Purebloods and Half-breeds

Aaron's captives find the Faerie Pool and begin to experiment with its magic.

9.

Purebloods and Half-breeds

 

The night passed slowly and Aaron did not sleep but monitored Wulf-wuf and Lysa’s breathing without daring to move to go near them.

Both sounded as if they were near death, but at least the guards left them all alone.    Mew had been placed beside Lysa, and due to her ‘frozen’ state, had fared far better than the rest of them.  

 

Aaron struggled to think of any plan for their escape, but he knew that was not possible.   Throughout the rest of the night, he would occasionally hear distant sounds as if, far away, battle was occurring.   At first he had hoped that somehow Allea had brought help to them and that they were battling their way to them.

 

But after several hours, it occurred to him what he actually was hearing.    It was some of the Prince’s soldiers either encountering some of Helios’ wild monstrosities that still haunted the Valley, or else the troops had been sent by Sefet-Manyue to hunt and kill the monsters.

He suspected - after his dealings with the cruel Prince- that the monsters were the hunted rather than the hunters.   Although he knew that many of Helios’ creations were terrible and deadly beasts, the thought of them being killed due to Sefet-Manyue’s hatred of impure things, sent a chill up his spine.

Clearly the Prince was an evil man, prejudiced against anything or anyone that did not match his standards.   Aaron wondered about Sefet-Manyue’s people - the Hutcaiah.   Were they as equally as prejudiced?   From what the Prince had said, Aaron had gathered that their society had a caste system based on race.    Apparently Elves were toward the top, with Sefet-Manyue’s race being the masters.   

Drow were the lowest class of Elves, but probably still above the other non-Elven races in status.

Half-Elves were seemingly higher in statue than humans, and the humans were above Half-Orcs in rank.  Aaron guessed that Orcs would fall below the Half-Orcs in favor.    The Talminor were called ‘monstrosities’, so they were at the very bottom.  

 

Somehow he had to keep his companions alive and enable them to escape this madman and his troop.

 

***

 

Finally the hours passed and Aaron watched the slow lighting of the sky over the peeks surrounding Helios’ Valley.   How ironic, he thought, that I am a prisoner in my own duchy.  

When the sky had brightened enough, Aaron checked on Wulf-wuf and Lysa again.   Both seemed to be sleeping and the Talminor seemed to have slightly improved over the night.    Lysa was unchanged, and when he could see her injuries and pitiful state, he grieved for the pain she must be experiencing.    A rage was building up inside of him as he knelt there helplessly.   He was so absorbed in it that he did not hear one of the Hutcaiah guards shouting at him.  

 

Suddenly he felt a club hitting him in the side of the head, knocking him down on top of the Orc girl.   Anger overwhelmed him and he instinctively kicked out against his attacker.   His kick found its mark, sending the guard down.    With a growl, Aaron jumped up and pounced upon him.    Though his hands were bound, he used them as a club, beating at the surprised soldier’s face.

Then hands were pulling him off the man and Aaron suspected that he had probably doomed all of his companions - as well as himself-  to death.

But into the fenced area came Sefet-Manyue and his wizards.   The guards bowed to him, and the one that Aaron had knocked down jumped to his feet, pointing at Aaron and angrily telling his lord in his native tongue about what had happened.

To Aaron’s surprise, the Prince seemed amused and after listening to the soldier for a few moments, suddenly slapped him and rebuked the man.

The soldier seemed enraged at the treatment, but stiffly bowed, picked up his club and rushed out of the pen, with the other guards fleeing after him.

Sefet-Manyue looked at Aaron with a mixture of mirth and annoyance and then down at Lysa.   He said something to one of his wizards and the magic user chanted a spell upon his master.   It was likely the same Tongues spell (or a spell similar to it) that had been cast upon him before.

“You are fortunate that I intervened, Banxian.”   The Prince said to him, “I cannot understand why you are so concerned for a Half-Orc, especially a female.    Surely you could have a better servant.”

“She serves me well, and did not deserve to be tortured like that.”   Aaron dared to reply, still fuming from it.

“She is lucky she is not dead!”   Sefet-Manyue snapped, “If she had been merely a Zhurem’Ta - that means ‘pig man’ in our language- we would have killed her.   But as she is partially Rem’Ta - human- we had mercy upon her and let her live.”

“Heal her then and restore her as my servant.”   Aaron demanded.

Sefet-Manyue laughed, “You are in no position to make demands, Half-Elf.   Her condition is a guarantee that you will not try to escape or trick us.   I have chosen to overlook your attack on one of my men.   But make no mistake, if you try that again, I shall kill your Half-Orc and the beast-man and woman.    We could find the Pool of Purity without you or them.    You are in a most precarious situation, Half-Elf, so I would recommend to you to submit.”

Aaron nodded, “I shall give you no further trouble.”

 

“Good.   I will allow my priests to cast a minor healing spell over your servant.    It will sustain her, but she shall be lashed to the back of a horse as we travel.”

Aaron nodded, sickened that he did not have any leverage with Sefet-Manyue to give her more.

“A wise choice.   I want to know why you were coming here, looking for the Pool of Purity.”

“The Talminor are dying as the magic that created them is eroding.   We sought the pool as we believe it can give them life by removing two thirds of the races mixed to create them.”

The Prince nodded, and seemed to approve of the plan, which surprised Aaron.

“It can be done.” He said, “For the Pool of Purity separates what is impure and leaves what is fit for living.    I shall allow both of them to be cast into the pool as a demonstration to you before we test the purity of my wife.    If they emerge in a form of a human or Elf, I shall let them live and go free.   If they emerge as one of the beastly races, they shall be killed.”

Again Aaron nodded, for he knew that Sefet-Manyue would not debate the issue.

“We shall restore the wolf-headed one enough so he can lead us.    You shall travel in my presence, Half-blood, under guard of course.”

For a third time Aaron nodded and his submissive attitude seemed to please the Prince.   He turned to his guards and two of them threw a blanket on the ground next to Lysa, and then lifted her onto the blanket.   She moaned pitifully at the movement, but they just glared at her coldly.    Then the guards wrapped the blanket around her, took each end and carried her off, heading to where the horses were corralled.  

Aaron guessed they would simply tie her to the back of one of the guard’s horses.    He hoped the jolting ride wouldn’t injure her worse, for if the Autocaster ring activated, it would be troubling for Wulf-wuf, Mew and his health.

 

***

 

Within a quarter of an hour, they had packed up the entire camp and were ready to travel.    Wulf-wuf had his legs freed and one of the Prince’s wizards who spoke their language told him what was expected of him and the consequences if he did not cooperate.   Like Aaron, the Talminor man nodded meekly.

Wulf-wuf was tethered to a guard like a dog on a chain and he led the vast company northward, through a heavily wooded section of the Valley.   The elevation rose slightly as they went through the dark woods.

Strange animal calls and rustlings all around them kept everyone in a state of nervousness, but the Prince’s company was so large that no creature dared show itself.

Aaron had been given a horse to ride in Sefet-Manyue’s company, and they had freed his hands so he could ride more comfortably.    Mew had been lashed to the back of another horse and Aaron occasionally saw both her and Lysa’s forms in the train behind them.

 

They travelled slowly through the underbrush of the woods and several hours passed.   It was noon before Wulf-wuf stopped, after they had entered a small clearing that butted up against the side of one of the mountains that hemmed in the Valley of Helios.    An energetic waterfall flowed down the side of the mountain here, into a large blue pool that was partially covered with lily pads.    But Wulf-wuf did not look at the pool.   Instead, he pointed toward a series of steps carved into the rock of the mountain that went upward to the top of the mountain, from where the waterfall issued.

 

The wizard that could converse with them turned to Aaron, “This is the Pool of Purity.  It actually springs up out of the rock at the top of the stairs.    That upper pool is the Pool of Purity.   Those thrown into the pool are dissolved by its water, then flow down the waterfall into this receiving pool.   Here they will reform and emerge in pure form.”

 

Sefet-Manyue had his company to dismount here and after a time stretching legs, he gathered his wife (who seemed very scared now that they had reached the destination), Aaron, Wulf-wuf, as well as his bodyguards and wizards, and they started up the stone stairs.

“Your Half-Orc and the beast-woman will be carried up here shortly.”   The wizard told Aaron after speaking to his master.   

The stone stairway wound up and around for about 70 feet.   At the end of the stairs was a small, humble pool of water.   Flanking it on three sides were enormous trees that were wider than pillars.    The pool was a blue color, but looked much deeper than the pool below, and there were no lily pads floating on its surface.

As soon as Sefet-Manyue’s wife saw the pool, she began struggling and crying and finally she fell prostrate at the feet of her husband, hysterically telling him something in their native tongue as she clutched at his feet.   He just stared down at her, his expression growing colder as he listened to her.

 

Aaron did not dare ask what was happening, but watched the drama ahead of him.   The woman was pleading now, her voice almost a scream, but still the Prince did not seem to respond to her emotion.   Finally he turned to one of his guards, spoke a few words, and they came and pulled her up.   She fought like a tigress and it took five of the guards to pull her back.  

They forced her to the ground and nearly had to sit on her to keep her down, gagging her mouth to keep her quiet.

Wulf-wuf glanced at Aaron in apprehension, but he could do nothing but return a grim look.

 

Sefet-Manyue spoke to his people for a few moments, and then gestured for the bilingual wizard to convey what he said to Aaron and Wulf-wuf.  

“His Luminance bid me to tell you that the Princess Seba-Yinhu has confessed her impurity to His Luminance.”

“What does that mean?”   Aaron asked.

“The Princess has confessed that her mother’s grandfather was not Iah-Xian but was of a union with a Sow’xian merchant’s daughter.    Therefore, she is not Mesen-gongzu-Yu.”

“So your prince will not cast her into this pool?”

“He deliberates her fate.    We have come far, travelling many weeks for the purpose of testing her purity.”

“So what will he do with us?”   Aaron asked frankly.

“I do not yet know.   For now be seated and wait for His Luminance’s decision.”

 

Aaron sat down on the topmost step of the rock, watching as some of the Prince’s slaves slowly carried Mew and Lysa up the stone stairs.   Would he kill them all?   The man seemed very easily provoked to savage acts.

As they passed him on the stair, Aaron rose to his feet, anxious to see how Lysa was faring.  She was still wrapped in the blanket, but all he could see was a bit of her badly bruised face as the slaves passed him.   They set her and the Talminor woman down near the pool between the huge trees.    He longed to go over and check on her condition, but Sefet-Manyue was pacing around the area, lost in thought, and looking rather agitated.

So Aaron prayed for her again.   Wulf-wuf was sitting a distance away from him, closely watched by guards wielding pole-axes, but he too seemed to understand the mood of the company and kept quiet.

 

Perhaps half an hour passed before the Prince called his wizards to him and had a private conversation.    Then, to Aaron’s surprise, they came to him.   Aaron was pushed to his feet by the guards as he waited for what Sefet-Manyue would say.

The Prince had his cold smile on his lips and had apparently had another Tongues spell cast upon him, for when he spoke, Aaron understood him.

“You have been told what transpired here?”   He asked and Aaron nodded.

“How unfortunate for her to have caused us such a waste of time when she could have confessed her sin to me.”

“What will happen to her?”   Aaron dared ask.

“You shall see, Banxian.   She is of mixed race, like you, but still your better, for she is Sow’xian - a lesser Elf, but not tainted with human blood.   I have decided to show you the power of the Pool of Purity.   I told you that I would allow your beast-headed ones to use the pool.   I shall keep my word.”   He turned to the guards standing nearest to Mew’s body and spoke a few words.    They bowed and reached down and picked up the magically frozen woman. 

“Tell the wolf-headed one that we are going to place her into the pool.   If he tries to interfere, we shall kill him and her as well.”   Sefet-Manyue said to Aaron.

Aaron called over to Wulf-wuf, who had, with his canine hearing, already heard every word.   He nodded when Aaron repeated the Prince’s command, but he seemed as tense as a bow-string.

The guards carried Mew over to the edge of the pool and one of Sefet-Manyue’s wizards joined them.   The wizard chanted a spell over her which dispelled the magic upon her.    But before the Talminor girl could completely regain consciousness, without any other words, the guards just flung her into the pool.

Wulf-wuf flinched and made a slight whining sound as Mew’s body splashed in the water.   She gave out a frightened cry like a kitten but an instant later disappeared beneath the waters as if it had absorbed her.

 Sefet-Manyue laughed at the alarm on Aaron’s face, “Do not fear, Banxian!    Soon the water will glow a bright green.   When that occurs, her body has dissolved into the water.”

“Dissolved?!”   Aaron exclaimed.

“Oh yes, as if she was metal at a refiner.    Her essence will flow down into the pool below.    That which is strongest within her will reform and emerge from the pool.   The process is said to take a short time, so we shall wait.”

They all stared at the water, and after what seemed like an eternity, the water began churning and turned a glowing green color.    Wulf-wuf whined again, but stayed still, his eyes locked on the water.

When the entire pool glowed with an eerie green hue, the water began to flow over the side, into the receiving pool below.

It seemed to take longer for all of the green water to be expelled from the upper pool, but finally the last of it dropped into the basin below.   

For a lingering moment, nothing happened, and then suddenly there was a violent stirring of the water which caused those camped around the lower pool to back up in alarm.    Out of the pool came a slender female form.    Aaron remembered Wulf-wuf’s account of which three races that Mew had been constructed, and he knew that she now had to be a Wood Nymph.

She jumped out of the pool, completely nude, but stopped and put her hands up when six Hutcaiah guards surrounded her.

Wulf-wuf was looking over the edge and when he saw her, he gave out a loud bark.    She looked up at him and waved her hand at him.

Sefet-Manyue laughed, “Well, that was very fortunate!   She came out as some sort of Elf or fae creature.    The pool has chosen the most noble of the races of her construction.   Now let us see what the wolf-headed one’s fate will be.” 

The Prince called out to his guards around Wulf-wuf and they rushed in as if expecting that he would resist them.   He offered no struggle and quickly went over to the pool at their bidding and immediately jumped in.

As with Mew before, Wulf-wuf disappeared beneath the waters and the water bubbled up and turned green.    They waited many minutes and finally the green water flowed into the lower pool.    The guards had pulled Mew away from the pool, but she stared anxiously at it as it bubbled and churned.    Aaron prayed silently that he would have a humanoid form.

Suddenly a tall, brown-haired Sylvan Elf surfaced in the pool and swam to the edge, meekly surrendering to the guards waiting for him.

“It worked!”  He called up to those at the top pool as they led him over to join Mew.    She started to go to him, but the guards wouldn’t let her, so she only waved at him and he nodded to her.

 

Sefet-Manyue clapped his hands, “Good fortune has blessed us today.    A Sow’xian is acceptable.   Both shall live, Banxian.   I shall set them free.”

Aaron sighed in relief, “Thank you, sir.”

“Ah, but we are not done with the demonstrations.    You have seen how the Pool of Purity works upon the living.   Now I shall show you what happens to the dead!”

The Prince suddenly turned to the guards pinning his wife down and said something in their language.    The guards paled at his words, but bowed and the senior guard pulled a long dagger from its scabbard.   Before Aaron was aware of what was happening, the guard brought the blade across Princess Seba-Yinhu’s throat, severing her jugular vein.    He held her head back so the blood would spurt out quicker.

“You killed her!”   Aaron exclaimed, and sensing his outrage, three of the Prince’s guards brought their pole-axes up to his neck to warn him.

“She lied to me, Banxian.   Her lie brought taint upon the royal house and upon me.   I cannot mate with a half-breed.   Her death came quickly.    Do not grieve her!   She tried to deceive her master and she knew the consequences of her actions.    Besides, I will use her to demonstrate one of the pool’s mysterious qualities that few know about.”    

He spoke several words to the guards around the corpse of his wife and they immediately took her lifeless body over to the pool and threw it in.

“The pool is for the living,” The Prince explained, “Observe - her body will be consumed, yet it will not turn the water green.”

They watched and what he had spoken was true; the body quickly dissolved.   Sefet-Manyue smiled his somewhat cruel smile.

“Now we shall try an experiment.    You will not approve, Banxian, but feel the tips of the pole-axes against your throat.    If you try to fight or resist, they will end your struggle at once.    What I shall attempt is a gamble, but fortune has shined upon us like the moon today, so we shall try.”  

Aaron had already guessed what the Prince was going to do.   Sefet-Manyue called to the guards nearest Lysa and they quickly picked her up.

“No!”   Aaron yelled, but the bottom of his chin was immediately pricked slightly with the tip of one of the guard’s weapons.   

Sefet-Manyue laughed, “You seem fond of the Banrem’Ta female.     Such is an abomination, for even Banxian should not mix with Banrem’Ta!   So I give you a chance, Half-Elf!    We shall cast your slave into the pool.   Probably no Orc has ever been in its waters.    It is said that none that do shall survive.    But she is a Half-Orc, so she may survive.”

“Please, sir, don’t do this!”   Aaron pleaded.

“Do not grovel, Banxian!   Either we throw her into the pool, or I slit her throat right here!   This way she has a chance.    For you see, what many do not know is that when a mixed blood is killed and thrown into the Pool of Purity, and then a second mixed blood is thrown in, sometimes one part the dead one’s race is absorbed by the living one.  Or it kills them.    It is a gamble, or perhaps it is just a legend that my ancestors recorded in our tomes.    We shall find out right now.”

Sefet-Manyue gave an order and at once they tossed Lysa’s beaten body into the pool.    Aaron gasped in horror as he watched her body disappear as if it were ice put into a boiling pot.  

The water began to turn green, but as it was filling the pool, suddenly there was a flash of blue light that blinded everyone staring into the pool.    When they could see again, the water was calm and of normal color.

“What happened?”   Aaron asked, wildly looking from the upper pool to the one below.   But it too was calm and clear.

“It did not work that time.”   Sefet-Manyue said, with more than a bit of amusement over Aaron’s distraught expression.

“She was not a Half-Orc!”   He shouted at the Prince in anguish, “She was an Orc!”

“An Orc?!”   Sefet-Manyue laughed, “Ah, that is why the water consumed her!   She was too vile to ever be pure.”

His words slapped Aaron like a hand and a blind rage immediately rose up at the arrogant man’s disdain.   He exploded forward, ducking his head under the points of the Pole-Axes and ramming a guard, then stepping upon him as he lunged at Sefet-Manyue.

The abrupt fury caught the Prince off guard, as well as his soldiers.   Aaron knew he’d only have one chance.    Lowering his body, he rushed the startled Prince like an angry bull.     His impact propelled them backwards.   They rolled end-over-end, Aaron clutching the aloof Elf so he could not stop their momentum.   In an instant they were tumbling into the Faerie Pool.

Aaron knew it was the end, but prayed that Sefet-Manyue might not be pure enough to emerge unscathed.

 

There was the sensation of drowning for only a moment then Aaron knew no more.

Reviews

[Elina]

"Anger overwhelmed him and he instinctively kicked out against at his attacker." It seems you have an extra word, here. I'm not sure if you were wanting "against" or "at," but you have them both.