Assassin's Curse (29 page)

The gypsy rule of majority dictated that when a female reached the age of eighteen, she could finally own property in her own right.
 
If a woman was married, all
communal
property reverted to her name on that day: if she was not married, then any properties she might have bought or received through inheritance would also revert to her name.
 
It had come as some surprise to Jeda that in the gypsy world, women owned everything of consequence, while their men provided the sustenance for the family.
 
It was an idea that he was slowly becoming used to, but right now, he just stared at her not knowing what to say.
 

Think man
,
think
!
 
Truth be told he did not know when their birthdays were, but he thought furiously back to the time he first saw them.
 
He figured they must have been at least six or seven months old; they were already standing in their crib.
 
When do babies start standing anyway?
 
How was he supposed to know these things?
 
Doing a quick calculation in his head, he figured they must have been born sometime between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.
 

“Their births occurred on the midday of the fourth lunar cycle after the spring equinox.”

“But that is so near my own,” Keisha sputtered.

Jeda smiled at her, thinking he had dodged one of her famous tirades.

“So you do know,” Keisha continued her rant.
 
“Then why is it that we have never celebrated it before?
 
I think it is….”

There was only one way that Jeda knew to shut up his young, newlywed wife when she got onto one of her moods.
 
He stepped up to her, wrapped his arms around her, and looked deep into her eyes.

“Oh no you don’t,” she protested, trying to push him away.
 
“You won’t shut me up again that easily.”

He leaned into her and gave a passionate kiss that she fought against for the first few seconds, until she melted into his arms and returned it with the same passion.
 

He was the first to break their embrace.
 
He stepped back at arm’s length.
 
“You’re right.
 
Five years is way too long for my little angels to go without a celebration of
their own
.
 
I promise we will celebrate their
birth-days
this year right alongside yours.
 
It will be fantastic.”

***

Natasha smiled at the antics of Kara as she tried to memorize the simple spell.
 
She scrunched up her face and furrowed her brows, trying to remember everything she must do to make the spell work.
 
Kala had mastered it earlier, but Kara was still having problems remembering all the subtleties.
 
It was a simple, healing spell that relieved a body of minor pains and headaches and, though the girls were young, it was not beyond their abilities.
 
Kala waited patiently while her sister struggled with the spell.

“Kara, please try again,” Natasha said when Kara failed with the spell yet again.
 
“You missed one small part at the end.”

“Nana Natasha, I’m trying, but I can’t seem to do it right,” Kara protested.

Kala tried not to laugh at her sister’s frustration but, with the faces that Kara was making, she could barely keep her composure.
 
She tried to clamp her lips shut and cover her mouth with her hand, but at the last face Kara made, Kala burst out giggling.
 
That was all it took for Kara to throw her hands up in frustration.

“Not funny,” Kara said, shooting her sister a deadly look.

“Yes it is.
 
You look so funny when you try to do that.”

“I’ll show you what’s funny,” Kara said shooting a blast of air at her sister.
 
The blast was sporadic and weak, but still caught Kala off balance and bowled her over.

“Hey, not fair,”
Kala
yelled.

“That’s enough, the both of you,” Natasha warned the two young girls.

“But she started it,” they both shouted simultaneously.

“I know your father lets you two get away with such outbursts during his training sessions, but I am not inclined to do so.
 
Do you understand?”

“Yes, Nana Natasha,” the girls said in unison.

Kara shot her sister another look and went back to trying the healing spell.
 
Kala sat back, trying her best to look innocent.
 
They both jumped when they heard the voice behind them.

“Does anyone know where the two most beautiful girls in the world might be?”
 
The question came floating in the air.

“Poppy,” screamed Kala.
 
“I missed you soooo much.”

“I missed you too, Kala.
 
How is your instruction going today?”

“Oh, it was great!
 
I finished all my spells and Nana Natasha is teaching me my letters.”

“Very good,” Jeda said, smiling at her.
 

He gently put her down as Kara made her way over her father.
 
Jeda knelt down and hugged her.
 
She returned his affections after a moment.

“Da, she’s watching us,” Kara told Jeda, embarrassed by the display of emotion.

“Kara, it’s ok,” Jeda replied softly to the young girl, sweeping her hair back off her face.
 
“I’m your father and I love you.”

“I love you too, Da, but not in public.”

Jeda let her go and stood, looking over to Natasha.
 
“How are the lessons progressing?”

“Jeda, I think you should know they have started to show differences in their abilities and perceptions.”

“Really, they’re barely six years’ old.”

“Yes, I know, but Kala exceeds at the healing gifts while Kara continually struggles with every spell I try to teach her.”

“So what do we do?”

“With your permission, I would like to try an experiment with both girls.”

“An experiment?
 
Is that safe?”

“Oh, there will be no danger.
 
It will be a simple test using a very minor, elemental spell.”

“Elemental spell and experiment,” Jeda repeated.
 
“Somehow, those two words don’t spell safe to me.”
 

“Jeda, we have to learn why Kara is having such a hard time with these simple, healing spells.
 
She already knows how to manipulate wind a bit.
 
She learned that on her own.
 
She can’t control it well, but it is still highly unusual for someone so young to be able to have any control.
 
The problem is she is still falling behind her sister with the healing spells and it is causing her to become very frustrated.
 
I’m not an expert with elemental spells, but a small wind spell will give us an idea of Kara’s ability.”

Jeda looked down at the two girls.
 
“Ready for another lesson?”

Kara groaned.
 
“Is it more healing stuff?”

Jeda chuckled.
 
“No, Kara, you might even enjoy this one.
 
Let’s go over to the archery field.”

Natasha, Jeda, and the girls headed over to the field.
 
While Jeda measured out 10 feet and placed a hay bale on the spot, Natasha was deep in conversation with the twins.

“OK, that is the basic spell to control wind.
 
Let’s see what you can do with it against the hay bale,” Natasha instructed.
 
“Kala, you’re first.
 
Kara, please come stand beside me.”

The two girls parted and the test began.
 
Kala stood tall and waved at Jeda.
 
She furrowed her brows and concentrated on the bale.
 
After a few moments, she threw her hands forward aiming for it.
 
A small, whooshing noise sounded and the bale fell over.
 
Kala jumped for joy when she saw what she had achieved.
 

“Very good, Kala,” Natasha said.
 
“Jeda, would you please set up the hay bale again?
 
Kala, please come over while we give Kara a chance.”

Jeda righted the hay bale and stepped to the side once again.

“Now Kara, it’s your turn.
 
See what you can do.”

Kara concentrated slightly, and quickly raised her arms.
 
A small thunderclap followed and the bale of hay burst apart as a blast of compressed air ripped through it like a small whirlwind.

Everyone stood flabbergasted at what the young girl had just done.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to set that up again,” Jeda said, shaking his head.

After the long years of fruitless hunting, Mave stood stoically again outside the Grand Masters’ Council Chamber waiting for them to summon him inside.

This is getting old.

There was no good news to report, and Mave did not expect anything good to come from this meeting.
 
No matter how many men the masters had given him or the unlimited resources he had access to, Mave had failed.

That little shit will be the death of me yet.
 
Probably crawled under a rock to hide like the snake he is.

No sightings, no mention, no clues whatsoever had been found of where Jeda had taken the twins.
 
They had searched every city and village in the entire kingdom during the last ten years, over and over again.
 
Mave had gone so far as to infiltrate the witches, assigning covert assassins to act as assistants in the larger covens to watch and listen for any word or sightings of the twins.
 
Nothing had worked.
 
The witches had failed as well.
 
Although the guild had seemingly bottomless resources to continue searching, it was finally over for Mave; the masters’ patience had run out toward him.

Fate has dealt me quite the hand.
 
A traitor runs away and I am left here to take his punishment.
 
Serves me right for showing him mercy in the first place.
 

The doors finally opened and Mave was ushered inside.
 

“Brother Mave, we have come to a decision…”

***

The eleven-year-old twins came barreling toward Jeda at full speed.
 
As with most things they did together, a simple walk to the training grounds turned into a contest.
 
Between the two, it was always who could beat whom and who was better.
 
Kala edged out Kara in their test of speed and she celebrated with a little happy dance around her sister.
 

“You look silly doing that,” Kara said, frowning at her prancing sister.

“You’re just mad ‘cause I beat you,” Kala replied, sticking her tongue out for emphasis.

Jeda watched their antics for a few minutes before interrupting them.
 
“OK, enough playing around.
 
It’s time for lessons and practice: lots and lots of practice.”

Both girls stopped immediately, knowing their father would accept nothing less than their full attention during these lessons.

“Today we start with knives.”

Kara practically beamed at hearing this and snuck a sly look at her sister, knowing that today’s contest was about to take a decidedly different turn.
 
Kala might be quicker than Kara, but she was no match with blades.

“We will begin with lightweight, throwing knives and work up to heavier, carving knives,” Jeda continued.

“Da, why do we have to train with carving knives?
 
Why don’t we just practice with our own throwing knives?” Kara asked.

“Do you think you will carry your throwing knives everywhere you go?”

“Yes, of course,” she answered matter-of-factly.

Jeda could not help but crack a smile at her answer.
 
At eleven years’ old, neither girl showed much interest in boys, but that would change soon enough.
 
“Someday you just might decide to leave them behind.
 
On that day, you will be happy that we trained with everyday varieties.”

“Can’t see how that will ever happen,” Kara muttered.

“All right, that’s enough.
 
Let’s begin.”

The next hour consisted of throwing the knives at different-sized targets from different distances.
 
At the end of the session, the targets stood at twenty-five feet, a distance neither of the girls could hit.
 
Kala turned to see what Jeda would have them practice next, but Kara stopped her father.