“So aren’t we all,” Gryffon noted, looking from his own blackened skin to across the river where the surviving sailors were pulling themselves out of the water, looking to be in even worse shape than herself and Gryffon in many cases, and all high-tailing it out of the vicinity.
“I guess we’ll be walking from here,” Katya commented dryly, then coughed as the words scratched against her burned throat.
“I would say so. It’s probably better anyway to keep out of sight from the sky, just in case it returns. Traveling through the woods will be much safer than trying to fashion any sort of water vessel. Not to mention that traveling upriver in the kind of boat we could make would be extremely difficult…”
“I don’t suppose there’re any towns we could stop at and get horses?” she asked hopefully, though she felt as if she already knew the answer since they had not passed a single port in some time.
Gryffon’s face told her what she needed to know.
“Too bad,” she sighed, resigning herself to the difficult trek she knew must be ahead of them. “At least we can just follow the river.”
Gryffon’s look was not optimistic. “Well,” he started thoughtfully and she cringed, sensing bad news. “We could, but it would take us a lot longer since we’re not actually traveling by water anymore. I believe that if we head straight north from here it should be basically a short-cut to the source as the river goes through a rather sharp curve here.” He paused and she sensed the bad part coming, “But,” he went on, confirming her fear, “that is only according to maps that haven’t been verified in some time, so we could be way off.”
“What do you think?” she asked him.
He pondered for a moment, debating the pros and cons before answering. “I think we should take our chances heading north. If the maps are correct - and though there’s no proof that they are, the rest of what they portray is correct so there’s no real reason to doubt them - it could potentially cut out a significant portion of our travel time.”
“Alright,” Katya said, “Let’s get moving.”
*
Nathair bellowed his rage into the heavens. He had almost killed them! He had had no idea how strong the feral instincts would be with this new form. He had become so caught up in the attack that he had nearly obliterated his girls. That wouldn’t do. Obviously he could not trust himself near them until he had conquered this new development. Even now he felt the urge to return and finish them off, to stop them from continuing on their journey. But at least it will take them that much longer to reach their goal.
Nathair wasn’t sure why he had that particular thought and he put a bit more effort into thrusting his wings towards home. He was growing weary of the strange thoughts popping into his head, mindful of the alien presence that could still be lurking there. Though it had remained mostly silent to him, Nathair was rather perturbed that it could be trying to infiltrate its own thoughts and shove its way into his consciousness. Until he could sort it out, he would concentrate his efforts on starting a war.
He landed in the courtyard and changed back to human form on his second step. It was easier to sort out his own thoughts in his rightful form. He felt a passing emotion of disgust and ignored it, recognizing it as his intruder’s. He had decided that this alien presence was responsible for the apparition of his mother as well, and he wanted nothing more than to see it banished from his thoughts. Though he had scoured each of his precious books, starting with the one he had found as a boy and hid away in his secret cave, he had yet to find any mention of how to eradicate an unwanted essence from your mind.
The thought of his childhood cave gave him a happy reprieve from his current frustrating situation, however, and as he strode through the halls back to his suite, he allowed himself to entertain the thought of it.
When he was a boy, shortly after his mother had started his ‘teachings’ he had stumbled upon a passageway that wound down into the earth, its entrance covered only by a thin layer of vines. It had been a miracle that no one had found it before then. He remembered walking through the woods that day, having narrowly escaped a beating from his mother by slouching down at the table in the tavern enough so that when she took a swing at him, thinking his head to be inches higher, she accidentally smacked the next patron over, spilling the man’s beer.
The man had initially only made a rude comment to his mother, insinuating that if she were a man he would have made her regret her slip, but as she was only a woman he would let it go if she bought him another round. Nathair knew better than the man what her response to that would be, and he had high-tailed it out of the tavern whilst his mother was busy teaching the man a lesson.
They had had to move quickly on from the town that evening.
During his walk in the woods, in a rare moment of safety, he had felt a sudden urge to go off the beaten path - as if something was calling to him - and here he had stumbled upon a huge boulder, covered in vines. On a whim, he had removed these, revealing the entrance below.
Inside, he had found the first of many ancient texts that he would acquire over the years. The feeling he had when he first laid his hand over the book was indescribable. Even then, he had recognized the power that it held. By careful manipulation, he had learned how to read it from his mother, though he would never have told her of its existence. It had become his obsession, every free moment that he wasn’t being trained, he spent deciphering its secrets. By its tutelage, he had grown in strength rapidly, and he was convinced that the knowledge he had gained from it was the only reason he had survived what she put him through. The day she had ripped the secret of it from his mind was the day that he had -
Nathair suddenly lost interest in the memory and he swung open the door to his suites. The time for war was upon them. Though the country was not completely healed from the disasters from the barrier’s fall, he had noted during his flight that Treymayne was no better off, and more importantly, the taste of talent in the air, while significantly more prevalent than in Gelendan, did not have many even moderately high in strength.
Not only that, but there wasn’t even the slightest hint of blood-magic. Nathair smiled. If his enemies wanted to weaken themselves by denying the use of real power, he was prepared to take full advantage of this fact.
There was also the matter of Jezebel. He had ignored her for some time now, and given her sense of self-importance she was bound to have taken it personally. It would be exasperating to speak with her, and he didn’t feel like putting up with her at the moment. Instead, he mind-called to Devon, ordering the man’s will to find a mirror to speak with him in private.
Nathair sat in front of his own mirror and waited. Moments later, the surface shimmered and Devon’s face appeared. He looked harried. As Nathair commanded him to report, he found out why. The poor man had been locked up with Jezebel after being arrested by the Treymayne council. No wonder he was such a mess.
“So,” Nathair reiterated when Devon was through, “their council is aware of my new status and already assumes that I will attack.” He gave Devon a toothy grin, “I guess I can’t disappoint them can I then?”
“It’s true then?” Devon asked, an uncharacteristic look of fright written plainly on his face.
“Indeed,” Nathair humored him though explaining to the man was not a priority. “I want you to steer Jezebel in the right direction for me to make sure that our invasion goes smoothly. Seeing as she’s bound to be a bit perturbed at me at present,” Devon’s sour face told him he had spent no few hours hearing about how irritated she was at him and he was glad for his foresight in dealing with Devon instead, “I want you to make my plans seem like Jezebel came up with them herself, understand?” Devon nodded. “I assume she’ll be much more motivated if she believes that what she is doing is only a part of her own scheming.” Devon’s face once again told him what he needed to know. “Before she can be of any use to me, however, we need to get her to open her channels again.”
“But she’s comple
tely burned out,” Devon contradicted, “how can she open herself to the power?”
“She may have been burned out, but just like any wound, it has been healing. The scar tissue, if you will, will have made it difficult for her to find her way back to the power once again, but it is by no means impossible. In fact, I am a little surprised she hasn’t found a way to get it back already.” He paused in thought for a moment, “Though it does require patience, something she does not have an abundance of.”
“How can she do this?”
Nathair smiled once again, “You’ll enjoy this,” he told the man, “and it will be my reward to you for your excellent service. Really, it requires only that she practice trying to reach the power until she hits the point that she can feel the spark of it and then remembering where she hit the spot, practicing sending down this pathway until it becomes natural for her once again. Time is all it needs to take, but, it will go faster if there is a physical connection to the pathway. And, since she has been down this pathway with you before - I believe you know the night that I’m speaking of-” he gave Devon a shrewd look, “repeating that night will help her to make those pathways more permanent.”
Devon looked doubtful. “Even if that were so,” he looked frightened again as Nathair narrowed his eyes, “which I’m sure that it is, I highly doubt that I can convince her to do so again. She acts as if it never happened the first time.”
Nathair whispered three words into the mirror and Devon’s lips glowed brightly for a moment. “There,” he said, satisfied, “I have just made it so that when you kiss her, she will feel a spark of power, it will excite her so that she will believe you enough to try it, and trying it will show her the real thing. I have no doubt that this will work. Now, once it has and she has regained control of her power, here’s what you need to get her to do…”
CHAPTER 18
Katya strapped on her armguards and slung the leather backpack over her shoulder. She glanced over at Gryffon and at his nod, the two of them hoisted the handles of the make-shift sled that they had fashioned to drag Layna’s limp form on into the air and pulled.
Gryffon grunted softly as it jerked into motion.
Once it was going, it slid across the muddy land fairly easily for the two of them, though their progress was significantly less than had they all been walking. Furthermore, the conspicuous gouges in the earth that it was leaving behind made Katya uneasy. For several nights now she had been re-tracing and covering their tracks, but the lack of sleep combined with the strenuous labor of pulling Layna along was starting to catch up with her.
“How much longer until we reach the mountains?” she asked Gryffon, as much to distract herself from her aching muscles as actually wanting to know the answer.
“It’s hard to say,” came his reply in between deep breaths, “I’ve never traveled this far before, and this pace is a lot different than my normal travel.”
He was doing more than his fair share of the labor, whether it was because she was slacking a bit due to her late-night activities, or simply his man-like need to show his strength she wasn’t sure, but in any case, he was looking extremely worn down as well.
“Perhaps we should camp early tonight,” she suggested, “We both are getting worn out.”
“We don’t know how long she can be like this without it being permanent though,” he reasoned, “I’d rather be tired for another couple days than not get her back….”
Katya changed the subject. “So how did you two meet?” It was a question that most couples she had observed had been asked, and usually the other party would be drawn into a long string of stories that hopefully would help pass the time for at least him while he was lost in his memories even if she was bored to death.
Gryffon looked slightly uncomfortable though. “Well, it’s a little complicated,” he started and Katya smiled to herself. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so boring after all. “I was living with this woman - “
“Excuse me?” Katya interjected. She, of course, knew all about the awkward situation that Gryffon had found himself in, but she wasn’t about to tell him that and spoil the fun of seeing him squirm.
“I know it sounds bad, but it wasn’t like that. You see, I was sent to Gelendan as a spy, and more specifically to spy on the woman and her father. So, I had to create a reason to get close to them, and when she showed an interest in me romantically I had to take advantage of it.”
Katya looked skeptically at him.
“I didn’t -“ he started, “It wasn’t -“
She exhaled shortly and gave him a crooked smile. “Go on.”
His shoulders slumped a bit, but he continued. “So anyway, I was living with this woman, if you can even call her that, when Layna came to work for her from the country.”
He paused for a moment so Katya made a small sound that she was listening and he should continue while adjusting her grip on the handle.
“I could tell she was special from when I first saw her, but seeing as how I was supposed to be playing the part of a noble and she was a maid, I had to play my cards carefully. I also didn’t want to talk to her too soon because,” once again he paused and Katya thought she saw a shadow of a blush creep up his face. “Well, I knew that I would have to report her to my superiors because she was obviously such a high talent, but at the same time I wanted her to be my little secret. There was just something about her, you know?” The affection in his eyes melted away the last of the animosity that Katya had been feeling towards him.
“I know.” She whispered softly. There was definitely something about her, why did her parents think they were going to die and entrust a puzzling heirloom to a stranger to give her? And what did it all have to do with Katya?
“But anyway, eventually I did introduce myself and we started spending time together away from the manor and it kind-of just went from there…with everything that’s happened to us though, I’m not even sure if there is an ‘us’ anymore…”
They stopped short as the game trail that they had been following suddenly cut sharply to the right. The distant sound of rushing water could be heard ahead of them, but their way was blocked by a thick overgrowth of vegetation. Vines spread across the crisscross of bushes and trees, as if purposefully trying to keep trespassers out.
They set down their load carefully and Katya checked on Layna as Gryffon inspected the obstacle. They had been healing both Layna and themselves in small spurts, trying to make sure that they did not advertise their position to any lurking dragons, and had almost completely gotten them all back to normal.
She ran a hand over Layna’s forehead, determining there was no fever, and inspected her for insects. On the first day, they hadn’t thought to check on her as much, and at the end of the day they had discovered a humongous tick behind her left ear. The removal of which was one story about this trip that they would definitely not be sharing with her.
When she was satisfied that Layna was fine, she joined Gryffon.
“What do you think?” she asked him, surveying the path for herself at the same time.
“Not bad, I think we can cut our way through and still drag the sled. I can’t tell exactly how far this goes since it’s so thick, but we can hear the water, so it can’t be that far, right?”
Katya simply shrugged and went to where she had dropped her pack, grabbing her dagger from it. “Let’s get going then, shall we?” She started hacking away at the brush.
Gryffon joined her, but even with two of them it wasn’t long before they were both balls of sweat and exhausted. Night closed in on them before they had gotten more than twenty feet and they reluctantly gave up for the day.
As they each curled in their own bedrolls for the night, Katya blinked sleepily at him. “What do you know about Layna’s family?” she asked him.
“Well,” Gryffon started, but yawned before continuing. The yawn was contagious and Katya found herself doing so as he continued, “I know she’s from the country. I know she told me the town, but I
can’t for the life of me remember it. It’s in Gelendan and all and even though we’re supposed to memorize everywhere, wherever it was didn’t exactly make it to the spy lists.”
“Did she ever mention any other family?”
Gryffon looked thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t think so.”
“What did her parents do?”
He looked quizzically at her. “I’m not really sure, I think they were farmers of some sort. Something that didn’t require much traveling I know because she mentioned she’d never been anywhere.”
“Anything unusual about them?”
“Why are you so interested in her?” Gryffon suddenly became suspicious. “And just who are you? You show up out of the blue just at the right time to heal her and then suddenly you have nothing better to do than to travel with me to the source of the river and act like she’s your best friend when you obviously don’t know anything about her? I trusted you because you healed her, but now I’m not so sure. What game are you playing at?”
Katya froze, unsure of what to do. But seeing no reason not to, she decided to tell the truth.
“I have to tell her that her parents are dead. And they gave me something to give to her that they said was very important.” She paused, and wasn’t sure what made her she add the next part. “She also could be my only clue to who I really am.”
Gryffon was sufficiently surprised. “What?”
“I just found out myself. I’ve been the-” Katya wasn’t quite ready to tell him specifics of her childhood just yet, so she searched for a suitable word, “-errand girl, I guess, of a noble since as long as I can remember, but he recently passed away and I found out that this couple might be able to tell me about my past. But when I went to visit them, they both died.”
He had a peculiar look on his face. He seemed at odds with himself over his response. “And this couple was Layna’s parents?” he asked her finally.
Katya nodded.
Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) Page 22
