“That was a scream of enjoyment, not danger.”
“Who can tell?” Inona muttered. But she took her hand from her pocket and relaxed.
Delbin bypassed the short, crowded set of steps to the ride’s entrance and headed for the small operator’s station attached to the side. He waited until Tommy stopped the ride and started helping people to the exit before climbing over the rails and dropping behind the control panel with a flourish. Delbin peeked over at Inona, both her brows lifted at his antics.
“Couldn’t you have used the stairs?”
Some of his ill humor faded as he smirked. “Faster this way.”
Inona leaned a shoulder against the pink side panel and gestured at the booth. “There’s not room for me up there. What am I supposed to do?”
Before he could answer, Tommy returned. “All clear. I’m headed to the big wheel now. Trainin’ someone new?”
“Nah. Just a friend.” Though if she wanted more… No. Delbin cut that wish off and darted around Tommy before the line of guests grew too impatient. “Catch you later.”
Tommy leered as he climbed down the side next to Inona but didn’t have time to flirt. If they were short-handed, Grunge would be antsy. No use holding things up any longer than necessary. Delbin opened the entrance gate, taking tickets and directing the guests toward the cars. He only had to ask two children to stand by the measuring stick—both kids were tall enough, fortunately—before he could do the safety check and return to the controls.
“All right, folks, keep both hands on the rails while the ride is moving,” he announced into the microphone above the control panel. “Remain seated at all times, and do not attempt to leave the car until the ride has come to a complete stop.”
Delbin hit the start button. And for the love of the Divine, please don’t puke.
By the time night had fallen, Inona had shifted from doubt about Delbin to certainty—something was not right with him. He worked, and it was clear he was used to it. He operated the ride with a casual ease that could only be borne of experience. When one of the spinning cars started sticking, he climbed in to fix it. He smiled and chatted with the guests. He’d even cleaned up after a sick child without complaint.
If he’d decided to contribute to society, why wouldn’t he have petitioned to return to Moranaia?
Smiling in reassurance, she directed the next child in line to stand by the height line. Inona couldn’t fit up top with Delbin, so he’d given her this task. It wasn’t too bad. Except… “I’m sorry. You’re not quite tall enough.”
The little girl’s lip stuck out. “I’m seven. I’m big enough!”
“Well, you don’t want to be flung out of the ride, do you?” Inona asked. Quite reasonably, she thought. “I don’t think you could be healed from that type of disaster.”
“Flung out?”
A choked cough sounded behind her, and Inona looked away from the suddenly pale child to Delbin. “What?” she asked.
She felt the brush of his mind against hers. But this time, her body heated in something decidedly not anger. She clamped down on her self-control and let his thoughts flow in. “Don’t terrify the humans, Inona.”
Humor seeped into his every word. She shot him a frustrated glance. “Shouldn’t she know the risk?”
“Perhaps not so…vividly.”
As he coughed again, a sorry attempt to stifle a laugh, Inona cut off the connection. The girl still stood, biting her lip as she stared at the ride. Inona sighed. Maybe that had been a bit much. “I’m sorry,” she said, catching the child’s attention. “I was just teasing.”
“My sister’s on there,” the girl whispered. “She’s tall. I think.”
Clechtan. Inona knelt down to meet the child’s eyes. “She’ll be fine. The only person who’s actually been flung off of the ride is Delbin up there, and he seems okay.”
The girl’s mouth fell open, and her gaze shot to Delbin. Then she laughed. “You’re really joking?”
The humans wouldn’t ride these things if they weren’t safe, right? Inona gave a decisive nod. “Absolutely. But you really do have to be as tall as the line to get on.”
“Cass!” a woman called from a nearby bench. “I told you they wouldn’t let you on. Come wait for your sister.”
The little girl danced away, waving, her faith in the ride restored. As the whirling began again, Inona darted a glance over her shoulder. If only her faith in the metal contraption was so strong. But Delbin didn’t seem the type to lead people to their doom. As the night progressed, she became more certain of it. He was not what he seemed.
Finally, another fair worker arrived to relieve them. As Delbin climbed down, he glanced back at Stephie. “How’s Meggie’s girl?”
“A bit better,” the woman answered. “Shouldn’t need a doctor, thank God.”
Delbin nodded and grasped Inona’s hand. “Good. She’s been saving too long for her own trailer for that kind of hit.” He waved. “See you later!”
They walked in silence for a few moments, but Inona couldn’t hold in her curiosity for long. “What did you mean, ‘that kind of hit’?”
“Healers are not a given here,” Delbin said. “Human healthcare is different.”
Her hand tightened around his. “And you stay here?” she blurted.
His lips twisted. “I don’t have a choice.”
“No one is banned forever. Not if they’ll abide by our laws.” Anger coursed through her as she gestured at the Tilt-A-Whirl. “You obviously don’t mind work. With your magical talent, you could do many things on Moranaia. Don’t tell me you don’t have a choice.”
“It’s not…” His voice trailed off, and his eyes went wide. “Do you feel that?”
Her stomach lurched as the world pulsed sickly around her for several unending heartbeats. Then it was gone. Around them, the humans carried on, no sign of distress on their faces. Her eyes met Delbin’s. “What…?”
“Something happened to the energy here.” His mouth turned down. “But I can’t tell what.”
She tugged at his hand. “Let’s go find out.”
Delbin hurried into his tent and grabbed his backpack. Even after a hundred uneventful years on Earth, he kept an emergency pack prepared. Humans in this country didn’t tend to believe in the supernatural, and people, here at least, didn’t fear being burned at the stake. Yet that didn’t mean there was no danger, as humans also tended to capture or kill what they didn’t understand. He had to be ready to move quickly if he was discovered.
After slinging the backpack over his shoulder, Delbin paused. His eyes slipped closed as he followed the trail of odd energy through the web of magic that connected all life. A discordant note, a hint of wrongness…. There. He frowned as he tried to pinpoint the location. It wasn’t the portal, a point he could detect easily. They’d have to drive out in search of the origin.
Delbin ducked out of the tent and met Inona’s gaze. “Best I can tell, it’s coming from somewhere to the north. Maybe the state park.”
Inona gave a quick glance around before answering in a low voice. “We have to find it.”
With a nod, Delbin headed for the truck. His every instinct told him to pull power into himself to prepare for conflict, but the energy pulsed in odd ways. He’d been more and more hesitant of doing too much magic in some locations, as some areas left him feeling ill if he tried to connect to the energy. Now, it shifted back and forth between that sickly feel and something closer to normal.
Maybe his earlier confrontation with Kien hadn’t been a coincidence.
He rounded the front of the truck as Inona climbed into the passenger seat, but he stopped short at the sight of Grunge stepping out of the shadows. “I know we’re short-handed, but I need to—”
“Go and figure out this mess,” Grunge said, nodding.
Peering into Grunge’s face, Delbin caught the slightest flicker of power. A few breaths of time where he could see a younger face beneath the glamour. “You’ve noticed th
e change in energy, too? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Didn’t want to,” he answered with a shrug. “Now go fix it. I’ll find someone to fill in if you’re not back in time for the morning shift.”
Delbin gave a quick salute. “Thanks, Grunge.”
As the Sidhe walked away, Delbin hopped into the truck and snapped on his seat belt. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about losing his job. With a smile, he started the ignition and threw the truck into gear.
He glanced at Inona to see if his silence bothered her and frowned to see her pallor. “Sorry.”
“Why?” He saw her study him out of the corner of his eye. “I’m not upset,” she said.
“You’re pale.”
She surprised him by laughing. “We’re hurtling over the ground in a metal contraption. I’ve been in human transports before, but… How can you do this so often? I don’t know how anyone gets used to this.”
“Your job is to cross through the Veil between worlds, but a truck makes you nervous?” It was his turn to chuckle. Magic might make life easy, but that ease often stifled innovation. “These things move fast, but they won’t get you lost for centuries.”
Her chin lifted. “I’ve never been lost in the Veil.”
“Wow.” One side of Delbin’s mouth curved up. “Not even during training? Impressive.”
“I had a good teacher,” Inona said primly, though he could hear the humor in her tone.
“Still, the Veil’s tricky,” he argued.
“Well…” Inona paused as he took a sharp right and then turned left onto a narrow, curvy mountain road. When she spoke again, her voice was tenser than before. “Kai did have to come after me once, but I wouldn’t say I was lost. Misplaced a little, maybe. All strands lead somewhere.”
Delbin gave her a sidelong glance. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as an optimist.”
“I’m not.” He caught her shrug. “But I’m not a pessimist, either. Life is never one way or the other.”
He considered her words as he turned onto another, less populated road. Never one way or the other. Delbin supposed she was right. Ups and downs traded places like cars on a Ferris wheel. He was example enough of that. He might’ve had to leave his home, but he’d been content on Earth, sometimes even happy. In the last few years, he’d found good friends among the hard-working carnival folk. Many of his earlier jobs had been equally rewarding.
But not all.
“We aren’t too far from the portal now,” Inona said.
Delbin pushed his ruminations aside to focus on the area. The roads wound around and between the forested mountains, neighborhoods and shopping centers appearing where they could. If the trees were more ancient and the buildings better blended into the environment, the place wouldn’t be too far off from Moranaia.
Chattanooga was definitely one of his favorite stops on the east coast route.
The trees thinned, and he caught sight of a neighborhood in the distance. “Annoying that they’ve built so close to the portal.”
“I hope it doesn’t cause a problem,” she answered, gaze focused ahead. “There was no sign of discovery at the portal, but we’ll need to heighten shielding. Or seal this particular gate. Most humans aren’t connected to the flow of magic well enough to slip into the Veil’s energy, but you never know. It’s going to take careful watching.”
“Better you than me.”
She snorted. “Thanks.”
Delbin drove past the portal’s location and continued beyond the houses. The trail of dark energy was farther north. “This is across the river from the official state park, but the mountains here are fairly tall. Let’s head up the mountain. There are lots of places to hide up there. Caves and such.”
For a moment, she didn’t answer. “Why are you helping with this? You don’t care about Moranaia or—”
“I do care about Moranaia,” he retorted. His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Or I would have stayed.”
More silence. Then hesitantly she spoke. “Tell me.”
Should he? Coric knew most of the truth and had kept his confidence, but Delbin hadn’t told him for a decade after being exiled. What if Inona wasn’t trustworthy? He eyed her as best he could in the dark truck cab and caught her earnest expression before his focus returned to the road. Was there even a point in his silence anymore?
“You said there was no note in my records of my brother, but it was for my brother that I left,” Delbin finally said.
He sensed her gaze on his face like a caress. “Wait. You left voluntarily?”
“Lord Moren helped me. Kai’s brother?”
“That’s right. You were from Oria,” she said. “Why would you do such a thing. Why would he?”
Delbin speared her with a quick, intense glance. “You can tell no one, Inona.”
“I can’t promise that,” she said, her voice rising. “I will not betray Lord Lyr.”
“It is not a betrayal. Coric knows, and he’s one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met.” Delbin gripped the wheel tighter. She hadn’t promised, but the story spilled out. “My brother was an infant when my powers fully manifested. My telepathy is powerful, Inona. Powerful enough to insert my thoughts into others’ minds with ease. When that became apparent, my mother spoke with Lord Moren about sending me away.”
“Your mother?” Inona asked. “How old were you?”
“Sixteen.”
Her shocked cry echoed in the quiet cab. “You were a child? That was not in the report on you. I don’t understand.”
“A child by elven standards, but old enough to manage on Earth. At least a century ago.” Delbin ran a hand through his hair. “Allafon is…dangerous. He’s never committed treason, but he is not kind to his retainers. There was a real threat in him finding out about me. My mother and brother might very well have become his guests and me his puppet. I had to disappear.”
“My Gods,” she whispered as he turned down the road leading to the trailhead he sought. “Delbin…Allafon is dead.”
He slammed his foot on the brakes, jostling them both against the seat belts as the truck jerked. “Dead?”
Inona tossed an uneasy look out the back window. “Move out of the road.”
Delbin forced himself to resume driving even as his heart slammed hard in his chest. “How long has he been dead?”
“A good month or two now.”
He sucked in a pained breath and directed the truck into a dark, empty parking lot. In silence, he jerked the gear stick to park. “And Moren hasn’t come for me.”
“I suppose not.”
He felt Inona’s eyes on his face once more, but he didn’t look at her. Couldn’t. “I can’t believe this. And no mention of my brother?”
“Moren has been busy,” she said softly. “Allafon might not have committed treason when you were there, but he found his way to it eventually. He tried to murder Kai, Lyr, and Lyr’s newfound daughter. Kai killed him as he began a blood magic spell. As Allafon’s heir, Moren had a great deal to handle after that.”
Delbin stared out the window at the shadowed trees. “Perhaps he killed my brother after all. He was excellent at finding reasons to hurt others. All these years…”
Inona unbuckled her seatbelt and slid closer. “I don’t know. But the time wasn’t wasted. There’s no telling what he might have done with access to your power. Having someone able to take over minds under his control… There’s a real chance he would have succeeded in his plans.”
“I suppose.” Delbin swallowed hard, fighting the urge to lean closer to her. “With Allafon dead, I guess it doesn’t matter who you tell now.”
She settled her hand on his shoulder. “Why didn’t your mother go to Lyr’s father Telien? He was a fair leader.”
“Tyrants are clever, Inona.” Delbin let out a long breath and gave in, relaxing a little beneath the weight of her hand. “It’s difficult to explain the mantle of fear he’d placed on us. Nothing he did was overtly illegal, after all,
and he was careful with the ‘accidents’ that befell those who opposed him. It was never his fault. Lord Moren did his best to mediate. We all believed it safer if he exiled me.”
Her eyes narrowed on his face. “Sixteen is too young to be exiled as a shirker. You’d still be an apprentice even now.”
“Age is just a number, so they say.” Delbin’s lips tilted up. “Literally, in my case. Easy enough for Moren to alter the records.”
“I can’t believe Lyr didn’t have Moren’s head for this,” Inona muttered.
Delbin lifted his hand to cover hers as she gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Maybe he doesn’t know.”
“Moren is lord of Oria now. Surely—”
“As you said, there’s much for him to deal with,” Delbin said. “Once we’ve found out what Kien is up to, maybe I’ll go back with you. Find out what happened to my brother.”
Have a few choice words with Moren.
The energy pulsed around them again, but Delbin held her gaze. Finally, she nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
Chapter 4
Inona stared at Delbin’s back as they hiked down the deserted trail. Her elven eyesight was keen enough to avoid disaster, but she nonetheless stayed close enough to reach out and touch him. And not just because she wanted to touch him. How had he managed in the human world at such a young age? It was phenomenal. He was phenomenal.
Odd energy tingled along her skin as they grew nearer to the source of the disturbance. With a shudder, Inona sent her mind toward Delbin’s and brushed against the edge of his thoughts.
He connected immediately. “We can’t just rush in,” she sent. “We should’ve come up with a plan.”
“It’s simple. You’ll hide while I go in. Then you save me if I don’t come out.”
Inona’s steps slowed in surprise, but she forced herself forward. “I am a trained sonal. I’m not going to hide while you go into danger.”
Delbin smirked over his shoulder. “I’m not questioning your fierceness. Rawr.” His eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter before he faced forward again. “But Kien saw you earlier. How am I supposed to find out what’s going on if you’re with me?”
Exiled: A Return of the Elves Novella (The Return of the Elves Book 3) Page 3
