22nd Gate - Nothing is Gained Without Risk

[peacockherald]

It had been nagging at Vanyel ever since that young Lady Luthor had brought up the issue of safety preparedness in case of attack. He could set up shields, but did anyone really have a way out of the Castle in case it was attacked? He had no idea if it had any sort of secret tunnels, and frankly he had no wish to go exploring for them either - not sure if he wanted to brave the places beneath the Castle. Besides, there was no guarantee of those tunnels existing or surviving an attack either, or if someone else had previous knowledge of them.

Well, he had a possible way out. His Gates. He knew they did not work if he tried to go home, but what if he tried to place people far beyond the Castle's sphere? Could he open one into the Dead Zone or further, back where that temple they had visited had been? Yes, magic went null there, but would that still be true if the source of the magic was from elsewhere? He was confident he could open it near the Zone, but further would be better in case of a full out assault, he thought.

Yfandes, of course, had her concerns, but he reminded her of their last experience getting out of a Castle at the last minute this way, and how he really had no wish to repeat it. She could only agree, and also knew she could not stop him if he had his mind to it. At least he had come out to the barn to attempt this, not wanting any of his magics to backlash across the people in the Castle proper, and he could avoid harming the horses by taking them all out to pasture.

With a secure barn, and no one else around to potentially get hurt, he began his work, reaching in, drawing on his power since he had no other real source to tap. He began fashioning the anchors, envisioning where he wanted the Gate to open. He could see it, bright and clear, was sending his Gate out to connect....

And was suddenly thrown back as the Gate refused to connect and snapped back like a snapped bowstring, not giving him time to re-channel the energy. Even if he had, it would have been a massive overload of his own channels, just like before... In the back of his mind, as he waited to hit the ground, he told himself he should have known this would happen, just like last time. But, he had hoped, after all his work, he had hoped...

He hit the ground, breath knocked from him and the pain blinding him. Frankly, he should have been used to this sort of pain by now, it had happened often enough, was burned into his mind from the first time it happened and the events that had immediately followed it. What that event had made him. Of course he would flash through this things as he tried to process the painful burning inside of him, but it was all to much. It was always to much when this happened.

His mind went dark to spare him, long before he realized the pain of having trouble catching his breath, the ache in the back of his head.

Outside, Yfandes began to rear and scream at the top of her lungs, not for the first time hating her equine form.].
 
ooc: Basically Vanyel is unconcious, so most of your interaction will be with Yfandes. If you can hear Mind Speech, she might try to talk to you, but otherwise she will just be a very, very pushy mare.

ooc-2: No more rescues ^^ I think it is safe to say he has been rescued, though if you are wondering what is happening Yfandes is happy to give an explanation still.

Comments

[doublethefun]

[and there's a flash of blue magic in the air as a pony teleports into place. Looks like she was drawn by the (backfire) of magic.

After a couple of flaps and a hard landing, she looks between the rearing Yfandes and the unconscious Vanyel - and moves towards the human.]

What hath occurred?

[peacockherald]

_{[Yfandes calmed enough to come over to her Chosen, gently nudging him with her muzzle, glad that he was breathing, though it was obviously strained and pained. She knew why, but it wasn't worth explaining the intricacies right now.]}

:: He was attempting to make a Gate. It did not work and the magic snapped back at him. ::

[doublethefun]

A Gate. [welp. She'll ask later, but if they could've avoided this by asking her to teleport stuff...

Whatever. She turns back to Vanyel, tracing the flow of magic.] An overloading of magic, then?

[that does happen to foals sometimes. Calming them down helps, but they're usually conscious. So...her choices are either an attempt at siphoning off extra (non-pony) energy or chucking him into the clinic and hoping the humans can deal with it.]

[peacockherald]

:: Yes. It will cause a sickness in him - headaches, and right now extreme pain. That much magic will burn his channels, which are already raw when it comes to Gate magic. I told him not to... But that is not important. He might also have more physical injuries, as he was thrown back some ::

_{{Yfandes, ever the prudent one.]}

[doublethefun]

[okaaay. So the magic's not important?]

As for physical injuries, we can attempt mine type of healing magic or we can bring him back to the clinical in the castle.

[can't say she's tried healing magic on a human yet, but she'll give him the once-over anyway. He can't be injured that badly, right?]

[peacockherald]

:: They castle, I think. He needs medicines to reduce the pain, and he will need more later to deal with the headaches. However, if might not be a bad idea to check physical injuries before hand either.

Oh, sometimes I wish I had hands! I cannot carry him and I cannot dragon him in this condition!::

[doublethefun]

[well then. Chuck him at the clinic it is.

There's a glow of her horn and then Vanyel is levitated carefully into the air. Hands aren't necessary, it seems. She turns towards the castle, but then steps close for a quick nuzzle.]

Let us go.

[and off she goes at a restrained gallop. Keeping him as steady as possible is definitely at the forefront of her mind.]

[peacockherald]

<sub>[Yfandes follows, watching her Chosen with worry and care, her hooves chiming as she ran with Luna.]

:: I am going on ahead to try and alert the staff of his incoming presence. Please, hurry. ::

[She surged ahead, much faster than any normal horse should have been able to run, and even if she could not go inside the Castle, she could certainly make herself otherwise known.]</sub>

[radiantwingedone]

[ That was something very interesting to do with magic. Duke can't quite tell what it was purposed for, exactly, but it was very interesting-

Right up until it ... rebounded? Failed spectacularly? It wasn't even his magic, and he felt like he should be gaining a headache for what happened to it. He was already carefully picking his way outside before he heard the sounds of a very unhappy horse. ]

You will have to direct me, or wait for me to stumble closer. I can heal, if that is needed. [ So he might be talking to himself at the moment, he's not quite sure how close to the upset animal he is. Close enough for his ears to hurt, anyway. ]

[peacockherald]

_{[A healer! Thank the gods! She thought she recognized this one from Vanyel's mental descriptions, though his name escaped her. She snorted, trotting over and pressing her shoulder against him, snorting sharply to encourage him along and quickly, not wanting to be to far from Vanyel.]}

[radiantwingedone]

[ So definitely injured, and Duke should hurry. Duke nods, understanding that much...

But being blind does not help haste. He manages to catch himself with magic before he faceplants, tripping over something his slow swirl of mana missed in the need to try to move faster. ]

It is hard for me to move fast. I can prevent tripping, but then would be unable to keep my bearings. Would require aid, but it would be faster. [ And just. Levitate himself upright right now. This is what he meant. ]

[peacockherald]

<sub>[It irritates Yfandes, but she slows, keeping herself to a jigging walk. She snorts and neighs when they grow near Vanyel to warn him, wanting to dash to her Chosen's side, try and siphon some of his magic and shield him, though he had learned to well to shield himself by now. It had been many years since she had to do such things for him...

She looked to Duke and brayed, taking his shirt in her teeth and tugging him along to Vanyel, letting go when they reached him.]</sub>

[legacydeck]

[Clow would have had to be brain-dead to miss that surge of magic - he's half-surprised the non-magically-gifted didn't notice. But to have it surge and then vanish so abruptly... that couldn't mean anything good. A safe ground wouldn't leave a signature like that. And what gods-cursed idiot would plan something that powerful without letting anyone else know? He was nosy enough himself, and Felix was a gossipmonger - one of them should've heard about this.

It only took him a moment to excuse himself from work, and hurry outside. He couldn't quite pinpoint where the surge had been, but he had a direction, and that was enough. The wings formed at his back without any of the show of the display he'd put on for Vanyel, and with a practiced push, he was airborne. Easier to see things this way. And faster than searching on foot. He was almost at the barns when he spotted two people, one laid out on the ground and... Yfandes? She was hard to mistake for the other horses in the stables, even at this distance. He cut downward, the wings vanishing just before he touched down. The landing was somewhat less finessed than usual, and he has to catch himself with his hands and one kneed to avoid sprawling on the ground, and he knows he's going to be able to feel that impact later.

But he ignores it for now - up close, he can see that the sprawled out figure is Vanyel, and with what Vanyel and Felix have both told him - he's pretty sure he can guess what happened here. He goes to Vanyel's side now - and yes, there's faint after-traces of the surge he felt earlier, though they're fading now. He has no healing skills, but he at least knows some first aid, so he reaches down carefully to feel for a pulse at Vanyel's throat. You know, just to be safe.]

What happened?

[The question is for Yfandes and the stranger, though he doesn't move away from Vanyel when he asks it, and there is worry cut clear in his voice]

[radiantwingedone]

Exact? Unknown, felt the rebound, collapse, whatever wish to call it. And she is upset. [ A short hand movement to indicate the horse. He will fight down the urge to ask exactly how the other had gotten there, he had heard wings and the landing, but there was no sound to indicate the wings were still there.

At the very least, he splits his magic into thirds - keeping one third to himself, the second to circle and read what the damage was on the one on the ground (who felt an awful lot like Vanyel), and the last third to see if he could read anything interesting off of the one who had flown-and-landed. At the very least, learn the feel of him so he could recognize him later. ]

Need a moment to discover damage. Can pinpoint, but would be slower than if a larger amount of healing is needed. Wish to prevent need of fixing after healing once.

[peacockherald]

_{[Yfandes knew Clow, knew he was a magician, and was glad for it, though she was unsure how much help either would be. Her ears flicked and she snorted. Magic sickness, like this was going to cause, was going to be painful, and right now Vanyel had to be in extreme pain else he would have been awake. She brayed again, deciding to try and see if either of them could hear her - ]}

:: The Gate backlashed. It has basically torn open his magic channels, blasting them again. They are raw. He will be in large physical and magical pain right now. He will need magic or herbs to dampen pain, and he will have have a massive headache once he wakes. ::

[Dictated]

[whitelightangel]

Youch! That looks like a spell gone all sorts of wrong. What the hell was he trying to do? [Paige is Omni-lingual, which means she can understand/read and write any language without needing to study. And she can hear her charges when they call for her, so... I'm going to go out on a limb and say she can hear Mind Speech.]

Re: [Dictated]

[peacockherald]

_{[That is not very surprising to Yfandes. Though she would never force her Voice into anyone, right now she rather needed to.]}

:: Form a Gate, to see if he could provide safe passage very far from here in case of attack. He thought going beyond the Village would be necessary, but it is clear now we will need another method. It has backlashed on him, badly. ::

[Dictated]

[whitelightangel]

[Paige doesn't mind. She feels naturally inclined to help anyone in trouble.]

A Gate? I'm not familiar with that spell. [Which doesn't matter.] Where is he? I have healing abilities.

Re: [Dictated]

[peacockherald]

:: We are at the stables ::

_{[Simple and to the point.]}

[ruined_jaw]

[While not sensitized to magic, Jono was nevertheless far from blind, and had seen the blinding flash of light come from the stables. He jogs down, his mask open and his energy burning fiercely, he looks at Vanyel, then at Yfandes.]

Lemme guess, he tried to use some sorta magic the castle didn't like, didn't he?

[peacockherald]

_{[She looks at him and glares, standing over Vanyel defensively, unsure of him.]}

:: Yes, that is correct. It backlashed. ::

[ruined_jaw]

[Sighing mentally, Jono rubs his temples with one hand.]

Is he hurt? Any kind of magical damage or anything? I'm not sensitive to that sort of stuff, so all I can tell's that he's unconscious.

[Jono's internal fire calms a bit, shifting to a dull red, and settles on his shoulders. He's trying his best to look non-threatening, but knows how hard that is, considering he's unmasked.]

Believe it or not, I'm here to help. Though we've not known each other long, it's sort of a responsibility of mine to see that no one's hurt while the main force of the Castle is out on their little field trip.

[peacockherald]

_{[Yfandes ears flicked uncertainly, but finally she stepped enough way from Vanyel to let the other near.]}

:: Magical and physical. He was thrown back from the recoil, but the magical damage will hurt the most. He is probably beginning to run a fever, and in extreme pain ::

[ruined_jaw]

[Jono strides forward to give Vanyel a closer look, kneeling beside him.]

The magical damage isn't anything I can fix, but I know someone who most likely can. The physical damage is probably best dealt with in the clinic up in the castle, seeing as how that's all they do up there. Do you mind if I pick him up and take him there? My powers won't hurt him.

[peacockherald]

_{[After a hesitation she nods.]}

:: Yes, please. He needs to see the healers, quickly, so they can control the fever and other side-effects.::