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maderrWrittten for the awesome and lovable ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wobblygoblin, who has given me full permission to post at will ^_^
The title doesn't really fit, I think. But I could never contrive something better. Ah, well.
“Oh blessed Goddess of the Rains,” Selsor murmured the prayer as he walked through the dark streets. “May you suffer the wrath of a thousand suns and burn to a crisp in the sky.” He slogged through the water that had turned the street into a shallow stream. Much more of the unending rain and this portion of town would be as flooded as the rest.
Gods above he hated rain. His one good robe was now fit only for scrap. His last pair of socks was ruined. And it would take him a damned age to get his hair clean again. At least his boots were still good, even if they were too short for the monster puddles.
Raking his hair back so he could see, Selsor pressed on through the town, eager to reach the opposite end and his house a half mile past it. No one else was out; the villagers knew better than to try and get the better of the Rain Goddess. Only criminals and fools bothered to venture out anymore.
Selsor wished morosely that he was a criminal. At least they had money and food. He resumed cursing the Rain Goddess as he walked.
Another half hour of struggling through the mud and water brought Selsor to his house.
House was really too generous a word. Shack was more accurate. Bits of wood that somehow were still nailed together was the most accurate. But at least he had some sort of residence.
And a horse in front of it. Why was there a horse tethered in front of his house? A black horse. A royal soldier’s horse. Selsor tensed. What business had the army with him? What prank was someone pulling now?
Suddenly more tired than ever, Selsor slogged toward his house. It was as cold and dreary inside as out, but at least his feeble efforts were keeping the water out.
A man sat at his rickety little table. Well, a chunk of wall masquerading as a man. Definitely a soldier then – what else was there to do with a lug that size if he didn’t want to work the family farm? He sat quietly, so still it almost seemed he was asleep, and watched the sputtering candle that did it’s best to light the shack. His rain cloak had been hung from a relatively stable rafter, and looking at him it was hard to tell the weather was adverse. He had dark hair, but it was cut so short that Selsor couldn’t tell the exact color. Dressed in simple but high-quality clothing, every bit of it black. The oak leaf and sword crest of the crown in silver thread over his heart. He offered Selsor a friendly smile.
“Can I help you?”
“Sorry to invite myself in,” the man replied. “I didn’t much relish standing about outside.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Selsor replied. His feet squished in his boots as he walked across the dirty hay floor. “It’s so lovely out.” Selsor stripped off his water-logged robe, barely resisting the urge to toss it to the floor. Instead he hung it from another rafter, glaring at the muddy water that dripped from it. “Who are you and what do you want?” Stripping off his underclothes, Selsor knelt at the foot of his bed and swung open a beat-up wooden chest.
“My name is Jenohn Vandusen. I’m a—“
“Soldier, yes I noticed. What do you want?”
“You’re Selsor Brightwell, yes?”
“Unfortunately. A pleasure, I’m sure.” Selsor fumbled through the meager contents of his chest, stifling a sigh. He really had to find some sort of work soon. “Whatever Nirosk is thinking this time, you can tell him I said no and may the Goddess drown him.” He hated when Nirosk got bored with his duties as the region’s strongest wizard and turned to his favorite hobby of Mock the Failure. The insufferable ass must be especially bored if he’d started dragging royal soldiers into his pranks. Though that reminded him he didn’t know why there was a royal soldier in the area to start with.
Standing, Selsor pulled on an old pair of leather breeches – which shouldn’t still fit except that barely eating apparently had some benefits – and a shirt that had been white when he’d made it. At least they were clean and still smelled of soap.
Jenohn laughed. “I’ve no idea what Nirosk might have said. I left right after meeting the man. Would you be interested in a small job? I need a guide up the mountain.”
“That’s what maps and licensed wizards are for. I seriously doubt you need me. What game are you playing at?”
“No game. The King sent the Prince and his guard to see to the problem of the rains.”
Selsor snorted. “It took someone this long to notice the rains were strange?”
“No,” Jenohn said with another grin. “It took them four months to notice, two months to decide to act and just over a month to get here.”
“Who are you, exactly? Soldiers don’t go off on their own to consult with failures. Why did you leave your Prince?”
Jenohn stood up, still grinning. “I’d rather do things my own way.”
“I thought insubordination was frowned upon.”
“They’re used to it from me. And since I’m usually right, they’ve given up arguing.”
Selsor rolled his eyes and turned his attention to his hair. The long mass – maybe he should cut it – was nothing but a mess of knots. And within in the wet knots were mud and he didn’t want to think about what else. Pulling out a comb with a few teeth missing, Selsor spared his visitor a glance then went to work on his hair. He winced in pain as fighting a knot pulled painfully at his scalp. “As lovely and fascinating as this conversation is, I’m not in the mood for Nirosk’s pranks tonight. I’d appreciate it if you left.”
“I’m not making the offer in jest,” Jenohn said quietly. His boyish attitude had turned somber. “And I’ve nothing to do with Nirosk. I require your assistance.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re perfect for the job.”
Selsor opened his mouth to make a sneering comment that would, hopefully, send the man scurrying off. But he needed whatever money the man offered, even if it was a pittance. And those words struck a chord. You’re perfect for the job. “What are you offering?” he asked, striving to keep his voice as cool as ever.
“1000 pieces.”
“Fine. But the minute I sense a trick, I’m gone. Half now.”
A leather bag was dropped onto the table – for a moment Selsor didn’t think the poor thing would be able to take the feeble weight. 500 pieces of silver. When was the last time he’d had even a tenth of that? Even ten pieces of silver was a fortune to him these days. “When did you want to leave?”
“How soon can you be ready?”
Selsor almost dropped his comb. “You’re cracked in the head. It’s nightfall. The rain is worse than ever. Are you ambitious or stupid?”
Again Jenohn seemed unperturbed by the insults. He threw his head back and laughed. “It only looks stupid while I’m doing it. In three days I’ll look positively brilliant.”
Biting back a wisecrack on Jenohn’s modesty, Selsor threw his comb on his bed and swiftly braided his wet hair. When he was done, the dark blonde braid still reached his waist. Practicality dictated he really should just hack it off.
Selsor tugged on his socks and boots, both of which were still soaked. But it was all he had. “Then let’s go before I decide you really are too cracked to bother with.” Striding across the room, he scooped up the money and stashed it beneath the crates that made up his bed.
Jenohn swung his cloak up and around his shoulder, his face swallowed by the hood. “Have you any rain gear?”
“What do you think?” Selsor looked around his shack, then back at Jenohn. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this over with.”
“As you wish,” Jenohn led the way outside. But from there Selsor led the way, cutting across the field that was more a swamp by then and through a copse of trees, across another waterlogged field until they slowly began to make their way up an incline and into the woods that covered the majority of the mountain.
The trees were thick enough they blocked most of the rain, and the pair was able to talk again. “So what exactly is your aim?”
Jenohn shoved his hood back “The Prince intends to leave tomorrow morning, and he’s hired Nirosk to accompany him. Court wizards are occupied with other problems at the moment. Our aim is the temple at the mountain’s peak – the King and royal wizards suspect some sort of spell and that temple is the only place where such a spell could be created.”
Selsor nodded. “Done properly, you would not even be able to detect it. Which I haven’t.” He left unsaid that he’d actively searched for evidence of a spell. The rains were unnatural. Heavy rains were usual for about three months out of the year. Six months was not only unheard of – it was exceedingly dangerous. The rains only stopped just long enough to keep the town and its surroundings from flooding out, but the downpours were getting longer in duration. If the king and his council had deliberated much longer, there would not have been a town to save.
More than once he’d thought about making the trip to the temple himself. But a lone wizard – especially one who was technically banned from practicing magic – did not stand a chance.
His thoughts were interrupted as Jenohn continued speaking. “I would like to make it up there in two days, which should be possible.”
“Three days is the bare minimum for reaching the top of the mountain.”
“For ordinary people.” Jenohn’s grin was back. “But I’m one of the best soldier’s in the kingdom.”
“I see.” Selsor replied. Then he shook his head sharply back and forth. “Never mind. Two days. Fine. I hope you know how to climb.”
“Of course.”
“Of course,” Selsor mimicked. “After we reach the top?”
“We break the spell.” That grin just grew and grew. “Then we sit and wait for everyone to show up.”
Selsor sighed. “I can see why you hired me. Only a dirt poor stricken wizard would be crazy and desperate enough to go along with your scheming.”
“Speaking of wizardry – do your jewels still work?”
“What?” Selsor asked. He glanced briefly at the small, oval jewels imbedded in each wrist, with a third in the middle of his forehead. Casting jewels, essential to drawing out a wizard’s inherent abilities. His had been black for three years.
“I’m not allowed to use them. That whole ‘on penalty of death’ thing. And I’m sure you know why – the whole kingdom knows why. So why are we having this conversation?”
“Because even I’m not stupid enough to go through Unmarked territory without a wizard’s protection.”
“It’s against the law for me to practice.”
Jenohn smirked. “So you’ll die if you do, die if you don’t. Which way would you rather have it?”
“You’re an ass.”
“So I’ve been told.” Jenohn treated the words like a compliment. Reaching out he grabbed one of Selsor’s wrists and rubbed his thumb gently over the blackened jewel. “To you wizard goes my strength. Where my sword fails, your magic will succeed.” The jewel shimmered, then began to glow. In mere seconds the triad of jewels shifted from black to a bright, shining blue.
Selsor looked up at Jenohn, his expression one of naked shock. And noticed for the first time that Jenohn’s eyes were blue. The exact color of his casting jewels. He shuttered his expression. “To you soldier goes my power. Where my magic fails, your sword will prevail.”
Still grinning – did the man ever stop really? – Jenohn continued on. Selsor walked in silence beside him, occasionally indicating where they should or shouldn’t go.
“It’s a wonder to me you’re still alive,” Selsor said. Irritably he threw Jenohn’s pack to the cave floor and sat to begin work on a fire. Though he’d not used the spell in years, it came as easily to his mind and lips as the battle magic he’d used just a few minutes ago. In seconds, a small fire filled the dank cave with light and warmth. “Come here.”
Jenohn sat down with a grimace, careful not to jostle his right arm. A hasty spell had kept it from bleeding excessively, but when a wyrm bit the wounds were always deep, ragged and incredibly painful.
“Idiot. Soldiers are not supposed to be reckless. I can only protect you from monsters, not yourself.”
“I know, I know.” Jenohn rolled his eyes, then bit back an oath as Selsor began to work on a more elaborate healing spell. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Idiot,” Selsor repeated. He spoke the healing words with a vengeance, not seeming to care a whit about the initial pain such a spell always caused. “You hired me to help. So listen to me when I try to help.”
“You’re worse than the Captain,” Jenohn said with a strained laugh. “I’ve made it this far without a wizard. And why are wizards so damn mouthy? Each and every one of you.”
“Because it’s the only way we get thick headed lugs like you to listen to anything we say,” Selsor said. He finished the healing spell. “There. Try not to do anything stupid for the rest of the night and you should be fine come morning.”
Jenohn grinned. “Thanks, mother.”
Selsor sniffed. He moved away to tend the fire, increasing it slightly and sitting close in the hopes it would dry his clothes that much faster. They’d just get wet all over again tomorrow, but at least he could sleep relatively dry. Movement brought his head up and he glowered at Jenohn. “I thought I told you not to do anything stupid.”
“Getting food is stupid?” Jenohn asked.
“Moving that arm is stupid,” Selsor said. “Sit down.” He stood up and attempted to shove Jenohn back down – but the soldier was a head taller and seemed about twice as wide. “Sit. Down.”
Jenohn grinned. “Yes, mother. Will you get our food out then?”
Muttering to himself, Selsor rifled through the pack and came out with the dried meat, hardtack and dried fruit that comprised their meal.
It was the best thing he’d tasted in forever. He ignored how pathetic that was and ate the bits of dried apple with relish.
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Jenohn said suddenly.
“What?” Selsor looked up from where he’d been staring into the fire.
“Are you sure that’s enough food? You’ve been casting a lot of spells.” Jenohn grinned, as though he simply couldn’t help it. “I don’t want to listen to your bitching if something goes awry because I starved you.”
Selsor stared at him, then looked away. “I’m fine.” A pause. “So long as you don’t keep doing stupid shit. I can’t get us up the mountain in two days if I’m escorting an idiot rather than a soldier.”
“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
“Do you want me to answer that?”
“I think I can guess. Are you warm enough?”
“I’m fine.”
Jenohn shifted to lean back against the cave wall, his arm laying carefully in his lap. “We walked for over four hours and then fought a razor wyrm. You cast two light spells, a flash, two healing and a fire. And, no offense, but you weren’t so well off to start. You were soaking wet, probably tired, and only have gotten more wet and tired. Most of it my fault. I seriously doubt you’re fine.”
Selsor stared hard at the fire.
This must be what he got for mocking the gods. A quest, the chance to use magic…and a soldier who, for all his infuriating grins and stupid recklessness, seemed to care. Of course it was only the 1000 pieces talking. In a few days he’d be right back to his shack and a life of what little menial labor he could get.
But until those days were up, would it hurt to pretend? That he was a wizard proper, just like his mother had been. With a soldier partner, as she’d had his father.
Permanent bonding was old-fashioned. Most soldiers and wizards these days preferred simply to hire one or the other as the situation required. But he’d always wanted the old-fashioned…even the way his parents had died fighting a dragon seemed to fit. As much as he missed them, they would have wanted no other death.
And he’d been so close. Now so far. Reduced to fantasies that would, when reality intruded, only leave him feeling more alone than ever. And remind him quite forcefully how badly he’d messed up, and what a failure he was.
But still. He was the only one who’d be hurt. What then did it matter if he pretended for two days that he was right where he’d always wanted to be? On a quest, with his soldier, keeping the creatures of the Unmarked territories out of the Marked lands.
Even if “his” soldier clearly had a death wish. Honestly, behind the handsome face and bright blue eyes there wasn’t a bit of sense. And he did have to admit Jenohn was handsome. He had the broader, rougher looks of one raised in the country rather than the thinner, sharper looks of the city folk. An attractive farm boy who’d made his way to the city. Selsor didn’t doubt those blue eyes had helped Jenohn get out of the trouble his recklessness got him into.
“I’m fine,” he repeated. “The spells I’ve been casting are all relatively simple. All they’ve done is make me a bit sleepy.” He touched the jewels shimmering in his wrists and forehead. “What I may lack due to my current circumstances, you’ve made up for through the bond. Tomorrow I’ll be back to almost full strength.”
Jenohn nodded. “You seem to know the mountain well.”
“I’ve explored portions of it. Past here I only know what maps have told me, which isn’t saying much. If what I remember is wrong, there’s no way we’ll reach the summit in two days.”
“While that would be preferable, so long as we reach it before the Prince’s band I’ll be content.”
Selsor frowned and nibbled at his last bit of jerky. “Why exactly am I breaking the law?”
“I don’t trust Nirosk. This whole affair smells of wizardry gone afoul.”
“Mm…how do you know I’m not behind it?”
Jenohn grinned, though this one was a bit different than his previous. Selsor couldn’t pin why. “I just do.”
“Oh. Well, then. That clears up everything.” Selsor turned away before his face could give his thoughts away. Clearly the idiot didn’t actually know why he’d been banned. Which Selsor had thought impossible, but then again he had just seen a seasoned soldier go up against a razor wyrm with no armor and no protective spells. “I’m going to bed.” Selsor packed away the containers of food and then moved around the fire to sleep with his back to the fire, facing the cave wall. His clothes were damp in most places, completely soaked in others, but at least he wasn’t dripping wet and his hair by some miracle had decided to stay bound.
The crack of thunder and lightning woke him. More streaks of lightning flashed, breaking the dark of the early morning. Selsor watched them and began to shudder, huddling deeper beneath the warm cloak.
…Cloak? The lightning was momentarily forgotten as Selsor realized he was covered by Jenohn’s rain cloak. He sat up and looked across the dimmed fire, absently murmuring the words to revive it, to where Jenohn sat half curled up on the stone floor. If the man was cold, he didn’t show it.
Standing up, Selsor crossed over and draped the cloak over him. He jumped as thunder cracked and lightning rent the sky again. Hugging himself in an effort to still the shudders that he couldn’t help, Selsor stepped cautiously toward the mouth of the cave
He jumped back as lightning flashed; the kind that seemed to fill the sky and make night as bright as day for the space of a heartbeat.
At least it wasn’t the sort that streaked to the ground, destroying whatever it touched. Selsor hunched his shoulders, feeling cold even thought the temperature was fairly mild. What was he supposed to do now? Rain he could deal with. But not lightning. There was no way he could trek out there while the lightning persisted. He just couldn’t.
“Don’t like storms?” Jenohn asked, voice still heavy with sleep.
“I’m fine.”
“Mmm…” Jenohn draped the cloak around him, leaning his head on Selsor’s shoulder to stare outside. “The rain’s worse than ever. I’m going to hazard we’re not going anywhere quite yet.” Though he sounded cheerful enough, Selsor could hear the frustration that laced it. Of course, with Jenohn that close it was hard not to hear him. Selsor sighed and moved away, disappointed when Jenohn didn’t stumble at all from his sudden move.
He dropped the cloak over Jenohn’s pack and resumed his seat before the fire. “No. It’d be damn near impossible to go up the rocks while we’ve got rain beating down that heavily on us.” And he didn’t want to deal with lightning if he didn’t have to. “But look on the bright side. If the Prince was planning to begin his journey today, it’s not going to happen. There’s no way he can mobilize the number of people I’m sure he planned to take along.”
“About thirty, all told. So what are we going to do while we outwait the rain?”
Selsor shrugged. “Guess I should have brought a book.” He motioned for Jenohn to join him. “Let me look at your arm.”
Obediently Jenohn sat down beside him, his movements much easier than they’d been last night. Selsor pushed up his sleeve and examined the wound, which was a long, jagged line from wrist to elbow. But it seemed well on its way to being completely healed, and Jenohn had full use of the arm. So his spells had worked. Selsor barely stifled a sigh of relief. He’d known the spell would work, but the doubts always lingered…For extra precaution, he murmured the words of a minor healing, fingers tracing the wound lightly to guide where the spell should fall. “There. Avoid a repeat of what caused it and you should be fine.”
Jenohn grinned. “I wonder if all soldiers get yelled at this often. Is that why so many go solo now?”
“Personally I think you should stay solo,” Selsor replied. “It would probably keep your stupidity to a minimum to not always have someone around to heal you.” He ignored how Jenohn’s words stung.
“Though I will say I enjoy the company.”
“Royalty and other soldiers aren’t enough for you?”
Jenohn laughed. “I’m insubordinate, remember? And anyway, his Majesty is always sending me off on solo missions. He says it solves two problems at once – the problem I’m sent to take care of and the problem of me having nothing to do.”
Despite himself, Selsor laughed. “So this recklessness is something you’re well known for?”
“Maybe,” Jenohn said. “You should laugh more often.”
“Huh?” Selsor stopped.
“Hungry?” Jenohn asked. He stood and moved to dig food out of his pack. Breakfast was much like dinner, but Selsor still ate with relish. “Do you think this rain will let up at all?”
“No. It gets worse each day now. If not for the fact that it stopped for a good half-month, we wouldn’t be climbing the mountain at all. The best we can hope for is the thunder and lightning to abate.”
Jenohn was silent as he ate. “You really don’t like storms, do you?”
“No, I don’t.” Selsor’s tone said the subject was best dropped.
“Is that because of what happened to you three years ago?” Jenohn asked.
Selsor ignored him, eyes helplessly locked to the lightning which flickered in the sky. The cave, on a good day, would give a terrific view of the valley below. At the moment it only gave a perfect view of the unending rains. Unconsciously he shivered, wishing he could shut his eyes but unable to look away.
It hadn’t been his fault. He’d never meant to do that. Hadn’t even been thinking of it.
The jeering over his ragged clothes. The taunts that he was an unskilled wizard because his stronger spells always went awry. That no one would want him. How he’d have no one at graduation. Taunt after taunt after taunt. A peasant trying to join nobility via wizardry. Never mind his parents had been respected in their field. His girly hair. So many jeers, all through school Even when they were old enough to be beyond it. Constantly reminding him that he wasn’t quite like them. All he’d meant to do was cast a really strong flash spell. To blind them briefly, make them dizzy, let him escape and go hide in his room.
But something had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. Lightning instead of flash. To this day no one knew how he’d called down lightning. It wasn’t in the books. But no one believed he hadn’t meant to do it. So close to graduation, he should have had better control.
And the boy he’d hurt, a stray recruit from the palace who’d been somewhere nearby. Hurt, carried away bleeding and so still.
That same day, seventeen and five days from obtaining his license, he’d been expelled, jewels turned black and his name written amongst those forbidden to practice. At least they’d left the jewels, instead of crippling his mind for life by tearing them out.
Of course, after this little adventure they probably would. But…it was a price he’d pay.
“So I guess that’s your polite way of telling me to shut up.”
“Exactly. Telling you my sob story wasn’t part of our deal. I’m sure you already know it anyway. Gods and Goddesses know I heard everyone telling and retelling it. Only an idiot wouldn’t know what happened.”
Jenohn grinned. “Haven’t you been calling me an idiot since we met?”
“You are an idiot,” Selsor replied. “It’s a wonder to me you’re still alive.”
“I’ve always been rather lucky in that. And really, there’s a lot of me to injure.” That godforsaken grin again. It made Selsor want to smile back no matter what his mood. “So I can take a few beatings or scratches.”
“How fortunate for you and that thick head of yours.”
Jenohn threw his head back and laughed. “You’re rapidly making a habit out of insulting me. Does that mean you hate me? Or that you like me?”
Selsor felt a brief moment of panic. “It means I should have demanded double what you’re paying me.”
Instead of replying, Jenohn merely stood up and went toward the mouth of the cave. He stared outside for a few minutes. “I think the storm’s abated. It’s just rain now.”
Angry that his first reaction was disappointment, Selsor extinguished the fire with a sharp cutting motion and a word spoken more like a curse than a spell. “Then I suggest we get going.”
Jenohn shrugged on his pack and then his cloak. “For all that you’re smaller than my wrist, you’ve got an impressive constitution.”
“Why do you say that?” Selsor asked.
“Because when you got home yesterday, you were soaked through. We trekked for hours in the rain late at night and you got soaked all over again. Anyone else would be sick, feverish.”
Selsor shrugged. “I guess I’m just used to it. Now are we going or do you want to keep discussing me? Personally, I find myself rather a boring subject.”
“Then by all means lets get moving,” Jenohn said with a smile. Selsor had the distinct impression he was being indulged.
Muttering to himself, Selsor led the way out and summoning a picture of the maps he’d examined years ago – for he’d excelled at geography while he’d been in school – he began slowly to lead them further up into the mountain.
They traveled in silence, as the relentless drumming of the heavy rain drowned out every other sound. The sky above was near black, and had been for what seemed like forever. Even the brief lull of a few weeks ago had been cloudy, dim. At least there was no more lightning for the moment.
He shoved back strands of hair that had come loose from the weight of water. Once he got home, he really would have to give some thought to cutting it. Selsor paused as they came to an incline that had more in common with a cliff. Most of the mountain could be climbed in a gentle slope, curving around in smaller and smaller loops, then back down the other side. This was the route the more daring merchants and such took, as the mountain was Unmarked and therefore pretty dangerous. If not for the rain, they would be dealing with a great deal worse than a young razor wyrm.
“I wonder why no one ever Cleared this territory,” Jenohn said as they took a break beneath a small ledge. He was panting lightly from the climb, and between them they must have acquired a dozen or so scrapes and cuts from climbing up rain-slick rocks.
Selsor looked at him. “They have tried Clearing it. Nirosk was put here to put together another attempt. But the rain problem has sort of put a halt on that.” Probably because Nirosk was too busy licking all the right boots. Nirosk wasn’t powerful because he was a great wizard. No, all his status came from that talent for giving boots a mirror shine.
“Why are you here? Not an ideal location, really. So isolated. Took us more than a month to get here.”
Selsor was frowning at his hair, which at some point had decided to come loose of its braid and tangle. And he’d left his comb back home. Damn the gods anyway. “I like the isolation. Everyone leaves me alone and occasionally someone will hire me for an odd job. Now find something else to discuss.”
“Would you like a comb?” Jenohn asked with a grin.
Damn it all. “You have a comb?”
“Only by accident. I forget how I came by it.” Jenohn scrubbed at his own hair, which was cut so close to his scalp it was impossible to get any sort of grip on it. He knelt to fumble in his pack and held up a comb – a nice one, made from bone or shell. But when Selsor reached out to accept it, Jenohn grabbed his wrist and yanked the man down, until Selsor sat on the ground in front of him. “Sit still.”
Selsor refused. “What in blazes do you think you’re doing?” He jerked away, nearly tumbling back into the downpour before Jenohn yanked him in close again.”
“Calm down, wizard mine. I was going to help comb your hair.”
“…What?” Selsor was startled enough that Jenohn managed to wrestle him back into position with little fuss.
“My mother made me help her for years, after my father wasn’t able to. Her hair was even longer than yours. Used to take me two hours to get her hair brushed to her satisfaction. She always said it was the highlight of her day, to have someone brush her hair at night.
Selsor was silent, utterly bemused. A handful of barbs were poised on his tongue, but with each gentle stroke of the comb another one died. No one had ever combed his hair for him. His parents had always urged him to cut it, explaining how dangerous it was to have such long hair in combat. But Selsor loved his hair; the dark honey color, how straight it was when most people had wavy or curly hair. Often at night it was all he had to keep his face and neck warm while the rest of him shivered.
And yet in the middle of a rainstorm, after he’d hurled every insult he could think of with his exhausted mind, being a complete loser and failure…Jenohn was combing his hair. It felt really nice, and despite himself Selsor let his eyes fall shut and simply enjoyed the feeling of comb and hands running through his hair.
The boom of thunder, loud enough the world seemed to shudder with the force of it, snapped Selsor out of his trance. He leapt to his feet, hair pulling painfully in the comb, stumbling forward. His hands landed in rocky mud, keeping him from falling over completely. Selsor reeled up, still tripping, scrambling desperately to get away from the thunder and lightning wreaking havoc in the sky.
He felt cold all over, seeing and hearing nothing but the storm above him.
Then his back was to stone, and there was a mountain of a man in front of him. “It’s okay,” Jenohn said firmly.
“Says you,” Selsor managed, eyes wide and frantic as he tried to watch the lightning. But he couldn’t see past Jenohn’s massive form. And he still felt cold. Cold and sick. He wanted to be back in the cave. Or his house. Not out in the open.
Jenohn tightened his grip on Selsor’s shoulder. “Calm down. Everything is fine. Nothing will happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
Thunder crashed, as lightning lit the sky like a momentary sun.
“Let me go!” Selsor shouted, scrambling to get away. Anywhere the lightning wasn’t.
Distantly he heard Jenohn repeat that everything was okay, but his own reply was lost to warmth. Jenohn was kissing him.
Jenohn was kissing him.
Selsor ran the realization through his head a third time and still couldn’t make sense of it, even as his own lips opened to take the kiss deeper, tasting dried apples and rain water.
He’d always wondered what he’d been missing. Suddenly he didn’t feel cold anymore. There was no doubt in his mind that he’d regret it later, but if Jenohn’s plan had been to calm him down, Selsor was forced to admit – to himself anyway – that it was working perfectly.
The man might be an idiot, but clearly there were qualities that made up for it.
“Better?” Jenohn asked softly.
“Under protest,” Selsor replied, pleased he could summon up a retort. But his fingers dug into Jenohn’s arms as lightning cracked the sky again. He ducked his head, knowing otherwise he’d cave to a weakness he hadn’t been aware of until very recently. Gods above he hated being weak.
But Jenohn didn’t seem to require asking. He merely titled Selsor’s head up and kissed him a second time, this time more firmly – as if he was more certain of what he was doing. “There’s nothing to be scared of,” he murmured against Selsor’s mouth.
“Says you,” Selsor replied, pulling away before he stole a third kiss. Why hadn’t he just stuck with telling the idiot to get out of his house? “You didn’t almost kill someone with lightning.”
“It was an accident, right? That was always my impression. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I did it. I lost my temper and ruined the courtyard, nearly killed some poor trainee that didn’t deserve to be hurt. Accident or not it was my fault.” Selsor jerked away as Jenohn reached for him. “Leave me alone!” He glanced up at the sky, which had subsided to distant rumbles though the rain never lessened. “Come on. We have to keep moving if we’re going to make your deadline.”
Jenohn frowned, the first time Selsor had seen such an expression on his face. But he refused to let it move him. Nor did he let himself be affected by the kisses that lingered on his lips. Reminding himself why he had to do this and why he shouldn’t make more of a mess of it than he already had, Selsor plunged into the rain and began to make his way up the rocky, barely-there path winding up the mountain. Jenohn had no choice but to follow, and the rain drowned out anything he might have said.
The Temple of Rainfall. Abandoned long ago when those who worshipped the Rain Goddess as their primary deity got fed up fighting wyrms and wyverns just to light a few candles and offer sweet water they’d rather keep for themselves.
If it really was the Goddess wreaking havoc with the weather, Selsor didn’t really blame her.
The Temple was built entirely of a soft gray, almost silvery marble. Once it had been alight with candles behind blue glass, the scent of sweet incense and fresh water everywhere. Now it just smelled like more than a few animals made use of the funny cave at the top of the mountain.
Except for the arrangement on the altar. A silver bowl and a handful of candles in blue, white and black. Selsor approached it slowly, feeling for wards and protections which might have been set in place. But it appeared there was nothing.
Some dark liquid filled the bowl. Probably blood, which would be necessary to create such a spell.
Odd that no one had laid protections. But then the rains themselves should have been enough to keep everyone off the mountain. Gods knew he had more than a few cuts and bruises himself by this point. Only Jenohn’s skill and his own magic had kept them from becoming dinner. He glared briefly at Jenohn. “Don’t do anything stupid. Better yet, stand there and don’t touch anything.”
“That wyvern wasn’t my fault.”
“You were both to blame. Just couldn’t leave each other alone, could you?”
Jenohn muttered something under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” Jenohn grinned at him, all innocence. “Any idea what we need to do to break the spell?”
Selsor gave him a scathing look. “And what would you have done if I hadn’t agreed to come with you?”
“I wasn’t going to leave without you.” Jenohn said, looking straight at him.
Selsor jerked his gaze away, annoyed that his heart had decided those words were cause to beat too fast. Stuipd stupid stupid. All too soon he’d be back to sleeping on his miserable crates in his pathetic house. It’d be easier to deal with if he gave up the idiot-inspired daydreams.
Jenohn hadn’t kissed him since the incident yesterday. Selsor had kept his distance except where fighting and healing necessitated proximity. “Not that hard really,” he finally answered. “Whoever did this didn’t bother to put up any protections.”
“He probably assumed that no one would be able to come up here to investigate. A royal wizard would prove problematic but they don’t leave the castle. Nirosk is the only licensed wizard in the area up to the task of trekking up this mountain.”
Selsor blinked as he began to follow what Jenohn was suggesting. “Meaning that he could guarantee that anyone who tried would never reach the top…Is the prince…?”
“Safe? Yes. Nirosk wouldn’t be that dumb.”
“How did you know?”
“That Nirosk was behind this? Not many other options, really. If not Nirosk, it would have been you or a wizard that neither you nor Nirosk was aware of. And I knew you weren’t responsible.”
“Before you hired me, you didn’t even know me. Knowing about me isn’t the same thing.”
“Perhaps I should start at the beginning.”
“Perhaps you should.”
Jenohn crossed the space between them, approaching the altar and reaching out to play with the flames of the flickering candles. Selsor rolled his eye at the carelessness but didn’t stop him – there was no harm done so far as he kept to just that. “I actually wouldn’t have figured this out if not for something that happened to me a few years ago.”
Selsor sighed.
“Have you ever heard of wizards with an affinity for weather magic?”
“No such thing. Attack, healing, elemental, and so on are the only affinities wizards possess. Weather magic only exists in spells such as these.” Selsor indicated the altar. “Stop touching it. And it’s not so much weather magic as a spell that just…disrupts things a whole lot. Weather it too strong a force to be a magical affinity. It’s one of the idiotic things old wizards mutter about beside the fire.”
Jenohn shook his head. “But wasn’t there a weather wizard once? He was the strongest that ever lived.”
“Myth. He probably just had very strong attack magic, or double affinities. That’s rare but not unheard of.” Selsor bit back explaining that attack magic could be very strong indeed – his had been. Or would be, if he’d ever been able to control it. “Where is all this going? Because you’re sounding more idiotic than ever.”
Jenohn just grinned. “I think weather wizards are a real possibility. I think Nirosk has been using an unwitting weather wizard to work this spell.”
“And where might this weather wizard be?” Selsor stepped forward and grabbed Jenohn’s hand, pulling it away from the items on the altar. “You’re an idiot. Stop touching the altar. Do you want to make things worse?”
“Whose blood is that?”
Selsor blinked. He was beginning to get a headache. “What?” He looked blankly at the bowl on the altar. “If your theory is correct, probably Nirosk’s. That would allow him to control the spell from a distance.”
“Are you certain? I thought you were a wizard, shouldn’t you know more about this?”
“I was kicked out, remember? Who else’s blood could it be? Like I said, it allows him to control the spell from a distance. Though I’m not sure what he’s hoping to accomplish by drowning everything in sight.”
Jenohn barely seemed to be paying attention. “I think your blood is in here too.”
“How did you come by this brilliant theory?”
“And here I thought you’d established I’m the idiot.”
“You are.” Selsor folded his arms across his chest. “Look. Could we wrap up this ridiculous explanation? I’m getting sick of trying to puzzle out what you’re trying to say.”
Jenohn grinned. “You’re cute when you get all huffy with me.”
“What?” Selsor floundered.
“I think your blood is in this bowl along with Nirosk’s. I don’t think he’s using all this,” Jenohn indicated the altar. “To disrupt things. I think he’s using it to steal your power and manipulate the weather.”
Selsor counted to ten. Then twenty. “Do you have water on the brain?”
“No.” Jenohn reached out suddenly and jerked Selsor close. “Look – black candles. Those are for control, right? Blue candles are for water. White candles for—“
“For the living. And my blood to control me.” Selsor shook his head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. I’ll buy he’s controlling someone, though probably someone with strong attack magic. There’s no sense in manipulating any magic I might have.”
Jenohn sighed. “I might be an idiot, but you’re as dense as a rock.”
“I resent that. Especially coming from someone who tried to attack a wyvern from behind.”
“I thought he was sleeping,” Jenohn muttered. Then he shook his head and moved back to the topic at hand. “Look – you’re a weather wizard.”
Selsor tried to pull away, but Jenohn had reduced his options to stay put or knock the altar arrangement over. “I’m not a weather wizard. What did you do, ignore me when I said that was myth?”
“Yes, actually.” Jenohn retorted. “Because I know first hand that you happen to be a weather wizard. I spent way too many nights in the royal library trying to figure out how to right a wrong that no one else seemed to know about.”
Selsor attempted to wade through what Jenohn said and failed completely. “What wrong might that be?”
“Three years ago I went down to the wizard school to meet a friend. Instead I came across my friend and several other students harassing one of their classmates.”
Selsor’s eyes went wide. He gripped the stone of the altar to keep his hands from shaking. “You can’t be…”
“The guy lost his temper. I watched him mouth the words for a flash spell. Except it didn’t work right. All I remember is a light that definitely wasn’t a flash spell – they told me later I’d been struck by lightning.”
“No…” Selsor went pale.
“But no one ever listened when I said I was okay.” Jenohn gently tugged one of Selsor’s hands free and held it, warmed it. “I’ve got scars all along my shoulder and down my back, but those are as much from hitting the shattered tiles as from the lightning. It didn’t really hurt that much. Letting them heal me hurt more. Because you never meant to hurt anyone, did you?”
Selsor shook his head, which felt heavy and gray. “No…I just wanted to run away.” His eyes burned. “You…you’re really the trainee I hurt?”
“You didn’t hurt me much at all. I keep trying to say that.”
In reply Selsor threw himself at Jenohn, burying his head in his shoulder “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.”
Jenohn froze for a moment in surprise, then relaxed and held Selsor tight. “It’s okay. I’m fine. I was more upset by the fact that you’d been expelled. No one ever let me see you.” He stroked Selsor’s wet hair, which had once more slipped free of its braid.
“I always thought you must hate me.”
“I’ve been trying to find you,” Jenohn said. “And tell you I don’t. I’ve been trying to tell people for years it wasn’t your fault.” He pulled Selsor away so he could look at him. “Especially you. Because I heard all the stories about how you’d been run out. It wasn’t until we heard about the problems here that I began to wonder…and then we learned more…and as we drew closer I learned that you were indeed here. And slowly all the pieces began to fall into place.”
Selsor shook his head. “What pieces? What’s going on here?”
“We believe someone has been using this area as a testing ground for weather magic spells. Nirosk, to put a name to that someone. Only we couldn’t figure out how anyone was using weather magic, which is largely believed to be a myth. I had my own opinions, given how long I’d searched for ways to prove you were wrongly banned. Then I finally learned you were here.” Jenohn looked guilty. “For a moment it occurred to me you’d figured out what your real powers were – especially given the way you walk through rain without any ill effects. Anyone else would be sick at the very least. If I didn’t have my rain cloak, I’d be miserable. But you’re perfectly fine. Because as a weather wizard you have some degree of immunity. Anyway, it didn’t take long after meeting you to realize you weren’t guilty. Which left Nirosk, because there’s no way he would have let a rival wizard cast such complicated magic in the area.”
“How does he plan to get that one by the prince?”
Jenohn grinned. “Probably by blaming you, which would leave him free to further hone whatever skills he's developing here.”
“But I would notice if someone was stealing my magic…” Selsor stopped, as he realized that wasn’t necessarily true. Even in the past couple of days he’d barely tapped into his full potential, scared that a spell might go wrong. “So I’m a weather wizard and Nirosk has been stealing my power.”
“Unless you’ve got a different theory.”
Selsor negated that with a shake of his head. “So what now?”
“We stop the spell and wait until the Prince arrives. At which point he’ll be thoroughly annoyed to hear I was right and then arrest Nirosk.”
“Ah.” Selsor slogged through what was left of his mind for something coherent to say. “They won’t be here for another day, probably two. And what’s to say he’ll believe you?”
That damnable smile never went away. “He always believes me. Probably because I’m always right.”
“You’re an insufferable idiot.”
Jenohn laughed. “You really do like me, don’t you?”
Selsor clamped his mouth shut.
“I must have imagined a few thousand different scenarios for how our meeting would go when I finally found you. All of them were quite dramatic and heroic. But I think I like how things turned out better.”
“What? Me doing my best impression of a grouchy, half-drowned rat?”
Another laugh, as Jenohn slid a hand into his damp hair. “Well, I admit I liked the part where you were naked. Didn't expect that. But that’s not what I meant. I always imagined that after a good bit of drama we’d wind up best friends and charge into the Hall of Wizardry to demand all wrongs be righted at last.”
“How very cute.” Selsor frowned, displeased that his ability to talk was apparently vanishing. “I really hope that’s not what we’re going to do.”
“Well, I would rather like to clear your name. It’s going to be damnably awkward being a royal soldier bonded to an illegal wizard.”
Selsor drew a sharp breath. “What?”
“When I said I preferred the way things turned out, I meant the part where I fell in love with you rather than simply befriended you.”
“But—But—“ Selsor shut his mouth and shook his head, hair flying everywhere. “That’s absurd.”
“No, it’s not. You have to admit it’s perfectly in keeping with me to fall for the guy that zapped me with lightning.”
Selsor glared. “That’s not funny.”
“But it is just like me,” Jenohn said encouragingly.
“There’s no denying that, you great big rocks for—“ Selsor didn’t get to finish, and by the time Jenohn finished kissing him he’d completely forgotten what he’d been saying. “You’re cracked. This is insanity. You can’t possibly mean—“ he was cut off a second time, kissed until he was dizzy and in desperate need of air. “I’m going to—“
“Stop arguing,” Jenohn interrupted. “Then we’re going to break the spell causing the rain.”
“Then I’m going to beat you over the head for all this idiocy.”
Jenohn, infuriatingly, grinned. “So you’ll stay with me then? Just think of what you can do to knock sense into me once you really learn how to control the weather.”
Selsor’s eyes glinted. “That is not funny.”
“Yes it is. And you’d love me even if it wasn’t.”
Selsor didn’t reply, but he didn’t resist when Jenohn leaned in to kiss him again.
wobblygoblin, who has given me full permission to post at will ^_^The title doesn't really fit, I think. But I could never contrive something better. Ah, well.
Kiss the Rain
“Oh blessed Goddess of the Rains,” Selsor murmured the prayer as he walked through the dark streets. “May you suffer the wrath of a thousand suns and burn to a crisp in the sky.” He slogged through the water that had turned the street into a shallow stream. Much more of the unending rain and this portion of town would be as flooded as the rest.
Gods above he hated rain. His one good robe was now fit only for scrap. His last pair of socks was ruined. And it would take him a damned age to get his hair clean again. At least his boots were still good, even if they were too short for the monster puddles.
Raking his hair back so he could see, Selsor pressed on through the town, eager to reach the opposite end and his house a half mile past it. No one else was out; the villagers knew better than to try and get the better of the Rain Goddess. Only criminals and fools bothered to venture out anymore.
Selsor wished morosely that he was a criminal. At least they had money and food. He resumed cursing the Rain Goddess as he walked.
Another half hour of struggling through the mud and water brought Selsor to his house.
House was really too generous a word. Shack was more accurate. Bits of wood that somehow were still nailed together was the most accurate. But at least he had some sort of residence.
And a horse in front of it. Why was there a horse tethered in front of his house? A black horse. A royal soldier’s horse. Selsor tensed. What business had the army with him? What prank was someone pulling now?
Suddenly more tired than ever, Selsor slogged toward his house. It was as cold and dreary inside as out, but at least his feeble efforts were keeping the water out.
A man sat at his rickety little table. Well, a chunk of wall masquerading as a man. Definitely a soldier then – what else was there to do with a lug that size if he didn’t want to work the family farm? He sat quietly, so still it almost seemed he was asleep, and watched the sputtering candle that did it’s best to light the shack. His rain cloak had been hung from a relatively stable rafter, and looking at him it was hard to tell the weather was adverse. He had dark hair, but it was cut so short that Selsor couldn’t tell the exact color. Dressed in simple but high-quality clothing, every bit of it black. The oak leaf and sword crest of the crown in silver thread over his heart. He offered Selsor a friendly smile.
“Can I help you?”
“Sorry to invite myself in,” the man replied. “I didn’t much relish standing about outside.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Selsor replied. His feet squished in his boots as he walked across the dirty hay floor. “It’s so lovely out.” Selsor stripped off his water-logged robe, barely resisting the urge to toss it to the floor. Instead he hung it from another rafter, glaring at the muddy water that dripped from it. “Who are you and what do you want?” Stripping off his underclothes, Selsor knelt at the foot of his bed and swung open a beat-up wooden chest.
“My name is Jenohn Vandusen. I’m a—“
“Soldier, yes I noticed. What do you want?”
“You’re Selsor Brightwell, yes?”
“Unfortunately. A pleasure, I’m sure.” Selsor fumbled through the meager contents of his chest, stifling a sigh. He really had to find some sort of work soon. “Whatever Nirosk is thinking this time, you can tell him I said no and may the Goddess drown him.” He hated when Nirosk got bored with his duties as the region’s strongest wizard and turned to his favorite hobby of Mock the Failure. The insufferable ass must be especially bored if he’d started dragging royal soldiers into his pranks. Though that reminded him he didn’t know why there was a royal soldier in the area to start with.
Standing, Selsor pulled on an old pair of leather breeches – which shouldn’t still fit except that barely eating apparently had some benefits – and a shirt that had been white when he’d made it. At least they were clean and still smelled of soap.
Jenohn laughed. “I’ve no idea what Nirosk might have said. I left right after meeting the man. Would you be interested in a small job? I need a guide up the mountain.”
“That’s what maps and licensed wizards are for. I seriously doubt you need me. What game are you playing at?”
“No game. The King sent the Prince and his guard to see to the problem of the rains.”
Selsor snorted. “It took someone this long to notice the rains were strange?”
“No,” Jenohn said with another grin. “It took them four months to notice, two months to decide to act and just over a month to get here.”
“Who are you, exactly? Soldiers don’t go off on their own to consult with failures. Why did you leave your Prince?”
Jenohn stood up, still grinning. “I’d rather do things my own way.”
“I thought insubordination was frowned upon.”
“They’re used to it from me. And since I’m usually right, they’ve given up arguing.”
Selsor rolled his eyes and turned his attention to his hair. The long mass – maybe he should cut it – was nothing but a mess of knots. And within in the wet knots were mud and he didn’t want to think about what else. Pulling out a comb with a few teeth missing, Selsor spared his visitor a glance then went to work on his hair. He winced in pain as fighting a knot pulled painfully at his scalp. “As lovely and fascinating as this conversation is, I’m not in the mood for Nirosk’s pranks tonight. I’d appreciate it if you left.”
“I’m not making the offer in jest,” Jenohn said quietly. His boyish attitude had turned somber. “And I’ve nothing to do with Nirosk. I require your assistance.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re perfect for the job.”
Selsor opened his mouth to make a sneering comment that would, hopefully, send the man scurrying off. But he needed whatever money the man offered, even if it was a pittance. And those words struck a chord. You’re perfect for the job. “What are you offering?” he asked, striving to keep his voice as cool as ever.
“1000 pieces.”
“Fine. But the minute I sense a trick, I’m gone. Half now.”
A leather bag was dropped onto the table – for a moment Selsor didn’t think the poor thing would be able to take the feeble weight. 500 pieces of silver. When was the last time he’d had even a tenth of that? Even ten pieces of silver was a fortune to him these days. “When did you want to leave?”
“How soon can you be ready?”
Selsor almost dropped his comb. “You’re cracked in the head. It’s nightfall. The rain is worse than ever. Are you ambitious or stupid?”
Again Jenohn seemed unperturbed by the insults. He threw his head back and laughed. “It only looks stupid while I’m doing it. In three days I’ll look positively brilliant.”
Biting back a wisecrack on Jenohn’s modesty, Selsor threw his comb on his bed and swiftly braided his wet hair. When he was done, the dark blonde braid still reached his waist. Practicality dictated he really should just hack it off.
Selsor tugged on his socks and boots, both of which were still soaked. But it was all he had. “Then let’s go before I decide you really are too cracked to bother with.” Striding across the room, he scooped up the money and stashed it beneath the crates that made up his bed.
Jenohn swung his cloak up and around his shoulder, his face swallowed by the hood. “Have you any rain gear?”
“What do you think?” Selsor looked around his shack, then back at Jenohn. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this over with.”
“As you wish,” Jenohn led the way outside. But from there Selsor led the way, cutting across the field that was more a swamp by then and through a copse of trees, across another waterlogged field until they slowly began to make their way up an incline and into the woods that covered the majority of the mountain.
The trees were thick enough they blocked most of the rain, and the pair was able to talk again. “So what exactly is your aim?”
Jenohn shoved his hood back “The Prince intends to leave tomorrow morning, and he’s hired Nirosk to accompany him. Court wizards are occupied with other problems at the moment. Our aim is the temple at the mountain’s peak – the King and royal wizards suspect some sort of spell and that temple is the only place where such a spell could be created.”
Selsor nodded. “Done properly, you would not even be able to detect it. Which I haven’t.” He left unsaid that he’d actively searched for evidence of a spell. The rains were unnatural. Heavy rains were usual for about three months out of the year. Six months was not only unheard of – it was exceedingly dangerous. The rains only stopped just long enough to keep the town and its surroundings from flooding out, but the downpours were getting longer in duration. If the king and his council had deliberated much longer, there would not have been a town to save.
More than once he’d thought about making the trip to the temple himself. But a lone wizard – especially one who was technically banned from practicing magic – did not stand a chance.
His thoughts were interrupted as Jenohn continued speaking. “I would like to make it up there in two days, which should be possible.”
“Three days is the bare minimum for reaching the top of the mountain.”
“For ordinary people.” Jenohn’s grin was back. “But I’m one of the best soldier’s in the kingdom.”
“I see.” Selsor replied. Then he shook his head sharply back and forth. “Never mind. Two days. Fine. I hope you know how to climb.”
“Of course.”
“Of course,” Selsor mimicked. “After we reach the top?”
“We break the spell.” That grin just grew and grew. “Then we sit and wait for everyone to show up.”
Selsor sighed. “I can see why you hired me. Only a dirt poor stricken wizard would be crazy and desperate enough to go along with your scheming.”
“Speaking of wizardry – do your jewels still work?”
“What?” Selsor asked. He glanced briefly at the small, oval jewels imbedded in each wrist, with a third in the middle of his forehead. Casting jewels, essential to drawing out a wizard’s inherent abilities. His had been black for three years.
“I’m not allowed to use them. That whole ‘on penalty of death’ thing. And I’m sure you know why – the whole kingdom knows why. So why are we having this conversation?”
“Because even I’m not stupid enough to go through Unmarked territory without a wizard’s protection.”
“It’s against the law for me to practice.”
Jenohn smirked. “So you’ll die if you do, die if you don’t. Which way would you rather have it?”
“You’re an ass.”
“So I’ve been told.” Jenohn treated the words like a compliment. Reaching out he grabbed one of Selsor’s wrists and rubbed his thumb gently over the blackened jewel. “To you wizard goes my strength. Where my sword fails, your magic will succeed.” The jewel shimmered, then began to glow. In mere seconds the triad of jewels shifted from black to a bright, shining blue.
Selsor looked up at Jenohn, his expression one of naked shock. And noticed for the first time that Jenohn’s eyes were blue. The exact color of his casting jewels. He shuttered his expression. “To you soldier goes my power. Where my magic fails, your sword will prevail.”
Still grinning – did the man ever stop really? – Jenohn continued on. Selsor walked in silence beside him, occasionally indicating where they should or shouldn’t go.
“It’s a wonder to me you’re still alive,” Selsor said. Irritably he threw Jenohn’s pack to the cave floor and sat to begin work on a fire. Though he’d not used the spell in years, it came as easily to his mind and lips as the battle magic he’d used just a few minutes ago. In seconds, a small fire filled the dank cave with light and warmth. “Come here.”
Jenohn sat down with a grimace, careful not to jostle his right arm. A hasty spell had kept it from bleeding excessively, but when a wyrm bit the wounds were always deep, ragged and incredibly painful.
“Idiot. Soldiers are not supposed to be reckless. I can only protect you from monsters, not yourself.”
“I know, I know.” Jenohn rolled his eyes, then bit back an oath as Selsor began to work on a more elaborate healing spell. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Idiot,” Selsor repeated. He spoke the healing words with a vengeance, not seeming to care a whit about the initial pain such a spell always caused. “You hired me to help. So listen to me when I try to help.”
“You’re worse than the Captain,” Jenohn said with a strained laugh. “I’ve made it this far without a wizard. And why are wizards so damn mouthy? Each and every one of you.”
“Because it’s the only way we get thick headed lugs like you to listen to anything we say,” Selsor said. He finished the healing spell. “There. Try not to do anything stupid for the rest of the night and you should be fine come morning.”
Jenohn grinned. “Thanks, mother.”
Selsor sniffed. He moved away to tend the fire, increasing it slightly and sitting close in the hopes it would dry his clothes that much faster. They’d just get wet all over again tomorrow, but at least he could sleep relatively dry. Movement brought his head up and he glowered at Jenohn. “I thought I told you not to do anything stupid.”
“Getting food is stupid?” Jenohn asked.
“Moving that arm is stupid,” Selsor said. “Sit down.” He stood up and attempted to shove Jenohn back down – but the soldier was a head taller and seemed about twice as wide. “Sit. Down.”
Jenohn grinned. “Yes, mother. Will you get our food out then?”
Muttering to himself, Selsor rifled through the pack and came out with the dried meat, hardtack and dried fruit that comprised their meal.
It was the best thing he’d tasted in forever. He ignored how pathetic that was and ate the bits of dried apple with relish.
“Are you sure that’s enough?” Jenohn said suddenly.
“What?” Selsor looked up from where he’d been staring into the fire.
“Are you sure that’s enough food? You’ve been casting a lot of spells.” Jenohn grinned, as though he simply couldn’t help it. “I don’t want to listen to your bitching if something goes awry because I starved you.”
Selsor stared at him, then looked away. “I’m fine.” A pause. “So long as you don’t keep doing stupid shit. I can’t get us up the mountain in two days if I’m escorting an idiot rather than a soldier.”
“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
“Do you want me to answer that?”
“I think I can guess. Are you warm enough?”
“I’m fine.”
Jenohn shifted to lean back against the cave wall, his arm laying carefully in his lap. “We walked for over four hours and then fought a razor wyrm. You cast two light spells, a flash, two healing and a fire. And, no offense, but you weren’t so well off to start. You were soaking wet, probably tired, and only have gotten more wet and tired. Most of it my fault. I seriously doubt you’re fine.”
Selsor stared hard at the fire.
This must be what he got for mocking the gods. A quest, the chance to use magic…and a soldier who, for all his infuriating grins and stupid recklessness, seemed to care. Of course it was only the 1000 pieces talking. In a few days he’d be right back to his shack and a life of what little menial labor he could get.
But until those days were up, would it hurt to pretend? That he was a wizard proper, just like his mother had been. With a soldier partner, as she’d had his father.
Permanent bonding was old-fashioned. Most soldiers and wizards these days preferred simply to hire one or the other as the situation required. But he’d always wanted the old-fashioned…even the way his parents had died fighting a dragon seemed to fit. As much as he missed them, they would have wanted no other death.
And he’d been so close. Now so far. Reduced to fantasies that would, when reality intruded, only leave him feeling more alone than ever. And remind him quite forcefully how badly he’d messed up, and what a failure he was.
But still. He was the only one who’d be hurt. What then did it matter if he pretended for two days that he was right where he’d always wanted to be? On a quest, with his soldier, keeping the creatures of the Unmarked territories out of the Marked lands.
Even if “his” soldier clearly had a death wish. Honestly, behind the handsome face and bright blue eyes there wasn’t a bit of sense. And he did have to admit Jenohn was handsome. He had the broader, rougher looks of one raised in the country rather than the thinner, sharper looks of the city folk. An attractive farm boy who’d made his way to the city. Selsor didn’t doubt those blue eyes had helped Jenohn get out of the trouble his recklessness got him into.
“I’m fine,” he repeated. “The spells I’ve been casting are all relatively simple. All they’ve done is make me a bit sleepy.” He touched the jewels shimmering in his wrists and forehead. “What I may lack due to my current circumstances, you’ve made up for through the bond. Tomorrow I’ll be back to almost full strength.”
Jenohn nodded. “You seem to know the mountain well.”
“I’ve explored portions of it. Past here I only know what maps have told me, which isn’t saying much. If what I remember is wrong, there’s no way we’ll reach the summit in two days.”
“While that would be preferable, so long as we reach it before the Prince’s band I’ll be content.”
Selsor frowned and nibbled at his last bit of jerky. “Why exactly am I breaking the law?”
“I don’t trust Nirosk. This whole affair smells of wizardry gone afoul.”
“Mm…how do you know I’m not behind it?”
Jenohn grinned, though this one was a bit different than his previous. Selsor couldn’t pin why. “I just do.”
“Oh. Well, then. That clears up everything.” Selsor turned away before his face could give his thoughts away. Clearly the idiot didn’t actually know why he’d been banned. Which Selsor had thought impossible, but then again he had just seen a seasoned soldier go up against a razor wyrm with no armor and no protective spells. “I’m going to bed.” Selsor packed away the containers of food and then moved around the fire to sleep with his back to the fire, facing the cave wall. His clothes were damp in most places, completely soaked in others, but at least he wasn’t dripping wet and his hair by some miracle had decided to stay bound.
*~*~*~*
The crack of thunder and lightning woke him. More streaks of lightning flashed, breaking the dark of the early morning. Selsor watched them and began to shudder, huddling deeper beneath the warm cloak.
…Cloak? The lightning was momentarily forgotten as Selsor realized he was covered by Jenohn’s rain cloak. He sat up and looked across the dimmed fire, absently murmuring the words to revive it, to where Jenohn sat half curled up on the stone floor. If the man was cold, he didn’t show it.
Standing up, Selsor crossed over and draped the cloak over him. He jumped as thunder cracked and lightning rent the sky again. Hugging himself in an effort to still the shudders that he couldn’t help, Selsor stepped cautiously toward the mouth of the cave
He jumped back as lightning flashed; the kind that seemed to fill the sky and make night as bright as day for the space of a heartbeat.
At least it wasn’t the sort that streaked to the ground, destroying whatever it touched. Selsor hunched his shoulders, feeling cold even thought the temperature was fairly mild. What was he supposed to do now? Rain he could deal with. But not lightning. There was no way he could trek out there while the lightning persisted. He just couldn’t.
“Don’t like storms?” Jenohn asked, voice still heavy with sleep.
“I’m fine.”
“Mmm…” Jenohn draped the cloak around him, leaning his head on Selsor’s shoulder to stare outside. “The rain’s worse than ever. I’m going to hazard we’re not going anywhere quite yet.” Though he sounded cheerful enough, Selsor could hear the frustration that laced it. Of course, with Jenohn that close it was hard not to hear him. Selsor sighed and moved away, disappointed when Jenohn didn’t stumble at all from his sudden move.
He dropped the cloak over Jenohn’s pack and resumed his seat before the fire. “No. It’d be damn near impossible to go up the rocks while we’ve got rain beating down that heavily on us.” And he didn’t want to deal with lightning if he didn’t have to. “But look on the bright side. If the Prince was planning to begin his journey today, it’s not going to happen. There’s no way he can mobilize the number of people I’m sure he planned to take along.”
“About thirty, all told. So what are we going to do while we outwait the rain?”
Selsor shrugged. “Guess I should have brought a book.” He motioned for Jenohn to join him. “Let me look at your arm.”
Obediently Jenohn sat down beside him, his movements much easier than they’d been last night. Selsor pushed up his sleeve and examined the wound, which was a long, jagged line from wrist to elbow. But it seemed well on its way to being completely healed, and Jenohn had full use of the arm. So his spells had worked. Selsor barely stifled a sigh of relief. He’d known the spell would work, but the doubts always lingered…For extra precaution, he murmured the words of a minor healing, fingers tracing the wound lightly to guide where the spell should fall. “There. Avoid a repeat of what caused it and you should be fine.”
Jenohn grinned. “I wonder if all soldiers get yelled at this often. Is that why so many go solo now?”
“Personally I think you should stay solo,” Selsor replied. “It would probably keep your stupidity to a minimum to not always have someone around to heal you.” He ignored how Jenohn’s words stung.
“Though I will say I enjoy the company.”
“Royalty and other soldiers aren’t enough for you?”
Jenohn laughed. “I’m insubordinate, remember? And anyway, his Majesty is always sending me off on solo missions. He says it solves two problems at once – the problem I’m sent to take care of and the problem of me having nothing to do.”
Despite himself, Selsor laughed. “So this recklessness is something you’re well known for?”
“Maybe,” Jenohn said. “You should laugh more often.”
“Huh?” Selsor stopped.
“Hungry?” Jenohn asked. He stood and moved to dig food out of his pack. Breakfast was much like dinner, but Selsor still ate with relish. “Do you think this rain will let up at all?”
“No. It gets worse each day now. If not for the fact that it stopped for a good half-month, we wouldn’t be climbing the mountain at all. The best we can hope for is the thunder and lightning to abate.”
Jenohn was silent as he ate. “You really don’t like storms, do you?”
“No, I don’t.” Selsor’s tone said the subject was best dropped.
“Is that because of what happened to you three years ago?” Jenohn asked.
Selsor ignored him, eyes helplessly locked to the lightning which flickered in the sky. The cave, on a good day, would give a terrific view of the valley below. At the moment it only gave a perfect view of the unending rains. Unconsciously he shivered, wishing he could shut his eyes but unable to look away.
It hadn’t been his fault. He’d never meant to do that. Hadn’t even been thinking of it.
The jeering over his ragged clothes. The taunts that he was an unskilled wizard because his stronger spells always went awry. That no one would want him. How he’d have no one at graduation. Taunt after taunt after taunt. A peasant trying to join nobility via wizardry. Never mind his parents had been respected in their field. His girly hair. So many jeers, all through school Even when they were old enough to be beyond it. Constantly reminding him that he wasn’t quite like them. All he’d meant to do was cast a really strong flash spell. To blind them briefly, make them dizzy, let him escape and go hide in his room.
But something had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. Lightning instead of flash. To this day no one knew how he’d called down lightning. It wasn’t in the books. But no one believed he hadn’t meant to do it. So close to graduation, he should have had better control.
And the boy he’d hurt, a stray recruit from the palace who’d been somewhere nearby. Hurt, carried away bleeding and so still.
That same day, seventeen and five days from obtaining his license, he’d been expelled, jewels turned black and his name written amongst those forbidden to practice. At least they’d left the jewels, instead of crippling his mind for life by tearing them out.
Of course, after this little adventure they probably would. But…it was a price he’d pay.
“So I guess that’s your polite way of telling me to shut up.”
“Exactly. Telling you my sob story wasn’t part of our deal. I’m sure you already know it anyway. Gods and Goddesses know I heard everyone telling and retelling it. Only an idiot wouldn’t know what happened.”
Jenohn grinned. “Haven’t you been calling me an idiot since we met?”
“You are an idiot,” Selsor replied. “It’s a wonder to me you’re still alive.”
“I’ve always been rather lucky in that. And really, there’s a lot of me to injure.” That godforsaken grin again. It made Selsor want to smile back no matter what his mood. “So I can take a few beatings or scratches.”
“How fortunate for you and that thick head of yours.”
Jenohn threw his head back and laughed. “You’re rapidly making a habit out of insulting me. Does that mean you hate me? Or that you like me?”
Selsor felt a brief moment of panic. “It means I should have demanded double what you’re paying me.”
Instead of replying, Jenohn merely stood up and went toward the mouth of the cave. He stared outside for a few minutes. “I think the storm’s abated. It’s just rain now.”
Angry that his first reaction was disappointment, Selsor extinguished the fire with a sharp cutting motion and a word spoken more like a curse than a spell. “Then I suggest we get going.”
Jenohn shrugged on his pack and then his cloak. “For all that you’re smaller than my wrist, you’ve got an impressive constitution.”
“Why do you say that?” Selsor asked.
“Because when you got home yesterday, you were soaked through. We trekked for hours in the rain late at night and you got soaked all over again. Anyone else would be sick, feverish.”
Selsor shrugged. “I guess I’m just used to it. Now are we going or do you want to keep discussing me? Personally, I find myself rather a boring subject.”
“Then by all means lets get moving,” Jenohn said with a smile. Selsor had the distinct impression he was being indulged.
Muttering to himself, Selsor led the way out and summoning a picture of the maps he’d examined years ago – for he’d excelled at geography while he’d been in school – he began slowly to lead them further up into the mountain.
They traveled in silence, as the relentless drumming of the heavy rain drowned out every other sound. The sky above was near black, and had been for what seemed like forever. Even the brief lull of a few weeks ago had been cloudy, dim. At least there was no more lightning for the moment.
He shoved back strands of hair that had come loose from the weight of water. Once he got home, he really would have to give some thought to cutting it. Selsor paused as they came to an incline that had more in common with a cliff. Most of the mountain could be climbed in a gentle slope, curving around in smaller and smaller loops, then back down the other side. This was the route the more daring merchants and such took, as the mountain was Unmarked and therefore pretty dangerous. If not for the rain, they would be dealing with a great deal worse than a young razor wyrm.
“I wonder why no one ever Cleared this territory,” Jenohn said as they took a break beneath a small ledge. He was panting lightly from the climb, and between them they must have acquired a dozen or so scrapes and cuts from climbing up rain-slick rocks.
Selsor looked at him. “They have tried Clearing it. Nirosk was put here to put together another attempt. But the rain problem has sort of put a halt on that.” Probably because Nirosk was too busy licking all the right boots. Nirosk wasn’t powerful because he was a great wizard. No, all his status came from that talent for giving boots a mirror shine.
“Why are you here? Not an ideal location, really. So isolated. Took us more than a month to get here.”
Selsor was frowning at his hair, which at some point had decided to come loose of its braid and tangle. And he’d left his comb back home. Damn the gods anyway. “I like the isolation. Everyone leaves me alone and occasionally someone will hire me for an odd job. Now find something else to discuss.”
“Would you like a comb?” Jenohn asked with a grin.
Damn it all. “You have a comb?”
“Only by accident. I forget how I came by it.” Jenohn scrubbed at his own hair, which was cut so close to his scalp it was impossible to get any sort of grip on it. He knelt to fumble in his pack and held up a comb – a nice one, made from bone or shell. But when Selsor reached out to accept it, Jenohn grabbed his wrist and yanked the man down, until Selsor sat on the ground in front of him. “Sit still.”
Selsor refused. “What in blazes do you think you’re doing?” He jerked away, nearly tumbling back into the downpour before Jenohn yanked him in close again.”
“Calm down, wizard mine. I was going to help comb your hair.”
“…What?” Selsor was startled enough that Jenohn managed to wrestle him back into position with little fuss.
“My mother made me help her for years, after my father wasn’t able to. Her hair was even longer than yours. Used to take me two hours to get her hair brushed to her satisfaction. She always said it was the highlight of her day, to have someone brush her hair at night.
Selsor was silent, utterly bemused. A handful of barbs were poised on his tongue, but with each gentle stroke of the comb another one died. No one had ever combed his hair for him. His parents had always urged him to cut it, explaining how dangerous it was to have such long hair in combat. But Selsor loved his hair; the dark honey color, how straight it was when most people had wavy or curly hair. Often at night it was all he had to keep his face and neck warm while the rest of him shivered.
And yet in the middle of a rainstorm, after he’d hurled every insult he could think of with his exhausted mind, being a complete loser and failure…Jenohn was combing his hair. It felt really nice, and despite himself Selsor let his eyes fall shut and simply enjoyed the feeling of comb and hands running through his hair.
The boom of thunder, loud enough the world seemed to shudder with the force of it, snapped Selsor out of his trance. He leapt to his feet, hair pulling painfully in the comb, stumbling forward. His hands landed in rocky mud, keeping him from falling over completely. Selsor reeled up, still tripping, scrambling desperately to get away from the thunder and lightning wreaking havoc in the sky.
He felt cold all over, seeing and hearing nothing but the storm above him.
Then his back was to stone, and there was a mountain of a man in front of him. “It’s okay,” Jenohn said firmly.
“Says you,” Selsor managed, eyes wide and frantic as he tried to watch the lightning. But he couldn’t see past Jenohn’s massive form. And he still felt cold. Cold and sick. He wanted to be back in the cave. Or his house. Not out in the open.
Jenohn tightened his grip on Selsor’s shoulder. “Calm down. Everything is fine. Nothing will happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
Thunder crashed, as lightning lit the sky like a momentary sun.
“Let me go!” Selsor shouted, scrambling to get away. Anywhere the lightning wasn’t.
Distantly he heard Jenohn repeat that everything was okay, but his own reply was lost to warmth. Jenohn was kissing him.
Jenohn was kissing him.
Selsor ran the realization through his head a third time and still couldn’t make sense of it, even as his own lips opened to take the kiss deeper, tasting dried apples and rain water.
He’d always wondered what he’d been missing. Suddenly he didn’t feel cold anymore. There was no doubt in his mind that he’d regret it later, but if Jenohn’s plan had been to calm him down, Selsor was forced to admit – to himself anyway – that it was working perfectly.
The man might be an idiot, but clearly there were qualities that made up for it.
“Better?” Jenohn asked softly.
“Under protest,” Selsor replied, pleased he could summon up a retort. But his fingers dug into Jenohn’s arms as lightning cracked the sky again. He ducked his head, knowing otherwise he’d cave to a weakness he hadn’t been aware of until very recently. Gods above he hated being weak.
But Jenohn didn’t seem to require asking. He merely titled Selsor’s head up and kissed him a second time, this time more firmly – as if he was more certain of what he was doing. “There’s nothing to be scared of,” he murmured against Selsor’s mouth.
“Says you,” Selsor replied, pulling away before he stole a third kiss. Why hadn’t he just stuck with telling the idiot to get out of his house? “You didn’t almost kill someone with lightning.”
“It was an accident, right? That was always my impression. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I did it. I lost my temper and ruined the courtyard, nearly killed some poor trainee that didn’t deserve to be hurt. Accident or not it was my fault.” Selsor jerked away as Jenohn reached for him. “Leave me alone!” He glanced up at the sky, which had subsided to distant rumbles though the rain never lessened. “Come on. We have to keep moving if we’re going to make your deadline.”
Jenohn frowned, the first time Selsor had seen such an expression on his face. But he refused to let it move him. Nor did he let himself be affected by the kisses that lingered on his lips. Reminding himself why he had to do this and why he shouldn’t make more of a mess of it than he already had, Selsor plunged into the rain and began to make his way up the rocky, barely-there path winding up the mountain. Jenohn had no choice but to follow, and the rain drowned out anything he might have said.
*~*~*~*
The Temple of Rainfall. Abandoned long ago when those who worshipped the Rain Goddess as their primary deity got fed up fighting wyrms and wyverns just to light a few candles and offer sweet water they’d rather keep for themselves.
If it really was the Goddess wreaking havoc with the weather, Selsor didn’t really blame her.
The Temple was built entirely of a soft gray, almost silvery marble. Once it had been alight with candles behind blue glass, the scent of sweet incense and fresh water everywhere. Now it just smelled like more than a few animals made use of the funny cave at the top of the mountain.
Except for the arrangement on the altar. A silver bowl and a handful of candles in blue, white and black. Selsor approached it slowly, feeling for wards and protections which might have been set in place. But it appeared there was nothing.
Some dark liquid filled the bowl. Probably blood, which would be necessary to create such a spell.
Odd that no one had laid protections. But then the rains themselves should have been enough to keep everyone off the mountain. Gods knew he had more than a few cuts and bruises himself by this point. Only Jenohn’s skill and his own magic had kept them from becoming dinner. He glared briefly at Jenohn. “Don’t do anything stupid. Better yet, stand there and don’t touch anything.”
“That wyvern wasn’t my fault.”
“You were both to blame. Just couldn’t leave each other alone, could you?”
Jenohn muttered something under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” Jenohn grinned at him, all innocence. “Any idea what we need to do to break the spell?”
Selsor gave him a scathing look. “And what would you have done if I hadn’t agreed to come with you?”
“I wasn’t going to leave without you.” Jenohn said, looking straight at him.
Selsor jerked his gaze away, annoyed that his heart had decided those words were cause to beat too fast. Stuipd stupid stupid. All too soon he’d be back to sleeping on his miserable crates in his pathetic house. It’d be easier to deal with if he gave up the idiot-inspired daydreams.
Jenohn hadn’t kissed him since the incident yesterday. Selsor had kept his distance except where fighting and healing necessitated proximity. “Not that hard really,” he finally answered. “Whoever did this didn’t bother to put up any protections.”
“He probably assumed that no one would be able to come up here to investigate. A royal wizard would prove problematic but they don’t leave the castle. Nirosk is the only licensed wizard in the area up to the task of trekking up this mountain.”
Selsor blinked as he began to follow what Jenohn was suggesting. “Meaning that he could guarantee that anyone who tried would never reach the top…Is the prince…?”
“Safe? Yes. Nirosk wouldn’t be that dumb.”
“How did you know?”
“That Nirosk was behind this? Not many other options, really. If not Nirosk, it would have been you or a wizard that neither you nor Nirosk was aware of. And I knew you weren’t responsible.”
“Before you hired me, you didn’t even know me. Knowing about me isn’t the same thing.”
“Perhaps I should start at the beginning.”
“Perhaps you should.”
Jenohn crossed the space between them, approaching the altar and reaching out to play with the flames of the flickering candles. Selsor rolled his eye at the carelessness but didn’t stop him – there was no harm done so far as he kept to just that. “I actually wouldn’t have figured this out if not for something that happened to me a few years ago.”
Selsor sighed.
“Have you ever heard of wizards with an affinity for weather magic?”
“No such thing. Attack, healing, elemental, and so on are the only affinities wizards possess. Weather magic only exists in spells such as these.” Selsor indicated the altar. “Stop touching it. And it’s not so much weather magic as a spell that just…disrupts things a whole lot. Weather it too strong a force to be a magical affinity. It’s one of the idiotic things old wizards mutter about beside the fire.”
Jenohn shook his head. “But wasn’t there a weather wizard once? He was the strongest that ever lived.”
“Myth. He probably just had very strong attack magic, or double affinities. That’s rare but not unheard of.” Selsor bit back explaining that attack magic could be very strong indeed – his had been. Or would be, if he’d ever been able to control it. “Where is all this going? Because you’re sounding more idiotic than ever.”
Jenohn just grinned. “I think weather wizards are a real possibility. I think Nirosk has been using an unwitting weather wizard to work this spell.”
“And where might this weather wizard be?” Selsor stepped forward and grabbed Jenohn’s hand, pulling it away from the items on the altar. “You’re an idiot. Stop touching the altar. Do you want to make things worse?”
“Whose blood is that?”
Selsor blinked. He was beginning to get a headache. “What?” He looked blankly at the bowl on the altar. “If your theory is correct, probably Nirosk’s. That would allow him to control the spell from a distance.”
“Are you certain? I thought you were a wizard, shouldn’t you know more about this?”
“I was kicked out, remember? Who else’s blood could it be? Like I said, it allows him to control the spell from a distance. Though I’m not sure what he’s hoping to accomplish by drowning everything in sight.”
Jenohn barely seemed to be paying attention. “I think your blood is in here too.”
“How did you come by this brilliant theory?”
“And here I thought you’d established I’m the idiot.”
“You are.” Selsor folded his arms across his chest. “Look. Could we wrap up this ridiculous explanation? I’m getting sick of trying to puzzle out what you’re trying to say.”
Jenohn grinned. “You’re cute when you get all huffy with me.”
“What?” Selsor floundered.
“I think your blood is in this bowl along with Nirosk’s. I don’t think he’s using all this,” Jenohn indicated the altar. “To disrupt things. I think he’s using it to steal your power and manipulate the weather.”
Selsor counted to ten. Then twenty. “Do you have water on the brain?”
“No.” Jenohn reached out suddenly and jerked Selsor close. “Look – black candles. Those are for control, right? Blue candles are for water. White candles for—“
“For the living. And my blood to control me.” Selsor shook his head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. I’ll buy he’s controlling someone, though probably someone with strong attack magic. There’s no sense in manipulating any magic I might have.”
Jenohn sighed. “I might be an idiot, but you’re as dense as a rock.”
“I resent that. Especially coming from someone who tried to attack a wyvern from behind.”
“I thought he was sleeping,” Jenohn muttered. Then he shook his head and moved back to the topic at hand. “Look – you’re a weather wizard.”
Selsor tried to pull away, but Jenohn had reduced his options to stay put or knock the altar arrangement over. “I’m not a weather wizard. What did you do, ignore me when I said that was myth?”
“Yes, actually.” Jenohn retorted. “Because I know first hand that you happen to be a weather wizard. I spent way too many nights in the royal library trying to figure out how to right a wrong that no one else seemed to know about.”
Selsor attempted to wade through what Jenohn said and failed completely. “What wrong might that be?”
“Three years ago I went down to the wizard school to meet a friend. Instead I came across my friend and several other students harassing one of their classmates.”
Selsor’s eyes went wide. He gripped the stone of the altar to keep his hands from shaking. “You can’t be…”
“The guy lost his temper. I watched him mouth the words for a flash spell. Except it didn’t work right. All I remember is a light that definitely wasn’t a flash spell – they told me later I’d been struck by lightning.”
“No…” Selsor went pale.
“But no one ever listened when I said I was okay.” Jenohn gently tugged one of Selsor’s hands free and held it, warmed it. “I’ve got scars all along my shoulder and down my back, but those are as much from hitting the shattered tiles as from the lightning. It didn’t really hurt that much. Letting them heal me hurt more. Because you never meant to hurt anyone, did you?”
Selsor shook his head, which felt heavy and gray. “No…I just wanted to run away.” His eyes burned. “You…you’re really the trainee I hurt?”
“You didn’t hurt me much at all. I keep trying to say that.”
In reply Selsor threw himself at Jenohn, burying his head in his shoulder “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.”
Jenohn froze for a moment in surprise, then relaxed and held Selsor tight. “It’s okay. I’m fine. I was more upset by the fact that you’d been expelled. No one ever let me see you.” He stroked Selsor’s wet hair, which had once more slipped free of its braid.
“I always thought you must hate me.”
“I’ve been trying to find you,” Jenohn said. “And tell you I don’t. I’ve been trying to tell people for years it wasn’t your fault.” He pulled Selsor away so he could look at him. “Especially you. Because I heard all the stories about how you’d been run out. It wasn’t until we heard about the problems here that I began to wonder…and then we learned more…and as we drew closer I learned that you were indeed here. And slowly all the pieces began to fall into place.”
Selsor shook his head. “What pieces? What’s going on here?”
“We believe someone has been using this area as a testing ground for weather magic spells. Nirosk, to put a name to that someone. Only we couldn’t figure out how anyone was using weather magic, which is largely believed to be a myth. I had my own opinions, given how long I’d searched for ways to prove you were wrongly banned. Then I finally learned you were here.” Jenohn looked guilty. “For a moment it occurred to me you’d figured out what your real powers were – especially given the way you walk through rain without any ill effects. Anyone else would be sick at the very least. If I didn’t have my rain cloak, I’d be miserable. But you’re perfectly fine. Because as a weather wizard you have some degree of immunity. Anyway, it didn’t take long after meeting you to realize you weren’t guilty. Which left Nirosk, because there’s no way he would have let a rival wizard cast such complicated magic in the area.”
“How does he plan to get that one by the prince?”
Jenohn grinned. “Probably by blaming you, which would leave him free to further hone whatever skills he's developing here.”
“But I would notice if someone was stealing my magic…” Selsor stopped, as he realized that wasn’t necessarily true. Even in the past couple of days he’d barely tapped into his full potential, scared that a spell might go wrong. “So I’m a weather wizard and Nirosk has been stealing my power.”
“Unless you’ve got a different theory.”
Selsor negated that with a shake of his head. “So what now?”
“We stop the spell and wait until the Prince arrives. At which point he’ll be thoroughly annoyed to hear I was right and then arrest Nirosk.”
“Ah.” Selsor slogged through what was left of his mind for something coherent to say. “They won’t be here for another day, probably two. And what’s to say he’ll believe you?”
That damnable smile never went away. “He always believes me. Probably because I’m always right.”
“You’re an insufferable idiot.”
Jenohn laughed. “You really do like me, don’t you?”
Selsor clamped his mouth shut.
“I must have imagined a few thousand different scenarios for how our meeting would go when I finally found you. All of them were quite dramatic and heroic. But I think I like how things turned out better.”
“What? Me doing my best impression of a grouchy, half-drowned rat?”
Another laugh, as Jenohn slid a hand into his damp hair. “Well, I admit I liked the part where you were naked. Didn't expect that. But that’s not what I meant. I always imagined that after a good bit of drama we’d wind up best friends and charge into the Hall of Wizardry to demand all wrongs be righted at last.”
“How very cute.” Selsor frowned, displeased that his ability to talk was apparently vanishing. “I really hope that’s not what we’re going to do.”
“Well, I would rather like to clear your name. It’s going to be damnably awkward being a royal soldier bonded to an illegal wizard.”
Selsor drew a sharp breath. “What?”
“When I said I preferred the way things turned out, I meant the part where I fell in love with you rather than simply befriended you.”
“But—But—“ Selsor shut his mouth and shook his head, hair flying everywhere. “That’s absurd.”
“No, it’s not. You have to admit it’s perfectly in keeping with me to fall for the guy that zapped me with lightning.”
Selsor glared. “That’s not funny.”
“But it is just like me,” Jenohn said encouragingly.
“There’s no denying that, you great big rocks for—“ Selsor didn’t get to finish, and by the time Jenohn finished kissing him he’d completely forgotten what he’d been saying. “You’re cracked. This is insanity. You can’t possibly mean—“ he was cut off a second time, kissed until he was dizzy and in desperate need of air. “I’m going to—“
“Stop arguing,” Jenohn interrupted. “Then we’re going to break the spell causing the rain.”
“Then I’m going to beat you over the head for all this idiocy.”
Jenohn, infuriatingly, grinned. “So you’ll stay with me then? Just think of what you can do to knock sense into me once you really learn how to control the weather.”
Selsor’s eyes glinted. “That is not funny.”
“Yes it is. And you’d love me even if it wasn’t.”
Selsor didn’t reply, but he didn’t resist when Jenohn leaned in to kiss him again.
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Date: 2005-11-06 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-06 03:42 am (UTC)Oh my god, so very cute. And I love Jenohn's explanation of Selsor's power. I suspected who he was about half way through, doubted what I suspected, and then turned out to be right.
Happy!
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Date: 2005-11-06 05:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-06 05:59 am (UTC)Snark snark snark "PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT SAY I LOVE YOU." "Yes, yes, you did that very pointedly. Now help me kick this rouge wizard's butt." "....*sulks* Well, fine."
XD XD XD
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Date: 2005-11-06 07:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-06 08:43 am (UTC)the rain. especially the vivid description of the rain and the amount of rain and the seamless backgrounding of it - there was always rain in the 'present' even if it wasn't out and out pointed out. ^_^;; if that makes sense.
i liked the jewel thing - is that like the jewel idea you had in your 'cinderella' fairy tale? because i thought it was neat then, too. ^_^
i liked... the kind of mages and stuff - especially the idea of a weather mage and that nefarious court mage who was attempting to harness that without anyone realizing.
Things that perhaps could have been expanded upon if there was time/space?
just the ending - perhaps some sort of closure to the Nirosk thing? he seemed to have a big impact on Selsor's life and his being kicked out.
but yes, it's WONDERFUL. i loved it, and it was a fantastic read (and i'm very much half-dead at the time i write this so ignore any half-mad babble. ^_^) the Jenohn/selsor interaction was snarky love and i'm madly adoring it. ^_^ ... i think i'm done. ^_^
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Date: 2005-11-06 12:54 pm (UTC)Great tale, great banter, great drescription...well hell, great everything. ^___^
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Date: 2005-11-06 03:37 pm (UTC)these two are cute!
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Date: 2005-11-07 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 05:42 am (UTC)*luffles icon*
It's from a wallpaper series actually, that I found on a site. The whole picture is here: http://members.shaw.ca/miikakazuki/girl151.jpg
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Date: 2005-11-07 12:13 am (UTC)I must confess that at first I was all 'oh, I bet Selsor is the prince... how utterly predictable...' but I'm glad you didn't go that way! I think if you had I would have gotten disappointed since I've come to expect better than that from you... after all you are one of my favorite slash/online authors! ^^ (sorry, but in my head there's a clear line between 'online' and 'book' authors... can't help it, I'm afraid...) Honestly, you're one of few that I still find worthwhile to read since I've gotten pickier lately...
But anyways! Loved the story and would absolutely love to read more about Selsor and Jenohn! *heart*
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Date: 2005-11-07 12:36 am (UTC)*______* Sooooo pretty!!! *glomps the pretty*
Date: 2005-11-07 10:20 pm (UTC)In exchange for my eternal soul, I would like more stories from
Thank you,
Me
*hearts* Poor Selsor. He's so adorably cranky and defensive. And Jenohn! ^_________^ I loved him to pieces. The insubordinate soldier who's usually right. XD That cracked me up.
What else did I love?
Other than all of it, of course...The way Selsor was strangely resistant to getting sick and how that tied in to him being a weather wizard, and the fact that Jenohn was the trainee...I wasn't expecting either and loved it when you revealed both. ^_^Plus, those two are so damned cute together.
*is happy melted puddle of goo* You rock my socks. ^_^