It was late in the darkness, the rain that lay over Ceboyan and Arangal only now starting to make its way to neighbouring Kalingnan. Dogs, left out in it, howled in protest, and drops pattered against thatched roofs. In the great manor house that roosted on the hill, servants were bustling about, bringing furniture and plants in, locking up sheds, and closing shutters. In rapid succession, the lights winked out. The great evil eye that gazed over Aziz Mesud was closed.
"Dali?" whispered a voice. A moment passed.
"Dalisay!?" It came back louder.
"Yesss, Bato. I'm here. Are you trying to wake the whole farm?""Well, you could answer the first time and I wouldn't have to be louder." A teenage boy could be seen slipping into a large hut. He was wearing a wide straw hat and loose canvas pants patched a few times.
"This takes focus, you know." A girl, perhaps a year or two older, could be seen sitting cross-legged on a bed made of planks and some hay. Presently, she opened an eye to glare at the boy.
"Can you sense them yet?"She nodded.
"But only one," she admitted, with some consternation.
"Gani said we'd have real help." Dalisay opened both eyes and leaned back, posting her weight on her arms. Long greasy black hair was draped over one shoulder. The boy bore a striking resemblance to her as he joined her sitting on the bed, though his hair had a slight wave to it.
"Maybe he's just that good," Bato suggested, pausing for a moment.
"Or 'she'." He tried a hopeful smile.
"It's a man," Dali corrected. She furrowed her brow.
"A mage, I think." She nodded after a second.
"He must be some mage!" Bato enthused, only to be shushed by his older sister.
"Oraf only gave you loud and mute, didn't she?" the girl chided, and the younger of the pair grimaced by way of apology.
Dalisay glanced about warily and her eyelids fluttered shut for a second.
"Well, I sure hope he is. It's a mad idea."Bato was already rising, but some of the simple cheer faded from his face for a moment.
"If you ask me, doing what they did to Alad was the mad thing." He began to walk away.
Dali's eyes opened.
"I know," she sighed.
"I'm sorry." She took a deep breath and glanced down.
"We all wish it hadn't happened. We all wish that things could be different." She shrugged.
"And they will be, Ate, once this man comes and shows us what we need." He turned on his heel and crouched down before where she sat on the bed.
"Then we can do the rest ourselves.""Would a healer not be better for Alad?""How long until the next Alad?"Dalisay sighed and nodded glumly, but she made sure to flash a smile for her little brother. They were but a year and a half apart, though sometimes it felt like more and, other times,
she felt the younger of the two.
"As usual, wisdom from the mouth of babes."Bato winked and she blew a raspberry.
"I meant his head, as well." She shook hers.
"You know he's never been quite right. Anyway, go now," she urged him.
"Tell Gani and Kidlat that he's coming along the west road. He's tall and has a pack and some... kites." She estimated his walking speed.
"He's about two miles away. Hurry and you three can pull him into the old shed."For a moment, Bato's eyes flicked to the wheelbarrow in the middle of the hut.
"Do you..."Dalisay smiled and shook her head.
"Go, totò!"Hiking through strange land comforted Tku. He had much to do in Ceboyan but traveling like this reminded him of going through Sakenga as a young boy. He was scared to death of every moving shadow and the rain only chilled his body.
He was no longer scared of the shadows but scared of the duties he set upon himself. He was Tku, and to them, his is a mage to help. He was now a mage. The rain tried to stick to him but it slid off him and his clothes, walking in the rain but never getting wet. Soon he would be upon his location and was already feeling around with his kites. He couldn't be seen.
The lights of the manor house were not visible in the storm. Its shutters had been closed and lanterns snuffed for the night. Thunder rumbled in the clouds above and rain hammered the muddy ground, but there was never much of any wind.
Almost inaudible above the din was a voice.
"Here!" it called.
"Here, biyahero! You shoul' not be out in tiss storm. Come wit me." There was a young man, just off of the path, behind a stand of tall bushes. He was glancing about nervously but welcomingly and waving Tku over.
Without light, Tku relied on his senses to guide him but they were still futile in a foreign land’s storm. So when he met another young man, Tku was relieved. He waved back to the man,
"Ah! Thank you, friend. The storm snuck up on me." Tku approached with a smile but he still scanned around for matters that shouldn't be here things like a blade or many hearts hiding in the tall grass.
There were two other energy signatures - human, hegelan, eeaiko, or yasoi - within a shed about thirty meters off of the road. It was hard to read them well given all of the storm's ambient energy. That was, incidentally, in the direction where Tku was being led.
His tusker kites blowing in the wind's lines were pulled taught and brought closer to Tku. It is very onerous for a guard to spot them in this storm but he wouldn't give an opportunity to catch him through simple sight.
After making it off the main path, Tku offered his name,
"My name is Tku." He placed his hand over his own heart to show his sincerity.
"Are the others further ahead?"The man nodded. He was only a few years Tku's senior.
"Kidlat," he replied, tapping his chest.
"You are young tan we expec'," he remarked, leading the way.
"Other persons..." He trailed off for a moment, perhaps struggling to find the word he needed in a language he was less than fluent in, and pointed ahead, down a narrow path.
"Gani an' Bato. In te shed." He twisted about for a moment.
"Dali no comin'. She teter. Hard movin' in rain like tiss." He scowled briefly, before turning back. A sheet of lightning lit up the sky momentarily, and they could feel the resulting thunder, a few seconds later, in their chests.
"Good par' is it makin' lotta noise an'..." A conspiratorial grin replaced a face of consideration.
"Energe? Hide us pretty good I tink."Tku was led to a small shed, where a candle flickered inside. He saw the two other faces - both native Palaparese - only in twisting shadows. One was very young, no older than Abdel or Rikard. He introduced himself in a voice that still cracked as Bato. The other was a good deal older - perhaps in his late thirties. That was Gani.
"Maybe you are preezing," he remarked, in accented but more fluent Avincian than Kidlat,
"But you are also a mage, so maybe not." He had a short black beard shot through with streaks of silver, and maintained a serious bearing. This was likely his attempt at humour upon meeting someone new.
"In any case, you are here and that is what matters. When we spoke with the Masked One, we did not know what to expect. We hear things sometimes, especially me, since I work at the house, but many people are more talk than action." He hesitated for a moment and the three Palaparese exchanged glances.
"Even us, until recently."Tku slowly deciphered what Kidlat was saying through what he said about 'Dali'. Either she was tethered or off balance. Either would make it difficult to move on a stormy night.
"It does," Tku complimented Kidlat.
"Rain holds much energy, separating us from the rains is not an easy feat."As they approached the shed, he dried himself and Kidlat using binding. It was delicate but well within Tku's mastery. He stepped in and removed his cowl.
"I'm warm enough knowing you met with me." he offered a smile and nod to Bato and Gani.
Tku leaned himself against the wall.
"And you would be right, most of the time. Which is why I would like to ask, what can I do to help you right now? I'm sure that there are those who hold that this is just talk." Tku felt a need to gain the trust of these people.
"That... is the thing," Gani allowed, stroking the stubble on his chin.
"We...""Do not know," interjected Kidlat.
"Too long with masters makes a man less able to think for himself," the oldest of the three men admitted,
"But something has to change."Outside, a particularly loud crash of thunder shook the landscape and a couple of heads turned. It was the youngest, Bato, who spoke, rapidly and in his native tongue, shooting nervous and pleading glances Tku's and Gani's way.
What followed was a rapid exchange between the three until, finally, Bato addressed Tku directly.
"Dey..." He held up a hand and motioned chopping it off.
"do tis Alad." He shook his head.
"No, I say." He shook it more adamantly.
"No more for me." His eyes were intense.
"Alad no..." He tapped the side of his head gently and grimaced.
"Bad head." His eyes searched Tku's.
"Good man. Bad head. He is me priend." He all-but implored the foreigner to understand his very broken Virangish.
"A healer," said Kidlat.
"That is best." He shook his head as Gani and Bato addressed him once more in Palaparese and they exchanged rapid-fire words. Then, they paused: all three of them.
"That is Dali," explained Gani, filling Tku in.
"She has been watching us prom the cabins." He furrowed his brow.
"She says you are a healer by your magics, but you would need to be a very good one, por they cut Alad's hand opp and ped it to the crocodiles.""I understand," Tku nodded. It was an issue he read about from some of the older generation in Joru.
"But just as your mind has atrophied from their rule, it can be invigorated by breaking from it." Tku thought to himself how to help and more importantly, stir their minds so they may create the conditions for their emancipation. But his thoughts were slashed at the loud crash of thunder. He patted his chest and tried to understand what was going on.
Ah, Dali is tethered! Why would a slave master keep a tethered?They made it obvious what he needed to do next,
"We can plan things more in full but I believe returning Alad's hand requires some urgency. Just know that we must be ready for when they notice.""He is at the huts," Gani warned.
"We will have to travel there." He did not ask if Tku was willing to or could make it. He simply assumed the competence that was presented to him.
"I promise it is much more beautiful in the morning, despite what happens here."Bato, meanwhile, seemed to be clinging to Tku's every word, partially just for the effort of trying to understand an only semi-familiar language, and partially because they seemed to resonate with him.
"You come, Master Tku." He nodded.
"I take you.""I tink we all go," Kidlat recommended, consciously using Virangish for Tku's benefit.
"I watch. Gani help. Bato scout." The three men had an extra cloak that they offered Tku. Then, with little hesitation, even as a sheet of lightning split the sky and thunder crackled across the jungle, they pushed the door open and slinked out into the night.
Tku shook his head no to Bato,
"Thank you for the kind phrase but I am no master, I am but a friend." Maybe he would understand, maybe he would not. Either way, it held great importance for him to set the boundary there.
Tku took up the cloak and started to move with them. He had scanned the area thoroughly before entering the shed and he had not forgotten. Binding was an odd school of magic, being able to sense more than just energy was a blessing for the blood child.
He could feel the goma cats stalking him and his entourage and all Tku had to do was create a writhing snake to throw them off.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, likes snakes. He treaded over the wet and rooted ground, parting the plants while dispersing any track behind them. He was no expert in Arcane but anyone could sparsely draw on light to dim an area.
Everything went smoothly and steadily, quickly reaching the outside of the huts. There was a gap they were going to have between the foliage that he used thus far to make it here and the hut. He reached out to people, marking those he could. With no one to observe him, he turned the thick mud dry and hard to move quickly with his companions. He let Gani go in before him as a stranger rushing into a hut could scare them.
Bato was a good two hundred yards ahead of the others, and he disappeared into one of the huts. Gani and Kidlat followed, with the help of Tku's magics. Inside was a boy about Bato's age - or slightly older - sitting up in bed. A girl perhaps Tku's age sat beside him, and a wheelbarrow waited close to the bed. The boy's left arm was truncated just above the wrist, its end enclosed in bandages. He was a lanky twitchy youth with oily hair and large eyes with bags beneath them. He regarded Tku with a wary curiosity after he entered behind the others.
"I... sorry we could nah' meet imperson," said the girl, not bothering to ask if and how he knew about her. Like Gani, she assumed competence.
"I'm Dalisay. He is Alad.""Dali..." The rest of Gani's words were in Palaparese, as was her quick response. She ushered the scared-looking Alad to his feet, even as he began to speak.
"He says that he didn't know they had to give it to him," Gani translated.
"He took the beans because it was his birthday. He didn't mean to break any rules. He didn't mean to make trouble.""Don't think slave," said Bato, leaning in towards his friend, and Alad's eyes widened. They exchanged words in Palaparese and both nodded, but the maimed boy's remaining fist was clenched.
"He is angry," Dalisay interpreted,
"because they change the rules and now he has to trouble for you. He only wanted to make coffee for his lola... uh... grandmother." She shook her head.
"Alad's anger can be very great.""On birthdays, they used to let pield workers - slave or pree peasant - take a handful of coppee beans por temselves, back when we had Master Gorkan," Gani explained.
"Master Hakan makes them go to him and pledge their loyalty bepore they can. Alad didn't know of the change and when then caught him he defended his actions as following the rules. Things escalated and he struck an overseer and...""He is lucky to be alive," said Dali.
"We had to beg por it and some had to work extra shipts to cover the loss." She snorted bitterly and her eyes caught Tku's. there was more to this that she wasn't saying right now, but perhaps she might say it later.
"Pive minute," warned Kidlat, sticking his head inside from the doorway.
"Patro' come.""Fas'!" urged Bato,
"Fas', healer!" He looked apologetically at Tku, probably not meaning to rush him but concerned. Dali, meanwhile, unwrapped the bandages around the boy's severed hand, revealing the ragged stump, while Gani reassured him and gave him instructions in his native tongue.
Now, before anything could happen to derail it, came time for Tku to take up his craft and heal.
Tku's eyes bounced from place to place, listening to the information and feelings given to him. His time here was limited, Tku knew this. So while they filled him in on how and why, he paid close attention to Alad's clenched fist. The muscles, arteries, and veins were so much clearer than when relaxed.
He approached Alad with a careful step.
"Dali, can you have Alad set his good hand next to the stump?" He looked at them and used them to mirror how they should look. He began to reconstruct Alad's hand.
Tku kneeled next to Alad as he started to compare the hands.
The boy must of picked up on the panic in the room, Tku thought as he gently held his hand and started to take deep breaths. People are quick to copy those in front of them when in a panic. Slowly the breathing slowed and Tku was able to begin.
He took in the intricacies of Alad's hand. The callouses from repeated abrasion, well developed muscle to help grip his tools. A dozen or so fractures and imperfections came with doing hard labor at a young age. It wasn't hands to be envious, unlike the privileged life Tku had lived. Recreating some imperfections so he could use his hand would be more difficult than Tku could imagine.
With no time to waste, Tku began forming the spongy red marrow and the outer white layers of bone. The hand was intricate, consisting of seven central bones. They were all oddly shaped and important to stave off anemia in the future. It took much longer than he imagined and he carved out each bone to make sure they were strong enough to withstand use. With time running thin, he nearly instantly formed the fingers, tingling Alad. His eyes say his very bones sticking out of a stump and he was quick to panic. He thrashed and screamed as his friends tried to keep his calm but Tku lost control and carved into the bone, removing the small pinholes that the nerves use to enter on the metacarpals.
Tku grimaced at the wound. He understood that he would suffer from mild numbing but he had to continue, this time without Alad being conscious. His wound was open and slipping in some anesthetic along with some 'Slumber Juice' his chemical Zeno told him.
"Quick, someone catch him, he can't be awake for the rest of this." Bato caught him with ease, seemingly inheriting Alad's anxiety, looking at Tku to reassure him if he would be okay. All he could do was smile and nod, he couldn't tell them that the next part was the worst.
Quickly he started to lay out loose fibers in the directions they needed, slowly sheathing them and then sheathing again and again. The Tendons were pulled taut and he prepared the circulatory system. Hundreds of feet of veins and arteries of varying sizes needed to be laid out. It was the most intricate and... Tku failed. The small veins couldn't pull away the blood. It would pool and cause it to go septic in a few hours.
He couldn't leave his hand in such a state. He drew away from his previous work and started to draw from Alad and himself to create a better system. Alad was young and would recover and Tku knew his body better than anyone, what he didn't need was obvious to him. The webbing of nerves started to fill out the gaps in Tku's creations. Linking things and solidifying its structure in Tku's mind. The skin was barely an afterthought, merely relying on the excellent regeneration of natural skin and speeding it up immensely to cover the hands and then nails.
The relief overtook him as he looked to the hand with some contemplation. It wasn't perfect, it may be his worst work and it pained him to give something so meager to someone who deserves so much more. But it would have to be good enough as it was the only gift he could prepare. This moment was only cut with Dali yelling at him that he needed to leave.
"They are just around the bend!" she shouted.
"You can't be here!"Tku wasn't quite quick enough. By the time that he reached the door, just behind Bato, he could sense that the patrol was within visual range, and he pulled back.
"Hide!" Dalisay hissed.
"He can be sleeping -" She pointed at Alad,
"- but you must hide!"Gani doused the lamp and flung himself onto the rough plank and hay that was his bed while Dali tucked Alad in. For herself or Tku, there was nothing she could do. That was Bato's and Kidlat's job.
The pair of teens must've known what was coming, but they did it anyway. Standing in the doorway, Kidlat pushed Bato and Bato pushed him back and they were shouting and hurling insults at each other in their native tongue. One need not have understood all of the words to recognize the performance.
The others waited in stillness and darkness, Tku ensconced among some canvas sacks beneath Alad's bed. The tethered girl's feet dangled limply over the edge, her toes just brushing the dirt. Rain hammered at the thatch of the roof and, in a couple of places, drops of water glimmered as they slipped through and fell.
Then, a new voice:
"Hey!" it shouted,
"You! What are you doing out!?""I, uh... he was say I want a'..." He trailed off, perhaps unsure of the word he needed.
"He want a' puck me sistah!" Bato announced, and there was a rapid angry exchange between him and Kidlat.
"Ung, hum, muk, gaiy," mocked the other guard. There were violent sounds and then momentary silence.
"Will you speak a goddamned language people can understand!?"The first guard laughed.
"This one's sister's the cripple, right?"Bato said something quietly, and there was a crash against the wall. Above Tku, the planks shifted, and he could practically
feel Dali's distress.
"You should be thanking him. Girl could use a good fucking, and who else is gonna touch her?"Dalisay's hands gripped the edge of the bed. Tku could see her knuckles grow white. He could feel her drawing. It was clumsy and unpracticed and she likely didn't even know that she was doing it.
Bato began to shout, but quickly, he was silenced. Instead, it was Kidlat's voice next.
"Please, sir. No hurt he, okay? He a stupi' boy. Big head. Big mout'. Li'l brain. I take him back he huh' now. Okay?""Oh yeeeeaah," remarked the first guard.
"What are you doing away from your hut after curfew anyway?"There was no response from either Kidlat or Bato but, in one smooth motion Gani rose from his bunk. and hurried up to the door, feigning rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Master Dursun, Master Heves," he called,
"I apologize por the stupidity ob these boys. I called them together to discuss their argumen', and I thought they had settled it, but it appears they are pighting again." He bowed very deeply and stiffly.
"Please allow me to show them the rod and dispense Mistress Çalişkan's justice!"There was a pause, and a wavering brightness as a lantern swung briefly into the bunkhouse.
"'M afraid it's gone beyond that point now," remarked one of the guards.
"An' we all know you'll just go easy on 'em anyway," snorted the other.
"You fuckin' gooks are all a little cabal.""Please, sirs, I will do right. I will do it right here and now with you watching ip you wish!"There was a long pause and some whispered interaction that Tku could not quite make out. Then:
"Hey, saaay, why are you all coming to the door?" The light swung inside again momentarily.
"What don't you want us to see inside?""No matter wha' happens," came Dali's urgent whisper,
"do not let them pind you.""Out of the way!" barked the second guard. When Gani was slow to move, he was shoved roughly into the middle of the floor. He skidded into the wheelbarrow with a clunk and the light swept over Dalisay, illuminating her sandy-coloured legs where they dangled over the edge of the bed.
Tku could merely watch as he slowly drew in mass to sink himself, building the canvas bags around him to obscure his presence.
You were slow and now they suffer, Tku swallowed his remorse and set himself to follow Dali's words. But how tempting it was. He could make them vanish amongst the storm and no one would know where they went. They would be safe.
Tku was a man now scarred by a virangish slaver and how he saw so much of that man in Dursun and Heves. But Dali, Kidlat, Bato, and Gani knew more than him. A foreign world was Palapar and little moved right now. Ridding them of 2 would only bring more pain onto all the slaves here. So he stayed quiet. He hid. He watched.
Dali, meanwhile, had no such option. Caught in the beam of the lantern, she shielded her eyes.
"Figured we'd find something juicy inside," growled one of the guards, either Dursun or Heves.
"You shouldn't be here," added the other ominously.
"Alad need to be comported!" Dali protested.
"I'm sorry! He is sleepin' now!"The devil was in them, though, and one could tell from their eyes.
"You broke the rules, Dali," scolded the taller of the two: a man with beady eyes and a thick mustache. The second one darted in toward her. He had lighter hair and a mournful face that might've looked friendly were it not for his eerily large eyes and resting pout.
"That has consequences," he taunted.
The tethered cried out and tried to throw her hands up in instinctual self-defense, but the patrolman caught her on the cheek and sent her tumbling roughly to the ground. For a moment, she was gazing under the bed, eyes wide in fear as they met Tku's. Tku could also see Bato's feet moving toward the patrol from behind. Gani's came after and restrained the youth.
Then, a hand reached down and yanked Dalisay roughly by her hair.
"On your feet!" bellowed her tormenter, which was a command she couldn't follow. Instead, he released her and she tumbled to the ground.
"I'd say that constitutes a second disobeyed order," scoffed the other member of the pair,
"wouldn't you?""And, you know, Alad sure does seem out like the dead..." said the man who'd dropped her, stalking up to the bed where the healing boy lay. He began to reach for the covers.
"Leave him out of it," pleaded Dali's voice, broken and weepy.
"He's simple and good and Pashdal has bless him with sleep.""This is too much!" protested Gani,
"Surely there is a better way to handle this.""Do shut up, you old woman, or your next word costs a hand.""Please. It's me who done bad," Dali insisted.
"Wha'ever punishment you make, it's not them."There was an extended pause where, perhaps, the pair of tyrants seemed to be considering, coming down from their cruel power trip. Then:
"You know, your brother's story was that he was protecting your dignity against this other shit-eater," declared one. The light swung, perhaps to illuminate the cowering Kidlat.
"but, ya know, I don't believe him," he added darkly, resting a hand on his belt buckle.
With that, Bato shouted at the top of his lungs, hurling insults and vitriol at the patrolmen, and Gani either could not or did not wish to restrain him. He hurtled towards them with all of his force and fury, only to be sent crashing into the flimsy wall and right through it with bonebreaking force.
They had the Gift.
A Crossroad
Tku shook in his hiding spot as Dali hit the ground. He hid further back, heeding her words. He grew more and more scared as the two slavers started to revel in their own brutality. The slavers were truly cut from the same cloth as Ren, but in a way, he hoped that their cruelty would mimic his and deliver a quick punishment.
But it never was enough. They show they had the power to dominate by crashing Bato through the wall. They had the gift, a blessing from the gods. They did not need to beat Kidlat, shove Gani, and strike Dalisay to the ground. They had the power to tend to this without harm but they
wanted to do this.
They were not needlessly cruel. They were purposeful in their hate and derived pleasure and satisfaction.
I believed in the love of man, in their ability to empathize with another and to feel their pain. Tku called upon the void and drank from its strength.
But I was wrong. I will send these Hetraxa spawn to hell myself. He drew them as he rose from his hiding spot.
It might've been satisfying, or perhaps grim, how quickly the slavers unraveled: skin from flesh and flesh from bone. They tried to fling ineffectual magics in Tku's direction, but the effort was for naught. Both perished with garbled screams.
Now, the healer had laid bare his full power and intent. Bato lay unconscious through the wall, with his body twisted at a weird angle. Gani had picked Dali up and carried her back to the bed, and Kidlat stood on, wide-eyed. Alad, finally, was beginning to stir. Now, the question invariably arose: 'what next?' Clearly, an event horizon had been passed. Could there be any turning back?
He breathed in, and then out before going to work on Bato.
"I'm sorry Dalisay," he said rather loudly,
"But I could not stay hidden while they unleashed the gift for the sake of brutality." Tku's words apologized but his voice showed no regret. He kneeled next to Bato and began to weave his binding through him. He had plenty of usable material around him now.
"How long until their absence is felt?" he began to stich the broken wall back together after bringing Bato inside.
In addition to a half-dozen lesser injuries, Bato had suffered a broken back that, were it not for Tku's presence, would've rendered him more disabled than his sister. Fortunately, it took a mere couple of minutes for the skilled binder to restore him.
Dalisay, seated on the bed again, was now somewhat less circumspect. She furrowed her brow, but nodded.
"You did wha' you had to." She paused.
"And I say thank por it."Gani was action now.
"They check in every hour." He replied, leaning over Alad, who was stirring.
"On a night like this, some delay could be porgiven." He shook his head.
"They were small pish. Bad ones looking to use what little power they had to hurt others and make themselves peel powerpul, but small nonetheless."Kidlat approached hesitantly, his conspiratorial good cheer from earlier long gone.
"We say Alad or no?" he asked, eyes darting from the stirring youth to Tku and the others.
"So an hour or so," Tku pondered on the situation that he had created.
I acted too rashly, Tku admitted to himself,
The goal was to create the foundation for a change but now that they're dead, the others will spread word and be more weary. The options for them were limited but they could still strike some sort of victory,
"Dalisay, how many slavers do they have on this plantation?" he asked the tethered girl.
He tapped his foot as Kidlat approached him,
What the in the 5 heavens is he saying? No, he is trying. Tku allowed himself a moment of incompetence, turning to Kidlat,
"Apologies Kidlat, but I'm struggling with your words," he looked towards Gani for assistance.
There was a quick exchange between Gani and Kidlat.
"Ah!" said the former,
"He is asking ip we should tell Alad or leave him out of it."Dalisay, meanwhile considered.
"There is the master, his wipe, and his four brats. Only Ilkhan is old enough to be trouble, but he is in Ersand'Enise." She shook her head.
"There are eight permanent overseers." Gani added.
Kidlat looked about to say something, but held back this time.
"Pour magic," added Bato instead.
"Two are lie dead," Dalisay added, gesturing with her chin at the dead patrolmen.
"A dozen more with no Gipt," Gani concluded.
Just then, there was a precipitous cooling in the room. Dali let out a yelp and Tku turned.
"Two down," said Alad,
"twenty-three lept." He was drawing in arcane energy from the ambient heat, and lots of it.
"They can all die."Tku looked at them strangely for a moment before nodding,
Why wouldn't we let him know? He is a part of this, isn't he? Before he could answer, Dalisay kindly informed him of the arms they faced here. Tku merely nodded, trusting in his own skills and strength to overcome the gifted.
"Gani, you work in the house, how often do the overseers and guards leave or communicate with other plantations this time of year?" If they were mostly quiet with each other, they could simply capture the regular guards and deal with the older people of the family. His foot kept tapping as he thought, working through himself and the plan. But before the conversation could flourish, Alad began to draw. It was more than he imagined of a slave but less than the Arch-Zeno's and demons he had faced before.
His mouth opened as to refute him but no words came out. Tku had only seen a small glimpse of the brutality the overseers held and he couldn't withhold his indignation for them. He condemned them to death on his own, against the wishes of Dalisay and the others here.
What reason, no standing, do I have to reject his rage?But Tku still turned to face Alad fully,
"Please Alad, stay your anger for now as drawing without purpose only makes you easier to find." he raised a hand gently to him.
"There will be more bloodshed, but there isn't a reason to kill those without the gift," Tku spoke firmly though he felt the stings of hypocrisy.
Gani grimaced as Alad drew, but he managed to grate out an answer to Tku's query.
"A good amount during harvest season," he admitted.
"They would..." He flinched as if nauseous.
"They'd... notice apter a couple -"All at once, Gani lurched to the side and retched on the floor, followed by Kidlat and Bato. Dalisay grimaced. Alad merely glared, roiling with unstable and barely-contained energies.
"No Gipt, still bad," he growled. He clenched his fists and began moving for the door.
"They all die."Tku could hold his own but he watched as the others began to bend under the immense weight of his draw.
So this was the 'great anger' they have danced around. So strong but with no restraint or control, Tku pitied the boy and could see how he could have flourished if in better conditions. He watched the others fall to their side in sickness.
Tku reached for his side, wearing a sympathetic frown,
"But Alad," he moved to his side, revealing Bato.
"Your anger hurts more than the deserving. Your friends, brothers in chain, your lola," he hoped to shock and have him empathize with his actions.
"Release your magic to the rain Alad," he opened his blind eye,
"I know your rage but you can't let it burn those you love, my friend." Tku smiled lightly at Alad. He had more he wanted to say but he wanted to have Alad on his side and he needed to see what rage brought when unchecked.
The youth was silent and obstinate, at first, but then he stared into Tku's blind eye with a sort of gallows curiosity and, after a few moments he blinked and glanced over at his friends writhing and vomiting.
"I -" He struggled to find the words in an only semi-familiar tongue.
"I nope know wha' do," he replied. He froze in the doorway for an extended period.
"Hot in me. How make go?"Dalisay, finally, seemed to steady herself. She grimaced.
"Abou' two days," she finally managed.
"You will need to be past." She shook her head. 'Fast', she'd likely meant. Tku had already picked up on some of the quirks of the local accent.
"For now, maybe halp an hour." She hesitated, swallowing nervously.
"Be carepul. They are stron'. I will help you prom par away."It was the time for a decision and it could not be put off any further, it appeared.
Tku rubbed his shoulder,
"It's alright, you're new to this." Tku demonstrated the basics of Arcane,
"I am no master but this I know you can do, feel the cold rain." Tku reached out as it wetted his hand,
"Your hand is cold, Let out heat onto the cold rain. Slowly.""As for your rage, it will quell in time. Once we have made things better," he squeezed his shoulder,
"You can make it better, Alad." Tku turned to Dalisay,
"2 days is enough to add to the defenses and ready ourselves but it's not great. I can contact allies far and wide to inform them of what happens here." The time for rooting ourselves and overturning passed the moment Tku acted.
"We will need to remove the ones with the gift, some may surrender but we don't have a proper way of restraining them." Tku said with some grimace.
"As for the non-gifted," Tku mulched dirt and gravel into spears,
"If they surrender, we can tie them up and keep them as prisoners, because we are not them. But if they fight then they leave little choice for themselves." his words hardened with his heart knowing what he set himself to.
The arts were good for so much but only the art of war will set them free here, I pray to Eshiran-Zept that we might prevail and to Dami, Ahn and Zept, that my judgment may free them."I cannot do this alone, nor should I.” Tku announced to the others as he continued constructing Joruban steel spears.
"No man can free another from the chains of a nation without the help of those in chains, I ask you to find those that would help with this. Find your spirit and I will arm it.” he tossed spears at Kidlat, Bato, and Gani.
He looked to the sky, the rain grew a heavy fog that would not dissipate in the moonlight,
A gift from the gods on such a terrible night. His mind wandered to dark corners that Tku never considered before. Never once did he set himself to silencing another in advance. As short notice as this revolt was, Tku had time to plan for its trials and traps that such an event would hold. The first was obvious to him, those scared of change or those who believe they benefit from the servitude. Gani warned of another house servant, one of mixed lineage who saw himself as better than his fellow servant for he had a drop of the gift and even more Virangish blood. But Tku saw past that, seeing a man simply wanting to preserve what he had managed for his own. Tku spoke of the nation where old men like him rose for their children and grandchildren, and they lived in a place that he would be proud to call home. The man had fire in him and he chose to stop for the sake of it.
Another was someone Dalisay spoke of, the half-brother of the master. He, unlike the last, did truly gain some benefit from the establishment here, though he was still less than anyone from Virang. It was a delusion held closer to himself than the gods he was ever pious to and that is what made him so dangerous. The former master’s gift was as potent as his son’s and the half child carried some of it with him. Tku tried to stop him with words, obstacles, with calls to something greater than himself. But none of his pleas were heard, instead, he was met with resistance and magic. Tku had no room for convincing, he sealed the man’s throat, cutting off his air. He wouldn’t be allowed to speak any longer. Once he had passed out, Tku bound him in rope and unsealed his throat,
"Just be silent for long enough."That was all he needed to handle for the traitors, the rest were to be handled by the trusted hands here and he believed in them. But piercing through the fog was a scream, the ground shifted with Tku’s movement as he quickly caught up to the girl. She was already far too close to the main house so Tku bound the women’s clothes into wrappings to bring her to the ground. He had done this a hundred times and instructed many others on how to do this. It was a safe way to restrain without too much force.
But when he went to retrieve her, she was not moving, she did not breathe. Her head had hit a rock unseen in the fog. Tku fixed her but her brain had bled too much.
"You know what you must do, you can still bring her back," he said to himself as he began to run his manas through her body.
"After this, all you need to do is go to the house…" Tku’s healing halted. He had a cold realization as he felt his depleted stamina.
"I’ve healed so much today, the hand, the bones, the spears…" A binder was an unending source of Oraff’s grace, they had limits. His manas deteriorated with every hand he gave, every spear crafted, and every bone he healed. If he were to revive her, undo his mistake, he may not be strong enough to face the masters of the house. He had already made his choice. He set the young, naive woman to the side, fixing her clothes to not shame her any more than he needed. He couldn’t watch over her, he had to keep moving.
The rest of the fieldhands who rose with him on this mission handled their parts expertly, not killing any innocent in the process. He made no effort to hide his sin from them as it would only deepen his guilt. Some were angry, some understood, and some simply couldn’t care in the moment. Whether driven by fear or guilt, Tku called upon old powers of blood to create a minion from a cone mushroom. It stood 8 feet tall and carried only a set of legs and a thick body. It was a hideous creature born out of wicked powers none have seen. Tku simply believes it was the darkness that spread across his mind. With its rise, Tku saw its strength for what it was,
"Leave one of the overseers Cankut to it." The beast disappeared into the fog to apprehend or kill the overseer, which it did was up to the beast.
"Kidlat, Alad, I leave Frezya to you, try your best to not kill, they aren’t very strong. Dalisay, I want you with me in the house. Figuratively, I mean," he clarified. Alad was strong but he was unfiltered right now, someone weak and easy to capture for him and Kidlat would be good to start teaching him restraint.
Getting into the house was no issue with the skills of the local drunkard on the plantation. Of course, Tku didn’t ask him to come in with him. The artist knew that this final battle could get messy. He calmly walked through the house, silencing his steps with Dali leading him at range
Just how did I end up here? This was supposed to be a slow infiltration, but now here I am, acting on my own, murdering people. These few moments as he walked through the empty halls of someone’s home were the first time he was alone. He was a shell of the verve he had before.
But now I’m hollow. I know there is purpose in my actions and in my thoughts. My life is the one I am permitted to give by the gods but what of taking another? How does Eshiran set aside the feeling of guilt when she sees his brothers and sisters? Can I find a way to justify, to forgive what I have done? Can I even let myself forgive?Even with his mind a mess, Tku found no struggle knocking out the children with basic blood and chemical magic. He was guided to the older children’s rooms the ones most likely to bring issues to him before he confronts the parents together. The storm had grown loud and the ghostly wail of a Fog Kracken hung through it. It was such a dreadful night and it only grew more dreadful when a small girl, no older than 6 stumbled out of her room, scared of the storm and kraken. Their eyes met and the girls bolted off to her parents, Tku reached out with his gift to capture her but all her saw was the dozen ways she could hit her head, he hesitated and turned the corner. He gave chase, nearly catching her but she made it to her parent’s room.
His breath stilled, Hakan Arap was no weak mage and he was rested, unlike the broken binder. He made a solemn prayer to himself, knowing that should he fail, those behind him would die after him. His heart pounded as Tku came into the room, walls creaking and melding into something Tku could use. But what he saw was no strong mage, ready to fight for his family one desperately trying to remove his terrified daughter from himself.
They had no magic.
Whether it was the gods giving him a sign or merely the luck of Reshta, Tku put them into stasis. He would not allow them to move. He had them at his mercy and Hakan knew that. He pleaded and offered so many things that would move a man but Tku had no need for it.
"I’m sorry Hakan but there is nothing that can dissuade me, I’m just sorry that it is so horrifying for your child." Tku silenced the child with some light chemical magic,
"She doesn’t need to see this," he made the sign of the Pentad.
"If you have any final things to say to each other or last words to relay, I will honor them." Tku wasn’t a trained killer he had no idea if he was lessening their suffering or prolonging it. Hakan was spiteful and hateful to the end while his wife faced their fate with dignity Tku could not understand. He promised to deliver their words, one way or another before wiping them from this world with Blood magic. No clothes, no blood, no bones. It was done.
"I’m done."
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