Slip Song (Devany Miller Series)

by Jen Ponce

  I slipped my circle onto my wrist and spun it a few times before losing interest. “I’m going to go insane. This is too damn slow.”

  “What was the last thing you made with your hands?”

  I eyed Jasper. “What?”

  He leaned over and, in a conspiratorial whisper, said, “I’m distracting you.”

  “Oh.” I smiled. “Okay.”

  “I’ll start. I carved a kitten from a block of wood. I’d been with that group for so long, they’d forgotten I might want to escape and when I asked, one of them gave me a knife. I whittled all sorts of things but the kitten was the project I was working on when I escaped.” His thumbs rubbed the leather reins in his hands. One of the blue oxen moaned loudly. “I carved and created until they forgot that it was a knife and could only see the animals. They each had at least one of my carvings before I escaped.”

  “Were you any good?”

  He nodded, gave the reins a little snap. “At the end. A few of the group were paying me to carve them things. A horse. An owl. A fleshcrawler.” His lip curled. “Don’t tell your friend, but I never started that project.”

  “I think Nex would be pleased the idea of carving one of his kind freaked you out.” I tucked my hair behind my ear and fought down my impatience. “I made a potholder. With my daughter. One of those plastic loom projects we found at the store. It’s such a tiny thing that it isn’t good for much, but we both made one and they are hanging in the kitchen over the stove.” I wished I could see more than the grimly painted wagon in front of us, all black but for a few red slashes of color. “What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your lifetime?”

  Jasper settled back on the bench, legs spread, casual. Was he unaware of how handsome he was? I thought he was pretty laid back but he had to know he was good looking. Didn’t he? “To expect people to hurt you.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I haven’t had many good experiences. My apologies.”

  “You don’t have to apologize. It just sucks. I’m sorry.” I thought over my life and said, “There will be people who hurt you but they are always outnumbered by people who care.”

  Another moan from our blue oxen answered by one further ahead. I heard someone shout and a whip crack. Jasper looked sad and I wished I’d picked something else to talk about, something innocuous. “I hope that I learn that someday.”

  I laid my hand on his arm. “Me too.”

  A horn sounded and I grasped my circle, closing my eyes. I wasn’t sure how it would work to set a circle while we were moving but I did, picturing a giant blue bubble around the lot of us. For a moment I wasn’t sure it worked, then I heard the zing and pop of it snapping into place.

  When I opened my eyes, the landscape was streaking by us so fast I couldn’t make out any scenery. “What the hell?”

  Jasper was sitting up too, gazing around us in awe. “A back road.”

  “Huh?”

  “I heard traders talk about the back roads through the Anwar, shortcuts only certain people could find and even fewer could survive. I think we’re on a back road.”

  Hope returned to my heart. Traveling this fast, we’d be on the Theleoni by nightfall, surely. As I thought it, the scenery slowed. Our train made a wide, slow turn to the right and then off we went once more. Over the course of the day, we entered and left many of these speedways that Jasper called back roads. It wasn’t easy travel, either, even though it never felt like we, ourselves, were speeding up or slowing down. A call down the line let us know we’d be stopping for the night even though it’d only felt like four or five hours by my internal clock.

  I wanted to protest until I jumped off the wagon and saw the blue oxen, their heads lowered and their muscles shivering in exhaustion. Mounds of froth and lather humped over their hides as they slumped in their yolks, waiting for Yorloff to free them.

  They circled the wagons into the same spiral we’d first walked into. Poles were knocked into the ground around the camp, lodestones hanging from each one. Once a physical perimeter was established, Zed touched one stone and power leapt from one to the other until energy hummed around us. A sigh went through the camp as people let go of their individual protections. I hadn’t realized until I let mine go how taxing it had been on me to maintain it all day.

  I helped Jasper dust the wagon and then we joined the group for dinner around a fire. Leon told a story in which he figured prominently, then the tattooed hypothermia victim stood, her blue-streaked white hair dancing down her back like icicles. “I am Inna for you virgies.” Half-hearted laughter from some of the crowd, a hearty chuckle from Leon, his beefy, Popeye-esque forearms pressed against his thighs. “And I have a tale to tell, about the Wydling woman who bargained with a Skriven for the love of a witch man.”

  I had a thin metal plate propped on my knees with bread, cheese, and an offering of lightly boiled veggies, most of which I couldn’t identify. Lucky me, none of them tasted like beets. I popped a fat green stem into my mouth and enjoyed the texture and flavor as Inna continued.

  “Ten on ten on ten turns ago this was, and the Wydling lived close to the borders. Them witch-folk, they liked to stay behind their barriers, sure the wild magic were contagious.”

  Scoffing from the assembled crew. I snuck a peak around, looking for Sharps. She sat with her back against a wagon wheel, her gaze trained away from the fire and Inna.

  “One day, a self-important witch man came to a small village on the border to check the barriers. He was a might powerful and our Wydling woman could feel him, so she came to take a look.” Inna stood, peering around an invisible wall or tree to gawk at the witch man. I almost looked over my shoulder, sure I would see him. “He saw her, our Wydling woman and when he did, he fell for her. And she for him. Or so it’s been told.”

  Inna spun around and as she did, she trailed shimmering clocks from her fingers. “Time passed. The witch man snuck over the border to see our Wydling woman and she crept into Flingway at night. They weren’t hurting nobody but people talked and people whispered. Her mate despised the witch man and the witch man’s family hated our Wydling.”

  She folded herself in half, her hands on the ground like a dancer. As she brought her fingers up, fire dripped from them. “The Anforsa came to the tiny border town and she poked her dirty fingers in where they didn’t belong and our Wydling was whipped and run from town, that self-important witch man put in chains.”

  Boos and mutters from the crowd. Leon still had that shit-eating grin on his face, but I got the sense that he wasn’t listening to the story. He was gone in his head, and I was glad for it. If only he would get lost where ever his mind was at and never return.

  “Our Wydling woman got desperate. She crept back to the border but couldn’t get in and she cried out for help. That’s when the world-walker came. She invited our Wydling to pour out her troubles.”

  People around me muttered. World-walker. Skriven. Oh boy.

  “She did, she told that world-walker her woes and the demon told her she had only to promise a boon to get her heart’s desire.” Inna looked out at the crowd, her eyes falling on each face in turn. “Which one of you wouldn’t bargain a little something for your heart’s desire?”

  Before everything that had happened at the bazaar, before I knew other worlds existed, I might have found it a tiny bit tempting. Now? Oh hell no.

  Inna nodded, satisfied by the solemn looks on her audience’s faces. “Our Wydling woman didn’t know that her witch man had freed himself from his jail and was on his way to her. She made a deal with that soul-eater for nothing.” Inna spat and several others copied the action. “She got her man, oh yes she did. And they had to run to be safe because the witch-folk wanted him back and her dead, and her mate wanted her back and that witch man dead. They ran to the Wastes and some say beyond that. Ran from the witch-folk and Wydlings, sure, but she also ran from the demon and no one runs from them for long.”

  She spun around again, snatching Alton’s h
at off his head and holding it against her belly. “When she was close to due, when she was happiest, another world-walker came back along. She was scared and she pleaded with him, certain he wanted her baby’s soul and would take it from the innocent in her womb. ‘Please!’” Inna’s shriek held all the fear and despair the Wydling mother must have felt and goosebumps pricked along the backs of my arms.

  “That world-walker, he said, ‘Take the babe and flee this world.’ He laid a hand on our Wydling’s belly and spoke to the babe. She feared it would die, with his touch, but the babe kicked and rolled as if it knew him. ‘Go. Tonight. Or live with the consequences.’”

  She flicked her hands and the air rippled as if there were a hook forming in front of her. She stepped through and the ripples vanished. “They fled. Left behind the magic and their families and the world to protect their child. They didn’t know why that demon saved them, couldn’t believe it was for the good. How could it be? But that first world-walker, she came down to the Anwar after her boon and when she learned it had escaped her she was angry. So angry.” She created a picture of people, happy people, dancing, cavorting, living, and then ripped it apart with her hands. “Tribes died in the wake of her tantrum.” Inna flung one man’s half-empty plate to the ground and ignored him when he protested. “She flattened Flingway with everyone in it but she couldn’t get the babe back.” When she went for a hawk-headed woman’s plate, the creature screeched at her and everyone laughed. Inna’s eyes went dark.

  “Our Goddess who lives in the Cradle reached out Her hand and touched the Skriven’s mind.” At the mention of the goddess, everyone went quiet and Leon’s mouth turned down. Inna glared at him, defiant. Then she reached out a finger to touch him. When she was but inches from him, he struck, grabbing her finger and twisting it.

  I heard the snap and I jumped to my feet. Jasper grabbed me, as did another man.

  “No, Devany,” Jasper whispered.

  I tried to shake them off but they persisted. I couldn’t get away but they didn’t hold my voice. I shouted, “Why did you break her finger?”

  No one looked at me. No one but him. He still held her finger and he sent her to her knees. He talked to Inna but it was at me he looked. “Whose finger is this, Inna?”

  “Yours, Leon.” Pain wove through her words. That and anger. Humiliation, too.

  “Stop it,” I said.

  “Please, Devany, his magic is growing wilder,” Jasper whispered. “Unstable.”

  He jerked his arm causing Inna to cry out. “Whose Carnicus is this?”

  “Yours,” Inna sobbed and the others around the fire repeated the word.

  Satisfied, he released her but put a burly hand on the back of her neck. “Who do you belong to?”

  I jerked free of Jasper and was two steps closer when I looked at him again through my Magic Eye. His magic shot dagger-like into everyone around that fire but Jasper and I. He held their lives in his hands. Killing him would kill them all. I stilled.

  Inna hadn’t answered and he gave her a shake. “Who do you belong to, Inna? To whom do you owe your existence?”

  “You, Leon.”

  “There is no bitch goddess. There is no one but me.” He stood, dragging her up with him. “Come, make things up to me, Inna.”

  I gritted my teeth so hard they squeaked. Fuck you, asshole.

  “Would you like to say anymore, virgie?” Challenge hung heavy between us. He wanted me to have a go at him. What would he do if he won? Kill me? Rape me?

  One day I’ll kill you. I didn’t say it out loud, just let Jasper tug me away. One day, asshole. You fucking wait.

  After he left, the tension eased. Subdued conversations started up and Zed seated himself beside me. “That was a foolish thing to do,” he said. I opened my mouth to protest and he added, “Thank you.”

  “What? I didn’t do anything.” I’d frozen and let that bastard hurt the woman.

  “You showed everyone that he doesn’t intimidate you.”

  I disagreed but kept my mouth shut. I hadn’t done anything. Knowing that harming him would have hurt everyone else was a little consolation. I didn’t want anyone else hurt because of that asshole.

  Jasper touched my arm. “I’ll be back.”

  “Okay.” I almost said, ‘Be careful,’ but refrained. He was a grown up.

  Once Jasper left, Zed said, “That was a magnificent circle you made earlier. How were you able to maintain something that large for so long?”

  “Magic?”

  He eyed me, then chuckled. “It was strong but raw. Weak points. Here,” he said, and jabbed me right below my collarbone. “And here.” Another jab, this time on my upper thigh. “What manner of teaching have you had, magic wise?” He shook his finger like I’d shocked him.

  “Well, I’m a human so. Nothing.”

  He grunted. “That needs remedied. Immediately. Your power makes you valuable and vulnerable. Don’t let that pompous gasbag know how strong you are. He won’t like it.”

  I nodded, though “pompous gasbag” was a fricking compliment compared to what I wanted to call Leon. “Why doesn’t he already know? It’s not like I’ve been hiding it.”

  “He’s blind to magic. Can use it but can’t see it. Makes him as dangerous as a buck in heat in the midst of a toddler party.”

  I paused a moment to picture that in my head. It didn’t end well. Shaking off the disturbing images, I said, “Can you teach me?”

  “I could. Question is, can you learn what I have to teach?”

  “Really? That’s a question you’re going to ask me, like I’m five or something?”

  “A lot of it is practice and mental determination.” He tapped his temple with a bony finger. “You got to be willing to sit in your head and be quiet. That’s hard.”

  “No kidding.” I sighed. Mediation. My nemesis. “I appreciate whatever you can impart.” A thought occurred to me. “Is there a special way to identify Wings from afar?”

  Zed considered. “I don’t know about that. They have distinctive signatures but I’ve found that they are, at the same time, hard to see.”

  In other words, no help at all. I sighed. I didn’t want to think about how long I’d already been away from the kids and how much longer this would take. I’d scream but he might take it the wrong way and change his mind about teaching me. Sometimes it was damned inconvenient not being rude.

  “First lesson. Sit until nightfall with quiet thoughts.” He started to pat my knee, thought better of it and gave me a thumbs up instead.

  I tried. I bloody well tried but it wasn’t a minute before I was wondering what Bethy and Liam were up to. When I forced those thoughts away then others intruded: what was Amara doing to Tytan? Was Vasili doing what I asked him to do? What was Ellison up to? Would I ever find Tytan’s soul? And what was up with Neutria anyway?

  When Jasper came with cups of water for both of us, I don’t think I’d ever been happier seeing anyone. “Oh thank heavens.”

  “Thirsty?”

  I took a long swallow and sighed. “That too. Zed said he’d teach me magic, then made me meditate.”

  Jasper laughed. “I take it did not go well?”

  “No. Whatever you did the other day in my living room, can you do that again with me? I mean, I meditated like a boss with you.”

  He sat down next to me in one fluid movement. “Of course. Though it might not be helpful to your learning if I help.”

  “What did you do, put a spell on me or something?”

  “It’s more of a calming presence. Nothing that could win a fist fight. Once tempers are flying it’s pretty much useless. When I was with the Theleoni, I used it often. It kept things from getting awful most nights.”

  I curled my lip. What was with torture? Jasper, Tytan, Zech, Arsinua. They’d all been tortured at some time or other. A thought occurred to me. “You said Cyres was your sister, right? So you and she were close.”

  He nodded.

  “Damn I’m dumb.” I g
rabbed his arm—gently—and said, “Picture her, will you?”

  “It won’t work.”

  I opened my eyes. “What? And why not?”

  “She’s cloaked. I was too, when they held me captive. Ravana gave them a focusing device to conceal us.”

  “But you told me to try and find Tytan. To hook to her. You said that. Today.” I tried to keep the anger out of my voice but it creeped in anyway.

  “He can’t find her but you are his Originator. You could see the connection and follow it. I only thought to be helpful.”

  I dropped my hand from his arm. “Fine. It’s fine. Really. I’m getting used to being stumped at every turn. But now I really need to think things through. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that a long time ago, like when you said you’d been with her. We could’ve eliminated that chance right away.”

  “And we would still be here, hunting her through the Anwar.”

  “True, but maybe I wouldn’t be so annoyed right now.” Another laugh, though he stilled it quickly as if I might get mad at him for it. “Jasper, I’d never hurt you. No torture from me. And I’ll do all I can to keep you from harm from now on, okay?”

  “Devany Miller, I believe you are Originator for a reason. You could change things for the better.”

  I shied away from the emotion in his voice. I didn’t feel comfortable being any kind of hero-didn’t think of myself that way at all but damn it, he had a point. I could make a difference. If I survived. If I figured out the rules so I understood what to follow and what to break. Smashing my way through things like I’d been doing would end up with innocents hurt. That I could never live with.

  A growl made us both jump. Fifty feet away a speckle-furred monstrosity bared its teeth at the edge of the protective perimeter. As we watched, other animals joined the first. There were deer, skunks, jackals, and other things I wouldn’t be able to identify even with a Dr. Seuss encyclopedia in front of me. In minutes we were surrounded. Heart pounding, I rose, my water forgotten in one hand. “What the hell?”

  “The denizens of the Anwar,” Alton intoned behind us. “They don’t like intruders in their domain and will pace us our entire trip.” He had a large white towel draped over one of his shoulders and his thinning hair was slicked back and shiny wet. “Don’t cross the barrier. They won’t be kind.”