Tarrin's mind reacted instantaneously and savagely to that attempt. He reached as deeply into the All as he could, bringing forth all the magic of the Weave he could muster. He formed a shield of raw power with it, again working with the the raw, elemental state of energy, beyond Spheres, beyond order, magic at its most primal form. Again, just as before, he felt the Goddess rear up behind that power, the might of her hand reaching between him and the power of Val, and turning it aside. Jesmind clung to his back, seeking his protection, her claws digging into him, whimpering slightly as the effect of Val's attack was swept out of her mind by the protection of the Goddess. He struck again, and then again, but each time he was foiled by the power behind him. He turned his attentions to Jasana, gathering himself up to crush the child, but then he stopped before unleashing that attack, understanding that it would be the one thing he could not do, the one thing that would make Tarrin carry out his threat and forever deny to him that which he most desired.

"And I think you forget that I am not alone!" Tarrin shouted hotly in the face of that living darkness. "You are nothing compared to the might of my Goddess! Face it, Val! You can't have everything, so choose what it is you want! You can have the Firestaff, or you can have us and never get the Firestaff!" he raged, putting a paw over his amulet threateningly. "Which do you want more?"

Val howled in fury, a sound that chilled Tarrin's soul, a sound of the purest form of anger and hatred. He felt the god's terrible power gather itself, but Tarrin plunged his awareness down into the weaves of his amulet, setting his will like a knife against them in such a way that if his concentration was disrupted, the loss of his power would destroy the weaves of the amulet and destroy everything held within the elsewhere it created. "Now then," Tarrin hissed. "This is what is going to happen. Jesmind is going to go get my daughter, and they are going to leave. Nobody will get in their way. They will march out of here, and when they are safely away from here, I'll give you what you want. But not a second before that!" he shouted.

He felt Val's awareness probe into the amulet, and it seemed startled that Tarrin could so completely intertwine his power into the staggeringly complex weave of the amulet in the way that he had. Unless he very carefully withdrew his power from the amulet, he would destroy its power. "If you make one more attempt to attack us or stop us, I'll cut the weaves! I swear I will!"

And then your lives and souls are mine to vent my fury upon for all eternity! Val retorted in a grim manner, the living shadow making up his form shifting in anger and anxiety.

"I can live with that," he replied in a voice so cold, so ruthless, so utterly devoid of emotion that even Val was taken aback. "They chose me because I can make the decisions that must be made," he said in a dead voice. "It's not the first time I've had to choose like this, and by the Goddess, it will be the last. So test my resolve, you worthless bastard," he spat. "Try me. Push me and see how far I will go, how far I'll go to deny you what you want, no matter what it costs me. You should know, you had a hand in making me what I am today," he hissed spitefully. "So if you don't think I'll do it, you just go right ahead and try attacking one of us again. I dare you."

It hung there for a long, utterly silent moment, a moment absolutely charged with energy. Tarrin glared up into the shifting shadows of Val's form, and the god stared down at the Were-cat with utter hatred on his face, but also a very sincere concern. The Demons, Jesmind, and Jasana stared at the two of them in mute shock, but Jasana had a resolute expression on her face, clenching her little paws repeatedly. The three humans, overwhelmed by the power of what was taking place before them, look dumbfounded and totally confused.

And as Val considered, as he debated, as he decided if Tarrin really had the nerve to do it, the seconds kept ticking away, the moons came closer and closer together.

There was a moment of dreadful fury that emanated from that shadowy form, then it pulled back slightly from the ground. Then so be it, Val said in a furious manner. The two females are free to go.

Tarrin glared viciously up at the shadowy form, showing absolutely no fear. "Jesmind," he said in a careful voice. "Go."

Shaking off her shock, Jesmind patted his back and quickly rushed across the platform, avoiding going directly under the hovering shadow-form of Val, as Jasana suddenly rushed away from the two Demons flanking her. They did nothing to prevent her. Jesmind knelt and held out her arms, and Jasana jumped up into her embrace, hugging her tightly, tears flowing down her cheeks as Jesmind crushed her in a powerful embrace.

Tarrin didn't look at them too long. Seeing them like that could be his undoing. He kept his eyes on the dark form of Val, his eyes narrowed and his ears back, his long tail almost straight out behind him as he kept his paw and his power on the amulet around his neck, threatening to destroy it the instant Val showed signs of betraying the deal.

"On my back, cub," Jesmind said in a tight voice, and Jasana settled herself on Jesmind's back, her little arms wrapped around her mother's neck. Jesmind stood up and gave Tarrin a long searching look, but Tarrin only gave her a barely perceptible nod. Jesmind turned and rushed back across the platform, then passed by Tarrin. She looked deeply into his eyes, but there was nothing in his gaze that gave her hope that he would be right behind her. He looked deeply into her eyes, looked at her beautiful face, taking in the sight of her, memorizing her every line, her every curve, branding her into his memory, giving him something that could never be taken away from him.

Her eyes brimmed over with tears, and then she turned away from him and started towards the stairs.

In that moment, one of the programmed things clicked in his mind. He had to tell the Goddess something. Mother, he called silently in his mind. Summon the army.

It's too soon, kitten! she replied urgently.

It's the perfect time, he answered.

He felt her invade his mind once again, but this time she searched much more deeply than she did the time before. This time, she found what he was hiding, and her touching of it caused her to shrink back from in shock. Oh, kitten! she wailed in his mind. NO!

Do it, and protect Jesmind and Jasana, he said, then he pulled away from her. He looked up at the moons. The time was but a moment away. As he'd hoped, the bantering and useless posturing and threats and counter-threats had eaten up what little time there was left, time to do nothing but stand around and wait.

Now came the gamble.

Withdrawing his power from the amulet carefully so as not to damage it, he reached out his right paw and summoned forth the Firestaff. The lull of the artifact became a loud roar in his mind as soon as his fingers closed over the strange stone-like material of its length, and Val's shifting form suddenly expanded when he saw the object he had desired for so long within his reach. The black stone of the Firestaff was actually glowing now, radiating a powerful reddish aura that illuminated the boiling black clouds within Val's shifting shadow form. The Demons all seemed to lean forward when Tarrin brought the Firestaff forth, reaching out for the power that they all yearned to possess for themselves.

"Here it is, Val," he said in a grim tone, standing fully erect with the glowing staff held lightly in his paws, reaching within and summoning up the power of Sorcery through his Druidic magic, causing the paws holding that glowing staff to begin to glow with soft blue light. "If you want it… then try to take it."

There was nothing Tarrin could have said or done that could have enraged the bound god more than that. With an infuriated howl, Val struck at the Were-cat with enraged fervor, a blasting wave of power that Tarrin had never before conceived possible. The Were-cat stood defiantly in the face of that power, Firestaff held before him as he summoned up every iota of power at his command. Sorcery, Druidic magic, the Wizard energy within the Weave, the raw, unaltered energy that was the base of all magic, and his powerful faith in his Goddess. He did nothing with them more than use them as a shield against the might of an enraged god, defending instead of attacking. Val's full might crashed down on the Were-cat as a wave of unfathomable blackness, and Tarrin's knees buckled under the assault. The magic within him, around him, before him, actually withstood that initial crash of collisions. Intense pain roared through him as he fought against a tidal wave of power against which he could not stand for long, felt it blasting into his defenses, seeking any weakness through which it could pour and strike at the vulnerable mortal hiding behind that power.