Disclaimer: Raistlin and Caramon Majere, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Fistandantilus, Takhisis, Gilean and Paladine belong to, er, whoever owns Dragonlance. TSR, I've been told. Thanks go out to "Sunshine" for that, whose real name shall remain under lock and key until I am otherwise directed by a mysterious source. Sojourner (sorry, I really loved the name, I apologize for stealing it) and Sovereign are mine, although they might remind you of a certain Warrior Princess and God of War, who belong to Renaissance Pictures and StudiosUSA. I haven't read Dragonlance in ages, so if I get any of the characters or names wrong, I apologize. I seem to be doing a lot of that, don't I? This is just a little alcohol induced fantasy of mine. Raistlin is still a red-robe here.
Author's Notes: This was written before I read Carly's story Dark Enchantress, but it may seem very similar. I crossed Dragonlance with Xena: Warrior Princess leaving Ares before the series, and this is what I got. Sojourner's name was originally Chanteuse, but I changed it after I read the story Dark Enchantress. And I'm very sorry to have stolen the name, but I loved it too much to let it go.
Rated: Um, PG? 14+?
Warnings: No sex, NO subtext, no violence (unless you count a magical duel), and one slightly naughty word.
Papillon
By Atrophy
Raistlin Majere huddles before the meager fire his brother Caramon is coaxing to life, pulling his soaked red robes closer to his thin body. Occasionally he coughs harshly into his sleeve, the spasms wracking his form.
"Here, Raist. Give me your herbs and I'll make you your drink."
Raistlin looks up, his golden eyes glittering in the firelight, his black hourglass shaped pupils dilated. He nods at his burly, handsome warrior brother, and reaches into one of his numerous hidden pockets. As he pulls the herb pouch out, a small glittering object tumbles to the ground, landing with a soft clink.
Caramon frowns, "What's that?"
Raistlin quickly picks the bit of jewelery up before the kender can see it. It is a fine linked charm bracelet, made of gold. Tiny twisting runes dangle from the links, the meek light dancing across the curves and points, "A bracelet."
"Why do you have a girl's bracelet?" Tasslehoff Burrfoot pounces on Raistlin, "Was it a sweetheart?"
"You had a girl?" Caramon asks confusedly.
Raistlin glances impatiently at his twin. Oaf. However, they are stuck in that small damp cave for the night, and a story is better than nothing to do. His spellbooks have gotten wet, and need to dry, so studying them is out of the question. He sighs, and begans his tale in his rasping whisper, "A few years ago, just after we left home to become mercenaries, you were in a tavern room with a girl, and I sat alone in my room, memorizing my spells...
Raistlin shuts a book with an angry snap. It was truly pathetic how magicians must study their magic books day after day because once a spell is spoken, it flees from their mind, and must be memorized again. Raistlin had never thought it possible, not when he has his spellbooks closeby, but he is utterly bored. Of course, Caramon is down the hall with some girl who swoons at his very touch. Sometimes Raistlin envies his strong, handsome brother. This, suffice to say, is one of those times.
Standing up, Raistlin begins to pace in his cramped room. What to do?
Suddenly, a wind roars through the room, snatching up his papers and ripping some pages from his books, whipping them into walls and furniture. Raistlin flattens himself by a dresser, waiting to see what would happen after the gale dies.
When the wind lessens and disappears, a raven clad figure is left in the centre of the room. Raistlin approaches carefully. He recognizes the clothing. The figure is a black robed wizard! Raistlin himself wears the red robes of Gilean, for the time being.
The figure stands, staggering weakly, and Raistlin hurries to help it to rest on the bed. At first the figure shies away from his touch, but then acquiesces, clearly exhausted. It sits on the bed, propping up against the windowsill behind the bed. It reaches up, and pushes down its hood.
Raistlin jumps up, startled. It's a woman! A beautiful woman perhaps his age of twenty three, perhaps younger. Her loose, silky tresses are the colour of the raven's wing. Her eyes are blue like the sea, and her lips red and hard as rubies. Her skin is very pale, and dark circles bruise the flesh under her sapphire orbs.
"I'll get you some food and water, don't move," Raistlin slips out the door, the woman still watching him warily.
When he returns, she has a fire burning in the grate, and is ripping pages out of a thick book of spells. A black book bound with blue.
"You're burning your magic?"
She tenses, but nods and keeps ripping. When she is done with one book, she tosses the cover in and stretches out her hand. Another thick book immediately appears, and she starts burning that. With Raistlin watching, she destroys thirty three large spell books. Raistlin is slightly nervous. The woman must be a very powerful wizard.
Finishing, she turns, and takes the proffered water. As she is gulping it down, Raistlin sees the shine of tears in her eyes. "Are you all right?"
She nods, "It's evil. I can't serve that evil anymore." She looks sharply at him, and he can't help but notice that she is taller than he. "Red-robe," she murmurs, "You are destined for that evil. I can see it in your soul. That hunger for power will destroy you." She sighs and shakes her head, "But you won't listen to me if I try to stop you." She stares again, "But swear to me that you won't tell them that I was here."
Raistlin nods, "Who are you? What are you hiding from?"
She laughs bitterly, "I am Sojourner. Takhisis, the Dark Queen, is somewhat furious at me for abandonning her darkness, and she will kill me if she finds me."
Raistlin's golden eyes are round. Sojourner! She is a legend! A dark wizard rife with evil whose name is used by mothers everywhere to frighten their children into obedience! Barely second to Sovereign only, the most powerful wizard in the mythic history of Krynn. They two make Fistandantilus seem like an apprentice. But no one had ever said that she is a woman!
"You're real?" Raistlin breathes, "You're not a story?"
She sinks down onto the bed, "Both I and Sovereign are real, though we have not revealed our physical forms to any for many years."
The red-robe hesitantly seats himself on the far corner of the bed, "You have abandonned the Dark Queen?"
"Yes, I know what you're thinking. I must be suicidal," Sojourner smiles wryly, and she is radiant when she does, "Perhaps I am. But you don't know the suffering and pain that evil has caused. Pray that you never do."
"Then your magic?"
"Gone," she pats her robe, "I still have a few neutral spells on me, but when those are gone..." She brushes irritably at her eyes, wiping away the tears.
"Why are you crying?"
"I miss... never mind."
"Have you ever seen Sovereign?"
She smirks, "Yes, I am one of the few who have. He is young, older than you and I, but young. He has curly ebony hair and earth-brown eyes that can see more death than yours. He is very beautiful."
"How can a man be beautiful?"
"He is," she crosses her arms defensively.
"You're in love with him," Raistlin relishes the startled look in her clear blue eyes.
"How did you—yes. No. I don't know anymore."
"You were going to say that you missed him earlier."
Sojourner scowls at the red-robe, and he is suddenly cowed, "Butt out, boy."
"I apologize," Raistlin lowers his head mockingly, knowing that he has the upper hand in this matter.
Sojourner hunches her shoulders, "I must go. If I stay too long in one place before my power drains away I will be found." She swiftly unclasps a thin golden bracelet on her wrist, "Take this. Thank you for the water."
Standing, she mutters a spell, and quickly disappears in another blast of wind.
Caramon and Tas stare at Raistlin silently, until he asks irritably, "What?"
"You met Sojourner?"
"That's what I just told you."
Before Tas could bombard Raistlin with questions, sheet lightning brightens the sky outside, and when the accompanying crash of thunder fades, Caramon hops to his feet, reaching for his sword and yelling at the black robed stranger who suddenly appears, "Who are you?"
The man slants cold brown pools his way, and Caramon sits down immediately, forced by some unseen powerful shove.
The stranger then fixes his icy gaze on Raistlin, and the bracelet Tas is now holding flies out of his fingers to rest in the stranger's hand. "You saw Sojourner?" he asks calmly.
Raistlin doesn't answer.
"Tell me where she is!" he says, his low voice more frightening than the loudest yell.
"I don't know," Raistlin rises confidently, holding his staff, "You would be Sovereign, correct?"
"How do you know, whelp?"
"She described you." And it is true. He is beautiful, albeit in a cold and harsh way.
"Leave," Sovereign does not turn, recognizing Sojourner's voice, "Sojourner, so nice of you to join us."
Tas is trying to hide behind his own shadow.
Raistlin raises a brow slowly. Sojourner now wears the white robes of Paladine.
"What??" Sovereign thunders, whirling around. He stares furiously at the woman, standing tall and serene in her pale robes, her raven tresses stark against the white, "So, this is what you abandon me for. The inferior power of goodness."
"Not inferior, Sovereign. Just harder."
Sovereign sneers, "And how do you figure?" His hand rises, and a bolt of black lightning shoots from his fingers, singeing the air.
Sojourner does not move, but before the bolt can touch her, it stops short. It slowly turns white, as if the darkness is bleeding out of it, and then shatters in a rain of white sparks. Sojourner smiles barely, "Because I can still defeat your lightning."
Sovereign frowns, "How? You only had a few years."
"You taught me well." She slowly moves to stand before him, and reaches for the golden bracelet. His hand snaps shut.
"You gave our bond away to some street magician?"
Sojourner directs her blue gaze at the suddenly angry red-robe, "He will be very powerful."
"You had no right."
"I am no longer yours."
"You pledged yourself to me, to my cause."
"Your cause is faulty."
Sovereign shakes his head angrily, but Sojourner grabs his hand, the one holding the charm bracelet, in an inhumanly fast move. A blinding white light envelopes the two, and Sovereign roars in pain. Grasping hold of her other hand, he shoves back, an aura of black sparring with the white and pushing it backward. Not giving, Sojourner begins speaking softly, "Let go of the darkness, Sovereign. It will turn around and eat you the moment you are no longer useful. I can give you freedom from that darkness."
Sovereign shakes his head again, but this time it is desperate, trying to shake away her words. Those soft words gently weaving through his mind, wrapping around his will.
"You have already been punished for loving, for caring about me. Don't let it destroy you for that."
"No. Without the power I am nothing."
"Do you think I could survive without that power? Paladine has power too. Power so strong you can never imagine. Let me in, Sovereign."
"The light is just as harsh as the dark. The dark's centre is a black cold void, but at the centre of the light is a blinding flame that burns as easily as it heals."
"It will throw us away when we are no longer needed, yes, but we won't be destroyed, and perhaps then Paladine will let us forget about the power."
"Perhaps is not a reassuring word."
"Neither is destroy," Sojourner steps closer, "Don't leave me." She presses her lips to his in a longing kiss fueled by long years of being apart.
Slowly, so slowly, the darkness ebbs away, leaving only the white light, and Sovereign falls to his knees. Sojourner kneels before him, "You gave up everything for me. You betrayed your queen for me, and I'm sorry. I came here tonight because Paladine sent me to deprive Takhisis of her most powerful servant. You haven't taken tangible form for years, and the first time you do, I take away your power."
Sovereign gapes, "You betrayed me!"
"I'm sorry."
He suddenly slaps her hard, and she sprawls to the ground. Licking the blood from her lip, she smiles, "I deserved that. But you are powerless now, and I must go."
"Go?" Sovereign jumps to his feet, "You can't leave me here. You love me!"
"I did once," Sojourner admits, rising as well, "but you threw my love away; you helped them try to kill me; you hurt me, and in doing so, you killed that love."
"You can't."
"Watch me," she smiles again, cold and distant, "You were right, Sovereign. The light is harsh." She crosses her arms, "I'm shielding you. I wouldn't suggest ever using magic again. That would break the shield and allow Takhisis to find you. If she does, you won't look half so pretty. Perhaps you can become a warrior like this man here, if the loss of magic does not drive you insane first. But it's up to you."
Sojourner shrugs nonchalantly, and disappears.
Sovereign collapses to the ground, bitter tears rolling down his smooth cheeks. Tas hesitantly creeps over to the man, and pats his arm awkwardly, offering his condolences:
"What a bitch."
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AN: I apologize again. This hadn't started out with the intention of being depressing, but you know how stories take on a life of their own. Hey, Xena fans. Doesn't this remind you of Motherhood? As for the title. Sojourner is the butterfly. Sorry, uh, papillon is french for butterfly. Everyone already knew that, oui?
A poison caterpillar becomes a poison butterfly.
Pfft. Fine. Let me explain this. Raistlin is very well known for being the youngest mage in the dragonlance world. Krynn, I think? I may have given the impression that Sovereign and Sojourner are younger. Not true. Sovereign is roughly a thousand years old. Sojourner's a few hundred. Sovereign was one of the Dark Queen's first followers. He was made immortal by the Queen before he became a mage, and then his own magic caused him to never age. Sojourner was discovered as a child by Sovereign, and made immortal by Sovereign when she was maybe nineteen, a few years after they'd met. (She was chosen. :P) Then, when she passed the Test(dunno, when she was technically... fifty?), she sustained herself. There. Happy now, Sunshine?
Please e-mail the author of this story with your comments. xf_ihavenolife@hotmail.com
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