Less Than a Day

by April Kelley

  “Sorry.” Laith put a hand to the center of Talli’s back, holding the coat in place. His hand fell away when Talli turned to face him. “It’ll keep you warm.”

  The green corn stood as tall as Laith, concealing them effectively. It gave Talli the illusion of being alone with his anam cara.

  “Thank you.” Talli smiled at him and put his arms in the sleeves of the coat. The sleeves hung well past his arms, which made Laith chuckle.

  “Let me just roll them up for you.” Laith took a step closer, reaching for the coat sleeve. They stood there in silence until Laith finished the job. Talli watched as his hand was exposed, one roll at a time.

  “How did you find me in here?” Talli asked. He needed something to talk about or the silence between them would grow uncomfortable. Even now, there was a tension in the air around them. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from but he definitely felt it.

  Laith smiled at him. “I followed the green trail.”

  Talli grinned and shook his head. “Of course.”

  “Do you do this sort of thing in your world? Bring plants back to life?” Laith held out a hand, silently telling Talli to continue if he wanted.

  Talli turned and started walking again. “Not at all. At home, I take care of Dasan’s library.”

  “A librarian.” Laith followed behind him.

  “Did you come find me just to bring me a coat?” Talli needed the answer to that question more than anything. He still had some misgivings about staying and finding out that his anam cara did in fact care about him would put some of them to rest.

  “Yeah. You weren’t in the barn with one earlier, so I didn’t figure any of the idiots I live with would think to offer you warmer clothes.”

  Talli smiled and some of the stress lifted from him. “It’s not cold in the Otherworld. It never is.” Talli thought about that for a moment. “Well, down in the dungeons can get cold but even then it’s not like it is here.”

  “What’s it like there?”

  “Our forests don’t look so drab.”

  Laith chuckled. “It’s fall. The leaves will come back in the spring.”

  “Spring? Our trees stay green forever. We have mountains as well and a special kind of faery lives there.” Talli held out his hand to touch the brown leaves, watching as each stalk turned green. He sighed. “In my realm we have a forest elf for a leader. We call him Oberon. And his second is a sluagh. It’s almost unheard off for a sluagh to gain an Oberon’s favor but somehow Awan did.”

  Laith made a sound from behind him, low in his throat, which sounded like a growl. “This Awan is the same one that touched you.”

  Talli smiled. “You’re jealous.”

  “Yeah. And it’s fucking weird that I would be, considering we just met earlier today. Although, I feel like I’ve known you for most of my life.”

  “Your soul knows mine. It’s what I was trying to explain to you…before you kissed me.”

  “I recall you kissing me first.”

  Talli shook his head. “Your recall is broken.”

  “My recall is…I’ll show you something that isn’t broken,” Laith growled out, which made Talli chuckle.

  When he felt a gentle swat on his ass, he let out a surprised squeal. Turning just enough to look at Laith, he saw the amused sparkle in his eyes. His eyebrows waggle. “You look cute in my coat, by the way.”

  Talli turned back around and started walking again. “Thank you for say that.”

  Silence stretched between them after that and as it went on it brought back the tension he had felt earlier. Talli stopped walking, letting the tension wash over him. He turned and looked at Laith.

  “What is it?” Laith asked.

  “I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Talli shook his head. “At first I thought it was us. The strain of so much change all at once for both of us. But that’s not it. It feels like a…a…sickness.” Talli moved in closer to Laith and waited to see how he felt doing it. No, it wasn’t Laith that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up.

  “You’re not sure about staying here?”

  “Kele and I will miss Dasan and Awan terribly, but we’re both committed to staying.”

  “If you’ll miss your friends, why stay?”

  Talli looked at Laith sharply, narrowing his eyes. “Do you expect me to just leave you, as if you don’t mean anything to me?”

  “I don’t expect anything from you. How could I. We just met, so if you want to go back to your boyfriend, then go.”

  Talli couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. “Do you mean Awan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Awan is hardly a boy, Laith.” Talli watched Laith closely, everything else forgotten as he figured out how to put Laith’s worries to rest. Finally he asked, “Have you never drank too much ale and had an inappropriate moment with Sly or Colton?”

  Laith’s cheeks turned red, which made Talli smiled.

  “That is all it was. While I love Awan very much, there is nothing romantic between us.”

  Laith’s gaze met his. “Okay.”

  Chapter Six

  Talli had been walking for a while. He had nearly a quarter of the cornfield done and would finish before the sun went all the way down in the sky. He was already feeling accomplished.

  “Why do I feel this overwhelming urge to spend as much time with you as possible?” Laith asked from behind him. Talli heard something snap behind him and turned to see Laith holding an ear of corn in his hand.

  “Soul bond.” Talli turned and kept walking.

  “Hmm,” Laith responded.

  “Do you feel that?” Talli asked, hoping he wasn’t alone in his feeling of unease. His hands started shaking as he realized it was the presence of someone following them.

  “Feel what?”

  “A presence.” Talli slowed down enough to reach behind him, holding his hand out to Laith. He wiggled his fingers, asking Laith to take his hand.

  Laith did. “Stop for a minute.” When Talli did what Laith said, Laith turned him around. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone is out here with us,” Talli whispered. Just then they heard rustling in the cornfield and then Wyatt cursed.

  Talli sighed in relief and sagged against Laith. “Thank Dadga.”

  Wyatt came into view a second later. “Do you know how hard it is to find you guys in a fucking cornfield? At least only part of the field is green.” Wyatt shook his head, but smiled when he looked at Talli. “It’s fucking fantastic by the way.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be finished by nightfall,” Talli said with a smile.

  Laith let him go and Talli turned, leaving a trail of green in his wake. He could hear Laith and Wyatt behind him. Neither man spoke for the longest time.

  Finally Laith asked, “Why are you out here?”

  “Besides the fact that Kele is driving me crazy,” Wyatt said.

  Talli lifted his hand, trailing it across the tops of the cornstalk. “Is that before or after you sucked his face off?” Talli asked and chuckled when Laith laughed. He liked used Colton’s words to describe kissing.

  “Both.”

  “You’re just upset because you’re both fighting for dominance,” Talli explained. He turned, walking backwards. “Kele is bossy with Dasan too, even though he’s Oberon and could throw him in the dungeon. Not that Dasan ever would. Instead, Dasan has learned to keep Kele’s counsel, asking him what he thinks is best. It makes Kele happy to think he has a bit of a say in things. You should try it.”

  Wyatt looked at him in surprise. “Yeah, okay.”

  Talli turned back around. He stayed quiet after that, letting the brothers have their talk.

  “You know I say things when I’m pissed off,” Wyatt said after a few seconds of silence.

  “You came all the way out here to tell me something I already know?” Laith wasn’t going to make it easy on Wyatt apparently.

&n
bsp; “No. I came to say I’m sorry.”

  “So say it.”

  “Why are you being an asshole, Laith?”

  “Because you fucking blame me for every damn thing that happens.”

  “I sent you out to check the cows in the barn. All you had to do was make sure they were fine. Yet, somehow you come back with two faeries. Faeries, Laith. That’s seriously fucked up.”

  “Why are making this a bad thing?”

  “I’m not. I’m just shocked. How the fuck do I wrap my head around any of this.” There was a pause and then Wyatt laughed in such a way that sounded slightly hysterical. “I kissed him. His lips were soft, man, and all I want to do is go find him and roll around with him in the fucking tomatoes he’s probably picking right now. Naked. Except it’s fucking cold out here and I wouldn’t want him to freeze. And absolutely none of that makes sense considering I just met him.”

  “Way too much information, brother,” Laith said around a chuckled. “But I get it okay. Completely, totally understand.”

  Talli turned his head to look at Laith when he felt his gaze burning into him. He sucked in a breath at the fire in Laith’s eyes. Just that look alone made Talli hard in his trousers. He turned around completely and closed the small distance between them.

  Laith wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned down, going in for a kiss. Their lips were just getting ready to touch when Talli felt something tug him from behind. He was nearly pulled out of Laith’s arms. Instead, Laith stumbled, falling against him. Talli fell to the ground with Laith on top of him. Laith cradled his head with one of his hands so he couldn’t hit it on the hard ground.

  Wyatt stood in front of them both, his legs spread out and hands balled up in front of his body. “What the ever-loving hell is that?” He muttered under his breath.

  Talli tried to crane his neck, to see what had tried to take him, but he had a hard time moving with Laith on top of him. “Let me see.”

  Laith moved just enough for him to see a black bird trying to get past Wyatt to Talli. Talli sucked in a breath and his heart pounded in his chest. He tried to push Laith off him but the human was immoveable. “Get off. I must protect you.”

  Laith looked at him for long seconds and finally lifted off him, pulling him up as he went. Talli instantly started chanting even as he grabbed Wyatt’s arm, pulling him away from it. The bird kept coming at Wyatt as he put his body in front of Talli’s. Wyatt had blood on his arms where the bird pecked at him.

  “It wasn’t a bird when it attacked you,” Laith said still holding him around the waist.

  Talli nodded but otherwise didn’t let up on the spell he was casting. The sluagh must have sensed the trap he was setting because he changed back onto his shadowy black soul, which was his original form. It was the original form of any sluagh that didn’t have access to the Otherworld. Or didn’t want access to the Otherworld.

  “He’s going after Kele,” Talli yelled and ran through the cornfield back to the house.

  Wyatt was much faster though and was far ahead of Talli and Laith by the time he got there. Unfortunately, they were all too late. Kele was bent over picking tomatoes just as Wyatt said he would be. He didn’t even see the sluagh coming at him until he heard them running and yelling for him. He looked up at them with a puzzled look on his face and then over at the sluagh just in time to see it grab him up. The thing shook him violently and said, “Get off my land.” It stopped just as suddenly and looked straight at Talli. “Pooka trash.”

  The sluagh started laughing. The sound was a high-pitched cackling noise that Talli hadn’t heard in a long time. The sluagh held Kele by the shirt and flew straight up, several feet in the air. “You’re next pooka. Leave or pay.”

  Talli realized to late what the sluagh’s intentions were. He started running in Kele’s direction just as the sluagh let Kele go. Luckily Wyatt was able to catch him but they both fell to the ground with a sickening thud, Kele laying awkwardly on top of Wyatt.

  Talli knew Kele was unconscious even before he got to him. Kneeling on the ground, he took Kele’s hand. Even when Wyatt moaned and curse, he still held Kele close. “Please. Kele, wake up. Please.”

  Talli didn’t even know he was crying until Laith touched his shoulder. Talli looked up at him and then stood, letting go of Kele’s hand long enough to launch himself at Laith. Strength was what he needed at the moment and Laith had that. He would draw off it and collect himself so he could think of what to do.

  Just the warm, solid chest he pressed his cheek against was enough to slow his heart down, making the pain lessen a bit.

  Wyatt stood, holding Kele in his arms, even as he made his way into the house. Laith lifted Talli much the same way Wyatt did with Kele and carried him in. “Kele,” Talli whispered and started crying again.

  They made their way in the house and Wyatt immediately started making demands.

  The entire time Talli had known the humans, he had just heard Laith say that Wyatt was their leader, but that fact was never apparent until he started barking orders at everyone. He even yelled out the door for Colton, who was still readying the equipment. The fact that Kele never woke up was testament to how injured he truly was. “Laith, go take Talli into the living room. Get him some tea or something. Sly, get your computer and try to find out what the fuck that thing was.”

  “I know nothing and can’t think past the snot collecting in my head, but I’ll look up whatever it was you saw.”

  “Don’t be a smart ass and just do what I say. Also find out what will fix Kele.”

  “A sluagh attacked us,” Talli whispered.

  Wyatt looked at Talli. “What will fix him?”

  “A healer.”

  Colton came in a second later. “Shit, what the fuck did I miss?”

  Talli sat on the bed holding Kele’s hand. The bedroom was right off the living room and Talli could hear everything the humans were saying. Laith’s voice was comforting in its low tones, even if his words held a quality to them that suggested he was very upset by what had happened.

  “We need Dasan, Kele. He’ll be able to heal you,” Talli whispered. Of course, that required Talli having to go back and Dasan would not be happy with him. Still, he’d come and do some of his elf magic to make Kele well again.

  Talli looked out the window at the sun. He didn’t have a lot of time. Even still, he sat there contemplating his options while quietly listening to the four men talk in the other room.

  “It says a sluagh is kinda like a ghost. It’s the ghost of some dude that’s restless,” Sly said right before blowing his nose.

  “This isn’t a movie, Sly,” Wyatt said.

  “It says right here, smart ass.”

  “What the hell does restless mean?” Laith asked.

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you go ask your boyfriend?”

  “Shut up, Sly. He’s not my boyfriend, he’s my soulmate. Get it right.”

  “Whatever. He knows way more than what we can find on the internet. You should get him in here.”

  “He’s still upset. And crying. He wants to be with Kele right now.”

  Actually Talli had stopped crying a few minutes ago.

  Talli squeezed Kele’s hand. “I’ll be right back, Kele. I won’t leave you for long.” But even as he said it he knew that might not be true. He’d have to go back and get Dasan and he’d have to be quick about it if he wanted to do all that before the door closed. Kele might not be able to make it in another three months and the sluagh would still be out causing the farms crops to fail.

  Talli had to trap it and he should do that before he left so it wouldn’t hurt Laith and the others.

  Talli stood in the doorway of the bedroom, looking at the four humans sitting around the living room. “A sluagh is a bit more than a ghost.” When Talli spoke all eyes turned to him, including Laith’s. “It is true that they were thought of as the restless dead but that isn’t entirely true. Sluagh’s are a being, the same as you and I. A sluagh can take
the shape of many things. Most choose the form they are born with, as Awan does. He looks as human as you all do, except for his black eyes.

  “But they are souls of the dead. Most don’t remember their living state, but I suspect this sluagh does. He’s tied himself to the land for some reason. He’s probably the one that’s affecting your crops. His presence explains why they didn’t grow properly. He knows that Kele and I being here, helping you with the crops, will also allow you to keep the land and you’ll never leave.”

  Wyatt’s lips thinned. “We’re not the ones that’ll be leaving.”

  He looked at Laith out of the corner of his eyes, trying to be subtle, but not entirely succeeding. “Sluagh’s like a large group. Awan, for example, has tied himself to Dasan, myself, and Kele. He likes to have us around him.” Talli looked away. Awan will be upset that Kele was hurt. He won’t be happy with either of them. “A lone sluagh, like the one who’s tied himself to the farm, means that his soul is restless. It won’t be easy to make him leave.”

  “How do we get rid of him?” Wyatt asked.

  Talli’s shoulders came up. “You can’t fight something you’re unable to see and the sluagh can make himself invisible to humans if he wants to.” Talli looked at Sly. “That’s the reason humans think of sluagh’s as ghosts, even though they’re not. Laith is the only one that has the potential to see him and even then it won’t be until after our souls bond. I can set a trap but it won’t hold for long. It’ll likely take too long as I need Dasan’s help. He’ll be able to heal Kele.” The tragedy of the situation weighed him down, which made it hard for him to breathe. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes but he willed them back. It wasn’t the time for tears, but action.

  “If we seal the bond, how can I help you fight him?” Laith asked.

  Talli looked at him and then away again, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You can keep him away from me while I cast the circle.”

  “Bond? What does that entail?”

  Talli’s face had never felt so hot. “May we have this discussion later? I have decisions to make.”