The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

Laurius smiled. "They would have gotten along well with the likes of Arken and other worshippers of Verin, then. All fire and darkness. Blood sacrifices are there speciality. I imagine its why this spell to bring you and Havitharon here came so naturally to them. Alright, see what else you can find in there."

---

Tenara nodded, glancing at the hand tightening around her own. "Laurius wanted to do the summoning with magic next..." she said softly. Something felt off, and she remembered the anger in his voice at the doctor. She took his face again in her hands, thumbs brushing his cheeks. "It doesn't seem like any of this is going to lead anywhere right now, but its just beginning. Tomorrow we can test again, with the... with the horn. And maybe that will give us the answer we need? If not, maybe repairing the soul stones. We'll find a way..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Laurius's smile had set his chest throbbing again. It definitely had something to do with Laurius. He hoped it wasn't some sign that the connection to the dagger was degrading. The repairs to the soulstones couldn't come soon enough. "I will." Ren bowed and turned to escape the room.

He wandered into the wing filled with strange plants, where Tenara had found the apple the other day. A great tree stretched up in the center of the glass atrium, its branches casting webbed shadows across the marble tile. He walked to the lifeform and touched its scaly bark. They didn't have such lifeforms on his world, but they were everywhere here. But this particular tree seemed oddly unique from the others around it, set apart and out of place. He sat down against its trunk and opened the tome Laurius had provided him, and began to study.

_____________________

The despair dulling Havi's eyes gradually eased as she touched his cheeks and shared her goals with him. She was calmly explaining her strategy to him like a partner. It was not the behavior of someone who believed they were talking to a slave.

"Understood," he spoke, pressing his cheek into her palm. "As you say, we will find a way. I will support you however I can."

[Emora Deen]

At dinner that night, the groundsman brought the sliver of Havitharon's horn. He'd hollowed it out, sterilized it, and made holes in it near the tip. He'd threaded a gold chain through it so that it would hang like a bell from the neck of whoever wore it. Tenara took it slowly, thanking him. She still looked fragile from their second test, or maybe it was the repeat of the tests days in a row. Her skin appeared sallow, and dark circles hung under her eyes. The magic test always took so much out of her now. She remembered how it was in the beginning for them, when she would wake him every morning in the cabin. How the heat of her power breathed between them, a luring song drawing them together. She still felt that—longed to feel it—until the magic drained her.

Laurius looped the necklace around her neck, clasping it. The sliver of Havitharon's horn hung over her chest. She swallowed before pinching the black thing between her fingers, and looked up at Havitharon to see what he thought of it.

"Tomorrow, we'll see if Havitharon's sacrifice did any good," Laurius said as he settled into his chair. He looked at Ren. "Did you find anything helpful in your studying today?"

Felicity's gaze lingered on Tenara's new jewelry before drifting to Havitharon. "I am missing so much information..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon straightened in his chair and watched sharply as Tenara's fingers brushed the horn's glossy black surface. It was clear she was still feeling anxiety and shock over the permanence of his actions. He thought that he should probably be worried about imposing this on her, but for him, the sight of his Yurivis wearing his horn around her neck was...

Heat that had nothing to do with embarrassment darkened his cheeks. His gaze, when it met hers, was not cautious, but rather full of primal intensity. The conversation went on around them, but nothing existed in the room but her.

Artisuren tilted his head, as if still trying to decide what to say in response to his master's question. "There is one thing. Uh... so, like I said, it's a dead language, so the technical jargon is beyond me, but compared to this world's sorcerers, who must have been stuck basically using it as a picture book..." He winced slightly and avoided Laurius's eyes. "So... the purpose of that ritual isn't actually to forge a weapon."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara's weary expression shifted curiously at the look Havitharon was giving her. The exhaustion seemed to melt away by a fraction. Her thumb glided back and forth across the sliver's smooth surface, testing the texture. She wanted to know what was going on behind that intense look, the thoughts whirling in his head. She hadn't seen him look at her in such away in what felt like ages. But then Ren's words caught her ears. At first, they were half-formed, her brain absorbing them and taking too long to process, but then Laurius chimed in and she knew she'd heard him correctly.

"What do you mean it's not meant to make weapons? What's its purpose?" the merchant asked, and he patted his person, as if looking for something, before he dug into his pocket and pulled out a smaller version of his journal. He cracked it open, pulled a sliver of graphite from the spine, and shuffled to a blank page.

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren took in his master's studious behavior and realized he wasn't upset with him, even though he'd just told him his understanding was incorrect. Kishva would have struck him by now. Laurius just... wanted to learn. The excitement in the man's eyes was surprisingly endearing to the Ivis. Laurius terrified him sometimes, but apparently he could have a cute side.

Emboldened, Ren tried to explain. "This ritual is for safe-keeping familial wisdom. Before our world was damaged, clans lived and died by their knowledge of sorcery." He set the book on the table in front of him. "A tome like this one is not secure or thorough enough for protecting such knowledge. Therefore, a clan's secrets stayed with their sorcerers, even after death. Once deceased, a sage's soul would be summoned from the other side and safeguarded inside a vessel. The sword illustrated in the book is just one example. It probably attracted your client's attention because it was shown as a weapon."

He opened the book. "This ritual is the starting point... the method for calling up the first soul. Like you already noticed... the ritual calls upon a soul whose energy matches that of the fulcrum. Therefore, for the first summoning, a special fulcrum... err... a sacrifice is needed. A powerful member of the same family line works best, as like calls to like. After that, the souls already stored in the object could be used as the fulcrum to call upon the next target. Each generation of sorcerers' souls would be progressively stored within the object, and it was kept protected as a font of knowledge, like a family heirloom."

"More like a family crypt," Thvoros said, grimacing.

Ren rolled his shoulder uncomfortably. "Well, with each spirit stored inside, the fulcrum is more stable and able to call forth more powerful spirits of the same clan. To power each summoning, a vast number of lives had to be converted into life essence in order to tether the soul properly to the place it does not belong. It looks like the technology to create the proper life essence doesn't exist here. You and your client used your world's "soul stones" to mimic the tether." Ren glanced at where Tenara's sword was settled out of sight beneath the table. "It clearly worked a bit differently than the original design. You shouldn't need to continue sacrificing power or blood to keep the tether stable. Maybe it's because the gap between our worlds is greater somehow and needs more power? Or maybe the soul stones aren't as stable as life essence."

[Emora Deen]

Laurius scribbled in his notebook. "Curious. I wonder what the difference between a life essence and a soul stone are? Maybe not much? Maybe its the species difference? Hmm..." He tapped his chin. "So, theoretically, I could have trapped you in a pot? Or a piano?"

Tenara snorted a little, imagining a haunted piano. Not exactly portable. And then, another thought struck her. "Could someone put another spirit in the sword? Say, if Arken had kept it, Havitharon could have been one of several spirits inside?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren paused, pondering. "If they could find room for enough soul stones to tether it, they could do so. It would probably summon one of his close relatives. Maybe they should have used a piano, after all."

He paused, trying to ignore the sudden coldness in Thvoros's eyes.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara felt a bit of relief that Havi’s sword seemed “full”. If it ever did fall into the wrong hands, they couldn’t force him to have a roommate. A frown pulled her face for a moment. She didn’t want to think about someone else taking him away.

“I’m glad you’re not a piano,” Tenara said, patting his arm. “It would have been hard to get you on the boat in Arken when we first met.”

“So we’re trapping people in weapons now, are we?” Felicity asked, arching a brow at Laurius. “Is that what they are? Trapped?”

“For the record, I did not make him,” Laurius said, pointing at Havitharon. “But yes. I developed a method to make sentient weapons.”

“And sold it to Arken?”

“Money is money, Felicity. You know that. And since when do you care if anyone does business with our northern neighbors? You do more than I.”

“Teaching isn’t weapons dealing,” she huffed.

“A thought is sometimes more dangerous than a blade, love,” he said, taking a sip of wine. “And you weren’t always a teacher.” He gave her a wink, and she scowled at him. “So, tomorrow, we’ll resume our test with the horn,” he continued. “Perhaps an early night is in order?”

“You should keep your lessons,” Tenara said, turning to Havi. “I’ll go to bed. Sleep will do me some good, and I know you were excited about them.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi turned to Tenara, his brow knitting at her instructions. "I..." He dropped his gaze to the horn pendant resting above her heart, and the rest of the protest died on his lips. "Yes," he revised. Warmth touched the corners of his eyes. "I will join you soon."

He rose and watched as the others filtered out to rest early, then turned to the only person still in the room. "I should have asked if you still have the energy to teach me tonight," he said to Felicity. "If you are overwhelmed, we can pick another day."

[Emora Deen]

Felicity smiled. “If you have the energy, I have the energy,” she said. “How about we get more comfortable, and meet in the library in a few minutes?”

[Soran Nightblade]

"I am already..." Havi held off. Maybe she needed to do something first. "Yes. I will see you there."

Once she made her way out of the room, he had a fleeting impulse to go check on Tenara, even if it was only for a minute. No... she was probably getting ready for bed. Would she wear the pendant into the bath? The sudden image made him shake himself. She was trying to rest. He should probably just wait in the library. A few minutes later, he was back near the table they'd used earlier. He looked down at the book she'd been reading with him... well, mostly to him. He sat in Felicity's chair and opened to her bookmark, trying to see if he could read it any better after following along with her for so many pages.

His head started throbbing after a minute, and he slid the book away from him on the table with a soft huff. He arched backward in his chair and pressed all ten fingers to his forehead, dragging them over his scalp.

[Emora Deen]

The library door creaked open and Felicity returned, far more comfortable in the shifting layered nightdress. It was silk with chiffon, and narrowed straps. It swooped low over her bust, so low her breasts seemed perpetually on the verge of being set free. It was far too summery a garb for the air in the room, even with the fire crackling in the hearth. Over it, to help with the cold, she had dawned a robe, so there seemed some sense to her garments, but it hung loose and open. Perhaps she had simply packed unfortunately for her stay.

"Comfortable in your clothes?" she asked, going to a glass case containing liquor and glasses. She poured them each an overly generous amount of brandy into two crystal glasses and carried it to him. "Something to warm us up," she said. "Before our lesson."

She clinked her glass to his and took a sip, wincing at the taste.

She'd pulled her hair down. It hung in loose brunette curls around her shoulders, threads of silver twinkling through the strands. She was older than Tenara, but it was hard to say by how much. Old enough to start to gray, at least.

"Shall we read a little?" she asked, and pulled the book to her. She sat on the loveseat near the chair, and patted the seat for him to move closer. "Night reading is my favorite. I like the quiet, and the coziness of being curled on a couch with a book. Let's see where we left off..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi evaluated the loveseat. It was just big enough for two people, but he usually avoided being in such close proximity to females. Still, she was giving up her evening to help him, and if that was how she preferred to read...

Not wanting to offend his teacher, he rose and took a seat next to her on the sofa. Even sitting straight-backed squarely on his side of the furniture, he found that their shoulders touched in the narrow space. He leaned back slightly into the corner of the sofa between the back and the arm.

He was a little surprised that she'd changed clothes, but her state of dress didn't necessarily surprise the alien, who had long since given up on trying to understand the rules of fashion on this world. He assumed the outfit was the typical evening wear for people from this part of the country. "Ah... I may have gone a few pages ahead," he said, realizing he hadn't re-set her bookmark.

[Emora Deen]

"That's alright," she said with a breathy sigh before drinking her glass until it was empty. She settled the book more into her lap and leaned into him so that he could see the pages too. "I'm sure we didn't miss much. Besides, it seems like it's getting to the good part."

Her fingers traced the pages, down the lines of text, until she found the passage she wished to start at. Her voice was warm as it spoke the prose into the air, a detailed account of the sorcerer finally giving into his desires and claiming his dragon queen. Passion snapped him apart, made him blind with want, and she feigned resistance only at first before giving in. Felicity read every sordid detail without pause or shame, and she was very good at it. Her voice moved with highs and lows, actioning the words with enthusiasm. The only sign they had any affect on her was the flush of color on her chest, the way she shifted a little, as if trying to find a more comfortable way of sitting. Eventually, she was leaning into him heavily, as if the words themselves were sinking her.

The author didn't skip much, and what probably should have taken one or two pages, had evolved into three or four, until the two characters had reached their sexual fulfillment.

"I see why Tabetha likes this book," Felicity snorted. She turned her face up to Havi, eyes twinkling in the dim lighting. Her gaze appraised his face. "Are you ready to truly learn the art of love now, Havitharon?" her voice whispered out of her. A finger left the page of the book and traced the edge of her collar, over the smooth swell of a breast. It was such an innocent, seemingly involuntary gesture it could have been misconstrued as an itch by an inexperienced person, if not for the fact it had nudged one nipple almost completely out. She passed him his drink. "Down the hatch."