Eternal Beasts

Chapter 18: Daughter of the Storm Shattered Seas

The last of Ethaeron's three suns finally sank behind the western horizon, firing the sky with brilliant colors. Pinks and reds dominated, with yellows and oranges on the fringes. A gentle breeze out of the west was blowing across the Kasidian, making the branches of the trees sway and rustle as the wind caressed them. And high above those branches and the sleepy forest that held them a dot raced across the sky.

Sam had been flying hard for several hours by this point, but there was still strength in her wings. On her back rode a silent Jared, absorbed in his own thoughts. It had taken nearly two of those flight hours to finish healing the damage done to his body by the gaes and the vision, Sam's healing magic potent but forced to work across the bond while they flew.

After finishing her scan of him to make sure he was still okay, she mentally sighed and turned her attention back to the course Jared had given her. She had tried contacting him over the bond several times since he finished healing but his mind had remained closed. All that came over the bond was the mental map that showed her where to fly.

- How about now, my love? - she mentally queried on the off chance that things had changed in the last few seconds. - Can you hear me? Can you talk? -

Silence. It was as if a stone sat in her saddle. All she could hear was the whistle of the winds of their passage. The only thing that told her Jared was still with her was the weight of his body on her back. A jolt of pain went through her heart at that. If she could just find out what had happened to him, if she could just talk to him, maybe she could ease his pain somehow ...

Far below stretched the trees of the Kasidian, evergreens mixed with leafless oaks, elm, and other deciduous trees that were still waiting for Spring's warmth to coax them back to life. They had been traveling over the massive forest for the whole trip west. It never seemed to end. Sam put down her head and pulled hard, suddenly resolute. The sooner this thing was over, the sooner Jared would be hers, and hers alone once again!

Unheeding of the scenery, the increase in speed, or even Sam's repeated calls, Jared was wrapped in a world of color and sound and unable to escape. It happened as soon as he had roused himself from unconsciousness: the gaes and the Daughter's summoning spell combined with the undeniable power of the Ritual of Completion to usurp control over his mind, reaching over the bond to tell Sam to head westward. Totally absorbed by the mosaic of light the union of the three powerful spells were using to keep his conscious mind under their control, he tried to fathom the meaning of the intricate patterns that paraded before him through his golden eye.

But, as it continued to do since they first flooded into his mind upon waking, the pattern remained beyond description and comprehension. And yet, there was something in these patterns that he recognized, something that told him that on the island to the west, the woman would have the answer. The solution to the tumbling colors. A solution his mind now craved above all else. An answer needed to prevent yet another descent into insanity!

A harsh, strobe-like flash of light pulled him out of his inner reflections and a near simultaneous 'boom' pulled him the rest of the way back into reality. Opening his eyes, Jared was just in time to catch the flash of a second lightning stroke far into the distance, in the direction they were heading in. Wincing as the afterimage danced in his eyes, Jared silently urged Sam to move a little faster with the toes of his boots.

The dark clouds had gathered quickly, blotting out the light from the pale moons that had hung in the night sky and obscuring the sky itself. That made it suddenly very dark. They needed to reach the island before the full force of the growing storm reached them and unleashed its fury. At this height, the combined force of wind and rain would knock them from the sky like a small butterfly in a summer shower. And when they reached the ground far below, it would be sudden and extremely uncomfortable.