Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight (11 page)

He spoke in a low voice.
"When did your instincts return, Freya?"

I just stared at him. I had
no idea what he was talking about.

His smile turned
apologetic, but at the same time unrepentant, a face I was sure
only Grey could get away with. "Seems the wicked Francine is
helping you out more than herself."

I shivered a bit at the
mention of Fannie. I had plenty of awful memories of her, mean as
she was, but nothing had compared to the simple look she'd given me
in her panther form. Just a dream, but the way she looked at
me...

The words came out almost
as a thought. "What does she want with me?"

He looked incredulous. I
couldn't understand why. I was missing something obvious again? She
intended to punish me for what I'd done, my imagined part in her
binding and imprisonment?

Grey turned to me and
placed his hands on my arms. "Frey, you are the leader of the
North."

What did that have to do
with anything?

He could see he wasn't
getting through. "Do you remember what you read of Fannie in the
diary?"

Had
everyone
read it? I
waited.

I could tell he felt as if
he were explaining something to a child. "Fannie is in line for the
throne, Freya."

I let that sink
in.

"
After
you."

Instead of the shock or
pain that should have followed the revelation that my mind took its
sweet time getting to, anger flooded through me. "She plans
to
kill
me?"

Grey tried to shush me
anxiously. But I couldn't be calmed. That crazy bitch was hunting
me down in beast form to kill me? That thought hadn't even crossed
my mind. Punish yes, some form of prolonged torture probably, but
kill? And then a hysterical laugh escaped.
For the throne
. Grey glanced
nervously toward the others. They’d not want me to know this, my
fragile brain couldn’t take it.

"Wait, wait, wait." I tried
to push past the anger and hysteria for just long enough to
understand. "This doesn't make any sense. It's not in line. Why am
I even leader?" In my rush, I forgot that I hadn't spilled my
complete knowledge of the situation to anyone. "Why isn't
Asher?"

Grey looked back at me,
entirely astonished. He started with a stutter and then avoided my
direct question by answering in general. "It… it doesn't work that
way, Frey. The leader can choose the next in his line but... in a
conflict... power is the deciding factor."

I was lost.
Again.

He knew it, and he threw
another quick look at the others before he continued in a hushed
tone. "Fannie is not as powerful as you are, Frey. You would have
to be... out of the picture... for her to rule."

"She's stronger than
Asher?
I'm
stronger than Asher?"

"She's counting on council
disposing of him." I didn't miss that he'd avoided my part of the
Asher question again.

My hands were shaking, I
tried to calm myself before the blackness came. Grey waited,
uneasy.

"Why am I the leader? If
Asher is alive, why would I be ruler?" I looked directly at him.
"Am I stronger than Asher?"

His tone was severe. "No
one is stronger than Asher."

That threw me. "Then
why?"

"It's very complicated,
Frey. Grand Council intends to take him out again-"

I cut him off.
"Again?"

He was frustrated now.
"Frey, just..."

Grey trailed off as he
heard someone approaching and then abruptly concocted a new
conversation. "So you'll want to try and anticipate where I'll
strike... oh, hey Ruby. Ready to go?"

I had to work to conceal my
growl of irritation. Ruby eyed me suspiciously.

We rode late into the
evening and the group was silent as darkness fell. We were deep in
a forest when we finally stopped. I slid down from my horse and
found a downed tree to lean against. Ruby brought me a blanket and
then cornered Grey, something I was sure she'd been dying to do
since the afternoon's practice.

I had started to doze off
when Chevelle sat on the tree beside where my head rested and I
immediately sat up, alert.

"Sleep, Frey."

Yeah, right.
I sighed and tried to settle back in to the
comfortable spot I'd had before.

It wasn't happening. I had
to work to keep my thoughts from returning to questions about
Fannie and Asher. About me. That was possibly the most disturbing
part. It was starting to sink in that I was expected to be a ruler,
and that it was something people wanted. Enough to kill me for. I
had always disliked Fannie but it was still hard to believe she'd
be so selfish, so... evil. Not that I hadn't wished her dead a few
times, but geez. And if it was so important, why was Asher not the
one? At least he had his mind, for Elvin's sake.

But no one knew I didn't.
My guard had kept it a secret. For my protection.

Dawn came unexpectedly
early. Not that it was any earlier than usual, just that I was
surprised at it. I was wrapped in a blanket on the same tree, Ruby
urging me awake with her foot. "Come on, Frey. Time for practice
before we move on."

I groaned. But practice was
brief because it was only a short time before they were mounted,
ready to set off.

We rode too fast, in and
out of patches of hot sun and dense forest. The plots of forest
were becoming longer though and by the evening of the second day, I
began to complain about being smacked in the head by so many
limbs.

"Wouldn't it just be easier
to walk?"

"We are conserving energy,"
Grey answered in a low voice. I looked back at him and he could see
he would have to explain more thoroughly.
Don't know why they haven't caught on to
that
yet.
"The horses spare us the energy we would have used running. We
are taking every precaution."

My horse ran into the back
of Anvil's as we stopped unexpectedly. I gave him a sheepish grin.
He didn't seem surprised that I hadn't been paying
attention.

As we stepped down off the
horses, Ruby caught a glance of all the scrapes and scratches I'd
gained from the day's ride. It felt like every branch had hit my
face. "You look like shit, Frey."

It seemed to make her
day.

Several hours later, she
tired of making repairs and gave up on me, admitting defeat. "I
shouldn't have let it go so long," she sighed.

Grey had been watching her
toil and laughed lightly as she sauntered off on some other
venture.

I took the opportunity
while we were alone. "So, how long have you known about Fannie?" I
asked, indicating the group. He just looked back at me. "I mean,
how long has she been stalking me?"

"Not so long," he answered
in a hushed tone.

He was glancing around,
placing the others I thought, so I lowered my voice as well. "Is
she only using cats?"

"I wouldn't know, Frey. We
are just being... over-cautious."

My brow knitted.

"Is there something
else?"

"It just bothers me. The
cats, I mean."

He laughed. "They didn't
seem to bother you so much at the castle. They are practically
sleeping in our beds as we speak."

"That's different," I
protested. He raised an eyebrow at me and I was shocked at his
inference. "No."

"Yes," he said, unruffled.
"Does it seem so far off that she could have gotten the idea from
you?"

"Ugh!" I was disgusted at
the thought. Surely he was only trying to aggravate me.

"I'm certain your cats are
the tale of the North by now."

My eyes narrowed but I had
no defense so I shrugged it off. Except it did bother me.
Tremendously.

And then, suddenly, the
atmosphere completely changed. Grey stiffened and before I could
process the difference, he was gone. In his place, Ruby stood,
ready in her protective stance. Her fight stance.

I tried to stay calm,
remember to breathe. Was this it, what we'd been waiting for,
looking for?
Grand Council, or was this
Fannie, the new threat? I realized I was hoping it was her. I was
standing now, ready to face her. I wanted to tear her
apart.

It was shocking.

Ruby straightened slightly,
relaxing her shoulders and adjusting her belt. But she was still
watching. I followed her eyes. Junnie.

I relaxed then. I didn't
know what to do with Junnie, where to categorize her, but I didn't
think she intended to hurt me. Not kill me as Fannie planned, not
burn me as council. But then I hesitated, because now Junnie
was
council. My ears were
ringing slightly but I tried to concentrate. Not on the memory of
her chasing Asher, not of the endless days we'd spent in her study,
not of her story in my mother's diary, not the limp body of the
human girl. I tried to focus on what she was saying to
Chevelle.

As they came closer, the
ringing got louder. It was only a moment before I understood why. I
didn't waste time being angry with him, I just closed my eyes and
moved straight to the mind of my horse.

No ringing.

"No, he is helping her...
She's forgotten everything, or maybe she's just using him as
well."

I could hear Junnie clearly
but Chevelle was harder to understand; he was speaking so low the
conversation sounded one-sided.

"Well apparently she's
decided this was the better path. I doubt she trusts him
completely, but for now, they are assisting each other."

Chevelle's face was
furious. For a moment, I thought he must have realized what I'd
done, found me out, but he turned away, facing Junnie as he
answered, fury bringing out a growl in his muffled
voice.

"I don't think he sees it
that way. He may not even know that she's found a side occupation.
But, regardless, he's not to be trusted." Chevelle's hand was
clenched in a fist at his side, but I still could not hear him as
they spoke, merely Junnie. "He's just using her to eliminate as
many of us as possible without risk to him."

Us. I was back in my own
head, spots swirling in blackness. Junnie was Grand Council, and
not only was she after Asher, he was after her. And Fannie...
Fannie was after everyone. I tried to stop it, fought to stay
afloat, but I was drowning.

When I woke, it was
daylight and Junnie was gone. Ruby sat ever faithful at my side,
offering me water as soon as I stirred. I was quiet, though, unsure
what to say. My dreams had been so disturbing. I was flying
overhead, in the mind of a great hawk, peering through the trees,
and I'd seen the human girl. Not her dead, limp body, but her
previous self, the happy, laughing girl they had called Molly. And
her puppy, large and fluffy, frolicked in the grass beside her. And
then there were the dreams of Asher's voice again, as he plotted
the use of the humans. The sense of betrayal as he compared them to
animals. But there was more this time, something that hadn't been
in the previous dreams. I was running to my mother, because I knew
then, she had been right. They were attempting to stop me from
entering her room, they had the nerve to command me to leave. My
eyes narrowed and, my jaw clenched tight, I pulled a deep breath
through my nose as I drew my sword and...

Both. With one
swing.

I shuddered.

"Are you alright, Frey?"
Ruby's voice was gentle. I tried to give her a convincing nod. She
pulled the blanket up tighter to me. I wasn't cold; it was actually
too warm. I had an irrational urge to throw the covers off, tear
everything away.

I decided to speak instead.
"Ruby?"

She smiled.
"Yes?"

"How do they find
us?"

She looked back at me,
confused.

"Junnie...
Fannie."

"Oh," she answered, and
then hesitated. "Frey, I know you're worried about Fannie, but
don't be. We have you covered."

I tried to look assured. "I
know. I only mean, Junnie just pops up sometimes."

She didn't answer right
away so I waited, working to seem patient. She saw I wasn't giving
up. "I suppose the same way you found the wolves... and the
girl."

I drew in a sharp breath
but Ruby must have thought it was because she'd mentioned the
human. It wasn't.
Junnie
. She must have had the same
abilities. The same as I, the same as Fannie... and surely the same
as our mother. I had a thousand questions now, I struggled to not
sound too anxious. "Ruby, if Fannie was... unique... why would
Asher not want her? Just for her looks?"

"I don't know, Frey. I
wasn't around then." I saw her eyes inadvertently flick to Anvil
before they were back on me. "And your mother was not exactly clear
on everything that happened."