Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  Aeden finished his tale and Raki sighed. He thought Aeden was going to tell him how Erent Caahs had killed a dreigan, but he preferred the way it had turned out. The thought of killing a legendary creature had bothered him.

  The boy looked at Tere Chizzit. The man no longer had the angry look on his face. He was muttering something. What was it?

  “Almost forgot about the dreigan…at least some good…” Raki wasn’t sure, but he thought he caught the flicker of a smile as the blind man turned his head and focused on the fire once again.

  Chapter 34

  “Things will begin to get more dangerous from here on out,” Tere Chizzit told the others as they ate a cold breakfast and prepared for their day’s traveling.

  “What do you mean?” Aeden asked.

  “We are leaving the edge of the forest, the civilized part of it. We are entering the heart of the Grundenwald, a part that few have visited and come out again. Now we will be facing some real dangers.”

  Raki looked at the blind man for a sign that he was teasing them. His face could have been on an executioner holding his ax. He wasn’t kidding.

  “But you know all the dangers, right?” Fahtin asked. “You can keep us out of trouble?”

  Tere looked at her, his unblinking white eyes merely pointing at her, not focusing. Still, he gave a sense of staring. “I’ll do my best. Even I don’t go deep into the forest often. Things change quickly here. Some of the hazards that I have faced may no longer be here, and others may have taken their place.”

  “That’s reassuring,” Aeden said.

  As they gathered up their belongings to start their day, Raki thought back to two days before. Tere Chizzit had come to him to talk to him.

  “Raki, you have a natural talent. Two, really, that I can see. One is your ability with thrown weapons, a useful skill to have. The other, though, your knack for moving unseen, could be even more important.”

  Raki had been embarrassed. He was amazed at how the blind man could move through the forest without making a sound or leaving a trail. He had seen the man virtually disappear in front of him.

  “The problem is that although you can move without being seen,” Tere Chizzit continued, “you still make noise and do other things to give yourself away. Would you like me to give you some tips, help you to become better?”

  “Yes!” Raki said. “I would love that.”

  “Good. It will be nice to have someone else who can scout ahead. After we get out of the dangerous part of the forest. If you see this thing to the end with Aeden, he will need your abilities.”

  So, the old tracker had been working with him for the last two days, giving him pointers and, probably more importantly, showing him what he was doing wrong. Who would have ever thought of making sure you were downwind of any person or beast you were sneaking up on? He had never considered another person detecting him by scent.

  They made a game of it. When they rested or set up camp for the day, they would challenge each other to hide and to find the other. Raki could never find or track Tere, but the blind man found him quickly every time.

  “Don’t take it too hard,” he told the boy. “I’ve been doing this a long time. You’re doing well. Soon, even I may not be able to find you.” He winked at the boy, an unsettling gesture with those white eyes. It made Raki feel good, though.

  After Tere Chizzit’s proclamation that they were entering the dangerous part of the forest, all the party members, including Raki, were told to stay close to him at all times. Deviating even slightly could have serious consequences. Raki took the warning in stride. He was more interested in, and excited about, what he was learning. He continued to practice, slipping in and out of shadows as they traveled. Even Aeden and Fahtin had commented on how he was like a wraith, there one moment and gone the next.

  It was barely midday and Raki had blended into the surroundings. He saw Aeden cast a glance at where he had been walking alongside him and blink. The Crow’s eyes darted to try to find the boy, but his gaze skipped right over where he was moving carefully so as not to make any noise. Raki thought that Aeden’s eyes stopped on him for the briefest of moments, but wasn’t sure. They passed and Aeden continued to search for him. Raki smiled.

  A dozen feet later, the boy went wide of a thick tree in their path, Aeden and the others on one side, Raki on the other. He was still focused on trying to move without making sound and without causing evidence of his passing. Because of that, he didn’t see the dull green bush in front of him that blended in with the rest of the underbrush.

  As Raki passed the shrub, his leg brushed one of the outstretched branches. As soon as there was contact, the twig flicked out, fast as a viper, and struck Raki’s leg. He felt something—or several somethings—pierce his pants and his skin, and then the burning started.

  Looking down, Raki saw the branch adhering to his lower leg. It looked like any other bush. Thin, twig-like branches, flexible and strong, held small stretched oval leaves with smooth edges and a waxy surface. At the end of each tiny offshoot were thorns, though, wicked looking things with sharp barbs. Some of them seemed wet.

  That was as much as he observed before molten lava started traveling through his leg and up his body. As the heat passed, the body part went numb and deadened. It was less than two seconds before his leg collapsed as if his muscles had turned to water. The fire spread rapidly and in a few more seconds, it had traveled to his other leg. He cried out as he fell, catching himself with his arms. But soon, they too were weak and useless.

  He saw the others begin to go near him, but Tere yelled for them to stay where they were. He lay there, helpless, as the burning reached his chest and made breathing almost impossible. He was sure he was going to die.

  Raki’s eyes still worked and they swiveled to the plant that had struck him. Was it…moving? He blinked several times and focused his eyes. It was. Branches shot out and latched onto him. He felt a few tiny tingles and he knew more of the poison was being injected into him.

  The heat was reaching his face. His mouth was already deadened, so he could only emit mumbling sounds though he tried to scream. As it traveled up his head, Tere Chizzit cursed. “Step into a damn barb plant. Stupid boy!” and Aeden let loose with one of his Chorain curses.

  Then the numbness reached his brain and the world winked out of existence.

  Aeden had been watching Raki since the tracker had started teaching him to move more silently, more invisibly. The boy definitely had a talent there. It seemed like magic. It probably was. There was not as much magic in the world as there was a thousand years ago, but it seemed like the magic that there was had been spread out to many people in small ways instead of a relatively few with great powers. He’d have to ask someone when he got to the Academy.

  Raki disappeared almost as Aeden was looking at him. He was becoming very good at that. The Croagh could still feel his presence somewhere near where he had last seen the boy, but that was it. He couldn’t spot him. It was almost like nearly remembering something important, but not. It was there, on the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. That skill might prove useful during their travels.

  Aeden looked over at Fahtin and smiled at her. She had noticed Raki disappearing, too. She shrugged. Aeden took a couple of steps closer to her as he went around a thick tree in front of him. Tere Chizzit was less than ten feet ahead of him, looking at the surroundings to pick the best path. It seemed that the blind man wasn’t simply relying on instinct as he had been for the last few days. He was constantly swiveling his head, scanning the forest with whatever sense allowed him to “see.” That, more than his words or anything else, convinced Aeden that they truly were entering more dangerous areas. Tere almost seemed nervous. That made Aeden nervous, too.

  There was a sound like an animal emerging from the brush and a high whistling noise like when a thin switch cuts through the air. Raki grunted and then cried out. A crashing like someone falling came immediately after. Aeden could just
see around the tree that Raki had gone down onto his hands and knees.

  He and Fahtin rushed toward their friend, but Tere Chizzit screamed at them to remain where they were. Knowing better than to argue, they both froze, watching their friend a dozen feet away drop to the forest floor as if his arms had turned to string.

  “Cuir aet boidh!” Aeden spat.

  “Step into a damn barb plant. Stupid boy!” Tere Chizzit said as he skirted Aeden and Fahtin and got to where he could see Raki clearly. His bow was in his hand and an arrow already nocked.

  Aeden blinked. Did he just see that bush near Raki swing its branches out and slap the boy’s arms and legs? He shook his head and narrowed his eyes to focus in the dim forest light. They had, and now they seemed to have punched through his clothing with some kind of thorns. Even more amazing, the twigs seemed to be pulling Raki toward the main body of the plant.

  Fahtin gasped. She had noticed the same thing.

  Three sharp twangs rent the air, followed immediately by a dull thunk like a heavy piece of wood was hit with a dull ax on soft ground. The plant emitted some kind of whistle and shook violently, tearing some of the branches from Raki’s limbs, taking flesh and bits of clothing with them. Tere shot another arrow, and this one apparently found the plant’s core because it shivered and then went still. The blind man shot another arrow into it just to be sure.

  When it hadn’t moved for several seconds, Tere Chizzit stepped carefully to the motionless boy and sliced through the thin branches still adhering to him with his long knife. Once that was accomplished, he grabbed one of Raki’s arms and dragged him well away from where he had fallen. The boy didn’t seem to be breathing.

  “Take the barbs from him,” the tracker said. “I have to find some Hunsen’s nettle, yellow wort, and draw weed. It’s his only chance.”

  Aeden and Fahtin did as he said, stripping off Raki’s clothes to find the thorns so thoroughly embedded into him that there was no way of taking them out without tearing his skin.

  “Don’t be squeamish,” Tere said as he moved off. “It’s his life. If you don’t get those out of him, he’ll die for sure. They are still pumping poison into him. Do it. Tear them out.”

  Aeden nodded and began to do as he had been told. He grabbed hold of each of the two dozen thorns and yanked as hard as he could. The barbs, facing the opposite way, held onto Raki’s skin and tore away chunks as they were pulled free.

  Fahtin was breathing heavily. When Aeden looked at her, he knew she was going to be sick.

  “I’ll do this,” he told her. “Go over there and breathe slowly. I’ll be done in a minute.” She did as he said, sitting on the ground and putting her head in her hands, breathing deliberately; out, then in, slowly.

  There were only a few of the thorns left to remove when Tere came back. Aeden removed them as the blind man put a wad of stringy green leaves into his mouth and chewed them, making a face that told Aeden they did not taste good at all. Raki looked like he had been in a battle. All over his arms and legs and a few areas on his shoulders and torso, he had small holes where the flesh had been ripped out. He was bleeding from them, but not profusely.

  Tere Chizzit spit out the wad of chewed leaves into his hand. “Take these,” he said. “Put them on all the wounds. They will draw some of the poison out.”

  Aeden started putting the wet globs of vegetable matter on the punctures. Fahtin, breathing more normally, came over to help him. Meanwhile, Tere Chizzit crushed another type of leaves in a small bowl he had taken from his pack and added some kind of root in the mixture. When it had been crushed finely, he poured water from his skin into the bowl to make a muddy brown mixture.

  “Tilt his head up,” he said to them. “I have to get some of this into him.” They lifted Raki’s chin, and the tracker pressed his thumb to the corner of Raki’s mouth, making it open. Aeden pressed his own thumb on the other side of the mouth so Tere could remove his hand and dribble some of the liquid down Raki’s throat while running his fingers down the boy’s neck to make him swallow. Tere soon had tipped all the fluid out, then pressed the remaining pulp to squeeze the last drops into Raki’s throat. Then he turned to the others.

  “It’s bad,” he said. “The barb plant is very poisonous. With so many injections, I don’t think I’ll be able to save him with what I know and the herbs that are available.”

  “Are you saying that he will die?” Aeden asked. The thought of it burned in him. Why did he ever let Raki join them? He knew it would be dangerous.

  “No,” Tere Chizzit said. “I said I cannot save him. There is someone in the forest who can, though. If the boy survives long enough for us to get him there.”

  “Then let’s stop wasting time and take him there,” Fahtin said, wiping a stray lock of hair from Raki’s pale face. He had settled into an uneasy sleep, his breathing labored but steady.

  “Yes,” the tracker said. “We will have to backtrack a bit. Urun is more toward the edge of the forest, south of where we passed before.”

  Aeden knelt and picked Raki up. He was not heavy, though he would become more so with each step.

  “You’ll never be able to carry him that far,” Tere Chizzit said, gently. “Give me a moment.”

  Aeden set Raki down again and followed Tere off into the underbrush. Fahtin sat next to the boy and held his hand. “I’ll keep him company,” she said. “If he is aware of what’s going on, I don’t want him to think we abandoned him.” Aeden nodded and continued on.

  The blind man was already cutting straight, long branches from a nearby tree. He was using some sort of wire or string, pulling it back and forth across the branch and cutting through the wood with remarkable ease. As his flexible saw made it through one branch, he tossed it to Aeden.

  “Strip that of all the twigs and leaves,” the man told him as he started on another branch. Aeden did so, using one of his swords to easily remove the extra foliage.

  It only took them ten minutes to prepare the branches they needed, two long sections and five shorter lengths. Tere Chizzit took some thin, tough cord from his pack and tied the wood together into a ladder shape.

  “Not a ladder,” he said, and Aeden realized he had been thinking aloud. “A litter.”

  They lined the framework with blankets from their packs, and Raki was soon lying in the litter, ready for them to go find the help he needed.

  At first, the two men carried the boy, using the framework they had made as a stretcher. Soon, though, Tere had to roam ahead to find their path and Fahtin took her turn. Despite how light the boy was, even Aeden’s arms were soon exhausted. He nearly lost his grip on the poles several times, almost dumping Raki to the ground. He was sure it was worse for Fahtin. She was strong, but not nearly as strong as him.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Yes. My arms are tired, but I’ll be okay.” As she said it, she stumbled and nearly fell, using the last of her strength to control her end of the stretcher so it didn’t strike the ground too severely.

  After that, they alternated, sometimes carrying Raki and at others dragging the litter across the ground, if the terrain permitted it. It bumped and rocked over the ground as it got caught on bushes and roots, but they continued to move forward. They had to. It was Raki’s life on the line, after all.

  “How much farther?” Fahtin asked Tere as he came back to check on them. It had been more than four hours.

  “We’re not even a quarter of the way there, at my best guess.”

  The girl sighed and slogged on while Aeden dragged the unconscious boy.

  It was just becoming dark when the animaru caught up to them.

  Chapter 35

  Aeden walked alongside the litter as Fahtin dragged it. She had insisted he take a rest and that she take her turn in pulling. He argued, but not too vigorously. He had taken the biggest share of the work during the day to spare her from exhaustion, but he felt as if there was no power left in him at all. He wasn’t sure how long they could ke
ep this up.

  Until they got to the healer, Aeden thought. That’s how long they would keep going. That’s how long they had to keep going.

  There was no warning other than a prickle in the back of Aeden’s mind and a rush of sound. Tere Chizzit could not be heard as he moved around in the thick foliage, and Aeden had become accustomed to the noise he and Fahtin made when dragging the litter, but this sound was different.

  It was so sudden that it surprised him, like a rush of wind or of a wave breaking on the beaches near his home in the highlands. It started suddenly, causing him to whip his head to the side, trying to see what it was that made it.

  A dozen black figures sped from the trees toward him. The animaru had found them, and he wasn’t sure he could withstand their charge.

  “Gealich claidhimh d’araesh sloach!” He drew his swords. His heavy muscles moved so slowly.

  The first three of the creatures stumbled and fell as arrows pierced their eyes. One of them disappeared, but the other two dragged themselves to their feet after they skipped and bounced across the forest floor, one hitting a tree hard in its trajectory. At least Tere Chizzit was there to help, though he couldn’t seem to do permanent damage.

  Fahtin had let the litter down and drawn her knives. She knew it was worthless to throw them, so she stood there, guarding Raki.

  “They’ve come for me,” Aeden said. “If I cannot withstand them, take Raki and get him to the healer.”

  Fahtin didn’t say anything, but the stubborn look on her face told him she would not leave him, even if the monsters overwhelmed him.

  Aeden began to move, slowly at first because of his tired limbs, but then a little more quickly as his muscles loosened up. His swords carved through the first two animaru before they had all surrounded him. He knew he couldn’t win the battle with his swords—it would take his magic—but he was so tired, it was difficult to concentrate.