Heart of Farellah: Book 3

by Brindi Quinn

  “Ardette!” said Grotts. “Ya had no business-”

  “You’re right. I had no business. Feel better? Doesn’t change the fact that I did.”

  “ARGH! HOW NAÏVE CAN YOU BE?!” Rend started a great, furious lunge for Ardette’s throat, but Trib hopped out in front with hands waving, halting the venomous Elf only slightly.

  “Whoa-ho! Let’s just keep it easy, kids! There’s something you should kn-”

  “Disgusting! Defending such a foolish action!” Rend glared at the intruding girl. “Move aside!”

  “Now, now, let’s not get rude-”

  “Move aside, Sape! I despise people like you!”

  The Elf’s attention had been temporarily averted. It was the perfect opening for Ardette to shrink back, apologize, or just be quiet. He was already in danger of being beaten to a pulp. But where Ardette should’ve kept his mouth shut, of course, Ardette couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He couldn’t resist the opening to torment someone.

  “Correction, Rend,” he mocked. “Don’t you mean you ‘like’ people like her? After all, lest we forget-”

  But Rend had sidestepped around Trib in an Elf’s speed sprint and succeeded in grabbing him by the throat.

  “REND!” I shouted. “What do you think you’re-”

  “Go ahead.” Ardette was baiting her, an evilly brilliant gleam to his smile.

  “You are on thin ground! Do not think for one moment that I will not kill you! Your life is worthless!” Rend squeezed to prove her point.

  NO! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

  I couldn’t move, and I didn’t look around to see how the others were reacting. My eyes were transfixed, my breaths shallow, my pulse loud in my head. I couldn’t do anything. I was too angry, too upset, too worried for Ardette’s safety.

  But where I couldn’t, Grotts could.

  “Hey!” he bellowed. “Cut it out, would ya?! Ya damn blockheads!” He started forward in a determined march, but stopped when Ardette opened his mouth again.

  “Go ahead,” the baiting Daem repeated, this time in a gasp, choking for air and quickly turning red in the face, but not at all fighting back. “Kill . . . me. Ungh . . . Spare . . . uhn . . . me a life . . . a lifetime . . . uh . . . hu . . . of . . . this.” Lids falling, he tipped his head at Nyte and me.

  That familiar pang of guilty pain flicked the inside of my gut.

  Stop! It’s my fault! Stop!

  Rend’s knuckles were white, her nails digging into Ardette’s flesh. “You are nothing but a pathetic, vile-”

  “NO, REND!”

  Finally, I was able to cry out, but just as I started my plea, there was a flash of red, and Rend was on her back. I looked for the source, but it was kind of pointless. Who else could it have been but –

  “Nytie?!” cried Kantú.

  When Rend saw him, she started a new angry rant. “You dare-”

  “Enough, Cousin.” Nyte was standing over her, tall and uncompromising. “Leave him be.”

  “What are you-”

  “ENOUGH. I will no longer tolerate your behavior. It is an embarrassment.”

  It was at that moment that I again became aware of something other than my own pulse. Scardo and Grotts were already at the coughing and sputtering Daem’s side, trying to help him breath. Kantú was frozen, eyes wide. Trib, too, looked disturbed. I rushed forward to help, on the verge of breaking the rules and releasing my song of healing, but Darch unexpectedly stepped between Ardette and me, his stature bold. Though his back was turned, I could tell that, for once, he was without pleasant smile – wholly serious and severe.

  “Get up,” he said, voice still as soft as ever even though it was heavy with admonishment.

  Ardette said nothing.

  “Get up and knock it off, Ardette! This goes beyond . . . Of all of the ways . . . No.” Darch shook his head like a very disappointed father. “Have you really given up that easily?! What a joke!” With that, he threw Ardette a look of stern dissatisfaction before turning his back on his friend. To me he said this,

  “Don’t baby him, Aura. He was lying. The tent’s in his pack . . . probably.”

  Then the very unjolly Magir stomped away. Ardette coolly watched him retreat.

  “Finally managed to break him, have I? Damned meddlesome Magir.”

  “Move aside, please,” I told Grotts and Scardo. I’d let Nyte deal with Rend, but Ardette was mine.

  “Miss Heart?”

  “Move.”

  Repeating the command wasn’t necessary, though. Grotts was already pulling Scardo away by the sleeve of his tuxedo.

  “Come on, Kantoo, Trib. Let’s finish unloadin’.”

  I waited for them to disappear into the buggy. Ardette was sitting up on his elbows, smirking and wet with geyser water. Nyte and Rend hadn’t moved. The pair of them just stared – rudely and obviously. I say ‘rudely’, but really, I’d have done the same in their position. Even I knew that the look on my face was dangerous. They were both waiting for me to snap.

  I walked to Ardette’s side, shaking, and crouched low.

  Breathe. Breathe.

  I told myself to calm down. It didn’t work.

  “What is it?” asked Ardette, playing unaffected. “Come to reprimand me, have you?”

  He was absolutely right, but he had no idea of the fury within me.

  “You had the tent the whole time?!” I shrieked. “What the HELL is wrong with you?! What the hell are you thinking, trying to get yourself killed like that?!” Falling to my knees, I grabbed his collar. Tightly. Brashly. “Over something so . . . UGH! Was it for pity? Because if it was, that’s pathetic! Or is it because you were bored? You had nothing to do, so you thought you’d wreak a little havoc?! Play a little game?! . . . Or do you really want to die?! Is seeing me with Nyte really so bad that you’d want to end your life?! That you’d leave us?! . . . Leave me?! If that’s the case, then screw you! Because that’s just selfish!” I was crying. “WELL?! What is it!?” I gave him a shake. “WHAT IS IT?!”

  “I don’t have a reason. I just did. I like when you play rough with me, though. Do keep it up.”

  And now I was sobbing. The things I’d just said were harsh, and I immediately regretted them. He was selfish. He was SO selfish. But I was selfish too. I was the most selfish of all of us. I was too selfish to let Nyte go. Too selfish to let him be my emulator. Too selfish to not love Ardette. What was wrong with me?

  Sobs continued to escape my body. Large, unflattering sobs that shook my core. This was all my fault. Ardette was miserable because of me. How had this happened? How was I in this situation?! Someone I cared for wanted to die because of me? Ardette wanted to die because of . . .

  “No,” he said quietly.

  No? My lips were shaking too much to allow speech.

  “I don’t want to die because of you.” He sighed and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I was just being impulsive . . . and dramatic. And besides, Darch is wrong. I haven’t got your tent. I was being impulsive then too. Your boy pissed me off and I left it behind. It doesn’t matter, though. Trib’s got two extras from Pietri. I checked shortly after we met her. I wanted to be sure we had adequate supplies before setting out. . . . Call it remorse.”

  When he met my eyes at last, he was sorry. He was so clearly sorry, but I was ragged and couldn’t respond. There was nothing left in me at the moment. No fight. No bite.

  “That is enough,” said Nyte. He left Rend’s side and came to mine. She said not a word – only clutched her knees and stared at nothing, letting the spray from the geyser cover her.

  “You have worn her, Daem. I know it was not your intent to cause her pain, but it has come to pass, so I will take her from you now.”

  I said nothing and let myself be picked up by my understanding Elf. I was guilty of so many things . . . but he made me feel like I had nothing to apologize for. He was on my side. No matter what, he was fighting for me. I felt like a limp doll that had lost its stuffing. I was weak and small and I n
eeded him.

  Ardette didn’t move. Neither did Rend. The pair of them remained that way, in the misting water, long after the rest of us had set up camp and settled in.

  ~

  “S-so? Hm. This is . . . er . . . nice. Right?”

  “Eh-he. Sure is, Kantoo.”

  It wasn’t ‘nice’. It was awkward.

  We were all damp and uncomfortable. The enchanted tents completely shielded the spray, but it had been impossible to dry ourselves off before entering, and we couldn’t very well start a fire within them. Thankfully, Scardo, Nyte and Trib had rigged a small covering, made from a scrap of ripped-off tent fabric and random pieces of metal Trib had had aboard the buggy, to place above a fire on the very outskirts of the dome. It did a so-so job of protecting the fire from the water – only enough to allow a small flame to live. We didn’t have much wood along, but the little we did, provided at least enough warmth to aid in the never-ending quest of feeling dry.

  Thus, we were lined up around a tiny fire, trying to warm up before giving ‘entering the tents’ a second go.

  Ardette and Rend were silent. Painfully silent. Everyone else, too, was on edge. Even Darch was still cross. He kept shooting dirty looks at the fire – like the unintelligent organism had personally offended him.

  I was trying to eat – I really was – but it was difficult. I felt nauseous every time I opened my mouth. I mean, I knew that I had to keep up my strength, but with everything else going on, it’d been hard to remember to eat lately, and I didn’t really feel like it now. Only at Nyte’s prodding did I have a piece of Ms. Selrak’s bread.

  “Ardette,” said Nyte. “Will you not eat something as well?”

  He was the other one that hadn’t touched his food.

  “Don’t bother,” huffed Darch.

  Trib looked from Darch to Ardette to the unseen sky. “But . . . what about?” She pointed up.

  Darch said nothing.

  “What?” asked Scardo.

  “There’s no moon. So he should eat.”

  “Huh?” Now Grotts was also intrigued. “What’re ya gettin’ at?”

  I was too tired to care.

  “Shut up, why don’t you? Worry about yourselves. I’m going to bed.” Without another word, and in an uncharacteristic act of hastiness, Ardette rose to his feet and shuffled away.

  “Darch, ya mind explainin’ what the heck you two are goin’ on about?”

  “Not now,” said Darch. “I’m mad at that idiot, but it’s really not my place to tell you anything. Besides, all I have are theories.”

  “Oh, I’d say it’s more than just a theory,” offered Trib, kicking back her legs in a boyish stretch.

  Scardo’s hunch perked up in an effort to take in whatever secrets the educated pilot was about to divulge, but in the end, both Scardo and his hunch were disappointed because Trib continued,

  “But, no. Afraid I can’t tell you anything either!”

  “Awwwww,” groaned Kantú.

  It was all very cryptic and mysterious, and I was confused, but I was also tired. Too tired to really soak in what they were discussing. I wasn’t angry anymore. I wasn’t really sad, either. I wasn’t even feeling guilty at the moment. I was just sort of empty . . . and limp . . . and damaged.

  “Nyte, take ‘er ta bed,” said Grotts, noticing my frail, pathetic state of being.

  “Yes. That would be wise. Aura?”

  I shrugged, so Nyte obediently scooped me into a loving hold. I put my arms around his neck and didn’t fight back.

  “I will return,” he said over his shoulder to the others.

  I still wasn’t dry, but the wetness we’d tracked in before was somehow gone from the tent, soaked up by Pietri’s enchantment. Nyte waited at the door flap while I changed into a dry set of clothing. Blocked from the dripping outside, I felt almost normal. No, in truth, I felt far from normal, but at least my skin was nearly waterless.

  “Okay,” I said, letting Nyte know it was safe to look.

  He poked his head in and whispered, “Goodnight, my Aura. I long to stay by your side, but I fear that I must first examine the space beyond the geyser to ascertain whether or not it was the object blocking the cries of the mist. I swear that I will return to you before long. Until I do, do not think of anything. Simply exist in darkness and you will begin to feel better. You will begin to heal.”

  “Thank you, Nyte. Thanks for . . . for keeping me from breaking right now.”

  “I love you, Miss Havoc.”

  “I love you too.”

  He kissed my forehead before disappearing behind the heavy flap of fabric.

  ~

  “Shhh,” said a voice.

  “Huh?” I opened my eyes.

  I’d been sleeping? I must’ve been. For how long, I wondered. I felt better, though. Now I really did feel normal. Not empty or angry or depressed . . . I felt like me. Maybe the darkness of dreamless sleep actually had healed me.

  “Nyte? Is that you? Are you back?”

  “Guess again,” said the voice.

  “Who-?” And then I saw him. Handsome, smiling, crouched a short distance away. “Ardette?” I sat up and the blankets fell from around my shoulders. “Why are you here? What’s wrong? I thought you were-”

  “My, my, my cherry pit, you were thinking about me again, so I thought I’d come see what you were up to.”

  “Thinking about you?”

  He nodded. That couldn’t be right. I’d been drifting in darkness. Cleansing, therapeutic darkness. Muzzy, I looked around and tried to make sense of what was happening. Ardette and I were alone in the still, quiet air. The door flap of the tent was closed, but from some nonexistent source, a pale beam of moonlight flooded the space. That was strange. There hadn’t been a visible moon all through the mist.

  “Where’s Nyte?” I asked.

  “Why, he went off to scout, remember?”

  “To scout?! But it’s dangerous in the mist!”

  “Relax,” he cooed. “We aren’t in the mist. We’re in the woods.”

  “We are?”

  “Clear your head, silly.”

  Oh, right. Ardette was right. We’d been in the woods for days now, looking for a black whistle.

  “That reminds me,” I said. “Why’s that whistle so important to you anyway? What’s it for?”

  Ardette laughed his deep laugh. “Don’t you remember, my angel? What you did to me? Back when I was whole?”

  “Remember?”

  “My heart? . . . No? Well, that’s all right. It’ll be easier if you forget the past. After all, I’m only a portion of who I used to be . . . thanks to you.”

  “But I thought you said you weren’t there on the night Illuma was taken!”

  “Not that past, silly. Our aler’gim.”

  “Aler’gim?”

  Shaking his head, Ardette let out an amused sigh. “Such a simple girl you’ve become this time. Not at all as cunning as you used to be.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Anyway, it’s a good thing I’ve come to see you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I need some of you.”

  “You do? For what?”

  “For my horns.” He pointed to them. “What else? I haven’t been able to eat lately, and quite frankly, I’m famished. So I’ll be borrowing a bit of you, if that’s all right.”

  But he wasn’t really asking. He’d take it no matter what.

  “Not like you’ve ever had a problem sharing yourself with me,” he muttered.

  I was hugging myself now, and Ardette was on all fours and he was coming towards me. The pale beam lit him up, causing his white skin to glow a dangerous blue.

  Wait! His . . . skin?

  “Hold on!” I cried, realizing. “What happened to your shirt?” What was he thinking!? He couldn’t be in there like that!

  “My shirt? A bit fuzzy today, aren’t we, my pit? You see, I haven’t been wearing one this entire time. Didn’t you notice?”
He was nearly upon me, but he paused to gloat. “Why? Have I finally won? Are you becoming nervous?” The halt was temporary, for he immediately started back up. “Don’t lie, now.”

  “Not a chance!” I fell back onto my elbows, attempting to put a little more distance between us. “It’s just . . . it’s not very decent, is it? The others will think we’re-”

  “Hmph. Let’s play a little more then, shall we?” He reached out and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear too gently – too intimately. My stomach dropped.

  “P-play?” I spurted.

  “Ha! Now there’s a reaction I can appreciate. Yes, how I love making beautiful women nervous.”

  “I’m not nervous! And I told you-”

  “Now then, let’s begin.”

  “Begin?”

  “Why, what you’ve kindly invited me here for, of course.”

  Invited him here for?

  But that couldn’t be right. Hadn’t he just said that he’d come because he’d heard me thinking about him? . . . But then the small memory came back.

  Again, he was right. We had agreed to meet, hadn’t we? I was confused at my own confusion.

  “Yes,” I said, swallowing. “Sure. Let’s begin. But first . . . you know the rules: I need your heart. Just for one night, all right? I’ll take care of it, I promise.”

  “I already told you. The whistle’s lost in the woods. How can I give you my heart if I don’t have it?”

  “I’m not falling for that. I can hear your heart . . . there.” I pointed to his bare chest.

  I’d caught him, and he knew it. “Oh? Think you’re clever, do you?” He rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Fine. But I won’t have you tricking me like last time. To make sure you won’t go running to give it to your boy, you’ll have to give me yourself tonight. You can take my heart with you after that.”

  “Fine.” I agreed only because I still had a trick up my sleeve. Unfortunately, he knew what I was plotting.

  “And this time,” he said, “I expect you to honor our agreement. I’ll know if you’re lying, mind you. This time around, your hair is silver.”

  Uh-oh. He was right. Why hadn’t I thought of that?! That was okay, though. I’d figure something out.