Chapter 16: This Vision Before Him

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"You are past the age where most girls take a mate," Tor says wearily, having made this explanation twice already only to be faced with Uvie's intractable glare, "Having two Spirit Talkers in the tribe will only confuse and divide the people. If you and Ardax were mated, things would go easier."

"And so I'm to take a mate just make things easier for you?" Uvie asks in scorn, "I told you I will not, and you cannot change my answer with your pleas."

"I am chief," Tor says, his voice low and firm, "You will do as I tell you."

"Enough," Uvie says, raising her hand to dismiss her chief, "I will choose a mate when I am ready, and not before." She'd grown up watching her mother treat Tor in this fashion, and so far it has worked for Uvie as well. Tor never liked using his station to compel his people, preferring to convince them his way was the best and have them follow his demands willingly. For now, she knows, he won't force the issue, but eventually, if the people truly show signs of unease or unrest at having both herself and Ardax, he will.

"I told Tor I will not be made to be mated to you," Uvie says, her voice harsh with anger, when she comes upon Ardax gathering herbs in the forest.

"I told him that would be your answer when he came to me with his plan," Ardax says gently, not looking up from his work, "I advised him not to bring it up with you at all."

"So you could seduce me on your own time, and take my place as Spirit Talker?"

Ardax rises at her accusation, "I was in the forest, too far away from our to help, to do anything, when the dragons took my woman and our two children. I think if I had been there, all I could have done was die along with them, and I regret that that is not what happened, that I must live without them, and serve a new chief. I brought what was left of our people here to find a home, some kind of safety. I'm not seeking your place, or a mate. No one can replace what I've lost."

"I--I'm sorry, Ardax," Uvie fumbles for words, feeling foolish,"I didn't know..."

"Accept the gift of my experience, Uvie," Ardax says, "You cannot serve your tribe if you don't know them. We are new here, but your chief --our chief-- has accepted us, and you, the Spirit Talker, have not so much as spoken any but me. Tor is right to worry about his people being divided and confused. I do not seek to take your position, I will stand in second place to you. But if you mean to be Spirit Talker, you must serve your people, not just your spirit."

Neither of them takes notice of the moth fluttering about Ardax's shoulders as they converse. Such a small and harmless creature is of little importance to the humans and is free to go about its business undisturbed.

Tania stands in the shadows, watching. The mortals will not see her any more than they notice her spy; eyes are easily fooled by the simplest illusions, and to them she will be nothing more than the play of light on the leaves. But she rather than risk getting any closer, she sent moth in to listen to what she cannot hear at this distance.

When the mortals part ways, Moth returns to report to Tania. "The female was angry, the mortal they call chief wished her to mate with the male. But the male did not wish to be mated either," Moth says, his voice as fluttery as his wings, words moving almost to quickly to be heard, "His woman and children had ben killed by dragons, recently I gathered, and his heart still mourns them. He said he wishes he'd died with them."

"Thank you, Moth," Tania says, a plan forming in her mind, "I believe I can offer that poor mortal some relief. In return for a favor, of course. You will not speak to Auberon of this, will you, Moth?"

"You shouldn't set yourself against Auberon, Summerdream," Moth gives advice he knows will be ignored.

"I am doing this for Auberon," Tania says, "If he can't see the danger he's in, it is up to me to save him from himself."

Ardax is still out gathering as the sun starts to set. In truth, he has more than he needs, but he prefers the solitude of the forest, and being away from the camp keeps him from getting in the young Spirit Talker's way as she tries to fit the position she's taken. He looks up suddenly from the plant he's harvesting, sensing movement nearby, but seeing only the dance of light over the grass.

"Mortal," Tania calls to him, allowing herself to be seen, a nimbus of light surrounding her.

"You are a spirit of this place?" Ardax asks, barely finding his voice in his awe of her beauty. Uvie had said the spirits here were different than those they knew in their homelands, but he had never imagined anything so wondrous as this vision before him.

"You wish to be reunited with your woman and your little ones?" Tania asks, "I can do this for you."

"That isn't possible," Ardax says. Accepting the death of his family had been hard, but he had no choice but acceptance.

"Nothing is impossible for me," Tania assures him, smiling gently, "I can reunite you with your family, not in death, but in life."

If it were possible, Ardax would do anything to see Thari again, watch their children play...

"All you have to do is open yourself to me, let me in to your mind," Tania says.

Uvie is startled awake late that night by an intruder.

"Ardax?" she says, recognizing her attacker, her mind still half asleep and unalert to the knife he holds above her, "What are you doing here?"

She comes fully awake when he lifts her up and presses the knife to her throat, "Auberon's heart is not for the likes of you," he growls, his voice strange, unrecognizable, "I will not allow you to keep it."

Nothing about him seems right, Uvie thinks, he looks like Ardax, but this is not the man she spoke to earlier today.

But whoever or whatever has taken his body means to kill her and tear Auberon's heart from her dead body, and Uvie is not about to let that happen. Moving quickly, she wraps a leg around one of his, pulling him down so he loses his balance and drops the knife.

Before Ardax can fall to the ground, Auberon is there, one hand wrapped around his throat, lifting him as though he were made of straw, not flesh and bone.

"Don't hurt him, Auberon," Uvie pleas as Auberon's hand tightens around his neck, choking him.

"He meant to kill you," Auberon says, "He does not deserve your mercy."

"That's not him. Something--someone has possessed him. Please, Auberon, let him go. He's a good man."

Auberon loosens his grip, and whatever animated Ardax's body leaves it, and he falls unconscious to the floor.

"What did you do to him?" Uvie asks, kneeling beside him.

"I did nothing," Auberon answers, "But there is fae magic at work here." Tania, of course. He was a fool to think she wouldn't interfere.

"We have to help him," Uvie says.

"He's locked inside his own mind, which left his body open to be used against his will. The fairy who did this has fled, but left him imprisoned. She could be forced to free him, but she will know the depth of my anger and she will not be easy to find," Auberon says, already planning the ways he will punish Summerdream once he does find her, "If you wish to bring this one back to his body, you must enter his dream."

Uvie had never entered another person's dream, but her mother had explained it to her, showed her the path out of her own mind's landscape and into those of her tribe mates. It's not a thing to be done lightly, for sport, Aven had told her, for entering another mind can be dangerous to both parties. But sometimes the nature of an illness will only reveal itself to the healer if she takes that risk, faces it head on in the soul of the one who is stricken.

"Ardax," she greets him as she approaches, seeing what bait the fairy who took must have lured him with. He would be too strong to be tempted by promises of power or glory, but to be with his family again...Uvie cannot blame him falling into this trap. "I need your help, Spirit Talker," she says, knowing she must appear to be part of his dream for him to even see her there.

"What has happened?" Ardax asks, rising to consult with her just as he would if this were the real world.

"A man has become trapped in a dream by an evil spirit," Uvie says, "I must find a way to free him."

"You have to lure the spirit out of his mind," Ardax advises.

Uvie nods, "I have done this, But, though the evil is gone, the man will not leave the dream he is in. You see, his family was killed recently, and in this dream, he is with them again."

"You will have to enter his dream, then," Ardax says, "Be careful not to startle him, approach him as though you are a figment of the dream, and..." realization hits him as he speaks. "That is what you are doing here, isn't it Uvie? Were my family truly alive, if this were real, I would not even know you."

"I'm sorry, Ardax," Uvie says, "I know it will be hard for you to lose them again. But this is just a dream."

"How did I come to be here?" Ardax asks when he wakens in her hut, having no memory of what was done with his body while he dreamed.

Uvie tells him of the night's events, his sudden attack and how he was left unconscious when the spirit who possessed him had fled, leaving out any mention of Auberon, who prefers not to be seen or known by the others of her kind.

"Her hair was the color of the sky at dawn," Ardax tells her, "And she glowed like the morning star. I knew she must be one of the spirits here, the ones you've encountered, but I was a fool to believe her promises."

"Don't blame yourself," Uvie says, "We are in the habit of trusting spirits to guide us, and expecting to recognize evil in its ugliness. But, these spirits can hide their evil behind their beauty."

Ardx leaves her hut before dawn's light begins to glow, to return to his own tent. But he won't sleep, he thinks, he won't let his mind walk down the path of dream again this night.

"Auberon?" Uvie asks the empty air of her hut, hoping he is still there.

He answers her call with an embrace. "You did well, my little love," he whispers against her neck.

"Will you stay with me now, until the morning?" she asks.

His answer comes not in words, but in his kiss.