The original divergence of Hashashin from Nizari was because of this difference in belief. In ancient times Nizari priests practiced controlling the flame and it was the cause of many wars between the Nizari and the Hashashin over the ages.
However no Nizari had been able to control the flames for over two centuries. It was seen as a sign to the Nizari that Zartosh was unhappy because they had not taken his word out into the world as he had commanded to the first Nizari and the first Hashashin. So began the expansion of the Nizari empire.
Farrel dropped to his knees suddenly as though he had run a mile and the flames vanished as fast as they appeared. Kimiya stared at Farrel in open mouthed awe and she now knew why the Azdaha were so afraid of him.
The Black Ram sheathed his sword and rushed back to Farrel. "Are you ok?"
"Yes I just need a moment. I have not tried that for a while and I forgot how much it can take out of you if you are not careful."
"My sister!" cried Kimiya in the barbarian tongue. "You must help her!"
The Black Ram turned towards her in shock. "She is your sister! Then who the hell are you?"
Farrel placed a firm hand on the Black Ram's shoulder and stood up. "I can explain it all later, but they are not our true enemy. How fast does the poison work?" he asked Kimiya.
"It paralyses almost instantly, but we have maybe an hour before her heart beats no longer. Azdaha poison is meant to keep their prey still so they can safely consume them whole."
"Can you even heal her?" asked the Black Ram of Farrel.
"I am not sure, but I know somebody who can. First we need to get out of here alive!"
As the alarm was sounded throughout the camp the sounds of soldiers converging around the outside of the tent were now ominously apparent. As if to emphasis their predicament an arrow zipped through the tent at chest height.
"Stay down!" yelled Farrel as he spoke the words of another flame spell. The open flame from the lanterns inside the tent suddenly burst forth and snaked into a steady stream of fire that spewed out from both of his hands.
Farrel stood and spun in a circle as he cast the spell and the two streams of fire burst out of the tent burning everything and everyone within 20 feet in every direction. The soldiers outside the tent that were not engulfed in flames retreated quickly in fear. The flames spread to other tents in the camp and it started a panic.
Farrel dropped to his knees again, this time his face was covered in sweat and he was struggling to breath.
"That should give us some time," he gasped. "The rest is up to you Solomon."
The Black Ram grabbed Razma and flung her over his shoulder then urged Kimiya to drag Farrel to his feet. They left what remained of the tent and headed towards the plain. However, the flames were too intense from the nearby tents and there was no way of moving forwards. They were trapped by the one thing holding the enemy back.
Then suddenly there was a loud shrieking noise from the sky directly above them. Farrel's magnificent white griffin came diving down to land next to them. It was unsteady on its feet when it landed and quickly dropped to its belly.
"Starria!" cried Farrel stumbling over to the griffin and wrapping his arms around its neck. "Are you strong enough to take us all?"
The griffin shrieked loudly giving the distinct impression to Kimiya that it was offended by the question. The Black Ram slung Razma over the beast's back then helped them onto it too. Finally he also reluctantly climbed aboard and the griffin leapt unsteadily into the air.
#
Starria dropped down into the camp nearby where the wounded were being treated. Farrel was sure he would find Raamen there, especially after he had found out about the night raid and the fate of many of his brethren.
Starria stumbled as she landed and it was all Farrel could do to prevent being flung over her head. She was breathing hard still and her flight was laboured and slow. He wished that he could have let her be, but there was simply no time. As soon as she came to a stop he jumped off her back and patted her firmly on the neck.
"Stay and rest!" he ordered. She squawked back at him loudly, but he stood his ground. "Don't argue! I still need you to fly us back to Solomon and the others."
She snorted, but did not try to follow and instead lay on the ground.
Farrel entered the long tent where the wounded were being tended. It was not a nice place to be and Farrel had trouble looking at the wounds of the injured and dying.
Raamen was on the far side of the tent doing his best to comfort a foot soldier with a deep gash across his belly. The young man was crying out from the agony of the wound. Raamen was trying to calm him and held onto the man's hand so he had something to squeeze while he endured the pain.
"Raamen," called Farrel as he approached, but Raamen did not turn. "Raamen," he said again as he placed a firm hand on Raamen's shoulder. "Why haven't you given him tarbry for the pain?"
Raamen turned around, but did not let go of the man's hand. He was exhausted and had tears of frustration and defeat in his eyes.
"Because there is none!" he said bitterly. "Or were you out picking some when they raided the camp?"
"I am sorry I was not here when you needed me, but I did not have a choice in the matter" replied Farrel with deep remorse.
"Most of your brethren are dead and we have nothing left to help any of these poor souls! Sorry is not good enough Farrel. You should have been here!" yelled Raamen, so angry that spit came out of his mouth.
Farrel calmly placed his hand over the top of the Raamen's man's hand and squeezed with him then looked Raamen directly in the eyes.
"I have always respected you Raamen more than any other wizard because your passion is to save lives not take them. You know that I share this same passion. You saw what I did at the Battle of Tattel and you know how many lives that I saved that day, on both sides. Trust me when I say I had no choice in leaving the camp."
"Then help me save these people. Take your griffin and get help and supplies!"
"I wish I could, but I cannot..."
"How can you deny me this? How can you let these men, these boys die in agony?" demanded Raamen.
"Because there is more transpiring here than meets the eye. I need your help and I need you to leave with me. You know I would not ask this of you unless I believed with all my heart that this was for the greater good and will save more lives in the long run."
"It is not your place to decide what is the greater good Farrel, that has always been your folly. What you are asking is too much of me. I will not abandon people in need."
Farrel let go of Raamen's hand and started to walk away, but stopped after just a few steps. To his left another young man, one of the farmers who had come to fight stared up at him. He was pale from the loss of blood yet with a look of hope in his eyes when he saw Farrel's crimson robes.
The boy smiled weakly up at him. Farrel remembered when he was still just a farm boy, before he decided to tread in the footsteps of his grandfather and become a wizard. He remembered how hard that life had been and how little was gained by tending the lands of the lords and barons. Yet here this young man was defending his land and dying for it.
Farrel wondered whether saving Kimiya's sister was worth it. Logic would dictate that it was not, but something deep inside him made him think otherwise. He and Kimiya were linked in a way he was yet to understand and that somehow included her sister. Yet there was no way Raamen was going to follow him unless he took him by force or by some miracle.
Farrel turned back to Raamen and placed a firm hand on his shoulder again.
"Let his hand go and step back," said Farrel.
Raamen spun around angrily.
"Just go!"
"Raamen, I need your help and to get it I am about to break a solemn promise to someone very special to me. Now let him go and stand back."
Raamen reluctantly extracted his hand and the man let out another painful cry. Farrel knelt and placed his palms onto the muddy downtrodden grass. H
e sang the melodious words in fairy tongue of the most powerful spell he had ever learned. It was a spell that the fairies refused to teach anyone outside of their kind.
Poppin had taken a great risk in teaching it to him and it could get her de-winged and banished, a fate worse than death for a fairy, if any of her brethren found out he had cast it.
To make matters worse the covenant he had made with her was bound by magic, so she would know that he had broken his promise. He hoped she would understand, but he doubted she would.
The grass underfoot began to glow a luminescent green. The blades of grass then began to snake up from the earth and like a million strangling vines they gently wrapped around each and every one of the injured until they were all cocooned.
"What are you doing?" asked Raamen completely astonished.
"I am breaking an unbreakable promise and saving them," replied Farrel with a sigh. "I will never again find my way into the Bastion because of this."
With another wave of his hand and one final word the grass started to wither and die as it passed its life energy into the wounded men.
The wounded around the tent went silent as the grass died. Raamen quickly clawed away the dry dead yellow strands of grass that still covered the man in front of him and underneath he found his wound had closed over leaving not even a scar.
"I have been a master healer and magic user for longer than I care to remember and I have never seen anything so wonderful. It's a miracle!" said Raamen in disbelief.
Farrel stood slowly and grabbed Raamen by the arm. "No, it is just a balance of nature. In return, nothing will ever grow here on this little patch of soil again...ever. I did what you could not, now I need you to help me."
#
Starria's front talons brushed the tops of the trees as she swooped over them in an elongated glide.
"Come on Starria just one more push!" shouted Farrel against the rushing wind as he kicked hard into her sides. She screeched loudly and flapped her wings in a feeble attempt to gain more altitude.
"You have to let her stop. She is still too weak, you are going to end up killing her!" shouted Raamen.
"We don't have enough time! It's not far now," replied Farrel undeterred in his haste.
A few minutes passed and the little additional height Starria had gained was disappearing quickly and they were again nearing the tops of the trees of the surrounding forest. Suddenly they came to a small clearing alongside a bend in a nearby stream that carved its way down from the north mountains high above.
There was a small campfire there and Starria swooped down to land. She kept her footing this time, but collapsed onto her belly unceremoniously as soon as she came to a stop.
"You need to keep her standing or it will be too much exertion on her heart to pump the blood through her body properly. She also needs to drink to help her pass the poison from her body," said Raamen as he dismounted.
"Don't worry about Starria, I will take care of her. You go and save the girl!" urged Farrel.
"I still don't understand why you brought me here, I don't have anything left to heal with! Why don't you just use the same magic you used back at the camp?"
"The fairy magic I used only works on physical wounds like cuts or broken bones. It cannot heal sickness or poison or anything else that attacks from within. You are her only hope. I brought them here and not back to the camp so you could harvest what you need from the forest. You can surely find something to make one of your special brews or at least something that will buy some time."
"I will do what I can," replied Raamen.
"Remember Raamen she might look like our enemy, but she is not."
Raamen nodded and ran over to the campfire where Solomon stood watchfully on guard while Kimiya sat next to her sister trying to keep her warm as she lay paralysed by the poison.
Farrel turned back to Starria and pulled on her beak as firmly as he could until she finally stood up again then he lead her slowly down to the stream to make her drink.
#
Farrel sat by the edge of the stream with his back against Starria who was now sleeping peacefully. He watched as the tops of the nearest forest trees started to silhouette against the sky in the pre-dawn light.
He sat and admired the beauty of the stars and tried to regain the elusive fleeting feeling of insignificance that they used to give him as a young boy back on his father's farm. However not even the luminous night sky could distract him from dark thoughts.
He had not gone back to the camp at all and asked even Solomon to leave him alone when Solomon had finally come looking for him. There was too much to think about and he knew that if he went back to the camp he would not be able to resist asking Kimiya exactly what she had seen in her vision.
If he was going to die on this day he did not want to know the details. He contemplated many times over just climbing onto the back of Starria and leaving to avoid his fate, yet he could not bring himself to do so.
He thought back upon the day that he left Gabrielle to go to war and then the day he made his decision to start his quest and focus on it above all other things. To sacrifice everything, even his best friend's knighthood, and to still fail consumed him with rage.
He cast a pebble angrily into the stream and stood up. Dawn was less than an hour away and it was time to stop the Azdaha and their invasion in its tracks, even if it meant facing his destiny and sacrificing his life. They were going to see how dangerous a man, with nothing left to lose, really was. Especially one that could control fire.
He nudged Starria until she woke. "Wake up my friend. I am going to see Raamen and then I need you to fly me back to the plain, so please prepare yourself."
Starria bowed her head slightly and squawked in acknowledgement.
Farrel came to the campsite and walked up to the campfire, which was now nothing more than a few faintly glowing embers. Kimiya was laying next to Razma with her arm over her protectively. Razma looked no different than before and appeared to still be paralysed.
Farrel went over to Raamen who was lying on the ground not far away. He knelt down and gently woke his fellow wizard.
"The girl?" he asked quietly.
"I was able to stop the poison from spreading, but to reverse its effects I need some very exotic materials that we will not find here," replied Raamen as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked and sounded exhausted.
"Will she live?"
"Yes, in the same way as a tree lives, without the ability to move or speak. She will be stable for a few days at least and should make a full recovery if I can find what I need."
"Good," replied Farrel relieved. He patted Raamen on the shoulder gratefully. "Now I must ask you to make me one last promise. Stay with them until the girl is healed and they are safe. Find them passage to one of the west ports and get them on a ship to one of the north sea islands. They should be safe there until they feel they can return to their homeland."
"You cannot ask me to promise that. There will be many more wounded today. Who will save them if not I?"
"Do not worry about the battle today. I give you my word that there will be no wounded from the king's army to tend. I will burn our enemy to the last man and they will wish they had never come here."
"Then they will not need me to fight in the king's army again today either. I will go with Raamen. It is not going to be easy to get two Nizari to the docks, let alone onto a ship, unnoticed," interjected Solomon from behind Farrel.
Farrel stood and turned towards Solomon genuinely surprised. He had shed the ill-fitting Nizari armour and was dressed just in his tunic and pants. It was a rare occurrence to see him without armour.
"I have released you from your oath, you don't have to do this for me you know."
"I am not doing it just for you," replied Solomon, nodding in the direction of the two sisters.
"What about regaining your honour on the battlefield? It's what you have wanted and waited for these last thirteen years isn't it?"
> "Farrel you are my closest friend. I have loved you at times and I have hated you, but I have always believed in you. Razma is a vicious warrior and I would love nothing more than to cut off her head, yet she lead me to you. I do not pretend to understand it, but I feel their paths intertwined with yours for a reason. If you say these two are important and must be kept safe then that is what I will do."
"What about your father's armour? It's still out there laying on the battlefield."
"So shall it remain as a sign that the Black Ram is dead. I have come to realise that there is more honour to be gained in saving lives than taking them. You taught me that a long time ago, but somehow I lost my way."
"Thank you my friend. I owe you more than I will ever be able to repay. You never lost your honour in my eyes."
He wanted to embrace his friend, but feared he would lose his nerve to leave so he simply nodded to both Solomon and Raamen and headed back to the stream to find Starria.
#
Starria rapidly approached the plain as the sun finally pushed above the horizon. Both armies were forming their lines and facing off once again. The king's army had dwindled in size significantly yet the enemy seemed unaffected even though it had suffered as many losses the day before.
At the very centre of the king's army Farrel could see the polished silver and gold armour of Lord Cortria as he rode up and down the lines of men with several other lords beside him. He was no doubt trying to rally his troops in the hope that, by some miracle, their resolve to defend their lands would somehow see them victorious.
As good as Lord Cortria was, this was going to be a war of attrition and he had no hope in winning it. Farrel cursed him from the air for not using the night to slip away. They needed time not useless sacrifices.
He briefly contemplated flying down to Lord Cortria and explain that this was only the lead element of the main Azdaha army in the hope that he might convince him to retreat, but then thought better of it. There was no way that Lord Cortria was going to listen to him.