Tainted Soul
Part Four - Dark Thoughts and Innocence
by Xepha

Reprinted with permission.
Added 07/18/2002.

"Now young lady," Arranorn said, "Place the pick in just there." He held a small complicated puzzle box twisted in his hands to expose a small aperture. The girl had been laying on the grass looking up at the glimpses of deep blue sky through the green lush leaves of the tree. A few yards away the shore began and she could hear the gentle mesmerising lap of the waves and smell the salt carried on the gentle breeze. She came to a sitting position and reached for one of the lockpicks. "Here?" she asked beginning to probe the delicate puzzle.

The word "No," died on Arranorns lips as the girl gave a twist and the box clicked and fell into its component parts.

The girl stared crestfallen at the small cogs and gears strewn upon the blanket. Arranorn laughed lightly. "No matter my sweet." He gathered the pieces and began the delicate task of reassembling them. "I'll have it back together in a moment and you can disassemble it again." He winked and saw the girls face brighten. "Now pour us a cup of lemon water."

The girl reached into the basket they had bought with them, her hand emerging with a jug of lemon scented water and moments later dipped back in to retrieve two cups.

"Uncle Arra," the girl said raising an eyebrow at the brown rabbit that grazed several feet away. "Why do you play with the boxes? Uncle Var doesn't like it you know."

Arranorn stopped assembling the box and put the pieces to one side. "A good question," he mused. "A man must choose his own pursuits and his own life. Master Varacon tried to guide my actions, maybe wisely, but he would never seek to dictate them."

The girl brightened and drew an intent gaze upon the young swordsman. "So does that mean it is wrong for Uncle Var to dictate that I learn healing and fighting?"

Arranorn smiled. It was sometimes difficult to refute the pure and simple logic of youth and in this child of five years it was doubly so. "It is not the same thing."

"Why?" Xepha pouted.

"Because there are skills we all need, you may need to heal an injury or fight for your life. Some shun the study of these basic tenets yet I firmly believe they make their lives ultimately harder."

The girl raised a small hand. "Shiroc Thasoz," she said as a faint red glow infused Arranorn. "I can heal at a whim and fight the same way," she finished, holding her palm up to reveal a small ball of molten heat dancing lazily an inch over her out stretched hand.

She did not notice the rabbit skip a couple of jumps closer. "Aye you can here and now but there are places where magic does not work and there are creatures that would shun your magic as a horse ignores the flies that idly buzz around its tail."

Xepha tilted her head to one side and despite the fact she saw the young man was correct she considered arguing on. Arranorn raised an eyebrow. "Well?" he said, trying to establish whether his argument had hit home, he had seen many men die of small wounds that should have been dealt with and forgotten, had they taken time to learn the basic lessons Varacon's people tried to teach the girl. "I suppose so," she sighed.

The rabbit took a final hop and sunk its tooth into the hand supporting Xepha's weight. With a yelp she let loose the ball of fire still dancing on the fingertips of her other hand, and the rabbit smouldered. Looking at the small burnt creature Xepha burst into tears. "I killed it," she sobbed.

Arranorn stood and gathered the child in his arms. "Yes child, you did, but it is neither your fault nor the rabbit's." The girl continued to sob uncontrollably into his shoulder. "One day you will understand," he cooed, smoothing her hair with his small delicate hands. He alone outside of two mages and Lord Varacon knew of the curse that haunted the girl. Even a beast as low as a rabbit if wild could sense the taint.

Arranorn still held the girl, her sobs subsiding as the sound of hooves approached behind them. "What is wrong?" Varacon asked from atop his steed, concern evident on his features.

Arranorn nodded towards the smoking form and the burn hole in the blanket.

"She must learn to control her gift, why is she not at her studies?"

"Master Lau gave her the afternoon to rest. We came here to watch the sea."

"Obviously she needs to study her art more than she needs to admire the view, perhaps she will learn some control. Send her to master Lau." With that Varacon pulled on the reigns and cantered his steed away from the treeline toward the shore.

Arranorn lowered the girl to the ground and kneeled down so as to be at face level. "You run along now my sweet, see if you can find master Lau and tell him what happened. I'll gather the basket and blanket."

Xepha nodded, and the sobbing subsided. "And take this," Arra said, holding up the reassembled puzzle box. The girls face brightened at the site of the intricate little box. She gathered it to her chest, smiling, and ran toward the pallisade surrounding the lords estate, the incident already dismissed from her mind as is the way with children.

Xepha ran across light brown well trodden earth toward Lau Tu's hut. A voice bought her up sharp. She stopped and cast around confused. It was two hours after noon and everyone was either in their fields, aboard their fishing boats or doing any other of the myriad tasks that occupied a small hamlet. The only people she could see were Loro and Aeglyn tending the gate and they were busy in conversation of their own. "Hello?" she nervously offered the empty courtyard before her, half expecting someone to jump out from behind the low walls demarking the gardens.

"Child," the voice hissed.

"Who is there?" Xepha asked, her voice breaking.

"With your mind, speak with your mind," the voice commanded in soft tones.

Xepha focused her power within her and realized the voice was in her head. She looked around for a place to run to and in that instant realised it was futile. Where could she hide from someone who was within her? She gathered herself and forced the fear away as she had been taught to do before engaging in magic. "Who are you?"

"I am your mother and your father and I am more than these things. You are part of me child." Xepha began to shake.

The girl shook with fear, the voice became more insistant. "Come to me child, only I understand you. Help me to find you that I may teach you things beyond the understanding of these fools that seek to keep you from your destiny."

Xepha felt the power of the mind like a great weight, images of conquest and darkness, acts that would make the toughest veteran weep filled her mind, the uncomprehending mind of a child, yet she could do nothing. She tried to focus, to yell at the voice to leave but she could do nothing. "Even as we speak I draw closer to finding you. Never fear you shall be at my side."

Xepha's soul twisted and bucked like a sail boat in a storm. Then she screamed endlessly until the noise filled her mind and drove out the presence. Her mind unable to take the torment began to close in and darkness filled her vision. She thought she felt herself collapse as though it happened to someone else or as though it was a rememberance of a fall, her body removed from her perceptions. "I will return to you Xepha, you cannot hide forever. I run within your veins and walk within the chambers of your soul."

Then all as darkness, he girl's mind retreated far into itself, away from the voice, the visions that accompanied it, and away from the pain.

Lau Tu arrived first, he had begun running as soon as his gift had alerted him to the malevolent presence. By the time Loro and Aeglin arrived, Lau was already kneeling over Xepha, two fingers touched to her brow. Arranorn ran through the gate, the trappings of the picnic discarded and forgotten. Varacon entered the palisade, his horse at full charge, and vaulted from the saddle to land amongst the gathering crowd. "What happened," he commanded an explanation.

People came from the kitchens and the main house, from the surrounding buildings and even from outside the stronghold. Nobody answered so Loro bought himself to attention as he addressed his leige, but concern for the young girl kept his eyes focused on her. "We heard her scream." He reported. "Lau was already here." His voice trailed off, there was no more to say.

Lau Tu's young features etched with concern took in the massing crowd then looked imploring toward the lord. Varacon nodded. "All of you, back to your business. You'll stifle the child."

Grudgingly, the villagers and members of the household moved away leaving only the mage, the lord and the three warriors at the girl's side. "The shield has been penetrated," Lau said, putting his arms under the girl's legs and shoulders and lifting her gently as he began carrying her toward his quarters.

Varacon looked confused. "Venger wove a powerful spell to mask her presence from the keep. The spell has been broken and her mind was laid open before the lady." Varacon blanched openly at the thought of what such an evil presence could do to such an innocent. He did not understand the magic involved but he understood evil, had he not spent most of his life protecting his people from it?

"Is the girl well?", "Will Xepha recover?", "What can we do?" Arra, Loro and Aeglin all chimed at once.

"I do not know if she will recover. Her mind has retreated so far it felt like a point of light in a sea of darkness. I could not reach her."

Varacon drew himself alongside the mage and rested his hand lightly on the forehead of the unconscious child. "Is she out of harm?"

"I have replaced the shield as best I can but my powers are no match for the Lady."

"How long?"

"It is hard to say, a day, a week, not much longer. If her mind survives that long. We must find Venger and find him soon or it may be too late."

"And what danger to us? Does the Lady knows she is here?"

Lau shook his head. "Var there is no way for me to tell, she may have passed out instantly, or she may have been dragged through what seemed days of posession though it was only moments."

Varacon halted and his warriors ceased their course. They knew Varacon was a studious man, but not one prone to inaction. "Arra stay with Lau, see that he has all he needs. Talk to the girl, see of you can reach her. Maybe the voice of a friend will ease her burden. I will join you shortly."

Arranorn nodded once and looked at the puzzled box he picked up out of the dust, unnoticed beside Xepha's prone form. He gathered himself and set off at a half run to catch up with the mage.

The lord turned to the other two men. "Loro, to horse. Pick up a portal at Arwic to speed your journey. Last I hear Venger was in the Direland town of Ayan Baqur. If you do not find him there, go directly to the mage guild in Mayoi. He will not be away from there overlong." Before the sentence was complete, Loro's lithe form was atop the steed his lord recently vacated and racing through the gates.

Finally he turned to Aeglin. "Place the town guard on twenty-four hour shift and order weapons to be carried at all times, both in town and around the stockade. Send riders along the main roads in and also North and South along the beach. Send them in pairs and tell them to stay alert and question any strangers. See them relieved every six hours. Xepha is strong for her years and would not give up her location easily, but we can take no chances."

Lau Tu's quarters placed the child gently upon the wooden cot and sat wearily to one side on a wooden chair. Arranorn came to rest sitting on the bed and gently opened the girl's hand and placed the puzzle box on the lifeless palm. Closing the fingers he reached up to move a stray lock of hair from her eyes. "Fear not child, we are here and will let no darkness befall you." He looked over at Lau wishing his heart carried the conviction he forced into his words.