Kerin and Ireth

As told by June, 2/19/04

This story takes place long ago, before the Withered Aegis, before the Gifted, and even before the schism between the Fiends and the Humans.  It is also a tragedy in the best traditions of my race, as many of our tales are.  The tale begins in Feladan, as a human army has entered the city on its way east to fight some long-forgotten battle.  Among them is a Battlemage named Kerin.  He was handsome to look upon and had eyes that led people to conclude he had some elven blood in him.  He commanded a company of other Battlemages and was decidedly the most talented among them.  On the road to Feladan, his company had been ambushed by a small pack of werewolves and a few in his company had minor injuries that required healing.  That is how Kerin came to meet Ireth. 

Ireth was a talented healer and scholar who spent most of her time locked away in her study, researching restorative magic.  Only the most difficult cases brought her out into the world to practice her skill.  She was brilliant and had the beauty of the elves, although she rarely bothered with her appearance.  Hearing that Ireth was one of Feladan’s most talented healers, Kerin went to Ireth’s study and asked her for her help in treating his men.  Usually, Ireth would have been furious with an interloper and demanded to know why he had interrupted her studies, but the elven spark in Kerin’s eye made Ireth forget her anger.  She agreed to heal Kerin’s men and followed him to his company’s encampment.  There she was again infuriated to see that even the most inept cleric could have healed the men’s nicks and scratches, but as before, she looked into Kerin’s eyes and forgot her anger.  After several hours of treating the men’s wounds, she went to Kerin’s tent with the intent of finally berating him for wasting her time.  As she entered and began to yell, she was struck speechless, and instead of shouting, she and Kerin sat for hours that night, discussing everything from spellcraft and magic to draconic politics.  Over the next two days, the pair grew inseparable, as Ireth found that Kerin was the first person she had met in a very long time that had as much interest in things scholarly as she did.

Kerin’s company was ordered out of Feladan early on the third day, completely without warning.  Ireth was awoken by the sounds of the army leaving the city and could only shout goodbye to Kerin from the city gate as he marched away.  She waited ten long days for any word of Kerin’s army, and in those days, she could do nothing but sit in her study unable to work.  On the eleventh day, a slow trickle of men began to enter the city – the survivors of the army.  They had been ambushed by the renegades they had been sent to destroy, and had only been able to retreat at a heavy cost.  She feared the worst for Kerin, only to have her fears come true.  His men brought him into the city on a stretcher – he was not dead, but he had taken the brunt of a forbidden mind spell.  Ireth demanded he be taken to her study and there she would restore him.

She had little trouble with his physical wounds, grievous though they were.  However, his eyes no longer had the brilliance to them that brought them together and when Kerin awoke, he could not speak and did not seem to be aware of anything.  She tried all the spells she knew to restore his mind and spent countless hours looking for other spells she did not know that could help, becoming more desperate every passing hour.  After 3 sleepless days and nights, she came across a long-forgotten spell.  It was a spirit spell, and if anyone besides Ireth had known of its existence, she knew it would have been forbidden.  Much like self-sacrificum heals another at the cost of the caster’s own life, this spell would repair the mind at the cost of the caster’s health and mind.  Seeing no other alternative, Ireth prepared and cast the spell.  The power of the spell was beyond her control, and its power burned through her body, leaving her unconscious.

When she awoke, Ireth found herself lying on her bed, with Kerin standing over her.  The spell had restored him, but at what cost to herself?  Her magic nearly cost her life, but the damage to her own mind was extensive.  She still had the raw capacity to learn, but all her knowledge of healing magic was gone.  She was deeply saddened by that loss and the prospects of learning her art all over again, but she considered it a fair trade to have restored Kerin.  Kerin, for his part, was fully restored and as he discovered, had greater magical aptitude than before.  The elven glimmer in his eye now burned twice as brightly as before.  He decided to resign his commission in the army and he and Ireth returned to her study to learn (or relearn) as much about healing magic as they could.  They grew to be great friends and declared their intent to marry.

Two weeks before their wedding day, while researching long-forgotten healing magic, Kerin complained of a strong headache and went to lie down.  On his way out the door, he staggered as if struck by a mighty blow, and collapsed in a heap.  Ireth rushed to his side and brought him to the bed.  She could not find what was wrong with him until he awoke.  The radiance in his eyes had dimmed noticeably and when he tried the newest and most difficult spell he had just learned, Kerin found he was unable to focus hard enough to cast it.  Over the next two weeks, his condition only grew worse, his eyes grew dimmer and dimmer, and he lost more and more of his magical talent.  By the night before their wedding, he was unable to stand and barely able to speak.   Ireth had spent a great deal of time trying to heal him again, but by that night, she had finally come to understand what was wrong.  She had not been able to control her spell properly and had infused Kerin with far too much of her own spirit – far more than his body could handle.  How he managed to survive as long as he did was amazing by itself.  It was inevitable that at some point, his body would no longer be able to bear the stress and would start to give out, allowing his spirit to bleed off.  She told Kerin how she was responsible for his condition.  Using all the strength he had left, Kerin thanked her for the time they had together and told her not to grieve for him.  In the morning, the luster in his eyes was completely gone.