~~~~~
The fish was exquisite. I had never tasted anything like it, and I ate until I was ready to burst. Then, too full even to move, I lay down on my furs and slept.
When I woke, Ly was sitting cross-legged nearby, watching me. He gave me a half-smile as I stretched and yawned.
“Would you like something? A drink? Food?”
I laughed at that. “Nothing to eat, but perhaps some water.”
He ran off eagerly to fill a jug from the small stream that ran through the woods nearby and out to the lake. It was cool and delicious.
“Drina…” he began, folding himself down again. “There is something I must tell you.”
Ah. So the spirit of openness prevailed.
“My mother… there is some news. From your people. We sent a messenger to the army encampment, to tell them that we have you as our prisoner, and they must leave. They… they shot the messenger.”
“Oh. Shot him dead?”
He frowned. “I do not know. I will ask, when I get the chance. But they do not want to talk to us about getting you back.”
I lifted a shoulder indifferently. “Well, you will be feeding me for a while longer, then.”
“Yes.” But there was no smile on his face, and I remembered his mother’s suggestion that they throw me into the lake. And Ly was bound to obey his mother. I shivered.
~~~~~
The following sun, Ly began to get restless. My awareness of his magic meant that I noticed as soon as his enhanced blood began to replenish itself. Could they all do that, I wondered, or was it special to Ly? Could his mother regenerate her power? But connecting through the eagle, I could detect no sign of her. Not yet, anyway.
But Ly’s power was coming back, and with it his attraction towards me. He said nothing, did nothing, but he was jittery, bouncing along on the balls of his feet, as when I’d first seen him. He slept less well, and took off for walks at odd hours.
I was curious to see how he would deal with the situation, given his regret over the previous occasion, which seemed genuine enough. Would he allow it to happen again? He could hardly avoid it, if we stayed here, living and sleeping so close to each other.
He raised the issue himself, as we ate our stew at noon. “Drina, are you aware that… it is returning? This… this urge that I have? Have you noticed?”
I nodded.
“I cannot stay,” he said, his voice full of sorrow. “It has been wonderful to share this place with you, and I have loved every minute of it, but I have to leave. I have to be far away from you, or else…” His head drooped. “I will take you back to the castle. You will have to be locked up again, but—”
“I’m not going back to that room!” I hissed. “Never!”
His eyebrows rose. He knew perfectly well that I had no choice in the matter, but he chose not to say so. “I do not quite see what the alternative is. You cannot stay here, for I do not think you have the knowledge to survive alone. I have to take you back there, and I will have no say in what happens to you. They will want to keep you somewhere secure, and that means the castle. You are a valuable prisoner, Drina.”
He was right, of course, but the prospect of confinement in that room was horrible. And how could I escape, caged like that? Even if I could command the eagle unhindered, she was no use to me unless I were free.
My best prospect of escape was to stay here on the island, and that meant that Ly had to stay as well. And that meant…
While he went down to the shore to clean the bowls and spoons, I hunched myself into a corner of the terrace, leaning against the wall. I didn’t want to do it, that much was certain. If I had to sleep with any man, I’d want it to be Arran, my lovely Arran, filling me with warmth and holding me so tenderly. There was a great emptiness inside me since he’d gone, and a part of me would be happy to have him back on any terms. Love makes fools of us all.
With Ly, there would be no tenderness, no warmth, just that dreadful feeling of falling into a dark place, with no control, and barely any awareness of the physical activities. It was like hurtling down an endless well, all my senses screaming as fire consumed me. No, I didn’t want that at all, but if it would allow him to stay here with me for a while longer, until I could find a way to control the eagle…
A sudden thought. If we had sex, he would lose all his magic again. Perhaps he would also lose the ability to control the eagle? Perhaps then I would have command of her and I could escape. Would it work? I would have to try it to find out. It would be risky, but it would make the sex worthwhile, at least.
I remembered what he’d said about the kissing. He knew how to bring pleasure to his women afterwards, to counter the bad experience. Thinking about Arran had reminded me of the good moments we’d shared. Not in our usual couplings, for although they made me feel warm inside, and I was always sorry when he stopped, they were no more than mildly pleasant. No, it was those magic-fuelled times when I’d returned from the Imperial City overflowing with energy. Then I’d been swept up in the experience, and had burned with the flames of passion just as he did. Perhaps even more, if I’m honest.
But that wasn’t a normal response, I was sure of it. I’d read about female pleasure, naturally. Plenty of books talked about it, and I’d even witnessed it, once, many years ago. It would have been just before Yannassia sent for me, and I was reading in the hayloft above the stables. One of the junior cooks came into the stables below with a stablehand, and they set about their business, quite unaware that I was hiding just above them. To say that the woman enjoyed the experience would be an understatement. She was braying like a donkey at one point, and practically screaming by the end.
Without the involvement of magic, I’d never experienced anything like that, not even with Arran, and certainly not with Ly or poor Lathran. Only magic brought me to that level of intensity. Could Ly do that to me? Perhaps if I’d had Arran waiting for me at home, I wouldn’t have been tempted, but grief and loneliness make people do the strangest things. I wanted to try it, to see if Ly could erase the ache in my heart for a while.
So when Ly came back, I said, “You know, we could just… let it happen again. Then we could stay here.”
“Oh, Drina. I know you do not wish for it.”
“No, but I wish to be locked up in that foul room even less. It isn’t so bad if I’m prepared for it. And you could do the kissing thing. If you want.”
His face lit up like a lamp. “Oh, I should like to do that for you! Yes! That would be so much better. I shall find something special for supper, then, and afterwards…” He gave me a smile of such heart-stopping warmth that for a moment I almost liked him. “Thank you, Drina. Thank you so much.”
He was busy all afternoon, bringing this and that treat for evening board, and preparing a host of special foods he thought I would enjoy. He was excited, almost happy, and his rising magical energy was at least channelled into productive activity.
While he worked, and later, as we ate, he chattered away, telling me about his father, with whom he had clearly been very happy, and sometimes, pulling wry faces, about his mother.
“Why do you stay with her?” I asked. “Why not go back to your father?”
“My connection is with languages,” he said sorrowfully. “That is a trader clan skill.”
“A connection with languages? What does that mean?”
“I understand when people speak their own language. That makes it easy for me to learn new languages. Like Bennamorian.”
A connection with languages. Understanding when people speak their own languages. That was exactly my own ability. How strange. Or perhaps that was partly why we had this strange affinity, through some peculiarity of mind.
“Is it unusual, this connection?”
“Yes, very rare. That is why I have to be trader clan.”
“Yet you are not happy there,” I said. He lowered his eyes, not answering, but I ploughed on regardless. “It seems very wrong to force you to join this clan when you
would obviously have been much happier with your father’s clan.”
“You think people should do whatever they want? That would be anarchy.”
“I think everyone should have a choice.”
“Does everyone in Bennamore have a choice? Did you have a choice?”
That struck too close to the mark, and I couldn’t answer him.
For the first time, Ly made no move to clean the plates and pots after the meal. There was a glitter in his eyes, and he watched me constantly, rocking slightly.
Well, no point putting it off.
“Come here,” I said, holding out my hand to him.
I was sitting on one of the stone seats built into the wall, while he sat, as usual, on the ground, one leg bent under him. He uncoiled himself eagerly and came across to me, but then, ignoring my outstretched hand, he knelt at my feet.
“Drina… I want to say… I apologise in advance for what I will do next. I wish more than anything that it could be different, that we could be friends, at least. But when this thing happens, it feels like we are enemies, and I hate that. Please, please do not judge me by the next few moments. Everything up to this point – that is the real me. And everything I will do afterwards. But for a short time, I… I will not be myself.”
“Hush,” I whispered. “Don’t feel guilty about the things that are not your fault. This is my choice tonight, remember that.”
He nodded. “Thank you. Thank you for the whole evening.”
Then he reached for me. And I fell into the flames again, screaming. At least I was prepared for it this time, and I wasn’t trying to fight my response. The fear was still there, and the stomach-lurching sensation of falling, but I let my body and Ly do whatever they wanted, and closed my eyes until it was all over.
Afterwards, we clung together like a pair of drunks, more or less upright, but propped up by the wall. Ly’s shoulders heaved with sobs, but I was too drained to have any comfort to spare for him. After a while, he breathed more evenly, and his arms slid round me to wrap me in a closer embrace. For long moments we stood, motionless.
But then he lifted his head and smiled at me. “Now for the kissing.”
I laughed at the eagerness in his face. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just lie down, here on the furs. Make yourself comfortable.”
My clothes had been cast aside, so I lay naked on the fur bed, and he knelt beside me. “There. Now relax.”
He leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. I don’t think he’d ever kissed me that way before, but it felt good. His fingers stroked my face, tracing the outline of my cheeks, and then my lips and over my chin to my throat. I don’t know whether it was his magic swilling inside me, but every touch was like a little trickle of fire, not painful but tingling and throbbing. I closed my eyes and bathed in the warmth of his touch.
But I couldn’t lie still, not with so much magic inside me. Much as I wanted to let him pleasure me in his own way, my body wouldn’t allow it. I pulled him down to me and kissed him back with fierce passion. For a moment he hesitated, then he groaned a little and responded just as keenly. His tongue explored my mouth, sending wave after wave of pulsing sensation through me. I whimpered, and let my hands wander down his back, onto his buttocks…
He pulled away sharply, panting. “Drina, this is not—”
“Don’t talk.”
I reached for him again, but again he moved away.
“No, Drina. This is—”
“Shut up!” I cried in frustration. “Just shut up and do it.”
I grabbed his hair and yanked his head close enough to kiss, and this time he made no protest. He scrambled onto the furs to lie beside me, and then we were both swept into the moment, touching and kissing and rubbing and pressing. The moment when he rolled onto me and thrust himself inside me was glorious. I cried out then, and again and again, lost in the maelstrom of intense feelings that washed over me.
I think he enjoyed it too, but I neither noticed nor cared. It was hard to believe how different it was from the other times. There was no falling, no fear, and the flames were warm and energising, not burning hot and painful. When the magic was in him, there was nothing but terrified compulsion that left us both shaking and drained. But when the magic was in me, it was wonderful. Magic has no intent, I knew that, but it was hard to see this blood magic as anything other than evil.
Afterwards, in a glow of sated contentment, we lay with limbs tangled up together, his face buried in my neck.
“Sweet Drina,” he whispered into my hair. “Sweet love, my beloved. I love you so much, my darling princess. Sweet Drina…”
Poor Ly, only able to express his feelings in his own language. He knew I would be scornful of any open declaration. Or perhaps he was ashamed of what he felt. He wasn’t supposed to sleep with me, so undoubtedly any show of affection would be frowned upon too.
I let him talk, for I was waiting for my moment.
As always after our couplings, exhaustion soon caught up with him. One moment he was wide awake and chattering into my ear, the next he muttered something unintelligible, and a heartbeat later he was deeply asleep.
There was no danger of me falling asleep. My whole body still glowed from Ly’s caresses. Then I had all his magic swirling through me, and it was as much as I could do to keep still. I willed myself to breathe deeply, to be motionless, to make no sound that might disturb him.
I waited an hour, to be sure he was soundly asleep. Then I crept from the bed and gathered up my scattered clothes. My warm clothes for flying had gone, but there was nothing I could do about that. Perhaps the magic in me would keep me warm.
Then I went down to the shore, well away from the house, and summoned the eagle. She came at once, happy to see me. I supposed she must be missing Ly’s mother, if they had been bonded for years. But she responded eagerly to my call.
I climbed onto her back, and gave her a clear image of the Keep at Kingswell.
“Take me home,” I whispered.
For answer, she launched herself into the sky, and turned to the south.
I had escaped.
19: Flight
I felt as if all the demons of the earth were on my tail. Perhaps they were, at that. I crouched low on the eagle’s back, urging her onwards. “Faster, faster!” I called to her, and, bless her, she understood. The great wings moved in steady rhythm, and I felt her muscles straining beneath me. On she flew, arrow straight, and still my stomach lurched with fear.
What if Ly woke before I had reached safety? With every hour that passed, that was more likely. He would wake to find me gone, would reach for the eagle, find her gone too…
He’d lost his magic, though. Perhaps he’d also lost the ability to connect with the eagle, so he wouldn’t know what had happened. But that was only temporary. Sooner or later, his magic would return. It might happen as soon as he woke, and then he would call the eagle back to him and I would be well and truly sunk. I had to get to safety before he woke, it was imperative. But below me, the country was dark. No lights, no fires, no glimmer of river or lake… Even as the sky lightened with the rising sun, it revealed no landmarks.
But then something I recognised – a line of rocky hills with a single cleft cutting through them. Now I knew where we were, for beyond the hills was the Bennamorian army camp. Safety at last. All I had to do was to land there, and they would get me back to Kingswell.
We flew over the hills and there in all its glory was the camp, with fires and torches burning and, despite the early hour, cloaked figures moving about. Even in the first hour of the morning, there were tasks to be done, meals to prepare, watches to be kept.
“Down!” I shrieked, giving the eagle a mental image of the camp. I wasn’t quite sure how I directed her movements, because she seemed more attuned to my emotions than to specific instructions. However, if I threw several types of communication at her, something seemed to work. Obediently she began to glide down in lazy spirals.
> As we descended, I looked for a landing place and adjusted the images I sent her accordingly. There was a big, open space in the middle of the camp – a parade ground, most likely – so I directed her there, where she would have the space to land. She began to circle more tightly.
Faces turned up to watch us. Arms pointed, people ran about. My people. I was close enough now to see the familiar uniform, the colours on the tents, the emblems on flags and wagons. Relief welled up in me, and I was close to weeping. Finally, I would be out of harm’s way, and I would never need to see Ly-haam or his dreadful mother again.
Something whooshed past my head. The eagle squawked in anger, and veered off so sharply that if I hadn’t been holding tight to the straps, I’d have been flung off. Something else zinged by. Arrows. They were shooting at us! Surely they could see me on her back, would know better than to shoot me out of the sky?
The eagle powered her way upwards, out of range, but I felt the anger in her. I was angry too. My own army had just tried to kill me. The rational part of my brain told me that they didn’t know it was me. Presumably they thought I was a Blood Clan rider, an enemy. But still I was outraged.
The eagle circled around, waiting for my instructions. I peered past her shoulder, looking for a place to land, somewhere open enough to accommodate her vast wingspan, but also out of range of bows. And not too near any trees, either, for from this height, I couldn’t tell what threats lurked beneath the canopy of leaves.
I could see the Imperial Road some distance away, and a newly made wagon track connecting it to the camp. I directed the eagle there and she descended with great sweeps of her wings, stirring up a cloud of choking dust. At the last minute, she strained upwards again. Too many bushes nearby, I guessed. She didn’t want to get her wings tangled in the branches.
In the end, I brought her down just beyond the camp’s perimeter ditch. It was risky to be so close, but nowhere else had enough space. Even as we thumped to the ground, the camp gates were thrown open and lines of soldiers emerged at a run. Swords, bows, crossbows, axes – more than enough to tackle one unarmed woman and a bird.
The Fire Mages' Daughter Page 18
