Hand in the Flame

[Andros]

Ajax had been sleeping deeply when he woke up to the smell of acrid smoke and the tent on fire above his head. The weather was perfect for camping, just the very slightest bit nippy at night but warm and comfortable during the day. He and Hakon had spent three days since their fight with the dividi Hildegard going deeper and deeper into the woods. They hadn’t seen a town or village since they left her cottage, and the road was overgrown in places. Despite the distance from civilization and rustic conditions Ajax found it pleasant.

The road ran alongside a pretty stream that provided clean, fresh water and occasional deeper spots to swim and cool off. Hakon enjoyed swimming, though he wasn’t very good at it. It was a bit satisfying for Ajax to have an athletic activity he was demonstrably better at than his friend. Apparently Pappa had taught him, but there’s only so much you can learn if you start as an adult. In any case, Ajax enjoyed the water. He also enjoyed the view Hakon provided when they stripped down and jumped in, not to mention how deeply Hakon blushed when Ajax pointed out that he enjoyed the view. Gently needling the prudish mage was becoming something of a hobby for him.

That day Hakon had stopped them well before dark and sent Ajax off to try to rustle up dinner while he set up camp. The forest was teeming with wildlife and, while Ajax wasn’t the best hunter, he took down a nice fat bird with a well-aimed rock. Hakon graciously butchered it, which Ajax was squeamish about, and then Ajax set it to roast over the fire Hakon had started. It left him full and happy, and Hakon poured them each a bit of mead to accompany the meal.

As the sun set, the two men listened to the forest come alive with nocturnal noises. Ajax was relaxed and at peace. He was fairly certain he’d won Hakon over, and danger seemed far away. He got Hakon to play the drums on a tree stump and sang a few songs - a hymn to the sea gods from home and a local Nothradican ballad, slightly bawdy - until his eyes grew heavy.

Ajax fell asleep as he had the past three nights; fully clothed on the ground beneath their tent, but pressed up against Hakon for warmth. The past two nights Hakon had faced away from him and he’d curled around the bigger man as best he could. Tonight, though, Ajax faced away and let Hakon wrap himself around him. He felt warm and safe, and dared to move a little closer.

“That doesn’t count as a wiggle, by the way,” he said with a yawn. “Goodnight Hakon.”

[Hakon]

The trip had been going really well since they quelled Hildegard. Ajax seemed to open up and trust him more, and he was acting as though he were even fond of Hakon, at times. Hakon didn't read anything into that. Ajax had been quite clear that nothing romantic was going to happen, and Hakon had told him that if he wanted that to change, he would have to be fairly explicit. He hadn't done so, so as far as Hakon knew, this was how Ajax acted with his friends.

Still, it was nice to hold onto him. It had been too long since he'd held anyone like this. That was his last thought as he drifted off.

He woke up to the smell of smoke. His eyes snapped open, and it was fairly easy to determine what was going on: their tent was on fire. Ajax had covered the coals earlier that evening and their tent was a ways from the fire, besides, so this was no accident.

An ambush, then. Probably bandits, given their relatively isolated location. Hakon hadn't heard anything about there being theft along this ill-used road, but it was a mountain path between two small towns that saw little traffic, so a few of them could be living out here with no reprecussions.

Hakon did a quick assessment. He was wearing his clothes and a cloak, but his boots were off. Given the speed of the fire, he didn't have time to put them on before he'd be in trouble. Beside, once he got up, the light from the flame would silhouette him and make an easy target for arrows. The only logical move would be to blast through a wall of the tent while prone and then roll. With luck, the flash of light would surprise the attackers and give him an opportunity to orient himself to whatever was going on outside.

It was quiet outside; no taunting voices, no footsteps. They were already in position, whoever they were.

He didn't like what he was about to do. He'd seen Ajax panic when they were sparring, but he couldn't risk the lad waking up, seeing the fire, and panicking. So he wrapped his arms around the smaller tightly and clapped a big hand over his mouth.

"Ajax," Hakon hissed in his ear, "Open your eyes. We're under attack."

He saw Ajax's eyes open, then widen, the whites showing as he bucked in his arms once before settling down.

"Keep calm. I'm going to draw them away in just a minute. When I do, a wall of the tent will be gone. Make your exit a few seconds after I make mine, while their attention is on me. They may not know you're here."

There were two horses, but it was not impossible for one man to have more than one mount, and there were no other indications that this was a two man camp. Hakon was hopeful that if AJax kept quiet, they could use his presence to their collective advantage. Certainly, they needed all the help they could muster as being ambushed at night did not place them in a good starting position.

"On my count, lad. One, two,"

And on the third, Hakon rolled out from under his cloak and away, aiming a bolt through the cloth wall of the tent and then continuing to roll to the perimeter of the camp. If his bolt didn't hit anyone, well, at least no one had hit him so far. He'd survived worse.

[Andros]

A pleasant dream about Jan (sorry, Hakon) was rudely interrupted when Hakon pinned Ajax down. Ajax suddenly found himself unable to move or breathe. He panicked instantly, thrashing about but unable to escape. His eyes opened but he didn’t register Hakon’s face for a few seconds, let alone notice the fire. It was lucky his mouth was covered and he couldn’t scream.

Hakon’s voice brought him back to reality. He was amazingly calm, considering the circumstances. Quickly, Ajax came out of his panic and listened. This was bad, very bad, but there was no time to be afraid. They obviously had to get out of the tent, but Ajax irrationally didn’t want Hakon to leave him. He gripped Hakon’s shirt to keep him in place, but the giant simply ignored it and flipped over onto his stomach, then suddenly blasted a hole through one side of the tent and disappeared through it.

Ajax counted to five, then crawled out after Hakon. He didn’t dare raise his head to assess the situation. Instead he moved like a worm, stomach to the ground, winding his way as fast as he could to a large tree up against the river. The dense canopy of the forest blocked out the moonlight, but the fire of the tent illuminated the little clearing well enough for ajax to see where he was going.

When had reached the tree, Ajax crawled around it to the far side, then sat up and put his back so he could peek around to take stock. What he saw was not a pretty picture. Hakon was pinned down. He was up on one knee with his shield out, desperately holding off the attacking bolts fire. They seemed to come at him as if the enemy mage - and it must be a mage - were throwing a flaming javelin. Each one would hit the shield, causing it to shake as Hakon struggled to fend it off. Then it would fall to the ground and disappear. There was no loud clang of metal against metal. It was simply a lance made out of of fire. They were up against a pyromancer.

Ajax had to look around the other side of the tree to get a good look at the attacker. He was not as expected. For a start, he was well-dressed. He had on a long tunic of fine material, dyed an expensive bright red, paired with a very fashionable blue cap that set it off nicely. It would have looked very handsome had the man not been so ugly. As short as Ajax, which was neither here nor there, he was trying to hide it ineffectively with tall, heeled boots that went up to his knees and made him look ridiculous. He had long, stringy hair and his face was horribly pockmarked. It was not a pretty sight, especially set against Hakon, who was looking stoic and determined and as beautiful as ever.

The pyromancer didn’t seem to be tiring, while Hakon had to be wearing himself out fending off blow after blow. This couldn’t go on forever. Ajax knew he had to help. But if he revealed his position he’d be felled by one of the javelins. He had no means to protect himself. Except maybe the water? If he threw something at the villain and then dove under, would he be safe from the fire? It was worth a try. As Hakon bravely took blow after blow, Ajax quietly searched the riverbank for a good rock.

[Hakon]

He wasn't immediately attacked as he rolled, which to Hakon was a minor miracle. He had surprised their assailants, then. He tried to find his feet, but instead, saw a bolt of flame heading his way and barely conjured his kite shield in time to keep it from blasting him in the chest. Flamelances pointed to the presence of a Pyromancer, and then three more lances came, one after another, all from the same direction, and no other projectiles.

So Hakon had been wrong. It was not bandits, but a rogue mage. It was unclear why they were being attacked, but the man would not find them to be the easy prey he no doubt sought. The Flamelances were blistering his hands already, even with him dismissing and recalling his shield as much as he could between onslaughts, and they were so fast that he couldn't counter in any meaningful way. It was a stalemate that favored their attacker, whose face he still had not seen.

The positives, such as they were: Ajax had successfully left the confines of the tent. He could keep up being assaulted in this way for quite some time; it was not really much strain to summon and dismiss his shield. More significantly, the lances were all coming from the same direction, meaning there was only one attacker, and they were not moving about. So whoever he was, he was cocky.

Perhaps that could be used to his advantage.

Hakon seemed to falter momentarily, his shield arm drooping slightly as his timing in recalling his shield was mis-timed, allowing for a bolt to connect with his arm. He let out a low groan as he watched the flesh of his arm start to bubble and blacken.

There was no immediate follow-up attack, so Hakon took his best guess at where his attacker was and a galvanized bolt flew to his approximate location, connecting to something with a crack as he heard a man curse.

Hakon brought his shield back up and healed the flesh of his arm so that it was usable. He left it red and blistered, though; he didn't have time to heal it up all the way.

"Face me, coward!" He yelled into the dark of the wooded thicket.

Taunting his opponents was not his usual tack, but he was at a disadvantage and desperate. Anything that could knock the man off-balance, anything that could make him tip his hand would be worth it.

He prayed that Ajax stayed hidden. Shriven flame could immolate a person, turning them to a pool of pus and blisters in moments. If Ajax were hit, Hakon might not be able to get to him in time.

[Andros]

It took a minute or two but Ajax finally found the right rock nestled in the mud of the riverbank. It was heavy but not so heavy he couldn’t give it a good chuck, and it fit neatly in his palm. Unlike most of the rocks he found it wasn’t so smooth that it would be slippery, but had lots of cracks and crevices he could grab on to. Realistically, he knew he wasn’t killing pyromancer like he’d killed their dinner, but even a momentary distraction could give Hakon an advantage. Ideally he’d bean the pyromancer right in the face and let Hakon get a real hit in.

He didn’t see the lance hit Hakon, but he heard a hiss of fire against flesh and the moan that followed. That brought his spirits down a bit, but the blast and the cursing that followed lifted them back up. Hakon might be down but he wasn’t out. Oddly, Ajax wasn’t panicked. He wasn’t really thinking at all. If he’d been able to reflect, he probably would have lost his nerve and started swimming away as fast as he could, but under the circumstances he simply acted.

As Hakon called out to the pyromancer, Ajax slid silently into the water. It was surprisingly deep just a foot or two out from the bank. He was able to swim quietly upstream rather than making noise walking in the mud. He wanted to be as close as possible to his target.

And the target cooperated by responding to Hakon’s taunt, taking a few steps out into the open. Clearly this wasn’t meant to be some quiet assassination or robbery. If it was, they’d both have been killed in their sleep. Ajax suspected the pyromancer must have wanted to have it out with Hakon, not simply off him quickly. The pyromancer quickly confirmed his suspicion.

“Revenant,” he called out, “you have collected your last sunderstone. You will burn, and then I will mount your bones on my gate as a warning to others.” He chuckled, which was unnerving. “Or perhaps as a tourist attraction. You’re famous in Daravin, you know, a serial-killer who hunts human beings like they were troublesome animals. Our people cry out for justice, and I will deliver it”

He sounded a little crazy to Ajax. His voice was menacing, and the look in his eyes was wild. He didn’t throw another firelance but instead took a curved scimitar out from a scabbard on his belt and set it aflame. That was bad enough, but then he slammed it to the ground and set a line of fire that began rapidly advancing on Hakon, as if it knew where it was going.

The pyromancer laughed and Ajax knew this was his chance. He stood and took a step towards the bank until the water was waist-deep and he had a secure footing, then launched the rock at his antagonist. His aim was off, but not that badly. It didn’t hit him in the face but got him squarely in the shoulder, hard enough to hurt. The pyromancer cried out in surprise. He twisted to see where the sudden strike had come from, and as he did he tripped and landed on the ground. The fire that had been moving towards Hakon stopped in its tracks.

Hopefully that was enough for Hakon. It would have to be. Ajax slipped back into the water, fully submerging himself and swimming back downstream as far as he could on a single breath.

[Hakon]

Hakon had been hoping the taunt would work, but he'd gotten a bit more than he bargained for. On the negative side, this man was crazed, which meant he'd be dogged and unlikely to give up even if incapacitated or in great pain. That would make sundering him more difficult.

It wasn't all bad, however. While he monologued, Hakon healed himself and was able to find his footing. This was good, because his opponent took the opportunity to cast Trail.

Hakon loathed fighting Pyromancers, any Pyromancer, and this man was at least a Journeyman if not an Expert based on the size and speed of the lick of flame as it wound its way toward Hakon like a foul-tempered serpent. He was also obsessed enough to stalk Hakon for an unknown period of time, which was disquieting. Hakon was not ill-used to being recognized -- rogues knew other rogues, and some of them told campfire stories about the tall assassin that hunted them with dogged persistence -- but this was the first time he'd been stalked. Or the first time to his knowledge, which was more disquieting.

He heard a rock hit flesh, eliciting an aggrieved screech from his opponent that almost masked a quiet splash. Ajax was staying out of sight in the water, he surmised, with no small amount of pride. The lad was smart. He was helping, and he hadn't fled, and he was in the relative safety of the water. Of course, magic flame could burn in water because it wasn't exactly fire, but it would keep Ajax hidden and obscure his location, so unless the pyromancer wanted to boil the river, he wouldn't find him.

Hakon used the distraction of his opponent to his advantage, closing the distance between him and the other mage until he could see him. His lips curled into a sneer. Fine, Daravinian clothes but no mask. This was a Valran, then.

"In my defense," Hakon said, speaking while hurling a flurry of stars at the mage who was backlit by the glow of his own flames, "your kind are loathsome killers,"

Taunting him had worked well before, so Hakon thought to try it again, tossing another flock of stars at the man: "No one will miss you when I've made a stone from your Mark."

And then the man was gone.

Hakon cursed and dove for the cover of a tree as his opponent jumped down from on high, his flaming scimitar cleaving the air and his flaming wings searing into Hakon's eyes. He was lucky he'd fought Pyromancers before or he would have been immolated when the empowered weapon cleaved through where Hakon had stood a split second earlier. He got his shield up in time to deflect the next barrage of Flamelances, but only just. When one went wide and hit the tree behind him, he was cheered for a moment, but only a moment. He dove out of the way before the mage could use Exigency and gather the flames to him through Hakon's own body.

He was sweating from the heat of the fire and the exertion, breathing heavily, and every part of him felt too hot except his feet, still cold on the frozen ground.

The mage had been bleeding from the throwing stars, but Exigency had healed that up. Hakon, meanwhile, was burnt, bruised, winded, and battered.

His usual strategy would be to wait the man out, or let him use his flashy magic and exhaust himself, but Hakon was unsure that would result in success in this instance. Instead, he crafted another Galvanized bolt and flung it at the man's feet, then another, and then another. Pyromancers weren't the only ones who could fling magic projectiles, and his opponent had no easy means of blocking his attacks.

It would tire him out, though. It was a risk, but Hakon knew he had to get closer.

He conjured his mace and shield, and closed the distance, offering the man an opportunity to duel him instead of flinging fire from the shadows.

"Face me, then, and we'll see who's superior."

[Andros]

“This is fucking crazy.”

Ajax said it aloud, quietly, as he watched the two opponents do magical battle, flinging enchanted projectiles at one another while they trash talked. He’d really gotten himself into quite a situation. If he’d just stayed home his biggest worry would be getting a stone in his sandal while he walked over to the Men’s House for dinner, not taking a lance of fire to the face.

The pyromancer hadn’t looked for him, though he must have figured out the rock didn’t come from nowhere. In fact, he must have known Ajax was present if he’d been following them, which obviously he had. That didn’t inspire confidence, but Hakon was keeping the enemy occupied very effectively. Ajax wanted to keep helping, so set about gathering a small arsenal of rocks. The riverbed was littered with them. He’d feel around with his bare feet, then reach down and pick one up. He stashed them in a spot on the bank that he was well hidden by reeds. He wanted to have ten good rocks. The plan was to throw two or three at a go, then swim away and hide until the pyromancer turned his focus back to Hakon.

The enemy, meanwhile, was taking Hakon’s obvious bait. Ajax was impressed. Hakon was using a stratagem, provoking his opponent in a way that was downright deceptive. It takes one to know one, and Ajaks knows sneaking when he sees it. Hakon wanted the pyromancer close, presumably so he could conjure a throwing star inside his head or smash him with a mace.

“Superior?” the pyromancer replied to Hakon’s taunt in disbelief. “I am a Valran pledged to a great and ancient house. I hold 10,000 acres, 6,000 peasants, and a castle of my own. You are a shit slinging nobody working as a hired assassin for forces you don’t understand. How dare you challenge me!”

With that he stepped out fully into the clearing, raising his flaming scimitar to deal Hakon a blow. Ajax had always dismissed his grandfather’s rants against “Daravain swine” as silly old man talk, like his occasional tirades about the cold weather in Northradica. But hearing the arrogant pyromancer insult his friend made Pappa seem more reasonable. Ajax knew the pyromancer underestimated Hakon at his own peril.

This seemed like a good opportunity. Ajax hurled three rocks in quick succession. One direct hit to the side of the head, one miss, then a hit to a leg. He didn’t linger to see the effects but quickly dove back under the water and held his breath for as long as he could, swimming away fully submerged so as not to be seen.

[Hakon]

"And how quick you are to boast of your holdings," Hakon replied in Gentavarese, "as though that isn't a sign of your ill breeding. If I wished to take your property from you, I would hold you down and bleed you of all you possess. Instead, I only wish to fit your face for a mask."

His Gentavarese tutor, a Tower Mentalist who was perhaps the meanest person Hakon had ever met, would have been proud of him for that one.

"You ape our tongue, and you ape our language, but you are nothing more than a vicious imitation of the finest Daravin has to offer," the Mage spat back.

It seemed like the time for words was over, so Hakon flung a mace at the mage, and then animated several throwing stars, making them dance around the man and slash at him, forcing him to focus his attention on knocking them out of the air with licks of flame or splitting them in twain with his scimitar, allowing him to get close.

This was a dangerous game. The pyromancer could at any moment conjure up a Torrent of flame or imbue his scimitar with Emblem and Hakon would have less time to act now that they were so close together. At the same time, keeping the man off-balance and responding to smaller threats kept him from marshaling a more cohesive force, and taunting him seemed to distract him further, which was lucky. The man's arrogance and his lack of discipline were a finger on the scale, keeping this fight from being a rout.

If his assailant's shortcomings were a finger, than Ajax's assistance was a fingertip, but Hakon was grateful for the help.

A second assault of rocks sang forth from the bushes, causing the mage to roar and whirl on Ajax's hiding spot, flinging flaming lances into the rushes by the muddy bank. This was the opening Hakon had been trying to create for himself. He ran the edge of a throwing star down the mage's outstretched arm, smile widening when he saw a pressurized spurt of blood arc past the glowing blade. Some landed on it with a sizzle.

The good feeling was fleeting.

He rocketed out of the way as the man turned to the tactic he'd feared, and a Torrent of flame as wide as a river coursed toward Hakon, changing course as Hakon did. Hakon hit him with all the stars he had still up, but it didn't stop the river of flame, so he did something the man wouldn't expect, and ran toward his assailant at top speed, a star in one hand as he slashed open the mage's pock-marked cheek.

He got out his sunderstrike, ready to end the fight, when the blast in the mage's off hand caught him.

Or it would have. Hakon heard a scream. Not his, and not his opponent's but Ajax's, as the young man hit the mage in the shoulder, knocking his aim off course and directing the Torrent of fire away from hitting Hakon in the heart. Instead, it singed his shoulder, then seared it, then ablated it, cauterizing as it went. What would have been a fatal blow became something he could come back from.

Wasting no time, Hakon grabbed the mage by his fine robes and stabbed him through the ribs.

Even as he died, he had one last thing to say:

"I won't be... the last."

Hakon let out a breath. He knew that. Nevertheless, he would persevere.

[Andros]

When Ajax threw his rocks the first time the pyromancer didn’t come for him. The second time was different. It was lucky that he was a fast swimmer because only a second after he left the thicket of reeds it burst into flame. The water got warmer. Not hot, not yet, but Ajax didn’t dare go anywhere near where he’d been hiding. So much for his little arsenal.

It all happened very fast after that. When Ajax put up his head for a breath, he saw the pyromancer send a wave of fire at Hakon. Not a single line like the last time, but a fast-moving flood of flame that seemed almost alive. Then, taking both the pyromancer and Ajax by surprise, Hakon rushed at the enemy. Momentarily, he seemed to have the advantage, taking a good slice out of the pyromancer’s face. Hakon clearly thought he was about to win.

But Ajax saw something Hakon didn’t. The pyromancer seemed to have conjured the fire with his right hand. At least he was using that hand to control it - Ajax could tell from his movements. Ajax watched in horror as the villain raised his left hand. At this range, a second blast of fire would burn Hakon to death. Even the Revenant himself couldn’t come back from that. Hakon, on the pyromancer’s other side, couldn’t see it.

There was only one thing to do. Ajax thought, oddly, of his father, never the world’s bravest man. Fell hadn’t given him too many paternal nuggets of wisdom to cling to, but one came into his mind at that moment. He remembered going to his father crying when he was nine or ten years old. Ajax was very good at talking his way out of trouble with bigger boys or at using other boys them to do his fighting for him, but it didn’t always work. On that day a big twelve year-old had challenged him and, when he ran away, called him a coward.

Fell’s response came to Ajax as he ran at top speed out of the water and towards the pyromancer. Standing still and letting a bigger man beat the snot out of you isn’t brave. It’s stupid, and you were smart not to let the bastard manipulate you by calling you names. Bravery is knowing it’s going to hurt, knowing you might win, and and doing it anyway. When you find yourself in a situation where bravery is called for, you’ll know it.

This was such a situation. Hakon was not about to be burned alive on his watch. Ajax leaped over the wall of fire with a shout and hurled himself at the pyromancer shoulder to shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The fire that should have turned Hakon to ashes was thrown off course. Ajax felt elated; brave and strong and like he could have ripped the attacker apart with his bare hands.

But that didn’t last. An instant after the mage hit the ground, a hole opened up in Ajax’s body that stretched from his belly button up to his right shoulder, a deep groove sliced in by fire - on fire, actually. He screamed in agony, the pain worse than any he’d ever felt. Fortunately for Ajax, it didn’t last. HIs brain couldn’t handle it and switched itself off. He fell to the ground, not unconscious exactly but numb and unaware of what was happening around him.

[Hakon]

Hakon eased the sunderstrike out of the mage's body, pleased by the size and clarity of the stone he'd produced. He doubted his skill in Sundering was a match for the late pyromancer's proficiency in his craft, but it was as good as he could make it. He let the corpse drop to the ground with a soft thud.

He turned to Ajax to show him the stone. He knew the lad found it ghoulish, but Hakon really did find them to be quite beautiful. It was only when he saw Ajax that his face turned, the triumphant smile wiped away as the color drained from his face.

"No, lad -- no, no. Stay with me, please," Hakon said, snapping his fingers in Ajax's face a few times to try to get the glassy eyes to focus.

He knelt in the cold mud, his wounds and frozen feet forgotten in light of Ajax's injuries. His friend was a mess.

There was a deep trench of flesh missing from Ajax's navel up to where his arm met his torso, far too deep, in point of fact. Hakon saw bits of rib under the scraps of what had been Ajax's shirt; the skin was gone, completely blasted away. As well as the muscle under it. There was a dull throb in his ears: his heartbeat, lurching from beat to beat, going faster to faster as his eyes took in the extent of Ajax's wounds.

"You're going to be fine," Hakon said with a confidence he did not feel. "Just stay awake. You can do that for me, right, lad? Stay awake."