by J E Mueller
From her view, and from how her town worked, if she said I was speaking the truth, then that was all there was to it. However, this kid would not go with that reasoning. After all, to him, we would all be demons. The longer I had to deal with the kid, the more I felt an urge to punch him in the face. Hopefully, someone else felt the same. I didn’t want to accidently kill him.
She nodded. “He’d call me a liar at best. From your tale, he’d also call me a demon. I wonder how he’d like staying in demon town…” she mused with a gleeful smile. “I see your point.” Lanna sighed and thoughtfully ran her fingers through her long, wavy red hair. The situation did not seem to bother her.
“Maybe my original plan with him trying to describe the sword would be best?” I suggested. We didn’t want him returning with an angry mob of his friends. There was no telling if they would be better or worse than him.
“It’s the most reasonable, yes, but we both know he’ll twist the facts how he wants. Your story already shows us that much,” She agreed and sighed once more.
“He’d probably say I used my demon magic to carve the symbol myself.” I smiled at the ridiculous thought. It would be cool if I could do something like that, though. I could have taken up a career in blacksmithing or something, and imprinted house sigils and designs on blades without much effort. My heart ached for some extra options for myself but I shoved the pain aside. I’d deal with the life I was dealt for the moment.
“He’d probably also try and convince himself it’s true. Think to himself you must have stolen it anyway, it’s better off as his,” Lanna mused. “I don’t know how people become so dark and twisted. It can’t feel good. The stress from everyday situations must be terrible. At any rate, we’ll see how your plan goes. For the rest of us, we know the truth.”
Lanna was fun to talk with and was happy to talk about her hometown and the surrounding area. She also really liked theater and was explaining the production she and her crew were working on. We talked for over an hour before we started to wonder about Lee.
“A girl rushed up to us. Something about Marc?” I reminded her when Lanna asked again where Lee had gone off to.
“Marc is Lee’s cousin. Just two or three years younger. Great kid, but often gets himself into unnecessary trouble. He can get into the minds of wildlife, sometimes even see through their eyes. But he doesn't always pay attention to what they are. Wolves are still wolves, and bears bears. Just because you understand them, doesn't mean they understand you.” Lanna paused. “Usually. He’s managed to actually communicate with a few of the ground squirrels recently. We’re doubting he’ll be able to do that with other animals, but still. It’s a fairly interesting gift to watch develop.”
“How do so many have magic here? I’ve never seen such a gathering.” I asked.
“Oh, that!” Lanna laughed. “It really started before the Order became so popular. People wanted to live openly in a place they could grow and be understood. Some get along fine in normal towns, and that's great. My gifts would fit in well anywhere, but it doesn’t mean it's for everyone. The founders wanted their own place. Combine enough people with gifts and curses and normal life happens. People with magic are likely to have children with magic. It kicks up almost fifty percent when both parents have it. Add generations and it’s almost every child has a higher and higher likelihood.”
“That make sense. I’ve never given it any thought.” It seemed pretty interesting and I thought of more things to ask, but heard a sound at the door.
We looked outside as the sound of running came towards us. The same tired girl from before burst in, her chest heaving from her sprint.
“Lann…. Gotta com-.... quick…” She could barely get the words out.
“Where to, Tella?” asked Lanna worriedly.
She just shook her head and took off. We followed. Tella was easy to keep up with seeing as she was hardly able to run now. Had the girl stopped running since I first saw her? After two blocks, she burst into a house. We were right on her heels, Lanna just ahead of me. Three people were gathered. Lee was on the sofa looking more than worse for wear. His face was bruised, and his lip busted open. There were rips and tears along his clothes. Blood appeared to be smeared along his arm and I couldn’t tell where the initial source was. Someone, was helping to hold a cloth at his side. There was a lot of blood on it already.
They looked up as we entered.
“What in the name of happened here?” Lanna asked, surprised. My expression mimicked hers.
“He was defending me,” the teen sitting in a chair across the room supplied. He looked beat up, but still wired from adrenaline. Bruises showed where clothes weren’t covering. A black eye and busted lip were the worst his face suffered. “I was studying the squirrels with Tella and Bax, no big deal, when this group comes out of nowhere. Six guys. They asked if we knew where this magic village they had heard of was. Lots of people ask about our home if they’re mages or have magic problems. These guys didn’t have the same vibe, but mother says not to judge, so we pointed them here. They asked if we were from there too. I saw the one guy had rope. Another a knife. Told Bax and Tel to run, but they tackled me. Bax dodged no problem and got away, and course Tella zipped away.” From what Lanna said earlier, I assumed the speaker was Marc.
Marc looked at Lee unconscious and bloody on the sofa. I could see now that the cut on his side was the primary source of blood. “They had beaten me pretty badly and asked lots of questions, but Lee stepped in and it was a great distraction. I’m glad Tel got to me so quickly. Lee knocked a few guys down but got stabbed before Bax brought the others back. The guys ran away but they know where we are now.” Fear shone in his eyes.
“I’m on it,” Lanna replied and without another word left.
I stood there feeling helpless.
The woman who was holding the cloth next to Lee looked at me, “Are you a healer?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m so sorry. I can try and find one.” I started to turn for the door. I’d be more useful if I could find help.
She shook her head. “There’s a healer's retreat this weekend. They aren’t here. We’ve been fine without them before. We’ll figure this out.”
“If it needs stitches I can do that,” I offered. Stitches weren’t fun, but traveling doesn’t go without it’s accidents.
“It does, but it needs more.” Her eyes looked sad.
Lee coughed and struggled to say, “Poison.” I had thought he was unconscious.
“I don’t know how to fix that,” I replied, feeling panicked. Any death I had experienced was at my own hands, and I wasn’t sure how to react to something different.
The woman looked at me for a long moment. “My heart says you're the one to solve this.”
“I don’t have healing magic!” I exclaimed. “I have no useful gifts here.” I felt the fear building inside me. The need to run tugged at my soul.
“The future is cloudy, and something I can never see. But my heart speaks true. It always comes true. Right now it says you’ll heal him. You will be the one to heal my son.”
Wide eyed I took a step back. They clearly did not get that I meant it when I said I had no useful gifts here.
“Please try,” Marc begged. Fear lined his features.
“For Lee?” Tella asked, tears making their way down her cheeks.
“I’m cursed. Anyone I touch dies. Terrible fever death. There’s nothing I can do,” I insisted. I hoped my blunt confession would help them all see the truth.
The woman stood up and was in front of me before I could react. “Please try. He’ll die if you don't. I know you don’t understand my magic, but it is true. You will save him.”
Gently she pushed me towards Lee. Fear gripped me, but my feet moved anyway and I knelt beside him. It didn’t register with me until now that he was shirtless and holding a cloth over a stab wound. I didn’t know what to do. Carefully, I moved his hand and then the cloth. My gloves were quickly covered in blood, but I didn’t care. I c
ould deal with that later.
The wound was just deep enough for stitches, but did not appear mortal. My brain grasped on the facts. It was caused by a knife, and from the looks of it the blade was very sharp. The cut was clean and it wouldn’t get infected. The only problem, aside from the pain, was the poison. How did they know it was even poisoned? It didn’t matter. I concentrated on the information I was presented with instead.
Could my flames burn out the poison? Had it spread far enough through his system that a small touch would do the trick to save him, or would it just kill him? I didn’t want to kill him, and my curse was really good at killing already. Lee clearly had a very good life. The world was cruel and trying to take it from him.
With nothing to lose, I removed my right glove and gingerly touched the wound. The blood was sticky, and quickly warmed at my touch. I could feel – for the first time – the fire leaving through the tips of my fingers right into the cut. It extended like another part of me downward and inward, whisking itself along. Concentrating, I willed it to ignore the blood, forget the flesh, and attack what felt unnatural. I pushed it on until the unnatural feeling, hopefully the poison, stretched on no more.
Calling the fire back, the blood felt normal, the skin as it should. The fire shot back up my fingers, into my arm, and back at my heart. Everything felt like it was moving. The world wobbled left and right. Dizziness ate away at my vision.
The room went black.
Chapter 12
When I awoke, I felt an odd warmth and softness under me. My head still ached slightly, and for whatever reason my body felt stiff and overworked.
Opening my eyes, I couldn’t comprehend the scene before me. I was on the sofa, cuddled up to Lee. Both gloves were off, hand washed of its blood. There was a blanket over us. My body froze as I tried to figure out how to get up without killing Lee. How did I not end up killing him last night?
I remembered what had happened, but didn’t understand how it worked or even how I had done what I had done. A fluke maybe? There was no amount of convincing that would make me believe I could do that again with no problems.
Lee yawned at me. “Oh you're up,” he mumbled.
“How are you alive?” I asked baffled, It was a good surprise, and I tried to calm myself down. “Can I get up?” I didn’t want to accidently touch him without my gloves.
He carefully moved so I could get up and sit properly on opposite sides of the sofa. We sat there together in silence for a brief moment.
“I don't get it. How did you pull through? I’ve killed everyone else I’ve touched.” Forget keeping things a secret, I wanted answers.
Lee yawned again, still waking up. “I’ve no idea, let me think for a moment.” He rubbed the sand out of his eyes and gave another yawn.
His mother appeared in the doorway. “Oh thank goodness, you’re both up.”
“Yeah, I’m feeling fine, but what happened?” Lee asked before I could say anything. “This is an odd way to leave a stab victim and his rescuer.”
She shook her head. “There was nothing we could do. When she passed out we tried to move her, but it was impossible. Thankfully she warned us that her touch can kill, so we made the connection – with the gloves and long clothes – that it was likely skin to skin. Even through her clothes she was too hot to move. The strength of the curse is fascinating. It can work its way through so many layers. Since you were fine, my elemental child.” She gave him a kiss on the head, “We decided that we’d leave you both be.”
“That makes sense,” Lee agreed. He sounded much more awake. He turned to me and saw that I still looked confused. “Remember, my magic is with the elements. Fire is very much one of them. You controlled your magic enough to get rid of the poison. My magic helped lessen the burn.”
“Sounds like there was a lot of luck involved too considering you were pretty much knocked out at that point,” I pointed out, not wanting to take credit for something I couldn’t duplicate.
“Either way, you may have overdid it a little. Not that I’m upset; you did save me.” He smiled. “Who knows, maybe it’ll be a new skill for you? Working with your fire magic?”
“There weren’t many options. Overdoing it or doing nothing were really all there was.” I ignored that he tried to refer to my curse as something less terrible than what it was.
Lee laughed and before he could reply, his cousin came in the room.
“Great to see you’re awake!” Marc exclaimed.
“Couldn’t feel any better really,” Lee shrugged it off, trying to make his cousin feel better.
“You are really lucky to be alive,” his mother reminded him.
“I can’t argue with that. Stroke of good luck considering the strange ambush,” Lee admitted, trying to give Marc a shrug.
“Breakfast and then more rest. No trouble today,” she ordered. “We’ll let the others figure out the rest of the possible problems for today.”
Lee shook his head. “We’ve got to figure out what’s going on with that group. There could be more of them, and the people in the fields aren’t safe with them out there.”
“There are plenty working on that issue now!” She replied sharply.
“And I’m part of the problem solving committee. I’ll take it as easy as I can, Mother. I Promise. But I am going to meet with everyone and get to the bottom of this.” They had a stare off for a moment.
“You’ll eat a full breakfast before you go anywhere,” she said with finality and walked into a different room.
Marc smiled. “Thanks cuz. I really owe you a million.”
“And one. Let’s not forget the wolf,” Lee teased.
“Yeah, yeah.” He blushed, looking down at his feet.
“What’s the word so far?” Lee said, jumping right into catch up mode.
“Lots. The committee figured out where they’ve come from. The group seems to have about ten people in the area, but from what everyone’s saying it sounds like they can still hurt us pretty badly. They’re from the same town as the kid from the other day. The one you found in the forest.”
“Great. That’s circled back to us.” Lee rolled his eyes.
“Yeah. Lanna went ahead and told him last night we knew he was lying. Kid went up in smokes. Calling everyone demons. He attacked the people who were there. Just with his fists, so everyone came out okay, but still. He got tossed in jail until we can figure out the best way to handle him. If those guys are just adult versions of him, we’re probably pretty screwed.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. I’d rather not use violence against them, but it may just come to that. I’ll see what everyone says at the meeting. I’m assuming they’re meeting again soon?”
“Yeah, you’ll be late, but they’ll understand. I wouldn’t argue with Aunt Juni.” Marc nodded as if that was all there was to it.
I took that to mean Lee’s mother was named Juni.
We ate shortly after that conversation. Hot cakes and eggs seemed to be endless. Juni did not disappoint with a filling breakfast. She wouldn’t let me get away with my normal amount, going on about how magic wears down and breakfast builds up.
“You’re more than welcome to stay here while we get things sorted around town,” Lee said as he cleaned off his plate.
I raised an eyebrow in at him. “There is no way I’m not staying up to date on this. After all, this whole thing started because of that kid following me, and I need to know where they’re planning to attack from otherwise I can’t travel.”
“I’ll gladly give you all the details,” Lee agreed. “But you did overwork yourself and your magic when you helped me. Resting would be better, and I’m sure Mother would love the company.”
“I’m sure I’d be great company, but you would be even better company. So really, after all you went through last night you should be the one staying home. Not a stranger,” I crossed my arms, ending the argument.
Juni chuckled as she left the room. “She’s right.”
�
��What happened to my gloves?” I finally asked since they had yet to reappear.
“Oh, I washed them. They were positively filthy.” Juni vanished into another room and returned with the gloves. “Still a bit damp, dear.”
I was surprised that they were completely free of dirt and blood. “Thank you. I have others, I just didn’t want to lose a pair. I’m good to go now.”
With a heavy sigh Lee agreed. With my small victory I followed him and Marc out of the house. This was good for me. I didn’t want to have extra time to think about what had happened. Suddenly having a moment of control over my magic, my curse, made my head spin. There was hope I could control it again, but the risk seemed too high. If a tendril of fire magic were to slip… whomever was there would be dead. Fire is wonderful, but moves in its own way. It can be managed, but never truly controlled. The more I thought on it, the less likely it seemed to me that I would be able to do anything with it again. Maybe it was just a lot of good timing and luck involved last night and nothing more.
On the way, Lee explained that the members of the committee he was on were voted on yearly. Their purpose was to help decide on any problems the community had, solve disputes, and to plan social events in order to keep the town together as a sort of family. Most problems they had were deciding on which fences to rebuild first, helping youth start real jobs that worked with some if not all of their talents when they came of age, and of course the everyday arguments any place faces.
The current committee hadn’t changed in the last two years. Lee mentioned it was likely to change at the next election, but only because some of the younger candidates were going to be able to be a part of it. There were only two requirements: committee members had to be at least eighteen, and to have lived in the village for an entire year.
Lanna, who was twenty-seven, had been on the committee since she was eighteen. She was often considered the leader but didn’t think of herself as such. When we entered the giant theater room used for the community meetings, they had all their attention on Lanna.
