Of Bonds Forged

Note: This is a story chapter with no sex.

Chapter Four

As they headed down the road once again, Vale shared with Sylanna all that she had learned. For her part, she listened to the story dispassionately as Vale had honestly expected her to. That was one of the things that Vale found that she definitely respected about Sylanna and could grudgingly admit that she actually liked: that the other could look at a problem with complete objectivity.

For her, a problem was much like a machine, the function of which was to keep her from doing what she needed to do. Each aspect of the problem was a part of the machine and it was simply a matter of which part or parts, once removed in one way or another, would break the machine with the least collateral damage, unless collateral damage was the point.

When Vale finished, Sylanna pondered the issue as she spoke. "The only thing worse than a mage dealing with magic that they don't comprehend is a mundane doing so. If your telling is accurate," and she added smoothly before the words could be taken as any sort of dig, "and I'm sure it is. I suspect that he is as subsumed by the magic as the women he took."

"No doubt," Vale said in resignation.

Sylanna huffed almost imperceptibly. Almost.

"What does that mean?"

She tried to dismiss it rather than start another disagreement. "Nothing at all."

"Those sounds never mean nothing, least of all from you. What?"

"You feel sorry for him."

She was taken aback, though, at this point, she really shouldn't have been completely surprised at the judgment. "Is that so horrible? Someone barely shows him how to use a bit of magic and leaves him to it, or he finds that talisman open and he feels the power and decides to see what he can make it do."

"You mean he killed a mage after the mage opened it for use."

Vale was firm. "You don't know that."

"Seems most likely to me," Sylanna said as she played out the scenario that she decided happened. "How else does he find it open? He has a friend who is a mage, or at least someone versed. He sees an opportunity to go from powerless to someone with power, so once the talisman is open the mage meets a blade or a blunt object. But this man has no idea what he's doing or how to do it and it overwhelms him."

Her voice managed to shrug, "In that event, it sounds like justice. The only problem with it is the harm he's doing to others."

The pause that came after was sharp, almost as though she was cut off in mid-thought as though she said something she knew she shouldn't have the moment she said it. She did feel sorry for them, and that was something that she was still getting used to. Not so long ago their plight wouldn't have mattered much at all, but now it gnawed at her like a small, feral creature gnawing around in her gut. They certainly didn't ask for what happened to them. That she felt it at all annoyed her inasmuch as she feared that trying to contend with it might lead her to make mistakes in whatever might be asked of her in this.

Deres, her maker in the ways that he was, deemed it important that she find value in others beyond herself. This was all well, good, and understandable in theory. But, in practice, it was more like crawling over broken glass: seemingly insane and supremely uncomfortable. She closed her eyes as she caught herself. There was an

in this

.

It wasn't so much that she had resolved go after him. She might have done that on her own simply because the bit of magic might be worthwhile, or, if for no other reason than she'd keep such a thing from an idiot who had no business having it to begin with. But the need to help those women drove her as well. Even Sylanna as she once was would have freed them most likely, but she would never have been drawn by their plight and driven to save them for their own sake. But her path was set. She had already resolved to do so. Sylanna knew without having to ask that Vale was set to the same goal.

That there was someone on the path with her at least made it feel

slightly

less uncomfortable crawling over glass. It was just at these moments when she realized how much the tiny machines that had mastered her change under the will of Deres had actually done so. "At any rate, I don't believe it matters why right now as it matters to you. What matters is finding him and the women he has taken. When we do we can decide whether he needs help, justice, or a bit of each."

Fair enough

, Vale thought. They had been to two other homes over the course of the day. In one lived an elderly couple and in the other was a family with three sons. None of them had seen anything of note and Vale detected no traces of magic amongst them, which suggested to her their quarry had stopped looking for prizes. "The question is where to look. Any ideas?"

"I'm not much more familiar with this area than you are, but it hardly matters. There are only two real possibilities: He has decided to go house to house to find some pretty girls to take back to his hovel or some other place that he knows so they can all fuck until he's physically exhausted and bored of it and them. If that's the case we'll find them wandering the road or in a field somewhere in a mindless haze. We get them home, assuming he hasn't melted them to nothing, and then we get our hands on whatever magic he has That would be ideal." The tone in Sylanna's voice suggested that she wasn't used to ideal so she didn't see that as likely. "Or..."

Vale didn't want to contemplate the alternative, but it was indeed the more likely scenario. If he liked the power he felt and wanted more of the good things it could bring him, and the women his power could bring him... When the words left her lips they were still bitter on her tongue. "Where would he go here to sell them?"

"Do you think I know every slaver and bit of scum in the world? As I said, I am scarcely more familiar with here than you are."

There was a pause. "Not every."

Sylanna glanced over to take stock of the other. To her surprise that she dared not show she saw a hint of wry amusement on Vale's features. "Was that an insult or an attempt at humor?"

Vale pondered it. "I believe it was seventy percent an attempt at humor."

"Ah," Sylanna acknowledged, turning her focus back to the dirt road ahead of her.

"Maybe sixty."

Vale did not see her quickly crush the smirk that had formed. "At any rate, such people are not difficult to find. Go to the darkest places you can find, places that you wouldn't be caught dead in unless you had business there and there you will find who you need or someone who knows someone who knows where to find who you need."

"Do you know of anywhere like that around here?"

"One or two, possibly. I served as a protector for a wealthy jeweler as he traveled through the area to trade."

"Stolen property," Vale said, filling in the blank on her own before correcting herself. It would be much easier to fence such goods in a larger city. "No. Off the books imports."

"Very good. Raw stones skimmed from various sources and taken to cutters in the middle of nothing, then eased back into circulation. The cutters move around quite a bit. It wouldn't do for it to become known that there's always a man with a cache of jewels who lives in a shack a mile east from where the river breaks or some such thing."

"Do you know where we might find one?"

Sylanna was certain to qualify her response. "Might, yes," she said, surveying the landscape. It had changed somewhat, but wasn't completely unfamiliar. Neither were the generalities that came with these quick-stop shacks. "The stops favor certain bits of terrain and are somewhat evenly spaced, from one another and from prying eyes. Since the houses we passed are well lived in and not new..."

"You're guessing," Vale concluded.

"I am. But it's a reasonably educated one. If we're lucky we'll actually find our mundane in heat with his harem. At the very least we'll find a place to get warm." While the cold was of little consequence to her, she remembered how a chill could seep into one's bones almost as a state of being and a respite might benefit Vale. "Even if there's no one there, it'll be a good place to stop."

Vale did not disagree as she simply decided to follow Sylanna where she led, as she looked not for a place, but a place that looked like a place where something might be. She fought a sense of awkwardness as time went on because she couldn't help but consider that the old Sylanna could have used this as a ruse in any number of ways. Vale could think of some of those herself, but by no means all of them. She trusted that Sylanna had indeed been changed by the means used against her. Vale was there during her change and had helped employ the means.

Still, there was a hint of paranoia that came with memories, particularly when the woman spit much the same venom she had before she was taken and, Vale imagined, she had always done. She was told by Deres Valtise, mate of Guild Mistress Bryana, and engineer of the change, that it was important to him that she be allowed to be the person that she was as much as possible because that added to the tapestry of life.

That, and the urge to try to reshape every aspect of a person as one could if they had the means was its own form of darkness. It became an addictive game of chipping away at this or patching that. It was best to eliminate the worst desires, so that the soul could no longer be a danger to themselves or others, and then just leave them alone to figure their new selves out on their own terms.

The fact of the matter was though that Vale could at least see some value in that. Trusting the change enough to not truly be expecting a knife to the back Vale could take stock of the woman. Even as they rode to neither of them knew where Vale marked how she carried herself. In some ways it reminded her of Bryana Lia, their guild mistress. Her eyes scanned slowly and deliberately, but there was no frustration or annoyance to be seen. She acted like she knew where she was going if she didn't. She trusted herself and her abilities. Sylanna trusted that there was nothing she couldn't overcome.

And Vale saw the good that rested within the woman now. She had watched Sylanna work tirelessly for Ara's life. She had watched her spend hours upon hours in the guild libraries writing down everything she knew so that, even if she didn't teach it, it was there to be taught.

When Vale compared the two of them, Vale had come a long way from the novice who struggled with basic magics, but not so far that she could quite see herself having that sort of...casual dominance over the world. Perhaps being able to project it came with having felt it, which she had to admit she never had. And, while she was using her time wandering the woods for honest self-reflection she thought too, perhaps, that she never would because she often felt like she was learned in many magics enough to be a help to those in need, but a master of none. Nothing felt uniquely hers.

She shrugged it away in her mind, as it just seemed petty. But she did like the way Sylanna carried herself. Noting a change in brown tones in the distance, she pointed it out to Sylanna who loosed a small grin in satisfaction. It was always nice when hunches paid off. "I believe we have what we need."

The trees thinned, leaving only enough space between the forest and the weather beaten shack to keep unintended visitors from reaching the cabin completely unseen and with no warning. Vale sent her magic outward to look for current or recent signs of life there. She was pleased to have found none as Sylanna rode ahead just enough so that she could reach the closest first to dismount and tie off her spotted mare.

As Vale followed suit, Sylanna turned the knob. Finding the door locked, she briefly looked around for a key. Not finding it in the usual places, she gave it up, and pressed her hand to the lock. A quick burst of power took the simple lock and she was inside. Leaving the door open behind her, she stamped her feet out of habit as she looked around the small cabin. It was bare, with a table much nicer than the rest of the ramshackle place, two chairs, cupboards, a fireplace, and a cook pot.

Out of a curiosity that took her every time she happened on a place like this, Sylanna thought to look about the leavings of the fire. While fire was always the best way to make sure something one wanted seen stayed unseen, too many people were sloppy when it came to making certain that the fire took it completely. Or they tore things up and left them in the ash, certain that the person to follow them wouldn't care. It was even more odd given the fact that places such as these existed so that people could keep their secrets. People were often hard for her grasp even in the best of times.

There were almost always hints as to the previous visitors, who they were or what they were about. There were bits of half-burned papers. Some pieces were still legible to the eye and others were with a bit of help from her gifts. Vale watched from the doorway as Sylanna turned and twisted pieces of paper in one hand as if piecing together a puzzle and magic made bits of the blackened paper glow. "Find anything we could use?"

"Bits of map," she answered, "enough to suggest that there's someplace else our quarry might go with his women."

"Any idea where that might be?"

She sighed. "We are headed in the right direction since it's not the way we came. But we at least know now that there is a place to find, and that it's important enough to map."

Vale checked the two cupboards, one of which was stocked with what looked like piles of whatever surplus tools or goods a traveler decided to leave there, whether they worked or not. The stock of tools were more a collection of spare parts, so not entirely useless in and of themselves. The only food to be had was the only food she'd expect: dried beef, hardtack, honey, and a surprisingly varied collection of spices.

Sylanna peered over her shoulder, "Did you find anything?"

"Nothing really unexpected," Vale replied. "We should definitely take the time to eat if nothing else."

"Agreed." She took log from the small pile next to the fireplace and tossed it inside. A flick of energy from her hand set it roaring and she closed her eyes for just a second to enjoy the fire for its own sake before deciding that a stew was in order and she would go take the game for it. She announced her intent and headed out, waiting only for Vale's acknowledgment.

Not long after, they were on opposite sides of the table, remaining mostly silent through the meal to simply enjoy the bit of added comfort more than because of any animosity. Sylanna finally broke the silence, "It's good."

"Thank you," Vale said simply.

"It's well spiced."

"I imagine not as well as you could do it," Vale noted, bracing for criticism.

"It is done better."

That response left her momentarily at a loss. "Really? That I don't believe, Mistress of All That Grows."

Sylanna eyed her. Finding no hostility, but, instead, a half smile, she continued. "Believe it. Salt and pepper are the extent of my spice expertise. For me, cooking is about sustenance. I choose to make the fastest, heartiest meal possible with what I have and I move on. I enjoy the cooking of others when they add more flourish, of course, but I have never spent much time exploring cooking as a form of art myself. I...appreciate your efforts here."

"Two compliments? Is that a record for you?" Vale exaggerated her tone so as to make clear she wasn't trying to stir the pot.

"It may be. You are fortunate."

"Our journey is officially worthwhile." Vale declared in victory. She decided to let the next words out, as she figured that a better time may never come. "I apologize, Sylanna."

That gave her pause. "For? What was said before? Think no more of it. I have heard far worse said about me and said to my face. Your words were tame by comparison."

"Perhaps so. But...you were not entirely wrong, and it is something Mistress Bryana pointed out to me before we left. I have not given you a chance. I have not done so and have used your attitude as a reason to continue not to when that very attitude is, directly and indirectly, a part of that change. I don't know that you feel that anger towards others as you did before, but to go through its motions is perhaps comfortable. It's hard to give you a chance because of what you have been and what you have done. I told Mistress so."

Sylanna was now genuinely curious and waited for her to continue.

Vale took the look as a prompt and pressed on, "She then reminded me of that which

I

still find uncomfortable: that you and Mistress are more alike than not." That much was true. They both shared dark pasts. They were both changed by magic and technology beyond themselves. But that past was still with them. But where Bryana had accepted the change and found her purpose quickly, Sylanna was still, in some ways, at a crossroads.

"I need to remind myself, as she reminded me, that you don't know who you are yet when all you know for certain is that you can't be who you were anymore. I'm not sure you ever did know. You can't even decide on a face to wear."

Sylanna's experiments on herself left their mark. She was by no means hideous, but she was changed enough so that her her appearance would frighten others by just being far too different. "Which face should I wear?" Veils through which she could tailor her form to suit her whims had become a specialty.

"How about the one you have now? Vale suggested. "Smooth out the rough edges for the masses, certainly, but look like who you were meant to look like. But you don't do that, do you?"

"If you see someone different when you look in the mirror you can tell yourself whatever you like and be whomever you want. If you do, you don't have to look at the one you know is you because you've never known who you are." Her eyes went downcast for a moment. "I'm sorry. Those are just my thoughts on the matter. I'm not calling them truth and I'm not trying to start a fight."

Sylanna surprised Vale after such a long silence that she began to wonder if the other had simply chosen to end the conversation. "You may be correct." The shock on the other's face amused her. "I remain honest with myself, even if no one else. Do you know why we were assigned this together?"

It seemed so obvious to Vale as to be simpler than elementary. "Because I'm better with people."

"Because you

understand

people, Vale. I do not. I never did and never had to. One of the things that so drew me to the mage arts was that I didn't have to understand them. I could learn in seclusion, with as few people as possible. I struck out on my own as soon as I was able; as soon as I had a foundation of knowledge to draw from and explore, a guild member in name only. When I acted against my master's wishes, I didn't care. When I was made an outlaw, I didn't care. It was all the better to show me that I was always outside of society." She snorted, "I was even apart from those who are already outside of society. I could focus on the art."

"It's a simple matter to use and hurt that which you don't understand and are so far beyond. But I cannot hurt them with no care anymore. I cannot use and discard them with no thought anymore. I am literally unable to do so. So now I am thrust among them now more equal to them than not and I feel adrift."

Vale weighed Sylanna's words carefully before speaking. It would have been so easy a thing to slide back into old habits, so she bit her tongue as she measured her response, "Good, Sylanna. Honestly. You feel adrift. I have, too. Everyone has at one time or other in their lives, and you certainly have plenty of cause to do so. Not only do you have to contend with your own feelings, you are expected contend with the feelings of others with others when, as you say, you don't understand people."