A Siblings’ Promise part 4
Previous Part:
Alas, it was a task for another time. Tacen was long since done consuming her egg and it was the task of the parents to see her put to bed comfortably.
His sister felt wrong. That much was easy to tell. Her former easy laughter was now strained and echoed in all of the wrong ways. Her body shifted, dyed new hues by the change she had gone through. Fylstan no longer recognized Aseare.
He finally knew why.
It was hard for the skydancer to accept but that fateful day when he had purged the taint of the Shade from their land it seemed he hadn’t gotten all of it. He kept his concerns close to his breast even as the murmurs about his sister grew within the clan. He was not blind to Tanhlyta’s…controlling nature, her manipulative desire to keep him to herself. Sometimes he wondered at the sincerity of her affections but even if he was just being used he held affection for her all the same. Fylstan knew if she discovered his intentions he would lose his sister forever – he was well aware of the risk to himself and he knew the seer wouldn’t let his actions pass.
The dark skydancer carefully uncurled himself from around Tacen – his wonderful little miracle of a daughter – so as not to disturb her slumber. She was so young yet, barely out of the hatchling caverns, and he regretted that she may wake alone in the world. Tanhlyta was hardly involved in her daughter’s life though she did occasionally gift her with wondrous little trinkets. Fylstan nuzzled his star-touched daughter before he slipped out of his lair.
The hallways of the lair weren’t cool by any stretch of the imagination – Fire lairs never were – but the heat was more bearable at night and danced along his hide pleasantly. His lair was fairly close to the common areas of the clan and he navigated the maze-like structure of the clan’s lair with practiced ease to reach his destination.
He had heard rumours that Aseare was being sent out to the west to deal with a problem. It should have been him going to deal with it but Aseare had taken on more and more of his work, her powers growing exponentially and confounding the clan as to the cause. In a way he was proud of her but he was also scared for her. Power like that came not from herself but from that which was infecting her. The more she gave in to it the more possessed she became and Fylstan feared that it might already be too late.
Fylstan stepped out onto the rock shelf that served as the clan’s entrance and prepared himself to take flight when a shudder coursed through him and his gaze whipped to his right.
Darkness. It rolled off of Aseare sinisterly as she stepped out of the shadows at the very edge of the rock shelf. She seemed perfectly at home in it and when she spoke Fylstan understood why.
“If it isn’t brother dearest,” she hissed, a dark echo accompanying her voice.
“You’re not Aseare,” he accused quickly, taking a step back despite himself.
“How astute! I knew you had figured us out. Clever, clever Fylstan. Heroic, too, wanting to save her. But does she really need saving? She wanted this, you know. Power. To protect you, as I recall.”
“Give her back,” Fylstan demanded, undaunted by the thing’s taunting.
“Hmm…no. I don’t think so. We’ve been looking for a compatible host for too long. Are you going to fight us on this? She doesn’t want you hurt but we will defend ourselves.”
Fylstan’s whole body began to glow in answer and the thing in Aseare sighed.
“Very well. Don’t say we didn’t try to be reasonable,” they said.
Fire and light clashed with the roiling darkness, the two spellcasters flinging magic at each other ferociously. The dull roar of Fylstan’s magic was swallowed up endlessly by Aseare’s silence. The commotion caught the eye of a sentinel and the clan was alerted and Fylstan growled through clamped fangs. He had been trying not to tap into too much of himself but if he didn’t finish the fight soon Tanhlyta would arrive and he would lose his chance.
Fylstan dug deep into his essence to pull out his full strength. He could tell the Shade in Aseare realized it was outmatched when he did so but it was too late for it to do anything. He hooked his magic deep into Aseare’s being and found the root of the Shade’s infection. There was a roaring in his ears as he wrapped his being around the Shade and yanked it right out of Aseare and into himself.
His magic trickled away and he realized the roaring in his ears had been himself.
What have you done to us!? This body is fading! We don’t want to go, let us out! The Shade screamed in his mind but he just locked it down farther and smiled grimly. Fylstan could see his sister’s crumpled but breathing form, meaning he had kept his promise to protect her.
Shapes around him began blurring but he was able to make out the sleepy form of Tacen being held back by other members of the clan even as his own mother and the healers rushed to his side.
His vision faded completely along with the Shade’s dying screeches.