Insurrection - Chapter Eleven
#26 of Blood And Water
Blood And Water - Insurrection
Part Four: AERUN
Chapter Eleven
The pain came when the light faded.
There was no time to take in the details of their destination. No sooner than Deacon felt solid ground beneath his footpaws again did he feel a bolt of electricity lash his chest. It came with a pulse of force that ripped him away from Ransley and Bain, and he skidded across the floor on his back as he desperately tried to get his bearings.
Smoke rose from the hole in his robe, and a ginger touch to his chest saw that fur and flesh had been seared away by the strike. A glance up showed Ransley and Bain, their paws both raised to fend off bolts of energy from a horde of unseen attackers. Deacon poured his energy into healing the burn as he pushed himself back up onto his footpaws again and ran toward the others.
He arrived just as Bain shuddered and dropped to one knee, but the otter defiantly kept his paws up and his focus on whatever he was doing to maintain his defensive barrier. Through the flashes of light, Deacon could see at least two magi that were the source of a large amount of the lightning that lashed the shield. He growled as he reached out toward them with his mind, and found their defenses lowered. Their focus was on overpowering Bain and Ransley's shield, not on protecting their minds.
It only took a spear of thought; a twist in their minds to turn their attention on one another. The streams of lightning left the shield as they faced and attacked one another instead. The pain of their friendly fire broke Deacon's implanted suggestion, but at least it bought the fox enough time to gauge the situation.
Those two magi were joined by three more, dressed in the same ash gray robes that seemed to be standard fare for the Ring of Fate. Of the three that still stood, the centermost had woven into existence the same sort of shield that Ransley had. To that magi's left was a fraen_practitioner, whose paws were covered in flame presently held back. The magi on the right was a step back, with a paw on the _ulurn magi's back.
Deacon bared his teeth as he reached out with his mind to the other fraen magi and grasped for the fire that bloomed in her paws. She felt his influence reach out to take control of the flames and pressed back against it, but Deacon growled and pushed in harder than she could withstand. A flicker of thought stoked those flames beyond her control, and the fireballs erupted in flash of light that engulfed the magi. She cried out from within the conflagration that wrapped about her body before Deacon twisted his wrist and snapped her neck with a flick of telekinetic force.
The eruption was enough to buffet the two remaining magi enough to disrupt their shield, and Deacon grasped both of their bodies before they could even hit the ground. They drifted apart for a moment as their arms and legs flailed in a panic, before the fox brought his paws together and slammed the enemy magi together in mid-air.
They tumbled to the ground, unconscious but alive as the shield that Ransley and Bain had erected began to flicker and fade. Deacon immediately knelt down beside Bain and tilted the otter's chin up. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm... fine," he panted as he smiled at Deacon. "Whew... magic's hard. Are you alright? I saw you take that first bolt, and-"
"It is fine, do not worry," he replied and wrapped the otter up in a tight hug. "That was quick thinking with the shield... I'm just glad they hit me instead of you."
"There'll be plenty more to try to hit you both, trust me" Ransley muttered.
Deacon looked up at the ferret as he helped Bain back up. He took his first real look at the room they found themselves in and frowned. The walls were round and formed a high dome, with elaborate runes etched and carved into every inch of its surface. Those runes pulsed and throbbed slowly with violet light that radiated out from the center of the floor and along the runes right to the walls. There it raced up through the traced symbols and hurtled toward the topmost point on the dome. "What is this place?" he asked.
"It's called the hub," Ransley replied as he turned and looked around. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the room, but nor did there seem to be any exit from it either. "The Ring built this place on top of a wellspring of arcane energy... a confluence of ilaen_and _ulurn magic that was suitable for this. Every member of the Ring who's inducted is taught how to tap the confluence point from anywhere in the world to return here without exhausting one's self. Only the masters know how to send from here to somewhere else."
"So we're nowhere near the Imperium, right?" Bain asked as he pushed off of Deacon's helping paw. He wandered over toward Ransley on what seemed to be steady footpaws, but Deacon followed close behind nonetheless.
Ransley nodded back. "From the few times I've been outside this place, I'd guess we're somewhere near or in Kashirad," he added. He sounded distracted as he continued to scan the walls. "Not sure how close, but it's almost always damn cold out."
"And who were the greeting party?" Deacon asked. He felt his left paw twitch and looked down. Sparks leaped between his fingers before he curled the paw into a fist. Once more he felt Oswell's amusement. That he hadn't tried anything since the temple didn't fill Deacon with confidence.
"Three sentries and the tenders," Ransley replied. He started toward one particular part of the wall, not especially different from the others as far as Deacon could tell. "Fraen and aerun magic might make for some spectacular attack power, but this confluence is charged with ilaen and ulurn magic. There needs to be two tenders -- one attuned to each aspect of the confluence -- in order to regulate the energies tapped here." He glanced at Bain as he stopped beside the wall. "This is why I needed you to come. Even with all of Deacon's power, he's completely the wrong magi for the task."
Bain looked confused, but Deacon nodded in understanding. "Only the tenders can open the door?" he suggested.
Ransley smirked as he nodded and pressed a paw to the wall. "I can channel the ulurn energy necessary, but I need Bain's help to open it properly," he said. "And that will take our full focus. You will have to protect us while we open the door."
"Protect us from what?" Bain asked.
"From the others here; keep up, Bain." Ransley smirked at him and waved the otter over. "Come here. I'll walk you through it. Nice and easy."
Deacon felt the furs on the back of his neck start to stand on end. Once more came Oswell's laugh as he turned back toward the center of the hub and settled into a crouch. "These others," he muttered as he conjured flame to his paws.
The purple light that raced up the walls abruptly paused in its travel and rushed back down again. It converged on the center of the hub's floor and pulsed there, but this time Deacon was ready for the flash of light. He held back his power and waited, waited, waited...
Then the light faded, and a trio of magi were left in its place.
They were faced partially away from Deacon and were as ready for the fox's assault as he had been for that of the sentries. Fire streamed from his paws and doused the entire center of the hub, and two of the reinforcing magi were instantly burned away. They cried out in pain as the flames washed over them like a river, while the third curled a paw into a fist and drew the flame into their grasp. That fist was tugged downward, and all of the flame that swirled about the arrival point was snuffed to nothing.
The magi drew back his hood with white-gloved paws to reveal the face of an elderly-looking fox. Deacon's eyes widened for a moment; the magi almost looked like Oswell. If not for some darker fur about the muzzle and slightly tilted eyes, they were a dead ringer for his creator. The smirk on the magi's features seemed familiar as he tilted his head up in challenge.
Deacon accepted it and hurled a quick bolt of flame at the magi. It had barely left his paw before it was driven off-course by the other magi's power. The second and third bolts were loosed in quick succession, but they too were swept around the other fox with barely an effort. He grit his teeth as he drew his arms back, took a breath and drove a solid stream of flame toward his enemy.
Both of the other fox's paws lifted to meet the assault, but not to catch the flames. Instead, an opposing stream of fire leaped from his grasp to meet Deacon's half-way. An inferno brewed between them; a ball of seething flame that burned like the sun. Deacon grunted as he pinned his ears back and closed his eyes, his full focus on the surge of magic in his paws.
He felt it, just as he had before, as a tingle at the edge of his awareness. He recognized Oswell's reach for what it was as his creator grasped for control of his body again. Deacon was forced to growl as he abruptly eased back on the arcane tug-of-war to keep Oswell pinned down. "Don't you dare," he hissed.
Or what, you will allow us both to be incinerated? Oswell's derisive snort echoed like thunder in Deacon's mind, his voice louder than it had been. A flicker at the edge of Deacon's awareness drew his gaze for a moment, and there he saw Oswell again in his full state. He had to remind himself that it was just a trick; Oswell wasn't really there. By_this _waste of a fox? That is really what you want?
"If it kills you, so much the better!" he snarled back as he redoubled his effort to force that fireball back into the Ring magi. "You'll do anything to survive!"
The projection of Oswell laughed again, and this time Deacon heard the sound come from the hallucination's muzzle. And so will you, he replied as he nodded at Deacon's paws. You are me, after all.
Deacon's gaze dipped to his paws and saw what Oswell meant. Even without trying, sparks of crimson lightning had begun to dance between his fingers as he fought to push back the torrent of the other magi's flames. So afraid of tapping my aerun magic, and there you are. Funny how that survival instinct works, is it not?
With a roar of rage, Deacon reached into that shard of thought and poured his frustration with his creator right down into it. The sparks of lightning died immediately as the image of Oswell shimmered out of his sight. The distraction only pushed the fireball closer, and Deacon could hear the roar of the flames as they swirled mere inches from his paws. The strain in his mind mounted as he was forced to fight both within and without.
Then he saw the violet light in the walls freeze, and trickle down again. More were coming.
Deacon's eyes widened as he cast a glance over his shoulder. Ransley was busy as he tried to teach Bain how to channel his ilaen powers. Bain couldn't afford to be distracted. He was alone. Alone, with only Oswell willing to help him. He felt a whimper slip out of his muzzle as his tail drooped low. If he didn't use Oswell's power -- if he didn't risk being consumed by Oswell -- he wouldn't live long enough to be able to help destroy him.
But then, just as the purple light bloomed in the center of the hub, Deacon's eyes widened with an idea. He sucked in a deep breath as he focused on that ball of flame and grasped for it not with his fraen powers, but with his mind. The surge of flame in his grasp cut off as he stopped fighting the massive fireball. It surged forward, and Deacon pulled it.
He yanked it down onto his arm as he spun around, his every thought focused on containing the fireball with a telekinetic field. He snarled as he twisted about and dragged the fireball with him, and he only caught a glimpse of the other fox's fear-struck face for a moment before the fireball once more blocked his view. Then, once it was between Deacon and the other fox, he hurled it with all of his might.
Unprepared, the other magi tried to raise his paws to fend off the blow just as he had done with Deacon's bolts of flame. The fireball was so much more massive though, and there was just too much energy for him to divert in time. Behind him, four more magi appeared in the midst of the flash of light.
And they, like the fox, were consumed completely by the fireball as it passed through them.
Deacon barely had time to feel elation before he felt Oswell push up and through his strain. The fox buckled and grunted as he grabbed at his head and held his breath. He shoved back against Oswell as his eyes flashed with electricity. "Uh-uh," he admonished from behind clenched teeth. "Perhaps I am not so weak as you thought me to be."
Perhaps not, but you are certainly as ignorant_as I thought,_ he countered. His image flashed back into existence before Deacon as he nodded behind the fox. You are about to miss one.
He turned in time to catch another flash of light from the hub. This one was central to the room, but between him and Ransley and Bain. Deacon's eyes widened as he caught sight of a new magi enter the room, paws raised toward Bain. The otter was unaware. Distracted. Vulnerable.
Instinct kicked in immediately as flame flashed to life in Deacon's paws. He raised them for the strike as the magi before him prepared to-
And he froze. Took a breath. Held it.
The magi didn't strike.
The breath hissed out of Deacon in a sigh as he pulled his muzzle into a toothy smile and turned back to Oswell's projection of himself. His creator looked disappointed. "That is the best trick you can manage, Oswell?" he asked as the enemy magi shimmered away into nothingness.
Oswell's eyes narrowed. And what, pray tell, gave it away?
Deacon could only smile. He'd seen the violet light shift before every transport into the chamber. Oswell's hallucinated attacker had arrived absent any such telltale sign. "For such attention to detail as you are known for, death seems to have left you lacking," he replied instead.
A flicker of anger flashed across Oswell's projected features as Deacon heard the grind of stone on stone. He turned back to Ransley and Bain in time to see the runes on the wall between them alight with motes of blue and green energy as it lifted up to create a passage. "Come on, Deacon!" Bain shouted. One paw was raised to the wall just as one of Ransley's was, and the otter's voice was tinged with strain.
Best hurry along, boy, came Oswell's taunting voice again. Would not want the poor thing to burn himself out tapping magic he is unprepared for, would we?
He glanced back at the projection of Oswell as the purple light in the hub began to wind downward once again. Still more of the Ring's magi were on their way. "How many of these acolytes does the Ring have?" Deacon grunted as he dashed for and through the doorway.
"More than I thought!" Ransley replied as he ushered Bain quickly through ahead of himself. He paused on the other side and waved the otter over. "Come on, now. Just like I said. Deacon, hold them off!"
As Bain joined Ransley on the other side of the doorway, Deacon interposed himself in the middle. He stared back inside where another three magi had appeared within a flash of light, and they turned to face him as he reached out with his mind. Their legs were swept up and out from under them before they were prepared, and Deacon thrust his paw forward to blast them across the hub and into the wall opposite.
They fell into a heap of tangled limbs as the stone doorway began to close again under Ransley and Bain's shared will. Deacon took a step back, his eyes still fixed inside as he watched Oswell flash him the thinnest of smiles. Then the door closed and sealed itself back in place, and Deacon breathed a sigh of relief. They were in.
Before the trio was a long corridor, easily wider than any road Deacon had ever seen. Black marble formed the floor and the walls, smooth and shiny as it wound in a serpentine pattern onward into the darkness. It shimmered with some form of magical light that seemed to somehow cast no shadows. The walls were bare, save for the occasional massive black opal that studded it at regular intervals. The light cast on them gave off a rainbow hue, but that reflected light also produced no shadows.
Deacon frowned as he glanced up to find that the ceiling could not be seen. If it was a trick of the architecture, the light or some other magic, the walls seemed to stretch up into the darkness before they vanished from sight. He had half a mind to toss a fireball up there to see how far the walls reached before he thought better of it. "Where do we go now?" he asked.
"Along this corridor," Ransley replied. He shouldered past Deacon as he waved the fox and otter after him. "And we hope that they don't transport in anyone behind us who can open the hub. Come on."
Deacon glanced back at the wall behind him before he followed after the ferret's brisk walk. Bain followed his gaze and frowned as he leaned into Deacon's side. "What is it?" he asked.
"I just keep seeing Oswell," he grumbled as he rubbed at his head. A slow throbbing began under his touch that seemed to emanate outward from the splinter in his mind. "He's trying to distract me... to cause me to make a mistake big enough that he can assert control. Keeping him subdued is growing more difficult."
And what, you feel your task is nearly over now that you have entered the Ring's base of operations? The words drew Deacon's attention to his left and past Bain. There he could see another projection of Oswell, leaned against the wall with his arms folded. Your task will never be over. Not until I have asserted myself properly and taken back that which is rightfully mine.
"I do not belong to you," Deacon growled back. His eyes refocused on Bain's confused expression before he nodded over the otter's shoulder. "He's... making me see and hear him," he explained, as he remembered that Bain was not able to detect Oswell's presence.
Oswell just laughed as Bain leaned into Deacon's side all the harder and Ransley shot him a concerned look. You belong to me even now, boy. You think that you are marching toward salvation? Freedom from my influence? You are walking to despair you have not known.
The fox's teeth grit as he turned his eyes away from the apparition, but he found another walking beside Ransley and just ahead of him. "Your words betray your fear," Deacon told him as he summoned all the surety he could. It was more for Bain and Ransley's benefit. They didn't need to hear in his voice the concern he felt.
Of course, that didn't mean that Ransley couldn't feel it. "Don't even engage him, fox," he suggested. His ears and his tail twitched as he started to increase his walking pace. "We are nearing the inner sanctum. They will have gathered the masters there to stop us together. We must be ready."
You have slaughtered acolytes, you know, Oswell continued. His projected self started to slow down until he walked beside Deacon instead, and he turned his head to smile at the fox. Mere acolytes. Oh, of course; a couple of masters here and there have not gone awry. You did gain the advantage on that fox within the hub, yes. Well done.
Deacon forced his eyes forward, but Oswell simply continued to talk. Even fought two at once on the plains. Oh, yes. I was watching. I have been_watching from within this whole time. Ever since the_ moment you struck me down, I have been here. Watching. Waiting. His voice became disgusted as his projection's ears flattened. Enduring the vile acts you have visited upon my body!
With a smirk, Deacon leaned in a little harder against Bain. The otter's arm slid around Deacon's waist as the fox leaned in to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek. The revulsion rolled off Oswell as Deacon heard a sound he could most accurately label as a gag. "What was that for?" Bain asked with a smile.
"Do I need a reason?" Deacon countered as he planted another little kiss on the otter's nose.
I assure you, boy, after what I have seen while trapped within you? You will not find me so easy to distract. Deacon still smiled nonetheless; Oswell's efforts to claw to the surface of the fox's thoughts seemed stymied for the moment. I promise that when I have full control, I believe I will leave your mind intact just long enough to see me create a new Bain, right before I gut him as I have all the others.
"Hold up." Ransley lifted a paw as he frowned. His tail fell unusually still, but his ears twitched madly as he glanced around. "Something is not right."
Deacon frowned as he followed the ferret's gaze around. They had reached the end of the winding corridor, and the great, wooden double doors that lay before them stretched as high as the walls themselves. Their top was lost to the darkness of distance, and a line of black opal ran up the wall on either side of the door. The wood was rich and dark and red, and it positively thrummed with arcane energy. "A trap?" he asked.
Ransley's brow furrowed as he shook his head and turned back to glance behind them. "No, I just... this makes no sense. The inner sanctum is sealed. We took the hub and they transported magi in to face us, but they left us unmolested here." He frowned at Deacon. "Why? I do not know how to breach the inner sanctum by force, and we sure can't take the hub. They will have sealed it from the other side by now."
You know how to open the way, Oswell whispered. Deacon whirled and looked around again, but this time Oswell hadn't bothered with a visual projection of himself. His words echoed in the back of Deacon's mind, though. They undulated, tinged with arcane compulsion the likes of which the fox was well and truly familiar with. Use my powers. I have the raw strength to strip their pitiful defenses away. I did it before, and I can do so again.
He shook his head for a moment in an attempt to clear it as Bain pressed a paw to his chest. "Whatever he's saying, don't listen to him," he told the fox, voice filled with concern. "We will figure something out. I know we will. We haven't come this far just to fail."
"Yes," came a quiet, female voice from the other side of the doors. Deacon, Bain and Ransley all looked up as the wood began to ripple and warp, before a shadowy figure stepped right through the solid surface. White-scaled hands reached up as Bain took a step back, and they drew back the hood that obscured the speaker's face. "Yes, you have. But you may take heart in that you_have_ made it this far."
The face was that of a dragoness, lean and angular and strained with stress and age. Her hood caught on her horns as she drew it back, the downward-curved lengths of bone an extension of the ridges that rose above her eyes. Her earfins rippled as she folded her arms within her sleeves and stared hard at the trio, though her eyes focused on Deacon. "Oswell," she muttered with a begrudging nod of respect.
Lady Kan, how_lovely _it is to see you again._Deacon's eyes narrowed as he heard the words in the back of his mind. _I wonder if she has kept my seat on her council open. "I'm not Oswell," he snarled. Flame sparkled in his grip.
Her eyes zeroed in on those flames immediately, though she did not otherwise react. There was no dismissiveness; no derision; not even amusement touched her face at the display. "Of course. You call yourself Deacon, yes?" Her tone made it clear that she already knew the answer to the question.
The fox reached out with his mind to brush along the dragoness, but she gave nothing. Every thought and every emotion was rigidly controlled. He hadn't felt such a fortress of a mind since Oswell himself. "And you call yourself Lady Kan." That drew a reaction, minuscule as it was; she lifted an eyeridge with interest even as Ransley turned toward him with surprise. "Oswell is amused to see you. I get the impression he is none too fond of you."
"The feeling is quite mutual, I assure you." She frowned as she took a step closer, but the flames flashed to life in Deacon's paws once more as she approached. "Interesting. Independent thought, and access to knowledge not of the self. Different vocal patterns. Protective behavior not only toward the self, but to others it deems worthy." Her eyes stared into Deacon's again, but it felt to him as though she was looking _through_him. "Your technique has improved, Oswell. Impressive indeed, if not any less abominable."
It is nice to be appreciated, came his voice again, and Deacon felt his muzzle curl as he bit back a sharp response. "I am not some 'it' that you can speak so degradingly of," he growled back at her. "He's inside, and locked down. If you are going to talk to someone, you are going to talk to me. Not him."
This time both of her eyeridges lifted as she began to walk slowly around the three. "Indignation. Offense. Recognition of the self as being quite separate from the parasite. Most intriguing. Most intriguing, indeed."
"Deacon's right, my lady" Ransley spoke up. He shrank back for a moment as Kan's glare turned on him, but he took a deep breath and stood tall again a moment later. "He's a living, breathing being. He's not Oswell, and he's not some... thing. He's some_one_."
She simply stared back hard at the ferret, and he squirmed under her glare. "You will wait your turn, acolyte," she said, her voice low and even and with the barest hint of malice under her cordial tone. "Your betrayal will be attended to once the matter of Oswell's vessel is dealt with. Do not think for a second your actions here will go unpunished."
"So far he's the only one of you who hasn't tried to kill us on sight!" Bain protested as he scowled at the dragoness. Her baleful stare didn't seem to faze Bain any. "You don't know us. You don't know what we've been through. You don't know what Oswell did to us and what we escaped."
The dragoness paused in her slow circling of the trio as Bain spoke. Her eyes raked up and down his body as she took him in, and Deacon watched as her gaze turned slowly more predatory. "And you are the one for whom Oswell left us," she mumbled. "Curious. I expected more from an Ahronni."
Deacon frowned as he stepped between Lady Kan and Bain. "We have come to find a way to destroy Oswell," he told her. "You can help us in this endeavor, or you can die trying to stop us."
"That is not the right tactic to take, fox," Ransley hissed from behind him.
But Kan didn't strike. Instead she favored Deacon with a thin smile. "Ah, and now it sounds more like its maker. Impatient and impetuous, though. New qualities. Different qualities. Further divergence. No wonder Oswell was so overcome. No wonder he did not predict this eventuality."
She speaks as though she understands me, Oswell sighed. How droll. I have spent over a dozen lifetimes with people who thought they could understand me. None so far have succeeded.
"I'm not going to ask you again, Kan," Deacon growled as he pushed Oswell's voice aside again. "You know the power we have on our side. You know we can destroy you and any masters you have here."
The expression that flicked across her face ever so briefly could almost have been disappointment. "Oh, there is only me," she replied with an easy shrug. "When you breached the hub, I ordered their evacuation. They will not risk the chance that I might fail to stall your wrath. Those you encountered remained to purchase time for the others to evacuate."
Ransley stepped around Deacon with a frown fixed to his features. "Evacuate where?" he asked. "There's nowhere else to go for us. The Ring of Fate is here. Where else could we go?"
Deacon caught the flicker of her surface emotions as she stared stoically back at Ransley. His muzzle twitched in a smile; the dragoness had been so carefully in control of herself until that point. "Unless the Ring of Fate is not here," he pointed out. Within his mind, he heard Oswell's chuckle. Oh, very good, boy. Very perceptive.
The snap of her head as it turned to bring the fox into view was almost audible, even as Ransley's eyes narrowed. "We are the Ring of Fate," she told him, her voice still completely under control. The crack in her mental wall vanished as she stared Deacon down. "So long as we are here, so too is the Ring."
"Unless there's more than one, right?" asked Bain with a smile. At the suggestion, Kan's eyeridges furrowed as her earfins began to bristle. Anger.
A glance at Ransley showed his mounting confusion, even as Kan turned her gaze back to Deacon. "You tell me, vessel. Where would I send the evacuees from this place? Oswell would know."
As Oswell laughed again, Ransley stepped clear around Deacon. "You lied to all of us, didn't you?" he asked as he shook his head with disbelief. "You said that we were all part of a great order with a single, glorious purpose. You said that my father worked with you and the other masters here to protect the future of the world."
"And indeed he did, I did, and we did." The anger on her face smoothed over as her earfins began to relax, and she tilted her head up slightly as she regarded Deacon. "You think you have the power to kill me and take what you want from this place. You are mistaken."
"And you are outnumbered," Deacon pointed out. "I bear Oswell's power. Ransley is more capable than I suspect even you know. And Bain... well, he has become very good at channeling the Font of Ages since this mess began."
The dragoness politely lifted her eyeridges as she turned to Bain. "Is that so?" The otter nodded, but before he could say anything his words were stolen with a cry of pain. He recoiled away from Kan as her eyes narrowed, and a line of red ripped itself into existence across his cheek.
Deacon's eyes widened as Ransley rushed to Bain's side to help steady him. The fox hadn't even felt her draw on her powers prior to the attack. "Don't you dare-"
"His ability to defend himself is minimal," Kan noted as she stared at the otter. She watched as Bain touched a shaky paw to his cheek, and his fingers came back wet with blood from the deep gash. "I have no doubt he can draw on impressive power to attack someone, but that means little if he can be rendered helpless with such a simple blow." One of her paws slid out of her sleeves as she pointed to the otter.
Before she could do anything, Deacon reached out to shove firmly at the dragoness with his mind. The air rippled with the strike, but Kan merely swayed as if buffeted by a slight breeze. She sighed as her arm tracked away from Bain and toward Deacon, and her eyes flashed for a moment before she pushed back at him.
There was barely any time to prepare himself to fend off the blow. His defenses were only slightly raised, and Deacon found himself launched into the air and against the double doors. He slammed into them hard enough to bite his tongue, and the fox tasted blood as he plummeted back to the ground. Deacon grunted with pain as he landed behind his companions.
By that time, both Ransley and Bain had worked together to erect a protective shield about themselves. The white field of arcane energy shimmered with the emerald light of Ransley's ulurn_magic, but Kan simply allowed herself to drink in the details of the wispy barrier for a moment. "Impressive. A fair melding of Ahron and _ulurn defensive techniques. Arcano-stasis, null-force, an absorption matrix ... very fine. Very fine. You were very well taught, Ransley. Your father would be proud."
Then she reached forward with one hand and curled her fingers into claws. Yellow lightning flashed in between those claws as she stretched out toward the field, and that energy began to arc toward the floor and the walls as she drew closer to them.
Deacon quickly pushed himself upright again and began to charge forward. Flame filled his paws, but he barely made it a step before Kan raised her other arm. Behind him, the double doors to the inner sanctum swung open and slammed hard into Deacon's back. The fox was battered across and into the wall as he heard a crack in his chest, and he curled inward as he fought to summon his power to heal. The doors swung back into place as Kan pulled her arm back down again, and they slammed shut with a boom that echoed down the corridor.
Bain's eyes went wide as he turned to stare after the fox with concern, but that was the break that Kan had obviously been waiting for. The shield between her and the otter weakened as his focus shifted, and in that moment she struck. The bolt that launched from her hand crackled as it passed right through the shield and struck Bain in the chest. The barrier collapsed instantly as Bain was blasted back into the doors.
Instead of taking a chance to attack Kan, Ransley instead rushed back to Bain's side. He knelt down beside the otter and placed both of his paws over the scorch in Bain's chest as the otter's eyes began to drift. "Stop this, Kan!" he roared back at her. "They didn't do anything to deserve this!"
"I agree," she replied. Her voice was even and soft once more, absent any sign of fatigue or exhaustion. Her eyes darted to Deacon for a moment, but he was still focused on healing his wounds. "They are simply the tools of Oswell's efforts. A tool cannot be good or evil. They simply are." She frowned at the ferret as green light played beneath his paws. "Come away. Healing was never your strongest technique. Allow the creature to die."
Ransley's teeth grit as he glanced over at Deacon. The fox's eyes were on him even as he fought to heal himself. "His name is Bain," he snarled back at Kan. "He is not some creature or some tool. He is a person!"
She sighed as she folded her arms into her sleeves once more. "Then perhaps you require some motivation of your own. Hmm?" She knelt down toward the ground to bring herself on level with the ferret. "What do you want, Ransley? In all this world, what is it that you desire most? What brought you to the Ring in the first place?"
He grit his teeth as his tail and ears twitched madly. "I wanted to protect people," he muttered as his arms began to tremble. Bain's breaths came shallowly, but steadily as the burn slowly mended itself closed. "I wanted to make sure no one had to lose their father the way I did. I wanted to make sure Oswell and anyone like him was stopped!"
"For your father," Kan added with a nod. Her lips curled into a smile as she tilted her head to the side. "Your father who, you should know, lives."
The ferret's eyes widened immediately as he turned to face her. The light beneath his paws faded for a moment before it returned to its full strength. "You lie," he hissed back at her. "Oswell killed him during his escape from the Ring."
Pay attention, boy, whispered Oswell through Deacon's mind as he started to rise again. This may concern you.
"That was the lie," Kan said. She turned to look at Deacon as the fox steadied himself on his footpaws, as if ready to strike should he try anything. "And only in part. He was struck down by Oswell as he tried to prevent Oswell's escape. And yet we had learned much from Oswell of his techniques... techniques we put to use in order to exact our revenge." She perked an eyeridge as she turned back to Ransley. "We did that which he has done for centuries. We crafted your father a new body. A _stronger_body."
Oswell's indignation came through the horrified Deacon loud and clear. And I suspect he is but a shadow of his former self, he grumbled. I wonder if she compensated for the catalyst's spiritual resonance; I never taught them that. Oh, but he will be very different to the person that little Cunliffe remembers.
Ransley looked just as horrified as Deacon. "You lied to me," he breathed. The ferret seemed stunned as he shook his head. "You lied to me and turned my father into... into one of Oswell's experiments!"
"A lie meant to ensure you would come to us when your training began," Kan corrected him. "A lie to ensure your mother's continued service to this council." Her smile thinned. "Cecilie saw that you would be instrumental one day during a time of great crisis. You were necessary, by any means. We saw that your father was equally integral in the future, and did that which was necessary to ensure it. That is our role in this world, acolyte."
"You manipulated a child," Deacon growled as he started toward her. "You manipulated him with the murder of his father? Not to mention what you had to do to him to put him in a new body? What future could possibly-"
One of Kan's hands lifted, palm toward Deacon. He froze in place as her power wrapped around him; a telekinetic field molded perfectly to his form. He was powerless to do anything but struggle and watch as she turned back to Ransley. "But that time -- that future -- has not yet come, Ransley. Punishment is necessary for your betrayal, yes, but you have a destiny to fulfill. One that will take you far from here, and back to your father. I will take you to him myself, if I must. I will prove the rightness of our course."
The ferret grit his teeth as he glanced back at Bain for a moment. Deacon could see that the burn hadn't really begun to heal yet; Ransley's stunted healing abilities were only enough to sustain the otter, not restore him. The degeneration that plagued him probably didn't help, either. "If I turn on these two," he mumbled.
Had he been able, Deacon would have shouted. He would have yelled in protest, or begged the ferret to do something -- anything -- just to ensure that Bain would survive. Instead he could only watch as Kan's smile softened again. "They cannot be allowed to live, acolyte," she said. "They must be destroyed to purge Oswell from this world forever. Do this and I will not only bring you to your father, but grant you a seat at my Ring's table."
Ransley's eyes went wide, and again the green light between Bain and his paws dimmed. "You would make me a master, even after I betrayed the..." He paused and frowned as he held Kan's stare. "_Your_Ring?" he echoed.
"Many hands wear more than one ring, _Master_Ransley," Kan replied with a shrug. "This Ring is mine. Others, with similar goals, exist across the world... including the one headed by your father. Our efforts have made him the strongest of us all, and he has a special place in our plans just for you. The Advent will need you, Ransley. It has been seen."
As he seemed to consider the offer, Deacon's struggle redoubled. He felt Oswell surge along with him; his creator's power strained along with Deacon to free them from the field that held them frozen. Look at him! Oswell all but yelled through Deacon's thoughts. He is about to let your precious little otter die. See what your friends are worth now, fool? Let me help you! Let me break us free!
Deacon knew he couldn't. If he let Oswell out even once more, there might be nothing he could do to save himself from his creator. He might destroy Kan first -- if he was even capable -- but his very next victim would be Bain. He wouldn't be able to reassert himself over Oswell if Oswell took full control, and Deacon didn't know if half measures would even be enough. He would need all of Oswell's power to break free.
There could be no compromise, and Oswell knew it. There was only one choice. If Bain was the only one strong enough to kill Oswell, Deacon knew that this could have been what Aishah had meant. Maybe Bain was strong enough to kill Oswell, and maybe that just meant Deacon would have to sacrifice to see him dead. But if you do not let me help you, the otter will die anyway, Oswell pointed out.
It started as a tingle in Deacon's toes as he reached into that splinter in his mind. He felt the power there as that tingle worked its way up his legs. He felt Oswell's will intermingled with it as it flooded through his body. New power; new strength rushed into Deacon as the the tingle wound up his spine, through his chest, along his tail and his arms and right to the tips of his ears. His muzzle twitched. Fingers stretched.
Kan noticed immediately, of course. Her eyes widened as Deacon's body flashed with electricity beneath her telekinetic hold on him, and she turned away from Ransley immediately to bring her other paw and full focus to bear. "Best decide quickly, Ransley," she said, though there was finally a hint of strain in her voice. "I believe Oswell has tired of our conversation."
Flame filled Deacon's eyes as he stared at Kan. His muzzle began to move, forced against her hold as the lightning that arced off him broke through the imprisoning field around his body. "I... am not... Oswell!"
The air around Deacon rippled as Kan recoiled from the fox. He was consumed by a maelstrom of lightning that filled the dark corridor with bright, blue light. His eyes burned with newly released and tapped rage as his footpaws left the ground, afloat as he tapped the fullest extent of the powers he'd been built with. Oswell guided him to them; and Deacon took hold of it all. Wind howled along the long corridor as fiery sparks twisted and rose toward the unseen ceiling.
The dragoness raised her arms up high as her fingers crackled with energy. The vortex of wind that had formed above the fox met an opposed downward force just as powerful. They canceled each other out as the sparks of errant flame danced still in the air, suspended between three magi's wills. Kan lowered her head as her eyes flashed with lightning, and grunted as she yanked her arms downward.
A telekinetic pulse slammed down atop Deacon through the vorticies with such force that it cracked the marble floor beneath him. The wave swept over and around the fox though as the lightning storm about him flashed brighter. He spread his arms wide as the flames in his eyes burned hot enough to singe his nearby fur, and the fox roared as he channeled all of the lightning into a stream.
Blue lightning met yellow as Kan held back the bolts with her own. Thunder cracked and boomed as their attacks intermingled, and new bolts arced off their contact point in green bursts that struck wall and floor randomly. Ransley kept one paw over Bain's wound as the other lifted to erect as potent a shield as he could while he still attended to the otter.
Deacon's focus however was fully on the battle before him. Even with all of Oswell's powers channeled down toward Kan, she was strong and experienced enough herself to hold him at bay. He grunted as he wrenched their attacks to the side and broke it off. Their streams cut off as they lashed the walls behind their targets, and Deacon took a deep breath as he focused his mind for what he knew was next.
Kan didn't disappoint. The attack that came -- that malicious spear of thought that sought to penetrate his mind -- almost made it through his defenses, so quick was her assault. It came not as a single blow but a series of repeated jabs that sought to batter through Deacon's defenses. He felt a growl stir in his throat as he pushed back against the strikes, his fingers curled tightly as he beat her back.
His thoughts pursued hers as she retreated behind her iron will. It rose like a wall between them as Deacon sought to worm his thoughts within her head. He felt his arm tremble with strain as he poured himself into the weakest section of the wall that he could detect. Even that weakness was so much stronger than anything he'd ever faced before. He may as well have loosed a single arrow at a castle's fortifications for all the good it did him.
The fox's eyes went wide as that wall crumbled in the wake of his attack, but not because of anything he'd done. The shards of her defense reached out to grasp at Deacon's extended will, and a yip escaped his muzzle as pain ran through his awareness. His consciousness was roughly handled as Kan drew it in, and Deacon hadn't the strength necessary to extricate himself from her. The essence of Kan's mind crushed down around the fox's will, and he felt his body buckle under the strain.
"Oh, dear," he heard himself say, dimly through the last vestiges of connection with his body and more clearly through Kan's own senses as she compressed him. "Perhaps you should not have started with Deacon's mind."
Trapped as he was, Deacon felt the terror that ran through Kan. "Oswell," she breathed, and the name echoed through her mind as dread suffused her.
With her focus so wrapped up around Deacon, her defenses were lowered for Oswell's will. It lashed out like the crack of a whip and snapped across her thoughts. It did nothing to free Deacon's will from the dragoness' grip -- and why would he? -- but it was enough to weaken Kan's mind somewhat. Her body trembled with the psychic impact as her jaw clenched. It shook again as Oswell's will slapped across the dragoness' once more.
He laughed as Deacon tried again to wriggle his will out of Kan's grip. "The trouble with magi," he taunted even as he launched another withering spear of assault against Kan, "is that you train only for single opponents. You do not have the capacity to defend against _multiple_and, while you certainly have Deacon at your mercy?" He began to growl as he struck her again. "I... am... free!"
The blows punctuated his words as the dragoness fought to protect her mind from Oswell, but it was clear that her binding of Deacon took too much of her focus. Deacon felt the echoes of his body's motions as Oswell laughed again, and he pushed back with all of the strength he could muster to break free of Kan's grip.
It worked, but only because the dragoness let him go. Deacon's mind retreated back to his body as Kan reached out to blow Oswell's next strike, and she growled back at him even as she staggered under the force of his will. "The others will stop you, even if I cannot," she snarled at him, as her anger and frustration finally shone through.
But as Deacon heard Oswell laugh again through his own ears, he realized that Kan's release of his mind didn't matter. He'd been pulled almost clear of himself entirely, and Oswell had filled that void all too eagerly. His creator was in control of his body, and Deacon's mind had nowhere to go but into the spot where Oswell had been trapped. Despair tugged at him as he felt himself sucked into that tiny space, his whole self compressed once more.
It wasn't complete constraint, of course; he'd opened the way for Oswell's powers to flow forth, and Deacon still had a measure of control. Oswell was distracted as Kan fought back. While her attacks were ineffective in stopping or even slowing Oswell, they required his focus to defend. That left Deacon enough of an opportunity to snake himself back up out of the splinter and try to integrate himself with Oswell's motions.
Whether part of some unknown plan or hubris, Oswell didn't fight him. He allowed Deacon's will to creep up along his own as he took physical control back in part and brought up his paws. Within him, he felt Oswell's will begin another series of sharp assaults on Kan's weakened form. Oswell had been right. She couldn't fight off two different attacks at once.
As Oswell launched his strikes against her mind, Deacon gathered what power he could and compressed it tight between his paws. The air pulsed and rippled outward as the telekinetic force grew and grew, and he grit his teeth as he waited, waited, waited-
-and struck.
His paws shot forward as he loosed the bolt of force. The air shimmered with energy as it crashed into the immobile dragoness and drove her backward. The wave itself broke against the double doors of the inner sanctum as they lit up with the doors' protective enchantments.
But the force of Kan's impact was enough to blow them open as they parted for her passage. A sizable chunk of the door came free and spun off into the chamber beyond, along with Kan herself. The doors swung fully open as the dragoness slammed against a massive round table in the heart of the chamber, and she rolled across it -- and narrowly avoided the huge pit in the table's heart -- before she skidded off and struck the ground.
Deacon was given no time to recover from his exertion. He grunted and sank to one knee as he felt Oswell's mind rise around his own like a stockade. "N-no..." he managed to grunt as his head lowered. Higher and higher rose Oswell's will. It wrapped around him, penned him in, forced him down and back and-