Magic Study - Study 2

“Well?” Leif asked with impatience.

“Something’s wrong. I can’t find Irys.” I told him what Kiki had just said.

“But that’s good, right?”

“There should have been a gradual buildup of scent from faint to sharp. Instead, it’s been the same since we found their trail.” I turned in a circle; magic pulsed in the air all around us. “Someone is trying to trick us.”

“Finally!” A deep voice barked from the darkness.

Kiki and Rusalka reared in surprise, but a soothing strand of magic calmed them. I pulled my bow and scanned the few faint shapes I could see in the weak light.

“Not very quick, are you?” the voice taunted from my left.

I spun Kiki around in time to see a man coalesce out of a blue ray of moonlight. Tall enough to meet my gaze without having to look up, the naked man’s skin was indigo and hairless. His bald head gleamed with sweat and I could see strength coiled in his powerful muscles. But his round face held amusement, and I sensed no immediate threat from him. Pure magical energy emanated from him, so I thought he might be influencing my emotions.

I drew my bow. “Who are you and what do you want?” I demanded.

Bright white teeth flashed as he smiled. “I am your Story Weaver.”

Chapter Twenty

I glanced at Leif; his alarmed expression had turned to fear. Color leaked from his face as he looked from me to the large indigo-colored man. The man’s painted skin and lack of clothes made me think of Tula’s attacker, but his body was more muscular and scars crisscrossed his arms and legs. But no tattoos.

With my mental barrier in place, I held my bow ready, but the man stood relaxed. I would be relaxed, too, if I had access to the amount of magical power within his control. He had no need to move; he could kill us with a word. Which begged the question, why was he here?

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Go away,” Leif said to the man, “you cause only trouble.”

“Your stories have tangled and knotted together,” Story Weaver said. “I am here as a guide to show you both how to untangle them.”

“Banish him,” Leif told me. “He has to obey you.”

“He does?” That seemed rather easy.

“If you wish me to leave, I will go. But you and your brother will not be allowed to enter our village. His twisted soul causes us pain and you are linked to him.”

I stared at the Story Weaver in confusion; his words didn’t make sense. Friend or foe?

“You said you were here to guide. Guide us where?”

“Banish him now!” Leif yelled. “He will deceive you. He’s probably in league with Tula’s kidnapper and is trying to delay us.”

“Your fear remains strong,” Story Weaver said to Leif. “You are not ready to face your story, preferring instead to surround yourself with knots. Some day, they will strangle you. Your choice was to decline our help, but your tangles threaten to squeeze the life out of your sister. This must be corrected.” Extending his hand to me, he said, “You are ready. Leave Kiki and come with me.”

“Where?”

“To see your story.”

“How? Why?”

Story Weaver refused to answer. He radiated calm patience as if he could stand there with his arm extended all night, waiting.

Kiki looked back at me. Go with Moon Man, she urged. Hungry. Tired. Want Topaz.

Smell? Bad? I asked.

Hard road, but Lavender Lady strong. Go.

I returned my bow to its holder and dismounted.

“Yelena, no!” Leif cried. He clutched Rusalka’s reins tight to his chest.

I paused in shock. “That’s the first time you’ve called me by my name. Now you care what happens to me? Sorry, it’s too late in the game for that to work. Frankly, I don’t want to deal with your troubles. I have enough of my own. And we have to find Tula’s attacker before he takes another, so it’s imperative that we meet with the clan elders. If this is what I need to do, then so be it.” I shrugged. “Besides, Kiki told me to go.”

“And you would listen to a horse instead of your brother?”

“Until now my brother has refused to acknowledge any connection with me since I have arrived in Sitia. I trust Kiki.”

Leif snorted in exasperation. “You spent your life in Ixia. You know nothing of these Sandseeds.”

“I learned who to trust.”

“A horse. You’re a fool.” He shook his head.

There was no sense telling him about how I had trusted an assassin, a magician who had tried to kill me twice and two soldiers who had jumped me in the Snake Forest. All four now dear to my heart.

“When will I be back?” I asked Story Weaver.

“With the sun’s first ray.”

I unsaddled Kiki and gave her a quick rubdown while she ate some oats. Then I exchanged her feed bag for water. She drained it, and I placed the empty sacks near her tack.

Apprehension about this strange trip began to crawl along my stomach. Wait for me? I asked Kiki.

She snorted and whacked me with her tail, moving away to search for some sweet grass to graze on. Ask a dull-witted question.

I met Leif’s stony gaze for a moment, then walked over to Story Weaver. He hadn’t moved. Kiki had called him Moon Man. Before I took his hand, I asked, “What’s your name?”

“Moon Man will do.”

I studied his colored skin. “Why indigo?”

A slow grin spread over his lips. “A cooling color to help soothe the fire between you and your brother.” Then, a sheepish look. “It is my favorite.”

I laid my hand in his. His palm felt like velvet. His warmth soaked into my bones and flowed up my arm. Magic shimmered and the world around us melted. I began to uncoil, feeling my body loosen and elongate as if it transformed into a string. The individual strands that entwined within my life’s story began to separate and diverge so I could see the many events that had formed my life.

Some of my history was familiar; I sought the pleasant memories, watching them as if I stood outside a window.

This is why you need me, Moon Man’s voice floated through the scene before my eyes. You would stay here. My job is to guide you to the proper thread.

Memories blurred around me. I closed my eyes as the visions swirled. When the air settled once more, I opened them.

I sat in the middle of a living area. Couches constructed of lianas and a glass-topped table surrounded me. A young boy about eight or nine years old reclined across from me on the wooden floor. He wore a pair of green short pants. With his hands behind his head and his elbows jutting out, he stared at the leaf-covered ceiling. About ten bone dice littered the ground between us.

“I’m bored,” the boy said.

The appropriate response popped into my mind. “How about Onesies? Or Two Through the Skull?” I scooped up the dice and shook them.

“Baby games,” he said. “Let’s go down to the jungle floor and explore!” Leif jumped to his feet.