She turned to look at me. “Feeling okay?”
I realized I had been asking her a question.
“Mm hmm.” And I got lost in the hum of my reply. She smiled at my
satisfied trance.
I faded off to blackness then, though my
dreams were vivid and wild.
I was a hawk, flying high above the mountain.
My wings stretched, I soared through the sky, endless and open.
Through keen eyes I watched below, surveying a massive structure of
dark stones. Then I was a wolf, running through those stones,
hunting, searching, guarding. My shoulders were muscular, I could
feel them tense and release with each stride. I was myself again,
though strong and confident. Two statuesque elves, twinned in
white, glided past me. Lightning struck around me, cracking the
dark stones of the walls. Reed of Keithar Peak stood before me and
suddenly I was on a pedestal, looking down as he wagged his tongue
at me offensively. I scorned him, burning a chunk of it off, and he
smiled at me.
I jolted awake, the smell of
burning flesh still lingered in my nostrils, and was staring at
Ruby’s ceiling.
Damn her
. I was alone in her bed, but could hear an exchange of low
whispers from the open door as she and Steed conversed in the front
room. I wasn’t about to announce I had woken. My head didn’t throb
as before, no sour mouth. It was overall a much better experience.
But who could stand the dreams? I rolled to my side.
There were a few books on
the side table so I reached across and pulled the top one to my
pillow. I flipped through the pages and abruptly became more alert,
it was about magic. I hurriedly read through, wanting to learn as
much as possible, but slowed on the section marked exchange. This
book claimed using magic consumed your energy. Not just immediately
available energy, but
life
energy.
I’d never known a book to lie, but I couldn’t
imagine its applications in life. Ruby was giving part of her
existence to draw me a bath? Chevelle and Steed forfeited time for
a silly instructional match? It couldn’t have been right. I tried
to recall, though still clouded with fog, the magic I’d seen in the
village. The youngsters played, careless with the use, often until
they collapsed from exhaustion. But the elders, they were reserved.
I couldn’t think of them using it for anything that could be done
with less physical energy. They hunted with weapons, wrote with
their hands, worked as if they took pleasure in it. Was there no
energy left for the magic? Or was it not important until you
reached the close of your years and realized it was almost gone? I
remembered how long a thousand years seemed to me before I planned
on spending it in a prison.
Ruby walked in and I snapped the book shut,
positive I shouldn’t have taken it from her table without
permission. She glanced at it and I knew I from her stifled
reaction I'd not be able to ask her about what I’d read.
“
Sleep well?” she
asked.
“
Oh.” My voice was hoarse so
she handed me a glass of water, which she smoothly traded for the
book. “Dreams,” I complained.
She smiled as she sat on the bed beside me.
“Some seek out the breath. They say it is foresight.”
“
Foresight?”
She nodded. “What did you see?” She raised an
eyebrow questioningly.
“
Not the future.”
She laughed. “Have a bath. You’ll be good as
new.” The water was coming in the window again and I wondered at
what I had just read. Surely the dust and fog were meddling with my
thoughts. “Chevelle will be swapping with us for the evening,” she
explained.
The bath refreshed me but,
unfortunately, it also cleared my thoughts.
No wonder Ruby had drugged me
. I tried
not to think about the tracker as I dressed. The smell of cold and
morning hung in the air and I felt a pang of guilt, though I
couldn’t
help
but
use the fragrance, knowing Chevelle would be there. I appraised
myself in the mirror and smiled. Yes, the dust was still
influencing me.
I opened the door and walked into the main
room. Chevelle was sitting on the bench seat, leaning over as he
worked on something. He raised his head as I approached and closed
his hand around it before sliding it into a pocket. He looked
anxious.
I was still feeling peculiar so I climbed
into the seat beside him, curling my feet up close. He watched me,
his eyes lingering even after I had settled. It felt as if he
yearned to say something to me. The tension became too much and I
broke. “Ruby drugged me.”
He smiled. “She told me. She was worried
about your sanity.” The last word cracked, he seemed to regret
saying it.
“
Did she tell you,” I wasn’t
sure I should be admitting this, “I read her book?”
“
Yes.”
He wasn’t offering any information, I would
have to ask. The dust must have given me courage. “It talked about
exchange.” Still nothing. “About energy… life… for magic.”
He cleared his throat. “Yes.”
“
Can you tell me about
it?”
“
Today, after Anvil sparred
with Steed, you saw how the strike drained him. This is something
you’ll need to know for a group conflict. The tactics are different
than one on one.” He hadn’t answered my question at all. But he was
talking and I would take it. I nodded for him to go on. “A single
opponent allows you to use more energy, focus only on that and let
yourself…”
My thoughts were
wandering.
Stupid dust
.
“…
but with a number of
opponents, you have to reserve your energy so you don’t leave
yourself too weak…”
I was watching his mouth move as he spoke but
losing the words. Focus.
“…
tactics that do not drain
your energy. Protect yourself…”
I was leaning toward
him.
Stupid idiot
.
“…
even hand-to-hand combat
or choose a weapon. Ruby’s whip, a staff…”
Stupid Ruby. Grrr…
“
Frey.”
“
Hm?”
He shook his head. “Never mind.”
I was already angled toward
him and I was still moving. My mind was screaming stop but it was
too late, I had closed in on him,
his
lips
. I was close enough my intent was
unmistakable when he stopped me, grabbing both arms around the
bicep with a too-tight grip, “Freya–”
A howl.
A wolf.
He let out a deep breath and
it tickled my nose.
Oh
crap
. My head cleared enough to realize my
mistake. He still held me around the arms, neither of us moving. My
neck flushed and I looked down, embarrassed. The door opened and he
dropped his hands, spinning as he stood to face it.
“
They are here.” Steed’s
voice but I didn’t raise my head, sure the flush was still in my
cheeks.
“
Take her to the ridge, I
will meet you after…” Chevelle stopped midsentence.
After what?
Steed must
have been concerned because Chevelle explained, “Ruby gave her a
little dust… to relax.”
“
Frey.” Steed was beside me.
I glanced at the door, Chevelle was gone. “Are you
well?”
“
Ugh.”
He snickered. “Come on.” He swept me up,
planning to carry me. My head spun.
“
No.
Please
let me walk.”
“
You
do not
tolerate that stuff well.
You’re going to have to lay off the shimmer.”
“
It’s not like I
chose
to take it,” I
complained. He laughed.
The cold air helped a little. I was back in
the circle, the group of us sitting around a small fire. Ruby was
telling stories. She related the tale of Bonnie Bell, a blue fairy
from the East. “He hunts the human children, luring them in with
glitter and lights, and eats them, beginning with the toes. Though
given no choice in the matter, in exchange, he allows the mother
one wish.”
I scoffed, “Humans
aren’t
real
.”
“
Even so,” she continued,
smiling wickedly, “you’d be surprised how many don’t think to wish
for their children back.” Raucous laughter floated up around the
ring. Fairy tales indeed.
It felt good being there, surrounded by my
new companions, a fire and stories, laughter. This was more of a
home than Fannie’s had ever been. But I was also under the
influence of a fairy.
“
Better yet?” Ruby asked. I
grimaced.
Grey approached. “Ruby dear, won’t you allow
us to partake?”
“
Speak for yourself,” Anvil
cracked from across the fire, “last time I lost a bit of tongue.” I
cringed and remembered my dream. I thought I could still smell
burning flesh.
Ruby laughed. “Ah, well, I suppose just this
once.”
Grey sat on a stone and she leaned over him
as if to kiss but stopped just short. A glint of light hit from the
fire and he breathed in the shimmer. As she pulled away, his arm
trailed slowly off hers and I suddenly felt I was intruding, so
averted my eyes.
Steed was beside me, he gave
me a gentle smile.
I like Steed. He’s a
good guy
. I shook my head to clear
it.
Stupid dust
.
Ruby joined us. “Do the effects last longer
sometimes?” I asked.
“
It depends.”
“
On what?” Seemed like an
obvious follow up.
“
Your mood.”
I was irritated all over
again but got distracted when she licked the point of an arrow.
“What are you
doing
?”
She grinned. “Look, Frey, I don’t know if
you’re up for this story right now.” I didn’t think she was funny.
She sighed. “Okay, but you’ll probably regret it.”
“
Just give her the short
version, Ruby,“ Steed interrupted. “No gory details.” His eyebrow
was cocked meaningfully.
“
Oh, well yes, that would
do.” She smiled at me as she licked another arrow. “You see, my
dear, being a one of a kind… well, as far as I know… has its
benefits. Though they weren’t always benefits. Ooh, in the
beginning it was bad… but well, that’s the long version, isn’t it?
No gory details.” She winked at Steed. “I am, how should I put it…
venomous.”
I gasped. It was her
expected response. “Yes, yes. I know.” She held her tongue out for
me to examine. As she pressed another arrow against it, tiny slits
opened up and released a translucent liquid. “Not really venom, per
se, all fairies have it. A chemical to help break down their food.
Just that mine is toxic to many. Not to worry though, I have pretty
good control of it now. Nasty, poisonous stuff.” She laughed again,
“You know, that’s what Chevelle thought I intended the first time I
dusted you.” I recalled the panic in his voice before he whisked
her away.
Ugh, what a
night
. This one hadn’t gone a lot
better.
“
Ruby, please take Frey back
to the house.” Chevelle was standing behind us. I was too exhausted
to jump. She glanced back at him, not at all surprised he was
there.
Her face crinkled. “Didn’t
go well?” He didn’t respond but was obviously frustrated. I
couldn’t tell if it was with Ruby or whatever hadn't gone
well.
Or the idiotic offspring of his
parent’s murderer who tried to seduce him in a drunken
stupor
. It didn’t matter, I was being
removed again.
Ruby rambled about all of the difficulties of
and uses for venom on our way back. She’d gotten so involved in her
stories I thought she must have forgotten I was there. Her last
words confirmed it. “No one knew to check. How would they? I mean a
new… species. A new breed. And lethal. Poison to her mother. They
couldn’t even know that was what happened until the others. Until
the pattern became patent and they found the source.”
Poison. To her mother.
Chapter Twelve
Unexpected Company
My dreams were wicked that night, all venom
and wolves, snakes and beasts, death and fire. I woke in my bed,
light filtered in through the window. The door was open and I could
see Chevelle sitting in the front room. I was hesitant to face
him.
I stayed there, awake, and ran back through
the events of the night, the stories. I turned my head to bury it
in a pillow when embarrassment flooded me again and a small black
object on the side table caught my attention. I picked it up to
examine. A small bird, carved of stone. A hawk. Of onyx.
I knew at once it was what Chevelle had been
working on, carving. And then I recognized the stone, the large
black stone that pummeled my face for days, and I couldn’t help but
snicker. I remembered the tiny hawk he had made with magic and my
disappointment when it had turned back to the dull gray rock. He
had carved me this symbol with his own hands.
Now I was completely ashamed
of my actions the previous night.
Completely
.
I closed my hand around it and noticed the
painting on my wrist. A hawk. I knew I had to face him. This might
be a peace offering. I stood and walked into the main room,
clutching the figure in my fist for courage.