Heirot

The inquiry set off warning bells. If he gave this woman any reason to believe he wasn't in peak condition, she might place him even further at her mercy. He straightened, muscles tightening like heavy cords. His body dwarfed hers in height. "Return me," he ordered.

Tenara frowned, taking a step back and trying not to feel afraid by his imposing stance. She didn’t understand him. Why would he ask if she was injured and then become threatening? Unless he had hoped to use those injuries against her. “I… I don’t know how. I don’t know what it is he did.” She thought quickly, fearing what he would do with her if he thought her expendable. “But, I know people who might be able to help us—you.”

He stared at her without moving. He had a very bad feeling. He'd witnessed this woman's power himself. Assuming she was even telling the truth, what kind of monsters did someone like her turn to for help? "Who?" His voice was grim, like he was selecting a coffin for himself.

She hesitated. She couldn't tell him everything, not the whole truth of who had fathered her. She didn't trust him. There had to be a reason the High Prince of Arken was summoning him. "My parents," she said. "If you swear not to hurt me, if you help me get home, they will help you go back to wherever it is you were brought from."

Havitharon relaxed slightly. An exchange of favors. This was more familiar territory. "What help do you require?" The wind was picking up as the sun rose, throwing his long hair around in the wind.

"I was taken from my home, rather like you. I want to get back to it but it's very far, and you seem to... have my magic." She lifted the sword, pointing it at him. "There are people who would hurt me and you have the one thing that would keep me safe." She omitted the fact she had no control over it and that, if she did have her magic without her tether, she would burn the world to cinders by accident.

"Have your magic?" he repeated back. "Why would I have your..." he paused, trying to remember the events of the night before. He'd been in that half-state, and he'd felt something rush into him, along with a voice. His expression darkened with anger. "Do you take me for an idiot? You have power. You want me to believe you're without magic, when you used it against me multiple times last night."

She clenched her jaw. "I didn't use it against you, it was against the evil that brought you here, and then you showed up and it all went away!" For the best, she thought. It was killing her and everything around them. "Let's get one thing straight, I didn't do this to you. I'm caught in this mess just the same as you are, and if either one of us want to go back to our lives we need to—"

"Hello! Hello there!"

She jumped, clumsily whirling with the sword. Tenara glanced at the water and the shore and the man. Then, she glanced to the ghost.

"Do you need some help?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Tenara said, standing straighter. "I've got this under control."

He was handsome from what she could tell at this distance—tall and lean to the point of being on the lanky. He wore his hair shorn around the sides and longer towards the top, and a neatly trimmed beard along his jaw. She did not recall the sorcerer very well, but she didn’t remember a beard and he seemed much to whole and pleasant for someone she'd burned alive.

"Shit," she muttered. "Shit. Shit..." She'd hoped to get away from the shore before someone came looking for him.

"I saw your boat. I hoped for a ride. Do you mind giving me one?"  

He was dressed nicely, so he wasn't some peasant. Did he work for the sorcerer? Was this some sort of trick. She glanced to Havitharon. 

The wind picked up, and the waves rocked the boat. She stumbled to keep her balance, panic rising in her chest.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice laced with irritation.

"I'm Elias Lars, the royal cartographer."

"Where are your maps?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Stolen."

"Someone stole your maps?" She arched a brow.

He grinned. "Among other things. My money, for one."

"But why the maps?"

"Maybe to start a fire? I don't know. I didn't ask. Next time, though, if my maps are to be stolen, I will remember this conversation and ask them what fate might befall all those rolls of parchment."

"What are you doing.... out here?" 

"We're sent out to document new roads and remove ones no longer in use," he said. "I drew the short end of the stick and got sent to Caldahar." He sneered as he looked around. "I'm looking to get back to Arroes." 

"I'm not going there."

"Well, as far to there as you like, then?" He stepped up to the shore until the water lapped around his boots. He adjusted the black bag on his shoulder. "Look, I'm not sure of your capabilities as a sailor, but that boat is an awful lot to manage alone. I know how to sail. I could help you get as far as your willing to take me."

Alone? She met Havitharon's eyes. The man couldn't see him?

Havitharon crossed his arms and observed the hornless male on the shore. He couldn't understand anything the figure was shouting, but from Tenara's end of the conversation, he imagined the stranger was as useless to them as he looked. Besides, there was no way a male would just wander up to a stranger's ship, not even a hornless one. His eyes searched the woods behind him for signs of his Yurivis. It could only be a trap. "We should make sail quickly," he growled.

"Quickly?" she snapped. "I don't even know how to sail slowly." She knew the first thing she needed to do was lift the anchor though. Tenara put the sword down and went to the front of the ship, drawing the rope up, moving so frantic that she grew dizzy.

"The wind is going to blow you aground," the stranger called.

"I've got this!" she shouted back to him. She dragged the anchor onto the deck and then jumped up. The world wobbled, a flash of heat burned through her skin and she stumbled on her feet, nearly falling overboard.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine!"

She ran back to Havitharon. "What now? What do we do?"

"I'm coming out to help!"

Havitharon's gaze iced over as the man began approaching them. He instinctively reached for the mainsheath, only for his hands to pass straight through it. "Not now," he snarled under his breath.

"You, pull this-" he cut off as he turned to find the woman looking deathly pale. She seemed like she was barely staying on her feet. Shit. He grabbed the book off the ground and pressed it to her upper back to try to steady her. What now? Should he tell her he couldn't touch anything? He didn't want to announce his weaknesses when they could be used against him. But this strange male approaching the boat seemed like a greater threat. "Can you break the ladder?" he whispered harshly. It wasn't that large a vessel, but it might buy them some time. Could one person even sail something this large without a crew?

"I can try," she said, falling down at the back of the ship. She scrambled for the sword and began to strike at the ladder as the ship drifted towards shore. She vaguely was aware of the sound of splashing. She glanced over to see the man wading out to them.

She panicked and stood up, kicking at the ladder. The world was tunneling to a point, her body hot and buzzing. She stomped on the ladder again, but her foot slipped. Her grip on the sword loosened. It fell against the deck and she toppled over the railing, into the sea.

"Hey!" he shouted, lurching after her. He tried to grab her arm, but his hand met with nothing but that tingling sensation that was becoming familiar fast. "Tenara!" he shouted at the waves. She'd been swimming fine yesterday, but something was off about her. He wondered if she concealed her injuries from him. The thought gave him a bit more respect for her, even if he didn't trust her. Should he try to get her back? The only reason he'd been able to swim last night was because she'd used her powers on him. If she still had those powers, she would use them to summon him for help.

And if she really had lost her powers?

He glanced at the man swimming out to them and gritted his teeth. "Woman!" he snarled at the water.

The icy water washed over Tenara's head. It was cold enough to shock her dizzy senses. She'd thought she was better, that she was recovered from all the blood she'd lost but her body felt so tired. So absolutely drained. Then she wondered if the ghost had taken more than her magic... what if she'd lost her demi-god status. Was she... fully mortal?

The sorcerer's robe was thick and heavy around her and she struggled to kick and swim to the surface. Hands caught hold of her, dragging her up to the surface and urging her towards the boat.

"I've got you," the stranger's voice said. "I've got you. You're okay."

Her hand caught the ladder, heard it groan under her weight. She'd damaged it, would it last enough for her to climb back on board? The stranger's hands curled over her hips and he pushed her up, pushing himself down into the water. She climbed, and he climbed behind her, until they both flopped heavily onto the deck next to each other.

Tenara almost cried with frustration. She glowered at the stranger, rage burning in her eyes. "I said I was fine!" Then, she saw the sword between them and his eyes locked on it too. She lunged for it, cramming herself into the corner of the bow. Her hands rattled around it, and she begged them to still. "Stay away."

Elias sat up, looking baffled. "I just saved your life." His hands went into the air as he slid forward. "I'm not the bad guy here."

"I don't know who you are!"

"I'm a friend," he said, sliding back, giving her some space. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Tenara looked to Havitharon and then to Elias. Back and forth until the man glanced over his shoulder for what she was looking to.

"Look," the man said more calmly. He glanced warily over his shoulder, looking for whatever she kept staring at. "I don't know what's going on. But you clearly are in some sort of trouble. I just got out of trouble. Maybe we can work together? You have a boat but, honestly, don't seem to know what the fuck you're doing with it. I know how to sail. I can walk you through it. I can teach you..."

Tenara glanced at Havitharon again, then back at the stranger. "It doesn't seem weird to you that I'm on a boat I don't know how to use?"

"Lady," he said, "I'm in fucking Caldahar. This is delightfully normal comparatively." She hesitated. "I'm unarmed, if that helps? If I cause you trouble, feel free to put that through my heart."

Tenara met Havitharon's eyes and again the man followed her stare.

All that was visible as Elias faced him was the floating spellbook. Havitharon glowered at the man. He drew the book up, readied to take a swing at the back of the man's skull. "You know better than to come at a Yurivis directly. Where is your master?" He didn't utter the formal words of challenge. He didn't acknowledge this woman as his master. He would not fight for her. He just felt like fighting on his own, because she was still useful to him.

The unfortunate thing was, the man didn't seem to hear him at all. He frowned and jabbed the spine of the book directly at the man's face, testingly.