Mel frowned. “Is that…?”
Jasper shook his head. “No. It can’t be.” He looked at Matthew. “Can it?”
I took Kara’s tiny hand in mine and looked at her thumb. “It is.”
Everyone looked at each other in shock. The next White One had been born. I pulled her ear forward and checked for a mark. I glanced up in astonishment. “It’s a circle.”
“But Namaels have lines and Majs have crescents.” We all looked at Zane as he stated the obvious.
“Could you check her aura?” Jasper was gazing at the tiny infant with amazement. I touched Kara softly with my nudge. Jasper’s head turned in my direction at the surprise I projected.
“It’s… well, it’s white.”
“Faren said yours was white as well, no?”
I nodded and we all looked at the little bundle with awe. Melana was going to be handing her reign over to a Namael and Maj cross breed and we had no way of telling if Kara was going to shift into a cat or a dog.
Everyone jumped at the knock on the door.
Matthew handed Kara back to Dawn and handed her an extra blanket to put over her. We all stood defensively around the bed.
The door opened and Melana walked in. She looked at us and stopped short. “Is everything alright? Marco was walking by and said he heard a babe crying. Are they all ok?”
I looked at Jasper. He nodded, reached back and took Kara from Dawn. He walked to Melana and placed the baby in her arms. There was no reason to delay this meeting. “Melana, we’d like for you to meet Kara.”
Melana smiled and made cooing noises to the baby. Kara opened her eyes and two pairs of almost white eyes looked at each other. The queen caught her breath and looked at us. I nodded. Jasper showed her both marks. She gazed back down at the baby and smiled. “Well, now, little Kara. Out of everything that’s happened today, I’d say you win hands down for the most shocking.” Her smile softened. “What took you so long to get here?” She walked to the bed and handed Kara back to her parents.
Jasper put his arm around me and I lay my head on his shoulder.
Melana glanced at us. “I’ve decided you may be right. Go talk to Damian. I’m willing to declare a truce until this situation with the humans is settled.”
I looked over at her and nodded. One down, one to go, I thought to myself.
*****
It took all of five minutes with Marilynn to find that I liked her. The fifty-three year old Namael sorceress was the kind of woman who told it like it was and if you didn’t like it, you could leave.
She was facing away from us looking at something on a shelf when we walked into her shop.
“Well, hello, Hayden.” She reached up, grabbed what she needed, then turned to us. “Jasper.” She smiled.
“Marilynn. How goes your day?”
“Terrific now that you have finally brought Hayden to see me.”
“How did you know it was me walking in?” I was positive she hadn’t seen us coming.
“Energy. I can’t tell everyone apart, mind you, but a few people project more of it so I can tell who they are. I only know of one other being that radiates this much energy and I highly doubt that Rainen is here to see me.” She walked around, taking jars and dried plants off the shelves and putting them in a basket. “Now,” she strode to the front door, locked it, and started walking through a door that led to the back of the shop, “let’s go teach you some spells.”
I smiled and followed after her. Jasper gave a chuckle. Obviously he was used to her forward manner.
We exited through the back into a large yard surrounded by a rock fence.
“First things first.” Marilynn dropped her basket on a table and turned to face me. “You can heal?”
I nodded.
“How much have you done?”
“Well, the regular wave I use quite often. The darker wave not so much.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You use the darker wave? How many times?”
“There’s been two times when I’ve given quite a bit of energy to Jasper otherwise he would have died. The once I gave to Kacey, but not quite so much. Then there’s been about twenty or thirty times where we’ve experimented with it, to see how much could accomplish what.”
“What of the darkest wave?”
I shook my head. “I’ve tried, but I haven’t been able to.”
“We have a theory that because she doesn’t like to hurt or kill, taking energy from one being to heal another goes against what she feels is right and that that might be why she can’t.” Jasper put an arm around me.
Marilynn nodded. “That could very well be. Now, wind. Can you push it?”
I pushed a light grey wave and ruffled her long grey hair.
“Is that it?”
“No. But I don’t want to blow you over!”
“Hayden, dear, I’m going to run through all of the waves. I want you to throw the darkest of each as hard as you can at me.”
“But…”
She held up her hand. “Grey.”
I looked at Jasper and he shrugged.
I let the greys move in front of me and pulled the darkest grey I had. I threw it as hard as I could. Marilynn laughed at my frown. The grass and air around her was blowing with hurricane strength winds but Marilynn herself was untouched.
“I have strong shields. Believe it or not, Hayden, you’re shielding right now. I’ll show you how to do it like this after.”
“How am I shielding?”
“You’re doing it without realizing it. I’m also going to show you how to take that shield down. It keeps you from projecting and throwing full strength. If that were happening, I’m not even sure I could hold this back.”
“You’re saying that Hayden is more powerful than she seems?”
Marilynn nodded. “I think her fear of hurting people keeps her from using her full strength. Let’s try red.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have very good control on red. I can use the light one to start fires or heat water, but the deep red…”
“I heard about Ream. That wall of fire was the talk of the magic wielders’ community for months afterward. What else have you done with it that was shocking to you?”
I thought about it for a bit. “There are two other times. At the supper last night, I hit Sonia in the head with the hilt of my dagger. Her face was burnt and the burn radiated from where I had hit her. Also I managed to get flames to come out of the ground under Ternach so that they shot up at him and he didn’t see it coming.”
“You faced off with Ternach?”
I nodded. “He’s the one who sent me to the humans.” I tried to keep the memories from flooding back from wherever it was I had been hiding them.
“Tell me about it.”
I shuddered and closed my eyes. Jasper tensed beside me. “It’s ok.” I put a hand on his arm. I started my story with Faren and ended it when we crossed the Wedelven Bridge. Marilynn listened intently.
“Emotions.” She seemed to think about this for a bit. “You, Hayden, are a very emotional being.”
I had never really thought that I was and told her so.
Jasper burst out laughing. “Not emotional. By the moons Shlova, you’d think differently if you were on the receiving end of those emotions.”
I projected my annoyance which caused him to laugh harder.
“So you feel everything that she is feeling?”
Jasper nodded. “Well, I used to. Not so much anymore. She can pull back on them now. She can project them too. For the most part it’s like a dull hum. I can’t always tell exactly what she’s feeling, but I always feel her there.”
“Interesting.” She went to the table and started spreading the basket’s contents on its surface. When she was done she called me over. “Identify these items for me.”
I started at one end and moved along, naming all of the items there. They were all plants and seeds that Fillian had taught me to use in broths, drinks, and pastes used for healin
g.
Marilynn nodded. “Very good.” She looked at me. “Tanna dex.”
I frowned. “Why does that sound familiar?”
“Just think. What does it mean?”
I looked at Jasper. He shrugged.
“Tanna dex.” Marilynn looked at me expectantly.
“Slow?”
“That’s right.”
“How do I know that?”
Marilynn laughed. “You were born knowing it. Now, you just have to learn how to use it. How about parn kant wort.”
I thought about it for a minute. “Freeze.”
“Good. We’ll start with those two today. They’re the simplest. Now what you want to do is say the words, think of the action while looking at your target, and then send your nudge. Do it in that order. Once you get good at it, it becomes second nature and happens all at once.” She looked at Jasper. “Why don’t you go to the end of the yard then walk toward us. We’ll see if she can get you to freeze.”
He jogged to the end of the yard and turned to us.
“It won’t hurt him?”
She shook her head. “You won’t need much of a nudge. The more in tune to magic a being is, the bigger the nudge you have to use.”
I took a deep breath and looked on as Jasper started walking toward us.
“Parn kant wort.” I said the words clearly, imagined Jasper freezing midstride, then pushed the magic toward him. I felt my nudge hit him and he stopped.
“Very nicely done, Hayden.”
“Eyt concart.” The words for resume came to my head and I sent out another nudge.
Jasper continued walking as if he had never stopped. He laughed and gave me a long kiss. “Good job.”
We spent the rest of the day working on different things that ranged from spells, to shielding, to controlling the color waves.
*****
“What about this one?” Jasper held up a length of dark green cotton material with gold silk thread weaved into it.
Tara looked it over and nodded. He added it to the pile.
“You should take this one. Shondai loves purple. You’re guaranteed that she’ll get a dress made with this one.” The fabric I was holding was almost the same violet as Leslie’s eyes.
Tara smiled. “That’s a great one.” She followed Ben to the vendor’s desk where they paid for their purchase of fabrics, thread, and buttons.
“Alright. Where to next?” Jasper held the door open for us.
“I need to go to the tanner’s. I want to find a bag to carry things around for healing.”
“Why wouldn’t you just use the waves?” asked Ben.
“Well, I will when I can. But if something happens that I get hurt and there’s no one around to heal me, then I can’t use the waves. So I’ll have to do my healing the old fashion way.”
Jasper looked at the little package I had bought at the fabric shop. “And that’s what the needle and thread are for?”
I nodded. “Hanna has been teaching me some more manual ways of doing things.”
Hanna was one of Pinsaber’s best healers. She had been one of the Namael army’s healers for thirty years and had had to heal in almost every situation imaginable. Being in situations where she was unable to use the waves due to an injury had taught her to be creative and quick on her toes.
I found a bag that would suit my needs and we continued on to Marilynn’s shop so I could purchase herbs and plants that were hard to find in these parts. I placed them in my new bag.
“If you come back tomorrow, dear, I’ll have those haspin leaves you want. They’re dried, mind you, so they won’t be as strong as the fresh ones, but they’ll be handy in an emergency.” Marilynn handed me a small package and smiled. “This one is a gift.”
I took it from her and carefully untied the string that was holding the package together. I looked at her and she laughed at me.
“Go on. Put it on.”
I held the pendant up gingerly and lay it in my hand to look at it. The gem looked very much like a cross stone, but instead of being blue it was a deep red with black veins running through it. The flat stone was about half the size of my palm and hung on a leather string. Jasper took it from me and tied it behind my neck.
Marilynn smiled and touched her identical pendant. Jasper squeezed my shoulder. Once I had enough control over the magic to be consistent, I would then be recognized as a trained sorceress and the leather string would be dyed black.
“Thank you.” I gave her a hug.
She grinned. “There’s something else. You’re to come back here, tomorrow, after breakfast.”
“Why is that?”
“Hanna has something for you as well.”
My heart jumped, knowing full well what Hanna was going to give me. “Do you think it hurts?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’m glad I’m a sorceress and not a healer.”
I laughed. “Alright. I’ll be here.” I turned to Jasper. “You’ll come with me?”
“Of course.”
I was more than a little nervous about getting the healer’s tattoo. The thought of having a needle and ink going into the skin around my eye made my mouth dry.
Jasper put his hand on my arm. “You’ll do fine. Just think. You’ve been through much worse than one little needle.” He smiled at me reassuringly.
“I suppose when you put it that way.” I smiled. Still, needles weren’t my favourite thing, especially when they were pointed at me.
“Now,” Jasper took my hand. “Where to?”
I looked at my packages and the ones Tara and Ben were holding. “Maybe back to our rooms to put these down.”
Tara laughed. “I agree. I’m all shopped out.” We had spent the entire morning going from shop to shop buying things that we knew were hard to find in Sageden.
“When do the Gysps come to shore?” I handed Jasper a couple of the packages.
“In about three days,” answered Marilynn.
“We’d better make sure to keep enough coin for when they get here.” Ben took one of the larger packages from Tara.
I had been surprised to find out that Quelondain was actually a continent. The Gysp were a sea faring folk that only came to shore to trade. They traveled between Quelondain and Thistendal, the continent situated across the sea to the east, bringing goods from one to the other. The strangest part about learning of the other continent was also finding out that no one traveled from one to the other. No one seemed to have an explanation. It just wasn’t done. The third continent was Nankada. It was situated between the other two on Quelondain’s west coast.
“Alright, we’ll see you tomorrow morning then, Marilynn.”
She smiled at me and gave a wave as we left her shop.
Once we had gotten back to our room, I dropped the packages on the floor and lay on the bed, my chin on my hands. “Man, I hate shopping.”
Jasper chucked, straddled my hips, and started to massage my shoulders. I groaned and relaxed under the warmth and pressure of his hands.
“Feel like taking a ride along the cliffs? Maybe we can spot the Gysps’ ships. Dodge isn’t back from visiting the herd south of here, but I’m sure we can find you a horse somewhere.”
I nodded and rolled onto my back. I looked into the sky blue eyes that gazed down at me and had to remind myself to breathe. I held out my hand, palm up, and he lay his cheek against it. His eyes closed and long dark lashes fanned down. Dark curls dropped forward into his eyes and I reached my other hand up to brush them away. I ran my thumb over the bridge of his nose and smiled at the memory of him the first day we had met. His nose had been slightly crooked. I had fixed that since then, more than once. His eyes had been full of uncertainty as he had tried to come up with the best plan possible to get me to follow him to Pinsaber. His lips had been inviting. Hell, everything about him had been inviting. The man was lucky I hadn’t ripped his clothes off right then and there in the meadow.
He caught his breath but kept his eyes closed.
I traced the line of his jaw back toward his ear and smiled at the shiver that ran through him. I held his face gently between my hands and simply looked at him. My heart beat quickened and my stomach clenched. He opened his eyes, both of us unable to look away.
“God, I love you,” I whispered softly.
He bent down and brushed his lips against mine, his tongue gently parting them. He laid himself flat against me and pinned me to the bed. He groaned, the kiss becoming harder, hungrier. My head started to spin and I melted under him.
There was a knock on the door. Jasper let out his breath in a hiss. “Who in bloody hell is that?”
“Jasper, Hayden? Are you in here?”
Jasper rolled off of me and I sat up, trying to catch my breath. I cleared my throat.
“Yeah, we’re here. Come in, Matthew.”
The door opened and Matthew came in. His dark blond hair was messy, his left eye was swollen shut, his bottom lip split and bleeding.
I jumped off of the bed and ran to him. “Oh, my god! What happened to you?”
He stopped and looked at me, surprised. “What?”
I turned him around so he was facing the mirror. “Your face!” I looked him over a bit more closely. His tunic had been torn and his right pant leg had a spot of blood that was starting to show around the edges of a rip. I took his hands and looked at them. The knuckles were bruised and his right ring finger was broken.
“Oh. Well, it looks worse than it feels, really.” He smiled and winced as the cut on his lip widened. “You should see the other guy.” One green eye looked at me through the mirror.
I took his left hand and led him to the bed. “Sit down so I can fix you.”
Jasper came to stand beside me. “Who was the other guy?”
Matthew sucked in a breath as I pushed the green wave through him. “You’ll remember Parker? From Habon?”
“How could I forget? We trained under him when we started. I wonder if he remembers us.” They grinned at each other.
“I don’t think he’s likely to forget. Anyhow, his pack came back from patrolling this morning. They were ordered to the hall. When he asked what was happening, Gerald informed him that all packs were being searched for human spies. Parker made a fuss. Asked how it was we were going to do that. We told him that Hayden would come down and scan everyone’s auras. His pack is at least a hundred and fifty strong. It would take forever to check them all manually.” His dark green eyes narrowed. “Parker’s comment was along the lines of ‘I’ve heard stories about her. Seems she has more dogs in her pack than cats. What makes you so certain she’s not the spy?’. He went on to question how he knew I was to be trusted. I told him my pack had already been checked. Then there was something about how he wasn’t surprised I was caught up with your pack. Good for nothing trouble maker who couldn’t follow an order if my life depended on it is what I believe he called me. I asked him if he was against the idea of being scanned because he had something to hide.” He shook his head. “He got the first punch in and I got the last.”
Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' Page 19
