Scarlet Tempest, #1

by Juniper King

  “I know you often have women inexplicably falling all over themselves to be in your company,” the deydre began, “but it looks to me like this girl is being taken against her will.” The deydre didn’t seem overly concerned about it, however, his tone sounding more reminiscent of someone commenting on the weather.

  “I don’t believe my personal life is of any concern to you, deydre, especially where females are concerned. Though I must admit I find myself perplexed you would even take notice of such an insignificant human.”

  I couldn’t see the deydre’s eyes, but even in the darkness the weight of them bearing down on me was tangible. “True, I couldn’t give two shits about humans on a good day.” He pulled away from the tree, somehow making even a conventional movement such as that look menacing. “But she’s no human, is she, Ilane?” Ilane stiffened. “Give her to me and you can go.”

  “She’s mine, deydre, I found her first,” Ilane snarled, all pretense of cordialness gone.

  The urge to speak out for myself was palpable, being coveted and passed around like some object was nauseating. But I forced myself to bite my tongue and stay quiet against my basic instincts. The last thing I wanted was to attract any more of these Supers’ attention.

  “Actually, you didn’t. Now, I repeat; give her to me and you can go. If you make me repeat myself again, there’s going to be trouble.”

  The world righted itself with dizzying speed as Farras slid me off his shoulder and set me on the ground with a squishy thump, my knees buckling under me like a chair with a broken leg. He marched towards the deydre with the same air of superiority that mercs often emanated when they threw their weight around. The deydre looked nonplussed as he slid something long and metallic from his side, the tiniest fragment of moonlight glinting off the surface.

  Holy shit, is that a sword? I have to get out of here.

  The last time I’d tried to run it hadn’t worked out well. In spite of the fact that Ilane’s attention was focused on the other two Supers, he glanced sideways at me, daring me to try. I stood there in the dark and rain dampened field on wobbly legs, feeling ready to pass out, the sense of impending doom grabbing my heart and squeezing tight.

  Farras clenched his fist and surged forward towards the deydre who was able to easily sidestep the attack. In the darkness the two appeared as sinister shadows dancing through the night. The deydre seemed to be the nimbler fighter, though I was hardly one to judge. I’d never seen a fight in my entire life, except for the occasional drunken brawl.

  Farras had power, but not enough speed or dexterity to keep up with the likes of a deydre. With every swing of his beefy fist, the deydre would dodge and strike out with his sword, seemingly toying with him, never trying to land a finishing blow.

  My chest was ready to burst under the assault of my beating heart. In my panic, I decided to make a run for it

  Before I got three steps, Ilane snagged the hood of my poncho. My legs slipped out from under me, and I whipped around while flailing for balance. My clenched fist instinctively came around with me and I decked Ilane square in the jaw with enough force to toss his head to the side. He snarled and backhanded me in retaliation, throwing my head so hard I screamed and fell to the ground.

  On my back in the mud, Ilane’s foot came down on my throat. His eyes were manic, a thin trail of blood leaking from his split lip.

  “I’ll enjoy teaching you to respect your betters, you miserable half-blood.”

  A gurgling sound escaped my mouth.

  I heard someone cry out and tried to turn my head enough to see what was happening. I saw a glint of light as the sword flipped through the air, separated from its wielder. It landed in the mud with a splat only a few feet from Ilane and I. The deydre snarled, adjusting his stance so he could fight unarmed.

  With me still pinned under his boot, Ilane’s focus shifted to the other two Supers, a smile blossoming on his lips at the turn the fight had taken.

  I felt a pang of fear for the deydre. He was more frightening by reputation and presence, but Ilane was the more sinister of the two, by far. I knew it all the way down to my bones.

  It was then that I made my choice. I just hoped it was the right one.

  I had never tried to use my magic in self-defense before, but I concentrated, fighting through the fear and calming my mind enough to focus on Ilane’s leg. Feeling the familiar tug of magic on the walls of my mind, I threw Ilane’s foot to the side and off my throat. Knocked off balance, he staggered a few steps back, luckily not tromping down on me in the process. A force hit me at the same time, a searing pain that split my skull—backlash from my magic.

  I let out a raspy cry, “Deydre!”

  When his attention was focused on me, I reached out with my mind, grabbed the sword and threw it to him with all my might, praying I wouldn’t stab him with it. I’d never thrown sharp objects with my brain before.

  The deydre gave me a toothy grin before catching the sword from the air and, with one graceful spin, sliced right through Farras’ outstretched wrist. It all happened before I could even blink.

  Bile crept up my esophagus as the fairy’s severed hand fell to the ground with a dense thud. Farras gripped his forearm, screaming as it spurted blood like some macabre fountain.

  “Leave, Ilane, or you’ll be next.” The deydre’s voice rang of malice and rage.

  I could see now where the sinister image of deydre came from. In the weak moonlight, I could see the blood spatter that speckled his face and the deadliness that reflected in his eyes.

  Ilane gave me one final glance as he composed himself, a loser’s sneer plastered to his face. “Come, Farras,” he beckoned.

  Farras picked his hand up from the ground, grunting and groaning in pain, and trailed behind his master. My eyes were glued to his back as they retreated. I couldn’t keep the shivers from wracking my body.

  It wasn’t until I heard the sound of squelching footsteps that my eyes snapped back to the deydre, who was closing in on me. My gaze was drawn down to the blade in his hand, blood, mud, and water all mixing together and running off the smooth surface. Sliding the filthy weapon back into the sheath at his side, he crossed the distance between us in a few slow strides.

  I tried to will my legs to move but fear was keeping me on the ground. He’d just cut off a man’s hand. I’d just witnessed a crime. I was alone in the dark with a deydre. Was he after me just as Ilane had been or did he just save me? Thoughts were flying through my mind like manic hummingbirds.

  He stopped in front of me and squatted down to my level, eyes shining with an unidentifiable emotion as he inspected my no doubt filthy face.

  I was expecting him to be a terrifying visage but his stark and alien features had a dark elegance to them. He resembled a human in some ways, oval face with a pronounced jaw line and an aquiline nose. But he could never be mistaken as human like I could be, not with the horns.

  Three curved horns rose up from the left side of his head, one large and two smaller, the tallest of which would be the length of my hand from palm to fingertip. Inky black hair fell into his eye on the right side of his face, the asymmetry looking beautiful in its own way. His ears were much longer and more dramatically pointed than mine, and his eyes —eyes that held me captive in their stare— were black as pitch, no whites to be seen. Under his left eye there were two metal dots, probably a piercing of some kind.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  I nodded as I assessed him, thinking there was something familiar about his voice. We stared at each other in silence for a moment.

  “Your nose is bleeding.”

  I touched my fingers to my face and they came away with blood. Maybe Ilane had been too large of a target for my telekinesis. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. “I’m fine.” My hands were still shaking. I stared at the deydre’s raptor-like feet while I processed what had just happened. Those feet could easily rip a person to shreds…

  “You know, it’s customary to say �
��thank you’ when someone saves your life. But then again,” his eyes met mine, “I probably shouldn’t expect proper manners from you, should I?” He spoke with such a strange familiarity.

  My eyes darted up to his face. That smirk…

  “Aksel?” I gaped.

  His smirk only grew as he rose to his feet. “So are you going to stand up, or would you prefer to sit in the mud?”

  What the fuck is going on?

  I was too embarrassed to admit it, but after the sudden rush and recession of adrenaline my legs were about as reliable as a newborn fawn’s. He held out his hand, but I didn’t grab it. I did notice, however, that he had regular human fingers instead of claws. That was something the rumors had gotten wrong.

  “Are you scared?” he asked. This time there was no smile on his face.

  I actually wasn’t frightened anymore, knowing who he was. No wonder he had kept it a secret.

  “I… don’t know if I can stand up,” I admitted.

  Aksel barked out a laugh and I could see two sharp looking canine teeth. “Shall I carry you?”

  With that, I shakily pushed myself up.

  We stood opposite each other in silence. I wrapped my arms around myself as I took in his new form, his tail undulating leisurely behind him. “You’re a deydre,” I stated.

  Now I could understand why he’d kept it a secret. Had people known what he was, there would have been riots in the street, mercs would have been tripping over themselves to take him out.

  “Certainly looks that way, doesn’t it,” he grinned sarcastically.

  Though it was meant to mock me, the comment calmed me. Deydre or no, this was the same Aksel I had come to know. He seemed… normal. The total opposite of any rumours I’d ever heard.

  “How did you know I was out here?” My voice was barely audible.

  “Ilane isn’t as inconspicuous as he thinks, we heard the commotion from our room.”

  The light that flicked on in the inn.

  I bit my lip. “Are you really weapons merchants?” The question escaped my mouth before I could think it through.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I just didn’t expect…”

  “A deydre to be a merchant?” he finished for me.

  “I didn’t expect a weapons merchant to be so… capable in a fight.” Aksel’s face still showed signs of blood spatter.

  He shrugged, the slight twist of a grin on the corner of his lips. “A merchant should know his wares.”

  “You two knew each other– you and that fairy.” Now that the fight-or-flight response had faded, my mind was beginning to grow convoluted with questions all trying to burst free.

  He nodded, “We’ve crossed paths a few times.”

  “Crossed paths? That’s it? You expect me to believe it was just a coincidence that you both showed up in this insignificant little town within a few days of each other? He tried to steal me away in the night and you just happened to be around to save me?” Everything seemed to hit me at once. My breath hitched in my chest. “Oh my gods, I could have been killed.” My fingers traced up my throat to where Ilane’s boot had pressed down. “He said I was worth a small fortune. Why? Why would I be worth anything to him, or anyone?” The questions poured out of me. My eyes flicked over to Aksel, “You! You just cut off someone’s hand! There was blood… gushing…” My breathing was quickening as my heart pounded uncontrollably in my chest.

  “Hey.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Calm down, you’re starting to hyperventilate. Breathe.”

  My hands latched onto his wrists. I stared into Aksel’s black eyes, taking deep breaths in time with him. With his grounding presence, I began to regain control of my lungs.

  And here I was doing deep breathing exercises with a deydre.

  “You good?” he asked after I had been breathing normally for a few moments.

  “No, I’m not good! I was just kidnapped!” I tore his hands from my shoulders.

  “Attempted kidnapped.”

  “What?” I snapped.

  “You were attempted kidnapped. He didn’t actually succeed, thanks to me.”

  I glared at him so hard my face hurt. “Is this a joke to you?”

  “Furthest thing from it actually.”

  I sat back down in the mud, groaning and cradling my face in my hands. “Why is this happening to me,” I moaned, ignoring the wetness seeping in through the seat of my pants.

  Aksel crouched down with me. “You don’t have any idea?”

  “Of course not, I’m just a tavern waitress—an orphan. There’s no reason anyone would want to kidnap me. I keep to myself, I don’t make enemies—not intentionally. I’d never spoken to that fairy before tonight. I’ve never even set foot outside of Woodburne.” I thought about the things Ilane had said, how crazy they had sounded. “He said… He said I could ‘disregard’ his magic and that I was worth a high price, a high price to who?” I mumbled, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all.

  For several seconds there was no sound between us, only the crickets and the barely-there sound of a lingering raindrops.

  With a heavy sigh, Aksel dragged a hand through his hair. “There’s a reason Ilane was after you.”

  My eyes reconnected with his and my brows drew together. “What are you talking about?”

  “Being merchants, we hear some interesting things.” he paused for a moment before continuing, “There’s a bounty on your head, Selynna.”

  The world tilted, a numbness running through my veins. If I hadn’t already been sitting down, I would have collapsed. “You’re lying.”

  “What reason would I have to lie about this?”

  “What reason would someone have to put a bounty on me?” I countered.

  He thought for a moment, “Well, think about it, you might very well be the only half-human in existence with magic.”

  “But no one knows that…” My voice shook. I never flaunted my magic. No one could possibly know. Aksel was the only one, but he wouldn’t have told Ilane, not to just show up and thwart his kidnap attempt. And wouldn’t he have just taken me himself at that point? “Why would my magic even warrant a bounty? It’s not like I’m powerful, Supers all have magic and theirs is way more apt than mine. Magic isn’t some rare commodity.” This was my worst nightmare.

  Aksel seemed pensive. “It depends who placed it. They might want you out of the picture, or they may want you as a collectible—”

  “I’m a human being, not a thing to be collected!”

  He held up a hand in front of him. “I’m just giving examples. Ilane was an example of that last one.” All the blood rushed from my face. “Ilane occasionally dabbles in bounty hunting, but he’s known for being a collector, of sorts. Had he succeeded in kidnapping you, you would have spent the rest of your life like a prized pet —or in a dissection lab.”

  “Stop it.” I slapped my hands over my ears like a child, I didn’t want to hear any more. I weighed the idea that he might be lying. But he had a point, what reason did he have to lie? “Why are you telling me this?”

  He sighed, his brows drawing together over contemplative eyes. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Finally, he pulled one of my hands away from my ear and answered. “If it were me, I would have wanted to know.” He twined his fingers between mine and brought our linked hands down to rest on my knee. I did nothing to stop him. I looked at our hands together, his fully encompassing mine, the realization slowly dawning on me.

  “Did you know about this bounty before you met me? Is that the reason you came here? The reason you asked me out?” I asked.

  “We heard about it when we came into town, after we met you, but before I asked you out. I’ll admit, I was curious. You didn’t seem like the type to have a bounty on her head, and I was right,” he said with a coy little smile.

  I didn’t know if that was a compliment. I think he thought it was.

  I deflated. So that was the reason he asked me out. I guess he did have an ulter
ior motive after all. Nothing more than a curiosity, that’s me.

  I hung my head, a hollow feeling forming inside my chest. “How do I know you’re not interested in the bounty?”

  “Selynna, if I wanted the bounty, why would I have told you about it? I could have just taken you as soon as I saved you. In fact, I could have just abducted you after our date if I’d wanted to.”

  Okay, that affirmed my initial thought. But a looming sense of dread began to descend on me. “You said you found out about the bounty after you’d arrive in town, so that means it’s widespread.” If I was such a high price like Ilane had said, then mercs could be waiting around any corner to snatch me up. Even that gross merc, Tam, could have been trying to abduct me.

  “Yes, but on the bright side, you should be in the clear, now. Ilane failed and, with the wound I gave Farras, word will soon spread that he was beaten by a deydre. Everyone will assume that I claimed the bounty. But if you’re the cautious type, you could always leave town, go someplace new and start a new life. Stay hidden.”

  The hollowness in my chest only grew. If I was being honest with myself, I was scared—terrified even. What if someone else did come after me? But I couldn’t uproot my entire life and leave just on the word of this complete stranger. “I don’t want to leave,” I said quietly.

  “Suit yourself.”

  My stomach knotted at his ambivalence. This may have just been a passing moment for him, but this was my life. I wrapped my arms around my stomach. My eyes burned, the frustration building behind my eyes in the form of tears.

  Aksel exhaled heavily, rubbing the nape of his neck. “Listen. We’re in town for a few more days, I’ll keep an ear out and let you know if I hear anything.” I blinked, sending the tears cascading down my face. “Just, stop crying.”

  I froze. His awkwardness at the sight of a crying woman sent a laugh bubbling up my throat. A deydre, frightened of a woman’s tears? Just one more insanity to add to the night. I couldn’t hold back the sudden burst of laughter. A good, hearty laugh felt outstanding after everything that had happened.

  “Thank you, Aksel,” I said after my short fit was over. “And thank you for saving me.”