The explosion they felt didn’t manifest at first as a physical sensation. It was a purely magical one that slapped against them with almost enough force to knock them down. AJ reacted first, his instincts taking over. Before the other two had recovered, he was up off the cliff edge and already darting toward the practice field.<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
Dead ahead he could see the center of this magical explosion. Nura, Ubayy, Tao, Donnelly, Bayani and Crisanto sat in a perfect circle with Ubayy at the center. Light and dark seemed to swirl around Ubayy. He was frozen, head thrown back to the sky, mouth open wide with a silent scream. His body looked like it was made from stone and the muscles and tendons were standing out taunt against his skin.
Brian and Shay came up behind AJ, running as fast as he was. What the hell was going on over there? Every magical sense and alarm that AJ possessed was shrilling loudly, protesting to the magic that was being done. Even from a distance he could feel the evil in this.
By the time they reached the group, the others were standing, trying to get in to Ubayy and being thrown back by his magic. It looked like he was repelling them from him, flinging them back with weaves of air. AJ almost gasped at the strength of Ubayy’s magic. That wasn’t his. He wasn’t that strong! On the tail of that thought came another one. Someone was possessing him.
That extra magic that AJ had now, the magic the Goddess had given him to see the spirits of the world, could clearly see and hear Ubayy’s spirit screaming on that other plane, the plane that only spirits tread.
Without a word, Brian and AJ linked their magic together, making their strength grow by leaps and bounds. AJ cast a dome around them, a shield to keep their magic in, and passed control of those weaves to Brian. Then he drew from both their strength to try to shield himself as he went forward. He didn’t want to be thrown back the same as the others had.
Wind buffeted against his skin, flattening his clothes to his body and making his hair whip around him. AJ gritted his teeth and locked his eyes on Ubayy. The closer he got to the man, the stronger the magic seemed to be. The earth trembled underneath his feet with every step. Heat built and built until it felt like it would blister him even inside of his shield.
The wind grew stronger. For a moment, AJ almost lost his footing. No! He drew more strength from himself, from Brian, and took another step. Just a few more and he’d reach him. Just a few more! With a wild roar, AJ closed that last little distance and flung himself right at Ubayy.
It was like grabbing hold of lightning. The jolt seared AJ straight through, down to his soul. Not just magic, though that was stronger than he’d ever encountered before by any except the Goddess, but the feeling of pure evil that was emanating from every inch of Ubayy. It made AJ’s skin tingle, his body hurt, his stomach roll, and his soul recoil.
But somehow he stayed strong. Somehow he kept his grip tight. “Ubayy!” He called. He didn’t expect an answer and, of course, there wasn’t one. With his instincts in control, AJ knew the only thing he could do. Whatever was possessing Ubayy had him down in his very soul, fighting for control. Fighting to cover the man’s light with darkness.
Images came to AJ’s mind of Howi. Possessed by Twyla, fighting with all his might to force him out and failing miserably. Images of him begging AJ to kill him.
“No!” AJ shouted out loud. “I will not!” He would not kill another friend!
He spun his weaves faster than he’d ever worked before, drawing the shield down around them, pulling it tight until it was almost against their skin. Physical would be able to cross the shield but not magical. He vaguely saw the others rise to their feet, free again, but he couldn’t focus on it. Could only focus on the tempest that was buffeting against his other senses.
‘Guard me!’ AJ sent to Brian. He felt his lover’s assent, felt the strength of Brian flooding inside of him and knew that he could trust himself totally to that strength and love. Brian would keep him safe.
With no more thought to his own safety he used spirit magic in a way he never had before and opened himself to Ubayy, seeing him with that spirit sense, diving inside of him the way he would if he was healing.
Horror gripped AJ when, with his other senses, he ‘saw’ the evil that was riddling Ubayy’s frame. It was everywhere! In every inch of him, wrapping tightly to him and trying to force a merging of their cells. But the most horrific of all was at Ubayy’s center. In the normal sense, AJ had healed others before and had seen their center when he sought that inner calm from his patient. But, with this new ability to see spirits, he saw now the life that was kept inside that center. A person’s soul. Ubayy’s soul was cringing and screaming as the evil tried to merge with it as well.
‘No!’ AJ’s mental cry rang through them both. He felt, physically, his body’s arms convulse tightly to hold them together. Pulling in more spirit, AJ shoved further and further into Ubayy, pushing against the evil as he came to it, letting the darkness fight against his light. ‘You cannot have him. I will not sacrifice another friend.’ He snarled at the Evil.
It laughed back at him, stopping in a cocoon around Ubayy’s center. ‘You think you can stop me? You, a puny little elf? I have squashed thousands upon thousands of your kind!’
‘You have never faced one such as I’ AJ swore to him. To counter the dark, the evil, he did the only thing he could think of; the only thing that made sense. He let his love for Brian, his love for his friends, and his love for his people fill his heart. It swarmed up inside of him, this great love. His spirit light grew brighter and brighter, his own spirit glowing just as his magic was. It grew and grew, the more he let his heart open to love. He felt Brian startle slightly and loved the man even more for the fact that Brian didn’t startle for long. Suddenly he was adding his love through the bond, feeding AJ’s light.
When he was glowing so bright he hurt even his own senses, he pushed forward. ‘You will not have him.’ He swore. Power swam inside of him. He was drunk on that power.
The evil recoiled from him and his light just enough that AJ could do the one thing he prayed would help. He arrowed his presence and shot through that opening before the darkness could close it. Once in, he had access to Ubayy’s center. He sent a small tendril of thought, brushing their souls against one another, reassuring him that he was there and he would keep him safe. Then AJ wrapped his presence totally around Ubayy.
There was no protest from his friend. In fact, Ubayy’s center quivered with its relief. AJ formed a protective shell perfectly around him, blocking the darkness from getting it, and exposing himself at the same time. Before that darkness could close on them both, though, AJ drew on that love again, slowly expanding himself outward. All the while he kept Ubayy’s center shielded, kept a line back to his own body. But he let his presence grow further and further out as it swelled with love.
Inch by inch, AJ pushed himself out. The strain of it was unbelievable! He quivered with the strength it took him. ‘I will not let you take him. He is mine.’
‘You think that you can stop me from what I want, you pathetic elf?’ Evil gasped at him.
AJ gave another great push, shoving the evil from Ubayy’s body, shielding him man inside his light. With just barely a thought to Brian and a half second warning, AJ cleared his spirit from Ubayy’s body and physically shoved him out of the shielding and into the protective arms of those waiting there. Then he turned his attention back to the presence before him. ‘I am not just an elf. I am the trulion, of all races and none. And I will be the death of you and all that you stand for.’
Without warning, AJ yanked his spirit back into his body, barely taking a moment to reorient himself before he was gathering magic to him, weaving a complicated net of all the elements together, combining spirit and fire so it would burn even the soul if it touched. With a sharp mental whip he sent that net flying to the circle Ubayy had been inside of, to Evil, thanking God that everyone was on the outside of his shields.
There was a scream that was purely mental, a great wind that tore past, and AJ saw the darkness pull in on itself until it vanished. He dropped his weave, releasing it safely so it wouldn’t backlash on anyone. He held tight to the shielding. First, he had to make sure that this wasn’t a trick. That they were really safe. A good scan of the area around him showed that they were free, but he had to be sure.
“Alyck.” A voice called out to him. It took a moment to realize that it was Shay. “Alyck, trust me. It’s gone. You have nothing more to fear today.”
Ah. If he could trust anyone near as much as he trusted Brian, then that person would be Shay. If he said it was clear, it was clear. Mentally, Brian sent his agreement. ‘Come, song of my heart. Come, Alex. Drop the shielding. You changed it at the end. We can’t get past it to you nor you to us until you drop it.’
Had he? Odd, he didn’t really remember doing that. He remembered thinking that so long as no one could get in or out, they would be safe from the weave he’d thrown, but he didn’t realize that he’d changed his shield to accommodate that. Not good. You had to be in total control of your magic or it could control you.
AJ raised a hand, waving away the shield around him. The release of the shield took some of his last energy. He barely noticed as his body crumpled. Shay and Brian were there, Brian reaching him first. Each one grabbed an arm, bracing him on his feet, helping him stay standing. “Let’s get him lying down.” Shay murmured. “We can come back and check the idiot in a moment. Alyck needs to sleep.”
“No.” AJ mumbled at the same time that Brian shook his head and said “He won’t. He can’t.”
Eyebrows drawn down, Shay looked from one to the other. “Why the hell not? Alyck, you can barely stand!” he exclaimed.
It was the truth. AJ knew it. He wouldn’t have been able to keep his feet if it wasn’t for them on either side of him. As it was, he barely managed. Most of his energy went into trying to block off the pain from the injuries he felt inside. No physical damage had been done, but his magic had been sorely depleted. This had come too close.
“I have to check Ubayy.” It took everything AJ had to make his voice steady. He accepted the inflowing of strength that Brian was giving him. Their magical link was gone, no longer needed to fight, but Brian sent the strength over their bond, wrapped in love. AJ used it to strengthen his legs, which felt like noodles, and to steady his voice. “I’m the only one who can see the soul and that’s the part that this being attacked. I have to make sure none of it was left behind.”
Without shame, AJ clung tightly to his friends’ arms as they moved him toward Ubayy. The man was lying on the ground, his head propped up on his wife’s lap. She was stroking a hand across his forehead, murmuring soothingly to him. Bayani and Crisanto knelt on either side of him, their hands held out gently. Tao was by Bayani’s side, her hand on his arm as she whispered something into his ear. Richard and Geoff stood on either side of the group, hands on sword hilts, obviously standing guard against the physical. Donnelly sat at Ubayy’s feet, doing the smartest thing of all of them. He held a shield, not over the group, but over Ubayy.
As they passed him, AJ let go of Shay’s hand long enough to reach out and run his fingers over Donnelly’s hair. “Thank you for being practical.” AJ whispered to him.
Donnelly looked up, a corner of his mouth quirking. “If I’d known they were going to do this, Alyck, I’d have stopped them. I came out just as they started and was trying to stop them when everything went crazy. They were trying to scry Nellador, to see what they could see of their homeland. But they opened themselves up to too much.”
Well, that made a few things make sense. At another time he would find himself angry over it. Right now, all he felt was gratitude for understanding. It explained so many things. How this ‘evil’ had got here. Why Shay hadn’t seen something that large coming at them. He could miss smaller things, or be too focused on looking that he ended up missing others. Still, something this big should have triggered his Sight. But if these fools had been scrying, then their attempt at using the Sight would have blinded Shay’s Inner Eye to this event.
AJ moved his hand off Donnelly’s hair, gesturing lightly to him. He opened his magic again, ignoring the screaming sensation it brought inside of him where his magical parts felt scraped raw. He still managed to take control of Donnelly’s shield and strengthen it.
Vaguely he heard Brian ordering people back. All that mattered was that Brian and Shay were helping AJ down to the ground, right by Ubayy’s side. Nura looked down at them, her eyes bright with tears. “Please.” She whispered softly. “Please, my husband. I know he can make the others mad, but he meant no harm. Please save him.”
How could he resist looking up at this woman? “I swear to you, Nura, that I will do anything I can to keep him here with me. I have seen into his soul this day. I know he has no malicious intent toward any of us. I know his heart better than anyone but yourself at this moment. I will help him.” AJ told her in Farsi. He thought her own language might soothe and strengthen her as well as be something that Ubayy would respond to.
The hand that AJ raised was trembling, but he placed it on Ubayy’s face, over his eyes. His index finger touched one temple, his pinky the other. Then, with one more sigh, AJ sank into the man.
Before he did anything else, AJ immediately shot up a pain block, sensing the physical pain the man was in. He felt Ubayy’s body sigh in relief. Then, AJ moved, checking for physical and magical injuries as well as any chances that a part of that darkness might have been left behind. He made a fine net of spirit, tuned to Ubayy’s spirit, and ran it from head to toe, hoping to ‘catch’ anything that he might not see. Nothing. The man’s soul was clean.
‘Your soul is safe, young Ubayy.’ AJ sent the thought to him, trying to keep the exhaustion out of his mental voice.
A moment later Ubayy responded, his own mental voice hesitant. ‘You saved me. Despite how I’ve been, despite this being my fault, you still didn’t hesitate to save me.’
‘You are part of my people, my children, Ubayy. I have a duty to you all. But beyond that, we are all becoming friends here. Even if I hated you, though, I would never have let that evil take you. No man deserves that.’ As he spoke, AJ moved through Ubayy’s body, healing the wounds he came across.
Ubayy sighed again as the last injury was healed. ‘Thank you’
A sigh slid past AJ’s lips when he pulled back from Ubayy, bringing himself back into his own body. This time AJ couldn’t stop himself from limply sliding toward the ground. Even as Brian and Shay were catching him, another pair of hands was steadying him. One moved to cup his cheek. Looking up, AJ looked straight into Ubayy’s eyes.
“Thank you, trulion.” Ubayy said sincerely. They were the first words he had spoken to AJ that didn’t have the slight edge of attitude to them. AJ smiled back at him. “You’re welcome.”
That was all he had the strength left for. Brian knew that, Brian always knew, and his arms were suddenly there. They went under AJ’s knees, behind his back, lifting AJ up so that he was cradled in Brian’s arms. He rested his head on that familiar shoulder; one that he knew would always be there for him. All of his concentration was now on trying to keep himself under control. He didn’t realize that tears were streaming down his cheeks.
‘Shh, song of my heart. I’ve got you now. I’ll keep you safe.’ Brian soothed him.
Inside, AJ could be nothing but honest. ‘It hurts.’ He whimpered. God, how his insides hurt! Like he had been rubbed raw with sandpaper, rolled in salt and then set on fire. The weave he’d sent at the evil right at the end had taken almost all of his strength and that had been while linked. Without the link, he had almost nothing left in him.
‘I know it hurts, Alex. I know it does. I’ll take care of you.’
AJ gave himself over to that voice and prayed that the pain would fade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What is he doing?” Bayani whispered softly, watching Brian carry AJ over to the nearest cliff edge. It was a cliff that the rest of them tended to avoid as the water frequently sprayed upward when it hit the bottom. “Should he not be going inside to rest? He looks so worn.”
Shay watched the couple with a slight lightness in his heart. It did him good to see AJ partnered with someone so perfect for him. “Brian knows how to care for Alyck.” He reassured everyone present. “He’ll help him heal, don’t you worry.”
“But why is he lying at that cliff?” Nura asked. Her eyes drifted from her husband, up to AJ, over to Shay, then back down to her husband. “That one is wet. They’ll be soaked.”
It was Richard who spoke up first, his voice slightly gruff. “That’s the point.”
All eyes turned toward him, looking at the man and his obvious military bearing. He and Geoff still stood guard, still at attention with their hands on their swords. When the others gave him a curious look, Richard stared right back. Then his eyes flashed up to Shay, full of humor, and he rolled them as if to call the others fools. It brought a giggle to Shay’s lips.
“He’s elvish. Not only that, but he’s as magical, just like us. Haven’t you ever noticed that when you’re tired, you regain your strength from the elements? Now that he’s full elf, he relies on the elements even more. The two most dominant in Alyck are earth and water, so Brian is putting him by earth and water. Trust in Brian. He’s young, but he knows how to care for Alyck.”
All eyes traveled back over to the couple on the cliff edge. Brian was stretched out on his side, curled up against AJ’s back. They were fitted together perfectly, forming around one another like they’d been made to be that way. A small cloud had built over them, creating a slight mist just at that cliff edge.
Yes, Shay thought. Brian’s young, but he knows how to care for his love. Blessed be for him.