A somber spirit circled his eyes, highlighting how tired he was. “Promise me, Kera, that you will look deeply into Dylan’s heart. He is the son of a man who has a tenuous grip on reality. I did not see it until it was too late. Mark my words, where there is a love of power, there lies evil.”
“Don’t you mean the potential for evil? Everyone has that.” She rose on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You are wrong about Dylan. He is good. As good as I am.”
His countenance didn’t ease as he lingered on her face. “Let us pray you are correct.”
Dylan had begun to exhibit strange magical episodes, but he was still caring, passionate, and loyal. He had her heart, and she trusted him. He would work through the growing pains of their added power, just like she needed to do.
“Finish eating,” she said to Reece. “I’ll be right back.”
Moving away, she drew her dagger and made a quick circle of the area. Her whole life she’d leaned on her natural abilities to fight. Her skills had impressed everyone. But now that she was in Teag, she could feel her newfound powers stretch and rise beneath her skin, stronger, more insistent. It took all she had not to give in to the urge to let out the magic. But why? Why deny what was now a natural part of her?
As she stepped, she dragged her fingers along the bushes. Flowers bloomed as though it were full summer. She called an owl to hand, stroked its head, and set it free. Overhead, she wove a canopy out of tree limbs and climbing plants, and as she walked, rose petals fell. Soon her path was deep in their colors of red and pink and white and yellow, her feet crushing out the scent. Behind her, the canopy slid apart, and the petals slowly curled until they were brown and dry.
Ahead, the woods grew thick with brush. She bent and peeked within the brambles. The animals quickly took to their burrows. She straightened, confused. These were her woods. She knew them well, yet tension filled the air and she couldn’t place its source. Not a sign of trouble. Not even a whiff of enmity. It appeared as if her father had been able to calm the unrest. Everything seemed normal, but not.
She whispered her dilemma into the wind and sent it toward the caves. She could only hope someone would hear her request. Being locked out of their safe haven had her as jittery as a worm on a hook. She felt exposed. Vulnerable. She had to either get help for Reece soon or risk going back to the human realm with their questions she couldn’t answer.
She returned to Reece, no more confident than when she’d left, and hovered in front of him. “How do you feel?”
“Like a truck hit me and I bounced into the gutter.” He shifted again and winced. “I don’t think I was made to bounce.”
She smiled. Any man who could find humor in his circumstances was worth knowing. She could see why Lani liked him. “Signe will see you better in no time.” A promise she was sure of, if only she could see him safely to her friend.
As if on cue, a boy who was known to follow Lani around on her patrols appeared. His bow riding across his back looked nearly as big as he was. For more years than he had been alive, the humans had to walk softly in the woods. They weren’t welcome in Teag and survived on handouts and luck. Allowing a child to wander the woods alone might seem odd to some, but Kera knew Halim. At the age of five, he’d seen both parents murdered and had fended for himself for months until Lani and Kera found him. Every time they sought to limit his excursions, he managed to outsmart whoever was watching him and ended up doing exactly as he pleased.
He stood before her, skin and clothes streaked with dirt and face set with a frown, but all Kera saw was a friend. She took a step forward. “Halim. You came. I wasn’t sure my call would find anyone. I am glad to see you.”
“What do you want?”
The suspicion in his voice made her hesitate. “I-I need to get this man to Signe. He needs help. He’s a friend of Lani’s. Can you take us through the protection spell?”
Halim peered over at Reece, who gave him a weak nod. The boy’s eyes were filled with wariness more suited to an old man. When he returned his attention to Kera, his lips thinned. “You should go back to the human realm where you are safe from what’s been happening here.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t know what was happening in Teag. It seemed calm enough. “Teag is my home. It always will be. Please help us?”
The furrow between his eyes deepened. “The council blames Dylan for our troubles, as do the rest of us. He’s not wanted here.” He glared at Reece. “Or anyone like him.”
“I’m like Dylan,” she reminded him. “Does it include me?”
A long moment stretched by before he shook his head. “Follow me.”
Kera quickly bent to help Reece to his feet. “Wait. Halim!”
He didn’t look back.
Reece’s body shook with laughter that left him cringing. When he recovered, he sighed. “Compassionate little shit, isn’t he?”
Clearly the boy felt Kera had abandoned them for the human realm, and in a way, she had. Clearly they blamed Dylan for their current troubles. Did everyone honestly believe a power-hungry warlord like Navar was the best choice for Teag? She could understand the council’s elitist mentality. It would never change, but Dylan had freed so many from the threat of death and oppression that hung over them.
They tagged after the boy, and with each step, Reece grew heavier along with her worry. “Hang on. We’re almost there.”
When they finally broke through the trees, Halim stood waiting for them in the open space in front of the caves. He looked up from sharpening his knife and snorted. “You made it. Didn’t think he had it in him. He looks half-dead.”
“I feel half-dead,” Reece muttered.
“Where’s Signe? Didn’t you tell her I was here?”
Halim pocketed his knife. “She’s inside.”
When he moved past her to leave, she touched his arm, stopping him. “Help him, Halim.” The command in her voice surprised even her. He hesitated, and she latched on to her newfound authority.
It was almost as if he did what she asked against his will. But with his help, they entered the mouth of the caves where a gathering of men stood arguing the merits of warfare and how long they could withstand an attack.
“An attack from whom?” she whispered to Halim.
He hushed her and urged them forward.
“The caves are safe,” a young man spoke over the rumbling of the others. “To venture out is pointless. Let them haggle and snap at one another.”
“So sayeth you,” a tall gangly man said. “You are a
Kera knew the young
“I have been faithful to everyone here,” he said in his defense.
Fear and accusations flew between the men, and no one gave the three of them a second look. She and Halim shouldered Reece’s weight as best they could and rounded a bend. The strong smell of alchemy, the discipline of magic and science her people practiced, hit her and she slowed. The odor was sharp and unpleasant, and she was surprised to find it here of all places.
The smell rolled along a thin corridor to her left. “What goes on down that way?”
Halim’s face grew pale and uncompromising. He struggled not to say anything, but the years they had shared scrounging for food were strong enough to override whatever uncertainty he had adopted. “The few remaining
The sting in his voice drew her up short. “I care, Halim.”
He shrugged and stepped aside. He refused to meet her gaze, staring at the ground. “It’s not far now. I have things to do. Important things.”
So gruff. So unwelcoming. This was not what she had expected. “Thank you for your help.”
