by Karen MacRae
The girl interrupted the monologue. “A bonus, miss? I didn’t know she was due one. How much is it?”
“Hopefully enough to buy that other horse. What was the vendor asking?”
Anna plucked an exorbitant amount out of the air. “It was nineteen gold pieces, miss. Plus the saddle and tack.”
Her ex-mistress didn’t even blink. The whoring business must be doing well. “Well, how fortunate, because her bonus was twenty, two for each year she was here.”
Anna left with more gold than she’d earned in her whole life. Today might not be going to plan, but it was definitely going better than expected. Alyson practically pushed her out of the back door before she’d had time to put the bag of coins in her backpack.
The woman made an attempt to make her urging seem friendly. “The Pigwin in Bovey is excellent,” she said with a small smile that looked completely out of place on the normally stern face. “Clean beds and good food. I recommend it, but you’d better leave as soon as you buy that horse if you want to get there before dark.”
Anna thanked her profusely, promising she’d make straight for Bovey, a small village about twenty miles away. She had no intention of leaving just yet though. The woman was much too keen to get rid of her.
Sure enough, the brothelkeeper left by the front door only minutes later. She walked with purpose, long strides devouring the paving. Anna scurried along behind her, keeping to the shadows, ducking in and out of doorways. She needn’t have bothered. Alyson didn’t look back even once.
The journey was short. The madame slammed a gleaming metal knocker against a huge blue front door three times and was let in by a servant. A sign near the door announced it was the business premises of Reganald Grayson.
Anna cooled her heels outside for more than a quarter hour until his sister came back out, her face red from shouting, her aura spiking furiously. It would have been good to know what had enraged the woman, but her visit had clearly not had the desired outcome.
The chase began again. Alyson strode away, her feet striking the paving with energy and intent. She slowed as she entered Striven Way, the pre-eminent address for Straton’s wealthy. Her aura was just as angry, but she had her body under control.
Anna saw her straighten her back and take a deep breath before she knocked on the ornately carved, black door of a large, three-storey town house. A servant answered, but Miss Grayson was not admitted. Anna saw the servant shake his head and edged nearer so she could hear the exchange.
“… dinner engagement so we expect him back in time to change. May I give him a message perhaps, Miss Grayson?”
The response was inaudible, the wind blowing the words away. The servant nodded and closed the door. The woman paused on the doorstep to consider next steps. She turned suddenly and sped towards the town centre, Anna hurrying to keep her in sight.
The streets became increasingly busy as they approached the centre. The market was closing, traders heading home for the evening and carters hauling goods to and fro. Anna was grateful for her quarry’s height and the scarlet and grey spikes radiating from her blonde head. She would have lost her for sure without them.
The destination was a pristinely clean and well-organised warehouse a few streets over from the town square. A squat, swarthy man with a steely blue aura was issuing commands to labourers unloading a wagon in the large yard. Anna couldn’t hear what he said, but the men were terrified of him. This was someone to avoid.
The family resemblance was obvious when Alyson stood next to him. The build and colouring might be different, but they shared the same facial features, his that little bit bigger and more masculine. He made her wait while he finished issuing instructions. It irked his sister, but she managed to contain it, plastering an empty smile on her face and standing patiently, her eyes fixed on the crates the men had already laid out.
When her brother turned to her, her hello was effusive and false. He knew it. Orange rippled through his aura as he laughed inside, enjoying her weak attempt at subterfuge. She gestured towards the warehouse and he shook his head. It looked like he was saying he was too busy for them to talk in private, telling her that she was an unimportant inconvenience. The benign expression on his sister’s face changed momentarily to hatred and she leaned in to whisper angrily to him.
Anna crept closer, hiding behind the queue of wagons waiting to be unloaded. She heard Alyson’s brother tell the men to take a short break and dared a peek around the wheel. The siblings were alone.
“I haven’t seen you in an age, Morris. I thought you might dine with me tomorrow night. Bring that dashing Kai with you. I do like to look at a pretty face.”
“You interrupted me at work to ask me to dinner?”
“What? A sister can’t wish the company of her elder brother?”
He didn’t reply, looking at her with overt disdain and disbelief.
“Fine,” she snapped. “I wanted some advice. My Healer died. Earlier than she should, the weak bitch. After I had the decency to take on one with a kid too.” She practically snarled in vitriol at the inconvenience of a nothing employee leaving her in the lurch.
Anna wanted to hurl herself at the woman in her mother’s defence but clenched her fists and swallowed her indignity. Now was not the time.
“I wanted to discuss options with someone with a brain.” Alyson continued. “Kai has been useful in the past with suggestions for my house and I know you have all the right contacts.”
Her brother sneered at her. “Some might argue that Kai has been too useful to you in the past.”
“I don’t know what you’re implying,” she bristled, pretending outrage at his suggestion. There was a distinct edge of fear to her aura.
Morris Grayson regarded his sister with a look of cold arrogance, menace exuding from every pore. “You are nothing but a slut whore who has gratified herself with a lothario plaything for too long and too noisily. That toy is now broken and thrown away. Leave it be or face the same end,” he hissed.
She gasped at the insult and threat, but relief flooded her aura. False tears fell. “But I love him, Morris,” she lied.
“Then best look for him in Tullen because you’ll not see him here again,” he barked, infuriated.
Anna saw boots approaching from the yard and made her escape. Tullen was weeks away. Full of mines and forges, it was where convicts worked off their debt to society. Kai would still be en route, more than likely chained and manacled, treated like a slave. She reminded herself that she owed him nothing. For all she knew, he deserved his end. But Blue was staunchly loyal to him and Jaxom believed in him. Anna sighed. She supposed it wasn’t massively out of her way. It’s not like she had a deadline or anything…
She turned the corner and walked straight into a brick wall. Or so it felt. A tall, ugly mass of solid muscle grabbed her by the throat and lifted her in the air so her face was level with his huge, bald head.
“What are you doing skulking around, eavesdropping on the Graysons?”
CHAPTER 4
T he brute didn’t appreciate the idiocy of asking someone questions while squeezing every drop of breath out of them. Anna’s lungs began to burn and her eyes to stream. She lashed out with her arms and fists, wriggled and kicked. He didn’t even blink when her boots made contact. Desperate, she reached out with the only thing left.
His aura was a mirror of his physique. Not a complicated man: he had bricks for a body and stone for an aura. She felt his fingers relax against her throat as she slammed him with everything she had. It wasn’t clear what happened first but, all of a sudden, she was slumped on the ground, gasping for air. Next to her lay a prone mountain. She ran.
She was at the White Boar within minutes. She found Jaxom in the stables, brushing a now gleaming Blue. She collapsed on a hay bale, her hands on her knees, her heart pounding, her lungs heaving and her mouth as dry as dust. It had been a while since she’d sprinted any distance.
“What happened? Are you all right, miss? Anna
?”
She managed a nod. Jaxom waited impatiently for the young woman to get her breath back. “I’m fine,” she finally croaked, struggling up to rummage in Blue’s saddle bag for her water skin. Her throat wetted and her lungs back in more normal working order, she admired Jaxom’s handiwork. He beamed at the compliment. Then she gave him the bad news. “I heard Morris Grayson tell his sister that she’d find Kai in Tullen.”
“Tullen? What would he be doing in Tullen? And without Blue?” Jaxom asked, puzzled.
“I suspect the young lady means our friend Kai is there against his will,” drawled a distant voice.
Anna looked behind her, trying to make out the speaker. She saw the outline of a man lying back against a pile of straw in the far corner. Everything about him was dark: his skin, his hair, his eyes, his clothing. Even his aura was indecipherable. All she could see was an extension of his darkness all around him. He was almost invisible in the shadows, but for the white teeth that flashed a transitory smile at her surprise.
“This is Spider. He’s a friend of Kai’s,” Jaxom told her.
“Says who?” she asked.
“Well, he does,” said Jaxom in confusion. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m very grateful to you for grooming Blue, Jaxom, but he and I are leaving now. I don’t know Kai and I have no desire to get involved in whatever trouble he’s up to his neck in.” If she had to, Anna would wipe Blue’s memory. Prison caravans, intrigue, naive stable boys, giants who choked the life out of you and smarmy men all of burnt umber were more than she’d bargained for. She had a journey to begin. If she left right now, she might just make it to Bovey before nightfall.
Jaxom’s face fell. “I thought you were going to help find Kai,” he grumbled, disappointment oozing from every pore.
Anna bustled about getting Blue’s tack ready. “No need now Kai’s friend is here.”
“But Blue chose you,” he pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Jaxom, I can’t.” She got up on Blue and turned his head towards the open doors. She clicked her tongue, digging her heels in a touch. Nothing. She tried again, this time a little firmer with her heels. Nothing. She inspected his aura. The cloud was about half as big as this morning. She heard quiet laughter. Jaxom must have told the stranger about her earlier embarrassment at the gate. She glared at him. He hushed, but the white teeth grinned at her nonetheless.
“It seems Blue thinks you should help,” he teased.
She glared at him again, her eyes flashing daggers. “Blue is stubborn. He’s also just a horse. He’ll soon forget once he’s on the road.”
Anna jumped down and tried to lead the horse out of the stable. He moved all of about two steps then refused to budge. She’d be quicker walking. It occurred to her that she had twenty gold pieces in her pocket and a bagful of smaller coins in her saddlebag. She could just take a room and wait for the horse traders to arrive, get herself a new horse. She wouldn’t have to risk Shaping Blue’s aura in full view of onlookers and she could neatly extricate herself from this mess. She started to take her bags down from Blue’s back.
But what if that man mountain was dead and someone saw her run away? Perhaps the guards were looking for her right at this moment? Or perhaps the man came round and hunted her down? Or went and told his master all about her? She definitely did not want Morris Grayson looking for her. She should leave town. She stopped unbuckling the bags.
At that moment, she wished with all her heart that her mother was there to tell her what to do. She felt tears well in her eyes.
“Would it help if I told you that I really am Kai’s friend? He was supposed to meet me in Sanmar a week ago. It’s like him to be late, but not this late so I came looking for him. I mean you and young Jaxom no harm.”
“It would help if you didn’t hide in shadows!”
“My apologies but moving is a little difficult for me at the moment. I had a bit of a run in with an adversary on the way here.”
“You’re hurt?”
“A mere scratch. I’ll soon be as true as a Rubran long blade.”
“You’ve seen a Healer?”
“I have no intention of shortening the life of an innocent who owes me nothing.” He sounded like a pompous ass to Anna, but she applauded his words with every fibre of her being. Maybe he wasn’t all bad.
“Jaxom, please get me a lantern,” she asked. The boy scurried off. He was back with a lighted lantern in moments.
Anna was cautious, stopping several feet away from the young man sprawling in the hay. She lifted the lantern to see him better. Everything about his body might be dark brown, but his aura was a deep, burnished bronze flecked with small whirls of every colour under the sun. It was stunningly beautiful. All except the thick smear of inky black hovering over his belly.
“Are you truly a friend of Kai’s?” she asked.
“I am.”
“And you mean Jaxom and me no harm?”
“I do not.”
His pattern remained constant. He told the truth.
“Let me see the wound.”
He watched the girl closely as he removed several knives from his clothing and opened his shirt to reveal a bloodstained bandage.
Anna made no comment about the plethora of weapons, but she noted the blade lying by the fingertips of his right hand. This was not a man who liked to be unarmed. The scratch turned out to be a deep gash in his side that had been reasonably well bandaged but cleaned in a hurry. She could smell the faint foulness of pus and see a sheen on his brow. It wasn’t just from pain: his blood was being poisoned.
Her mother had drilled it into her not to Heal on her own. Her neonatal Healing test had showed zero aptitude which meant she was officially unable to Heal. Which made miracles a bit difficult to explain. Which meant they were bound to attract all the wrong attention. But she was on her own now. And this was someone from out of town who obviously didn’t know how sick he was. And she’d be long gone before anyone even thought to ask how he’d got better so quickly…
Jaxom was dealing with the arrival of two guests and their horses so Anna went in search of fresh water and soap then raided her rucksack for clean cloth and the healing herbs her mother swore by. “This’ll hurt,” she warned the dark man.
At his nod, she tore off a section of cloth, wet and soaped it and began to scrub. He flinched at the first touch but kept his mouth and his body still thereafter. As she cleaned, she ever so gently dissolved the black lesion in his aura, redirecting the poison into the crystal under her shirt. When every foreign particle had been washed away and the black faded to a pale grey, she carefully dabbed the wound dry. A thin sprinkling of herbs followed by careful bandaging completed the job.
“You have a gentle touch. I feel better already. Thank you.”
“My mother was a Healer.”
“She’s no Healer,” interrupted a gruff, slightly accented voice. Anna turned to see the ugly brick wall looking flushed and dizzy. His voice faltered mid-sentence. “She’s a…” and he collapsed, his body thundering to the floor like an avalanche of boulders.
Anna and Spider both jumped up. Anna was halfway to the door when she realised that Spider had moved in the opposite direction, towards the unconscious goliath. He was trying unsuccessfully to wake him.
“Sy? Come on, Sy, wake up! Syrano Tomasino Ffion, get yourself up right this instance!” Spider looked at the girl, paused mid-flight. “Help me!” he pleaded, confused by her fear.
“You know him?” Stupid question, she thought. He’d just reeled off the man’s full name. “I mean, he’s with you?”
“What? Yes, he’s with me. What’s wrong with him? He’s never ill.”
Anna looked at Sy’s aura. The stone wall looked more like a tiny step. It was barely there. She was astonished he’d made it here without help. She pretended to check him over as she frantically thought what to do. There was so little to work with. If she mucked it up, he’d die for sure and she didn’t want that on her
conscience no matter what he’d tried to do to her.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do. I’m not a trained Healer. Perhaps all he needs is rest. It can work wonders.”
“We don’t have time for rest. We need to find Kai before he reaches Tullen. He’s wanted elsewhere.” His words were delivered with sincerity and a hint of desperation. “Please, is there anything you can do?”
Anna thought of trying to reverse whatever she’d done, but she’d done it instinctively, without thought or reason. She had no idea how to do the opposite. She’d long wondered if she could pull energy back out of a crystal, but she’d never had the chance to try it. She thought she might be able to reinstall the giant’s aura from the crystal, but then he might end up with everything else in there too. She’d been using this crystal for more than half a year. It contained blood poisoning, Blue’s depression as well as various broken bones and gynaecological problems she’d taken from her mother’s Healing well to try to ease her burden.
“Anything?” Spider asked again.
Blood poisoning would be a death sentence with a depleted aura. She daren’t risk it. She opened her mouth to apologise again when she realised what her fingers had been fidgeting with in her pocket: her new crystal. It had no such history. She thought about how she reduced blackness. It was part visualising the discolouration fading and part seeing the underlying colour shine through. Perhaps if she focused on the normal colour of the aura and pulled energy from the crystal to fuel its growth?
She mixed a tiny amount of the healing herbs in water. They would do no harm and perhaps some good and they would keep Spider occupied, inattentive to what she was doing. She was surprised when his unconscious companion swallowed without choking, Spider supporting his head and speaking gently to him in a language she didn’t understand. There was considerable trust here.
While he was distracted, Anna began to pull energy from the clean Aurovian crystal in her pocket and send it into the giant’s aura, imagining his stone wall thickening and expanding. She realised she was holding her breath. Her nostrils flared as she sucked in air, but it went unnoticed. By the time the cup was half empty, her head was throbbing, each heartbeat sending a blade slicing through her brain. She knew she’d feel awful in the morning, but she kept feeding energy into the stone.
