The Needs of the Many

Aaron is taken by the Hutcaiah as his friends deal with their helplessness.

6.

The Needs of the Many

 

They surrounded him immediately upon the dissolving of the protective sphere.     He didn’t count them, but they were a mixture of guards and wizards.     Aaron held his arms above his head and allowed them to search him for weapons.     With swords pressed against him from all sides, he was pushed in front of Emperor Saret-Buyue-Serdi.    He was a handsome man, but with a cold, hard edge to him that told Aaron he would find no mercy here.

“Who are you?”   The Emperor asked, surprising the Half-Elf by speaking the Common tongue without a hint of an accent.

“Your Majesty, I am Aaron, Duke of Helios Valley, whom you asked for.     I have come of my own freewill, as a humble servant of Yesh the Merciful.    I will surrender to you, but before your Moon Goddess,  Kuyomi-Chia, I demand that you swear to keep your vow before her.”

His bold demand surprised all the Hutcaiah, and the Emperor actually paled slightly at Aaron’s words.

For a moment he considered it, then, with his chin held high, he raised his right hand above his head, “Before the Great Goddess, Kuyomi-Chia, Queen of the Moon, I, Saret-Buyue-Serdi, vow that no Hutcaiah or any of their servants will step foot in the Kingdoms of Marksylvania or Tarmard for one hundred years, upon the submission of he that took my beloved son’s life.    May The Mistress of the Moon strike me down and consume my house if I do not keep my vow!”

 

The Emperor looked at Aaron with pride at the vow he had just made, “There, Banxian, I have vowed by the Great Goddess.”

Aaron nodded, “Then I surrender myself to you.     Do with me as you will.”

At once hands roughly grabbed him from behind and the sound of a chanted spell came from within the huddle of the Hutcaiah wizards.     The Emperor smiled victoriously and suddenly backhanded Aaron with his gauntleted fist, bloodying his nose.

“You are the one who killed my son!”   Saret hissed, inches away from Aaron’s face, “Long have I desired to see your face, murderer!”

“Your son died because of his own cruelty, Emperor.”   Aaron replied, causing the Hutcaiah Emperor to backhand him harder.

“Lies!    You interfered with his holy purpose and took his life!    He was my royal son, the only one who would have worn the crown!”

“He came into my duchy and took us prisoner!”

“Rightfully so!    But now you are my prisoner, Banxian, and you shall regret taking my son’s life.    For 19 days you shall beg for death, but it will elude you.     Then you shall be offered up to the Great Goddess for your crimes!”

“Yesh will defend my innocence.”

“Will he, Banxian?”   Saret smirked, as the wizard completed chanting the spell.    Aaron and those surrounding him vanished in a flash of blue light.

 

***

“Did you see that?!” Snoe shouted from the parapet, “They hit him!”

“Take it easy, sweetheart.”   Aedric comforted, though his grip on the stone wall showed his own anger and frustration.

“Oh!   They hit him again!   Aedric, we’ve got to do something!”   Snoe’s glance darted back and forth to her husband and the Watchers, her eyes silently pleading for action.

A flash of blue light then caught all their attention.

“They’ve teleported out.”   Khord told them grimly.

“Yesh preserve him!”   Snoe gasped, “They’ll kill him before the festival time!”

“No, I don’t think they will.”   Sophia tried to reassure her cousin.

“Sophia, what you read to us last night - you’ve got to tell us how we can help Aaron!”   The albino queen begged.

Sophia seemed almost ready to tell her something, but she took a deep breath and said, “What we read to you can help you in many ways, Snoe.     Our message was not only to Aaron, but for you, and Aedric… and Lysa.”

She turned to Khord and he nodded, so she turned back to the royal couple, “We’re returning to Westmark.    I would recommend that you have Lysa moved here to Tarmard.    Don’t ask me why, please.    I’m sure Deborah would not mind staying with her here.    We’ll see you later.   Khord, let’s go.”

The Drow male took his wife’s hand and they vanished an instant later, leaving Aedric and Snoe still as puzzled and more than a little upset.

 

***

“That was so maddeningly frustrating, Khord!"   Sophia cried out as they reappeared just inside the Faesidhe forest, within shouting distance of the walls of Westmark.

“Why’d you bring us out here?”   Khord asked his wife.

“Because I need to smoke!”   She snapped back, “You know I’m not allowed to do that around anyone outside of Flux.   I’ve needed a cigarette for hours, with all this terrible business!    It’s too much!    How are we expected to not want to help them?!”    The pregnant Watcher fumbled with a belt pouch and pulled out a Dart’loxinchu cigarette and quickly used a fire cantrip to light it.

For a few moments she was lost in her craving, dragging deeply from the drug with great satisfaction.    Khord watched her, silently wishing she would stop, but knowing better than to say anything.    At least the Dart’loxinchu wouldn’t harm the twin daughters that she was carrying.   Yesh had assured him of that.

“I think they’ll figure out the clues we gave them.    They can’t really do anything for 19 days anyway, except make plans, and if Lysa doesn’t awaken with the form of a Hutcaiah woman, it won’t work at all.”

“Don’t even say that.”   Sophia replied, exhaling smoke.    Her nerves calmed, she smoked more casually now, leaning next to him.

“It’ll work out, Sophie.”

“I hope it does, but what torture Aaron will be going through until then.”

“There are spells that can erase the memories of that.”

“Yeah, I guess so.    You know, sometimes I don’t think that it would be that bad to have our jobs taken away.    We’d just come here and live and raise our babies when they finally get here.”    Sophia nestled close to him and Khord’s hand went to her swollen belly.

“You’d not be allowed to smoke here anymore.”   He kidded.

“Oh, I’d find a way.    If I couldn’t smoke cigarettes, I’d have to get a wizard’s pipe or something.”

“Or just give it up entirely.”   He suggested, and she just took a drag from the Dart’loxinchu cigarette and playfully exhaled the smoke in his face, then leaned in and kissed him.

“I hope Yesh doesn’t get mad for feeling that way about Aaron.”   Sophia said with a sigh, “I just can’t stand by and let my family and friends of my family go through struggles without trying to help.   Surely Yesh knows why I feel that way.    It’s not selfish to want the best for people.”

“I know, sweetheart, I completely agree with you.   I think we both care too much to be Watchers anymore.”

“Well maybe it’s just because I’m pregnant, but anymore I find I’m thinking differently.    I see everything like Mom sees it.”

Khord laughed, “Sophie, it’s because you are soon going to be a mother yourself!    That changes everything.”

“I guess it does.    I can’t wait to see what our daughters will be like.   But I feel much more sympathetic to people concerned about their loved ones than I used to be.     Look at Aaron, for example - it is clear that he loves Lysa, but his duty as a Paladin made him put his feelings for her aside and offer himself up to keep a terrible slaughter from occurring.   And Aurei!    She looked like she could have killed me, Khord!    I wouldn’t have blamed her, because I know exactly what she was thinking!    She’s a mother, Khord, and she has a mother’s love for Aaron, for he was her best friend’s son and she saw him grow up!   She looked so mad at us for not telling her what they could do to help!”

“Well, we did all we could, sweetheart.     If Lysa’s Elven DNA successfully expels the Orc DNA, then they’ll rescue Aaron.”

“I really hope so.    I’d rather see him stay here than join us in Flux.     Who knows, we might not have a home to return to ourselves if Yesh is angry at what we did.”

“Well, in either place, we’ll adapt.     Now if you are about finished with your smoke break, we’d better get back to Westmark.    I’m sure Aurei and Eleazar will want an account of what happened with Aaron, and we’ve not even started the meeting with Mom about the changes Yesh wants.”

Sophia nodded, taking a few quick drags from the cigarette before chanting a few arcane words which made the remains of it vanish, “Alright, let’s go.”

Reviews

[Elina]

"... the sound of chanting of a spell came from within..." The wording on this bit is a little awkward.
"For 19 days you shall beg for death..." Also, later, "They can’t really do anything for 19 days anyway..." Nineteen should be spelled out, here. I don't remember the exact rules, but I think you only use the numerals once you get into the hundreds...?
"...as the wizard chanting the spell completed his spell." The sentence feels redundant with the double use of "spell."
"...I don’t think that it wouldn’t be that bad to have..." You have a double negative, here. I think, perhaps, you were looking for "would" instead of "wouldn't."

Another great chapter. I am very excited to see where the story-line takes me.

[Eddie Davis]

Hi Elina! It has been a long time since I've heard from you, I am very glad that you are back at Writer's Cafe. Thank you for your kind words and your proofreading, I'll make the corrections tomorrow.