Unleashed Fury (BloodRunes: Book 1)

by Laura R Cole

CHAPTER 29

  Layna muttered the word she had just memorized and reached for the power gently, gasping in delight as a tiny globe of water appeared before her. Though the word itself didn’t make or break the spell, it helped to focus the energy properly. Gryffon was doing his best to continue her training, despite the risk of detection. They decided that having her be able to use it at this point would outweigh the cost of possibly sending out ripples in the power to those who might be following them. He was going through the basic elements, and then branching out to show her how to use these elements in different ways. Although he told her that after her display with the hounds, he wasn't sure he was really qualified to be teaching her anything. He was significantly impressed by the power she managed to handle without difficulty, but warned her and sometimes even more importantly than the actual amount of power, was the ingenuity of the power-wielder. Oftentimes you could achieve the same results by a more precise application of power rather than simply using raw energy to try and accomplish a feat.

  Layna spoke again and the water crystallized before smashing to the ground beneath her in a spattering of ice. “Oh!” she exclaimed.

  Gryffon rebuked her. “Remember to account for the differences in weight, density, and such when changing the characteristics.”

  Layna brushed her hair away from her face and bit back a nasty comment. He was only trying to help. Gryffon reached a hand up and held her hair away from her neck, inspecting the place she knew she had a mark. Layna looked at him curiously. “Yes?”

  Gryffon scrunched up his forehead, and leaned closer to her. “That mark on your neck, it's growing darker. It's definitely much more pronounced than it was at first.”

  Layna looked worriedly at him. “You don't think it means anything bad do you?”

  Gryffon shrugged noncommittally. “I honestly don't know what it is, but if it does have to do with the Dark King, maybe it's growing darker simply because we are getting closer to his ancient lair.”

  “That's not very comforting,” Layna told him with a meek smile, but didn't comment further. “How's your own mark doing?” she asked him.

  He shrugged again. “Still hurts, but I'll live.” He returned her smile with one of his own, and the two of them sat contemplating their dual scars.

  A figure suddenly came bounding out of the woods and sprinted towards Layna. Gryffon jumped to draw his knife, but paused when a familiar voice called out, “Hold!”

  Charles came running out after the figure, which was now skipping excitedly around Layna, trying to lick her face while she pushed it off, laughing. It was the hound she had freed from its compulsion, and it looked as though freedom agreed with it. It still had a rather unearthly quality about it, but now it reminded Layna more of a dog than something she would term a beast.

  Gryffon was still eyeing the hound warily, but Charles came up beside them and assured him, “I'd been tracking ‘im for a while when suddenly he just stopped runnin’ and turned to face me. He just sat right there while I walked up to it with my knife drawn and all and waited to see what I'd do. He let me pet him on the head, and since then he's acted just like a dog. He can even play fetch, and I've been hunting with him. He learns very quickly.”

  Gryffon lowered his weapon cautiously as Layna sat on her haunches to better scratch the hound which had rolled over so that she could reach its belly. Its tongue lolled out its open mouth, and even the razor sharp teeth seemed less intimidating in the goofy pose it was in to get a better rub-down. “It seems that whatever you did, my lady, you cured him from his evil,” Charles said respectfully to Layna, giving her a small nod.

  Layna surveyed him curiously, Charles had called her many things, but never 'my lady' and she wondered at the change. They filled Charles in on what they had found out in Avonmora, and he agreed to accompany them towards Dunlop, though declining to go into the town with them. He had no desire to visit such an evil place, he told them.

  “You two are becomin’ awfully popular you know,” he told them seriously. He described the wanted posters he had seen in different towns, and the several big brawny men asking questions about them.

  “I guess we'll be taking game trails, and not getting to stop at any inns,” Gryffon said regretfully.

  “Maybe you shouldn' go into any towns at all,” said Charles, “not even Dunlop. Your demon lady seems to have a monomania over the two o' youse. I know a place up north we could go and you'd be safe. Your demon lady would never find you there, and you could finally get away from her miasma.”

  “No,” Gryffon disagreed, “we need to go to Dunlop, and then afterwards we'll figure out what to do next. Thank you for the offer though.”

  Charles just nodded his acceptance of the thanks and didn't press the matter, to Layna's relief. She wasn't sure that her resolve to go all the way to Dunlop would hold, knowing that Jezebel had everyone under the sun after them, if someone tried to persuade her otherwise. Jezebel must be doing some serious crying to her father to get the funding for such an undertaking.

  After a moment Charles put in, “Well, if you're dead set on it anyway, at least do somethin’ ‘bout your looks. What with all the wanted posters galore with your likenesses plastered all over. Them burlies are getting' all corybantic over you people.”

  When the two men went out hunting, Layna gathered together some of the herbs for spicing the meat that in the spring weather were starting to poke out through last year's dead grass. She then set to work finding a berry that Mila had once mentioned to her in passing. Layna marveled at her memory of such a seemingly insignificant piece of information, but was glad that she did remember it.

  She set the herbs for dinner next to the cooking pot and took a second bowl that they had been using for holding the water to wash dishes and she proceeded to mash up the berries that she had found into it.

  She added a bit of water and a few pinches of other ingredients, and took the bowl over next to the stream that they had camped by. Very carefully she spread the goop out onto her hair, running her fingers through the strands to make sure it evenly covered her whole head, and then washed her hands in the water. She let it set on her hair for some time before dipping her head backwards into the frigid water to wash away the paste. The cold water bit at her scalp and she shivered as it splashed onto her, but she held fast to wash away every last drop. When it was clean, she shook her hair to get rid of as much water as possible, so that it would dry faster, and bundled her clothes around her, jogging back to sit by the fire.

  When the two men returned, Gryffon stopped short in his conversation and tilted his head at her. “I could have sworn you used to be blond,” he told her.

  She giggled. “Well, I didn't want to cut it, and I remembered Mila telling me how certain ink recipes could be changed to use in your hair. I guess a lot of noble women do it to cover their gray. I thought it would be a good disguise.”

  “It certainly is different,” he said. He set down the rabbit he had caught and looked her over.

  “I think I prefer blond over brunette, but you're right, you certainly don't look so much like you anymore. Now we'll just have to think of something for me.”

  “Too bad you can't grow a beard in a few days,” Layna said smiling.

  Gryffon looked thoughtful. “Maybe I could. I could use a spell to speed growth. I would imagine that once I stop the speed growing the magic would fade and all that will be left is a suddenly much longer beard. If we could just reapply the principles of healing, it seems much the same.”

  They spent the rest of the evening working on Gryffon's beard, and they added a few finishing touches to both of them. In the end, even Charles gave a nod of approval that while they wouldn't fool anyone who knew them, they no longer resembled the pictures that were circulating the countryside.

  Despite these disguises, they still stuck to the game trails for their travel, only once stoppi
ng into a town to buy supplies. They had seen evidence of the posters plastered everywhere, and as they had bartered for grain they had seen a man, obviously one of the ones that Charles had warned them about, lurking the streets in search of them. His eyes had run them up and down, and Layna had held her breath in trepidation, waiting for a glint of recognition, but the gaze had quickly swept past them. Jezebel was certainly intent upon finding them. Layna fervently hoped that Gryffon's countrymen would be able to do something about the evil that was plainly spreading across her country.

  Weylyn, as she had named the hound, padded along happily with them, surprising them by keeping up with the horses' pace without even becoming winded. Layna found Weylyn's company to be enjoyable, and both he and Charles were invaluable in following the trails. Charles himself seemed to give her more respect now than he had previously, and though she enjoyed it, she found it strangely unnerving as well, as though he suddenly thought of her as a whole other person. She couldn't help but wonder what had made him think that she was one suddenly deserving of respect.