Dragon Mirror- Ties Between the Veil
16: Accusations, Revelation, and a Snap Decisions

The situation on returning to the group was not as tense as Raina felt. Her insides were a tangled mass of anxiety, and she apprehensively watched Kasey as she pulled her brother aside to speak with him.

She was waiting for him to look at her, but was caught off guard when his eyes flickered to first Jrash, then Tralna. His lips had thinned into a hard line. He began towards them, and Raina hesitantly followed.

“My sister tells me there is a bloodless body in the woods, and signs of Blight.” Tralna flicked her ears forward at the accusatory tone. Jrash looked confused.

I see. Tralna lowered her head, turning her head to the side in a contemplative stance. Jrash placed his hand on her flank, and Raina noticed that Tralna was beginning to lose height over time as she slowly reverted to her prefered form. She would be back to normal in a few days.

“What does-” Jrash began heatedly, but stopped as Tralna’s sending cut him off.

I assume that you think I am responsible, since Raina’s Iyzdra is too young, and Raina passed the questioning.

Ian looked taken aback by the blunt response, and hesitated slightly before responding in kind. “Yes. During the Tilting of the world, your kind began feeding on the lifeblood of the animals and peoples unaffected by the imbalance. The Blight would spread from the site of the murder.”

Jrash sucked in a breath, his cheeks flushing, but again Tralna intervened before he could speak.

I was not affected by the rift created. I do not take from the living to change form or maintain sanity.

Raina felt a sickening feeling as she watched Jrash’s face go pale. Was Ramoth the cause of the bloodless animal? She felt a moment of shocked realization. Was Ramoth the murderer of Corael?

She felt Tralna speak into her mind privately. Say nothing. I am handling this.

“Even if you are not responsible, what of his...pet?” Ian’s tone was flat, and Kasey’s face was equally blank. During the walk back, Kasey had not said much, except that her people had had rough dealings with rogue Aya’Chyn, Daroul, and Sprites during the Breaking of Bonds.

They obviously suspected that Jrash’s pet was his Aya’Chyn. And they obviously had strong feelings about the possible connections to the murder in Auscilla.

Ramoth is indeed his fledgling Aya’Chyn- Ian cursed under his breath, but Tralna continued. But I believe, is too young and inexperienced to overpower a larger animal with their Will. The same reasoning for Iyzdra applies to Ramoth. Jrash too, passed the questioning.

She noticed that Tralna said “their” Will, as if Ramoth was a natural Aya’Chyn and not a bonded Daroul. She felt as if the Aya’Chyn was perilously close to actually lying, even though it was impossible to do in mind speech.

“You are sure of this?” Kasey asked when her brother seemed to be speechless. “Why did you hide their bond?”

Why did you immediately suspect either myself or my Drakunmate’s grandson?

Kasey was silent for a few moments, and Ian lifted his shoulders in an uncomfortable shrug. The twins looked at eachother uncomfortably.

“Would you understand if we were not able to entirely relax our caution?” Kasey asked. She turned to Jrash, “At least until we were able to question your Will directly in true speech?”

Jrash finally spoke tersely. “I understand.”

But Jrash looked at Raina, and their eyes met in a moment of understanding- what if Ramoth had been responsible?

Jrash and Raina stood next to Tralna, away from the group that was currently cooking tubers and berries into a mash. The main contingent had spent the afternoon scouring the area for more signs of Blight, piling the subsequent replaces in front of the twins, who had set the leavings on fire with a ceremony that they had been excluded from.

The large Aya’Chyn swished her tail in irritation, then blew out a breath. Iyzdra flitted from the canopy to latch onto Tralna’s mane.

Did Ramoth kill that woman to shapechange? Iyzdra sounded frightened, reflecting the fear in Raina.

I do not believe so. As a Daroul, she was too young to be that powerful, and as an Aya’Chyn- Tralna paused. It is not often that a freshly bonded Aya’Chyn can act so...independently from their Drakunmate.

“But she obviously can and does!” Jrash exploded.

Calm, child. Ramoth is a Daroul, and still very young and small. There is no rightful way she could have overpowered a healthy young woman and a full grown hog. Unless... Tralna listlessly moved her head side to side.

There is another concern. She lifted her head to stare into Raina’s eyes. The Blight. It is not truly connected to consumption of lifeblood. She looked uncomfortable.

“You're talking about the misconception of what happened during the imbalance!” Jrash blurted, and Raina raised an eyebrow.

Yes. The people of Szrathia believed that the Blight spread from spirit beings that fed on the lifeforce and blood of the animals and people not spiritually affected by the Tilting. She stomped a clawed foot, her crest of feathers rising from the mane along her neck.

The truth is more muddied. Aya’Chyn, Daroul, Elemental Sprites, even demigods would feed to stave off the loss of sanity. But the Blight was an infection that killed the normal animals unconnected to the Will. The Blight would infect the living, and suddenly snuff out their ability to BE alive. It would devour the spark that made them… themselves. Their soul.

Their lifeforce would animate the body- and that body would act on the impulses that governed it, until the body deteriorated. As any corpse would over time.

Raina curled her lip. “Fucking Zombies? For real?”

Tralna cocked her head to the side, her crest lowering. I believe your type of zombies were more focused on eating everything. These walking corpses can devolve into more… interesting aspects. If an avid artist had lost her soul to the Blight, she would continue doing what she had always done with no deviation for sleep or food until she fell apart. If someone with a more… problematic hobby, such as hunting, or sex, dies from Blight...

“Ew.” She shifted, holding her arm out for Iyzdra, wanting comfort.

“But I spoke to Corael the night of her death- she didn’t seem dead!” Raina protested as she thought about the woman.

She may have not been infected. But the boar you found most definitely was. It can also happen quite suddenly- like blowing out a candle.

Raina shuddered. “What does this have to do with all of this vampirism?”

“Most spirit beings began targeting those afflicted with the Blight to avoid being murderers to save themselves.” Jrash spoke quietly. He was staring down at his toes, he looked conflicted.

Unfortunately the damage of reputation had been done, and the people assumed it was the Aya’Chyn that caused the Blight when they murdered for the lifeblood that preserved their sanity and connection to the Greater Will.

She turned to look at Jrash in sympathy. “Maybe that explains what happened to Corael…”

He looked up and she was shocked by the conflict in his eyes. She was out of her depth with every iota of the strange things going on. How did one comfort someone that may be tied to a homicidal critter? He couldn’t put her down like a rabid dog.

Jrash turned his head slightly, and there was motion from the brush to the side. Ramoth’s red eyes glinted as she sauntered out from under the foliage. Tralna extended her neck, ululating softly like a suket.

The Aya’Daroul froze, staring at the ‘Mother of Bonds’.

I did no murder. I utilized what was left behind. Do not censure me, Mother of Bonds- I am not responsible for the spread of Blight. The tips of trembling black wings extended from the cat-body and Raina gasped.

Ramoth continued in her rushed run on manner. The woman succumbed that early morning after the festival- she was staring at the garden over the wall and had been doing so for hours, and I found the pig foundering under the weight of the food and dirt it had devoured as the Blight leaked into the nearby flora. I used the lifeblood to gain wings for better travel. I was just trying to learn how to use them- I did no wrong! The last word was accompanied by a plaintive yowl as Jrash woodenly approached and stooped.

His Will was crouched defensively, and squeeked as he scooped her up to his chest. He held her closely, burying his face in her black fur, her new wings trembling and partly extended.

“Please don’t leave me behind like that. It hurt and I worried.” Jrash whispered. Ramoth’s red eyes were round with distress.

Raina looked over her shoulder towards the main group. She was relieved that there was a screen of trees between them to hide Ramoth’s arrival.

Child, you admit to draining the lifeblood? Tralna’s mind voice was calm.

Jrash loosened his hold as Ramoth squirmed, her ears laid back. I did no wrong.

Yes. You did no wrong, and the Shifu’s spell confirmed that no violence was done. Tralna flicked an ear against her horn and produced a mute thump. If your Will commits violence, the spell reacts to you as well. Raina blinked. She’d forgotten that anything the Will did was tied to their Drakunmate

“Tralna, what do I do? Ian and Kasey are Charbitian- they won’t let this go.” Jrash’s voice was quaking, and Raina was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Jrash looked at Raina in surprise when she asked the question, then smiled sheepishly. “You didn’t go very deep into the histories of the Tilting, did you?”

She shook her head. Again she glanced towards the main group, spotting Ian’s white head bent towards his sister's darker curls.

When the chaos occured, the Charbitian empire took a proactive role in eradicating the Blight and what they saw as the cause of it. One of the first taken by the Blight was a daughter of the nobility, Emerita. She was deeply loved, and had a close association with the elemental sprites. Tralna’s crest raised partially.

Specifically she had a romantic relationship with an Elemental Sprite named Nathranolar.

Raina felt her mouth open to ask if it was the same sprite called the “Wind Razor”, but closed it because it was a redundant question. She’d honeslty fallen into the issue of imagining everything that she had been translating as some type of fantasy novel.

Nathranolar the Wind Razor had been one of the greatest menaces to rise out of the Breaking of Bonds. As his sanity had been stripped away, he had gone on a rampage of murder and rapine. His preferred targets being the Charbitian race.

Nathranolar decimated their population before being sealed in Crya’Shal. He drained thousands, not in an attempt to regain sanity, but as some type of revenge for the loss of Emerita. There after they associated the Blight with the spirit creatures’ draining lifeblood. Afterward each generation was taught the signs of Blight, and how to dispose of the beings that had drained someone afflicted with Blight.

Jrash’s arms tightened and Ramoth whined. The small head dipped into the crook of his elbow to hide.

“They don’t care if the person or animal was Blighted… because they assume the spirit being was the cause.” He looked over Raina’s shoulder. “They’ll kill both of us, or seal us in Crya’Shal.” Ramoth mewed.

Raina felt her anxiety squeeze inside her. Iyzdra’s comforting presence exerted itself in the back of her mind and she breathed out slowly. Tralna had thrown her head up with her crest fully extended outward. She looked fearsome and wild.

You will go back to Auscilla and wait for Jrash. She turned her eyes from Ramoth to Jrash. And you will leave us shortly to travel back to Palliza and inform her of the Blight. This will remove you from our present predicament.

Jrash raised his eyebrows and his eyes flickered to Raina. “But-”

This is not a discussion, youngling. You are my drakunmates progeny and I will not have the Empire of the Wilds after you. She bared her teeth for emphasis.

“Am I going with these people by myself?!” Raina blurted.

Tralna snorted. I will stay with you, and you will have your Aya’Chyn by your side. Raina felt only slightly less alarmed. Jrash was the only other humanoid with her that she had known more than a few days. Tralna was still awkward to talk to and not exactly reassuring company.

Raina heard someone hail her, and Tralna jerked her head forward threateningly at Jrash, hissing. GO.

Jrash yelped as Ramoth barrel rolled in a spasm of fear within his arms. In a flashing blur of black, she streaked away under the bushes. Jrash took a step before controlling himself.

“Heyla! We plan on moving on soon!” Ian came towards them, pushing aside some branches. “We are sorry if you cannot replace-” He broke off as he took in the mood.

“I assume you were discussing the same… we cannot afford to wait for your.. companion. We must reach Silkvetr to inform the king of the Blight.” As he said this, his eyes narrowed at Jrash.

We too had this concern. Tralna seemed to nonchalantly step past Raina and break the eye contact between Ian and Jrash. I will be sending Jrash back to my drakunmate to report this incident, since it so directly affects us. Come. Let us pack your things.

Ian straightened, his posture stiff as he stared at Tralna’s back as she sedately walked away. Jrash tentatively followed, glancing only once at where Ramoth had disappeared.

Ian turned to Raina, “Surely he will not walk the entire way back?”

Tralna’s voice entered their minds again. Camilla has a long association with our family and will procure mounts for the Elohima’s grandson. He is capable of walking to Auscilla on his own while I chaperone Chib’Raina.

Raina grimaced and followed Tralna back to the campsite, meaning to ask about the strange label. They left Ian behind in the clearing to focus on their tasks. The man watched them go speculatively.

Therefore, no one was present to see the man kneel down and pick up a single glossy black feather and gaze out at the forest in grim contemplation.