Daughter Of The Wind --Western Wind

by Sandra Elsa

  #

  As they traveled, Pink had the nagging sensation they were being followed. Nothing she could identify, but a constant touch, brushing at the edge of conscious thought. They arrived in Manaken a week later, and the sensation disappeared. They stayed for two days doing their show to earn their supper and gold to travel with.

  All her skills but Healing, were still unpredictable so Johann cloaked her in illusion when they entered the town. As soon as they did their first show, the sensation of being watched returned. This time she could put a face to the eyes though. A short swarthy man with auburn hair watched from the rear of the crowd.

  It didn’t feel the same as the sensation on the road. There it had been a simple feeling of watchfulness. This man’s regard made the hair on her neck bristle. They stayed to perform because they needed to purchase supplies, and few towns would be large enough to offer such a rich audience.

  The man stood in every performance and when she mentioned him to Johann he simply nodded. “He is a minor wizard and knows some of what we do is not sleight of hand.”

  Pink cursed herself for not even thinking of that as a reason for his interest. Large groups of people had come to mean merchants to her. And merchants meant associates of Garec's. The next show they did, she searched him with second-sight and found he was minimally endowed with the same golden brown power Johann controlled.

  When they ended the show, Johann announced, “This will be our final show, we thank you for your generosity, but we must be moving on.”

  He passed an unadorned burgundy cap for donations to their performance.

  As they packed to leave, the stranger approached them. “What direction are you headed?”

  Johann turned, pasted on his best showman’s smile, and answered, “We travel south if you wish to catch the show again.”

  “No...I was hoping I could travel with you. I'm something of a magicker myself, and I couldn’t help but envy your skill. Your take in one day is more than I can make in a week of performances. Would you per chance be willing to instruct?”

  Johann returned to packing. “I’m afraid my granddaughter and I have never worked with anybody else.”

  “I don't wish to be a part of your show. I would greatly appreciate being taught how to perform some of the tricks you do.”

  The pasted on smile slipped from Johann’s face. “That is out of the question.” He sank into the slight trance of second-sight and when his eyes refocused he said, “You haven’t the strength to perform the tricks you most wish to learn.”

  The man backed away a step. “You read minds... Nobody can read minds...”

  Johann harrumphed. “Of course I don’t read minds. Anybody with that strength gets swept into the wizard’s corps. They are few and far between, but it's not difficult to discern which tricks a budding young wizard would be most interested in learning.”

  He turned his back on the disappointed magicker and finished the routine of packing as the man wandered off.

  As soon as they left the town of Manaken, Pink felt the watcher return. She searched their back trail, watching for the appearance of the magicker, but never catching even a distant glimpse of anybody.

  The third day, Pink was standing guard duty early in the morning when she felt a familiar presence in her mind. Angel’s ears swiveled to the north and Pink spotted the huge silver and tan wolf. She identified the presence she had felt for weeks now.

  “Who are you?” she heard clearly in her mind. “Why am I drawn to you?”

  “I am called Pink, my true name is Bellana,” she replied through the mind link, for some reason compelled to give this animal the truth. “Why you're drawn to me, I can’t answer. I would have thought you’d have been gone a long time ago, off searching for better hunting grounds.”

  A low uneasy growl carried through the connection. “Normally I would have been, since I have no pack to tie me to this area. I go where I can most easily find food. I wanted to see you again. I visited that man’s farm several times but when the horses got nervous I left.”

  Pink squinted at him trying to get a better view. He appeared to be sitting still, returning her steady scrutiny.

  “Why were you waiting for us?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just an animal. I’ve been lonely for so long, living under this curse...”

  Pink grasped her head as a short, sharp, pain, traveled through the connection.

  Hesitation colored his thoughts as the wolf continued. “My apologies. I did not intend to send that to you, it is my punishment for mentioning it.”

  He did not think the word curse again, but Pink was fully aware of what he meant and very glad he hadn't repeated it.

  “I can hear the minds of men, and understand your thoughts, but no others have ever heard me in return.”

  “Why do you not stay with a pack? Surely your own kind would keep you company?”

  “No.” Hatred and anger emanated from him. He started to get up and walk away then he turned around and stalked back, sitting down a little closer than he had been. “They will have nothing to do with me. The wizard who cursed me was angry because I killed his brother—the…it…the”

  Pink inhaled sharply, waiting for the pain when he said “cursed”, and was surprised she felt nothing. Either he was controlling his pain, keeping it from the link, or the spell was very specific and the slight change from curse to cursed made it permissible. The thought occurred to her, perhaps his words were not truthful enough to cause him to feel the sharp jab, his first utterance brought.

  “Curse,” Pink filled in the word he was not allowed to say.

  “Thank you. Gives me the scent of mankind. This frightens the other wolves. He also made it impossible for me to kill my food. If I try to kill another living animal, I feel such pain I lose consciousness. Thus, I live from carrion.”

  “How long ago did this happen to you?” Pink asked with some trepidation. This could easily be a ruse to get her to let her guard down.

  “So much time has passed I can’t remember. It seems perhaps several life spans. I should have died long ago. Perhaps this is another part of the wizard’s curse. But I have been lonely for longer than you have been alive.”

  He sidled closer, inches at a time. If she had not been watching so carefully, she would not have noticed.

  The deep voice in her head continued. “Longer even than your gray-bearded companion has been alive. The wizard who placed this spell, is long since dead. I had rather hoped that when he died, I would be free. But nothing changed.” She heard the mental sigh and could still feel some of the anger she felt in their second conversation. Now, at least she knew it was not directed at her.

  A glimmer of morbid humor crept into the thoughts. “I did have the pleasure of making a meal of him when he passed on. Seems his horse did not appreciate my charms.”

  Pink waited for the explanation. He claimed not to be able to kill...

  “He made a supply run between Trell and his home in the mountains. I darted from the concealment of brush and the gelding bolted and slid down a steep cliff. I feasted for a week on horse and rider.” She heard a tsking tickle her mind. “Such a powerful wizard, brought down by his horse’s fear. They both broke their necks by the time they arrived at the bottom of the ravine.”

  Pink shivered at the memory of him eating the Telgarn scout.

  She felt hesitation, and shame. The emotions crowded her mind nearly as though they were her own.

  When his voice came into her mind again it conveyed humiliation. “I feel likewise. When I was first cursed I tried to let myself die by not eating. I became so weak I couldn’t move, but I lay there for weeks and would not pass on. Rains came and caused great floods. I was washed down the mountain to rest among several other victims of the flood. They perished. I did not.”

  His anger and shame dissipated, replaced by melancholy.

  “I decided that if I was going to be forced to live, I would prefer to be able to
move, so I fed on the carrion of the flood. Several times since then I tried to die, but it seems the gods conspire against me. Living for me is torment, but the wizard wrought well his curse.” The wolf stood and paced back and forth, not coming any closer, but unable to be still. “I can’t even remember killing his brother. Why must I yet be punished for it?”

  As he told his tale he repeated the word, curse, or a version of it, multiple times, each time Pink noticed less hesitation. The melancholy disappeared, replaced with a hint of hopefulness. His emotions changed so quickly she was distracted. They were disturbingly clear. She wondered if he could read her as well.

  “Yes I can. I told you I can hear the minds of men,” he answered the thought which had not been directed at him. “Now that you already know of the curse, it seems I'm no longer punished for telling you of it. Perhaps the gods are smiling on me with more kindness now. At least they sent you my way, so I need not be so lonely.”

  His thought patterns were unruly. He seemed torn between telling her of himself and responding to every tiny thought she had.

  “I’m sorry…“ He ducked his head to his paws. “It has been so long. It’s good to hear another...another’s thoughts.”

  “Try not to answer me, unless my question is directed at you.” Pink tried to keep her annoyance from the thought aimed at him.

  “Sorry, I’m sorry, I’m…”

  “Enough!”

  “May I come closer?”

  Pink looked to Angel for guidance. He nodded his head cautiously up and down, so she gave permission for the wolf to approach. The immense animal crept within fifty feet of where she was sitting. She didn’t know if he moved so slowly, so he wouldn’t frighten her, or if he was that unsure of himself.

  “I do not want you to run away.“

  “Stop it! I didn‘t ask.“

  The head ducked down between the shoulders. “Sorry.”

  Pink sighed, and the wolf crept closer. With a stomp of his hoof, Angel went on guard; that was close enough.

  He was enormous. Close up he was much bigger than he had first appeared. Wiry muscles covered a gaunt frame. A handsome fellow, now that his muzzle was not buried in a week old human carcass.

  “Thank you… Sorry, I can‘t help myself.” His coat was tan and silver but very dull, as most animals will get when they have not been eating well. If he was to be believed he had not eaten well in a long, long time.

  “I haven’t… damn, I’m sorry. It‘s very hard for me to tell if you're talking to me or not.”

  “That is not a very wolf-like word.”

  “It’s not a very ladylike thought either. Wolves don‘t communicate with words.”

  Pink blushed as she realized she had in fact thought that word, just before he said it. “Perhaps if I speak out loud, when I‘m talking to you?” she asked him. Curious as to what he would do at the sound of a human voice. He inched closer, keeping a wary eye on Angel but looking for all the world like an anxious pup.

  “That would be good Lady Bellana. I despaired of ever hearing a friendly voice. Would you mind terribly if I travel with you?” He almost purred in her mind.

  “I’m not sure how Johann would react to you. You’d make him nervous, since he can’t hear you speak. If you wish, you may trail along with us; I trust you’re adept at keeping yourself hidden.”

  She smiled as he conveyed the thought that she hadn’t known he was there until he chose to let her know. “I'll leave food out for you. That way you don’t need to go scavenging. Just know that Angel will guard us at all times.”

  “Angel?”

  “Angel,” she said, slipping without thought into speaking through the mind link, “my horse.”

  The wolf’s head turned to examine the black colt. “May I ask you a question?”

  “Of course. Why do you...nevermind. If we’re going to travel together, you’ll have to figure out when I’m talking to you and when I’m not. If I sit in the woods speaking to myself, sooner or later Johann will catch me at it and think I’ve lost my mind.“

  “You do realize, that’s not a horse with you?“

  “Yes I do,” she agreed. “How exactly do you know it?”

  “Maybe it’s his magic calling to my curse. It seems at times that I can hear him just as clearly as I do you. I heard him when our paths first crossed, but he is more powerful now. He warned me off very soundly then and even now mutters for me to stay back. What is he?”

  “He is part unicorn,” she said, knowing Angel’s secret would be safe with this creature of magic. “What else could he be?”

  “There is much in this world you have no knowledge of. There are many different crossbreeds.”

  “And is that what you are.”

  The wolf did not even manage to send the thought, before pain exploded in Pink’s mind. It knocked him from his feet and he lay there quivering, foam flowed from between clenched jaws. When Pink was once again able to rise, she cautiously approached him.

  Chapter 16