Here y'all go.

As always, C&C appreciated.

D.Fire


Sword and Sorcery (tentative)
Chapter 11

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	Blinking her bleary eyes, Uerris woke up in bed.  She
remembered collapsing, nearly hysterical, into her mother's arms the
night before, but she had no recollection of being carried upstairs to
her room.  As far as she could recall, only Momma had been in the
house last night, during and after that fiasco with the stranger.  She
had felt so comforted, spilling out her fears to her mother about the
stranger ... and her magic.

	Unwilling to rise from her bed, she snuggled deeply back into
her blankets.  It was not the slight chill remaining from the night
that bothered her; it was the chill of magic.  Uerris was honest
enough to admit that to herself.  She had feared the mystic arts ever
since ... then.  That fateful night six years ago.  Her last memories
of her teacher, Old Miri.

	***

	Six years ago, relative time.

	A young girl sits facing toward a raging fire, her body taut
in concentration as she focuses on the fire and her surroundings, just
as her teacher has instructed her.  She forms an eerie silhouette
against the fire, casting a dancing shadow into the woods.  As she
shifts, the figure is revealed to be a young Uerris.

	Directly opposite from her, an older woman sits in the fire,
her features barely discernible through the flames.  Though she is in
obvious contact with the fires, they fail to burn her as she sits
serenely in a cross-legged position.  Her hands are folded before her,
forming a cup in which ... water, perhaps, or possibly some esoteric
liquid, can be found.

	Although the woman appears to be quite young, with her face
almost free of the lines of age, her hair betrays the fact that this
woman clearly has lived in the world for quite some time.  Her hair,
normally the purest white, is a bright orange-red, reflecting
perfectly the colors of the fire.  Her eyes are closed, but her lips
move as she silently chants.

	Suddenly, the woman opens up her eyes and smiles.  She slowly
gets to her feet, apparently unbothered by the raging inferno at her
feet.  Letting her hands separate and fall free, she moves out of the
fire, the grace in her action almost forming a dance.  Whatever liquid
had been previously cupped within her hands falls in to the fire, but
rather than hissing and steaming, the liquid simply sublimates,
turning to fine mist without a sound.

	Coming over to the girl, the woman lays a hand on the girl's
shoulder, gently shaking and breaking her from her trance.  The woman
asks, "Did you see, Uerris?  Did you feel the magic and the earth?"

	Uerris, turning to her mentor with a great smile, replies,
"Yes, Mistress.  I saw everything.  I was watching from the moment you
entered the fire, and I saw how your magic formed a shield around you
and protected you from the flames."

	Shaking her head slightly, Old Miri says, "I'm sorry, little
one.  That wasn't what happened."  Quietly, she rises from her knees
and moves to the opposite side of the fire, settling down once again.
"The magic didn't protect me.  The earth did."

	"What?"  Uerris wears a puzzled expression on her face.  "But
I clearly saw ..."

	Old Miri explains patiently, "What little magic you saw in
your trance did not come directly from me.  It came from the earth and
all nature."  She bows her head as she traces her hand on the rough
ground.  Picking up a handful of dirt, she continues, "See the soil in
my hand?  Before I went into the flames, I asked Nature to protect me.
And She did."

	The puzzled expression did not clear from Uerris face.  "I
still don't ..."

	Sighing in response, the woman just gently smiles and
soothingly replies, "That's all right, Uerris.  Think on it, but don't
forget what you saw.  I see that perhaps it is too soon for you to
understand the intricacies of this ... communion."  In truth, that
Uerris could see magical ley forces so easily amazes her.  She has
only been teaching Uerris for the past six months, and a novice
shouldn't have been able to do that much yet.

	"But tonight," she continues before Uerris mind could wander
off, "I brought you out here for two reasons.  The first, I have
already done.  I have shown you that Nature can be called on to
protect.  Although you do not understand it yet, I expect that you
won't forget it."  She arches an eyebrow at her pupil sitting before
her.

	The girl nods solemnly in reply.

	"The second reason is that I have brought you out here to
witness the Fall Dance."

	Uerris perks up upon hearing that statement.  Rumors and
legends in the village speak of the Fall Dance.  It is a great honor
for her to be here when the sorceress casts the Dance of Protection.
The Dance, as the townspeople whisper, uses Nature to ward away ill
omens and bad luck.  In the past sixty years that Old Miri had Danced,
no major misfortune has roosted at their doorsteps.

	Uerris' eyes begin to shine brightly in anticipation of the
Dance.

	Old Miri broadly smiles as she sees the excitement in her
student's eyes.  "Although I don't expect you to learn it immediately,
it would be nice if, someday, you could carry along the tradition in
my place."  Standing, Old Miri gestures to a spot twenty feet away.
"I need you to stand over there.  I'll need the space around the
fire."

	Jumping up at the command, Uerris races over the spot
indicated, eager for the Dance to start.  She immediately sits and
ceases all movement, barely breathing and making no sound.

	Seeing her protégé settled, Miri begins the Dance.  Slowly at
first, she walks around the fire, taking measured steps, as though
marking an area.

	Although no magic is visible to Uerris' sight, she feels the
tingling that approaches whenever someone casts a spell around her.
Not wanting to miss any aspect of the Dance, she allows herself to
fall into the trance-like state she was in before and turns her
attention back to the Dance.  

	What Uerris sees awes her.  With the few initial steps taken
by Old Miri, a scintillating aura of dancing greens and blues
surrounds the old sorceress.  As she watches, the aura contracts,
glowing more intense as it shrinks until her magic sense is almost
blinded.  When the aura compresses to be almost a second skin, it
explodes in silent shower of sparks, dazzling her inner eyes.  The
effect spills over into the physical world as a flash of bright green
light.

	When the sparks die, Old Miri is revealed to be wearing a
diaphanous gown.  Although the fire still rages, none of its color
touches the beautiful, silky gown.  Of purest white, the gown glitters
unnaturally, reflecting off sources of light unseen.  To the naked
eye, the gown seems to glow and swirl of a life all its own.

	The sorceress's shapely body is easily seen despite the gown.
With a start, Uerris realizes why no others are allowed to witness
this magnificent dance.  Although the gown covers all, it conceals
nothing.  She wonders if, had she been a boy, she would have been
allowed this, despite her talent and her pupil status.

	Seeing the slow blush rising on Uerris' face, Old Miri smiles
knowingly and nods as an indication that she is about to continue.

	Uerris brings her attention back to her teacher, pushing aside
her slight embarrassment.  Since her mentor had not seemed abashed,
there is no reason for her to be.

	Old Miri begins again with a simple cadence.  Left foot
forward, right foot forward, spin.  Her arms spin out, and as she
swings back to face the fire, she pulls her arms back to her body.
Then she slowly repeats her action.

	On each repeat of this beginning pattern, Uerris sees
something happening with her magical sight.  As Old Miri pulls in her
arms, the natural energy of the earth is pulled inward toward the
sorceress and the fire. Each time the pattern completes, more energy
is pulled in, at a greater rate.  As time passes, the sorceress steps
up the tempo and more and more energy gathers in the fire.  Soon, the
magical glow encompasses the whole of the physical size of the
bonfire, and soon after that it spills over the boundaries of the
natural fire, though still retaining flame shape.  Here and there,
streaks of blood-red energy join the blues and greens dancing within
the flames.

	Full minutes pass as Uerris sits there entranced by the beauty
of the Dance and by the beauty her magical sight reveals, although the
red energy disturbs her from her full enjoyment.  But, since her
teacher doesn't react, the young girl assumes that it is natural.

	As the Dance progresses, Old Miri moves out of the first
pattern and goes into a series of different dance patterns, some
repeated for a time, some only followed once, but none duplicated
again.  As one pattern turns into the next, the tempo speeds up ever
so slightly, until she seems like a whirling dervish, but her steps
are precise and measured.  Although the pace is frantic, the beauty of
the Dance still shines through.

	Time blurs for Uerris.  Had it been an hour or perhaps two,
since the Dance had begun?  The magical bonfire, once predominantly
blue and green, now glows with an ugly blood-red.  The color still
makes Uerris feel uneasy, but she puts her trust in her mentor's
experience.

	After the Dance speeds up to a point where Uerris can only see
her mistress as a blur, Old Miri begins to slow down.  In relief,
Uerris sees the energy of the magical bonfire slowly diminish, leached
out and dispersed in an even flow to the immediate area.

	Without warning, Old Miri stumbles to halt, her rhythm
shattered, and she drops to her knees and collapses.

	Seeing her teacher drop, Uerris finally realizes that
something has gone terribly wrong.  Lurching to her feet she tries to
approach the fallen woman, but she is thrown back by an unknown force.
Struggling against the mystic power, she pushes her way back to her
mentor's side.

	Her back to the fire, she cradles Old Miri's head in her lap,
trying to wake her.  Having no success, she desperately begins
dragging the sorceress away.  With her own not inconsiderable
strength, Uerris manages to pull the unconscious woman back to where
she had sat watching.  Once again, she tries to wake the sorceress.

	With her full attention on the unconscious woman, she is
unaware of the malevolent forces building in the fire until a little
voice in the back of her mind tells her to look up.  When she does,
she immediately regrets it.  There, in the fire, a pair of glowing
eyes had formed within the dancing flames.  This she can see, even
without her mage sight, and it frightens her.  She freezes like a deer
caught in a hunter's light and a scream slowly builds in the back of
her throat.  

	Uerris watches, fascinated, as a tendril of fire forms into an
'arm' and lashes out at her, seemingly in slow-motion.  She watches as
it approaches closer and closer until it finally reaches her side and
grabs hold onto her arm.  For a moment, nothing seems to happen, but
then pain washes over her.  Finally, the scream, once caught in her
throat, breaks free and she lets out a shriek of pain and terror.

	Uerris' scream, with its close proximity, causes Miri to wake.
Coming to immediate alertness, the older woman grabs onto Uerris and
gives a great yank, tearing the girl free from the fire's grasp.
"Stay back!" she commands as the sorceress places herself between the
demonic fire and the hapless girl.

	Uerris can only cower behind her mistress, cradling a badly
burned arm.  She scrabbles in an effort to crawl away from the flames.

	The fire, in retaliation, sprouts many more tendrils, all of
them aiming for the girl behind the sorceress.  As each comes to
attack the girl, Miri interposes herself between it and Uerris, taking
the blows meant for her apprentice.  Ignoring the pain caused by the
limbs of fire, she concentrates.  Her intention becomes clear as the
fire diminishes in size as the flames are drawn through the extended
limbs and into Miri, wreathing her in a blood-red glow.

	Throwing an arm into the air, she channels the fire's energy
away from her and the girl, leeching it from the demonic flame and
thrusting it away in the dark night.

	In a final, desperate move, the force controlling the raging
fire forms a spear of flame from the remaining energy and lofts it at
the sorceress in its way.  Unable to move because of the tendrils,
Miri takes the spear full on, and Uerris looks on in horror as the
spear pierces into and through her teacher.  With the last of its
magical energy spent, the fire returns to normal, losing its eyes and
its blood-red color.

	The woods remain silent for what seems like an eternity to
Uerris, until Old Miri, Witch of the Iron Woods, crumples quietly to
the ground.  A young girl's wail soon fills the forest with a keening
note of pain and loss.

	***

	Present time.

	When Old Miri died, Uerris had lain abed for a full two days,
shocked into a catatonic state.  She had not even been to the funeral.
The location of the failed spell had become over the years known as
Witch's Doom, and for the first several years after her teacher's
death, misfortune had plagued Gasenheart.  Only recently, over the
past year or so, had the ill-luck abated.  Now, Gasenheart was like
any other town, only somewhat prospering.

	Ever since that night, Uerris had balked from all magic.  She
even avoided the entertainers that came to town with their minor
magics and totally refused to be taught by another mage.  And now a
stranger had come to town, almost bursting with magic.  The first time
she had met the strange girl, her anger had overwhelmed her fear, the
tingling from her magic senses completely ignored.  The second time,
the magic was more evident, bringing her fear to the fore, and she had
groveled at the sorceress' feet.

	Even when sitting here, safe in her room, her fear did not
abate when she thought of the magics so casually wielded the previous
night.  She had felt the depth of power radiating from the seemingly
young woman.  Looks could be deceiving, she knew, because magic users
tended to physically age very slowly and some even managed to extend
their lives through their magic.  The vitality from the girl last
night was unmistakable, though.

	Fear was foremost in Uerris' mind, without a doubt, but
another emotion waited at the back of her mind.  When she had first
seen the girl clearly, Uerris, for a moment, had felt a faint tugging
at her heart.  Not quite affection, but ... something lurked deep in
her soul.  'Attraction perhaps?'  She blushed at the thought.
Although she had heard of town gossip where two women had fallen in
love, or in rarer cases, two men, she had not paid much heed.  What
others did, that did not bother her, but she had never thought of
herself that way, and while some boys did come to court her, she had
steadfastly refused their advances.  All this time, she had just
thought they didn't match with her ideas of what a husband should be.
Being the daughter of a town noble gave her the right to pick and
choose.  Besides, she had her father wrapped around her little finger,
so could do pretty much as she pleased.  She was in no hurry to get
married.  'But attraction to a complete stranger?  And a young woman
magic-wielder, too,' she wondered.  It made no sense.

	Uerris was distracted from her thoughts as she heard her
brother noisily entering the house from below.  His unmistakable
grumble greeted her ears as the door banged shut behind him.  'Where
is the stranger?' she wondered.  No other footsteps or sounds
accompanied her brother's tread.  'No one is that silent.'  She
reconsidered after reviewing her memory of the previous night.  'That
girl might be, if she is levitating,' she reluctantly admitted to
herself.

	Bracing herself for the shock she expected upon viewing the
sorceress, Uerris slowly rose from the bed and tiptoed over to the
door to her room and cracked it slowly open.  She expected the unknown
girl to be waiting by the front door or perhaps in the main room, so
she stole a peek over the railing of the stairs leading below.  To her
surprise, she found no one.  Her brother, it seemed, had failed in
finding the stranger.  Although the girl was nowhere to be seen, Errin
should at least be downstairs.  She paused in silence, as she wondered
where he had gone.

	Uerris heard two muffled voices coming from the kitchen.  They
seemed to be arguing, or at least raised in protest.  Curious as ever,
she crept down the stairs and moved up to the thick kitchen door to
eavesdrop.  She barely made out her mother's and her brother's voices
through the dense wood.

	"... Destiny?  I hear from a complete stranger that my sister
isn't my sister, and I come back and you confirm it?!" her brother
nearly shouted.

	"Will you calm down, Errin?  The reason you don't know is that
you didn't need to!" her mother commanded.  "You don't know what's
involved here."

	"But she's my sister, or at least that's what you led me to
believe.  Why the lies?" her brother vociferously demanded.  "Or am I
not your son either?"

	Uerris heard the sound of flesh striking flesh, the slap
resounding even through the door.  Wincing in sympathy, she put her
ear once more to the door.  She knew the answer, but she was surprised
her brother even knew to ask.  Then it connected in her mind.  The
STRANGER had told him!  'That's impossible!  Only Mother, Father, and
the Priest of Gaved next door knew about that,' she thought
frantically.  'I'm sure none of them told anyone else, and I certainly
didn't!'  Unable to restrain her surprise, she burst through the door
to confront her family, allowing it to swing closed behind her.

	As Uerris entered the room, she saw her brother sitting on the
floor with his hand to his face, covering a red hand print, obviously
from her mother's slap.  'Odd,' she thought, 'Where did that other
hand print come from?'  Another mark adorned his face on the opposite
cheek from the red one.  'I only heard one slap.'  The second print
was less obvious, more of a shadow than anything else.

	Her mother, though, was furious, still glaring down at her
brother.  Before her mother could say a thing, Uerris burst out with,
"That stranger told you?  That can't be right.  Only Mother and Father
know."  The hurt expression that flashed across Errin's eyes made her
recoil from his accusatory gaze.

	"You knew!  And you didn't even tell me!" her brother screamed
at her.  Without another word, he jumped to his feet and fled out the
door.

	"Wait, Errin!  Come back!  Let me explain!" she yelled behind
him.  She began to follow him, but was pulled short when her mother
put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

	Her mother shook her head, saying, "You should let him go,
Uerris -- Or should I call you Ukyou?  He'll be back after he's had
some time to calm down."  She ruefully added, "Besides, at the rate
you two move, he's probably out of town by now.  You won't be able to
find him if he doesn't want to be found.  You and I need to talk."

	"Ukyou?  What's that?  Is that my name?" wondered Uerris.  The
name had a familiar feel.  The feeling began at the bottom of her
stomach, slowly welling up to encompass her heart.  It was as though a
piece of her soul had been miraculous returned.  "I don't know, Momma.
It feels right.  But who told you?  I thought you didn't know who I
was before I came here."

	"I didn't tell you last night, but the stranger mistook me for
someone else she called 'Ukyou' when she first awoke.  I didn't make
the connection until now, when your brother asked me about you not
being his sister.  That you came to us by a miracle has long passed
from the townspeople's mind, so no one aside from your father and I
should remember that."  'Or at least, it's old enough gossip that
people don't care about it,' Keili thought.  Sighing, she continued,
"I know you remember what we told you two years ago.  And it looks
like time has finally caught up to you.  For whatever reason, you were
given to us for ten years.  But I think your time with us here has
ended."  She spoke with a finality that brought tears to Uerris' eyes.

	Hugging her mother with emotion, Uerris clung to her as tears
finally breached the dam and spilled down her face.  "Momma, I don't
know what to say.  I don't know if I am ready to leave, and especially
not with HER."  The emphasis on 'her' made it clear to whom she was
referring.  They were locked in an embrace when a knock sounded at the
kitchen door.

	"Goodness, who could that be?"  Uerris' mother regained her
composure, and, wiping tears from her own eyes, she headed toward the
door.

	Blocking her mother's way, Uerris suggested, "I think I should
get that.  I believe I know who it is."  She slid over to the door
and, pulling on it, slowly swung it open.  As expected, the red-haired
stranger stood in the doorway with the panther tamely sitting down by
the stranger's feet.  For some unknown reason, despite Uerris' fear of
magic, her heart still leapt to her throat at the sight of the
stranger.  The giant cat seemed out of place, though.

	"Ano, did I come at a bad time?  I just saw Errin almost run
over me as he ran out," the stranger asked as she pointed toward the
front door.  "I knocked at the door he left open, but no one answered.
I hope you don't mind me coming in," she apologetically asked.  "I'm
Raeni."  Turning back to Uerris, without any forewarning except for a
slight twinkle in her eye, she swept a surprised Uerris into her arms
and swung her around in a circle, a big grin pasted on her face.
Whispering so that only Uerris could hear, she added, "I'm so happy to
have found you, my friend."  Then she playfully threatened in a loud
voice, "If you hurt me or my familiar again, I'm going to have to
punish you!"  Her smile remained on her face.  "But I forgive you."

	Almost too surprised to react, Uerris could only pound weakly
on the figure whirling her around like a rag doll.  Finally, the
redhead released Uerris, setting her gently back on her feet.  As the
redhead stepped back, the insane grin still on her face, Uerris stared
at the girl dumbfounded.  "I'm sorry.  I think you mistake me for
someone you once knew."

	"No mistake at all.  You don't remember me, but I'll make sure
you will.  I'm sure I'm in there somewhere," Raeni said as she tapped
a finger on the bewildered Uerris' head.  "But only if you want me
to," she added quickly when the bewildered expression changed to acute
alarm.

	The girl did not seem as fierce as last night when she had
hovered over Uerris.  The magic still surrounded her, and her mere
proximity caused all sorts of alarms to go off in Uerris' head, but
Uerris did not find her as threatening despite her delivered warning
and her rough ... offer.  "Mayhaps, Mistress," she replied with tiny
smile of her own.  Uerris found herself liking the girl, despite the
magic and their brief, but tumultuous, shared past.  "But my name, for
now, will remain Uerris."