It had been two days since he took her flute away from her and told her not to play it. She had not done anything rash and exposed herself again. Mafir rarely spoke, but now that Kibal, Alirak, and Bastan had stopped asking her questions about why she was the way she was and just tried to get to know her, she seemed to be more relaxed. She stopped eating away from them and moved her fire near them. She ate with them when they stopped and would try to contribute to their conversations. She didn’t have a lot to say, growing up alone, but sometimes, she would tell them stories about when she was a child.
Leodos was starting to get to know her better and he knew Esylle was desperate for information about her. If she told a story from when she was growing up and it would have happened to any normal child, Tollam would just glare at her. If it had anything to do with her abilities, he would leave the conversation. He still commented every day that they should just kill her.
They had stopped to eat by a river and the guards were able to catch fish. Leodos let them handle it and went to sit off by himself. He had been traveling for days with so many people and he just wanted a few minutes alone.
He was surprised when he saw Soryn approach him and stare at him with a strange look on her face. It was almost like the same look Tollam had given her before he knew what she was. Leodos knew she couldn’t be feeling that way about him because he was so much older than she was and it seemed like all he did was yell at her.
He was sitting with his back to a tree and was surprised when she walked over and sat by him. She looked unsure of herself and he thought maybe she might want to tell him something she had been hiding. He was shocked when she slid into his lap and started kissing him.
She was too young for him and she could possibly be Lisana. He knew he shouldn’t, but he found himself kissing her back. She smelled like something heady he couldn’t pick out, but liked. “What are you doing?” he asked between kisses.
“I don’t know. I need to and you smell right,” she said kissing him deeper.
He gently pushed her away, thinking he knew what this was. “Soryn, when is your name day?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve asked and he refused to tell me,” she said, trying to kiss him again.
“You can’t do this, not with me, not with anyone else here. Your body wants to mate because you are that age now. If you had been raised with the tribes, you would be married and there would be a ceremony. You only want to do this with me because I smell like a compatible mate to you. I don’t think you even like me. I know I said not to, but you need to transform yourself into something small and stay that way until this feeling passes for you. It should go away in a few days.”
She shoved him away and looked down at him with a hurt look on her face. She disappeared in front of him and he knew she turned into something too small for him to see. He hoped she took his advice and stayed that way until her urge to mate went away. They would have to stay here a few days while this worked itself out. He didn’t know how old she was, but she had to be nineteen, Lisana’s age if this was just hitting her now. He knew from his family’s diaries it hit sometime during the nineteenth year.
He walked back over to the river where everyone else was. He didn’t tell them what happened nor why they were going to have to stay there a few days. He just told them something was going on with Soryn and they would have to stay here. They wouldn’t see her for a few days. When she came back, they could leave. Esylle questioned him, but he was embarrassed and wouldn’t tell her.
He hoped Soryn would control herself and stay small until this passed. He didn’t know how she felt or what she was going through since this wasn’t something humans experienced. He hoped the reason she came to him and not the other men, who wouldn’t have known what was going on and told her no, was because the rest of them did not smell compatible to her. He hoped that was the case and she didn’t appear to one of the other guards while they were alone. She didn’t need to mate or become pregnant right now.
Soryn
Soryn flew away hurt and not knowing what was happening to her. Why hadn’t Belisarus told her this would happen? She knew Leodos told her to stay small until it passed, but she flew to a clearing in the woods and changed back into a girl. She had no idea what was going on with her body. Everyone smelled differently to her now and she wanted to do things she hadn’t wanted to do before. She wasn’t exactly sure how what her body was wanting to do was supposed to happen.
She knew she wouldn’t have wanted to kiss Leodos under any other circumstance, but everyone else smelled bad to her except him. She had never thought much about what she looked like and was surprised when Tollam said he was attracted to her before he found out what she was. She could see that Esylle was very pretty and both Leodos and Esylle said Soryn shared some of her features. If she really was pretty like Esylle was, why did Leodos push her away and tell her not to do this? Maybe she wasn’t pretty like Esylle at all.
She wasn’t used to being close to anyone, but she had an urge to be close to someone now and she wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen once she was. All the stories Belisarus told her just ended with everyone being happy. The story didn’t continue with what was supposed to happen when you needed to mate like Leodos told her she was wanting to do right now. Belisarus never told her she would feel this way or what was supposed to happen once she did.
Leodos told her if she had been raised with the tribes, she would have a ceremony on this day and be married, but which tribe did she belong to? Would any of them accept her the way she was? She smelled something horrible behind her and whirled around and saw Tollam with his sword drawn.
“I’m really not in the mood to deal with you right now and we both know who would win this fight. Go away,” she snapped at him.
“They aren’t here to stop me or protect you now,” he snarled at her. “You shouldn’t exist!”
She sighed. She concentrated on his sword and she could feel her hair and eyes slip. His eyes widened when he saw her red hair and he faltered for a minute. She sent heat towards his sword and he swore and dropped it when it got too hot for him to hold. She didn’t want to hurt him, she just wanted him to go away. She thought taking his sword away and showing him her hair would scare him enough to get him to leave, but he charged at her.
She didn’t try to burn him alive or change into anything to protect herself. She felt something stir inside her and she knew she didn’t have to. She looked on in horror when he disappeared when she touched him when he got close enough. When she looked down, she had turned him into a frog. She panicked, not knowing how she was going to explain this to Leodos, nor how she was going to change him back.
She looked to the trees. There had been two eagles that had been following them for the past two days. She noticed them, but the rest of her party had not. She was sure they were Farkhi and she wasn’t sure what they wanted. They hadn’t tried to approach her, but she hadn’t been alone the past two days.
She called up to the trees. “You’ve been following me for two days. Do something!”
She watched as both eagles flew to the ground. She watched them transform. She had never met anyone in the tribes before. There was an older dark skinned man in front of her in yellow robes with his face painted and a younger Farkhi who resembled the older man, but he had different paint on his face.
“Do something!” she cried.
“We can’t fix this,” the older man said. “Only you have the power to fix it, but he’s going to be different when you change him back. This should have been taught to you since you were a child.”
“How can I fix it if I don’t know how I did it in the first place?”
“Touch him and concentrate. Feel the emotions you felt when you touched him the first time.”
Soryn was upset and angry and this Farkhi was not really helping. She knelt down and touched him trying to feel the anger she felt before. She was surprised to see him change back into a man. He was huddled on the ground a
nd shaking in fear. She didn’t know what the Farkhi meant about changing him forever.
The Farkhi finally tried to help her by kneeling next to Tollam. “You are changed now. You need to pick a form now, from any of the tribes. You can be a man or you can assume this form when you choose. She gifted you this when you meant to hurt her. You need to choose now or the form will be chosen for you.”
“I will make sure you pay for this,” Tollam told her through clenched teeth. She still didn’t know what she had done to him, but she watched as he turned into a horse and then ran away from them.
“I appreciate your help and I want you to explain to me how I just did what I did, but I can’t be around anyone right now. You should just leave,” she said. Both of these Farkhi smelled even better to her than Leodos had and she couldn’t help staring at their bare muscular chests.
“We saw you with the tall man and we know what you are going through. We can’t do the ceremony here and I can’t marry you, but we can fix the feelings you are having.”
“I don’t know who you are, but I don’t know how you would fix this. Leodos said I want to mate and I can’t. I don’t know what I am and I can’t have a child like me. I don’t know what it would be.”
She was surprised when both Farkhi laughed. “Child, my name is Volaris. I am the Farkhi king and I have been watching you since you first showed up at the castle. I’ve heard about everything you’ve done since you got here. I know what you are going through because the women of our tribe go through the same thing. It happens to them once a year. Sometimes, it’s not logical for them to have a baby when they go through this. We know how to make it stop without making a baby.”
Soryn looked at him, confused. “How can you stop it without making a baby? I don’t even know how to make a baby and what is supposed to happen when I feel like this. It’s the first time this has happened and I was never told it would.”
“Did Belisarus teach you nothing? You should have been raised with us and taught how to use your gifts. They aren’t bad and they shouldn’t be hidden. You are special. We know how to mate and not make a baby.”
“I don’t even know what mating entails. I just know I’m having a hard time being around you right now.”
“If you’ll trust me, I can make that feeling go away and not make a baby. It would be an honor.”
She didn’t know him and she didn’t know if she could trust him. He helped her when she needed it and he seemed to know what she was. He smelled good and she was having trouble not kissing him. “Does it hurt?” she asked.
“It may hurt at first, but I promise you, you will enjoy it and this feeling you are having will go away. I know the tall man told you it only lasted a few days, but it’s not going to go away until you’ve mated.”
She couldn’t deal with this feeling anymore and she was curious. If he could make this feeling go away and had answers about her, maybe she could trust him.
“This is my son and future king, Sono. His mother died a few years ago. This is why I am able to do this with you and knowing who you are, it would be a very big honor to do it.”
“I don’t even know who I am!”
“Explaining to you will take time and I’m sure you want this feeling to go away. If you will trust me and follow me, it would be an honor to help you and I promise to make it as painless as possible. Sono will keep watch in case your friends come back.”
She knew she wanted answers, but she also couldn’t stand feeling like this a second longer. She was nervous and didn’t know what was going to happen, but she followed Volaris into the brush.
Sono
Sono stood with his back to the brush, angry at his father. He was a prince and his father was a king. If the Spirus had been born a normal girl and going through her first change, why couldn’t his father perform the ceremony and marry Sono to the girl? He seethed as he thought of the prestige that would be brought to the Farkhi, who were reduced to spies for the other tribes, with him married to the Spirus.
The children they had could form a new tribe. Sono also knew how to mate and not have a child. Why wasn’t his father allowing him to do it? He realized he was only a prince and not king, but why did his father have to take all of the glory of the first mate with the Spirus?
They must not have gone too far away. He sat on the ground and pouted as he heard her cry out with pleasure. He knew what his father was doing and knew when he took her when he heard her cry change to one of pain. He tried to ignore it when her cries changed back to those of pleasure. He was so angry he didn’t even notice the tall man sneak out of the brush until he already had an arrow trained on him.
“I’m guessing you know why a strange horse just ran by our camp. Where have you taken her?” he demanded.
Sono put his hands up to show he meant him no harm, but before he could answer, another cry came from the brush and he could hear his father moan. The tall man got angry.
“I told her not to do this and stay hidden until the feeling passed! She can’t be pregnant on this journey and I don’t know what kind of child she would have. We need to get back on Idric for answers before she acts on these urges when she has them again.”
“You understand so little, human. We know exactly what she is. The horse you saw was your man that keeps threatening her. We didn’t know if we were going to have to take care of him because you wouldn’t. We were only observing her and he tried to harm her. She changed him and we helped her change him back. He’s forever changed and will live life as both a man and horse. Can you not see how special she is?”
“If you know how special she is, why is one of you back there doing that with her?”
“You only know so little about us, human. The feeling she was having was not going to go away in a few days like you told her. It would not go away until she mated. We take care of our women and know how to make that feeling pass without making a baby. He is helping her, not hurting her.”
“How do you know about her? Was it when she was irresponsible and revealed herself in the forest? Did she show herself to you? She shouldn’t have done that.”
Sono laughed. “We’ve known about her and have been watching her since you first met her. We had to be sure she was the one.”
“What do you want her for? A weapon?”
“Essos promised her to us. We didn’t think she would ever come, but she played the Vudos flute and confirmed it. We still don’t know why she didn’t appear fully formed and was born a child, nor how that fool Belisarus found her and kept her hidden. We don’t know why he didn’t properly train her and kept her ignorant about who she is.”
“Your god, Essos, promised this girl to you? For what? A weapon against the humans? Will there be another war? If you intend to use her in a way that may hurt her, I will kill both of you and make sure she gets back to Idric where you can’t get to her.”
“She’s not a weapon. We thought she would come during the wars. She was promised to us to bring peace.”
“If she is who you think she is, why would she come now, when there is no war?”
“We don’t trust you and you humans have never trusted us. When she changed your man, he told her he would make her pay and ran. He may be halfway back to the palace now to tell everyone about her. If they find out she changed him, they will hunt her down and every tribe would protect her with their life.”
“You’re telling me war is coming?”
“If your man goes back there and does not keep quiet about her, there most likely will be. And she will end it and bring peace.”
“The war wouldn’t have started if she hadn’t shown up. How can she bring peace to a war she caused?”
“Human, war has been brimming for years. We know what you did to us under the castle. We know you refused to carry on the practice, but we know it went on for years. There has never been peace between the humans and the tribes, even since the war ended. Even the Tempris feel the need to hide from the humans. We know the humans hope the
y will lose their abilities so they can seize the throne. We have been watching your Lords since the wars. She showed up now because war has been brimming for years.”
“Do you know if she is the Princess Lisana? She swears she isn’t, but I have my doubts. If you have been watching all this time, do you know who took her?”
“We know nothing about the Princess Lisana. There is no reason for us to watch you while you sleep and we need to sleep ourselves. We watched for years after she was taken and none of the Lords spoke about her kidnapping. They either had nothing to do with it, or they never spoke of it again,” Sono told the tall man.
Sono thought he might ask another question. He wasn’t mistrusting of this man with their secrets since he refused to continue the killing and torture and the royal family trusted him with their secret. He sought to protect the Spirus and Sono needed to let him know why she needed protecting. He followed his gaze to the brush, where the girl and Volaris were coming out. She was straightening her dress, her hair was mussed, and her face was red. She stopped when she saw the tall man and just stared at him.
When Sono’s father saw the tall man, he moved in front of the girl. “We mean her no harm,” Volaris said.
“This boy just told me what she means to you and what happened before I arrived. If Tollam makes it back and starts spilling her secrets, it’s going to be dangerous for Joron, who is still there, and they will hunt her down. It’s important we get both Soryn and Esylle to Idric where they can’t be hurt.”
“This girl can’t go to Idric. She needs to be with the tribes so we can teach her to use her gifts. That fool Belisarus taught her nothing.”
“You know him?” the tall man asked, surprised.
“There is not a single tribe member who does not know Belisarus and despise him. He shouldn’t have taken her away from the tribes from wherever it was that he found her and he should have trained her properly. That talent should have been nurtured as soon as she created her traveling companion.”
The Spirus Page 9
