Callie's Guardian: White Tigers of Brigantia (Book 1)

by Lisa Daniels

  “Keep it up, pretty boy. Even medics have a breaking point.”

  He laughed, “Pretty boy. Oh, I love that. Say it again.”

  “No.”

  “Please.”

  “If I do, will you promise not to follow me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Ailey couldn’t help but smile as she said, “Alright, pretty boy, you have a deal.”

  The man’s step was lighter as they moved along. For a while he hummed as they walked, and Ailey had to admit that his voice was incredible. Something in the tone reminded her of one of her earliest memories. She was a young girl running through a meadow on a trip to the mainland. It was the first time she had left the island, and even now she remembered the experience as being the point when she decided that she would not be able to stay on the island. It was like an unreal paradise. The young version of her had torn off her shirt as she ran through the meadow, not understanding why her parents had forced the clothing on her. They laughed as she ran around, her hands brushing against the wild flowers. The island was like paradise, but the mainland had so many charms and so much beauty that it seemed more real. For a while, the medic walked along, smiling at the memory.

  “So where are you headed?” Ailey finally asked, dragging her mind back into the present.

  Ash looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “I was supposed to meet up with my friends to help them look for someone who went missing a while back.”

  “So you are going to meet up with them now?”

  “Oh no, they came and went this morning. When I told them that I couldn’t join them, they wished me well and went on their way.”

  “You sent Ivy in your place?” Ailey smirked as she watched the look on his face. The man seemed to take the question very seriously.

  When he responded, the words were measured, “No, she isn’t my replacement. She made the mistake of trying to steal from my friends. The ring she stole from Noely was one of the few things that my friend had from the man they are looking for. That girl is quite good. Ivy, I mean. Well, Noely is too, but she’s not human, good is expected. And a different type of good.”

  “You are rambling.” Ailey looked at the man, a bit baffled by everything he had said.

  “Apologies. It is so difficult to organize my thoughts with you around, you are quite a distraction.”

  “I have been called many things, but that is not something I have been accused of recently.”

  “Then the people you know are very adept at ignoring someone who is completely remarkable.”

  Ailey felt a bit of a blush rise to her checks. Trying to hide it, she cleared her throat, “You were attempting to say?”

  “Oh, right. I had never met Noely before, but I’ve heard the stories. So many stories. Of course, she wasn’t called Noely in the stories that I heard, but that is to be expected, given what she is. It was such a pleasure finally getting to meet her and finding out just why Cyprian has been so….” The man waved his hands in the air as if trying to find the right words, then he looked at Ailey. “Seeing her didn’t help a lot. I mean she was good-looking in a very traditional sense, but I didn’t really get much of a sense of an aura from her. Maybe I just didn’t know what to look for since that was my first encounter.”

  Ailey smiled at the excitement and near incoherence of her companion. “You have only just met her, and yet you call her your friend. You must be very trusting.”

  “That is your way of kindly calling me naïve.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, causing Ailey to bite her lip. “It’s okay, you aren’t the first.” He leaned his head back and smiled. “I would rather be called naïve or have people think that I am too optimistic than to come across like a martyr or, worse, a stickler for rules.” There was a noticeable shiver from him as he said stickler.

  “Is that what you see when you look at me?”

  The man let out a loud laugh that caused Ailey to smile. “Not at all. You are serious to a fault, certainly, but you have no problem bending rules, and I dare say completely shattering them to help others. You aren’t the kind to go throwing your life away either. That is clear, and why I am shocked that you are heading to Melzi. There must be something beyond just the plague to draw you. All of the martyrs have already made their way there and died. No, you are something else entirely, I just don’t know what.”

  “You can’t say any of that stuff about me with certainty because you only met me yesterday.”

  “I say it with absolute certainty. There is much I don’t know about you, but some things about you are as obvious as a beautiful flower blooming in an open field.”

  For a second, Ailey’s mind returned to her memory. Forcing herself back into the present, the medic found a smile fading from her lips. Ash had turned and was now walking just in front of her, the smile plastered to his face as he walked backwards. “I believe you were trying to convince me that Ivy is alright.”

  “Oh, yes, sorry, you were distracting me.” He turned and fell in step beside her. “I met this version of Noely, said hello to Cyprian-”

  “What do you mean this version of Noely? Is she part of an important bloodline?”

  “Oh, no, nothing that difficult to follow. She’s the reincarnated version of her previous selves.” Ailey opened her mouth to say something about that, but ended up smiling and shaking her head as Ash continued. “There’s only one of her, and she always falls for Cyprian. This is the first time where they have actually gotten together, though. Good for him, I say. That man has the patience of a saint, and it damn near got him killed far too many times.”

  Ailey ran a hand over her face. “I really can’t keep up with what you are saying.”

  “Hey, now,” Ash pulled her hand off of her face. “None of that now. No hiding your face.”

  “I wasn’t hiding.” Ailey realized that he had not let go of her hand. And she decided not to pull it away from his grasp. It would probably only encourage him to try it again later. She ignored the obvious flaw in that logic, and tried to listen to him as he spoke.

  The smile on his face softened for a moment, and he threaded his fingers through hers. Then he continued, “Noely is a – never mind that. She has been around in different versions for a very long time. Cyprian fell in love with her when he was only 20 years old, and that is really saying something. He was practically an infant. Anyway, things were always off for them, and she has never lived very long. Given that it takes over 100 years for her to reincarnate, he tried to forget her. He got married, had a few kids, oh, must have been about 700 years ago. Long before I was born. His wife was killed, then his kids not too long ago. Well, not too long for someone his age. It was all still before my time, I think about 75 or 100 years ago, not quite sure. Cyprian was basically looking for a way to die when Noely came back into his life. Beautiful timing on her part because we would have lost the oldest of our kind, and probably Hisa with him. Talk about stubborn, you’ve no idea.” He looked at Ailey with a grin.

  “I can’t imagine.” The sarcasm was thick so that there was no question that he got it. “Mostly because I am having a difficult time following your discourse.”

  Ash simply laughed in response. “Hisa makes me look like a meek man.”

  “You mean this guy can make you look like an obedient pretty boy?”

  Ash laughed and squeezed her hands. “The things you say.” He looked at her, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Again, Ailey found herself smiling. “Well, Hisa was keeping an eye on Cyprian, joined the military and everything. Completely out of character, but even that wouldn’t have been enough, I don’t think. Not without Noely. Then Ivy just up and steals Noely’s ring, and all hell breaks loose. If I hadn’t been there, Cyprian probably would have killed her. He has very little love of humans.”

  “You mean he hates them.”

  “That is still putting it mildly. Given what they have done to him, though, it is difficult to fault him. I mean, they did kill his wife and children
, most of them. Remember, this is the guy with the patience of a saint, but when he gets angry, only fools try to face him. Shoot, I wouldn’t fight him if he were only mildly irritated. Life is far too enjoyable to risk that kind of danger. Anyway, I convinced Noely of the value of having a thief with them for their hunt, and she convinced Cyprian.”

  “So you convinced a humanoid who hates humans to take a human with him on a trip to look for a long-lost friend.”

  “When you say it like that, it does sound a bit reckless. Fortunately, our little Ivy isn’t fully human, only about an eighth, she just doesn’t know it.”

  Ailey closed her eyes, trying to process everything. The warmth of Ash’s hand on hers pulled her mind out of the thought process and into the moment. Instead of trying to untangle all of the information, Ailey decided it was best to let Ash finish his story. “Then what happened?”

  “Noely convinced Cyprian. Ivy was so terrified of what would happen if she stayed in Derbe that she was more than eager to go. I mean, she did steal a lot of stuff from her room, and they were calling the guards when I convinced them she had no intention of actually leaving with the stuff. Obviously, she is clueless that she is with someone far more dangerous than anyone in Derbe, but why scare her when it benefits everyone? No doubt she thinks she can escape once they get a ways from the town, but that will be her disappointment to bear.”

  “You don’t think she will succeed?”

  “Not a chance. Even if she knew how to control her magic, there’s nothing she could do against either of those two on her own. Together, the idea is laughable. I mean, it is like saying that a flower stands a chance against a tornado and an earthquake.”

  “Do you think she will be alright?”

  Ash shrugged, “She will be safe from others and herself. Cyprian will be fine, he’s just ridiculously protective of Noely, especially now.”

  “Why especially now?”

  “Because – Oh, look!” Ash dropped Ailey’s hand and ran a little ahead of her. “There’s the city.”

  Ailey blinked. “We shouldn’t be able to see the city until tomorrow evening.”

  Ash gave her a huge grin. “Travel with me and it will always feel like time flies. It’s part of my charm.”

  “What are you?”

  “Not a human,” Ash’s eyes danced as he smiled at her. “We are close, but best not to press forward anymore today. I’m exhausted and there are a few perfectly good inns here where we can stay. Besides, it will be easier to find us here than down the road. This is one of his favorite places because of the soup.”

  Ailey was only half listening as she watched Ash’s unsteady movements. She stepped towards the humanoid just as he swayed a little. She put her hands out to steady him, and Ash leaned on her a little, turning his smiling face to her. He rested his head on her shoulder and looked up at her. “That was tiring, but worth seeing that smile on your face.” Ailey could feel his breath on her face, and she tried to look at him sideways before giving her shoulder a little jolt. He laughed and stepped away from her, nearly stumbling over a few rocks behind him. Ailey reached out a hand and helped steady him before wrapping an arm around his waist and turning to the inn.

  Shaking her head for what felt like the 100th time, Ailey knew that her companion needed to sit down and rest. “Whatever you did, you got me a lot further than I could have gotten on my own. I wouldn’t make it to the city today even if I pushed forward, so we can rest here tonight. But remember, you promised not to come with me tomorrow, pretty boy.”

  Ash gave her a faded smile, “This way.” He slipped out of her arm, wrapped a hand around hers, and led her to a comfortable-looking inn.

  Chapter 5

  The Unplanned Evening

  Ash ordered their food and was lively as he chatted with the wait staff, but Ailey could tell that the trip had really taken a toll on him. Perhaps that was his way of saying goodbye to her. Maybe it was his way of apologizing for his initial assumptions. Whatever the case, Ailey enjoyed watching him as he laughed and talked. When the meal arrived, the humanoid seemed intent on eating, so Ailey ended up talking much more than she had up to that point.

  At first she talked about her early days on the island and what brought her to the mainland. She reminisced about the early days as a medic during training and some of the things that she and a few of the others had got up to, like breaking into an herbalist’s shop and experimenting on each other with some of the newest concoctions. Her stories then turned to her first romantic interest in one of the other medics. They had experimented on each other in a completely different way, and it was the basis for a good bit of her early knowledge of how to talk about sex with others. Though Ailey had never been uncomfortable talking about it, there was a big difference between being comfortable talking about it and being capable of talking about it. The relationship had ended badly when she had caught him sleeping with one of her patients for a second time. The first time she had forgiven; the second time, it was over. Still, she had learned a lot from it, though she found herself disinterested in serious relationships after that.

  “I guess that it was bound to happen.” Ailey looked out the window at the moon and noted that it was full. “Not the infidelity, but the loss of interest in a serious relationship. I had already proven I wasn’t terribly interested in staying in one place, and there aren’t many medics who travel in pairs well into old age. Usually you either stay single or you marry and settle down. Not always, but I’ve only known a few couples who chose to move around together. For the rest of us, it’s easier to find a willing participant when the desire arises, then move on. It has certainly been easier for me.”

  Ash had been resting his cheek on one of his hands. “That’s terribly unfortunate. One bad experience ruined the whole thing for you.”

  Ailey shrugged, “I don’t see what’s so wrong with it. Besides, I don’t think that you appear to be one to talk.”

  Ash sat up. “I am not like that. Not anymore. There was a time when Hisa and I hung out and I would indulge in more promiscuous behavior, but not to forget a bad experience. It was mostly because I didn't’ really think about the future.”

  “It was about living in the moment.”

  Ash looked into Ailey’s eyes. “Yes. There is always something about living that draws you to the moment, and it can lead to mistakes when you aren’t careful.”

  “I don’t think it was a mistake to find satisfaction and enjoyment in the moment. Speaking as a human, sometimes it is the only thing that can convince you to face another day.”

  Ash looked at her and sighed, but said nothing. Ailey looked around and realized that many of the guests had left without her noticing. There were a few people at a table across the room, and even they seemed to be preparing to leave. With a frown, she said, “It seems a bit early for it to be so empty.”

  Ash looked around. “It’s after 11 and there is a funeral tomorrow. Most of the people will have gone to make their preparations.”

  Ailey looked at him. “How could you know that?”

  He turned his fascinating purplish eyes and looked at her. “I left here a couple of days ago for Derbe.”

  “Oh.” It dawned on her that for all of his chatter, Ash rarely said much about himself. After their meal, he now knew far more about her than she knew of him.

  Her companion tilted his head to the side. “Is something wrong?”

  “I just-” She pursed her lips. “I don’t usually talk about myself so much. I’m more accustomed to doing the listening. But it occurs to me that despite how much you have talked since I met you, there has not been a lot of information about yourself. I’ve learned more about people you know whom I have never met.”

  Ash laughed, “I’m not hiding much. What do you want to know?” He rested his face on his knuckle, and flashed a knowing smile at her.

  For the first time in years, Ailey felt self-conscious. Trying to act natural, she began to bite her thumb nail. “Um, how about wh
ere are you from?”

  Ash smiled and opened his mouth to answer when a loud noise outside of the inn caused the pair to turn around. “Ah, he’s finally made it.”

  “What do you mean?” Ailey’s question was lost in the noise as a flurry of activity seemed to attract the attention of everyone left in the restaurant.

  “You want to know a bit more about me, here’s your chance.” Ash gave her a smile as the front door of the inn slammed open.

  “Ash, I hope you know what you are doing because I am very busy.”

  The pair turned their heads. Ash sprang to his feet and rushed forward to greet the new comer. The young man appeared to get a second wind as he threw his arms around the man. “Anani! I wasn’t sure you would come.”

  The man laughed and patted Ash on the back hard enough that Ailey could hear it from her place at the table. Uncertain what she should do, she watched the pair from her place.

  “Of course I came. If nothing else, I need to hear why I am taking over for you after you committed to helping Cyprian. You were so determined just a week ago, and now, all of a sudden, you are backing out.”

  “Well, three things happened, the most important of which was that I met Noely, and there are a few things that our little Cyprian neglected to mention about her.”

  “Like what?” The newcomer was intriguing, and Ailey found herself watching the exchange with interest. Ash’s friend, Anani, had multi-colored hair. It wasn’t long, but compared to Ash’s it was easy to think of it that way. In truth, it was only a few inches long, but that was not what was fascinating. The ends of his hair were light, almost white. The further your eyes travelled to the roots, the darker the hair got. By the time Ailey looked at the very finely-kept beard, the hair was black. It was the first thing that the eye noticed, but soon, Ailey found herself taking in the other aspects of the man. He had a very sinewy build and was a good bit thinner than Ash, but Anani was several inches taller. It really emphasized just how solidly built Ash was, and mentally Ailey could not help but agree with Ivy’s initial assessment that oak was a better description of the energetic humanoid who traveled with her. Quickly shaking her head, Ailey tried to push such thoughts from her mind. She was traveling alone.