Catalyst

Chapter 10

"My God Aizik what were you thinking?" Eira shouted through undulating breaths. Her eyes were tearing up as she watched Malana work on him furiously. The floor of the cell was bloody from his potentially fatal wounds. They were in a small cell with thick wooden shafts providing the bars. Outside was nothing but dark dank muddy walls that appeared to be the inside of a cave.

Malana tossed the two pieces of the broken arrow aside as she placed her hands inside his wound. Aizik lurched and groaned loudly muscles tensing. Malana could feel the shredded fibers of his abs tighten around her hand.

"By thy glorious hand mend this flesh that is of your make O Lord. I pray thee Light Father that reside in heaven above all things speak thine true words through thou humble servant." prayed Malana. A white glow resonated around her hands. The prayers gave her strength, steeling her resolve to speak the Nomen Verus. The words came to her and she spoke them with the higher tongue that was worthy of saying such powerful words. Her eyes glowed brightly and her body shook. Eira sucked in a deep breath trying to control herself. If she let him die here she'd let Cavan down and Aizik would never have a chance to truly repent for what he couldn't forgive himself for. All the people he'd taken the lives of, those people he was forced to hate, he'd let them down.

"But...but what can I do?" she asked slamming her eyes shut. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered him leaping forward so selflessly to try and save someone who didn't even like him. Bowing her head Eira spoke to the one who'd been her rock in the times she had no one else. "Oh God..." she began, "please don't let him die. I know what he's done, but I'm sure you've seen him in the ways that I've yet to. Please Lord, if he has any worth at all, if he's truly compassionate in his heart of hearts save him. Please..." she continued.

"Aizik, you cannot stop here. You cannot give up just yet. You must be strong...just for a little while longer. Wake up."

His eyes opened red and shot full of blood and agony. A panic grew from the seeds of the pain in his stomach filling his throat and stopping dead at his teeth clenched tight with a struggle to stay awake and alive, but it stabbed his brain and crushed it beneath a tyrannical boot of senseless drooling anguish. Eyes rolling back again he was out.

The wound began to slowly mend from the inside but slowed. Malana quickly wrapped the wound with the bandages she hid in her garb, but they were quickly soaked with all the excess blood. She let out a heavy sigh of relief and wiped her forehead as she put her fingers to Aizik's neck to check his pulse. She smiled.

"He'll be fine. He'll be unfit to fight for quite a while, but he'll live...till our captors decide to kill us that is." Somehow she managed to keep her smile event though they were all still in danger. Eira looked up at her and then down at Aizik who breathed slowly and lightly. His face was covered in sweat and his body in blood, but he was alive. Malana was a officially a miracle worker. Eira wiped her eyes and smiled finally noticing Malana's cheeks were tear stained as well. Seeing her so happy to save someone even for a moment made it impossible for Eira not to smile back.

"Oh my God...Malana you're awesome." Eira complimented. The medic shook her head,
"No, he's just a hell of a fighter." Hayen and Lynn were still sitting together at the opposite wall watching.

"That...was really impressive." Lynn admitted staring wide eyed. Hayen just nodded in agreement.

"Now we just have to worry about what's going to happen to ALL of us." he replied staring out the wooden bars. Malana cracked her knuckles.

"Nah, I'm not done with Hero Man here. That other arrow may have passed clean through his leg and miraculously not hit an artery, but it still needs treatment." she stopped and looked him over again, "Hmm, not to mention his shoulder looks...wierd."

Several minutes of tense silence passed with Eira watching Malana as she sat close to Aizik. Malana was wrapping his shoulder with bloody hands. She'd had to cut into his arm to dig out a piece of bone that had chipped off. Lynn and Hayen sat in the corner with Hayen nursing a bandaged head and midsection. Malana put the remaining bandages back in her garb. A small knife with an obsidian tip slipped back up her sleeve like a magic trick.

Eira watched Aizik's eyes roll around in his head. He'd been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past couple of hours while the rest of them had been marched with bags over their heads through what felt like swampy woods. Minister Grieves had been taken from them about an hour ago according to Hayen.

"It's a shame," he piped up. Eira looked up at him resisting the urge to glare when she saw the sincere look on his face. "In a fair fight someone who went toe to toe with Grael would have mopped the floor with those guys. How did they get explosives with as primitive as their technology is?" Eira looked down at Aizik who clenched his eyes shut.

"I have no idea. Maybe they stole it from someone else or something." she answered. Hayen turned and stared outside the bars.

"No, that wouldn't explain how they knew how to use it. Someone had to either set it for them or help them learn how to do it themselves." he replied. Malana looked between the both of them with concern in her eyes.

"Wait are you saying someone other then these people plotted that ambush?" Hayen nodded sitting down again by Lynn who also stared out of the cell.

Suddenly Aizik sat straight up and whirled around on his bottom clutching his right shoulder. His eyes were still flared up red with anger and wild instinct. As they darted frantically around the room he realized he was both alive, and unable to fight. Eira placed her hand on his left shoulder.

"It's okay Aizik. I mean, it's not okay, but we're alive." His eyes still darted around. Something was strange in them like he'd seen something, but it was probably just disorientation.

"Where's Grieves?" he asked quickly noticing the minister was nowhere to be found. He eyed the wooden bars with destructive intent. Malana noticed and slid in front of him.

"They took him somewhere. Listen Aizik, you need to let your body heal. I had to take a piece of your splintered bone from your shoulder. It could have been a lot worse, but it's still pretty bad. That arm is in no way fit for combat." she pleaded. The look on his face did nothing to hide his intentions. Aizik had been about two seconds from breaking through the cell and trying to rip his way through this unknown compound single handedly. The fact that his good arm wasn't working and that he was weaponless seemed to deter him slightly. "Not to mention the arrow through your stomach and leg. Please, be calm. If you do something drastic now you'll just make it worse."

Eira watched him grow disappointed. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find a way out of here." She was trying to cheer him up, but whether it was working or not was a different story. He just glared at the bars, eyes still shaken and hand shaking with shudders of pain on his shoulder. His body was twitching with pain and riddled with different suffering. It felt like he was falling apart, but at the same time he felt...good.

"This is a bad situation. We were caught off guard." Aizik growled. Hayen pounded his fist into the ground.

"Damn right this is a bad situation! We're unarmed, they've got Grieves, and worst of all we were completely unprepared for this!" he shouted head sinking to his knees as he furiously pulled his fingers though his blood stained hair. Lynn put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hayen, we'll be okay. We should take the time to try and rest up before they come back. Maybe we can surprise them and make a break for it." She was thinking out loud, but Hayen shook his head and scoffed at the idea.

"Yeah, lets go get ourselves killed. Great idea Lynn. We've got a few fighters against a few dozen at least and one of the best of us is half dead. Yeah, let's go for it." Aizik sighed and leaned back. Hayen turned his gaze to him instead, "What?" he barked.

"We're not your enemies Hayen. In fact, we're all you can rely on." Aizik retorted.

"Yeah, we have to come to trust each other. Remember?" Eira reminded unable to hide the self-satisfied tone of her retort however late it was. Hayen glared at her before turning away from everyone. Lynn just shook her head and continued trying in her own way to comfort him.

A silence had taken the cell. It was easy to get lost in the possibilities. Would they just take them out one by one? Cook them? Rape them? Sacrifice them to some unknown god? Things were no more clear than the walls they all wished they could see through at he moment.

"Aizik, I noticed you have lots of small scars on your body." Malana piped up talking to Aizik. He was far from giving up. The pain in his body had done anything but subside. A steady pulsing stream of acute, red, throbbing pain pounded through his entire arm. It had seeped into his collar bone and chest spreading like the bleeding of diluted ink onto thin paper. The bruise on his shoulder was surely nasty looking by now. Still, it seemed to be holding together well. Malana was truly a skilled healer.

"Yes," he replied still staring ahead. Eira couldn't hide her worry. Something was different. Something had happened in his mind as well. Aizik looked...worried.

"Aizik, are you okay?" she asked. He nodded a liars nod. He was most definitely not okay. His face was turning white even though he was awake and the bleeding had stopped.

"Are you sure?" Eira continued. Aizik shook his head.

"Stop." Replied a harsh voiced Aizik. Malana cocked her head to the side as Eira looked to her. If he said no and wanted her to stop, she would even though she was worried about him. This was all so overwhelming. They couldn't die here. She had to join the pilgrimage and help her sister. Who were these crazy people anyway?

Malana didn't quite accept this answer. "Where'd you get them if you don't mind my asking? Aizik?" she asked. Him clamming up now would probably end poorly. Then again she didn't know him very well. Maybe he was getting at something, but he looked sick. What good could possibly be coming from his internalizing? "Aizik?"

He stayed silent. He didn't mean to ignore Malana or alienate Eira, but his mind was in an odd place right now. What he'd seen...what had spoken to him. How...who..what was that? That man...with..."Wings..." he whispered. Malana and Eira both cocked their heads to the side.

"Wings?" they asked in unison. Aizik closed his eyes shaking his head for a moment. He wasn't sure he was remembering correctly, but while he was slipping in and out of consciousness that man who spoke to him. He held the side of his head a ringing took his ears. The vision of the man was so blurry and nebulous he was certain, but he could swear...

A face came into view. It was harsh, but smooth and clean. Tan and healthy looking with a low brow and high cheeks. The eyes that stared back were all too familiar. A silver moonlight shone in them splitting his focus like the edge of a sword. Aizik tightened his eyes closed trying to get the figure...the voice that spoke to him.

Wake up.

"Wake up." Aizik said aloud.

Wake up. the voice repeated in his head. It couldn't be...

The body was cloaked in a brilliant light that hurt his eyes. It was beautiful, but it was far too incredible to comprehend. It burned his retinas and pushed his face away, but he couldn't. He couldn't look away. The man pointed at him, the eyes of silver moonlight hardened long black hair billowing in some breeze behind him blowing over Aizik's face.

Wake-
"-up," Aizik said again. His eyes shot open as he saw glorious angelic wings spread out before him. The brilliance of the light dissipated as he realized it.

The voice was his.

Eira's hand touched his back and he jerked away looking at her suddenly. She blinked.

"Aizik, are you sure you're okay? You're talking to yourself and acting kind of strange." she asked. Aizik took a deep breath. It was his own voice. It was probably just some kind of hallucination. He needed to calm down and think. They needed a plan for when their captors came back. If it was up to him, they'd break out and save Grieves, but he was definitely in no condition to break the logs that made up bars in front of them or fight dozens of people while unarmed.

Finally he looked into he concerned face of Eira and nodded, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just thinking now." Eira looked relieved. Aizik turned to Malana.

"The scars, Malana; are from fights in my past. None of them are very serious as you can probably tell." She looked doubtfully at him.

"Oh? Well there are two in particular that made me curious. The two near your shoulder blades. They're pretty big." she said. Aizik furrowed his brow. Actually this scars were almost all from punishments from Ralus, but two prominent ones on his shoulder blades? He didn't have any like that.

"What?" he asked. Malana smiled lifting the back of his nearly ruined shirt again. Her face changed looking confused.

"Um...they were just here when you were unconscious. You had two..." she trailed off touching his back near the shoulder blades. An image of wings flashed in Aizik's mind again, but he quickly shut it away.

No way...impossible...

"Well...nevermind I guess. I could have sworn they were there. Hmph." Malana shrugged letting his shirt down and blushing a little. He was so different than any man she'd ever met before. So...heroic. Somehow, with him there she had trouble feeling there was any danger even though he couldn't fight even if he wanted to.

"Aizik!" a shout rang out. Eira and Aizik both looked up suddenly.

"Grieves?" they both asked in confusion.

"Eira? You weren't supposed to be able to hear me, but it doesn't matter. Aizik, place your hand on the leftmost piece of wood in bars. I'm going to channel a word through you. Everyone needs to get out of the cell and then touch the middle one. When they blow out, the dirt above the cell will collapse." Grieves voice continued. Malana, Hayen, and Lynn looked at the two strangely. Eira and Aizik in turn looked at one another oddly and went on focusing on remembering what Grieves was saying. "If you can stay out of sight they'll think you're dead and you can make your escape. You have to get out of here. Now!"

"Uh...uhhh..." Eira stammered trying to figure out what to say first.

"I'll blow out this bar," Aizik said quickly pointing at the leftmost one. Eira -who just needed a starting point- jumped right in.

"We all have to get out of the cell and Aizik will then take out the middle one and collapse the ceiling into the cell."

"If we can get hidden they'll think us dead and we can escape under their assumption that we're no more."

"Where the hell are you getting this info?" Hayen asked with irritation in his voice.

"Grives," Eira barked instantly, "he's talking to...to both of us somehow." Malana nodded.

"He's a very powerful Speaker, I'm sure he managed to get them a message. I didn't realize Eira was a Reader as well," she said curiously. Eira shook her head,

"Oh I'm not." she answered. Malana was thereby confused again. That wasn't normal. It wasn't uncommon for Readers and Speakers to communicate telepathically over short distances if they were knowledgeable enough, but that didn't make sense if Eira wasn't a Reader like Malana could tell Aizik was.

"If he could get us that message he must be close by. I have a better plan than the one Grieves told us. We do this now and find him. We'll rescue him and he can help us escape since he's seen the place. We'll have better chances getting possibly spotted rescuing someone who knows the area than wandering around trying to find an exit. Not to mention I don't feel right leaving him behind." Aizik commanded. Hayen looked at Lynn for a moment then back to Aizik.

"Fine, whatever let's just get out of here." he said standing with Lynn. She nodded in agreement. Malana stood as well.

"Alright, let's do this." she said eagerly. Aizik got to his feet with Eira's help and placed his hand on the bar closing his eyes.

"Move!" Grieves shouted. A wave of energy exploded in his chest and riveted though his arms and out of his fingertips. The wood splintered with a thundering crack and burst into pieces leaving a wide opening. Aizik pivoted around it and let the others pass him before putting his hand on the center of the middle bar. Another wave of relentless power erupted from him and the rest of the middle bar exploded lending an immediate collapse of the roof of the cell. Dirt and chunks of stone fell with a great whooshing. Eira pulled Aizik back as the debris flowed out like a mudslide leaving a large hill of earth in front of them. Aizik faltered on his injured leg, but steadied and turned to Eira nodding in thanks for her preventing his partial burial. They braced themselves against the pile having nowhere else to hide.

It wasn't long before several footsteps and shouts in some harsh foreign language came into the room. Surprise. Then anger and alarm. The footsteps left. Everyone sighed with relief. Hayen climbed and looked over the hill of rubble. His eyes grew and he turned back around after seeing the exiting enemies. When he looked back he mouthed something.

"He's with them!" were the words. They had Grieves with them right now. Hayen grabbed a hefty rock and beckoned the rest of them. The rest did the same. This would either work and they'd live, or fail horribly and they'd all die here. There wasn't much alternative. Aizik grabbed a nice sized rock in his left hand ready to swing or throw it. Eira stood next to him. He was in no condition to do anything but lie down, but if he had to stand, she'd stand next to him.

As they all crested the hill of rocks and earth the exit of that room was easily visible and footsteps were heard on the other side. Aizik listened carefully.

"Six," he said. Hayen and Lynn nodded.

"I count the same," Lynn agreed grabbing a second rock. They all slid down the pile. Quick and quiet. If they could take out these people and get Grieves they had a chance. It was all going to happen now. Again, Aizik felt strange. It wasn't really that he felt strange it was just odd that he was already feeling...better. The pain in his leg was subsiding and the numb throbbing of his shoulder yielded to an acute pain that allowed partial movement. Something was strange, but right now he needed to fight, and fight he would.
.........................................................................................................

Cavan stayed there on all fours stopped on the side of the road. His mouth was wet with saliva and his stomach lurched again.

"Oh God..." he moaned. The thick phlegm rose in his throat. Here it comes

Hot bile and soup from lunch came spewing from his mouth down the side of the road. His muscles tightened and strained putting pressure on his upset stomach again sending more of his previously digesting food. "Fuck!" he shouted. The driver looked back at him raising an eyebrow.

"You alright back there?" he asked. Cavan regulated his breathing and waved.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine." he said. He knew he was pale and that he felt something like a train crashing into a manure storage building, but he didn't know why and that's what bothered him. It had been happening since the morning when he'd left for Anadeo.

Standing up and brushing the dirt from his knees he got back into the carriage and hit the side twice hearing the driver whip the reigns before they began to move forward. "I wonder, is this a bad omen?"