“The Seer will be able to fix him,” Hemmil said. “Just like she’s done with you every night.”
“Wait, what?” Raegith asked, stopping Hemmil before he could reach for Zakk.
“This will be the first time you return to camp still conscious, but you’ll still need healing or you’ll be worthless tomorrow,” Hemmil explained, taking a swig from his leather skin. “You’ll get to meet the Faeir woman you’ve been ogling since the first day you traveled with us.”
“She’s the one who’s been cleaning me up and healing my injuries?” Raegith asked, letting Hemmil shove him aside to look at Zakk more closely. “That’s how I’ve recovered from broken ribs and a skull fracture over night? I lost a few teeth before. She can fix that as well? I knew I hadn’t imagined that!”
Raegith arrived at the new campsite on horseback as the sun was setting. His feet were bleeding, he was covered in sweat-caked dust and all kinds of weeds and dirt were littered in his hair. He was led back to his already-pitched tent and given a meal of bread and dried meat, which was eagerly scarfed down by the exhausted prince. As he finished his meal, Boram entered the tent.
“You look as if you’ve earned that meal today, prince,” Boram said.
“Please, don’t call me that,” Raegith laughed, seeing the man for the first time in weeks. “When you use it as my name, it makes me sound like a minstrel or something.”
“I saw you ride in on your horse instead of draped across Zakk’s,” Boram said, handing him a canteen. “Here, take a draft before officer hard-ass shows up with your healer.”
“Is it normal for trainees to have personal healers?” Raegith asked, taking a pull from the canteen. The strong, bitter ale surprised him. “Eh, what is this, horse piss?”
“You’re training at a much faster rate than a normal recruit and you’ve half the hardiness of one due to being locked up for so long,” Boram replied. “Hemmil seems to be trying to make amends with his past through you. And no, this isn’t piss. This is what men drink, you silly bitch.”
“Hemmil’s past?” Raegith asked.
“When he’s ready, he’ll tell you. It’s not something you’d want to hear from anyone else.”
Boram left him alone in the tent, to ward off the exhaustion enough to be awake by the time the healer got to him. His whole body hurt and he wondered if it wouldn’t have just been better to be knocked out again to save himself from the pain he was experiencing at the moment. The visit from Boram helped. He had grown accustomed to the man’s company, as well as that of Ebriz and Tavin, and he missed the jokes and jabs they would lob at each other over a long journey. Boram was loud and rebellious, traits he liked, and Tavin was quiet and knowledgeable, but not without humor. He respected both men highly and learned from them what they were willing to supply him during travel. Ebriz was a different kind of companion. The bard did not grate against him like Zakk or Hemmil, yet he did not impress him in the same ways as Boram and Tavin. Ebriz was more than a match with words and was an intellectual trickster. For everything Ebriz did that amused him or perked his interest, he always did something that would aggravate him. Nonetheless, Raegith appreciated the man’s company and he kind of liked that the bard was a near lunatic.
Footsteps approached and Raegith heard Hemmil’s gruff voice.
“He’s awake this time. Be advised, he is an incessant chatterbox and the words that dribble out of his mouth aren’t nearly as eloquent as he would like to think. I suggest you ignore anything he says that isn’t pertinent to your job.”
As Raegith sat on his cot, trying not to fall over, the tent flap opened and in walked the Faeir woman from their original group. His weariness faded to the recesses of his mind as his eyes took in the sight before him. The Faeir looked young, but he had not seen one of her kind so close before and had no idea how quickly they aged physically. Her skin was the color of the noon sky on the fringes of a cloud and her hair was a gloss black. She was probably half a foot taller than him, but her form was delicate and lithe. Her face was smooth and angular with thin eyebrows and lips that were slightly darker blue than her skin. She looked down at him and he saw that her eyes were completely black.
Her eyes might have terrified him had he not been so turned on by her presence. She looked him over in an instant and then bowed deeply.
“Prince Raegith,” she said in a seductively raspy voice. “My name is Onyx. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at you, to see if I can perhaps end a bit of your pain.”
“You already have,” Raegith mumbled.
“Did you say something?” she asked, bending closer.
“You already have my permission,” Raegith replied. “At any time, that is. If you are my healer, then I am at your command.”
“Oh, of course,” Onyx said. “I’ll need to wash your feet first. Please lay back.”
Raegith lay back against his cot and let Onyx work on his feet. He looked down to watch in amazement as she washed his feet and cleaned his wounds without so much as moving a facial muscle. Placing one hand in a bucket of water, she cupped out some water, which immediately formed into a sphere and floated through the air to splash upon his toes.
The water then swarmed over his feet like a group of bees, swirling and scrubbing away dirt and blood, which clumped and fell to the ground until his feet were clean. Even the blisters and lesions were closed and simply a bit red. Other than a tingle, the pain and soreness were gone from them.
“I assume the rest of you is much less afflicted than your feet?” Onyx asked. When he nodded she reached down and pulled him up to a sitting position. Her hands were cool to the touch and delicate like porcelain. “I’ll do the rest of you now. Stand up, please.”
“Are you going to do that same trick with the rest of me?” Raegith asked, suddenly aware of how hard he was straining against his shorts at that moment. “Maybe you could do that without undressing me?”
“There is no need to be bashful with me, my lord. I am Faeir,” Onyx said, yanking the tunic over his head and then squatting down to remove his pants. “I have worked in several Saban hospitals, on all kinds of wounds from all of the races and there is nothing that would sur…”
Onyx yanked his pants down and jerked her head back just in time to miss getting smacked in the face.
“Shit!” Raegith said and turned around quickly as Onyx jumped to her feet.
“Tides, my prince, are you alright?” Onyx asked, not knowing what else to say at that moment.
“What is going on in there?” Hemmil asked, yanking the flap open and stepping in.
“Paladin!” Onyx exclaimed, more out of surprise than agitation, and turned to place herself between him and Raegith. “I am tending to this man’s wounds and you will not interrupt me.”
“I heard shouting… from both of you…” Hemmil stammered, not used to being ordered by a woman.
“The boy’s wounds are more severe than I expected,” Onyx lied. “Replace yourself at the entrance and let me finish my work here.”
Hemmil grumbled, but turned and exited the tent. Once he was gone, Onyx turned around to see Raegith sitting on his cot with his tunic over his lap. He was more anxious than he was embarrassed, but did not know how to deal with either emotion.
“I apologize for my reaction, my lord,” Onyx finally said. “That was a natural response to stimuli and I am a female, so it makes sense your body might respond when your mind is unaware…”
“Yeah, exactly!” Raegith said, cutting her off. “It’s completely natural! Nothing weird about a 16-year-old getting excited about being touched by a beautiful girl and then… nearly slapping her across the face with that excitement! You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you? It wouldn’t make a very good campfire story.”
The Faeir simply sat there in shock and confusion. Raegith was not expecting his first time around an actual woman to go so horribly wrong.
Onyx took a moment before addressing him. “I will tell no one, my prince. I would not h
ave you humiliated for which you cannot be faulted and I am professional enough for this. You can trust my word as a healer. Further flattery is unneeded, do you understand?”
“Flattery?” Raegith asked.
“What you said to me,” Onyx replied. “I am a Stone Seer; it is inappropriate to give any compliment to me, no matter how well-intended.”
“A Stone Seer?” Raegith asked, sliding closer to her. “I’ve not heard of that. Is that why you can manipulate water so?”
“My prince, we cannot tarry,” Onyx said, coming to her feet. “I must get you washed and mended. There is no time to explain things to you that do not matter.”
“Nonsense,” Raegith said. “I won’t let you near me again unless you promise to tell me about being a Stone Seer. I’ll find someone else.”
“Why?” Onyx asked.
“I want to know,” Raegith replied, slipping even closer to her. “I don’t know what kind of rules your kind follow that dictate who does and does not matter, but I know that you’re responsible for me. If you plan to take care of my wellbeing, then I intend to know everything about you.”
“It would take too long to explain,” Onyx said. “We haven’t the time and if Paladin Hemmil comes in to see you in your current… condition…”
“Are you not my healer after this night?” Raegith asked. “We have many nights of this ahead of us and I would use our time to learn of you rather than count wrinkles in my tent.”
“Then you must be ignorant of the Stone Seers,” Onyx hissed. “Else you would not ask to be entertained by one. Turn and let me wash you. If it is a companion you wish for, I shall request you be given a roommate.”
Raegith simply crossed his arms and stared at her, not moving.
“What in Rellizbix could be taking you that long, healer?” Hemmil asked.
“My prince, please, let me do my job!” Onyx pleaded with him.
“Then promise me,” Raegith said, standing firm. “Promise me that we will help each other gain a purpose.”
“I promise,” Onyx said after a moment of thought. “As pointless as it may be, I promise to tell you of the Stone Seers, but not this evening. Now turn and be still before it is too late!”
Raegith smiled and turned, doing as she asked. Onyx used the same technique to wash the rest of him, letting the water orb spin along his body from his calves to his head. The water whirled over his body, scrubbing off clumps of grime and blood and cleaning out his scrapes and cuts. It felt like he was bathing in a river rapids and the excitement of it, well, excited him all over again. Once she was finished, she reached into a pack and produced fresh clothes for him. He dressed as she packed up what she had and went for the tent flap.
“Oh, Onyx,” Raegith said. The healer stopped and turned to look back at him. “I wasn’t flattering you. You are a beautiful creature.”
Onyx gave him a confused and suspicious look, but left without a word. Immediately Hemmil came in to inspect him, but Raegith was already in his cot, relaxing and on the verge of sleep. Hemmil looked over his feet and stroked his beard. Satisfied that the healer was, in fact, doing some remarkable things, he left without a word and Raegith drifted to sleep before he could attempt to think about Onyx.
The days continued as always, save two things: Hemmil was more of an instructor now than a taskmaster and Zakk was even more competitive and intolerable. At night Onyx would come to mend his wounds, though she did not bath him completely every time. She spoke to him of being a Stone Seer, which was the term given to Faeir born under the Elemental of stone, cursed with opaque eyes. The stone Elemental was a much more chaotic patron element than the others, which is a bit ironic since stones appear to be solid, immobile and the symbol of uniformity. Faeir born under the stone Elemental are influenced by the chaotic magic of the element, normally coordinating with a particular gemstone. The only other Stone Seer Onyx knew of was an old, male hermit named Garnet who had darker skin and pure red eyes. As Stone Seers were considered a mutation and their chaotic magic a heresy, they were treated as inferior and normally wound up in servitude or seclusion.
“So does being a Stone Seer allow you to manipulate water like that?” Raegith asked as Onyx scrubbed him down and attended a cracked rib. He was standing naked inside the tent with his left arm raised as she prodded him and appraised his winces.
“No, one has nothing to do with the other,” Onyx said. “My Stone magic is of mending flesh, but I channel it through the element of water in order to focus the power. I have had a natural ability with water all my life, which makes being a Stone Seer so much more tragic. No one trained me to work the element; I did this on my own, in secret.”
“How have you made it this far being a Stone Seer and a heretic?”
“Luck,” Onyx said, letting his arm down and pulling the bucket closer to her. “You’ll need completely washed down, there are too many wounds that could fester and you’ve gone five days without one.”
“It makes me tougher,” Raegith replied, slipping his shorts off. “I can feel my skin hardening and my pain tolerance widening.”
“Raegith, five times I have had you remove your shorts to be washed and each time you are in a similar state of… excitement,” Onyx said.
“Well, you see, I normally have a lot more time to myself than this, so I haven’t had a chance to… uh…” he tried to explain.
“I can create something that will cure you of this without affecting your will, I promise it won’t. We can’t let you go on like this.” Onyx continued.
“I’d rather we find some other way of remedying this,” Raegith said, turning around to face her. She immediately backed away.
“What…” she stammered. “My prince, what exactly are you getting at?”
“You can’t possibly be that oblivious, Onyx,” Raegith said. “My hard-on has nothing to do with some bodily malfunction. It comes from hearing your voice, the smell of you in my nose and the touch of your hands. It comes from the need that I have for you, Onyx, surely you’ve figured out that much.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Onyx said. “You’re young and your body is changing and…”
“I’m sixteen years old, Onyx, not twelve,” Raegith said, edging closer to her. “I’m only young to those who live twice as long as I. When I was thirteen I stole a kiss from a Twileen girl bringing me food and that was the last time I have even seen a female, much less been in the presence of one.
“Then you come to me, fix my wounds, wash my body and open up to me about your amazing life and you think I could keep things professional between us? It’s you I burn for, Onyx, and no matter how much water you pour on me, I won’t be extinguished until I have you.”
“We are not doing this,” Onyx said, approaching him and grasping his shoulders. “We are on a mission together and once that mission is completed, I will return…”
“No, you won’t,” Raegith replied, reaching up to touch her face. “You will not return to your kingdom to waste away your talents and your life. I will always have need of you, Onyx, and I would place you above all that would treat you as an outcast. Promises have been made to me. I will not go back into imprisonment after this and neither should you. If your people will not allow you to join me, then I will steal you from them.”
“You do not know the Council and the power they have!” Onyx exclaimed.
“I don’t care about them. I will find some way.”
“This is too much, Raegith,” Onyx said, pulling away. “We have wasted too much time. Turn so that I may wash you.”
“Think about it, Onyx,” Raegith said, turning and letting her summon the water to rinse his grittiness away. “I would make it so that you are never again held back from using your skills, in a place that appreciates your magic and your unfaltering beauty. In your eyes I see power, where others see a curse.”
“It would mean turning my back on the Faeir,” Onyx said. “Turning away from my culture and my entire race.”
&
nbsp; “Only those who would treat you as a lesser being, Onyx,” Raegith said. “If hatred is so deeply ingrained in Faeir society that none could ever see past your eyes, then they do not deserve to have you among them.”
“I am finished, my prince,” Onyx said, taking up her bucket and pack and leaving fresh clothes for him. She paused before leaving and turned back to him. “You treat me with more honor than I deserve, my prince, and I know your heart is in the right place, but this idea is too much. I am putting it from my mind, as should you.”
Chapter 5
The next day, Raegith pushed his training well past the normal time, cutting late into the evening. Even after Hemmil called a halt to him, Raegith refused to leave the area. Hemmil, trying to cut things short, ordered Zakk to step up the spar. Having a renewed respect for Raegith’s abilities, Zakk was not so easily defeated. In fact, the boy had trained even more intensely since his defeat, if such a thing was even possible. The fight wore on longer than either expected, as both unleashed their fury on each other. In the end, Zakk was too encumbered by his armor for such prolonged unarmed combat and he could not match the natural agility of Raegith. After an extensive battle, Raegith outmaneuvered Zakk and pulled the soldier to the ground with a forearm around the boy’s neck and clinched until the solder signaled defeat.
Despite the intensity of their battles, Raegith could not help but feel a growing respect for his rival. He had never seen such a determination to excel. He could not be sure if the feeling was mutual, however, as Zakk was practiced at keeping his emotions in check before his mentor and his discipline would not allow him to speak of such things to Raegith. In nearly two months Zakk had only said a few sentences to him and usually only did so when Raegith managed to trick him into it.
“The day has come, sir!” Raegith said, shaking off the pain from his fight with Zakk. He squared his stance, lifted his back heel and motioned Hemmil to attack him. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this and when we’re done, I’m moving on to weapons.”
“We’ll see about that, lad,” Hemmil growled.
Beyond the Hell Cliffs Page 6
