The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Twenty

“I-I just can’t with you two,” Gedric huffs, standing up. “Natasha needs to be in bed, especially after I nearly broke her face.”

I wave him off, “Still not the worst of this batch.” I motion towards my kidney. “I think that one wins.”

Stanya rolls her eyes. “Forget it Gedric. Natasha has had so many near death experiences, she’s become accustom to them.”

“What I hate is healing slowly,” I say, pouting just a little.

“Okay, enough about you.” Stanya cuts in when Gedric is about to argue. “So if I’m to reach a greater power, I need to become more spiritual. How do I do that?”

I raise my eyebrow, “Do you really want me to teach you?” She knows full well that I’m not allowed to even try anything that has to do with Masteries. Malay will kill me.

“I’ll deal with Malay.” Stanya says quickly.

I half shrug, “Okay, your funeral.” I look at Gedric, “Do you wish to join us? Meditation isn’t just for magical folks.”

Gedric runs an eye over me. “Alright…”

I stand up and sit cross legged near the fire. “Okay,” I begin, watching Gedric place the blanket over my legs again. When he sits, I begin. “Now, still your heart.”

“Your heart?” Gedric demands.

“Your heart is the hardest organ to control in your body. Once you master that, you’ll be ready to move onto the next step. This is step one. Once mastered, we can move onto the next one. I suggest focusing on your breathing first.”

I close my eyes and take a calming breath, feeling each beat of my heart. Soon, my mind links to the breath I take, attuning my heartbeat with it. When I hold my breath, my heart stills, waiting to move. When I let it go, I push into a thin rush that releases with that next beat.

When I feel a mental sense of water I have to pause. The second I enter my magical core, I will go into an overload. I can’t go there, which is just evil in my opinion. I want to move onto that next step. Maybe I can move onto step three? Master Brin did say it’s critical to learn each step before moving on though. Then again, what if I don’t find my center to move into a spiritual center. What if, instead, I connect with my marks? That’s fine right?

I search around, picturing a map inside my body; placing each mark on the map. The raven is just below my neck, its wings spread from one shoulder blade to another. The owl is on the lower right, just below my shoulder blade, the deer is on the same spot on the left side. Now that I think about it, my back is fairly crowded. Good thing those stars are not very big, and are more on the inside of my waist. I move towards the one I’ve known the longest. Almost as if it’s a whisper, I can hear wings beating.

“Natasha, you stop that right now!” I hear a voice yell, breaking my concentration; and causing a yelp to escape me. When I look over my shoulder, Malay is running up the hill to meet us.

I chuckle, “Looks like we got caught.”

“I almost had it.” Stanya whines.

“Had it?” Gedric demands. “I barely was able to control my breathing.”

“What were you doing?” Stanya asks me.

“Well once my mind moved to my source, I pulled back since I don’t have a death wish. I figured I might try to connect with the Fate marks. I almost had it.” I shake my head. “Malay has a way of interrupting me when I’m about to reach a new level.”

“As I should.” Malay demands, coming up from behind me. “Do you want to nearly die again? The last time you tried for a mastery level, it sent you straight for immediate overload. I barely got to you intime, and I was sitting next to you as a precaution. Talk about wasted energy.”

“Thanks,” I say, giving her a hard look.

“And you,” she says pointing to Gedric; taking both Stanya and I by surprise. Usually it’s Stanya getting this lecture. “I sent you out here to bring her back, and change her dressing. Not bring her tea and set up a cozy place to keep her out. I expected more from the son of Byroan. Shame on you.”

My jaw drops while Stanya looks uncomfortable. Byroan is a world renown healer in the mortal world. It is even said he can cure blood magic poisoning. He’s working on ways to treat overload as well. He’s the closest to a magic healer, without having magic inside of you. Malay has even been studying some of his techniques. She likely picked up on the fact that Gedric is his son, the moment he walked through her doors. I really do not know anything about Gedric.

Malay doesn’t miss a beat on her rant. She pulls me up by my good shoulder, and moves on to Stanya. “And you young lady, shame on you for trying to get her to teach you a mastery level. You know what it can do until she stops being afflicted by overloads.”

“Now come,” she tells me, yanking me away from the frozen scene.

“Ow, Malay, ow, I’m broken. Ow,” I try to plead with her, but she just keeps pulling me down the hill.

“You’re supposed to be in bed. I don’t even know how you’re up and walking. If I even get a whiff of magic on you, I’ll remove your powers myself.”

“Malay, I know okay. I wasn’t going towards my power center. I swear on my hair I wasn’t. I stopped myself.”

That stops her in her tracks. “You stopped in the middle of a step?”

I honestly feel as if I’ve done something wrong. “Yes. Is that bad?”

“What were you doing then?”

“Trying to connect with my marks.” I answer with care, watching her face slowly turn to stone. “Why?”

“Only Masters can do that.” She answers almost under her breath. “You’re growing stronger, Master Natasha.”

“I’m not a master,” I say quickly. “I’m far from it.”

“Trust me, you’re not. If it wasn’t for your overloads, you would be one. If you keep progressing as quickly as you have…the Fates will likely intervene. They will not care what hell they leave us with, Natasha. They will remove you from this earth.”

“What do you mean?” I ask her. “The Fates cannot kill here.”

“No, but they will arrange a very untimely death if it serves them.” She warns. “Remember Articus? That’s how they got him.”

I shudder. “Good thing I have no plan in entering an agreement with them.”

“That’s what he said,” she warns.

I groan. “I’ll deal with Ari first. The Fates have long been dead and can wait until I die.”

“Which might be tomorrow if you keep trying to increase your level.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that, but for Fates sake I will move to Mastery level before I die. I really just want to reach my full potential. That’s all I want.”

She looks me over, “That’s sad Natasha.”

“With my life, that’s all I’ve settled on. If I make it to thirty, I’ll add more.”

Malay just pulls me along, keeping to herself. That is highly unusual for her, and that worries me more than when she yells. When we reach the infirmary, she’s still keeping to herself.

“Malay, if you’re worried about me, don’t. I’ll worry enough for the both of us.” I tell her as she escorts me to the bed.

“It’s not that I’m worried about just you,” she assures me. “Brin and I have talked about this since the time you were a little girl. There was no question about if this would happen. It was a matter of when.”

That’s news to me. “What do you mean?”

“Natasha, every single one of the Servants of the Fates was stronger than any Sheik ever born before them. Articus was a powerful Master Sheik. Gordon was an exceptional healer; none have even come close to being close to his level. Allaric was the strongest Illusionist ever known. He was so powerful, his illusions became real. Mordecai is the most earthbound. That’s not even something you’ve been able to achieve. And Lometh is the only one to ever tame the wolf. Her strength was legendary, but that pales to her achievements in war.”

“Maybe because she had that lust for blood and power fed through battles.” I tell her, grimacing when her hands tighten around me. She’s definitely jumping into her words, and ignoring mine.

“Even then, she was nothing against the Fates. Nothing!” She hisses, her eyes far away. Her hands are trembling. “Even Articus fell to them. There has only been five that they’ve desired. Five! They all failed to escape them. How do we keep them away from her?” She’s talking to herself, muttering almost incoherently at this point.

“But what do they want from her? What is it? They have Articus and the other four. Nothing can harm them on that plane.”

Her eyes shoot to me. “Did you see them child? When you tried to reach your marks. Did you see them?”

“No,” I say, my eyes widening as her fingers tighten. I can only see the whites of her eyes. Her color is gone. She’s retreating into her spiritual magic, trying to see a path for the right answer. She’s not a full Master, but she’s close. She’s two levels from reaching it. All she has to do is abandon her physical body, and control what path she chooses to go when centering on her magic. Astral projection is the final step, and nearly impossible to complete.

“You wear their glow. You’ve seen them.” She leans in, “and smell like one of the Servants.”

“Articus took over Gedric’s body and forced me to my inner magic. I didn’t touch anything, I swear.” I tell her, feeling fear from her for the first time. Her voice is almost split, speaking to me from her internal self. Her voice sends shivers through me. I hate it when she does this. She only does this when she’s panicked; which is usually once a month. I’ve just never been on the end of this before.

“Did you agree to anything they said?” She demands.

“No, I just kept deflecting like Brin taught me.” I tell her, gently touching her hand. “Brin prepared me well Malay.”

Her body stiffens slightly from my touch. You need to be cautious when you touch a semi aware person. They will attack if they feel like they’re in danger, and that is not something you want to fend off. There is no sense of pain, and no sense of fear or exhaustion. They will fight until they drop dead. It’s terrifying really.

“Malay, there is no connection of an agreement between me and the Fates. Just a really pissed off Servant of the Fates. From what I read, that’s not hard to do with Articus.” Then again, he is the most vengeful, and he has eternity to enact his revenge; and he doesn’t care which reincarnated life you’re in. His last one was a virgin priestess. You wrong him, he will destroy you. That’s something next life me can deal with.

Malay’s pupils start showing, quickly followed by her irises. “You made no agreements with them?”

I shake my head, looking at her carefully. “Not a single one. I remained questioning and defensive, just like Brin taught me. I’m pretty sure that I annoyed them so much that they kicked me out.”

A relieved chuckle escapes her, letting her shoulders slump. “Okay, good. You know, Brin and I are the only ones that really studied the Servants. Not many are even aware the Servants exist.”

“Let’s let me worry about the Servants after we deal with Ari. The very real man trying to kill me.” I remind her softly. “No need to worry, see?”

She gives me a small smile and helps me to remove my shirt. “I’ll always worry about you dear. That’s my job.” She starts prodding my shoulder, making me yelp while she’s deep in her own thoughts.

Well I tried. I grimace while she extends my arm. “What do you know about the Servants of the Fates?” Malay asks me, not really paying attention to me personally.

“Ow,” I tell her, trying to wriggle away. Looks like my attempt to calm her was in vein. “More than average. Brin taught me everything he knew about them; which is more than even you know. He figured the Fates would try to force me into their service when the time came. It looks like they have a way of picking the perfect time to annoy me with that request. Ouch!” I nearly scream when she forces my very swollen arm over my head.

“Oh, sorry Natasha. Does that hurt?” She asks me, her hand immediately glowing a soft purple when pressing into my shoulder, and near my heart.

Panic shoots through me as my eyes widen. “Malay!” I yell, forcing myself to my feet. Instantly, heat comes over me as my body begins to ache. She is still focusing on her spell while sweat begins to coat my body. I can feel it. I can’t stop it, though I desperately want to.

“Malay stop” I beg, pushing her away from me; harder than I intended. She falls over in what feels like slow motion for me. I see the moment in her eyes when she returns from her thoughts, while horror spreads over her face.

I lock eyes with her, feeling my legs turn to jelly. “Overload,” I pant, my breathing becoming heavy. I fall backwards onto the bed and give in to the fever faster than I ever have before.