Okay I lied, it took me a tad longer to write this installment then I thought it would. But it's here and that's all that really matters I guess. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me. I really appreciate it. Send your comments to Mist_dark@hotmail.com
Okay I should also thank LHW, Kenitra, Aeoros, Kief, Tom, Matt, Aphrodite, and Di. Thanks for your encouragement guys. It helps a lot. I'm also going to continue recommending Brian and Me. It's long, but really good so far. I'm enjoying it a lot. DLS has written a good one there.
The disclaimer. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone actually reads these. I usually don't. But here it is anyway. First off this story isn't supposed to imply anything about the sexuality of the members of Nsync. If any of them are gay, it's their business, not mine. If you're too young, or it's illegal in your area, please leave now. If homosexual themes offend you, I'd leave as well. This story hasn't gotten too far into homosexual relationships, but they're coming. And if that bothers you, consider this your warning. Also parts of this story are loosely based off the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Kevin Siembieda and Palladium books.
Here's part ten. Enjoy, Rune
PART TEN
Lance paced in front of the fire in the sitting room. He had been doing this for the last few hours. Occasionally he would stop and stare into the fire. Then he'd continue pacing. He had been here since Selvar had returned from his trip several hours before. The moment the elf teleported into the study, Lance told him that he needed to talk to Maria. Lance hadn't seen or spoken to her since she had run off two nights before. She refused to leave her room and wouldn't answer him when he called.
"We need to talk," Selvar's voice caused Lance to jump.
"Yes, we do," Lance said. "He took a seat in one of the chairs near the fire. Selvar took the other. "Did you help Maria?"
"Yes and no," Selvar said. "She's upset. Understandably though."
"Why?"
"You know what she is now," Selvar told him. "She kept that secret from you because she values your friendship. She's had a number of people hurt her because of things she has no control over."
"She's afraid I'll hate her because she's a vampire?" Lance asked.
"It's happened before," Selvar told him. "In fact I'm the only person in her life that hasn't rejected her because of it."
"Why haven't you?" Lance asked.
"Why didn't you freak when she told you?" Selvar asked.
Lance smiled at Selvar's choice of words. He had been working hard to integrate slang into the elf's language. So far he'd had limited success. "Nothing really changed I guess. I mean I knew she was hiding something, but I didn't push her with it. I didn't know her well enough to do that. I knew that she'd tell me when she was ready to do it." Lance sighed and stopped speaking for a moment. When he collected his thoughts he continued. "I reacted poorly when I found out about what you had done in your past. And I'm sorry that I did that. Maria came and talked some sense into me, I owe her for that if nothing else. But there's more to it then that. She put her life on the line for me. Granted at the time I didn't know she was a vampire, but she could have been killed that night. But she didn't care. I can't hate someone for doing that."
"I was hoping you would say something like that," Selvar said. "I was afraid you were going to make my decide between you and her. And I'm afraid that it wouldn't be a contest. Lance I would have to have chosen her over you."
"Fortunately for all of us," Lance said. "I won't make you make that choice."
"Good," Selvar smiled. "I would suggest that you talk to Maria when she wakes up. It's too late to do anything now, the sun is almost up. And I've a feeling that that conversation will take a while."
Lance nodded. "Probably." He turned and looked out the window and watched the sun rise. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The sun slowly peeking over the horizon. The brilliant colours that laced across the sky were incredible. He and Selvar just watched it in awe.
When the sun had climbed over the trees Lance turned to Selvar. "I have a favour to ask of you Selvar."
The elf arched an eyebrow. "And that would be?"
"Bring your servants back."
"What?"
"Maria and I were almost killed because I was uncomfortable with your servants. I don't want to be responsible for that. The undead can protect this place.
I may not be comfortable with them, but I can live with them if it means that we'll all be safer."
"Are you sure about this?" Selvar asked.
"Absolutely," Lance said firmly. "I don't want to have this place unprotected anymore. Maria can only do so much, and what if she gets killed? My magic takes too long to prepare for it to be of much use in a fight. And your magic has its limits as well. Your servants will be able to deal with whatever comes until we can prepare ourselves."
Selvar nodded. "If you're absolutely sure about this, I'll bring them back."
"I am," Lance said. He went back to staring out the window. "Will Maria be alright?" He asked a few moments later.
"She should be," Selvar said. "She cried a lot, and that is a feat for the undead. I fed her and she went to sleep. She hadn't eaten in a number of days. I was surprised that she hadn't worked her way into a frenzy."
"Who did she feed off?" Lance asked.
"She didn't exactly feed off a person," Selvar said. "I retrieved one of the vials I'd filled for her. She drank that. I try to keep a number of vials filled with blood for her. It makes her feel better that she isn't killing someone to survive."
"Where do you get the blood from?" Lance asked. "I don't imagine a lot of people would willingly donate their blood to that cause."
"I collect it from the bodies of people that have died in the villages. As well as bandits. I don't need the blood for anything so it might as well go to some use." Selvar said. "That and when needed I donate the blood myself."
"You do that for her?" Lance asked sadly. "You must really care for her."
"I do," Selvar said. "She has become as a sister to me. She has saved my life on more then one occasion. And even in her hour of need she still cared more for me then she did for herself."
"What do you mean?" Lance asked.
"She told me that I was being a fool and that I should just go for what I felt needed to be done." Selvar told him vaguely.
"And that," Lance said with a smile. "Completely avoided my question."
Selvar smiled. "True. Perhaps she's right. I should just go for it. But I think I'll need a physical aid for this one."
"Selvar?" Lance said. "What are you talking about?"
"There's something I have to tell you Lance," Selvar said seriously. "But I have to do it in the study."
"Why? What's in the study?"
"The stuff I brought back from the market," Selvar said as he walked toward the door. "And something I have to show you. Maria will be very upset if I don't. And we both know that she's not the type of person that you want angry."
Lance laughed. "I know exactly what you mean." He followed Selvar from the room, closing the door behind him.
"Wrong Josh," Erastus told him. "Don't shape the song that way. You've got to get this right. It's important."
"I know it's important," Josh said. "It's not like I'm screwing this up on purpose."
"I wouldn't use that tone," Erastus warned. "I don't like it, and I'm not going to listen to it. Now try the song again."
JC sighed heavily and began to sing again. Erastus was a much harder person to work with then Ivar had been. At least with Ivar he could understand where he had gone wrong. He had taken the time to show JC what he'd done wrong. Erastus just told him to stop, lectured him for not doing it correctly and told him to do it again. They'd been working on one song for the last four days, and he still hadn't gotten it down.
"Wrong," Erastus stopped him. "Try it again."
"You know it'd be easier if I knew what I was doing wrong," JC said acidly.
"If you'd tell me that, then I'd be able to fix it."
"It's not the teacher's place to tell the student where he went wrong, only to tell the student that he went astray," Erastus said. "It's the student's place to discover where he went wrong."
"I learned faster under Ivar," JC said. He regretted it immediately. He knew that Erastus was still in mourning for Ivar and Fayth's deaths. He was too, but he wasn't taking it nearly as hard as Erastus was.
"I'm sure you did," Erastus said coldly. "But I am not Ivar. His teaching methods differ from mine. I will not change my teaching methods simply because you don't like them. Ivar strove to teach his students to the best of his ability, I do the same. Neither of us is willing to send someone into the ocean without the proper training. And your training is not complete. Nor will it be when we part ways. But I will prepare you to continue your training."
"What do you mean `not complete'?" JC asked. "Are you just going to shove me off if I don't learn to your liking?"
"Hardly," Erastus snapped. "Ivar charged me with your protection, and I plan to follow my friend's final request. However, you and I will not be together long enough to complete your training."
"What?"
"Keep practicing the song Josh," Erastus said. "I'm going to complete a few things. When I get back I expect you to have advanced further then you have in this song."
"Whatever," JC muttered.
"I mean it," Erastus said. "You will find use for that song in the future, we all do. I'll be back in a few hours."
Erastus swam a short distance from JC. His body began to ripple slightly. The rippling stopped abruptly and the man's black skin started to stretch and pull. JC watched in amazement as his teacher's form was pulled in all directions. He winced in sympathetic pain a few times as Erastus' arms and legs merged into the main body. In less then a few seconds Erastus' human body had been replaced by that of a large orca.
JC looked at the whale with wonder. Erastus' natural form was a creature of beauty. Over the last while JC had developed a respect for all sea creatures, but whales had especially attracted his respect. He wasn't sure why.
He sighed and nodded as the whale glanced at him before swimming out of the cave. Even in his natural form Erastus was able to communicate his wishes across. He had not forgotten about JC's lessons. And he expected the singer to have learned the song properly by the time he returned.
The particular song he was trying to master was one of grief. He thought that he would have been able to get the song down easily, but as it turned out he couldn't even come close. Everything would be going fine until he got halfway through the song. Then he would lose his concentration and the emotions that he was conjuring would suddenly leave. Nothing he had tried had worked up to this point.
"Well," he said to the empty cave. "Let's try this again."
He closed his eyes and focused his mind. Clearing it of all the thoughts that were racing through it, he began. A tiny thought started at the back of his mind while he sang. He ignored it. Slowly the thought grew and he couldn't ignore it any more. It pushed its way into the foremost part of his consciousness. He had to think about it.
The thought was a simple one. Frustration. He was frustrated that Ivar had sent him to Erastus and that he wasn't learning anything. He felt like he was letting Ivar down by not learning, and that though pained him deeply. His singing took a new tone, but he didn't stop. He just kept going.
The frustration was replaced by he pain he felt when he found out that Ivar had been killed. That pain entered the song as well taking the music to a new height. The guilt he felt about having Ivar sacrifice his life for his own appeared. That feeling was followed by the love that Ivar had shown him during JC's stay with the eel-man. Ivar had taken him into his home and treated him like one of his own children. Even when Fayth refused to treat him with anything but loathing, Ivar cared for him.
Suddenly a thought of Fayth entered his mind. He had never clicked with her. He had tried to be her friend, or at least to be likeable. Apparently he failed repeatedly. The image in his mind was that of Fayth's face when she saw Ivar. She loved her father dearly, but refused to show that emotion when anyone was looking. He doubted that even Ivar saw that look often. Another wave of pain washed over JC as he wondered if Ivar knew exactly how much his daughter loved him.
The song grew in emotion and soon JC wasn't simply singing it. He was living it. The words didn't matter, he doubted that he would ever remember what he said. But the feeling the song carried was overwhelming. Every note brought a fresh wave of loss to him. Another memory of what he had loss. What others had lost because of him. What would be lost because of him. Tears began to flow, but he couldn't stop. He wasn't controlling the song any more. He had gotten further in the song then he ever had, and he wouldn't have stopped, even if he could have.
He sang for hours. The grief he felt being conveyed through his voice. Several times a dolphin or whale would stop at the entrance of the cave and add its own voice to the song. None would match his potency for grief, but each added something profound.
Erastus returned just as JC was finishing the song. The youth was so involved in the song that he didn't notice his new teacher entering the cave. The whale's skin rippled and pulled in. When the transformation was complete Erastus floated in his human form.
"That's what you were missing Josh," Erastus said quietly.
JC wiped at his eyes. He laughed slightly when he realized he was trying to dry them from the tears. "Was that better?"
"Much," Erastus nodded. "You need that intensity of emotion in your songs.
The stronger your emotion the stronger your magic. I felt that song two hours ago. The power of it hit almost everyone who heard it. And there were a lot of people who heard it."
"So I take it you're happy with the results," JC said.
"Very," the man nodded. "Now if you can remember what you did to get that song that powerful, you'll be set. Apply that to your other songs and you'll be amazed at what you will accomplish."
The glass shattered as it hit the wooden floor. Evelyn leaned against the counter for support. She made no move to begin cleaning the broken glass off the floor. Joey and Chris just stared at her back.
"Well?" Joey asked softly. "Are you going to tell us?"
"Why?" Evelyn whispered. "What will it change?"
"Telling us isn't going to undo what happened," Chris said. "But it'll help you feel better."
Evelyn laughed bitterly. "I doubt that."
"Trust us," Joey said. The broken glass moved itself into a pile before floating into the air and dropping itself into a pail next to the sink. "You'll feel better if you tell us."
"Fine. I'll tell you," she said. "It's going to take a while, so you might as well sit down." The three of them took a seat at the table. "It happened so long ago, but I still remember it clearly. I was twenty-two when Daryl came into my life. It was an accident. In a moment of weakness I gave into lust. I don't remember who the father is. And I don't believe he cares that he had a son. And frankly I didn't care enough to search him out. I gave birth to Daryl and raised him." She stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. "He was like me, psychically speaking. He would have been a truly powerful psychic, if he had reached his full potential. Obviously he never did.
"Daryl had a talent for sensing spirits. He was also had strong empathy. He always knew what someone was upset, even if they hid it well. Nothing would slip past him. He was fifteen when it happened."
Evelyn leaned forward and began to cry into her hands. Chris slid over and held her until she could continue. "Thank you Christopher. Where was I?" She asked as she dried her eyes.
"Daryl was fifteen," Joey offered.
"Of course," Evelyn said. "He was fifteen when it happened. I don't know exactly what happened, but he was exploring the woods. Daryl loved the woods. Given half a chance he was gone and running through the forest, you couldn't stop him. I gave up after a while and just kept tabs on him. I knew where he was, but didn't try restrain him. Sometimes I wish I had." She began to cry again, but kept going. "He stumbled across what he thought was a spirit in pain. It wasn't. It was a demon.
"The thing, jumped into my son's body. And it made him do things that he normally wouldn't do. It didn't even try to hide its presence. It flaunted it. And it made sure that I knew I couldn't do anything to save my son."
Evelyn broke down again. Chris held her for several minutes before she could continue. After a moment Joey's thoughts touched Chris' mind.
"Do you think we're doing the right thing? Making her tell us about Daryl I mean."
"I don't know," Chris told him telepathically. "I hope so."
Evelyn wiped the tears from her eyes again and continued. "Like I said I couldn't do anything. I tried. I tried everything I could think of. Nothing worked. About this time a man came into the area. He was searching for the demon that had possessed my son. I thought that he'd be able to help me. He told me that he'd do what he could. Nothing more. Nothing less.
"Together we tracked my son. We found him in a cave. The demon was in complete control, but I knew that he was forcing Daryl to watch what was being done. The man cast a spell of some kind and trapped the creature in Daryl's body. Then he killed my son. He didn't even hesitate. He pulled out a sword and ran my son through with it."
Chris and Joey exchanged glances. This wasn't what they had been expecting at all. No wonder Evelyn hadn't been willing to talk about Daryl before. Again each of them wondered if they had done the right thing in making Evelyn tell them. Nothing was said for a while. Each person lost in their thoughts.
"I attacked him," Evelyn said quietly. "I cradled my son's body and threw everything I had against him. He was stronger then I was, but he lacked my pain. I threw everything I could at him. Rocks, dirt, branches, and just pure mental energy. He defended himself, but didn't retaliate. He left and I never saw him again.
"I spent the night there with Daryl. Just holding him and crying. There was nothing I could do for him now. The demon was dead, and so was my son. When the morning came I pulled myself together and buried him. It took all day to even begin to say goodbye. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I tried so hard, but I couldn't do it. And I still can't." Her body was wracked by sobs. "Every time I even try to say goodbye I begin remembering everything that we had. I remember watching him learn to walk and then learning to run. The first time he hurt himself. The first time he was sick. I remember every time I stayed up all night because he had a fever. I remember it all. All fifteen years of it. And because of one stupid man I lost it all. I had it all taken away from me because he didn't want to look for another way to do what had to be done."
Silence descended over the room again. Chris and Joey were lost in their thoughts, while Evelyn stared at the table thinking about her son. Every now and then the fire would crackle and break the silence. After about an hour Evelyn stood.
"You were wrong," she said as she headed for her room. "I don't feel any better."
"Wow," Justin said. He and Pyre were moving among the crowd that had collected because of the fair. Justin had found out from Pyre that this fair came here every two years or so and drew a lot of attention. It was generally had something to grab just about anyone's attention.
"Is that all you have to say?" Pyre asked. "We've been walking around for an hour looking at the sights and all you say is `wow'?"
Justin laughed. "Well, what else do you want me to say? There's just so much here. The vendors have amazing selections, the shows seem great, the list sort of goes on."
"True," Pyre nodded. "There's a lot of things happening here. And one of the benefits is that this fair doesn't have a bad reputation for pickpockets and the like. It's one of the better ones for that. I've never had a problem with this fair."
"You come here often?" Justin asked and immediately blushed.
Pyre smiled at the blonde's reaction. "Would you be attempting to give me a pickup line Justin?"
Justin blushed again. "I thought I'd already done that."
"You have," Pyre whispered in his ear. "But to answer your question, I come here when I can. I don't normally have a lot of free time, but I take advantage of it when I get free time."
"Cool," Justin said as another of the vendors grabbed his attention. The man that sat behind the stall appeared to be about thirty years old. And at first glance he looked human. If you looked at him for any length of time you realized that his skin was a slight shade of green. "What does he sell?"
"He's a game booth Justin. He doesn't sell anything." Pyre told him. "Probably some sort of physical contest or something like that."
"Can I give it a shot?"
"Sure. Why not?" Pyre asked.
They headed over to the booth. The man watched them both approach without blinking. "Have you come to try your luck gentlemen? Best me and you can have any prize you want." To punctuate his statement he waved his arm behind him. The back of the booth was covered in various knickknacks, rings, necklaces and the like.
"What do I have to do?" Justin asked.
"It's simple. Beat me in at arm-wrestling," The man said. "Not very hard at all."
Pyre shrugged and paid the man. The man brought a stool out from behind the both. Justin sat down and the man returned to his side of the booth. They set their arms on the table and locked hands. Pyre took a cloth the man offered him and tied their wrists together.
"Are you ready?" The man asked Justin. "I'll have your friend count to three and then we'll start. Does that sound fair to you?" Justin nodded and the man continued. "Would you start counting sir?" He asked Pyre.
Pyre nodded. "One, two, three."
The man was far stronger then he first appeared, but then so was Justin. The two were fairly evenly matched. A look of surprise crossed the man's face when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to win as quickly as he normally did. The look of surprise was replaced by a smile. The smile faded and he began to concentrate more on forcing Justin's arm backward. Justin grinned determinedly as he tried to force the man's arm to hit the table. Neither arm moved more then a few inches either way.
"How about we call it a tie?" The man asked after a few moments of neither one of them gaining the advantage.
"No," Justin said.
"Why not?" The man asked with surprise.
"Because," Justin said as he forced the man's hand to hit the table. "I won."
The man laughed. "Now that was a challenge. I haven't had one of those in a long while."
"Glad to be of service," Justin grinned. "Now what do I get for winning?"
The man laughed again as he untied their wrists. "You can take anything you want from the back wall."
"You'll have to excuse my friend," Pyre said. "He's got a one track mind."
"Hey," Justin protested. "I can think about more then one thing."
"We'll see about that later," Pyre whispered to him. "Everything on the wall isn't real. Don't believe him when he says they're magical."
Justin nodded. "Anything you recommend?" He asked the vendor.
"Well any of the rings are good. They've a few interesting enchantments on them. Of course the necklaces are good too."
"Can I get a closer look?" Justin asked.
"Of course. Bring the stool around with you.
Justin slipped behind the booth and handed the man the stool before investigating the back wall. After a few minutes of looking he found a golden bracelet that he liked. He selected that and head back around the booth.
"Good choice," the man complimented. "I got that from an old woman a few years back. Claimed it was a family heirloom or something."
Pyre nodded. "Perhaps it was. Thank you for your time."
"Enjoy the fair gentlemen," the man waved.
Justin and Pyre waved to the man as they headed off into the fair. "Well that was fun," Justin said.
"Glad you enjoyed it," Pyre laughed. "You have to wonder how many people he tricked into arm-wrestling with him."
"Probably a lot," Justin said. "Hold out your wrist."
"What?"
"Just do it," he grabbed Pyre's wrist and held it up. He fastened the bracelet around his wrist. "There."
"That's yours you know," Pyre said.
"You paid, you get it," Justin told him. "Besides it looks better on you."
"Don't argue with the young man," an old woman said. "He's right. It looks far better on you then it would on him."
"And who are you?" Justin asked.
"I'm the fair's seer Justin," the woman smiled at his reaction to her knowing his name. "But you can call me Martha. You two are interesting, I think I may find something you might find useful. My tent's this way." She turned and began walking toward a nearby tent.
"Should we follow her?" Justin asked.
"We're here to have some fun," Pyre reminded him. "If she's the real thing, then we'll get something out of it. If she's not then we'll have a good time."
"If you say so."
"I do," Pyre said as he dragged Justin toward the tent. "Besides you got to pick the last one."
Martha was seated behind a table when they entered the tent. There wasn't a lot of light in the tent, giving it sort of a gloomy touch. A crystal ball sat in the middle of the table. Martha gestured to two chairs.
"Take a seat gentlemen." She waited for Pyre and Justin to sit before she continued. "Now normally I charge my fee up front, but since there's something odd about you two, I'll wait until after the session. If I find something I'll charge you, if I don't consider this a gift."
"I think we can work with that," Pyre said.
"I thought as much. Now let's see what I can discover for you two." She closed her eyes and began running her hands over the crystal ball. "Pyre, please close the tent flaps. The wind is distracting me." She didn't move until Pyre had returned to his seat. "Thank you." Both Justin and Pyre sat quietly while Martha entered a deep trance. She would occasionally mutter something under her breath.
Martha came out of her trance and looked apologetically at Pyre and Justin. "I'm sorry, I haven't been able to find anything. I can usually at least find something. But the spirits aren't answering."
Justin stood. "That's alright. It was nice of you to offer anyway though."
Martha smiled. "You're perfectly welcome to that Justin. Though I wish I could have been of more help."
"Don't worry about it," Pyre said.
"The Prophecy was not complete." Martha said as they were leaving.
"Pardon?" Justin asked. He turned around and saw Martha sitting rigidly in her chair. Her eyes glazed over.
"The Prophecy was not complete. The five shall stand allied against the Trinity. The lover shall be one influenced by Ishtar and will be their triumph and the Trinity's fall. The Trinity will choose between the restoration of themselves and the destruction of their foes. Whatever their choice, Ishtar shall weep."
TBC
That's it for the moment. More is coming. I'm working on it, but haven't written anything just yet. But trust me, I'll get to it. E-mail me at Mist_dark@hotmail.com Let me know what you think. Likes, dislikes, I want them all. It helps me to write a better story if I know what the readers like.
Rune