by Lena Austin
She stopped to sip her tea and lookout into the night. “But no, I’d still be in the Valley. I’d still see Tanne. We might even be called to the same healing. That, I cannot bear. Even though I was only a passing amusement for him, I still love him with all my heart. It would be torture to see him and never know a loving glance from him again.”
Her depression returned and her shoulders slumped with despair. “My options grow few. Well, if I cannot live inside the Valley, then outside of it is the next option to consider, however repugnant the thought may be.” She shuddered with revulsion and fear. “Perhaps those in the Vampire village survived the humans. I should scry.”
Galvanized into action, she made herself a new black bowl, since she had left everything back at the cavern. Filling it with water from the stream, she teleported from the stillroom a tiny bottle of her precious scrying oil. Anger and sadness made her shake. “I’ll not give this to my replacement, Tanne. It took me months to make this. Most, you may have, but not this.” She wondered for a moment who would be next to share Tanne’s affections.
Dashing away a fresh spate of tears, Kella poured a few drops of the oil into the water with utmost care. In her emotional state, focusing her will upon the water was horribly difficult, but the memory of the village where Marget had lived was enough. The water swirled, but what it revealed was darker than her depression.
In the five years since the immigration, the forest had done a great deal toward hiding the devastation of the blackened husks of buildings. The soot-stained walls of stone that had once been the inn were the easiest to see in the pitiless moonlight. Great piles of burned wood, and the skeleton of a platform with a dangling rope that still held what was left of horrific remains, showed her the rest. Nauseated, Kella waved the image away.
“Perhaps I could have hidden my Vampiric nature for a time, even becoming an herb healer and midwife among humans. But, sooner or later, my fangs and bloodlust would give me away, and I would be murdered horrifically like the poor soul hanging from that rope.”
Kella stood and looked out into the night, letting the tears fall. “If I will not live in torment here in the Valley, and the alternative is death to live outside the Valley, then I choose the manner of my death myself. I would rather a quick end than an unforeseen murder. I choose, by all the gods!”
She shook her fist at the sky. “I will not be shat upon, not even by you! I choose when to go, and when there is nothing left for me in life, then death is the alternative. I say when, and the time is now. I also choose the manner of my passing. I’d rather a quick end than dancing at the end of a rope for humans to laugh at.”
She made all the things she’d used for comfort disappear. Her hand hesitated over the bag of mementos before her face hardened. “I won’t need those where I am going.” They went up in a blaze of mage fire.
If her chin quivered, she considered it her right to mourn her wasted life. She knew the place that would suit her purposes, and teleported there.
* * * * *
Tanne dragged his fingers through his hair. “No, Kella, I didn’t mean it that way.” It was too late. She’d put up a mage barrier so thick he couldn’t penetrate.
He waited, determined to catch her before she marched out of his life thinking he didn’t love her. “Let her calm down, you blundering idiot. All females need a good cry before they’ll listen to reason. Until she takes down that shield, she can’t hear you anyway. She’s probably mage-locked and shielded the bedroom, too, so you’d better politely wait out here.”
Tanne snatched up his goblet and drained it. So what if his steps were unsteady while he paced and waited? He’d stand or sit there all night, if need be.
Meanwhile, he rehearsed what he’d say. “Kella, I heard your wishes for a child the other night at the pools.” Harshly blunt, but true. “I only want to send you back to the Vampires, in hopes that one of them might be able to do what we cannot.”
It galled him to admit it, to be sure. To allow Kella to bed another male, even for a night, sent Tanne close to raging with jealousy. He scrubbed his face in his hands. “What if the fault lies with me? What if, for some reason, I cannot give you the child you desire? None of the fillies I touched before we met ever bore fruit. It must be me.”
He sat, covering his face and wallowing in shame. “It must be me,” he repeated. “You were virginal, and I took that from you. I am the cause of your sorrow. So, I set you free, only long enough to get the child you seek.”
There. That was what he needed to say. He waited, alternately pacing or sitting in the dark and forcing himself to wait her out. Finally, he could stand no more.
“How long does it take you to have a nice sniffle, then pack?”
He strode down the hall to the bedroom, and found the door wide open and the room dark. A tiny, dim mage light revealed the bed was smooth and untouched. Only one pillowcase was missing.
“Oh, by my horn, no! NO! You teleported without a goodbye!” Rage and terror warred within him, until fear won out. “I’ve got to find you. Sedna. Sedna would know.”
He teleported directly to Sedna’s quarters at the temple. All was dark and still. No lights, no weeping redhead finding comfort in Sedna’s arms. A quiet peek revealed Sedna asleep in her bed, alone. He teleported out, and stood at the edge of the Vampire village beneath the great oak where Kella had received her first lessons in magic. “Where have you gone?”
Only the chirping crickets answered his cry.
* * * * *
Kella stood at the northeast ridge of the Valley, above the Vampire village. A breeze wafted up from the steep drop to the rocks and trees below. “Fitting, isn’t it? This is not but a stone’s throw from where I left to rescue the villagers.” She looked down at the lights of the two villages in the distance. The bakers in both places were now busily at work, making the morning bread that had risen overnight, she supposed.
If she howled just before she jumped, someone would surely hear and investigate. Pride demanded she cast a spell of silence in case she did something so ignominious as scream on her way down. The rocks looked large and sharp enough to ensure a quick end. “Yes, this is a good place to die.”
She changed to lupine and howled long and hard. She made it the most heart-wrenching sound she could tear from her throat, throwing all her pain and sorrow into it. Then she returned to human, that being the most fragile of her forms.
Looking up into the night sky, Kella sent up a final prayer. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. You are not spoiled children playing with our lives as if we were dolls, nor do you keep an accounting of our deeds. You gave us free will to make choices, and I made my choice to love Tanne. I stand by that choice, even though it has broken my heart. I hope, perhaps, to discuss it with you in the afterlife. Maybe you can help me see what I did wrong.”
She was still looking up when she stepped off the cliff.
Chapter Twenty-three
Tanne stood under the oak tree and tried to imagine where Kella could be. His despair was overwhelming; he leaned against the solid surface of the trunk. “Oh, you’ve botched it now, Tanne. Now what?” He looked out into the night with no answers.
The long, wrenching wolf howl had him jerking upright, his heart in his throat. On the cliff above the village, the moonlight shone down on the figure of a wolf that became a woman’s silhouette.
He knew immediately what she was doing up there. “Oh, no, you don’t!” Tanne teleported immediately to the base of the cliff. He made it just in time as Kella, her face raised skyward, stepped off the edge.
Tanne shot out a spell intended to create a cushion of air. The small cloud formed beneath Kella and held her in midair.
Even by the light of the moon, Tanne could see Kella’s furious eyes when they snapped open. She rolled to her hands and knees, the wind of the spell turning her hair into a fiery nimbus around her head, and her skirts billowing. Scrambling to the edge of the cloud, she tried to jump again, but the cloud simp
ly moved with her.
Kella turned a burning gaze on Tanne, and her mouth moved in furious patterns, but no sound emerged. He tried to breech her shields, but found them locked tight.
Tanne desperately resorted to crude sign language. He cupped a hand behind his ear and pantomimed that he couldn’t hear her.
Shaking with rage, it took her a few moments to realize why he acted that way. She canceled her silence spell and began a furious harangue in three languages: Vampire, Elf, and Dwarf. The speech began with “How dare you?” and went downhill from there.
Under any other circumstances, Tanne might have been impressed with such a display of temper and command of languages, but now was not the time. He held up one imperious hand, and the habit of years forced her to silence. “I love you, Kella, and I don’t want you to die. I just want you to go find a way to have the child you desire, and then return to me. Please, don’t hate me.”
So taken aback was she by this that she stared at him for a long time without moving or uttering a sound. Three words emerged, pitifully despairing. “You love me?”
“I love you. Please hurry back to me.”
More silence.
“I must think.” She teleported away.
Tanne blew out one relieved breath. It wasn’t the speech he intended, but it might have been enough. He dissipated the cushion of air and collapsed on a nearby boulder.
“Idiot.”
The staccato feminine voice had Tanne peering into the trees. Le-An stood there, her sword unsheathed and her boots unlaced. “You are a certified, class-A numb wit.”
“I’ll agree to that.” Sedna stepped out from behind a boulder. Her white robes and hair made her look like a spirit gliding across the grass.
“Thank you, ladies, for that vote of support. I feel enough like a fool.”
“And well you should.” The answer from both sets of lips had the females glancing at one another and giving a small smile before turning angry gazes back to Tanne.
“I take it you both know one another?” Tanne asked wearily. It wasn’t surprising. Le-An got around, and Sedna was not nearly so reclusive as other Vampires.
Sedna folded her arms across her chest. “We’ve met a time or two.” Le-An jerked her chin down in what passed for an angry nod, and then sheathed her sword.
Tanne closed his eyes. “Why am I classified as a simpleton? Care to explain it to me?”
Le-An took his elbow and hauled him to his feet. “Let me, Sedna. I can give him both points of view. You go back to your bed. Kella may come to you, eventually.”
Sedna rubbed her eyes. “I won’t argue. I’ve enough troubles.” She shook a finger at Le-An. “One of them was explaining to Reimy who you were. My ears are still ringing from the caterwauling. I’ll have words with you later.”
Le-An grinned, unrepentant. “At least I didn’t pull a harebrained stunt like his.”
“Yours was worse.” Sedna turned and glided off into the woods toward the village.
“Hmph. It seems we’re both in trouble. Come back to the cave and you can give me the sharp edge of your tongue there.” Tanne put his hand on Le-An’s shoulder and teleported.
* * * * *
Kella sat down heavily in the patch of mandrake near the river’s edge. Worn out from her emotions, she couldn’t summon the strength to cry, laugh, or even think. Her problems remained the same. She couldn’t stomach the idea of sashaying into the Vampire village to tempt a prince into mating, even if she was in heat. Who would she ask? Leonus? The very thought made her nauseated.
She manifested her ubiquitous mug of tea, peppermint to give her energy and calm her stomach. It didn’t help much.
Going outside the Valley was a worse idea. Humans had killed off many of her kind, so the likelihood of finding one was infinitesimal. Even if she found a male Vampire, would he be interested? Not likely. She shuddered.
“Legend has it most Vampires who live among humans look upon them as rightful prey. I couldn’t live like that. I’m a civilized being, thank you.”
So, Tanne didn’t want her back until she was pregnant or had a child. It seemed hopeless. Nevertheless, he loved her. It was enough to make her at least consider swallowing her pride and asking the princes of her village. Maybe she could avoid throwing up until the deed was done. Maybe Sedna would take her in for the few weeks it would take before she was in heat. If nothing else, she’d create a cottage for herself at the edge of the village to wait things out.
In the midst of her plans, she fell asleep among the mandrakes.
A crashing through the low brush woke Kella what seemed like a few minutes later. However, the morning sun shone over the cliffs. The air still held that slight moistness of morning dew. Kella kept herself very still, blessing a nearby fragrant bush that would hide her scent from all but the keenest nose.
The footfalls and thrusting aside of foliage seemed very near, enough to hear a feminine voice muttering an endless stream of foul language and curses upon some soul. Since most of the words were in Vampiric, it was easy enough to make the assumption that whoever she was, she was a Vampire. Kella buried herself deeply in the foliage, and shielded heavily.
Peering carefully through the leaves, Kella quickly moved deeper in the brush, moving as silently as she could. The bitch cursing and carrying a bundle of rags was Reimy.
The tiny sounds of a newborn infant came from Reimy’s arms. This must have been the result of her encounter with Le-An. Had it really been seven months? Yes, just barely. Kella promised herself that if she were able, she’d tell Le-An she’d seen it. Reimy stopped by the water’s edge, and Kella leaned forward as much as she dared in hopes that she would get to see the sex of the child as Reimy bathed it.
Reimy unwrapped her baby, and the look on her face changed from bored discontent to disgust and hatred. “I hate you,” she said to the infant girl. “You’ve ruined my life. Drown yourself or die of exposure. I don’t care which. I won’t be tied down to a thing I don’t need or want. You little unholy abomination, you force me to think of a time and circumstances I’d rather forget. Gods or demons take you, I don’t care. I’m glad to be rid of you.”
Some of the vitriol of the words her mother spat must have gotten through to the infant, for the baby began to cry. Kella’s heart went out to the child, the innocent result of a prank.
“I’ll always hate you and that thing which begat you on me. It defiled me, and you are the product of that unholy union.” Reimy put the infant down beside the water, dropped the rags on her, and stalked away.
The baby now cried loudly, as if she understood what was being said and done to her. Kella couldn’t bear it, but she waited until she was sure Reimy had truly gone. Kella went to the baby and wrapped her up again. The little girl smiled at Kella and kicked her tiny feet.
Shifting to the lupine form, Kella picked the bundle up in her teeth and ran for home. The joy in her heart made the burden light and her feet swift. In her teeth, she held the answer to all her problems. Here was an unwanted and unloved Vampire child she could raise. No one would miss an abandoned child.
However, Kella felt it only right to ask Le-An’s permission. After all, the child was also Le-An’s. Kella would not deny parental rights to anyone. For the moment, however, the baby was hers to love. She bounded across the meadow as if she had wings.
Even as she came up the path to the cavern entrance, she could overhear Le-An upbraiding Tanne stridently. “You idiot! How could you, after years of love and devotion? What was going through your mind?”
Le-An’s voice rasped, as if she had been carrying on in such a manner for a very long time. Tanne stood in front of the cavern entrance in the morning light, his silver hair flashing. Kella had never seen such a hangdog expression on a male before. “But I thought it best to…”
Le-An ran right over him with her shouts. “Oh, you thought, did you? Who said you were qualified to do so? Especially when it comes to a female’s fertility. Where do you get these ha
rebrained thoughts?”
Tanne tried again. “Kella wanted offspring and…”
“So you decided for her, is that it? Last I looked, a female was well and able to decide for herself about offspring, since they have to do all the work to raise them! If Kella wanted children that badly, she would have left you, you hay-brained, arrogant ass!”
Tanne stood straight, his face reflecting anger. “It wasn’t arrogance. I thought I knew what was best for her.”
Le-An laughed harshly. “Well, you were wrong, weren’t you? Do you realize she probably is still out there trying to figure out how to die, or whether to leave the Valley, or some other way of ending her life just because you don’t want to have her near? You aren’t sure of anything she may be thinking or feeling. You can’t be sure she believed you and weren’t just trying to save her life. I would be furious at you if you tried to decide my future for me without consulting me in the least. That’s why you’re arrogant.”
During all of this speech, Le-An was shifting back and forth between male, looking like he was going to pummel Tanne, and female, looking for all the world like a mother trying to reason with her son. They had not noticed Kella’s approach.
Kella decided that Tanne had had enough of his tongue-lashing, so she set the child down between her forepaws and barked a greeting. Le-An, in male form, stopped dead in his sentence, and Tanne jumped backwards at the sound.
At that moment, the infant kicked off some of the covering and cooed up at the wolf above her. Tanne had started forward, but skidded to a halt and looked dumbfounded when he saw the babe. He was so shocked that he lost control of his form and returned to equine.
Kella began to laugh at the expression on his face. I didn’t know a Unicorn’s jaw could drop that far! Her mind-voice conveyed her laughter as much as did her wagging tail.
Le-An came over and picked up the child. “What have we here?” As he unwrapped the child, he shifted to female and started to croon. “Aren’t you precious? You’re so cute.”
