FIERCE: Sixteen Authors of Fantasy

by Mercedes Lackey

  “No. Not for me, and not for you while you’re with me. I’ve been trying to tell you that. Severn’s not going to let this go.” He started to stand, but I pressed down on his shoulders, and he gave in easily.

  “Did you check to see if he was nearby before you lay down?”

  “I did, and there was nothing. That doesn’t mean I can relax.”

  “You can’t stay half-awake forever. Just sleep for now, you need it so badly. We can leave tomorrow, as early as you want. They can’t possibly get here that quickly, even if you do let your guard slip a little. Right?” I pressed my lips against his throat and breathed in the intoxicating scent of his skin. He felt as warm and as real as anything I’d felt earlier that day, in spite of the dream-like quality of everything around us.

  “You might be surprised how quickly Severn can move. But you’re right, I can’t keep this up much longer.” He held me close, and we sat like that for a few minutes, resting in the peaceful gloom of my forest.

  He shrugged his shoulder, and I lifted my head. He cupped my face in his hand and ran his thumb over my lower lip. I shivered.

  “Still,” he said with a half-smile, “if we’re going to risk being caught, it seems a shame to do it for sleep.” I was about to agree when he said, “Wait—someone’s coming.” An instant later we were both awake in the dark house.

  “What’s—” I whispered, and the door banged open. Kel’s dripping silhouette appeared in the doorway. He hadn’t taken time to put his clothes on this time. His athletic form would have been distracting if I hadn’t been so terrified.

  “Get out,” he said. “They’re coming. Niari was up in town a few hours ago, and she said there were a lot of unfamiliar men there. Severn may have been one of them.”

  Aren sat for a moment with his eyes closed. “I can’t get him.” His jaw clenched. “He’s been blocking me right back. I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Rowan.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Grab our things, I’ll get the horses ready—”

  “Don’t bother,” Kel said. “There’s no time, you’re coming with me. Both of you.”

  “What about—”

  “You’ll never make it out of here over land without getting caught, and Cassia and I decided we can’t let that happen. She’s waiting in the lake. Take only what you need, and hurry.”

  “Let’s go,” I said, before Aren could try to refuse. I shouldn’t have worried. He was up and putting his cloak and boots into his bag before I finished speaking. I did the same, and picked up my dragon scale off of the table on my way past. It glowed faintly as we stepped out under the stars, a strangely comforting sight. You’ve survived worse, I reminded myself. I pushed the scale to the bottom of my knapsack.

  “We’ll go as quickly as we can,” Kel said, “but this isn’t the best starting place. I hope you can both hold your breath.” He didn’t stop when we reached the end of the dock, but tipped off the end into a dive that barely rippled the surface of the water.

  “Turn your pack around,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  I swung the bag around to my chest, pulled the straps over my shoulders, and glanced back toward the house before I jumped into the water. Tiny lights bobbed along the shoreline in both directions, and a few flickered among the trees, all closing in on the cabin. I turned back to the water, took a deep breath, let it out, took another, and jumped in.

  Aren splashed into the lake a second later. Strong arms wrapped around my waist and back, pinning my knapsack between my body and Kel’s. I wrapped my arms as far as I could around his broad chest, and we shot through the water. I wanted to ask where Aren was, but there was no time.

  I needed another deep breath to calm myself, but all I could do was keep my head down against the push of the water and hold on tight as Kel’s powerful tail propelled us through darkness that seemed to go on forever as my chest burned and my panic grew.

  Chapter XXVII

  Rowan

  WE SURFACED IN NEAR-DARKNESS, and I gasped in cool, dank air that tickled my aching lungs. Kel held me up until I caught my breath, then helped me onto a cold stone ledge that seemed to be part of a large cave. My eyes adjusted to the dim light in time to see Aren reach the surface, accompanied by a long-haired woman. He held onto the ledge, as out-of-breath as I had been.

  Kel watched him, head tilted to one side. “Aquatic forms aren’t looking so bad now, are they?”

  Aren stared at him, then burst out in laughter that turned quickly into a coughing fit. Kel laughed, too, and said, “All right, get out of my lake.”

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “Underwater cave,” Kel said. “No one should be able to follow us here.” He braced his hands on the ledge as though he were going to follow us onto dry land, then hesitated. “You know, this might be less awkward if you go ahead. Follow the light, see if there’s anything for us naked mer-types to cover up with. You two might want to get out of those wet clothes, too.”

  Aren and I followed what light there was to its source, a small fire that burned hotter than seemed possible, hidden behind a rock outcropping. We found a pile of flat, smooth blankets, and I passed half of the stack to Aren.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I am,” I said, in spite of the fact that I was still weak-legged with fear and excitement that had caught up with me now that we were safe. “You know, a month ago I’d have called nearly drowning in an escape from an evil Sorcerer a big deal.”

  Aren swallowed hard and smiled. “Good. Not that I was afraid that Kel was going to accidentally drown you or anything.” I wanted to put my arms around him like I had in our shared dream, but it felt wrong in the real world and far from the cabin. Too familiar. He turned and walked away.

  I squeezed most of the water out of my hair, but couldn’t get my clothes dry. The things in my bag were wet, too. I hurried to strip down to my underthings and wrap a blanket around me, towel-style. When Aren and the others came back, they were wearing the same. Aren carried his own clothing in a dripping bundle. I tried not to stare at him and Kel as we sat around the fire to warm ourselves.

  “We shouldn’t stay too long,” Kel said. “I’d rather not take chances.”

  “It’ll be fine,” the mer woman said, and adjusted top of the blanket she wore, pulling it tighter. “Let them rest for a few minutes, at least.”

  My first thought when I really looked at her was that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Dark hair hung over her shoulders in wild, damp waves that framed a face built from perfectly balanced features and flawless, cinnamon-colored skin. She’d wrapped her blanket around herself in a way that showed off generous curves and revealed most of her long legs, and when she smiled it was warm and confident. I tried to ignore my jealousy as I realized that Aren had been holding onto that body as she brought him here, and with no blanket to cover her. She just saved his life. Be happy about that.

  “Hi, I’m Cassia,” she said. “You’re Rhona, right?”

  I remembered what Kel had said. She and Aren used to be… friends.

  I smiled back. “Actually, it’s Rowan, but—”

  She clapped her hands over her mouth, then curled them under her chin. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m just terrible with names. I tried so hard this time, too. Shoot.” She seemed genuinely upset with herself.

  “It’s okay. You’re Kel’s sister, right?”

  “Half-sister, actually, and I don’t admit it unless I have to. I trust he’s been behaving himself?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Don’t I always?”

  Cassia rolled her eyes.

  Aren, Cassia, and I sat by the fire for a few minutes, and I grew drowsy as the flames melted the chill from my bones. Kel paced between the fire and the water, and dunked his head under the surface a few times, apparently listening for something.

  Cassia shook her head at him. “We’d better get moving before he faints from the pressure,” she said. He glared at her, and she added, “It’s probably a go
od idea to get past the first changing before we really relax, anyway.”

  “Changing?” I asked. Kel and Cassia smiled, and suddenly I saw the resemblance between them. I wondered if all of the mer folk looked that good.

  “The tunnels,” Kel said.

  “Interconnected caves,” Cassia added. “Enclosed subterranean pathways. That change.”

  “I still don’t understand. I mean, I understand the caves part,” I added, before Cassia could explain that again, “but not the changing.”

  “They’re different every time you go through them,” Aren explained. “No one ever sees them change, but it’s impossible to remember how you got anywhere because the route is different every time.”

  “And you can’t follow anyone because the caves change behind them?”

  “Exactly. It’s a brilliant way to keep something hidden, and the fastest way I know of to travel.”

  “But how?”

  “Magic,” Kel and Cassia said at the same time, and laughed.

  “So you’ve been in these caves before?” I asked Aren.

  “Of course he has,” Cassia said, “when he used to visit the Grotto. He used to be one of our favorite people.” She mock-glared at Aren, but she was still smiling.

  When she winked at him, my stomach clenched. I forced myself to relax. She wasn’t being any more flirty than Kel had been with me, and that had meant nothing. Maybe it was just a mer thing. “So we’re going to the Grotto now?” I asked.

  Cassia beamed. “We are. You’ll be safe with us, and very comfortable. Our hospitality would be legendary if it wasn’t such a well-kept secret. Shall we?”

  We gathered our things, and Aren and I slipped our feet back into boots that made wet squishing noises when we walked. I pulled my blanket tighter. Walking around in nothing but what amounted to a large towel would be awkward, but it was better than being wet. I stuffed my wet clothes into my bag and hoisted it onto my shoulders.

  Cassia led the way with the rest of us in single file, Cassia before me and Aren behind. He asked Kel what had changed the elders’ minds about letting him come.

  “Nothing yet,” Kel said. “We’re bringing you in as a…” He hesitated, and Cassia glanced back at him.

  “Seeker of political asylum?”

  “That’ll do. It will be up to Mariana and Arnav to decide if you can stay. Best we could do.”

  “I appreciate it,” Aren said. “I hope you don’t get in too much trouble for this.”

  “Well, we all do stupid things for people we care about, don’t we?”

  Aren ignored Kel’s question.

  The walls seemed to glow with a dim, greenish light that made me think of dragon scales. It wasn’t bright enough to be good for much, but it kept us from bumping into the walls or each other. The tunnel soon opened into a wide space with three more corridors branching from it. They all looked the same to me, curving off into darkness.

  “Left?” Kel asked, and Cassia shrugged.

  “Doesn’t matter to me. One’s as good as another.”

  “Wait,” I said, “you don’t know where we’re going?”

  “No,” Cassia said. “It’s always changing, remember? For me and Kel it’s a case of all paths eventually leading toward home, but we’re not going there, unless you want to end up underwater again. We’ll pick a tunnel, find a guide, and see what happens. Left it is!”

  She set off down the right-hand tunnel. Kel shook his head. “She’s as bad with directions as she is with names,” he told me, “but she’s actually quite brilliant, and she knows the caves better than I do. Just don’t tell her I said so.”

  Very reassuring, I thought, but followed Cassia. A few turns later we came to a place where orange light flickered against a wall ahead of us. Cassia turned and stepped through a round opening opposite it.

  “Perfect!” she called, and leaned back out into the passage. “Come on in.”

  The room was a rough oval shape with a flat floor and pitted stone walls. Another small fire burned beside the entrance, and a flat ledge with rounded edges protruded into the room, topped with a huge cushion.

  “Rest area!” Cassia announced. “There’s food here somewhere, but I’m not sure what—” She pushed the lid off of a dusty crate and rummaged through the contents, leaning over so far that I had to look away.

  “Someone hasn’t been keeping up with replenishing supplies. There’s water, though, and this.” She pulled out a small vial with a tiny, jeweled stopper, and held in her other hand what appeared to be a small, rock-hard bread bun. A drop of silvery liquid from the vial made the bun blossom into a fluffy, round loaf of bread. She held it out to me. “It’s not what I’d hoped for, but it will do.”

  “It’s warm!” It felt like it had just come out of an oven, and the smell was sweet and buttery enough to make my mouth water.

  Cassia looked confused. “Of course it is. You didn’t think we’d preserve stale food, did you? Anyway, you two can share that, we ate earlier. There’s a bed over there, blankets will be underneath. It’s warm in here, though, so I don’t think you’ll need those unless one of you will be sleeping on the floor.” That last part was almost a question, but neither of us answered. “Um… there should be another room off here with a hole in the floor for, you know. Oh, there. And I think that’s everything.”

  “It’s amazing,” I said.

  “It’ll do,” Kel replied. “Cass, we should go find a guide and let these people sleep.” Then, to us, “We’ll probably be a few hours. Try to get a bit of rest, if you can. I don’t know how much farther it’s going to be.” Cassia waved to us and followed him out.

  The bread tasted as good as it smelled, even with nothing to put on it. “This is strange,” I said.

  “Which part?” Aren lifted the big cushion and pulled out a blanket, which he spread over the top. I watched him, barely ashamed of how much I enjoyed the sight of him wearing nothing but the blanket wrapped around his hips. He spread his wet clothes out around the fire, and I did the same with mine.

  “All of it. Underwater caves, changing tunnels, fresh bread in dusty boxes. Just all of it.”

  “I suppose it is. There’s a lot I haven’t told you about. It’s good though, right?”

  He turned back to me, and I dragged my gaze up to his face. “Very good,” I said, and he smiled. “And maybe you can actually sleep now. We’re probably as safe as we can get here, right?”

  “I’m not tired,” he yawned, and lay down in the bed, nearly disappearing behind the edge of the mattress.

  “Aren? That dream back at the cabin. Was that real?”

  He rested his head on the edge of the bed. “Real as a dream can be, I suppose. Do you mean was I really there?” I nodded. “Then yes, it was real. I can change now, if that makes you uncomfortable.”

  “No, not at all. I liked it.”

  “Hmm.” He yawned again and moved out of sight.

  I was exhausted, but couldn’t fight the curiosity that pulled me back to the crate in the corner. There was one set of clothes there, pants and a cream-colored shirt made of a fabric with a loose weave, too large for me or Aren. There was nothing else, no more magical vials or frozen-in-time foodstuffs. I pulled the lid closed and climbed into the bed. The sides were thicker than the middle, like a nest, and I rolled toward the middle when I lay down. I just had time to see that Aren was asleep as the fire shrank down to glowing embers.

  He slowly rolled over to face me. The light was just bright enough that I could see his face, and his body above the waist. He’d left the blanket wrapped around him, but the thought of sleeping next to him like that made me warm all over. “I’m still awake,” he mumbled, without opening his eyes.

  “No, you’re not.” He wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me close. His skin and hair still held the metallic smell of the lake water.

  I wanted to remind myself that there was plenty of time, that we were safe now, but there were no guarantees of that. If the m
er elders said he couldn’t stay, that would be the end of our safety, and then what would I do? I sighed.

  His hand moved gently over my hip and rested on my thigh. We fell asleep tangled together, sharing our space and our air.

  The fire flared to life as Aren climbed over me and sat on the edge of the bed, taking deep, shuddering breaths.

  I reached out to touch his arm, and he pulled away. “Did you see that?” he asked. “Were you there?”

  “No. Did you have a bad dream?”

  He didn’t answer, but went through the passage into the toilet area. A minute later, Kel stepped into the room. Without sunlight I couldn’t tell how long it had been, or what time it was. It could have been midnight, dawn, or midmorning. It made little difference. I felt rested, and that was enough for me.

  “Good morning,” he said, and I hurried to tighten my blanket around myself.

  Aren stepped back into the room, appearing calmer. “Back already?”

  “Actually, I was going to apologize for taking so long,” Kel said. “I hope that means you both slept well.”

  “Surprisingly, yes,” Aren said, and stretched as I climbed out of bed.

  Cassia appeared in the doorway. She and Kel were dressed in proper clothes, she in a simple, white dress and he in brown pants and shirt similar to what I’d found in the box. Something like a large, gray moth buzzed around Cassia’s head, but she didn’t seem bothered by it. “Good morning, Aren. Rowan.” She hesitated. “It is Rowan?” I nodded, and she seemed pleased. “I knew I’d get it. I found a dress for you, too, if you’d like it.”

  The dress, like the other clothing, was huge, but the fabric pulled itself tight and fit itself to my body when I slipped it on. “Is everything here like this?” I asked, and Cassia laughed.

  “Not all of it,” she said, and watched as Aren took his clothes back to the other room to dress. “These clothes are made by a woman in Tyrea. It’s an interesting gift, isn’t it?”

  “It is.” I ran my hands over the fabric. It didn’t seem special now. Just a dress. “Is all of your clothing like this?”