The Wizard's Curse

Chapter 3

3

It wasn’t until the evening that Tarkyn had a chance to address the issue of the freed woodfolk’s lack of mindtalking. During the day, they had discussed and endorsed Tarkyn’s plan of action, acknowledging that it was what they had all previously decided upon anyway. Everyone, even Danton, agreed with the premise that the prophecy should be ignored until the threat facing the woodfolk had been investigated and dealt with.

When they had settled down after dinner and everyone was sitting back around the fire, drinks in hands, Tarkyn spoke diffidently to Rushwind, “I understand you have lost your mindtalking ability. Is that right?”

Rushwind nodded unhappily. “It makes us feel cut off from everyone.”

“I know just how you feel,” said Tarkyn dryly. “I am also unable to mindtalk.” He leaned forward. “However, Summer Rain and I were thinking that I might be able to repair your ability. If you would trust me and let me try. I can’t promise, but it might work. What do you think?” Seeing Rushwind hesitate, he threw up a hand and said hastily, “Perhaps it’s too soon just yet. Think about it. Maybe later when you get to know me better.”

Rushwind glanced at Golden Toad and little Ibis Wings. Then she smiled and looked at Tarkyn. “Although my experience of sorcerers to date has not been pleasant, I believe I can trust you. All my kin seem to trust you, and you were very careful when you removed the chains. Yes. I believe I can trust you and I would like to try.”

“I can promise I’ll do my best, but I can’t guarantee success.” He looked across the fire. “Summer Rain, do you think you could assist us please? Are you sure this idea is safe?”

Summer Rain walked around to sit beside Tarkyn. She considered her answer carefully. “Yes. I think it will be safe. I know little about this type of infection and even less about your power, but it is a healing power. I can’t see that it could do any harm. I will stand by to help you if you need it.”

“Thanks.” Tarkyn refocused on Rushwind. “You will need to close your eyes and concentrate. Do you want to do that here or go somewhere quieter?”

A tiny flicker of uncertainty betrayed the limit of her trust.

“Fine,” said Tarkyn dryly as though she had spoken. “We’ll do it here.” He placed his hand firmly on her shoulder and instructed, “Now, close your eyes and focus on your centre. Feel around with your mind and look for the place where your thoughts are blocked. Even if you can’t really see it, imagine what it must look like and where it is and what it is made of.” He waited. When she didn’t respond, he asked, “Can you do that?”

She shook her head. “Everywhere I go, there are patches of scarring and bits of foreign matter, small grey globules, drifting around in my blood.”

Tarkyn frowned. “I am going to send some of my life force into your body. You must direct it to repair the damaged areas and to rid your blood of those foreign particles. You will feel it entering your body through my hand…now.”

Rushwind went rigid under his hand. Her face paled and beads of sweat appeared on her brow. She frowned fiercely with concentration and grimaced from time to time as waves of pain swept through her. Tarkyn held his hand steady on her shoulder, although he sent the occasional anxious glance at Summer Rain. Suddenly, Rushwind cried out, “The grey things are getting stronger and multiplying.”

Tarkyn threw a frightened glance at Summer Rain. “I’m going in,” he said.

“How?”

“I don’t know but I am.” He shut his eyes and followed his own power along his arm and down through Rushwind’s shoulder into her blood stream. He found himself assailed on all sides by grey globules that rushed at him and sucked at his power. Before his very eyes, they expanded and solidified and came back for more. He drew on more power, but they just absorbed it all the faster. With a sense of panic, he felt his strength fading and felt himself being swept through Rushwind’s blood stream, his very essence dissipating into the grey parasites around him. Far outside in the world around the firesite, he managed to whisper, “Tree.” As he started to lose consciousness, he thought of Waterstone and Rainstorm and the faith they had in him. Sometime later, a steady stream of energy began to seep into him, but this time he harnessed it and didn’t let it go beyond his boundaries. Once he had accumulated enough power, he raged in anger at these beings that were trying to destroy him when he had at last found a way to live. He brought centuries of royal arrogance to bear and dared them to assail him. Then he struck out with a mind blast of wrath that tore down the byways of Rushwind’s bloodstream burning away any grey parasites in its path with a massive overload of energy.

When that terrible barrage of wrathful power had burnt its way into every corner of Rushwind’s being, Tarkyn pulled the power back in and waited in fear that Rushwind might be too damaged. She was certainly unconscious. He sent a gentle exploratory trickle of healing power coursing through her bloodstream to soothe the aggravated interiors of her veins and arteries. All the surfaces were raw and burnt. There were small tears in some places. He increased the flow and gradually repaired all the damage. He found her heart and felt that it was still beating strongly. He flowed into her lungs and felt the rise and fall around him. Slowly, with a sense of dread, he worked his way up towards her brain. He nudged against its borders but felt a firm resistance. He nudged harder and was pushed firmly backwards. Then he sensed Rushwind’s voice saying, “Keep out. This is mine.” Tarkyn let himself go and flowed backwards towards Rushwind’s shoulder, back along his arm and into his own body. Then he drifted away completely.

He opened his eyes to see a ring of anxious faces bending over him. He was nowhere near the fire. He was lying with his palm placed against a large oak. There were other, bigger trees nearby, but Tarkyn suspected that Waterstone knew he liked oaks best. He remembered his ordeal, and his eyes widened in panic. “Rushwind. Is she all right?”

For an answer, Autumn Leaves went briefly out of focus and reported, “She says she’s fine.”

Tarkyn let out a long breath, “She can mindtalk again? Oh good. I’m glad it was worth it. I nearly died in there and so did she. And I think she went through a lot of pain.” He looked around himself. “Thanks for moving me here. You saved my life and hers by doing that.”

“Are you right to get up yet?” asked Waterstone.

Tarkyn lifted his head then let it drop back down. “Hmm. Maybe not quite yet. I am really thirsty though. It was an inferno in there for a while.” He lifted his other hand and inspected it. “I haven’t gone green yet. Just shows I haven’t overdone the power refill yet.”

It was quite some time before Tarkyn felt strong enough to move. Even then, he wavered when he stood up and had to be supported down to the firesite. As he was lowered carefully to sit with his back against a log, he became aware that Rushwind had scuttled away from him around to the other side of the fire. He frowned and asked Rainstorm, “What was that all about?”

Rainstorm grimaced. “I don’t quite understand but it has something to do with a wave of your anger.”

“I didn’t get angry with her,” replied Tarkyn in a puzzled voice.

“I don’t know. She said you sent a huge mind blast of rage and, I don’t know, hauteur? arrogance? through her. And she said she was afraid of anyone who had that in them.” Rainstorm met Tarkyn’s eyes reluctantly. “Something like that,” he finished lamely.

Tarkyn’s amber eyes glinted in the firelight. “It was that rage and arrogance that saved her life and mine.” He crossed his arms. “Blast her. She’s a sanctimonious little pond dweller! Would she have preferred me to politely allow those grey bloodsuckers to annihilate us both?” He glared at her across the fire. Suddenly she rose and came around to stand before him, clearly quaking.

“Rushwind, I am offended by your behaviour. Yes. I have rage and arrogance within me, as we all do. If I hadn’t harnessed mine to attack those foreign bodies in your blood, you would be dead by now. Your ingratitude and lack of civility sorely tempt me to unleash my anger on you and really show you what you have to fear. But you have suffered enough at the hands of sorcerers. I will not add to it. You can think on this, though. My rage was not ungoverned nor was it directed against you. It was harnessed for your protection.” He glared up at her. “I hope that if you ever entrust someone with your dark side, they do not reject you as summarily as you have rejected me.” He waved a dismissive hand. “Please feel free to return to the other side of the fire safely away from me, the person who just saved your life.”

If this last remark sounded petulant, Rushwind didn’t notice. She just turned and fled.

Autumn Leaves wandered over and sat down. He frowned at Tarkyn. “I caught the edge of that summons you just sent her. I gather it was followed up by a salutary dressing down.”

Tarkyn nodded shortly.

“So, well done on welcoming her back so warmly from the arms of imprisonment. You showed great understanding of her fear, considering she has been at the mercy of sorcerers like you for the past several weeks.”

Tarkyn scowled. “Oh, you totally mistake the case. It is for that very reason that she didn’t receive worse treatment from me.”

Autumn Leaves frowned at him in some concern. “Are you sure you’ve put all that rage back where it belongs? You seem to be pretty feisty at the moment.”

Tarkyn ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Maybe not. You have no idea what I’ve just endured. It was horrifying and terrifying, and I nearly lost everything. Then to find that the person I laid everything on the line to save has decided I’m some sort of monster is pretty hard to take. She was there. She knew why I had to do it.”

“So, what about Golden Toad and his daughter? Are you going to help them?” asked Autumn Leaves.

Tarkyn stared at him in disbelief. “You must be mad. I’m not going near any of them. They’ve had enough of me, and I’ve had enough of them. Fine. If they’re scared of me, be scared. They can all go and huddle in a corner and whisper monster stories about me. Blast them all! I did my best by them and got kicked in the teeth.”

“You are still angry, aren’t you,” said Autumn Leaves, stating the obvious.

“Yes. I b****y am.”

“Would it interest you to know that Golden Toad is sitting right behind you waiting to thank you for what you did for Rushwind?” asked Autumn Leaves innocently.

Tarkyn stared at him as he digested this, then rolled his eyes. “Oh stars! Now I’ve done it.” He looked sideways at Rainstorm who was grinning hugely. “Quick. What bad things did I just say about Golden Toad?” he asked in a quiet undertone.

Rainstorm chortled, “Nothing really. You had more to say about Rushwind.”

“All right then. Bring him on,” said Tarkyn. When nothing happened, Tarkyn called quietly, “Golden Toad? Are you there somewhere? Come round to the front where I can see you. I’m not strong enough to get up yet.”

Golden Toad walked haltingly around from the back of the log and stood in front of Tarkyn, looking down uncertainly. Tarkyn waved a hand and sighed. “Golden Toad, I’m sorry if I said anything unkind. Please sit down and talk to me. I promise I won’t bite.”

“You know, sir, for a while there, it looked like you were killing my wife,” said Golden Toad, as he sat down a circumspect distance away.

Tarkyn looked at him. “We’ve both been through the mill then, haven’t we? For a while there, your wife actually was killing me.” He paused, “And in order to save her, I had to come close to killing her too.”

“Well, I gather from listening to you and others that you came very close to dying to save my wife, and I would like to thank you.” Golden Toad began to relax. “I’m sorry Rushwind has behaved so badly to you. I hope she’ll get over it. She’s been through a lot, you know. We all have. I didn’t think anyone would ever notice we were missing. No communication, you see.” He gave a sad little smile. “Well, at least Rushwind can mindtalk again. She’ll be able to keep us up to date with other woodfolk even if we can’t do it ourselves.”

“I’m sorry, Golden Toad. I didn’t mean what I said. I was angry. I will help you and Ibis Wings, if you want me to. I know what to do next time to keep us safe.” Tarkyn smiled tiredly. “But I’m afraid I can’t do it until tomorrow. I am too drained.” He looked into the fire for a while then said, “You realise I will probably have to unleash some of that rage that upset Rushwind so much?”

Golden Toad nodded. “I heard what you said. If it’s under your control, it should be all right.”

Tarkyn turned his head to look at him. “You’d better go first so you can decide whether your daughter should be exposed to it.”

“I think she’ll be fine,” chuckled Golden Toad. “She has a fiendish temper herself. You might teach her a thing or two about controlling it.”

Tarkyn looked at Rainstorm. “I was going to ask if you could help me back to the oak tree. And could you organise it so I can sleep next to the oak tree tonight? Someone will have to keep guard. Don’t make it you for the whole night. See if you can get Waterstone to help you organise a roster. I’m feeling pretty bad and I need the oak. Can you do that for me?”

Rainstorm smiled. “Sure, Prince. Hang on. I’ll get Ancient Oak to help me.”

As they supported Tarkyn back up the slope to the old oak, Rainstorm reflected that if that was as close as Tarkyn ever came to ordering him around, the oath would be no problem at all.