Chaos (26 page)

When a sudden quiet fell, he was half-afraid to breathe. Then Sasha slumped in his arms, trembling from exhaustion. David held him tightly, pressed a soft kiss to his brow, and whispered, "I've got you."

"I count on it, little spark," Sasha whispered back, the words making David's eyes sting.

He settled Sasha in his lap, stroked his hair from his face, and got his own breath and bearings back. But before he could decide what to do, or the best way to move Sasha, he heard footsteps. He looked up, saw the men racing toward them, and with a sinking heart realized he recognized the Seer in the lead.

"You boy!" the man said, clearly recognizing him as well. "What in the name of the shadows is going on here? That is the intruder!"

David clung tightly to Sasha. "He just saved Raven Knoll by killing all of the Sentinels! He's no intruder, he's a savior!"

"Blasphemy!" the man roared and behind him, the sorcerers and guards assembled burst into a cacophony of conversation as they looked at the dead Sentinels, at Sasha, at the argument between David and the Seer. Karl, Friedrich recognized. The vilest voice of them all.

He looked down when Sasha jerked awake in his arms. Sasha stared blankly for a moment, then comprehension filled it. "Ah, the Seer from the clearing. I was hoping our paths would not cross again."

Karl's mouth twisted. "Well, at least you have spared me the trouble of having to go find you. And you've solved my Sentinel problem. Grab him."

"No!" David said, pushing Sasha away to stand up and move protectively in front of him. "Get away. You can't—" He cried out as one of the sorcerers flicked his whip, and David heard the crack of it in the moment before it struck him, slashing across his throat and shoulder. He screamed in surprise and pain, stumbled back.

Behind him, Sasha snarled and stood up, moved in front of him and threw out his own arm as the whip struck again. "Touch him again—"

"Neither of you is in a position to be giving orders. Seize them," Karl ordered.

Sasha ignored him and instead half-turned to drag David close. "When I distract them, run. I'll get free of the temple and come find you. Until then, stay safe."

David tried to argue, tried to beg him not to do it this way, but Sasha had already turned away. "
Light is not always kind. Thunder roar, lightning strike!
"

As the storm broke out across the clearing, David reluctantly did as Sasha had asked him. He ran, pausing only to look back over his shoulder one last time before he fled the clearing entirely, biting back a cry of agony when he saw Sasha fall to the ground, unconscious.

When Friedrich came out of the vision, he realized at some point he had fallen to his knees. The broken stones bit into his flesh even through the layers of his robes, which had been soaked by snow and ice. He really hated the voices. But he could not forget the voice of the vision.
David.
His pain at losing Sasha sliced through the black that filled Friedrich's mind. Something about the boy nagged at him. What, though? Friedrich sighed and stood up. He must find David.

Beloved …

Friedrich ignored the voice, interested only in David. He must find David. Walking through the square, he found the spatters of blood from the wounds David had suffered at the hands of the sorcerers. He was surprised that they had not hunted David down.

Of course, Sasha had called down quite the storm. They had probably had their hands quite full with him. Friedrich smirked at the thought of Karl being so thoroughly out of his element.

Beloved! Please!

Friedrich stopped abruptly in the street, Drache's voice finally breaking through the blackness that David's vision had cut open.
Drache …

You left me,
Drache said, and Friedrich remembered when Drache had vanished on him and how frightened and alone he had been.
I thought you had turned from me forever. I could not get you to acknowledge me. Don't do that to me, beloved, please. You're my world.

As you are mine,
Friedrich said softly.
My entire world, even if you are confined to my head. It is not fair that as much as I love you, I can never have you. I don't even know who you are. But I did not mean to abandon you, Drache. I am sorry. It was too much. I can still feel it clawing at me.

Come to me. I can help you. Don't I always?

Later,
Friedrich said.
Right now, I must find David. I don't know why, but I must. He must be terrified right now, the poor thing. I do not miss being that young.

How long he walked, he didn't know, but the day grew colder and darker before he finally found a house that had a bloody handprint on the doorframe. Pushing open the door, he found David collapsed in front of a cold fireplace.

Clucking in disapproval, Friedrich closed and barred the door, then decided to risk lighting a fire. That took only wood and the barest touch of magic, and then he turned his full attention to David. He wanted nothing more than to collapse, and his injured wrist throbbed something fierce, but there was work to be done.

First, he set up bedding, slowly dragging blankets and pillows out of a back bedroom and arranging everything before the fire. When that was done, he awkwardly stripped away David's sodden, bloody clothes. Tossing the wet clothes aside, he examined the wounds at David's throat and shoulder.

Thankfully, they were not deep for all that they had bled plenty. He held his hand out over the wounds, fingers fanned out, and murmured words pulled from the archives of his mind,
"If pain is darkness, let the light of mercy shine and drive the dark away."

A soft, shimmering rainbow light spilled from his hand, closing the wounds and easing the worst of the pain they caused. He could not heal them entirely, but they were clean and would heal quickly on their own. He was surprised his own wrist felt better. The matter of wounds addressed, he bundled David in blankets and left him to sleep.

His skin prickled with a vision that wanted to be Seen whenever he touched David's skin, but he resisted it for the present because there were other things he must do before he succumbed to it. Groaning at the aches and pains starting to make themselves known since he was more or less sane again, Friedrich dragged himself around the small house to see what else it had to offer.

Unfortunately, it proved to have practically nothing. Poor David was going to need clothes, however, so Friedrich left him sleeping to poke around the neighboring houses. It took him two hours of foraging, and he was forced to return in the dark, but he did return bearing food and clothes—for David and himself, since there was little point in attracting attention by wearing the robes of a Seer.

Friedrich had never been so sore or exhausted in his life, but he made himself hold on just a little longer. He changed his own clothes, a slow, arduous process, and set David's clothes where he could grab them easily when he woke. He set the food he had found next to it, then sat down, groaning.
So I guess the next step is rescuing Sasha. That will be easier said than done. Venturing back into that temple will not help me keep from going mad again. I'm not sure how one vision pulled me out of it.

You are High Seer. A fish taken out of water can be saved if it is thrown back into it soon enough.

That doesn't really make sense, as it was too much water, if you will, that nearly killed me.

Some fish swim in the shallows, some in the deep. Some swim in still water, others in currents.

Currents, yes. I was definitely thrown into strong currents. Thank you for not giving up on me, despite the fact that I apparently gave up on you.

You didn't. You were lost. There is a difference. You came back to me, that is all that matters. If you do not visit me tonight, however, I am going to be quite displeased.

Friedrich smiled.
How could I refuse such a lovely offer?

Drache snorted. Friedrich started to say more when David groaned, shifted restlessly, then opened his eyes. He drew a sharp breath, slapping a hand to his wounds, sitting up, and crying, "Sasha!" all at once.

"Calm down, young David," Friedrich said.

David's eyes snapped to him, and widened as they registered the circle on his forehead. "You—you're—you're one of them!"

He tried to stand up, but yelped when the cold air hit his naked body. Face flushing dark, he sat back down and hauled the blankets up around him. "What's going on?" he asked. "Where are we? Why are you here? Where's Sasha?"

Friedrich sighed. "Those are not all easy questions to answer, and I am sure you would prefer to hear it dressed. There are clothes there and food when you're ready. How do your wounds feel?"

David stared at him blankly for a moment, then lifted a hand to his shoulder, staring in wonder. "It's—they feel fine. Tender, mostly. What—did you use magic?"

Chuckling at his awed tone, Friedrich said, "Yes, I used magic to heal you. Get dressed, David."

"How do you know my name? Oh, I guess the Seers do know it though. That one man …" He shuddered—then froze and toppled over abruptly in a bow. "Forgive me my rudeness, Seer, I—"

"That man you speak of is little better than a Sentinel," Friedrich drawled. "I do not align myself with him, and he loathes me, which is why he tried to lock me away. Cease to fret, David. I am on your side. Dress, eat."

David stared at him a moment longer, but then slowly obeyed, moving more quickly once the cold air hit him. He scrambled into the clothes and burrowed back into the blankets. "Who are you? I mean, other than a Seer, obviously. Why did that man try to lock you up?"

Friedrich handed him a portion of the bread, cheese, and smoked meat he had found. "That man is called Karl, and he currently believes himself to be High Seer. He locked me up because I
am
High Seer, and he wanted that position."

"You're—" David eyes went almost comically wide. Any other day, Friedrich might have laughed. "I apologize for my—"

"Apologize for nothing," Friedrich said, holding up one hand to stop David's words. "Please. Right now I am little more than an old man hiding from men who should be my allies, but are instead my enemies. They have taken your Sasha to Unheilvol and I do not like to think of what they will do to him there, before they take him to Sonnenstrahl. We need to get him back and then head for Sonnenstrahl ourselves."

David had clearly forgotten all about the food in his hands. "You … why do you want to go to Sonnenstrahl?"

"The same reason as you," Friedrich said softly. "To stop Teufel. He has hurt us all long enough. I will do what I can to help you."

"Oh," David said and looked down. Friedrich realized he was fighting tears. "I didn't—it's just me and Sasha. Really, it's just Sasha. I can't do anything except cook and watch over him while he sleeps. I didn't expect anyone else to help us." He looked up, as though wary. "Especially not someone of such great importance. Are you really the High Seer?"

Friedrich smiled. "Yes, I am. And you have a fate that wants to be told." It pulled and prickled at his skin, displeased with his resistance. Giving in to the inevitable, Friedrich set his bowl aside and finally really
looked
into David's eyes.

He drew a sharp breath at the vision that came to him with sudden, sharp clarity.

"You stand alone. There were others with you, but they're gone now. The room is dark. There is nothing inside you but sadness and rage. Your soul is the dark of a moonless night. Anything can happen where nothing can be seen. A choice must be made:  darkness or shadow."

The vision ended abruptly, leaving Friedrich's head throbbing.

David stared back at him, looking scared and confused. "I don't know what any of that means. What's my fate?"

"Your fate is to choose, to decide something important," Friedrich said. "That is all I have seen. Eat, David. Sasha is going to need our help, and you will need all the strength you can get."

Nodding, clearly still more interested in his fate, David nevertheless began to eat. Silence stretched on for a few minutes before he finally blurted, "I don't understand what choice I have to make. Why do I have to make a choice? What does it mean, darkness or shadow? Those are the same thing."

Friedrich shook his head. "No, they're not. At least, they shouldn't be. There's an old saying from the days before Licht was lost: 
Without light, shadows are only darkness
. What that means for you, I cannot say. Some visions come to me very clearly, others are too complex to be anything but vague. Your fate is to make an important choice. Accept that and do not dwell upon it."

David nodded and ate a couple more bites of food. He looked up at Friedrich, then away again. After the third not-so-surreptitious glance, Friedrich snorted in amusement and said, "Ask your questions before you choke on them."

"Oh—uh—sorry—" David said, ducking his head. "I only wondered, should I call you High Seer? Or something else? I guess I just don't understand why I have to make an important choice. That doesn't sound right. I'm nobody. It's Sasha who's important. He isn't from here, but he managed to get into Schatten and has been fighting Sentinels and sorcerers and is going to take on Teufel. Does my choice have to do with that? Because I choose Sasha," he finished softly.

Friedrich smiled faintly, remembering all that his visions had shown him of David and Sasha. "I do not doubt, from what I have seen, that Sasha is quite brave and important. But who do you think is the braver, young David? The man who forges into a country with a powerful ring, backed by gods and four nations, or the young man who throws away the only world he knows, the only world he has, to stand by a stranger who could save or ruin that world? Do not underestimate your own value, David. Finish your soup, and then we are going back to Unheilvol. It is time I took back my temple."