Ah ha!  Another chapter done.  All comments and crit -- crit -- :)
Just joking.  Criticisms welcome as well.  Please, if you haven't read
the previous chapters, I have a feeling you'll be very, very lost.

Email me if you need the previous chapters.

D.Fire


Sword and Sorcery (tentative)
Chapter 12

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	"Do you know my daughter, then?" Keili asked the stranger
before her.  "Are you here to take her away?"  The woman had feared
the stranger's initial reaction since Uerris had seemingly attacked
without provocation last night.  Although her daughter had babbled
about the great sorceress that scared her witless as Uerris had lain
crying in her arms, her understanding of the whole matter was somewhat
confused.  Her daughter had not been very coherent.

	Keili was pleasantly relieved as Raeni, as the stranger had
named herself, swept her daughter in the red-head's embrace.  She had
feared the worst and was ready to plead with Raeni to be lenient, but
Keili sighed in relief, instead, finding that the situation fared much
better than she expected.

	The sorceress that stood before Keili seemed to be much better
after a night's rest.  Raeni had not looked too good after her son had
brought her to the house last night.  She had been surprised when
Errin came home bearing a young girl in his arms.  The girl was very
beautiful, but she hadn't known that such beauty carried an explosive
personality and talent.  To her at the time, Raeni had been a lovely
but fragile girl who had the misfortune to fall into a sand boggle's
pit.

	Raeni turned toward Keili after releasing the older woman's
daughter.  "Madam, I know this sounds fantastic, but Uerris here has
known me for at least twenty years.  Though, she probably doesn't
remember much right now."  Seeing that Keili did not react to the
seemingly outrageous statement, she continued, "Before I explain, can
you tell me how Uerris came here?"  She glanced in the direction of
the front door.  "I know what Errin asked you just a moment ago."  A
sad expression flashed across Raeni's face.  "I can guess from his
reaction that Uerris isn't his blood sister.  I'm sorry that he had to
find out that way."

	Deftly sidetracking the conversation, Keili replied,
"Explanations can wait until we make you comfortable in our home.  It
seems obvious that you believe Uerris is your longtime friend.  I
trust you will explain how you could have known each other for twenty
years."  The older woman frowned slightly as she added, "Neither of
you seem older than a decade and a half."  Spreading out her arms, she
gently guided the two girls out of the kitchen into the main room,
with the panther following behind.  Seeing the front door still open,
she disengaged herself and walked gracefully over to it.

	Keili peered outside and sighed.  "Errin will be back when he
feels better."  The woman slowly swung the door closed, making sure
that it clicked closed.  "This is a private affair, it seems, between
you and my family.  Let us make sure we have privacy."  Turning to
Raeni, she suggested, "Please have a seat, while I make some tea."
Feeling that the young sorceress posed no threat to either herself or
her daughter, she left the two of them alone and entered the kitchen
to prepare the offered tea.

	The two girls remaining in the main room sat down on a fluffy
couch.  They remained in silence for several minutes as each waited
for the other to speak first.  Raeni looked at Uerris with a jovial
expression on her face while Uerris gave Raeni a suspicious gaze,
although something else seemed there as well.  Raeni finally broke the
silence first, asking, "Do you remember me at all?"

	Almost woodenly, a reply came, "No."  A silent pause followed.
Uerris continued, "What makes you think I'm this 'Ukyou'?"  The hidden
feeling deep at the bottom of heart surged forth unexpectedly, but she
ruthlessly reigned it in and kept her expression neutral.  It just
wouldn't do to act familiar to the stranger before her, despite the
fact that the stranger already expressed feelings of affection.

	Raeni reacted to the question quite ... enthusiastically.  Her
grin grew wider, if such a thing was possible, and she blurted out,
"So do you remember something!"  At Uerris' slight shake of the head
and the solemn expression on the girl's face, Raeni's excitement fell,
following the dying smile off her face.  'Wait!  I did mention Ukyou
last night, to Errin and Keili.  Did they make the connection?'  It
was obvious after a moment of consideration.  Returning her attention
back to Uerris, she guessed in a flat voice, "Your mother or your
brother told you, right?"

	Uerris nodded slowly and watched, surprised, as Raeni's
expression became even more morose, which she had thought impossible.
'This girl wears her feelings on her sleeve,' Uerris realized.  In an
attempt to cheer Raeni up, she jokingly said, "Hey, you look like you
lost your best friend, or something."  She felt incredibly bad as hurt
joined the sadness in Raeni's countenance.  "Hey, hey.  If I am this
'Ukyou', you can do something about it, right?"  She immediately
regretted her suggestion as an implication sank in.

	Raeni's expression brightened as the smile returned to her
face.  "That's right!" Raeni cheerfully said.  "I can use a spell to
return your memory, just like ... my old master did to me."  Her
expression fell again, and this time her shoulders also drooped.
Tears gathered in her eyes at the mention of Hariule, and she shut
them in an attempt to stop the tears.

	Thankful that the subject had turned away from magic,
especially magic being used on herself, Uerris comforted Raeni as best
she could.  Wary of laying hands on the sorceress, she tentatively
stretched out an arm and laid it on Raeni's shoulder.  To her
surprise, Raeni shifted closer, allowing her to embrace the grieving
girl fully.  'She trusts me,' Uerris thought, 'despite the fact that I
hurt her.'  She held the girl, neither person saying much.  The
embrace just felt so right.  Without thinking, she lowered her face
down to Raeni's in anticipation of a kiss, but a noise behind her
broke her concentration, causing her to pull back.  A slight flush
creeping to cheeks, Uerris slowly looked up to see her mother standing
in the doorway of the kitchen.  Keili looked surprised and worried.

	"Ahem," Uerris' mother spoke, startling Raeni from Uerris'
embrace.  Keili eyed her daughter with an expression that plainly
said, 'We'll talk later, young lady!'  Moving in front of the couch,
she placed the a tray laden with porcelain tea cups and tea pot on the
table before the couch.  The matronly woman then moved to sit in a
chair so that she faced the two girls.  Azure, at this moment, chose
to jump on the couch, neatly separating the two already there.

	Slightly worried at her familiar's behavior, she asked Keili,
"Do you mind that Azure sits up here with us?"  Running her hand
through his fur, she added, "I don't think he sheds."

	"That's quite all right, Dear," replied the older woman.
Seeing that her daughter wasn't reacting to the proximity of the large
feline, she graciously asked in return, "Azure is the name of your
familiar, right?  What an unusual beast.  I've never seen its like.
What exactly is ... it?  He?  She?"  She seemed quite embarrassed that
she couldn't determine how to address the familiar.

	"He's a panther.  A big fuzzy cat, as you can see," Raeni
explained with a grin, "and quite harmless."  Without thinking, she
traced the ridge of scar tissue on the cat's shoulder, not noticing
when Uerris winced at the reminder.  "You're quite right.  He's my
familiar."  Grabbing the cat's head, she made a funny expression from
his lips and ears.  "See, he's tame," she giggled.  More quietly, she
added, "He used to be my old teacher's familiar."  Azure pulled his
head from Raeni's grasp and haughtily looked toward the ceiling,
trying best to ignore the tormentor at his side.

	"Your old teacher."  Keili thoughtfully paused as she
delicately asked the next question.  "Since you say that ... Azure ...
is now your familiar, does this mean that ...?"

	Her visage saddened, Raeni nodded her reply, "Yes.  My old
master is dead.  Someone killed him just over a week ago."

	Tentatively, Uerris' mother said, "Someone ... killed ... him.
I'm so sorry for you!"  She sat there in silence as if giving a prayer
for the dead.  "But, what are you doing here now?  You're not looking
for his murderer are you?!"

	"No," Raeni replied, slowly shaking her head.  "I have no idea
where I would find the killer at this point, so I am just traveling
right now."

	In a quiet voice, Keili asked, "Might I have the name of your
master?"

	"Yes.  He was Hariule the sorcerer."

	A hushed silence fell over the room as mother and daughter sat
there in shock.  Keili's eyes popped wide in surprise.  Her daughter
had a similar expression on her face.  "What?!  Someone killed Master
Hariule?  The White Mage?" she frantically asked, horrified at the
thought.

	Raeni was taken aback at the reaction of the others.  'I
didn't know Master Hariule was that well known.'  Timidly, she asked,
"You knew of him, then?"

	At this, Uerris broke into the conversation, blurting out,
"Knew of him?  Everyone of the three continents knows of him!"
Blushing at her outburst, she looked over to her mother in
confirmation.  Even with her fear of magic, she knew of the major
mages in the land.  At her mother's nod, she continued, "He's been a
legend since the Dragon Wars!"

	Keili added, "I remember seeing Master Hariule passing through
this town when I was but a young girl, with his familiar ... Azure!"
She made the connection in her mind, but she recalled another fact.
"But Azure was but the size of a normal cat then!  And he was a bright
blue, too!  I even remember playing with him!"

	<And I remember playing with you, too, Kiki.  You were such a
cute child.>  Although Azure normally didn't bother talking to people
other than his old master and Raeni, he made an exception this time.
The thought was broadcast into the room in general, so both Raeni and
Uerris heard it as well.

	Raeni looked startled for a moment, but then she and Uerris
broke into a laugh at the same time, albeit for different reasons.
Raeni laughed at the irony of a nickname matching a little witch from
some animation from her old world.  

	Uerris laughed at learning that her mother was once known as
'Kiki'.  It seemed very funny that a self-possessed figure such as her
mother had ever been known by such a silly-sounding name.

	Keili looked faintly offended by the two girls in front of
her, but she soon broke into a laugh of her own, joining the others in
returning cheer to the room.  After they all laughed themselves out,
she questioned the cat, "But what happened to you, Azure.  You
couldn't have grown this much."

	<Well, you can thank Raeni here.  When Master Hariule died,
she took me as her familiar.  I reflect her inner self,>  Azure
patiently explained.

	After being reminded about Master Hariule's death, Keili's
expression turned serious.  She told Raeni, "You must be careful about
who you tell of your master's death.  I have to consult with my
husband, but I think that little piece of information, if it gets
well-known, will have major repercussions throughout the land.  My
father explained to me that Master Hariule was the Guardian of the
North.  His presence there prevented many creatures and barbarians
from the northern wastes from coming down through the Stonemeld
Bridge."  She paused in contemplation.  "Although it may be too late.
I worry that whoever killed him already spread word of his death."
She suggested, "You probably should not tell anybody that you were his
student.  I've heard of mages challenging other mages to gain a name
for themselves.  As a student of one of greatest mages in the land,
you'd be a prime target."

	"Ha!  I take all comers," Raeni boasted.  "I'm not afraid of
any challengers."  She cracked her knuckles, chuckling and adding, "No
one can beat me.  I'm the best at what I do."

	Raising one eyebrow, Keili leveled a sardonic gaze at Raeni.
"That may be, but you don't understand, Raeni.  Some of these mages
duel to the death," Keili calmly explained.  "Are you willing to kill
another person, for mere reputation?"

	After a moment's silence, Raeni quietly answered, "No.  Not to
the death.  I wouldn't do that without reason."  Keili didn't seem to
be a bad person, so she would take it under advisement.

	Seeing that she made her point, Keili continued, "I believe
you, Raeni.  I believe that you knew my daughter before she was my
daughter.  And I believe that you and she came from another world."  

	Her mother's last statement blew Uerris out of the water, and
she sat there silent in her shock while her mouth dropped open.  She
hadn't heard about being from another world before.  When her mother
had dropped the bombshell two years ago that she had been adopted into
the family, no mention had been made about that.  This fact was even
weirder than the strange weapons that her mother had presented to her
on her fourteenth birthday.  Although the handling of those weapons
had seemed familiar to her, she still hadn't been able to imagine
their use.

	"But before you try anything on my daughter to return her
memory, please discuss it with us first," Keili requested.  Her
daughter looked at her fearfully.  The expression of fear soon turned
to an expression of resignation as Uerris acquiesced. 

	Raeni noticed the momentary fear on Uerris' countenance.
Turning so that she faced the girl directly, she asked bluntly, "Are
you afraid of magic, Uerris?"

	Reluctantly, Uerris replied with a solid nod.

	Raeni jumped to feet and began pacing around the room while
muttering to herself.  After two passes, she returned to the couch and
sat.  Turning to Keili, she stated, "This is going to be a problem.
If I read it correctly, I'm going to need her ability as a mage in the
future."

	"Read it?  Read what?"  Keili asked this, but both mother and
daughter seemed equally confused.

	Somewhat frustrated, Raeni reached to her pouch and pulled out
the tome containing the Orippa Prophecy and brusquely placed the book
on the table between them.  "I read it in this," she said indicating
the volume.  "I will need all of the skills of the Companions, and I
can tell that Uerris has the makings of a great Earth mage."

	Keili held a startled expression on her face as she looked
frantically between the pouch and the incongruously large book pulled
from it.  Her daughter did not react, having already seen Raeni pull
things out of her little magic pouch.  Keili pointed at the pouch with
a shaking hand and demanded, "How did you do that?!  What you did was
impossible!"

	Uerris rolled her eyes as she explained to her mother, "Oh,
come on, Momma.  Even I know about dimensional pockets.  Old Miri
taught it as one of the first lessons."

	Giving her daughter a look that would freeze water, Keili
explained herself.  "You don't understand, Uerris.  It's impossible to
draw something that large out of something so small.  It just wouldn't
fit.  Old Miri didn't teach you that?"

	Raeni nodded in understanding.  Clearing the tray of its
contents, she asked Keili politely, "May I?"  At the confirming nod,
she placed the tray into her dimensional pocket seeming to shove it
through the pouch.  As she unfastened the pouch from her belt, she
said, "I take it you are familiar with how this works.  Since you know
how to summon things from a pouch such as this, please retrieve the
tray."  She handed the little bag over the befuddled woman.

	Keili nodded as she received the offering.  She reached into
the pouch, and a look of concentration passed over her features.  To
her surprise, she was unable to retrieve the tray.  Puzzled, she tried
once again, but nothing came to her hand.  'I'm sure I did that
right,' she thought.  The pouch remained empty.  Looking up, she said,
"I don't understand.  I've used this type of item before, and it's
never failed."

	Smiling mysteriously, Raeni commanded, "Watch."  She placed
her two hands together in front of her and slowly moved them apart.
As her hands spread, there in between, the tray appeared suspended in
mid-air.  When its full length finally emerged, Raeni deftly caught it
before it could clatter to the ground.  She placed the tray gently
back on the table.

	Keili was speechless.  Unlike her daughter, she realized the
significance of what Raeni just showed her.  The pouch in her hand was
nothing but a normal pouch.  She looked at the young girl in awe,
feeling that her daughter would be in capable hands, at least in field
of magic.  The girl had just pulled the tray directly out of subspace.
Even Miri in her prime could not pull that little trick, back when
Miri, she, and her husband had traveled in search of adventure.  That
this girl could do it at such a young age indicated that she had made
an apt pupil for Master Hariule.

	Unused to the admiration of another, Raeni shifted
uncomfortably in her seat.  She once again pointed at the book lying
before them and said, "As I was saying before we got sidetracked, I
read about it in here."

	Shaken out of her wonder, Keili picked up the tome and paged
through it, pausing here and there to read certain passages.  "This is
the Orippa Prophecy!" she exclaimed.  Raeni nodded at her
proclamation.  "But that means ..."  She grew pale at the thought.
Once again, Raeni nodded.  Uerris just looked confused.

	Keili turned to her daughter and commanded, "Uerris, you MUST
go with Raeni!  If she's right, and I fear she is, then the life of
this world is at stake."  Regretfully, she added, "And if she wants
you to learn magic, despite your aversion, you will learn it."

	Jolted by the seriousness of her mother, Uerris could only
meekly agree to Keili's demand.  She still didn't understand what was
going on, but when her mother was this way... stopping a raging bull
would be easier.

	"Aversion?" Raeni picked up on the nuance of the word.  "So
there is a choice here?"  She turned to face Uerris and demanded,
"Why?  What makes you fear magic so?"

	Keili answered for her daughter.  "Uerris had a ... bad
experience with magic.  She was very young at the time, about ten or
so."  She went into detail about that final, failed Fall Dance, all
the detail that the only witness at the time had divulged.  She
explained about Old Miri and her unfortunate death.  During the
retelling, Uerris grew paler and paler, looking as though the girl
wanted to bolt from the room.  The tale took some time, but Keili
finally concluded, "My daughter has been leery of magic ever since.
She has learned the healing aspect of her talent out of necessity, but
that's about as far as she's gotten.  It was lucky that I knew healing
magic and could at least teach her that."

	Raeni's expression grew grim during the story.  Holding
Uerris' hands in her own, she faced her once-fiancee, and looking
passionately into the frightened girl's eyes, she asked, "Uerris, I
won't make you learn magic, regardless of what the prophecy may say."
Keili looked horrified at this.  Raeni continued, "But I ask you, in
the name of our past friendship and our future friendship, will you
let me teach you the beauty of magic?"

	Uerris heart betrayed her when she looked into those pleading
... lovely ... cute ... eyes.  She shook her head trying to drive out
the stray thoughts.  'Baka!  I can't get distracted by Raeni like
that.  'Baka.'  What's that?'  She considered the offer.  She
considered her fear.  She looked back into those deep blue eyes.
Dazzled, she whispered, "Yes."

	"Yatta!"  Raeni threw her arms around Uerris once again,
embracing her friend long and hard.  "I promise that I'll show you how
beautiful magic can be once more!  You will never fear magic again!"
Raeni laughed in happiness.  With her arms around Uerris, Raeni did
not see the wry smile on Uerris' face.

	Keili's daughter contemplated the answer she had given.  It
was not a decision of the mind, she decided, as the warm arms
comforted her.  Her heart had led the way this day.  She did not
regret it at all.

	***

	Errin burst through the front door of the house, his breath
coming in short gasps.  Seeing the two girls sitting on the couch
embracing, he stopped short, falling to his knees in disbelief.
'What?!  Uerris and Raeni?  No, I must focus!  Must ... focus ...'
Unable to struggle to his feet, Errin collapsed to the floor
face-first with his vision dancing.  He finally lost consciousness.

	When Uerris got a good look at her brother, she let out a
scream of horror.  Deep gouges covered the exposed surfaces of Errin's
body, and his clothes were scratched and ripped in many locations.
Many of the cuts still bled.  Tearing herself from Raeni's embrace,
Uerris rushed over to help her brother.  She cried, "What happened,
Errin?!  Who hurt you like this?!"  Seeing no response at all, she
turned him gently over and checked his pupils.  His eyes had rolled up
in the back of his head, and shock began setting in.

	Uerris gestured to Raeni and her mother, exclaiming, "Hurry,
help me get him to the couch!"  The other two nodded in response and
came over to help her gently lift Errin onto the soft couch. Concern
showed on all three's faces.  Uerris demanded of Raeni, "I need
bandages and lots of them.  NOW."

	Again, Raeni nodded in agreement and started divesting herself
of all medical supplies she carried, pulling them one after another
from her pocket dimension.  She managed to pull out and assortment of
bandages which she then handed over without a word.

	Without speaking, the two went to work, stopping the bleeding
cuts and bandaging as best as they could.  Keili hovered over the
three of them with worry evident on her face.  When they had made sure
all bleeding had ceased, Uerris indicated that the others should move
back to give her room.

	Uerris stood before her brother, her arms held before her, her
hands seemingly cupping something invisible.  "Words to the winds,
sprites of healing, come heed my call," she intoned.  "Help heal --"
Before Uerris could finish the incantation, Errin's hand snaked out
and clasped her arm, startling her out of her light trance.  "What
---?!" she exclaimed, and as she looked into her brother's eyes, she
saw a pleading refusal of her help.

	Errin's voice rasped, "No!  Don't heal me, yet!"  After a
moment of disorientation, he continued, "You can't heal me until I
give you my news!"

	Uerris realized that the news must be extremely important.  If
her brother was refusing help even with the severe wounds evident on
his body, then the news was of a life-or-death situation.  She tugged
on the ends of  hair in frustration but silently nodded her
acquiescence.  'If I heal him now, he'll be out for the next day or
so,' she judged.

	.He directed the ladies' attention to a parchment still
clutched in his hand.  Although he had lost consciousness, he had
still held onto the paper with a death-grip.  "This is a ransom note."
He gently placed it onto the low table in front of the couch to the
side of the tome already lying there.  Errin had managed to catch his
breath, so he continued in a pained voice, "They caught me as I was
walking in the forest and --"

	Raeni jumped in, asking, "They?  They who?"

	Hushing the young redhead, Keili gently coaxed her son, "Tell
us who attacked you."

	Errin answered, "The orcs, Mother.  I was walking in the
forest after I had ... left here in a hurry."  Pushing aside that
unpleasant memory, he stalwartly continued, "Anyway, I was just
walking in the forest.  I guess I wasn't paying attention to my
surroundings when an arrow lodged into a tree just in front of me.  I
whirled around, but I didn't see anybody.  I was about to look up when
a net dropped on me.  The next thing I know, somebody hit me on the
back of head and knocked me out!  When I next awoke, I was at their
camp.  They had me tied up to a stake.  They had Father, too."

	Keili looked horrified.  She knew her husband would wander the
woods for days on his normal patrol, so she had not paid much
attention when Aarun had not come back during the past several days.
Uerris  fell to her knees in reaction, while Keili grabbed her son,
frantically demanding, "Where is your father, now?!"

	"He's still their captive!  I was pretty banged up by that
time.  They must have dragged me all the way to their camp.  Father
did not look very well at all.  It looked like they'd had him for a
day or two already.  He was unconscious."  Errin broke down and began
to cry.  He sobbed, "Father had bruises and cuts all over his body,
worse than I am now!  He was alive though, because I heard him moan.
I started moving toward him, but the orcs blocked my way!  Then a
voice ordered them away."

	"Who stopped them, Errin?" Uerris asked her brother.  "Did
someone help you?"

	"No!  It was an elf.  He was wearing a dark cowl, but I saw
his face when he pulled off the hood."  Errin shuddered at the memory.
"It was horrible; he had an ugly tattoo running down the side of his
face."

	"Tattoo?"  Keili paled further at hearing this information.
"Go on!" she urged.

	"The elf, he grabbed my head and, after awhile, mumbled
something like 'not the one'.  He then ordered the orcs to release me
from the stake.  I tried to attack him, but he had the orcs pile on
top of me to hold me down.  Then wrote on this and kicked me out of
their camp, telling me to come back to town with it."  He pointed at
the parchment on the table.

	Raeni grabbed the scroll and started unrolling it.  Suddenly,
she recoiled as if it had bit her and dropped the paper in disgust.
The young sorceress hissed, "It's human skin."  She didn't notice
Keili's expectant nod.  Raeni then wiped her hands on a towel that she
summoned, burning the towel on the spot with a quickly muttered,
"Oru."

	The parchment, which had fallen to the ground, had words
written in a dull, brownish ink.  The paper lay flat on the ground
displaying the message, "Bring the other twin and the red-haired girl
to Witch's Doom.  Or the man dies."