Chapter 17 - Not A Blank

“How do you feel?” Aerowyn asked between bites of his food, a hearty breakfast he’d prepared for them that did wonders in erasing any leftover guilt from the night before.

“Lighter, if that makes any sense.” Iris replied.

Aerowyn hummed in response as Walter walked through the dining room at a hurried pace, some slight annoyance etched into his features.

“Are you alright, Walter?” Aerowyn prodded.

“Yes,” he huffed, “I’m attempting to locate Blythe. He was to pass word from one of my contacts about the current state of the palace affairs, and he’s taking far too long.” Walter’s fist firmly impacted the wall next to him in a rare display of emotion.

The news changed Aerowyn’s look to one of slight concern.

“Should we be worried about him?” Iris asked.

Walter shook his head, “No, he should be fine. The fewer visits I’ve received from Oathbound unsettles me, is all.”

“Is this the only time Blythe has done this?” Aerowyn chimed in.

Walter looked pensive for a moment before responding, “Only on rare occasions, and it is usually for good reason.”

“Then we won’t dwell on it, I’ve known Blythe for some time, and he can take care of himself.” Aerowyn said, a small smile creasing his lips as he appeared to think about an old memory.

Walter joined them at the table, helping himself to some of the breakfast. They sat in relative silence as they ate, only making small talk. At some point, Colin joined the meal as well but didn’t partake in the conversation.

“I’m going to head out to the courtyard for now, clear my head before I try again.” Iris said, thinking now was as good of a time as any, standing up and clearing her dishes from the table.

Walter’s eyes met hers and he smiled, “I wish you luck, Iris. The clear weather is a good sign of your coming success.”

“Thank you.” She returned his smile with one of her own, grateful for his kindness and hospitality.

The courtyard hadn’t changed since the last time she had attempted the potion, yet she wasn’t bothered by the memories that emerged in response. The spot she had sat at was left unbothered, the only sign of change being the slight moisture from yesterday’s rain.

Iris assumed a seated position and closed her eyes. Just like before, she emptied her mind, finding it to be easier than the last time. Even when she felt like her state of mind was completely emptied, she didn’t open her eyes, enjoying the feeling.

Before long, she heard grass rustling, signaling someone approaching. They stopped in front of her and paused there. A moment later they started walking away, to which Iris opened her eyes, seeing one of the potions of the Mothers Milk laying in the grass in front of her, the small glass reflecting some of Rynor’s rays onto her face.

Turning her head, she saw the receding figure of Colin as he walked back inside. She had expected Aerowyn to be the one to bring the potion to her. She took Colin’s gesture as a small peace offering, perhaps even an apology. Not being one to let such an act go unappreciated, she found herself the victim of a slight smile as she picked up the potion.

It seemed the others weren’t going to join her while she was under the potion’s effects. Sure, last time had been a bit rough, especially if you count the fact she’d almost impaled herself on one of the swords in the courtyard.

Iris chuckled under her breath from the ridiculousness of the thought while she turned the small vial this way and that.

Thinking about it further, Aerowyn and Colin not watching over her during this could also be seen as them placing a measure of trust in her. Hopefully, she would be able to repay them for their kindness and patience in the future. That’s what all this was for, right? Assuming this worked, she’d finally be just like the rest of the populace, or at least the vast majority of them, able to sense the Auris around her and use it just like they could.

Thinking about the possibilities only spurred her on as she unstoppered the cork. With one last breath of resolve, she tilted the vial back and drank every last drop.

***

Aerowyn

Aerowyn stood with Colin inside, looking through the window to the courtyard as they watched Iris throw back the potion.

“We should be out there with her, just in case.” Aerowyn stated.

“I disagree.” Colin said hesitantly. “I believe this time will be different.”

Colin’s seriousness did nothing to appease Aerowyn’s distress. Aerowyn noticed Colin’s attempt at showing his faith in Iris was offset by his hand hovering near the door leading to the courtyard, showing his readiness to bolt—quite literally—to her rescue should the need arise.

The thoughtful act displayed by the man made Aerowyn question the future of the two’s relationship. From the start, they had shown the awkwardness that came from two people attracted to the other, at least physically, though it was harder to read through the gruff face Colin perpetually wore.

Aerowyn was good at seeing the tells, however. After all, he had served as the court advisor for many cycles. Reading people had become second nature to him by this point.

Their interactions had been stressed by their situation, and that had only led to the two bashing heads. If they managed to get through this mess in one piece, maybe Colin and Iris could become good friends…possibly something more than that.

Aerowyn’s contemplation was interrupted by Walter rushing into the room once more, the gravity of the affair plastered on his face multiple times more severe as compared to earlier in the morning.

“There’s an entire contingent of Oathbound forming outside!” he said, his breath coming hurriedly as he strapped on a scabbard to his waist, a blade with ornamental jewels ingrained into the pommel sticking out of the sheath.

Seeing as how Colin hadn’t moved his gaze away from Iris’ sitting form within the courtyard, Aerowyn trusted him to her well being and rushed to the front of the house with Walter in tow.

Reaching one of the windows farthest from the main entrance so as to hopefully avoid any roving eyes noticing them, Aerowyn slowly moved the curtain aside just a hair and peeked through. Just like Walter had said, there were approximately ten or so Oathbound forming up right outside the gates, though to call it a contingent was a bit of a stretch.

Still, that many Oathbound gathering in one place was not a good sign. It wasn’t the same as the normal one or two coming by to question Walter about Aerowyn’s involvement in the scandal.

As he watched, he noticed Milo standing in the front of the formation, his back facing the house while he shouted orders at the King’s elite. Immediately after, a couple of them broke off from the left and right sides to surround the manor. One of the Oathbound in the rear of the formation squatted slightly and tensed his legs before launching himself up onto the roof of the multistoried building with ease, an almost imperceptible thump accompanying his landing above them. Milo himself turned around and walked through the gates, purposefully strutting up to the entrance, causing Aerowyn to let go of the misplaced curtain.

They dashed back to the window where Colin hadn’t moved in his sentry over Iris, Aerowyn talking to Walter along the way.

“They’re setting up a perimeter around the house.” He cursed internally, “What do we do? We won’t be able to take on that many Oathbound.”

Walter side eyed Aerowyn before smiling as though he was about to let him in on a little secret.

“I predicted something like this was going to happen one day. Maybe not to this severity, but that one day you were going to get yourself into trouble you’d need an out from. As it just so happens,” Walter motioned for Aerowyn to help him move the table in the dining room, “I made a little renovation to the house in your absence within the palace.”

They grunted with some effort as they moved the dense piece of furniture, only leaving the plush rug underneath. Colin paid them no mind as he continued to keep his eyes firmly on Iris.

“You see, Aerowyn, after my father got you the position of court advisor, he talked with me about your role there and the expectations he had for you. He was proud of you and of what you had become, almost as proud as me.” He said jokingly as he peeled back the rug, revealing a cutout in the foundation below in the shape of a large rectangle. Two smaller indents were cut into the top on either end, allowing for Walter to reach down and remove the cutout. Underneath held a staircase that faded into darkness, Aerowyn not even able to see where the end was.

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“By the Mother…” Aerowyn trailed off. It wasn’t the most impressive architectural feature he’d ever seen, but the fact that Walter had kept it a secret from him for so long amazed him to no end. His foresight and planning might be their saving grace.

Just then, the manor—much like a wounded animal—groaned as a loud banging dominated all sound from the main entrance.

“Patriarch Night, by the Sovereign’s authority, I order you to allow us entry!” Milo’s voice penetrated the walls the same way the periodic waves of time did when flowing through the city.

Aerowyn looked away from the sound of Milo’s demands and towards Walter, “What if it isn’t time yet? I could use my Tra—”

“No, Aerowyn, you told me yourself. Milo’s Trait counteracts your own.”

He swore under his breath. How had he forgotten? They’d gotten lucky the last time at Dave’s shop when Milo had shown up.

The banging intensified, and Walter continued with his reasoning, “Think about it. This isn’t one or two Oathbound coming with questions. You know that. This time is different!”

Once again, Milo’s booming voice echoed through the house in confirmation of their fears.

“Patriarch, open the door! This is the last warning, before we allow ourselves in by force! We have good information that you’re fostering the girl! You can thank your lovely little helper, Blythe for that!”

Walter’s eyes opened to the size of dinner plates, and rage infused his being.

Before he could turn around and storm to the main entrance in order to send Milo to meet the Mother, Colin’s voice put a hold on Walter’s rising tempest.

“She’s done.”

***

Iris

Similar to before, Iris felt the telltale tingling within her stomach, symbolizing the start of the potion’s effects. Instead of immediately attempting what had never before been done, she let the effects increase within her.

Her mind was in sync with her body, all thoughts and feelings pushed away so that she could maintain the peace inside. Just before the feeling reached what she felt like was to be the peak, she opened her eyes and activated her Trait.

Colors across a spectrum unknown to the ordinary eye played across her vision. Auris ebbed and flowed all around her and through her. She didn’t let herself become distracted as she looked down to her now swollen channels. The vacuum of energy within them was constantly being filled with the Auris around her. It looked as though the channels occupied the same space as the Auris that already existed, yet didn’t. Almost as if the natural Auris permeating all things couldn’t be absorbed into her channels until the channels themselves grabbed hold of it, which they tried to do to the best of their ability.

Soon, the peak of the potion’s effects arrived, and Iris knew it was at this point that her channels would begin to return to their normal state, albeit at a slow but steady pace. Now that she could actually feel the Auris in her channels, she reached out with that extra sense she never had before and tried to manipulate the energy to no avail.

She wanted to panic, afraid she might lose out in this battle against time, but she knew that wasn’t going to help her, and the potion was only going to heighten that emotion. She quickly pushed it aside and focused on her task.

Briefly, she recalled the words Aerowyn had said to her, something about it all being about intent. Her current strategy wasn’t working, so she quickly tried something else.

Relaxing her focus, she fed her intent to the Auris inside of her, aiming to…to do what? This was uncharted territory. Aerowyn hadn’t explained what it was she was supposed to do.

With the available time under the potion’s effect diminishing, she thought about why she couldn’t sense Auris in the first place. Obviously it was because of her less than hair thin channels. Last time in her spar with Colin, the man’s channels had been a torrent of thick energy that freely flowed through his body. So what if she made her’s thicker? Right now, the Mother’s Milk was already doing that for her, she just had to keep her channels expanded in diameter.

Iris’ conclusion was good enough for her, so she continued to feed her intent to the Auris within her, this time with the focus of stabilizing her channels. They tried to squeeze back to their original size, but Iris wasn’t going to have any of that. She sharpened her will, causing the Auris to become almost viscous in its consistency, anything to stop the ever-tightening channels.

Surprisingly, it was working!

Like from a distant tunnel, Iris heard a raucous booming of a voice coming from far away. She was nearly pulled out of her trance by the distraction, but some instinct screamed at her a warning that should she stop now, it wouldn’t be pretty.

As much as she pushed her thoughts and emotions away, she pushed the voice away just the same.

It was a strain, but Iris managed to push through, keeping her channels at or near the same thickness the rest of the way through. Doing it for her entire body and every channel flowing through it was more tension on her mind, and that wasn’t even taking into account the toll her Trait was taking on her.

Already, its usage was taxing another part of her, causing her eyes to tingle painfully. She wanted to deactivate the Trait, but knew this was vital in maintaining the stability of her attempt. Some wetness ran down her cheeks, and a drop of something red fell onto the grass below her, giving her a sign she was nearing her limit.

Finally, Iris felt the effects of the potion completely leave her, and she gratefully deactivated her Trait. Her sight was a little blurry, and her ability to visually focus on anything was beyond her at the moment. The pain didn’t go away and she wiped away the trail of blood coming from her eyes.

Beyond the pain, she felt something else. Foreign yet familiar. The feeling of a sense she’d never had, now fresh in her awareness.

Auris.

Oh how she’d dreamed of this. Of a reality where she could be powerful, strong, independent of those above her.

She didn’t revel in it for long, movement above catching her blurred sight. She looked up to see the outline of a figure on the roof of the main building. Light reflected off what seemed to be metal armor on the figure, and she squinted to try and get a better look.

With her hand shielding the brightness of the day, she barely made out the figure leaning forward before bursting forward through the air, landing only paces away.

Now that the figure was closer, Iris’ blood ran cold as she recognized the armor of an Oathbound standing before her, a thirsty smile plastered on the middle-aged woman’s face.

“Found you, you Reaches born trash,” the woman said, not bothering to hide her distaste for Iris’ origins, “Now how about I just take that Trait from you myself.” She unsheathed her sword and pulled it back to swing, Iris frozen in shock.

“IRIS!” Colin screamed from the entranceway, some of his body already crackling with electricity.

His shout took the Oathbound by surprise, causing her to turn her head towards the source. By then, the lightning that was Colin had arrived, the woman just getting her blade up to block in time.

Two blades collided, the Oathbound sneering as her blade was knocked up, Colin swinging his weapon back around towards the woman’s neck. She leaned back just before it could connect, using the momentum to kick her feet up towards a lightly overextended Colin.

He tilted his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the kick as he placed his hand on the ground for balance, the woman using her free hand to somersault back into a standing position. The reengaged, both rushing towards each other with a vigor Iris could hardly follow, especially with her sight impaired.

A fight between two people skilled in combat wasn’t one Iris was expecting to see when she woke up this morning, yet here these two were battling it out, the shared mission of killing each other left unspoken.

The Oathbound was extremely skilled, able to predict Colin’s movements like only a veteran fighter could.

Colin was able to stay ahead as he relied mostly on his advantage in speed, dodging, deflecting, and countering blows that had Iris’ heart pumping. Back and forth they went, until the first mistake was made.

The Oathbound swung with a vicious strike that seemed to carry a weight like an unstoppable plague. Colin must have not realized the difference in the swing, because he angled his weapon up to deflect the blow, only for his blade to be knocked to the side and out of his grasp, leaving him disarmed and vulnerable.

A smile once again formed on the woman’s face as she leaned forward to finish Colin off, Iris assured of Colin’s impending death.

She should have known better.

Had she paid more attention, she would have seen the set up he had prepared in the beginning of the fight. It had worked on Iris the last time, after all.

Colin, using the hand that had never once touched his weapon during the fight, swung his fist forward in an arc and opened his hand, dirt flying into the woman’s battle-crazed eyes. She reflexively closed her eyes, but it was too late.

Colin found his footing and leaned forward as he reached behind him to grab something. His body exploded in arcs of lightning and he shot towards the panicking Oathbound, his speed surpassing what Iris could perceive.

He came to a complete halt past the now frozen woman. Iris saw he was holding a long dagger, except unlike the Oathbound’s sword, his blade was dripping crimson onto the ground below.

Blood sprayed out of the woman’s throat and she toppled forward, her head disconnecting from the rest of her body.

Colin turned and walked back to the corpse. His face held no emotion as he leaned down and wiped his bloodied blade on the back of the woman’s cape. He then retrieved his blade and came over to Iris.

Iris let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. The fight couldn’t have lasted long, seeing as how she had been holding her breath the entire time.

“We have to go, now.” He urged, grabbing her arm and pulling her along in a run.

Iris looked back at the body before returning her eyes to Colin in awe of what had just transpired.

She wanted to be able to do what he had just done. She craved that strength, that ability to overcome obstacles, even if those obstacles were trying to kill her.

She was dragged back into the dining room to find Aerowyn in an intense argument with an armed Walter, blood staining his clothes and a dead Oathbound on the ground behind him.

“You’re NOT doing this right now!” Aerowyn screamed at the Patriarch.

“We don’t have fucking time for this, you idiot! Colin, take him and go!” Walter screamed back, another Oathbound turning the corner at the end of the hallway.

Colin rushed forward with Iris still in his grasp as he put his arm around Aerowyn and flung him towards an opening in the floor where the table had been, Iris just now noticing it.

Aerowyn’s protests were drowned out by the Oathbound charging forward, Walter doing the same to meet him in the middle of the hallway. Further down the hallway past the charging man, another Oathbound turned the corner. Milo locked eyes with Iris, and she could almost perceive the anger radiating from the man.

Colin pushed Iris in front of him to allow her to go down the stairs with him bringing up the rear. This forced Aerowyn to go further down the stairs, screaming Walter’s name in alarm.

As they descended into the darkness, the sound of frenetic battle continued above them, fading away until they were too far to hear more.