Chapter 33

"Nay, girl. Let the oth'rs sleep. It's like to pass by soon enough. It can't be sure we're in here."

She looked around her, noticing that her head didn't hurt much anymore but that the magic in the shed felt different from before. She saw the runes glowing around them.

"Where are we? How long was I asleep? I don't remember anything...did I hurt anyone?" She put her hand to her mouth, terrified she'd hurt someone else even though it didn't feel like the evil had touched her again. It's supposed to be different when you're asleep though... she worried to herself.

"Nay, lass," he reassured her. "You were badly wounded, and the evil weren't going to be lettin' up on you so I brought you here. T'is a safe spot, the evil can't see into it to know what we're up to or hurt us."

"Now, before you get like that," he said quickly, seeing her eyes narrowing, "I can't make anything bigger than this for a safe space or I would gladly have done more for the town with the runes. But there's got to be a certain number of 'em in a certain pattern, an' you can't repeat the pattern or have another box too close to the other. It also took me a while to make. I know what yer thinkin', but I couldn't have made a house safe or what-not. An' my first priority now is to protect Agmar. The man's near burnt himself out tryin' to keep as many people safe as possible, but he's needed to keep fightin' this thing. I can't let him die here - there's too many other's that are going to need his help too."

As Lynna digested the information, and started at Yilmack in astonishment, questions parading through her mind, the noise around them suddenly stopped. She tried tenatively reaching with her mind, trying to see what was going on outside, but found that she couldn't feel anything past the walls of the shed she was in.

"Why can't I feel outside?" she asked.

"T'is a strong magic barrier. Or, more acurately, anti-magic barrier. Nothing magic can reach through from either side. It means the evil can't see us in here, or hear what we're sayin', but you an' Agmar are just as blind ta the world out there as well. It's one of the few little things I can do to fight it. It can't see inside my head either, or ever take control o' me."

"Who - ?" she looked at him, entirely astonished.

"There was an order o' warriors what protect'd the wizards that bind'd the evil. When the last of the wizards died, bindin' the thing, the last warrior kept his order goin' so's we'd be ready to help when it tried to break free. When Agmar decided to fight it fer sure, I became his protect'r. But the evil can still read ya, Lynna, when yer out there, so's I can't give ye much more informat'n than that."

"Oh." She reached out and was relieved to be able to look over Stott and Agmar magically, and reassure herself that they were healed and intact. Her mind worried over her father, though, for the first time in her life she couldn't feel his presence at all.

"What about the others?" she asked him.

"They'll have to fend fer themselves now. Agmar's done all he can. The man needs rest."

"My father's out there." Lynna stood up. "I'm not going to just sit safely in there while he could be out there dying!" She reached for the large bar that blocked the doorway. Yilmack leaned over and grabbed her wrist, pulling her down face to face with him.

"Listen, lass, I'm to protect Agmar here, not you. If you go runnin' out there to risk your pretty little self for them, that's fine. Just don't expect me to come and pull you out of it again. And you might think about the fact that yer boy there is gonna be right angry when he finds out you went off alone."

"No he won't. He'll be going with her." Stott's voice came from behind her, quiet but steady. "These people are like family. I don't want to leave them to die any more than Lynna does." He stood up, brushing himself off, and Lynna gave him a relieved smile. Yilmack let go of her wrist.

"Suit yerselves. But once you leave, there's no gettin' back in either. I'm sorry, but until Agmar is ready to leave again, he stays protected in here."

"I think we understand," she told him, reaching again for the bar on the door. She saw Stott nodding as well, and pulled the bar up so she could open the door.

There were people lying here and there behind the inn. She didn't think any of them looked alive. She stood there in horror for a moment. It took a little time for the sounds of screaming to sink in.

"Out front, I think," Stott said. "Come on!"

At the front of the inn she saw a battle raging. People were dragging other people up onto the porch, and men with weapons ranging from swords to furniture were fending off the attacks of dead forest animals.

Improvised weapons were working somewhat against the larger animals, but people were having trouble with the little ones. Squirrels and rats crawled up people and bit everywhere. Those were what Lynna focused on.

She reached within her, and although it still hurt some she was able to reach through the pain for the magic. She mentally grabbed a squirrel and threw it away. She did the same with five others before the first one got back.

"Ack," she cried out, "there's just too many of them."

"Break them, smash them... I don't know," Stott said. "I need something to use as a weapon."

Lynna saw a long spade by a body sprawled face down in the middle of the inn's front yard. She made it fly over to Stott, who cringed until he figured out it had not been the evil propelling it. Then he grabbed it, looking embarrassed.

"Better?"

"It'll do."

Lynna picked a rat this time. Just like a lock, she told herself. It burst open when she smashed it, and it stopped moving after that. "One down...," she said in a quiet, determined voice.

She began with the smaller animals, able to take care of the rest of the rats and squirrels more quickly as she understood how to do it better. As she moved up to the rabbits and cats, she realized that she was crushing more than one at a time, and almost lost her focus with the slight feeling of excitement that came with the understanding of how to do it. She felt as if her whole body was literally humming with power, and could see the air shimmering with the magic that surrounded her. She pressed harder, ignoring the dull ache that was pressing against her head insistently.

A bear was starting to maul a man near the porch, gouging a part of his chest out with its massive clawed paw. Lynna focused on crushing just the head of the bear, and was pleased when she watched it suddenly fly into pieces, the bear's body falling to the ground in a huge heap. She had her arms out ahead of her, reaching, and each time she crushed something large, she made a fist with her hand, as if feeling the crushing of bone with her fingers.

A wave of calm washed over her as she worked, and she heard a voice encouraging her in her head. She had never felt so powerful and in control in her whole life. As if by command, the animals suddenly all turned and advanced towards her, their dead eyes focused on her as they lumbered slowly and deliberately forward.

Without pause, she threw up a shield between them and herself. She included Stott on her side, and laughed as she saw them clawing and biting against the solidified energy, unable to get to their target. Some of them threw themselves against the wall, ramming to break through it. One by one she destroyed them, laughing, and it felt as if power coursed through her body more as each one fell. A part of her could tell that she was emitting a glowing aura of some kind, and she felt a warmth and wetness between her legs that made her moan.

I didn't know magic could feel like this! she thought, drawing on the energy harder. She reached forward, feeling for the skulls of animals and crushing them from within.

It only gets better. the voice in her head whispered. Another wave of warmth rippled across her and she fell to her knees, welcoming it with a gasp. Stott was looking at her strangely.

He doesn't understand. she and the voice agreed together. She could taste the magic, and licked her lips for more. She reached out again, not wanting it to stop, and felt herself lying over the town like a blanket, crushing the skulls of every animal she could find until they were gone, the warmth only growing in strength with each one that fell. The voice had wrapped itself in with her mind, warm and soft, and stroked across her body in waves. She could feel the people in town, every one of them, and she sent a rippling wave of energy across them all, touching them lightly, gently.

Then she began to feel cold, the voice in her mind angry with her.

Crush them too, it whispered. Crush them and you can keep this power. You will always feel like this. For a moment her body pulsed with an intensity that made her cry out in pleasure. Crush them all, it encouraged.

Panic found footing in her mind as the voice's words registered with her. She searched the minds of the people for her father, and finally found him. He lay near death on the porch nearby, most of one leg missing.

Daddy?! He needed her, but she couldn't move. Her body was like ice, and the warmth suddenly switched to pain that pushed up into her from somewhere deep inside. NO! Get OUT of me! NO! Her eyes met Stott's, but her mind suddenly couldn't reach him. The magic around her was closing in. It was her skull that would be crushed now if she couldn't do something.

You should have listened, little girl. I could have given you so much.

She tried to push with her mind, but now the power from before was denied her. She may as well have been an ant pounding its tiny feeler against the side of a steel box, and every time she pushed, pain ripped across her mind in response.

In an eye blink the force was gone. The relief came with a sudden wind in her face. She looked around her, seeing the broken animals littered amongst people--some of whom were not much better off.

I think perhaps now you better understand why I keep talking about control. This time it was Agmar's voice, and the touch of his mind was warm and soft. Agmar walked around from behind the inn. His clothes were still a mess, and his hair was still a bit disheveled, but all in all he looked much better. His walking looked less stiff. Yilmack was just behind him.

Agmar moved through the littered bodies towards her. Halfway there Yilmack nodded at something and stopped to start checking over the wounded.

"Your father needs you now," Agmar said to her when he finally reached her. "He has been badly hurt, and he needs something to cling to. Mary is with him now, but your presence will help him greatly."

Yilmack was turning some bodies over. "What is he doing?" Stott asked as they started towards the inn's porch.

"Sorting the living from the dead, and checking to see which ones will need the most direct attention. Those already gone he is turning face down. It will make things easier for Margaret and Elsa, and likely for you as well, Lynna."

"Oh," Stott said. There were far too few bodies not face down in the yard. Hairs blew in the breeze, and it reminded her of the image she had seen briefly in Agmar's mind. In that image there had been birds coming to investigate the dead. There were no birds here. To her that only made today a little more frightening.

She shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands as she remembered the extent of her father's injury.

"Agmar, his leg..." she began, already suspecting the answer before she saw him shake his head.

"No. The leg was lost when the schoolhouse burned, Lynna. The best I can do for that injury now is encourage it to heal the stump faster. I am sorry." He put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed, steering her in the direction of the porch. "He needs you with him right now. Heal his other wounds and give him reassurance that you are alright. You can reach his mind, while others can only speak to him with their voices. He could slip away right now, but I have little doubt you are exactly what he needs to bring him back."

Lynna nodded, but still approached the porch somewhat reluctantly. A part of her was afraid to see her father so hurt. A part of her knew that he didn't want her to see him that way as well. She hardly noticed the crowd around her as they parted to let her pass. She tried not to look at the space where his leg should have been. Where the knee would start, a compress of some kind had been bandaged on, the bandages dark with blood.

She could hear people whispering and saying things around her as she arrived. Some of them touched her as she passed, patting their hands on her back or shoulder reassuringly. She saw that his complexion was all wrong, pale and gray. She knelt down and put her hand on his forehead. Though he looked like he'd be cold to the touch, his forehead was hot with fever. He twitched his head aside slightly, seeming to wince at her touch in his sleep. She saw drops of water hitting his face, and realized it was her tears falling. She reached into him and healed the various bruises, cuts, and burns that practically covered his body. She couldn't bring herself to reach to the leg though. Agmar reached down and touched the bandages, and she could feel his energy coursing through her father's body. She watched for a moment, observing what Agmar was doing to increase the body's natural healing abilities, before moving towards her father's mind to try and find him.

She slid in easily, the path clear and familiar to her. It was not the first time she had reached into his mind beyond the surface thoughts, having wanted answers about her mother when her father had refused to talk about it. She was not surprised to find him sitting helplessly in a street with her mother's body cradled in his arms. His mind had conjured that image before. She was more surprised to find that there were other bodies lying dead up and down the street around him. All of them bore her mother's face. He sat, weeping, in the middle of the road, rocking the dead body back and forth. As Lynna moved towards him, she saw that he'd mentally taken away both of his legs, the stumps bleeding out from in front of him, soaking the dirt road he sat upon.

"Father?" she tried tenatively. "Father, I'm here."

"I should have known better. It's my fault she's dead. They're all my fault. I should have known better." He kept saying it over and over as he turned the woman in his arms over so she could see. To her surprise, it was Mary's face the woman bore this time, not Lynna's mother's, though the other bodies in the street still looked as Lynna's mother had when she had died, face and all. The one in his arms wore the same clothes as the others, but it was undeniably Mary's face that stared slack-jawed back at her.

"Mary's alive, father. So am I. There are a lot of people who have died, but it's not your fault." She knelt down next to him. "A lot of people have lived because you chose to listen to Agmar's warnings. You can't save everyone, father."

"I can't save anyone," he replied.

"You don't have to do it all yourself, father, remember? We're all in this together, and we need each other. People need you. Mary needs you. I need you."

"Why? What good am I?" He gestured absently with one hand, not looking up.

She moved to sit in front of him. "You aren't helpless, and you aren't useless. From the start of all this you've been an example of what we should all be. Don't stop that now.

"When Agmar came that first morning most people thought him mad at best. But you listened to him, and you did what was right. You were willing to act and be wrong, when most would have not acted and still be wrong. But you took that risk for the rest of us. And do you know why you did that?"

He looked up at that, and met her with a pained look. "Because I'm the mayor, dammit."

"No. That's not it. You did it because your a father. And I'm not your only child. The whole town is my family. It's because you do what a father has to do, and people respect you for it."

"But I--"

"No. You listen to me, and you listen good. Whether you intended to or not, you love this town and the people in it. That's why this is so hard for you. But there's still a lot of town left. We're almost through this, but people are scared. They need their father, father."

"When did you get so wise?"

She laughed. "Easy, silly. I'm your daughter."

He looked down at the body he held in his arms.

"Mary's alright? I wanted to protect her, but..."

"She's fine, father. And I think she knows you did, but understands why you couldn't. I didn't read her mind to find out or anything, but... she's with you now. I saw her worrying over you."

Lynna was startled when the bodies suddenly vanished around them, and the buildings around them shifted. She found herself standing on the grass outside the schoolhouse in Eagle's Harbor. They were alone and there was no wind.

"My legs, Lynna." He stared down at the bleeding stumps in horror, the body no longer concealing them. For a moment, she did too, before she was able to get over the shock. The grass beneath them looked drenched in blood.

"Only one leg is gone, father. The left one is fine." She pointed at it, unable to make herself touch it, even though she knew that what she was seeing was all just a projections of her father's thoughts. "I healed the damage in the left one myself, father."

"The right one can't be healed though, can it?" His voice was sad and distant as he said it. She could tell he knew the answer already.

"No, father. The leg is gone. Agmar is trying to tell your body to heal the...stump... faster, but there's only so much even he can do."

He nodded.

"Father," she said quietly, "the evil is still a danger right now. The longer you are unconscious the more likely it becomes that it will notice and try to use you to hurt someone. And the town needs your strength right now. We've gotten past the worst of it, but it's been quite a blow to everyone. There will be time to reflect on what's happened later, but you need to wake up now."

He looked up at her again, his brow creasing.

"How?"

She stood up and held out her hand to him, building her concentration. She could feel the way back, having known to leave a tether-like line behind her this time.

"Take my hand. I know the way."

He took a deep breath, and she could tell it was still slightly shaky, but he took her hand nonetheless. Magically, she followed the path backwards, drawing him with her and back to consciousness before she returned into herself. She watched as he opened his eyes, and realized she'd been left with a tint of him from the intimate mental contact. Her connection to him had always been the strongest, but it was a little stronger now from having been so deeply into his mind. She realized that she had gotten the same feeling after she'd been in touch with both Agmar and Stott, and wondered how Agmar felt about her having been connected with him on such a level. No wonder he had a barrier up at first, she conceded to herself. I know him better than most, in a way, because of it. It's like touching someone's soul...

Yes, Agmar's voice said softly in her mind, You could just as easily break someone's mind if you knew how. There are those who would kill you or drive you mad or worse by reaching into your mind that deeply. That is why I keep a barrier up against such things.

She pondered that as she looked down at her father, who took her hand and squeezed it. Mary already had hold of his other hand, and was weeping as she smiled down at him. He turned and gave her a smile back.

"Thank the gods," Margaret breathed next to them.

"Welcome back, Mister Mordan," Agmar said with a smile. He squeezed Lynna's shoulder gently, and the little gesture spoke clearly enough that words were not necessary. Avern even smiled, although she could tell it was half-hearted.

"Come, Lynna, there is a lot of healing to do." Agmar turned and walked off the porch. Lynna turned and followed him. She saw the bodies strewn about--people and animals mixed together. So many of them were face-down.

"This way, li'l one," Yilmack said to her, "start o'er here." There were little and big wounds, and she started with the big ones. The little cuts and scratches she knew to ignore. There were too many people in need to worry about every nick and bruise.

After she healed each one Yilmack woke the person. "Ye've been healed, ye haffta git up now," he said each time. He helped them get to their feet. Margaret came out as well, as much to guide the healed away from the rest.

At one point Lynna looked up and saw that Avern had been put in a chair on the porch. It wasn't the usual rocker, which had been smashed. She wondered where the chair had come from. An empty room in the inn, she supposed. Maybe it had had no one to throw itself at. She could see he was giving instructions, gesturing around. Someone had put a blanket over his lap, making the missing leg less noticeable.

A group of men came out and started moving the bodies that could not be helped. Someone found a shovel and started clearing up the broken animal bits and pieces.

She supposed that the worst must be over. Obviously there was still concern about unconscious people, and she tried to keep alert for the people around her, wondering if any of them would get up and attack her. Yilmack stayed by her side, for which she was greatly relieved.

Agmar had been helping her see to some of the worst of the victims. After a while, he came over to her, waiting until she had finished her healing on the man she'd been working on.

"There are still many injured here, but the closest to death have been taken care of. You should work on getting the rest of the worst injuries healed, before any of them become critical. There are others in town who are badly injured and can not make it here, as well as fires that keep spreading. I am going to go tend to matters elsewhere."

"Is it over?" she asked him, sighing heavily as she scanned over the dead and wounded.

"The worst is over, yes," he answered. "But the evil will still try to generate fear and hatred amongst the townsfolk in order to build its strength for the next town it encounters. If it finds no fuel for itself here, it may just give up and preserve what strength it has left. I could be wrong though."

She nodded, quietly.

"I've spoken with your father, and he is spreading the word now that the unconscious can safely be restrained again, providing we can find enough rope. Objects should no longer be any problem, and there are not any animals alive for miles, so we wil not have any more attacks from that end. Sleeping or unconscious people, and fire are the only real threats I see now. Yilmack will be accompanying myself, so keep Stott handy to help you and watch your back."

Yilmack had led the man she'd just healed away with him, and she could see he and Stott talking as the two of them came back towards where she and Agmar stood. Her mind wondered again what things would be like once the evil had passed. Do I still belong here? she asked herself. Will the town accept me if I want to keep learning magic? Agmar will leave, and then who will teach me? I can't leave Stott and father... She looked back over at the porch again, where Mary was helping Margaret bandage up some of the minor injuries that Lynna was leaving. Mary kept glancing over at Avern, worriedly. What if I'll just be in the way of father finally getting close to someone? She was starting to get a headache just thinking about it all.

"Agmar," she finally said. "When the evil has passed - " she trailed off, unsure of what she wanted to say. A part of her wanted desperately to go with him, to learn more about magic. The evil had been right about one thing - she did like using her abilities, just not in the way it had wanted her to. She liked healing people mostly. It felt right to do it. There will be a lot more injured along the path of this evil. Maybe I could be of some use to Agmar, and he could teach me as we go. Her heart ached, however, at the thought of leaving her father, Stott, and the town she loved and knew, behind her.

"When this is over, we shall talk," Agmar said, leaving it unecessary for her to finish her sentence. He reached over and squeezed her arm again and smiled. Lynna wondered just how much of her thoughts he'd been reading just then. He turned and gestured to Yilmack, who followed him off towards the center of town, leaving her and Stott standing there.

People were being led inside to rest. She could see that some people were being discovered who were asleep but not doing anything. She was not sure whether to be relieved or suspicious at that.

People were also coming from other parts of town. Some were people who had fled the inn, some were people who had wandered off not of their own volition. Two men led Syred up to the inn. He was limping and seemed lost in a daze. One arm dangled too loosely at his side, and the scabbard at his belt was empty.

His face was blank, but he was muttering something. She had seen that look before, when Stott had been brought to the inn. She saw Margaret headed to intercept him, and she moved to meet him as well. Stott followed, of course.

"What have I done," Syred kept repeating in a flat, mechanical way. Margaret was trying to get his attention, but having no success. He was wet everywhere with blood, but it looked as though little of it was his.

"I think he's in a bad way," one of the men said. Lynna stepped forward and touched his arm. She half expected him to pull away, but it was as if he didn't know she was there. She heard a soft half-groan half-sigh from Stott. He was lucky to be alive from what Lynna could see. When she had healed him she was surprised that he had been even standing.

"I'll take him from here, Lynna. I've mostly finished what I can really help with out here. You can handle so much more than me." Margaret said. "Come, Syred, let's get you inside and cleaned up. It won't be the first time, will it?" Lynna raised an eyebrow at that, curious, but Syred of course said nothing.

Lynna turned, restraining herself from prying into either of their minds for the answers to questions she knew they wouldn't want her just stealing.

"C'mon, Stott," she said, heading back down to the yard. She saw others coming towards the inn and moved towards one group where two men appeared to be carrying a woman between them. She looked to be unconscious, and Lynna could see she wasn't far from death. The woman had part of what looked like a chair leg impaled in her abdomen. The men laid her gently on the ground in the street as Lynna reached them.

Lynna ignored the men, who were telling their tale of what had happened to them. She knelt down and put her hand on the wooden chair leg, drawing the splinters of wood that had broken off with it as she pulled it slowly from the woman's body. Blood immediately sprung up, covering the the wound and soaking the already blood-drenched dress the woman was wearing. She convulsed, her whole body spasming suddenly, and then her hands came up and her fingers were around Lynna's throat.

"No," she said quietly, forcing the woman's hands back from herself magically. She saw Stott reaching down to grab the woman's wrists and restrain her, but realized that there was no need. She put out a hand, to let the others around her know she was doing something do the woman to stop her.

"Stop," she told the woman, knowing she was speaking more to the evil than the woman who's body it manipulated. She, in turn, tensed every muscle in the woman's body, preventing any movement. She kept the woman that way as she placed her hand on the wound and told the flesh and organs there to knit back together again. She told blood to remove itself from areas it didn't belong. It all was coming much easier for her now, but she knew she was drawing upon her own energy, not that which the evil had brought with it. She was surprised when she realized she could feel the evil's hold on the woman, and the point when it gave up and released her. When she finished the healing she released her hold on the woman's muscles and turned her head to the sky, raising her fist.

"I know you now!" she yelled skyward. "I can feel your presence here! You'll take no more of the ones near me! I will fight you! And I am not afraid!"

In that moment, she made a decision. When Eagle's Harbor was safe, she was leaving to go with Agmar. Not just to learn magic, but because she knew what the evil felt like. She could identify its presence in people when it tried to control them. She had a way to help fight it. Her path was suddenly clear.

"Stay close to me, everyone," she said, suddenly feeling more confident than she had felt in her entire life. "We have work to do."