by Lisa Morrow
I wasn’t sure if I should lie. As far as the world believed, it was rare if not impossible for anyone to have more than minor magic, at such a young age, unless trained by The Protectors. How would I explain that I’d fallen from the bridge but not died? They would have questions. Questions that I couldn’t answer. I could show them my necklace, but even I didn’t entirely understand how it worked.
“I ran. Escaped.” I swallowed several times, trying to get the words around the sensation of sand lining my throat. “But one of them shattered the bridge, and I fell down into this valley.”
He pulled me closer. “You fell from the bridge?”
“I saw her where she’d fallen,” Asher added, watching the exchange between Targanus and myself with a frown.
The giant took this new information in slowly. And while he stood, brows drawn in thought, I could sense the gazes of the various villagers who had somehow come to gather around us without me noticing. They regarded me with a strange mixture of suspicion and wonder, as if I was a creature they’d never seen before.
But they were also strange to me. I’d never seen such an odd mix of different kinds of people in one place before. Some were blonde, as most of the people in Tarak were, but there were also people with red, brown, and even black hair. Some were shockingly tall, while others were short, like most of the people in my village. How had so many people different people come together in one place?
“They must have wanted you alive for some reason,” Targanus said, releasing my arms and rubbing his chin. “But, let’s hope we never find out why.” He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and looked out towards the villagers. “We’ll hide her in The Safe-Haven, and hope they’re not fool enough to come looking for her here.”
His constant touching bothered me, but I tried not to react, just in case it insulted him. Even so, his arm around my shoulders felt strangely possessive. And I knew, had my father been there, he’d have thrown it off. My father barely noticed my existence, but would’ve reacted to this man, who sorely lacked proper boundaries.
“I found her,” Asher said, standing up straighter. “I’ll guard her there.”
I swallowed hard, trying to form words to tell the men what I wanted, but even swallowing hurt. Tentatively, I touched my throat. My fingers came up damp, and I stared down at the blood coating them. Goddesses’ breath. The giant had opened the wounds at my throat with his grip.
Targanus laughed, drawing my attention. “You’re but a boy. A woman of such value deserves a protector like myself.”
Asher reached for the sword at his belt. “The goddesses delivered her to me.” He took a step towards us. “And besides, you’re the chief. Shouldn’t you prepare the others in case of attack? Shouldn’t you be here to protect your wives?”
I barely had time to react to the strangeness of a place that allowed multiple wives for one man, because a more important scene unfolded. Their eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. A warning rung in my head that the two were challenging one another, and I looked to the villagers for help. Most were men, and most were grinning. But one woman, with muddled-brown hair and dark circles beneath her eyes chewed her bottom lip as she gripped the edge of her cloak.
“I’d prefer Asher’s protection,” I rasped, even as Targanus tightened his grip around my shoulders. “I believe the goddesses delivered me into his hands for a purpose.”
The brown-haired woman relaxed noticeably, and took a step towards us. “The girl has spoken, and there isn’t time to waste. If they kept her alive, they’re sure to come searching for her.”
Targanus chuckled and pushed me towards Asher, who caught me before I fell. “Fine, the boy shall protect her.” He smiled at Asher. “But, if he should fail to keep such a pretty thing safe, I will.”
My spine stiffened, and I leaned closer to Asher. Only a few men had looked at me the way Targanus did, and I was even gladder I’d sided with the younger man.
“Let’s go,” Asher said, pulling me along, his movements quick, but stiff.
As we walked, his comforting hand lingered at the small of my back. I felt small, yet safe, beside him. The similarities and differences between the two men was hard to ignore. Asher was nearly as tall as the giant man, taller than I’d first observed, but less than half his bulk. And his touch… made tiny sparks go off inside me.
“Asher!” I turned to see the brown-haired woman scurry towards us. “Take these with you,” she said.
He dropped his hand from my back and took the large bundle of cloths into his arms.
“And be careful, I won’t sleep well until you return home to me,” she murmured, standing on her tiptoes to drop a tender kiss on his cheek before scurrying away.
He blushed and turned his back, continuing to walk to some unseen destination, past the many houses. I followed slower, looking back at the brown-haired woman as she disappeared inside a small, thatched-roofed house. She was a little older than him, but enviously petite, and lovely in a simple way. He hadn’t mentioned another sister. Could the woman be his wife?
Perhaps that’s why he reacted so strangely after our kiss.
Annoyance flashed through me. Any proper man would’ve mentioned a wife when meeting a young woman. And certainly before kissing her.
Asher cleared his throat. “Here we are.”
We’d stopped at the edge of the houses, near a patch of stunted trees.
“Where are we exactly?” I questioned, frowning at the ground.
He moved closer to me, but I avoided his gaze. “Take this and I’ll show you.”
Asher pressed the bundle into my arms, lingering a moment longer than necessary before stepping away once more. I struggled with the urge to drop the woman’s gift onto the ground, but instead, studied him as he knelt. His fingers dug into the snow. A soft “twang” sounded, and he pulled open a hatch of sorts, opening into darkness. He said nothing, but swung his legs down into the opening, and pushed off of the earth, dropping from sight.
I ran to where he’d been standing only a moment before, dropping the bundle in the snow as I stared into the hole. My heart thumped in my chest, as I squinted, searching for any sign of him.
“Drop the bundle down here,” he called to me from the darkness.
I obeyed.
“Now you.”
There were few things I hated more than dark places underground, but Asher was waiting for me. And it wasn’t like I was going to be alone…
“I need to go down there?” I asked, drawing out my time in the sunlight.
“Yes. You still want a hiding place, right?” Laughter tinged his voice.
Swallowing, I took a deep breath, and dropped down.
I imagined a number of things when I fell, but I didn’t expect the warm arms that caught me.
I clung to him. The smell of wood and earth filled my nostrils, seeming to rise up from his hard flesh. I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but an unexpected feeling of belonging flowed through me. My hands relaxed against his shoulders.
A warning bell rang in my head. I was in the dark with a stranger, and yet, instead of being afraid, I wanted this moment to last forever. In the real world, I was being hunted by women who wanted me captured or dead. And rather than running further from them, I was going to rest just long enough to return to them, to rescue Sirena. There was a good chance this moment might be the best one I had for a very long time.
Asher lowered me inch by inch until my feet touched the earth. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked, his voice so hoarse that I trembled at the sound of it.
“No,” I stammered, my palms sliding a little further down his chest even as I willed my hands into fists. “Not so bad.”
His breath was warm on my lips.
Tingles spread through my body.
His lips lowered, until they were inches from my own. His chest trembled beneath my touch. Then, I remembered the brown-haired woman from his village, and pulled away.
It must have been his s
tartling good looks, I told myself, that made me act so out of character. Each moment I spent with him, even in the darkness, I found myself wanting to know more about him. To feel his strength beneath my hands again, and perhaps even to learn his weaknesses.
But this was not to be. He was handsome beyond words, and if the woman wasn’t his wife or lover, then he likely had some other woman in the village. Besides, no man wanted a woman who was as tall and strong as a man.
I ran my fingertips along the thick calluses on my hands. No, I was not the kind of woman men feel in love with, especially not men like Asher. So I’d seal away such treacherous feelings and concentrate on what was important.
“What is this place?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
A moment later, a torch flared to life in Asher’s hand. He circled the room, lighting multiple torches as he went. When at last he finished, the room was bathed in light.
Room, perhaps, was a strong word. It was simply a giant hole, with large, wooden boxes filling half the space, and multiple pallets lying on the floor. Two strong, wooden pillars prevented the dirt roof from crushing us.
“We got tired of the witches stealing our women, so we dug out this space.” He strode across the room, brushing past me to where some groves had been carved into the wall. Using these, he climbed up to our entrance and closed it, sealing us in our dirt home. “It took us a long time, but we finally finished it. You’ll be the first one to use it though.”
“Are you sure they won’t find me here?”
He jumped down. “We aren’t sure how their magic works, but we hope this will be enough.”
Asher was too close to me, so I maneuvered around him to touch the groves on the wall. “Why didn’t we just use these to climb down?”
“It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.”
I blushed, remembering his arms around me. “Is Targanus in charge here?” I asked, searching for a reprieve from my thoughts.
“Yes,” he answered, kneeling down and unwrapping the bundle from the woman who’d kissed him. “He’s not so bad. Only, I knew he’d be a problem when we came here. He has a weakness for beautiful women.” Asher mumbled the last part, and I was glad he didn’t see my blush darken.
He thought I was beautiful? No one thought I was beautiful. Men wanted petite women, with blonde hair, and skin as pale as cotton. Wives with permanent smiles on their faces, and laughter like music.
The very opposite of me.
“So, why’d we come here?” I asked, struggling for something to say.
The cloth came apart, revealing meats, cheeses, bread, and pouches of liquid. “Because, this was our only shot at keeping you safe.” He spread the cloth out on the dirt, and reached for my hand. “Besides, I wouldn’t have let him have you.”
I ignored his hand, but sat down beside him, flinching as I adjusted myself more carefully on the ground.
“Where does it hurt?” he asked, frowning and handing me a pouch.
I opened it slowly, taking deep breaths. As my adrenaline faded, pain grew. “It doesn’t.”
“I don’t believe you.”
I shrugged, lifting the liquid to my mouth and taking a deep swallow. Fire blazed down my throat, and I coughed. “What—what is this?”
He scooted closer to me and pulled the pouch to his nose. “Ah, she’s so clever. This is to ease your pain.”
I wiped the vile stuff from my lips. “How did your wife know I was hurt?”
“Wife?” he gasped with an edge of disgust. “Brenna isn’t my wife, she’s my mother.” He shook his head, his handsome face filled with shock. “I’m not married. She’s just… just young.”
I laughed. I wasn’t sure if it was with relief that he was unmarried or the soothing feeling washing over me from the medicine, but I was nearly giddy. “Thank goodness.”
He raised a brow. “You’re thankful I’m not married.”
Goddesses’ tooth. I was blushing again.
“No,” I struggled for an answer. “I’m thankful your mother had the sense to send this for me.”
“Brenna is the village medicine woman,” he explained, watching me closely. “She likely knew you were in pain the first time she laid eyes on you.”
I shifted beneath his gaze. “I’m thankful she’d show such kindness to a stranger.”
He picked up one of the smaller pieces of cheese and broke it in half, handing one to me. “She’s kind to everyone.” He bit into his food and chewed slowly. “You likely remind her of my sister though.” I must’ve looked startled, because he added. “She didn’t look like you, but she was also taken by the witches.”
For the first time I realized something, these people referred to The Protectors as witches. It was a disrespectful term for them, at best, but it made me wonder if they had actual witches in their village.
“Why do you call The Protectors witches?”
He frowned. “Because they are witches, just like there were wizards. They want to distance themselves from the name, so people will forget that magical people aren’t all good. But we haven’t forgotten.”
His words held a ring of truth. “Do a lot of people in Tarak call them that?”
It took him a long time to answer. “I sometimes go with the traders to different cities. Most people worship them, think they can do no wrong. But every city has a group of smart people who know those women are just as dangerous as the wizards were, they’re just better at hiding it.”
I seriously doubted it. I’d never heard of The Protectors wiping out whole towns, of killing and controlling people through Blood Magic, but I didn’t say that. There was, however, the fact that one of them had tried to kill me, and planned to kill several of us.
My head ached. The Protectors were certainly not the good guys, as I’d always thought. But they weren’t wizards.
“Haven’t you ever left your town?” he asked, his expression genuinely curious.
“Not much.” I admitted, reluctantly. “My father and I went on a pilgrimage to visit different shrines when I was ten…”
Suddenly, the memories of those weeks came back to me. My father had dragged me along, but showed very little interest in the shrines themselves. Instead, he’d spent most of the time meeting with strange people and going out after dark without me. Could he have been trying to find my mother even then?
“So you visited a few places?” he questioned, bringing me back to our topic.
Embarrassed, I told myself to focus. “Just the two closest major cities to us, which aren’t all that close, and a few small towns.” I hesitated. “But I never met anyone who had something bad to say about The Protectors.”
“Well, our town hates them a little more than most. Here in the valley, magic pools in a strange way. We have a lot more girls with powers than any other city. The magic rarely skips a generation, so they’re always taking our women.”
I had more questions, but the energy to ask them faded. All I wanted to do in that moment was eat. My questions could remain unanswered for a little longer. So I ate in silence, feeling my questions slip away in the face of a strange exhaustion that left no room for thought.
After my hunger was sated, I caught Asher watching me.
“What?” I asked, not sure if I could handle anything more.
To my shock, he reached out and touched my cheek.
My breath caught in my chest, and I leaned into his warm fingers.
He brushed his lips against mine.
Sparks shot from where our lips met, bringing warmth and comfort.
Our kiss deepened. The world faded away. It was only us. One heartbeat. One body.
He drew back and after a moment asked, “was that magic?”
My voice came out a whisper. “I don’t know.”
I’d now had a total of two kisses in my life, so I was hardly an expert, but this felt just different, in an unexplainable way.
Reaching out, he entwined his fingers with mine. “I’ve never felt this way
before.”
“What way?” I asked, fearing his answer.
He frowned, hesitation marred his features. “Like…”
I held my breath.
He released my hand and raked his fingers through his golden hair. “Never mind. A girl like you…”
My heart squeezed. He didn’t need to finish his words. I knew what he wanted to say. A girl like me was too much trouble and definitely too ugly to be anything real to him.
“Forget it,” I snapped.
Hurt flashed across his face, then he dropped his head.
The aching in my heart grew more painful. If only he wasn’t so beautiful. The firelight caressed the strong lines of his jaw and danced along the stunning network of scars on his neck.
He pointed to one of the pallets, without looking up. “Go lay down, you look exhausted.”
Normally, I would’ve argued. But the truth was that I was exhausted. With my belly full and the medicine washing through me, I wanted nothing more than to sleep.
Standing up, I stumbled.
Asher was there in an instant, grasping my elbow, and guiding me to my pallet. He pulled back the blankets and laid me down. With extreme care, he covered me with the blankets and brushed back the hair that had fallen over my eyes.
“Rest well. I’ll be watching over you.”
I wanted to thank him, but he turned his back to me and moved away.
Closing my eyes, I feigned sleep. In that moment, I wanted to rest, but another unexpected need filled me, a need to talk to him, to touch him. My being craved him, leaving a feeling akin to an empty stomach, only it was my heart that felt hollow.
But it was foolish to feel so connected to someone so fast.
Besides, I would only stay in his village for another day or two. Just long enough to regain my strength, and perhaps, get some supplies from the locals. If I could figure out how to use the portal in town, I wouldn’t need more. Otherwise, it might be a very long journey back to The Glass Castle.
Once there… I didn’t even want to think about what it would take to free Sirena. All I had was the Goddess of Fire’s name, and maybe the Goddess of Protection’s name, if I could remember how to use it. I just had to fight an unknown number of Protectors living in The Glass Castle, Blair and her strange magic, and Clarissa and her savage powers.
