21 Days of Valdemar!
Jul. 17th, 2015 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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21_daysWelcome to 21 Days of Valdemar!
Put on your party hats - it’s time for the Dead Vanyel Memorial Party! Vanyel is OFFICIALLY the Woobiest of the Woobies, and we celebrate in his honour!
WE'RE DONE.
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Schedule
Day 1 -Aug. 9 - Prompts! You will have seven days to put as many prompts as you'd like on this post. And if you start writing them early, well that's just good planning!
Day 8 - Aug. 16 - Prompting ends, posting begins! You have 14 days to write, draw, and potentially diorama as many prompts as you can.
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(Click on the dates for countdowns; the fest is following MDT/Mountain Time)
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Fill, 2/? Vanyel, gen, Magic's Price Fix-It
Date: 2015-08-20 09:17 pm (UTC)Chapter 2
Vanyel could hear Yfandes’ hoof beats echoing long before he saw her.
:Sorry to interrupt, Chosen, Stef.: she said apologetically.
Stefen sighed melodramatically. “At least you had the courtesy to wait until the proceedings were finished.”
Vanyel chuckled at that, then sat up, dislodging Stefen. “Wait, what? You heard her?”
:Of course he did. I meant for him too. It would be rude to go back to not speaking to him, now that he knows I can.:
He looked at Stefen in confusion. “But you don’t have Mindspeech,” he said to Stefen almost accusingly.
Stef shrugged. “Confused the hell out of me first time she did it, too.”
:There was need of it, Vanyel. I can speak to whomever I wish. All Companions can, even the unGifted. We just prefer not to.:
Vanyel simply shook his head after a minute, deciding the mysteries of Companions weren’t worth attempting to unravel.
:Hyrryl and the kyree elders are calling a meeting. I’ve given them as much information as I can, but now that you’re up and about they want to speak with you.:
“Of course.” Vanyel stood, and cast about for his clothing. Once dressed, he turned to follow Yfandes out of the cavern, and stopped dead in his tracks, a pained sound coming from him.
Her tail was gone.
“Oh, ‘Fandes,” he whispered in horror. “What did they do to you?”
:Oh, horseshit, Van, I forgot you probably wouldn’t have remembered, if you were even still conscious when they did it. Thankfully I wasn’t. I suppose they meant it as a trophy or somesuch.:
Vanyel just stood there with an utterly lost look on his face. He wanted to feel rage, but his rage was spent. The ones who had dared to mutilate Yfandes were already dead by his hand—and he shied away from those memories, not able to face them at the moment. The only thing left for him to feel was guilt. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with arguing with Stefen, maybe they wouldn’t have had a chance to ambush us, maybe I wouldn’t have been captured. Gods, I am such a blind fool.
“It wasn’t your fault, Vanyel. Nothing you did or didn’t do caused this. We were outnumbered, they had magical weapons…blame the ones who actually did it. Not yourself,” Stefen said, coming closer to him, shirt still in hand. “Hey, ashke,” Stef said, slipping his arms around him. “I mean it. No more blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault. You have enough burdens as it is.”
For a moment Vanyel leaned into the embrace, before forcing all thought of what had happened from his mind. They had business to attend to, after all. And Vanyel was very curious to meet the kyree, after all, and needed to express his gratitude.
“All right,” he said thickly. “Lead the way, ‘Fandes.” Stef reluctantly let him go, and Vanyel took a few steps out of the cave before he realized Stefen wasn’t following. “Stef? Aren’t you coming?”
Stefen looked up in surprise. “I…didn’t think I was meant to.”
“Of course you’re meant to,” he said, sounding confused. “We were separated for a significant amount of time; I still don’t know all the details of what happened. All of us need to pool our knowledge before I can plan what to do next.”
Stefen brightened momentarily at the thought of being included (needed), before his face darkened again at the words what to do next. He put a determined face on, though, and Vanyel knew he still hadn’t accepted what Van had told him. He still thought there was a way to avoid Vanyel’s death. Oh, beloved, he thought with bittersweet fondness.
***
The kyree were all sitting in another chamber, this one much more magnificent than the ones they had previously occupied. The stone looked as if had been shaped, almost molded somehow, but Vanyel could not think how the kyree could have done it, unless they had enlisted the aid of some other species with hands to carve it?
The snow-white kyree with the sky blue eyes had to be the shaman, Hyrryl. Not having actually met any kyree before, and unsure of the protocol, he fell back on a mixture of Tayledras and Court habits, bowing deeply before the assembly and lowering his shields just a bit. Stefen followed his lead and also executed a perfect Courtly bow, and Yfandes nodded her head.
“As a Herald of Valdemar, and wingbrother to the Tayledras clan k’Treva, I thank you for your aid. I am Vanyel Ashkevron, and I am indebted to you for providing shelter, Healing, and food, all unasked for.”
:Well met, Herald. I am Hyrryl, shaman of the Hotsprings Clan,: Hyrryl said. :Put all thought of debt out of mind, for you cleansed this land of a growing rot. In time, it might have proven a danger to us. We were undecided, you see, if it would be wiser to continue to hide our presence, or make it known by wiping the vermin out. You have taken the decision from us, and for that, we are grateful.:
Well, that was an unexpected bonus. Vanyel would hate to leave Stefen the one left to pay off a debt of gratitude, since he doubted there was much he himself could have done, given that he still had a rather urgent mission to see through.
“It is as you say. I trust you have spoken with Yfandes and Stefen about why we are here?”
:Not at length. We know you are in pursuit of a greater enemy, possibly the master of the ones you wiped out. Nothing more than that.:
“Indeed. You can see I am a mage of some power. I was—am—counted among the best. Now I am the last. This enemy has been slowly and in secret killing all the mages in Valdemar, and I think, killing or subverting even children born with the Mage Gift before they can be Chosen and trained. Because I was the last, he finally showed his hand. But he shall soon wish he hadn’t.” Vanyel smiled grimly.
:This is grievous news,: one of the other kyree elders said. :I mislike the thought of such a one operating so near our territory. It appears we were right to keep our presence hidden. I shudder to think what he would have made of our clan, as we are rich in mages.:
:Indeed,: Hyrryl agreed. :I must ask you, Herald, what this enemy did to tip his hand, and what made you think to search in this direction.:
“I expected no less, Honored One,” Vanyel replied. “My aunt, Herald Savil, was my equal in power, and she was the first to suspect that there was foul play involved in the deaths of our mages. I did not take her seriously,” his voice broke, and he paused a moment to regain his composure. “Later that very night, she was killed by a mage construct; it had secreted itself inside the palace, inside her very powerful wards, by disguising itself as firewood. It appeared to have once been a crow, or based on a crow’s physiology. It was sustained magically, and appeared to have been created for the sole purpose of assassinating her. I was able to use a spell I know to see into the past; that’s how I know how it made it past the wards. I then used a combination of FarSight and Fetching to track where it had gone, and bring it back to the palace, where I studied and destroyed it. It was created using blood magic,” he grimaced, remembering with distaste the unclean, slimy feeling of the unnatural magic. The kyree had a similar reaction, one or two growled in agitation. As well they should; no one wanted a blood path mage for a neighbor, after all. “Once I had an idea of where the enemy was and what he was capable of, I set out with my Companion Yfandes, and my lifebonded, Bard Stefen. The enemy sent some foul weather our way, but nothing more than that, and I began to hope he was underestimating me. But then he sent that gang of bandits to ambush me. They had bespelled weapons, meant to confuse my senses and block my access to my Gifts. I was able to break the spell, however, and wipe them out. Yfandes and Stefen were nearby, and found me and we all left that place. Then your scout happened upon us, and the rest you know.”
:You have given us much to think on, Herald. I am deeply disturbed that we have had a blood mage so near our borders, who was skilled enough to hide his presence from us. You are of course welcome to remain here for as long as you need to regain your strength. We will see you well supplied with meat and furs, and wish you well on your quest.:
Vanyel nodded at that. The kyree, he knew from the Tayledras, were incredibly insular. To have had even this much aid from them was more than he could have hoped for. “My thanks, Honored One.”
“Wait, that’s it? Stefen said incredulously. “Aren’t you going to help us defeat him?”
“Stefen,” Vanyel hissed. But Stefen ignored him.
“Maybe you were right to stay hidden before,” Stefen interjected. “But I don’t think you can stay hidden for much longer. Vanyel is powerful, yes. But he’s still just one man. What if we find this enemy, and he’s too powerful for just one man to defeat? What will you do then? Do you really think you can hide forever? And what makes you so certain he doesn’t know about you? What if he’s only left you alone because he didn’t want to alert you to his presence before he was ready to take you on?”
Stefen’s voice echoed around the chamber while the kyree looked around at each other, stunned. Vanyel looked simply horrified. Stefen didn’t appear to care.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m truly thankful for the help you’ve already given us. My lifebonded was injured beyond my meager knowledge to heal. But we need more than just shelter and Healing. We need your help to defeat an enemy to both our peoples. How can you be content to just sit in your caves and hide when you know there’s evil like that right on your very doorstep?”
There was a deep rumbling sound, more guttural than a growl, emanating from several of the kyree. At first Vanyel feared it meant they were upset, but they appeared to be remaining calm, and discussing things amongst themselves.
:If it is as you say, Singer, and this enemy is aware of us, then why not pick us off, as he has done to you?:
Vanyel shook his head to clear it of shock, and started thinking about everything that had been said. “If I may?”
The shaman nodded her head.
“It had not occurred to me until just now, but what Stefen says makes a frightening amount of sense. Picking your mages off one by one and making it look accidental would not have been as effective a strategy on the kyree, because your clan is so very much smaller than Valdemar. You say your clan in rich in mages; you might have accepted one or two accidental deaths, but as more and more died, eventually you would have become suspicious, and investigated. But this tactic worked well against us, because there was simply no way for all mages throughout Valdemar to personally know one another; in addition, we are at war on our southern border, so it’s likely that many deaths were counted as casualties of war which shouldn’t have been.”
The rumbling sound intensified. :Hmmm. That does sound somewhat plausible. But still, the question remains: do we know any of that for certain? Is it truly worth the risk of exposure? We owed you aid because of our treaty with the Tayledras, and because you indirectly aided us by clearing out that nest of bandits, but we owe no allegiance to Valdemar. Your fight is not necessarily our fight.:
“But it’s clear that this enemy is an enemy of all free people,” Stefen said passionately. “What he’s done so far is proof enough of that. And even if he isn’t aware of your presence, then does that mean you really want to spend your whole lives hiding and in fear? And if we fail and he finds you—who will come to your aid? Can’t you see it’s better to fight him together, when he’s not expecting an attack from both of us?”
Hyrryl stood then. :You have given us much to think on, both of you. We will consider your words.: