He grabs my wrist, stopping me. I know he won’t hurt me, he won’t squeeze hard enough and if I continue to walk he will let go, but for some reason, I can’t lie to him any more than he can to me. Obviously, or I would have hidden my feelings; been more assertive and less obvious in my denial.
“I’m putting up a defensive barrier spell once we are settled. It won’t hurt us if we do fall, but anyone else will get blown kneecaps.”
He sighs and moves his hand so that we are holding hands. He is far too comforted by my touch, and I his.
“You know, I’m supposed to protect you.”
Ugh, men! “Viktor, I appreciate everything you do, but I'm not helpless. Maybe before I had all of my magic, I was a bit more helpless, but even then, I was proficient enough with a staff to beat half the human military in a one-on-one battle, or even two against me alone. Now I have more magic as well. I don’t need you to protect me as if I’m fragile. I'm not made of glass.”
He wrenches his hand from mine and walks forward, his face as angry as can be. Ugh, great, now I have hurt his pride. I run after him, ready to smack him for being so annoying.
“Viktor, I’m sorry if I hurt your pride, but…”
He stops walking and glares at me. No, wonder the mermen had feared fighting him on the battlefield, with a look like that. Still, I know he won’t hurt me. I trust in him and the bond that we share.
“It’s not my pride, Elainne! I’m your Kemp! My job, my whole reason for existing, is to keep you safe, not the other way around, or you would be a Kemp! You know this. You are always saying you aren’t like the humans who don’t get it, and I know that’s true, but you are acting it!”
“Viktor…”
“You don’t get it! I’m supposed to be your sword and shield, Elainne! I put the scars on my soul so you don’t have to!”
He walks off in a huff and I sigh. I have put my foot in it this time. Viktor accepts that he might have to kill, but he doesn’t like me having to do it. He knows how much it bothers me, necessary or not. He is willing to scar his soul as much as needed so I won’t have to. It is incredibly brave and sweet. Stupid as hell, but still.
I run to catch up and stop just behind him, leaning down and touching the earth. I jump back as the tree I summon from the ground grows and grows. Perfect for climbing, thick hammock-like branches, wonderful for sleeping on. It is everything we could ask for in a tree. I start to climb, not waiting for him. He is frustrated, annoyed, and likely rethinking his promise to stay with me. I don’t blame him.
When I find a comfortable hammock of branches that won’t bend or break, I throw a spell at him. He would have protested if I asked first. It is the tethering spell. He flies up and lands right next to me. He doesn’t even hit any branches on the way up. I smile. I saved him quite the climb, maybe it will be a start.
“I was climbing fine, you know. I’m not Elvin; trees aren’t my kin, so I wasn’t going as fast as you; I still could have done it on my own.”
I smile and lean against the trunk.
“I know, Viktor. I was just trying to make things easier. Don’t worry about falling. If you toss off you’ll just float back to me. While I'm sleeping, I can’t promise you won’t hit any branches coming back in, though.”
“Nifty spell.”
He is still mad. Well, I will try something else in the morning. He pulls out our blankets and leaves his pack next to mine, on another thick hammock of branches. He tosses me mine and I wrap myself. He leans against the tree’s trunk, sitting next to me, but a chasm remains between us. I sigh. I can’t sleep like this.
I lean against his stiff shoulder and hug his arm. He is not comforted like he usually is.
“I don’t want you to have to stain your soul for me, Viktor. It’s not fair, you sacrificing everything for me. I don’t want to be useless like other charges, ordering you around and controlling your life.”
“Then let me decide what I am willing to do and not do for you.”
He is right. I nod, head still on his shoulder. He sighs and the tension leaves him. He moves, putting his arm around me and I snuggle closer to his warmth. Fall is cool in the mountains. He covers us with his blanket and leans his head back.
“Alright, Viktor. But please don’t do anything you wouldn’t have done before becoming a Kemp. I don’t want to be the reason your soul is stained.”
He doesn’t answer with words; he just hugs me with the arm that is around me. I close my eyes and let myself drift to sleep after I set the barrier spell. I hope he will sleep as well.
Chapter Two
Viktor
The next morning, I awake while the sky is still gray. Elainne still sleeps, so I stay still and silent. I am tempted to unravel her arms from around me and jump to see if I really will be pulled back, but I figure it will wake her if the spell activates, and if I do hit a tree branch it will hurt. She made this tree with earth magic to suit our purposes. She is doing amazing things. Making a tree from nothing. The weather trick when we first went back home after the battle.
She is constantly doing things like that and still saying she doesn’t have enough control. It is not control; it is fear. She can control it and that’s why she doesn’t like to use it. It scares her to be in charge of this much power. This was why I have to learn to use mine, so she won’t have to unless it is for healing purposes or something similar. The only difference is she fears and respects it, allowing her to command it. I am too scared of doing the same things that I have already done to her, to control it. I know control will ensure I won’t, but seeing her hurt by my hand during the learning process sucks.
“Viktor, stop worrying.”
She is still half-asleep, but she mumbles and stretches an arm. Her hand rests on my chest and I try to keep my heartbeat steady so that she won’t notice anything odd. I can’t help but cover her hand with mine though. She sighs contentedly and dozes back off. I have to watch what I think about when she is asleep, apparently. Her panic and fear will wake me from a deep sleep seemingly she will be woken by mine as well.
I was never the type of person to worry over much before I met her. All I have done since is worry, but only about her. Our bond is stronger than most because of our human blood. So she says. It seems true. I wonder if it bothers her that we can finish each other’s sentences, or sense when the other person is worrying over nothing but the other, or that I tell her everything. Well, almost everything. I won’t tell her about my insane dream or the things I have started to wonder about since.
Her arm snakes around my neck and she is leaning against my chest, pressed so close. She feels soft and our bodies fit perfectly together. I sigh and hold her a bit tighter. She has asked if being her Kemp has kept me from another. The truth is I can’t ever picture myself caring for another enough to want to leave Elainne. I can’t be separated from her for long without feeling anxious.
When she and Madeline stayed in her room, tried on clothes, and did other female things, I stayed away and I worried that - because I wasn’t there to protect her - she would end up hurt. It is not rational, as she says she is able to care for herself and she knows enough self-defense to protect herself until I get there. I’d seen it for myself during the battle. That doesn’t stop me from worrying though.
Even when I don’t worry, she is the only person I want to be near. She’d given me a night off, to go see Mason, as she knew it had been a while since we had done anything together and Madeline said Mason missed hanging out with me. All I thought the entire time was that I wished it were her I was sitting and talking with.
Mason had been annoyed with my distraction; after hearing of it, Elainne and Madeline had accompanied us on our next try. They just sat apart from us so that they could do girl-talk and I could still watch over her. I had still felt the same, and often just nodded at Mason while watching Elainne across the room, talking to the tavern keeper’s daughter as if they were longtime friends.
Mason didn’t really ask me to h
ang out anymore and it didn’t bother me. Still, it did Elainne, so once a week she dragged the three of us off to some restaurant, tavern or other public places. She and Madeline mingled with the commoners while Mason and I talked of what was going on in our lives. I never had anything to talk about except my practices with Elainne, trying to keep away from her uncle who hated me, and watching over her so she wouldn’t be hurt. Mason always had stories. He always left feeling annoyed with me for ignoring most of them to watch Elainne.
He was right, I had lost my mind. She was a princess and I was a guard. When he had first said it in the Elvin woods months ago, he had been daft. I hadn’t thought of Elainne like that at all, but somewhere along the way respect turned into friendship and now it seems almost more, but I can never be sure if it is just me that feels it or not.
I close my eyes and rest my cheek on her head, breathing in her scent. It instantly relaxes me and makes me more aware of her at the same time. Aware of where our bodies touch and the places where they don’t. It is a new experience for me.
“Did I sleep too late?”
She wakes and stretches, pulling away as she does so. I want to tell her to go back to sleep so I can hold her just a bit longer, but we can’t put off our journey just because I am a nutcase. I need control before the Queen will let me back in her kingdom, and if I can’t go back, Elainne won’t either, I can sense the truth of it, and she needs to be there. She is the future Queen; one the people need. Try as her father might to sway her back to the Elvin lands, the human kingdom is her home now, where she belongs.
“No. The gray just left the sky.”
She smiles and puts her arms down as she finishes stretching, as well as one can do so in a tree.
“Good. Did you sleep at all, Viktor?”
“Yes. I awoke less than half an hour before you.”
“Good. But how much later did you go to sleep?”
“Once you fell asleep, I did as well.”
Once her breathing deepened and our shared warmth had spread to my limbs, I couldn’t stay awake anymore. I closed my eyes to revel in it and fell asleep. Much as I wanted to stay awake, I hadn’t been able to.
“Did you spell me to sleep last night?”
She shakes her head.
“No, but I would have if I had thought of it.”
She laughs and I want to hug her. I always have the urge to grab her and pull her close when she laughs. It is like music. She hums to herself all the time when in her rooms and it always makes me smile. She also has a beautiful singing voice. I always stop to listen when she sings to herself, thinking no one is listening.
“Perhaps making the dream spell stronger made you more sleep inclined?”
She says it as a question while chewing on her bottom lip, head slightly tilted, looking off into the distance, and deep in thought. I sigh. Yup, that’s it, Mason is right. I am an idiot.
“Maybe. So how do we get down?”
She smiles and throes the packs down after I reattach the blankets.
“Stay here. I’ll do the hard part.”
She slides, jumps, and gracefully goes from branch to branch, making it to the ground quickly and tugs. She makes it look so easy. I go up and out, landing on my feet without hitting anything on the way down. She dissolves the spell and picks up her pack.
“You will have to teach me that one so that I can keep you out of trouble as well.”
She laughs but doesn’t agree. Instead, she starts walking. I would have complained, she hasn’t eaten yet, but I can tell she wants out of here. If she gets tired later, we will stop to eat. I toss her a canteen after digging one out. She drinks and tossed it back to me. To set a good example, and so she won’t be difficult in the future, I drink as well, attaching it to a hook on the outside of my bag for easy access once I am done. As if she knows what I am thinking, she laughs and walks on merrily.
Elainne
Viktor is vigilant but we don’t run into trouble for most of the day. The day is not the problem; people are less likely to attack you in the open during the day when you can easily see them. The only reason we had trouble the day before is that the gorge made us easy targets, or so they thought.
I can’t sense anything, but I am not constantly casting to do so either. When the sun is near the time to set, Viktor stops and freezes. He drops his pack and pulls out one of his swords. I drop mine as well and prepare to cast. I keep my power locked up but at the ready. I don’t want to give away what we are capable of beforehand if it is a mage.
It doesn’t turn out to be a mage. It is a bear. The largest bear I have ever seen. The thing easily stands twenty feet tall on its hind legs. It definitely is not a normal bear. Viktor waves me back and I do as he says. I want to armor him up with magic but we haven’t practiced and I can throw him off, which will only make him more likely to die. Still, when the thing rushes us and Viktor meets it - one sword out, the other still sheathed - I want to close my eyes and throw fire at the same time. I do neither.
I feel him pull and freely give my Elvin enhancements. He moves with grace and elegance, dancing around the warped monster faster than it can move. He is not hit but he can’t land one either. I cast a sensing spell and let it expand farther than I have so far.
To the east are so many life signs. They are not small animals. To the west is a false trail. Magical life signs, all fake, to misdirect. Silly mages. That will work against some, but not one of my powers.
I hear cursing and let my spell drop, my power snaps back into me. Viktor has been clawed on one arm. I rush forward, catching the attention of the bear. I have been in battle, I have fought with fire against animals with too much intelligence before, but this is a bear compelled and enchanted by battle mages. The look in its eyes as it glances at me is pure hatred. They know what I am and that I am coming.
“We aren’t here to fight you! Look at his eyes! Do they look familiar! He is here for training and I’m his charge! You are making a mistake!”
It stares me down and swipes. I drop and roll but it is fast, landing on all fours and charging right at me. Viktor manages to catch it in the leg - distracting it - but is hit again in the process.
His side is bleeding too. Fine, if they want to play that way, I will as well. I summon the wind and fire, combining them to make a hell-storm.
“We wanted to come in peace! If you don’t want to play it that way, that’s fine with me! Let’s see whose power is stronger!”
The thing turns from Viktor to stare me down. There is no fear in its eyes. I will change that. I unleash balls of molten lava accompanied by winds strong enough to easily pick up the two-thousand-pound bear. The thing roars in pain and I can hear it yelping for mercy. The mage is still connected; the bear is a magical creation or I never would have been able to bring myself to do this. Not to a real living creature. No, this is like a puppet being run by a mage. One that I have magically locked in, so he can’t escape. I wave an arm, making everything disappear. It drops to the ground, and this time the human-looking through its eyes is very afraid.
“If he dies, your entire village will feel this same pain. Make sure they know that.”
I catch it in a fire hot enough to turn it to ash and run over to Viktor. I kneel down and heal his side first. It is bleeding the worst. Then his arm. He is unconscious due to blood loss, so I make a fire and wait. Unfortunately, for him, I had to cut off his shirt to heal him. I grab a bandage and wet it down with water from the canteen. I will make it rain if we need water.
I wipe the blood from his waist and arm. Underneath is newly knitted pink skin. I sigh. I almost lost him because I tried to reason with them. I had told him they wouldn’t like me being here. If not for me, he could have walked in completely welcome. He looks enough like them to be considered one. I look mostly, Elvin. Mages and Elves do not care for one another, to put it mildly.
Viktor
When I come to, I feel cool and wet. I open my eyes a bit and see Elainne wiping me down wit
h a cloth. Why am I shirtless?
“What’s going on?”
She sits up and hands me a clean shirt. I put it on and look around. A large pile of ash sits where I remember the bear being.
“You were talking to it.”
“Fighting wouldn’t defeat it, Viktor. It was magically made, not real. It was a battle for magic. The driver was listening; he could have called it off. He didn’t.”
“You killed it?”
She nods and looks to the east, sighing.
“If you go on without me, it will be safer for you, Viktor.”
“No. I know you can defend yourself Elainne, but I'm not leaving you alone here. We aren’t even out of no man’s land yet. Why are they attacking us already?”
She shrugs and bites her lip.
“I think perhaps they own no man’s land. Or, part of it. At least have spies around. They saw an Elf coming and are determined to make sure it doesn’t make it there alive.”
“But neither of us…”
She looks at me, sad and serious. I remember the conversation she and I had while she played ambassador in her father’s kingdom, trying to get help against the mermen. More of an argument, really, about going to the mages for help and forgetting the Elves. She said they wouldn’t accept her there either because she was half Elvin. Ahh, hell.
I could have embraced her training, learned to control the damn fire, and avoided this. Instead, I’d been selfish and now she is going to yet another country full of people who think she is not worthwhile. That because of what she is she is evil. I can’t stand that no matter where we go she won’t be accepted. I am a bigger mutt than she is and yet no one has a problem with me… unless I access her power.
“Elainne I…”
She shrugs and stands, walking away from me a few feet.
“Don’t worry about it, Viktor. I’m used to this kind of treatment.”
She walks off into the dark, and I pay close attention but don’t follow. She doesn’t need me right now and I can’t save her from everything, no matter how much I want to.
Champion Complete Series Page 23
