Spirit Speaker

The carriage rocked and swayed. The roads were terrible this side of Desari. 

It had something to do with all the trees. Their roots would grow under the stones. 

It made me nauseous. 

Anna, sleeping gently on my shoulder, seemed unaffected. 

"I don't know how she does it." Severen Ilyas, assassin, spy, murmured, amazed. 

"She feels safe, Severen." Miss Rita pointed out. "And she's exhausted. She spends all day travelling, and most of the evening getting beaten up with her master."

"Safe, huh?" Severen looked out the carriage window. "We can't be more than ten minutes from the border. Shouldn't you warn your apprentice, Master Mage? She's going to be crossing another border soon."

"Good idea." I looked at my apprentice, raised my hand and hesitated. "Why not let her sleep until we reach the border? She looks peaceful. I don't want to disturb her."

The carriage slowed to a halt. 

"Master? You might want to come out here." Rowan called. 

Gently I pushed Anna to Miss Rita and climbed out of the carriage. 

I yawned, stretching my arms high over my head, and walked over to the front of the carriage, where Rowan was facing down the most magnificent stag I'd ever seen. 

A greater spirit. A strong one.

Just being so close to it was enough to make my weave shake. 

- Twisted Weave.  The stag addressed me, his voice seemingly from everywhere. Come.

And time stopped.

The world didn't look much different in the space between seconds, it was just quiet. 

Very quiet. 

The stag stood in his place. 

"Yes, spirit?" I asked, watching it warily. "What do you want?"

"Wait." He said, "The others are coming."

"The others?"

The stag nodded. 

I shrugged and sat down in the grass. Might as well wait in comfort. 

The stag looked at the carriage, alert, and surprised. 

I followed its gaze and saw red waves of energy radiate from it. 

Gurada was awake. I saw the carriage door swing open, and the silver spider hop out. 

It made its way over to me. 

"Ho, Twisted Weave." He greeted me, ignoring the magnificent white stag not twenty feet in front of us. "Odd day today, isn't it?"

"Gurada." The stag said. "Why have you come?" There was a hint of irritation in his voice. 

"What? Did you want me to sit in the carriage while something interesting was happening? I thought you knew me better than that, Stormborn."

Stormborn. A Clan. It was the Stormborn clan that bordered this side of the forest, and it was one of the clans we were going to have to pass through in order to reach Golden Leaf.

They had a particularly fierce hatred for humans, having been subjected to plenty of slavers and Desari conmen over the years. 

The slavers never made it far. 

But elven slaves sold at a premium in the Empire, and it seemed inborn in most humans to sell their souls if the price were high enough. 

So they kept coming, and they hardly ever got what they wanted. 

And when they did, the Clan had a respectably sized web of spies and agents to make sure the slaves made it home. And that the people that took them never saw the light of day again. 

Blinding was the nicest way the Stormborn Clan punished slavers.

"We've come for the Twisted Weave," Stormborn said, severely, his temperament matching those under his care. He didn't like humans. Even the ones that had been turned into spirits. 

"Yes." A voice whispered from above. I looked up to see a panther, lounging in the branches of the tree I was leaning against. "The prodigal returns, though greater than when he left."

"I wasn't aware I'd been here long enough to merit such a title, spirit," I told her. "I certainly didn't return here very often in my previous life."

"Things are different this time." The panther stood on the branch and stretched before leaping down beside me. She stood over me and looked into my eyes. "You saw the end."

Slowly, I raised my hands and pushed her, gently, to the side. She moved easily enough. 

But she didn't go far, lounging a few feet from me, brilliant blue eyes studying me intently. 

"I did ma'am," I confirmed. "I saw this place burning, I saw it turned to ash."

"And the end of all things," Gurada interjected. "Not just the collapse of the forest."

"Brightsun, this is a conversation we need to have once the others have arrived." 

The panther sighed, and rolled onto her back, bathing in the sun. 

"Don't mind Stormborn." An elven man said, sitting beside me. "His Clan is currently ascendant in the forest, and it's gone to his head."

The elf, no taller than I was, had silver-grey eyes, and long dark grey hair. Greywind. 

"Why do you appear in this form, Greywind?" The stag said, distaste clear in his voice. 

"I think you'll find that you and Brightsun are alone in your choice of appearance, old boy." He said, pointing behind the stag as two elves materialised behind him. 

One, a short, ancient elf, leaning on a tall wooden staff that shimmered and changed with her every step. Another, a tall, broad chested, green eyed, blonde haired elven man. He grinned widely when he saw me. 

The next thing I knew, I was in his arms, he pulled me up from my seat and embraced me warmly. 

"Lukas! Lukas my boy! It's so good to see you."

Golden Leaf. 

"Hello, sir." I said, smiling despite myself. Home had come to me. 

He let me go. "So, a big mage, huh? You certainly made something of yourself! I knew from the first strike that you were special."

"Thank you, sir." I said, tapping him on the arm. "Could you let me go? I can't breathe."

"Oh! Sorry lad, you mortals are always so squishy."

"Only to you sir." 

The others arrived shortly after, two as animals, a bear, and a crane, the other three as elves. 

One of them was in chains. 

What's wrong with her? I thought. 

"Interesting…" Gurada murmured. "Something isn't right here, Lukas."

"Yes. The moment we had the right to reach you, we gathered." Golden Leaf murmured, his voice sad. 

"We were hoping you might be able to tell us what's happening. Come, let's begin."

Golden Leaf walked ahead of me protectively and led me to the group.

A muted chorus of "Twisted Weave' greeted me as I approached. 

"TWISTED WEAVE!" the chained spirit screamed. 

A blast of psychic energy threatened to bring me to my knees. 

Golden Leaf and Greywind put their hands on my shoulder, and I felt immense strength flood through me. 

"THE TWISTED WEAVE HAS COME!" the chained spirit continued, her eyes black, her skin grey and mottled. 

She wore rags, tattered and torn. 

"What is happening, Twisted Weave?" One of the elves, a small, plump, motherly elven woman asked, her voice quaking a little. 

She's afraid. 

"We all are, lad." Golden Leaf said. "It's been a few months that she's been like this, almost as though she's been corrupted by a black mage."

"That's exactly what happened, Golden Leaf." Gurada said, hopping off my shoulder, and approaching the shrieking spirit. 

"Explain, Fisher." Stormborn said, his tone clipped. 

"A landbreaker has been here. Surely you can sense it." He climbed the spirit's body, dodging punches and kicks as he climbed. 

His steps left pinpricks of black blood on her skin. He sat on her head and began to glow red. 

"It's still here."

A collective shudder shook the spirits. A landbreaker was a particularly deadly black mage, an old one. Even in the lowest depths of his depravity, Ilargia hadn't even come close to being a landbreaker. 

They have learned to shatter greater spirits. 

Their very existence cracked the earth and fouled the air around them. 

"What do we do?" Stomborn asked quietly. 

It took me a few moments to realise he was looking at me. 

They all were. 

"We have to heal her," I said. I stepped forward. "But I don't know if I'm strong enough to."

The chained spirit writhed and spat and strained at her chains, biting at my hands when I approached her.

"Hold her," I commanded. 

She froze in place as two of the greater spirits reached out and touched her. 

All that moved were her eyes, and they were black, and weeping tears of charcoal down her pallid face. 

I put my hand against her face and looked deep into her eyes. 

She stared back into mine and screamed. 

A colossal explosion of energy erupted from her, blasting myself and the spirits around me away from her. 

I sat up, a little dazed, just in time to see the greater spirit pounce at me. 

Golden Leaf and Stormborn both caught her, and golden chains pulled her to the ground. 

She fell to her knees and strained against her bonds, but to no avail, the other spirits were too strong. 

The screaming stopped.

Her neck snapped up, and she glared daggers at me. 

"Twisted Weave." Another voice, harsher, lower pitched than the screams hissed from her lips. 

"You cannot rip me from this place." She said. 

I watched as the golden chains were engulfed in a black inklike substance, and within moments they fell apart. 

I felt sick. I knew that inky darkness. I'd seen it before. On the books, and in the bottle. 

The Rending was here.

Her collar fell to the ground, and once again she pounced at me. She landed heavily on top of me and began to tear at my clothes and skin. 

I pushed against her and felt something warm against my chest. Golden light shone brightly from the Weaver's amulet, and the greater spirit howled as it was bathed in it. 

It leapt away from me, shielding its eyes with its arm. It scrambled backwards, desperately trying to escape the light. Black tendrils of inky darkness flowed from her lips, forming a shield that hid her from the golden glow. 

It engulfed her. 

The greater spirits rushed forward to grab her. 

"STOP!" I shouted. The spirits, more out of surprise than deference, paused. 

"You cannot have this land, Twisted Weave." The spirit's face was slowly flooding with black darkness until the last thing that could be seen were her eyes. "You will not have this place." 

She vanished.

I lay back against the ground, suddenly feeling very old. The greater spirits approached me slowly, cautiously stepping into the radiance. 

The light faded. 

"Lukas, lad?" Golden Leaf grabbed my arm and pulled me up. "Can you explain what just happened?"

I shook my head, looking at the spot that the spirit had vanished from for a long time. 

"I think we're going to need some help, sir. I'm not strong enough to deal with this alone."

I touched the golden spider amulet around my chest and looked down in surprise. Blood. A lot of blood. 

There was no pain. I shook my head. There are more important things to worry about right now.

"Sir." I looked at Golden Leaf. "Can you contact the Headmaster at the Academy? I need to talk to him, he might know what to do."

"Lukas, what was that?" He asked. 

"That was more than just a landbreaker, sir. I think I know what it might be, and I really hope I'm wrong."

"I expect you won't be so vague when I return, lad." Golden Lead chided gently, and he leapt into the sky, flying off in the direction of the Academy. 

"What do we do?" Stormborn asked, his arrogance shaken from him. 

I dusted myself off and sighed at the state of my clothes. My shirt had been torn to rags, and my skin fared little better. 

Still, no pain, even if the blood hasn't stopped flowing.

I felt a little faint.

"I'm not sure, sir." I told the stag, "What happened to her elves?"

"They're taking refuge in my lands." The motherly, plump elf said. "Feathersong."

Good. Clan Feathersong will take good care of them. 

Gurada climbed onto my shoulder. 

"Go back to your lands, and protect it from the landbreaker," he commanded. "That's all we can do for now."

The greater spirits nodded in agreement. "When will we be able to deal with this infection?"

Brightsun asked, her piercing blue eyes watching the spider on my shoulder. 

"Let's focus on containment right now, Brightsun." Greywind said. "The Twisted Weave will think of something."

"Me, sir?" The spirits were looking at me, lost, scared, hopeful. 

"You, mage." Stormborn confirmed, and turned around, vanishing into smoke. The others followed suit. 

"Yes, Lukas." Greywind patted my arm. "You."

And he vanished. 

Gurada dropped from my shoulder and travelled down my arm. I raised it so that I was looking into his eyes. 

"You are going to have a hard time, mage." He said. 

"I know. This is bad."

"When time resumes, you're going to have a hard time, I mean." He said, and lifted one leg to point at my chest. "Honestly, I'm shocked you're still standing."

He leapt off my arm and walked back to the carriage. "You did good there." He said, hopping into it. 

Time began to flow once again.