by K. F. Ridley
closer to the source of illumination, I see them. Rowen is going to
be mad. Surprisingly, I don’t care at this point. I’m going to prove
myself. I’m going to save my friend, the friend who’s lost
everything because of me. Ruis captured her in order get to me and
he’s going to get what he asked for.
I walk up on the three sentries, none of them aware of my
presence until they hear my voice. “Have you found her?” The three of them jump out of their skins, and turn around.
Shock and awe. That pretty much explains their expressions. “How did you get here?” Rowen says loud of enough to
resonate.
“The same way you did,” I respond.
“Ashe, you shouldn’t have come. It’s not safe for you.” Rowen
is surprised and confused.
“I don’t need protecting.” I may sound a little too sure of
myself, but I’m tired of being seen as the damsel in distress. “What’s gotten into you?” Rowen asks.
“She’s crazy,” Coll adds with abhorrence. Rowen looks at me
as if I’ve lost my mind. I ignore it. I only want to find Taylie. “Do you know where she is?” I ask Rowen, who’s still looking
at me as if he’s seen a ghost.
“No, but she’s got to be down here,” Alder jumps in. I follow
behind them as we march through the underworld to pursue the
echoes.
“That’s Taylie,” I say as my head begins to pound. We’re
getting closer, her voice sounds as if it’s coming from every
direction. The air is thick and hot without any form of ventilation.
The dirt walls add to the stench around us.
“Help!” she cries out.
“Here, this way.” Alder leads us down another passageway.
The darkness swallows us whole. Her voice is clearer but I can tell
she’s getting weaker by the minute. I want to call out to her to let
her know we’re coming; to let her know we haven’t forgotten her
but doing so will put her at more risk.
We turn down another passageway and at the end of it is a
room and chained in the corner is Taylie. She’s been beaten pretty
badly. She’s weak and worn. When she sees us, her battered face
lights up. Rowen raises his sword and slams the blade over the
chains that hold her. As metal hits metal, the chains are broken, but
the cuffs remain around her tiny wrist rubbing her skin raw. Coll
scoops her up and she wraps her arms around his neck. We sprint
out weaving our way through the maze of darkness.
We make our way to the exit. Alder leads the procession up the
ladder, as Coll carries Taylie out of the pits of hell, Ruis’ hell.
Rowen climbs out behind me. We make it back to the horses. Coll
and Taylie get on Mugwort and Alder on the palomino. Escape is
their only concern. Coll and Alder leave with Taylie on flying
horseback.
Rowen pauses when he sees Dagda. “You rode him? You
actually made it here on Dagda?”
“I did,” I say with pride. I’m tired of being the cause of all the
problems. I’m taking responsibility for who and what I am. There’s
more to me than the helpless bithling everyone believes me to be. As we’re about to embark on our exit, Ruis steps out from
behind a tree. He’s alone. His head shaven, separating himself from
his heritage, his faerie purity, his brethren.
“You’re not taking her back, Rowen,” Ruis says. His voice is
hoarse and lacks the luster that once endowed his words. Rowen holds up his sword and Ruis joins the invitation. The
clash of metal rings throughout the carbon air. They’re going at it
pretty hard when Rowen falls into a hole that’s been covered by
twigs and brush. It’s a trap. He’s at least eight feet under and there’s
no way out.
“Ashe,” he calls as if he’s let me down again.
“Looks like it’s you and me,” Ruis says as he circles me. I
follow his every step.
I have no weapon. Only my gift. “We don’t have to do this,
Ruis, try and remember who you are. Who you once were,” I plead
for his soul.
“You keep your hands off of her!” Rowen yells from the pit.
“Run, Ashe!”
I do the opposite. I’m going to face this. I’m going to deal with
this once and for all. No one else is going to die at my expense. “This is who I am. I was born to lead The Thorn. I was born to
be an immortal, as you were born to die.” He’s almost drooling. Before I realize it, he raises his sword over me and brings it
down over my head. I jump back and catch the blade in its path
between the palms of my hands. I hold it steady as my anger
transforms the metal into heat. As our gazes meet, I search for a
glimpse of purity in the vague twinkle of his eyes. His eyes seethe
with the repugnance and the lust for the power that now possesses
him. He holds tight to the handle of the sword, tremors vibrating
through it. The heat builds up in the weapon as I hold it tightly. I
don’t know how much longer he’ll be able to withstand. His hands
shake violently as he loses his grip. He stands unarmed not wanting
to touch me, but wanting to kill me.
“This isn’t over,” he growls and disappears into the darkness
that knows him. I drop the sword to the ground as it turns to red
ember. The difference between Straif and Ruis, is Ruis knows my
capabilities and he isn’t going to risk his plans by being over
confident.
“Ashe, answer me!” Rowen never stopped calling out. “He’s gone. I’m all right.” I peer into the hole keeping him
captive.
I grab a vine and throw it in. As Rowen pulls, the dried up vine
snaps in two. I try to reach and snatch his hand, but he’s too far in
down for me to rescue.
“Hold on a second,” I say as my mind moves way out of the
box for an idea.
I get on Dagda’s back and we walk over to the hole. I get off
the horse and back him toward the edge of Rowen’s trap. “Take hold of his tail,” I instruct. The white flowing tail is so
long it easily reaches Rowen.
“Have you totally lost your mind, Ashe?”
“Do it, Rowen. Do you trust me?” I ask as he has asks me
many times before.
He grips Dagda’s tail with apprehension and I urge the horse
forward. With a few steps, Rowen emerges covered in dirt. I jump off and run back to check on him. He grabs me holding
me close. I’m now wearing the dirt that covered him.
“I don’t know how this all happened. I don’t know how you
pulled it off, but it appears I need you more than you need me.”
Whatever anger, whatever frustration he had is gone.
“Oh, but you’re wrong. We need each other,” I say. The touch
of his caressing hand smudges dirt on my face and around the back
of my neck.
28
Acrimony is tense and a sense of confusion saturates the air. Taylie is in bad shape. I run to her bedside.
“Why doesn’t Coll do something? What is he waiting for?” For some reason she’s throwing up profusely and her color is a shade of green I haven’t seen before.
“Coll tried multiple times to heal her, but to no avail. She hasn’t responded to anything,” Alder tells us.
I watch her sleeping,
but it isn’t a peaceful sleep. She groans each time she tries to move. Her face is still so swollen. She doesn’t look like Taylie.
“Can he heal humans?” I ask.
“Yes, of course. Coll can’t heal himself. He should be able to heal her. None of this is making sense.” Alder is frustrated with the lack of answers.
Taylie is so weak. What else could happen? She has lost her family, lost her world, her home; everything. Now, she’s trying to survive. Her face is battered and there are cuts up and down her arms and legs.
I sit at her bedside wiping her face with cool rags and holding her hand using my gift to calm her. She’s begins resting quietly for the first time in hours. Rowen sits across the room waiting with me. Ivy stays, as well, trying to do anything she can to keep Taylie comfortable.
Rowen falls asleep in an arm chair. I think about what we’ve been through in such a short time and that he’s known of me so
Kim F. Ridley
much longer than I ’ve known of him. Then I look at my best friend so worn and beaten. I want for her what I have. My, how the tables have turned.
Coll shows up. “How is she?” he asks.
“She’s resting, finally. She’s had a rough night.” I pause looking at him as if he’s the cause of her pain. “Why can’t you heal her?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried, using every inch of my strength. I don’t understand why I can’t make her well.” He’s somber and his eyes fill with fluid as if he’s about to cry. He must have something in his eye. I don’t believe he can feel, especially for a human.
The morning sun warms the room as it peeks through the window behind Taylie’s bed. Coll sleeps in the chair opposite me. My back aches from the wood that’s made its mark in my skin during the night. Taylie wakes up. “Where am I?” she mumbles.
“You’re safe in Acrimony,” I tell her.
She lifts her head, trying to orient herself. “I feel so sick to my stomach,” she says.
“Lie down. You need to save your strength. You are going to be all right. Rest.” I hope I’m telling her the truth. She reclines back on the pillow and falls quickly back to sleep.
Rowen wakes up and stands behind me with his hand on my shoulder. “Is she any better?”
“She slept all night, but she doesn’t look any better and she’s still very weak.”
Arcos comes in to check on her. Rowen kicks Coll’s ankle, startling him.
“What?” Then he sees Arcos standing at the foot of the bed and he’s quickly on his feet.
My grandfather is concerned for her. He tells Ivy she is an innocent human who sacrificed to help those of Durt only to meet the evil part of this world. She was thrown in with no knowledge of the faery world and no choice to be a part of it. Actually, it’s ironic. Taylie and I were brought here with no choice of our own, with no say.
Wolfsbane comes into the room a few moments later.
“I want Wolfsbane to see if he can tell us what is wrong with her. There is more to her condition than we can see.”
We all step away from the bed. Wolfsbane towers over Taylie
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while she sleeps. With his eyes closed, he passes his hands over her from head to foot, never touching her. His expression is blank until he reaches her abdomen and his forehead wrinkles. His hands pass over her again stopping around her pelvis. When he finishes, he backs away from the bed and drops into the chair behind him. His expression is broken with terror.
“What is it?” Arcos asks.
“ My lord, I cannot bear to say it.” Wolfsbane’s voice is weak to respond.
“What is it? Is she going to survive?” Arco’s voice reverberates through the room.
“Worse, my lord.”
Coll looks petrified. My heart sinks as Rowen steadies me.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Wolfsbane hesitates to respond. “She’s pregnant.”
“She’s what?” I ask unsure of what he said.
“With twins. Bithling twins.”
The room grows cold and all eyes turn to Coll.
In the luxury of the sitting room, Arcos sits, head bowed, his shoulders quivering. The royal image I have of my grandfather unravels as he carries an enormous weight, and I wonder what it means for all of us.
“ Come, Ashe, let’s leave him in solitude.” Rowen’s fingers are in mine and he urges me out of the room.
“But...” I say in protest. “I can’t leave him like this.”
“What can you say? What can any of us do now?” Rowen tugs at me again. “Taylie needs us. More than ever.”
I allow him to pull me away. He’s right. Taylie is in for a struggle of unknown proportions. We head for her room, hand-inhand. One thing is for sure, life in Durt will never be the same.
The End...
Special thanks to:
Royce, I love you! Thanks for always being there for me.
Amy Goggans, Holly Buckingham and
Stephanie Ridley…the best daughters a mom could have. I love you all very much.
My momma, Itsuko Sheffield, for encouraging me to read.
Janette Porter, you’ve always been there for me. I don’t know what I would do without you.
Ellen C Maze, a wonderful friend, editor, illustrator and writing mastermind. You have helped me so much....Isn’t this fun?!
Jade Maldonado, you ’re always there to make sure I don’t go too crazy…too late. I can’t believe you’ve put up with me all these years.
Lori Simpson, the best PR person in the entire universe.
Deborah Harper and Lynda Strickland, and Beth Lara love you guys and everyone else who loves to read.
Donna DePriest for support and friendship. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
About the Author
As a child, K F Ridley was labeled as the kid with too much energy. Desperately, she did her best to conform to the ways of the world. Later, to realize she had to be true to herself. As a result, her imagination went wild.
These days, she funnels her energy, exuberance, and highjinx into The Dirt Trilogy, as well as, The C. Walker Adventures, beginning with, The Curse of Yama. There’s no telling where her mind will take her—and you—next.
Sh e lives in Mississippi with her family, her three dogs, two miniature horses (Sunny and Boogie), a miniature donkey (Dobey), and a pot belly pig (Baxter).
Contact the Author :
[email protected]
www.kfridley.com
https://www.facebook.com/KFRidleyBooks
Twitter@Kim_Ridley
Join the conversation at #Dirt
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