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sparkindarknessAhhhh inspiration at long last. This has been driving me nuts. You have no idea how often I stopped and started this
I flailed around trying to grab something. I seemed to be falling for an hour before I hit the ground - hard. Really fucking hard. I think I broke a rib or something. I groaned and tried to fix my head, maybe I had a concussion?
“Ow!” I yelped. Something hit me in the chest!
“You’re awake then?” A voice said. I tried to focus on it. Darren. Probably Darren. My brain felt foggy...
“Ow!” I yelped again. Something hit me again. “Are you fucking kicking me?” I growled. Or tried to, it came out kind of muffled.
“Yes,” it was definitely Darren “It is easier to raise corpses from the dead than wake you in a morning.”
“Ha fucking ha,” I staggered to my feet. he had totally pushed me out of bed! “That doesn’t even work when you say it, you’re a necromancer, you could raise all the corpses you want.” Not that he ever had... “hey, why haven’t you raised me a zombie yet?”
“Why would you want an ambulating corpse, Rick? Oh do not answer that question. There are some dark secrets best left alone.” He walked over to the window and looked out.
“Wait, you woke me up and walked away? I thought you woke me up for some morning sexing?” I struggled out of the mass of covers that had tangled round me and pulled myself back onto the bed. It was fucking huge!
“I woke you because we’re under attack.” Darren said, still looking out the window.
I slipped on the sheet - fucking silk - and ended up flat on my arse on the floor again. “Attack? What? What the fuck?”
“Kyernath is attacking, I can feel it. I can feel his power flowing across the estate, the wards are failing.”
“What? I thought this place was a magic fortress?!” I grabbed a pair of jeans and struggled into them.
“So did we.” Darren turned and ran from the room. Fuck! I leaped after him, arse still hanging out my jeans,
____________________________________________________________________________
All Camaalis property was warded, layered wards that had been set down and reinforced every year for centuries. And this was the Camaalis home castle, the first, our oldest and greatest home - before there was an England, before the Romans came to these lands, when the Celts were new arrivals in a strange land, the heart of this castle stood, we were here, circled by the strongest protections we could conjure. All the weapons of mankind‘s history, all the magic ever conceived could not crack our defences.
And they were failing. Millennia of defences were crumbling, without warning, without fighting. I stopped, dimly aware of Rick behind me. I dropped my internal checks, relaxed my iron control on my Sorcery and let it flow outwards, let my power mix with Kyernath‘s.
Decay... Entropy. One of the key elements of Sorcery was the inevitability of the end. Nothing lasted forever, nothing was eternal. You couldn’t fight against the inevitable, you couldn’t truly stop decay. You can resist destruction, you could shore up against an attack - but the passive degradation of all things? It was one of the most subtle of a Sorcerer’s weapons. Kyernath could have stripped the defences bare without anyone realising they were under attack.
Except for another Sorcerer. I let my power mingle with his... then forced it at the wards, not decay, not the subtle rot of time and entropy - but the harsh blow of pure destruction. The wards flared, ancient defences roared to life. I pulled back quickly, fleeing before the wards’ counter attack even as it seared Kyernath’s power.
A different power rumbled through the castle,. the wards’ alarms bounced off the walls, not in sound but in sheer sense of warning powered directly to the mind of every Camaalis. The warning would spread to all Camaalis in the country and beyond - our home was under attack. I shook myself, clearing the sense of power and headed for the doors
Doors flew open, my family pouring out, all in different states of dress, but all ready for battle. Rick stopped trying to get my attention, I felt him freeze watching them, feeling the power come off them in waves.
“Kyernath is assaulting the wards. It may be the beginnings of a larger attack.” I could almost taste the fury in the air, how dare he attack us here? How dare ANYTHING attack us here? It made me smile, the only thing mightier than Camaalis magic was Camaalis pride.”
“The whole clan has been notified. Kyernath has struck earlier than anticipated, but we are hardly unprepared.” Doyle had insinuated himself to the front of the crowd. Despite his words, he actually looked like he was thinking, rather than let his pride carry him
“You are under attack by a Sorcerer. Whether this is a feint or not he can still hurt even the greatest of us badly.” I stared Doyle in the eye. He didn’t flinch, his gaze never flickered - interesting. “We know virtually nothing about Sorcery - this is a dangerous game for the ignorant.”
I held Doyle’s gaze. It was a test. How sincere was my family? How willing were they truly to accept me back? How ready were they to treat me as a Camaalis? How much of it was a convenient lie to use me until Kyernath had been dealt with? My power built again, but defence was the last thing on my mind.
Doyle nodded, oh-so-slightly. If I hadn’t been meeting his eyes I would have missed it. And was that the ghost of a smile? Slowly he lowered his head and raised a hand up in a salute - a salute that touched his hair, not his forehead. The traditional gesture of a Camaalis acknowledging the superior expertise of another Camaalis.
There was a string of gasps, several kin looked in shock at Doyle - but he none challenged him. For this attack, I was in charge.
I flailed around trying to grab something. I seemed to be falling for an hour before I hit the ground - hard. Really fucking hard. I think I broke a rib or something. I groaned and tried to fix my head, maybe I had a concussion?
“Ow!” I yelped. Something hit me in the chest!
“You’re awake then?” A voice said. I tried to focus on it. Darren. Probably Darren. My brain felt foggy...
“Ow!” I yelped again. Something hit me again. “Are you fucking kicking me?” I growled. Or tried to, it came out kind of muffled.
“Yes,” it was definitely Darren “It is easier to raise corpses from the dead than wake you in a morning.”
“Ha fucking ha,” I staggered to my feet. he had totally pushed me out of bed! “That doesn’t even work when you say it, you’re a necromancer, you could raise all the corpses you want.” Not that he ever had... “hey, why haven’t you raised me a zombie yet?”
“Why would you want an ambulating corpse, Rick? Oh do not answer that question. There are some dark secrets best left alone.” He walked over to the window and looked out.
“Wait, you woke me up and walked away? I thought you woke me up for some morning sexing?” I struggled out of the mass of covers that had tangled round me and pulled myself back onto the bed. It was fucking huge!
“I woke you because we’re under attack.” Darren said, still looking out the window.
I slipped on the sheet - fucking silk - and ended up flat on my arse on the floor again. “Attack? What? What the fuck?”
“Kyernath is attacking, I can feel it. I can feel his power flowing across the estate, the wards are failing.”
“What? I thought this place was a magic fortress?!” I grabbed a pair of jeans and struggled into them.
“So did we.” Darren turned and ran from the room. Fuck! I leaped after him, arse still hanging out my jeans,
____________________________________________________________________________
All Camaalis property was warded, layered wards that had been set down and reinforced every year for centuries. And this was the Camaalis home castle, the first, our oldest and greatest home - before there was an England, before the Romans came to these lands, when the Celts were new arrivals in a strange land, the heart of this castle stood, we were here, circled by the strongest protections we could conjure. All the weapons of mankind‘s history, all the magic ever conceived could not crack our defences.
And they were failing. Millennia of defences were crumbling, without warning, without fighting. I stopped, dimly aware of Rick behind me. I dropped my internal checks, relaxed my iron control on my Sorcery and let it flow outwards, let my power mix with Kyernath‘s.
Decay... Entropy. One of the key elements of Sorcery was the inevitability of the end. Nothing lasted forever, nothing was eternal. You couldn’t fight against the inevitable, you couldn’t truly stop decay. You can resist destruction, you could shore up against an attack - but the passive degradation of all things? It was one of the most subtle of a Sorcerer’s weapons. Kyernath could have stripped the defences bare without anyone realising they were under attack.
Except for another Sorcerer. I let my power mingle with his... then forced it at the wards, not decay, not the subtle rot of time and entropy - but the harsh blow of pure destruction. The wards flared, ancient defences roared to life. I pulled back quickly, fleeing before the wards’ counter attack even as it seared Kyernath’s power.
A different power rumbled through the castle,. the wards’ alarms bounced off the walls, not in sound but in sheer sense of warning powered directly to the mind of every Camaalis. The warning would spread to all Camaalis in the country and beyond - our home was under attack. I shook myself, clearing the sense of power and headed for the doors
Doors flew open, my family pouring out, all in different states of dress, but all ready for battle. Rick stopped trying to get my attention, I felt him freeze watching them, feeling the power come off them in waves.
“Kyernath is assaulting the wards. It may be the beginnings of a larger attack.” I could almost taste the fury in the air, how dare he attack us here? How dare ANYTHING attack us here? It made me smile, the only thing mightier than Camaalis magic was Camaalis pride.”
“The whole clan has been notified. Kyernath has struck earlier than anticipated, but we are hardly unprepared.” Doyle had insinuated himself to the front of the crowd. Despite his words, he actually looked like he was thinking, rather than let his pride carry him
“You are under attack by a Sorcerer. Whether this is a feint or not he can still hurt even the greatest of us badly.” I stared Doyle in the eye. He didn’t flinch, his gaze never flickered - interesting. “We know virtually nothing about Sorcery - this is a dangerous game for the ignorant.”
I held Doyle’s gaze. It was a test. How sincere was my family? How willing were they truly to accept me back? How ready were they to treat me as a Camaalis? How much of it was a convenient lie to use me until Kyernath had been dealt with? My power built again, but defence was the last thing on my mind.
Doyle nodded, oh-so-slightly. If I hadn’t been meeting his eyes I would have missed it. And was that the ghost of a smile? Slowly he lowered his head and raised a hand up in a salute - a salute that touched his hair, not his forehead. The traditional gesture of a Camaalis acknowledging the superior expertise of another Camaalis.
There was a string of gasps, several kin looked in shock at Doyle - but he none challenged him. For this attack, I was in charge.