The Hollow Root - Chapter 18

First time? Here’s the table of contents:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17

The adrenaline grabbed Fasaani and rocketed her towards the building in search of her knife. The knife she had carried with her for so many years. A knife that so few understood the significance of. Fasaani’s knife was more than a knife, this much was obvious to anyone who had been near it. It was a knife forged in the flames of tragedy, with a handle made entirely of compassion. This was an old magic that not many attempted due to the sacrifice required. After Kavin had stolen Fasaani’s skin years and years ago she was determined to craft a protection that could save her from such hardships. This led her to working with a wide variety of blacksmiths and woodworkers throughout the years until she found one who caught her eye. The two became so intertwined they nearly forgot the project at hand. His name was Dewar and he was the offspring of a dwarven race that had gone extinct centuries before. He didn’t bear any resemblance to the pictures or description of his people in ancient texts but he did have a knack for swinging a hammer and an extended lifeline. Dewar and Fasaani were a match made in a fairytale... and just like old fairytales it would end in tragedy.

One day as Dewar forged the blade while Fasaani carved away at a branch from a tree they had carved their initials into when they first thought this was more than a transactional relationship. Dewar looked deeply into the glowing red blade and focused his mind on how he could imbue it with old magic and make something truly magnificent. As he focused on the flickering red sparks leaving the blade an intrusive thought crept into his mind slowly. Forge yourself into this blade. The cut of your death will hurt her initially but the scar will keep her safe. Dewar fought the thought. He focused on his craft. He could pound this blade to be perfect without such a sacrifice. He could make it perfect with his might. The thought wouldn’t fade. It pushed deeper into his mind. She will always have you with her. You aren’t immortal, you will leave her eventually. It persisted for days. A line of thinking he couldn’t shift. Had he mentioned it to Fasaani she may have helped alleviate the burden but he kept it secret. She couldn’t know.

Dewar took to silencing the thought with drink. He found the way through tankard after tankard whenever he wasn’t working on the blade itself. His obsession with the knife became taxing on the relationship that started it. Fasaani found herself at arm’s length. Being a creature of rage she didn’t handle this well. With tensions building to a climax Dewar decided it was time. He went to work on the knife putting an edge on the blade and affixing the handle. The knife itself did not look out of the ordinary, it was a folding knife like many hunters carried. He looked at it and then carried his gaze to Fasaani who was inside making something in the kitchen. Dewar mouthed the words “I love you, and this is how I will protect you” as he let the blade cut his own throat.

Fasaani found him an hour later when she went to fetch him for dinner. When she touched the knife it spoke to her and she knew. She would never speak of this to anyone.

Amy looked upon Vaino as he wretched in a tortured scream. Kavin’s eyes rolled back into his head showing only the whites of his eyes. Vaino’s hand seemed incapable of leaving Kavin now. The two were tied in some strange agonizing pain. Vaino’s skin appeared to sizzle as the rain hit him and his mouth let out a tortured scream that caused Amy to grab at her ears. Instinctively she moved towards Vaino but a heat was pulsing off of his body and as she neared a blue flame burst off of his skin. Amy jumped back startled and began to look around. Her skull felt as though it was fracturing under the sound of Vaino’s screaming. Grabbing at her hair and ears and trying to get her thoughts to have any space in her head. She looked towards Fasaani who had just reached the door of the main building as she opened the door. Amy noted a person walking through the hallway normally. Could they not hear this wretched screaming, she thought? She began looking around the property and noticing people moving about as though nothing was happening. What was this strange magic and why was it happening? Amy’s mind was splitting with the sound and she crouched to her knees. The scream was too much and she had to close her eyes just to preserve her thoughts.

The flame grew higher off of Vaino’s skin but didn’t seem to be burning anything on his body. His mouth was open and facing the sky. Flame began lapping at the air out of his open mouth. Tears streaming down the side of his face as his expression seemed pained by some deep hurt. Kavin’s body was rigid and frozen. Amy pulled her body into itself. Her thoughts lost to the screaming she rocked slightly back and forth unsure how long she could hold on. As she felt her mind slipping and crumbling to dust she heard a faint but quick footfall. Amy picked her head up noticing Fasaani running faster than she knew possible. Her face pained with a newly sobered look of determination. Fasaani moved without thought or even the slightest inkling of fear. Amy watched it like it was a silent movie. Fasaani running towards Vaino engulfed in a magic flame, Kavin turned to some human statue. Amy started to unfold in an attempt to rise to her feet and better understand the scene unfolding before her, but before she could understand Fasaani had reached Vaino and jumped into the air with the knife pointed blade forward. With fierce precision she struck at Vaino’s neck driving the blade in deeply and causing a hemorrhage of blood to coat her face. The flame sizzled into smoke and then nothing as the two of them collapsed on the ground sending Kavin toppling over still stiff as a board. Fasaani straddled Vaino holding the knife with one hand and moving her knees to hold Vaino’s arms down. She was breathing hard and also trying to understand what she had done. Tears formed in her eyes as she realized that Vaino’s breath was slowing down. Vaino’s eyes became something more human and he looked at her with the eyes of an antelope seeing the leopard for the first time. “I... I don’t have...” He coughed a thick bit of blood. “I can’t explain... I just wish we had been better friends. You need to run now... I’m sorry,” Vaino said through a series of coughs and gurgles as the life faded from his eyes.

Fasaani pulled the knife from his neck and looked around her finding Kavin stiff and motionless but alive, and Amy looking confused and horrified and then finally her eyes landed on Mitsy who was just walking out of the building holding a bottle of wine, her face contorted into a look only tragedy could form.

“Oh fuck,” said Fasaani.