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I am still very bad.

Not because I'm not writing (though I need to do more of that, too), but because this was meant to go up Wednesday, but I wasn't having a good day and forgot. And then it was meant to go up Thursday, but I got distracted and also didn't put it up. But it's here now, and better late than never! The second of this three-part exploration of Oswell's beginnings. Herded down an alley, trapped by the Arhas guards and facing a storm of arrows, what's a young magi to do? The answer ensues now, with the conclusion of the tale slated for release next week!

For now, I hope you enjoy Sanctuary, and I'll see you next week for that conclusion... maybe even on time, too!

• Master Meridian

Blood And Water: From Humble Beginnings

---

Sanctuary

But the arrows never followed.

When three seconds had passed and nothing had impacted his body, Oswell finally opened his eyes. His gaze found the arrows frozen in mid-air, suspended and still by some invisible force. He could feel magic at work; it rippled the air and hummed in the back of his mind as he focused on it. "What-" he began.

"Fire again!" shouted one of the guards. "He can't stop them all!"

Oswell's brow dipped with confusion as he watched the guards. The fear was gone all of a sudden. The energy that held the arrows still was not his own; that much he could be certain of. He'd not focused as he'd been trained. It had just happened. Magi couldn't command magic that easily or naturally. A flicker of his fear did return as the guards lined up their next shots, but this time Oswell stood firm against them.

And this time, neither arrow even left the bow. Instead, both archers found themselves lifted about two inches into the air before they were unceremoniously slammed into one another. Metal clanged as their armored plates impacted, and the two fell in a tangled heap as some of those plates tangled. For a brief moment, an unnerving silence fell over the alley.

One of the sword-wielding guards was tossed next. He slammed with a cry of confusion into the wall before he suddenly went silent, and his helm fell off his equine head to roll across the ground as he struck it. Another guard found his sword wrenched out of his grip, and it swung around behind him before the pommel was rammed into the back of his neck. He crumpled as the remaining guards spun to face behind them.

The wave of force that blasted out knocked all three of the guards into the air, and it persisted long enough for even Oswell to be buffeted by it like a particularly stiff wind. It lifted snow from the ground and blinded the fox, and he covered his face with both arms even as he cringed from the armored figures that flew toward him. Caught in the blast, both of the suspended arrows went spinning off into the air, well out of view and out of the way.

Neither guard nor arrow struck Oswell, though he felt the wind shift as one of the guards passed relatively close by. He jumped with surprise as he glanced over at the upside-down form slouched against the wall behind him. The guard groaned from within their helm, before their head rolled to the side and they passed out.

It was with no small amount of trepidation that Oswell braced himself and looked back up the alley. The figure that stood there was the one he'd begun to suspect. The tall wolf folded his arms into his sleeves as he stood tall amid the carnage he'd caused. "I told you to go left," he said. The hint of an irritated growl flickered through his voice as one ear flattened.

Oswell cringed back again as he bowed his head in respect and thanks. This magi, whoever he was, had a far greater grasp of the arcane than Oswell himself. A challenge would not end well for him. "Without meaning to cause offense, master magi, I don't know you and couldn't expect you would protect me," he dared to reply after a moment.

He felt more than a little concern run through him even as he spoke, but Oswell knew there was nothing else for it. The fox knew that his life had been saved. The question of why could wait until he knew he'd live long enough to find it out. He met the wolf's gaze as evenly as he could and tried to pull himself upright.

The effort only seemed to draw a smile across the wolf's face. "Good. A healthy dose of suspicion. Good quality in a magi these days." He glanced back around the corner and to the road beyond for a moment, and Oswell felt his heart skip a beat. Powerful as he was, would he want to go toe-to-toe with the entire town guard? With a force of justicars?

Indeed, when he turned back to Oswell it was with a firmly set expression of impatience. "You don't want to stay here. You need to get out of the city, and you need to do so as soon as possible."

"And you're going to help me?" Oswell asked. He took one step forward, then another once he was sure the wolf wouldn't consider it a threat. "I don't know how I can breach the city walls without help. The docks are probably being locked down right now, and the main gate..." He shook his head helplessly.

The wolf lifted an eyebrow as his smile slipped. "Come now, of _course_I'm going to help you. If I wanted you dead or captured, I would have simply left you for the guards." His gaze sharpened as he glared at the fox openly. "But if I am going to help you, I am going to first need your assurance that you will do what I tell you and remain close to me. Is that understood?"

That sudden shift in demeanor set off warning bells inside Oswell's head, but what choice did he have? Certainly none, if he wanted to escape the city and survive at all. "And how do I know that you honestly mean to keep me safe?" he asked.

"Because they would be all too happy to capture me as well," the wolf replied as he waved a paw toward Oswell. "Now, are you coming? Or do you want perhaps a boost over that wall? I will not stop you if you want to try and escape the city on your own, but I will point out that you will fail if you try." He smirked. "I know the guards here. They will easily overpower you without help."

Frustration came out of Oswell in the form of a growl, and he shook his head as he glanced back at the wall. Whatever lay beyond it could be worse than what he'd had to face already. He didn't know this wolf and certainly couldn't trust him, but a sure escape from the guards was alluring all on its own. Once away from the town and its guards, he could reconsider how to get away from this magi. "I'll come with you," he finally replied as he turned his gaze back on the wolf.

"Good choice," the other magi replied. He waved Oswell over and pointed to the ground at his side. "Remain close. I can shroud us in an illusory field that should prevent the guards from noticing either of us, but you must be by my side until we reach sanctuary. Should you pierce the shroud, we will both be captured and killed, and I would find this state of affairs most disagreeable."

Oswell hurried over to the magi's side as he glanced back down the alley he'd run into. The guards lay still, alive but unconscious thanks to his savior's efforts. It spoke of a power and precision that Oswell both lacked and thoroughly envied. "I don't even know your name," he said as the wolf's eyes fell closed.

Green light shimmered across the wolf's fingers. It traced up his arms even as a small bubble of it wove its way into existence around the pair. "You may call me Haldane," growled the wolf as his fingers twitched. The view of the alley began to shimmer as the illusion shroud wrapped around them, and Oswell had to shuffle even closer to the other magi to stay within it. 'Close' had been an understatement.

"Thank you then, Haldane," Oswell replied. He hugged himself tightly as he fell into step beside the wolf. He was doubly thankful with the way Haldane took slow, measured steps; it ensured that Oswell didn't travel too far ahead or behind, or otherwise breach the shroud.

A grunt from Haldane was Oswell's only reply, but the fox dared to smile nonetheless. Sure, he couldn't trust the wolf. He had been taught from a very young age that no magi was worthy of trust, and that all they cared about was power. He had no reason to suspect Haldane was any different.

But for the moment, wrapped in the wolf's protective illusion and led to what the other magi had called sanctuary, Oswell was more than happy just to take whatever he could get.

Whatever shroud Haldane had erected worked better than Oswell could have hoped.

He'd heard tales of the illusory magic known to master fraen_magi, but he had not expected to see such a perfect display presented by an _ulurn practitioner. They passed through the streets of Arhas completely undetected. Oswell watched the guards fan out through the streets as he dutifully followed the large wolf that had saved his life.

It wasn't until they arrived at the end of an alleyway that nestled against the excavated, sheer side of Mount Skarag that Haldane had called for him to stop. The wolf had simply lifted and waved a paw, and the mountain itself had cracked open to grant them entry. To say that Oswell had felt impressed would have been the greatest understatement of his short life.

He hadn't expected the lavish, homey scene he'd been greeted with upon his entrance into the mountain. It was like a palace; the walls were beautifully and carefully-carved from the mountain itself. The floors were covered in luxurious furs and rugs, and arcane torches shone in scones on the walls that shed unusually strong heat as well as a soft, flame-like yellow light. It was the most opulent living space Oswell could remember ever having seen.

"Go and sit," he heard Haldane say as the wolf closed off the mountain behind them. The crack grew smaller and smaller as Oswell nodded and strode deeper inside. He eyed a couple of rounded passageways that ostensibly led to bedrooms or studies or other such things, and sat himself down cross-legged upon one of the furs. Relief surged through his tired muscles and the fox couldn't help the groan that slipped from his muzzle. Rest. He could rest.

Oswell briefly thought to lay down upon the rug, but spotted Haldane before he could move. The wolf sat down in a chair opposite him looked at Oswell with an intensity that the fox wasn't quite ready for, and he gulped as he flattened his ears. "I... would like to thank you once more for your intervention," he said.

The wolf just continued to stare. One of his ears twitched as he tilted his head to the side. The intensity in his eyes remained steady. "Their want for you burns bright, boy," he growled as he looked the fox up and down. "You must have done something truly terrible to earn their wrath."

"Wrath misplaced," Oswell replied with a shake of his head. He tried to break from the wolf's gaze, but the eyes locked on him seemed to have taken a hold that they wouldn't release. Oswell couldn't look away; the sensation was unsettling to say the least. "They believe that I'm something I'm not."

Haldane's muzzle twitched into the smallest of smiles. "I would say they are correct in their assumption that you are magi," he pointed out. "You have demonstrated enough aerun powers to make them quite certain, even though your typical application is subtle and invisible to all but other magi."

"And you are far more powerful, with the ability to do far more than me," added Oswell. "I guess you sensed my power, but that doesn't explain why you wanted to help me."

Both of Haldane's fuzzy eyebrows lifted as his other ear perked up. "Could I not perhaps simply, out of the goodness of my heart, want to protect a young magi from those who would persecute him?"

Oswell allowed his eyes to narrow as he sat up a little. "That is not, in my experience, the way the world works."

"You are quite right. Well done. You have come to understand something that most reject outright for their whole lives, and you have done this at such a young age. Very impressive." Haldane's smile remained, and he continued to stare into the fox's eyes. "I see potential in you. Much potential, and potential that must be nurtured."

Both of Oswell's ears twitched back as he frowned up at the wolf. "Potential?" he echoed as he tilted his head. "My father warned me. He told me that any magi who used the word 'potential' to praise me was a threat... someone who wanted to take and use my power for their own ends."

The wolf didn't look insulted. In fact, if anything he seemed amused by Oswell's words. "Any magi would use the word as praise, and therefore your father's advice is sound. I of course would relish having your power at my disposal, but we can discuss such things later." He nodded past Oswell to the wall he'd opened to allow them in. "We both know they do not seek you simply for being magi."

Oswell's frown deepened as he finally tore his eyes away to glance around himself. "Everyone here is afraid of magi," he pointed out.

"But that fear is useful to Talmaruk," Haldane replied with a wry smile. "The sorcerer-lords of the royal family are respected as much as they are feared. Rogue magi are hunted often by them... and that fear keeps the other Talmarukan magi in line." He perked an eyebrow as his smile thinned.

The fox's jaw dropped a little as he sat up taller. He felt his tail try to tuck up under him as he stared back at Haldane. "You're one of their sorcerers, aren't you?"

Haldane's smile twitched for the barest moment. "Once upon a time, yes, I was one of the royal sorcerer-lords," he admitted with a shake of his head. "But now? Now I am just another rogue magi looking to go his way without interference. Every day they make it harder to do so alone, and I have been... seeking an apprentice. An assistant who could learn from me, and who could aid me. It could be you."

Oswell glanced back at the wall again as a flicker of fear took hold. Haldane could open and close it at will, but the fox hadn't the kind of power nor the right sort of power to command the stone like that. He knew magi were capable of exerting their minds to the point of moving objects -- sometimes with extraordinary force, as Haldane had already demonstrated -- but such techniques were far beyond him and his incomplete instruction. "You don't want me," he muttered as he turned back to Haldane.

That made the wolf laugh, and he shook his head even as Oswell frowned at him. "Why? Because they call you killer? Rogue? Murderer? Please. Those beasts out there do not scare me, and nor should they scare you."

"There's enough of them, and they're more than strong enough to... kill..." The fox's frown deepened as he looked up at the wolf's face again. His eyes were once more drawn inexorably to Haldane's. "How do you know what they said I did?" he asked, as a dark suspicion began to worm its way up through him. "They... didn't say anything when you saved me."

This time, both of Haldane's eyebrows politely lifted as he stared down his muzzle at the fox. "I could tell you that I have been watching you for weeks now; following and tracking your every move to keep an eye on you. Such a thing would be true, after all, and more than sufficient to fool you.

"I could tell you that I know because I have been protecting you. That I have been quietly diverting the royal and city guards from your path, to keep you safe." His smile shifted into a smirk as he shook his head at the fox. "Such a thing would also be true, but it would be insulting to deceive or coddle you by making you believe that my efforts are completely altruistic."

"You killed them," Oswell breathed as he pushed himself up off the rug. His ears went flat as he shook his head and backed away from Haldane. "_You_killed that mother... and... gods..." The fear and anger that had been boiling up through Oswell froze with the realization. "Gods all... you... you-"

"Killed her children as well. Yes, Oswell. I did." The wolf's stare and smile remained perfectly even. Somehow, the casualness and remorselessness of the admission only terrified Oswell all the more. "Their deaths were necessary for the greatness of my plans to come into being."

The fox's eyes widened further. Haldane was mad; he was quite sure of it. "Why?" he managed to gasp when words could finally be summoned to his throat. "Why would you..."

Haldane rolled his shoulders in an easy shrug as he leaned back into his chair and folded his paws down in his lap. "Do this to you? This is a test, my boy. A trial for you to pass, to determine if you were worthy of my instruction. You-"

"No... no, not that," the fox interrupted with another shake of his head. He felt the wall behind him as he realized he'd backed right up against it, and the sensation of that firm stone sent a shiver through him. He was trapped there, under a mountain with a murderous magi. "The mother. Her children. Why would you just... just kill them? Why would you kill cubs to test me?"

The friendly expression on Haldane's face vanished all at once under an air of disappointment. "A reverence for life... disappointing. This will be the first thing I must purge from you. How frustrating."

Anger flickered to life again and gave Oswell a moment's defiance. "Reverence for life is not a bad thing!" he retorted. "I was taught that all life must be respected!"

"Then your instructor was a coward and a fool," Haldane replied with a weary sigh. "Do not think that I failed to notice the guard you stunned into unconsciousness, boy. You hide your true power well."

"He lives, and he does so because I hide it," Oswell growled back. "I take care with my powers because I don't have the best control over them yet. I could hurt them, or worse. They don't deserve to die because I didn't restrain myself, or because I wasn't trained completely."

The wolf leaned back in his chair and perked an eyebrow. He still didn't look too angry with Oswell's outburst. "You think they will take care when they put an arrow in your heart?" he suggested.

"Just because they mean to kill me, I should kill them back?" Oswell scoffed. "Just because they wish me harm, I should want to harm them? Their lives have value just as much as mine."

Haldane snorted as he rolled his eyes. "Please. There is one form of life in this entire world that is worthy of both their life and the bounties of the world itself. Do you know what it is?" He leaned forward again as he stared hard at the fox. "Magi."

He rose from his chair as Oswell pressed back harder against the wall, but no enraged attack came. Instead, the wolf tilted his head to the ceiling. "Imagine a child born to the world," he continued as he lifted a paw. "The child is perhaps a wolf like me, or a fox like you, or a rabbit like your baker friend. Makes no difference. Imagine a child born to the world, and imagine them with no paws."

Oswell stared up in horror even as Haldane smiled down at him. "None fore, none beneath. Unable to reach and grasp. Unable to affect the world around them. Always carried, always aided, and always helpless. Powerless to affect the world around them. Powerless to shape their own destiny. Pitiable, yes?" The wolf's smile softened slightly as green light began to play across his extended fingers. "Compare to the healthy child.

"Compare to the wolf or fox or rabbit child who is born _with_their paws. They are not seen as infirm or flawed. They can reach and grasp and run. They can support themselves and they can take charge of their life. They can be a part of the world around them... they can interact with it in a way that the child born wrong cannot possibly imagine."

The glow around the wolf's fingers brightened for a moment as Haldane curled them into a fist and pulled them down. A dull crunch echoed throughout the room as Oswell fell into a crouch. Above him, sheathed in the same green light that lit Haldane's fingers, the roof had collapsed down a few inches. He'd wrenched the whole _ceiling_down. "What are you-"

"We are the children with paws," Haldane continued as if Oswell had not spoken, and his voice took on a new edge that hadn't been there before. "We are the ones with the power and ability to shape our destiny. We can not only observe the world, but the world itself is a plaything to such as we. We have the power, the means and the understanding to bend the world itself to our whims, and this is our birthright alone as magi."

He took a long, deep breath as he forced his fingers to uncurl. He flattened his paw parallel to the ceiling and began to lift it again, and Oswell watched as the stone ceiling pushed itself back up to where it had previously been. "Whereas they," he added, and almost spat the second word, "are... less. They are infirm. Flawed and broken. They lack the ability to command magic, and so lack the ability to shape the world around them."

"There's nothing we can do that they can't," Oswell protested. He cringed back as he watched Haldane's expression turn slightly annoyed. "You move stone and soil. They can do it, too. Maybe not as easily, but they can. I can put a thought in their heads, but they can do it to others with just words. We just... do it easier than they do."

Haldane's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he stared hard at Oswell. "When they can command lightning just as you could with your aerun_powers, then I may admit you have a point. Until then, there are many, _many other things that magi can do that they cannot."

Oswell wanted to raise his voice and argue, but he could see in Haldane's face that it was a waste of his time. Instead he tilted his head up and allowed his disgust to plainly show through his voice. "And this is why the mother and her children had to die?" he asked. "Because they were infirm in this twisted sense of the world you've built for yourself?"

"Because their lives were pointless. Meaningless. In their deaths, they have done something far, far more important than they ever could in life." Haldane folded his arms as he drank in the shock and horror on Oswell's features. "You think me a monster."

Oswell felt the growl in his throat even as he swallowed it down. "I do."

"Then you are not as smart as I had given you credit for." The wolf shook his head and sighed. "My philosophies and my thoughts on the nature of this world and our place in it need not be yours but pragmatism is a quality you had best learn. A monster I might be to you, but that is the wrong thing to focus on." His eyes glittered as the smile slowly returned. "What you should focus on is what I can do for you."

"You would just seek to twist me into your weapon," Oswell growled back. He felt a tingle in his fingers as electricity briefly flashed between them.

Haldane obviously sensed or saw the discharge, because his eyes immediately zeroed in on the fox's paw. "You see that there?" he asked as he nodded to Oswell's paw. "You feel that there? That is but a fraction of the power that lies dormant within you. With time and training, you could harness that lightning in your grip as a means to defend yourself. To halt an attacker in their tracks, or to intimidate a warrior about to charge you down."

Oswell sniffed to clear his leaking nose -- as nice as the warmth of the cavern was, the contrast to the cold outside set his nostrils to practically gushing -- as he shook his head again. "Or to kill your enemies for you," he retorted. "A bolt of lightning to casually rip someone's life away."

The wolf laughed at that. "Boy, I could spear you clean through with a shard of stone before you could utter another word. Do not think for a second that I feel the need to have some fox kit do my killing for me. When death is something that must be doled out, I assure you that I am quite capable of doing it for myself. You, however, cannot say the same."

As the wolf stepped forward, Oswell could feel the barest brush of Haldane's thoughts against his own. It wasn't invasive, but it was certainly uncomfortable for the young vulpine. "I am proud of my restraint," he replied even as he shored up his mental defenses. Ulurn magic was powerful in the right paws and Haldane had demonstrated already that he was skilled with it, but Oswell's mind was his own fortress. His aerun powers would protect him as surely as they would warp the thoughts of another.

"Yes you are, and this is a misplaced pride," Haldane continued. His thoughts continued to work away at Oswell's, and caused the fox to grit his teeth against the strange sensation. "You fear killing for whatever reason. You fear defending yourself against the brutes that would cut you down without considering that you perhaps are not guilty of the crimes they believe you are." His eyes glittered as he smiled. "You fear being the monster you see me to be."

The grind of the wolf's thoughts against Oswell's barriers abruptly sharpened and jabbed forward. The spike of thought battered against Oswell's mental walls, and the fox staggered back bodily under the weight of the impact. It failed to break through, but the wolf still smiled wider. "You are subtle. Manipulative. You tweak perception and awareness and use that to skulk about the streets, avoiding the fights you know are to come."

Oswell grit his teeth as he buckled under another mental strike from Haldane, but he used the wall at his back to keep himself upright. Still, his mind's fortifications held. "I don't need to hurt anyone," he growled back as he felt Haldane's probing mind withdraw for a moment. "I just want to live."

"Then prove it to me," Haldane replied as his thoughts rammed against Oswell's barriers again. "Show me! Let me see your conviction then, boy!"

The impact did not weaken Oswell's defense, but he still dropped the walls anyway. As they suddenly found purchase, Haldane's thoughts began to snake into Oswell's head. The young fox growled back against them as pain and anger sharpened his awareness to a single point. He could feel the wolf's thoughts inside him. He could trace them back to Haldane's lowered barriers. Further than that, even; he could trace the back to the source. He could feel Haldane's exposed mind.

There was no time to hesitate, but this time Oswell didn't hesitate. He'd not wanted to hurt the guard, but Haldane was a threat magnitudes greater. With his mind, Oswell opened up the link that Haldane had forced between their thoughts and poured all the discomfort and pain he felt into the connection.

His growls immediately lost some volume as the pain faded, but Haldane made up for it. He grunted at first, only to cry out in surprised agony as the feelings he'd visited upon Oswell were fed back through the link and into his own mind. He broke the contact immediately and stumbled aside, dazed for a moment. Lightning again crackled in Oswell's grip as he drew himself upright and prepared for a new mental attack.

And then Haldane laughed.

Oswell froze up with confusion and surprise as the wolf lifted his head with a broad grin. Blood trickled from his muzzle; at some point during the assault Oswell had launched on him, he seemed to have shredded his lower lip with an errant fang. "Good!" he crowed with another laugh. "Very good! Very impressive!"

Intended to be a taunt or not, Oswell took it as such. He began to reach out with his mind to spear the wolf's thoughts again, but a wave of Haldane's paw slammed Oswell back into the wall. He hit it hard enough to break his concentration and gasped as his arms and legs were splayed out wide before the wolf. "Ah-ah. No. This test is over, little fox. No need to ruin what could be the start of a beautiful friendship with your death... or even my own."

"I want to leave," Oswell growled against his invisible bonds. "I do not want your help anymore, Haldane. I will go my own way, and if you won't allow me to leave I will do whatever I have to in order to survive."

Again came the wolf's laugh, even as he shook his head. "Such new confidence and bravado. You think yourself my equal because you have a stronger mental attack than me?" The invisible force that held Oswell pinned suddenly tightened, and the fox cried out in pain. "I am impressed by you, boy. You have a strong spirit beneath that simpering pacifism. My interest will not save you if you decide you want to keep threatening me."

The fox growled and gasped as he pressure about his chest intensified further, as if it sought to squeeze the air out of his lungs. "I'll do... what I have to," he hissed back.

Both of the wolf's ears perked as he cocked an eyebrow. "You'll kill me, will you?" he asked. "You'll kill the guards outside if they stop you, yes?"

"If... I... have to," Oswell gasped. The force increased again, to the point where he couldn't even squirm against the wall. It was like the mountain itself pressed down atop him.

And then, suddenly, it was gone. He hit the ground even as he tried to suck in deep lungfuls of air, the pain of his impact forgotten in the relief of his freedom. Fingers curled against the rug beneath his boots, and he ran his muzzle along it even as he panted hard for breath.

For his part, Haldane was silent until those deep gasps began to quiet down. He simply observed from behind folded arms as Oswell recovered, and waited for the fox to meet his gaze before he at last nodded. "Good. Very good."

"Good?" Oswell croaked as he glared at the magi. "How is-"

"Because now I have seen you for what you truly are, Oswell," he replied as he tilted his head up. "With your own mortality staring you in the face and the petty morals of this world stripped away, I am finally able to see you. You, without restraint. You, at your core. You, unchained by this reverence for life you cling to."

Oswell glared darkly back at Haldane as he rubbed at his throat. The smile that crept back across the wolf's bloody muzzle set a tremor through Oswell. "And honestly? It was more than I could have hoped. You are more than I hoped. You are a survivor at your core, and that is so very rare to see in magi. This is what I had hoped to find, and why you stand out above the others."

Something must have shown in the fox's face as he looked the wolf up and down; something that gave away his disgust. Again came that quiet rumble, and Oswell's tail tucked just a little lower between his legs. "You despise my methods. You think me a monster for murdering those children. Their mother." He perked an ear as he glanced up at the fox again. "And do you think they would do any less to you?

"Do you think that if they knew you were magi, they would not steal into your room at night and slit your throat as an infant?" He continued to speak, even before Oswell could think of the words to reply with. "Yes, you were set up. Yes, you are no murderer. But you still fled here in the first place. You came to Talmaruk on the run, yes? Why?"

Oswell felt a minute surge of anger before he carefully squashed it again. Still, the glint in the wolf's eye told Oswell that he'd sensed it nonetheless. "That has nothing to do with anything," he growled. There was no point in hiding it; Haldane obviously knew the question's answer before he'd asked.

Haldane barked a quick laugh as he stood up again. "It does not have anything to do with it? Do you really expect me to believe a magi of your considerable potential simply chose to come to Talmaruk? To a place where the only magi respected by the people are those in service to the royal family?"

"You assume that I knew anything about magic before I came here," Oswell replied with a snort. "Anyone who knows anything at all about magic knows better than to make assumptions."

"Your father was the aerun magi Gorwyn Cordwell," Haldane replied as he stared the fox down. "Former house magi to a Vendir lord and chased from home by a pack of savages. Your mother was Amity, fraen-attuned and untrained, but your father was able to tap her powers to augment his healing magic." His smile turned cool as Oswell's eyes widened. "I do not make assumptions, boy. I make certain that I know exactly what I am dealing with before I make a single move."

A sick feeling pervaded Oswell's stomach as his tail tucked right up under him. "Did you-"

A snort from Haldane interrupted Oswell. "Of course not," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "To murder your parents would make an immortal enemy of you. I had no role in their deaths, I give you my word."

"Your word's worth nothing to me." Oswell shook his head as amusement sparked once more across Haldane's features.

"As that may be, this knowledge alone should serve as proof enough that I have watched you for a considerable period of time. I know what you can do, where you come from and what you could yet become. This is why, at your most vulnerable, I propose this." Haldane chuckled quietly. "Of course you mistrust me. Of course you think nothing of me. Of course you would sooner see me burn than teach you."

Oswell nodded once. "And why does that make you think I'll suddenly turn around and kneel for you?"

Haldane barked another short laugh. "Desperation. Nothing else sways the heart and mind of a person with such vigor. You will kneel for me because you will have no other choice. I have no interest in forcing you to my will, boy. I will not poison your head with a will to betray and murder me in my sleep." Again his muzzle twitched. "You are now, of course, absolutely free to go."

It felt for a moment to Oswell like confusion was going to become his standard state. It rushed through him again as he stared up at the murderous magi. "I... am?"

Haldane nodded. "Of course. You always have been. I did not expect that you would want to work with the person who killed children in order to set up a test for you. Not yet; not so long as you have no need of it." He nodded to the wall behind Oswell. "You need only ask, and I will let you back into the city."

"Back into... why there? Why not anywhere else?" Oswell frowned as he pushed himself up to his knees, and then rose onto his footpaws again.

The wolf chuckled quietly to himself and shook his head. "If you do not want my help, I have no interest in helping you," he replied with a shrug. "If you're not being helped by me, then you can go and deal with the consequences of your choices all by yourself. Escape the guards, all by yourself. Kill me if you like..." His smile turned cold as he added, "... and if you can."

A frown began to furrow Oswell's brow as he flattened his ears. It was clear as day that he couldn't trust the wolf before him. Nor could he be certain that he even could kill Haldane; a moment's distraction would be all he'd need to shut down Oswell's attack, and then he could rely on his more conventionally offensive powers to finish the fox off.

The temptation to try was strong, after what Haldane had done and how he thought to manipulate the fox. The thought drew a new growl to Oswell's throat as he stared down the wolf. "How many people have you tried to convince to become your apprentice this way?" he asked.

Haldane snorted. "This way? None. My methods are usually far, far more rigorous, but your natural talent with the manipulation of the mind necessitated a different approach." He smirked and perked an eyebrow. "There have been many others who I have trialled, though. Most have not survived. None were as... impressive as you."

"And you're just letting me go?" Oswell asked. He backed toward the wall again. The fox wasn't so sure he wanted to go right back out into the cold and the streets crawling with guards, but he was very sure he didn't want to stay anywhere near Haldane.

For his part, the wolf simply nodded. "Of course. As I said, I cannot and will not force you into my service. I think we will be able to do great things together, but you must come to it in your own time and in your own way." His smile slipped for a brief moment. "Perhaps you will come to that service today. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps weeks or months or years away. I know that there will come a day where you will so badly need my help, and on that day? I _will_be there."

There was another rumble that ran through the floor. It rose up the wall at Oswell's back with such ferocity that the fox could feel the vibrations thrum through his entire body in all manner of unpleasant ways. He didn't doubt the wolf's words. "And what if the day doesn't come?" he asked. "What if I never decide I want to study magic with the likes of you?"

The smile left Haldane's face once more as he knelt down to trace a fingertip across the floor. "You may never want to," he said as an emerald glow shimmered behind his eyes. "But so often we must set aside what we want... in favor of what we need. Let us see how long it takes you to learn this lesson."

That glow in his eyes flashed brighter before Oswell could utter another word. The same sort of light raced down the wolf's arm and shot along a crack in the floor right beneath Oswell. The fox glanced down in surprise as the cavern rumbled once again, and his jaw went slack as the light filtered throughout the cracks beneath his boots. The runic circle that Haldane had broken into the rock with his powers took on the light of those powers as Oswell, too late, realized what those tremors had accomplished.

Then the light beneath him bloomed up and enveloped the fox, and he could only feel himself fall.