again.

  In memory of her old solstice traditions, Cassine gave Davar a gift. It was a small, smooth stone, clear in color. She’d imbued it with a hint of her spirit so that it glowed with an inner light, if faintly. The smiths had forged her a setting for it, which left most of the stone uncovered but allowed for it to be hung on a leather thong.

  Davar accepted it gratefully and wore it from that day forth.

  He’d been upset, having nothing to give her. She’d told him she wanted only his soul purified. So they worked even harder to cleanse him. Yet he’d insisted on finding some gift for her. He too went to the forges of St. Antin and had some scrap silver formed into a ring, which he’d given to her. She had been very grateful for the gift and wore it always, a reminder of his love.

  Yet despite how near they were to releasing all of the darkness from him there remained several bundles of black so tightly woven, so twisted and knotted together, that they had to be dealt with as one. And that was taking some time.

  Every day they would labor with a small portion of the knot within him only to have most of their work undone by the next day as the particularly noxious nature of dark strands tainted the previously purified portions.

  For a couple of days Cassine left off her work with Starsong entirely to focus on Davar, pushing through the thick tangle of black emotions. This work left them both exhausted, with Davar sweating and in tears half the time from the memories and horrid feelings he was dealing with.

  He told her little of what these memories were and in truth she didn’t wish to know. He said only that the Blacklord had tried many things to ensure his son’s soul would be well and truly stained forever.

  Cassine had to believe such vile depths of evil could still be undone with enough time and love and caring.

  She’d begun staying with Davar through the nights. She would remain fully clothed, sleeping next to him on his small bed. He held her, trembling and shaking at times through the night. For most people any significant change took time, but he was being forced to endure several lifetimes’ worth of change in a matter of months. His nightmares worsened and Davar himself grew more fragile by the day, shaken and weary. She knew he was reaching a breaking point with his emotional and even physical fortitude. Yet still he insisted on pushing onward. His unparalleled strength and will amazed her daily.

  This night, a week past the solstice, she lay awake as he twitched and shuddered next to her, tonight’s movements worse than any before. He muttered as well, though she couldn’t make out his words.

  She’d tried a couple of times to soothe his turmoil of emotions, rolling over to touch the skin over his heart. It worked for a while, but then the tremors returned.

  She started to form an idea, a way of reaching him through his mother, but she’d need help to do so. When she’d reached back to the time before his birth when he’d been physically connected to his mother, that had been difficult enough. Now she wanted to go even farther back. That would require more spirit talent than she believed she possessed, but there was one person at St. Antin with an abundance of spirit.

  Cassine turned toward Davar again, touching his heart and soothing his ragged soul. She pushed a bit more into it this time in hopes he wouldn’t notice her leaving. She wanted to do this now, while he slept, feeling it would be easier on him.

  She left his room, nodding to the guards outside now used to her presence, and padded along the cold stone floors, following her spirit sense to the massive beacon that was Senia.

  It took several knoc
ks on the Senia’s door before it was answered by a bleary eyed Ahrn. He blinked a few times looking at her before recognition shone in his gaze.

  “Cass? What do you need?”

  “Senia.”

  He grimaced. “Everyone always does.”

  The tall, slender woman appeared from the darkness behind Ahrn, wrapping her arms around him, kissing his shoulder. “But I always come back to you, my love.”

  He smiled.

  “What do you need?” Senia asked.

  “To be blunt, I need your spirit. I wish to try something with Davar, but it will require more spirit than I have.”

  Senia nodded. “One moment.” She slipped back into the room and returned wearing a cloak over her sleeping shift. She kissed Ahrn, told him not to wait up, and left.

  “Thank you so much for coming at such an hour,” Cassine said as they made their way back to Davar’s room.

  “I assume it’s urgent. At least I’m not out on the battlefield as I’ve been for so many nights.”

  Cassine outlined her plan as they walked, finishing as they entered the dark room together. Davar still slept and they remained quiet and cautious so as not to wake him.

  “Emberthorn,” Senia said, voice low. The large sword appeared in her hand. “Float and Glow,” she commanded and the sword hovered in the air with a faint blue light. Senia laughed lightly.

  “What is it?” Cassine asked in a whisper.

  “Nothing, just something Emberthorn said. He doesn’t get tired, but that doesn’t stop him from acting all snarky sometimes.”

  They pulled the two chairs in the room next to the bed, each sitting in one. Then they joined hands and Cassine tapped into the other woman’s spirit, nearly overwhelmed by its power at first. She narrowed the connection, siphoning off spirit slowly, then touched Davar’s heart once again.

  As she had done with him months ago, she following his soul and spirit back into his mother's womb. It still wasn't easy, but having done it before she was able to expend less energy in the process. Once she'd reached the point where she would connect with his mother's spirit she paused. She took a long moment to weave a protective barrier of soul and spirit to block the intense pain and suffering of his mother from both their souls. She drew upon more of Senia’s power to do so.

  This would be the tricky part, harder than anything she’d tried before. Once connected to Davar’s mother's spirit, she traveled back through her essence to a time before Davar was conceived, before Thiona had gone to face the Blacklord. Cassine sought a time of peace and joy in the woman’s life. Spirit was the element that created and connected all things, even those who were no longer alive. Even so, pushing so far back into a dead person's spirit was challenging. She had to open up to more of Senia’s spirit but there was only so much of the raw, fiery talent that Cassine herself could channel. She pushed her limits to find a perfect moment from Thiona’s past.

  Then she found one.

  It was a part of Thiona’s scion training with her father, learning to use Starsong’s powers. A time of strength-of-spirit and joy-with-family.

  Pulling even more from Senia, pushing beyond her limits to do so, Cassine captured Thiona's essence from that moment. She pulled it forward, past the woman’s torture and death and into Davar. Cassine had never pressed her powers so much before. She felt like her spirit talent might burst or burn out.

  Almost done, Cassine turned that spirit essence into a bright new thought and feeling within Davar; using her mind, spirit, and soul talents combined.

  As she finished Cassine lost herself for a moment. She stood in a dark place. The only light was shed by the woman standing next to her, a being of pearlescent white, glowing brightly. Then Davar was there with them. He blinked as if waking from sleep and looked at the woman.

  “Mother?”

  She smiled and held out her arms to him. He ran to her, a boy in a large man’s body. He hugged her fiercely and she returned the embrace.

  The moment passed, the image faded, and Cassine was herself again. She lifted her hand away from Davar’s flesh knowing his soul was now being protected by the spirit essence of his mother.

  “Gods!” Senia gasped. “I didn’t think you’d need that much power! I could sleep for days. That was intense.”

  Cassine smiled weakly, also drained. “Thank you. This means a lot to me and will to him as well when he wakes.”

  “You care for him deeply.” It wasn’t a question. “He’s a lucky man to have you.”

  Cassine nodded. “He tells me that every day.”

  “I would have never believed…” Senia shrugged and rose.

  Cassine rose as well and hugged the other woman. “I’m in your debt.”

  “Pretty much everyone here is,” Senia said lightly. “Luckily I forgive debts easily. Take care of yourself and…” she glanced at Davar. "And him. That will be repayment enough.” She left taking Emberthorn with her.

  Cassine returned to bed and Davar’s warm embrace. He didn’t tremble anymore that night and she finally found sleep.

  The next morning Davar told her of how his mother had appeared amidst his nightmares to protect him from the darkness.

  “I think she’ll be there from now on,” Cassine said with a grin. She told him what she’d done, finishing with, “You must remember that her spirit is within you and really always has been, along with all the darkness the Blacklord put there.”

  He thanked her, absentmindedly playing with the jewel she’d given him. It seemed to be glowing brighter today.

  After a fortifying breakfast, they got back to work and things started going a lot easier for them. In one full day of effort, they’d reached what Cassine deemed to be the halfway point through one of the last remaining nasty snarls of emotions. The most progress they’d made in one day in weeks.

  Again that night, Davar slept soundly and they both woke rested.

  The following months had their ups and downs, but by the spring equinox festival, they were working on the last of the great bundles of darkness within him. Only a few more days and they would be finished… if things went well.

  Chapter 15

  Davar woke suddenly, warned by what noise or instinct he didn’t know. Reacting instantly, he hardened his skin and put his arm up to block the blow aimed for his neck.

  The mage-stim-enhanced blow from the assassin still sliced deeply into his toughened arm muscles, cutting to the bone. His mind trapped the pain and he kicked out at the assassin, hearing bones break at the impact. The man crumpled, his sword still in Davar’s arm.

  Good, now he had a weapon.

  He pulled the sword from his arm with his other hand, taking in everything happening around him.

  A second assassin came at him. Davar felt more than saw the man. His spirit talent picking out all life around him. To his eyes, the man was barely more than a shadow. There was little light in the room, shed from the open doorway out to the hall, where some distant torch burned. Another assassin carried a body out the door — Cassine. Two more assassins entered the room, as the one with Cassine left.

  The guards outside the door were dead, he knew that. He didn’t have time to wonder how the Blacklord’s assassins had entered the abbey. He needed to save Cass, then he could worry about such details.

  Davar called fire. The hand of his wounded arm flared brightly with a ball of flame, which he threw at the nearest assassin. The man shrugged it off, clothes incinerated, flesh burned, but such things meant little to one of enhanced durability. The attack had been more of a distraction than anything else. Davar had trained with assassins like these all his life. The abilities of one were identical to every other, a perfect copy made by the Blacklord. Davar knew their every strength and weakness, and he used all of that knowledge against them.

  He surged his earth talent and his arm healed. With his newly acquired sword, he attacked the assassin he’d burned. The man blocked with his own sword, but didn’t see Davar’s off-hand punch to his face that col
lapsed his skull. That man fell as the two others attacked.

  He let their hits fall, not bothering to block. Instead, he attacked them at the same time. He decapitated one, whose sword slid into Davar’s stomach. The other assassin struck at his shoulder, cutting deep. Davar removed that man’s sword arm, then ran him through the heart.

  Davar plucked the weapons from his body, keeping one. Two weapons were always better than one unless the one was a scion blade, but he wasn’t about to call Shadowfang, not yet anyway.

  He surged his earth talent yet again, healing the new wounds, then ran.

  Dead men lay everywhere, monk and assassin alike.

  The assassins must have caught the abbey by surprise after so long with no night raids.

  He didn’t know which way the assassin with Cassine had gone so he sent his spirit sense out around him. So many were dying, lives flaring out all around him. There was one, still strong despite being unconscious, secondly only to Senia’s and his own, which was easy to find.

  The assassin had made good time and was reaching the bailey.

  Davar pushed everything he had into enhancing his physical abilities and ran, faster than most would have thought possible, after the man with Cass. It was more power than he’d ever used at once, but the need was great. The extra effort strained his earth talent ability to its limits. Yet even as his long strides ate away at the distance between them, Davar knew he’d be too late.

  Already the man was leaping up to the top of St. Antin’s high walls.

  Davar reached the bailey, the chill air of a spring night rushing around him. He jumped to follow the assassin, closing distance with incredible speed, but as he reached the top of the wall, the other man was bounding away.

  Davar stopped, hesitating. He couldn’t go any farther. One step beyond the walls, and he was the Blacklord’s toy once more, which was exactly what the vile wizard wanted.