Sentinel

Chapter 15 - Luke the Tree

"You can't shut it off?" asked Tayne.

"I don't know how," she said, shrugging. "Opening myself up to them seemed to lower some bridge in my mind, and now they're sitting on that bridge, I can't pull it back up. I'm just hoping getting out of the forest will fix it."

"For a new Sentinel," said Wrain slowly. "You are doing exceptionally well. If I'd have seen you back in my younger days, I'd have assumed you were a Master, or very close to. It's hard to believe you're only a week into it, although I suppose none have been in your unique situation before."

"What reason do I have to lie to you?" said Skye. She pulled the blanket further up over her shoulders, drawing her knees in close as something seemed to occur to her. "What do you mean, back in your younger days?" 

Luke piped up. "Our dear Wrain over here," he said dramatically. "Is nearly two hundred and fifty years old, young elf." 

"Uh huh," said Skye. Tayne couldn't help his smile: she'd already figured Luke out. "And I'm the deity."

"Two hundred and twenty seven, if you don't mind, Luke," said Wrain. 

Skye hesitated. The Silverborn around the campfire sniggered at her reaction as she did the calculations.

"But that would make you--"

"--Born when the Sentinel order was still in power," confirmed Wrain. "I was a Silverborn back then, as I am now, and I was the one to restart the order in recent years."

"Does... that mean you know anything about magic?" Skye asked softly. 

Tayne wasn't the only one to hear the hope in her voice as Wrain shook his head slowly. 

"Sadly, I cannot give you the knowledge you crave," he said. "We have resources in Alguarde that may help you, but I'm afraid I'll be of little use, aside from the minor concepts I picked up from Tyra and the other Sentinels over the years."

"Tyra was the nature Sentinel that led the fight against Kumos, wasn't she?" asked Jesse.

"Indeed she was," said Wrain. "When the shadow was corrupted and the remaining Sentinels retreated, it effectively boiled down to four Sentinels commanding the rest. Tyra led them, but there was a fire, a water and a celestial that stood with her. Alleria, Anton, and Kiarae. As far as I know, they're all dead now."

"Kiarae?" asked Skye, the tips of her ears twitching slightly as she latched on to the name. "Was she the celestial?" 

"Yes," said Wrain. "Selected at the minimum age with her brother to the Sentinel ranks, one of the youngest in the order to be named a master of her element and gifted with a Sentinel weapon, a diamond-focus staff called Taldorei's light. Why does she interest you so much?" 

Skye, having been leaning forward, rocked back once more and averted her eyes. 

"I just...I've heard her name somewhere before, I think," she said. 

Tayne got the sense she was leaving something out, but no one felt the need to push the matter. Even though the corruption marked her shoulder, a fact highlighted as Skye's fingers now traced its edge unconsciously, it seemed to have no effect on her actions or her magic. For her to control the forest as she did, there was no shadow involved. 

Unless she's got me under one huge illusion and none of this is real, thought Tayne mildly. In which case, I don't want to know what the reality is.

The flames were encouraged by additional wood to keep them high as the night wore on, the conversation turning inevitably, to the day's events. 

"Why do you think the Master didn't join in?" asked Luke. "Seems kind of weird that he sent in over a hundred tainted to deal with us and that winged girl of his but didn't bother coming himself--not that he was invited, of course."