Before either of them could say more there was a rustling in the brush beyond the wall and they looked over to see Ciaran in his horse form emerging. Allie smiled widely at her friend. “Hi Ciaran, I was just coming out to look for you.”
“Yes,” the kelpie said. “I heard you and came to see what was going on.”
“Nothing dire,” Allie said, Jess silent and watchful at her back. “But a mage who works for the police department is coming out here in a little bit to look around the house and the yard to see if he can find any traces of this strange magic. I wanted to tell you, so you’d know what was going on, before he got here.”
“Ahh,” Ciaran said thoughtfully. “It is kind of you to think to let me know of such things.”
He gave Jess an equine side eye when he said it and she could feel the elf tensing behind her, but she wasn’t sure what that comment was supposed to mean. Then again, the lesser Fey generally were not fans of either the elves in general or the Elven Guard in specific, so it could simply be Ciaran’s dislike for both slipping through. Or maybe there’s more going on than I know about Allie thought trying not to frown. Bleidd and Jess have both been on edge and I wouldn’t put it past either of them to have been a bit high handed with Ciaran, which would surely annoy him. Deciding some damage control was in order Allie said, “Of course Ciar. I always try to keep you in the loop with anything magical going on around here. And you know how much I appreciate what you’ve been doing to keep an eye on everything.”
The horse arched his neck, preening slightly under the praise. She could feel Jess’s frown burning into her back and his displeasure at Allie’s comment seemed to mollify Ciaran even more. “Things have seemed quiet of late but if there is any lingering magic here I hope your mage can find it.”
“So do I,” Allie said earnestly.
“You have long been my friend Allie, and I will do what I can to help guard your home. But I fear in this situation unless whoever is behind the baneful magic comes here and physically attacks someone I will not be able to do much.”
“Honestly Ciaran, just knowing you are out here and have my back makes me sleep better,” Allie said.
Ciaran bowed his head, acknowledging her words silently, although she could feel his pleasure at what she’d said. With a final look at Jess Ciaran turned and disappeared. Good she thought, hopefully that will counteract whatever obnoxious attitude he’s been getting from Jess and Bleidd. It’s a good thing I love them both, or I’d be a lot more annoyed about this, but I can’t have them upsetting Ciaran just because they have this delusion that elves are better than any other kind of Fey.
She turned back to Jess who was looking thoughtful. He said, “I was worried about you when I saw your car but you hadn’t come into the house.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were watching for me. I got home and saw that Hannah had left already and then I realized I’d never told Ciaran about Sam coming over…anyway I didn’t mean to worry anyone.”
He took her hand, twining his fingers through hers as they walked back to the house. “Perhaps it is foolish of me to worry Allie. But I missed you for so long while I was gone and since I have been back it has been so hectic. I cannot help but worry for you.”
“I missed you too Jess,” she said, squeezing his hand. “But you’re back now and things seem better. More settled. We’ll get to the bottom of this hexing and then we can relax.”
He sighed as they reached the house and walked up to the back door. “I wish you would relax more now and let us worry about dealing with the hexing.”
He held the door open and she walked through into the kitchen. “I know you do, but I can’t just sit by and let you take care of everything. It’s my life too and my house. I have to help.”
“It isn’t just your life any more is it Allie?” Bleidd said from his seat at the kitchen table.
She frowned, not sure what he meant by that or how much of the conversation he’d overheard. “I know we’re all together now and I do trust you, both of you, to take care of things-“
“That isn’t what I’m talking about,” he said, and the very gentleness of his tone made her uneasy. “I mean that you need to remember that your health, your well being, isn’t just about you anymore. You want me to be more invested in this, in…our…child then you need to meet me half way. You can’t rush headlong into danger and push yourself to your limits, not now.”
She looked down, struggling to keep from making a face, feeling Jess’s agreement like a wall at her back. “I know that. I mean I’m aware of it, and I’m not trying to push myself too hard, but you can’t seriously expect me to just sit down on the sidelines and not do anything.”
“Whether you mean to or not, my heart,” Jess said. “You do push yourself. We’re only concerned that you don’t push too hard. If we were in a Fairy Holding-“
“I know,” she said, holding up a hand to cut him off. “I know. If we were in a Holding everyone would be coddling me and I’d be sitting with my feet up somewhere going slowly crazy with everyone doing everything for me.”
Bleidd laughed out loud at that. “Most women enjoy the attention. And the, ah, ‘coddling’ as you call it.”
“Well not this woman,” Allie said. “I mean sure a little bit is nice once in a while but too much is just smothering.”
“Is that how we make you feel?” Jess said, hugging her from behind.
She tried not to reflect on the irony of his words and action. She said. “Not exactly. But it makes me feel incompetent when other people have to do things for me.”
Bleidd sighed but before he could frame a response there was a knock on the door. Allie stepped away from Jess, towards the front of the house. “That must be Sam. I’ll let him in.”
She moved down the hall and opened the door to find Sam standing casually, dressed all in black with his cane carried in one hand. The cane was an affectation of course, he didn’t need it to walk but used it as a tool of his magery. Glancing behind him she could see his hearse parked on the street and was glad they didn’t have any close neighbors – and that Hannah wasn’t there. She could ease into the craziness of the household slowly. Sam grinned widely. “Good afternoon – or is it evening? – Allie, always nice to see you, even under these circumstances.”
“Hi Sam,” Allie said, gesturing for him to come in. “Thank you for coming out.”
“No problem,” Sam said following her back to the kitchen. He took in the house with obvious interest, the ruby eyes of his dragon headed cane flashing as he swung it with each step. “I’ve been really curious about this place since I met you.”
Allie nearly took the bait and asked why, before remembering who she was talking to. Instead she made a noncommittal noise. At that point they’d reached the kitchen where Jess and Bleidd were standing, waiting. Bleidd looked politely disinterested but Jess was already radiating annoyance. Allie ignored his attitude and focused on politeness. “Sam, I’m sure you remember Jessilaen. And this is Bleidd. Bleidd this is the police mage, Sam Kensington. Miss Amelia is his great-aunt.”
“Hello commander,” Sam said cheerful, waving at Jess. Then to Bleidd, “Nice to meet you. Actually nice to meet any elf who has a short, pronounceable name. I like you already. I take it from the introduction you know my great-aunt, so my condolences for that and I hope you don’t judge me too harshly for an accident of familial descent that I had no say in. Oh and call me Sam by the way. I hate formality.”
Allie had to fight hard not to giggle as Bleidd blinked a few times, unable to form a response to this greeting. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him speechless before. Finally with a quizzical look in her direction he nodded at Sam who was standing, swinging his cane, as if he was willing to wait all day for someone to say something. “I know your great aunt yes. And don’t worry, as a rule I try to judge each person by their own merits.”
“Excellent!” Sam enthused. “Quite a good philosophy to live by
, I think. So, pleasantries checked off the list, down to business. The lovely Allie tells me that there’s been some nasty hexing afoot. Let’s see what I can do about that shall we?”
“We’ve been doing fine ourselves,” Jess said, obviously piqued by the implication in Sam’s comment.
“Perhaps,” Sam said, pursing his lips, “But in my experience with the sort of human that resorts to hexing when the hexing doesn’t accomplish what they want they move on to cursing. And under the circumstances – congratulations on the unexpected conception by the way, who’s the lucky father? Right, right not important now, anyway, under the circumstances the last thing you folk – or should I say Folk? – need is for this to go from merely annoying hexes to truly dangerous cursing.”
Both elves looked at Allie, and Bleidd spoke into her mind, his mental voice bemused, “Is he serious?”
“I can never entirely tell.” She replied in the same way. Jess gritted his teeth, clearly struggling to tolerate Sam for Allie’s sake. She cleared her throat deciding distraction was probably a good idea before Sam pushed Jess too far. “Right, well, with that in mind. Where do you want to start?”
“Hmmmm. Nothing else has happened since we spoke?”
“Nothing so far.”
“Alright then,” he said tapping his cane on the floor. “Why don’t you show me where the fire was in the house and then give me the tour of the grounds and we can go over some options for trying to catch this bastard before things escalate.”
Bleidd nodded and gestured for Sam to follow him as he headed towards the small library room, Jess and Allie trailing behind. As she started walking Allie was suddenly overcome by an odd sensation that made her hesitate.
“Wait, something’s wrong,” Allie said, as a wave of vertigo overcame her.
“What is it?” Jess asked, worry turning to fear as Allie stopped walking with them and staggered slightly, grabbing the wall for support. Sam and Bleidd both turned back as well, mirroring Jess’s concern.
Allie doubled over, her face contorting as the strange feeling resolved into a spear of dark energy, which was trying to force its way through her chest. She could feel her connection to Bleidd and Jess weakening, even as she went to her knees, unable to draw a breath. Sam was next to her, his magic wrapping around her, trying to shield out the foreign magic but there was no way to block what was already there. Dimly she was aware of Bleidd and Jess, both panicking as they also felt the effects of the foreign spell. The strange magic was working to block the bond that joined them and it was getting more and more difficult to feel them. In absolute desperation Allie used her own ability and grabbed the dark energy, flinging it away from herself with as much strength as she could muster. But in the same instant that she drew a full breath and felt the tightness in her chest easing she watched in horror as the strange spell, tangled in the energy of the three-way bond, ricocheted off of Bleidd’s shields and into Jess who was neither a witch nor mage. Her head snapped up, oblivious to Sam who was asking her if she was alright, and she watched Jess’s eyes roll back into his head as he collapsed.
She gasped and tried to struggle to her feet only to have Bleidd and Sam both push her back down before they turned to help Jess. They knelt next to his still form, each trying in their own way to save him. Sam was keeping up a steady stream of swearing between his verbal spells and neither seemed to make any difference. Bleidd was grim and silent, his hands tracing rune after rune over Jess’s motionless chest with no visible effect. Allie felt a surge of despair. What have I done? She thought, covering her mouth with her hand. She extended her own magic, trying to pull the energetic spear back into herself. Bleidd shoved her feeble efforts away, making her gasp as the energy grounded suddenly and then he gave up on formal spells entirely and through sheer will and somehow using the bond itself, which Allie hadn’t even known was possible, he managed to wrestle the other spell away and cast it back at the sender.
She felt the curse go like a physical presence leaving the room, and in unison she and Jess both took a deep shuddering breath. She crawled the short distance to where he lay, “Jess!”
“He’s alive Allie,” Bleidd said, sounding exhausted, “But he’s in shock.”
“Will he be alright?” she asked, crying and not caring for once that it made her look weak. She lay her head on Jess’s chest, needing the reassurance of the sound of his heartbeat.
“It’s backlash shock, from the spell rebounding,” Bleidd said carefully. “He should recover but I am no expert – we must call Brynneth, and Zarethyn as well.”
“Is that what happened?” Sam asked, his voice as shell shocked as Allie felt.
“Indeed,” Bleidd said grimly. “Whoever has been working against us tried cursing Allie directly this time and when she managed to turn the spell it struck Jess instead.”
“I saw her being cursed – nasty business, but I’ve never seen a curse have an effect like that before,” Sam said, his normal flippant attitude gone. “Come to that I’ve never seen a curse rebound and take someone down like that, but I’ve never seen elves being hexed or cursed with human magic either.”
Bleidd’s eyes met Allie’s and she swallowed hard, knowing that what had happened had nothing to do with elven magic and everything to do with her true nature. She tried to push back the rest of the tears and forced herself to speak, “I’ll call Brynneth-“
“No,” Bleidd cut her off, as Sam watched the exchange silently. “I’ll call. Sam, I’m sure you want to try to trace the magic. I will join you, but I need to move Jessilaen off the floor first.”
“But Bleidd, I could-“ Allie started, only to be cut off again.
“No, I will handle it,” he said, and then in her mind added, “Allie you were attacked as well and Brynneth should make sure you were not hurt either. We don’t any of us really understand what happened or what effects it may have had. Stay with Jess and rest. Let me handle this, please.”
She closed her eyes, listening to Jess’s heart beat slow and steady under her ear. “Alright. Let’s move him into the den onto the couch. I can sit with him.”
She could feel Bleidd relaxing slightly, even though she couldn’t see him nodding.
*******************************
Bleidd had mixed feelings about the Elven Guard captain, even now, but he was also not foolish enough to forget that Zarethyn had to be treated with respect. At least he did if Bleidd didn’t want to be Outcast a second time. Even Allie’s human mage friend was silent in the face of the Captain’s anger, although Bleidd reflected that might also be because the current conversation was in Elvish and Sam couldn’t understand a word of it. Or maybe it was that the captain was in full uniform with his sword strapped to his side and as he paced the hilt kept catching the light and flashing, an obvious reminder that Zarethyn was taking the situation very seriously. Whatever the case Sam had the sense to stand as far from Zarethyn as he could get and try to remain unnoticed; Bleidd envied him.
“Why were we not informed of these events earlier?” the Guard captain snapped, looking past Bleidd and through the doorway into the adjoining room where Brynneth was examining his brother and Allie.
Bleidd kept his voice calm as he replied, “Jess felt that since the perpetrator was human the Elven Guard had no jurisdiction in the case. I deferred, of course, to his judgment in the matter.”
“Are you certain that a human is behind this?”
“Every indication points in that direction and I have never seen any elven or fey magic that is anything like this,” Bleidd answered. He tried not to fidget hoping that Brynneth would be done soon. It had been a long time indeed since he’d had to play the game of kissing the ass of an authority figure in elven culture and he was reminded of how very much he hated it. If there had been one thing about being Outcast that he’d embraced above any other it had been the almost endless personal freedom that had allowed him, for the first time, to truly live his own life as an individual.
“Still,”
Zarethyn said unhappily. “A report should have been filed with the Elven Guard, if citizens of the Queen’s realm or members of the Guard are being attacked we would investigate it.”
“Of course,” Bleidd agreed, fighting to keep his temper and wishing that Allie was here to soothe the captain’s mood. “But I am neither a citizen of the Queen’s realm nor a member of her Guard, and Allie chose to go to the human police.”
That comment clearly irked the Guard captain and Bleidd repressed a wince. Zarethyn said, “Even so Jessilaen is both and he should have known to report actions against himself to me.”
Bleidd took a deep breath, “Up until this incident nothing had been done against him, or which directly affected him. We had no reason to think that would change, as the main targets seemed to be myself and Allie.”
Zarethyn opened his mouth to reply, frowning, but Bleidd was saved from having to hear it as Brynneth finally emerged from the den. Both elves turned in unison towards the healer, who sighed and held up a hand to stave off questions.
“Jessilaen is resting, and should try to rest for the next few days at least,” Brynneth said. “I don’t believe any permanent damage was done, but the backlash hit him very hard. If the spell had not been deflected when it was it may have killed him.”
“As bad as that?” Zarethyn said, blanching. “I have never seen a non-mage hit with backlash that severe from a spell.”
“These are exceptional circumstances,” the healer said. “When the spell aimed at Aliaine was deflected I believe it followed the path of the link that joins them, but where she has personal shields and the protections that her skill as a witch provides – as Bleidd has from his magery – Jessilaen’s natural shields were not enough to protect him from this. It is somewhat like a new mage with little training experiencing the backlash of a major spell. He will be very weak and dizzy until his own energy rebalances itself.”
“This is because of the bond he shares with Aliaine?” Zarethyn asked, and Bleidd did not like his tone at all.
Heart of Thorns: a Between the Worlds novel Page 23
