Moving through the forest became too difficult with my crutches, and Harbringer ended up slinging me over his shoulder, which grew embarrassing when we reached the circle of horses awaiting us on the game trail. I recognised all of them, Cody and Hayden, who seemed to be the youngest there, Harry and Gideon, both looking more like thieves than soldiers, and Philippe, dear Philippe. His aging face cracked into a grin as I was set onto my feet, and Gideon slapped his thigh, laughing so hard that it gave his horse a fright.
“Do my eyes deceive me, or is the Firecracker herself being carried through the woods like a wounded damsel in distress?” Philippe cackled delightedly.
“I am wounded, you oaf.” I threw a stick at him, which he batted aside easily enough, and then had to let Harbringer help me onto my horse, which had them laughing all over again. They waited for me to take the lead, which I did gladly, if only to present them my back.
“You know,” Philippe began conversationally, “ I started training that girl when she was this big, and so help us if we treated her any less of a man than the strongest brutes on our force.”
Harbringer chuckled, “I can imagine. She fights well, for a human.”
“That’ll be my doing, and her father’s o’course.”
I spurred my horse onwards, forcing them to hurry to catch up to me. There wasn’t any way I was going to drag out that procession if they were going to spend the whole time talking about me. By the time we finally reached the border though, everyone was quiet, and I stopped the others just before we caught sight of the wasteland, knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to persuade them all to stay put when the enchantment hit. I also made Harbringer dismount, and grabbed his hand, dragging him forward. Just as I suspected, it was much harder to force him to the barrier than it had been with Cale.
“Dammit Harrow, let go, we need to go back.”
He could have just picked me up again and forced us to turn around, but I suspected that the way I ignored him had momentarily confused him, enough that I was able to tug him though the barrier. Once clear, the synfee Kingdom appeared in all its splendour before us, and he immediately stopped resisting me. The usual rush of men came toward us, except that they were focused on Harbringer this time, and their swords were drawn. I quickly stepped in front of him, and they faltered, finally stopping just before us when Harbringer didn’t seem inclined to pull out any of his own weapons in self-defence. Not that he needed to.
“Grenlow.” I said, seeking the man out.
He stepped forward, sheathing his sword, “Lady Beatrice, why have you brought the power thief? His Majesty will not be pleased.”
“Should I leave then?”
Grenlow frowned, as I knew he would, and then finally spun around.
“Please follow.”
Harbringer shot me a look, and we walked after the general, who led us to the castle gates this time, and held his hand out for us to wait as he slipped inside. The men seemed uneasy again when he disappeared, a tension that doubled when the King himself appeared. Nareon barely paid Harbringer any attention however. He strode straight to me, admonished his guards for making me wait at the gate, and then finally paused to look me over.
“Speak, spitfire, and make it quick.”
I saw the rage flashing in those grey eyes, and put a hand on his arm to calm him.
“Not if you’re going to get angry. Remember what happened last time?”
His frown deepened, and he turned to Grenlow, snapping, “Fetch a Healer. Now.”
Grenlow ran off, and Nareon glanced at Harbringer, “you brought protection again, I see.”
If he recognised Harbringer, it didn’t show in his face, and Harbringer himself was cold and detached, his own expression completely devoid of sentiment, his fists clenched loosely by his sides.
“Interesting choice,” muttered Nareon, before looking back to me, “you knew that I wouldn’t be able to send him away, I suppose?”
“Er, right.”
He smiled, catching my lie, and began to gently lead me to the doors of the fountain room, the smile slowly fading as I hobbled along. I glanced behind me, to make sure that Harbringer was following.
“It was a man called Davery, and a woman, Enon.”
Nareon paused, flicked a look to one of the men at his side, who nodded and ran back towards the gate, and then he continued guiding me forward, silent. Just as I settled into a bench in the fountain room, Grenlow marched through the doors with a harried-looking woman in tow. She saw the King, faltered, and would have fallen over, if Grenlow hadn’t caught her arm.
“Y-your Highness,” she muttered, puling out of Grenlow’s grip to drop to her knees.
“Do something woman, the sight of these bandages displease me.”
She glanced at me, nodded hurriedly and scampered to my side. I winced at the harsh order, touching her arm lightly.
“Thank you.” I whispered.
She glanced up briefly, but just as quickly looked away from me, and set her hands on my side. After a few moments, a tingling spread out along my rib cage, spreading upward to my shoulder, and slithering down my arm. The feeling intensified until it became painful, and then it was gone, and she moved to my leg, needing to spend longer on the arrow-wound. When she was finished, she backed immediately away from me, and I caught sight of her face. She looked about to faint, her previously golden countenance now held a faint greyish pallor, and her shoulders sagged inward.
I reached up and began to unwind the bandages, around my arm and shoulder, revealing the skin beneath, which was smooth and tanned, just as it had always been. I removed the one on my leg as well, and jumped up, feeling no twinge of pain whatsoever.
“Oh my!”
I ran over to the woman, grasping her hands.
“Nareon, she’s exhausted, she’s about to collapse.” I said, feeling how she held onto my own hands, as if they were the only thing keeping her upright.
He looked at the woman a little distastefully, but I continued to implore him, until he finally gestured Grenlow to take her to lie down, and bring her food. I heard Harbringer’s voice in my head then.
You have a lot of influence over him. I wasn’t expecting that.
I turned to look at him briefly, but whatever I might have answered was forgotten, as a soldier burst into the room breathlessly.
“Your Highness. The prisoners have been taken to the dungeons.”
Nareon smiled, the vicious glint in his eye making me fall back a step. He spun immediately, moving toward the door at the other end of the room, and then paused, moving back to me, taking my chin in his hand.
“Drop your glamor, little spitfire, take what you need for now, Grenlow will look after you until I’m back.”
I hesitated, aware of the people in the room. The man still trying to catch his breath by the door, Harbringer…
A flood of compulsion filled me, and my knees buckled. His arm was around me instantly, holding me up, and I felt my glamor slip away. The world became a kaleidoscope of colour and feeling, and I grasped the sides of his face, drawing his energy to me. His desire was scorching, it sizzled my senses as his hands tightened, drawing me off the ground, his kiss becoming bruising. I drank deeply, my head spinning at the rush of life, the heady taste of his power. And then, miraculously, I pushed out of his arms, my eyes wide.
“There… was… you…” I struggled to contain my thoughts, crippled momentarily by the violence of my need, and watched as Nareon’s face transformed.
The feral glint faded from his eyes, and he grinned. I grabbed at my throat, feeling as if it were on fire.
“It isn’t just energy!” My words ended on a cry of pain, and I became achingly aware of another, more human heartbeat in the room.
“Oh, Bea. You have much to learn.” He glided forward, touched my cheek, and his compulsion filled me, gently coaxing my glamor back into place.
He kissed me lightly, and then turned and swept from the room. I fell to the ground, the energ
y vibrating within me, the need that I had cut off so abruptly burning in my throat. It was painful, and for a few frightening moments, it felt as if my glamor hadn’t returned at all. Harbringer was at my side the moment Nareon disappeared, drawing me to my feet, grabbing my face.
“Calm down,” he whispered, “Remember to breathe, Harrow.”
I blinked, wondering why it was so hard to focus on his face, and then realised that the darkness was filling my head to overflowing. I wrenched away from him, cursing.
This is bad. This is very bad. I thought to myself.
Your thoughts are a mess, Harbringer’s presence filled my head. You need to talk to me.
The push, it’s not my power, it’s Nareon’s.
He gave you the death ability?
Maybe, or his energy made it more powerful. My push used to be the Force. The world would darken, storm clouds would gather, and once, I saw lightening. It still does it sometimes, but the death… that’s because of Nareon’s energy. I think he meant to do it.
Grenlow entered the room then, and I focused on him, the darkness roiling up to crash against my skull even though I had just fed. If anything, it was worse, with Nareon’s powerful energy spurring it on. Grenlow paused, his eyes going wide, and I wondered if he would turn and run away. I put my hand out, calling on the wind to push him forward. He stumbled a few steps, and the darkness changed, became something less frightening, something that I hadn’t felt for a long time. Instead of my head blackening, it was the word around me that changed. The shadows lengthened, the light retreated, and a fine mist of rain began to splatter.
Grenlow took a step back, but I forced him forward again, so that he stumbled, and finally fell at my feet.
“Please.” He whispered, “I can’t fight Force.”
Harbringer touched my shoulder, and I spun, almost lashing out at him as well.
“Poor siren.” He muttered, reached out to drag me against him.
He didn’t kiss me, or try to restrain me, two things that I had come to expect on a regular basis from people. Instead, he only held me, his hands trailing down my spine until I felt the world brighten again. I sighed, my hands moving to rest against his chest, and he began to stroke my hair, passing his hands through the gentle waves of my hair. When he released me, the push had dissipated, and I was left with only the wonderfully strong energy flowing through me. I turned to Grenlow, throwing him an apologetic glance.
“Can you tell me something, General?”
“I’ll do my best, Lady Beatrice.” He was back to his formal self, now that my frightening episode was over.
“Who else has taken Nareon’s energy?”
“The King is selective.”
“Who?”
He sighed, looking toward the door. “Just you, Lady.”
I frowned, “why just me?”
“When we kill, a persons full power is transferred directly to us. When we only feed off the energy of another synfee, we can temporarily display some of their characteristics, and if the abilities of that person are strong enough, some of their influence can also be transferred.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
He shrugged, “we have—” and then he stopped, his face going white. “Please follow me, Lady. The King has a task for you.”
He turned without waiting for an answer, and with a deepening sense of apprehension, I made a move to follow. To my surprise, Harbringer put a hand on my arm to stop me.
“Just a second, General. I think she’d be interested to hear what you have to say.”
Grenlow paused, turning slowly to look at Harbringer, and then me.
“I can’t.” He said quietly, “He’d kill me for less.”
“You mean Nareon?” I asked.
He seemed to recoil from my casual use of the name, “Please follow me.”
He led us to Nareon’s tower room, and then promptly left us, without any further mention of the ‘task’ that needed doing. With a sigh, I went to the glass wall and peered out over the city below, but Harbringer began pacing agitatedly in front of the door where Grenlow had left him.
“What is it?” I asked, before his jerky movements could make me dizzy.
“I’m fighting a losing battle with the General’s mind. Someone has taught him well.”
I felt my eyebrows inching up, and quickly crossed over to him. Nareon was hiding something big, there was no other explanation.
“Why not compel him?”
“I need to be able to see him. That’s why he left so—”
He stopped pacing abruptly, grabbed my arm and swore. “I’ve seen it. Now he’s sending soldiers to contain us in here. We need to leave now.”
“But what is it?” I dug my feet in, refusing to move.
He turned, giving me a frustrated look, “The synfees use feeders. Every single one of them, even the King.”
“What are feeders?”
“The weakest of any race. There are some humans, some fae, some synfee even.”
“I don’t understand, why keep feeders?”
“Because if you take energy from someone stronger than you, they can control you.”
The realisation hit me with a force big enough to make me stagger backwards.
Nareon is trying to control me.
I glanced up at Harbringer, and I knew that he could see the horror in my eyes, but it was nothing against the fear that swept through me at the sound of booted feet rushing down the corridor beyond the door. Our time was up.
“There are only ten of them.” Whispered Harbringer, “I can deal with ten of them.”
He seemed to be asking my permission, and I didn’t even need to wonder why. I shook my head.
“No, Nareon won’t forgive you for attacking his men. He might forgive me.”
I walked to the door, slid my hand against the wood, and closed my eyes, breathing deeply for a moment to calm myself.
You can see me. I murmured in my mind, I need you to compel me.
He didn’t answer me right away, and I knew that he was examining my plan.
Drop it; I’ll do my part.
I nodded against the door, closing my eyes and reaching for my glamor, slowly and carefully drawing it away as Harbringer’s will filled my mind, strong and cogent.
You don’t want to feed. He soothed. You’re not even hungry.
I found that he was right, and I turned to him with a wide smile. He caught his breath, and I waited for the careful hold on my mind to slip, but it held steady, and I finally turned back to the door, striding toward it and flinging it open. My golden skin was shimmering again.
The soldiers in the hallway all snapped to immediate attention, lining either side of the doorway in two rows, with two men at the front, and three at the back. It was an impenetrable wall, one that I shouldn’t have been able to pass.
“There is something important that we need to do.” I said calmly, trying to make myself sound as persuasive as possible.
“Yes Lady.” One of the men stepped forward quickly, his eyes slightly dilated, “can I help?”
“Yes you can,” I touched his shoulder, and he seemed to draw in a sharp breath, which I took as a good sign, “would you kindly escort us out of the castle?”
The man nodded eagerly, but another stepped up to push him aside. At first I thought that my ruse was found out, except this man stood to his fullest height and offered me his arm.
“I will escort you myself, Lady. Benjamin isn’t feeling well today.”
The first man—presumably Benjamin—began trying to elbow his way back into his previous position, muttering that he felt fine, but I touched each of their arms, and they immediately stilled.
“You can both escort me.” I said smoothly.
Ten minutes later, all ten men were escorting me down the many staircases and corridors that would lead us back to the fountain room, each jostling to walk beside me. I felt ridiculous, especially since I wasn’t making any kind of conscious effort, but Harbringer
seemed to be heavily amused by it all, so at least one of us was enjoying my newfound powers of manipulation. We made it to the fountain room without any trouble, and then the whole castle seemed to burst into chaos. A horn sounded somewhere outside, but the sound seemed to reverberate beneath the floors, and I put my hands to my ears reflexively. The men around me were jostled out of the hold of my compulsion, and Harbringer’s hold on my mind slipped.
My throat began to burn, and my senses were swamped by the many scents of the people standing around me, but it wasn’t as bad as I had experienced in the past. It was a miracle that I didn’t pounce on any of the men now turning on me, eyes wide and swords drawn, but my fear was now overtaking my hunger, and I clutched Harbringer’s arm, as more people rushed into the room.
Except they weren’t rushing toward me, they were rushing past me. And soon even the soldiers surrounded Harbringer and I were moving toward the door we had just come through.
Little spitfire. Come to me.
I chocked against the heady compulsion, the feeling that was uniquely Nareon flooded through me and I felt a crippling urge to run after the soldiers. I tried to drag Harbringer with me, but he stood his ground, and eventually just grabbed me, and began hauling me out of the room.
“Let me go!” I screamed, hitting the arm that angled across my waist, feeling tears spring to my eyes.
The world darkened, and Harbringer paused, at the doors to the castle, looking out at the brief stretch of courtyard that led to the gates. Small whirlwinds of dust were flying across the ground, and the force of the wind was staggering. I could feel him fighting against it, trying to step outside, but I was too strong for him. Or perhaps Nareon was too strong for him. I didn’t even know who was to blame for the sudden show of Force, but Harbringer eventually dropped me, and I spun on my heel and raced back toward the sweet and wonderful voice that called to me.
Harbringer raced after me, and we found ourselves in the throne room, having to fight through a barrier of soldiers fighting against some invisible wall that I was able to slip through easily. The room was lined with people, each holding their arms up, facing a single man who stood in the middle of them.
“Nareon!” The name slipped from my lips in an anguished cry, and his grey eyes snapped open and focused on me.
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