Soul Magic

by Karen Whiddon

  “Fae.” Reluctance colored his voice. “You say the words so easily, as though such a thing is natural to you, and easily believed.”

  “When I first met her I did not believe either. But, because of our love, my family came to know hers.” Darrick shrugged, for in this he was correct. “I’ve been to Rune – to the land of the Fae. I have seen with my own eyes the magic they can do.”

  Though Geoffrey gave a grave nod, Darrick could read the doubt in his troubled expression.

  “You say she has the ability to do magic?”

  “Yes.”

  Now challenge shone in his eyes. “If she has the use of such a thing, why does she not use it to recapture her child? And to take vengeance on those who took him?”

  How much could Darrick tell him, especially since it seemed plain he did not entirely believe? Still, the fading magic of Rune was commonly known among the pagans, and were he to merely ask any of them, he would be told.

  In as few words as possible, Darrick told him everything. Of the Fae and their magical problems and the ancient legend Alanna had mentioned. A slight widening of Geoffrey’s eyes was his only reaction.

  “I have given you a lot to think about.” Not phrased as a question, nor an order, nevertheless Darrick meant it as such.

  Before Geoffrey could reply, the man sent to ride ahead came galloping back. He rode hard, then slid to a stop directly in front of them. Dust splashed up like water, the grit stinging Darrick’s eyes. His normally implacable war horse shook its massive head and snorted a warning.

  “I think I’ve found them,” Collin said. One of Darrick’s most seasoned warriors, he’d fought for the French as a paid soldier before joining the crusade.

  “They’ve stopped for the night at the next inn, and the place is full. I spoke to the tap maid and she says `tis a group of about twenty. Ten of those are the guard. A woman and a child are already in a room inside the inn.”

  Savage satisfaction flooded Darrick. He thanked Collin and then, unable to help himself, motioned to Alanna to join them. Immediately she came to his side.

  Geoffrey grimaced and kicked his horse forward to avoid her.

  “I have heard.” Eagerness and hope blazed from the bright green of her gaze. “Soon, if the Goddess is willing, I will hold my Caradoc close in my arms.”

  For the briefest instant Darrick envied her child. Then, pushing away such thoughts, he began to devise a plan. This time he was glad Geoffrey kept his distance, for he would never approve. Sometimes it seemed Darrick’s man took his sworn duty to protect him far too seriously.

  Long before they reached the inn, they saw signs of the small group’s passing. As it always is when one draws near a town, peddlers and their carts lined the sides of the roads leading in. Without exception, all of them could not resist sharing their glee. Coin had changed hands often, for the previous entourage had much. They had high hopes Darrick’s small group would do the same.

  Darrick ordered a halt, stopping to barter, though not for sweets, but for information. None of the vendors claimed to have seen the boy or the woman, though all seemed to know of their presence. So finally, having learned little, Darrick and his assembly rode on.

  Before long they reached the inn.

  Outside, the place had the atmosphere of a small fair. Horses and men milled about, and more than a few tents had been pitched in a field nearby.

  Hooded and cloaked, Darrick and Alanna entered the crowded room, with Geoffrey and Sarina close behind. A roaring fire blazed in the hearth, and the scent of ale and roasting meat mingled with the odor of human sweat to fill the smoky air.

  Sarina and Alanna stared at their feet, as Darrick had asked them to keep their heads lowered. He did not want to chance that one of Morfran’s men might be pagan and recognize them for Fae.

  Despite the crowd, the serving girl bustled over, with eyes only for Geoffrey. She sidled up to him, taking his order while batting her eyelashes and smiling coyly.

  Lifting her head, Sarina started forward. Alanna clamped her hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place.

  “I ordered ale.” Geoffrey glanced around. He kept, as was his wont lately, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  “We will separate.” Accepting his ale, Darrick indicated to Sarina that she was to go with Geoffrey. Geoffrey’s narrowed eyes and pinched nostrils were the only sign he gave of his displeasure.

  Darrick ignored this and held out his arm for Alanna. When she resolutely took it, again he felt that spark at her touch.

  While Geoffrey and Sarina roamed the room, Alanna and Darrick slipped around back to the staircase. The sleeping chambers were located upstairs, and they found the air cooler and more breathable once they escaped the crowd.

  The long hall was deserted.

  “He has posted no guards,” Alanna whispered.

  Over-confidence or stupidity?

  “We can’t simply break down doors.” Frustration clear, her hold on his arm tightened.

  “I agree.” Darrick supposed they could knock, but how many angry patrons would they disturb before they found themselves tossed out into the street?

  Just then they heard the unmistakable sound of a child’s giggling.

  “Laughter?” Startled, Darrick spun to face Alanna.

  She held up her hand. “Wait.” Completely still, her attitude was one of watchful readiness. Listening. A pulse pounded in her slender throat.

  The laugh came again. Another voice, feminine, shushed it.

  “There.” Darrick pointed to the door from which he believed the sound had come. Moving as one, they stood before the scarred wood, hoping, praying, the child would laugh or speak or cry one more time. Something. Anything.

  Instead, they heard the sound of small feet, running. A high-pitched giggle. And again that older, feminine voice, trying to silence the child.

  Not his mother. But was the child Caradoc?

  Darrick glanced at Alanna. The tight set of her lips spoke of her determination. He knew if he did not restrain her, she would attempt to crash through the door.

  “Wait.” Gently, he pushed at the door. It swung easily open.

  “Not barred.” She moved forward. Since trying to slow her would be futile, all Darrick could do was go with her.

  Shoulder to shoulder they rushed into the room.

  A woman looked up, startled. She cradled a small, wiggling child in her arms.

  Definitely not his mother. Darrick’s first thought. The woman was not the Lady Rowena.

  Then Alanna let out a low, keening cry and he knew things had gone from bad to worse.

  “That’s not Caradoc.” Eyes anguished, her lower lip trembled. “Nor your mother.”

  Stricken, she held her arms out before her, as though their very emptiness wounded her. “Goddess help me Darrick, that’s not my son.”

  Terrified, the woman bent to shelter the child. “Please don’t hurt us.”

  “We mean no harm.” Darrick kept his voice soothing. “This woman’s child has been stolen.” He indicated Alanna. “We seek another.”

  The woman raised her head, the fear in her eyes receding. The golden-headed child in her lap screeched with laughter, struggling with single-minded purpose to be let down.

  “A little girl.” A beautiful female child. With her yellow ringlets and the brilliant green of her eyes, this small one bore an uncanny resemblance to Alanna.

  “I have no daughter.” Sounding defensive, Alanna spoke so quickly Darrick wondered if she’d read his mind.

  The child’s struggles increased. Still, her mother kept her arms locked firmly around her small middle.

  “We apologize for disturbing you.” Taking hold of Alanna’s arm, Darrick tried to turn her so that they might go. But she evaded his grasp, dropping to her knees in front of the other woman.

  “Your daughter is beautiful. How old is she?”

  The woman stilled, peering at Alanna with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. Even the child ceased her wi
ggling at the rich cadence of Alanna’s voice.

  “Her name is Ellette. And she is not my daughter. She is--”

  “Tree.”

  The child’s chirp made him smile.

  “I tree.”

  “Not yet,” the woman admonished. “You aren’t three yet, small elf.”

  “What did you call her?”

  “`Tis the meaning of her name. Ellette means little elf.”

  Darrick exchanged a glance with Alanna. Though still there, the shadows in her eyes seemed to have lessoned somewhat.

  Again Ellette began to struggle, pushing against her caretaker’s hold. “Let me down.”

  Alanna lifted her arms. “May I?”

  The woman nodded, releasing the small whirlwind, who launched herself at Alanna. Head bent, Alanna cuddled the child. When she raised her head her cheeks were wet with tears.

  The other woman noticed this as well. “Is her son dead?” She directed the question to Darrick.

  “Nay, merely lost. Someone took him, and we but follow a trail.”

  Still holding Ellette, Alanna stood. Miraculously, the two year old remained still, her golden head resting on Alanna’s shoulder. Her eyes drooped closed.

  “Do you travel on Morfran Mortimer’s orders?” The urgency in Alanna’s tone had the other woman widening her eyes.

  “I am a servant in his keep. Or was. Until he bade me play nursemaid to this poor babe.”

  “Where is her mother?”

  “I know not. She was brought to me in the middle of the night, hungry and crying. This was three months ago.”

  Before Caradoc had been taken.

  “Where do you go?” This question Darrick asked, wondering what Morfran planned to do with Ellette, now that he had Caradoc. He would ask Alanna later if her legend mentioned a girl child as well.

  “He sends us to Ambleside. There is an abbey there where I am to leave Ellette.” For a moment the woman’s bewildered face smoothed out. “Then I shall be free to return home to my husband and my own children.”

  “Did you see another woman?” Alanna watched her closely. “Her name is the Lady Rowena, and she is noble of birth.”

  “His prisoner.” Her face contorted, fear glittering once more in her eyes. “I could do nothing to help her. She lives still, if such torment could be called living.”

  Darrick tamped down his rage. His gentle mother did not deserve such ill-treatment, and the sooner he found her and freed her, the more swift would be his revenge.

  “Know you where they travel?”

  She shook her head. Too quickly, he thought.

  “Are you certain?”

  “Aye. One named Gorsedd believed Ellette to be a child of prophecy, or some such nonsense. When he realized she was not, he decided to send her away, to the abbey. This other woman, she was her nursemaid until then. Now, I have heard they sent her with the boy. Where, I do not know.”

  “The boy?” Alanna took a step forward. “Tell me of--”

  “`Tis time to go.” Geoffrey and Sarina appeared in the door. “The men below grow restless. I have heard several speak of retiring for the night.”

  Darrick motioned to Alanna to let go of the child. “We must go. There is nothing for us here.”

  “You would leave this child for Morfran?” Still dozing, the small girl clung to Alanna’s neck. Raising her gaze to meet Darrick’s, Alanna shook her head.

  A chill of premonition skittered down his spine.

  “I am taking her with us.”

  Immediately, Geoffrey sputtered a protest. Darrick silenced him with a gesture, then returned his attention to Alanna.

  “She does not belong to you.”

  “Nor to this woman.” She began to rock her upper body. Ellette smiled in her slumber. Darrick recognized a certain fierce protectiveness, like that of a she-wolf protecting her pup.

  Except this girl child was not her son.

  Frustrated, he looked to Sarina for help. She was another woman. Mayhap she could talk sense into her cousin.

  Instead, Sarina smiled thoughtfully. “She is much like Caradoc,” she said. “Though they are not the same age.”

  “Like Caradoc?” Unclear on her meaning, Darrick glanced at Geoffrey and saw he wore an identical blank expression. “How so?”

  “Of mixed parentage.” Sarina waved her hand from Alanna to Darrick. “There are many like her in your world and ours, for the Fae love freely.”

  Now he understood her to mean Ellette was, like Caradoc, half human and half Fae.

  Shouts came up the stairs. Good-natured laughter. Two men, one large, if the heaviness of his tread was any indication, headed their way.

  “My guards.” The woman’s eyes went round. “They left their posts to go eat, as they did not believe this inn carried any threat. If they catch you here, they’ll kill you.”

  “Let’s go.” Alanna turned, the sleeping child stirring in her arms.

  “What of her?” Darrick indicated Ellette’s nursemaid with a jerk of his thumb. “You cannot take her charge and leave her here alone to face the guards’ anger.”

  “I will leave too.” Decisive now, the woman moved to Alanna’s side. “If you can help me escape them, I’d be grateful. We are less than a day’s ride from my village and I wish to return home to my family.”

  “You do not place them in danger if you do so?”

  “Danger?” The nursemaid frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Think you that Morfran might be displeased that you surrendered the child so easily? Might he not hunt you down, and take vengeance on your family?”

  For a moment, stark terror flashed across her face. “I had not thought of that. But I do think once he realizes you have the girl and are hunting the boy, he will be too busy searching for you to focus on me. If he does, I will take the chance.”

  “`Tis your choice.” Geoffrey moved forward.

  A loud crash came from the stairway. One of the guards had stumbled. Virulent cursing followed, confirming this, then another round of drunken laughter.

  “There is only one way down!” Sarina looked about wildly, left to right. “We’ll have to hide.”

  “In here.” Geoffrey pushed his shoulder against a door. “This room is not in use.”

  They all rushed inside. Once there, Alanna continued to sway back and forth, her rhythmic motions keeping the child lulled and half-asleep. Noticing Darrick watching her, Alanna lifted her cloak, lowering it so Ellette was concealed beneath the thick folds.

  Breathless, they waited, hiding.

  Just in time. A moment later the guards stumbled past, still chortling in drunken merriment. Once they noticed their charge had gone missing, Darrick expected they’d sober up rather quickly.

  “Come on.” He barreled down the stairs, herding Alanna and the girl child before him. They didn’t slow once they reached the great room, pushing through the thick crowd until the chilly night hit their faces like a slap.

  Darrick looked back once, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. If the guards upstairs had raised an alert, he could not hear it over the din from the crowded room.

  The rest of his party waited, exactly as he had instructed, with horses ready. Darrick swung the nursemaid up behind him. Accustomed to full armor, his war horse was used to the weight.

  Though clouds obscured the three-quarter moon and the path ahead looked dark, they rode forward. Torchless and hoping for a miracle. Urging their mounts into a gallop, they rode as if the hounds of hell pursued them, though as yet none sounded an alarm.

  “They do not follow.” Geoffrey cast one more glance over his shoulder. “I don’t understand.”

  “Too drunk.” That could be the only reason. Knowing Morfran, if he’d entrusted these men to guard Ellette and they failed, he’d have their heads. “Once they sober up, I have no doubt they’ll come after us.”

  Though she lowered her hood to let her golden hair stream free behind her, Alanna kept little Ellette hidden beneath her cloak.<
br />
  Darrick knew they were lucky none of the horses stumbled or stepped into a hole.

  Finally he slowed his horse to a walk. The others followed suit.

  “Still no one follows.” Geoffrey rode beside Darrick, keeping his gaze carefully averted from Alanna and Sarina.

  “We are safe until the dawn.”

  “What do you plan to do with the child?”

  The woman who rode behind Darrick spoke. “I can take her with me, if you wish. I have other children and my home grows near.”

  “No.” Still cradling her bundle, Alanna did not even turn. “Ellette comes with me.”

  “Surely you don’t expect to bring that child along?” Geoffrey’s tone resonated with his skepticism. “This hunt for Gorsedd and your son will be dangerous.”

  “I can protect her.”

  “But--”

  “If Alanna wants to keep Ellette, she may. None has laid claim to the child.” Darrick gave Geoffrey a wry smile, trying to take the sting from his words.

  Geoffrey stared at him as if he was a stranger.

  He wanted to save him, Darrick realized. Despite Darrick’s earlier candor, Geoffrey truly believed he had been bewitched.

  “My village is a short way down this path,” the nursemaid said. “But remember too that Morfran’s men will pursue us when they have slept off the effects of the drink.”

  “The first place they will look is this village. We do not need to go there.” Geoffrey’s tone was sharp.

  Glad the shadowy moonlight hid his expression, Darrick sighed. “We must seek word. Mayhap some there will have seen them and can help us.”

  “Help us? With what?”

  “We don’t know where the other riders went.”

  For the first time in Darrick’s memory, Geoffrey challenged him. “They went west. All that lies that way is Whitehaven, or St. Bees Head.”

  “And the sea,” Darrick reminded him. “Always the sea.”

  Both Geoffrey and Alanna stared at him. Long had his greatest weakness been known, his fear of the ocean bandied about among the men even as he’d forced himself to cross it in his quest for war.