8.4.04
Palin's Breath
Palin escapes from the battlefield where Riel dies. The casualties are plentiful - the living have fled, and now the vampires and their servants pick through the wounded for meals or torture victims. Before they get to him, Palin awakens from a bump on the head. He sees a gaudily dressed vamp several score yards away, guesses that she is important, and puts an arrow right through her heart. She drops down, immediately dead. Palin slips off to the edge of the trees and just makes it before he hears the cries. He knows they've found her body, and she was important indeed.
The enemy hunts Palin ruthlessly, and he is unable to escape the forest. He begins to turn the tables on them, and hunt them in turn. By luck and skill, he becomes quite good. He rescues another young boy from the vamps, and trains him as an apprentice. During one attack on the vamps, he learns a secret - a secret that could mean the difference between winning the war or losing utterly.
His apprentice is capture, and eaten before his eyes. Palin realizes that to attempt escape is futile. In the captitivity of the vamps, he commits suicide, so they cannot eat his soul. He imprints on his memory the information he needs to pass on. On his death, he demands to be returned to the womb immediately, and breaks protocol to do so in Daethan. He also learns his true name, which is similar to Palin, but not quite.
The Daethen culture does not believe in re-incarnation, or even a significant life after death, so his choice is momentus, and based on what he heard Riel say about his conversations with Eve. But as soon as Palin is re-born, he is trying to speak, and he bears birthmarks of his suicide. His young parents can tell he is special, but it is not until he is 5 that he is able to gain an audience. By that time, he is considered a prophet of sorts. This period of 5 years is the same that David spends in recovery, with Bethani and with Beckari, then being confirmed in the Daethan temples. Palin reborn sees him, and remembers exactly what to tell him. This helps to confirm David and set him on the path to win the South.
The enemy hunts Palin ruthlessly, and he is unable to escape the forest. He begins to turn the tables on them, and hunt them in turn. By luck and skill, he becomes quite good. He rescues another young boy from the vamps, and trains him as an apprentice. During one attack on the vamps, he learns a secret - a secret that could mean the difference between winning the war or losing utterly.
His apprentice is capture, and eaten before his eyes. Palin realizes that to attempt escape is futile. In the captitivity of the vamps, he commits suicide, so they cannot eat his soul. He imprints on his memory the information he needs to pass on. On his death, he demands to be returned to the womb immediately, and breaks protocol to do so in Daethan. He also learns his true name, which is similar to Palin, but not quite.
The Daethen culture does not believe in re-incarnation, or even a significant life after death, so his choice is momentus, and based on what he heard Riel say about his conversations with Eve. But as soon as Palin is re-born, he is trying to speak, and he bears birthmarks of his suicide. His young parents can tell he is special, but it is not until he is 5 that he is able to gain an audience. By that time, he is considered a prophet of sorts. This period of 5 years is the same that David spends in recovery, with Bethani and with Beckari, then being confirmed in the Daethan temples. Palin reborn sees him, and remembers exactly what to tell him. This helps to confirm David and set him on the path to win the South.
// posted by Wray Davis @ 9:29 PM 
