((Collab with
Omni))
It was only the years of training that kept Sieg from faltering in the song as the hound appeared, with no sign of the wounds that had seemingly killed it the night before. Had the song revived it somehow? How did that make any sense?
Sieg was briefly distracted from the miraculous resurrection of the seemingly dead spirit by a brilliant glowing from the direction of Orrin and Kenna. He turned towards the two just in time to see the form of a young girl emerge out of the amorphous mass of light. He didn’t know what to do, or how he should react to this, but the hound kept up it’s song so Sieg kept singing as well.
The Nightsinger slowly approached Kenna’s ghost, and bumped it’s head against her chest gently. The girl seemed to flinch at the hound’s touch and drew back, clearly still uneasy about its presence, and what it would do.
The hound looked into Kenna’s eyes, it’s song making the very air seem to hum around them. Though Sieg was still singing as well, his voice was barely audible now, drowned out by the true call of the Nightsinger. The black mist that followed the hound everywhere it went seemed to shimmer, until the clearing was filled with a pale glow that converged on Kenna. Briefly, the hound turned it’s attention away from the girl and towards Orrin, nudging the knight as if to put distance between him and what was about to happen.
The Stallion knight was confused about the hound’s behavior, but backed away all the same. This was the hound’s duty - it’s territory - and he wasn’t going to interfere. He made sure to give the hound enough space to do its thing, watching it turn back to Kenna.
The hound turned it’s attention back to the ghost of the young girl, and the mist that made up it’s being- now shimmering gold instead of black- began to swirl behind her in a circular shape, flaring with blinding brilliance from within. Sieg gasped softly, clenching at his chest as the song seemed to
pull itself from his lungs and into whatever working the hound was performing. It hurt, and badly. Immortal power was not meant to channel through a mortal body. But he physically
could not stop singing. Sieg didn’t know what strength the hound was drawing out of him, but he
had to keep himself together until it got what it needed!
From inside the circular mass behind Kenna, a small shadowy form was taking shape- another child? The hound nudged Kenna with it’s head again, gently directing her towards the portal. Again the girl drew back, but as she did, she found herself facing the portal that the hound had made. She looked away for an instant, but then looked back in confusion, her eyes blinking in disbelief. The girl within the portal smiled and waved and Kenna’s face tightened. The girls reached out opposite hands and seemed to press them together as if to touch each-other.
It was like looking into a mirror. Aside from a few minor differences, the two girls looked
exactly the same. The Kenna within the portal gave a heartfelt grin, gesturing for her reflection to come to where she was, holding out her hand for the former raptor to take. The Kenna within the clearing stared at the hand, hesitating. After a moment of uncertainty, she tentatively took the hand of the other Kenna, following her into the light as they smiled at each-other.
The hound’s song began to taper off, the volume decreasing and the tempo slowing, and as it faded so did the portal, the physical version of the necklace falling to the ground. The golden mist turned back into black and the halo of light dissipated, closing behind the two halves of Kenna’s being. They were gone.
At last the hound fell silent, and as it did so did Sieg. The instant he stopped singing, the half-elf gasped, clutching his arms to his chest and falling to his knees. He was reminded of Leif Jade’s descriptions of the magical pull- there was a deep, agonizing sensation in his chest, like it was about to fly apart. He bent over double, squinting from the pain, but to his surprise he felt something soft and wet on his cheek, and looked up to see that the Nightsinger had given him a lick. He smiled up at it crookedly.
“Sieg!”
The half-dwarf ran toward his fellow knight. He had been awestruck and dumbfounded to watch the two Kennas as they were reunited, only to be pulled back into reality as he saw his friend nearly collapse. He bent down next to the half-elf on the side opposite to the Nightsinger, holding a hand to Sieg’s shoulder. “Are ya okay?”
Sieg grunted. “I think? Whatever the song pulled out did a number on me though, I feel like someone’s prying my ribs apart.”
He shifted slowly so that he was sitting instead of kneeling, and glanced at the wound on his leg again- as he’d guessed it seemed to have stopped bleeding on it’s own, and he dismissed it for the moment and tried to assess the rest of himself for injuries. He didn’t feel pain anywhere else- just that horrible agony in his chest.
“Remind me why anyone would ever want to become a mage again?” he joked, glancing up at Orrin through black bangs matted with sweat.
Orrin let out a chuckle, hoping that Sieg’s joking mood was a good sign. He turned to the hound. “Can ya help him out at all?” he asked. “I’m sorry about what happened last night, Nightsinger… I really didn’t mean for that to happen.”
The black hound tilted it’s head, and there was an oddly apologetic set to it’s posture. It bumped it’s head against Orrin’s arm, but immediately afterwards turned away and hung it’s head.
Sieg sighed. “I don’t think it can. Aside from the helping-ghosts-pass-on thing it probably doesn’t have much power.” He moved as if to try and stand, but gasped and sat down again with a wince as his chest protested. “Aaaagh, that hurts…”
The hound yipped softly, looking at Sieg and wagging it’s tail for a moment- a thanks? Then, it threw back it’s head and howled again, it’s form fading into mist and vanishing.
“Nightsinger… thanks,” the half-dwarf said before turning back to his friend. “How’s the leg? Do ya mind if I take a look at it?”
Sieg stretched his leg out a little more, taking one arm off of his chest and gesturing at it. “Go ahead.”
Orrin gently lifted up the pant leg until he could get a good look at the cut. It didn’t look like it was very deep, it wasn’t bleeding and was covered in a thin layer of hardened blood.
“Doesn’t look too bad.” Orrin reached for a pouch on his belt. “I’d still like to bandage it, though, just to be safe.”
Sieg nodded, “Makes sense to me, it’ll probably crack and bleed when I walk on it so it doesn’t hurt to be safe. And there’s no telling what was on those talons- might be a good idea to wash it out and try some of that salve Stephen gave us as well.”
He moaned softly, leaning forwards again. Now that the adrenaline of that bizarre spectacle they’d just witnessed was ebbing, he felt exhausted. “I think I’m probably going to pass out as soon as we get back to the inn- if I get that far.”
“Try to stay with me awhile longer, alright?” Orrin requested reaching for a couple pouches on his belt. “I didn’t bring anythin’ to wash with… I guess I have some holy water for the crossbow idea. Speakin’ of which, I am
so glad I didn’t have to use it!” the Stallion knight exclaimed, giving Sieg a one-armed hug.
Sieg laughed a little breathlessly as Orrin hugged him, not at all averse to it. It helped him feel less like his ribs were about to pry themselves open. “You and me both. That was a little bit too close. How about next time I get such a
clever idea, you send me back to bed for another hour or so, hm?” He leaned his forehead for a moment against Orrin’s shoulder. “Woo, my chest hurts…”
The half-dwarf blinked. “Ah that’s right, ya mentioned yer ribs…” He gently lifted up a hand and tried applying light pressure to the half-elf’s ribcage. Sieg shook his head as Orrin did so, indicating that it wasn’t making the pain any worse.
“Pressure helps, if anything,” he said. “Sort of. I don’t think it’s really physical, it’s just… ugh, I don’t know. It reminds me of how the Jade archmage described something called ‘the pull’ to me once. It’s a mage thing, basically pressure and pulling in their arms and chest when they use too much magic.”
“I
thought it didn’t feel broken… Startin’ to wish I knew somethin’ about that, so I could help ya.” The half-dwarf paused, remembering to clean Sieg’s wound. “Maybe we should learn at least the basics of this stuff. Even if we can’t use it, it might help us with stuff like the hound.”
Sieg laughed tiredly, though he winced a bit as Orrin scrubbed the congealed blood off his cut. “A nice idea, and normally I’d agree, but there’s one tiny problem; we’re in
Bern. Magic is practically anathema here. I dunno who we’d even find to tell us anything.”
“Well I didn’t mean
right now. But yer right; it’d be awhile before we
could learn.” Orrin opened a container of salve and began applying it to the wound. “Ya know, I never would’ve thought ya could summon the hound with yer singin’ like that.” He gave the half-elf a smirk. “Seems ya’re quite a howler.”
“You can shut up,” Sieg retorted with a smirk of his own, though he was still slumped forwards and sweaty, which made the remark less forceful seeming then otherwise it might have been. More seriously he added, “I don’t really know what happened. I just… I think somehow it was channeling through me or something. Like I was a pipe and it pushed itself up and out from wherever it went after Kenna hurt it.”
Orrin began wrapping a bandage around Sieg’s leg. “Well no wonder yer tired and hurt. I’m no expert, but that sounds like it would take a lot out of ya.” He tied off the bandage, making sure it was tight enough to hold. “That should do it. What say we head back now?”
The half-elf smiled wanly, pushing himself up with one hand while he continued to hold his chest with the other. He stumbled a bit, but managed to get enough balance to stand- albiet shakily. “Sounds like a plan. Though if we end up spending as much time talking to the villagers when we get back as we have the past two nights, you may end up having to pick me up off the ground when I inevitably collapse.”
“Well then, lets head to the inn first. We told them to stay inside, anyway, so we might not even see anyone until mornin’.” He put his things back on his belt, standing up and watching as his fellow knight seemed to have trouble balancing. “Do ya want any help gettin’ there?”
“A little support would probably not be amiss,” Sieg admitted ruefully. “I think I can make it on my own, but it will take far longer than necessary.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the clearing, an odd light in his eyes. “We really did it, didn’t we?”
Orrin let out a chuckle, giving his friend another hug, more enthusiastic than the last. “Yep! We did it! Not sure how easy it’ll be to convince the townsfolk, but I’d say that marks the end of the attacks.” He looked over the clearing, in the direction of the village. “Come on, let’s go.”
He started walking forward, taking his fellow knight with him.
The hound’s song finally reunites the two halves of Kenna’s soul, allowing her to fully move on to the afterlife. Sieg is exhausted after being used as a conduit for the hound’s power, but he and Orrin are relieved and happy to have resolved their first mission together.