Topic: Cleansing the Heart

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:29 EST
The dusk had only just given way to full night when the Dawn Rider and her motley band of warriors reached the passage they had cleared the night before. They were an interesting group to travel with - Katla, easily the smallest and yet the best armed; Bjarth, a bear of a man who wore little armor and carried a massive double-headed axe; Sven, tall but slight, armed with a brace of daggers about his waist; and the last addition to their company, Annar, a hooded, masked youth who bore with him only a staff. Together, they crouched in the dark forest, each alert for any sign of the dead, as Katla and Aiden crawled forward to be sure there was no revenant waiting for them.

And then there was Aiden, armed only with the sword, his bow and arrows left back at the settlement, as it was unlikely they'd be needed - but what a sword it was. Unlike anything the tribe had ever seen before, finely crafted with mysterious sigils engraved on the blade - made with a special purpose in mind and that purpose was defeating evil. He wore no special armor but his ragged coat, except for the bracers Sigrun had given him, still fastened to each arm, marking him as Katla's claim.

Keeping still in the deep shadow of the trees, Katla studied the dark passage into the mountain. Away from the Mountain-Hawk Hold, she was a little more open, but somehow even more fierce; the undisputed leader of her hunting party, despite being the only woman. Aiden had seen all three sides of her personality now, but this was the part of her that had earned her legend-mark. This was the Dawn Rider. "If that revenant lived, this place would be crawling with dead," she murmured, her voice almost lost in the sigh of the trees. "That blade of yours is a legend-sword."

Aiden had turned even more quiet and focused since leaving the mountain-hold. He knew it was up to him to kill the demon, and hence, free his sister, but he had no way of knowing how many dead they'd have to go through before they reached their goal and he didn't want to have the blood of Katla's people on his hands. Still, somehow he knew the Goddess had led him to them or vice versa. He would never have been able to defeat all the dead on his own. "We don't know what?s inside yet," he whispered back.

"Corpses and ghouls, mostly," she told him, tilting her head back to let out a low, haunting whistle that did not seem out of place in the dark landscape around them. "Revenants further in. They'll be trying to corrupt your sister into an abomination - we'll have to retrieve her first. Annar can reverse the corruption so long as her heart is still beating."

"We need to focus on the revenants. Once we get rid of them, the rest of the dead will disperse," he reasoned. Though his main goal was to rescue his sister, it was his sworn duty to defeat the demon that had claimed the Heart of the mountain for its own. If he succeeded in defeating it, then the tribe and the lowlanders would be freed of its reign and be able to once again live in peace, even if it cost him his life.

"Once you get rid of them," she pointed out archly. "Only you can kill them. We can take care of the ghouls and corpses, but all we can do to a revenant is destroy the body it inhabits. With luck, there won't be more than two that we have to get past." She glanced up as the rest of their party joined them, moving quietly through the trees.

"Bloody hell," Bjarth murmured in awe. "It's really dead."

That was what Aiden was looking for, but these weren't his people and it wasn't up to him to give the orders. He needed to hear her say it, before he could tell the others what to do. "Don't let the quiet fool you," he murmured back, moving to take the lead. "Stay close and don't make a sound. Once they know we're here, they'll stop at nothing to defeat us." He slowly drew the blade from his back before moving quietly forward, not making a sound.

Katla nodded, pausing just long enough to tell her men what she expected them to do. They had to keep Aiden alive - nothing else mattered. The words "Shadow-Walker" brought a low curse from Sven, but nothing more was said. If nothing else, they trusted the Dawn Rider, and if she said Aiden was not a danger to them, then he was not a danger. Weapons were loosened from their sheaths and belts as they crept forward at Aiden's back. None of them were expecting to live through the night, but they were determined to take the dead with them when they went.

It wasn't so much Aiden who was leading the way as it was the sword - or more accurately, Aiden was being led by the sword, feeling his way through the tunnels and passages, almost as though he and the sword were connected in some way. He could feel his sister's presence somewhere inside and knew she still lived, and though dimmed, it was toward the light of her spirit the sword led.

Their trek was tense and almost painful in places for the band at his back. This place had once been the jewel of their people, but it had been the first to fall to the demons who ruled over the dead. They passed dark doorways from which came the groans of the dead, the sickening shuffle of rotting limbs that thankfully did not come any closer. Yet as they approached the deeper hallways, Katla laid a hand against Aiden's back, pulling him to a stop.

"This is where we take point," she murmured to him. "There's no way to avoid them from here on in. Bjarth will guard your back."

Aiden came to a halt, nodding his understanding. He would have gladly led the way into battle, but he needed to stand by and let them clear the way so that he could engage both revenant and demon. "Fight well and may the Lady be with you," he told the others in his party, knowing he could very well have brought them to their deaths.

"Father brace your sword arm, lowlander," Sven answered him, slipping ahead to lead the way. As the only rogue of their number, he was better able to scout ahead as Katla followed, Annar at her back. Bjarth nodded to Aiden, hefting his big axe.

"If this is my time, let me go," the big man murmured as they followed. "Let the Lady bear my soul to the Mother; let the Father welcome me to his embrace."

Aiden wasn't sure if the big man was warning him not to try to be a hero and save them all or if he was simply murmuring a prayer to his gods, but either way, Aiden knew they were all going to be tested this night and each would do well to prayer their gods were with them. Aiden knew there was much more at stake here than his sister's life; it was up to them to cleanse the mountain and free it from the darkness that had held it in its grasp for far too long. Falling into step behind Katla, he tightened his grip on the sword, which was glowing with a silvery light, like moonlight on a cloudless night.

Sven melted into the darkness ahead of them, moving on silent feet amid the debris of generations of misuse and neglect. In front of Aiden, Katla squared her shoulders, her fingers rippling on the haft of her axe, bracing her round shield as she went. This was it. A moment later, a soft hoot echoed through the darkness from ahead, and she grinned a wild grin. Letting out a grim howl, she and Annar plunged into that darkness, and abruptly it was illuminated with sparks as the hooded boy erupted with magic. So that was why she had insisted on bringing him along. The boy was an augur in training; if nothing else, his spells would illuminate the enemy they were fighting.

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:30 EST
It was just as well, since Aiden was going to be too busy to produce any light of his own, other than that produced by his sword. He followed as the warriors fought their way through the dead, cutting a path toward the revenant who was holding his sister.

As Aiden advanced, the Amarri closed ranks around him, covering his back as he hacked his way toward the revenant. The armored creature hissed, turning slowly to face the oncoming danger ....and Aiden was able to see his sister. She was pale, hanging from the gauntleted grasp that bit into her arm, half-dazed and blinded by the sudden light in the gloom. A dark stain touched her mouth, gray lines creeping over her skin from her lips. They had fed her the demon's black blood, but perhaps it wasn't too late.

For just a moment, the sight of his sister there in the revenant's grasp distracted him - alarmed at her appearance and worried that he was too late - but there wasn't much time to think about it, only to act. He steadied his grip on the sword, eyes narrowing with undisguised hatred for the abomination before him and it was trying to do to his sister. "Let her go and meet your fate," Aiden warned the thing as he closed the distance between them.

The revenant hissed at him, malevolent and filled with hatred for anything with a heartbeat. Its sword glowed with a sickly red light as it cast Elin to one side. She sprawled into the debris of bodies and dirt, barely strong enough to raise her head, but Aiden need not have worried. Katla, for all her fearsome fighting, was paying very close attention. At a word from her, Annar broke off from the fight to clamber over to the fallen woman, spirit sparking at his fingertips as he sought to reclaim her from the corruption that was trying to steal her away.

"May the Goddess have mercy on your soul," Aiden murmured, before stepping forward and taking the first swing, the Shadow-Walker's blade ringing as it clashed with that of the revenant - silver light clashing with red, blade against blade, man against abomination, with his sister's life hanging in the balance.

As Aiden's sword flared, the revenant screamed, sensing death was very close by. The dead all around began to rise, bodies thought already destroyed dragging themselves up to charge toward the Shadow-Walker. But Katla was there, with Sven and Bjarth at her side, grim-faced warriors who were not going to allow their only hope of survival to be cut down by the mindless things under the revenant's control.

Aiden fought as hard as his companions, proving his worth as a warrior and ally and comrade. Each time his blade found the revenant, it tore a hole in the fabric of its being, darkness seeping forth, mixed with black blood. Slowly, the Shadow-Walker drove the revenant back, sword clashing against sword, until the thing had nowhere left to go and Aiden swung his blade around to separate the thing's head from what passed for shoulders. Covered in black blood and panting for breath, he turned to see the other dead collapsing around them, one by one.

Sven was bent double around a black sword, but as Bjarth pulled it free, it was revealed that his armor had saved him. The big man himself was covered in nicks and cuts, but none of the black blood had touched him yet. Katla was upright, shaking the blood from her own blade as her eyes cast about, lighting on Aiden with something that might almost have been relief. Then her eyes turned toward Annar, and concern flared once again. The young augur's apprentice was feverishly casting spells, purging the corruption from Elin's system even as the corruption entered his. He had been stabbed in the back as he worked, the black blood slick over his wound, but still he did not let up. He had been brought for one task, and he was determined not to fail it.

Aiden met Katla's eyes, his gaze following hers, heart sinking when he saw the wound in the augur's back. It wasn't the kind of wound that could be easily mended, not without the right kind of magic. Maybe Elin could have helped him, if she wasn't so far gone herself. Aiden knew in his heart that it was too late for the young man, but maybe not too late for his sister. There might be nothing he could do to save the augur's life, but he could at least make sure his sacrifice hadn't been in vain. He hurried over to where his sister lay, taking her hand in his and summoning her back to that of the living by calling her by name. "Elin," he whispered. "Come back to me."

Under their eyes, the gray lines of corruption slowly receded from Elin's pale skin, a soft flush of color returning to her cheeks. She stirred, her fingers curling to her brother's hand. As Annar slumped to the side, gasping for breath, Elin's eyes opened, a brief flicker of flame visible in the depths of her gaze before it was absorbed by the soft brown that lit up as she saw Aiden. She pushed up from the ground, throwing her arms about his neck. "I knew you'd come for me."

There was nothing anyone could do for Annar - they all knew it. Aiden wouldn't let his deed go unnoticed, but he left the young man in the care of his tribesmen and focused his attention of that of his sister. "It was not without help," he whispered back, as he drew her into his embrace, despite the blood that covered his clothes, none of it his.

So it was that Elin did not see what happened to the man who had saved her life. She did not witness Katla gently draw a blade across his throat, or the prayers the Amarri offered for his soul, laying him down with his arms crossed over his body and his staff in his hand. But the demon of the Heart knew that a Shadow-Walker was here now. It would have felt the death of one of its servants.

Katla rose from her knee, touching her hand to Aiden's shoulder. "We have to move," she said in a tense tone.

Aiden replied to Katla with an abrupt nod, relieved that his sister had been saved, but grieving the loss of the man who had saved her. There would be time to honor his sacrifice later, but before they could do so, they needed to finish what they'd started. "Can you walk?" he asked his sister.

Elin raised her head, a little alarmed to find her brother in the company of such fierce-looking warriors. "I ....I think so," she said softly. "Help me up."

As this was going on, Katla took her remaining party to the doorway, prepared to hold it for as long as it took. They could hear the dead approaching; if they didn't get moving soon, they would be trapped here.

"We have to hurry," Aiden urged. If she couldn't walk on her own, someone was going to have to help her, and that meant one less warrior to fight the dead. "We need to kill the demon," he told her, knowing she'd understand without a lengthy explanation. This was what they'd been born to do, what they'd been raised to do - together.

Despite her ordeal, Elin had been healed, aware in some unknown way that it had taken a life to restore her own. She nodded to her brother, rising onto her feet with a faint wince for the ache in her bones. Nothing that a good sleep would not cure, however. "All right," she told Aiden. "I'm ready."

For all their training and all their knowledge, nothing could truly prepare them for what they had to face today. Aiden helped her to her feet. Satisfied she was well enough to go on, he unsheathed his sword once again, its silvery light leading the way.

Katla glanced back at them as the siblings moved to join her people. "Which way?" she asked tersely. "I think I know where the demon will be, but you need to confirm it for me."

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:31 EST
Aiden paused a moment, as if waiting for some unknown and unseen force to lead the way, but it was only the power of the sword, tugging him in a particular direction. "That way," he said, with a nod of his head down a particular dark passageway that wound its way further into the heart of the mountain.

Katla nodded. "Sven," she urged her rogue, sending him off on point. Bjarth followed, and Katla stepped aside to let Aiden go next. She intended to protect his sister with her life; she hadn't told her companions just why Elin was so important.

As heartsick as they all were about Annar's death, there was no time to grieve now, only to act. So, too, there was no time to reflect on what Elin might have suffered at the hands of the revenant. All of that would have to come later. Aiden fell into step behind the big man, hoping no one else would have to die today.

Elin flickered a nervous glance at the fierce woman who urged her onward. She really didn't know what was going on. Were they prisoners" Had Aiden done something dreadful just to be allowed to come here" It didn't bear thinking about, and she did not have time to think about it, either. She could feel the demon's presence, the sink of darkness at the center of this place that seemed to call to them, wanting them to succumb.

Behind her, Katla rolled her eyes at the nervous look, falling into step. She'd never met a lowlander woman before, and it didn't look like Elin was a particularly sturdy example of one.

Unfortunately, there was no time for Aiden to explain, other than to tell his sister that there was a demon that needed killing. He hoped it would be enough for now. If they lived, he'd explain the rest later. As they moved deeper into the heart of the mountain, the air become thicker with a darkness that seemed to seep into their very souls, clutching at their hearts with icy fingers, but with a murmured word from Aiden, the sword's silvery light flared, chasing the darkness back into the shadows.

"I could do that, you know," Elin whispered to him over his shoulder. "You shouldn't waste your energy."

Behind her, Katla looked sharply at the pair - not so much for the fact that the whisper traveled in the still air, but for the content of the whisper itself.

"You should save your strength," he whispered back, unable to contain his voice as it echoed through the passage. It was mostly the sword that was lighting the way, though some part of Aiden seemed connected to it at some deeper level. If one looked hard enough, they might find that some of the sigils matched the marks that had been tattooed on his back and shoulders, but other than Elin, only Katla would have noticed.

"I can't control that," his sister whispered, trying to lower her voice further but failing. "It doesn't happen until I absolutely need it to, you know that."

"If you don't shut up, we'll have more of a fight on our hands than we are ready for," Katla growled from behind her.

Aiden paused a moment to glance at Katla, before looking back at his sister and meeting her gaze. "All the more reason for you to save your strength," he told her silently. Something unspoken seemed to pass between them, though no words were spoken aloud, and he turned to continue forward.

Scolded from behind and warned from ahead, Elin fell silent, keeping her head down as she moved along between her brother and his savage woman. Ahead of them, the passage widened out into a vast hall that must once have been bright and airy, but now was choked with darkness and despair. Behind Aiden, Elin coughed innocently, and a small orb of golden light swept from the palm of her hand to illuminate the wide space before them. A space that was packed with the still bodies of the dead, armed and waiting, and behind them, the cloaked darkness of a being very few ever met with and lived. They had found the Heart of the Mountain.

Facing that dread view before them, no one dared move, as if for a moment, time had stopped. And then Aiden stepped forward, his voice more commanding, more forceful than had been heard before, as though some more greater force was giving power to his words. "The time for your end has come, Dark One. The Lady has ordained it."

A great, booming laugh echoed around them, dark and sinister. "Your Lady has no power here, Walker of Shadows. Turn back while you still can."

Elin stepped forward to her brother's shoulder, and they all felt the demon's sudden flash of alarm. "The Lady's power reaches everywhere," she told the darkness stubbornly, surprised when Katla stepped to her other side.

"You have poisoned the Father's heart for too long, beast," the Amarri warrior declared. "We will see you ended."

The demon snarled. "You will die!"

A great rush of force thrust itself toward them, tossing the warriors back from their protective bunch around the siblings as the dead began to move.

Even if they wished it, there was no turning back. This was what Aiden and Elin had been born to do - it was both their duty and their destiny, and neither was about to turn away, that duty undone. Aiden stepped in front of his sister, the blade brandished between his hands. "I think not. It is you who will be destroyed," he said, without backing down. Light suddenly burst forth from the sword as he charged toward the dead, the light immolating the lesser dead, while the blade cut its way through the rest.

All those in his path were cut down, yet there were plenty more to keep the Amarri busy. Bjarth and Sven plunged into the heaving mass of bodies, shouting their war cries to the Father as they cleaved their way through, keeping pace with Katla as she followed Elin's more stately progress. Aiden's sister was not a fighter, yet she seemed to be the focus of the dead's attacks, their mindless charge narrowing to her until the three warriors were grouped around her, desperately fighting to keep her alive.

If Aiden lived, he might later reflect on how the group of warriors seemed to work together, without words, without instructions, circling around the Light-Bringer to protect her from the dead and the one that controlled them. As for now, Aiden drew strength from the sword as he cut his way through the dead. The sword made easy work of them, but there were so many, the ranks of the fallen were easily filled, until Aiden's arms were growing weary with the effort.

But this was what he had been born to do, what he had been trained to do. These demons that infested the mountain holds had been allowed to hold sway for too long. Powerful they might be, but they had grown proud, too. This demon, for all its alarm, seemed certain of success, sweeping toward Aiden in a rush of dark and cold, trying to overwhelm the weary fighter with sheer power.

Aiden threw up the sword, light sweeping forward from the blade to hold the demon at bay, both of them held in the light's grasp, unable to strike the other - dark light versus light, evil versus good, death versus life. The darkness struggled against the light and the light against the dark, but it wasn't long before it became clear that Aiden couldn't defeat the darkness alone. Each time he pushed forward, he was driven back, the darkness striking like black lightning, burning holes through his clothing and searing his flesh and still he fought, refusing to yield, refusing to let the darkness defeat the light.

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:32 EST
Surrounded by the chaos of battle, Elin could feel herself panicking, fear clouding her mind as she flinched away from the savagery not only of the dead, but of the warriors protecting her from the dead. She knew she was useless in such a fight, and yet she had to be here, her palms itching painfully as she was jostled and pushed. A gap opened in the protective circle around her, a decaying form pushed through ....and suddenly Katla was there.

The dead blade sliced deep into her side, piercing her armor as she snarled in pain and fury, slamming her shield into the creature that bore it. As the sword wrenched free, her blood gushed forth, but she ignored the wound, turning to slice the undead body in half. "Light-Bringer, please," she begged, angry with herself for needing to plead at all. "Help us!"

"Elin!" a voice called, shouting through the din of battle - a voice she knew well, as well as she knew her own. The voice of a being that had been with her from the very first moments of life and even before that, while still in the womb. Aiden pushed against the darkness, but as much as he wanted to, he couldn't defeat the demon alone. "Sister! Do it now!" he shouted, not having to tell her what needed to be done, but trusting her to know.

Panicked and frightened, spattered with Katla's blood, urged on by her twin, Elin suddenly grew very calm. So calm, that it seemed to radiate out from her. Her eyes closed, her palms turning outward to reveal the Eyes of the Goddess embedded in her flesh ....eyes that opened to blaze with the fierce glare of the sun. A moment later, Elin threw back her head, screaming as the power flooded through her body, nothing more than a conduit for the light that swept through every pore of her being. She erupted with light - pure, natural sunlight that blazed forth to immolate the dead all around her, embracing the demon in a grip it could not escape, all its protections stripped away.

It was a shock to anyone not expecting it, the light so bright as to blind even the living for a moment, before their eyes could adjust, but it was just the moment Aiden needed. He swung the sword one final time, his shout echoing that of his sister's as he shoved the blade through the demon's heart, black blood seeping forth even as the light burned it, charring its flesh and turning it to ash right before their eyes.

Yet even as the demon fell, the light did not abate. The searing rays still rushed forth, burning through each and every dark passage of the hold in which they stood, tearing down the rubble that blocked up doorways and windows carved from the mountain itself, cleansing the wells of all contamination, incinerating every abused form that had been animated from their rest by the malicious touch of the demon. And suddenly, the light was gone.

Katla grunted in the blinding darkness as Elin sagged against her, catching the other woman about the waist despite her own injury. It seemed to take a long time for sight to return, but slowly, as her eyes adjusted, it was to find that the old hall of the Heart was shining in the silver light of the moon that looked down at them from the open roof far above.

That light not only shone on them from above, but seemed to emanate from the sword, as well, as if that light was moonlight, too - the light of the Divine Goddess that watched over all. Aiden dropped to one knee, his body painful and sore where the demon had burned his flesh, weary to the bone, but he would live. He drew a deep breath, bathed in the moonlight as he was with the sword held before him, point downward as though he was paying paying homage to some unseen force. It was some moments before he stirred, before he gathered his strength and found his feet to turn and see who had survived with him.

Bjarth was frozen in mid-strike, his eyes tightly closed against the light that had already fled, the enemy before him destroyed by something he had only ever thought was myth. Sven, too, stood frozen, his own eyes wide as he cast his gaze back and forth between the Shadow-Walker and the Light-Bringer. The hall of the Heart stood clean and renewed, no sign of the evil that had infected it, the old throne of the First Thane of the mountains standing free as it had done generations before. The silence was almost deafening, peaceful and still ....until a low groan broke it.

Katla dropped to one knee, Elin still leaning heavily on her, both women bearing the mark of her blood as she let her shield fall.

As relieved as Aiden was to have triumphed, his heart was heavy with the knowledge that one of their company had fallen, and as he turned to see who still stood, the sight of Katla and Elin, arm in arm, bloodied and worn, terrified him. He sheathed the sword, rushing forward to catch them both - one in each arm - as they teetered toward the ground. It took a moment to realize which of them was injured, the blood oozing from Katla's side. "I need something to stanch it," he said aloud as he examined her wound.

The sight of their leader down was enough to galvanize the two other men into action. Bjarth moved to lift Elin away, surprisingly gentle for a man of his size, but it was Sven who was already digging into his pack for bandages.

"I'm all right," Katla argued stubbornly, in the face of a deep wound that was going to kill her if she didn't shut up and let herself be helped.

"No, you're not, Katla, and being stubborn about it won't help," Aiden scolded gently, as he carefully cut the cloth away from the wound and drew a flask of water from his pack. "This is going to hurt," he warned her, but it was necessary to wash the wound clean before applying the bandages.

"Really' And it's so comfortable right now," she informed him with scathing sarcasm. Apparently pain was not something she was good at dealing with. She did, however, shift herself into a better position for them to work on her, grinding her teeth as Aiden cleaned the wound in her side. "Siv's going to panic."

"Siv knows who and what you are," he contradicted. "She will be happy you live." Once he was finished cleaning the wound, he took the bandages and pressed them against it to stop the bleeding, if only temporarily. "Someone needs to go for an augur," he said to no one in particular. There was nothing to fear on the mountain anymore and it would be better not to move her.

"You're sure it's not infected?" Sven asked worriedly.

"No," Elin said, her voice weak but clear. The power of the Goddess had taken a lot of her strength, but she was still conscious. "If there was any blood in her wound, it was cleansed."

Katla bit her lips, frowning over at the other woman thoughtfully. "Light-Bringer touched by the Lady," she said painfully. "She's right. Go on, Sven - see if the light brought Eldwynne out of her hidey hole."

The rogue chuckled lightly. "Might have brought more than her out into the night," he predicted, but he turned to go, catching up his fallen daggers as he went.

"Bjarth," Katla said then, turning her head toward the last of their number. "See to Annar. We owe him a debt we can never repay his spirit."

The big man nodded solemnly. "As you say, Dawn Rider."

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:32 EST
Thankfully, the first thing Aiden had done was clean the wound, but the wound was serious enough that it still worried him. "This is beyond my skill," he murmured, more for Katla's sake than anyone else's. "Elin, are you hurt?" he asked his sister, even as he tended to Katla's injury.

His sister shook her head. "Tired, not hurt," she promised him. "You're almost in worse shape than she is, Aiden, and she jumped in front of a sword." Her fingertips brushed the burns that littered his coat.

Katla rolled her eyes. "She is right here and can hear everything you're saying," she pointed out through clenched teeth. "She's also the only reason he lived to come and find you at all, Light-Bringer."

Aiden frowned at the chatter going on between the two women, hoping they didn't take an instant dislike to the other just because of him. "It's a long story," he said, knowing his sister was going to ask what had happened and what Katla meant by that eventually. "You should both get some rest. It might be a while before they return," he added, ignoring his sister's concern for his own injuries, which, though painful, weren't life-threatening.

"Look to his hurts," Katla suggested, nodding to Elin. She didn't dislike the woman, but they had a ways to go before she would trust her as she did her brother. "I can keep watch."

Elin nodded back to her, both of them ignoring Aiden's suggestion. His sister watched as Katla pulled herself painfully to her feet, still bearing her sword and shield, and moved to the doorway of the hall to take that first watch.

Aiden scowled, but knew better than to argue with the woman. "She shouldn't be moving, much less standing watch," he murmured to his sister, not really caring much if Katla overheard.

"She does not seem the type who takes orders," Elin commented softly, already moving to undo his belt and peel his coat from his body. She frowned at the extent of his injuries. "Neither of you should have allowed yourselves to be left alone. I can't protect anyone, you know that."

"We had to be careful," he explained. "If we'd brought too many warriors, they'd have heard us coming." It was the best excuse he could come up with at the moment, even if it wasn't the only reason they'd only brought a small party. "Are you sure you're not hurt?" he asked, more concerned with her well-being than his own at the moment.

Her brown eyes rose to meet his, solemn, just a little pained. "I don't want to talk about it," she told him in her soft voice. "They knew what I was. I'm the reason the village was attacked. I'm the reason all those people died. And here I am, not hurt. That isn't right, Aiden."

"It's not your fault, sweetling," he was quick to assure her, touching his fingers to her cheek. "If they'd succeeded in turning you, more people's lives would be at risk." He didn't want to be selfish, but he couldn't help but feel relieved that they'd found her in time.

"They were very close," she confessed in a timid tone. "I almost turned." She ducked her head, ashamed of herself for being so weak, reaching into his pack for the ointment she knew was there. "Lift your arm, I need to see how far this burn goes."

"But you did not," he pointed out further. It didn't matter much to him what the reason was for her not turning - whether it was because she'd resisted or because they'd saved her in time or because someone was watching over her. All that mattered to Aiden was that he had his sister back. "I am sorry I could not save you sooner," he added quietly, frowning with guilt, as he did as she asked.

"I'm sorry you had to at all," she countered gently, smoothing the ointment over his burns as lightly as she could. She glanced over her shoulder to where Katla was braced in the doorway, curious and a little wary. "Who are these people?" she asked him. "They're nothing like the people we grew up with."

"They call themselves the Amarri," he replied quietly, his gaze following hers to the stubborn woman standing in the doorway. "They live on the mountain. I was tracking the dead when I encountered them." Or more accurately, fighting the dead.

"The Amarri are a story," Elin objected in a low voice, shaking her head. "Savages who carved homes into the mountains and fell to the demons who over-powered the Shadow-Walkers generations ago. They can't possibly have survived."

"They might argue with you about that," he countered quietly, wincing a little as she smoothed the ointment over the burned flesh that hadn't yet healed from his previous injuries. "They don't trust easily. They believe those like us brought death to the people of the mountains. I can't blame them really, though it was the demons who were to blame." He didn't have to explain how the demons had hunted them nearly to extinction. There were so few of them left, Aiden had never met another Shadow-Walker in all his years since his father's death.

"Why would they help you come for me if they didn't trust you?" she asked, wincing with him in sympathy. Ideally, he needed to bathe before this ointment was applied, but right now, that wasn't an option.

He frowned further, but not because of the pain of his wounds so much as her question. He'd suffered hurts worse than this before and probably would do so again. Did he dare tell her the truth and what would she say or do once she knew it' It didn't help that there was more than one answer to that question. "They do trust me now, I think." Or at least, some of them did.

This was his twin sister, however, and an evasive answer wasn't going to cut it. "What did you have to do to earn their trust?" she asked, curious and concerned. "What did you have to promise them?" Her brows knitted for a moment. "Does it have something to do with her?"

He flicked another glance toward Katla. The question his sister was asking wasn't an easy one, and she wasn't likely to like the answer. "Aye, it has everything to do with her," he replied, though that wasn't entirely true. Still, if it weren't for Katla, he doubted he'd have won the tribe's help, much less their welcome.

"Is she the one who gave you these?" she asked, her fingertips touching the bronze cuffs at his wrists. "They're unlike anything we've ever seen before. The motif matches the one on her shield."

Aiden followed his sister's gaze to the bracers he wore on his arms. "Aye," he replied in a quiet voice, unsure how she was going to respond to what else he had to tell her. "She claimed me as her mate, and I agreed," he said, knowing how that sounded.

"What?" Elin's exclamation echoed around the hall, attracting Katla's attention.

The warrior woman looked over, noticed that Aiden's sister had her hand on his cuffs, and scowled. She pushed herself out of her braced lean on the doorway and moved out of sight - she didn't want to hear all the objections his precious twin had to offer about something that didn't concern her at all.

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:33 EST
"I didn't agree just to secure her help, Elin," he was quick to point out. "I can't explain it, but it feels right." No, it wasn't love; not yet, though there was a definite attraction between them. "You will understand when you get to know them better."

"So they are savages," Elin said disapprovingly, shaking her head with a frown. "And you've made some awful agreement that means you'll never be free of them. Aiden, why" The mountains are not our home, and I won't leave you behind. What use am I to them' Your woman there will probably sell me to the first man who likes the look of me."

"They are not savages and without their help, I would not have been able to save you," he reminded her, just a little defensively, though the tribe was not his own. He sighed, taking her hands in his, imploring her. "All I ask is that you give them a chance. Meet them, talk to them, get to know them better. I will not let anyone hurt you, I promise."

She held his gaze, frowning. It wasn't that she was angry, or that she disapproved, exactly; she was afraid. These were a people she'd never thought really existed, and now she was in debt to at least one of them. "She saved my life," she said quietly. "Their mage died to save my life. I'm as much in debt to them as you are, and I know nothing about them. What if ....what if they don't like me?"

"They will like you, dear heart," he assured her with a soft smile. "How can they not?" For the first time since he'd lost her, he wrapped his arms around her in a brotherly hug. "I knew you were still alive, and I was frantic to find you. I would have done anything, promised anything to save you."

She leaned into him, holding on as tightly as she dared but afraid to hurt him further with pressure on his wounds. "I'm sorry I put myself in danger," she told him, knowing her capture was her own fault. "If I hadn't been so foolish, you would never have had to do this."

Aiden didn't want to forget those who'd died or make light of their deaths. The mountain had been cleansed of the dead, but the toll had been high, and their work wasn't done. "Hush," he whispered, one hand smoothing her hair and rubbing her back. "It's done now, and it wasn't your fault."

A scraping sound at the doorway drew their attention away from one another, eyes turning to find Bjarth returning, Katla held in his arms. The big man was scowling. "Bloody woman," he was muttering as he moved to lay her down beside the siblings. She was unconscious, her harsh expression smoothed into peace for the time being. "Found her fainted against the wall out there," he told Aiden. "Shouldn't have been on her feet at all."

Aiden frowned, pulling away from Elin as Bjarth carried Katla back inside and laid her down. "I should have been watching her better. I'm sorry," he told the big man, tugging his shirt and coat back on, whether his wounds had all been tended to or not. "I'll make sure she doesn't go anywhere," he promised.

"Day you can tell the Dawn Rider what to do, I'll give you a crown," Bjarth chuckled, but there was little mirth in the sound. "There's movement out there; don't know who's making it yet. Could be Sven; could be someone else."

"So long as it isn't the dead," Aiden remarked, though there was little chance of that. Not only had they cleansed the mountain, but he would have known if there were more of them.

"Like I say, could be anyone." Bjarth shrugged. "I'll hold the gate if I have to." He rose, inclining his head to them both. "And I'll spill my own blood before I let them harm you. You've done us a great wonder, lowlander, you and your sister. You're to be thanked, not blamed."

"It is what we were born to do," Aiden replied, as he exchanged a glance with his sister. Perhaps there was hope for them yet, and hope that the people of the mountain would come to trust them, after all.

"You're walking legends," Bjarth told them quietly. "It's no surprise the Dawn Rider brought you to us. I have to go back to the gate - we don't want any surprises." Nodding to them both again, he turned away, catching up his great double-headed axe as he went.

"Walking legends," Aiden repeated with an ironic chuckle. "That's better than death-bringers, I suppose." Which is what the tribesmen had thought of them a short while ago, until they'd proved them wrong. Legends were only stories passed down through time, but Aiden and Elin were real.

Elin had fallen silent, more than a little intimidated by the sheer size of Bjarth, despite his gentleness, but in his absence, she turned her eyes back to her brother. "What's this Dawn Rider they keep talking about?" she asked in confusion. "Is it their equivalent of a Shadow-Walker?"

"In a way," he replied, once they were once again alone. He turned to Katla to look to her wound, frowning worriedly at the blood-soaked bandages. "Katla is the Dawn Rider," he explained. "She was given the name when she rode into battle at dawn to save her tribe from an attack of the dead."

"Oh." Elin's confusion cleared as she acknowledged what he was saying. As she realized that the woman she had taken for a heartless savage had earned a unique title for actions that had saved lives. Something he had said earlier, when he was tending to the woman, returned to her mind. "Who is Siv?"

"Siv is her daughter," he told her, his expression darkening as he looked to her. "We need more bandages," her told her worriedly. Though the wound was not infected, it was deep and serious enough to be life-threatening.

"Her daughter?" But for all her surprise at that, Elin didn't linger on it. She sighed, pulling herself to her feet, and undid her belt, shucking out of her bodice and skirt. "Tear them up," she told her brother, dropping the cloth into his lap as she returned to her knees, moving to inspect the blood-soaked bandages at Katla's side. "If we had kallis root, we could slow the bleeding, but I don't know where we could find any here."

He would have sacrificed his own clothing to tear into bandages, but it was too contaminated with the blood of the dead to take that chance. "Ask Bjarth," he told her at her own suggestion. "The tribe knows this mountain. If there's kallis root, they'll know where to find it," he told her, as he took a knife from his belt and started to shred her skirt.

"All right." She pushed back onto her feet. "Wake her up, Aiden," she told him as she stepped away. "She can't be allowed to sleep, not when she's losing so much blood." With that, Elin broke into a run, slipping out of sight to seek out Bjarth and find out if they could gather something that might help his leader.

Though he knew some field medicine and basic healing, this wound was beyond his skill. There were steps he could take to seal the wound closed, but there was no way of knowing if there was internal damage, and he didn't want to risk infection. There was something he could do though. It wouldn't heal her completely, but it might slow the bleeding and ease her pain. It would also sap his strength so that he'd be almost as useless as she was. "Katla," he called her gently, trying to wake her, if he could.

She stirred at the sound of her name, not so far gone in pain and weakness that she couldn't rouse herself if necessary. She startled awake, blue eyes snapping open to stare about them in confusion for just a moment. "I was ....where are the others?" she demanded, her voice weak but clear. "Where's your sister?"

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:34 EST
"Everyone's fine. Elin is looking for kallis root. It might help stop the bleeding," he explained, trying hard not to look worried. He could tell she was getting weaker, and that wasn't a good sign. If they couldn't get the wound to stop bleeding, it might be too late. "Close your eyes and relax, but try to stay awake," he told her. "I'm going to try something."

"I should have been keeping watch," she berated herself, but despite her aversion to being told what to do, she eased back at his suggestion. Her eyes wanted to close, so that was easy to do. Staying awake while they were closed, that was the difficult part. "What ....what are you going to do?"

"You're hurt, and you need to relax. Someone else can keep watch," he told her. Besides, there wasn't anything left on the mountain to keep watch for. "I'm going to try and stop the bleeding," he told her, without telling her how. She wouldn't be able to see what he was doing anyway, unless she opened her eyes.

"There aren't enough of us for me to drop my duty," she insisted, but there was far less fight in her than she was used to. It had been a long time since she'd been this badly hurt. She was quiet for a moment, before forcing herself to speak, struggling to stay awake. "You don't have to stay," she blurted out, eyes still closed. "You've got your sister now. You and she can leave, and no one will be any the wiser."

"Hush. No one is leaving," he told her, needing her to be quiet a moment so that he could focus his mind on offering what healing he could. He gently laid a hand over the wound, and closing his eyes, murmured some words she was unlikely to understand, willing some of his energy to flow into her. While it was unlikely to heal the wound completely, it might at least slow the loss of blood and ease her pain.

Katla drew in a sharp breath at the unfamiliar sensation; a feeling of heat pouring into her from his hand. She forced her eyes open suspiciously, lifting her head with a distinct effort to focus on him. What was he doing" He was the most capable fighter of all of them, and he was wasting his energy on her" "Lowlander ....Aiden ....stop."

If he knew what she was thinking, he might have argued with her, as he believed she was far more skilled at combat than he was, but reading another's thoughts was not one of his talents. "Quiet," he scolded her again, as he willed a little healing into her body.

"No." She pushed herself up onto her elbows, her bloodied hand reaching for his. "Stop this. I'm not worth exhausting yourself over. If it's my time, I'll go."

He furrowed his brows, as she broke his concentration. He'd managed to share a little of his energy - his life essence - but not enough to heal the wound. Still, he hoped it was enough to buy her a little more time. "No, you won't," he insisted, leaving no room for argument. "Lay back," he told her, gentling his voice and taking her hand. "Neither of us is going anywhere."

"Stop trying to save my life," she growled at him, stubborn enough to die right there rather than let him waste such a talent on her. "Your sister should always come first, as my daughter does." She glared at him, though it wasn't exactly a fierce expression. Katla was more than a little unfocused at this point.

"Stop being a stubborn hero," he countered. "Don't you think your life is worth saving" Don't you think your daughter would like to have her mother for a few more years?" he pointed out, as stubborn as she was, if not more so. "My sister is fine. I am fine. The healing only saps a little of my strength. You are the one who is not fine. Now, do as I say and stop arguing."

With his stubborn crashing against her own, she was in no state to hold a serious argument over this. She gave in with bad grace, thumping back against the stone without much care for her badly beaten body. "If you get sick, I am not tending to you."

"I will consider myself warned," he told her, unable to withhold a small smirk, despite the circumstances. He was rather proud of himself for winning his first battle of the wills against her, after all. He turned quiet again as he resumed his concentration, a sensation of warmth flooding her body, but mostly focused on the area of the wound.

It would have gone perfectly, too, were it not for the fragment of sword still inside her. As the healing energy flowed into her, the metal sliced open the newly healing flesh, sending a new layer pain through her until she slapped at his hand. "Stop ....stop, stop, there's something in there!"

The sensation of warmth abruptly ended, as his concentration was once again disrupted by her outburst. "What do you mean?" he asked, sliding his eyes open and removing his hand so that he could examine the wound further. He hadn't noticed anything inside the wound upon first examination, but that didn't mean there wasn't something embedded in her flesh that he hadn't noticed before.

"Something ....something inside, cutting me open," she managed, twisting to show him the wound in better detail. With his healing having done a good amount of work, he had a better chance of seeing the problem, and it was fairly obvious once it was found. A sharp piece of metal, obviously broken off from the sword when it had been pulled abruptly from her side, stood proud from the half-healed flesh, embedded in bloodied tissue.

Aiden frowned at the discovery of the metal embedded in her flesh, but it was good that they'd found it. "Hold still," he told her. "This is going to hurt." He took up a bit of cloth torn from his sister's skirt and very slowly and carefully attempted to coax the shard from her side.

Her hand scrabbled for the hilt of her sword - not to attack him, but for something to grip onto. "Just pull it out," she hissed between clenched teeth. "Fast is better than slow." It was patently obvious that she was not a skilled healer herself, more often on the receiving end than giving this kind of care.

He was only a healer by necessity, not choice - far more suited to wandering the wilds, tracking prey, than dealing with herbs and medicine. He had not lied when he'd said her wound was beyond his skill, and yet, he could not stand by and do nothing when help was needed. He didn't bother to give her any warning, but yanked the shard out at her urging without further delay.

She was definitely used to pain. She didn't scream; she barely made a sound, in fact, swallowing down the visceral grunt of pain until it stuck in her throat. The blood flowed freely once again, but far less of it this time, the flesh it flowed from healthier and cleaner than before. "Finally."

Katla

Date: 2017-07-08 12:34 EST
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, once he'd freed the metal shard from her flesh, looking at it in mingled shock and amazement before setting it aside. Turning back to re-examine the wound, he noticed that though serious, it was looking far better than before, and he sighed in relief. "I have good news. I think you're going to live."

"I didn't know," she growled at him, flexing her fingers to release the sword as she relaxed back once again. Letting out a harsh breath, she laughed at his diagnosis, despite herself. "I'm sure Siv will thank you, if I ever let her find out."

"She doesn't need to thank me," he pointed out as he re-bandaged the wound, more loosely this time. It wouldn't be long now before the others returned and could finish the healing, which was a good thing as he was feeling suddenly weary.

She watched him as he worked on her, silent and studious for an uncomfortably long time. "I meant it, you know," she said quietly. "About you and your sister. You don't owe me anything, lowlander. You can go on your way. You have what you came for."

He was too tired to argue, and he guessed she probably was, too. Sighing, he leaned against the wall, almost too tired to keep his head up. "I have a name, Katla," he reminded her. Why was she so afraid to use it"

"Aye, you do," she agreed softly, letting her own head fall back against the stone floor, one hand resting gently over her bandaged side. "And you're leaving. You would have done anything, promised anything, to save your sister's life. So I'll not hold you any promises you made me. And I'll not say the name of a man who won't be here."

"I didn't promise because of my sister," he murmured wearily. He hadn't had much rest the last few days, and the healing had sapped most of the strength he had left. She was right about one thing - he was in no shape for a fight, should he be needed, but neither was she.

"You promised because you weren't free and you needed to be," she said, her head turned toward the doorway. She didn't want to be having this conversation. It would have been better if she hadn't overheard his words to his sister; if they'd just snuck away without a word in the dead of night. Katla had let herself hope for something that might be just her own for the first time, and she did not deal well with rejection.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, point blank. He was too tired to argue and too tired to beat around the bush. If she wanted him to leave, then she should just say so, but if that was the case, why had she asked him to stay in the first place"

"No." That was it. No explanation, no pleading for him to stay. She, too, was tired, too weary to invite the trouble of an argument. If he had decided to leave, then he could leave. She didn't need a man. Clearly wanting this man was a bad idea.

"Then stop trying to push me away and get some rest," he told her. He might have added that they could talk about it in the morning, but he wasn't sure they were still going to be here in the morning. He was losing the fight to keep his eyes open, and it was only her voice that was keeping him awake.

"You're the one who wants to leave," she muttered, twisting her arm up to cradle her head more comfortably. She sighed, her own eyes drooping once again as a suggestion of movement in the doorway heralded Elin's return with a handful of kallis root.

"Quit putting words in my mouth, woman," he murmured, the words hardly audible. It was the first time he'd addressed her that way, but he was drunk with weariness and doubted she'd heard him anyway. If she wanted to argue with him, she could do it when they weren't both exhausted.

When Elin returned, it was to find them both passed out, heads turned away from one another. She didn't need to know what they'd been talking about to guess that they'd fallen asleep in mid-argument. Oh, well. With Bjarth on watch at the gate, it was up to her to protect the sleepers. She settled herself awkwardly in the doorway, Katla's shield in one hand, Aiden's sword in the other, and resigned herself to dying gloriously should the need arise.