When Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith and Alilia arrived at the cottage it was three hours to midnight in First Valley, yet here on Hilia it was an hour and a half after dawn.
“Good day, and welcome Your Majesties, Hilsith.” Balen gave a quick curtsy with her greeting. “Mark and Talia ask you to join them at the royal beach. But I’m to caution you to not disturb them when you arrive, for they are in the midst of delicate procedures. Here’s the location reference.”
“Thank you, Balen.” Yazadril smiled.
A moment later they appeared in a marked arrival circle, its bright blue glow shining in the dimness of a small clearing between an overhanging cliff of black rock and the edge of a jungle. They took a narrow and meandering path marked with a glowing green line through eighty meters of dim tropical forest, then emerged onto the black sand beach. The cliffs on three sides ensured that the sun wouldn’t shine directly down on the beach till later in the morning, so all about was in shadow. The lagoon was calm, there was no wind, and the silence was almost total.
Halfway down the beach Mark sat with his legs folded beneath him, facing out at the lagoon, his arms wrapped around Talia’s waist. She sat in his lap with her back to him and her legs straight out before her, the backs of her hands resting on his knees, the sword Ria unsheathed and resting on her palms with the pommel on her right, the bared blade on her left.
Gathered at the top of the beach were Povon, Kragorram, Equemev, and Silaran. The elves silently made their way to join them.
“Greetings.” Equemev offered, Speaking Elven for courtesy’s sake.
“And good day to you. What transpires?” Yazadril inquired as he felt Equemev draw all eight into her Speaking.
“I have been monitoring them passively, as has the spirit of the sword.” Povon reported. “Not that I could help doing so, given the immense magnitude of the psionic energy he is expending.
“Their Link is deeper and more thorough than I have ever seen before, yet I am sure that Mark has the situation well controlled. His emotions indicate that he is being very cautious, yet he is confident. So far as I can tell, Talia is completely passive. She has given him complete access to her mind, and allows him to do as he wills with her. A very brave trust I think, given his almost complete inexperience.
“At first he merely studied her, and I think he has come close to knowing the totality of her being. I doubt even you could perform so thorough a Reading in so short a time, Prince of The High People.
“His interest focused for a while, and then he Set some of his knowledge and experience into her mind in a way that is completely new. I am not certain, but I think he learned everything she knows of wizardry during that time, then taught her all the magecraft he learned from Ria, as well as his years of training as a warrior and scout. Those three processes took about seven minutes in total, during which time neither felt the slightest discomfort.
“I thought then that I had reached the limits of amazement.
“Over the next six minutes they reached the thoroughness of Linking they are experiencing now, and he then isolated the curse, establishing quite clearly which parts of her mind and power were her own, and which were the curse. That came through quite clearly, for he had a moment of delighted epiphany about it.
“Then he... He introduced himself to it. Then he actually enhanced it somehow. You could say that after that they chatted for a while, the curse and him. His recognition that the curse realized that it had been improved was quite clear. After that, well, I could be wrong, but I believe he began to negotiate with it! He continues to do so now, but he is doing something else as well, something subtle, yet profound.”
“Do you think he is risking harm to my daughter or himself?” Nemia asked, her expression tight with worry.
Povon took a deep breath as she considered, and let it out with a puff of white smoke and steam. “No. Surprising to say so, considering the bare facts of what he does, and his inexperience. But I truly think he has things well in hand, as you humanoids might say. For now at least. It is the most incredible display of inherent, intuitive psionic talent ever seen on this world, of that I am quite sure.”
“He truly makes it seem easy.” Equemev marveled.
They waited patiently for eight minutes, then Mark Spoke to Alilia. The rest heard, since Alilia was still Linked to them through Equemev.
“Alilia, you are sworn to me, and I now call upon you.” he politely stated. “Please come and kneel close on my left, and open your mind to me.”
Alilia swallowed hard, and moved to comply as she withdrew from the Link with Equemev.
“Great missing Gods!” Nemia exclaimed a minute later. “Even I can feel the power of that Link, and I am not very sensitive that way! And we are fifteen meters away!”
Seventeen minutes later, Alilia rose, and rejoined the seven observers.
“May I ask what he did?” Povon inquired.
“He Read everything I have felt about casting the curse since I realized that Talia was innocent in Bezedil’s death.” Alilia revealed in wonder. “He seeks to dissuade the curse from causing hurt, and hopes that my remorse and guilt at casting the curse unjustly will help to convince it.
“Then, you could say he browsed through my knowledge and experience of wizardry, and availed himself of most of the spells I know! As easy as reaching out and picking a plum from a basket at the market! He would think to himself, ‘Well those look interesting, I’ll take them, and that’ll be useful, I’ll take those ones too!’ And when he does this, he has no need to wait for the information to be integrated into his mind, as he did when Ria passed him her magecraft! The magic he learns himself from the mind of another is fully understood, practiced, usable, in only a moment! Right now he could cast my spells as competently as I could myself!
“His motivations for both of those are understandable, but what is puzzling is that he then Read my experiences with Bezedil. Mark made sure he had every moment I ever spent with my son, every thought and sensation of it. He was most interested in those times when I was Linked with Bezedil, which I had done often and deeply, both as mother and as instructor of wizardry.
“All in all, it was a somewhat frightening experience. Already his power, his spellcraft, and his psionic ability may well exceed my own. And with every moment that passes, his abilities grow.
“I think... I think I love him. That in itself is... very disturbing.”
“You love him?” Nemia asked in surprise. “Romantically or platonically?”
“I am not sure.”
Again they waited patiently.
More than half an hour later, Mark sighed deeply as he lay back on the black sand, drawing Talia down with him. She turned in his arms and wept as she kissed him.
“He is finished. He feels that his efforts were successful.” Povon judged, and moved to join the couple with light leap and a single careful wing stroke.
The rest joined her, gathered around Mark and Talia.
Talia was whispering; “Thank you, thank you, I love you so much, thank you...”
“Can we offer you any assistance?” Hilsith asked.
“No thanks, we’re fine.” Mark grinned.
“May I ask what you did?” Yazadril inquired.
“I bargained with the curse!” Mark laughed. “Talia was cursed to be raped by me until the end of days. I wanted to weaken the rape part, and strengthen the ‘until the end of days’ part. Showing it how Alilia felt about it helped a lot.
“First I gave it temporary access to some of my mental capacity, since it really wasn’t smart enough to bargain with effectively before that.
“Then I pointed out how it had needed my help to assure Talia’s survival today, and related what I’d learned about how it could’ve been overpowered and defeated. If the attack had been much stronger than it was today, Talia would’ve been beyond saving. And if I hadn’t turned off the tine band, I think we’d both be gone.
“If one of us dies, the curse fails, and it doesn’t want that.
“In order to prevent that, I gave it access to all of Talia’s power, to all of my power, and to all of the power we each gained from the chapel and all the elves with our wedding vows. I think that gives the curse enough power to eventually heal us from anything, even if the dust and mist of our bodies were evenly distributed in all the air and water and rock of Kellaran.
“In return, the curse allowed me to alter it so that it wouldn’t cause Talia any agony when it comes upon her, she’ll just feel an urge, like a mild hunger or an addiction, though once the urge comes upon her it will grow stronger until the curse is fulfilled.
“Then I gave it access to all the spells we know, so that it can cast them in our defense next time. The idea being that it can act to save our lives, instead of bringing us back after we’re dead. It will be perpetually on guard, which we can’t be if we’re asleep or distracted.
“In return for that, I got to modify it so that it won’t prevent Talia from having a baby any more.
“Finally, so that it can have the speed to act to save us, even if we’re attacked as suddenly as we were today, I gave it the ability to access all of both our mental capacity. In return for that, I asked that I wouldn’t have to hurt Talia to fulfill the curse; that I could just pretend to rape her. Tie her up and such, without actually hurting her. The curse wouldn’t go for that, but we then found a different compromise that the curse would accept, and now I’ll only have to hurt her as much as we did last night. We were trying to prepare for when the curse would strike, and I did hurt her, but it was more like rough play, and it wasn’t bad enough to prevent her from enjoying herself.”
“Immensely, I might add!” Talia laughed, tears still streaming down her face, her voice still thick with emotion.
“I’ll still have to spank her and tie her up and such, but I won’t have to physically hurt her as much, and I won’t have to be nasty emotionally! I can be as nice and as loving as I want while I’m doing it!” Mark crowed in joy, whirling Talia around with a few spontaneous dance steps across the cool black sand. “With the added protections it’ll give us, I think I’ve really converted the curse to a blessing!
“I tell you, it’s not perfect, but I really count it as a victory! The finest thing I’ve ever done, so far at least!
“And the best part is, the power of the curse is now intermingled with our power, and the limited mind it had is now diluted and distributed among both of our minds. It’s lost its individuality, and is now a much more natural and integrated part of both of us. It no longer exists within Talia, or within her mind, as a discrete entity. Having it there like that was a huge subconscious irritation to her.”
“It was, and even though I didn’t consciously realize that, it’s a huge relief now that it’s corrected.” Talia agreed. “And there were other benefits from the process! Mark has mastered the spell that the curse uses to re-assemble us!”
“That’s right.” Mark nodded. “The critical part is having an absolutely complete awareness of the subject. Knowing exactly where every speck of material in the subject’s body is and how it’s moving, and what every spark of energy in it is doing, at least on an intuitive level. Most of the curse’s previous mental capacity was dedicated to knowing all this about both me and Talia at all times, so that it could reconstruct us from our last moment of completeness whenever anything happened to us.
“Alilia’s subconscious intuitive awareness is so extensive, she had that level of detail in her knowledge and awareness of Bezedil, especially from Linking with him so deeply and so often. For the last few years Alilia was always in psionic contact with her son, if only subconsciously. That’s how she knew when Bezedil fell. And I have Read that knowledge.
“Talia was incredibly close to Dalia, and knew her incredibly well, and had Linked deeply with her sister many times. I’ve Read her knowledge and experience of Dalia. But her awareness of Dalia wasn’t as complete as Alilia’s awareness of Bezedil. On the other hand, Nemia also knew the moment when Dalia fell, so she was also subconsciously Linked with Dalia at all times, as Alilia was with Bezedil. And I’m sure that you, Yazadril, with your famed ability to consciously retain detail, have excellently detailed recollections of your daughter. So, Yazadril and Nemia, I now ask you to allow me to Read from you both every detail of your every experience and thoughts of Dalia, and that should give me a detailed enough awareness of her.
“Then we’ll go to Focus Mountain so I can completely recharge my power. And then we’ll go to First Valley, where I will bring Dalia and Bezedil back to life!”
Everyone stared open mouthed in astonishment, including Talia.
“You cannot do that!” Povon suddenly exclaimed. “They are almost four days dead! It would be necromancy! It is forbidden!”
“Then it’s equally necromancy that Talia and I are alive right now!” Mark retorted. “And personally, I don’t give a damn if it’s forbidden! They were innocents who were slain by a curse! I can save them, so I’d be Compelled to do so by my swearing of Osbald’s Oath, since this definitely falls under protection of the innocent! That is, if I wasn’t going to do it anyway, because it’s the right thing to do!”
“I will allow no one to prevent this!” Alilia stated, her manner determined, her voice hard. “I think he can do it, and if anyone thinks to stop him from saving my son, they will have to kill me first! If it was your child, Povon, do you think you would do any different?”
“Read me now, Mark, then Yazadril!” Nemia urgently begged. “I would have no delay!”
“I need to think about this.” Yazadril murmured.
“How can you say that?!!” Nemia barked, turning on her husband angrily.
Yazadril flinched, then took a deep breath to steady himself. “My love. You know how much I loved Dalia. You know how much I want her back.
“But the implications of this are all-encompassing! With this act we may trigger events that lead to the elimination of death on Kellaran! From there, either we institute universal breeding controls, leading to the elimination of youth, or the planet will be stripped of life by the exploding multitudes until there is only cannibalism!”
“You’re over-reacting, Yazadril.” Mark countered with an obvious exercise of patience. He considered for a moment, then sadly shook his head, and continued in a more restrained tone. “Nothing can eliminate death. I can’t bring back my family, Yazadril. I didn’t know them well enough, no one did, and that’s the case for almost everyone else as well.
“Only the exceptional qualities of Alilia’s and Talia’s minds and talents and powers allowed the curse to know us well enough to save our lives. Alilia knew her son well enough, and perhaps she knows you and Gorsh well enough, but I doubt that even she knows anyone else well enough for it to work. Talia didn’t know Dalia well enough, but between her and Nemia and you, I’m pretty sure it’ll work. If Nemia helps me and you don’t, I’m still going to try my best to save Dalia.
“Even if I knew my family well enough, I still couldn’t bring them back, because the material of their bodies would be very widely dispersed by now. Scavengers had been at them, and they were left there for a month, and then given a conventional Finitran burial. Whereas Hilsith cast a preservation spell on Dalia and Bezedil about three minutes after they fell, and then reset their bones and tissues so that they’d be presentable in open caskets. The only parts of them that I won’t have right there is the blood they lost into the ground and into their clothing, and while it’s probably pretty widely dispersed, it’s not really that much material, and I’m pretty sure that I have enough power to retrieve it.
“So, for me to save anyone with the spell, they have to have been Linked deeply and often with one or more of the best psionicists in the world, and they may need to be Linked with that person at the moment of death, and almost all of their material has to be available, or magically preserved by a Healer who’s a wizard.
“Furthermore, the spell is incredibly difficult. The way it was created by Alilia as part of her curse was completely intuitive and subconscious, and required a moment of supreme distress and absolute focus, not to mention all of her power. It doesn’t work like anything else, and neither Ria nor Alilia even know any words for most of what it does, especially at the last moment when re-assembly is complete and life is restored.
“I’m confident I can cast it for two reasons. One is that I’m one of the most talented magic users around right now. I hate to boast, but there it is. More important than that, the spell is part of me now, as the curse is part of me now. It’s almost more like an innate ability than a spell. I doubt there’s even a handful alive who have both the talent and the power to cast this spell at will, even if I was capable of teaching it to them, and I doubt I could. Believe me, I think I could teach you all the magecraft Ria knows in about three minutes, but I couldn’t teach you the re-integration spell.
“This is never going to be widely available.
“Now, I am going to save Dalia and Bezedil. Believe me; if you help me, things are going to work out. If you oppose me there’s going to be hurt feelings at the very least, and I don’t really think you can stop me anyway.”
“No. You could be stopped, but you are right in that none of us want the consequences of that.” Povon stated with determination. “You must be convinced, if not to cease your plan, then at least to wait until it has been discussed and approved by the Assembly of The Just Alliance. And I am not the person to convince you. I will inform Somonik of these events, as I feel is my duty.”
“Mark, please!” Nemia begged.
“We’re going to Focus Mountain. You can come along if you want.” Mark stated determinedly, taking Talia and Nemia by the hand, and the three vanished.
They appeared over the blue bowl of the volcano, hundreds of meters in the air. Nemia was taken by surprise, but Mark caught her with Movement before she had fallen five centimeters, while Talia cast Pure Breath on the three of them. He glanced up at the sun overhead, then considered its visible light reflecting from the broken volcanic glass below, and estimated the location of the reflection’s focus. The three flew there, still holding hands, as he Linked with Nemia.
The seven who’d been left on the beach appeared moments later and flew to catch up, the unicorns seeming to gallop across thin air. They all drifted to a stop in mid-air as Somonik, Tithian, and Grakonexikaldoron appeared around them.
“What will you do?” Povon demanded of them in agitation.
“He is deeply Linked with the elf Nemia right now, as you can tell, even as he regains his full strength.” Somonik observed with interest. “We will not disturb him until he is finished the Reading. After that, we will try to convince him to wait, at least until the possible consequences of his actions are more fully understood. If he will not wait, we will not impede him.”
“There is no law that forbids what he does, and it is being done for the first time.” Tithian added. “If there is harm done because of it, then we may have the right to act against its repetition in the future, but right now we have no legal basis to prevent him.
“As well, we have trusted his wisdom thus far, and his arguments seem sound, so I see no reason why we should lose faith in him now. To do so without very strong reason would also be politically unwise, to say the least.
“There is also the consideration that what he intends is groundbreaking and innovative spellcraft, and personally, I hope to be allowed to observe.”
“I am relieved.” Povon sighed. “I’m still worried, but I did inform you, so I’ve done my duty and it’s out of my hands, as they say in this language. I’m glad there will be no conflict.”
“I’m glad as well, and you can’t talk me out of it.” Mark grinned, having no trouble carrying on a conversation while conducting his Reading of Nemia. “Yazadril? What do you say? Will you help me bring your daughter back?”
“I guess I will.” Yazadril smiled.
“Do you mind if I look through your spells while I’m at it? I’ll give you your choices of the magecraft spells I have in return if you want.”
“Certainly!” Yazadril chuckled. “If you can teach them to me as easily as Povon tells me you taught them to Talia, I’ll take every one of them, and you can have as many of mine as you think you can absorb!”
“I’ll take that as a challenge!” Mark returned.
To everyone’s surprise, they heard the psionic voice of the Eldest. “I would very much like to see the resurrection.”
“You may see it through my eyes, Eldest, for I welcome your Link.” Povon offered.
“Thank you, child.” the most ancient dragon acknowledged.
Mark finished his Reading of Nemia, and gave her a quick hug. “Thanks. I’m surprised at how many interesting spells you know that Talia and Alilia didn’t.”
“Thank you.” Nemia smiled. “I don’t know if I can cast any of those magecraft spells, but I’ll work on it.”
“I welcome you to the proceedings, Eldest.” Mark called.
“It will be interesting, boy. As Somonik said, there is always something new. And it’s good to see that you’re filling the corners in the big empty room of your mind. Your collection of marbles grows rapidly.”
“Thank you.” Mark chuckled.
“Allow me to establish the Link in both directions, Mark.” Yazadril suggested. “I will pass you my awareness of Dalia while you Read my spellcraft and pass me your magecraft. We can save time that way.”
“All right. I’ll be at maximum power in a few minutes, and hopefully we’ll be done by then.”
Only seven minutes was required, and Mark was starting to feel a little dazed when they were finished, but the feeling passed as soon as he withdrew from the Link. He’d lingered in the focus longer than he would have otherwise, and sweat ran down his face as he became overcharged with power.
A quarter second after he and Yazadril ended their Link, he Translocated the entire party.
“Great screaming gods above and below!” Povon exclaimed as they all emerged into darkness and moonlight. “Now that was an impressive jump!”
“I’ll say it was, for this is First Valley, and that’s our home below!” Nemia agreed as they began descending, following Mark’s lead. “Himself, five elves, three unicorns and four dragons, halfway around the world on a moment’s whim!”
“Yazadril, you have an impressive mind indeed.” Mark grinned as he wiped his brow, still panting a bit as he recovered from his exertion. “Your attention to detail, the immensity of your knowledge, and your skill as a psionicist are all masterful. I think I got a third of your spells, and I already had about another third of them from Alilia. I think I could have handled more, but I was overheating in the focus, and I’m pretty sure I got all the ones I’ll ever have any use for. On the other hand, I only took a working knowledge of them. I didn’t bother with learning most of the background and theory, because that would take me about six thousand years, I think. Truly, I don’t have much talent for that kind of theory. Give me a set of steps to follow, and I follow them. And your mind as a whole is truly very beautiful and wondrous in its complexity.”
“Thank you.” Yazadril nodded, deep in thought, letting Nemia guide his flight. “You are simply astonishing, my boy. Simply astonishing. Already your skill as a psionicist exceeds my own in some ways, and I’ve no doubt your knowledge of spellcraft will as well, likely within the week.
“And this magecraft from the youth of Visinniria is absolutely fascinating.”
They landed on the lawn beside Yazadril’s oak, and Mark directed them to stand clear of the place where Dalia and Bezedil had fallen, allowing only Talia to remain at his side. They stood floating with their feet thirty centimeters above the grass.
He knew the exact location of Dalia and Bezedil’s open caskets in the Hall of the Council of The High People, having learned it from his Readings of Yazadril and Nemia and Alilia. He projected his consciousness there, considered the two massive marble sarcophagi and the two who rested within, and Translocated them to the clearing. As he gathered Talia up and settled her in his arms, he Moved the caskets to parallel positions on either side of the impact site, leaving them Levitated a thirty centimeters above the grass.
“Hilsith, at my direction, please give me a psionic signal as you release the preservation spell.” he asked. “I’ll cast the re-integration spell at that same moment.”
“At your direction.” the Healer agreed. “I believe it would help if I fetched you the robe she was wearing when they fell, for as you said, much of her lost blood was soaked into the cloth, and a bit of his was as well. Alilia’s apparel was also taken, and a good bit of Bezedil’s blood was absorbed by it as she embraced his fallen form. He was naked when he jumped. The garments were preserved as evidence against the possibility of an investigation into their deaths.”
With that, she Summoned the bloodstained items to a place on the ground between the caskets.
“Thank you. We’ll do Bezedil first. I’ll need a few moments to prepare myself.”
“Quite understandable.” she nodded.
He settled into a state of light meditation and mentally rehearsed what he was going to do.
A small crowd began to gather; most still in their nightclothes, and were quietly cautioned to take no action and to observe silently from the ground. Word was spread psionicly by Yazadril and Nemia that no one was to cast even the most minor spell anywhere in First Valley until further notice, and that ban included Flight. They explained that any distraction or any disturbance in the magic field could have critical consequences.
Finally, Mark opened his eyes and took a deep breath, then stepped over to the foot of Bezedil’s coffin. “Whenever you’re ready, Hilsith.”
“Now.”
She released the preservation spells on Bezedil and the robes, and Mark cast his spell, spending so much power that he shone bright enough to hurt the eyes of the closest observers, lighting up the night all around. His illumination made it easy to see the dust-like motes that rushed into the fallen elf’s still form, most of it coming from the ground and the robe beside the coffin, and barely visible bits from the air all around, with slightly more of those coming from the direction of the lake.
In less than a minute the flow of particles slowed to a trickle. A minute after that, only an occasional mote could be detected, and the light began to increase in brilliance.
“Ward your eyes from the flash!” Mark called, the stress of his efforts plain in his tone.
Three seconds later came the silent flash. Mark heaved a deep sigh. His joyous smile shone with a new enlightenment. “Well. That wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be.” he softly rumbled.
Alilia ran forward just after the light faded, already reaching for her son’s mind with a Link. “He lives!” she cried as she reached his side, and she clutched his hand as she burst into tears. A moment later she was joined by Hilsith, who quickly cast diagnostic spells, then nodded and smiled reassuringly.
Bezedil’s eyes fluttered open. “I am alive!” he quietly marveled in Elvish, then suddenly sat up and desperately looked around. “Dalia!” he cried as he saw her in her casket.
Mark cast Tongues for Elvish upon himself, and smiled to himself at the joy of being able to do so.
“She will be well in a few moments.” Alilia tearfully assured Bezedil as she threw her arms around him, so overcome with emotion she was barely able to speak. “Oh my son! I cannot believe I have you back!”
“Please, save Dalia!” he begged.
“I will.” Mark assured him in Elvish as he nodded and stepped over to Dalia’s casket. “When you are ready, Hilsith.”
“That human saved me?” Bezedil asked in confusion.
“Yes.” Hilsith told him with a reassuring smile. “Now hush, while he works his Healing.
“Now.” she told Mark as she released the Preservation, and he cast his spell upon D