Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight (2 page)

I felt a flush of
irritation when Ena stopped outside my door and I kept walking at
least a half dozen more steps before I noticed. How could I still
not have any idea where it was? And why couldn't I simply follow
her instead of having to be led from behind?

The lost feeling wasn’t any
better after I was inside. Sure, from there I could tell it was the
room I’d been sleeping in, but it didn’t feel like home. Not that
the tree I’d lived in would now, either. I sighed. Sleeping outside
had begun to feel like home. How strange.

I ran a finger over the
table by the door on my way past. It was near bare, a few books of
no interest, an empty marble dish, a rather plain jeweled pin in a
style I couldn't imagine ever liking. There wasn't much of anything
personal in the room at all. I wondered if someone had removed my
things, maybe in the years I was gone. Or perhaps this was all I
had. The nightstand held a worn assortment of short, thin blades
and a boot clip, and I avoided examining anything further. I passed
the large bed draped with sheer silks and mounded with pillows,
heading to the window instead to look out, over the
mountain.

It was only a moment before
my thoughts turned once more to Chevelle. It was obvious he was
avoiding me, keeping a formal distance, but I wasn’t sure how to
change that. I’d tried, a few days after it became clear what he
was doing, but it had ended in disaster.

We’d been alone in the
practice rooms, trying to develop my control. We had been close as
we worked and I decided I could be aggressive, break his resolve.
But I had been concentrating so hard on my seductive face, my
wanting eyes, that I’d forgotten to pay attention to my stupid
feet. I’d been moving in for the kill when I tripped, falling flat
on my face at his feet. He was turning away when I looked up, and I
was sure I’d seen a smile, laughing at me. A flush tore back into
my cheeks at the memory of him fighting that smile, a laugh, and I
flopped on the bed, buried my face into the pillows and prayed for
sleep to come quickly.

I’d vowed to myself I would
keep my dignity, but that was forgotten early the next morning when
Ruby woke me for training and I found myself groaning like a child.
She dragged me to the practice rooms to work with fire.

We hadn’t been at it long
when the cats showed up.

“
Frey, Chevelle would like
a word with you.” Anvil spoke in the tone of official business but
I saw a smile teasing the corner of his mouth.

I took a deep breath as I
followed him out, Ruby and Grey behind me. Near the entrance to the
castle, we found Chevelle, as well as Steed, Rhys, and
Rider.

Chevelle did not look
happy. “Can you please explain to me why there are a pack of wild
cats waiting for entrance to the castle, Frey?”

A pack? There should have
been more than that. I’d found as many mountain lions as I could,
impressing upon them to come here. I tried to see past him and
then, subtly, raised to my toes to see over his shoulder. I barely
caught a glimpse of golden fur, glistening over a sleek, muscular
body before he stepped forward. My gaze went to his and it was
unmistakable he wanted to put a strong hand on my shoulder to
flatten my feet and keep me still. Instead, he peered into my eyes
and attempted to force the answer from me with sheer
will.

I sighed. “Well, you told
me what the problem was so I fixed it. We can all go now.” He
looked angrier after my response, downright seething. I tried to
fix it. “The cats will watch the castle for us.”
Obviously.

Ruby cracked a laugh and
everyone spun to glare at her. “She’s right, though. I mean, who’s
going to doubt her powers now?”

It took several agonizing
minutes, but they finally decided Ruby was right. Chevelle
dismissed us to go back to training. As we left, I heard Steed
remark in a low aside, “This is really going to piss the wolves
off.”

I pulled in a sharp breath.
I hadn’t seen the wolves since we’d arrived; I’d thought they were
probably outside, guarding us as usual.

Ruby elbowed me as we
walked side by side toward the practice rooms. I smiled back at
her. We were
all
going.

Chapter Two

Mission

Within a day, we were
gathered, ready to leave the castle. The plan was to go before
dawn, draw as little attention as possible. I’d made arrangements
with Dree to feed the cats. I silently hoped none of them tried to
eat the servants.
Except maybe that big
one who offered to give me a bath. Gag.
A
shiver of revulsion ran through me and I realized everyone was
staring at me. I smiled timidly and got the standard response –
the
Frey you’re an idiot
look.

I shrugged it off as I
kicked my horse up, leading the way out of the castle. Chevelle was
beside me in a moment, wearing an amused expression.

“
What?” I
was defensive. He merely tilted his head toward the others… who
were heading in the opposite direction.
So
much for dignity.
I turned to follow
them.

We made our way down the
mountain on a path that exited the castle from behind. I wondered
if we would eventually wind back around to where we had come from,
or if we would be headed somewhere new. But I realized it was all
still new to me. Such a short time ago, the village was all I’d
known, the whole of my world.

I tried to distract myself
from the upcoming journey that I’d been so adamant about taking, so
sure, not even thinking of what it might entail. I surveyed the bit
of land I could see in the dimness but it wasn't much until the
haze eventually thinned and light started to peek through from the
rising sun, allowing me a better view of the area. I spotted a pen
of what looked to be boar in the distance. Ruby had explained to me
how the elves here herded the animals and kept them until they were
needed. The game on the mountain’s peak was too sparse to keep up
with the population and there was very limited vegetation. I hadn’t
seen anything I would have called vegetation, but she had assured
me it was there. They must have needed many animals for the feasts
I’d read about in my mother’s diary. Thinking of it reminded me of
an idea I’d had before… if I could keep some animals handy for
whenever I’d need to use them… if we were to get
attacked…

I shuddered at the thought.
We weren’t about to get
attacked
, we were on our way
to
find
a fight.
Why hadn’t I waited until I had trained more? Why hadn’t I kept my
big mouth shut?
Stupid, stupid,
stupid.

“
Cold?” Steed
asked.

It brought me back. “Oh.
Uh, no, I’m fine.”

I realized the conversation
I was missing was about the horses and a question popped out
without a thought. “Steed, what’s your horse’s name?”

“
Oh," he replied casually,
"I’ve named her Elfreda.”

I blushed. Well, blushing
was putting it mildly. He smiled through tight lips, trying not to
laugh. Ugh. Who had told him that I’d named my horse Steed?
Probably would have given that a second thought if I’d known how
things would turn out.

The way was rough and I
found I’d liked riding up better than down. Maybe it was only my
nerves, but leaning back all day to avoid being tossed over the
horse’s head while being jostled around wasn’t exactly fun. And we
had not, as far as my poor directional skills could tell, swung
back around toward the south side of the mountain. The stones were
darker here, less traveled, and, well, eerie. We finally stopped
for the evening and I slid down off the horse, walking around a bit
before the dinner around the fire I was eagerly looking forward
to.

There seemed to be a
conversation I wasn’t expected to be a part of, planning no doubt,
so I busied myself by checking out what Ruby had packed for me.
When I opened the first bag, my stomach knotted at the disturbing
sight. It was full of weapons. I told myself they were for
training, not for what lay at the end of our journey. I pulled out
some knives. The blades were shiny and sharpened to a frightening
degree. I gingerly slid them back in the bag to one side and took
out a less offensive-looking weapon. Two sticks were connected end
to end by a metal chain. It looked fairly harmless. I was satisfied
with my find as I stood to try it out.
Much safer.

I had a hand on each end
and gave them a pull, as if I were testing the chain. I wasn’t sure
what I was doing but it probably looked cool. You know, check out
your… what was this weapon… before using it. It seemed to be pretty
sturdy but I couldn’t decide how to use it in both hands so I went
with one. I’d seen Grey spin a staff so I thought I’d try that
method. I held the end of one stick in my right hand and swung it
around carefully in a circle. It worked out nicely so I swung it in
a figure eight that wrapped around my sides. I found that it worked
better with momentum so I sped up a bit.

I really liked it. I got
brave and tried out some new moves.

Thwack!

I tried not to grab my face
as the free end cracked me on the bridge of the nose. My eyes were
watery but I risked a glance at the group, desperate to see if they
had noticed.
Ugh.
To their credit, they were trying to hold back their laughter.
They were strong but it didn’t matter… they’d seen the whole
thing.

I’d save the embarrassment
for later, my face hurt too bad right now. I plopped down on a rock
and used the base of my palm to apply pressure to the bone between
my eyes. I scowled behind my forearm when I heard a chuckle.
Probably Steed.

I didn’t remember falling
asleep, but I knew I was dreaming. I knew because I was that other
Elfreda again. I was younger and braver and though I couldn’t lose
the confusion even when I was dreaming, I was in control. We were
outside, but the ground was rocky and the trees were low and spiky.
We were hiding as we waited, pleased with ourselves as we watched
our plan play out perfectly. Aunt Fannie had found our decoy. She
was younger, too, but this old me still held strong negativity
toward her. She’d spotted the scroll and checked to see that she
wasn’t being followed. She’d not seen us. Her eyes widened at the
words on the page before she softly whispered them aloud. Beside
me, I heard a stifled chuckle as he worked his magic, burning the
lines into her palms. She dropped her prize and her face froze as
she took in the image on her skin. A map. A false map that would
lead her in circles for days and give us time…

I jerked from Ruby’s touch
as she tried to wake me. It was dawn. I was covered in sweat and
muddled, confused. Had it been a dream? Had I taken the memories of
the map that I had found, the map that had led me north, led me
here, and combined them into a dream with these rocks and…
Chevelle.

No, no, I couldn’t believe
it. It must have been a dream. How would he? Why?

I shook my head and hastily
grabbed my things to mount as the others were leaving.
No. Impossible.

But the images nagged at me
all day, they would not be quieted even as we rode down the
mountain, further and further from the castle.

I tried to remember the
words. I was almost certain of them; it had been such a shock at
the time. When I couldn’t fight it any longer, I held back from the
group as we rode and nervously whispered the spell.

Nothing
happened.

Maybe I’d used the wrong
ones. No, I was sure. Well, maybe a spell only worked once, though
I’d never heard of that. But I didn’t know much about spells. Maybe
I was already here so there was no reason for the map to appear.
No, to burn into my palms. But I wasn’t here when the lines
disappeared. I was riding into the village where we had met Ruby.
When Chevelle had nodded at my hands. My mind returned over and
over to the idea that it was a memory, not a dream. But I held fast
to the one shred of evidence I could muster.
No one has the power to heal
.

We were stopping before I
realized it was evening. I was exhausted from worry. Ruby could
tell something was wrong; she tried to act cheery.

“
Ooh, you should have put
some snow on that,” she giggled, pointing to my black eyes from
yesterday’s self-taught sticks-on-a-chain lesson.

I managed to glare at her
but it hurt more than it was worth.

We sat as Chevelle lit a
fire and I tried not to eye him suspiciously. I’d once marveled at
how good he was with a flame. Maybe he had a reversible burning
power.
Okay, now you’re just making stuff
up.
I thought back to the incident again,
to his explanation later. His sincerity when he’d said he had to
take me north, now that I’d seen the map I’d have to. His regret,
how he should have been paying closer attention. His
confession…
I’m sorry, Freya. I let you
down.

But he couldn’t have burned
the map into my palms. He’d said he’d been distracted. He’d had his
own agenda; I’d watched him the night before as he snuck into a
strange village and through a window for a secret meeting. I froze
as I made the connection.