Private Tales What Does Not Kill Us

[Hath Charosh]

"I do not feel the cold as much," he replied. What he felt was more of the demonic presence pressing against the bounds of Pern's ward.

He wondered what it was. Was it truly a piece of that demon that found a life of its own, or was it simply the piece of himself that had been corrupted by those dark magics.

He could be heard muttering "damned elves" as he gathered his own possessions. He preferred to be carrying a lot more weapons than this.

"This place...how do we approach them?" he asked. He didn't want to be attacked again just for being an orc.

 

[Pern]

"I wash thinking to change back into my shmith garmentsh," Pern said without a great deal of assurance, "and walk ahead to find shomeone that can guide ush to the Apothecary." Running her claws through the long mane of light brown waves, Pern gingerly itched at the back of her neck and gave a shrug.

"If I can exshplain our preshensh without caushing alarm, that might be besht."

 

[Hath Charosh]

"That will be best," Hath admitted, casting his gaze over Pern. "You look better like this," he added plainly, just a hint of a smile on his face.

Humans were far too conservative with how they dressed. How was on supposed to even pick out a mate when they were hidden under so many layers?

Hath felt a warm glow of optimism for the first time in a long while. It was strange to reflect on how little faith he had held that they would arrive or that they would be able to help him.

They were here now and he allowed himself a little hope that they would be able to act on the demonic influence.

It was down there, under the weight of her ward, its fury more than a match for his own feelings. Any weakness in the cage and it would break free. He would need to focus.

 

[Pern]

Pern had taken hold of her bag and begun to sort through it for her city clothes, unaware of the eyes on her until Hath spoke again. She blinked, frowned slightly, and flushed deeply - the tawny cheeks taking on the color of wet sand.

"You think sho?" she had somehow escaped being strongly approached by males in his clan if only for the fact that most everyone had assumed Hath had already claimed her. Weren't too many willing to challenge him - or maybe she just wasn't worth the challenge. Pern really didn't know and, frankly, hadn't given it much of any thought. She'd been far too distracted with teaching others how to build forges and craft stronger metals.

Pern didn't bother to undress from her tribal pieces, and instead pulled her city shirt on overtop, and her leather smithing pants on under the waist, pulling it off once she'd had her pants cinched in place.

"Mm," she pawed at the pants briefly, adjusting them around her thighs which were filling them out quite a bit more than they ever had, "musht have shrunk from the rain." She buckled her leather brace about her waist and attached the utility belt overtop to which she attached the small dagger. A quick run of her claws through her wavy hair and she pulled it up from her shoulders, tying it off high at the back of her skull.

"Right," she said, taking stock of their small campsite and pulling her bag straps over her broad shoulders, "I'll be back onsh I find shomeone."

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath had not smiled much in a long time. It was always a subtle gesture with their kind. Too wide and it would be taken for baring tusks. Hardly a lift of the corner of his lips at Pern's embarrassment. A soft noise at the back of his throat and a typical orcish hand gesture for affirming an opinion.

"musht have shrunk from the rain."

Hath barked a single laugh and finally looked away. There were lots of ways an orc could show disrespect, such as a flat gaze-matching stare to a rival. A long lingering glance to decide that nothing had shrunk at all was perfectly acceptable. Unless she wanted to strike him for it.

"I will wait for you," he told her. It seemed the easiest thing to do. Except that he wasn't waiting on his own.

After a few hours, it found its voice again.

Let me in.

"No," Hath said, before deciding that talking to it wasn't going to help.

Retake your tribe. Take her. Take anything you want. The strength to do it is here.

"You beg because this is the end."

Hath clenched his eyes shut. One arm trembled. The arm that felt the corruption spreading from his shoulder. The other clenched tightly around the ward.

Pern - and anyone she brought - would find him like that.

 

[Pern]

"Hath?"

The village was a bit more spread out than she'd imagined. Dawnbringer had set them down on the very outskirts of the Shire, leaving Pern to walk a good half an hour before she saw hide or hair of another living creature. Took some doing to find someone to help her - the halflings here apparently were quite shy of outsiders. Many had hidden away at the first inkling of a stranger in their midst, but a young fellow had boldly made himself available to approach if for no other reason than to show off to his lady friend tucked away behind the pepper plants in her garden.

"Hath," Pern approached him warily, noting the fist and the strain of his posture, "I found shomeone..." her quiet footsteps brought her to Hath's front where she gently placed a hand over the one he presently clutched the amulet with, "are you okay?"

 

[Hath Charosh]

"No," he snarled. His face was twisted in a grimace. One fist was clenched tight against his thigh, the other hand gone pale holding the ward to his chest.

He contemplated telling Pern to end the danger now. Such thoughts were blocked on two fronts. He knew she had stubbornly refused to put her safety above his before and he still had a deep rooted survival instinct that could never ask such a thing.

"Must be quick."

 

[Pern]

The snarl got a response of wary concern but she maintained her poise as best she could. One of them had to keep their head about them and it clearly had to be her. "Okay," she nodded, giving his hand over the amulet a strong squeeze, "come with me. We will go quickly ash we can. It'sh not too far."

She stood again, reaching to the arm that gripped his thigh, and offered a leading tug, "Shtay with me Hath."

A nod was her only indication to their guide that she was ready and he quickly ran ahead to keep distance between himself and the orcs, but paused long enough to stay in their sight when needed.

 

[Hath Charosh]

He was trying. He didn't need to say that. He just needed to let Pern guide him again. For all that she had been entirely reliant on him to stay alive for most of the journey, he had been entirely reliant upon her since leaving his tribe.

The woodland became thicker before opening out again. He barely even noticed the first home he saw, the grass and ferns continuing over the sloped roof. These people stayed well hidden.

Their halfling guide did not look enthusiastic at the sight of him. He hadn't changed his clothing to fit in. To them, he was a savage orc.

"You told the gryphon...you would bring no harm..." he grunted.

She was still bringing danger into their midst. He was that danger, because he carried that mote of darkness.

Which meant he had to keep control or else he would be breaking her promise for her. It galvanised his resolve, even as the voice grew louder. At one point his control slipped just a fraction, his fingers digging into her shoulder harshly.

Let me in and you can keep her. Resist and she will die first.

Fuck off, Hath silently replied, except that he also muttered the words.

"Here, here, quickly!" came the melodic voice of their guide, who was waving frantically.

 

[Pern]

That hand digging in at her shoulder was enough to make Pern wince, clapping her own free hand overtop. Mostly to remind him that was her shoulder he was about to squeeze into paste, but also that she was still here and not simply some nameless walking meat.

"Almosht there-" she grit her jaw against his grip and pressed on, pushing her strides longer after the halfling. They'd taken a turn down a side footpath into a copse of trees and it was there than the guide excitedly waved his arms for them. Dashing ahead to the house hidden among the treetrunks, he gave a quick and rowdy knock on the door before running off.

When the door opened it was an equally small little person greeting them with layers of colorful materials and large, round eyes.

"Yes? Hello? Oh!"

"Wait!" Pern raised a hand to her and stopped a few feet back from the door, "We mean no harm. I wash shent here by Ignashush Oshric from Elbion for shuppliesh ... but ... we alsho need your help."

"Ig-Ignatius sent you?" peeped the Apothecary.

"I am hish daughter," Pern nodded.

"Oh my, Pernillia! You were just a babe when I first saw you. You have grown."

"Pleashe," Pern pressed a polite smile and gestured back at Hath, "it'sh important and a matter of life and death."

The Apothecary took a step forward to blink at Hath and then nodded, "Around back, take him around back. I will meet you there."

Back behind the cottage knoll was a large (for a halfling) open garden area filled to bursting with various herbs, medicinal plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables. A strong sense of magic lingered here that was not at all natural for a halfling. Pern lead Hath to an open space where he could rest, unwilling to trust the integrity of a bench or stool crafted for a being a fraction of his size.

"Wh-what is the nature of his ailment?" the Apothecary asked through a circular window of her home that seemed to grow out of the grassy hill itself.

"I'm not shure," Pern frowned, looking to her friend, "he sheemsh to be poshesshed by a dark entity."

"Do you trust him?"

Pern blinked back over at her, feeling that was a silly question, "Him? Yesh, of courshe. The entity, no."

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath lost some sense of time, but he was aware of lying on his back in the garden.

You understand we both perish if you continue resisting?

This seems quite a nice place to die.

Hath meant it too. He could feel velvety soft grass beneath him. There was a gentle breeze through the trees above. Each gust carried the herbal scents of the garden around him. It was quite relaxing really.

Instead of letting go, Hath found renewed focus in the sense of calm it brought. This had been his body for much, much longer. He wasn't about to give it up.

 

[Pern]

"If it is an entity, then we will need a new vessel to place it in... something neutral but strong and unconnected to the living realm." Sounds of bottles and supplies clinking inside the home drifted through the window. The Apothecary bobbed in and out of view.

Pern quietly sat down next to Hath on the grass, looking thoughtful and worried.

Time passed but she couldn't be sure how much. The sun moved across the sky, the flowers bent to follow its light. A gentle breeze picked up, soothing under the golden glow.

"Have you a vessel?" the tiny woman spoke up, drawing Pern from her thoughts as she walked outside, tray of many things at hand.

"I ..." Pern frowned and leaned into a thought, "may have shomething, but it ish shimple."

"Sometimes simple is best for the nature of these things, yes. Simple is best," the halfling nodded.

Pern pulled her pack to her side and fished around through a utility pocket to withdraw her forging hammer, "I made thish back with hish tribe. It ish enscribed with shigilsh for shtrength and durability."

"Yes? Yes. This seems dwarven, but you made it?"

"The shymbolsh are dwarven," Pern gave a sheepish shrug, "but I am untrained in enchantmentsh. The amulet hash worked thush far, though."

"Amulet?"

"It hash contained the entity for shome time, but I think it ish growing shtronger."

"Well if it works, it works! We can try ... I have a containment orb to use as backup, but I cannot say if it will hold him. Cannot say, no."

Pern nodded and handed her the hammer which was nearly twice as big as her forearm and could have been used as a sledge by the halfling. "What elshe can I do to help?"

"Sit him up and help me clear out this area in the garden."

 

[Hath Charosh]

You do not want to die, the voice echoed.

I do not.

You could have anything.

I want you to be gone.

Compromise. Limit my power and my actions, but do not deny me.

Hath watched them both talking over him. He didn't even listen to what they had to say. His attention was drawn inwards now, to the wave that threatened to crash down and extinguish him.

He didn't know if he really believed he demon. He did think he had the strength to hold out until the end.

 

[Pern]

The process of extracting a demon from a living thing did not get any easier when it was only a fragment of one. Pern knew nothing of magical processes or what was involved. She didn't know if what this halfling would do to Hath would hurt him, break him, or worse. Gilabree scurried about the garden, encircling the two orcs with a strange, dark powder. She'd tasked Pern only with keeping Hath calm and present until she was ready to perform the spell.

Pern kneeled beside her friend, thinking on their journey and all it took to get here. How this big brute of an orc had proven himself a kind and gentle creature when it mattered, and a vicious and savage beast when it mattered more. He'd saved her life numerous times and expanded her horizon far beyond anything she could ever had dreamt up.

They'd never shared any intimacy, but they had become close. She trusted him with her life and no longer shied away from his touch. Having never been so close to anyone like this before and with a cultural barrier hardly overcome between them, the words and gestures did not immediately make themselves easy to know. So she placed a hand over the one he firmly clutched the medallion with, and her other hand at his shoulder. She leaned in and gently pressed her forehead against his, nose to nose, and breathed slowly and deeply.

"You made it, Hath," Pern said quietly to him, her own voice faintly unsteady from her fear of this unknown but she curled her fingers around his as his chest and squeezed, "don't give up now."

To lose him here and now ... the very thought lodged a stone painfully into her chest.

"It is time, Pernillia," Gilabree said as she gently rose from where she had laid Pern's hammer down in a smaller circle, "come away."

 

[Hath Charosh]

This is the end of you, Hath said.

It took a form in the landscape of his imagination. A dark cloud that slowly swirled into the form of an orc. It's features never quite stayed still enough for Hath to decide if it was a mirror of himself.

I offer power. I offer strength.

Die.

Hath thought back. All the way back. The scarlet mists and the dank humid landscape of another world. The demon they had all battle. Strangers from different corners of Arethil hurling themselves against the darkness until it died.

Hath hadn't known them. Only the wolf riders he had arrived with. He still wouldn't let that sacrifice have been for nothing.

Your own tribe. Mates. Many tribes under your heel.

You are desperate.

That rattled the demon. It raged against him and the pain was overwhelming.

It wasn't Pern's touch that drew him back to the meadow. It was scent. An Orc drew powerful connections between scents and people and places.

He inhaled deeply. Some of the tension bled from his body, the pain remaining as a dull throb. Hath opened his eyes to see Pern stepping away.

"Do it," he grunted. His gaze followed Pern, looking to the halfling and then he screwed them shut again.

 

[Pern]

He was stoic, as she had always known him to be even given the short amount of time she'd known him, and that was fine. Scy was also stoic and--Pern thought as she stepped away from her friend, taking great care not to disturb the drawn circles and sigils on the ground around him--that being stoic was simply a way of the orc kind. Part of their method to survival.

She was not stoic or strong like they were. Not brave or wise in the way of the lands. Pern felt her worries about Hath coming to a head as she turned to watch Gilabree begin the exorcism. The small halfling filled the air with a chant of words Pern could not understand. The air in the gardens changed from still and peaceful to a rising nexus of light. This light suffused the area, slowly peaking like the sun as it crested over the horizon on a new day, and then surpassed any natural means of illumination.

Pern lifted her hands and braced against the rise of energy around her. Felt like a tide rushing in, slowly filling the landscape around them with the tingle of divine ether. She could hear Gilabree's words surrounding her but the crescendo of power overtook it with a ringing like countless tiny bells.

Hath and his demon were imprisoned in their circle and the only place the demon could go to save itself from the burn was that hammer in its bubble of safety.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath threw his head back. The cords of his neck stood out. His hands curled in towards his palms forming angular claws. He was clearly in pain, but no sound passed through his lips.

All thoughts of the past faded away. The light shine through and burned it away. He glanced at Pern out of the corner of his eyes. The demon has threatened her too.

Soon, that too was burned away by the light. He was left within himself with the unwelcome intruder.

The light followed him. The shadows started to burn away.

No!

Dark tendrils lashed out, wrapping around his imaginary self. For Pern and Gilabree, it would manifest as his veins turning jet black as the demon clawed at Hath's being.

I take you with me!

Hath could feel the heat of the light all of a sudden and it burned him too. Hath writhed and snarled.

Inside his head he fought back. He tore at the darkness. It's form started to disperse but he felt his own self being stretched out, pulled towards oblivion.

Then something tore. He fell back into the light, but it no longer burned. The remains of the demon became ribbons in the breeze and for just an instant he saw some of its original form. That great beast with wings of obsidian shards.

There was a new pain. There had been no clean divide between Hath and the demon. He had been torn too. Some of himself had gone into oblivion. A hint of the darkness clung to his shadow and avoided the last rays of light.

Pern would see a shadow form in the air above hath before it dispersed. Hath was left limp and gasping.

 

[Pern]

"You must not break the circle," Pern heard Gilabree say before realizing the tiny woman's hand had caught the hem of her smith's apron to stop her from moving forward, "the cleansing will continue through the night. He must remain there until the light of dawn."

That was some time away yet, they had only arrived in the late morning of the current day. It was barely noon. Hath looked horrible, sounded horrible, but he was breathing and nothing visibly untoward had seemed to happen to him after the dark veins receded. Magic was strange, terrifying, wonderful, and complex. She had to trust in the Divine Apothecary's words no matter how much she wanted to go to him.

Pern felt herself trembling and clasped her clawed fingers together to try and still the sensation.

"What wash it?" she asked the halfling, "The thing inshide him?"

"I do not know," Gilabree admitted gently, "it is not alike any dark entity I have encountered or know of. What it was and what is has now become in your hammer," her large eyes landed on the tool laying innocuously in its own small circle, "you must tread carefully with it. Very carefully!"

Pern felt her lips pull strongly downwards around her tusks. She'd been rather proud of that hammer and it held a significant sentimental value to her before. Crafted in the forges of Hath's clan with the iron of their lands, it was something she'd intended to keep and use in her trade. Now she was unsure if that was even a safe possibility. Still, she'd give up any trinket for the life of her friend.

"What should I do now?"

"Let him rest, dear, let him rest."

 

[Hath Charosh]

His head lolled to one side, following the voices. He didn't listen to their words. Fortunately he was too exhausted to stand up and break the circle, ruining the halfling's works.

His gaze flicked from one to the other.

He was still alive.

That almost surprised him.

Part of him wanted to turn his focus inwards, to search for the presence that had ridden along with him for so long.

Hath was too tired. The pain wouldn't let him sleep.

He laid his head back and bared his tusks to the sky.

 

[Pern]

Gilabree and Pern took turns keeping vigil over Hath as he recovered. Through the afternoon and into the wee hours of the night. In those turns the halfling had assembled together all the items of the Maseter's list of needs and loaded them into Pern's bag.

"You know," Gilabree remarked as the pair of them sat a short ways off from a resting Hath, "normally when your father needs supplies, he calls the Dawnbringer to fetch it!"

"He ... he does?" Pern blinked in confusion and surprise, "she will just ... deliver them to him?"

"Oh yes, yes indeed. What a wonder she is! I cannot speak to her, no no, but she is so very charming. He sends a list by raven, in a few days she shows. I put everything into her basket and away she goes!"

Pern felt her brow settle down in deep consternation at this news. It kept her awake all night, which was just as well - she still had Hath to watch over.

In the light of dawn Pern dozed beneath a blanket just beyond his circle. She would not see the faint strands of expended plight evaporating upwards into the sun like so many tendrils of smoke. As the sky bloomed alight and the rays descended upon their figures in the garden, the circles about Hath and the hammer were gone.

"Good morning," Gilabree stood over Hath with a tray of tea, "you must drink and eat, yes! Much strength to recover for such a big lad."

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Eat and drink?" he murmured.

Hath hadn't even opened his eyes. His fingers spread out into the grass. He slowly drew his palms back along the grass until he could push himself up.

Hath sat for a few seconds. He looked at his own body. He still seemed to be whole, despite the feeling that he had been torn apart.

"Yes," he agreed.

He stood up quickly.

Gilabree would have just a moment to dart aside as he immediately came back down like a felled oak.

 

[Pern]

Gilabree was not fast enough and released a loud yelp as she was flattened by the orc, her tray flying out of her hands with all its contents scattering-clattering about the garden. It awoke Pern with a start and she sat bolt upright, brown curls flying about her face as she blinked in alarm.

From where she was sitting ... it looked like Hath was attacking the halfling.

Oh sparks - Hath was attacking the halfling!

"Hath no!" Pern yelled as she scrambled to her feet and reached for her friend in an attempt to yank him away from the Apothecary - had the spell not worked? Had the dark presence inside woken up instead of Hath?

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath's arm was limp and heavy.

He was aware of Pern's voice, aware of something tugging at his arm. The world had gone spinning around and his sense of up and down had been lost.

With a grunt, he rolled over onto his back.

He screwed his eyes shut.

That way was up.

When he heard the sputtering halfling he realised what had happened. He lifted his arm to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Sorry."

 

[Pern]

Gilabree squeaked as she extricated herself from Hath's bulk while Pern quickly fell back onto her haunches from the effort. Hath spoke and it was his own voice, albeit quite a weary one. An apology. She heaved a sigh of relief, feeling for certain that if the entity had accomplished its goal it would not have apologized. At least she hoped not.

"Hath," she insisted because not knowing was very discomforting, "ish it you? Are you... you?"

How else did she ask? Are you a demonic asshole that's going to try and kill me again? No never.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Hurts like I am me."

For a few moments he breathed slowly and pondered her questions. How could he know if he was safe? If he was alone in his own body?

He already knew. It was like breathing fresh clean air after a week in the rancid stench of a city. He was drained, pain cut from the superficial physical all the way down to a state of being he didn't understand. The place where it had latched on.

"I am just Hath."