A Turn of Curses

by Melanie Nilles

  * * *

  Selina awoke to the sun shining on her face and the sweet scent of grass blowing warm on her cheek. A smile played across her face, until she opened her eyes.

  She blinked at the black muzzle inches from her face and shoved it away. "Get away from me."

  Faldon turned and walked away, his head down. He stopped when he found a patch of grass.

  "Annoying pest," she muttered while rising and dusting strands of grass from her clothes. After a quick glance, she realized the man was gone. "Where is he?"

  Faldon lifted his head a few inches. "Who?"

  "The man. Whatever-his-name-is. Where'd he go?"

  "He'll return later." Faldon dropped his head again without any show of concern.

  "You sent him away?"

  "Why does it matter? You didn't like him."

  She opened her mouth to snap an answer but closed it again. The feyquin spoke the truth, but she wondered about it. "How would you know?"

  "I was nearby."

  Selina studied him, suspicions growing in her mind. "How convenient."

  He pinned his ears flat and kicked out at her, his teeth tearing mercilessly at the grass.

  "At least he..." Her cheeks warmed at the thought in her head wanting to escape. She tried to restrain it by picking out a fruit from the small pile left from the night before, avoiding Faldon's fixed stare and forward ears. "Never mind."

  Faldon snorted. "Humans!"

  She growled and threw a fruit at him, startling him into tucking his tail and jerking his head up. "Yes, I am! And you can't change that, so take me to where Beth and Reen are."

  "You'll reach them today." He galloped a distance away before settling down to graze again.

  She turned to study the land around her and to avoid seeing him while she ate. Upsetting herself more would only ruin her appetite.

  Hopefully, her friends waited at an inn, where she could bathe and find some fresh clothes from the carriage, assuming someone retrieved any of her possessions from the wreckage. She also needed a long sleep on a soft bed.

  But how would they continue without the carriage? What happened to Doxon? Would the felipar return home or to Reen, or would the poor creature seek the wild? Poor Reen. He would be lost without Doxon, but at least Beth was with him. She might be injured, but she would still provide the sympathy Reen needed.

  Selina ate quickly and wrapped up what remained of the fruit the stranger brought to carry with her. Beth and Reen needed her. That reason motivated her more than any other at the moment.

  The three feyquin lifted their heads and watched her. She continued her walk on the road. They could follow if they wanted. While she didn't want to travel alone, neither did she desire their company.

  The soft thud of their steps followed, grating on her nerves. Nevertheless, she found some relief in their presence. They wouldn't hurt her at least, and after sleeping in the open, she felt vulnerable; to what she couldn't imagine. Not knowing the land of Vastorn, she didn't want to imagine what she might encounter.

  Although she despised him, Faldon's presence gave her some reassurance, especially after the stranger's warning last night.

  Who was the man? He warned her in Breach's Pass, tried to scare off their felipar, and disappeared until last night. The feyquin didn't seem bothered by him. What was the connection? It couldn't be what she suspected.

  Despite her sore feet, she trod the worn path, her head full of questions and explorations of possibilities.

  Around midday, she stopped to rest near a stream, her feet blistered from walking in thin-soled shoes. She sat on a rock near the stream, pulled off her shoes to soak her feet, and opened the bundle of fruit. The cool water revived her feet as the food did for her stomach. After a while, she scooped the water in her hands many times to sate her thirst. Who knew when she would find water again?

  While she rested and ate another juicy fruit, the feyquin grazed. Faldon wandered near to drink from the stream.

  "We won't reach Willowbrook today as I expected. At this pace, we'll be half a day more."

  Selina gulped down a bite and grimaced. "What?"

  "You're too slow." Without another word, he dipped his chin into the water and slurped several long swallows.

  "So this is my fault? You chased off my ride. If you'd left us alone, none of this would've happened."

  He lifted his head a few inches from the water, which dribbled down his chin when he opened his mouth. "You should never have come. You were warned."

  "Some warning." She put on her best mocking voice and said, "'Go back, Na'Y'dom.' Your friend was real helpful."

  Faldon walked away without a word.

  "You could at least apologize for scaring Doxon into leaving me and smashing my carriage."

  He stopped and turned his head. "We didn't intend that."

  She waited for more, but he walked away. "Do you call that an apology?"

  "Yes."

  She scowled, realizing the futility of arguing. He was one of those types, the ones who never admitted their wrongs. Too many people she met wouldn't admit what they did to deserve their injuries, but she healed them despite her judgment. As one of the chosen of Y'dom, her job was to heal anyone, regardless of their crimes.

  After what the feyquin did, the least Faldon could do was apologize properly. With an ego like his, she understood why the White Prince cursed him. Part of her wondered what that curse fully entailed. No one explained it, but she suspected part of it involved the strange man.

  After a brief rest, they continued along the road, until the sun dipped to touch the Sunders Mountains in the west once more.

  She stopped at the crest of a high hill, where she looked over the trees thick along the road. No sign of a town. Only more road and open country dotted with the high stone fences of farmsteads. "You're sure this Willowbrook is only a half day away?"

  "At your pace, yes." Dewel stopped near her.

  Selina glanced aside with a dirty look, but her eyes caught something more interesting—a familiar door a ways ahead, the door of her carriage. Her heart thumped in her chest. Poor Beth and Reen. What happened?

  "We'll reach it tomorrow," Faldon said from behind.

  "If we keep going, we can reach it tonight. They may have left something." Seeing even that small part of her carriage gave her hope that they were close.

  "The others will find us here and relay any messages." The finality of his statement stopped her argument.

  He galloped away before she could object.

  "Where's he going now?"

  "He has other affairs to tend. I suggest you rest, and stay close," Dewel said. "The night mares are loose."

  Night. Selina shuddered. Night in this strange land spooked her. "What are night mares?" She found a place off the road near a boulder and a tree forming a suitable shelter.

  The stallion stepped down the incline near her shelter, his eyes on the trees around them. "Horrible creatures. They were feyquin long ago. They made a pact with a demon for the power to trick humans and were transformed by their hatred. They're no longer feyquin but something vile." He paused and turned to her. "We may not like humans, but we respect those who respect us."

  His last words stuck in her mind, along with his warning. She shivered at the chill tone of his voice and what she imagined about night mares. They heard few stories in Hallor, where such creatures didn't exist, except to scare children into behaving. "What will these night mares do?"

  "Nothing...to us. But you're human, a target for their hatred. Guard your mind from deceptions."

  "How?"

  "Know what's real."

  Whatever that meant. While she sat and ate, she searched the darkening landscape. Where did Faldon go? Where did he go the night before? Did he care about protecting her from these night mares, or would that simply end his troubles?

  She shuddered to consider what he might intend for her. Perhaps he left on purpose, to leave her defenseless. Perhaps Dewel and Meris inte
nded to sneak away after she fell asleep. She hated him if he planned to leave her.

  After she finished and checked the nearby positions of the stallions, Selina laid down to rest. She knew what was real—the hard, cold ground, the two feyquin standing watch, and Faldon's disappearance at night.

  She wished they could continue to Willowbrook that night. It couldn’t be far. She would bet no night mares would cause trouble for people behind locked doors.

  Sleep would be reluctant to come that night.

  * * *

  Selina awoke to a sound that irritated her. It shattered the odd dreams and continued with regularity until she opened her eyes and stretched.

  On the ground nearby lay the man without a name, his hands behind his head. The sound came from him, a snoring loud enough to rouse her in the middle of a thunderstorm, but the night was calm—far worse.

  She peered through the weak moonlight. On a nearby hilltop stood the shadow of one of the feyquin. The other stretched out on the ground, the dark mound of its body highlighted by the white of its leg and face markings—Dewel.

  Once again Faldon was nowhere to be seen. Where was the feyquin leader?

  The land fell quiet, except for the rustle of grass nearby.

  Selina looked aside at the stranger-without-a-name. Seeing him with the scraggly gray and black hair reminded her of Faldon.

  No. It couldn't be. Every fiber in her body hated Faldon's presence. This stranger intrigued her. She must be wrong. Had to be. Impossible!

  He finished his stretch and sat up.

  "Where'd you come from?" She tried to keep her voice hushed, but in the still of the night, her voice could have been a bugle.

  He said nothing, but watched her with a neutral expression.

  "Never mind. You're here. I suppose I'm stuck with you." Irritation grated in her voice almost as much as she intended.

  What she thought was a smile flashed across his face and vanished a moment later.

  Awkwardness warmed through her, despite the chill of the morning. "Who are you? Where were you yesterday? Why'd you come back?" Would he admit the truth she suspected?

  "Does it matter?"

  "Yes!" The sharpness of her reply rang out, and she slapped her hands to her mouth. Dewel lifted his head from the ground where he rested.

  The man's smile returned, a sparkle of amusement in his dark eyes highlighted by the lightening hues in the sky. "I am no one of concern, but I can't stay while Faldon is near."

  "Why do you help that brute?"

  A shadow passed over his face. "I was helping you—" He clamped his mouth and stood up facing the lighter horizon.

  "Helping?" She stood up with him, intending to pry answers out of him before he could leave again. Leave to transform. "Since you first appeared I've had nothing but trouble. How do I know it wasn't you that caused it?"

  He scowled at the horizon.

  "You don't even deny it. That proves it!" Proves that he was Faldon in disguise. Faldon, who caused all this trouble.

  "It proves nothing!" His retort startled her into quiet. "You have no idea the mess you've stepped into and no right to interfere."

  "I wasn't interfering! I didn't ask to step into any mess. I only came to heal the king of this land, who, as I understand, Faldon gave his support to." She crossed her arms with a self-righteous air. He couldn't deny the truth in her statement.

  He strode away without a word.

  "Where are you going?" She ran after him.

  "I have better things to do."

  "Like what? Why don't you answer my questions?"

  Without looking back, he lifted a hand and waved, a clear dismissal of her questions.

  Selina crossed her arms and glared at his receding back. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of chasing him down. Why couldn't he cooperate? She only demanded answers.

  He'd be back soon.

  Now, to eat. Her stomach rumbled, and she sat down. Her pile of fruit had grown. Selina looked up to catch the stranger, but he vanished into the woods. Maybe she had been too harsh.

  No. If he was Faldon, he deserved it.

  She ate quickly, glad for the juicy fruits, but needing something more to sustain her. She craved meat, but the stranger apparently didn't bother to hunt. Not surprising.

  When Faldon reappeared, Selina watched him. She said nothing. What if she was wrong? She didn't want to know if what she suspected about his curse was the truth. The man showed some semblance of hospitality. This way she could still hate Faldon the feyquin.

  Anxious to return to her friends and continue her journey, she started out on the road with the feyquin.

  Before the sun reached its zenith, the first faint pillars of smoke rose into the sky. Excited by the prospects of civilization, she climbed to the top of the nearest hill.

  From there, she spotted a town, if the couple dozen wood-shingled roofs and other structures within the low stone wall could be called a town. What luck! It had to be Willowbrook. It might take half a morning, but she would reach it.

  She hurried towards it without consideration for her feyquin escort. In fact, she wished they would leave her alone.

  However, their steps followed her not far behind.

  Faldon made no attempt to stop her, but neither did he speak to her. His presence grated on her nerves, perhaps more because of his silence. Or was he afraid she'd confirm the truth?

  After a short time, she stopped. "Leave me alone!"

  "No."

  "I don't need you. I won't go back. Why do you follow me?"

  "To find the truth."

  "What truth?" Now what did he want?

  "The real reason he sent for you."

  "Who? The White Prince? I don't know. If it's other than to cure the king, I've no idea." Was this the reason for his quiet all morning—to think about how to stop her from continuing to the Ivory Palace? She doubted any other reason, after all the ways he tried to stop her.

  "He has the best medics in any land. Why would King Antorin need a Na'Y'dom?" Faldon lowered his head, his ears up, and looked her in the eyes. "Sorvin would sooner kill his father, as he did Prince Kemmon, to assure his inheritance of the throne. I would have endorsed Kemmon. He knew that. He sent his sisters to marry overseas. With his father gone and any other heirs out of the way, he would be assured succession.

  "Curing Antorin is a ruse. His only other purpose is the curse. I suspect you're a key to a cure. If he's learned how, I must know."

  "Me? How could I undo a demon's curse?"

  "I don't know. But I'll learn. If one of us is cured, the other can never be. That is the nature of our curse. I bet he hopes to cure himself so I am damned the rest of my years."

  Selina stared at the dark gray face, uncertain now of her purpose. Was this a trick to keep her back, a game to amuse the feyquin, or the truth? Sorvin was also cursed?

  She didn't want to believe the feyquin, but something in her agreed with him. She answered the call of those in need of healing. But was curing either Faldon or the prince the right thing? Cure one and leave the other damned the rest of his life—how could she make that choice? Could the rumors of the White Prince's atrocities be believed?

  She didn't know what to do. "Is Antorin sick?"

  "According to servants' gossip, he is bedridden and frail from illness," Meris said.

  "Then I'll go to him. I have a duty to heal the sick until my life is gone." None of them said a word. Her eyes fixed on Faldon in expectance of another argument.

  Instead, his ears flattened and he turned away with his head down. The other two joined him and made sounds she guessed to be their own language.

  She looked ahead to the town, where her friends most likely took rest. Her body ached for the same respite.

  But she couldn't help wondering if Faldon spoke the truth. She had saved murderers before, but not anyone who would kill their own family. The thought of being used by someone that power-hungry sickened and angered her. She almost felt sorry for
the feyquin.

  Almost.

  If she cured the king, Sorvin fay Renald would lose any power he claimed in his father's stead. Antorin could take the steps necessary to prevent his son from causing any other atrocities.

  Selina sighed. Whether Sorvin called her to heal the king or himself was not her concern. Her reason for agreeing to come remained the same. She would heal the king, whether Faldon let her continue or not. Whether Sorvin intended it or not.