Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (22 page)

Tyler thanked her, closing the door as the sound of
footsteps made their way down the hall. He flopped back onto the
bed and closed his eyes.

“Tyler?”

He sat up abruptly at the sound of his name followed
by a knock on his door. The knock came again and he went to answer
it. He opened the door and grinned.

“Maddy!”

She hugged him close and kissed his cheek. “I thought
that was you when you walked in. Come have a drink with us!”

He nodded and followed her to the pub.

“Tyler!” Mina ran and jumped into his arms. “By the
moons, what are you doing here?”

The bartender brought him a drink and he looked from
one sister to the other. “I was in the area and needed supplies.
You?” He couldn’t stop smiling.

“Same here! We went to Paradin and we’re making our
way south again. What about you? Where are John and Heidi?”

“John’s in Harring. He found a mate there after I
almost died fighting a Zerpanay.” He waved away their shocked
looks. “I know, I know. Going to Swandern was not my brightest
moment.” He took a drink of his sloan. “And Heidi, well, she’s
home.” His smile slipped and he took another drink to cover his
face.

“Home, as in your home?” Mina was making a great
attempt at not looking jealous.

He shook his head. “No. Home, as in the other world
home.”

Both of them gaped at him in awe.

“Yes, well, don’t look so amazed. Let’s just say it
was one of the worst experiences of my life and if I ever come
across another human lost in the woods, I’ll be sure to keep my
mouth shut.”

He felt a pang of guilt. He wasn’t lying outright;
nearly dying and being beaten had definitely not been part of his
favourite moments, but the feel of Heidi in his arms, of her hand
in his, those would easily have fit in the best moments of his
life.

“So it’s just you again?” Mina looked at him over the
rim of her mug.

He nodded. “Just me and Bird.” He grinned. “Just the
way I like it.” Right? He ordered them all another drink.

Maddy thanked him and took a drink. “Where are you
heading?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure, exactly. I’m heading
toward the coast.”

“You’ll love it. Mina and I were there a couple of
years ago. It’s beautiful. If you get to Pikerl, be sure to stay at
the Gleating Inn. The service is fantastic and the sloan is second
to none.”

“I’ll be sure to do that. How long are the two of you
staying in town?”

The sisters looked at each other and shrugged. Mina
grinned. “We play it by ear.”

He smiled and took a swallow of his drink. “That’s
the way to do it.”

The conversation turned to where the sisters had
been, his adventures with the Zerpanay, and everything under the
moons.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tyler took a deep breath but kept his eyes shut. By
the feel of the sun coming through the window, it was mid-morning.
By the moons, how many drinks had he had last night? According to
how his head felt, he’d had a few more than he usually did. He felt
the bed move and he jumped out of it, realized he was naked and
quickly wrapped the first blanket he could grab around his waist.
He groaned at the sight of Mina, stretching in her sleep, her hair
fanned out across her bare back, the thin sheet not leaving much to
the imagination as she moved under it. The woman wanted a mate,
which was the one thing he definitely didn’t want to be. How in the
world was he going to tell her that last night had been exactly
that; one night?

He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his hands
over his face. He remembered the first couple of drinks. He was
sure they’d done a few shots. These were followed by a few more
drinks. By the moons, had he been dancing? Mina had been sitting on
his lap, her fingers playing along his back. At one point, Maddy
had found herself a man to sit on as well. He remembered Mina
licking his neck and her giggle at his shiver. He groaned at the
memory of carrying her to his room, barely being able to open the
door as they started to pull pieces of clothing off of each other.
His eyes widened and he twisted to look at his shoulder where he
knew he’d see a perfect imprint of her teeth. And then, what? What
had happened next?

The bed moved behind him and he tried not to jump at
the feel of Mina’s arms wrapping around his chest from behind. She
kissed his back softly and moved so she was kneeling behind him.
Her lips rested in the crook of his neck.

“Good morning.” She pressed up against his back. “How
are you feeling?”

“I’m not sure.” And truthfully, he wasn’t. He had a
headache from all the drinks, he was confused as to the events of
the previous night, and he was trying to not enjoy the feel of her
against him as her fingers ran down his chest.

“I thought we’d start where we left off last night,”
she murmured as her tongue flicked along his ear. “It really was
too bad that you got such a horrible headache when you did.”

Thank the moons, he hadn’t done anything! Of course,
at the rate she was going now, it wouldn’t take long before he did.
He reached around and pulled her so that she was sitting in his
lap.

“Mina…” His stomach tightened at the look in her blue
eyes. “I’m not looking for a mate.”

The corners of her mouth twitched and she ran her
tongue lightly over her lips. “I know. You made yourself quite
clear about that fact last night.” She moved so that she kneeling
on the bed, straddling him. “And if you think about it for a
minute, you’ll remember that I told you that was fine by me.” She
leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, her fingers lacing in
his hair.

Tyler groaned, his thoughts racing through his head
as he tried to decide what to do. Somewhere in the back of his
mind, a thought of Heidi tried to push to the surface. He attempted
to ignore it and looked into the blue eyes under him. Heidi was
gone and she wasn’t coming back. Mina’s teeth ran down his neck. He
closed he eyes and sat back up.

“I’m sorry, Mina, I can’t.”

She surprised him by stretching out on the bed,
smiling, and he couldn’t help admiring the sight before him. “Get
dressed and we’ll go get some breakfast.”

He frowned but did as he was told. He was sure she
wasn’t done trying to get her way.

A breakfast of eggs and juice did wonders to
alleviate the headache caused by the previous night’s drinks. Maddy
grinned as she joined them.

“How’s your head, Tyler?”

He grinned. “Much better now than it was a few hours
ago.”

“Any plans for the day?”

He shook his head.

“They’re having games in the courtyard. You should
come.”

Mina nodded her agreement with her sister and Tyler
smiled.

“Alright. I suppose I can stay another day.”

They made plans to meet back at the pub in a few
hours’ time. Tyler made his way back to his room and lay on the
bed. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was lying on his back in a meadow. The sun was
beating down on him and he wiggled so that he lay deeper in the
grass.

“
Tyler.”

He grinned and turned his head to look at Heidi who
was lying beside him. She smiled.

“
I thought you’d fallen asleep.”

“
I could.” He reached over and took her hand. The
breeze blew the smell of the sea to them and he realized they were
in Harring. He frowned.

“
What’s wrong?” Heidi’s eyes squinted with her
worry.

He shook his head. “I just realized this is a dream.”
He smiled sadly and gave her hand a squeeze. “That’s alright. I’ll
take what I can get.”

Her smile was just as sad as his as she turned toward
him so she could snuggle into his side. The birds chirped
overhead.

“
I always wonder if you’d have stayed if I’d
asked.” He whispered the words into her hair. She turned her head
up so she could look in his eyes.

“
I miss you,” she mumbled.

“
I miss you, too.” His heart started to pound as
he leaned down to kiss her.

“
Tyler!”

He jerked awake and nearly fell off of the bed.

“Tyler! We’re leaving!” Mina’s voice sounded through
his door.

He groaned and sat up. “I’m up. Give me a minute.” He
rubbed his hands over his face. Again. Bloody hell, he had to quit
dreaming about her. The first few times hadn’t been too bad. He
could handle once or twice a week, but every night, that was
starting to be a little extreme. He frowned. Had he dreamed of her
last night? He couldn’t remember and he was sure it was due to the
drinks. Well, it wasn’t like he could drink every night to keep her
away, now could he?

He grabbed his money pouch out of his pack, pulled on
his boots, and opened the door. The sisters grinned.

“Did you fall asleep?” Mina linked her arm with his
as they started down the hall.

“I did.”

“I’ll buy you a coffee. You have to taste it, Tyler.
This coffee vendor swears he gets his goods from the Gysps. Do you
know what that means? It means the beans aren’t from Quelondain!”
She sounded so excited at the thought of drinking coffee from
across the sea that Tyler laughed.

“You can laugh all you want,” Maddy countered, “but
you’ll agree when you try it for yourself.”

They found the vendor the sisters were talking about
and all three of them ordered a coffee.

“Come on! We’ll go find seats to watch the games.”
Mina pulled him along by the hand. “I heard someone say yesterday
that they were starting with the dagger throwing.”

Tyler thought it was a shame that John wasn’t here.
He’d have won the competition hands down.

“So, Tyler, tell me about home.” Mina looked up at
him, curious.

Tyler blinked to rid himself of the image of Heidi
that flashed in his head at the word home. “Umm, there’s not much
to tell. I’m from Howel originally. My pack is in Sageden now.”

“Is that where you’re going?”

He shook his head, took a sip of his coffee and
forced the swallow down.

“What do you think?” Maddy was looking at him
expectantly.

He couldn’t hide the grimace. “It’s a bit sweet for
me.” He smiled and handed it to Mina. He turned his attention to
the dagger throwers. The crowd gasped as they hit their targets
with deadly accuracy. Heidi would have loved to see this.

“You should enter the sparring competition,”
suggested Mina.

He shook his head. The pressure was starting to build
in his head, the sounds of the crowd sending jabs of pain behind
his eyes.

“I’m going to head back to the inn.”

She grinned. “Do you want me to come along?”

“No, that’s fine. Enjoy your day with your
sister.”

“Will you meet us for supper then?”

He thought about it. He really should get going. Of
course, if this headache turned into the one he was sure it was
transforming into, he’d sleep most of the afternoon and it would be
too late to leave.

“Alright. I’ll meet you at the pub later on.” He
hurried back to his room, locked the door, and managed to crawl
into bed just as his head split. The tears spilled from his eyes
and he ground his teeth together. He tried to keep his groans down.
He didn’t need anyone coming to the door to see if he was alright.
As the headache receded and he fell asleep, he swore he could feel
the touch of cool fingers rubbing his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tyler leaned back against a tree, his concentration
solely on the piece of wood he was carving with his pocket knife. A
stick broke to his left and he smiled, still looking at the
wood.

“You’re late.”

“It’s Maddy’s fault. She insisted I go with her to
chat with Vince.”

“Your sister doesn’t strike me as the shy type.” He
put the knife and wood in his pack and took the blanket from her so
he could lay it on the ground. Mina set the food on the
blanket.

“She’s not. She just wanted a bit of moral support
when she told him she couldn’t be his mate. She wants to leave in a
few days’ time.”

Tyler pulled a fresh meat pie out of the bag and
stopped short as he realized it was wrapped in his grey tunic.

“Sorry, I couldn’t find a rag and the cook refused to
give me one of his.” Mina frowned at the look on his face. “I’ll
wash it when we get back.”

Tyler blinked and forced a smile. “It’s fine. It’s
just a tunic.” He reached back for the fishing lines he’d made and
handed her one. “Let’s let that cool.”

She grinned and went to sit beside him on the edge of
the river.

“So you’ll be leaving soon.” Tyler glanced at her. He
realized he might actually miss her when they parted ways.

She nodded. “Maddy wants to head home and quite
frankly, I’m all for it. You don’t feel like traveling south, do
you?”

He gazed into the water, thinking on her offer.

“I’ve got one!” Mina jumped to her feet and set the
hook before pulling the line towards them. “Ooh! Look at it!”

Tyler grinned. “I think this one’s been around for a
while. Look at the size of it!” He watched as she rendered it
unconscious before cutting into it.

“Are you just going to stand there and watch me or
are you going to start a fire?” Mina’s teasing smile made him
laugh.

“One fire coming up.” Maybe going south with the
sisters wasn’t such a horrible idea. He surely enjoyed their
company.

“That must have been quite the dream you were having
this morning.” Mina looked up from where she was filleting the
fish.

Tyler frowned. “Why’s that?”

“I could hear you growl through the wall. What, in
the name of the moons, were you dreaming about?”

“I can’t remember.”

Mina raised an eyebrow at him, but let it go.
“Alright, here’s the fish.” He wrapped the fillets in some thick
green leaves and put them on the fire. Tyler leaned back against a
tree and pulled out his pocket knife.