It didn’t make sense, I knew
I had been assigned a watcher. From the North.
“No one?"
I asked.
“
No. Council does not
attempt to rule the North.”
I considered that,
considered my watcher.
He was a
volunteer
. I seethed for a moment then
flashes of my mother and council cloaks flooded my thoughts and I
had to block them.
“
So the North… has no
council at all?”
He seemed uncomfortable for a moment. “No. No
council.” He paused while he formed the rest of his answer. Steed
was watching him, intent. “We are… unruled.”
“
Unruly,” Steed added with a
laugh.
“
You’ve never had a
council?”
They shook their heads.
“
No rulers?”
I noticed a sidelong glance between them.
Grey answered. “Not anymore.” I could tell he intended to end the
conversation with that but it only made me more curious.
I was tired of always having
to make everyone spell things out for me. “No council,
ever
. No rulers…
anymore
?” They didn’t
respond. “So, what then?” They were beginning to show annoyance at
my questioning.
“
Frey.” Chevelle was calling
me from the front of the line. I looked at him, the irritated
expression still there. “Time to resume your training.”
Grrr…
They had me work with Anvil, trying to
anticipate when he was preparing to send a small current of
electricity toward me. Which, loosely translated, meant I spent the
day getting shocked. I was grateful when we finally stopped to make
camp.
I was afraid they would resume training after
dinner, so I found a place off by myself and pretended to rest as I
went back to reading the diary.
Today was exhilarating. For the first time in
I don’t know how long, I was out of the castle. Free from practice,
free from duties, free from walls. Though tricky to set up, the
spell worked on Rune. I showed up at practice early and whispered
the words in case something went wrong and he heard. I can’t
imagine what my punishment would be, though it might have been
worth it. He fell asleep quickly and I ran as fast as I could, my
pulse pounding with excitement. I spent the entire day away from
the castle. Without the drain of practice, I was thrilling with
energy. I could feel the trees, the mountain. I hope father never
comes back! I am sure I will try again tomorrow and every day I can
spare after that.
Rune was completely unaware of any foul play
yesterday so I had full confidence in the spell this morning. Not
that I wouldn’t have attempted it again anyway, but at least I know
I’m safer now. No worries when I’m out of the castle. My sister is
out every day but I can never seem to find her. She keeps bringing
back the strangest treasures. I have run for two days now, I think
tomorrow I will follow her. She refuses to tell me where she goes,
neither under threat nor bribe, so I’ll have to use stealth.
Today was brilliant. I left a sleeping Rune
just in time to find my sister sneaking from the castle. I followed
her without being seen all the way to her secret spot. It took us
half the day to get there but it was completely worth it. So far
away from any kind of traffic, I have no idea how she even
discovered it.
Nestled in a patch of trees outside the
forest was some sort of camp. I watched her at first, she scoured
the area searching through the things she found there. But I
couldn’t stand merely observing for long. I exposed myself and
inquired about previous finds and hit her with all the questions
that were plaguing me. She was furious! She screamed and cursed and
fumed. She was no help with my queries so I was forced to look
around myself.
Whatever had been there lived a little like
the imps. And there were imp tracks there, but it appeared only
one. There were massive amounts of bowls and jars. I have no idea
who would need so many containers. The fairies like containers but
not of this crude sort, the craftsmanship was almost that of a
troll. I tried to stay on the opposite side of the camp from my
sister’s wrath but I found tracks and had to follow them near her,
stirring up another fit of rage. The prints were shoed, about the
size of elves, but the treads were irregular. Whatever stayed here,
there were a lot of them.
Near the center of the camp the ground was
beat down with tracks, circling a ring of stones. There were
remnants inside and ashes, a crude fire pit. Around that, several
feet out, were various logs, I assumed for sitting around the pit.
There were a few huts built about the camp but their construction
was unlike anything I’d seen before, very poorly built. I ducked
inside one and was shocked to see it was full of the previous
owner’s possessions. Clothing, bedding, so much stuff left behind.
I had thought they’d left suddenly but I was confident then that it
was not of their choosing.
I went back outside and examined the tracks
again. I followed the imp’s this time and found my answer. Outside
of the camp, I uncovered blood and drag marks. The imp had killed
what appeared to be three of the camp’s inhabitants and dragged
them off with it, likely by stringer and tow. Whatever was there
had run away because of the attack, and recently.
I questioned my sister again (she’d had some
time to cool down) but she was no help. I immediately knew she had
not even considered that whatever she had been so interested in was
still out here, probably close. I didn’t clue her in. After a
little more time there, I acted as if I’d lost interest and headed
home. Tomorrow, I will follow the tracks. I will find whoever was
there and solve the mystery of their rudimentary tools and strange
huts.
I yawned. After a quick glance around, I slid
the book back into my pack. I rolled over and fell asleep listening
to Ruby hum a soft tune.
The next morning, the group seemed in
unusually high spirits. I had no idea why the mood had shifted, but
I enjoyed the laughter and joking anyway.
We rode past a small waterfall and the
crashing water made me curious. I figured Ruby was my best bet.
Chevelle gave me no answers and though hers were sometimes cryptic,
I knew she’d been reading books on magic. “Ruby, is there a way to
harness the power of things… like that waterfall?”
Grey was riding beside us and I noticed him
look at me like I was an idiot. I saw that look all the time, but I
never really got used to it.
“
Not that I know of,” she
said. She got her mischievous grin then. “Though I did read once
that there was a way to steal life force and use it for
yourself.”
Chevelle shot her a stern rebuke from the
front of the pack.
She continued as if excusing herself, “But it
was merely a fairy’s tale and probably not entirely accurate.”
Then, in a lower voice, “It is fun to speculate, though.”
I mirrored her low tone as I questioned her,
“How would you steal life force?”
“
Well, like I said, probably
not accurate… but you would have to take the other's life in order
to gain their power. Take it in a specific manner.” She noticed
Chevelle glaring at her and overemphasized the act of clamping her
mouth shut.
I waited until he turned back around before I
whispered, “Ruby, did you bring the magic book with you?”
She smiled.
“
Can I read it?”
She winked at me.
I started to smile back at her but before I
could process the notion into action, Chevelle was in front of us,
his horse blocking my way. I was almost thrown from my saddle when
we stopped to avoid running into him. He was angry again.
“Frey.”
“
What?”
“
Do you remember the last
time you used a spell?”
I recalled the smell of burning flesh as the
maps cut into my palms. “Yes,” I said, defeated.
He looked at Ruby and she understood his
direction. There would be no magic study for me.
But I did know she had
it.
Maybe I’d be able to steal
it…
As I wandered around my thoughts, I started
to fall behind the group. The higher we rose up the mountain, the
rockier it became, preventing me from seeing much of anything
interesting ahead while a heavy mist kept me from looking down the
mountain, which I’d found I didn’t like anyway - it was unsettling.
So, I decided to practice as we rode. I closed my eyes and sank
partially into my horse, keeping alert enough in my own mind to
hear if anyone was speaking to me.
It was there, leading my horse and seeing
through his eyes, that the pain struck. It came on instantaneously,
hitting me like a blade, cutting, shearing. It was accompanied by
sharpness of sound as well. My ears, not the horse's but my own,
were in excruciating pain. Suddenly I felt the horse drop, its head
smacked to the ground and I watched, even then, through his eyes as
he hit. Its thoughts stilled, not panicked as my own. I didn’t
understand what was happening, couldn’t quite form a thought.
I yearned to retreat completely into the
horse, run from the agony, but the severity of it tore me back and
kept me there in my own head. It felt and sounded like metal bands
inside my mind, inside my ears, screeching. I hadn’t opened my eyes
again and now I couldn’t. I couldn’t find my body; I wanted to
bring my hands to my head, cover my ears… something. But I couldn’t
feel anything aside from the pain in my mind.
I focused all of my energy on finding some
feeling somewhere and finally, though the terror was unrelenting, I
felt my body again; knew it was there. It still didn’t respond, but
I knew I hadn’t fallen with the horse. Something had caught me. Not
the ground… not a rock. Someone was carrying me. The horror must
have stretched time, making the few seconds seem like minutes.
I struggled to bring myself
back. I could hear nothing but a piercing squall. I willed my eyes
open, though only a fraction. I was looking at the back of a horse,
slung over someone’s shoulder. My eyes closed once more as the pain
doubled and I lost my body for a moment. I concentrated until I got
it back and then realized I was bouncing. I worked my eyes again,
using every ounce of control I had left. I was on a horse, running.
Not my own. Chevelle was holding me in front of him, my body limp
and useless. I fought to focus on more but was overtaken by pain.
We were running…
away?
I could control nothing but my mind and that
just barely. As my eyes closed again, I reached out and found my
horse as it lay motionless on the ground, my Steed. He wasn’t dead.
I asked him to stand and tried to impress upon him to follow. I
hoped it had worked as I faded into blackness.
Chapter Fifteen
Fortress
My mind regained
consciousness very slowly. I was hit with blurry images first, then
they became dreams. Eventually the dreams were clearer, though they
didn’t make much sense. After a time, it occurred to me the problem
was the images were mixing with the wrong sounds…
real sounds
. Panicked
sounds.
I thought I recognized
Chevelle’s voice, I tried to focus on it. It was filled with agony
as he spoke. “Frey.” I felt something on my face, a warm, light
touch.
Lips?
I gasped, shocked at the idea someone might
have been kissing me. I felt the air as those surrounding me moved
in response. I forced my eyes open and found Ruby, Steed, and
Chevelle. They looked for a moment as if they were suffering my
pain… and then I realized the pain was gone, the siren was
silenced. I breathed deep, relieved. Their faces relaxed, relief
washing over them… though not entirely. I noticed their postures
then, stiff, alert, almost their training stances. I started to
raise my head, find the source of the danger.
Dizziness incapacitated me. They rushed to
kneel beside me and I was sure that was how they had been before my
gasp had moved them to standing. I opened my mouth to speak but my
throat was too dry. Chevelle gave me a drink, I would have taken
anything but I was glad it was water, not that foul-tasting
elixir.
“
What happened?” I was
finally able to choke out.
They were tight-lipped. I waited.
“
How do you feel?” Chevelle
asked. His tone was off, a little shaky. I couldn’t tell if he was
cross or something else. My thoughts weren’t working right yet, I
tried to clear my head before answering, take stock and see how
I
did
feel.
“
I don’t know.” It was the
best I could do.
“
Are you hurt?”
“
No.”
He paused and then finally asked,
tentatively, “Do you know who I am?”
Something about that was funny and I laughed
a hoarse laugh.
He looked torn as he posed the next question,
slow. “Can you tell me your name?”
I wondered how bad I was messed up that he
was approaching me with this line of questioning. “Frey.”
“
Your
full
name?”
Ugh
.
“Elfreda Georgiana Suzetta Glaforia.”
Geez
.
They all took a deep breath.
“
What?”
Chevelle relaxed a bit as he continued, “You
don’t have pain?”
“
No.” I clarified, “Not
anymore.”
He nodded. “What do you remember?”